#NaNo Support Group
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svenjaliv · 3 months ago
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This feels like a good time to post a reminder about the NaNo-inspired spreadsheet I made, based on the old website:
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It's available here for download - free if you want, any support is appreciated because it means I can keep making trackers and helps with my website costs, but I know times are tough for a lot of us. I've also put it up on Google Sheets here, but it looks a little different because the fancier chart effects aren't supported. You'll have to download it or make a copy to be able to use it. (Please don't ask me for edit access, that won't work. File > Make a copy, and you'll have it on your own Google Drive.)
I also made this in four other designs, available here. They all come with character and plot development sheets, and pages for novel info, chapters, timeline, etc. And there are versions for every month, so we're not confined to November!
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And finally, because I always loved seeing everyone's word counts and accountability really helps me personally, I made a basic spreadsheet that you can use as a group to collectively track word counts or goals. This version's made for up to 8 people. Again you'll have to make a copy in your Drive to use it, and you'll need to give edit access to your whole group as well.
If there's interest, I'll keep making these as well for each new month. I can also expand it or add more columns/features, so feel free to let me know if you're interested and what you'd like to see!
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karalianne · 3 months ago
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I did not create this summary but I have permission to share it.
Act I, the background:
The video opens with a timeline of Nano's history, Kilby glazing herself, and bragging about participation numbers.
When Kilby joined the board, she "figured we must be getting five- and six-figure support from big publishers" and "big authors." But, SURPRISE! "Nanowrimo never had that level of backing."
Shows some charts (screenshots, below). Note that the charts show that right around half (give or take, depending on the year) of Nano's funding came from charitable contributions.
Immediately after showing these charts, she says the organization was "primarily funded by sponsorships and merchandies, and not by charitable contributions." This is a great sign for what's to come. *As of 2020, Nano was "six-figure[s]" in debt. Her time on the board was focused on fundraising.
Act II, the scandal:
Kilby claims that the grooming of children ONLY happened off-site, NEVER on nano itself.
Kilby claims that the board publicly shared the findings of its investigation into CF after 10 days. It is implied this was done back in MAY.
Kilby admits nobody had any relevant training or certification for dealing with children.
Kilby claims nobody at NaNo knew who CF/Mod X really was (blatant lie) because they just didn't keep those records, which prevented them from being able to work with child protection organizations.
Kilby claims she was tapped for the ED position because she "understood youth-facing organizations" and "had experience with the required state-mandated training." No evidence of this understanding or experience is supplied.
More self-glazing
"Our top priority is, and was, child safety." lol
Kilby claims they implemented staff background checks "immediately" (later in the video, she'll claim that some unspecified number of people had been "vetted" and were working with the org again).
Further claims that they "developed an advice content [sic]" aimed at teaching minors how to be safe online. ….where? who knows?
Claims they started verifying educators on YWP.
Act III, the community:
Forums: Inconsistent moderations, outdated TOS. Saw problematic, unaddressable behavior. Couldn't maintain the integrity of the space.
One of the problems was that they had "encouraged" "volunteers" to set up "unofficial" Discords and facebook groups with the Nano name. "Nobody under nanowrimo's authority was moderating those groups." Using resources to deal with issues from these "unaffiliated" groups.
"The number of people who view themselves as experts by virtue of how long they've been doing Nanowrimo… numbered in the tens of thousands." [The salt really starts here]
Act IV, the fallout:
ED job was "bigger than rebuilding after an educational crisis" [because you're so good at that, clearly]
When Kilby took over, there were more than a dozen existing labor violations.
Participation had been declining since before 2020, fell off a cliff.
Sponsor money in March 2023: $310k. Sponsor money in March 2024: $125k
2023's funding shortfall was equal to 20% of their total annual budget
"We were operating outside of our mission." Claims they became an "advocacy group that actively lobbied for authors." No further specifics of how, for who, or to whom are provided.
We COULD recover from this, except for not having money.
Act V: Conclusion (why is there still 10 minutes left in the video??)
Nano is shutting down.
Website will stay up "as long as possible, but we cannot guarantee a specific end date" [because I don't know what the host's non-payment policies are or when the check will bounce]
We were going to merge with another writing org, but they noped out when they saw our debt.
"Other potential supporters" were scared off by mean, dastardly 'ol REDDIT
"Many people who withheld their support, or supported us anonymously, told us that the tone of the community was a big issue."
The press was mean to us and inaccurate about our position on AI. (what press? Youtubers??)
Kilby claims they TURNED DOWN "a number of" AI sponsors because it "went against our mission."
"The real alternative to the organization closing, and I can't say this enough, would have been for us to been funded [sic] by the community." No kidding?
"Community funding shouldn't have been a problem."
The collapse of Nano was because of things that happened before I got here (financial mismanagement), but it absolutely wasn't because of AI or a scandal. Don't put it in the newspaper that it was because of AI or a scandal. Those were just a coincidence.
Thank you to everyone I fired, drove away, etc. etc.
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ellipsus-writes · 3 months ago
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Ellipsus Digest: April 2
Each week (or so), we'll highlight the relevant (and sometimes rage-inducing) news adjacent to writing and freedom of expression. This week:
Meta trained on pirated books—and writers are not having it
ICYMI: Meta has forever earned a spot as the archetype for Shadowy Corporate Baddie in speculative fiction by training its LLMs on pirated books from LibGen. You're pissed, we're pissed—here's what you can do:
The Author’s Guild of America—longtime champions of authors’ rights and probably very tired of cleaning up this kind of mess (see its high-profile ongoing lawsuits, and January’s campaign to credit human authors over “AI-authored” work)—has released a new summary of what’s going on. They’ve also provided a plug-and-play template for contacting AI companies directly, because right now, “sincerely, a furious novelist” just doesn’t feel like enough.
No strangers to spilling the tea, the UK’s Society of Authors is also stepping up with its roundup of actions to raise awareness and fight back against the unlicensed scraping of creative work. (If you’re across the pond, we also recommend checking out the Creative Rights in AI Coalition campaign—it’s doing solid work to stop the extraction economy from feeding on artists’ work.)
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Museums and libraries: fodder for the new culture war
Not to be outdone by Florida school boards and That Aunt's Facebook feed, MAGA’s nascent cultural revolution has turned its attention to museums and libraries. A new executive order (in that big boi font) is targeting funding for any program daring to tell a “divisive narrative” or acknowledge “improper ideology” (translation: anything involving actual history).
The first target is D.C.’s own Smithsonian. The newly restructured federal board has set its sights on “cleansing” the Institution’s 21 museums of “divisive, race-centered ideology.” (couch-enthusiast J.D. Vance snagged himself a board seat.) (Oh, and they’ve appointed a Trump-aligned lawyer to vet museum content.) The second seems to be the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a 70-person department (now placed on administrative leave) in charge of institutional funding. As we wrote last week, this isn’t isolated—far-right influence overmuseums and libraries means this kind of ideological takeover will seep into every corner of the country’s cultural life.
Meanwhile, the GOP is (once again) trying to defund PBS for its “Communist agenda.” It’s part of a larger crusade that’s banned picture books with LGBTQ+ characters, erased anti-racist history, and treated educators like enemies—all in the name of “protecting the children,” of course.
