#and your early photoshop streams

[electricea]

Anonymous sent - (@viviskull) ❀ What has made you completely lose your chill? ( Salty AF Munday Meme - Accepting! )

❀ - What has made you completely lose your chill?

Sometimes I wonder if I've told this story too much but I tell it because it's something that truly hurt me and genuinely to this day, has impacted me and I genuinely hate it and I want people to know that this isn't okay to do - not to me, not to anyone.

So way way back on maybe my first iteration of this blog, I met a mun - we became pretty good friends, they taught me how to icon and use Photoshop, we called almost every night, we would watch like High School Musical and Kitchen Nightmares at 3am, the whole nine yards - early on, I would have easily said they were one of, if not my best friend. We had a server together and it was just a freefall of us pitching muses and ships at each other and I think we just had so much fun shipping together that it was so easy and so natural and we had so many ideas and plots discussed.

And then that changed.

We'd both been pretty into an anime lately and I pitched the idea of this male/male ship with two muses who we were both planning to write - both dudes, both around the same age range - and as I said, we would pitch ships at each other fairly often and in this instance it was no different - they agreed and we made plans to call and to talk about it more as we often did. Well, when the night came to call I couldn't help but feel things were off, not quite as comfortable - and I guess I had a sort of gut feeling so I asked if they were sure about the ship, if they wanted to drop it - I didn't want to force them and I gave them an out to drop it if they so chose to.

I want to emphasize right now that if in that moment had they said yes, they didn't want to do the ship I would have utterly respected it and dropped it, no questions asked. I don't believe in force shipping or even writing a ship in which the other party isn't wholly comfortable. Them not wanting to write a ship isn't what made me so angry.

What made me so angry was finding out secondhand from a mutual friend who we often streamed with and even had a three way group chat with and was arguably even closer to her than I was - was this friend admitting to the mutual friend that no actually, she had no intentions of writing the ship with me and the reason she was going along with it?

To prove to me why the ship wouldn't work.

So instead of telling me that honestly, she chose to go behind my back and do so in a way that was not only sneaky but incredibly patronizing? Like what exactly was her plan? To write the ship and then just be like 'gotcha, this is why they wouldn't work together!' or have them be utterly awful to emphasize their incompatibility? How were they planning on telling me that as their friend? Was it supposed to be this cute revelation?

After that point, our friendship on my end fell apart - I never ended up telling her that I knew what she'd said, not only because I didn't want to betray the trust of our mutual friend but just because I didn't feel I had anything to say, nor should I say anything for that matter - I'm not the one who lied and couldn't be honest and I did give them an out and asked them if they were sure - it wasn't as though I was plowing ahead and ignoring their feelings. I thought at first that maybe with time, we would fall back into old habits but the more I thought about it the more angry I got and for the record, this friend never really reached out or spoke to me so perhaps that made it easier for the friendship to just slip away.

What I'm trying to get at with this story and why this made me so fucking angry then and still does now is people lying about their intentions to their partners and being dishonest, whether it's because you're too scared to tell them or think that you're sparing their feelings - being brutally honest with someone fucking sucks, take it from someone who knows - but as someone on the other end who also had to deal with the confusion and the hurt, it just genuinely sucks to be told and to feel one thing, only for the other person to be lying and just stringing you along - and this isn't just about writing a ship, even to this day if someone wanted to drop a ship, I would respect that and drop it without question - it's the lying and telling me otherwise and not letting on your intentions. I'm not a mind reader so how am I to know? What sucks even more is being a neurodivergent mun, it's already hard enough for me to read between the lines (especially through text) and know if someone is being sarcastic or lying - it's why I started being open about having asd so as to ever avoid a situation like this again.

And I hate that to this day it's left me with a lingering skepticism and fear of trusting people when they say they want to do a plot or write a ship - I genuinely do try to take people at face value and believe that they are being honest with me and I know not to paint everyone with the same brush, but I'd be lying if I said the underlying doubt or fear isn't there - and it's unfair to everyone else, all because of the actions of one person - it's something I'm working through and I still continue to try and see the best in people and to believe what they say.

As for her? This probably goes without saying but we're not friends anymore and I don't care wherever she is now.

[adacarrybags]

10 Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Your Photography Online

Selling photography online can be a profitable venture, but many photographers make common mistakes that limit their success. Whether you’re just starting out or have been selling for years, avoiding these pitfalls can help you maximize your earnings and build a sustainable business.

In this guide, we’ll explore the top 10 mistakes photographers make when selling their work online and how you can avoid them.

1. Not Defining Your Niche

Many photographers make the mistake of trying to sell all types of photos, from landscapes to portraits to product photography. However, focusing on a specific niche—such as travel photography, food photography, or lifestyle imagery—helps build a recognizable brand and attract a loyal audience.

Solution: Identify a niche that aligns with your passion and market demand. Research trending topics and customer preferences to find the most profitable areas.

2. Ignoring Image Quality Standards

Uploading low-resolution or poorly edited images can ruin your chances of making sales. Buyers expect high-quality, sharp, and well-composed photos that meet professional standards.

Solution: Use high-resolution images, edit professionally, and ensure your work meets platform requirements. Tools like Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop can help refine your images.

3. Not Optimizing Keywords and Descriptions

Even the best photos won’t sell if buyers can’t find them. Many photographers fail to use proper keywords, tags, and descriptions, making their work invisible in search results.

Solution: Research relevant keywords and use them in your image titles, descriptions, and metadata. AI-driven keyword tools can help automate this process.

4. Pricing Too Low or Too High

Setting prices too low can undervalue your work, while setting them too high may drive potential buyers away. Striking the right balance is crucial.

Solution: Analyze competitor pricing on platforms like Bytedi and adjust your rates accordingly. Consider offering different licensing options to attract a wider audience.

5. Relying Solely on Stock Photography Websites

While stock photography websites can provide passive income, relying solely on them limits your earning potential. Many photographers fail to explore direct sales and other revenue streams.

Solution: Use stock platforms as part of a broader strategy that includes direct sales through your website, social media, and platforms like Bytedi.

6. Neglecting Marketing and Promotion

Uploading images isn’t enough—without marketing, your work may never reach potential buyers. Many photographers fail to promote their work effectively.

Solution: Leverage social media, SEO, and email marketing to reach your target audience. Collaborate with influencers and use paid ads to boost visibility.

7. Ignoring Customer Engagement

Building relationships with customers is key to repeat sales. Many photographers overlook the importance of customer interaction and personalization.

Solution: Respond to inquiries, offer personalized recommendations, and engage with customers on social media. Providing excellent customer service can set you apart from competitors.

8. Overlooking Licensing and Copyright Protection

Selling images without clear licensing terms can lead to unauthorized use and lost revenue. Many photographers fail to define and enforce their licensing agreements.

Solution: Offer multiple licensing options (royalty-free, rights-managed, exclusive) and clearly state usage rights on your sales platform.

9. Not Tracking Analytics and Sales Data

Without tracking performance, it’s difficult to know what’s working and what’s not. Many photographers fail to use analytics to optimize their strategies.

Solution: Use analytics tools to track sales, customer behavior, and engagement. Adjust your pricing, keywords, and marketing based on data insights.

10. Giving Up Too Soon

Many photographers quit too early because they don’t see immediate success. Selling photography online takes time, effort, and consistency.

Solution: Stay patient and continuously improve your work, marketing, and sales strategies. The more effort you put in, the greater your chances of success.

Conclusion

Avoiding these common mistakes can significantly improve your chances of success in selling photography online. By optimizing your images, pricing, marketing, and customer engagement strategies, you can build a profitable photography business.

Bytedi offers the tools and resources photographers need to sell successfully online.

Start selling your photography on Bytedi today and take your photography business to the next level!

[calumaai]

Queer Ecologist Fieldwork

Approach and Methodology 

I chose early on to build a methodology to allow for lived, tacit and experiential knowledge to shape this research. Aiming to explore subjugated knowing, bringing lesser regarded streams of knowledge and being into the academy through participation and precipitation. My definitions come from responses to memes and memories, as much as theory and academia. Engaging a range of pedagogic, psychoanalytic and Queer practises and theoretical frameworks, I set out to explore processes of being and becoming across digital networks without oppressing these uncharted realities with a taxonomic approach. To design and iterate fieldwork in a fringe, often invisible location such a digital networks, participants had to be engaged as practitioners, invited into the frameworks of the research with me to uncover the full meaning of their fugitive practices which they are often, at least partially, unaware of. The introduction of meta-geographical practises into the fieldwork allowed us to tease out the participants navigational practises through the process of mapping and diagrammatization, which within itself locates the mapper’s place of subjectivity within digital networks. By asking participants to create Cartoids of their digital space, I was able to get them to create and share, in a material sense, something that before was rendered invisible due to a lack of language and the oppression of reflective material.  

Casestudies:

Fecal Mater 

Fashion design duo Fecal Matter (@matieresfecales) Hannah & Steven are Canadian Queer creatives who’s practise utilises their image and social presentation as a vessel for “provocation and transformation” of the capitalist constructs of identity. Meeting in fashion school, the pair were buoyed by their partnership take their practise further than they had dared to on their own, taking to digital social networks to share their bourgeoning visual language in opposition to the platforms ‘hetero-normative values” and celebration of “the icons of looking normal” such as “Kylie Jenner & Ariana Grande”. The configuration of digital networks at that time (2013) offered refuge from the known violence and rejection of the atomic world with its systemic silencing and violence against Queer expression and othered identities.

Outwardly, their practise (which they explain as living their truth and expressing their soul without compromising their freedom of expression) allows their audience, both atomic and digital, an opportunity to momentarily grasp the oppressive systems most are unaware they are engaged with. “You see people like us… your curious and that hopefully develops this critical thought process… and shines a light on the values systems that are very hard to identify.” Thus, the Fecal Matter’s aesthetic becomes a well refined tool to uncovering systemic injustice and alerting a viewer to their own prejudices and internalised oppressive capacities which we are often unaware or unwilling to engage with. This tool has been primarily iterated online, and then practised atomically, with the duo often photoshopping images to push their digital selves into forms not classically conceived of as human. Yet what these digital images and selves express is at the core of their human self-expression. “We are living our truth through an app… If I have to limit that part of my self, my expression, I actually don't feel alive anymore … its part of survival … If I cant do it, I’d rather die, I'd rather not exist.”

The duo’s image and physicality explores a new orientation of digital selfhood which does not subject the digital to physical limitations and rather expands atomic potential with digital realities. Their practice, urgent in its messaging, does away with conventional artist tools and mediums to explore the social image as communicative material, often rendered though digitally intervened imagery. However, in refusing the role of performance artists “Were not performance artists, this is who we are and [that’s] a big part of what we put out there” they reveal the performance of humanity itself, and its reality as a spectator sport.

Hannah and Steven’s emerging ecological practice disrupts the conventional boundaries between the digital and physical, while also subverting the power dynamics of performer and spectator. This interpenetration between digitality and physicality uncovers innovative ways in which Queer ecologists navigate digital networks to expose and escape oppressive identity structures. Through their approach, they critique the colonial constructs at the core of these identities and challenge society’s complicit enforcement of these norms.

