#anyway it's grown in popularity again because of Tiktok!

[not-poignant]

Out of curiosity, when did the, 'fanfic doesn't need to adhere to canon, everything is valid and good, don't give concrit unless specifically asked for' attitude become the norm? Genuine question.

I was active in fandom back in the LJ days, when sporkings and comms viciously mocking Mary Sues were the norm, but then I sort fell out of fandom spaces for the past (checks notes) fifteen years holy shit. The current attitude seems diametrically opposed to what I remember fandom being like (kinda shitty, it was 'cool' to be an asshole back then), and I'm just curious as to when and how the shift happened. I mean, I assume it was a gradual thing, but is there anything in particular that stick out to you?

(Also, because tone doesn't convey very well through ask, and I don't want to leave you with a poor impression-- this is by no means a defence of the 2000s attitudes, nor an aspersion on the current ones. I'm genuinely only curious about the evolution from one to the other; I hope that comes across.)

Hi anon!

TL;DR because my response got LONG -> Anon this existed before Livejournal as an attitude, in fact modern fandom was literally born out of being not canon compliant (*waves aggressively to Spirk shippers*) and this existed on Livejorunal too and there have always been big pockets of fandom that really frowned on sporking even there, like that was not cool when I was on LJ, unless you were a certain age, or in certain spaces in fandom.

But also AO3 was its kind of final death knell re: making it cool to bully 13-16 yo writers (who were largely the victims of sporking) and killing dreams, which was born out of meta happening on LJ and in other places about like... not trying to make people miserable for writing a free fic out of the love in their heart that someone else didn't like or think was good enough.

Anyway, the longer version of this under the read more!

(For everyone else, welcome to some of the uglier aspects of 00s fandom!)

So there was actually criticism around all the stuff you mention 15-20 years ago as well. I was also on Livejournal during that time and there was a pretty big proportion of people in certain fandoms who recognised even then that like... setting up communities to mock say, Mary Sue writers, was actually a pretty weirdly cruel thing to do to people who were providing free labour and the literal only 'payment' they could get in a kind of energy exchange was people just not being complete dickheads to them.

So things were already changing, especially in many LJ communities and awards communities. There were a lot of big debates over whether concrit should be asked for, and a growing movement of authors who said they welcomed constructive criticism for example, instead of assuming it should automatically apply. There was also a lot of meta around the function of fanfiction and whether it should even be 'good' by published standards if the author was just doing it for themselves, and for fun (esp if they were just going to get punished for it by folks who were elitist, judgemental, grammar purists etc.)

Things really changed around the time of AO3 (2009-2010 - literally around 14~ years ago, you may have just missed the big change anon!), Strikethrough and the Dreamwidth exodus. There was a massive swing away from leaving concrit unless the author specifically asked for it, and fandom became a lot more generally able to recognise that a lot of labour goes into fanart and fanfiction and that paying with public criticism is shitty actually. Also people were just more able to recognise that like most fanfiction writers aren't trying to become professional writers and many don't want to be.

(I would actually say things changed around the time of fanfiction.net too - rude comments there were definitely noticed and could create some pretty forward 'hey why are you doing this on something you literally don't have to read' responses from fellow readers - idk what fic sites you were on. The small indie fic sites where you could often only comment via email for example, definitely drew a lot more critical attention than sites that tended to have public comments).

The 'fanfic doesn't need to adhere to canon' literally exists since the very first Spirk slash fic in modern fanfiction in the last few decades. Literally, as soon as you write Kirk/Spock, you're not adhering to canon. Our fanfiction 'ancestors' literally paved the way for a legacy which is about not adhering to canon in order to see the world/s and thing/s you want to see, be entertained by, by turned on by, or enjoy, from the very beginning. You may not have been in slash circles anon, but the foundation of queer same sex fanfic is in many ways the foundation of fandom. But yeah, this is literally where fanfiction started! As soon as you're shipping characters that aren't canon for fun (or for whatever reason), you're making it pretty clear that you want stories different to canon, and you have to change things to often keep those characters in-character.

So yeah! That's been there for decades. Idk what circles you were in on that front! While it was fairly common for a while to criticise characters for being OOC (Out of Character), imho, a lot of folks started to recognise that they literally weren't paying for what they were criticising, and they could just walk away and potentially not like...blast the fanfic. Some folks started to recognise more that people were writing with ESL, or were teenagers (some 40 yos in fandom realised they were mocking literal 15 year olds in their proto-podcasts and websites and realised actually that's just...mean? Really mean? Not the way to nurture new generations of fanfiction writers. Definitely in no way encouraging), or were writing for themselves, or writing for like one other person, or writing for fun, or writing for free, or writing for personal reasons etc.

'Don't Like Don't Read' wasn't just about political stuff, it was also about just walking away if you feel the urge to slam a fanfic in the comments.

I've been in fandom for around 2.5 decades anon, and there were so many spaces that were not actually as shitty or mean-spirited as the ones you were in? Or ones that at least had a lot of different thoughts etc. Like, sporking (mocking/bullying badfics and sometimes the folks who wrote them) was disapproved of by a lot of people in fandom even while sporking was at the height of its popularity (the Fanlore page goes into more detail about this). It might have just been the fandoms you were in, or the people you were hanging out with (and that might have been dependent on your age or just if you were around people who wanted to be 'cool' back then - in the same way that being an 'anti' is cool among certain crowds today. It's possible to spend years in certain crowds and never get an image of broader fandom for example - we can all end up in spaces like that! I know I have.)

When I started writing fanfiction (which no one will EVER find lmao), generally giving positive comments was normal. Constructive criticism was actually pretty rare and there were already fanfiction aggregate sites that generally disapproved of it in their Rules of Conduct. People were encouraging and polite. And this was around 20 years ago on Livejournal and private indie fanfiction websites.