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NaNoWriMo is no more; long live NaNo
When we initially signed on as sponsors in 2024, we really, really hoped NaNoWriMo could pull it together—but its support for generative AI and dismissiveness toward its own audience prompted us to withdraw our sponsorship, and many Wrimos to leave an institution that helped cultivate creativity and community for a near-quarter century. Now it seems NaNo has shuttered permanently, leaving the community confused, if not betrayed. But when an organization treats its community poorly and fumbles its ethics, people notice. (You can watch the official explainer here.)
Still, writers are resilient, and the rise of many independent writing groups and community-led challenges proves that creatives will always find spaces to connect and write—and the desire to write 50k words in the month of November isn’t going anywhere. Just maybe... somewhere better.
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The continued attack on campus speech
The Trump administration continues its campaign against universities for perceived anti-conservative bias, gutting federal research budgets, and pressuring schools to abandon any trace of DEI (or, as we wrote on the blog, extremely common and important words). In short: If a school won’t conform to MAGA ideology, it doesn’t deserve federal money—or academic freedom.
Higher education is being pressured to excise entire frameworks and language in an effort to avoid becoming the next target of partisan outrage. Across the U.S., universities are bracing for politically motivated budget cuts, especially in departments tied to research, diversity, or anything remotely inclusive. Conservative watchdogs have made it their mission to root out “woke depravity”—one school confirmed it received emails offering payment in exchange for students to act as informants, or ghostwrite articles to “expose the liberal bias that occurs on college campuses across the nation.”
In a country where op-eds in student newspapers are grounds for deportation, what part of “free speech” is actually free?
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We now live in knockoff Miyazaki hellscape
If you’ve been online lately (sorry), you’ve probably seen a flood of vaguely whimsical, oddly sterile, faux-hand-drawn illustrations popping up everywhere. That’s because OpenAI just launched a new image generator—and CEO Sam Altman couldn’t wait to brag that it was so popular their servers started “melting.” (Apparently, melting the climate is fine too, despite Miyazaki’s lifelong environmental themes.) (Nausicaa is our favorite at Ellipsus.)
This might be OpenAI’s attempt to “honor” Hayao Miyazaki, who once declared that AI-generated animation was “an insult to life itself.” Meanwhile, the meme lifecycle went into warp speed, since AI doesn't require actual human creativity—speed-running from personal exploration, to corporate slop, to 9/11 memes, to a supremely cruel take from The White House.
“People are going to create some really amazing stuff and some stuff that may offend people,” Altman said in a post on X. “What we'd like to aim for is that the tool doesn't create offensive stuff unless you want it to, in which case within reason it does.”
Still, the people must meme. And while cottagecore fox girls are fine, we suggest skipping straight to the truly cursed (and far more creative) J.D. Vance memes instead.
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Let us know if you find something other writers should know about, (or join our Discord and share it there!)
- The Ellipsus Team xo
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lurkingshan · 4 months ago
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Thoughts on ThamePo
I finally got some time this weekend, so I decided to go ahead and binge ThamePo, a show many of you seemed to enjoy and that quite a few people have told me is one of the more solid to come out of GMMTV's BL lineup in awhile. I told a few friends I would share thoughts when I watched it. Let’s go!
The TL, WR: I had a fun time watching this show and agree it managed to avoid a lot of GMMTV shows' worst pitfalls, but I also found the writing around the core plot to be an inconsistent mess. I'll break down the good, the bad and the huh from my perspective, so only read on if you care to know. Disclaimer: I am not a LYKN fan and in fact knew almost nothing about them before watching this.
The Good
The show looks fantastic. As soon as I turned it on I said "is this a Parbdee production?!" And it sure was. It seems GMMTV picks one BL a year that it's willing to actually fund high production values for, and ThamePo was the lucky winner of this round. It was quite a startling contrast having just watched My Golden Blood.
The flirting between Thame and Po in their talking stage was a lot of fun. I don't think it made me swoon quite as hard as some of you, but I was charmed. Is memorizing someone's phone number the new height of romance?
Drake and Sammy were here! And looking cute! I was happy every time they showed up.
Nano's colorful sweaters. I want every single one.
All of episode 10, which was my personal favorite of the show. It was the only episode where I felt like they had a strong episodic plot and theme that they executed well and that showed a realistic sequence of events around how idols are treated by their fans.
Baifern learned something about how to love and support her idols without crossing boundaries. This girl made me so uncomfortable for the whole show and I was glad they had her realize she was wrong and speak directly into the camera about it. GMMTV owed us that after the disastrous handling of this issue in Only Boo. Plus, Baifern growing meant I could enjoy the absolute comedy of her reaction to finding out who Mr. B was. Ciize is so funny.
Noble idiocy was given the respect it deserves: none.
I liked the resolution for the romance, and that ultimately what Thame and Po wanted was just an ordinary relationship where they could spend time together and pursue their careers on their own terms. It was wonderfully straightforward and low drama.
Contra GMMTV's usual pattern, this show's strongest run was its last four episodes, and I actually thought the finale was strong given the story they had set up for themselves. I appreciated that rather than indulge in the fantasy ending of Only Boo, MARS had to suffer real consequences for choosing their personal lives and orchestrating a breach of contract. They had to reckon with the fact that being idols was directly at odds with the way they wanted to live, and make a choice. Kudos to the show for that.
The Bad
It feels like this script was written by someone who doesn't really understand the idol industry or how anything works. Much of the plot for MARS and the business machinations of managing them was nonsensical and contra how idols are actually managed in the industry. It was extra jarring to then cast a real idol group and have them act out this weird incorrect version of their reality.
Relatedly, the writing for Pemika was all over the place. We are supposed to see her as a smart businesswoman who knows what's best for their careers even as she is very unkind to them as humans, but the way she handled Thame throughout the show was ludicrous. First of all, it is the industry norm for idols to do solo work while staying in their group, so for her to insist on dismantling MARS so that Thame could go solo made no sense, and the entire plot hinged on this! It's not only bad artist management--she is deeply pissing off and damaging her relationship with her most important performer--it also just doesn't make sense from a revenue standpoint. Why kill MARS, a popular idol group with a large fanbase, when you could just negotiate with Thame for a solo album in exchange for another MARS album and keep both revenue streams? Pemika's approach was counterproductive. I was intrigued by what they tried to do with her in certain moments, but it didn't hang together because there were too many logic gaps.
On that note, I think the biggest problem with the way the MARS plot was constructed is that if they are already a successful group, most of the plot does not make any sense. Agencies don't destroy successful and profitable groups just for the hell of it, and if Thame is the leader of a successful group with a powerful fanbase he should have more power than the show implied. The whole story makes a lot more sense if MARS was struggling to break out and didn't actually have fans yet, but the show tried to have its cake and eat it, too.
This is a matter of personal preference, but I personally did not care for Thame's characterization as an extraordinarily selfless idol with no ego who only cared about his friends at the expense of his own career. Please, show. A little more nuance and complexity to his motivations would have been nice.
