#SOURCES ARE LINKED ON THE YOUTUBE VIDEO BTW I'M NOT JUST LINKING IT AS A MIRROR FOR ONCE

[04tenno]

8 characters confirmed for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the first entry in the series to feature all faceclaims from the previous game!

[tomorrowillbeyou]

alright, i'm not sure how much of this is already commonly known but i have been investigating the source of these images:

and this video:

a comment on this blog post suggests that they were taken in sydney:

the upload date of the video also dates the events to before january 2008. we know that tucker rule and james dewees were there. the song they're singing is gloves by reggie and the full effect:

for these reasons, i THOUGHT that the photos and video were taken at the sydney entertainment center on november 30th 2011. reggie and the full effect opened for mcr that night and gloves was on their setlist:

this is backed up by this youtube comment on the dancing queen video talking about fluxuation in sydney (i unfortunately can't find the video it mentions but the channel is here):

tucker talks about playing for mcr in australia in 2007 in this podcast clip:

this was what i THOUGHT. and i was going to post this but i thought i should do a little more research just to see if i could find anything more. and i stumbled across this livejournal post:

every single image on the post is broken. but i'm pretty confident that the pictures we all know and love were in there.

^this one especially seems to line up. they were taken at a bar called the lobo plantation in sydney on november 29th 2011.

the captions of the other pictures make me SO mad that they were deleted. im so fucking curious. well thank you to deleted livejournal user theyoungpretend for (probably) being the one to post these historical images. if anyone knows of any way to access the rest pls lmk (tinypic went down and all the images hosted on there were deleted)

also this picture seems to have been taken on the same night??

here are some more (questionably worded unfortunately. like some of these are really insane) posts which mention what happened:

x (i think this may be from one of the people in the picture above?), x, x, x (hidden in. ryan ross/matt cortez fic?), x, x, x, x, x, x (masterpost where almost all the links are broken). ive saved all of these on the wayback machine in case they ever get deleted.

this iconic ray moment was the day after btw:

if anyone has any more info or any pics PLEASE let me know!!!!!!

[puckpocketed]

you prob have but have you seen fowler’s helmet design it is such a delight

hello hi helloo!!! I am not a goalie guy or mask guy usually but you got me on a little rabbit hole :> i love a quick a lengthy afternoon research project!!!

Jacob Fowler has a few notable masks so i suppose we should talk about all of them? I'm not sure which helmet you are referencing so! here goes!!

First, to get it out of the way, Fowler wore a white mask through his minor/junior hockey career. I do enjoy the blank design for narrative reasons (underestimated and ignored btw. passed over in juniors drafts btw. if u even CARE!!!!) but i think this is prob not the one you are asking about. I am currently NOT in the mood for a deeep web search to find nice close-up photos of him in the gear but Bauer's official shop has Fowler's gear set listed here. And here is their shop image of the mask + a photo from Fowler's EP page:

link 1, archive link // link 2, archive link

I was gonna say, I do think its funny that they've put up an image with the wrong bar style. Bauer's photo uses the "grid" style bars (left) and Fowler's cage in the image features "cats-eye" bars (right), but upon further inspection Fowler DID use the grid style mask at some point.

link, archive link

He swapped from the grid to the cats-eye and has not gone back, and I'm gonna assume the discrepancy on Bauer's site has to do with what masks are certified by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA Group) and The Hockey Equipment Certification Council (HECC)...? Short article on mask certifications can be found here // archive link. tl;dr cats-eye bars aren't certified! Here's a fun youtube video I came across a while back about the history of goalie masks! (It's fully cited and sourced... beautiful..... really great material, highly recommend the watch if you have 30 mins free !)

and alrighty I think maybe the mask you were talking about was this one:

post by vicedesign on instagram. link 1, archive link // link 2, archive link

for those following along at home, this is Fowler's Boston College Eagles mask! Here is the instagram video where he explains it. notable facts under the cut because this post is getting long as HELL.

his first mask as a kid was an iron man design mask, and when it came time to choose a design he went back to that!

the host notes that the design is very on-theme for Eagles hockey colours, and that it's a "full-circle" moment <3 I just think that's neat !

the license plate on the back is a reference to where he's from; it's important to him that he reps florida because there's "not too much hockey down there"

The numbers on the license plate are for his mother's birthday

"take me home, country roads" quote is because he spent his summers in West Virginia!

The license plate is SOOO good. I love the colours, the little cartoon oranges. and speaking as a once-iron man enjoyer... LOVE!!! i think also the symmetry of having your mask art be a literal helmet is so fun <3 I'd like to know what city skyline is painted on the side but I fear this would never get published if I attempted to go down that research hole....

And finally, Fowler's most recent mask, which debuted at habs development camp:

link 1, archive link // link 2, archive link

post by pbkreation on instagram. link, archive link // second photo is screenshot of the instagram vid.

If you are reading this and haven't already heard about it or summarily been struck by lightning at the familiarity of the mask... Fowler has chosen to emulate the mask design of legendary Canadiens goalie Patrick Roy.

Here is one incarnation of this mask that Roy wore as a Canadien, for reference:

link 1, archive link // link 2, archive link

(super funny that he chose Roy, who notoriously did NOT end things with the Habs on good terms...) People took note of the mask the MOMENT he came out in it and I have . ough. MANY thoughts on Fowler's choice to invite the conversations, to evoke the past, what with all the Carey-Price-Come-Again comparisons. probably more on this at some point when i feel less unwell about it and have done more reading.

it's a really fun spot the difference game to me!! Fowler has the text running along the side, his name in that distinct lettering. The Habs logo on the forehead is updated but still in the same spot. the logo on the chin does not feature Fowler's player number the same way that Roy's has his #33. the bars on Fowler's mask are white rather than blue. The back of Fowler's mask of course features the Florida license plate!! <3 i really hope he keeps that motif for every mask he has going into the future. All in all, it's a tribute to the past, but it has a unique Jacob Fowler twist !

In this video he explains the mask. Notes:

pbkreations did Fowler's special mask for his Boston College vs Boston University match up

Fowler wanted to do something that represented his family's connection to the Habs! <3

Palm trees on the back!! FLORIDA BOY!!!!

it's a pretty close replica even down to the holographic 'les canadiens' text..!

he clarifies that the mask design is likely just for dev camp. when the host asks him if he'll wear it in a habs uniform, he diplomatically answers the question but avoids confirming that he'll go through with it (veeeerry communications major of him. lol)

Personally i am sooo charmed and endeared by his little florida license plate and his plucky invite to the hockey gods with the invocation of a legendary habs goalie. <3 jacob fowler YOU are goin in my pocket !!!

Anyway, anon thank you for derailing my entire afternoon (with affection) today was supposed to be a gifing day but I got very blissfully side-tracked by Fowler's goalie helmet lore!! Thanks for allowing me to test run my new sourcing/linking policies on a long post :3 hope this was to your liking!!

[astrologycharts242]

The 2nd house of money sources (using Khloe Kardashian's sidereal chart)

I have a video about this on YouTube and the other apps.

The 2nd house of money sources.

The 2nd house originally ruled by Taurus represents many things in astrology like your childhood, family lineage, face, teeth, speech. It baffles me too when I come across posts on Tumblr or TikTok of people saying the 4th house represents your family and roots. Which is crazy because even if you're one of those people into elemental astrology. It would make more sense for an earth sign like Taurus to be more connected to "roots." The 4th house relates to the mother, household and home environments you reside in or own.

Anyways I'm digressing.