I would actually say there was never exactly an evolution from 'one to the other' because like thousands of people in fandom already believed this and argued in defense of supporting fanfiction and transformative works via accepting that people are labouring for free and that not everyone wants to become a 'better writer' etc. - the meta was there on Livejournal in the 00s. There were communities where sporking was seen as hip/fun, and communities where it was literally banned or at the very least, super frowned upon.

There were meta fandom communities where sporking was the subject of discussion and you know eventually in a lot of those meta communities, that's where a lot of folks decided actually that calling out the fanfiction of 16 yos as 'cringe' or 'badly done' maybe said more about us as human beings and what we wanted fandom to be, than it did about the actual fanfic itself. By the time AO3 came around, people built it with this in mind.

To this day on AO3 it's mostly considered appropriate to say you want concrit in your author's notes, and to otherwise assume as a reader it's never welcome if it's unsolicited. That started during the LJ era. And it was talked about at great length. There's obviously going to be people who disagree! But for the most part I'm a big believer in compassion and 'not everyone is here for the same reason' and 'they literally gave this to us for free and it's meant to be fun' (like yourself! What we do/think/argue 10 years ago on LJ is sometimes different to what we do 10 years later lol, I used to be against trigger warnings pre-AO3! Times change a lot :D )

So yeah, this was definitely something that was around before you and I came to fandom, and it was something that continued to grow as an attitude during, until finally it kind of won out on AO3. But yeah fandom as we know it was born in people literally not being canon compliant to make some gay dreams come true (Spirk shippers bless them all), at a time when there was no representation.

Even in the earliest days of fandom where comments could only happen via email, one of the earliest phrases authors used were things like 'flames will be used to roast marshmallows.' For those reading who don't know, flames are hate comments, critical 'this fic is bad because' comments etc. Except you emailed them directly to the author, because there was no place for comments on a fic.

And this started because authors in part got death threats for writing gay stuff.

So you know, from the very beginning, authors in fanfic have by and large had a very low tolerance for criticism / hate over something they're doing for free and making no profit out of, when they're changing/altering the canon as they please to create representation (or hotness lmao), that is literally a labour of love in a world of very little representation. From there, things have just grown. The whole 'flames will not be tolerated' existed even before Livejournal did.

Honestly there are still people who love sporking and you could probably find groups and Discords dedicated to that even now (actually you literally can, there's a Dreamwidth group for it), it's kind of wild but it started to get cool again. Just like 90s clothing :D (Which is also wild because I can just take that crap out of my closet and wear it again).

But yeah it also sounds like you may have been in some pretty crappy pockets of fandom! When I was on LJ in the 00s I avoided those places and still got to experience fandom across multiple fandoms (mostly NCIS, Captive Prince, HP, Profiler, The X-Files and some others) and communities.

I was super active in some fandom communities and saw a lot of meta happening, and my view during the early and late 00s was that sporking was largely pretty frowned upon after a very brief (like 3-6 month) era where it was cool for only some folks, and then everyone (including some - but not all - of those folks) was like 'heyyyyyyy hang on a minute.' It was something that the bullies did, and enjoyed, and otherwise folks kind of stayed away from it, especially once they learned people were becoming too scared to write fics, which is the inevitable outcome of mocking/bullying folks and fics that have been made purely out of love for something.

Like, publicly making a spectacle out of what a 13 yo (they were often teens - and it's kind of sad how many 40 yo women were doing the sporking :/ ) wrote out of love, just for fun/clout was not considered cool by everyone even back then, because like, a lot of us saw that as killing new generations of fandom (some folks who sporked considered it a win if a fic or account got deleted, this is not based behaviour), not actually creating good writing, internalised misogyny (Mary Sue hatred and self insert hatred), etc. It's hard to explain because I do really think we were in different corners of fandom at the time, but I don't know anyone personally from my time on Livejournal who actually liked sporking as an idea or enjoyed it or enjoyed listening to it or reading articles mocking fic.

I knew about it from very lively 'is this okay' 'actually no it's not even if it's just for fun this is trying to hurt people and saying 'it's just the fic' is not going to be the bandaid a teenager needs to understand why older folks (generally) in fandom are mocking them for being new at a skill' discussions on LJ in meta fandom communities. So this is how much I could be in fandom and not be a part of it and also have like a wildly different experience to your LJ experience!

I think if I'd been a teenager during that era it would have seemed a lot more appealing (in the same way that many teens are antis now before they grow out of it), and fuck it if I was a more bitter person who was just around people who liked to make fun of what other people created, perhaps I would have enjoyed it too, I can see a lot of reasons why a person would fall into that in LJ -> but I was an adult on LJ trying not to be mean to people or what they were creating, so yeah I was maybe just in very different spaces! (Don't get me wrong, I have my giant fucking character flaws, but I was very scared of people hating me so like I didn't want to do things that would make that happen, lol, and also I was scared to put up fic myself during the era of active sporking. I know for myself that sporkers didn't just scare away writers of 'badfic' - they...intimidated a LOT of people).

Before AO3 I was on FF.net, posting fics on LJ, posting on Schnoogle, gossamer, and a couple of other archives. So I don't think my experience was that 'narrow,' I just think I wasn't around like... anime at that time or other places where it might have been happening. I also avoided like...Draco/Malfoy where CC drama was happening and I know sporking was popular in that specific arena / pairing for a while as well (er, as well as anything to do with Mary Sues).