The whole subplot with Jun pretending to hit on Po was just stupid and I found it to be a very frustrating diversion that was mostly there to stall getting Thame and Po together. They already knew they liked each other and his interference did not accomplish anything except making me wonder why Thame considers that asshat his friend.
Must GMMTV continue to stab me in the heart by making me listen to the Last Twilight OST over and over again?? Write a new song!
On that note (look away stans), the music performances in this show were just unforgivably bad. I will not go into further detail so as to not hurt anyone's feelings (but you can come sit by me in the DMs if you want to talk shit).
The Huh
I don't understand why Thai idol dramas keep making getting recruited to Korea the standard. Not only is it deeply unrealistic to suggest that an industry already teeming with talent is eager to recruit middling talent from elsewhere, but if your goal is to promote the tpop industry, focus on tpop!
On top of the business plot not making sense, the way they presented the group and their roles was just strange. Idols all have to have baseline competency in singing, dancing, and rap--you don't have one member who does each like the show kept saying. I got confused every time the show reverted to this framing. Don't even get me started on the concept of Nano, the successful idol who *checks notes* doesn't know how to sing.
Let me not also forget that these are supposed to be famous idols, yet they are constantly casually hanging out in public spaces with no fans approaching them. Every time they sat around as a group in a park I wanted to scream.
Which of course leads me to my incredulity that so much of Thame and Po's flirtation happened in public, outside, in front of tons of onlookers, and somehow they were not spotted every time despite Thame being famous. As fucking if! The way the story ignored this reality for the first 2/3 of the show really undercut the final arc when they suddenly remembered idols can't date. And right after the group handled Pepper's scandal, Thame was back to holding Po's hand outside again. I felt like I was taking crazy pills.
I was also salty about Pepper directly encouraging Thame to pursue Po only to turn around the next episode and tell him idols can't date. Sir, what the fuck.
The whole thing with Mick was kind of a miss for me. They made a big deal about his incompetence in the first few episodes, then he functionally disappeared for half the show, then they revealed he was pretending to be bad at his job as some roundabout way of helping them, I guess? It was a half-baked idea poorly presented.
Since I mentioned Only Boo up top, it would be remiss of me not to mention that if ThamePo takes place in the same universe as the cameos imply, this plot makes even less sense because Moo already broke down this barrier and idols can now have boyfriends with no consequences! (Seriously though if you're gonna have them cameo at least let Moo speak I love that boy).
The show should not have been in the bubble. So much of the romance plot and the contrast between Pepper/Gam and Thame/Po would have been strengthened if their sexuality mattered.
Lastly, I'll just say that I found this plot a strange one if GMMTV's intent was to use the show as a vehicle to promote LYKN. The entire plot is that the agency thinks Thame is the only talented one and the rest of the group is holding him back, but he's a Good Person so he will stay with them anyway. If I was anyone else in LYKN I'd be side-eyeing this plot big time.
In conclusion: This was a fun binge but I am still waiting for the Thai idol BL of my dreams starring Daou and Offroad. I will write the goddamn script if I have to!
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heretherebedork · 4 months ago
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Jun left the group to try and protect Thame from sacrificing himself for them; Jun saw Po struggling and worked to support him and give him a challenge to work together; Jun saw the tears in Thame's eyes and rushed to hug him; Jun heard Nano breaking down and knelt with him, protecting him.
Jun loves everyone around him so damn much and he shows it all the time, even when they don't know he is.
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athousandbyeol · 6 months ago
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keep up the thamepo [episode 5]
i was a bit frustrated with myself initially because, after the first watch, I was left confused... and jaded... and a bit dissatisfied with this week's episode.
it has nothing to do with the acting, but I thought it felt a bit fragmented? nano's story arc didn't flow as smoothly as jun's or dylan's? i was trying to make sense of it—why it felt like there were still missing puzzle pieces in nano's portrait. but I guess, after making another observation, I guess nano was the last puzzle piece. i didn't realise it until I watched the episode again.
i wonder if this has to do with how the story is told from thame's perspective? the simplicity, somewhat straightforward nature of how everything unfolds kind of reflects thame's perception of his feelings for po? how he thought that po was just wanting 'to be friends' with him. how he didn't know he was in love with po—not until pepper provided a different approach for him to understand and come to terms with his feelings?
therefore, in this week's recap, it'll be a bit shorter than my previous posts because this episode was quite straightforward in terms of storytelling. however, I do want to address some apparent parts that itch my brain, which are, jun and thame's dynamic, the parallelism between nano and po, and also po and thame's upcoming love arc.
1. jun and thame — one who ignites the fire; one who is on fire
i think 80% of the confusion comes from me not understanding what on earth jun was doing.
in last week's post, i said that jun might be fond of po in the sense that he was concerned about him because of his closeness with thame? jun might have an idea of po and thame's emotions for each other, so this is his way of showing his concern.
however...
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everything he did somehow sent me to the edge. it made me assume that he might... like... po? romantically. i mean, if I don't know jun and po the way I do now, I might assume that they have feelings for each other (or at least, jun has feelings for po).
but then again, when i watched the episode, I didn't think jun likes po romantically? it's more like jun's trying to test the connection between po and thame—or he was just testing thame all along.
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but one thing that i really like about the whole 'jun answered all of thame's calls on po's phone' is how transparent thame's jealousy is to everyone, but it's still transparent to him.
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it's so interesting how thame is visibly uncomfortable with the idea of jun being close to po—at least in his eyes—romantically. because I feel like thame has always tried to conceal some parts of himself from the world due to his selflessness. yet, in this week's episode, I can safely say that thame has finally shown his selfishness.
and it kind of makes my heart skip a beat because po is the reason. thame's behaviour and demeanour in this episode stem certainty in me that aside from his dreams of making everyone's wishes come true, making po happy and loved is his new dream. and it's not forced, this dream of showing and giving po the whole world—it's because he genuinely loves him. (but at this point, thame didn't realise it yet xD)
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a quick shoutout to pepper for being the group's observer. he's closely monitoring the group, helping thame bridge the members together, and giving advice to thame from the perspective of an outsider—a watcher. I'm thankful that thame has pepper as the vice leader because in my opinion, pepper judges with this sense and intuition, while thame makes decisions more on his senses than feelings. so it's great that thame and pepper are the leaders of the group because they complement each other well; pepper emotionally supports thame and helps him get a better grasp of the smaller picture—thame's way of helping pepper will unfold next week, I assume (and I'm excited/nervous for it to be honest...)
but again... the jealousy thame portrays is delicious.
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it's fascinating because thame's jealousy is directed solely at jun and not po.
he could still smile at po. he was excited to have a conversation with po. he was always looking out for po.
but whenever he was looking at po, there was jun.
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i like that in this scene, po was really just genuinely sharing about his day (I could imagine them being exactly like this when they start dating). he was so happy to talk to thame (po's so precious I'm actually devastated T_T). but as soon as the mentioned jun... thame just... he was set aflame. and it's so satisfying to see him this way. he's finally being selfish for once.
and jun kept pushing thame's buttons, all the right ones. and he was on edge. he was jealous. he was fuming. he was confused. he was... dejected.
