#and it was very cheap on temu

[kannra21]

Since I don't rly have preference for big nails bc I find them unhygienic I heard something called "wudu nail rings" which are popular by muslim women bc they can take them off while praying. I'm so happy

[silvermoon424]

(from Gabi Belle's video "How Dropshipping Ruined Online Shopping")

YES OMG. I went to an anime convention a few months ago and saw SO many cheap bootlegs being sold as if they were authentic items. Being an experienced collector, I have a good eye for bootlegs so it didn't affect me, but I couldn't help but think of all the people who were duped into buying a crappy $30 bootleg that they could have gotten on Aliexpress for like $2.

[claypigeonpottery]

Good morning! I recently came across your beautiful plate with the unicorn breaking out of the garden. I would love to adapt it into an embroidery design for my personal use, a decorative hoop piece. Would that be okay? If not I of course understand.

Hello!

Absolutely, I do not mind at all. but I would love it if you’d send me pictures once it’s finished!

this goes for other artists too, if you want to make your own version of one of my pieces, please do, and please share it with me.

[southerntchiorny]

[cleoselene]

Look, the CCCP floods tiktok with half a billion posts each year. Most of them are not controversial and not on hot topics. A lot of them are actually positive posts, "wholesome" content, cute fluffy animals and stuff that makes people feel happy.

They do this when they notice the people getting restless and more likely to start organizing protest.

You have to think about internet propaganda in more sophisticated ways than you are. This is why I lose my mind when tumblr idiots rush over to RedNote and report back with definitely true statements like "Temu and sites like that with cheap manufacturing in China are never sweatshops, that's just Western racism" make me lose my mind

you can be manipulated, even if you're being manipulated by sweetness and pictures of puppies and kittens to calm you down when you should be angry at the government.

This is why it also makes me lose my mind when social critics like John Oliver act as if tiktok is just a SUPER WHOLESOME HAPPY WEBSITE WHERE PEOPLE DO CUTE DANCES. Yeah, John, that's kind of the point. That's exactly the point. Propaganda can be like lighting a fuse, and that's how we usually think of it. But propaganda can also feel like a soothing hug.

[kitschycritter]

Howdy, my name is Critter. Have y'all heard of this lil thing called Craftivism? Here are 5 types of Punk/DIY Crafts I think we need to embrace, sooner rather than later!

Crochet/Knitting

Yarn and crochet/knitting supplies are relatively easy and inexpensive to get your hands on, and learning to crochet/knit is relatively easy with video tutorials. Once you learn the basics, you can create patches and clothing items that support certain causes. You can also do yarn-bombing (essentially graffiti using crochet/knitting) as a way to spread awareness about certain issues. Here are the patterns I listed above:

LGBTQ Pride Keychains

BLM Patch

Palestine Flag Heart

LGBTQ Pole Wrap

Womens March Hat

Pins

All you need is something hard and sturdy to act as the base for your pin (bottle caps work best), soda tabs + a safety pin, and some glue to secure everything. Paint or decorate them however you please. Let people know who you are and what you stand for. 

Kandi

While Kandi can be a way to express yourself and your identities, it is also a way to make community. Kandi-trading is huge in the EDM scene, and it is a huge part of why that community is so tight. You don’t need to make anything elaborate, especially to start out - just get some cheap pony beads from the dollar store, some letters, make some pretty bracelets. Keep them, trade them, give them away. 

Embroidery

Embroidery is a very fun and useful skill to develop, as you can basically put whatever you like wherever you want. Mend your socks, personalize your jacket, make some patches. Stop buying those shitty embroidered clothes from temu or shein and make your own one-of-a-kind pieces. Learning embroidery is pretty easy, just get some fabric, some thread, a needle, and go ham.

Zines

Zines are not only a way to spread awareness about certain issues, but they are a way to express yourself and talk about your personal experiences. I’ve included instructions on how to fold a zine, as well as some examples of zines. If you would like to learn more about zines & their history, I recommend @/decolonizationcoven on Tiktok. If you would like more examples of zines, check about any social media platform, but especially Pinterest. Lastly, if you would like inspiration for zines, Canva has lots of templates of zine layouts that are easy to replicate.

[lonelypinecove]

Unethical fur farms, Yarn tails and Faux fur

It's a little alarming that people may not know about cruelty fur farms and unethical fur tails, so I'll put my little guide on how I usually spot them. I'll also have a little section comparing faux fur, yarn tails and real tails.

How to spot Unethically sourced fur

Everything I know is by my experience, as well as research I have done via youtube videos. Thorn from Therian Territiory has an excellent video talking about the subject, (Click Here) But I will summerise below if you want to get straight to the point.

A key feature I find when it comes to unethical tails is this goddamn golden keychain

I have 4 tails with this keychain and all of them are of varying quality - however I don't doubt they are from unethical fur farms.

