#So anyway video good go watch it and go support queer content creators who are not James Somerton :)

[setaflow]

Gay pride happens in June and gay wrath happens whenever hbomberguy drops a 3+ hour video essay about a specific topic

[dykeofmisfortune]

Somerton's misogyny and lesbophobia was fucking blatant and the fact his fans didn't care / notice until a man made a video on it is abhorrent. That IS a problem, people NEED to do better or else bigotry towards women will only continue to be accepted! Lesbians were calling this loser out for years and no one cared!

hey. as a lesbian who watched somerton's videos you have to understand that it wasn't "fucking blatant" and it was embedded between smart (stolen) points in the structure of the argument, and was given fake "evidence" to prove it --- something hbomberguy specifically shows with every example. i personally always noticed that it was weird and it was always a critical point when watching his videos (and also uh, side note but you shouldn't primarily go to cis white men for good takes about feminism and the lesbian experience anyways --- like, you should be watching a diverse intake of thought from underrepresented creators and understand that the cis/white/male perspective will always be limited because it's not universal)

to many, though, it for sure didn't register as a pattern of behavior until the instances were laid out. saying that audiences were "abhorrent" for "excusing" it just shows a complete lack of sympathy, because again: the pattern of behavior was the problem, and rhetorically each individual instance was relegated to enough plausible deniability where it slipped by most audiences who were probably watching the video in the background while they folded laundry or something. when bigotry is shrouded under the guise of fact, it takes on the affect of truth and abuses the viewer's trust in the creator. sure, media literacy is a huge problem, and i've written and researched so much into that, and yeah yeah audiences should "do better." the reality is though, putting the blame on the audience feels a little misogynistic in itself, bc you're just shifting the blame from the literal people who need to be blamed for practicing bigotry --- cis white men with a large platform.

the real thing u should be saying here is to call for a diversification of one's media intake, but no -- let's blame the audience for getting lied to, instead of uplifting female, queer, trans, poc, etc voices. the only way people "need" to do better, imo, is listening to those people instead and seeking multiple perspectives.

like y'all, let's retire this very new narrative that all james somerton fans were evil misogynists who willingly supported this and need to be destroyed. really most people who watched his content were younger queer people genuinely interested in queer media analysis, film theory, and queer history, probably excited that a long video essay was dedicated to their favorite show/movie/etc, and lets not pretend this wasn't disappointing for them as well. can everyone like chill out.

[decadentmakergardener]

11.19.24

A mildly upset rant. I am not going to be articulate in this at all.

I was watching Khadija Mbowe’s video about coming out and I like a lot of her other content but I def feel like she kind of missed the mark here. I’m glad there were comments that pushed back. Hell we all have some internalized shit to work out.

Like…the fact QTPOC who want to be open to their families about their sexuality and resulting love life have to make concessions for their family to stay in their life isn’t a strength. It’s a fucking tragedy.

I’m not talking about the QTPOC who feel like homophobia or transphobia or biphobia isn’t the biggest issue they face. I’m not talking about the QTPOC who feel they are more POC than QT ya know. I’m not talking about the QTPOC who just are just private people anyway and wouldn’t tell their family anyway. Etc.

I feel like sometimes people forget the forest for the trees. I have seen this amongst general progressive spaces tbh, where I feel like people ascribe restorative power to something that’s actually a tragedy.

The thing is…at least from Khadija was saying about her dad, she’s in a prime place to say that it is possible. It is possible to have immigrant parents steeped in their culture who don’t view having an openly queer kid as blasphemous. That QTPOC don’t need to sacrifice their culture for their queerness. These two traits can both stand side by side. Maybe that’s not the true situation behind the scenes, but even if this wasn’t the case. From what she shared in the vid she’s in a pretty dang good spot.

I think I’ve gotten more firm in my opinion on this because I now have personal examples of this, with my friend’s dad. He’s a southern Vietnamese man in his 60s. He is an independent who voted for Trump in 2016. Socially conservative, especially in terms of strict standards for masculinity and femininity in men and women. His daughter (my friend), came out to him as a lesbian and started presenting more masc. And he fully supports her and defends her against her mom who is not so accepting of both her sexuality and her evolving presentation. He even accepts her punk gf, so I know it’s not just “well you’re one of the good ones” type shit. So things like this give me hope.

