#according to the person on twitter visiting friends but like

[husbants]

Dan is randomly in Edinburgh again?

[thanksjro]

Transformers Holiday Special (2015) — Wishing You and Yours a Delightfully Secular Wintertime, Containing Absolutely Zero References to the Birth of Christ

Despite what some might like to think, Christmas isn’t for everyone; even with all the commercialization, at its heart, it’s still about the Baby Jesus. You can tell that we haven’t shaken the Christian connection, because the cover for this special issue has the father, the son, and the holy spirit, which is hidden behind the company logo.

And if Rodimus doesn’t stop screwing around, his resurrection’s gonna have to happen a lot sooner than Easter.

Because this is a comic special, things are going to be a little different. Instead of one standard-size issue, we’re getting three mini-stories, each with their own writer (from each of the comic runs that were publishing at the time) and artist. Our stories are listed here:

Don’t worry about what Ultra Magnus is up to behind that text.

Now, you may ask, why on earth am I covering this issue, which is a specifically Christmassy one, now, when it’s not currently Christmas? Well, according to Roberts, the story “Silent Light” takes place after MTMTE #49, and #50 is when the crew manifest for the Lost Light gets shaved down some, so realistically, this is when “Silent Light” happens in continuity. So I want you to keep in mind that Getaway’s Christmas isn’t going so great.

I won’t be going back to catch up on the other runs’ plots, as the Christmas stories are stand-alone.

Getting into it, our first story is:

Penned by Mairghread Scott and drawn by Corin Howell. We open up on a cityscape featuring a happy sun and some eye-searing narration boxes.

I went to Howell’s Twitter to see what her deal was, and was greeted with a banner consisting of a sexy succubus lady with her boobies out, so I’m going to assume she simplified her style for this issue, since mecha are hella difficult to draw.

Also, I hope you like the structure of How The Grinch Stole Christmas!, because that’s what we’re getting for the next little while, complete with chunky, white text on painful-to-view red.

Our story opens with all the transformers from the colonies visiting Cybertron and making friends with each other. Everything is beautiful and nothing hurts, which pisses off President-King Starscream to no end. Being the drama queen that he is, Starscream feels that everyone should be paying attention to him 24/7 and feed him grapes as he reclines on a sofa, because hasn’t he done enough for all these sorry sacks of shit? He hasn’t even caused a war, unlike the last guy who was in charge. Bumblebee (who is a ghost) tells him to just be fucking nice for once in his miserable life, but Starscream wouldn’t be Starscream if he could settle down like that.

Our god-king of the planet calls for his aide, Rattrap, who is going to be in his alt mode for the entirety of this story, to help him set up for a public broadcast addressing his need for attention and adoration.

He sends Rattrap off to deliver the tape to the news, which seems to consist of two very sleep-deprived individuals. Because they’re apparently the only two robots stupid enough to attempt to cover the nightmare hellscape that is Cybertronian current events, the last bit of Starscream’s tape is cut off when one of them falls asleep on the switchboard. This turns Starscream’s personal worship holiday into “For the Love of God Be Nice to Each Other” Day. Everyone takes to it beautifully, getting BFF tattoos, going on vacation with their husbands, hugging in the straightest gay way possible, holding parades, giving each other bombs, and getting absolutely shitfaced.

Starscream, distraught that nobody is giving him the emperor treatment like he had wanted, sulks in his twin bed, then moves to his dinky little throne as the night wears on, making the most miserable faces he can the whole time. Eventually, Chosen One Day ends, and he’s been completely ignored. Very sad.

Then, there’s a knock on his door, and Starscream creeps over to the peephole just in time to be smashed flat by Wheeljack slamming the door open. Last time we saw Wheeljack he was assumed dead by most, and floating in a tank at Starscream’s behest. He’s gotten better since then, clearly.

Wheeljack came with friends— the entirety of the main cast for Windblade/Til All Are One, to be exact— and they’re here to make sure that Starscream isn’t completely alone on this friendship holiday he accidentally invented. Everyone toasts to his good, totally intentional idea, and Starscream decides against killing all of them for at least the next 24 hours.

Now pay attention to this next story, because it’s actually canon-relevant, because of course Roberts would write a holiday special mini-comic that ties into his overarching plot. Fucking nerd.

Our artist for “Silent Light” is Kotteri (or Kotteri!, as it’s been written on some of their other publications) the pen name for Ikumi Fukuda. Kotteri is primarily a manga artist, having created their own works and well as working on other projects. I admittedly can’t find much on this person, not even their preferred pronouns, TFWiki itself using “they”, which I will default to. All of the info they’ve provided themself is, of course, written in Japanese, but even running things through a translator only proves that information to be purely professional. Their personal Twitter is protected, and my follow request was never answered, as far as I know. There’s a fan Twitter account for their art that claims “she”, but I have no way to verify, and I don’t want to assume anything based on art style, because that’s sort of shitty. Let it never be said that I didn’t do my due diligence here— I fucking hate using Twitter.

We open with Rodimus having just returned from Meteorfest, a festival where you surf on meteors and avoid your co-captain and SIC’s calls like the putz you are. He’s greeted by said co-captain and SIC decorating assembling a Christmas tree cloaking machine and finishing each other’s sentences like an old married couple. Rodimus tries to deny the existence of Minimegs, then we get our heavy-handed and lampshaded explanation for the crux of the issue. Megatron handles Minimus like a baby doll as the two of them explain that the Lost Light is about to hit Mauler territory.

Maulers are notorious for wanting the Cybertronians dead, but Megatron is too much of a macho man to pussy out and go around them. So instead, the crew will be hiding in special sleeping pods that will mask their spark signatures, and pray to their pantheon of gods that no one notices the ship the size of Manhattan. Brainstorm has like fifteen new inventions, despite being on house arrest from his lab. Megatron’s autobot badge is wearing a hat. Merry fucking Christmas.

Over at Swerve’s, it would appear that everyone’s favorite television junkie is closed for business, as it’s just him, Nautica, and Whirl, sitting on the floor getting absolutely shit-faced on subspace-filtered engex. This might’ve been an issue, as folks are supposed to be bedding down in their B.E.D.s for the next leg of the trip, but Swerve slipped Magnus some Bing Crosby earlier so they’re cool right now.

There’s a banging at the door, and Whirl decides to answer, even though it’s not his bar, because if it’s trouble come a-knocking, it was probably looking for Whirl anyhow.

When Whirl answers, however, it’s not Magnus having caught wind of Nautica disrespecting the Autobot code, but an entirely different flavor of problem.

Now, I know that thing Whirl’s holding looks like a fucked up Hitachi Wand, but it is, in fact, an entire-ass baby robot. It seems that when Cerebros (Fortress Maximus’s friend, if you’ll recall) sent the engex through the subspace, this infant Cybertronian (Luna One-ian?) got mixed in with the other supplies.

We learn a bit about how baby Cybertronians work before we remember, oh right, this kid is gonna get everyone killed if they catch wind of her spark, since there isn’t a B.E.D. for her. Yes, it’s a girl! Congrats to our three idiots on their Cybertronian gender non-conforming little princess.

They gang decides to shunt her back through the subspace hatch, so they head over to where it’s currently being housed— the office of Ultra Magnus. Nautica, using her wits and all the tools in her arsenal, smashes the window to the office and they break in. The empty Magnus Armor sits in the dark like a grim monument to being married to your job. Whirl informs Nautica how to comfort the baby that he super for-sure doesn’t care about, handing her off while he uses his titty glass to replace the window in the door. Swerve tries to bite through iron chains holding the subspace hatch hostage, only to be stopped by the sound of justice coming down the hall.

The gang, of course, looks suspicious as hell standing stock straight immediately in front of Magnus’s office, but Minimus rather likes the change of pace out of these goofy morons, and is maybe also trying to deflect his embarrassment at being caught performing his own personal karaoke. He sends them off to their B.E.D.s, and it looks like all’s well that ends well until Whirl asks where Sparky is.

Yes, he named the baby.

Don’t worry though, he’s totally not attached or whatever.

Nautica, in her panic to not be caught stealing/vandalizing/using equipment she doesn’t have the clearance for, stuffed Sparky in the Magnus Armor. And also put the helmet portion back on the body, for some reason. Anyway, it looks like our little princess is gonna be a load-bearer when she grows up, because Magnus is up and looking for hugs. Nautica, a paragon of level-headed thinking in times of crisis, handles this in the best way she can.

And that’s a wrap on Minimus Ambus! Let’s give him a hand, folks! And let’s also give a hand to the new Ultra Magnus, Miss Sparky Whirldòttir! Where did that little scamp get to, anyhow?

Swerve nominates himself to be the one to drag Minimus to a B.E.D. to sleep off his concussion, leaving Whirl and Nautica to track down the baby.

The scene changes to Megatron announcing a last call for beddy-bye time on the intercom, just as Ultra Sparky enters the room. She looms over Megatron, putting him in a very compromising position as he hits the intercom button with his arm. Rodimus, climbing into his own B.E.D., wishes that his co-captain and SIC would stop being gay for, like, five minutes, or at least wouldn’t do it where it can be broadcasted throughout the whole ship in audio format.

Whirl and Nautica come save Megatron from the onslaught of physical affection, stating that “Magnus” has had a bit too much to drink. Megatron orders them to bed from his fetal position on the countertop.

It’s bedtime, but we still haven’t figured out how to get the kid back to Luna 1 so the Maulers don’t super-murder the whole crew. Nautica leaves Whirl to figure it out, getting into B.E.D. and wondering who the fuck knocked on the door in the first place. Whirl tells her not to worry about it and to go to sleep, so he can be the one to deal with this mess.

Whirl, notorious for doing all the nastiest jobs— former Wrecker, intended bullet sponge for the time travel situation, attempting suicide via Megatron— is going to add another tally to the list labeled “Reasons My Peers Don’t Really Like Me All That Much”, by throwing an entire baby out the air lock.