Back to the 2nd house. I've noticed the 2nd house represents your whole entire family not just the family you would live with or grew up with. It describes the relationship with or how members in your family act. Think of the 2nd house as like a family cookout.

Are your family members getting along? Do they always bicker amongst each other?

When I said lineage for example some people grow up being habeshas because that's what their whole family even generations are about. You put something like ketu/south node in the 2nd house now that person detaches away from wanting to be a habesha. You can say the 2nd house represents family traditions/beliefs as well. Which means it can probably describe the type of family you end up procreating. The rest of the houses throughout the birth chart would describe how family members and how you interact with them on an individual basis. For example the 3rd house would show what type of cousins I'll have, and how we interact with each other. The 2nd house is just the foundation and origins of your family's background.

Now I want to talk about how the 2nd house shows ways we make money. It's like it shows what will be the reason how we get our resources and money.

Hence why I call it the house of money sources.

Whereas the 11th house would show the limit of how much money we can obtain like our salaries or income. Some people make millions while others make minimum wage in the same profession that's what the 11th house represents. Ultimately no matter how much you make the 2nd house will show what will you do with hat saved up money. Will you save it? Are you overprotective of it? Do you care about the money you have saved up? Btw savings in astrology from my research could be money you had set aside under the mattress, money you have currently in your wallet or bank account. Basically money you have stored anywhere. The 2nd house I've noticed from the transits shows the money we have saved up will we waste it or save it correctly.

You'll see that there are no planets in the 2nd or 8th house so I have to look for the planet that rules or is the lord of the 2nd house. Jupiter rules pisces in the 11th house.

Things of the 2nd house go into the 11th house. These two houses basically merge together. Her ways of getting money is coming from the 11th house stuff. Which can be older siblings like Kim or friends helping her make money. They would definitely help her because Jupiter is a planet that brings new opportunities and shows what we get more of. Basically older siblings will help her make more money. When it comes to friends these could even be friends on social media, followers on social media, fans on social media. People she would call friends on social media but never even met them in person. Whenever I see the 2nd and 11th house being connected. I would notice musicians, actresses/actors, models, public speakers or people that do advertising have this sort of placement. Advertising even for commercial as an actor in it. Mostly it's the musician part. The reason for that is because the 2nd house represents speech and it's connected to the house of earnings and income.

Basically they have to use their speech heavily just to earn an income. It could be them speaking on behalf of an organization. Models and actresses have this placement because the 2nd house represents the face and teeth so they have to somehow utilize those things to make a living.

It sounds crazy right? Until you see this.

Maybe I'm just crazy idk. Did you notice how on Wikipedia it said she teamed up with her sisters? Additionally Khloe's 2nd house can show someone that makes money from social media. To narrow things down I need to see Jupiter's impact on the 11th house because that Jupiter placement will explain how she makes money. Btw also whenever the house of savings is connected to earnings especially with a planet like Jupiter being involved. It can easily show Khloe loves to save her money. The money she makes through her own income and salary. It also indicates a person that makes money due to the influence of family like an actual family business. Replay the video over to the part where I was referring to traditions and habeshas. Khloe is known for being a Kardashian right? Being a Kardashian makes her money right?

Jupiter in the 11th house is perfect for money because it shows her salaries wouldn't have limitations in this lifetime. For example as she gets older her yearly incomes would continuously expand ESPECIALLY during her Jupiter antardashas. A real good placement for someone that can earn lots of money through networking. Now this Jupiter is about advising, managing, coaching, and consulting people. Whether it's for an organization or doing the consulting via social media. It could be an organization that's only on social media like a website or a Facebook group. Shoots some people like to bring up how the 11th house represents humanitarian organizations like P.E.T.A. because of the aquarius influence.

Jupiter is in the Sagittarius sign so she consults people of different ethnicities and races about morals, doing the right thing based on her own beliefs. Her beliefs aren't too negative with this type of Jupiter. Beliefs could be about anything whether religious or not. I believe everybody in the world should pay me to read their birth chart. Those are my beliefs 😹😹. She could be consulting people by using her higher education. For example some people have a degree in business management so they can manage how organizations should be functioning. Khloe was pursuing business administration in college so that still counts as her higher education. How she does all of the advising for people on social media or dictating to people how they should do things the right way? Is obviously gonna be through face (modeling,) or speech. Did PETA paid her idk but going by what I just said it's very likely. This Jupiter being in the purva ashadha nakshatra puts more emphasis on her consulting people about things information technology or even tutoring. Basically she probably mentors, or coaches people in an organization or online to make a living. I definitely think she advises people on how her websites should be operated. Due to the purva ashadha influence. Next I'll discuss how she makes money by using her moon chart. I will also make a video soon talking about Khloe Kardashian's relationships. Her 5th house. Follow me on the other apps I'm out.

[matan4il]

Hello!

I saw your post where you spoke about the 911's cast and writers being aware of Buddie, and the explicit support from some of the cast for Canon!Buddie.

I am quite new to the fandom and so I was wondering if there were any links you could source for this? I am genuinely curious :)

Funnily enough, I started 911 after loving LS, and saw a lot of buddie content on 911 blogs. I figured it was typical queerbaiting (tumblr 2012 era was ✨️ traumatising ✨️ and so resolved not to ship them.

But then I watched the show and yeah…there were definitely interesting choices made that make Buddie such an intricately beautiful ship. It's a slow burn to rival all slow burns :fire:

Needless to say, I'm now 100% on board!

Hi lovely Nonnie and welcome to the fandom! :D I hope you enjoy everything about it and I am so glad to hear you're on board! *hugs*

Okay, for links... TBH I mostly remember things as they happen, I'm less into saving links, but for you I made the effort, I traced my own steps (who knew I actually remembered where I yelled about certain things two and a half years ago? The power of Buddie), and found the source to the stuff I had in mind when I said Ryan, Oliver, JLH and Gavin have all shown support for Buddie. Her we go...

Let's start with Gavin! Obviously it was explained to him in age-appropriate terms, so take that into account, but still, look at how pure his response is (interview from Oct 2021):

And then they went and they filmed the lasagna scene in 601. You can't tell me that doesn't mean anything!

Now Oliver and Ryan have both expressed support for Buddie more than once, for example you can find my post showing how they were the ones who named our ship! In terms of official interviews, they've mostly given answers that are noncommittal but supportive, stuff along the lines of making sure they don't raise fans' expectations (in case it doesn't happen), but also letting us know they do like the enthusiasm for Buddie, and would be cool if 911 went that way. So most are kind of... let's say diplomatic. I will, however, throw in this live that Ryan did where at first, he had a few answers of that vanilla sort (encouraging the shippers, not promising anything, leaving room for Buddie to happen, but also leaving room for fans who don't want Buddie, and sort off summarizing with, "We'll see what Tim writes"). But then he got a question about Abby and I don't think he could help it, the Buddie shipper just jumped out of him, which I love. I edited and uploaded it to YouTube for you, since stupid Tumblr only allows me to directly upload one vid a post here:

Lastly, but maybe my personal fave, in May 2020, a gay fan of JLH uploaded to his personal IG account a video that he asked her to film with a message for his husband's bday. Here's the relevant part of the vid which I've edited and uploaded for you, where JLH is basically being all of us:

BTW, this is also a reply to the Nonnie who sent this ask:

I know about Ryan, Oliver and JLH but when did Gavin say anything about that?

I hope I managed to answer both of you! Have a great day, and as always, here's my ask tag.