Another key detail is The tail is thin, the fur brittle and the leather has not been scraped correctly, meaning there is fat from the animal it once came from. Have you ever bought a tail, looking at the leather within and there has been yellow patches? That is animal fat that should have been scraped away.

I avoid buying from Chinese or Korean sellers as that is usually where unethical fur comes from, there are very little rights to animals within these countries, so there is no guarantee the animal had a good life before being killed. As stated earlier, Thorn goes into detail on this subject, although I must warn you the contents He speaks about are quite upsetting.

I would also avoid buying from Amazon, temu, wish, shein and Ebay, as the tails bought from these sites are usually of questionable Quality.

So, where can I buy ethical fur from...?

I highly recommend Etsy, Always check the reviews from sellers - check how thin the tail is and check for that pesky key chain. As a personal caution, beware of cheap tails as there is a good chance they are drop shipped from unethical fur farms, I'd bought a cheap tail from a sale here in Australia (With the golden keychain) and the tail was sadly not great Quality...So always check for that keychain. I hear people can buy tails from Renfaires, oddity and taxidermy markets.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Authentic fur vs Yarn tails vs Faux Fur

I've seen there's quite a debate on which is the best to buy and best for the enviroment. I'm sure all of you have your reasons for swinging this way or that way, so I'll just list some pros and cons

Authentic Tails

Pros

Good for the environment as it is bio-degradable

Beautiful to look at

you will never find 2 identical tails

If well looked after, can last you a lifetime

supporting small buisness

Cons

Expensive

From a real animal

Yarn Tails

Pros

Fun craft

heavily customizable

cheap to make

Cons

Time consuming to make

Getting the supplies can be a pain

not completely biodegradable (Yarn has plastic)

Faux Fur

Pros

An animal didn't have to die for it

Durable if made right

Cons

not bio-degradable (Faux fur has plastic)

faux fur is expensive

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

If you have questions feel free to send them to my ask box, I'll do my best to answer them as best I can - I'm not an expert or a professional in this field, just someone with a bit of knowledge.

I hope this helped keep you all informed ♡ And remember, gear does not make you a Therian or Alterhuman - your non human identity does.

If you have anything to add please feel free to reblog with any additional information. I'd really appreciate it if someone who did Taxidermy were able to weigh in on this manner, as I'm just a dog who loves to collect tails :3

[zooophagous]

PLEASE say more about your cultural understanding of tattoos if/when you feel up to it; your perspective on it is really interesting!

I can only really speak from my own perspective on it as a fairly recent initiate into tattooing, but the way tattoos have been viewed in the past (even the very recent past) had changed very quickly with new technology.

Finer lines become possible, and greater variety of colors, so the necessity of sticking to thick lines and heavy black with few color options is no longer the case. Improved technology means more styles become possible to tattoo in, and as such instead of the restrictions of the media informing the tattoo, tattoos are now available in a wide variety of art styles and the art world and overall cultural zeitgeist now heavily influence tattoos instead of tattoos by necessity having their own set style guides and language.

This means more mass appeal, you can do almost whatever you want art wise now and many tattooers are fine artists in their own right. So now we have more and more women and young professionals into it and not just bikers, gang members or sailors as the stereotypes used to hold.

So now tattoos are trendy for everyone, as the nation slowly but surely sheds its puritanical leanings. But now that tattooing is no longer an underground art form and is largely regulated and legalized, a new underground form of it lives on.

Thanks to online buy-anything sorts of sites like Amazon, Temu and Wish, it's easier than ever for the garage, apartment or party to host impromptu tattoos. And because it is often very difficult to get someone to agree to teach you how to tattoo, almost all of these people are self taught and receive instructions via youtube.

So why then, if you can get anything you want as a tattoo, would people still go for these dubiously sanitary pieces by untrained artists?

Part of it is related to why tattoos may have existed in the first place- they denote your culture, your people, who you belong to. For a lot of the apartment tattoo getters, they're allowing their friends or family members to practice on them as a sign of love and trust.

Part of it is cost. Cheap things always have a market, even if they're not good.

But part of it I think is nihilism. That is, a sense that you have no future, nothing to live for and therefore nothing to lose. Many young people cannot envision themselves in old age and many of them tell you they'll likely die young. So why not, then, get the bad tattoo? The tattoo is temporary because life is temporary. We lead such short desperate lives that refusing a tattoo because of some imagined professional setting you might be in seems as asinine as thinking one day you might be a billionaire. It's just as unattainable.

