#all i got was basically a 'well that sucks 🤷‍♂️'

[edmunderson]

so xbox one doesn't recognize my copy of borderlands 2 as GOTY edition and is trying to get me to buy content i already own?? Even tho when i go into manage games it says i have all of the content??????? time to reinstall and hope that works

[jplupineislost]

Okay so here's a post capturing my experience on Newgrounds, sparked by me looking at stats. I've officially been on there about 4 years as an 18+ monster artist which may or may not factor 🤷‍♂️

Disclaimer that this is my personal experience and not everyone will have the same opinion or experience of this platform as I do.

When I started Newgrounds back in 2020, I was trying to find anywhere that allowed 18+ art that didn't ban everything under the sun that wasn't vanilla. Starting out posting there was fairly simple but tags did take a hot second to figure out how they worked and which ones worked best [or at least better] than others.

I quickly got Scouted and had to google what that even meant- It's when another user who's Scouted basically vouches for you to get your art to show on the main art search page(s); without being Scouted, you are relegated under the 'Undiscovered Artists' filter. Being Scouted is supposed to mean more people see your work, so it's something artists on there try to obtain and keep because, yes, you can lose Scouted status in numerous ways including your Scout losing Scouted status.

I was Scouted, but even then, growth on that platform is horrendous. Being on NG, from what I have observed, you need to either be well connected and networking or posting a lot and frequently. So, I relied on search/tags to be found since I'm a completely new user. Getting views/votes/faves/etc. on NG has been almost impossible for me even with Scouted status.

After 4 years on there and Scouted, do you wanna know how many followers I was able to gain? 18.

Then a few months ago I lost Scouted status. I didn't even notice when it happened because of how dead my activity has been the entire time I've been on there 😂 However, I was able to see that, without Scouted status, views on my art were cut by more than half and take way longer to gain the same number of views as before- which only drives further home how much this Scout system sucks.

So, at this point, I've just been using NG as more of an archive than anything else. Literally every artist I follow on there has stopped posting, so it's likely I'm not the only artist dealing with these problems and they simply stopped putting effort into posting to a platform that gave very little to nothing in return.

To sum it all up, my experience on NG has been like walking through a deserted mall. You can see all the shops and signs of people, but it feels like no one is there except you. Hence why I've been using my NG as an archive instead of wasting anymore effort trying to build a following there.

[rockinmyownboat]

Lavine to the Latrine (and Other Dark Fantasies of Feminist Equality)

My mom raised me right. I was taught to respect women. Thats a crazy concept coming from a testosterone fueled penis-handler, like myself. But it's a real thing. My mom raised as much of a feminist out of a headstrong boy with rock and roll in his veins as she could. At most, she instilled a very specific brand of old school chivalry to respect, cherish, and value women as bringers of life. At the very least, she taught me to not use women as sex objects to wipe my ego's ass.

Thats why i really sucked as a rockstar. I tried it. Not gonna lie to you either. I got my hands on more bumper than an autobody shop in my 20s. As a single guy at the time, i didn't see any problems. Thank God I don't think that way anymore. I like to think that's because i grew up a little ... 🤷‍♂️

Even though i was single and free to do whoever i wanted, ill tell you what i learned. It was empty and unrefined.. So baseless, tasteless and Predictable.

Can i say this? I think i shall.

It was fucking BASIC.

Hedonism just never set well, even when i tried to pursue it fully with nary a care in the universe.

I would feel the weight of my choices every time my logical brain would catch up to the rabid horndog in my nutsack, forcing me to reign him in. I felt remorse and Regret. It left a worse taste in my mouth than drunken vomit... and ironically was often an additional side effect. As bad as my debauchery might have been on a sliding scale, it was nothing compared to others bragging their female exploits like millionaires boasting financial accomplishments.

Even when i thought i didn't care, i still had standards to my treatment of womenfolk.... Many of the guys i played music with didn't.

I cringe when i think of some of the assholes i used to run with and hear the stories they'd tell behind closed doors. Full bongs and beers loosened lips about their uses and abuses of women they would claim to love out in public.

Its true we become who we value. I was placing value on the wrong people, frankly. Over time, even my mamas boy got caught up in all the impressive charisma of being a pretentious douchebag.