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however, i wonder still if everything jun said to po holds an opposite meaning? was he trying to tell po that "can't you see? thame really likes you?" what are your thoughts on jun? i really want to know (because I still don't understand his intentions t_t)
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thank you pepper for helping thame realise his feelings for po :(
i like the idea of thame's inexperience of never liking or having a crush on someone makes his feelings for po appear stronger, bolder and limitless. thame has so much love to give po once he accepts the buzz in his head and the heaviness in his chest as I'm in love with phi po.
i think, the moment of epiphany for thame is beautifully done. the self-acceptance, the happiness and the relief that he finally understood his fondness for po are gorgeous. (so, jun, stop teasing thame and po, will you? po is definitely thame's type and thame's definitely in love with po.)
2. nano and po — a shadow, a reflection, two hearts
i'm actually geeking out at the idea of nano and po as a shadow, a reflection and heart to the people who regard them as important in their lives.
nano is just... beautiful.
to me, nano navigates his thoughts and feelings as a member of MARS with his heart. it makes him somewhat pure and innocent. he just loves his members. he loves MARS so much.
but it's heartbreaking how he doesn't see his significance as a member of the group—as the group's core.
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all these stills of nano building the tent, helping the members, etc, illustrate his importance to the group. to me, he enhances each member's charms. he brings them to the spotlight. he helps clear the mist clouding them so that people can see MARS in all of their glory.
however, i do realise that nano is struggling with self-confidence. he doesn't know if he could ever make it without MARS. he's unsure if he could ever exist just as nano and not nano of MARS. he feels like a shadow underneath the members' feet. he doesn't feel he holds any importance.
nano reflects po. nano parallels the old po.
it's a beautiful parallelism—these two broken hearts were just afraid of disappointment. of uncertainty. of grief. of incompetence. of falling apart.
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but i'm so thankful that po steps up to help nano realise that he's important—he's the heart and soul of MARS. with his portrayal of honesty from past experience, I love how sincere and raw po's words are. i surely believe it's everything nano needed.
(and i absolutely love how nano and po are wearing the same shade of yellow, indicating that both of them experienced similar scenarios. i think po will be nano's favourite phi in the future. he'll emotionally lean on po the most because po understood him through and through. it's so sweet T_T)
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i think it's also healing po emotionally. he has finally confronted his past emotional trauma by indirectly talking about it to nano. it must've been tough to share a part of our utmost vulnerability with someone, but I'm glad po was strong enough to make a truce with everything he experienced in the past and helped nano see just how important he's to MARS. thank you, po <3
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i love that MARS finally feels complete now—they finally feel like a family again.
even if the future is uncertain, at least they have each other to lean on (I'm just going to cry in the corner when that time comes...) and nano being in the centre? that's MARS's heart and soul right there. <3
3. thame and po — one step closer, 5 cm
finally, thame and po are physically close.
episodes 1 to 4 did an amazing job of showing us how thame and po build their emotional closeness through heart-to-heart talks, helping each other out, eating sandwiches together, remembering one's phone number, etc. thame and po are already close without thame realising, without po thinking.
i'm obsessed with how thame's deepest feelings now overboil once it's constantly triggered by the idea of jun and po's ambiguous connection in his eyes. i think it's how most of us realise our first crush on someone—the intensity, and the confusion are somewhat daunting. but again, I'm glad pepper was there for thame to understand his feelings—and jun was there for po to doubt if it was ever true.
this shot is INSANE.
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my heart really skipped a beat. really.
i think it's because thame initiated this touch and it was the first time that they've ever touched this intimately (at the waist—in my head it's one of the most intimate places to touch) and it was after he made a move to understand his boggling feelings for po—
(distant screaming and screeching)
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the shock and happiness and yearning and intimacy is just SCRUMPTUOUS I'm honestly jumping off—
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just the notion of thame finally coming to terms with his emotions—finally understanding that he likes po and he likes everything about po and it makes sense now is just gorgeous.
the happiness on thame's face... my heart is aching. i hope he'll be happy for a long time.
(AND THE HUG! THE HUG! instead of holding po's hand, thame hugged po. i like the idea that they are chest to chest, heart to heart, listening to the sync beat of their thundering hearts, realising that oh, I like phi po. ph, phi po likes me too. INSANE INSANE THAME I SWEAR THIS IS THE START OF A HAPPIER JOURNEY FOR YOU DON'T WORRY LOVE PO LOVES YOU AND YOU LOVE PO AND THAT'S ENOUGH)
but...
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what will happen next week? are we finally getting pepper's (devastating) story arc? and what's up with the heartbreaking tension between po and thame? and why are we getting jun's "between phi and thame, it's impossible" next week? I'M NOT EVEN MENTALLY SANE TO TAKE IT—
*jumps off* *crying* *screaming* i don't know anymore.
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thebroccolination · 5 months ago
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THAMEPO: EPISODES 10, 11, & 12 PREDICTION + MIDPOINT ANALYSIS
Okay so!
Next week's gonna be great.
We get the Consequences of Their Actions AND the only thing I love more than Jealous Thame: Protective Thame.
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The teaser for episode 10 suggests that Miss (angel of my heart) Pemika has discovered Po's involvement in the resurrection of MARS and fires him. It's possible that she didn't know about his relationship with Thame, but I imagine Thame confronting her and being Feral Boyfriend at her will speedrun that part.
But I also think Pemika put pressure on Pepper and Gam to end their relationship.
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In my episode 6 prediction post, I wrote:
Thame, having realized he’s falling in love with Po, will try to convince Pepper that he can have both. He can date and be part of MARS. In Thame’s mind, if he can establish a precedent for a member dating and not threaten the group’s survival, then Thame and Po won’t have as big of a struggle convincing the company to let them date.
At the end of episode 6, Thame and Pepper both decided to choose love and career, which means that narratively, Pepper's relationship is likely going to take the fall first.
Because my long-term prediction in that post was this:
My guess is that Pepper is dating a woman in order for the narrative to show how much more dangerous a relationship between two men will be to MARS. If even a conventional relationship is enough to threaten Pepper’s status in the group, imagine one that isn’t. […] But to satisfy the narrative structure of the stakes rising while disrupting the so-far smooth sailing of bringing MARS back together, I think Pepper will feel pressured enough to break up with the person he loves for MARS. This will put Thame in an even more uncomfortable position: he’ll have seen the risk of pursuing something with Po, he’ll have seen a friend’s relationship ruined and thus potentially feel guilty for pursuing something with Po, and we know he’ll choose love anyway because that’s the kind of show this is. (And y’know, because we’ve seen the trailer.)
See, in the preview for episode 10, we get this shot:
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and judging by the framing of this same scene in the trailer, of Pepper being in the center with Thame and Nano comforting/supporting him,
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we're probably getting a press conference scene where Pepper addresses the end of his relationship with Gam. (Also, Thame and Pepper are the two in relationships, and they're the two looking at each other.)
Midpoints generally follow one of two trajectories: False Victory or False Defeat. In a False Defeat, things go badly for our protagonist, and that raises the stakes and tension throughout the second half of the story.
[Spoilers for Be My Favorite start here]
The midpoint of Be My Favorite, for example, is a False Defeat.