Throw in a little postmodernism, a little dadaism and you have the perfect storm for the rise of ignorant style tattoos. They're not good, but that's largely the point. They don't have to be. In fact the ugliness is largely the point of this art form. Much like how Duchamp's Fountain was never meant to be a beautiful piece of sculpture but rather a biting satire, ignorant style tattoos become the response to the former underground artform of tattooing going mainstream and suddenly costing thousands and thousands of dollars, and people showing off wealth with perfectly technically done sleeves.

It's for obvious reasons a very divisive style of tattooing, and now even legitimate shops are turning out things that look "bad on purpose" but are technically well applied when examined closely. Personally I think most of them are ugly as shit but what the Hell do I know I'm just some bitch.

[idekkkjja]

Time’s ticking! ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ Minjeong x fem!reader

✧₊⁺ Two troubled girls, hauled back to the sidelines—witnessing others feel the enjoyment of life—have had enough being mere measly viewers, enduring the longing pain, and wanted to experience one more night until they achieved what they so craved for.

One night was what they asked for to share together.

Heads-up: Angst at first, like quite a bit. Child abuse mentioned, bruises mentioned, neglect mentioned, talking about being poor and all. Oh but it's very fluff at the end, happy ending?? Open ending maybe but guyssss wtv. Gangs VERY briefly mentioned, friends to lovers? Its a lazy drabble, pure fluff mainly but not at the start!!

₊ ⊹ January first, the day Minjeong dreaded yet yearned for, was one less day in the broken household forced to grow up. Every year, by most of her siblings, her birthday was overshadowed by New Year's, unfortunately, ever since she was a child. Although she had accepted it and got used to spending lonely birthdays, she spent it in her cramped, shared bedroom, singing a birthday tune to herself in a hushed voice; it didn't mean it hurt any less.

Using any spare, melted, or used candles she had and a stolen lighter from her mother to light them up on a cheap, school-frosted cake, she blew it and bought herself a few small gifts if she had change to use. The gifts usually were makeup, or some AirPods bought from Temu, and it was painful pretending that others had enough gratitude to buy it for her. Knowing well that it was from herself.

That's how her birthdays usually went, ending with her crying to sleep as parties erupted downstairs for many strangers attending with her drunken mother and siblings who encouraged her behaviour.

But Minjeong wanted to do something different for her birthday this year, this year she finally became eighteen, a legal adult. With you, the only person she truly loved in her pathetic life. Before taking an opportunity to audition alongside you, she had to spend a night worth nostalgia.

You were somebody who shared the troubled times she experienced nearly daily, somebody whom she could curl up in their embrace and enjoy the soothing silence that was something rare in her life. And you were somebody who rather refers first of January to her birthday instead of New Year's.

On her cracked phone, her trembling fingers carefully clicked on the first contact, and no surprise, it was you. After a few dreadful seconds, you answered.

"Are you... are you ready?" Minjeong stammered, her voice wavering in barely concealed excitement for this carefully planned night. Nothing could ruin this.

“Yeah, all my family’s having a screaming match as always. You know how my older sister is,” curling up in the corner, you shrink your posture down to not stand out in the blurry crowds full of people you don’t know, every weekend a party erupts within the messy household; you were sick of it.

Your parents couldn’t care less—instead, if you ever disobeyed them—you were left with bruises painted across your skin, a result of some of the consequences from your ruthless mother. It was the same with Minjeong, but one whispered promise confirmed you two wouldn’t mention the new bandages appearing on her hands or face, and she wouldn’t question the contusions across your bare arms.

A small unspoken promise, not to voice out the normalized pain experienced every day, was comforting. Something that would deter the tears.

“They’ll forget about me,” you continued, your voice distant and distracted as you propped up the pillows illuminating your body underneath the blankets to trick your parents; however, they would never check up on you anyway.

Minjeong let out a bitter chuckle under her breath, relating sourly to the statement. “Are you gonna sneak out now or..?”

Looking around the room, you caught the clock clicking every minute agonizingly, and you bit your lip in deep thought. “10:00 pm, let’s go.” You confirmed the time, stood up, and stumbled to the opened window.

“Are you going to be on call as you risk your life for this silly plan?” The other girl tsked in disbelief, the whole situation was unbelievable since you were on the verge of falling from quite a high building and had a high chance of having more suspicious bruises and perhaps a broken bone or so.

“It’s not a silly plan.” You insisted firmly, the metal grazing against each other aggravatingly muffling your voice through the call.

With a grunt of effort, you successfully climbed through the gap, ending up on the rooftop and the outside’s presence reminding itself through the cold breeze in the night. The distant noises of fireworks set up, and peoples’ loud voices echoed shamelessly despite their conversations that should be timid.

In your neighbourhood, you didn’t expect better from them. It was mainly about sex, and such.

“Are you there? Please don’t die on me on my birthday…” Minjeong called out, half-believing that something bad could’ve happened to you when there was a sudden, ringing silence that led to too many made-up conclusions and assumptions.