Sarah Nicole Francois 

Haitian-American artist Sarah Nicole Francois (@sarahnicolefrancois) remembers “as a child, being a sponge of the world… hearing all these views about what a woman or black woman should think or feel or act or want.” These restrictive views and presuppositions of Sarah-Nicole’s selfhood lead them to explore digitality as a way “to dismantle those walls that i built” that “do[n’t] serve me anymore” to “traverse into [a] more ethereal side” of existence. 

This rejection of colonially-mandated identity saw Sarah-Nicole question the friction between their atomic and digital selves. “I didn't really like being face forward on the internet [and] started to think about the person that I am and the person that I'm being perceived as… How can I communicate that in a way that feels more authentic to me?” The creation of Sarah-Nicoles digital avatar allowed them to navigate the network in a new iteration of themselves, one not bound to their atomic physicalities, but as an expression of  their emotional and spiritual self. “There are things that I feel I should be more comfortable with in the physical world that I am not. So I use my avatar to emote all [those] things that i can't do… Its therapeutic”

Sarah’s avatar, rendered digitally and then exported in images, becomes visible on digital network’s, bearing the labour of oppressive systems of selfhood, to allow Sarah’s atomic self new space to navigate the world freely. This relationship allows the labour of identity to be refused, subverted and outsourced to a new agent, creating frictions in the everyday perception of self that most users hold.  

UGLYWORLDWIDE

Queer model and musician Jazzelle (@uglyworldwide) has created a large following using their image as a tool to expand concepts of beauty in the fashion and music industries. “Ive grown up poverty ridden, Queer and Black my whole life… What I do is a political movement within itself.” “Early on I really changed a lot of the beauty standards… My instagram handle is UGLYWORLDWIDE yet somehow we made it in the beauty industry!” Their acceptance into the upper echelons of the modelling industries marked a turn towards a more ‘inclusive’ era within the creative industries where individuality was encouraged in replacement of the blank canvas concept of the model in the 2000’s and early 2010s. This move was also often seen as the sublimation of internet practices into capitalist markets, further turning individuality and identity into a commodity to be valued and traded. 

Jazzelle is aware of the difficulties of navigating digital networks as a Queer person, often remarking on the expectations and projections other users assert on them. They say they have received tens of thousands of comments and violent death threat left publicly under the images they share or in their Direct Messages. “I want to curb stomp this person” is one they remember well. “As Queer people the internet brings you up then rips you right back down again. Its the up and down that generated the most amount of engagement. [The platforms] get the same amount of money whether its someone commenting I'm going to kill you or I love you” 

This has an detrimental impact on Jazzelle’s creative output and mental health. “It's very toxic for people to have to deal with the violent ups and downs. It's really psychotic [and] overwhelming [it] can be stifling even to my own creative process and [self expression]”. They express how their sometimes feels like an expectation, or “contract” with the audience, which allows both other users and coperate brands to engage inappropriately, eventually feeling “I wasn’t  [being] celebrated… it felt like being in a window at the zoo, i wasn’t being embraced but i was being used as a marketing tool for a new type of audience” 

Figure 1 shows Jazzelle’s Cartoid of their digital space, in which their physicality is alternated, features exaggerated with one of their signature atomic make up looks transposed on their avatar. Their squared features are sharp compared to the faceless, gawking eyes that surround them, omnipresent in the scene. To further add to the unequal dynamic between the audience and Jazzelle in this image, their instagram handle is stamped on their head, affording them no chances at anonymity, whilst the crowd stand unnamed. Also, rather comically, their digital counterpart smokes a cigarette, as if to warn the prying audience that they are not a good role model. 

This diagram maps Jazzelle’s navigational approach to their digital network, and speculates on their experience of digitality. Out of all the participants, Jazzelle has had the most commercial success from their Queer fugitive practises online, intersecting normative culture whilst amassing a large network. This large, connected existence is very present within the map, showing the psychosocial impacts of their networked experience in a zoo-like image, diagramming a liberated digital entity, navigating alone. 

RAFIK GREISS

Rafik Greiss (@rafikgreiss) is a photographer and artist who’s artistic practise engages looks to elevate the banal and ubiquitous through imagery and installations, challenging the viewer’s often subconscious value systems. Their practise also seeks to explore the fissures that appear between Western and Eastern constructions of time through entropic thinking and synthesis. They do not have a large public digital network, with their accounts being private and only hosting one image. However, they have been using a more limited network (Instagram’s ‘Close Friends’ feature) to share updates of the violent slaughter and humanitarian needs of Palestinians in Gaza since the October 7th 2023 terrorist attacks on Isreal and Israel’s subsequent genocide of the Palestinian people. 

In our discussion, they expressed how they feared the design of social networks could create a short circuited feedback loop where the creation of their art became about the feedback and value the network allowed it. Rafik noted the scale of the network, which they referred to as “architecture” and its impact on their consciousness “sometimes I try to think of a tree and I think of an image of a tree instead… you're almost perceiving it through a screen”.

This fear, and lack of engagement is present in the Cartoid Rafik drew, which shows an image of their desktop computer, with taxonomised files displayed on the screen. We also see the rounded edge of Rafik’s table to ensure we are situated purely in the atomic world. For Rafik, digital space is merely where their documents are. The relationship between the objects and the viewer is simple and not requiring of much thought or reflection. The Cartoid’s lack of navigational context can be read as Rafik being unengaged within their navigational agency due to fear of the impact of the digital on their practise, which they voiced in their interview. Their map implies an oppression of Rafik’s navigational agency, instead drawing on old frames of reference for the digital simply as a tool for completing tasks, filled with coperate skumorphisms, rather than a bountiful digital ecology. 

REMEMBER  

REMEMBER (@rememberyouweremadetobeused) is a visual practise that began in 2014 with the publication of printed artefact REMEMBER YOU WERE MADE TO BE USED, alongside an instagram profile with the same name. The decision by the artist to use a pseudonym rather than their name was pragmatic in its desire for fugitivity. Their research into how the internet was becoming a virtual uniform, allowing users to form identities and attach themselves to past and future subcultures without physical engagement was a core concept for REMEMBER at the outset, hence wanting to remain anonymous to better engage in the potentials of digital anonymity within image-making. However, personally they were “hugely conscious… if you google [my name] you get some weird image on twitter of me.” Their anonymity allows for REMEMBER’s images to be networked without assertions of a gendered gaze, instead inviting the audience to project and reflect upon the politics of their sight and the baggage which they arrive at the image with. 

Ownership of images, often denoted by the momentum by which these networked images traverse our digital networks is a core principal of REMEMBERS practise, informing their desire to physically and digitally age and degrade visuals, bringing an nostalgic, artifactual aesthetic to a caricatured clinical digital world. They relate our modern state of networked interconnectedness with the practise of image making Warhol set out in the 70’s, fascinated by the idea of publication and replication of the image as a process of becoming, masked as spectacle 

REMEMBER’s simply executed Cartoid shows 2 forms, one angled, enclosed and preordained and another organic path. Both lead to or originate from the centre, expanding and contracting. The image visualises new methodologies for way finding within the network, and can be interpreted as a simple representation of the Queer digital experience once liberated from the restrictions of the network, navigating new ecologies without navigational limitations.

MICHAELA STARK 

Queer Couturier and artist Michaela Stark (@michaelastark) uses a combination of lingerie, imagery and social networks to research and iterate a practise of ‘Body-morphing’, seeing them bind and decorate their body into new forms, borrowing from art-historical and fashion cannons to create images to be shared online and through publications. This artistic practise is commercialised through their lingerie studio and brand Panty. The aim and desire of body morphing is a rejection of the sexualisation of the body. “I realised it was about wanting to embrace that child likeness [when] you have complete agency over you body… and it wasn't sexualised at all” 

The body morphing practise is one that engages with both digital and atomic publics, either when shared via networked images that Michaela takes of themselves, or when Michaela’s wears of their pieces to events and parties. When they are dressed in a full look (sometimes but not always referred to as their drag) they are aware they must navigate public space differently. “I can't get on the train… I've been sexually assaulted in the past just by going [on a night out in my drag] to [Dalston] Superstore.” This violent loss of bodily autonomy and agency is mirrored with how Michaela and their images navigate digital networks when sharing the practise of body morphing, due to censorship rules around platforms, as well as trolling. “My mom tried to report this [troll] that kept threatening to rape me but Instagram said his comments were fine but would remove my post because my posts were provoking that attitude.” Michaela’s experience of sexual violence and threats of such violence are present in both atomic and digital navigation when in their drag. Yet, rather than allow for the threats to force them into relinquishing their agency for safety, they express how digital platforms commit further violence in their algorithmic censorship and deplatforming. 

“Getting told that my body looks disgusting… from a stranger doesn't affect me nearly a much as the threat of having my voice taken down because of it.” Michaela expresses this duality of freedom and algorithmic censorship in their Cartoid too, showing the facets and  decisions that make up their navigational choices when posting an image. Michaela has had their account deactivated awaiting review 5 times in 2 years, giving them a clearer idea of how and where Instagram enforces its rules on its networks. “You can hide your nipples if your fingers are straight but squeezing your boobs makes it a sexual act” allowing for the navigational privileging of less curvaceous bodies upon Instagram networks. “Our work was being taken off for sexual solicitation… [because Instagram rules that] if your deemed sexual in a picture and tag someone in that post, that's sexual solicitation so you can be removed.” Michaela's front line knowledge of Instagrams practises and location of enforcement highlights how different images, and the identities they contain are held to different values systems which in turn limits their ability to navigate or even exist upon the network. However, when Michaela’s work is seen, its creates a friction in the audience that allows for non-normative beauty and it’s fugitive values to take hold. “Ive gotten a lot of comments over the years.. ‘The first time I saw your work I hated it so much and reported it’… since them they've come back to look at it over and over again  and realised they love it, and it was the inner work they had to do on themselves”

Michaela speaks throughout the interview and through their carotid of how their practise of Bodymorphing limits the navigational agency of their body both atomically and digitally. Their Cartoid shows the considerations that inform their navigational choices, both positive and negative. The Cartoid shows a lack of order to the scene, with audiences, thoughts, images and concepts layered over one another, becoming a visual cacophony, ultimately visualised as a black hole. Michaela's ability to share the multitudinal approach to selfhood and the life giving power of the digital through ecological expressions of self is present throughout the conversation and their map. However users are limited in how they can engage with the expansionary, open source selfhood Michaela exemplifies, limited by platform’s normative values and censorship which halt peer-to-peer dialogues across the network, becoming lost in the ‘blackhole’. 

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️

Fortune

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told ABC News that he had “minor but real stroke” while attending the World Business Forum in Mexico City, confirming reports from Wednesday

Here’s hoping for a full and speedy recovery!

The Iconfactory

The latest update to Linea Sketch is now available! From textures to thumbnail cropping, version 4.3 is packed with clever new features to make sketching on your iPad easier and more fun than ever.

By now I think you all know about my deep love for The Iconfactory. They are the brains behind Twitterrific — may Ollie rest in peace — and Wallaroo. But they also make this amazing drawing app called Linea Sketch!

The Iconfactory also does design work and consultations. They recently did the artwork for Stream’s feature in the App Store . They’re extremely talented and so easy to work with. Give them a shout if you needs some design work!

If you’re an artist you should give it a try and see how you like it.