So yeah! That's about where that is. Generally gatekeeping fandom is just seen as not a great thing to do to people, and that creates other kind of beliefs that are generally upheld as being more inviting/nurturing. After all, if someone truly wants to get better at writing, they can ask, or do courses, but as we all know, everyone has to write some bad stuff to get good at it, but not everyone wants to be good. Folks are in fandom for different reasons. I'm rambling now so I'm going to finish my lunch! :D

[seireitonin]

Yall do realize Nina and Toby are both adults right?? Like? You realize that right? That’s not a hc or opinion. I’m just saying this to make sure everyone understands that I and my mutuals in this fandom would never “age up” a minor to put them w an adult. That shits revolting. I even did my research before getting into this ship to make 100% sure! As an adult in this fandom I want to be responsible with my platform and I would never encourage or support a minor being with an adult even if it’s fiction. I’ve always been against that and always will be. I’m not sure if I popularized it or not, but this ship wasn’t my idea! I saw artists on here shipping them like creek-ink and I thought it was so cute and Nina and Toby actually have more in common than I thought! So my brain did the rest! Anyway evidence/ research under the cut! Just so we’re all on the same page!

Here’s Nina’s creator herself saying she ships/ shipped/ was okay with Nina being shipped with Eyeless Jack. EJ was an adult man in college. (And also she says Nina was never in love w Jeff and I just think it’s funny that the fandom thinks that. The fandom is so silly I luv us.) But anyway the most popular EJ story is him in college and occult stuff and blah blah. And EJ has always been drawn/presented as an adult man because of that. So if Nina’s creator herself shipped him w Nina then it makes sense that they’re both grown ups.

Unless I’m misunderstanding she’s saying Nina has no cannon age and she can be written as an adult or teenager! Not strictly teen! And the creator herself draws Nina new and old as an adult.

Unless I’m misunderstanding again(English isn’t her first language and this was translated!!) here’s Nina’s creator saying not only does she ship OG Nina and EJ together but she gave them a kid together named Eyeless Alice. Or she’s saying she’s cool with it. And if Nina and EJ have a kid together then they both have to be adults. I don’t think Nina’s creator would let a 17 year old be with a 20 year old. That would be so nasty. Even if we’re going off her and Jeff they would both have to be adults too.

This confirmed Nina is an adult for me. Revamped Nina is an adult and if she’s saying they’re both the same age then OG Nina is an adult too! Unless I’m misunderstanding again but I don’t think I am.

Anyway TLDR Nina’s creator herself has literally put Nina with Jeff and EJ who are both adult characters. Ppl who wanna say Jeff is 13 and still put him with a 17 year old Nina…that’s still bad. So I thought it would be obvious that they’re both adults who grow up. Forgive me if I’m misunderstanding some things. (Again might be shit translations!) but one thing for sure is that she herself ships EJ and Nina. And I don’t think she would do something gross like put a minor with an adult. (Especially if she gave them a kid together/ is okay with them having a fan made kid together) She seems really sweet! So yeah Nina is an adult canon :3 Toby too but I don’t have to explain that.

Also just looking through Nina’s info has been so fun and cool!! Another thing Nina and Toby have in common is they both hallucinate their dead siblings. Morbid. I’m gonna do an in depth video on my TikTok bc this info is so interesting! Nina is much more interesting than I originally thought!!!

[koukouture]

No because some of ya’lls Azems make me INSANE bc so many people choose names of Greek Mythology figures and just thinking of the way Azem’s story played out vs the symbolism of those names can tell me a lot about your Azem and it’s so spicy-

Obviously Persephone is a pretty popular one because of Emet Selch being Hades. The goddess of spring and the king of the underworld- the traveler that helps the living and the man who oversees the dead. It’s soooo yummy too because of Persephone not being around 100% of the time which is so perfect for the way Azem left and how WoL in their reincarnation to whom Hades/Emet Selch is a complete stranger yet again. “It’s time for spring” but spring and rebirth only come for Azem. Anyways I think Emet Selch should watch Hadestown

Another one I saw was Apollo which is more straightforward bc Azem is the sun. Nothing much I just love that a lot. Bonus points if as WoL they’re a bard.

I also saw Icarus which makes me INSANE. Oh my god. Icarus who flew to close to the sun but therein lies the paradox that Azem IS the sun. Maybe they’re self destructive, prideful, or they were ultimately their own undoing. Yeah I just have thoughts.

On TikTok I saw Hercules as well which is also very cool because Hercules is obviously a “hero” and you know, WoL is the hero of the main story so it’s just really nice. Like depending on who you are your WoL and Azem can be completely different or exactly the same or somewhere in between- but the fact still remains that Azem’s adventurous and helpful disposition are things that WoL inherited.

Now, personally, I didn’t choose a Greek mythology name for my Azem. I know most of the Ancients are Greek names but not me because I need to be quirky✨ Kinda jk but her name is Lucifer just bc I cannot think of a myth that suits her or her personality/theme. I mean, even then Lucifer doesn’t 100% suit her thematically but I’ve grown too attached to the name and already built a lot of her character around the title of Morningstar. Bc to me the Morningstar is a brilliant star- so brilliant that it’s a false sun and uh yeah you can probably guess what she’s about just by that word “false”

Okie I done rambling I go eep now

[apostateoverrubies]

Hot take but people who are happy about TikTok getting banned are just like the parents from back in the day who'd blame shit like DnD, Video Games and whatever because instead of actually trying find and deal with whatever is causing problems with society, they'd rather blame something that either isn't the problem or is just a reflection of it. Besides, it's much easier than taking accountability for our own shortcomings as a society.

Banning TikTok isn't going to fix any of the societal problems it supposedly caused because there are already sites/apps like it.

TikTok spies on people and has their personal information?

Yeah but so are plenty of other sites in general. Google is so blatant about it that they're fighting against adblock even though people have every right to own one.

TikTok exploits children and exposes them to inappropriate content?

So do platforms like YouTube, Instagram, or any other platform that allows video sharing of any kind. YouTube has been doing it for a long time, but I guess since it's based in the US, it doesn't need to get banned.

