#anti-haul

[beanshape]

The No Spent Year: Artist Edition

Presenting my no spending on art supplies year challenge.

So, I've realized that… maybe…. these last few years I’ve spent more time shopping for art supplies and courses than actually making art.

So, in May 2024, I have resolved not to buy any art supplies or Domestika courses this year. Not even to finish a project. Gasp.

The only exceptions are very basic things like running out of glue, scissors, or equipment needing replacement.

The Why: I have too many art supplies. I need to (really) declutter. I have not made much art for 2 years, and I want to learn who I am now as an artist, as opposed to the person I've transformed from in the last 14 years.

As I make more art, each piece will be valued (by me or my husband) from $1 to $20 in "credits," based on merit and context. These credits can be used to buy replacement art supplies once the year is over.

After that, I'm really not sure what's next. That's one of my fears: that I won't know what art supplies I truly need. Another fear is that the apocalypse would happen while I'm doing this challenge, and I won't have a store of art supplies. Seriously, that's one of the points in my mind I've used to justify the inordinate amount of art stuff I own.

Anywho, wish me luck. I hope this works.

[mellow-strain]

Romwe x Corpse Bride: A Critical & possibly hypocritical review.

This review will be fast fashion negative, while giving credit to artistic aesthetics. I own some of the items mentioned (some of which, I regret).

A summary of my opinion: most of it is crap.

This is kind of becoming a series, with my previous Hello Kitty and Friends x Forever 21 review

Disclaimer: I do not like Tim Burton. I like a lot of his media (The Corpse Bride, Wednesday, Frankenwinie, etc.) but I do not agree with his attitudes (most notably towards POC inclusion).

If any Shien apologists come my way I will simply block them. This post is not about "is it ok to order from Shien ever?" Or about the accessibility of fashion or anything like that. Maybe I'm a future post, but for now, go read someone else's opinion piece about it

Why did I order this stuff?

The answer is very simple: Nostalgia and scarcity mindset. I've loved the Corpse Bride ever since I was younger. I owned the DVD and watched it more times than I can count. Additionally, I doubt that there will ever be any other affordable clothing collaborations with the Corpse Bride, at least, not for another while. But please send me other Corpse Bride official and unofficial collaborations if you see any. I'll put a little 🌠 next to anything I bought. Note: I may not include everything I bought from the Collab just because I may not have the strongest opinions on that particular garment or my other arguments may better explain.

What did I like?

The general aesthetics. Motifs of the flowers, butterflies, swirls, skeletons, colour pallets. I liked it all! Was it well executed? No. A lot of the patterns weren't done justice (as seen in the review photos)

The stock images were STUNNING. Which is the point, but still credit where it's due.

It appealed to my nostalgia. I think it was lazy, but it certainly did warm my inner baby bat heart.

Onto specifics. This capette

This capette is fun! I love a good capette! There's obvious flaws like how randomly the little pictures are chosen and I feel the white and black is just a little too high contrast, maybe black and light blue would have worked better?

5. This Graphic T. 🌠

I love this design so much I bought one in the black colour way too. Do I stand by that decision? Not entirely. But as a long-term Corpse Bride fan I feel that I will appreciate them for a very very long term.

6. The Legwarmers 🌠

They did these legwarmers so dirty! As seen in the stock images, the ends are rolling up! I need to reinforce them with my own hidden ribbing and also gently steam them. You may also note that those butterflies are PRINTED ON and it's pretty bad IRL.

7. jeans (?)

But if you see a pair of boring jeans in a charity shop that fit well, why not bring them home and customise them with paint, bleach, trims, embroidery or patches? Remind me to write a post on DIY jean ideas. Anyway, could be fun to browse Shien and Pinterest and steal their ideas! Maybe invite some friends and have some snacks and make it 'a little get together'?