[kiwasmessycorner]

tysm!!

https://www.tumblr.com/crystalclear2000s/743215698834227200/girlllll-what-should-i-script-for-my-jjk-dr-pls?source=share

also i only watched a couple episodes of the show i’m ngl but i really like it, i just don’t have time to watch 😭, what’s a domain ? and are there important things i need to know? i’m gonna try to watch the show when i can but i need your opinion 😭

can i be 👑 anon?

First, I'd love to have you as the 👑 anon! (I'm currently writing my masterlist, so I'm apologizing for answering your second ask a bit late!)

Second, def keep on watching when you have the time as things like domaineExpansions and other words are explained in the show itself as well! To help you get a better understanding, I've linked some short (1-3) minute videos that explain several concepts in the show quite well!

(All of them were made by Manganimist on YouTube so credits to him!)

Jujutsu Kaisen Basics explained

Sorcerer Grading System explained

The next 4 links included some characters and information/concepts introduced in the 2nd half of the season, so a bit of a spoiler warning ig?

Binding Vows explained

Reversed Cursed Technique explained

Heavenly Restriction explained

Black Flash explained

Domain expansion explaination from the fandom jjk wiki:

"Domain Expansion is the most supreme technique of any jujutsu user. It is achieved by expanding one's innate domain with cursed energy while using a barrier to construct it inside a separate space. The caster then imbues their cursed technique within the barrier to complete the expansion, allowing them to deploy their ability all throughout the domain.

A specific hand sign or signal unique to the user is required to expand someone's respective domain. From the outside, a domain's barrier is normally completely closed, making it appear as a floating black sphere that can even be moved slightly if needed."

I promise it makes more sense if you continue watching, in fact (mini spoiler) 3-4 characters are going perform an expansion in season 1!

And lastly, here are some things I think you should know:

-If you ever get attached to any of the characters (or if you already are), make sure to script some sort of specific safety for them (you'll find out why soon😭)

- know and plan out your technique or that you're at least op, so you never really have to worry about the curses as some of them are REALLY strong, even the ones that seem harmless

-if you're a student, 100% script in that Gojo/the others teach you well: throughout the series I had the feeling a lot of the stuff that happened could have turned out differently/ better if the kids knew a lot more 😭

- straight up avoid the zenin family in your DR tbh (besides Maki and Mai ofc) they are...interesting. (Again, you'll understand watching more of the anime/reading the manga)

- sometimes (esp in season 1) the episodes may seem a bit boring (atleast for me) but it gets better as it goes on and season 2 had me instantly hooked in every single episode!

-make sure to watch the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie AFTER the season 1 finale!

- watch the episodes in season 1 till the end. They always have some fun sort of skit and an amazing outro as well😋

- and of course, have your fun with the story and characters! Neither the story nor the fandom is perfect, but I'd still recommend it for anyone to give it a try and go with your own flow!

(Btw, who are you fav characters so far?👀)

That's all I can think about so far....again, I'm still open for any more ask (and have some more time next week as well!!)

Thanks for your 2nd ask, 👑 anon! :)

[betweenlands]

"abridged" version of "what if dominion members but notitg gimmicks" from me and @autisticlalna yelling at each other last night

(WARNING: a lot of these have general eye-strain inducing effects, from screen flashing intentionally, to arrows flying all over the place and/or things slamming into the foreground, to rapid flickering from something not recording at the right fps. please view responsibly!)

legundo's charts have minimal and very readable mods but their stepwork is more technical and difficult. brackets (hitting two adjacent notes with one foot on the corner) and laterals (i don't know how to explain laterals i'm sorry) and difficult patterns and the like. he also does driven drops a lot (notes losing color optional, someone else gets that one)

sneve is a mawaru or a random box -- he throws gimmicks (from other non-rhythm games) at you, Good Luck. The Heck is a really good non-mawaru chart for him though

viking's charts are . we gave him a lot of gimmicks he's a little nightmarish. probably a multi-chart boss character. sugarkill/receptor scrambling, a variant of the note obscuring from private eye (instead of it hiding one player's colors, it hides a specific color/rhythm of note), switching playfield vision (and also whatever you call this gimmick in super reactor), switching playfield vision again: peeesh edition, and weird receptor rotation. viking in general is just "better keep track of your notes buddy" (he also gets some haunted houses but i. don't fully understand what those are i just know he needs to have them because He Is A Ghost)

shadowmech is Good Luck Chunking, Asshole in specifically the screen damage way. he gets fafnir's screen slash and the screen damage from destroy. throws notes directly at your face

taneesha gets these petal effects as snow, but her main thing is clear notes/colorless notes.

mongo gets screen distortion along the lines of an "underwater" shader alongside having some simple dpads

grady gets portals and/or a rapidly moving playfield, alongside having a lot of meaner d-pads! (flashing warning on that last link, the flicker effect is busted on youtube)

jamie scrungles your notes with funky shaders and does proxy marches! she also gets daikyi wheels because they are (direct quote from leo) "emotionally similar to a Horrible D-Pad"

jamie and grady also have a couples chart. 🅱️.... TWO! (apologies for linking to a really long video/commentated upload in this one. i was unable to find literally any other upload of び)

nukeri gets proxy walls and a judgement line gimmick. basically a nicer version of this bit from golden rule. he also gets a more consistent version of the ending of hymn which is a bit hard to describe. notes in the background. notes AS the background.

joy also gets proxy walls but hers are a little bit more... scooty. a lot of scrolling and movement from them, basically

josh gets teal notes, a sentence that means nothing to most people and strikes fear into the hearts of a select few (teal notes are on odd beats, 64ths or rhythmless). his mods/shaders aren't that bad though, to make up for it

kiply is just ayaze. she's just ayaze. that does mean she has overlap with sneve but it's different because source dude just trust me (jokes aside, the difference is kiply is "forces you to read other rhythm game formats" and sneve is "forces you to do a silly little minigame or fifteen")

red hits you in the face with notes a lot at a very high bpm (HUGE FLASHING WARNING FOR THIS ONE BTW. THIS IS THE MAIN REASON THAT WARNING IS UP THERE) she's not evil though she's just got the zoomies. she also does footswitches (hitting the same note with alternating feet) and jacks (hitting the same note a bunch in a row) because again: zoomies

fixxitt has been saved for the end of this post because fix is our 19. fix is an absolute nightmare. earlier fix charts have switches from standard reading to unorthodox playfields. later fix charts have, um. so imagine the SHAME cube. but multiple shapes onscreen at once. and only one of the cubes is showing the correct playfield.

finally: we don't have much for ryan or brock because neither of us really have the Vibes yet, but brock could have this bouncy bit from JUGGLE on account of. slimes bounce.

[dearweirdme]

I saw this in another blog:

"Tae was never supposed to go because this was jk's birthday gift to jm! He tweeted how jm's birthday wasn't over, only him not tae. He planned and paid for everything, only him not tae. This was a gift from jk to jm, so what would be the purpose of inviting tae??"

Do you have any idea where the source of this info is? I've never heard about this before. They're talking about the gcft btw. All I heard was it was supposed to be a maknae-line trip, but even that I dunno the source of. Also, didn't JK said there was no other choice? Looks like jkkrs are still hung up on this.

Hi anon!

You're making me summon the essay-leaving-jikook-anon here ;).

The way I see it is it's a lot of assuming from their part. Jimin spoke about Jk arranging the tickets, which doesn't directly mean he paid for all of it. But also, the guys have money... to them treating someone on a trip is what treating someone to dinner is to us. The tweet on Jimin's birthday to me looks like they just weren't finished celebrating that day. Jikookers made it to mean Jk was alluding to the Tokyo trip, but that is only because they try to connect some dots. There was a whole two weeks inbetween Jk's birthday tweet and their trip, so to me that tweet being about Jimin's birthday not being over yet to me makes more sense it being about the day itself.