Thanksgiving FYI

Hi, I’m Jim, an enthusiastic and dedicated home cook with more than a dozen Thanksgivings under my belt. I’ve hosted everything from small friendsgivings to giant multi-family affairs in foreign kitchens and I’ve assembled some strategies to help make the day great.

Jim is an internet pal and extremely nice fellow.

Thanksgiving FYI is Jim’s Thanksgiving newsletter chock full of tips and recipes for, you guessed it, Thanksgiving!

Who doesn’t like a good thanksgiving recipe?

I’d imagine you can still sign up and get everything he’s already published if you’d like and at $5 it’s a real steal! You even get access to a Slack so you can chat with others about the big day! 🦃

John Scalzi

FYI, I’m Writing a Film Column For Uncanny Magazine

I didn’t know it but John Scalzi was a reporter for the Fresno Bee at one time. Wild!

It’s incredible to me how much work this man churns out in a year. Here’s hoping his column is well received and long lived.

Kevin Purdy • Ars Technica

It’s not quite the end of Tumblr, but when management is supposedly sending memos with the Lord Tennyson quote about having “loved and lost,” it doesn’t look like there’s much of a future.

I’ve had a Tumblr account for years and years and I cross post to it, like I do Mastodon, but I’ve never used it as my primary blog. I’d considered it multiple times but I was never happy with their fixed taxonomy. I like to publish my posts in a Y/M/D format and Tumblr doesn’t support that. They also don’t publish static HTML which is another strike against them.

I’m bummed out by the possibility of it disappearing. It’s one of those internet properties I’d like to see stick around. It’s also looks like they’re gonna drop ActivityPub. 😔

Jason Snell • Macworld

There’s no real way to gloss over the fact that Mac sales went down 34 percent versus the year-ago quarter. And yet, for some reason, Maestri and Cook got out their Tom Sawyer paintbrushes and got to work.

At some point hyper-growth will stop. It’s just the way it is. Of course Apple offsets this by raising prices, which isn’t a surprise.

I got my first M based Mac early last year and didn’t unwrap it and start using it until early summer because I felt that my x86 Mac was fine. Luckily I decided to take the plunge to M2 land because I went from being a Director back to being a Software Engineer.

For me I’d guess this M2 could easily go for five years before it feels sluggish, and who knows, maybe beyond that?

As I like to say. I’m not compiling Photoshop or Microsoft Word. I’m just compiling iOS Apps. Even big iOS apps written in Swift build super fast. I’d even wager an M1 MacBook Air would blow the doors off my old x86 based Mac. They’re fast!

Marc Anthony Lopez • abc30.com

The founders and co-CEOs of failed tech company Bitwise have been charged for a $100 million fraud scheme following a federal investigation.

This one hurts. I know Irma — Irms as everyone calls her — and Jake. I’m having a difficult time believing they’d do something illegal like this and I still want to believe it was a horrible blunder. 😔

Emma Roth • The Verge

Disney’s combined Disney Plus and Hulu streaming app is on the way. As part of its fourth-quarter earnings results, Disney announced it’s going to launch the new app in beta for bundle subscribers in December, with the official launch coming in early spring 2024.

We are Hulu subscribers, Kim loves it. It makes me wonder how much it’ll change or will it literally be merging what Hulu offers directly into the app? So far Max seems to be fine with this strategy, although I’d prefer to have HBO content front and center instead of the mix of items we have today. Here’s hoping they do a great job combining the properties. I think they will.

Jonathan Lamont • MobileSyrup

Telus has joined Rogers in offering an online tool for customers to manage their eSIMs.

Telus is the grandparent company of WillowTree so I had to share this news.

Mark Frauenfelder • Boing Boing

Trump plans to deploy military on Inauguration Day, seize government agencies, and purge critics

This doesn’t surprise me. I fully expect his next term (he’ll never leave) in office to be a full on MAGA revenge tour. Our democracy will fail under the strain. We cannot let this guy become President again.

[kristsune]

Well friends, I’m back at it with yet another Alex cosplay, because I simply couldn’t help myself. This one is modeled after the second tma2 kickstarter stream.

[doggirlswag]

social media hcs for dol’s love interests :D

alex

doesn’t have time for that. farm work is hard work!

while they do have a laptop, they don’t really use it outside of business. sometimes they’ll play peggle.

if they’re not on a call, they might play a youtube video in the background. something light, funny, and undemanding to take the pressure off

i think alex likes old people memes. the shit your grandparents post on facebook would make them chuckle

keeps up with family through calls, but they’ll log into their facebook from like... 2012 to set up reunions. their profile picture hasn’t changed since they made it.

avery

linkedin. maybe facebook. if they have a twitter they’re verified but have only made like one or two posts.

unless it’s for networking, it’s kind of a waste of time, and they value their time very highly

does occasionally use reddit though. has definitely given financial advice and capped their post off with “this is not financial advice” as though that means fucking anything

actually now that i think about it they definitely have an instagram just to show off. if somebody shows up to a meeting with a new watch they post a picture with a nicer model the next day.

eden

haha.

if they had electricity, wi-fi, and a phone, maybe they would listen to podcasts?

if they really need to know something and they don’t have a book on it, they’ll go to the library. even then they’d flip through like every encyclopedia before asking a librarian how to get on the computers.

kylar

4chumblr lovechild that 2013 dreamed of.

has about 10 burner emails at any given time

an active member on a bunch of niche forums. like ‘the one guy who photoshopped his dick green on a futurama forum’ level niche.

they used to be a VERY active roleplayer. i think they have a bunch of warrior cats ocs.

has a very strong opinion on reddit. whether it’s positive or negative is up to you :)

kylar misses the early internet and they refuse to install windows 10.

they’ve made themself & the pc in every game possible. their sims folder is massive and their screenshot folder is even bigger.

they are on so many blocklists.

robin

uses instagram like people did in 2012. heavy editing, food + animal pictures, a few too many hashtags.

has a twitch regardless of confidence level. would start streaming with encouragement from the pc, probably.

they wouldn’t get that popular, but they’d like a smaller community more anyways.

the first time they got fan art they were a blubbering mess. everything someone’s drawn for them has been printed out and taped to their walls.

sydney

syd has pinterest and a studyblr.

their blog updates inconsistently but is INCREDIBLY organized.

i think they’ve made like five of those masterposts that everybody saved but never ever used.

post-corruption sydney is a menace. still painstakingly organized but a bit less active on their main accounts. they’ve moved to twitter.

might have accidentally cyberbullied kylar. they made a callout post about it but sydney couldn’t see it because kylar immediately blocked them.

whitney

everybody who follows whitney either has post notifications on or has them muted.

on one hand it’s really funny to see the dumb shit they get up to. on the other hand there is so much dumb shit.

uses a lot of emojis and hashtags ‘‘ironically’’. definitely the most up-to-date on what’s based and cringe, anyways.

they don’t use tumblr (not since the porn ban), but if they did they would have sent hate to everyone else on this list.

the great hawk and black wolf don’t have opposable thumbs.

[escapewithbts]

Secrets in a Foreign Language (Part Four) - Jungkook

<<previous _ next>>

--------------------------------------------------

A few weeks later you entered Jungkook’s apartment with your heart feeling full. You had felt so lonely these beginning months in this new country of South Korea but seeing Jungkook every week had become a sort of comfort, especially now that you knew the feeling was mutual. Once you had gotten the awkwardness of questioning why the place was already clean whenever you got there, you used the time to just hang out with each other. You got along so unbelievably well and frequently had to remind yourself he was literally one of the most famous people in the world right now. It often blew your mind. Maybe it was because his face was all over the city, the tv, the grocery store, maybe because wherever you went you heard his singing voice in songs, or speaking voice in interviews, but the concept of fame was just something you had never thought about; the media giving celebrities an almost unrealistic and ethereal standard to look up to. But that was just it. Idols were people, too. Regular human beings, just like yourself. Jungkook was your living proof. And you really liked that about him.

He wasn’t in the living room nor the kitchen when you got there this time.

 “Kook?” you called out, using the nickname you had begun to refer to him by.

You went further into the home, down the hallway towards the bedrooms. As you got closer to the master and peered inside, you saw the adjoining bathroom door open and could hear the sound of the shower running.

Ah. So that’s where Jungkook was.

You retreated back into the living area, helped yourself to a bottle of water from the fridge and decided to sit on the couch while you waited for him to return.

And he did just that.

You were browsing Instagram on your phone when his voice startled you.

“Hey, (y/n)!”

You took a swig from the water bottle right as you looked up to respond to him, immediately choking on the liquid as you did so, for Jungkook had appeared in the room in nothing but a pair of gray sweatpants, his glistening upper half on complete display.

You learned early on that one of Jungkook’s hobbies was working out, but damn you never thought you would be a witness to all the hard work he put in. The pictures of his abs on the internet were definitely not photoshopped, an eight pack clearly visible on his abdomen. Prominent pecs, and muscular upper arms, the right one covered by a whole sleeve of tattoos. Oh my god, the tattoos. Holy shit. You had seen some of them from the days where he wore short sleeves around you, but now they were all on display, and they were just as beautiful as you had imagined.

The pants he wore were sitting low, (dangerously low) on his narrow waist, deep chiseled v shaped muscles along his hips; you attempted not to think about where they ended.

Finally, you looked up at his face. His dark hair was still wet from the shower, it was pushed back from his forehead. He had a blush on his pale cheeks, but a smirk on his thin lips, clearly aware of how flustered you had become. You cleared your throat and looked away in embarrassment, suddenly feeling guilty for staring at your friend like he was a piece of meat. But he was just so damn attractive, and you were only human, and it had been so long since you had seen a man shirtless, let alone naked… oh god, no, you were not going to go there, not with Jungkook like this in the room with you. Focus, focus on anything else.

“How-how are you today?” you stuttered.

Smooth.

Jungkook strolled over to the kitchen island and grabbed an oversized black shirt that was laying on the back of the stool. Fortunately (or was it unfortunately?) for you, he pulled it up over his head and let it fall at his sides before shaking his damp and messy hair. Then he smiled at you and walked over to the large couch, taking a seat right next to you. The smell of a masculine body wash and fabric softener wafted into your nose, instantly making you want to curl into his side and rest against him. You swallowed hard, trying to shake those thoughts from your mind.

It was just because he smelled nice, right?

“I’m good. We shot an episode of Run! BTS this morning and we were running around a lot,” he chuckled to himself, “it was fun, but I felt gross after. Sorry for being in the shower when you were here.”

You shook your head.

“Don’t apologize. I’m glad you were. I wouldn’t want to hang out with you if you were stinky.”

You plugged you nose and made a grossed-out face at him and he laughed, running a hand through his hair.

“Well then hopefully I smell okay now.”

Ah if only he knew.

Jungkook grabbed the tv remote from the coffee table and handed it to you.

“You pick what we watch today.”

You shrugged and turned on the tv.

“Okay.”

You didn’t immediately go to a streaming app, you wanted to see what kind of things were on live tv at the moment. You secretly loved watching shows with commercials because while they were on it gave you and Jungkook a chance to talk more.

As you scrolled through the channels you weren’t hopeful for anything exciting as it was 2pm on a Tuesday afternoon after all.  

But suddenly, something caught your attention. The mention of Jungkook’s name. You paused your channel changing for a second to listen.

It looked like a trashy show, much like TMZ in the United States, where random people seemed to think they had the right to gossip about celebrities.