I'm stealing the print of these jeans. A reoccurring hot take of mine is that I hate that EVERYWHERE sells jeans. Go into any high street retailer and they have a WHOLE SELECTION of jeans. From skinny to bootcut to mom to boyfriend to ripped and in black, acid wash, proper denim, super light blue and sometimes white. it's all far too much (in my opinion).

The reason why I feature the "?" in the title is because I don't really see jeans as very Corpse Bride, seems more fairy grunge (I've discussed fairy grunge lightly in the past but I do hope to make a longer opinion post about it)

General dislikes

106 listings. Why SO many graphic t-shirts? I need to count the specifics because there's just too many. And I counted roughly 24 hoodies/sweatshirts (given, there could be duplicates of the plus size and straight sizes) but my point remains. Why is there 106 listings?

Excessive reuse of certain designs and many of the designs are really similar.

No collection of that many pieces could ever be of decent quality or with a lot of thought and the proof is in the pudding (the garments). It simply isn't. Typical Shien. Bare basics stitching, low quality materials, etc.

Polyester for undergarments. Cotton, bamboo and hemp are just far superior fabrics for underwear and socks! I can't imagine polyester is good for the health of external private areas.

Objectively these are cute, but I have recently truly understood how dangerous synthetic materials can be especially for private areas.

I will be referencing this print in my future customised clothing.

Future post idea: Cotton vs. Polyester

At some point in the future, I do intend on posting more information about cotton/natural fibers vs. polyester. Including resources that further discuss the oppression of the Uyghur Muslims, modern cotton slavery, the mistreatment of garment workers. Then also, the production and manufacturing process on various fibers and their quality. Additionally, a bit about micro plastics and our clothes.

Most of it will just be directly referencing and providing information from creators who are more knowledgeable on the topic with minimal opinions and input from me, though there will be a sequel post that includes my opinions and a reflection on how I navigate the topic.

If anyone has any links and resources on that topic let me know!

Thanks for reading!

[aleksanderscult]

Mal after seeing Alina for the first time in 2-3 months happy, healthy, strong: "oH mY gOd WhaT ArE YoU WeArInG?? YoU BeLoNG tO HiM NoW?? I CaN SeE YoU'Re HavInG a GoOd TIme hERe!!"😑😠

The Darkling after Alina ditched him twice, tried to kill him twice, the second time by using merzost and throwing a chapel on his face: "Here take this throne beside me, be my Tsarina. You were so hot that night.😩🔥 Also *takes out engagement ring* will you marry me?"🥺🖤❤️

[alurite-l]

It’s soooo easy for white people to make posts about shoplifting and encourage other people to do it. Do you know how many white girls have done “borrowing hauls” and how many people support them and see it as a quirky little hobby but will clutch their pearls at the thought of a suspicious black person? Do you really think that a white person who steals (for whatever reason) is gonna get treated the same way as a black or POC who steals?? Don’t be fucking stupid 💀🤦🏾

[laegolas]

hey real quick does Tommy want to date Buck or be Buck?

Because honestly this character has no strong connections, and no one he appears to reference or lean on. And the latest episode made it very clear that he's an outsider who wants to be part of the family that is the 118 - but he missed his chance because of who his captain was, his own actions, and I'm going to lump his attitude in there too.

Even the Eddie bestie-ism of it all - the man was clearly wooing (platonically or romantically, you choose) Eddie with all those trips and activities, and its implied that the connection between the two was pretty instantaneous.

It's very easy to imagine Buck becomming just like Tommy if he didn't have Bobby and the 118. Buck wants to give and give, but you can't keep giving without being fulfilled in return - you become exhausted and closed off and everything is held at arm's length.

[schizophrenic-klept-hoe-maniac]

Total: $2.2k

Haul from last month that didn’t upload for some reason

The fact that this amount of crap equals over $2k where I live is DISGUSTING.

.