“Yeah, yeah, are you out yet?” Dangling from above, you shoved the phone in the pocket for safety and hopped down to a nearby tree carefully before reaching the familiarity of the ground.

Minjeong paused, extending her whole body within the same minutes as you, nearly sliding down the bumpy rooftop and to the grass, ignoring an annoying ache forming throughout her feet.

"I'm down," she monotonously reported as if a robot, enticing a soft wave of laughter through the phone; it made her heart thump harder than it should. And it wasn't only from the adrenaline rush.

Gradually, you neared the anticipated edge, rather excited than fearful of the inevitable fall you had to take. A ladder was perched up close by, a tempting, easy route to take, though the chances of it being broken and futile were high.

Your feet extended down, pressing light weight against the suspiciously creaking wood to test its strength. Satisfying your doubts, you carelessly threw your android down, knowing it would survive. Ready, you held the edges for support just in case and took one step down at a time.

Surprisingly, the universe didn't make you an example on this fateful night.

Stumbling over through the grass, the soft surface grazed reassuringly against your weary feet. A tree pulled you in for enclosure as you held it in the rapid moment and you let out a dull curse, “fuck”.

Far ahead, the crowded beach, you two anticipated, had muffled shouts and booming music playing. Reaching down, you got your phone and swiftly jumped over the wooden fence, avoiding the sharp pointy bits.

“Are you out yet?” You asked breathlessly, wormed out from the effort of part one of this plan.

“Yeah,” the girl from the other line coughed out, “nearing the beach.”

Navigating the shortcuts in no time, as the sketchy buildings didn’t deter you, you have arrived at the moment the soft sand crunches underneath your shoes.

“Where you at?” Looking around within the crowds, unfamiliar faces greeted your vision, mainly girls in revealing bikinis and sleekly done hair, and tatted-up guys down to their legs. The tattoos, being most likely having a dangerous meaning to them, you recognised the symbols.

Well, not because you were associated in any kind. You’d rather be a spectator in these type of situations, your older brother was linked to them. You suspected that he was part of them, he knew too much about them in your area.

Your suspicions did turn out to be true, although you had a facade of being blissfully oblivious to the truth. Some things were supposed to be hidden, not ravelled to others. It was a risk.

They did recognise you well as one of your older brother’s younger siblings, welcoming you with an unfamiliar warmth unlike their usual passive-aggressive hostility to the outsiders.

“Uh, I see you!” Minjeong’s desperate hands reached to the air, waving excessively to catch your attention, which they did embarrassingly so, and you hung up.

A radiant, genuine smile beamed across her face, her eyes crinkling in the corners when you shoved other people out of the way (smoothly ignoring any confrontations) and made your way to her.

“Hey,” you shyly said, a contrast to your confident self on the call.

Minjeong tucked her hair back and giggled at it, “hi.”

“Did you bring the cake?” She asked, peering around you for any magical appearance of a plastic bag containing what you had to bring for tonight.

Shit. You forgot.

“Oh… God, I forgot! I’m so sorry—” before going on an anxious, guilt-ridden rampage of messy apologies, the girl pressed a finger against your lips.

“Shh, it’s fine. I have you, that’s all it matters tonight. You’re a present yourself,” the reassurance made you freeze in your frantic hand gestures, your breath stuck in the middle of your throat.

Flattered, maybe, you were unbelievably flustered at the comforting words… used for comfort, right? It doesn’t mean anything deeper, does it? Right, you two were just best friends.

Just very close best friends who share similar experiences, who go through them together.

Best friends, right?

“Then… what are we supposed to do?” Unsure, you glanced around. Yeah, there were stalls set up for tourists and such, drinks and food displayed. And some things used for entertainment and to distract children.

“We have each other, and that’s all we need for the night.” It was true, lasting experiences didn't need much expense. And you two had them, the happiness brought from being together.

She opened her worn-out purse, brushing against the crisp few bucks she had, and flexed them teasingly against them in her hand drawing out quiet giggles between you tak.

“$10,” she confirmed simply.

“What’d we get?” Her eyes lit up at the attractive stalls nearby, mesmerized, her hand clasped in yours subconsciously, and she dragged you with her without any answer to your question, as if it were a rhetorical question instead.

To your curiosity, your eyebrows knitted together when your question remained unanswered, then a squeal erupted, seeing glitter packs sold.

“Glitter?” You blurted out, reading the name.

Minjeong hummed along excitedly, picking out the ridiculously cheap packs of glitter and pressed one dollar for about three, still careful of what to spend.

Suddenly self-conscious, your cheeks reddened. “But… we’re not like… children or anything, you’re about to turn to a legal adult tonight.” Warily, you looked around to make sure no attention was on you or her.

“So? Let’s do something fun, something memorable, as you said.”