 “…Jungkook of BTS and idol soloist Kim Cho-hee are still going strong it seems.” One of the reporters commented.

“Yes, did you see that picture of them cuddling close at the restaurant they frequent in Gangnam? Sources say they were there for hours!”

A picture of the two of them popped up on the screen, sitting close in a corner of a dimly lit restaurant booth.  

“I even heard they shared a kiss when he dropped her off at her place!”

With that you felt your stomach flip and your face get hot.

Uh oh.

Oh no.

Did you perhaps feel... jealous?

Fuck.

“You think they’ll get married? Be together forever?”

They all laughed.

“(y/n) …” Jungkook mumbled from next to you.

“… way too young, but only time will tell!”

“(y/n),” Jungkook repeated while shaking your shoulder gently, startling you out of your thoughts and snapping your attention away from the screen, “do you mind… um, changing it?”

You fiddled with the remote in your now sweaty hands.

“Oh, sorry, no, um, I’m sorry.”

You complied with his request and moved to the next channel, something about wild animals native to the continent of Asia.

There was silence from Jungkook, and you didn’t dare look at him, your heart pounding inside your chest. It felt awkward now, like the elephant that had been in the room throughout your whole friendship, or whatever this was, was now making an unavoidable appearance. You were debating in your head whether you should finally ask him about it all when he spoke up first.

  “We’ve never kissed,” he started quietly.

You ran a hand through your hair, realizing you did not want to hear about it after all. You wanted to stay in this state of naïve bliss.

 “Jungkook…” you trailed off.

Plus, no matter how curious you were it still wasn’t your business.

He placed his hand on your arm surprisingly, making you look up into his worried looking eyes.

“Please, I really would like to talk to someone about it and since you-you already know it’s not real, and no one else really does- “

“Do your members?” you interrupted him.

He shook his head and looked down.

“No, they think it’s real.”

You took a deep breath, now even more shocked he had trusted you so easily with such seemingly confidential information those many weeks ago.

You closed your eyes tightly, the question you’ve been dying to ask on the tip of your tongue.

 “So can I ask... why? Why you’re in a fake relationship with her?”

He let out a sigh and looked down at the ground.

 “It’s complicated. Cho-hee has, um, she’s not known for being the kindest person, er, idol in the industry. She doesn’t have the best um, I’m not sure of the word in English…” he paused to pull out his phone’s translator app, “…repu-reputation is the word in English,” he sighed again, “So obviously as BTS, we’ve been very successful recently, and our managers are great at making sure our reputation stays good. So, her company contacted mine, her company has a lot more media influence in Asia, and asked if one of our members pretends to date her and help boost her reputation, they will help get BTS more attention in the Asia countries,” he paused and hesitantly peered up at you, “so… yeah, that’s basically the small explanation.”

You stared at him in both shock and confusion, so many follow up questions flooding your brain.

 “BTS doesn’t have enough media coverage in Asia?” was the first one to come out of your mouth.

“Well, not necessarily,” Jungkook replied, “but the K-pop competition is a lot bigger in countries like China and Japan because it has been around for so long here and there, unlike in areas like North America and Europe. You know, people in America or the UK or other non-Asian countries might instantly think of BTS when you say ‘K-pop’ these days, right? But here it can be different. Any other act could appear at any moment and take that spotlight, and Cho-hee’s company has more ties and relationships in Asia, more than our company HYBE, because they’ve been around a lot longer.”

You thought for a second before responding.

“So, you’re telling me… her company helps keep BTS relevant throughout Asia, in exchange for you pretending to date her in order to convince the media she’s a good person and keep her out of trouble?”

Your head was absolutely spinning at all this new information.

Jungkook nodded.

Your eyes went wide as you stared off into space in disbelief.

“Wow… I-I don’t know what to say…”

Jungkook buried his face in his hands and then ran them through his hair.

“I don’t know how much longer I can do it. She has that reputation for a reason. We get along fine, but she’s just so… controlling? Controlling is the word, yes? Sometimes I think she forgets we aren’t actually together.”

You frowned at him sympathetically.

“And what if,” he continued, biting his lip nervously, “what if I meet someone I do want to be with. What then? I can’t be with them?”

Your eyes met at that moment and you felt yourself catch your breath in your throat, you heart feeling like it did a somersault.

You looked away quickly.

“Yeah I don’t know. That certainly does makes things… complicated…”

Jungkook hummed in agreement.

There was a pause as you sighed.

“God I’m… really sorry, Kook, that you have to be a part of all this.”

There was a silence between you two. He just fiddled with his fingers in his lap.

Finally he said softly,

“Me, too. I’m sorry you have to be a part of it, too.”

You cocked your head in confusion.

 “What? Me? Because I know your relationship isn’t legitimate? You don’t have to worry about me, you know I won’t tell anyone about the two of you or- “

He cut you off.

 “Not just that,” he paused and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath.

You allowed yourself to take in his handsome face from this up close: his smooth skin, the mole on the bridge of his nose, the deep scar on his left cheek. He was just so exquisite; and when he opened his big brown eyes to meet yours, he looked more nervous than ever.

And when he began to speak you suddenly understood why.

 “It’s also because I… I like you, (y/n). I’m really… starting to like you. As more than a friend or-or someone I just hang out with one day a week,” his face turning red as he went on, “And if you don’t feel the same way I under-”

But before he could finish you placed one hand on the side of his neck and the other on his cheek as you leaned into him and pressed your lips against his in a tender kiss. He relaxed into you and wrapped his arms around your waist to pull you close, practically sitting you on his lap. You finally let his comforting scent completely engulf you, running your hands through his soft hair and nibbling on his bottom lip.

 Oh, yes.

This certainly made things very complicated indeed.

*

next>>

Masterlist

[kaiowut99]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Episodes 65 and 66 Subbed (Finalized)

(Check out my Subbed!GX Stream Masterpost!)

Hell Kaiser Ryou! Chimeratech Overdragon

Since his defeat to Ed in the Pro Leagues, the life in Kaiser Ryou has faded.  But at the invitation of a suspicious promoter, he participates in an underground duel--duels in which, crucially, one risks their life to treat their savage audience to a show.  As Acidic Last Machine Virus causes his Machine-Types like Cyber Dragon to rust, the Kaiser is not only cut off from summoning any Monsters, but it causes him to take damage.  With each drop in his LP, an electric current flows through his body, exciting the spectators...

Judai’s First Dream Duel!

Lost in the forest, Judai’s consciousness starts to fade from hunger, causing him to reminisce about his duels thus far--taking down Instructor Chronos’s Ancient Gear Golem with Flame Wingman during his Entrance Exam, battling the then-Blue elite Manjoume and his V-to-Z Dragon Catapult Cannon shortly after his enrollment, battling Misawa’s seventh deck with the right to represent the Academia on the line, and his first loss in the face of Kaiser Ryou’s Cyber End Dragon...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*crashes onto your TL months late with non-corporate coffee*

And these two are finally up and finalized! Sorry for the wait, if you were looking forward to ‘em--as I mentioned in my post on Sunday, they were pushed back a bit while I did one final lookover on 1-64′s scripts and hardsubs so I could actually call them “finalized.” I’d started to get them out of the way while waiting for some potential editing help, then just decided to finish it after scrapping the last little thing I hoped to work on (I planned to break briefly after 66 to do these re-finalizations anyway, but the timing happened to work out).  More details there.

But leaving that aside, here we have a pretty popular episode in Hell Kaiser Ryou’s debut, as he’s pushed to the brink by Mad Dog Inukai after Monkey Monkey Mountain Saruyama invites him to his first underground duel. They do a really good job of portraying Ryou as having lost his mojo post-Ed, showing a realistic view of what the big leagues in sports are like when that happens to you and you lose out on sponsorships/etc, and so when he gets cornered and Saruyama drills into him how he never once thought of winning since that duel, wanting to just stick with his respectful dueling, a spark lights up in him and... well, RIP Mad Dog. (Also, s/o to Takeshi Maeda for really selling Ryou’s shift in mindset by the end, and to his dub VA for sounding similarly good, imo.)

66 is probably less popular in comparison, treating us to our first clipshow of the series, though 66 episodes in isn’t a bad time (could be worse, VRAINS jk).  It’s endearing enough, though--kinda nice seeing SAL again; Judai’s hunger-induced visions give us Chronos, Misawa, and Manjoume making monkey noises; and the duels featured were important for Judai early on.  I also like the bit of new animation as vision!Ryou follows up with Judai about respecting his opponents; goes with what I’d noticed before about Judai adding his Fusion Undone/De-Fusion strategy to his own dueling after losing to him. (also Judai making a signpost sweatdrop from his aloofness pls)

Part of the initial delay with these were the footage fixes I wanted to work on, as well as a couple visual translations here/there which were fun to work on.  Really want to thank @paradoxi-kay for their great work as always in helping to translate the cover of the copy of Duel Magazine that Judai comes across early in 65, and starting the one on Shou’s copy that I finished up.  List of everything worked on below the cut, as usual, if you’re curious.

Enjoy, folks! I’ve gotten some work started on 67 already, and my plan is to try and work on some double releases to make up a bit of time, lol.  I’ll be posting these two on NAC in the next couple of days along with the re-finalized hardsubs and scripts/DVDRips; while I work on getting 67 and 68 done, I’ll also start some work on prepping softsub MKVs (also to go up on NAC) for everything I’ve fully finalized, since it’s been a while on that front.

Fixes/Edits! (65)

As Judai wanders in the forest early in the episode, he comes across a stack of old Duel Magazines; the front cover shows Ryou and is an issue from his winning streak days before his more recent loss to Ed.  Thanks to @paradoxi-kay​‘s great work in typesetting my translation onto the cover I blanked (which I detailed here), you’ll see it in English in the hardsub above.  The translation was first applied to the close-up of the cover that comes after #2 below, and then I took the translated cover and made it its own image that I put into the earlier shot as Judai approaches it while they’re all still tied up (detailed here).  The text reads, “Exclusive!! Kaiser Ryou Marufuji / Breaking down his Cyber Dragon deck!!! / In this issue: / -Duelists Du Jour / -Pro League Battle Data! / -Reader-Submitted Best Duels! / -Strategic Attack Decks by Type!” (Really appreciated Kay’s input on “Du Jour” because my original translation for that, “Duelists Who Are All the Rage,” wasn’t as catchy, lol.)

As Judai picks up one of the older Duel Magazines and flips it open, we see on the back cover an ad featuring the three Phantasms--it’s actually an in-show ad for Shadows of Infinity (since the episode aired around the time the pack came out in Japan); I detailed the process in blanking and translating it here (shared above).  The ad reads, "The Three Phantasms Descend!" featuring Uria and Raviel’s names on their images.

As we go to the Red dorm as Shou narrates about the Kaiser’s slump, we see a magazine page describing what happened to him since his loss to Ed; I covered my blanking/translating this in the link shared in #2.

We then see that it’s Shou reading the page from his own copy of Duel Magazine, this one more recent than Judai’s featuring Ed on the cover, though it features the same SOI/Phantasms ad on its back cover (now showing Hamon and its name as well).  Like with Judai’s issue, I used the Japanese cover and the dub’s edit as reference to just redraw Ed and Diamondguy enough to remove Ed’s name; Kay had started the translation placement and I finished it up.  For the SOI ad, like with #2, I added in the dub’s edit in pieces, tweaking it to match the original image more (since they again oddly edited the text out or redrew Uria/et al weirdly to do so).  We do now see more of the ad which shows that the trio’s names are on each of them, the English of which I added.