[namraniiverse]

manifesting haul

aka things ive manifested.

i saw a post about someone saying that we should start doing this, but i can’t find the post anymore 😭

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗ weight loss of 10kg

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗ grade improvement in the span of one week

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗ 100% on a test i just did recently

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗ having people crush on me/having my crush like me back

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗ being close to shifting/ actually shifting to my drs

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗ having a glowup during the summer of last year

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗ clearing up my skin

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗ being friends with popular kids at my school

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗ looking like tomie kawakami

im sorry its such a short list 😭 but i mainly use subliminals, as well as my own affirmation methods and if anyone wants i can dm them my subliminal playlist!!

[revvethasmythh]

It is interesting, in retrospect, how during and immediately after their encounter with Delilah in episode 77, you can see it actively dawn on Imogen that Delilah is a 24/7 voyeur to everything that happens to/around Laudna, including her relationship with Laudna. Delilah taunts them by saying, "I'm always here" and Imogen whispers to herself, "Always," like this is the first time she's realized it and then immediately starts trying to plan a way, any way, to separate them, including saving the gods from Predathos specifically to call in a favor from one of them. It's such a numb, sudden, harrowing realization. It build perfectly to her admission of disgust when they were in the Fey Realm a couple episodes later

[pigeonxp]

the only sign he was alive that we got from oliver on s7 finale day being him liking a buddie post was all of the information i needed actually

[dumpster-divers-unite]

There is so much more waste out there then your brain can imagine.

That’s a fact. There is SO MUCH waste out there just in clothing alone. After it’s been ‘consumed’, we think to donate it to give it another life. When that happens to literally millions of items, the chance of what was formally your stuff getting that well deserved second chance is diminished significantly.

I’m going to give you guys a tiny behind the scenes on a warehouse I’ve partially toured yesterday for a job. It was at a goodwill location with a bin style layout for second hand consumers. The crowd of people there were of all ages and backgrounds. The moment one of the workers put a fresh bin out, they swarmed it to pick through it like a horde of zombies.

The warehouse portion of the store was as huge as your mind could think of in terms of ‘large spaces’ but bigger. I had to follow one of the associates to the offices to interview, and I slowed to look at the literal HUNDREDS of gaylords stacked in 2’s in the middle of the storage space. Every single gaylord was stuffed with clothing. If you don’t know, a Gaylord is a really big foldable cardboard box that bulk stuff like produce get shipped in. It didn’t even hit me that all of them were packed to the brim with clothing until I rounded one of the corners to see the other side of the gaylord wall, were I saw the clothing bales. Visually, it was an assault to the eyes; there was so much to see but you couldn’t just stop to gawk at it all. As I walked through, I couldn’t help but to think of how much that all must have costed first hand. How much is a normal long sleeve t shirt, $25+? Multiply it by 10,000+ in every color of the rainbow, every mix, every match, every style, and without repeating your outfits. In long sleeve shirts alone, that’s a staggering $250k. Jeans and denims are popular right now and are flooding first hand brands and trickling their way to thrifts/second hands. According to my fast research online, both men’s and women’s brand new store brand are selling for upwards of $156 on average. Ask yourself, “how many pairs of jeans do I see at my favorite thrift stores? How many racks of jeans are available second hand right now?” and see if you can come up with a number. Sense denim jeans are so common, I could reasonably use the same 10k number for the estimated amount of jeans that are in that warehouse right now and say with some level of confidence that there are at least $1,560,000 in new/like new garments hidden beneath the rest of the unwanted clothing. The numbers, on all sides, were staggering and sickening to think about. If people took the time and effort to do so, I promise you they could have stacked all of the items (both folded and unfolded) to the ceiling.

Backing away now from those dizzying numbers; coming out from the warehouse portion and back to the bins, I was near breathless. ‘Breathtaking in a queasy way’ is my best way of conveying my experience with facing, head on, how much people are consuming and discarding. I can say with absolute confidence and certainty that everything you’re seeing and reading online about the waste/pollution problem in the clothing world is true. This is one of those issues that you can only really display online to get your point across sadly, and that might take away some of the reality of the problem. The rampant message to consume more and more of the clothing that these big brand stores are offering at every opportunity they have is one issue in a sea of many, but we can start to solve it ourselves. The power to do so is in our own hands sense this is a social issue that we have to tackle together. This isn’t an issue that a government can give an answer or a set of answers for.