However, Whirl is being written by Roberts, who would never allow the number of robot babies to go down, so Sparky’s adorable assimilation of Whirl’s signature physical features gets him right in the soft underbelly he swears doesn’t exist.

Wow, Roberts put a baby in that robot. Surely this is as overt as we’re going to get with this imagery, since we’re in a major publication and not some fan-fiction!

ANYWAY

Whirl wakes up in the Medibay, emptied of infant and freaked the hell out about it. Velocity— who I will remind you is basically the only medical doctor on the Lost Light, since everyone else is too busy getting railed by weeaboos and joining unethical polycules to do their actual jobs—informs him that his daughter is, in actuality, a massive colony of scraplets that combined to look like a newborn.

It turns out that Nautica is a bit of a snitch, having spilled the beans after she woke up. Whether or not she thought Whirl had thrown the baby out the air lock isn’t really addressed, but thank god he didn’t, because then we would have had to send everyone’s favorite gun-addled dipshit to jail for the rest of forever. Checking security footage revealed who the mystery knocker was— it was the scraplets, forming the shape of an arm.

When Nautica asks how the hell they all survived this, seeing as Whirl kept the murder baby, Whirl informs her that he cut off power to his own spark to allow everyone else to live, including his sweet baby princess, winning him a #1 Dad mug, and also several emails from Rung to please make an appointment with him.

Whirl’s miracle Christmas baby lied and stole with the intent to murder everyone on board, and that makes her the ultimate daddy’s girl.

I hope you’ve all enjoyed this canon-important holiday special story about Whirl becoming a father.

In our third and final story, it appears we’ve been transported to Whoville, by the talent of our MTMTE Season 1 colorist, Josh Burcham. Within Whoville resides Anna Log, a human woman who owns two turbofoxes and sleeps in full military body armor on her couch. The wall in her living room suddenly explodes, revealing a late-night visitor.

Motherfucker, you are supposed to be on the ship right now.

Mega-Claus fusion-cannons Anna Log, and we cut to a film noir office where none other than Thundercracker has his feet up on the desk. The art grayscales for this section, as he narrates that he’s a detective. He’s wearing a fedora. It’s January 7th. He has a mysterious past and probably thinks that makes him very sexy.

The phone rings, cueing Buster, Thundercracker’s puggle, to put on her own fedora, and the two go to see the crime scene, where Thundercracker is the same size as a normal human man and wears a trench coat.

It turns out that Anna Log is the director of security for the entirety of planet Earth, which is sort of a big deal. When Thundercracker and the cops look at the security footage, they see who did it— Santa Claus, played by Megatron himself. Fucked up.

Sure, pal.

Thundercracker must now fly to the North Pole and kill Santa, because that’s how the law works. He transforms, flies by Club Penguin and a Coke commercial, reflects on his job, and then gets ready for a fight with Santa’s security measures, as Busters glowing nose warns him of incoming danger. She’s very talented, Buster.

Thundercracker makes quick work of the cybernetic security reindeer with his twin energy katanas and Buster’s jetpack. He kicks down Santa’s door to find the jolly elf himself standing in the dark, potentially rabid. The two start kung-fu beating the shit out of each other. It should be noted that this Santa isn’t the Megatron Santa, who shows up behind the two as they brawl, but rather original-flavor fat man Santa. How Thundercracker didn’t notice this isn’t addressed.

Thundercracker demands to know why Megatron dressed up as Santa Claus to commit a murder— the murder part made sense, Director Log and Megatron would be diametrically opposed— and Megatron reveals the greatest slight against himself he’s ever known.

Framing Santa for murder ain’t exactly gonna turn that coal into a diamond, Meggy baby.

Thundercracker clocks Megatron, he becomes besties with Santa Claus, and they ride a flying tank into the sunset. Thus ends Thundercracker’s most brilliant writing project yet, which he was reading to Marissa Faireborn this entire time.

Marissa isn’t terribly impressed, poking holes in all the little nonsense bits, while also not feeling thrilled about having been killed off in the first two pages of Thundercracker’s book. While the two argue, Buster and Ayana Jones make a Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown! reference together, and the issue closes out with a big ol’ Autobot symbol, even though Thundercracker was a Decepticon, Ayana and Marissa are humans, and Buster is a goddamned dog.

Thus ends the Holiday Special. Up next, more direct story progression!

[llendrinall]

I’m reading a NYT's article about Elon Musk’s totally normal living arrangements and, huh, the fact that he wants to put his eleven children and their mothers in adjoining mansions is the least eyebrow-rising part.

Like:

A proponent of in vitro fertilization, Mr. Musk believes strongly in increasing the world’s population. He has even offered his own sperm to friends and acquaintances, including the former independent vice-presidential candidate Nicole Shanahan, according to two people familiar with his offer. Ms. Shanahan turned him down.

Do you think he used to wander the Twitter headquarters making this offer to employees?

At a dinner party held at the home of a well-known Silicon Valley executive last year, Mr. Musk offered to provide his sperm to a married couple he had met socially only a handful of times, according to two people who were present for the interaction.

O___o

Then:

In a biography published in 2015, Mr. Musk worried that educated people weren’t having enough children. […] His views seem to echo those of his father, Errol Musk. The elder Mr. Musk, who is 78 and has seven children with three women, praised his son’s “good genes” and desire to have many children.

“You breed horses,” Errol Musk said in an interview in September. “People are the same. If you have a good father and a good mother, you’ll have exceptional children. If you have no children, I feel very sorry for you.”

Can’t say I am surprised by the eugenics talk and the baseless certainty that they have “good” genes.

In a book published in 2023, Elon Musk told his biographer that he and his father, who lives in South Africa, are sometimes estranged, partly because Errol Musk had two children with his own former stepdaughter.

This? This I did not see coming.

But the elder Mr. Musk said that he and his son were in frequent contact and that he had recently traveled to Texas to visit him and his children. “I haven’t met one or two of them because they’re still secret,” the elder Mr. Musk said.

Are they secret because their mothers are fighting tooth and nail deportation to the Musk Totally Not a Cult Compound?

Mr. Musk has said that I.V.F. is a more efficient way of having children because it allows parents to control parts of the process, according to a person who understands his thinking.

According to a person who understands his thinking!

Later, they explain that the mothers of his children are not actually gestating the kids. The part where a woman risks her body and health is subcontracted to surrogates. They are only giving their “good” genes. Aldoux Husley meets Margaret Atwood.

In September, the pop star Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for president, signing her Instagram post “Childless Cat Lady.” Mr. Musk posted on X, “Fine Taylor…you win…I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.”

People close to Mr. Musk believe he was only half joking.

Please, let this be the plot of a Knives Out movie. Please, I want Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc calling an Elon Musk lookalike “a fucking weirdo” as he investigates Taylor Swift’s kidnapping. And then there would be some plot, plot, plot and Taylor Swift’s fans storm the compound and kill everyone. 

[kohakuriver]

Spirited Away Twitter Q&A Translations

Multiple theories debunked/confirmed and we're given answers on how Haku and Chihiro can meet again! Ghibli finally answered a lot of popular questions!

When the official Ghibli twitter was first active back in 2022, it held a Q&A during a Spirited Away rerun. I don't think anyone's ever posted about it on here so I thought I'd share these translations I found! Most of these answers are completely new information about the movie. Here's a site that archived all the tweets and trivia.

The credit to these translations and notes go to atrociouscheese.

Q: Is it true about the rumors that "Spirited Away" has an subsequent story about a phantom after, and that it was shown only in some movie theaters? Or is it just an urban legend?

A: It's an urban legend. Miyazaki: "At first, I was planning to start from Chihiro's house. Chihiro's room was a path for yokai, and she talked about going to a bathhouse with my mother. But I quit because it felt dull. So it would be interesting if such rumors were circulating!"

Q: Why did you decide on the title "Sen and Chihiro's Spirited Away"? (referring to the Japanese title of Spirited Away which is: Sen to Chihiro Kamikakushi) Were there any other candidates for the title?

A: At the stage of the completed proposal that was drafted on November 2, 1999, it was "Sen's Spirited Away". At some stage, the movie was titled "Sen and Chihiro's Spirited Away" because it was about Chihiro's story.

Q: What is the meaning of the mysterious Daruma-like rock in front of the tunnel?

A: The image board says "Stone person (actually a frog person)"...

Q: Do you have any plans to build that tunnel in Ghibli Park?

A: I asked Goro, who is building the acclaimed Ghibli Park under construction.

Goro said: "I'm making 'that tunnel' in 'that work'~ (laughs)"

Q: The mother feels a little cold to Chihiro. I've always been wondering if there's any reason or if she's a cool person by nature.

A: Animation director, Masashi Ando, said that he wanted to not have the image of father and mother that appear in Miyazaki's work, and he said that he set it with an awareness of "a person who is cool and not in a place where family harmony is disturbed".

Q: How did the main character come to be named Chihiro?

A: Chihiro was modeled on Miyazaki-san's friends who were around 10 years old at the time (including some of their names). After the first preview, Mr. Miyazaki was there before anyone else to hear the children's impressions of the film.

Q: I'd like to know more in detail about the objects and places you used as references in creating this work.

A: There is no specific location "here". Mr. Miyazaki recalls the places he once visited and draws while imagining places he cannot remember. The restaurant district in the mysterious town that appears at the beginning of the film was said to have been drawn with an image of the entertainment districts of Yurakucho and Shinbashi.

Q: Are Kamaji and the working soot sprites (Japanese uses makkuro kurosuke) the same species? Or are they similar but different?

A: The official name of makkuro kurosuke is "Susuwatari". That's what it says on the storyboard, so it's not wrong to say that it's the same species. Initially, there was a plan that rice and sesame were their favorite foods, but now konpeito became their favorite.

Q: Are the characters portrayed in human form like Lin, human? Or are they other creatures?

A: The employees of the bathhouse are frogmen for the men and female slugs for the women. This is symbolic of the fact that to the new employees joining Ghibli, all the uncles look the same. Lin may look human because she is a close senior. Doesn't that happen to you?

Q: I want to know more details about of the chicks who are crammed in the bath!