I did some really bad shit to good women. Not like, forcing them or anything. But pushing boundaries, or using them to get my dopamine hits from cheap ego boosts. I really fucked things up. I can't nor would i lie or try to make excuses. I feel those consequences now, as much as then. Existing in a perpetual state of cognitive dissonance is unhealthy.

My reason to change came from a "compliment."

I finally realized what a shitty person i was becoming when an ex girlfriend included a Maroon5 song on our "I Love You" Playlist. She said, it was cause of the chorus, and how good our sex was. It made me feel good at the time. Hell.... She used to compare me to their lead singer. At the time, it felt like quite the ego boost. The guy's physically hot. I'll admit it. But i realized later that was NOT at all what i wanted the basis for our relationship to be. Especially after i paid attention to the REST of the chart topping single's lyrics. I was disgusted, frankly. Her compliment went from an ego-boost to a disturbing insult real quick.

Thats why i feel like the stigma of being a "rockstar" needs to be deconstructed. Its all a bullshit game, based on dumb luck, blind chance, and the right handjobs in the right offices to get the prettiest, vapid, most toxic douchebags on planets in front of WOMEN. The results are the money women spend on the majority of products, as consumers. Women have the most buying power out of ANY demographic these days.

Ladies, do you realize what im saying? Your financial decisions and what you choose to spend money on is the majority of blood running through this massive capitalist machine? That's why so much effort has been taken to suppress and silence you into subservience ....

You have the power of money, the blood that makes the world turn.

Thats A LOT of fucking power you hold in your wallet... And its being sorely wasted...

We all know the music industry is not about talent. It involves honing a baseline of a skillset, getting good at it, and then perfecting it for a record label's sales expectations. That's it. Some learn how to fix cars and its like magic to those of us that can't. Some learn how to fabricate and its like magic to those of us that can't. Some people are great cooks, while others burn water. What we CAN'T Do is mystifying to us until we learn how its done.

Writing a pop song can be done in as little as 15 minutes, because of how easy it is to follow a simple formula, with four chords to start with. Most pop songs follow a non-complicated verse- chorus- verse- chorus- bridge- chorus formula. Start with a simple melody. Write some lyrics that catch the ear. Get super repetitive.

Wash rinse repeat for 15 tracks and then claim you labored blood sweat and tears to the public.

Pop music 101. Got it? It's nothing impressive.

But Hollywood built an empire out of it. Processed music thats as great for the intellect as plastic cheese is for the gut. Empires are full of corrupt disgusting people who need to be taken to task. One of those has gone through unscathed, so far. But im interested to watch him squirm.

Here we go. This one for you, ladies😏....

So Adam Levine is turning out to be just another white, patriarchal, pretty-boy- piece-of-shit who thinks its okay to cheat on his wife and kids with several younger downgrades..... and then issue a half assed statement that was not even a real apology but rather a pseudo-effective diminishing of his crimes ..... hmmm... who knew??

Total shocker, right? Housewife heartbreak is heard across the internet....

From my point of view, anyone shocked by that is an absolute Moron5.

That is a moron to the 5th power. For each level of subsequent denial involved in being a woman and knowingly supporting the sexist bigoted content in Adam Levine's music.

Lets go back a few years.

Maroon5's 2011 hit "Animals" was chart topping. The lyrics and music video were also incredibly controversial in the ways you do not want to be. The video featured explicit depictions of abhorrent sexual behavior and cannibalistic imagery, cleverly disguised as a peppy pop song. The lead singer's nonchalant dismissal of femine rights groups' concerns should have been more than enough to cast a huge red flag on the bands success. He showcased himself as a sexist pig, white washed with poser tattoos and a half-assed beard. But alas ... propel foward a decade and he sits on a panel of judges for American Idol, the controversy of his projected sexual deviance forgotten like a dead pet.

If you haven't seen the video yet, don't. It'll make you sick if you're a decently empathetic human. Read a review instead. They're all pretty explicit in the descriptions. Look up the lyrics to the song. Don't bother listening to it. You'll never get rid of that obnoxious parasite of an earworm.

Its a song about a man stalking a woman, and raping her. And its goddamn catchy.

Heres what bunches my boxer briefs up....

It seems like just because he cuts his diamond nipples on his chiseled abs, women will write off and even swoon and gush over stalker/rapist behavior in his songs and belt that shit out like they wrote it ...