All that's ever been said about the trip (that i'm aware of) is that: Maknea line discussed going together. Tae ended up not going, but Jimin and Jk still went. Jk arranged the tickets (which does not mean he payed for everything). Jk and Jimin have similar tastes in travel and similar habits that makes it enjoyable for them to travel together.

I'm going to do something funny and link to a Jikook vid on YouTube. It has the sources and dates organized well.

Now if you watch this vid while only looking at facts and without the assumption that Jimin and Jk are a couple in mind, all you are actually left with is: two friends enjoying a trip together. It was a big deal to them, since they were very young and it was their first trip together, without any managers or parental figures present. Does it matter that Tae wasn't there? No.

There is nothing romantic in any of their comments about the trip, there is nothing romantic in the footage we've seen. The only romantic connection that can be made, is the usage of the song by Martin Garrix and Troye Sivan "There for you", but Troye Sivan himself even said that to him that song was about the fans. Jk used romantic songs for several of his GCF's, with all members there. Songs are often used not litterally, but because of the feeling they convey.

The trip was highly commercialized. The trip itself might have been private, but when you make it so public afterwards it's imposible to keep claiming that it was entirely private. Stuff was meant to be seen and it was used to market a BTS friendship. Now that friendship is definitely real and strong. But that GCF video is till this day one of the strongest 'proofs' Jikookers have, and that is because it has been talked about by Jimin and Jk during interviews a lot. Is that an indication of it being a private trip, or is it an indication of it being used for marketing?

When looking at events factually (so without any notion of a romantic relationship in mind) all the evidence really points at is a strong friendship. Now the same can be said for Tae and Jk. That is where to me the body language and day to day interactions come into play, and I feel when looking at those there is clear difference between the way Jikook and Taekook act. Separate events are only details in a grander story, a consistency in intimacy will tell you way more about actual bonds between members.

So to conclude, Jk and Jimin do things together. They're friends, friends hang out often. Is it any indication of a romance, no. If I were to be romantically inclined with all my friends I took a trip with... boy would things get weird.

[bemusedlybespectacled]

Additional updates! OH JOY, OH RAPTURE.

Update 1 (short but awful):

Kat, Hbomb's producer, got emails claiming to be from James, including one that explicitly threatened suicide. We don't know if they are from James or not – they could be sockpuppet accounts or just imposters sending harassment – but clearly it was on Kat's mind, at the very least, when James posted the suicide note on Twitter.

Update 2 (MORE fraud): In addition to his Twitter and Tiktok sockpuppets, he had a LinkedIn account under a fake name with fake credentials (since deleted, but screenshots are below).

I am specifically calling them "fake credentials" for two reasons: 1) it's James Somerton, no one should believe a word he says without independent, documented proof to back him up, and 2) in his second apology video, he discussed at length how he'd had trouble finding jobs, both in and out of his areas of expertise, because he had epilepsy and therefore was considered a safety hazard, and so couldn't be insured under his employer's insurance. Because of his inability to work a "normal" job, he turned to Youtube for money.

Now, this is bullshit for different reasons: employment insurance is based on the kind of business and whether it's high or low risk (ex: the insurance premiums for a library are going to be much lower than those for a coal mine), not the safety profile of any individual employee, and anyone straight telling him "we don't think you can do this job because you have epilepsy" is looking at a very easy employment discrimination lawsuit. But regardless, that was his claim: "I can't work because I have a head injury."

So, there are three possible scenarios:

James is lying about his credentials on his LinkedIn, and does not have the experience he claims to have had. I'm particularly dubious of his claims to have attended Carleton University for his MBA the entire time he was a "Marketing Specialist and Account Manager" in London, on site, particularly given his other claims that he grew up extremely poor and was still poor enough to need a roommate (Nick) for the first few years of the channel, and AFAIK has never discussed living or working anywhere other than Canada. In both apologies, he only ever mentions moving between different locations in Canada, without mentioning anything like living in the UK for multiple years.

James was lying about his inability to work in his second apology video, and was in fact able to balance multiple jobs while also producing content for Youtube, and hold down those jobs for significant periods of time. This is all despite allegedly being turned away or fired from jobs due to his epilepsy and having such bad memory issues that he could not tell when something was written about his own experience or was copy-pasted from someone else.

James was lying about both: he is capable of working a regular 9-5, but something else (lack of experience, lack of work ethic, lack of the kind of prestige and money he'd want) keeps him grifting on the internet instead.

Sources and screenshots under the cut:

Additional link sources:

Transcripts of his first and second apologies, with commentary, since I reference both. Check out that whole site, btw, they have good breakdowns of the misinformation and plagiarism in his videos.

what's happening with James Somerton right now: a probably-incomplete primer

TW: suicide, including suicide as a threat and a manipulation tactic.

The short version:

James Somerton is a former Youtube essayist who focused entirely on queer history, queer media criticism, and queer issues in general. He is also a flagrant grifter who has made tens of thousands of dollars via fraud, both directly (lying about his finances to beg for money and getting donations for films he never even started making) and indirectly (stealing whole essays and articles and books, reading them out loud verbatim for his videos without indicating they were anything other than his own work, and then using the prestige he gained from using their work to get Patrons and sponsorships).

The story as told James and James apologists was that James attempted to apologize twice, was hounded mercilessly on the internet for weeks, and then, driven to the end of his rope, he posted a suicide note on Twitter, was MIA for several days, and from then on has been avoiding the internet.

The actual story, as revealed yesterday, was that James used two sockpuppet accounts to defend himself and parrot his talking points (again, while publicly claiming to be trying to take responsibility for his actions), using one to try to rebrand the con under a different name and another to deliberately stoke the panic caused by his suicide note. He was not only aware of the pain and anxiety he was causing people, but he encouraged it on one alt while hornyposting about his favorite movies on the other.

He is an unrepentant con artist who successfully used a suicide threat to prevent further interference with future cons. The only reason he was caught is because he is apparently incapable of going more than a couple of weeks without trying to get back in the internet spotlight, allowing people to tie his alts back to him. He lies for fun and profit and he should not be taken seriously, ever.

The long version:

In December 2023, Youtube essayist Hbomberguy (Harry Brewis) put out a four-hour-long video about plagiarism on the internet, and devoted two hours to addressing as much of JS's plagiarism as he could. I strongly recommend watching the entire thing, as the first two hours build on the concepts that he uses later in the video.

He also blew the whistle on James' fraud surrounding Telos, a studio James founded using thousands of dollars of IndieGoGo money that never actually produced any films despite him definitely working on them! Any day now they'll be released! Don't you worry!

A day later, Todd in the Shadows, a guy whose entire thing is music reviews, posted his own video debunking multiple outright lies that James had told about history, especially queer history. A few more days later, The Ace Couple, who run a podcast about asexuality, released an episode detailing how they'd lost $1.5k donating to Telos.

I have put the videos, Twitter threads, Patreon posts, and Reddit posts by other people discussing different aspects of James' fraud under the cut.

Every other time James was caught plagiarizing, prior to Harry's video, he would lie about it. Either he'd have some excuse (easily proven to be a lie) or he'd retreat to his favorite deflection: "I'm just being harassed because I'm gay."

This last lie was one he'd use not only to deflect accusations of plagiarism, but all criticism in general, no matter how trivial. Every time, the critic or someone associated with them would somehow dox him, or harass him, or send him death threats, or threaten to falsely accuse him of sexual assault.