TikTok is leading to people having shorter attention spans?

Do I need to repeat myself? Other platforms are guilty of this. Hell, we used to have Vine which has shorter content than TikTok but there wasn't this much backlash. Also, I find it hard to believe when long form content like video essays have been getting popular and streaming platforms allow you to binge entire series. Maybe you just fail to catch people's attention.

What doesn't help is that when people bring up this in terms of children, they fail to realize that the reason why they don't pay attention because a lot of curriculums aren't made with what the child needs in mind, especially in regards to disabled children who need special accommodations to thrive in schools.

I see way too many curricula that are too advanced for what grade the students are in, and grown-ups actually expect them to not get overwhelmed?

Let's face it, they don't give a shit about society, especially children. The fact that you guys trusted these mfs with this ban and what they claim shows how they benefit from your blind rage and hatred from a platform.

I hate TikTok too. Never had the app. But I also knew that banning it isn’t going to solve anything since, once again, all the problems we have with it are problems we have with other platforms.

What also rubs me the wrong way is that TikTok may get unbanned anyway if the platform is sold.

How about instead of banning foreign platforms that are just doing what US based ones already have been doing for a while, we hold all of them to a standard instead of giving government too much power to ban them under the guise of helping society?

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2022: #25 - #21

25. ARMENIA

Rosa Linn - “Snap”

20th place

Overall placement: 50/79

[Above The Black Mamba, below James Newman]

Ugh, Fine. 

Time to finish this ranking turbo style! So yeah, I’m not impressed with The Biggest Eurovision Hit, which I suppose is a controversial opinion? Then again, if Rosa was so good, then why did she only make it 20th place, hmmm? 🤔🤔

When Rosa’s song leaked it sounded exactly like the type of song you’d expect  DMGP to commit murder for: a frivolous, cheery pop welterweight (which somehow has the same cadence as I’m Alive by Elhaida Dani) thats easy to listen to and doesn’t get in the way of stanning better things. 

At Eurovision, this was Rosa’s exact journey. She was a cute presence that was vaguely liked, and her staging supported this. (despite the staging mishaps, still pretty neat!) Don’t know what all the references in the lyrics are about, but we can pretend it added some depth and meaning, Into 20th place she went, which was a fair result for what her lovable random self brought to the table. 

Then, she went viral on TikTok, which honestly is more of an  “eww” than a “good on her” i m o. Okay, look, it defo does not surprise me that out of the entire 2022 catalogue this song became the viral one. TikTok viralness is a horrible metric for musical quality though. “Snap” works as a TikTok song specifcally because it doesn’t syphon attention away from whatever brainfart nonsense TikTokkers force on their feeds for a living. If you want a backing track to your “Make mac ‘n’ cheese by dumping the ingredients on a marble countertop” silliness or your indie song-singing 101 Tutorial, might as well pick something like a Snap as the accompanying backing track.

Also, I always felt the record label behind Rosa Linn was a bit too eager to get A Big Kicker on their conto. Remember when Rosa -likely on urging from her mentor Tamar Karpelian- attempted to start a respectful discussion on Twitter (oh dear) about how wonderful NFTs were (oh dear) because they helped establish a base income for fledgling artists,like herself (oh dearrrr) without having to rely on her songs getting streams? (oh dearrrrrrrrr)Twitter gave their usual gaslighting-disguised-as-concern response which in turn forced Rosa issue a semi-confused, half-arsed apology for attempting to profit from her work. Okay that was kinda funny, but by Monika Liu’s  grown-out bob, Zoomer drama is the nuttiest drama, I swear.

Anyway, the aforementioned NFT shizzle, the association with Tamar’s Slytherin Evil, the TikTok viralness and the radio people’s sudden insistence that “Snap” was A Hidden Underrated Gem despite it being an inconspicuous 20th placer at Eurivision THAT NOBODY CARED ABOUT, and also the fact that Snap has five different versions (HER?!) all kinda hints at a certain ambition that just... taints it a bit for me. It just feels like Snap’s popularity didn’t develop itself naturally and but came about due to largely commercial and monetary reasons, after which the sheeple convinced themselves retroactively that it was secretly great and very underrated, since you know, influencers would never twist the truth to us for their own profit. 

Overall the song’s fine in a vaccuum. Underneath its base sheer lie values that my crusty millennial monroe ass doesn’t share. FARE THEE WELL, MISS LINN, YOU GO BYE NOW!!!

 -----------------------

24. CROATIA

Mia Dimsic - “Guilty pleasure”

26th place

 Decade placement: 47/79

[above The Roop, below Tusse]

Oh look, another vaguely pleasant, mildly likabable, and ultimately not very exciting middle-of-the-road pop melody. The cynic in you might think I’m ranking Mia ahead of Rosa because Mia didn’t go viral, and like always the cynic in you is correct! Hooray! 😁 Yeah sorry, in the ongoing battle of overrated vs underrated, it’s the correctly rated that always win :-) 

Still, like Rosa, Mia had the potential to be green on my ranking if she had cultivated a status as a fun random. TSwift IS a guilty pleasure of mine (except for her Midnights Era self which is unironically great) and while “Willow” is a part of the least exciting wing in Taylor’s musical library (ie: the part that isn’t crazed out through copium and/or severe neurosis), this bootlegged version was just cute enough to charm me.

Now of course, if your song is all about maintaining a certain level of delicate joie-de-vivre, it’s really important to not overdo the act and let the singer’s personal charisma carry it. Cue to the staging which looked like this:

What.

The.

Everlovin’.

Fuck?