I also think my own experiences with fellow Chinese folk’s homophobia shapes this opinion as well. They never tried to justify their homophobia with Chinese Culture. So I didn’t feel like I had to choose between the two when I realized I was queer.

Again, it’s more of a general thing I’m upset at. I think Khadija’s video just reminded me of that. I am still gonna loyally watch her because she drops bangers and I want to support a black queer creator.

[talenlee]

Decemberween 2022: Nice Boys On The Internet

New Post has been published on PRESS.exe: Decemberween 2022: Nice Boys On The Internet

I don’t watch a lot of streams. I have a very hard time engaging with a space like that, where there’s a lot of tangible avenues for human interaction that are all explicitly one way. It’s a byproduct of mostly only seeing and engaging with stream chat when it’s something that’s a big deal, like Desert Bus or Games Done Quick (oh yeah one of those is coming up and one of those just ended). It means that for all that the actual video content is pretty entertaining, when the volume of human engagement is high enough, I just feel like I’m being invited to engage with thousands of people all of whom will ignore me, so I’d much rather watch the whole thing on vod later, possibly at double speed to make up for the lack of crisp editing.

This year, Fox has managed to shift me off this thanks to our getting our TV fixed and now we’ve had, in the evenings, a streamer running. Being as we’re in Australia, that means our streamer content tends to be either real late night Americans, local Australians, or the occasional person in the United Kingdom. That’s not the kind of programming that holds my attention usually, especially if I don’t know the game.

Bless ya Argick, you’re a champ, I like hearing from you, but I’m just not into Sonic games that much.

Anyway, there’s been a streamer Fox has been watching in the evenings who has managed to hit my perfect strike zone for enjoyable, engageable content, and it’s someone who goes by TGH.

Teej’s streams have been, for the past few months, an attempt to beat a Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire hack designed to make the game as hard as possible; you can only take one single Pokemon, if it ever faints you lose, and all the moves and evolution patterns are random. This game is stressful and unfair and it’s based on lots of interactions that are niche and unimportant in most of the times people play the game. Teej is really good about handling this game’s failure state though –

and it does fail.

It’s funny because normally I bollock games for being failure-prone. This is like watching someone playing Betrayal at the House on the Hill over and over, and then watching the absolute collapse over and over again in the first encounter. But that kind of makes these runs engaging – there are these little’ hey, do you think this will kill us’ polls, there’s diversions into goofy jokes, there’s interruptions where Teej’s partner will provide commentary…

… and that’s Amber Cyprian, who’s a really cool speedrunner streamer, and part of how this whole community opens up into the speedrunning/queer support charity streaming space. That’s cool! I really appreciate knowing that the streamer’s not likely to drop a slur or apologise for someone else doing it.

The overall effect is that these streams are really good, low key chill kinds of content to half-pay attention to that nonetheless can still carry the vague gamer vibe of ‘oh wow, fuck this game.’

But what if your favourite type of boy on the internet isn’t someone you can watch playing videogames, but one who you can watch doing science?

There’s a thing where people who move from Tiktok often have a particular aesthetic and vibe that marks them forever as being ‘of Tiktok’ like how they’ll spell sex ‘seggs’ or something. That’s where Valkai started, but his content, largely, is split into three groupings:

Reacting to anti-science content and providing explanatory debunks

Explainers on complex science topics

Looking at awful kids’ science kits.

He’s gentle voiced, he’s nice, he’s funny, and he’s also willing to just call things that are dumb dumb. I really enjoy his stuff and he also doesn’t seem to have the same powerful vibe of ‘probably going to say something TERFy’ that a lot of science atheists tended towards a few generations of creators back.

Whales and Viruses | The Light of Evolution - Episode 1

Watch this video on YouTube

Finally, if you want someone who does long form videos with a very chill attitude and an unwillingness to be needlessly or performatively cruel, I have really enjoyed watching Sajam this year.

Sajam talks about fighting games, and his stuff tends towards being – well, like, fight games are already going to be full of tension and potential salt, right? It’s easy to get into a mental space of being angry and frustrated when you’re trying to learn how to play a game.