A: It's a chick god called "Otori-sama." By the way, the one who is also soaking in the hot water is the "Cow Demon." According to Miyazaki, he thought, "Today's Japanese gods must be having a hard time," and that's how the bathhouse was born, where gods and yokai can heal their fatigue. 20 years later, the bathhouse may be even more prosperous now...

Q: Why did Radish spirit (Oshira-sama is used here) follow Chihiro upstairs?

A: The spirit became interested in Chihiro and got on the elevator together with her, but they didn't like Yubaba's room, so they descended immediately (it's written in the storyboard).

Q: How many years ago was the world of the bathhouses set from now?

A: It's modeled on the "pseudo-Western" buildings that were popular from the end of the Edo period to the beginning of the Meiji period, so it can be interpreted as after that.

The actual model is Studio Ghibli. To work for Studio Ghibli, you have to go to Toshio Suzuki on the top floor and say, "Please let me work" (laughs).

Q: I really like the flood-like atmosphere of the flowers in the scene where Chihiro slips through the flowers before eating rice balls. Did you change the expression technique for only that scene?

A: For that scene, the flowers are drawn with paint and are then animated to have depth on the computer.

Q: I felt that the onigiri that Haku gave Chihiro were white rice balls, but did they contain any contents inside?

A: The storyboard says, "3 onigiri (without seaweed)". I'll leave it to your imagination to see whether it contained any ingredients in them (not that there was any wasabi).

Q: How many years has Haku lived approximately?!! He looks like a boy, but...!

A: His appearance is about 12 years old, but his actual age is unknown. He's kind during the daytime when Yubaba is sleeping, but is cold at night. According to Miyazaki, Chihiro is like falling in love with a manager. "What was that about last night?"

Q: Is No Face (Kaonashi is the original Japanese used)'s movement a little cat-like...? I personally think that, but are there any animals that you used as reference?

A: I don't have any "animals" as a reference, but the staff at that time said, "I felt like I was collecting the obsession that everyone had, the parts of people that were sick."

Q: I want to know the rating of the bathhouse bills! I wonder how many kinds there were and what rank of the tag Kasuga-sama was.

A: There are no ratings, but the efficacy of hot water is different for each tag.

Q: Is No Face a god? Is there a reason why they couldn't enter the bathhouse?

A: No Face is not a god, but Miyazaki said at the time that "No Face is inside everyone."

Q: Do many Ghibli staff have special feelings for Chihiro? Were there any celebrations among the staff on the 20th anniversary?

A: The studio does not do so-called "anniversary celebrations". Miyazaki and Suzuki's idea is to do what is in front of them without looking back on the past.

Q: I heard that most of the dishes that appear in the movie are made at least once, but was that big steamed bun (meat bun?) that Chihiro was chewing on also made by hand?

A: We don't cook all the meals that appear in the film. Miyazaki says, "Most of the food that appears in the movies are usually things I made and ate a long time ago."

By the way, the fried egg that appears in Laputa and Howl is said to have been drawn based on his memory of making a fried egg when he was a student, returning home from a long trip without any money and starving.

Q: Why is the name No Face?

A: At the drawing meeting at that time, Miyazaki said that Yubaba, No Face, and Chihiro are all "one aspect of the individual." Everyone has both good and bad points. I think he created a character called No Face as a symbol of human beings that cannot be drawn in a one-sided way (I answered seriously).

Q: When the film was released overseas, I was wondering what kind of responses and impressions people had about the unique concepts of Japan, such as Japanese gods and "spirited away/kamikamushi" had. Also, was it made in consideration of reactions from overseas at the time it was produced?

A: It varies from country to country. In some countries, the appearance of No Face became "silence", and other countries burst into laughter. Miyazaki does not make movies conscious of overseas reactions. Suzuki says, "If Japanese people make something that only Japanese people can do, it will become a global work."

Q: Why is Boh drawn so big?

A: It's a symbol of growing up as a child. It seems that Yubaba can't help but spend money on Bo.

Q: "Spirited Away" is the voice acting debut of Ryunosuke Kamiki, who has done voice acting in numerous anime. I heard that Ryunosuke was called to Ghibli's studio after recording his voice at home and sending in a tape because it was an audition. I would like to ask why you cast Kamiki in the role of Boh.

A: At first, people with big bodies were nominated for the voice of Boh. Miyazaki's face lit up the moment when he heard the voice of Kamiki who was eight years old at the time, he shouted, "This one, Mr. Suzuki!" and he decided.

Q: Please tell me how to distinguish between Yubaba and Zeniba.

A: At the image board stage, there was a clear difference between Zeniba and Yubaba. At the storyboarding stage, they thought it would be better to make them look exactly alike. One staff member said, "Yubaba has one wart on her chest and Zeniba has four warts on her chest." But I can't confirm it (laughs).

Q: Kamaji says that Zeniba is scary, but she is a gentle grandmother in the movie. Why did Kamaji say that Zeniba was scary?

A: People who look kind are the scariest when they get angry.

Q: Why did you make the scene of "I can't forgive you!" Dragon Ball-style? How did Yubaba hit such an orb?

A: The storyboard says "Dragon Ball style" (laughs). It's not clear why she was able to shoot an orb, but Miyazaki said, "Yubaba is an old woman who can swim in the air."

Q: I have a question about trains. Is there a reason why we used to come and return in the old days, but now we can only go one way? I would like to know if there are any settings.

A: During a drawing meeting, Miyazaki remarked, "All the employees of the bathhouse dream of saving money to open a store in the town beyond the bridge. Will they go for leisure? But if you get on the train you’ll never be able to come back and this will be gone.”

Q: Where was the scene that took the most time to draw?

A: If there are a lot of characters, the scene will take a lot of time, though I can't say in general that this cut took the most time. It is unclear what scene took the most time but Miyazaki often fixed Chihiro's small gestures, and in particular, Miyazaki seems to have, with all his effort, corrected the scene where Chihiro received the hair tie from Zeniba and tied her hair.

Q: What was the most difficult dubbing scene?

A: Kamaji, who is played by Bunta Sugawara, speaks a lot slowly, so it was difficult for Sugawara to get it on scale. Rumi Hiiragi was having a hard time with saying "one, OK?" from the line "one, OK? I can't call one flower a bouquet". And Miyu Irino tried many times with "Nigihayamikohakunushi"

(translation note: her line in Japanese, what "one, ok" sounds like is "ippon, ne." Japanese changes numbers when it comes to counting items, so one which is ichi becomes ippon when it comes to counting the bouquet. So instead of saying, "One, okay" she said "one okay") Additionally, I actually know what they're referencing and you can actually see the dubbing behind the scene difficulties they're talking about in this video uploaded on Youtube: video here

Q: How do you write Haku's real name "Nigihayamikohakunushi" in kanji (Chinese characters)? I am wondering if it is the characters for "amber river" (琥珀川) or "small white river" (小白川). I would like to know if there is a meaning to "Nigihayahimi"!

A: Although it is written in katakana in the setting, the name "Nigihayami" is said to be the composite of several gods including Nigihayahi (nigihayami-no-mikoto), the ancestor of the Monobe clan who fought against the Soga clan during the Asuka period, and Hayakitsuhiko, the river god and dragon incarnation.

Q: How did Chihiro find out that her mother and father were not inside the pig pen in the end?

A: I'm not sure of the reason, but please read the children's book called "Krabat", which Miyazaki was greatly influenced by.

Q: Is there any reason why Chihiro's hair tie sparkled brightly at the end?

A: That hair accessory is the only proof that Chihiro worked at the bathhouse. I think it can be said that it is a (choice by) stage direction to give that impression (of the sparkling).

Italics is my inference, but I'm not 100% sure.

Q: How many days did it take for Chihiro to get lost in the mysterious city, work in the bathhouse, and exit the tunnel?

A: Mr. Suzuki advocates the three-day theory. When her father and mother get into the car as if nothing had happened, the inside of the car is covered with dust, so the passage of time may be different here from the tunnel.

Q: Why is going into the tunnel different on the way back?

A: When I asked Noboru Yoshida, an art staff member, he answered, "It depends on the passage of time." Does that means that the "three-day theory" collapses...?

Q: Did Chihiro and Haku meet after that?

A: Haku was the spirit of the river that flows near the house where Chihiro used to live. If Chihiro ever visits the river...

[xplrvibes]

some people on twitter are getting really mad at colby for apparently ‘ditching’ shea for his new girl saying shit like oh he led shea on and now he’s pushed her away lol

they’re fully acting like he’s committed an awful crime like why are they cancelling him 😭

(side note - i’m actually, whole heartedly convinced that half of the fandom genuinely hates colby and everything he does fills them with rage lmfao)

This is going to be a one and done, on this topic. I don't like Shea, don't like what she's doing. Never did like her, as you all know, because she has been an absolutely awful and manipulative bully and generally trash person over the years and I don't want her taking up too much space on my blog because of it.

But I felt the need to just put this out there before I move on, so here we go, behind a cut for anyone who doesn't want to hear it lol.

You know, I find this whole "taking Shea on her word all of a sudden" thing interesting.

According to Shea, they had a 10 year (even though he was still living in Kansas 10 years ago) "on-again, off-again thing" that was "mostly just talking" and was "never official," although it was "almost dating, but not official" for 2 years (even though there hasn't been a 2 year period where Colby hasn't been at least seeing someone, if not hooking up).

She doesn't seem to know any of his friends and not a single one of them follow her on socials - in fact, most of them unfollowed her several years back. Of particular note is the fact that Sam, after all these years of her being Colby's future wife, still hasn't followed her back...but has followed several of the other girls Colby's been linked to over the years, including M.

She never seems to have a clue about what is going on in his life and has been promising (and not delivering) fans content with Colby for years now - including her telling everyone that her and Colby were going somewhere to film a documentary in January of this year when Colby had already told everyone on xplrclub that he and Sam were going to be in Vegas or in Texas filming in all of Jan and then in Australia for most of Feb. She promised to have him on one her streams on a day when he was actually in Hawaii, then another day when he was actually in Kansas visiting family.