Sarcastically, you teased, "something that's this childish?"

Before you could stop Minjeong, she threw glitter at you, which automatically plastered against your skin, stubbornly attaching itself to the slick surface.

Out of reflex, you covered your face with your elbows and backed off immediately from the hysterical, cackling girl.

"AH! THE HELL?!" Screaming bloody murder, you ran off, and she gave chase, mercilessly bombarding you with a cruel, sharp rain of glitter spreading around you.

Honestly, this could be misinterpreted as Halloween instead of Minjeong's birthday.

23:45, 15 mins away before she turns 18. Before she's allowed without any greedy authorisation, acting upon the law and not actual concern or care, stopping her from leaving this place.

Too mesmerised in your two's little bubble, the time ticked slowly. Eventually, you did fight back in the glitter war, plastering the bright, micro stickers on her, too. The sand sank beneath your shoes, now taken off and under bare feet that acted similarly like the glitter.

As more and more eager people gathered around, crude music blasted around despite the children's pure ears being nearby. (It's fine, their ears and minds would be corrupted soon enough merely from living here.)

23:57.

3 minutes, you did notice people audibly counting the specific minutes and seconds before the fresh new year about to wash them away like the salty waves pooling around your feet when you reached the shore.

Laughing along with Minjeong breathlessly, she arrived in sync with you as she now slowly jogged towards you, following others' leads who were hanging around the shore or closer to the deeper waters.

"Ah... I'm going to turn 18, and... and... maybe get away from this place. Fulfil my dreams with you together," in awe, her pupils visibly dilated as the scenarios she cried to at desperate nights surfaced back.

Being in the centre of attention, having fans, experiencing true fame with you by her side.

Oh, it had to happen.

23:59. The crowds chanted the seconds, clapping along and screaming in excitement as the new year was seconds away from occurring.

You wanted to do something, although you were very cautious about the 'forbidden' idea rooted in your mind for months now.

It was something special for you. Hopefully for her.

"Minjeong..." you sighed out, catching her attention.

"Yeah?" Her heart stopped, confused, time at this moment paused, waiting for you to continue your anticipated words.

"Can I... I... kiss—"

Shouts and hallowering erupted, starting and an abrupt kiss crashing against your lips feverishly. Experimentally exploring your parted mouth, Minjeong clasped your rosy cheeks and dipped her tongue deeper to savour the foreign, sweet taste.

"Best birthday gift ever."

[the-defiant-fluffball]

Inktober 2024 day 1: paw

I promised myself I'd do inktober this year, even though I don't have all that much time and I haven't been drawing etc etc. I saw someone carving erasers online and thought oh, that's something I can probably do.

Turns out not every eraser is good for carving and not every cheap tool is good for carving even if it says on the packaging that's precisely what it's for, and even once you have acceptable tools and non-crumbling erasers, you still have to remember that it's now October and therefore inktober.

[arikasugar]

beauty on a budget for someone new to the lifestyle?

since you’re only starting out, you’ll probably want to focus on affordable products and diy and at home beauty treatments.

you can get affordable skin care products from brands like cerave, cetaphil, and the ordinary. you’ll find all your essential cleansers, serums, exfoliators and moisturizers. you can order facial sheet masks in bulk cheap from amazon. you can also use aztec secret healing clay as a clay masque. skip the guasha altogether and follow a youtube tutorial for face sculpting massages instead.

good quality affordable makeup brands I used when I was nearly broke included e.l.f., nyx, wet n’ wild, maybelline, and makeup revolution. look into some other drug store brands within your budget and check reviews before you buy anything so you don’t waste your money. get generic beauty blenders and powder puffs, you’ll be replacing them often anyway so it’s best to get them cheap. you can buy cheap big makeup brush sets on amazon that’ll last a long time if you clean them regularly and take care of them.

press on nails and home manicures / pedicures will save you a ton of money and time. find a good manicure kit and pumice stone. buy a dollar store basin and some epsom salts to soak your feet. for press on nails I usually get mine from temu or brands like kiss and impress. if you just want to paint your natural nails, get a gel polish like l.a. colors color craze gel or sally hansen miracle gel. if you want to go the extra mile, invest in the supplies and learn how to do your own acrylics or gel manicures.

learn how to wax, shape, and tint your own eyebrows. you can buy an affordable diy wax kit like this one and use youtube tutorials on how to find the most flattering brow shape. (as a bonus, the hard waxing kit can also be used to remove unwanted hair on the rest of your body.) you can also find cheap brow tinting kits that usually last up to five uses at sally’s beauty supply and various other stores online.

if you want your lashes done, you can either get really, really good at applying a strip lash – my go to affordable brands are ardell and kiss – or you can invest in some bulk lash clusters and the falscara diy eyelash extension kit. figure out what lash placement will best compliment your features, then watch lots and lots of youtube tutorials on how to use it and practice, practice, practice. they take some getting used to.