This happened to The Ace Couple (who'd tried to correct him on something extremely acephobic in one of his videos), Jessie Gender (who'd tried to correct him when he claimed that there were no queer content creators on Nebula, given that she and a bunch of other queer creators were definitely on that platform), and the person who first blew the whistle on him stealing from Tinker Belles and Evil Queens by Sean Griffin (who was accused of being behind death threats he'd received, and hounded so harshly they had to leave Twitter).

It is important to note that every time James faced potentially damaging criticism, or even just a threat to his ego, suddenly he would claim to be harassed by people connected to the critic, including threats to his life. There has never been any proof of any threats being directed at him, nor evidence that, if the threats were real, that they are actually from people connected to the critic.

In the original video by Hbomberguy, Harry makes a compelling argument that James brought on a friend of his, Nick, as a co-writer specifically as a shield against accusations of plagiarism. "How dare you accuse me of plagiarism! Nick would NEVER do that!" This is even more apparent given subsequent developments which I will get into.

When evidence started dropping about different aspects of his fraud (not only Harry's video, but Todd in the Shadows' video debunking his misinfo, The Ace Couple's podcast about their experience donating to his fraudulent film studio, and Dan Olson's tweet thread about James' obvious lies about his finances), he went into hiding for two weeks, and then put out the first of two apologies. He then deleted that one and put out another one a few weeks later. And then he immediately deleted that one.

While his first apology was rambling, vague, and dramatic (lots of sniffing/crying), and his second was more measured, thought-out, and totally batshit (lots of hilariously and bizarrely implausible excuses for why he'd done what he'd done), they had roughly the same points:

Not ALL of his stuff was plagiarized! Actually, a lot of it wasn't! No specifics as to what, though!

Most of the stuff that was plagiarized was just a failure to properly cite sources, as he had no idea that putting someone's name in your end credits or video description (without specifying what parts are attributable to that person or disclosing that you are using their words verbatim) is not sufficient credit,

Also, he totally had permission, in some cases, to use their work verbatim prior to publishing the video (this is not true, and is disproven both in Harry's video and his own screenshots);

He definitely didn't commit fraud with Telos and would soon have a good explanation for where the money went! (he did not)

He was going to keep the videos up so that he could either donate the funds from any monetization to the fund Harry had set up for his victims or to "help Nick's portfolio" by showcasing his work;

He lost his best friend (i.e. Nick) over these allegations, who absolutely definitely wasn't a scapegoat, except Nick was also responsible for a lot of the stuff James was being criticized for;

He was going to keep the videos up so he could either donate the advertising proceeds to Harry's fund for his victims (first apology) or to "help Nick's portfolio" by showcasing the work he'd done; and

As a result of this entire ordeal, he had attempted either self-harm or suicide (he merely alluded to "doing something stupid").

Again, his response was to 1) downplay the severity of his actions or flat out ignore allegations against him, 2) come up with ridiculous excuses for his behavior, 3) throw Nick under the bus, and 4) claim to be in mortal danger. As far as I am aware, he has never taken any concrete action to make amends to any person, not even donating money to charity.

This was coupled with some kind of attempt to profit: monetizing his apology videos, closing and then reopening his Patreon right before the monthly charge cycle happened (totally to let people unfollow him, not at all as a grab for that money), creating a new Patreon under a different name, and changing his Twitter and Youtube handles to distance himself from the controversy while gathering new followers.

At one point (I forget if this was on Twitter or Instagram), he also said that someone had broken into his apartment due to the notoriety he'd received from Harry's video. I believe that was after his first apology, when people started to point out that he'd just changed the name of his Twitter and Youtube channel and had restarted a new Patreon under a pseudonym. (BTW, the pseudonym he used for his new Patreon was "The Gay Raconteur"; this will be important later).

It had what I think was the desired effect: any attempt at pointing out that he was rebranding his grift now came across as weirdly fixated on minor things he was doing, which certainly wasn't worth putting him in physical danger. (Again, he has never provided any proof of this happening, nor provided any evidence that these people allegedly threatening him were, in fact, in some way inspired by Hbomb).

So along comes March 5, 2024, and James posts a suicide note on his Twitter, saying that he is going to set up his videos to automatically publish (for Nick's portfolio), provide in some way for the ad revenue to go to a suicide prevention nonprofit, and then kill himself.

The immediate response from the internet was compassion and totally chilling any further criticism, since you might be callously criticizing a dead person. Harry and Kat worked for a couple of days to get a wellness check for him while a substantial section of the internet called them murderers.

On March 6, a day after the note was published, Nick tweeted that that he had cause to believe James was fine. Kat confirmed that James was safe on March 11. Due to the drama of the "suicide attempt," however, the chill on criticizing James stayed in place for months.

And then yesterday Lady Emily, one of the cowriters for Sarah Z., drops two more bombs:

James has not one but two alt accounts that he was using to rebrand and start over.

The first one was created between his first and second apologies, and originally was for "The Gay Raconteur" until he changed it to "Will"/"thatgayyouknow" and, later, "The Achillean Boy."

The second one was much older, under the pseudonym "Mikey JB," and used stolen pictures from Grindr instead of his own face. However, it is pretty obvious that it is, in fact, a sockpuppet account and not just some other person who happens to like James, as detailed below.

Both accounts, both between apologies and after his "suicide," talked about how criticism of James was unfair because the plagiarized stuff was "like a decade old" and repeating the same excuses that James had also made.

The "Mikey JB" account not only supported James, but actively threw Nick under the bus, saying that a criticized part of a video "reeks of his co-writer."

On March 6, the day after James' main Twitter posted the suicide note, The Achillean Boy account was hornyposting about Ryan Phillipe. James didn't even take a day or two off of Twitter. If he had been completely off Twitter for a couple of days, that could have been an indication that he really had hurt himself and was unable to access his phone, or at the very least unaware of the panic. But he wasn't. He was aware of it and did nothing. Actually, no! Worse than nothing!

On the same day (March 6), the Mikey JB account was actively contradicting Nick saying he was okay (they "haven't spoken in months" so there's no way Nick could know if he was alive) and saying that "people like you" i.e. his critics, "drove him to it." Not only did he ignore the panic he'd intentionally created, he actively drove it.

He saw people going emotionally through the wringer over the idea that they might have somehow caused his death, and intentionally made them keep thinking it. He say people calling his critics "murderers" for "driving him to his death," and he joined in.

Why am I explaining all of this? I want to make a couple of things extremely clear, and the context is necessary to my ultimate points, namely:

James Somerton didn't merely "credit people improperly;" he conned his followers out of more money than some people make in a year with the Telos con, while raking in thousands more per month on Patreon and buying expensive equipment, while claiming to be near insolvency and in desperate need of money.

James Somerton has never taken full responsibility for his actions or attempted to make amends. He has only ever tried to dodge responsibility, particularly by throwing Nick under the bus.

Every time he has ever been criticized, for any reason, he has lied about threats to his life to gain sympathy and quell criticism. This is a standard part of his MO. He has done this over and over and over again. At this point, I think if he says the sky is blue, someone should go out and check first before doing anything.

"But BB, what if he really is getting harassed/threatened or really is suicidal?"

So, okay: people who are attempting to manipulate you may use legitimate problems as a tool. It doesn't need to be fake to be effective - in fact, it might be more effective if it it's true. An abusive ex who says "if you leave me, I'll kill myself" and genuinely means it and actually attempts it (and possibly even succeeds!) is a lot harder to leave than someone who says the same thing but is clearly just bluffing, because the threat is real.