She hasn't been invited to a single party or group gathering of theirs since 2019, save for one time when she visited Colby and Sam in Las Vegas - which came across as very awkward, given the above.

She complained about never getting invited to snc's Halloween parties - you know, the ones that have 500-1,000 invitees and snc have claimed include an invite to every single person they know and are friends with? Yet Colby's soul mate gets left on the list somehow, 6 years running?? (One year he had four different past flings there at once. But the future Mrs. Shea Brock just didn't make the cut somehow)

Oh, bonus: she once told a gc full of her fans that Colby asked her out, but she turned him down because she valued the friendship too much. Funny how those turns tabled.

Colby meanwhile, has never hidden that he considers himself single, does not think he's met "the one," uses Raya to find dates, hooks up and has flings....he's not just pretending to be single, he IS single.

So. to recap: They have had a 10 year friendship and emotional bond that Shea deluded herself into thinking was more. Colby comes around her again after having had a cancer that could've easily rendered him unable to have children, and her grand idea is to tell this guy she freely admits she was never even dating that she wants to cash in on some vague promise he may or may not have actually made to her about getting married and having CHILDREN???

I'd have left her ass, too.

But sure. He's the bad guy. By the way, to hear Shea tell it, Colby did the same thing to her that Sam did to Kat. But all the people trashing Colby were the first ones in line to defend Sam from big bad mean Kat and her hurtful words because "he wasn't ready" and wah wah wah. Isn't that funny...and on par.

So yes, lol. Most of the people pissed about this are using any excuse put in front of them to trash Colby cause that is the only enjoyment they get out of life. Trust me when I say they are backing the wrong horse with Shea. She's not the hero victim y/n sainted good girl she pretends to be.

[houseofbrat]

Timeline of events, Part 1

22 DECEMBER 2023: Rebecca English and Camilla Tominey & Hannah Furness post stories regarding Will & Kate making an official visit to Italy but won’t visit the Pope.

25 DECEMBER 2023: Kate attends the Christmas Day service in Sandringham with the BRF, including George, Charlotte, & Louis.

28 DECEMBER 2023: Convoy spotted heading in the direction of King Edward VII's hospital at 20:30 on twitter.

29 DECEMBER 2023: Kensington Palace posts 2023 montage on instagram and twitter.

09 JANUARY 2024: Buckingham Palace posts tweet wishing Kate a Happy Birthday.

William uses Kensington Palace twitter to acknowledge the passing of JPR Williams.

10 JANUARY 2024: Russell Myers has an “exclusive” regarding Will & Kate’s military trip to Europe in February 2024.

11 JANUARY 2024: William travels to hand out CBEs to Rob Burrow and Kevin Sinfield.

16 JANUARY 2024: Kate is (allegedly) admitted to The London Clinic on this day.

17 JANUARY 2024: KP announces Kate had successful “planned abdominal surgery” the day prior.

Buckingham Palace announces King Charles will be treated for a “benign prostate condition.”

18 JANUARY 2024: William is photographed leaving The London Clinic.

20 JANUARY 2024: Spanish journalist Concha Calleja says that Kate was hospitalized on 28 December 2023.

Roya Nikkhah reported that Kate’s 30 charities & patronages were not notified until one week before her surgery regarding future engagements.

24 JANUARY 2024: People magazine: “Within their broader circle of family friends, there had been no indication that anything was wrong, and the carefully guarded news about Kate’s situation came as a surprise even to those who work closely with the royal family, PEOPLE understands.”

The Mirror published a story saying “The Princess of Wales "could be your best friend one minute” and “your worst enemy” the next, according to a royal expert.“

Later changed to be a story about Prince Harry.

25 JANUARY 2024: Matt Wilkinson & Harry Goodwin of The Sun report that William has visited Kate in the hospital every day while George, Charlotte, & Louis see their mom, Kate, via FaceTime.

26 JANUARY 2024: King Charles visited Kate while she was in The London Clinic after he was admitted for his BPH procedure. Queen Camilla visits The King in the hospital.

27 JANUARY 2024: Queen Camilla photographed visiting King Charles at The London Clinic.

28 JANUARY 2024: Queen Camilla photographed visiting King Charles at The London Clinic.

Spanish journalist Concha Calleja says Kate is in a coma.

29 JANUARY 2024: Kate leaves The London Clinic but is not photographed leaving. William is not photographed at The London Clinic. Kate’s personal assistant is photographed driving away from The London Clinic with a large bouquet in the passenger’s seat.

Statement issued by Kensington Palace.

King Charles is discharged from The London Clinic.

01 FEBRUARY 2024: Kate Mansey & Simon Hunter of The Times report that an unnamed Kensington Palace spokesperson deny Concha Calleja’s claim that Kate is in a coma.

02 FEBRUARY 2024: Concha Calleja stands by her "coma” story.

05 FEBRUARY 2024: Buckingham Palace announces that King Charles has cancer, the specific diagnosis has not been revealed as of today.

James Sweetnam & Matt Jackson of Express quote an “expert” that says Kate could take up to nine months to recover.

06 FEBRUARY 2024: King Charles & Queen Camilla photographed leaving Clarence House.

07 FEBRUARY 2024: Prince Harry flies to UK to see King Charles.

James Middleton shares a video of his family in the Alps on instagram.

Prince William does his first engagement, an investiture, since Kate’s announced hospitalization.

William attends the London Air Ambulance Charity gala with Tom Cruise. “I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you, also, for the kind messages of support for Catherine and for my father, especially in recent days. It means a great deal to us all.”

09 FEBRUARY 2024: Richard Eden reports Will & Kate and kids travel to Anmer Hall in Sandringham for half-term break.

10 FEBRUARY 2024: Buckingham Palace posts a thank-you message from King Charles.

11 FEBRUARY 2024: King Charles & Queen Camilla are photographed attending church in Sandringham. No photos of Will, Kate, or their children attending church.

13 FEBRUARY 2024: Photos of Pippa (Middleton) Matthews vacationing with her husband, James, and children in St. Barts hit the Daily Mail.

King Charles & Queen Camilla arrive back in London at Clarence House.

16 FEBRUARY 2024: Writer Gareth Russell posts on Facebook that Kate has been seen outside at Sandringham, and no one took a picture.

17 FEBRUARY 2024: Richard Eden on twitter regarding school visit by Will & Kate with George.

18 FEBRUARY 2024: King Charles & Queen Camilla attend church in Sandringham.

Prince William attends the BAFTAs.

19 FEBRUARY 2024: School begins again at Lambrook for George, Charlotte, and Louis.

20 FEBRUARY 2024: William, The Prince of Wales, releases a statement regarding Gaza and the Middle East.

21 FEBRUARY 2024: King Charles meets with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Buckingham Palace.

Photo exclusive of Pippa and her children in St Barts for the Daily Mail.

23 FEBRUARY 2024: Video of King Charles reading get-well cards from well wishers released.

27 FEBRUARY 2024: William pulls out of King Constantine II of Greece’s service of thanksgiving at Windsor.

Buckingham Palace announces the death of Thomas Kingston, husband of Lady Gabriella Windsor. William’s absence was not related.

28 FEBRUARY 2024: A Kensington Palace spokesperson addresses the “wild conspiracy theories” about Kate in a statement to The Sun: “We were very clear from the outset that the Princess of Wales was out until after Easter and Kensington Palace would only be providing updates when something was significant.”

29 FEBRUARY 2024: Page Six: Kate Middleton’s team is speaking out in light of the conspiracy theories swirling about the Princess of Wales’ whereabouts following her abdominal surgery in January.

“Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the princess’ recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates,” her rep tells Page Six exclusively. “That guidance stands.”

The flak reiterates that Middleton, 42, is “doing well.”

ET Online: Earlier this week when it was revealed William would be missing his godfather’s memorial service, the Palace told ET that Kate, who underwent abdominal surgery in January, continues to be “doing well.” But with the speculation only intensifying, the Palace released another statement to ET on Thursday.  

“We gave guidance two days ago that the Princess of Wales continues to be doing well,” the statement reads. “As we have been clear since our initial statement in January, we shall not be providing a running commentary or providing daily updates.”

Tom Sykes of The Daily Beast: A former royal staffer who still has friends and contacts inside the palace said, “Anyone who expects the palace to suddenly start giving lengthy updates on Kate will be disappointed. The principal aim of her being sequestered is to guard her privacy. I’m sure the press hate it because it is working. There is a really, really small bubble of people who know exactly what is going on.”

Prince William visited a central London synagogue, where Kate had been scheduled to visit on Holocaust Remembrance Day (27 Jan 2024).

Jan Moir on Prince William: One day soon he will be the head of the nation, a focus for national identity, unity and pride. So maybe he should stop behaving like a celebrity flake and reign in that impervious attitude along with his indulgent fondness for obsessive secrecy. If this is a sign of what is to come when he ascends the throne, it is very worrying one.

Tom Bower says Kate’s condition is more serious than has been reported previously.