See here's the thing...

If I wrote a song like that, i would be committed. Or at the very least, I'd have a LOT of questions to answer about my mental state. And i would probably lose a lot of people that have been fans of my music.

And i'd deserve it.

If I acted as the video depicts, and stalked someone at a club, or ended up outside their apartment taking photos, I would get thrown in fucking jail. That behavior is not acceptable in real life. As we all should know.

Thing is, a flashy prententious douche like Lavine can sing those kind of lyrics though. Because he is pretty enough to make women override their self respect and logic with washboard abs and their hormones.

Frankly ladies, you're being impressed with the wrong shit.

Showmanship and production are all you need to make a concert or an album impressive. I know... im part of the cultural subset with that skillset. I can sing pretty well, too. I can write catchy melodies and incessant earwigs. I can even play guitar or bass or drums... whatever you want me to do.....

Don't be impressed. Please for the love of God.

Its my skillset, remember? I can't fix an engine to save my goddamn life.

Dont lose me in false humility here. Im proud of what I've accomplished in my music career. No money to speak of, but I've proven I can write catchy, decent, radio quality rock songs.

Whats more?

I did it WITHOUT hiring a team of bigshot producers to help. Suck on that, Lavine. The last Maroon5 album cost how many tens of thousands of dollars to produce. It sounds just like every other pop album out there ...? Nothing unique .... or inherently deep or compelling.

Well in ten years, I've dropped 4 albums of original material.... and done the majority of instrument performance on each. Ive helped produce and mix.... even mastering.

Here's the thing.... Im not masturbating my own ego. What im doing is minimizing Maroon5's musical accomplishments and musical impact.

They've done nothing innovative to garner such a massive cult-like following.

Maroon5 rode the coattails of their model pretty boy frontman who honed his skillset into a carefully crafted persona of machiavellian derivation.

They've never been known for their high lofty musical quality. They do bubblegum pop that has as much substance and flavor as a stick of Fruit Stripe.

It might surprise you to know musicians and singers who massively outclass Adam Levine live in your town. You've probably passed by them on the street. Maybe you've been out with friends drinking and will hear them singing karaoke. Maybe you've seen them at church or work. And you'll ignore them cause you know them. Or cause you don't recognize their songs. And they don't have rock hard abs or pretty faces. Sometimes they're even a little midsection soggy

They're just normal people who possess extraordinary musical talent. But that's not gonna appeal to you much without an airbrushed pin up, right?

Ill give Adam credit. The guy is talented and can sing well.

You bet your ass, im still Not playing any of his albums... cause he's a sexist asshole. And that behavior is not okay. I don't care how hit he is.

See, you can give someone due credit for being a decent performer... and not endorse or support them if they use that platform to endorse predatory behaviors that serve the narcissistic glory hole of their ego.

Just cause hes on, doesn't mean you have to watch.

You know who else had raw Talent and sang dark disturbing shit about women?

R. Kelly.

Oh yeah. Shits about to get real.

How long did we overlook the fact that he was pissing on little girls as long as the brother was pissing out Top 40s hits, too?

Adam might not be directly giving golden showers, but his songs piss in the face of true feminism that strives for sexual equality both in the bedroom. And outside of it ...

Im not impressed with his talent or how he has chosen to use it.

Ever hear the term "sellout?"

Pretty sure the dictionary definition should feature a photo of Adam and a full bio.

He gets away with glorifying psycho-sexual predatory behavior and tops the Billboards because women enable him.

Women buy his albums ...... and

WOMEN .......

..... are the majority that stream his music ....

.....

Ladies, do You see where I'm going with this yet?

Yes, you do Penny. You're a shallow dopamine addict just like the rest of Western Culture. We all enjoy wasting money on worthless crap that feels good for 10 seconds. But this goes deeper than that. So let me illuminate the dark tunnel of hypocrisy in this cultural backdrop of ours with the mental freight train of the truth.

We live an age where you can de-cry the patriarchy for equal rights, post some #metoo hashtags for solidarity with abuse and rape victims, and wear a vagina on your head to protest a sexist president that likes to talk about grabbing women by the pussy .... And think that those will be effective movements....

.... But why... when Adam Levine sings about stalking and raping a woman, does your feminism melt into a puddle in the panties .... and override every logical circuit in every house wife in America, translating to proportional cashflow...?