There’s good staging and there is whatever the flyin’ fuck that was. Goodbye cutesie lounge vibe, goodbye charming performer, you’re completely overtaken by this overly choreographed, overtly dramatic and abrasive act that your song didn’t need. ONE dancer, NO acrobatics, how difficult is that to grasp, HRT? I’d be tempted to say the act was a cursed decision, but then realize Croatia’s frantic dance gremlins were probably the tipping point that allowed ~Systur~ into the finals, and any Eurovision final graced by those three earth angels has to count as a blessing. So thank you Mia for blessing us. ^_^ 

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

23. GERMANY

Malik Harris - “Rockstars”

25th place

Decade ranking: 45/79

[Above Tusse, below Undisclosed]

It is very common knowledge that nobody likes Rockstars, and fine, I don’t! As insipid as “Rockstars” was though, I don’t think it was completely without redeeming qualities.Malik had a baseline charm and really went for it, I guess. 

The German Selection, which had adopted the very... um... optimistic name “Germany, 12 points” for the occasion, (optimistic even if we believe the conspiracy theory the “12 points” alluded to the total numerical amount ARD were aiming for in Turin <3) was one of the worst in a horrible NF season. I was fucking relieved it produced a winner I could (sadly no more than) vaguely enjoy. Not everyone has the panache of getting distracted by their own soap bubble bonanza. 

Also, the SPOKEN WORD RAP BREAK was exactly what my brain and soul -both high on copium after the Alina Pash withdrawal- needed at the time. It didn’t blow me away or anything, but it at least gave me something tangible to cling onto besides “well this is nice, i guess”. 

For the rest though, ::tumbleweeds::. I think people might have been a bit too bandwagon-y in their Malik Mockery cus like, yeah he’s clearly getting last, don’t make it worse? But then again... he brought very little to the table. Besides the spoken word it’s like... cursive singing (petition to rename this to “Cursed Singing”) and instruments displayed on moth-eaten rugs to get points, you know? It’s like Germany were deliberately telegraphing us to NOT vote for them, again. But that’s less on Malik and more on ARD’s incompetence, which is a discussion for another time. 

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

22. NORTH MACEDONIA

Andrea - “Circles”

27th place

Decade ranking: 44/79

[Above Malik, below Hurricane]

WE FINALLY MADE IT TO GREEN!!! Sadly we’re still in the No Man’s Land of VagueOpinionstan. 😣 

There is *something* about Andrea and “Circles” that resonates well with me? Is it the perfectly mimed frustration with a poorly communicating love interest? Is it the palpable resignation on her face as she helplessly bleats “u don’t wanna test my limits -_-”.

Maybe! What I do know is that I stan the critical amount of pure Sadsack Energy Andrea exhudes from every pore. 😍😍 I think she’s a contender for the most morose, Eeyore-ish person to ever set a foot on a Eurovision stage? Reminder that this person won a selection  <33333 Andrea posseses a sort of theoretical anti-charisma that should render her unvoteable, and yet in practice just has me cling to every word crossing her lips. ALL SHE WANTS IS A HEALTHY CONVERSATION SO SHE CAN GET IT RIGHT AND FIX THE SITUATION, YOU GHOULS!!!

(and yes, the other Bubble favourite of floordrop sorcery making an appearance <3)

But then on top of that, Andrea also became A Highly Controversial Pick for NoMac!!!! Strangely not because she was an out-and-proud lesbian (although, an out-and-proud lesbian representing a toxic homophobe country from the Balkans <3333333) but because..... she dropped a wee plastic flag during the turquoise carpet. 

The toxic nationalists took it as HER DELIBERATELY TRAMPLING OUR MACEDONIAN PRIDE AFTER YEARS OF GREEK BULLYING. MRT even issued an official statement that they were CONSIDERING A WITHDRAWAL (with zero intention to actually quit of course) to appease the smooth-brained cunts until the quiet and expected NQ arrived. <3333333333

(knowing her misery was finally over, Andrea cracked a smile for the first time in her life <3)

This only enhanced Andrea’s Charlie Brown”-esque journey even more!! Just when Andrea looked like the token hapless last placer nobody loved, the results came in, and showed she *almost* made the final.  😍😍😍😍😍😍. If there’s one thing that horrible second semifinal should have done right and didn’t, is causing a NoMac qualification by means of fixed jury voting algorithms. Simply imagine the meltdowns over Andrea slaying Andromache AND Nadir. 😍 If only the EBU had the balls to NQ Azer on the spot, huh? Oh well, there’s always 2023 for that. 😈

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

21. UKRAINE

Kalush Orchestra - “Stefania”

1st place

Decade ranking: 41/79

[Above Fyr og Flamme, below Eden Alene]

ugh i forgot he yelled Mariupol and Azofstal at the end of that and wasn’t DQ’d on the spot! Instantly regretting I didn’t rank Ukraine even LOWER. 😫😫😫 (no, don’t think about how much better Stefania would be without him, don’t do it Bobo, consider your mental health -- inner monologue while writing the rest of this post.)

So yeah, after all this inconspicuous also-ran filler (i’m definitely including Snap in that group), I’m eliminating the winner, the biggest televote winner Eurovision have ever had. “Have you no respect, Boris?”, you might ask and well... would I be me, if I had any, lol? I came into the 2022 season with hot takes and mental fortitude and thanks to Shitvidi I’m all out of fortitude, so~

Cynicism and self-awareness aside, let’s get the big elephant out of the room: The war had virtually no impact on my ranking here. I despise politics at Eurovision, (mostly because politics always affect it, but Eurovision NEVER affects the politics back), so there are two options here: Either downvote Ukraine for bringing politics into the contest, or make an exception and turn a blind eye. I chose option two. Nobody can begrudge Ukraine for attempting to pretend that the worst armed conflict to have hit them since WW2 hadn’t broken them, so I won’t. No points added or deducted.  . 