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Kawi kisses Pisaeng while drunk, which is the only way he can face how he feels and act on it, but when he tries to talk to Pisaeng about it the next day, Pisaeng shuts the conversation down. Pisaeng's constant flaw in the series is avoidance, which he leans on hard here.
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This midpoint leads to Kawi time-traveling forward into The Worst Timeline. Because Kawi and Pisaeng didn't have that one crucial conversation about their first kiss, Kawi has developed alcoholism as a crutch and Pisaeng has committed to his life of avoidance. When Kawi still insists on chasing after him, Pisaeng walks out on Kawi entirely.
As a result, the consequences of the False Defeat midpoint raises the stakes for both of them. Kawi has to try twice as hard to express himself without substances to help, and Pisaeng has to force himself to confront issues instead of constantly hiding from and avoiding them.
[Spoilers for Be My Favorite end here]
ThamePo, on the other hand, had a False Victory Midpoint in episode 6 with Thame successfully persuading Pepper to commit to Gam and MARS. That success spurs Thame on, leading him to pursue Po more and more seriously, egged on further by his low-stakes competition with Jun.
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But even though the trajectory for Thame and Po has been going up in episodes 7, 8, and 9, the audience knows there are threats on the sidelines. That's what makes it a False Victory: Thame and Po are riding on a high from the midpoint, taking risks that will lead to the All Is Lost, the place in the narrative where our protagonist is at their lowest point (what Thai BL fans call the Episode 11 Curse).
Episode 10 will probably see Pepper's relationship taken out first.
I initially thought it would be Pepper breaking up with Gam, but having rewatched her scene with Thame in episode 6, now I think it might be Gam who decides to end things.
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Something about the way she looks away toward the end of the scene tells me she has reservations.
The separation of Pepper and Gam, a conventionally gendered couple who have been together for a while, would heighten the threat to Thame and Po who are both men and in the fledgling phase of their relationship. That "ticking time bomb" Pepper mentioned in episode 6 is going to explode in episode 10.
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From there, we have a bunch of scenes and dialogue from the trailer that I presume will appear in episode 11:
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The trailer repeats Jun's line to Po about a relationship with Thame being impossible.
And then we get Thame saying this:
"No matter what happens, I'll never lose my friends(/members) or you."
So, y'know, standard happy ending fare, and I'm happy to report that I have no idea how it'll happen, but I do think it'll be some mirror of Earn. Especially given how determinedly Thame erased Earn's residue in Po's life in episode 9, there will probably be a very public declaration from Thame. Not necessarily that he loves Po, though I'm sure that'll be part of it, but more an acknowledgement of how instrumental Po was in saving and safeguarding MARS, which is more Thame's family than his biological family.
Since Earn wouldn't recognize Po, Thame will, and that will complete both their arcs. Po getting the validation he's longed for, and Thame being selfish enough to risk everything for something he wants.
/thamepo dismount
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milkwaydreams · 4 months ago
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This whole episode made me really angry for many reasons...
And the breakup is not the main issue for me😃
Pemika being like "Do you still think I'm being mean?!", YES, YOU ARE!!! She lied to everyone to, I'm sorry, her own benefit. She keeps saying "I'm helping them to achieve their dreams" but is she really?! If she could provide more lessons to Nano and Per, why didn't she did it from the beginning?! And she obviously likes Dylan's songs since she used it on Ice too (and it sold A LOT), why didn't she allowed him to try and produce songs since the beginning?! She needed a rapper, they even mention it on Dylan's episode that he was tricked into it just because she needed a good rapper. For me, it feels that she always only wanted Thame but boy groups sells more so she just put them together to gain some attention and then, pull Thame apart cause this way, she will have more profit.
Also, she giving all of them (Po included) "what they want" NOW feels like gaslighting. Doing this, she can go "I gave you everything" if they decide to fight back and the boys will be afraid of doing anything.
It also didn't show Thame in any moment during that whole ending scene. If it is to show they all getting what they wanted, Thame can't have it cause what he wants is be with the group and Po. Since the beginning, Thame always hated the idea of going to Korea, it didn't change. Pemika is ignoring Thame's wishes cause it will not benefit her as much as he going to Korea.
And on the scene when they found out only Thame is going, she kept saying "You don't want to hold your friend back, right?!", WHEN NONE OF THEM WERE. Thame was the one that opposed to Korea since always. And she keeps repeating it on that scene while the boys were quietly trying to make sense of it all and, again, THAME was the one opposing. And she saying that only Thame will be going on live so they "Couldn't complain" 🚩IT'S MANIPULATION🚩
Everything about it stresses me so much cause it's trying to picture her as a good person helping kids to fulfill their dreams, but I can't stop the feeling of gaslight behind all of that...
And one more thing that infuriated me was Fern going "For my job as a fan it's to support and surround them with the best I can" WHILE SHE WAS THE FIRST ONE TO THROW PER INTO THE FLAMES AND ABANDON THE FANCLUB PAGE ONE EPISODE AGO😃😃😃😃 I wanted to slap her hard in the face through that whole talk...
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marcusrobertobaq · 11 months ago
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DBH worldbuilding info u're supposed to know
The collection
US is having major issues with sea level rising quickly, making even the wealthy residents deciding not living right on the coast anymore. Polar ice has melted to an extent that rising sea levels have many states struggling to keep the water out of their coastal towns (Magazine)
CyberLife's intention with complex level humanization was to literally make people welcome 'em home like they're family instead of getting creeped about it (Magazine)
VR games are very common by 2038 (Magazine)
The President Cristina Warren is an ex-vlogger with no experience in government that relied on social media and celebrity status to be elected in 2036, originally a republican representative. There's a "rumor" CyberLife helped she getting elected by corrupt means and that's why they're "too close" (Magazine, Gallery, Cut concepts)
Warren got an approval of only 33% due to the sequence of bad decisions (Magazine)
The world's population is 10 billion by 2038 (Magazine)
Obesity is in a record high in Detroit by 2038 (Magazine)
NATO is divided about the Russia vs US conflict in the Arctic, they think everybody can benefit of the region without war but Warren is totally pushing for a conflict (Magazine)
Rare minerals used in synthetizing Thirium got Russia and US biting each other in the North Pole in recent yrs. Android manufacture dominates both the US and Russian economies (Magazine)
Kamski being the one creating Thirium 310 and biocomponents more than a decade ago suggests other areas with these minerals were already explored, the North Pole being the last one (Assumption)
Police is constantly using marketing data to identify criminals (Magazine)
Dating websites usually have less than 5% of women using it (Magazine)
0.4% of world population holds 94% of global wealth by 2038 (Magazine)
By 2038 there's constant propaganda selling Canada as the true land of freedom (Magazine)
No matter how u play as Markus u gonna eventually have event contexts distorted, including fake news. They're called criminal org and terrorists no matter what u do (Observation)
CyberLife developed a nano-android to help combating cancer and diseases that can extend the human life-span even reaching a semi-immortality status - and it's very promising as it was already succesful in doing its task (Magazine)
US life expectancy is 91 by 2038 (Magazine)
By 2038 US got a aging population but not enough young people to support the economy with the unemployment rate at 37.3%, and the "job" area is dominated by androids (Magazine, Observation)
When the rebellion starts the gov consider bringing retirees back to work as the country lack qualified manpower to deal with the withdraw of androids (Cut dialogue)
Only two countries have android industries that rival the United States: Russia and China, they're also in a space race of sorts (Magazine)
Team sports like baseball got at least 1 android per team (Magazine)
An advanced high speed train was completed in 2038, connecting New York and LA in less than 2,5 hrs and there's a high flux of east coast folks going to LA (Magazine)
Suburban prices there have rose 64% and California folks are worried they gonna get pushed out of the region (Magazine)
Detroit is currently in a Red Ice epidemic with it being the easiest route the poor go, either by selling or using it (Magazine)
There was a Red Ice Task Force from 2027 to 2031 that made major arrests and drug seizure during the first epidemic (Gallery, Articles)
Bees are extinct by 2038 and people expect a global famine. CyberLife is already making partnerships to create bee-robots while other groups try finding new alternatives (Magazine)
Environmentalists say the Earth’s environment is beyond repair (Magazine)
Global rainforests have been reduced by 79% since 2000 and coastal corals by 58% (Magazine)
During the events of the game an earthquake kills 10k people in China (Magazine)
CyberLife has partnership with the Department of Defense in the development and supply of military androids, something that started in the early 30s after it was approved to limit human casualties in the battlefield (Magazine, Observation)
In 2031 the US gov ordered 2 million androids for use in the infantry, mostly SQ800 units already being deployed in 2032 replacing human soldiers.