(update from previous timeline here)

[oldbutchdanielcraig]

hi i know i commented on the uquiz but i forgot this historic moment in rpf history at the time and honestly i just think of gerard way’s nightmare polycule frank iero is both the spoke with the least evidence despite sharing close quarters with the guy off and on for the last two decades and also the least interesting (like oh boy, they kissed and then had a fistfight within a few weeks of each other. whatever). what you have to understand about gerard is that being a world famous rockstar is kind of a job he fell into, if it was up to them they’d live in a basement and write comics and never talk to anyone, but they were blessed with the voice of a god and the desire to change the world after witnessing 9/11 so here we are. he also has SHIT FUCKING TASTE. he married the bass player from msi (who did say on twitter she pegs him when mcr announced they were getting back together. so you know. silver linings) for christ’s sake. i mean she’s dreamy but. anyway. that’s not the point. or the rpf thing. the rpf thing is his INSANE puppy-esque relationship with grant morrison, terrible (according to my batman enjoyer friends) batman writer. he flirts with them (grant uses they/them) on twitter, going so far as to say they have a great ass in old tweets where we did not fucking ask. there are pictures of him looking at grant at comiccon like he wants to ravish them. they hired them as the main villain in the interconnected music videos for mcr’s fourth album all the way back in like, 2009, so this is also a long standing thing. and finally, last year, in glasgow, during mcr’s RECORD BREAKING tour, he writes a dedication to one of grant’s comic characters on the drum head and then PERSONALLY GIFTS IT TO GRANT. the morning after the concert. lightly (maybe more than lightly, it was a year ago i don’t remember it exactly tbh) implying he slept over? and then posted the picture of him visiting them on all of mcr’s socials. leading to the coining of the phrase ‘they fucked that old them,’ something i will get gomens fans using if it’s the last thing i do. oh also bert mccracken from the band the used has straight up said the song pretty handsome awkward was about eating out gerard’s ass. both him and his brother kind of share the title of Helen Of Warped Tour (mikey is a whole other can of worms and this is already getting long).

POSTING HOTEL ROOM PIC YOU SENT ALSO

😭😭😭😭😭

1) this is so fucking awesome. i like to be different so i would love more than anything to get involved in a gerard way rarepair. LETS GOOOO

2) we are going to start saying they fucked that old them. chart topping phrase truly

[foreverlogical]

Prime Minister Viktor Orban will meet with Donald Trump at the former U.S. president's luxury Florida resort on March 8 after the Hungarian leader endorsed the bid of his "good friend" in the November presidential election.

Orban, arguably Trump's biggest booster in Europe, has openly spoken of wanting the presumptive Republican presidential nominee back in the White House, saying it's "the only sane approach for Hungary," a position that comes in stark contrast to many of Europe's leaders, who fear a Trump return will damage relations and diminish security across the continent.

"For Hungary, the preference for Trump is not about personal likings or political affiliations but about which U.S. leader's foreign policy would bolster Hungarian security," government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on March 4.

Orban stops at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort after attending a panel at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington a day earlier, where he spoke about Hungary's conservative family and economic policies, the war in Ukraine, relations between the United States and Hungary, Trump, and his personal political beliefs.

The Hungarian prime minister's schedule has not been published, and it is not known if he will meet with any other U.S. officials during his visit to the country.

Washington has been critical of Orban because of his government's erosion of democratic principles and its continued close ties to Russia since the Kremlin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Orban, who has been shunned by many Western leaders, has refused to send weapons to Ukraine while pushing for an immediate cease-fire and peace talks. He says Trump and his good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin make him the better candidate to quickly end the war.

"The only chance of the world for a relatively fast peace deal is political change in the United States, and this is linked to who is the president," Orban said earlier this week.

"It is not gambling at all, but the only sane approach for Hungary is to bank on the return of President Donald Trump," he added.

Orban, who has been in power since 2010, has called Biden's White House an adversary, according to the pro-government Magyar Nemzet daily newspaper.

Trump has reciprocated with his admiration of Orban, whom he has called a "strong leader," even though in October he referred to Orban as "the leader of Turkey."

[somethingboutafic]

Fake Dating

MARRIED FOR A WEEK?! by gravitycentered (M) word count: 20,424 Hi guys :) You might recognize Harry from one or two of my old videos .. I was tagged in the Married for a week challenge so I asked him to be my husband ! We had to live together for a week and take each other out on a couple romantic dates and that, check out the video to see how it went :) Give it a like if you enjoyed and maybe subscribe if you haven't already. Love you all - Louis x

Pillow Talk by FallingLikeThis (E) word count: 25,981 When Harry starts having confusing feelings for a male classmate, his sister's best friend, Louis, helps him figure himself out. Cue lots of kissing, sex, and falling in love.

(your heartbeat) rang true inside my bones by flimsy (E) word count: 32,945 Harry goes as Louis' date for a weekend wedding. He ends up taking the role a bit too seriously.

Play Pretend, Find a Friend? by angelichl (E) word count: 40,296 When Louis sees his ex-boyfriend kissing a random girl at a party, he acts out of blind jealousy. He kisses the first guy he can find. It turns into a thing. INSPIRED BY CLOUDS.

Faking It by TheCellarDoor (M) word count: 46,173 Harry pretends to date his best friend to escape unwanted attention from a too insistent classmate and hopes it won’t blow up in his face. Featuring embarrassing dildo accidents, awkward boners, longing, first times, late night conversations, emotional discoveries and Niall as the exasperated friend with bad advice.

Chestnuts Roasting... And All That by elsi_bee (M) word count: 46,760 Louis is apparently the only person at his new job who is single as can be. It’s not a big deal to just tell his new colleagues that he has a boyfriend, right? Until he has to make this imaginary boyfriend magically appear at the office holiday party. Cue fake relationship antics with a certain someone who is more than willing to play along.

Perfect Storm by cherrystreet (E) word count: 80,230 What do you do when your best friend asks you and your (now) ex to be the best men at his destination wedding? You can either tell him the truth, tell him you’re not together anymore, and deal with the consequences, or you can pretend you’re still together and roll with it, just pray you don’t spiral. Fake it ‘til you make it. You know, for the sake of the wedding. Harry and Louis choose the latter.

Back From The Edge by sincewewereeighteen (M) word count: 113,059 the one in which Harry is a closeted actor who needs to do a PR stunt during his break, only he wasn't counting on falling for his beard's best friend. It gets messy.

nobody shines the way you do by wildestdreams (E) word count: 115,194 Louis pretends to be Harry’s boyfriend to help him win back his douchebag ex-boyfriend, but things don’t go according to plan.

It's Fine To Fake It 'Til You Make It ('Til It's True) by sunflouwerhabit (NR) word count: 141,194 Harry dreads an impending visit to his hometown, where he’ll be forced to reunite with a newly engaged ex-boyfriend, a childhood best friend turned near stranger, and a family who never understood just how desperately he needed to leave. In the midst of it all, a ludicrous Twitter proposition brings him to Louis.

Escapade by dolce_piccante (E) word count: 146,241 In the grand scheme of things, finding a date for a wedding should be no problem for Louis Tomlinson. He's rich. He's handsome. He's reasonably well behaved. But when the wedding is for his lifelong best friend (and former boyfriend), and is happening in under a month, finding a date for the ceremony and accompanying festivities becomes more of an adventure than he ever could have planned for.

The Greatest Thing by infinitelymint (E) word count: 163,789 Harry and Louis haven’t spoken since the band broke up when a dangerous combination of Niall Horan, tequila, and an ordained Elvis impersonator means that the two of them have to embark on their biggest publicity stunt to date - together. (aka the semi-canon accidentally married in Vegas fic that has been seven years in the making)

[lollytruecrimeworld]

The Brampton Hut Murder

Janice Carol Weston, unsolved murder

Solicitor, Janice Weston was found dead in a ditch by a lay-by on the A1 in between Brampton and Brockden, Cambridgeshire on 11 September 1983.

36-year-old solicitor, JaniceWeston’s body was found at 9 am on a Sunday, in a ditch on the northbound carriageway of the A1 about half a mile south of the Brampton Hut roundabout by a cyclist. She had been beaten to death by several vicious blows to the head using a car jack which was found discarded close by.

A detective said that he believed that the killer had possibly lost his temper during an argument and had gone berserk. She was found fully clothed, with no sign of sexual assault or robbery. A post-mortem examination revealed that she had fought against her attacker.

According to Janice’s husband, she had a bit of a habit of picking up hitchhikers when she was making a journey. although he had told her not to and in fact he thought she had stopped doing that.

Curiously Janice Weston had told her husband and her friends that despite her husband being abroad she intended to stay at home in London that weekend. She had spent Saturday in London shopping, getting a new spare wheel for her car and visiting her office at Lincolns Inn to catch up on some work during the afternoon. She was last seen alive at around 4.15 pm on Saturday 10th September 1983.

According to traffic reports and an approximate time that Janice left her home in Holland Park, London, she probably didn’t reach Huntingdonshire until after 9 pm on Saturday night. It seems likely that she was heading for her ‘Weekend retreat’, a country house in Clopton, Northamptonshire.

It is possible that detectives are linking the story of the tyre with the fact that forensics found oil beneath Janice Weston’s fingernails but I think it is more likely that she had changed the tyre in London and done something else, such as checking the oil in the Brampton Hut Layby.

I do not see that a killer is going to kill a woman with a carjack, discard the jack but not the wheel and then drive her stolen car to Camden, London then dispose of the wheel. I really feel that is an error in the investigation.

Janice's husband was arrested after the body was identified, he was held for 55 hours and questioned at length but he was released without charge. It had taken three days to identify the body due to her having been so severely beaten. Hence Tony Weston had returned to England before his wife was identified so police had no idea that he was in fact in France at the time of his wife’s murder.

I personally see a number of faults and failings in this case and the way in which it was handled, hence I am sitting here almost forty years on from the killing, reporting that the case remains unsolved.

I will leave this one here and be back with another case very soon. In the meantime, if you can help me by leaving me a tip and buying me a coffee by clicking the link HERE it would mean a lot to me.

As always, if you would like to discuss this case or indeed any other then please get in touch, I love to hear from you.

Email me:

Lolly-truecrime@protonmail.com

find me on social media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LollyTrueCrime

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LollyTrueCrime

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lollytruecrimeworld/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lolly-true-c-43937a201/

[aspectabundgaze]

✎... 𝘽𝙇𝙊𝙂𝙎 𝘽𝙇𝙊𝙂𝙎 𝘽𝙇𝙊𝙂𝙎

Merriam-Webster defines "blog" as a website that contains online personal opinions, replies/comments/feedbacks, videos, pictures posted by the writer. Now although the very first blogging site could be traced from the year 1994, by a journalist named Justin Hall, it wasn't really seen as one since it was simply listed as a personal homepage. (Rioja, A. 2020)

"Is blogging still relevant when Instagram, TikTok and YouTube have been on the rise?"