I encourage you to take the deep dive into your wardrobe when you have time to pick out what you’re wearing and not. Ask yourself, “What makes me wear this? What makes this shirt worth keeping? What element of this style of garment do I like, and why do I like it? Why am I keeping this if I haven’t thought about or touched this item in the past 6 months to a year?” And see what your answers are. Separate your worn from your unworn and see what can reasonably be recycled or repurposed at home before it goes to the thrift.

Be passionate about preventing waste. Maybe one day, we won’t have to worry about the mountains of clothing and items stuck in warehouses and in dumps. For now, take it slow.

[thechaoticreader]

10 More Booktok Books I Refuse To Read

Why am I doing this again? Well, I'm a bitch and feel like I've been rating books very highly lately so I need an outlet for the hater energy. Trying to keep the blog chaotic neutral!

*Disclaimer: If you like any of these books, slay! I'm happy for you! These are just my own consumer choices, and imo negative book reviews are just as helpful as positive ones!*

1. Twisted Love (& Series)

will HATE the love intrest

heard its a little incelly

too straight for my gay ass

as an Anna, I cannot condone this spelling so out of principle I will not read her books <3

2. The Fine Print (& Series)

Crusty billionaires aren't sexy

I repeat its too straight for my gay ass

I was born on December 5th which is the same day Walt Disney died and idk I just feel weird about it

eat the rich

I've had another one of Lauren Ashers books on my TBR for like a year and I keep putting off reading it (even tho its about F1 and Im obsessed with F1) so theres no hope of me reading and enjoying one about something I dont care about

3. A Little Life

I have enough mental illness without reading this book

I have enough queer trauma without reading this book

I'm not okay enough to read this book

Seriously though, this would be way too triggering for me and im chosing to prioritize my mental health over reading popular and critically acclaimed works (you all should too <3)

4. One Of Us Is Lying

I don't typically like Y/A thrillers

generally doesnt intrest me -> im getting tired of thrillers and have started leaning towards straight up horror

I HATE the cover

5. Inheritance Games

I've been burnt out of this genre/type of book since the 2000s-2010s dystopian craze

my housemate hated it and I trust his opinion

6. Lightlark

...do I really need to say anything

7. House In The Cerulean Sea

white author profiting off of indigenous trauma

mishandling of indigenous genocide (i.e the 60's scoop)

paints the residential school system as "not that bad"

I know the above books haven't been that serious but this one absolutely is and I will link information and resources in the comments. I put this one so low because I know if it was first people would just skip this whole post and potentially not look into the history of why this book is problematic.

8. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

theres too much hype and i don't want to be dissapointed

9. The Love Hypothesis

galaxy leggings

I wont be able to overlook the cringy millenial humor

it will transport me back to 2016 (in a bad way...see above)

im too gay for that (I can be convinced to read bride tho👀)

10. From Blood and Ash

I have no good reasons tbh

the cover triggers my fight or flight

im not a series girlie (gender neutral) -> duologies are on thin ice

[buckleysdee]

genuinely surprised tommy wasn't in the episode but not surprised by what it implies

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

on the one hand i'm like, i know there are some pretty obvious reasons Powerful Cosmic Big Good Beings(tm) in fiction tend to in fact be some of the worst bastards in a series, and my sentiment toward them ends up being I'm Going to Fucking Fight You Actually.

namely: they usually have enough power to do some absolutely horrific stuff--through action, inaction, or both--on a massive scale. like full-on 'pokemon villain you have to stop from causing the apocalypse at the climax of the game, because they've decided they have the right to make that call and have gotten their hands on the means to do it.' and often the call that the Big Good makes is portrayed as the right, justified, well-informed thing, which inevitably ends up revealing some pretty disturbing beliefs on the part of the creators.