Michigan also announced the purchase of 5k auxiliary androids to assist law enforcement department but following the 2029 Android Act they can't use weapons (PlayStation Blog)
U.S. Army soldiers are equipped with advanced equipment to keep up with their android "subordinates" (Gallery)
Stock exchange falls 10% on fear of Arctic conflict by 2038 (Magazine)
68% of men prefer sex with an android to a human woman and with 52% of men saying they’ve tried the experience at least once (Magazine)
CyberLife currently got around 120 million androids across the globe and some people suspect they're using 'em to spy on people (Magazine)
There are at least 200k military android units already in service across the US military by 2038 and the gov is buying more for the Arctic conflict, an effort to double the infantry size (Magazine)
The US Army is 60~80% android, with humans mainly as commanders and strategists but they tend to use complex AIs to help with assistance (Magazine)
Sales of android intimate partners are very high as lotta men and women prefer living with an android than a human partner (Magazine)
Birthrate is at record low, population decline is said to be irreversible, marriage is in decline as traditional families become “thing of the past” and the divorce rate only increases (Magazine, News, Observation)
US is currently in an "antidepressant epidemic" due to the constant contact with technology, with people even lacking emotional development (Magazine)
The AX400 price is $899 by 2038 (Magazine)
5% of the music market is produced by human musicians. An android boyband Here4U is favorite to win Best Act, Best Video at global music awards - which are human record awards (Magazine, News)
Scientists found "alien" life on Titan: microorganisms living hundreds of kilometers below the surface, in an ocean of salt water protected by a thick layer of ice. The machine-i-forgot-the-name was sent in 2019 (Magazine)
Lute turtles, polar bears, mountain gorillas, african elephants and several species of tiger are extinct by 2038, with CyberLife now making some sorta android zoos (Magazine)
Canada is an android-free zone they don't sell or have any laws about it there as they don't permit androids inside 'em borders (Magazine)
CyberLife has recently released a tech demo of a quaterback android, something that got the Anti-Android Fan Group pissed (Magazine)
There's some sorta quantum magnet being studied that got the potential of cleaning carbon from the air (Magazine)
The Anti-Automation League and CrowneCars representants are in a discussion about ethical decision-making capability of autonomous cars (Magazine)
CyberLife has made a new quantum supercomputer, capable of one billion billion operations per second used to calculate the probability of mass extinction events (Magazine)
Hackers targeting systems like solar panels for ransom seems to be common thing (Magazine)
NASA announced the launch of a five android crew to explore Io (first time it's a full-machine crew). The journey will last three years (Magazine)
CyberLife is a trillionaire company by 2038, they were already billionaires a decade before (Magazine)
The first android ever officially released by CyberLife was the ST200 Chloe, costing 65k in 2024. By 2027 they already had 1mi androids sold (PlayStation Blog)
[continues on the next reblog]
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full-of-malice · 9 months ago
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me and my friends are being bitter about ai and nanowrimo again. as one of the kids who was part of the group that made the tag of "#nanopocalypse" as a term for what was happening on our website as we were silenced and groomed and our lives went to shit. our lives were falling apart. it was the nanopocalypse for us. that's why we called it that and have referred to the entire situation as that. and we were the only ones who actually put anything in the "#anti nanowrimo" tag to begin with to talk about our hatred and struggles with being groomed. a desperate and ignored attempt to call awareness
so as someone who put in the work and lost days of my life and will not be the same person again and put tears and long days while trying to juggle my school and personal life, checking in on my friends and ensuring that they were okay, it feels really shitty honestly to watch tumblr take the nanopocalypse tag so they can make themselves feel good by talking shit about the ai policy. it's Exhausting. you guys are a solid year late in support and hatred for nano that we could've used when we were trying to get the website halfway shut down. we have been Trying to tell you. there were tiktoks, twitter, threads, youtube videos, tumblr posts, and it's just exhausting that suddenly the trendy hatred of ai is what gets popular. idk if feels like you all just jump on the trend to be the cool savior and hate on ai and write their posts that do nothing informative of helpful and just say "fuck nanowrimo" instead of hating on it for the actually important reasons.
nanopocalypse was the specific instance a year ago in november of 2023, when ywp (young writer program) website users were sick of being abused, neglected, and being in the dark. the mods started banning us just for voicing our issues and wanting change. we took to. the adult forums and talked to adult users who were in the midst of the own issues as well. we finally found adults who believed our struggles and were on our side. on their website there was child grooming involved too, the fbi was allegedly getting contacted it was so bad. after years finally someone was listening. yet within days they turned on us and told us we were too young and had no place in "their home" of the website and that our concerns for our community and wanting to be involved were no necessary. they started twisting our words against us and picking us apart. i spent days fighting with adults just for basic things, adults who claimed not two or three days ago that they supported us and would fight for us and were so sorry for the way we were treated only to turn around and treat us remarkably the same. there was one nanopocalypse.
it's exhausting to have to reiterate our struggles to people on the internet who don't and won't listen, but don't use our terms that we a group of abused and groomed teens made for a one time occurrence and tag that was for us and our struggles a place for us to talk and raise awareness. a place that got ignored until a year too late so ai issues could talk over us.
so fuck nanowrimo. not for the ai, but for the children who suffered for years in silence. the ai should be an afterthought, not the front of the problem.
if anyone's interested either in a separate post or in the reblogs i'll make an extensive list of any youtube videos, tiktoks, tumblr post links, and twitter links that i know of on the situation if you want. i will gladly answer any question anyone has because i've tried to educate people on this for a long time and no one will listen
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marxistmuslimah · 7 months ago
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Last month I made a post about how I believed the "left" would turn on Muslims the nano second people stopped caring about the Palestinian people and I was wrong, it happened when the Syrian people rid themselves of a brutal dictator.