Okay~ so... a quick intro on what these three holy trinity of vlogging, pictures and short videos are, TikTok is a social media platform that allows you to post short videos from 15 seconds to 3 minutes long, some going as far as 10 minutes. Because it allows you to also post stories, it is considered Instagram "lite" by some. People post fan edits, original skits, repost of other viral content from other platforms, and it has gain a lot of traction during the Covid-19 pandemic. Instagram is a platform for sharing photos, videos with anyone, as long as there's engagement, your content will get views and likes, it is the same as YouTube, although YouTube had been around much longer.

To answer the question, if you ask me, blogging is still very relevant in 2023. So many people, from writers, students, teachers, fans, business owners to organizations continues the usage of blogging sites. To think a few, other than Tumblr, Twitter or now known as X, Facebook, and Weibo, which is the Chinese version of X (Twitter), Cyworld, a now defunct Korean blogging platform, are some of the microblogging platforms these people used to share tip bits of their lives, brands, engaging with their audience through replies, likes, reposting and sharing their content, and obviously it is also used to improve their online presence. Now other social media platforms like Douyin, TikTok, YouTube has gain a significant amount of popularity, but written content and blogging remains an essential part of online communication, branding and marketing.

According to Rheingold. H, 1993, "Virtual communities are social aggregations that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on […] public discussions long enough, with sufficient

human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace” so that is what blogging actually does, it helps us form our ideas and create a safe space for the rest of us to show sides that other platforms would judge us for. For example, in my opinion, blogging platforms like Tumblr or Twitter, aka X can be a space for me to express my interest, particularly horror movies, movie analysis, movie reviews, anime, cosplay, fanarts where in spaces like Twitter (X), I get to make personal comments and engage with my mutuals with their replies through my Inner Circle without having other people who are not my followers or close friends seeing it. Comment sections in sites like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, while it can be private, it is only private if the post is private so when you leave a comment on a public account, people still get to see your comment and visit your profile, so it doesn't really offer that sense of anonymity like Tumblr or X (Twitter).

Other than that, blogs can be totally customizable to your likings! I'm personally a Royalcore type of person, therefore Tumblr or Wordpress offers me the freedom to customize my username, my layouts, the fonts I can use to make it more aesthetically pleasing. And again, blogging is still around and will always be around because people love sharing thoughts, love to tell their tales in an intricate manner with their writing style to engage with their followers. And getting responses from people who visit your blogs, and/or proceeds to follow you afterwards is actually a huge boost for a blogger's self esteem.

In conclusion, a person who blogs, is called a blogger. Some do it on a daily basis, some do it on a weekly, monthly basis or whenever they feel like it. It is still so very common for content creators and influencers, take TikTok food and lifestyle content creator Emily Mariko who updates her newsletter/blog on her lifestyle to updates on her engagement, wedding, and more for her followers. So. Is it still a thing? Yes. Yes it is!

references :

A brief history of blogging - Sean MCB, viewed 28 September, 2023, <http://seanmcb.com/projects/bhob/brief_history_of_blogging.pdf&gt>

Alejandro Rioja 2020, ‘The history of blogging and its evolution [+infographic] from 1994 to 2020’, Alejandro Rioja, viewed 28 September, 2023, <https://alejandrorioja.com/history-of-blogging/>

[lligkv]

a responsibly equivocal stance

Max Norman's review of Diane Arbus's work in The Drift brings together some questions I've wrestled with lately, as I always wrestle with them: the questions of having a position on an artist and having complex assessments of art. Some of this is triggered by the experience of watching some friends of mine process the Oscars and the sweep made by Everything Everywhere All at Once—a therapeutic millennial movie that seems to want to palliate viewers' childhood wounds by using larger-than-life spectacle as a vehicle for overly simplified sentiment, and is being disproportionately rewarded considering its ultimate lameness (the natural product of excessive spectacle for those who don't find that charming) and conservatism. (The case for the conservatism is laid out quite well by Kieran McLean, here.) Versus the kind of artwork that tries to be several things at once, say TAR.

Which everyone online seems to be kind of stupid about? Much of this is likely shaped by Twitter's particular economy of terse opinions, quote tweeting, and dunking. Versus, say, an ecosystem of alt-weeklies or blogs issuing comparatively considered pieces (written by critics of whatever stripe, and not Twitter-posting Substackers, each hanging out their own little shingle, subjected to the demands and incentives and scale of those platforms), which people then reflected on via comments in comment sections—which is not to glamorize blogs or comment sections, just to say that what we've got now might be worse than what we had then. With TAR, it feels like a film that was designed to be ambiguous enough to evoke multiplicity in its interpretations just got such flat reads from people whose tastes I normally trust. It was a portrayal of an abuser in cancel culture being justly punished for her arrogance. Or it was a portrayal of an abuser being unjustly punished, because according to Todd Field, Lydia Tar's genius, or her age and socialization to older mores, or the perceived stupidity of her antagonists in the culture—for all that I don’t think the student she argues with, in a moment that goes viral and begins her fall, Max, is actually meant to be seen as stupid—ought to have excused her bad behavior.

To my mind, the film seemed to want to do both these things—or, as the memes would have it, a secret third thing, some hybrid of the two.

It seemed Field wanted to show a person whose character has been dessicated by the pursuit of fame experiencing the destruction of all her ties to the world that satisfied her desire — perhaps even to get back in touch with some new form of creation both degraded and genuine. Yes, Tar, at the end of the film, is in an objectively worse position than when she began. And she's not exactly saved. She may not be capable of any reckoning with herself more concrete than the atavistic, overwhelming stab of feeling that makes her vomit when she's confronted by a reminder of the women she worked to manipulate, like Krista and Olga, in the form of the girls in the spa she visits, lined up like a banquet for her delectation. She's also conducting in a meaningful way, absorbed in the act of it, in a way she has not been up to that point. And she is so because now, she has no other choice...

All this is to say: maybe Field wanted to create an object that could meaningfully be taken several ways. Maybe he meant us to go back and forth on whether Tar is right or Max is right, or to what degree; maybe he meant us to like Tar in some ways, or to find her charismatic or funny in fucked-up ways, and to disapprove of or hate her in other ways, to find her blinkered and odious and sad in her attempts to aggrandize herself. All this is so very basic to say, and I don't mean to imply I'm being radical here, but I have had this thought: maybe we're fucking up by being so insistent with how we feel about this movie and what we think it's saying About The Culture We're In. Artists shouldn’t be expected to have a single stance on something, a single intention that each work exists just to express. An artist can, should, be working through something...

Which brings me back to the Arbus piece. I appreciate Norman's calling out the position taken by curator John Szarkowski and critic Sebastian Smee that Arbus meant to humanize her subjects. I don't think Arbus's intent was to rehabilitate, to "show," as Szarkowski has it "that all of us—the most ordinary and the most exotic of us—are on closer scrutiny remarkable"; that would be banal, and perhaps as instrumentalizing of the subjects as work made to emphasize their strangeness. "Does Arbus’s photograph ["A naked man being a woman, N.Y.C., 1968"] send him up, or support him?” Norman asks, “Or is the real joke on the viewer who insists on one interpretation or another?" I don't think it's a joke played on the viewer who insists on one interpretation or the other; I do think that viewer ought to be capable of acknowledging multiple possibilities... Maybe—to state another basic point—artists, whether Diane Arbus or Todd Field, don't have answers, but questions, and they chose to do something felt as well as thought to represent them... And I think artists should be allowed to look bad, to have complicated feelings, to encounter a desire to gawk or objectify and portray that desire with a degree of honesty and interrogation so that those of us who, obeying certain limits that collective life justly(!) places, won't cop to it can confront it in some form...

I do want to be clear that interrogating the ethics of Arbus's relationship to her subjects, so many of whom were marginalized as she was not, feels useful and necessary. I also don't think we can do that with much precision if the only question we ask is Did Arbus have a right to do what she did? And while none of this is new, it does feel like Norman's piece opens a way to that more precise interrogation of the ethics of Arbus's work by pushing us past the simple binary of "the work is good" or "the work is bad"—a binary that feels particularly ubiquitous now, and undignified in the overheated discourse about art that it often fuels. Ultimately, if the Smee/Szarkowski take on Arbus is, as Norman writes, one in which "Arbus's biography, which testifies to her own 'inner mysteries,' is used to help straighten out the problem of a privileged white woman on the prowl for weirdos—a woman who once compared taking pictures to being a butterfly collector," I don't want to discount the "butterfly collector" bit. But what if what’s so often seen as a problem could once again become fact... As Norman puts it, we so often take positionality as key to understanding works of art. And how much has that uncovered for us that a responsibly equivocal stance toward an artwork—a stance that acknowledges possibilities good and bad and makes no final judgments, or doesn't rush to translate a first impression, a take, into a summary judgment—could not more effectively do?

Time, I guess, to page Sontag for those erotics of art; we might need them again...

Ironically, Sontag appears in Norman's piece as another critic determined to reduce Arbus, specifically by critique of her privilege and the perceived amorality of her voyeurism rather than by praise for some arguable desire she had to humanize her subjects. Maybe by the time Against Photography came out, Sontag too had forgotten her own edict. Or more likely, the demands of nascent image culture—and the nature of photography, versus those technologies of art that are less automatic on the part of the artist, and less readily assimilated into a media economy that goes on to inform a country's politics—had overwhelmed it.

To be clear, Sontag's take on Arbus in "America, Seen Through Photographs, Darkly" is clearly the product of intense engagement with the work and Arbus's own writings on it. But I resent the harshness of the judgments—their fixity. When Sontag writes the line

What happens to people's feelings on first exposure to today's neighborhood pornographic film or to tonight's televised atrocity is not so different form what happens when they first look at Arbus's photographs.