when it comes to hair care, the very first thing you want to do is figure out your hair type with a quiz like this one and find what it needs to look and feel healthy. I have 2A hair, so I would pretty much always spring for nexxus for something moisturizing and lightweight, but I’ve heard great things about ogx, shea moisture, not your mother’s, maui moisture, l’oreal elvive, and garnier whole blends which are great for other hair types, densities, and textures. all these brands carry a wide variety of products from shampoo, to leave in treatments, to hair masques, to curl cream — you get it. again, read reviews. you can also use a cotton t-shirt to dry and plop your hair instead of spending money on a microfiber towel, and a satin scarf wrapped around your head to protect your hair while sleeping instead of a silk bonnet and pillow case.

if you’re into styling your hair, two of my favorite methods are heatless styling and blowouts. for heatless styling, you may not even need to purchase any new styling tools. I started out using this heatless robe curl method and eventually started doing other heatless styling methods like the ones on this playlist once I started buying more tools, and did styles like these when I didn’t feel like setting my hair at all. for styles that require heat, a highly suggest investing in a dyson airwrap – which can do pretty much everything – so you don’t end up spending even more on an arsenal of hot styling tools.

good luck, sugar

xoxo

[dykepuffs]

Saw a post of something like "Millennials LOVE to have all their furniture look like reclaimed industrial somethings" and I have had the horrible realisation that, that looks like such an affectation now because it's no longer the cheap way to do things.

As in, in my first squat (back when residential was still not a crime!) we built all of the furniture- The kitchen racking was made from cut-down scaff poles, clamps and duckboard all taken away from a jobsite when it had failed safety checks. The coffee table and a couple of workbenches were made from pallets, and the bookshelves were all wine boxes held together with bulldog clips, taken from a restaurant one of us worked at. My bedside table (that I still use) was two tins from an industrial autoclave, from the place I worked at, and we painted the floor with red oxide grippy primer. It looked rough, but also great, especially once we had a few layers of posters on the walls (again, largely posters taken from flyposting jobs we had done, back when flyposters just went up randomly on buildings rather than on fake urinals!)

Obviously, the chain coffee shops and gyms and high-concept Street Food Venues were never really doing it, but they were mimicking a very real thing that existed and was a frugal way of living.

But now, doing all of that would be more effort and more money than buying something off temu or a dropshipper for a couple of pounds- I looked at the same kind of wine crate as we used to get for free, and they're around £12 each, 'shabby chic', so six of them together to make a cabinet would be £72, whereas the cheapest six-shelf bookshelf is £16. Kitchen shelving for pots and pans is similar, frames for pictures are a few pounds but the a1 and a2-size flyposters start at about £45 and go up from there.

I don't have a point, it's just weird.

[paperstreetlocal]

Are your views in line with Tyler's? Like anti-consumerism or something. Although Tyler is a chaotic asshole lol

not necessarily in a lot of ways. i think there are important things to take from him, like not basing your entire existence on what you own, not buying shit you dont need in excessive amounts, but then again his whole ideology is very controlling and he does end up having a cult that lasted even longer than his "death"... in todays climate, you cant exist under capitalism without contributing to it in some way. its unrealistic. i dont know if many people would throw their entire lives away to squat in rundown houses starving and dying of disease just to not contribute to the system. thats kind of insane. and with the existence of technology and the internet right now, you practically need a device. which requires you to buy and own it

even if these things were possible today, youd have to look at them through the lens of a white cishet man, who has a decent amount of money. he came from privilege. the movie wouldnt work the same if he were anything but that. imagine marla starting a fight club, that wouldnt work, would it?

but, like i mentioned prior, the movie did kinda make me reflect on what i spend my time and money on. im cheap by default, so it didnt change much in my everyday life but i do try to only buy things if i need them (speaking about my own money, not if somebody offers me smth lol) and get them second hand, buy things from small stores that are handmade and (i cant do this right now, but i will in the future, because my parents wont allow me to ruin my clothes lmao) ill diy things when possible. i dont buy fast fashion or shit from temu or do anything that insults my intelligence as a human being (ai usage) but i feel like this is all just a part of being a sensible person, not anything inherently groundbreaking

anything nihilistic or toxic he spouts serves no purpose to me. when i watched the movie i was in a mental rut, and the careless views he holds did nothing but run my self esteem into the ground. its not worth indulging in, its not healthy. your things dont make you, thats true, but also being complacent with such a suicidal mindset is draining and frankly, useless

also, isnt there anything more "sheep-like" than following what a movie criticizing "sheep-like" behavior spouts ?