As Asuka snatches the magazine from Shou to work on cheering him up, to be consistent, I also worked in these cover translations to the magazine as she lifts then curls it up, using the dub’s blanked Phantasms edit as a base that I touched up a bit while adding back the Japanese cards.  Detailed more in #2′s link.  (We now also see that the ad reads on, “New! Shadow of Infinity - On Sale November 11th [2005]!”; the IRL booster pack came out in Japan on Nov. 17th, 2005, a few weeks before 65 aired.)

Asuka then lifts the curled-up magazine into view in a close-up, with the SOI/Phantasms ad visible which I also applied my translations above to as needed, using the dub’s blank edit as a base that I redrew parts of to touch up and match the Japanese image more.  Detailed more in #2′s link.

As Ryou meets Monkey Saruyama, he introduces himself by handing out his business card reading, "Saruyama Promotion - Representative Monkey Saruyama;" as detailed in #2′s link, I cleaned it up using Photoshop’s Clone Tool, then slapped the translation on using Calibri as the font.

As Ryou contemplates attacking Acid Slime with his Cyber Dragon and Mad Dog Inukai taunts him, as Mad Dog then slides in on a split-screen to “clear his doubts,” there’s a quick frame as Inukai takes over the screen where there’s a gap between his pecs and the split-screen edge.  I fixed it by just drawing in the rest of his chest in Photoshop to fill his side of the split-screen.

As Inukai starts his turn and activates his Contingency Fee Magic Card, there’s a frame where, as he’s sliding his hand with the card into the shot, the card itself slides ahead in his hand before his hand does; as a result, you can see a bit of the background just under the card before his hand catches up to the card in the next frame.  I fixed this by just duplicating the first frame here over it in Vegas.

Two here--first, after Ryou has his Proto Cyber Dragon attack Clone Slime, as Inukai begins to explain its effect, there’s a quick frame before the shot goes from a close-up to a slow zoom as he moves where his neck vanishes (new meme format go); I fixed this by just duplicating the previous frame in Vegas, while also correcting one of his looping lip-flap frames so that the scar on his chin is above the shading under his lip.  Then, as Inukai goes into Clone Slime’s effect and the shot slowly zooms out, we see Clone Slime on his Disk in Attack Mode when it’s in Defense Mode right now; fixed it by placing a proxy in Defense in AfterEffects for a frame, then re-keyframing that frame to the zoom-out in Vegas to put it in place.

After Acid Slime slips out of Inukai’s Cemetery as Clone Slime’s effect activates, Inukai moves to grab it before the two Slimes switch out, but Clone Slime’s still in Attack Mode on his Disk; fixed by placing the Defense-Mode proxy over it in AE, then moving it as he moves his Disk and applying a brief brightness increase as the light from Clone Slime being replaced with Acid Slime grazes it.

As Proto Cyber Dragon’s attack approaches Acid Slime in a quick shot, the card under it in Defense Mode is reversed (the name box should face to the left to match how it’s placed on his Disk); fixed by first applying the correctly-facing proxy in AfterEffects and moving it as the shot moves, then masking Acid Slime back in over it, along with the light coming from the attack as it starts to shine over its card.

As Ryou explains Overload Fusion’s effect, just before it starts to zoom out as he then chooses the six Monsters he’ll fuse, there are a few frames I noticed where Ryou’s whooshing hair throughout this shot suddenly stops whooshing; I fixed it by just masking in his whooshing hair from the previous frames for a few.

As Ryou taunts Inukai about how his Acidic Last Machine Virus will bother him no more, Inukai starts to slide in on a split-screen, but until his split-screen has fully slid in, there’s no border on its edge; I fixed it in Vegas by first masking out the border once it’s fully slid in, then moving it in another video layer with his split-screen for those nine frames.

As Ryou explains Chimeratech Overdragon’s multiple attacks, we see it reversed on his Disk; fixed by slapping on the correctly-facing proxy in AfterEffects, then re-keyframing it to the slow zoom in Vegas for the 94 frames it zooms out in (phew).

One error that I hoped to fix but scrapped happens as Chimeratech Overdragon’s first attack closes in on Inukai’s Multiple Slime, where we see a Defense-Mode card under it despite it being in Attack Mode the way Inukai summoned it (and since he then takes damage from the attack); couldn’t quite figure out how to light up the floor I’d redrawn under it with the ensuing explosion, and had sought a bit of help to get it right but ultimately that fell through. (Incidentally, not only did the dub not catch this as they dubified its card, but they reversed the card, at that, lol.)

Fixes/Edits! (66)

(Note: These are all flashback-related, and I detailed most of them [including a few new ones] in my post from Sunday that I linked just under the summaries; I went on to apply the fixes I’d applied in 66 to the respective episodes, so I’ll be brief here.  Reinserted fixes from a while back are in italics.)

(Episode 1 Flashback) I reinserted the fix I did to replace the blank Normal Monster on Judai’s Disk in Flame Wingman’s spot with its card as Antique Gear Golem crashes onto Chronos.  [Ep. 1 Flashback End]

(Episode 22 Flashback) As Misawa attacks with Litmus Death Swordsman to start his flashback, I reinserted the fix I did to detail the blank cards on his Disk with Diamond Dragon and Litmus Death.

As Misawa finishes explaining Wingbeat of Giant Dragon’s effect and it zooms out to Litmus Death, I reinserted my fix to his reversed card on Misawa’s Disk to flip it right-side-up.

Reinserted my fix to the repeat of #3 as Skyscraper fades.

Reinserted my fix to another repeat as Misawa explains Spirit Barrier’s effect.

R-R-Reinserted my fix to the r-r-repeat again as we see Misawa’s Disk while Judai explains Cyclone Boomerang’s effect (gotta love reused animation!) [Ep. 22 Flashback End]

(Episode 4 Flashback) As Judai prods Manjoume into choosing a card from his hand for A Hero Appears’s effect, I fixed Manjoume’s blazer looking semi-faded for a frame on his split-screen.

As Judai’s LP take a hit from V-to-Z destroying Burstlady, I fixed the four frames where the upper part of his Disk is missing the little bottom part that extends out a bit and Judai’s vanishing Disk wrist grip.

A bit complex, but I fixed Judai’s briefly-still-missing-then-vanishing-again wrist grip, the shading near his Cemetery slot, Judai’s arm becoming part of his Disk, and his wrist grip suddenly consuming his whole wrist. (Detailed in that Sunday post)

Reinserted my fix to the Attack-Mode Winged Kuriboh on Judai’s Disk to put it in Defense Mode as he discards two to activate Evolutionary/Transcendent Wings.

As Judai swings his arm around telling Winged Kuriboh LV10 to “send [V-to-Z’s] energy right back” at Manjoume, I reinserted my fix to put its Defense-Mode card in the spot on his Disk colored like the Monster Zone it’s on for a few frames.

A bit complex again recycling the Judai shot in #9, but I fixed his again-vanishing Disk wrist grip and half-Disk arm, his wrist grip suddenly consuming his whole wrist again, and his yet-again-vanished wrist grip, miscolored undershirt, and his half-Disk elbow while restoring some previous detail to his Disk. (Detailed in that Sunday post)

As Judai summons Featherman–to Shou and Chronos’s surprise–and has him lunge at Manjoume for the finisher, I reinserted my fix to keep the black faraway box that is Featherman on his Disk both as those two slide in on split-screens and as they slide back out. [Ep. 4 Flashback End]

(Episode 8 Flashback) I reinserted my fix to remove Featherman from Judai’s Disk as his LP drop from Cyber Dragon destroying it.

Reinserted my fix to a repeat of #14 as Judai’s excited about Ryou’s Time Capsule.

As Judai draws for his turn, I added a Fusion card over the dark-orange rectangle briefly in his hand as he draws it.

After Judai’s first hit on him, I fixed the error as Ryou Special-Summons another Cyber Dragon as a Monster in face-down Defense Mode on his second Monster Zone (detailed in that Sunday post).

Reinserted my fix adding Cyber Twin Dragon to Ryou’s Disk over a yellow rectangle.

As the screen zooms in on Judai after Ryou declares Cyber Twin’s attack, I added Thunder Giant to Judai’s third Monster Zone, then reinserted my previous fix adding it as it zooms back out while Judai uses A Hero Appears.

Reinserted my fix adding a few quick lip flaps to Judai as he says, “Partner,” out loud.

As Judai thinks about how Evolutionary Wings would evolve his Winged Kuriboh and we then see Bubbleman on his field, I added a missing Bubbleman card to his Disk.

Right after #21, I revised my previous fix to replace the Defense-Mode Mudballman on his Disk with an Attack-Mode Bubbleman, after I accidentally put it in Defense Mode before.

As Ryou grabs Power Bond from his hand before activating it, I reinserted my fix adding Ryou’s two missing Cyber Dragons to his Disk and then one over the blank Normal Monster card in his left hand.

As Ryou slips Power Bond into his Disk, I reinserted my fix adding those two missing Cyber Dragons onto his Disk.  [Ep. 8 Flashback End]

For the Ep. 67 preview, I added my translation of the notice left on the Red dorm by Napoleon which I’ll be using in the episode proper.

[davidlevi5401]

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1, 3, 29, 32, 33, 36, 37, 38 (Ify), 50

1. How did you get into AH?

God, it’s been a while. To start, I’ve been watching RvB since 2008 and I’ve known about AH since the first AHWU, but I never watched anything because they were doing pure Achievement content and I didn’t play on Xbox. I can’t exact video, but I did start actively watching their LPs sometime in the early 2012 before the Minecraft LPs started.

3. Who was your favorite when you started?

Ray for sure, he was my icon on Tumblr until he left RT to start streaming. He was the only one in the bunch that could play video games well and I liked that.

29. Opinion on Jack?

He’s a sweetheart, but he does have his “old man yells at clouds” moments now that Fiona is here making everyone feel old. 

32. Opinion on Jeremy?

You don't have to go far in my blog to see that I like the man. I enjoy his humor and he works well with the cast. The guy has also made some pretty big steps in the last couple of years to be more open minded and he’s super supportive of the community.

33. Opinion on Lindsay?

I love them. Whenever they are in a video, anything can happen and they are truly a wildcard. I also believe they are the consistently the funniest in the room and no I will not be taking criticism on this.

36. Opinion on Alfredo?

Fredo was a breathe of fresh air when he joined the staff. Having someone whos good at videogames (barring platformers and Minecraft) is nice to have in videos. Also, just having more people of color in the room is just nice.

37. Opinion on Fiona?

She brings a nice youthful energy to AH, although she makes me feel old (even though she's the same age as me ☠)

38. Opinion on Ify?

I've actually spent more time watching him with Smosh and the dude is incredibly funny. He seems to meld well with any group he's put in and would love to see more of him in content.

50. Has AH ever inspired you?

RT in general inspired me to learn Photoshop so I could make some content for the fandom. Other than that, I wouldn't say AH has inspired any large changes in my life.