I think: is Arbus's work about inuring us to what is terrible? Are the subjects "necessarily ahistorical," is her view "always from the outside"? Perhaps Arbus's work is "reactive—reactive against gentility, against what is approved" to some degree; is that all it is? Sontag takes Arbus to task for not being ethical with her photographs, as a journalist might be ethical, but can't the creation of a dramatic confrontation with one's own instinct to be a voyeur be a meaningful exercise; meaningful in an ethical sense, for a viewer—particularly viewers in the same wealthy and sheltered position as Arbus—if still something for which the artist should be held to account? As Norman writes, "Looking through Arbus’s lens only makes the encounter more demanding." I suppose the point is this: There's rigor and even beauty in an unequivocal stance, but also the risk of a shrillness, an antagonism, a hostility not unlike the hostility people brought to TAR—and I'm increasingly tired of assuming a hostile, suspicious, exclusively hermaneutic relationship to art...

Right as I was writing this post, I was tipped off to the publication of an essay by Garth Greenwell in The Yale Review in which he talks about an apophatic theory of the relation between art and morality: "a theory that would allow us to explore the moral work of art without limiting or prescribing that work, as certain theologians attempt to develop ways to think about God without defining God in a manner that would violate God’s freedom." Which puts precisely the words to what I'm searching for; the relation to art I would like to return to. Marked by generosity, an understanding of an artwork as necessarily multifaceted, the taking of time in the consideration of it, an assumption of good faith. There's also a line in Ben Lerner's book The Lichtenberg Figures that comes to mind: "a great work takes up the question of its origins / and lets it drop..." Maybe I'd tweak that line now: A great work takes up the question of its ultimate meaning and lets it drop...

[jacobtheodorescott]

Extra Support

Jacob Scott                                                                                                             

COMM 1400 

Professor Susi 

9/9/24 

Extra Support 

Good afternoon, fellow bloggers. I would like to start off by asking a question. Did you ever try and fail to do something yourself? Were you so prideful that you refused other people’s help? I confess that I have done so many times. For those unaware, I am a high functioning autistic man. I was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome when I was a baby. Therefore, I struggled with anxiety, social interaction, and understanding emotions. I grew up in a controlled environment. Nevertheless, my autism was worse when I was younger. I would punch, kick, or slap people rather than use my words. Luckily, there was a place that shaped me into who I am, Looking Upwards. Looking Upwards – Services for Children and Adults in Rhode Island  

Looking Upwards is a private non-profit organization that provides service for children and adults with disabilities. According to them, they help disabled people live their best lives and achieve anything they set their minds to. “With the resources of our caring team of professionals, we assist the person in realizing dreams such as success at school, gratifying work, enjoyment of relationships and participation and inclusion in the wider community” (Looking Upwards). If you or someone you know is part of this organization, you know they handle individuals with various cases. There are members who are deaf, blind, have Down syndrome, and so forth. Furthermore, I met some of my friends there when I was a child. Laura Carlone, Derek Patsos, Seth Dame, and my best friend, Patrick McLaughlin. Thanks to Looking Upwards, I not only gained long term friendships, but I became polite, patient, responsible, and open minded.  

I was eager to find any feedback on Looking Upwards. I managed to find a handful of positive reviews courtesy of Beaming Health. I found five-star reviews from members praising the children’s program and friendly staff. I especially wanted to highlight one review from a man named Rick who worked to push children in the right direction. “The staff are very kind yet not anyone is perfect. We all strive to work in harmony with the reality that we work together to make the best of all lives” (Beaming Health). However, I should draw attention to negative criticism as well. A woman named Sara shared a story that she struggled to get services for her son. “This place is getting increasingly frustrating. I went from being staff there to needing their services for my son. His OT was absolutely amazing, but the people behind the scenes who actually run the company are completely incompetent” (Beaming Health). Hopefully, one complaint will not dissuade you from seeking them out for a child in need of early intervention.  

Before I close this off, I investigated the vanity metrics of Looking Upwards. I was disappointed to find they are not active on Twitter. However, they have a devoted fanbase on Instagram. To cover the basic metrics, they post regularly with currently 1,000 posts, they have 80 followers, and they give off the impression that they are an inspirational page. As for the advanced metrics, they do not actively engage with the audience. This ties into their channel metrics, because they need more website and profile visits. However, they thrive on honesty and offer guidance to those that have too much to handle. Therefore, they succeed by impacting influencers as a behavioral metric. Moving on to YouTube, I discovered a Looking Upwards trailer titled Human Rights.  (5) Human Rights - Looking Upwards (Trailer) - YouTube The main point of the trailer is to reinforce that even with a disability, there is no limit to human rights. Considering that this is the only video on their YouTube page, they struggle to expand their audience. Regardless, the video has garnered 1.3 thousand views. At some time, they got the point across. Then, we have their Facebook page. In my opinion, this is where they gained the most followers, advocates, and profile visits. Furthermore, I recognize some users as old friends and members of my family. Firstly, there is Rob Fields who has assisted numerous disabled children. He even assisted me when I was in middle school. Next, there is my aunt Merrie Scott, a loyal member of the Newport Police Department. Now, here are my tips on how Looking Upwards can improve their social media presence. Engage in conversations with Twitter users to gain insight on their needs and concerns. Then, to pull in the YouTube crowd, create more videos to promote some of their participants. And as for Facebook, they seem to be doing everything right. They pay respects to their members, actively talk to the community, and create special events and fundraisers to spread awareness. Despite any negativity you have heard, I thank them for who I grew up to be. An intelligent, confident man who looks out for others and waits for his time to shine. If you join Looking Upwards, you or a friend can do the same.

[the-single-element]

Good morning.

We've been hearing, the last couple weeks, about the practical barriers Jesus faced when trying to share the nature of the Kingdom of God with those around him.

That theme continues today, when Jesus sends the Apostles – the twelve members of his inner circle, who've had the most direct tutoring on the matter – out to spread his message too, so that people will still be able to hear it in towns that Jesus will never have time to visit in person.

Because the Apostles will have to face another barrier, above and beyond the ones Jesus has been contending with: the inherent difficulty of delivering a challenging message to a stranger.

It's one thing to deal with the stubborn, immovable views of your old acquaintances, where the concrete dried on their opinion of who you are decades ago, and that opinion colors anything you try to say to them.

It's entirely another thing to walk up to someone who's never met you before and get a knee-jerk reaction along the lines of "and who the f**k are you? How is this any of your business?" For 21st century people like us, connected in ways previous generations never were, this has become common sense; the "Twitter reply guy" is going to get a thorny welcome whether or not what he's saying is true.

Amos got just such a welcome when he went north from Judah to preach in Israel; regrettably, his message got very little traction, and no shortage of mockery. Jesus, too, anticipated that there would be people unfriendly to his apostles, as they travelled around the area in pairs to spread the good news.

Paul might wax poetic about that good news as being a great uniter – something that will resonate both in the hearts of both those who grew up familiar with the God of Abraham, and those who saw him as a foreign god worshipped by foreigners – but let's not mince words: before they "unite", they'll produce so much controversy that they'll divide families, as they already did in Jesus's case.

So what's to be done? How can we answer the skepticism that rightfully arises when a rando like Amos shows up and starts pontificating on a topic no-one asked them about?

…well, Amos didn't just preach against idolatry. He also preached against usury, unjust rents and taxes, and dishonest trade. These were the greater part of his message – the part he considered more important than 'empty' sacrifices.

And that's our clue. If we need a sort of testimony that works just as well from the perspective of a stranger as that of a friend, then our behavior – the external evidence of what it looks like to living according to the Kingdom's logic – is maybe the loudest voice we have. Let's go further: it might even be more effective from a stranger than from a friend. Isn't it easier, after all, to become curious about someone's way of life – and even to come to admire it – when you already know they're from a different culture than your own? This was, after all, Jesus's strategy, and he deputized his apostles to follow the same playbook, curing the sick and driving out unclean spirits as they went… because, as we've discussed before, you can't really separate the ministry from the message.

And it is in seeing the whole picture at once – the work, and the otherworldly-yet-familiar logic behind it – that we can get past that initial distrust of the stranger, and instead remind the world of the way it once might have been, and can become again.

[houseofbrat]

22 December 2023:

Rebecca English and Camilla Tominey & Hannah Furness post stories regarding Will & Kate making an official visit to Italy but won't visit the Pope.

25 December 2023:

Kate attends the Christmas Day service in Sandringham with the BRF, including George, Charlotte, & Louis.

28 December 2023:

On twitter:

29 December 2023:

Kensington Palace posts 2023 montage on instagram and twitter.

09 January 2024:

Buckingham Palace posts tweet wishing Kate a Happy Birthday.

William uses Kensington Palace twitter to acknowledge the passing of JPR Williams.

10 January 2024:

Russell Myers has an "exclusive" regarding Will & Kate's military trip to Europe in February 2024.

11 January 2024:

William travels to hand out CBEs to Rob Burrow and Kevin Sinfield.

16 January 2024:

Kate is (allegedly) admitted to The London Clinic on this day.

17 January 2024:

KP announces Kate had successful "planned abdominal surgery" the day prior.

Buckingham Palace announces King Charles will be treated for a “benign prostate condition.”

18 January 2024:

William is photographed leaving The London Clinic.

20 January 2024:

Spanish journalist Concha Calleja says that Kate was hospitalized on 28 December 2023.

20 January 2024:

Roya Nikkhah reported that Kate's 30 charities & patronages were not notified until one week before her surgery regarding future engagements.

24 January 2024:

People magazine: "Within their broader circle of family friends, there had been no indication that anything was wrong, and the carefully guarded news about Kate’s situation came as a surprise even to those who work closely with the royal family, PEOPLE understands."

The Mirror published a story saying "The Princess of Wales "could be your best friend one minute" and "your worst enemy" the next, according to a royal expert."

Later changed to be a story about Prince Harry.

25 January 2024:

Matt Wilkinson & Harry Goodwin of The Sun report that William has visited Kate in the hospital every day while George, Charlotte, & Louis see their mom, Kate, via FaceTime.

26 January 2024:

King Charles visited Kate while she was in The London Clinic after he was admitted for his BPH procedure. Queen Camilla visits The King in the hospital.

27 January 2024:

Queen Camilla photographed visiting King Charles at The London Clinic.