Sajam seeks to be an antidote to that. Sure, he knows what he’s doing, and he’s very, very thoughtful, but he’s also mindful and a lot kinder to people learning, and focusing on playing fighting games because they’re fun. It’s a really good channel and also a way to build some fundamentals.

6th Graders Made a More Interesting Tier List Than Any Content Creator

Watch this video on YouTube

Oh, and the 6th Graders’ Meta is a great story.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Decemberween2022

[obsidianarchives]

Black Woman Creator: Briana Lawrence

As an author, freelance writer, and cosplayer, Briana Lawrence is working to get her works out into the world. Whether it’s creating a fantastical universe, writing articles pertaining to social issues in the geek community, or putting together fun scripts for WatchMojo.com, Briana is out to be the best “WRITTER” she can be. You can find her work at www.magnifiquenoir.com. We spoke with Briana about her inspirations and being a creator.

Black Girls Create: What do you create?

I’m that Black girl whose muses attack her in the shower, so she can create fantastical worlds where plus size Black women create exploding baked goods and hurl them at monsters who spout out derogatory comments about their size. Loosely translated, it means I’m a writer. I also do a lot of freelance writing for various websites where I combine geekdom with diversity, representation, and social justice.

BGC: Why do you create?

I’ve always wanted to write. I’m not quite sure what started it, but I know it’s something I’ve always been interested in. Growing up, I was really into cartoons, anime, video games, and some comic books. I was a certified geek. One of the things I loved is how through all the fantasy, the stories were basically about everyday people like you and me. The things we faced on a daily basis had been turned into these cool, out of these world tales, you know? Coming of age stories, but with magic. Dealing with discrimination, but with mutant superpowers. As I got older, writing became a way to express myself and tackle the issues of the world (and within myself) through creativity. By sharing it, I hope to inspire others and encourage them to believe in themselves.

BGC: How did you get into cosplay? How is it connected to your writing?

I discovered cosplay back in 2002 when I went to my very first anime convention: Anime Central (ACEN). I pretty much assumed it was Halloween, but for adults who were into nerd culture, so to me it was the greatest thing I’d ever seen! I started cosplaying in 2004 and would go to maybe one or two conventions a year, but now, with my books out, I go to as many shows as possible and usually have a different costume each day. In 2017, my partner and I did around 25 conventions and events, and I cosplayed at almost all of them.

Cosplay has helped me come out of my shell in ways I never expected. I was pretty much the quiet fat girl who wore hats to cover her hair and put on as much clothing as possible because, “Ew, no one wants to see that.” But something about portraying the characters I loved and altering the looks into styles I was comfortable with made me feel more confident in myself. I talk a lot about loving yourself, and that leaks into my writing with the characters I create. It also made me feel more confident about having Black women headline my work. When it comes to the world of fiction and the genres I’m into, Black women usually aren’t the main characters, so I assumed that I had to focus on white characters. As I put myself out there more with cosplay, I decided to do the same with my writing, and work to create the characters who represented who I was.

BGC: What is your favorite thing about fandom?

The sense of community within it. I know it has its ups and downs like every other community out there, but when you find your people, and get that love and support from them, it’s amazing. People within fan communities have this way of coming together, and it’s incredible. I’ve met some of the most important people in my life through fandom, including my partner of 16 years!

Fandom is also where I got introduced to queer content in a positive light, which was important when I came out. It was kinda hard to explore queerness when most forms of media didn’t touch the LGBTQ community back in 2001, so having a space where people wrote stories about queer characters and drew art of couples that wasn’t purely tragic was a big deal to me. The rest of the world may not have caught on, but fans did.

BGC: Who is your audience?

Everyone of all ages, especially those who are used to being underrepresented. The amount of, “Oh hey that’s me,” I hear when people see my work is really encouraging, and that’s something I set out to do.

BGC: Who/what inspired you to do what you do? Who/what continues to inspire you?

My older brother, most definitely, was a very good influence. He passed away when I was 13, but I’d like to think that he’s watching me and cheering me on as I go on this writing journey of book publishing and geekdom. My mom is also extremely encouraging. She reads and shares everything I do, and was the one who said, “I told you so,” when I FINALLY decided to pursue writing full-time. Then there’s my partner, who I bounce ideas off of. She really helps me flesh things out and is always supporting my work.