[buffyannesummrs]

creator tag game!

tagged by the LOVELY: @thosefunkylittleguys 

rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

maggie thank you for tagging me in this 🥺 honestly you and clare were such an inspiration to me to start making content of my own and sharing my thoughts on this silly little website! I literally only started creating content in the past week LOL I am slowly learning to open up and share myself, as silly as that sounds! so I think I literally only have like 5 things to share and all of them are just supernatural parallel edits akjhsjkdfhskl 

1. Buffy “Lover’s Walk” monologue // Supernatural Deancas: this is not so nice to look at because I didn’t edit the screencaps at all and the text is too small LOL but I really love that monologue and I put a LOT of thought and effort into the images selected! ❤️ I feel like this quote really encapsulates like the behemoth of the deancas story: 12 years and such a journey!  Plus it just has such fun Spike phrasing - what’s not to love! I liked the parallels I included in here (purgatory hugs, MWWBK + S15 divorce scenes, starting and ending blood sigils) and how they tied into the quote. I really enjoy the finished product hehe 

2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Grave” // Supernatural, “Swan Song”: I mean it’s such a cliche, character breaks free out of mind control / evil  / etc. for love of another character, but it does get me every time. I love this buffy speech so much, it’s really an example of buffy at its best, where a phrase like “crayon-breaking willow and scary-veiny willow” can actually encapsulate so much heart and meaning. I also love the exchange of like “I’ll kill you.” “It doesn’t matter, I’ll still love you.” I felt like it went beautifully with swan song, since that’s really the thesis of dean going to lucifer - no plan, no hope, but where else would he be? I liked this one! 

3. The Haunting of Bly Manor, “The Beast in the Jungle” // Supernatural, “Lost and Found”: my first ever edit! I have not been able to stop thinking about the burial preparation scene since I first watched it, and one day in the shower the bly manor quote popped into my head and bowled me over. it’s very simple but I really like it!

4. Supernatural, “Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets” // Buffy + Giles: this is definitely my favorite in terms of aesthetics - I actually got photoshop for this one ladies <3 I am still figuring things out, but I do really like how this one turned out with the color grading etc. and this just made my heart SO warm to make. can’t express the amount of times I stopped to sigh with a hand pressed to my heart, “that’s his LITTLE girl!” it was so fun to get caps of baby buffy and giles from the early seasons. the quote is very simple, but I love how it ties to the pieta image of season 5 (will I make a post about buffy as the christ figure and giles as mary….who’s to say) 

5. Buffy Season 6 // Famine’s speech to Dean : oh I do LOVE this parallel. rewatching supernatural with meg recently we watched that episode and as soon as Famine started talking I was just like “HELLO.” I really liked the caps I selected, put a lot of thought into them and really what each one meant for buffy. I have many more posts I want to make in terms of buffy and dean’s character similarities 

oh also honorary mention - the cas confession speech // spike “touched” speech parallel meta I wrote right after the confession aired! it’s just sloppy stream of consciousness but the dots….I was connecting them…….

I have also created some fics but currently those are JUST for me have not been bold enough to put them into the world hahaha. I do love to write and I am pretty proud of them though 

if anyone ever wants to send me buffy or supernatural questions / food for thought so i can continue to clown PLEASE feel free <3 always love to discuss

WAIT I FORGOT TO TAG PEOPLE: @lexaprodyke @lazarusr1sing @effyeffa @jenderossackles @fionaappletini if any of you want to share, please do! <3 

[saltykong]

Hello All! ❁ I hope you have been well and that you have been staying safe~ This is going to be one LONG message, but I hope it reaches you ♥

I started this Tumblr blog in the height of my struggles in life. Not knowing what I wanted to do, failing at what I thought I was meant to do, and even finding myself becoming more lonesome with no way out. That is when KPOP came in. I think it’s safe to say many of us came to KPOP whether we were in a similar internal struggle or even wanted to escape to something that sounded and felt new to what we knew growing up. That is exactly what it was for me. KPOP was used as a means of escape from the troubles I was having. Through those troubles, I met VIXX. These six boys, having a sound like no other. Their concepts, instrumentals, outfits, all of it was always heavily in-tune with their theme, creating some of the most amazing discography, music videos and stages I have ever seen. VIXX aren’t concept kings for nothing. In that, my bias became Hongbin. A sassy, and sometimes blunt but well-meaning individual that was, unfortunately, often ignored by his company on his musical talents. Instead he was placed in the box of, “visuals.” This isn’t a bad thing but to him, he wanted to be more than just a “face.” He was also the least popular and most ignored member when I joined the fandom. But he didn’t let this stop him and continually pushed to be seen. It was this determination and drive that I wanted to support. Hongbin was the underdog and in my own struggles, I wanted to be one too. I created what can jokingly be called a “shrine” to my comfort kpop boy. I wanted him to be seen more by the fandom in someway and so I picked up learning to make gifs, understanding Photoshop, and even learning basic HTML. In fact, because of this blog, I found a love and passion for web development and coding. It was something I liked to do, even if I wasn’t that good at it. It was hard but I was able to switch gears from a Biology degree to one that was Computer Science focused, despite many in my life saying that wasn’t possible. With that, I found a new path with new struggles but I persevered through it, just as Hongbin had been doing with each new single and album. 2019 was arguably Hongbin’s year. Coming off from the high that was the Eau de VIXX album and Scentist single, Hongbin started to stream on Twitch because he loves video games and wanted to share that. He also was in a drama and on a variety show. Not to mention that he saved Summer 2019 with “COOL LOVE,” a collaborative effort with MONSTA X’s Hyungwon. I wanted 2019 to be my year as well and worked hard at it. Simultaneously, I created projects, graduated university with a CS degree and got a job within the first three months. I had been fortunate in my endeavors. But with more responsibilities, this blog in recent years has been lacking content. I haven’t made anything on here in two years and I feel bad about that. Every time I want to come back, I don’t ever have a drive to do it. There may be a chance that I feel like I’ve outgrown Tumblr. I apologize for thinking like this. Now let’s talk about what has happened in recent months. Hongbin, yet again, found himself in a messy situation. There is a cycle when it comes to Hongbin where he will do something that is unfavorable, he will leave on hiatus, and then he will comeback. Hongbin stans will know, we go MONTHS without hearing from him or seeing him. It’s an unfortunate situation to be in but I truly believe Hongbin stans are some of the strongest people in this fandom because of it. This recent situation was not what we were expecting. Hongbin ended up in a bad situation again and had been gone since March. He finally popped up again two weeks ago, much to everyones surprise. This was a moment of happiness that was short lived due to the following news that arrived. Hongbin would be leaving VIXX. It feels unnatural to even be typing that sentence but here we are. I don’t know what happened to come to this decision but I felt fatigued from that news. I couldn’t concentrate on work, I talked to everyone about how I was feeling, and even took a brief hiatus from social media. It seems dramatic to feel like this about someone I don’t know but again, he is the reason I worked as hard as I did to be were I am. I’m sure many of you understand this emotion. I came to the resolution that, although it hurts, if Jellyfish wasn’t going to help him or promote him, it was probably best he leaves. He would definitely become popular on Twitch. But the moment I had resolved that, he came in with more news that would break the wall. He would be enlisting as early as today, August 17-18th 2020. This one did not hurt as much because I believed it would be best he go early to get it out of the way. Him leaving VIXX was unseen however. Hongbin stans have had it the hardest, I hope you all, even non-Bean stans, are taking care of yourselves and doing your best to stay positive. I guess with this extremely long note I wanted to say that I don’t think I will be active on this blog for a while. I’m not on Tumblr everyday anymore and with Hongbin leaving VIXX, content won’t be as easily available or gif-able. I’ve grown a little tired as well and I truly don’t think I have enough space in my computer anyways. I will leave my blog open so that if anyone wants to see some interesting gifsets with Hongbin or even if a new baby STARLIGHT comes across content or is seeking it, it’s there. The only thing I hope people can protect my gifs from being stolen. Many gif-makers have this issue and I’m not any special to be asking of this but I don’t think people understand how long and arduous the process to create them are. We sacrifice a lot of computer space and run our systems hard to start up our programs to make them. Not to mention we hunt for videos constantly and even sacrifice sleep to be able to get performances live sometimes. Then there is the compliance with Tumblrs gif limits to take into account. Some times there is a lack of creativity or individualism in content, so we constantly brainstorm to give the fandom something fresh for their own blogs. It’s extremely tedious to make them but the satisfaction of not only creating them, but having people interact with them and share them, makes the process worth it. You don’t know, but every single person that reblogs my gifs, I tend to go to that persons page to look at their interests and read their tags. Thank you to those that write in the tags of my posts, I find enjoyment from reading them. If I can say, I trust my gifs with STARLIGHT fandom, please don’t let them be stolen or used unnecessarily. This is my gift to you. ❤ As for gif-making, the one thing I regret is that I didn’t finish a particular series I was working on. That doesn’t mean I won’t come back to finish it however, just not right at this moment. As for mutuals, much of them migrated off the platform at the same time as me. But I just want to thank them and the STARLIGHTS who were especially close to me and lent an ear when all I wanted to do was talk about Hongbin. I’ve made some of the greatest friends through VIXX. Thank you for being there. The VIXX fandom gave me something to work for, to look forward to, and what could be improved. Coming on to Tumblr after so long, I am so happy that my efforts and the efforts of other blogs that were there when I was, made more people become Hongbin fans and even birthed new and talented gif-makers. Thank you for being the next bunch to push it forward. Lastly, thank you to all the people that follow me. I did my best to interact with all of you as much as I could, and even now, thank you for supporting my work. You are the reason I do what I do, and I hope it inspires you in some way too. I wish Hongbin a safe military stint and hope he comes back with a fresh and new perspective on what he wants to do. Thank you Hongbin for what you have inspired me and others to do. You can now follow me on Twitter if you still want to see what I’m up to, there are changes coming there as well but I hope you do follow. I will always support VIXX, even as a five-man group but, VIXX will always be SIX to me. Thank you for everything, I hope to come back to this blog one day to create again.

[homestuck-info]

A Homestuck.info Catch-Up!

  Over the past few months I’ve been directing my attention towards the Homestuck.info twitter account. Now that I have a bit more free time, I’m going to go back to mirroring content onto Tumblr! This post is meant to provide some catch-up to my antics over there, things have changed quite a bit!  A bit over a month ago the Homestuck.info brand was changed. Not just a facelift in avatars and color schemes, but a shift in content production: from a stream of disconnected tweets to a number of more focused, long-term projects. I still post Homestuck news as it breaks, but WhatPumpkin PR has accelerated far beyond the need for a fan-based soley-news platform. Here’s a look at a few things we’ve had in devolopment:

Streaming: We’ve been streaming Pesterquest volumes as they are released, and are planning to begin some playthroughs of Homestuck fangames such as Sburbcraft, Puzzlestuck, Felt Manor, and more!  Streams are all mirrored on our Youtube channel. 

Podcasting: Show Pesterquest has begun! A general Homestuck podcast where I talk about whatever is on my mind at the moment. Episode 1  is about Homestuck.info, trans canon and gender, and shillworthy works. Episodes are currently sporadic, with a solid schedule starting sometime in Early 2020, and it’s available on Spotify!