Great job sticking to your convictions, ladies.

The vast majority of Maroon5 fans are women. And most of them are the same women pissed off at Harvey Weinstein for being a fat, disgusting, sick fuck that preyed on women for their livelihood ... that's some next level evil shit.

Women everywhere should be pissed; hell, ill be honest. I'm not even a woman... and I'm constantly infuriated with womens lack of autonomy in society, and the ways that they're treated.

My dick gives me no authority over your body ladies. I have no right to dominate you ever as a means to gain power over you.

And that's what we're REALLY talking about in the BIGGER conversation, right?

Feminism is all about "leveling the playing field," right?

So lets level this shit out.

Im begging these hypocrites to tell me why rape and psychosis are so much more palatable to the average female psyche when the rapist has rock hard abs?

Why is it okay for Adam to act the way he does, or write songs the way he does, expressing obvious darker tendencies... and women justify it with buying power and attention? Why have NO women hit his pretty ass with a #METOO, despite the fact that that he's obviously a powerful sexual influence in the Hollywood entertainment machine? He's got his share of demons in his crotch.... I guarantee it.

My heart breaks for Adam's kids. They're going to go through a shitton of heartbreak over their dads choices. And i don't think we should directly blame his wife for anything....

... well anything other than her own choices, that is. She's a victim. But she's not a blameless one. To call her "unwitting" or "innocent" is the exact hypocrisy im addressing with this blog.

She's the same wife that played the object of Adam's toxic obsession in the vile music video.

He told her he wanted her to lay down on a table while a group of men leered over her naked body and pretended to eat her guts. She agreed to a scene with her husband depicting the two of them having sex while being bathed in blood. She agreed to be stalked and objectified on camera for her husbands dark lustful fantasies.

Ever heard of projecting? If this is what Adam Levine projects ..

To the PUBLIC...

what's really going on behind closed doors?

His wife is just as guilty of ENDORSING his degradation, instead of CONDEMNING it. She enabled a dark fantasy that would have Hannibal Lecter stroking furiously with the lotion on his skin with psycho-sexual cannibalistic undertones.... time to get the hose again.

She made a bed of scissors. She knew what she was getting into when she married him. She ignored plenty of red flags. She gets to lay in that bed. I feel no pity for her choices. Only a sad indifference.

But, hey....

....this is just another day at the bulge of Hollywoods crotch, with women on their knees in front of it to hand over their money and self respect for a catchy melody. They all should be getting up and walking away and demanding higher quality from pop music, by investing attention and plays in higher quality songwriters that respect and defend a woman's bodily autonomy, not exploit it.

But damn ... those songs are so goddamn catchy aren't they? So we'll just sweep this... and that...under the rug... and we'll just keep our low standards for lyrics and entertainment right where they are.

As long as it's Adam Levine's chiseled body and smooth falsetto that rape your feminist principles, you'll happily degrade your morals to jack off his ego for that coveted money shot.

Not to be to flippant considering the seriousness of the subject, but with all due respect, the willing can't be raped.

To put it simply, Adam Levine and the attention he receives for his bigotry is the walking definition of toxic masculinity, affluence, and violence against women. And you're buying it Because he's pretty. And you're being shallow.

Thats right, i said it. Shots fired.

Lets put this in another light.

If Brock Turner had just written a song, instead of raping a girl, he would have had a platinum album, I'm sure. As long as it had a catchy melody to it. But he was a fucking athlete.

Different skillset to mystify the judges. Go figure.

We all know the rest of the story. This Texas college student, whose daddy played golf with the mayor, decided to LIVE OUT THE SONG, "ANIMALS"....

For kicks on a friday fucking night, Brock found a hot girl at a party to obsess over. Then he Drugged her. Dragged her behind a garbage can, beat her... and raped her ...and left her there.

Think about that the next time you catch yourself singing along with Adam Levine's happy peppy melody.

The world was shocked and dismayed when the judge RULED IN BROCK'S FAVOR....

But wait .....

Doesn't Adam endorse and encourage behavior like Brock Turner's from the stage every time Maroon5 does the song "Animals?" Hmmm....

And ladies, you find that this level of degredation... is acceptable.... because it is.... ART?

My head is starting to ache.