My rule of thumb in these cases is to treat the threat like it's real, without caving to the intended manipulation. Whether your ex is lying or telling the truth when they say, "I'll kill myself if you leave me," the appropriate response in both cases is to immediately call a mental health service or supportive family member. If it's fake, it's inconvenient for them; if it's real, you reacted appropriately. Your response needs to be the same regardless.

You don't get back together with them because it's a real threat (presumably you wouldn't do that if you knew it was fake and they were never in any danger), and you don't tell them that they're a piece of shit who should be dead (HOPEFULLY you wouldn't do that if you knew for a fact that they were telling the truth).

In this case, I am extremely confident in saying that he was coldbloodedly lying the entire time and was never once threatened, and certainly not to the degree he claimed to be. But even if he wasn't, that does not and should not change anyone's behavior in terms of holding him accountable.

And I mean actually holding him accountable: making sure he doesn't try to start a new con on new people, continuing to point out that he hasn't paid anyone back for his previous con (so long as it's still true), that sort of thing. It doesn't mean people should tell him he should go die for real or, I don't know, try to get him fired if he gets a job at Tim Horton's or Target or something else that's not fraud. That would be wrong regardless of whether he's actually in danger or not. The point is to avoid being cruel without negotiating with terrorists.

Video sources and links under the cut:

Links:

It's like Breaking Bad, but backwards: a brief history of how Somerton successfully screwed himself Dan Olson's Twitter thread about the financial fraud My Year With James: Todd's post explaining the backstory of his video (Patreon-locked) DJSO#: Dan Olson's breakdown of James' second apology (Patreon-locked) Lady Emily's Twitter threads revealing James' alt accounts, part 1 and part 2

[fallinginreversefanblog]

Falling In Reverse live in Green Bay/WI, 1/23/2024

Falling In Reverse played Green Bay/WI right the day after Grand Rapids, on Jan 23rd, 2024. Last time they played in Wisconsin was in Cadott, on RockFest (7/14/2023) which - though they made a good show after all - ended up being a bad memory in the life of the band. This time everything went just perfect.

The Green Bay show was mindblowing. Ronnie wore th same styled stage clothes as in Grand Rapids, tank and tactical pants with boots. There is a link to a FULL SET video at the bottom of the post, you can watch the whole concert. (BTW watching the full set made me realize FIR changed the order of the encore, he put "Popular Monster" in the place of "WTWB" and closed up the show with the triple ending.)

Via Instagram

Some footages of the concert, from YouTube shorts. This is "Watch The World Burn", zoomed in:

"I'm Not A Vampire" from the barricade;

Some really good pro pictures has been made of the show:

Via Instagram

Falling In Reverse made another compilation video (by John Fenton) about this event. This time the video will be posted individually. Here you are a screenshot with this phenomenal band, having their gettin-on-stage gang ritual, as always, before every performance ❤️❤️❤️

Falling In Reverse and Disturbed were about to play in Des Moines/IA on Jan 25th, but unfortunately David Draiman, frontman of Disturbed postponed the show on May 14th, due to a laryngitis which he was suffering from the first moment of the tour. Hopefully he recovers until the Jan 27th, when they are about to play in OKC, Oklahoma.

Watch FULL SET of the Green Bay show:

[transelliotalderson]

btw with this whole Internet crackdown thing. I think it's important for people to know that Microsoft Windows is essentially spyware at this point and everyone should be learning to switch to Linux. just do a search for Linux for beginners, there are many tutorials, and on Youtube I'm sure there are a lot of tutorial videos.

It's privacy-respecting, a really great skill to have, you get access to so much fantastic free open source software as good as or better than proprietary software, no subscription models, and you don't have to deal with Apple or Microsoft. And there are so many thriving communities.

If you can follow a guide and sort of know what you're doing I'd recommend starting with Ubuntu or PopOS! for user-friendly guides.

One cool thing about Linux is that you can run it off a USB stick. You can try it out easily without having to abandon Windows or Mac and familiarize yourself before committing.

Here are some distributions good for beginners IMO. For Pop!OS, follow the same instructions and the tutorials linked here for Ubuntu and Mint - just using the Pop!OS iso.

Ubuntu

Linux Mint

Pop!OS

Some distributions are finicky about the hardware they're running on, so if one doesn't work try another. I started for fun over a decade ago and it is hard to figure out at first. Ubuntu and Linux Mint helped me grasp the basics and now I'm running an Arch-based system and while I still have so much to learn, I am so glad I put the work in.

[meowlayn-art]

You're really great at piano! May I ask you some question? I played piano for three years and then leave the lesson and continue by myself, but I'm not that good at it. Also, I'm not that big practicer(?) so what I want, miracles? Btw, how you get inspired? Have you ever had an "music block"? What kind of method of practice do you use? Thank you for your time! 🍀

♪ Hello dear pianist Anon !  ♫

Thank you for reaching out ! Although I am afraid I never posted a video of myself playing piano so you are giving me credit for something I can’t prove ( ´ ▽ ` ) (I was fairly good back in the days but not that much anymore haha).

I think you are referring to this post though, where I explained I got a new piano after stopping playing for a few years, and I was planning on learning MLQC”s theme. The video you saw, as I mentioned in the post, is a video by FlowerEmblem, who performed the MLQC theme (not me) beautifully and gave a link to the piano sheets in her description. If you enjoyed the performance please consider giving her a thumbs up and a nice comment on her Youtube channel  (o´▽`o)ﾉ

NOW. I could give you a few advices, because I played piano for 12 years, and I still remember a thing or two haha.

♫•*¨*•.¸¸♪ ♫•*¨*•.¸¸♪ ♫•*¨*•.¸¸♪ ♫•*¨*•.¸¸♪ ♫•*¨*•.¸¸♪ ♫•*¨*•.¸¸♪ ♫•*¨*•.¸¸♪ ♫•*¨*•.¸¸♪ 

1) “ I am not good at it” : it can be hard to keep practicing when you don’t have a teacher to help and motivate you to do so. I know. I had a piano teacher and that’s what kept me motivated for years, but I learned ukulele all by myself, so I understand how someone can feel discouraged of not improving “fast enough”. But funny enough, you answered your own question, Anon : if you don’t practice… Then you won’t improve. No miracles indeed ! ┐(￣ヮ￣)┌ It goes for any craft, any skills.

My advice would be to pick one or two SIMPLE pieces you REALLY enjoy, and start with that. Don’t bite on more than you can chew ! Really, choose something simple and enjoyable and keep practicing until you feel comfortable to move on to a piece that is a little bit more complex. I truly started to enjoy playing piano when I looked for piano version of Naruto’s soundtracks ( Sadness and Sorrow will always be my all time favorite) and kept adding the difficulty with more and more complex pieces, little by little. Also, that’s my personal method, but I never moved on to another piece unless I truly ‘mastered’ the one I was learning – and by that I mean being able to play with nuances and by heart. 

2) Inspiration : movies I really enjoyed, songs that made me cry, video games with gorgeous soundtracks (FINAL FANTASYYY) and anime were my main source of inspiration.

Again, to keep yourself motivated, I would highly recommend melodies you are deeply attracted to, almost in a visceral way. Not only will you be able to recall the melody more easily and spot the mistakes you make along the way as you read the partition sheet, but it will also make the experience more enjoyable. After all, if you don’t have a teacher forcing you to play a specific piece then, you are free to choose whatever you like ! Remember : start with something simple, nice and enjoyable, with a repetitive melody (or at least something you know by heart) if possible.