The "left" is so fucking infuriating like they look at Gaza and rightfully say "this is awful and needs to stop" but then looks at Syria and goes "well Assad likes the Palestinians so this is bad" like WHAT???.
Assad and his family murdered thousands of Syrian Palestinians and gassed their own people, like aren't we supposed to support people in taking back their own freedom. What happened to the leftist supporting Rojava and a Syria free from Assad, where did they go cause we need those people back.
And then the critzeism of HTS, SNA and surprisingly the SDF once people realized that the U.S backed them, like obviously trusting a former Al-Qaeda guy is difficult for most and impossible for others alongside a Turkish backed group which is a state hellbent on the genocide of the Kurdish people.
These people aren't saying that they don't trust them their just calling them all rebels (at times including the Kurds) ISIS, this whole time as just reminded me when Russian invaded into Ukraine and these same "leftists" started going full Russian and viewing them as some anti imperialist force and it's truly just obvious to me that these people aren't even on the left in any sort of way but are just opportunists who view anything america or it's allies to bad and everything else as good.
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negrowhat · 4 months ago
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ThamePo Final Thoughts
Okay before I do some proper ThamePo spam I wanted to share my thoughts after leaving the club when I was the only one in there because everyone already left...
I think overall the series was pretty solid. The kids from LYKN were great. I do see why people loved LEGO as NANO because the boy is so cute and filled with personality. Loved MARS as a group even though I found Jun annoying on his own. They were a true brotherhood and their lil Content House was super cute, I love that they had their own places but still spent pretty much all their time in their shared home. I do love how the group clowned Thame for not spending the night with Po. The overall group dynamic (including Po) was very enjoyable and fun. Po really fit right in and the group really leaned on him and he supported them well. If it weren't for him they would not have the success they gained.
I think WilliamEst were super sweet as Thame and Po. I was a little worried about watching it because I thought I wasn't going to like Po. It's honestly because I took one look at Po's Deer Boy face and how he always looked confused in all the content I had seen. I thought he was going to be one of those shy pushovers who seemed to terrified to speak. But I'm glad to say I was wrong and that Po actually wound up being my favorite character from the series.
Sure he was quiet but I do appreciate that he never backed down and he fought for himself, and his friends, and for what he believed in. He stood firmly on business.
Thame turned out to be the sweetest guy ever. He took his role as leader of MARS very seriously and really chose to shoulder all the problems on his own. I was glad that he found a person like Po who he could trust to help him shoulder some of that weight until he was able to piece his group back together and share that weight with them. He definitely grew as a leader and put more trust in his group and made them feel worthy of being there which is how they were so easily able to orchestrate a plan to rescue their leader by the end of the series.
I said it a few times during my LB but I think Thame and Po had a real classic type of "talking stage" as they called it. It was very old school and reminded me of when I was younger. The sweet long phone calls, the texting back and forth with pics, the walking each other to places, Thame always visiting Po and his other job, and even their plans for the cinema date. They were very sweet to each other and since they both knew how they felt about each other they could really take their time to get to the part where they needed to label each other. I even found Thame's jealousy funny and cute. I do appreciate that they never lashed out on each other and I love that they talked.
Now for the things I didn't like. I think some parts of the eps dragged a bit. I found a lot of conversations between Thame and Po just felt long because of the many, many pauses between sentences. I also skipped all the music bits and that last song they had they performed it like 12 times in 4 eps. I know MARS is a real group but I just don't like music in my series IDK why, but I always skip the music. Maybe I'll give LYKN a proper listen outside of the series.
Also didn't like how the series wanted to redeem everyone. I do appreciate that Baifern learned from her toxic behavior and took accountability for being part of the problem. She for sure owes Gam an apology. I will take that redemption because you can see she actually did learn and grow.
Also that excuse they used that fans were mad about PepperGam because they thought he would "love them less" with a girlfriend was bullshit. If you're going to call out toxic fan behavior then call it out. Those fangirls were mad because in their lil hearts as long as Pepper was single they felt he was attainable. They centered themselves in their lil parasocial relationship. Fans feel entitled to their faves personal lives and act like little monsters when their faves are taken off the market. Let's be real. If you stop supporting your fave because they get into a relationship then you were never a fan to begin with.
And personally I feel GMMTV should've done better with the whole toxic stan discussion considering how attacked their actors are on a regular basis for being in relationships outside of their branded ships and for breaking up with their designated partner.
But that CEO lady?????? Naw fuck her. I didn't like that the series tried to make it seem like she was on their side in the end. That chick was a trash person through and through and I don't accept her change of heart. I'm also side eyeing Mick because he was clearly aware of all the wrongdoings and chose to do nothing until the very end. But whatever.
Also didn't like the inconsistencies with the fans. They were only present when it was convenient. Thame and Pepper and all the other members literally walked around in public all the time with zero fan encounters which I found completely unrealistic. Thame literally only wore his hood halfway up and he was holding hands and hugging Po all in public and NO ONE SAW???? And then suddenly pictures of them and PepperGam appear from where???? I just didn't like it at all.
But overall, I think the series was good. A solid 7.8/10.
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vvatchword · 10 months ago
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fall is in the air. And usually that kicks off remembrances of NaNoWriMo.
With their handling of the child predator, the child-centric programs with no safety features, and now their support of AI...
I can't NaNo anymore in any good faith.
There was a program called "Book or Bust" in the middle of the year--write a book over June and July, at about 650 words per day. I think people everywhere are suggesting alternatives of similar types. And honestly?
It's a great thing, writing altogether. I don't doubt we'll make another big group to write in. But also? NaNoWriMo didn't have to be a company. It started as a group of friends. There's no reason we can't just make it highly personal and find friends to write with.
I know all this.
And yet I'm so damn sad. NaNo was a source of such happiness for me. And now... sigh.
just sigh.
I don't believe I'm the world's special victim or anything, but it is wild how and when my supports have been stripped from me. NaNoWriMo was always so important. It will always be an important part of my past. Honestly, that hurts. It's like I had a special holiday and now that holiday is just POOF! Gone.
I love writing with other people so I'd prefer another big event... if anyone has any writing projects or goals and wants someone to work with, just contact me ok <3
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lauravanarendonkbaugh · 9 months ago
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Thoughts on A Message from NaNoWriMo
I got an email today from the National Novel Writing Month head office, as I suspect many did. I have feelings. And questions.
First, I genuinely believe someone in the office is panicking and backtracking and did not endorse all that was said and done in the last month. From what I understand, the initial AI comments were not fully endorsed by all NaNo staff and board members, or even known in advance. It's got to be rough to find out your organization kinda called people with disabilities incapable of writing a story on their own, and overtly called people with ethics racists and ablists, by reading the reactions on social media--and then your organization's even worse counter-reactions on social media.
I still think NaNoWriMo has a good mission and many people in it with good goals.