often they mean well and just haven't thought it through, but a lot of people are operating on some real pokemon villain shit that they haven't questioned yet because it hasn't come up in a context extreme enough to follow to its logical conclusion. 'if you could press a button to kill every trauma survivor in the world to end their suffering, would you?' is not a situation most people will ever be in, and put in those terms they might realize how monstrous that would be and say no. but they might have the philosophy in the back of their head somewhere, influencing their beliefs and interactions with the world, that survivors would be better off dead than traumatized but alive, and that someone else could ever have the right to make that decision for them.

speaking of which. a major reason i have mixed feelings about the ending of sdmi is that the new 'happy' timeline is portrayed with a deep, creeping sense of loss and unease, which seems intentional; otherwise it would just be incredibly upsetting and i would straight up hate it with a passion. whereas i am REALLY bothered by the fact that the nova entity is treated as a kind, benevolent guiding force to lead the heroes where they need to go, and not the single most evil motherfucker in the show surpassed only by the nibiru entity.

she directly, intentionally orchestrated the genocide of an entire timeline, up to and including literally erasing them from existence. she manipulated a bunch of children into doing this without telling them what would happen. the gang are the sole survivors of the murder of every single person they ever knew, and they will have to live the rest of their lives knowing the nova entity used their hands to do it. the only real way she was 'better' than the nibiru entity here was that she decided to cleanse the world with fire so she could make some new people to be happy, instead of ending the possibility for happy people to exist ever again.

like. the nova entity would actually make a fantastic villain played as a foil to the nibiru entity. god damn.

eldritch cosmic Big Good characters are usually treated as some kind of, like, force of nature that arbitrates what the ideal world would look like, and maybe just needs some help from the heroes to make it happen. at worst, they're treated as being too eldritch and above the understanding of mortals, mutual or otherwise, to be held accountable for the decisions that they make. at worst in that case, the heroes are frustrated with them for not being much help, but then things just move along and that stops being considered a Relevant Issue to Address. maybe, maybe the results of those actions are treated as a bad thing, but the person actually responsible gets off squeaky clean.

the consequences of the noventity ending the world are unnerving and bittersweet at best, and the uncomfortable question is left in the air of whether the gang might have done things differently knowing this would be the outcome. the noventity herself is a benevolent hero who saved them all in the end.

and like. that's not how it works. if you're a person making decisions, you are a person making decisions. you are accountable for those decisions. there are a lot of really, really interesting stories to be told exploring the nature of that dynamic with '''higher''' beings who really are working on a different scale than us--with maybe a genuinely deeper understanding of a lot that's going on in the world, just from time, experience, and capacity to hold and process information--and still don't get to decide what's best for us.

i am both fascinated by the potential for stories like that and really frustrated by the way they're handled in fiction, and the way that plays out tends to treat them as Not Actually People and therefore Not Actually Characters, which means it's easy for them and the bullshit they do to blend into the narrative unless you deliberately stop and turn the spotlight on them. so i do.

on the other hand, it is really funny to me that in practice this means my response to Big Good Entity characters is consistently just

[maxverstappentv]

sainz to red bull would send me back to watching football at weekends instead of f1 btw

[rocket-man-major-tom]

I do think that Nyan would be very resistant to recieving help at first when Stray Ranger, Starshot, and Io initially find him. He's only just, by some miracle, managed to escape from Drive Knight, and his cruel experiments some days ago, and he's been an enemy to heroes for, presumably, a pretty long time now. I doubt he would be terribly thrilled to stumble across yet more heroes, and a hero-affiliated monster in his presently less than ideal physical state. Eventually, though, desparation prevails over fear and pride, and he reluctantly agrees to let the trio help him. He absolutely is planning on shredding them when an opportunity presents itself, however.

[filmcel]

some other cute things i saw but left behind ❤️