Apparently, great abs, a pretty face and a silky smooth voice makes it okay to be a psycho.

Adam can cheat on his wife; or Objectify a womans sexuality; or blatantly disrespect feminist ideals in his lyrics... and its okay. Cause IT'S ART. He can write billboard top 20 songs about stalking and play those songs for thousands of women in stadiums all over the country that proudly sing along to his catchy pop-fueled rape narrative. He lines his deep, patriarchal, white-male-priveleged pockets with a flash-flood of feminist currency every show.

And he's mocking women with his million dollar smile, cause he knows he can get away with the joke.

Brock Turner. Good looking guy with washboard abs and a fuckton of parental funding. The judge thought his future was worth more than the womans body he violated. So he let the kid off. Brock smiled. Cause he knew he could get away with the joke ...

Coincidence? I think not. Something smells sketchy. Seems like theres a bigger picture being painted, where if you're still relatively young, white, and good looking (regardless if you're a narcissistic piece of shit....), its your "get out of jail free" card.

But Hollywoods gotta hang SOMEONE out to dry.

Whos it gonna be? Old guys. Fat guys. Or black guys.

Louis C.K. gets in trouble for masturbating in front of a woman. He didn't even touch her!!! Okay?? He touched HIMSELF....Now, im not saying he should have. He shouldn't have. But he was disgraced for it. And became an outcast ... in COMEDY ....

Think on that.

...in light of Levine's endless lyrical expressions of uncontrolled lust and sexual domination, and his rabid feminine fanbase, i think this is just a little hilarious and ironic ... but sadly fucking predictable.

Why?

Hes an older white guy. And he's fat. Nobody wants to think about Louis C.K. masturbating. You can't blame the woman for getting offended. But completely disgraced ...? Seems excessive, considering the Comedy gold potential there, but okay. We'll move on.

Did Harvey Weinstein get lucky?

We could say He was TRYING... he was using a tactic to get laid, because he KNEW nobody would sleep with him otherwise. Hollywood knew about it. Covered it up for decades. I think they secretly felt bad for him.

Til he got fat. Like really fat. Like... "oh hell no!" When you see him coming towards the elevator.

Off with his head.

What about R.Kelly? Did he get away with his prosti-Tot empire? Well yeah..

He did...

For years... even when he coerced an under-age Aaliyah into marriage so he could control her.

Until he outlived his usefulness as the Pied Piper of R&B (Goddamn, as if that NICKNAME was not a DEAD GIVEAWAY to his depths of depravity ..), in the end, was he gonna KEEP getting away with it?

Hell no ... He was too black. Black guys don't get away with shit for very long in White Hollywood.

What about Cosby? He was fat AND black. AND old. A triple-threat irrelevant antique....

He was able to run around with his Spanish Fly puddin pop out all over Hollywood for decades...

Til he was no longer relevant. At which point, he became a sacrifice for the #metoo movement.

Off with his nut.

We could spend another blog unpacking the racial implications there but ill save that for another day. Suffice to say, i agree with the way Dave Chappelle put it... to rephrase "WHATEVER the most popular black man in Hollywood has gotten caught doing. 12 average white guys are DOING worse."

Now, what about those "not-so-average" white guys at the top of the food chain?

They all had signs in their dead eyes, staring blankly at the world like a predator. They left an adoring public and hundreds of thousands of fans in denial about the dark shit behind their eyes, as they would stare at the world through emotionless hues.

Finally NOW, THEY SUFFER for their lack of vision.

How long before the Moron5 supporting Levine realize he's the same brand of predator and make him suffer? Im eager to watch the fall.

Goddamn cancel culture is infuriatingly inconsistent. The hot ones almost always get away With it. They prey on a shallow surface level culture as empty vapids suckle its wiles like piglets on teats.

Adam is an infectious pervasive masochistic sickness of toxic masculinity wrapped up in shallow trappings of glitz and glamour. His brand of sickness deserves a short stop and sudden drop from our cancel culture, dont ya think?

#maroon5

#animals

#toxicmasculinity

#doublestandards

#rkelly

#psychotics

#sickbastards

#realfeministsdontfallforslickabs

#metoo

#realshit

#mythoughts

#adamlevine

#maroon5

#goldenshowers

#davechappelle

#louisck

#billcosby

#puddinpop