But I think NaNoWriMo is SERIOUSLY missing a point in its performative progressivism. (For the record, I'm actually in favor of many progressive policies, and I support many of the same concepts NaNoWriMo claims to support, and I applaud providing materials to underfunded schools and support to marginalized groups historically not producing as many writers, etc. The issue here is not "whether or not woke is okay" -- it's whether or not the virtue signaling is still in line with the core mission.)
Also, honesty. (That's below.)
NaNoWriMo has ALWAYS been on the honor system AND fully adaptable to needs. Some years I had a schedule which absolutely did not allow for 50k new words -- I adjusted my personal goals. (I did not claim a 50k win if I did not achieve one, but I celebrated a personal win for achieving personal goals.) Some years I wrote 50k in one project, and some 50k across multiple projects. NaNoWriMo has acknowledged this for years with the "NaNo Rebel" label.
So saying out of the blue that because some people cannot achieve 50k in a month, we should devalue the challenge (y'know that word has a definition, right?) and allow anyone to claim a win whether they actually wrote 50,000 words or not... Well, that's not only rude to writers who actually write, but it was unnecessary, because project goals have always been adjustable to personal constraints.
It's also hugely unhelpful to participating writers. Yeah, writing 50k words in a month is tough. That's why it's a challenge. Allowing people to "generate" (quotes intentional) words from a machine does not improve their skills. No one benefits from using AI to generate work -- not the "writer" who did not write those words and so did not practice and improve a skill, not any reader given lowest-common-denominator words no one could be bothered to write, and not the actual writer whose words were stolen without compensation to blend into the AI-generated copy-pasta.
Hijacking language about disability to justify shortcuts and skipping self-improvement is just cheap, and it's not fair to people with disabilities.
I would much rather see NaNoWriMo say, "Hey, we don't all start in the same place, and we may need different goals. Here's overt permission to set personal goals" (or maybe even, "here are several goals to choose from"), "and if you are a NaNo Rebel, rock on! This creativity challenge does require you to do your own work, in order for you to see your own skills improve."
And, honesty. Part of why I don't feel great about NaNoWriMo's backtracking and clarifications is that they're still not being open.
The same email links to an FAQ about data harvesting, which opens with this sentence:
Users of our main website, NaNoWriMo.org, do not type their work directly into our interface, nor do they save or upload their work to our website in any way.
This is technically correct in the present tense, but for years it wasn't. Every NaNo winner for years pasted their work into the word counter for verification. That was, by every web development definition, uploading.
[Updated: the word count validator was discontinued in recent years, and I was wrong to originally write as if it was still happening. I do think addressing the question of the validator would be appropriate when refuting accusations of data harvesting, for clarity and assurance regarding any past harvesting, especially giving today's AI scraping concerns. Again, as stated below, I don't think the validator was stealing work! But I wasn't the only person to immediately think of the validator when reading the FAQ. I was, however, wrong to state it as present-tense here.]
To be clear, I do not believe that NaNoWriMo is harvesting my work, or I wouldn't have verified wins with their word counter. But that's not because of this completely bogus assurance that their website never had the upload that they've required for win verification.
"Well, sure, we had the word counter, but it didn't store your work, and you should have known that's what we meant" is not a valid expectation when you are refuting data concerns. Just as "You should have known what we meant" is not a valid position when clarifying statements about the use of generative AI.
My point is, there are a number of different people making statements for NaNoWriMo, and at least some of them are not competent to make clear, coherent, and correct statements. Either they are not aware that the word counter exists, or they're not aware that pasting data into a website that uses that data to process a task is in fact uploading, or they are not aware that implying they've never collected data they did previously collect in a FAQ is dishonest. Or they are not aware that commenting or DMing users to castigate them for expressing legitimate concerns is not a good practice. Or they are missing the whole point of a writing challenge and emphasizing instead the warm fuzzies of inclusion without actually honoring that marginalized people also want to feel a sense of accomplishment rather than being token "winners."
I judged another writing challenge, once, which included an automatically-processed digital badge for minimum word count. One of the entries was just gibberish repeated to meet the minimum word count. Okay, "participant" who did not actually create anything -- you got your automated digital badge, so I guess you feel cool and clever. But did you meet the challenge? Did you level up? Did you come out stronger and more prepared for the next one?
That's what generative AI use does. Cheap meaningless win, no actual personal progress. That's why we didn't want it endorsed in NaNoWriMo. That's what NaNo is missing in their replies.
And I remain suspicious of replies, anyway, while absolute falsehoods are in their FAQ.
It's sad, because I've truly enjoyed NaNoWriMo in the past. And I actually do think they could recover from past scandal and current AI missteps. But it does not look at this time like they're on that path.
@nanowrimo
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hils79 · 2 months ago
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Hils Watches Thamepo - Ep 13
I can't believe I'm on the final episode already. It's gone so fast. I did not expect to love this drama as much as I do, and I definitely didn't expect to find a new group to stan in the process. I'm already seriously considering pre-ordering their first album when it comes out.
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I do love that Thame is basically a damsel in distress being kept locked in a tower and it's up to Po and the rest of Mars to rescue him
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Of course their whole plan hinges on Po. He's the knight who has to save the damsel
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Oh I really hope she's part of their plan and reunites with Pepper. The straight couple deserve a happy ending too!
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I love the whole astronaut concept for a group called Mars, but they made Pepper a science officer so he's Dr Pepper 😂
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I wonder who that could be
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Come with me if you want to live
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I still can't believe Mick has turned out to be there hero of this whole drama
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YESSSSSSS! The fandom uniting behind them!
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.
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Such a shame
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I mean you put their whole fansite on hiatus because you, personally, were upset that Pepper had a girlfriend so I'd say you are at least a little bit responsible, yes.
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Aww, there we go. Growth.
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Aww there she just wants him to be happy. Proud of you!
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I literally just remembered that they broke up
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I mean you could probably get another job as a director now that you have a successful mv on your resume. And Thame has an existing fanbase even though they've had to set up their own company, so they won't be starting from scratch either. But yes, very sweet that you will both be broke for the foreseeable future
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Aww Pepper is the leader now?
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She's secretly proud of them even though she tried repeatedly to break them up and sell Thame to Korean. Okay, sure.
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Yay! They're back together!
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I fully support Nano and his...what are we calling them...Dyljun? His Dyljun agenda.
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Please do not
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Can't wait for her to find out that her best friend is dating a member of the group that she stans
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LMAO her face!
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This looks like a subway ad in a kdrama
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Please kiss
Aww yay that was lovely! Very much enjoyed it. I think the only thing that didn't make me give this 10/10 was they never really addressed the whole 'idols aren't allowed to date' thing. Was that just a rule for their old company? Does no one care that Thame is openly dating another man? It was lovely overall but I'd give it 9.5/10 because of that.
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thebroccolination · 5 months ago
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Sorry, ThamePo, the ship I built myself has my entire heart now.
In my headcanon, Dylan and Nano started dating during the group’s break and aren’t going to tell anyone mainly to prove that they’re the best at hiding. (Canon Support: Dylan’s whole “I’ve been listening in on you fools for years by using my headphones as a ruse” thing.)
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The couple that bitches together stays together.
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