I do have good reasons to not rank Stefania higher though. I think you already know where this is headed - Sorry (for YOU) if you’re a fan of his, but Oleh suuuuuucks. It started at Vidbir when he led a small mob against that poor envelope lady and it was all sorts of messed up? Entitlement and bullying tinged with toxic nationalism, there ain’t no better first impression to make, am i right?

And very unfortunately my distaste towards Oleh also extends to his on-stage presence which I find really fucking obnoxious. The concept of a “Charismatic Black Hole” was one I didn’t fully understand until I first saw Oleh Psiuk set a foot on stage. Does anyone TRULY like  his presence here? All his verses do is distract from the chorus and instrumental, which is awful because those bits fucking slap! Airlift him and his ugly-ass hat the fuck outta here. 

Okay, so the winning song is actually... pretty good. It is NOT great though. Stefania is a weaker, safer and more cis-het version of “Shum”, which is suboptimal. Counterpoint is that “Shum” was Peak Ukraine (Which is also Peak Eurovision), and remains one of the best entries ever, so a lesser replication of that is still enjoyable overall. It made Ihor Didenchuk (who is also in Go_A) a Eurovision laureate! It kinda sucks the fandom didn’t come through at a time when Ukraine had, you know, an actually charismatic lead, but I suppose the power of love Damiano-induced boners does conquer all.

On the flip side, Ihor’s and Tymofii’s contributions are so good that they almost fully balance Oleh’s deteriorative and hammy rapping. Tymofii carries Stefania with his spot-on chanting and preposterous flute playback shenanigans. 

Ihor meanwhile just has a good time on the stage, disguised as one of the two Cousin It-like entities <3 Add in some tasteful staging and hell, even the fact that this song is in essence an ode to someone’s (You Know Who’s) actual mom, (and not  the forced, cringe, jingoistic metaphor it later became) and you have an entry that definitely makes sense as a jury fourth placer and top fiver overall.

Now obviously, I would have preferred for Ukraine to not win because they were not the best option (not by a mile!), and ofc also because I hate their lead, but I’m not fully broken up that they beat my faves. Sometimes there are powers at work beyond our control and that’s fine. Not everything in life must be catered to our tastes. Ukraine are the best Eurovision country, and it doesn’t matter how or when they catch up to (and pass) Ireland and Sweden, as long as it happens during my lifespan. 🤷‍♀️

Still think Pinkbucket’s a thuggish little punk though. Prayer circle that the next time Ukraine win, it’s with someone actually worth stanning. 🙂

CONGRATULATIONS TOP 20!!!

ALBANIA - AUSTRIA - CZECH REP - ESTONIA - FRANCE -

GEORGIA - ICELAND - IRELAND - LITHUANIA - MALTA -

MOLDOVA - THE NETHERLANDS - PORTUGAL - ROMANIA - SAN MARINO -

SERBIA - SLOVENIA - SPAIN  - SWEDEN - UK

THE RANKING 

21. UKRAINE - Kalush Orchestra - “Stefania”

22. NORTH MACEDONIA - Andrea - “Circles”

23. GERMANY - Malik Harris - “Rockstars”

24. CROATIA - Mia Dimšić - “Guilty pleasure”

25. ARMENIA - Rosa Linn - “Snap”

26. CYPRUS - Andromache - “Ela”

27. LATVIA - Citi Zeni - “Eat your salad”

28. DENMARK - ReDDI - “The show”

29. BULGARIA - Intelligent Music Project - “Intention”

30. GREECE - Amanda Tenjford - “Die together”

31. POLAND - Ochman - “River”

32. MONTENEGRO - Vladana - “Breathe”

33. FINLAND - The Rasmus - "Jezebel"

34. BELGIUM - Jérémie Makiese - “Miss you”

35. NORWAY - Subwoolfer - “Give that wolf a banana”

36. AUSTRALIA - Sheldon Riley - “Not the same”

37. SWITZERLAND - Marius Bear - “Boys do cry”

38. AZERBAIJAN - Nadir Rustamli - “Fade to black”

39. ITALY - Mahmood & Blanco - “Brividi”

40. ISRAEL - Michael Ben David - “I.M”

[siriusly-sapphic]

For the ship asks: what is the most underrated and overtated ships in your opinion? <3

Shipping asks!

Most underrated ship: At the moment I wanna say Parvati/Luna and Dorcas/Narcissa simply because I am in a mood for them and no one else seems to be. But seeing as those are also completely random characters to pair up, I can see why. In general, I'm gonna go with the 'popular' femslash ships? Even for just dorlene, which is definitely one of the more like established sapphic ships here, it's so hard finding it in content where it's not the sideship to wolfstar or jegulus. (Like legit if you go to the Marlene/Dorcas tag on AO3, M/M is still the most popular category and something about that just kinda annoys me sometimes lol)

There are obviously a lot of different reasons why that's the case, I'm not mad at anyone or anything, but it's a little disappointing when I just want the girls to fall in love sometimes. In that trend though, I will stick to my initial Dorcas/Narcissa and Parvati/Luna because those are girls that deserve some love.

Most overrated ship: Not to stir anything, I mean no hate to any shippers bc y'all look like you're having a blast and I'm very happy for you, but I'm so very glad for tumblr making it easy to mute jegulus posts. I don't get the appeal, I can't imagine it's something James would ever do except for very specific AUs, I just don't like it and it's grown SO much recently (especially on tiktok where filtering content is so frustratingly difficult lol). They've become one of the seemingly 'established' ship in half the headcanons I see even for other characters, and personally I'm just never a huge fan of it when that happens to any ship (simply because what I love most about the marauders era is that none of it is established) but with drarry and wolfstar, at least I like the ships you know. I just don't like jegulus and it's so prominent right now. But again, obviously, y'all seem to be having great fun and this is what they made muted tags and dldr for lmao, I'm not hating on anyone. (God knows I have no right left to judge anyway).