3) Music block : yes, it happened. And it can also happen nowadays when drawing – that’s called art block and it SUCKS (ง ื▿ ื)ว My advice whenever you feel blocked (either because you are not inspired or because you are not satisfied with what you are currently doing) :

Try something new. Do small exercises. Try and learn some basic music theory. Have fun with silly sound effects if you have a digital piano/keyboard. Try a new genre – but always KEEP. IT. SIMPLE.

Feed your creativity : do ANYTHING ELSE than playing piano and let your brain do the rest. You’ll notice a nice soundtrack in this show here, a beautiful melody in this videogame there, a new song you really enjoy… As I said, my inspirations came from my day-to-day activities.

JUST TAKE A BREAK. Don’t force yourself. Inspiration won’t come if you are frustrated or exhausted. Just accept that it can take a few days/weeks/months to feel inspired again. If playing piano is not your job, then there is no need to rush things. Find something else to keep yourself busy and it will come back 😊

4) Practice : so I might not be the best person to answer this one because I am not a professional, and that’s the method that worked for ME.

I usually make sure I am sitting correctly, that my nails are cut short, my hands are correctly positioned above the keyboard, I don’t have jewels or hair bothering me…

And then I decipher the partition bits by bits, right hand first, then left hand. Once I am comfortable with BOTH, I put them together – I am not that great at reading and playing at the same time at first. I usually do small sessions (not more than 45min because after that reading the sheets feels exhausting). And I don’t decipher the whole partition in one go – I prefer to “master” small bits at a time especially for long pieces, so that I can feel a sense of accomplishment between sessions – also my brain keeps working between the sessions and will memorize the gestures easier if it rests. I have always been taught that its better to work a little bit everyday than to try and learn everything in one afternoon 😊

My very talented writer friend @truth-be-told-im-lying blog (18+ blog) is a professional pianist and I am sure she could have a few more advices to add to this but I leave it to her :D Also please check out this beautiful collab she did with the amazing @saeyoungs-sunflower, it gave me chills  ♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡

Thanks for you message Anon, I hope it was useful in some way !

[kiralamouse]

#removing everything including and after the ‘?’ in urls btw with remove the tracking #like on any site

Okay, because this reminds me of something I see going around a lot: yes, removing everything after the ? (aka start of query string) will remove tracking. It will also remove any other information sent along with the URL to the host site, which sometimes includes info the host site actually legit needs. You want to think about what you're removing, as OP describes.

For instance, I went to YouTube and had it create a link to a particular moment in a musical. (I'm linking to a Wikipedia page via tinyurl rather than naming the musical to make it a little harder to track what it is; the poster helpfully gave the vid an obscuring title.) YouTube offered this tracker-enabled link:

https://youtu.be/MqWZfLA1Sgs?si=ovyWMU8Les1oTJ5M&t=779

Sure, I can clear out everything after the question mark, but then it doesn't link to a particular moment anymore.

As someone wanting to share the link but not the trackers, I just open it in a private window and let it resolve to a non-tracker version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqWZfLA1Sgs&t=779s

Sure, there's a question mark in there, but this query string clearly just sends two bits of info: v=MqWZfLA1Sgs (aka the video ID, or something YouTube needs to pick the right vid) and t=779s (aka the thing YouTube needs to start it at 779 seconds rather than the beginning).

Now I'm beginning to get a feel for how YouTube's urls work, I can guess that the si=ovyWMU8Les1oTJ5M in the original link was the tracker data. So I modify that link to get rid of the si=ovyWMU8Les1oTJ5M and the '&' that we don't need anymore after it, and try https://youtu.be/MqWZfLA1Sgs?t=779 to see how it works.

It does! (It didn't have to; YouTube's redirect could've chosen to be cranky about pointing it to that same https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqWZfLA1Sgs&t=779s where it ends up. But I've tested the guesswork before I share the link with anyone else.)

Now, I still have no idea what the 'si=' signifies. I don't care. I got the shortest version of the link that works for what I need, and assume the rest is the site not minding its own business.

YouTube redirects to a tracker-free version of the URL as soon as you use it; Tumblr and many others do not. So with those others, I take a guess at stripping out what's not needed ('source=share' is certainly an easy guess!) and again, open in a private window to test.

Personally, I don't bother stripping the 'source=share' from Tumblr. All it's really telling them, without a unique URL, is that someone thought it was cool and someone is getting it through a shared link - which is data I'm fine with them having and tracking. YouTube's unique IDs are more worrisome, since I can't guess what info might be attached.

There you go. Query strings. Strip judiciously. But definitely check and see what can obviously be stripped before actually sharing the link that the easy-share gave you.

Tumblr added a bunch of tracking shit to share urls, so now ill teach you how to get rid of them

if you copy a url by sharing on the website, the link will look like this

getting rid of tracking in these is easy, just delete everything after the question mark and you are golden

in the case for the app, its slightly more complicated

first you have to delete at. that appears before tumblr(.)com the other tracking shit on this one has a lot more info, so please, clean app urls. after the first set of numbers, there's a / you have to delete everything after it

a clean Tumblr url should look like this

blog safely

[mypimpademia]

I- uh hi. It's been like 3 months since my last ask. It was the hispanic/latine reader x bakugou/todoroki/kirishima.

Anyways, I'm currently trying to find good poc and blm videos so I can learn more about it. I can't really sign petitions (I'm under 18), and don't really have any ways to help other than spread the word. If you have any other ways to help, please can you send some ideas. I'm just really looking for sources and links to learn more so I don't sound rude or inconsiderate, or even racist about anything.

Thanks if you do help, I've just haven't been able to gather an attention span and enough time to actually do this.

Hi! I actually don't have resources idk how I find a lot of my information if I'm being honest, I kind of just see it randomly. @/ohyikesmorgan on tiktok has pretty much a full account of racist stereotypes, origins, and other things (centered on black people btw).

There's a video on YouTube that's full of ads and the money goes towards BLM related charities.

As for petitions, you don't need to be 18. I myself am under 18 and I sign almost every petition I come across. Most will only require a name (doesn't even have to be your real one), email address, and zip code. Most of these petitions will also give informational about the situation that the petition was started for.

When the media is telling you something about BLM, racism, or anything, listen‼ People go on and on about how you can't trust media and internet, but it's where you can find most of the information you need, especially during a pandemic. Even listen if it's just a TikTok, it's more important than most people think. Just make sure you know who you're listening to.

Only being able to spread the word if that's literally all you are able to do is perfectly fine, don't feel bad for not being able to do things like donate or anything if its out of your power. I can't even do much outside of spreading information and signing petitions myself.

If anyone has something to add to this that would help, please rb and add on.

[pan-delure]

hey I'm starting dice casting in resin as a quarantine activity! anything you think I should know? (I have researched a decent amount about what to do or not do but I feel like it'd be better to get the opinion of someone who knows things!) thanks for your time! I love your blog btw

Oh my gosh, thank you! Wow... okay where to start... (Just a heads up to anyone reading, this is going to be a long and probably rambling post)

There's definitely a large learning curve for dice making, so like you said it's really good to do your research! Experimentation is important, but I'll try to share as much as I can to help!

There are a few important stages that help improve the quality of your dice, and the quality bumps up a bit each time you go up a stage. Each stage would cost a fair bit to bump up, but it does show an improvement and most importantly, each one reduces the amount of time and effort you have to put into completely finishing a set of dice. If you ever get discouraged, remember that failure is part of learning, and of course your results will get better with experience! I'll include some pics of my first dice versus my most recent ones for comparison.

The first tests I ever tried with making dice, I had barely a clue as to what to try. The first molds I ever made were made with a small, extremely expensive Hobby Lobby silicone mold kit, and a small bottle of Alumilite casting resin.