Game Dev: Sburb Online is a recreation of the Homestuck walkaround flash format, in the HTML5 engine Phaser 3! This means it works on mobile devices! And it has multiplayer! While the core control, character, and chat features are fully working, further development has been a bit on hold while I’m in the process of moving across the country. It’s not dead though! And its also available on Itch.io through our non-Homestuck sister company Earth64!

Sponsus: I have no plans whatsoever to lock Homestuck content behind a paywall or monetize any of the News side of things. That said, I am a Freelance 3D Artist and run a Sponsus feed (an alternative to Patreon) where I release all the work and source files for my art, such as blender and photoshop files. Sponsors also get special roles on my Discord and shout-outs in our audio and video content!

Discord: We have a Discord now! It includes not only a place to chat about Homestuck, but additional channels for all my personal projects! And pings when I go live on Twitch! Truly the best way to stay in the know about the things I do if thats something you fancy.

Invite: http://discord.gg/EBDMjZr

 Thanks for your time! I will continue posting news updates here and on Twitter, as well as adding to the Homestuck.info website, and you can look forward to continued development in our games, streams, videos, and podcast as we head into 2020!  

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[khiphop-stories]

Getting Off The Wrong Foot

[Christian Yu | Chapter VII]

Previous Chapters: Chapter I | Chapter II | Chapter III | Chapter IV | Chapter V | Chapter VI

You were one of the first people to arrive at the filming site. It was an outdoor location today, but the weather looked awful. According to the weather report it was supposed to be sunny day with no precipitation. But in reality, it was the exact opposite. Thick grey clouds hung over the rooftops, darkening the sky. You could hardly even see any blue and only a few rays of sunlight streamed through the cracks in the cloud layer. As you looked up the sky, you felt a single rain drop fall on top your forehead. You knew it was only a matter of time it started pouring down the sky.

As if your hand moved on its own, it dived into your bag and fished out your phone. You quickly made a few calls, informing the staff that the shoot was cancelled until further notice and asked them to spread the word. You also sent home the crew members that were already at the filming site. The only ones left to call was Christian and his team. You dreaded this moment. After what had happened yesterday, you didn’t have the confidence to talk to him. But in the end it didn’t matter what you wanted to do or didn’t want to do, you had to keep up your professionalism. You couldn’t just stop working with someone because you had some differences. If that were the case you would already be unemployed. You called their manager’s number first, hoping you would be able to avoid directly talking to Christian. It was a cowardish move, but you didn’t care. Joo Won was friendly and understanding. He assured you he would let the others know.

Just a few minutes later you received an incoming call from Joo Won again. “Hey Minhee, I can’t reach Christian. He’s probably still driving that’s why he’s not picking up. He left early, so he should be there soon.“

“Ok, I’ll wait for him and tell him myself then. Thanks, Joo Won.“

Well, your plan to avoid him as long as possible was just flushed down toilet.

~*~

Christian arrived shortly after the call. He let his eyes wander around the location, before they rested on you. Since he didn’t see any staff members nor any props around, he already guessed it. 

“Shoot’s cancelled, huh?“ 

“Yeah, the weather’s too bad. I don’t think we can shoot under this condition and it’ll probably start raining soon.“

Just as if the rain was waiting for you cue, it started pouring it that very moment. Without exchanging further words, you both quickly looked for shelter under a building. 

The awkward silence that surrounded the two of you was killing you. It made you even more uncomfortable than you felt before, if that was even possible.

“Christian…,” you decided to break the silence. It wasn’t going to work this way. You wouldn’t be able to work together if there was still this awkwardness lingering between you.  He turned his attention away from the sky and looked at you, his eyebrows cocked up.

“Look, I’m sorry—“

“You don’t have to apologize...not for his bevahior,“ he quickly cut you off, the frown on his face easing up and the corner of his lips raised to a smile. You blinked your eyes at him in confusion, not understanding where the sudden change was coming from. What he was saying now wasn’t making any sense, considering how the last conversation you had with him ended.

“Bu you were really angry yesterday...“ “I was angry,“ he admitted with a nod, yet his voice was tender, not an even ounce of animosity could be found. “But not at you. I was just mad that we lost the deal and I lashed out at you.“

“But it kinda was my fau—“

“No, it wasn’t. I overreacted.“

“But maybe you were right. I blamed it all on Kiseok, but maybe the problem was me all along? Maybe I sucked at being the girlfriend and that’s why he cheated on me. Maybe I deserved it.“

The expression on Christian’s face turned serious. His gaze pierced through you and he spoke slowly as though you were having a hard time understanding him.

“You are not responsible for the way he acts. Don’t even think for a second it’s your fault. I said stupid things yesterday because I was angry. I didn’t mean it.“

You remained silent for a while, letting his words sink in. You replayed everything that had happened the past few months, trying to understand where things went wrong. 

“Min,“ he called you softly, pulling you back to reality. 

“It just doesn’t make sense,“ you shook your head. You were so deep in thoughts, you didn’t even notice how your vision had slowly blurred as tears shot into your eyes.

“Come here.“ Christian reached out and gently pulled you into his embrace. He wrapped his arms around your shoulders and pulled you close, rubbing your back comfortingly. The feel of his body so close to yours soothed you more than you had expected. 

“I’m sorry,“ you mumbled into his chest. “I don’t know why I always break down in front of you.” You exhaled slowly, trying your best to calm yourself. You weren’t usually that emotional. You were the type of person who wouldn’t even shed a tear during the most emotional scenes in movies. But lately, all you did was having emotional breakdowns, most of them in front of Christian.

“It’s ok, I don’t mind,“ he chuckled softy as he ran his fingers through your hair.  He must have thought you were a pathetic crybaby, but there was something about him that made you feel so reassured, that you didn’t have to be ashamed of your feelings and that you didn’t have to hide them in front of him. “You must think I’m a huge mess,” you let out an embarrassed chuckle. “Yeah...well, but we all are in some way or another.“ His words were comforting to hear. When he noticed that you had somewhat calmed down, he released you from his hug. 

“Did you already have breakfast?“ He asked you out of the blue. You shook your head in response

„Let’s grab something to eat then.“

~*~

[Time leap]

“I got the pictures from the shoot,“ you told him as you were waiting for your orders.

“How did they turn out?“ He asked you excitedly, his full attention on you. You liked his enthusiasm, it seemed as though he was just as excited as you about all the good things that were happening to you. But it wasn’t that fake interest people always showed you, he seemed to be genuinely happy for you. “Well, I barely recognize myself with all the photoshop, but they look good...just not like me,“ you joked with a chuckle. You took your phone that was lying on the table into your hands and scrolled through your photos to show him the pictures. “They want me to choose some, but they kinda look all the same to me. I might need a professional pair of eyes.“

“Show me,“ he held his hand out. You gave him your phone and watched him quietly as he looked through the pictures. You grew a bit nervous as he wasn’t commenting on any of the pictures. You expected him to at least make fun of you a little bit.

“I would have done it differently,“ he remarked, his eyes still fixed on the screen of your phone.

“How?“ You asked while you were preparing yourself for all the criticism that would probably be coming your way. But instead of criticizing you, he analyzed the work of the photographer. “Well, for starters I wouldn’t have put that much photoshop. You’re pretty as you are. You don’t need that shit. And I would have tried to shoot with natural, warmer light, because that enhances your features,“ he said it so nonchalant, as though he was talking about the weather. Those compliments always left his lips like they were nothing. Maybe he didn’t mean anything either, maybe he was just passionate about photography and he was commenting from an objective point of view. Maybe he was just a professional critiquing someone else’s work. “You should have shot me then,“ you said jokingly with a laugh.

“I would love to,“ he smiled, his eyes turning to you. The look on his face was so soft, it made you feel so comfortable around him, but at the same time it also made you feel ��incredibly nervous. You could feel the blood rushing through your veins, heating up your body. Your cheeks felt awfully hot, you were probably as red as a tomato by now.

“Well, I still need to choose some pictures,” you tried to guide the conversation into a different direction before he would notice how embarrassed you were. “This one is the best,“ he pulled his chair closer to you and showed you the photograph.

“This one? Really?“ You looked at the picture and then turned your eyes to him, giving him a look of disbelief. You definitely wouldn’t have chosen that one as your favorite.  “You were a bit stiff, but this one looks the most natural. I like your smile there“ “I know, I’m not a model,“ you accepted his criticism with a laugh. “You could be with your face and measurements.“ “How would you know my measurements?“ “I saw you naked, remember?“ He wriggled his brows at you playfully. “Ok, you need to stop, Christian. You making me blush.“ You pressed the back of your hands, which where still cold from standing outside, on your warm cheeks, trying to cool them down.

Christian licked his lips as a grin appeared on his face, his eye following every of your movements. He loved teasing you, because of the reaction he always got from you. He liked being the one making you blush.

“I’m just saying the truth. You’re not that used to getting compliments, are you?“ “You’re doing it far too often,” you argued.

“Really? I’m even holding back right now. I mean could go on and on how pretty you look in that picture and how beautiful you look right now.“

“You’re a real smooth talker, Christian,” you rolled your eyes. You didn’t take his compliments serious any more as you assumed he was only teasing you.  “That’s why girls like you, because you make them feel special and important.”

“You didn’t receive many compliments from him, did you?“

You shook your head in response. You did get compliments from Kiseok sometimes. But most of the time he either wanted a favor from you or he wanted to get into your pants. So those compliments never really meant a lot to you.

“Man, Kiseok must have really fucked you up. If you were my girl, I would tell you how beautiful you are every single day.“ You felt your heart skip a beat, almost as though it would jump right out of your chest. You stared at him. For a brief moment, you imagined what dating him would be like. Never did it even cross your mind that you would ever start something serious with him. But now that you were visualizing it, you didn’t hate the idea that much either.

„Ok, that’s enough. Shut up, Christian,“ you rolled your eyes at him, letting out a nervous chuckle.

~*~

You resumed shooting two days after and lasted for another two days. The shooting went by smoothly and you wrapped up early. It was very apparent that Dabin had experience in shooting music videos. He was comfortable in front the camera and his acting was good as well. He seemed to trust Christian completely. He followed his instructions well and never questioned his direction. As you finished filming the last scene, one of the crew members suggested to go out for drinks to celebrate the past days of hard work. You liked the idea and encouraged your own team to join them, but you didn’t have that much interest in going yourself. You were tired from the lack of sleep and your legs were hurting from standing all day. You just wanted to go home, take a long hot bath and then go straight to bed. Despite your initial reluctance you somehow let Christian and Dabin talk you into joining them. Since you didn’t have to work tomorrow as it was a Sunday, you didn’t have much of an excuse not to go.

So, now here you were, at some bar in Hongdae chatting and playing drinking games which you obviously sucked at, knowing that this would end in a bad hangover the next day. Nonetheless you were having an awful lot of fun. You were almost sad that you would probably not see this team again after this evening since they were people Nike hired and employed. You had grown quite fond of them. 

Since there way way too many people in the team, you had to spread out to different tables. You sat with a few DPR members and the hair and makeup team. Christian, of course, got dragged to the models’ table and he seemed to be enjoying the attention he was getting there. You didn’t pay much attention to him. You were immersed in the conversations you were having, however occasionally, your eyes and his would meet. He held the gaze and every time his lips would curl up into a warm smile. You were always the first one to look away. You didn’t really like what you were seeing. It wasn’t jealousy, at least that’s what you believed. It was the way he was acting. He did his reputation full justice - the charming ladies’ man who could talk is way into anything he wanted. Right now he was behaving like someone who you would naturally avoid. You were judgmental when you first met him, yet he made you quickly let your guards down. However, seeing him like this, made you question him once again. Just what kind of person was he?