(I will say, I see Crimson Rivers excerpts sometimes when I looked for sirius and narcissa content on twitter, and one of the recent (I think recent) scenes made me cry without even reading the fic, so I very much get why good fics like that bring people in lmao)

[tvknight888]

Various shifting controversies

As someone whose been in the shifting community for over a year now I've come across many issues with the shifting community on tiktok. With all the hype around shiftblr I come over here and see the same disgusting, vile, and downright criminal actions that shifters are scripting and choosing to commit in their DR. Because no one can technically stop them and there on some power high from the limitless possibilities shifting has, they choose to partake in such behaviors. Starting off with shifters scripting them committing grape or someone close to them receives or does the action. I understand u can't control everyone's actions in an entire reality but as individuals we have the responsibility to control our own and some ability to limit what people we call friends do or experience. Or even seeing popular shifters giving vile ass excuses as what someone does in their reality shouldn't concern you. If you know it is cruel and horrific to do that In general why would you even consider indulging in those actions, or choosing to partake in a reality where that is accepted. Or even some shifters dead ass believing there might be some good or beneficial reason to do that. As someone who has dealt with this myself, y'all using shifting as this escape to become literal monsters shouldn't be applauded. And then people get mad and call you a control freak for telling someone not to grape someone or be mislead and believe doing that in your DR might have a "good reason". Another mass issue in the shifting space is shifters age changing to be with minors. When your in that other reality I'm aware of your experiences, mentality, hell even parts of you have become your DR self, which becomes apart of who you are. But some of ya'll forget we also take our memories, and experiences from our OR. How we've grown and changes as a spirit and still look into that child's face with all of our overall experience and knowledge as one and choose to partake in that. That child has no real idea what you are hiding, nor is a child in the right mindset and maturity to make the proper decision to consent to you. Children aren't mature enough to understand things. Some of ya'll must not understand how shifting works , it is so easy to just slightly change the plots of your DR to be with an adult. Experiencing a childhood again isn't wrong. Though is it so hard to let go of romantic situation knowing on an experience level you are more mature than that CHILD who has only experienced life once. Finally, some of ya'll cannot take critiques nor do information on the shifters you literally worship. Like there people like the rest of use and deserve to be held accountable alike the rest of us. For example. y'all will ride with some shifters cause they've given you tips, or you followed them for a while as they literally support purposefully scripting in people getting roofied and think here can be "good reasons" for y'all people purposefully script in grape and pedophilia. Like I said earlier, you cant control everything about your DR, those are the things that are literally inexcusable actions. They get all angry and start yelling slurs or calling you controlling, saying that you cant stop them anyways. When your just trying to help. Sorry you have to do all these maneuvers to do inexcusable actions and then script you get away with them.Sorry someone has to control you because you cant control yourselves. (I'm not actually gonna control you, y'all r just evil.) They'' say when your older you'll understand and its not that bad. Hun you are older and you lead on individuals in other realities under false pretenses to get off in the ways you would get caught here. Ik this was long and scattered IM getting used to longer form writing again, haven't wrote this much since highschool two years back. Please leave comments and questions if you'd like of course, cause unlike some of ya'll shifters, I ask for consent.

[mikroaaurora]

wassup 2023

_____________________

Wow its almost been a year since I’ve written here which i guess means that i haven’t been doing too bad to have needed an outlet to write on or maybe it’s just that i rather burden my friends with my issues, but 2022 was definitely a year for me. 

Honestly its crazy because it doesn’t feel like I’ve done much in the past year but looking back on it now I think I’ve achieved quite a bit I could say, and grown a lot as a person (at least I hope).

I feel like I should start this with a list of new year resolutions then get into reflecting about my year but maybe I’ll change it up and look back first.

So damn where do I begin, i started the year off feeling miserable I guess (remember that dance group that I mentioned being kicked out of) yeah, it took a toll on me much more than I would have liked it to. I was stuck in a place where i grieved my old friends, grieved dance and everything in between. I was torn between going back to dance with a different studio or just giving up and calling it quits after about 16 years of doing this. But unfortunately as much as I wanted to leave dance it didn’t want to leave me, I always caught myself dancing along to music, still practicing choreos in my head, it would not go, I couldn’t stop it, and it annoyed me because for something that used to bring me so much joy only made me sad because as much as I wanted to dance with others, as much as my friends convinced me to join another group, I just wanted to be dancing with my old friends again. And to be honest I did join a dance project with others, it was fun! I made some really good friends and although it was tough mentally and physically I was very happy with the end result and very proud of me and my team.

Unfortunately, I still wasn’t satisfied, it didn’t feel the same and I had to tell myself that it wasn’t even going to feel the same. I wanted to go back to my old dance crew but I knew how much I hated the leaders, how awkward it would be between us, how most of my close friends has already left, or how it would bring back all of the stress and complications that I had in the first place, I just wouldn’t feel happy I guess, and so I had to keep reminding myself that (also the fact that I continuously shit talked the studio so much I feel like my friends would laugh at me if I ended up going back despite my hate love relationship lol).

Anyways it took me months of trying to convince myself and moving past this to finally and I mean FINALLY be happy with where I am. It was tough and I was very mentally distressed but now I can proudly say I’m a dance teacher at a studio I love and I have great friends around me and have officially lead my own first project! it’s kinda surreal and makes me a little emotional to think of how years ago I was struggling so much to even just audition to get into a group and now I’m a teacher? Crazy! I’ve also started to notice a lot of progression within my dance abilities which is making me excited and motivated to keep pushing, I also found the courage to post on Instagram and tiktok wow since an old friend who’s pretty popular within the dance community encouraged me to.