28 January 2024:

Queen Camilla photographed visiting King Charles at The London Clinic.

Spanish journalist Concha Calleja says Kate is in a coma.

29 January 2024:

Kate leaves The London Clinic but is not photographed leaving. William is not photographed at The London Clinic. Kate's personal assistant is photographed driving away from The London Clinic with a large bouquet in the passenger's seat.

Statement issued by Kensington Palace.

King Charles is discharged from The London Clinic.

01 February 2024:

Kate Mansey & Simon Hunter of The Times report that an unnamed Kensington Palace spokesperson deny Concha Calleja's claim that Kate is in a coma.

02 February 2024:

Concha Calleja stands by her "coma" story.

05 February 2024:

Buckingham Palace announces that King Charles has cancer, the specific diagnosis has not been revealed as of today.

James Sweetnam & Matt Jackson of Express quote an "expert" that says Kate could take up to nine months to recover.

06 February 2024:

King Charles & Queen Camilla photographed leaving Clarence House.

07 February 2024:

Prince Harry flies to UK to see King Charles.

James Middleton shares a video of his family in the Alps on instagram.

Prince William does his first engagement, an investiture, since Kate's announced hospitalization.

William attends the London Air Ambulance Charity gala with Tom Cruise. “I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you, also, for the kind messages of support for Catherine and for my father, especially in recent days. It means a great deal to us all.”

09 February 2024:

Richard Eden reports Will & Kate and kids travel to Anmer Hall in Sandringham for half-term break.

10 February 2024:

Buckingham Palace posts a thank-you message from King Charles.

11 February 2024:

King Charles & Queen Camilla are photographed attending church in Sandringham. No photos of Will, Kate, or their children attending church.

13 February 2024:

Photos of Pippa (Middleton) Matthews vacationing with her husband, James, and children in St. Barts hit the Daily Mail.

King Charles & Queen Camilla arrive back in London at Clarence House.

16 February 2024:

Writer Gareth Russell posts on Facebook that Kate has been seen outside at Sandringham, and no one took a picture.

17 February 2024:

Richard Eden on twitter:

oh, did it, Richard?

18 February 2024

King Charles & Queen Camilla attend church in Sandringham.

Prince William attends the BAFTAs.

19 February 2024:

School begins again at Lambrook for George, Charlotte, and Louis.

20 February 2024:

William, The Prince of Wales, releases a statement regarding Gaza and the Middle East.

21 February 2024:

King Charles meets with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Buckingham Palace.

Photo exclusive of Pippa and her children in St Barts for the Daily Mail.

23 February 2024:

Video of King Charles reading get-well cards from well wishers released.

27 February 2024:

William pulls out of King Constantine II of Greece's service of thanksgiving at Windsor.

Buckingham Palace announces the death of Thomas Kingston, husband of Lady Gabriella Windsor. William's absence was not related.

28 February 2024:

A Kensington Palace spokesperson addresses the “wild conspiracy theories” about Kate in a statement to The Sun: “We were very clear from the outset that the Princess of Wales was out until after Easter and Kensington Palace would only be providing updates when something was significant.”

29 February 2024:

Page Six: Kate Middleton’s team is speaking out in light of the conspiracy theories swirling about the Princess of Wales’ whereabouts following her abdominal surgery in January.

“Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the princess’ recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates,” her rep tells Page Six exclusively. “That guidance stands.”

The flak reiterates that Middleton, 42, is “doing well.”

ET Online: Earlier this week when it was revealed William would be missing his godfather's memorial service, the Palace told ET that Kate, who underwent abdominal surgery in January, continues to be "doing well." But with the speculation only intensifying, the Palace released another statement to ET on Thursday.  

"We gave guidance two days ago that the Princess of Wales continues to be doing well," the statement reads. "As we have been clear since our initial statement in January, we shall not be providing a running commentary or providing daily updates."

Tom Sykes of The Daily Beast: A former royal staffer who still has friends and contacts inside the palace said, “Anyone who expects the palace to suddenly start giving lengthy updates on Kate will be disappointed. The principal aim of her being sequestered is to guard her privacy. I’m sure the press hate it because it is working. There is a really, really small bubble of people who know exactly what is going on.”

Prince William visited a central London synagogue, where Kate had been scheduled to visit on Holocaust Remembrance Day (27 Jan 2024).

Jan Moir on Prince William: One day soon he will be the head of the nation, a focus for national identity, unity and pride. So maybe he should stop behaving like a celebrity flake and reign in that impervious attitude along with his indulgent fondness for obsessive secrecy. If this is a sign of what is to come when he ascends the throne, it is very worrying one.

Tom Bower says Kate's condition is more serious than has been reported previously.

01 March 2024:

Prince William ignores a "How's Catherine?" question from someone at Wrexham during his St. David's Day visit to Wales.

Thomas Kingston's death revealed to be "catastrophic head injury" due to gunshot, i.e. suicide.

Victoria Murphy writes in Town & Country about the UK's Editor's Code of Practice prohibiting writing about the lack of information available to the public regarding The Princess of Wales's condition.

02 March 2024:

Roya Nikkhah reports Queen Camilla's annual March time-off as a sudden vacation instead of a regularly scheduled annual break she always takes at this time of year.

04 March 2024:

TMZ & Backgrid establish proof of life of The Princess of Wales and her mother.

UK media is pressured by Kensington Palace to *NOT* publish the photographs in the UK, even though everyone else in the world can see them online.

05 March 2024:

Richard Palmer notes that there is no legal reason why the pictures of Carole and Kate cannot be published due to them being on a public road.

The British Army is forced by Kensington Palace to amend their Trooping the Colour once the UK media started circulating stories about Kate's appearance in June, which is two months after Easter.

Dominic Ponsford in the (UK) Press Gazette wrote about the media blackout regarding Carole & Kate's driving pictures.

Kate's uncle Gary Goldsmith briefly comments on the lack of Kate information on Celebrity Big Brother.

06 March 2024

King Charles has a meeting with the Canadian PM and officially greets two ambassadors.

Kensington Palace "spokesman" to (US) People magazine: "His focus is on his work and not on social media," a spokesman says.

Normal people on reddit notice this bullshit and comment on it:

Emily Andrews comments on the "invisible contract" between UK media and Kensington Palace:

London's Air Ambulance Charity, whose gala benefit William attended on 07 February 2024, announced they did not receive enough government support.

08 March 2024:

King Charles photographed in a car on Windsor Castle grounds.

Prince William demonstrates proof of life when he visits The Oval in support of for-profit company, Notpla, and seaweed.

<The End, for now>

Other sources: Twitter: effoff1988 and Ellie Hall's timeline.

[upyourfreedom]

This Simple Trick Will Skyrocket Your Engagement

Engagement is the lifeblood of social media success. High engagement rates not only indicate that your audience is interested in your content but also help increase your reach through algorithmic boosts. If you're looking to skyrocket your engagement, there’s one simple yet powerful trick: Leveraging Interactive Content.

What is Interactive Content?

Interactive content is any type of content that requires the active participation of the user. This can include polls, quizzes, surveys, interactive infographics, contests, and more. Unlike passive content, which users simply consume, interactive content engages users in a two-way interaction, making them feel involved and invested.

Why Interactive Content Works

Increased Engagement: Interactive content naturally encourages users to spend more time on your posts, leading to higher engagement rates. According to a study by Demand Metric, interactive content generates twice the engagement of static content​ (Semrush)​.

Enhanced User Experience: By offering a more engaging experience, interactive content keeps users coming back for more. It transforms the user experience from passive scrolling to active participation.

Better Insights: Interactive content often provides valuable insights into your audience’s preferences and behaviors. For example, quizzes and surveys can reveal what topics interest your followers the most.

Higher Conversion Rates: Content that engages users is more likely to convert them into customers. A study by the Content Marketing Institute found that interactive content converts buyers moderately or very well 70% of the time, compared to just 36% for passive content​ (Vedia)​.

How to Implement Interactive Content

1. Use Polls and Surveys

Polls and surveys are a quick and easy way to engage your audience. Platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook offer built-in features for creating polls. These tools can be used to ask for opinions, gather feedback, or simply entertain.

Example: A fashion brand could ask, "Which summer look do you prefer?" with images of different outfits. This not only engages users but also provides insights into customer preferences.

2. Create Quizzes

Quizzes are fun and shareable. They can be educational, personality-based, or just for fun. Tools like BuzzFeed and Playbuzz make it easy to create and share quizzes.

Example: A travel blog might create a quiz like, "Which European city should you visit next?" This encourages users to engage with the content and share their results.

3. Run Contests and Giveaways

Contests and giveaways are excellent for boosting engagement quickly. They incentivize users to like, share, and comment on your posts.

Example: An electronics brand could run a giveaway contest asking users to tag friends and follow the account for a chance to win a new gadget. This strategy can significantly increase your reach and follower count.

4. Use Interactive Infographics

Interactive infographics allow users to click, hover, and explore different sections. This type of content is not only engaging but also informative.

Example: A health blog might create an interactive infographic about the benefits of different types of exercise, where users can click on various exercises to learn more.

5. Host Live Q&A Sessions

Live Q&A sessions on platforms like Instagram Live, Facebook Live, or YouTube Live allow for real-time interaction with your audience. This can help build a stronger connection and trust.

Example: A skincare brand could host a live session where an expert answers audience questions about skincare routines. This not only engages viewers but also positions the brand as a trusted authority.

Conclusion

Interactive content is a powerful tool to boost engagement. By incorporating polls, quizzes, contests, interactive infographics, and live Q&A sessions into your content strategy, you can significantly increase user interaction and build a loyal following. Start experimenting with interactive content today and watch your engagement rates soar.

For more tips on boosting engagement and creating compelling content, check out these resources:

Content Marketing Institute

HubSpot’s Guide to Interactive Content

Demand Metric’s Interactive Content Study

By focusing on interactive content, you’ll not only engage your current followers but also attract new ones, creating a vibrant and active community around your brand.

Image by Freepik