[cursecuelebre]

Witch/Tarot PSA: DO NOT BUY COUNTERFEIT DECKS.

What is a counterfeit deck?

These are “decks” are illegal manufacture of actual real tarot decks that are not created by the actual publishing houses or the artist or author. These were copy pasted terribly on small cheap card stock in plastic folded boxes rather than the regular boxes that the publishing company would use. These cards will not sometimes credit the author or artist, do not use the copyrighted company which is illegal and it will not come with a guidebook but a QR code on the back.

Why are they bad?

Yes buying regular and legit decks can be expensive in my country US it’s about $30 if the deck is brand new. Not that expensive but if you can’t spare $30 save your money or wait till they go on sale. Tarot is a luxury not a necessity remember that. When one buy these decks their money will not go to the artist or author or even publishing company but a Chinese factory most likely a sweatshop that are treating their workers terribly. I’d rather pay full priced for an artist and authors hardwork that they deserve knowing they put their blood, sweat, and tears for. Also creating these inauthentic decks harms the environment as well.

Keep in mind publishing houses like Llewelyn or Us Game systems are not big, their not penguin books or Harper Collins these are small publishing companies that need to have a percentage of the sales.

Author Ciro Marchetti known for his Glided Tarot said that he doesn’t want to continue his art career for tarot because of this reason, of his deck being illegal pirated and sold for a very cheap price that isn’t worth it because the quality is terrible and unethical. It affects the artists and authors mostly because their work is being produced by companies that they won’t get rightfully paid for.

Also here’s one of the most messed up thing I discovered, I love my small metaphysical shops and my family likes to explore all kinds of shops in my state of Connecticut. But when I go into a shop and I see those counterfeit decks now unlike Temu where they sell them for less than $10 these owners would sell them for full price. This is a scam because people who are unaware just brought a pirated item thinking it’s legit and actually produced by an actual publishing company when it’s a cheaply made deck and the pictures are terrible quality very pixelated. I get angry when I see these decks and I’m taking my business somewhere else.

There have been cases where people are selling AI versions of tarot decks for instance, The Dark Wood Tarot by Sasha Graham (wonderful deck highly recommend) the art was stolen and reused for a AI tarot deck that used the same name and everything. Beware of that and I know that isn’t a common but AI tarot exists so be careful especially on sites like Etsy, Etsy has a lot of AI decks, do your research and message the seller if possible at times the seller will even put in the bio of what it is their selling if it’s made from AI.

How to Prevent It

Spread awareness, US game systems made an excellent statement on counterfeit decks and telling customers how to spot them. If you see counterfeit decks in your metaphysical shop you can confront them if you want I know confrontations can be difficult especially for small businesses but again it’s important to bring it up even asking politely, “I noticed you have counterfeit decks and selling for full price why is that?” But if not take your business elsewhere maybe leave a review warning others about them. But I find it hard to believe that a lot of these shop owners don’t know what their doing when selling these decks, unless they’re very irresponsible or just don’t care about ethics of business or even laws of their business.

Cues when you are checking a counterfeit deck?

Does it have the artist’s and author’s name sometimes the person is both author and artist.

Does it come with a guidebook when the normal deck usually does. Some of these illegal decks will remove “guidebook” from the title and have a small QR Code on the back of these decks that’s your NUMBER ONE CLUE when you spot these decks THEY DO NOT HAVE GUIDEBOOKS BUT QR CODES FOR THE SAID GUIDEBOOK. THEIR VERY SMALL COMPARE TO THE AUTHENTIC DECKS.

Do they put the Publishing Company’s name for copyright? For instance those annoying US Game systems borders usually will have their copyright (within good reason to not let the cards to be ripped off that’s why you don’t see many us game system tarot rip offs). To spot the copyright title it’s on the box usually on the back, it will be small but it will have ©️ then the publishing company’s name.

Do you know of the tarot deck is a mini? Sometimes authors and publishers will republish regular decks for minis. Be sure the deck says mini or look up to see if the publishing company republished a tarot mini compare the decks if they match.

[thegamingcatmom]

you walk into Castle Dimitrescu with a fully functioning smart phone. What are you showing each sister? (songs, memes, etc.) 🤔

ASKJASKFAKSFKSA

I LOVE THAT ONE!! 😭❤️

classical music

pop music

I feel like she´d be a huge Ava Max fan

fanfictions

especially self/reader-inserts of any kind

but especially the ones about drama or mystery/thriller

memes of any kind

...instructions unclear - she doesn´t find em funny

at all

(help)

oh wait nvm-

I showed her Ebay and now we´re back to being besties

stock trading apps, sites etc.

I think that´s smt she could lose herself in, which means she´ll forget about me :D

...shit, stocks have dropped and now she´s mad

and blaming me for it

(help)

WAIT-

*shows her LinkedIn*

...she´s buzzing, literally

"Oh, this will increase productivity and flow immensely! I shall be the FIRST to show Mother!"