At the time, I knew from watching King of Random videos that the best thing to use to remove the bubbles from silicone (improving the quality of your molds and final product DRAMATICALLY) was to use a vacuum chamber to "degass" the silicone as much as possible. At the time I couldn't afford one, so my old molds often had tiny bubbles that would leave small, stippled pieces of resin all over the surface of my dice. So, how do we get around all of this?

Well, one way would be to buy a vacuum chamber, but I recently found a better way to make sure there are no bubbles! But, I'll talk a bit more about this later.

(Side Note: I do not support Hobby Lobby or their policies in the slightest, but at the time it was the only place in my town that offered silicone or resin, and it still is. I now buy almost all of my supplies online, and buy direct from the manufacturer if they have a website to avoid using Amazon.)

So first off, what kind of resin should you use?

This is normally just determined by personal preference, but I really enjoy using Art n Glow casting resin for all of my dice. You measure the two parts in a 1:1 ratio by volume, and it hardens pretty well as long as you mix it for 3-4 minutes before adding any pigments or dyes. I'll add a link to their website here, but keep in mind they also sell a lot of interesting pigment options besides just resin.

So what about silicone?

So after my first unfortunate mishaps with my old Hobby Lobby silicone, I decided to do some digging and see what would actually work the best. After watching a lot of Rybonator's videos on youtube about making molds, I went with Smooth-On brand Mold Star Slow 15 silicone for my first serious molds. This specific silicone is a two-part, green platinum cure silicone, which basically means it will last a lot longer than something like a tin cured silicone. (I would add a link for where to buy it, but there is another silicone that I like much better that I'll talk about in a moment.)

This worked pretty well for me, but there is a major downside. When you use an opaque silicone, you can't see the resin as you fill up your molds. This works for a LOT of applications, but if you're interested in doing layered, swirled, or pride themed dice, I would instead go with Smooth-On Sorta-Clear 37 silicone (link included). One trial kit is more than enough for one full set of dice molds, with a bit extra left over for other projects. Not only do the clear molds leave you open to being able to make layered or pride dice, but the silicone itself is a bit firmer than Slow 15, which makes it easier to secure the mold together before you pour resin into it, and the mold is a bit more durable overall.

(Comparison photos of molds I've made with Slow 15 and Sorta-Clear 37, and my og molds)

But how do we deal with all of the pesky bubbles in the silicone and resin?

Well, I'm glad you asked. So, normally a vacuum chamber would be used to remove the bubbles from the silicone, and then you would use a pressure pot after you fill them with resin to basically crush down any bubbles that are suspended in your resin while it hardens and cures. When I wasn't unemployed and had a decently steady stream of income, I went out of my way to track down a decent vacuum chamber and a vacuum pump (which I had to buy separately). However, with a bit of experimentation, I found that you don't really need a vacuum chamber at all! Instead of buying both pieces, which would (if you're lucky) would cost around ~$75 for the vacuum chamber and pump, and $100 for the pressure pot, just using a pressure pot in place of a vacuum chamber will save on both time and a TON of money.

Using a pressure pot is one of the main stages that helps improve the quality and time spent sanding dramatically, and both Rybonator and Peter Brown have great videos on setting up your pressure pot. Harbor Freight sells a great model that has a massive capacity and is absolutely perfect for dice making! The technique for using a pressure pot for curing silicone is rather simple, just pour your silicone into your molds and place into the pressure pot, then let them cure for the length of time given on the packaging instructions.

In terms of actually preparing dice for molds, I would follow this guide from Rybonator, which is pretty much what I've followed in making mine. My molds are slightly different, but it's just trial and error to see what works for you!

Hey, so how do you pigment your dice?

Pretty much any way you want! There are lots of different ways to color and tinted resin, and nearly infinite things you can inset into them!

A few of the things I use are the cheap $0.50 bottles of acrylic paint you can buy at Walmart or any hobby store, alcohol based inks, liquid glitter, glow powder from Art n Glow, mica powders, pearl powder, cocoa powder, gold leaf, so pretty much anything! Peter Brown has an amazing video series where he takes household items and tests how well they work as resin dyes (link), and it serves as a pretty good source of inspiration for what to use!

Oh lord, am I going to have to sand these?

IMPORTANT NOTE: ALWAYS WEAR A RESPIRATOR OR FACE MASK, EYE PROTECTION, AND GLOVES WHEN WORKING WITH RESIN! (Yes, always!)

Unfortunately, sanding your dice can be one of the most tedious parts of this hobby, but each of the stages I've mentioned such as using a pressure pot or even getting your own dice masters can really cut down on the amount of time that you have to spend sanding and polishing. Personally, I use a mix of different wet sanding grits (normally the grits I use are 300, 600, 800, 1200, and 2000), and once I'm happy with the surface finish I move on to something called Zona papers (link), which work amazingly well compared to things like micro mesh pads that I've used in the past. I normally sand each face, including when polishing them, for about a minute or so on each face in a figure-8 motion, making sure that there is plenty of water to keep both dust from clogging the sand paper, as well as to reduce the amount you are breathing in. Buying master dice, such as those from Blue Mimic, can really reduce the amount of time you have to sand, but most hobby dice makers may not go so far as they can cost over hundreds of dollars, but are necessary if you ever plan on selling them or starting a business with them.

That's about most of the advice I have when it comes to making dice, but if anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to ask!! If I think of anything else I'll add a reblog onto this with any extra info. Remember, any failures you make are absolutely part of the process, and make sure you keep them to remember how far you've come!

[nerjaveika]

OMG!! YOU'RE WATCHING SKAM!!!! AHH I'm sooo excited! Did you watch the Norwegian version first? And are you going to go through all the remakes? Sorry for all the questions, I'm just so happy that you're watching, also looking forward to any future Skam videos. 😄😄

I watched original (Nw) and France for now...gonna watch all of them, when I find the links to others, if you have sources, pls share with me...I’m really flattered u want my vids, since there’re probably tons of them already (haven’t checked anything yet, but I’m going to)) I’m not sure I’m gonna make anything on them tho, since I mostly do clips on ongoing series, when all fangirling is about, since it keeps inspiration going, now I’m just finding things to get over Trapped to tell the truth )) and I wanted to watch SKAM for a while, but it didn’t happen somehow...now I am and I’m hooked, tho in a bit of laid back way in terms of vidding... ~♥

Update: Watched Skam Italia. Probably the weakest (for me!) from the ones I watched...I’m really not into the characters there and all radio station thing and fat-shaming (maybe only into Sana there, she was cool, Gio and Eva wasn’t bad too, but that’s probably all)... In France I loved Lucas’s inteructions with girls and Arthur and Basile very much tho, I liked Manon storyline here even more than original, it presented a bit healthier here from my pov (except maybe guitar song, Noora rocked that scene) and I don’t know who I liked more Mika or Eskild, these characters rocked (Filippo in Italy were pretty interesting too btw), Alex too, she was great in France, Daphne too, as I said I loved France a lot, very happy about Arthur season) Besides France has the BEST music and how it goes in the episodes...man, how it captures the mood and creates the mood, changes it...really one of the best from all series I ever watched... So all in all for now my rating 1st: Original / France (I can’t even decide - loved both to bits) ... 2: Druck 3: Italia

I could totally recommend watching BBJVids - from my pov most amazing vids on Elu pairing (youtube search doesn’t really show good mvs on this pairing, esp in the begining...) also terrilynn88 - start with “Say You Won't Let Go” ...these people really know how to edit ))