I also have some wonderful friends who really inspire me to keep going, not just because they support me, but because I watch them pursue their own dreams and seeing them succeed inspires me to go out there and do my best. And anyone who’s ever felt like they haven’t been represented properly encourages me to get my stuff out there, so they can have something to look at. I’m trying to create the kinds of stories that I wanted to see when I was younger.

BGC: Why is it important as a Black person to create?

For me, it’s how I get my story out there. As a queer woman of color, I know content that puts me smack on the front cover is rare, so I decided to do something about it. On top of getting my stories out there, I think Black creators inspire each other. Seeing one of us out here encourages more of us to take those steps. I think Black Panther is a good, recent example of this. With the success of that movie, other Black creators are like, “Oh wow, maybe I can do this!” Even with the attempted backlash, the overwhelming success and positivity with it spoke to so many of us. As a creator who is constantly told what does and does not sell, seeing a diverse work break the, “White is the default,” mold has affected future creators out there. As much as I want my work to speak to the audience, I really hope there’s another Black, queer creator who sees the book and decides that they can do this, too.

BGC: How do you balance creating with the rest of your life?

Since writing is my full-time career, I try to have a set schedule for when I write. Typically, I work in the morning, and I have an office space in my house that is just for the writing I do (or any other work I do, like trying to book shows to go to, and things like that). I also keep an up-to-date calendar to remind me of what has to get done, whether it’s an article or setting aside some time to work on one of my books.

I try my best to have the outside of the office be for non-work-related things, like playing video games, or watching whatever series I’m into... but muses tend to hit whenever they want, so having a phone I can take notes on is vital. My partner and I also have at least one day dedicated to not working at all, so we might go catch a movie or go hang out somewhere, or just hang out in the living room doing anything BUT work. We hold each other accountable for getting work done AND knowing when to relax and unwind. Bath bombs and comic books have been a godsend.

BGC: Advice for young creators/ones just starting?

For one thing, I want to say good job on taking that first step, because a lot of people don’t even get that far. That deserves praise. Now, don’t stress about publishing and all of that, not yet, the first thing you must do is get the story written. Once that’s done, you can look into publishing or whatever it is you want to do with your work. Also, it’s just as important to get yourself out there as it is to get your work out there. People want to do more than follow your work, they want to follow you, as a person. They want a glimpse at who you are.

If you’re a creator who is part of a marginalized group, I know there are a lot of detractors out there. This is gonna be difficult to do, but: Tune. Them. Out! Surround yourself with positive voices. Think about the moment when you finally felt like something properly represented you and keep that in your mind as you set out to create that same experience for someone else. And don’t be afraid to be proud of your accomplishments. Reward yourself and celebrate what you do. I look forward to seeing what you put out into the world.

BGC: Any future projects?

I have three! They are:

magnifiqueNOIR Book Two: You Are Magical

The second book in my Black, queer, magical girl series. In this installment, the girls (Galactic Purple, Cosmic Green, and Radical Rainbow) are trying to figure out who the mysterious Prism Pink is while learning about the previous group of magical girls from two decades ago... while balancing holiday season and college finals.

Page Turner: Hunters Book 3

The third book in my urban fantasy series with my partner. After the events of the second book, the Hunters (a group that hunts down demons to keep their city safe and unaware of the dangers that lurk in the shadows) set off to London in their ongoing quest to uncover the secrets of the Storyteller (a mythical being who can read your entire life like a book and change it anyway he wants) and prevent that power from going into the wrong hands.

Untitled Cosplay Comic

A comic I hope to have published that’s an anthology of shorts. Each story will tackle issues within the community such as slut-shaming, body-shaming, racism, and more. I’m currently writing the script, and when it’s done, I’ll be looking to collaborate with artists the same way I did with magnifiqueNOIR back in 2017.

Find Briana’s work here:

Autographed Copies of magnifiqueNOIR Book One: I Am Magical

Kindle Copies of magnifiqueNOIR Book One: I Am Magical

Autographed Copies of Hunters Book One: Seeking the Storyteller

Autographed Copies of Hunters Book Two: Beneath the Chapter

Kindle Copies of Hunters Book One: Seeking the Storyteller

Kindle Copies of Hunters Book Two: Beneath the Chapter