*buzzes off*

thank f-

*buzzes back*

fuck

"Mortal! Show me where to find the status of their purity!"

...

why do I feel like I have done smt terrible? :(

porn

fanfictions

especially lemons and those that play in the A/B/O universe

yall just know that shit would drive her crazy

heavy metal or rock music

"Master Of Puppets" (Metallica) anyone?

Temu

cause she loves it used and cheap

(yall understand I´m referring to her general preferences here, right?)

(therefore: jk, Temu✌️)

(...or am I?)

vids about blood and death

in hopes it will distract her enough to forget about my blood and death

the Dark Web

(I feel like this would become her 2nd home)

...shit, what have I done-

*quickly shows her some more porn*

whew

that immediately got her attention

crisis averted

YouTube Shorts

I reckon those quick vids are exactly her thing - girl isn´t just made of flies, she also has the attention span of one

Netflix

...

she´s just discovered Netflix and Chill

oh boy

some maids will get very (un)lucky indeed

fanfictions

especially those about "enemies to friends to lovers" OR "roommates to friends to lovers"

cute and funny dog videos (which will hopefully spare me from a rather gruesome fate)

cute and funny dog memes

cute and funny things to get for your dog

she strikes me as a dog person

Lady Gaga

her favs are "Bad Romance" and "Stupid Love"

Candy Crush

she´d get hooked on that one, I just know it

which means I get some time to get the f outta-

...

HOW DID SHE LOSE ALL HER LIVES ALREADY??? D:

TikTok

she can´t get enough of lip sync

...also because the poor thing has yet to realize that this isn´t their actual voice

"How do they do that?? That´s not what they sounded like before! *gasps* Can YOU do that??"

"...I-"

"DO THE VOICE!"

...

(help)

Amazon

...that was actually genius omg

she´s way too busy ordering useless stuff via Prime to remember she was about to off me :D

...nvm, her sisters are back

(help)

BONUS:

One thing I´d show ALL of them: Tumblr & Resident Lover

So they may witness the absolute depravity carried out in their names.

(Cass couldn´t be prouder of herself.)

.

.

.

Honestly? There´s probs SO much stuff you can do with/show on a phone that I´m not remembering rn. The possibilites in our time and age are pretty much endless. 💀

But also, given they (probs) have no idea an outside world even exists-

Just show em Google and they´ll be busy for quite a while, honestly. 🤷🏻‍♀️

.

Thanks a lot for your ask! 💋

[verdemoun]

i’m a bit behind on the timewarp au, so i’m sorry if someone’s already asked this! buuttt… how did everyones sense of fashion change in modern day?

me, sitting here in my decade's old hoodie and pikachu pajama shorts: yes, fashion

Hosea is a v subservient husband who wears anything his wife gets him. Sometimes he's the high fashion old man with the tailors pants and crisp shirt under a blazer. Sometimes it's the rattiest home-made sweater with dropped stitches that somehow matches his $4 slippers and he just looks even older than he is but so snug.

Arthur wears nothing but jeans and t-shirts with the occasional jacket unless someone else picks out clothes for him. He still wears cowboy boots.

Sean and Lenny are all walmart/shein/temu horrid patterns cheap clothing boys. The closest Sean gets to fashion is his pizza delivery uniform. Lenny learns a little bit about fashion by googling 'college outfits for men'.

Charles lives in heavy-duty trade jeans and plaid flannels. Flannel shirt. Too cold for flannel shirt? Black shirt under flannel jacket. Carries high-vis in his truck. Lumberjack core.

Kieran exclusively wears hoodies. Admittedly some are 'nice' hoodies but then comes the impossible challenge of finding pants he will willing wear. He needs to be warned if he's expected to leave the house 2 days in advance to do washing.

Javier lives for the concept of fashion and just looks like an instagram model at all times. Just a diva. It isn't until he shows up and corrects the 1899's gang sense of fashion they actually look decent.

John and Jack both fall in love with emo. Leather jackets, black jeans, chokers. Abigail spends so much on anti-fade laundry detergent.

Abigail and Karen end up with very similar fashion styles. The occasional summer dress but mostly pants, nice shirts - functional clothes for chasing around their demonic little girls. Abigail is a cardigan queen.

Grimshaw would burn her dresses if she could. She discovered the luxury of pants and never looked back. Still rocks a corset though. Anyone brave enough to catcall her is getting tased, pepper-sprayed or shot depending on her mood.

When Dutch isn't in the hospital he still wears basically just his canon era vests, buttoned shirts and fitted pants - in the hospital it's psych-ward issues jammies for him.

Molly looks like a cottage-core queen and has the rolling to pack it up.