The conversation at your table had taken another direction and now the girls were talking about men they found attractive while the guys were trying to understand their taste, albeit not agreeing. 

“Objectively, Christian’s hella good looking fella,“ Scott then said when asked to give an example of whom he taught was good looking. All the girls at the table agreed in unison swooning over him, but you.

“You don’t think so?“ Dabin gently nudged your ribs teasingly. “You’d be the first.” “I mean, yeah he’s hot, but not the type of guy I personally would date,“ you shrugged your shoulders nonchalantly. “Why not?“ You heard Christian say. You quickly turned to the direction of his voice, your eyes widening in surprise. He was standing right next to you, his eyes staring down at you. He took a chair from another table and placed it down next to you, as he took a seat.

You didn’t get the chance to answer as the topic was changed again. But Christian wouldn’t let you off the hook so easily. “So…why not?“ He asked you again in a lowered voice, so only you could hear.

“You’re not really boyfriend material.“

“Why not?“ He insisted. 

“Well, you’re too popular with girls, I wouldn’t be able to trust you.“ “I’m not Kiseok.“ “I know, I-I just…“ you stuttered, not really knowing what you were even trying to say. “I mean you’re not even looking for something serious. You’re the fleeting type of guy.“ “So your opinion on me still hasn’t changed, huh?“ The tone in his voice sounded bitter.

“That’s not what I meant, Christian,” you quickly threw in, worried that you might have hurt his feelings.

“You’re an amazing friend. You’re sweet, attentive, a good listener. I just don’t see you settling down any time soon and I just don’t see myself starting a relationship with someone who’s not ready yet. Nothing against you... a-and this is just hypothetical anyway. It’s not like anything’s gonna happen, right?“

The expression on his face suddenly changed, a huge grin covering the lower half of his face. “I’m just playing with you,“ he broke out into a hearty laughter. “You don’t need to explain yourself.“

You rolled your eyes and punched his arm in retaliation. For a brief moment, you really thought you had hurt his feelings. 

~*~

Although you didn’t want to be here in the first place, you were one of the people who stayed the longest. The bar slowly emptied and there were only a few people left. Christian was one of them, but he was also about to head home. He bid goodbye to the team and then walked up to you.

“Want me to drop your off at home? You drank quite a bit.“

“I drank way too much,” you giggled. “But you did too, you can’t drive.”

“I drank one beer when we first got here and then I had soda.“

“Really?“ You furrowed your brows at him skeptically. You were under the impression that he had drunk a lot. There were so many empty bottles at the table he sat at. 

“I wouldn’t drive under the influence.” “If that’s the case, then yes,” you smiled at him from eye to eye.

~*~

Christian dropped you off in front of your house. You turned around to watch him leave, but it turned out he was still parking at the same spot. You waved at him and motioned him to roll down the window which he did.

“Why are you still here?” “I won’t leave until your ass passed that door,” he pointed to the entrance. “What? You think I’m gonna get abducted here? In this few seconds?”

“Just go,” he smiled.

You walked towards the door, one hand rummaging through your back in search for your keys. But they were not where they were supposed to be. 

“Shit,” you cursed as you kneeled down, placing your bag on the the concrete floor, using both of your hands to search for your keys. Knowing that Christian was still there and most likely watching you, made you even more nervous. Your desperation grew as you just couldn’t find them. That’s when you remember where you had put them. They were still on your desk in the office.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” You muttered under your breath. With a long sigh of defeat, you got up and walked to his car. Upon seeing you approaching, he rolled down his window again.

“I forgot my keys in the office,” you muttered under your breath, your cheeks turning a pinkish hue out of embarrassment. You bit down on your bottom lips, avoiding his gaze.

“Your office is like on the other side of the city,” Christian remarked drily.

”I know, I know. You don’t have to drive me, I’ll just take a cab.” ”Not an option,” he shook his head firmly. “Get in.”

Before he started the engine, he turned to you again as though a bright idea had just come to his mind.

“Wanna crash at my place?”

[kmp78]

Watch the new documentary Fake Famous, it exposes Valery’s sorry ass and the common liars like her. How they scam people by buying followers, likes, comments, fake fan accounts, bots to spread their bs, how they edit and manipulate on the internet, faking to lead a luxury lifestyle to create envy, Kiseleva Kaufman like all these lowlives also uses photoshop, filters, plastic surgery, fake cosmetic enhacements, and her biggest way to fool for gain is pretending about JL, pretending to be with him, pretending wearing his clothes, pretending to be his girlfriend, all fake, online bullshit. These fakers are on their way down their nasty trickery is becoming more and more mainstream.🤢

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https://twitter.com/HodaAndJenna/status/1357711789111316481?s=20

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https://collider.com/fake-famous-review-hbo-documentary/

”A documentary exploring how young people are desperate to be famous and will chase that fame on social media platforms seems ripe for a dark, bleak narrative, and yet director Nick Bilton didn’t really find that in his movie Fake Famous. A technology journalist making his feature debut, Bilton decided to explore what “fame” means in the age of social media, and why so many are coveting that fame when what qualifies as success can be easily manipulated through widely available tools. Through three protagonists, Bilton wryly shows the emptiness of a perfect Instagram life and perhaps provides a worthwhile lesson to wannabe influencers that the Internet fame game isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Bilton sets out to create a social experiment. He has a casting call where about 4,000 wannabe famous people show up (mostly people who are model/actors), and he whittles that down to three subjects. There’s Dominique Druckman, who’s an actress working in retail, fashion designer Chris Bailey who also works in retail, and Wylie Heiner, who doesn’t seem to have a personal career goal, but doesn’t really like this current job working as a personal assistant to a real estate developer. Bilton then sets to making each of them “fake famous”, first by buying followers and then by purchasing fake engagement from these bot armies. He also stages photo shoots to give followers (both real and fake) a look at a glamorous lifestyle. Bilton’s hypothesis is that these three people will obtain influencer status, which will in turn yield tangible results like free products and even expensive paid vacations.

My personal hypothesis was that this taste of fame, no matter how artificial, would turn these three regular people into total monsters, and to my great relief, that’s not what happened. Dominique, Chris, and Wylie are basically just people in the early 20s—they want to be famous because they’ve been told that fame is good, and now through their phones they’re getting a constant stream of influencers showing off a lavish lifestyle that’s the result of being “famous” through no accomplishment other than amassing follows, likes, and engagement. All three protagonists seem to be kind of in on the joke, but they also come to three different realizations about the social media economy.

For Bilton, his larger point is how artificial the whole structure is and that there are no incentives to create anything past the artifice. To provide an example of how bizarre this whole endeavor is, Bilton buys bots to increase follows and engagement to create the appearance that his subjects are real influencers. This leads to real rewards like companies wanting to use these influencers to sell their products. But a substantial portion of the followers are bots, and the software meant to call that out is apparently also fraudulent, so there’s no way for companies to know if these influencers are having a real impact in hocking products despite the exorbitant costs wooing these influencers. To put it another way, a company will spend thousands of dollars to ask Dominique to sell some fashion or jewelry, and Dominique will do it and it’s being sold to an audience primarily composed of bots. In some ways, it’s very Black Mirror, but in other ways it’s kind of silly where the real victims are the PR firms and companies so desperate to make a sale that they can’t even distinguish if their potential customers are real or fake anymore.

To Bilton’s credit, he also acknowledges that the influencer culture is not just one thing, and that while it may be built on dubious engagement, there are other times where activists have used the platform to try and effect change. Furthermore, why it’s sad that so many young people want to be famous, there’s a “same as it ever was” element to that desperation. An early chart shows that young people in previous decades wanted to grow up to be pro athletes, but I’m willing to be that a part of that desire was that pro athletes are famous and well paid, and now there’s a way to be famous and well paid without having to be athletic. Yes, there are obvious dead ends here where we have to reckon with self-obsession and the constant need to create a feeling of inadequacy in others to justify our own existence, but Fake Famous wisely sidesteps those questions of existential dread since it would only be a rabbit hole into total despair.

The trick of Fake Famous is that it isn’t trying to bum its audience out, but rather educate them on how there’s really no need to chase Internet fame because it’s simply is not real. While you may be able to squeeze some swag out of it, but to attempt life an influencer is full-time job and one that seems fairly unrewarding if you’re constantly having to promote the fruits of your labor. Hopefully, Fake Famous may serve as a wakeup call to younger viewers by showing that while social media can be fun, once you peek behind the curtain, fame is not only fleeting, but in the 21st century, it can be completely artificial.”

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https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/02/02/entertainment/fake-famous-review/

“(CNN)"Fake Famous” offers a novel window into the world of influencers, conducting an experiment to see if three young wannabes can be transformed into marketing dynamos. While their tales don’t unfold entirely as planned, the HBO documentary exposes how ripe for manipulation this whole culture is, and the powerful incentives to game the system.

Written, produced and directed by journalist Nick Bilton, “Fake Famous” charts the evolving currency surrounding fame, which once rewarded those renowned for a skill – think actors and athletes – before reality-TV stars became famous for being famous, and finally social-media “stars” celebrated “simply for a number” – that is, their collection of followers.

Bilton begins by interviewing candidates – mostly aspiring actors and models – choosing three to travel the road to fame. The tricks of the trade include buying followers (7,500 for the cool price of $119.60), renting a mansion to stage glamorous photo shoots and style makeovers in order to look like the cool kids.

If that all sounds a bit cynical, that’s really the whole point, given the fraud and fakery built into the “follower” model. Those totals regularly get padded by bots, Bilton explains, “making people appear more popular than they really are.”

As Bloomberg reporter Sarah Frier notes, the whole premise behind influencers hinges on “presenting a lifestyle that people want to mimic.” It’s a marketing approach built on envy, emphasizing perks associated with that to pitch products while allowing the “stars” to cash in on those relationships.

The way people bend that formula to their advantage is an inevitable byproduct of social media, where, as cultural critic Baratunde Thurston puts it, “We’re all making our own movies, and we’re trying to be the star.”

Influencers, however, can elevate those vaguely narcissistic impulses to a different level. Despite the often misleading nature of the images, Bilton points out that it’s in “no one’s best interest” – certainly not those reaping the benefits, including the companies involved – to acknowledge how much of that is manufactured and fabricated.

The main takeaways aren’t just the deception baked into the whole process, but the consumerism at its core – designed not to make people feel better, Bilton suggests, but rather to “make you feel worse” about what you don’t have.

Tellingly, the making of the film overlapped with the outbreak of coronavirus, which actually bolstered the influencer game, creating a ready audience of people with extra time at their fingertips to spent ogling the lives of others.

At a time when the inability to separate fact from fiction has become a dangerous problem for democracy, “Fake Famous” illustrates just how easily those lines are blurred – less for power, in this case, than for fun and profit.

“Fake Famous” premieres Feb. 2 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO"

***

Jeez, anon...

That was a looooong post! I´m sorry but I just lost track of what we we were meant to learn here...

I assume smthg about how fake VK is in which case... meh. Sorry but not interested.