Okay enough talk about dance, some other things that really made my 2022 was starting a new job midway into the year and making really good friends! (I feel like we’re too close to call colleagues haha) The job itself is bearable I guess, it’s the toughest job I’ve worked but the people there are making me able to put up with it I guess.

I guess I also just started being more positive, and had a more positive outlook on life, I started feeling excited for things more often and would try my best to go out more and experience more things and so I guess you could say 2022 was a learning year for me.

So new years resolutions damn I feel like I have the same few every year but I’m hoping (god please I really am) that I’ll be able to fulfill them this year. Mhm here we are:

workout consistently!

spend less time on social media

stop caring about people that treat you badly!! let go of them for good !!

be my own person, don’t spend so much time trying to be someone else

be serious in learning italian

save save save money !!

care more about my appearance lol

study hard !!

self motivation

explore different genres of music 

outside more

start drawing again >>> webtoon?

All of these are pretty much self explanatory but I really want to focus on being my own person! For the longest time I’ve spent so much of my energy looking at others and comparing myself? Trying to look like others, I mean not to a big extent but just wishing I looked like that person, wishing I lived like someone else and I feel like I’ve already started to move past that the past few months because I’m doing thinks that I want to do, that make me happy. I just want to be my own person, look at my features and go “how can I enhance myself” figure out my own style (which is still getting there) and just not have to think about looking and living like someone else. I want to be truthful to myself.

[twopoppies]

Hi!! I hope you’re well! I’ve been reading some of your posts about Louis’ current image and your thoughts about how his promo strategy is going for fitf (re bbg, partying, and chav antics) and I really resonate with a lot of what you say.

It feels like Louis’ image, maybe not him as a person, is regressing fast, both in maturity/complexity and honesty. It makes me sad because I KNOW that Louis has grown so much personally over these past few years, but for whatever reason it’s become clear that he does not want to let that aspect of his character come through in these interviews. I think it’s in part that the people interviewing him ask the same stale throw-away questions and also that he and his team have taken big strides in accumulating younger, less mature fans (like starting a TikTok account for one thing). I want to hear about what books he enjoys reading and what he does to find peace of mind when he’s not in public, not hear about the Red Solo Cup game or regurgitated points about how much he loves us or how someone threw a chicken nugget at him. But at the same time as pursuing this young fanbase, you’re making a trade-off for the people who have grown with you and have an adult outlook on life and art. I feel like one day he’ll regret these pr decisions.

Anyways what prompted this whole thing was that I was watching a clip from 2013/14 today, it was of him discussing that One Direction fandom documentary that came out and how people generalize fans etc, it’s a pretty popular clip. The point is he went so deep into a pretty complex and nuanced topic, and spoke so eloquently about it too. Very different tone and depth than what we are getting these days. I just wish we got to see that more in recent times and that he let some of that side of him shine more.

Also sorry for any typos in here!!!

Hi sugar. I don’t know if they’re aiming for young fans so much as a broader fan base. He can’t continue to only rely on his existing fans and he has to expand his reach. TikTok is such a force in creating music trends and viral moments. Even though Louis surely hates TikTok, I’m sure he sees the need for it. But otherwise, yeah. Quips about chicken nuggets are cute, but he’s got so much more going on in that head of his.

I just had some bitter Betty ranting in my inbox about how Louis talks about this stuff because fans like it and it gets more engagement than him talking about his inspirations etc. which… okay? Again, this is marketing. It’s about creating an image they think will sell. Every artist does it. It doesn’t mean everyone is going to connect to it. But he/his team are leaning into these aspects of his personality and interests because they likely feel it’s helpful for someone breaking out of a boyband background and moving into the indie/rock/pop punk scene.

I truly don’t get the anger people have about me not caring for it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[annabethy]

can you write a percabeth tiktoker fic

im pretty sure you sent this prompt to many people but yolo,, percabeth

Annabeth doesn’t get a lot of sleep. She’s simply a mess, constantly fretting over things she can’t control, and that makes it hard for her to really relax enough to actually doze off.

That, and she may have an issue with tiktok.

She’s so busy with school all the time that any chance she gets to do something for herself, she uses it. And that time usually comes at night around two in the morning which is precisely how she finds herself up at six in the morning with a class only an hour later.

That is also exactly how she stumbled upon his account.

Percy Jackson was a pretty popular account. He has a couple million of followers and after a bit of stalking, she finds that he was just recently verified.

Normally, she wouldn’t get so distracted by an account that she’s up so long without any concept of time, but Percy did it for her. It wasn’t that he was attractive (which he was so so attractive) but he was just funny. He’d make videos of pretty much any nature, but he always manages to bring a smile to Annabeth face.

So Annabeth’s basically become a zombie on her feet all day because she can’t get off of tiktok long enough to actually make it to the REM stage of sleep.

As Annabeth stares at her phone, she has no idea how this happened. She swears that she only made one video in the midnight hazed inspiration, but that one video turned into five and then ten and now she is suddenly at two million followers and she is absolutely lost.

“Wow,” Piper says, peeking over her shoulder. “That’s a lot of followers.”

“I just—” Annabeth gestures vaguely, clearly overwhelmed. “I don’t understand how this happened.”

“You’re funny and also hot. Also you have a fat ass.”

Annabeth blinks. “I have a... big? Butt?”

“No,” Piper stresses, leaning back against the chair. “I said you have a fat ass.”

Annabeth preens, but only slightly. She carries on making videos, though she doesn’t have the slightest clue as to what’s going on. That two million becomes five million in only two months. It all has Annabeth feeling a little lightheaded.

It’s kind of fun, she has to admit. Not that she gets much time to actually make tiktoks, but apparently that’s what makes her good to watch because whatever she does end up posting is usually her half asleep rambling on about whatever crosses her mind. She doesn’t think it’s quite healthy, and her comments let her know that but also demand that she doesn’t stop.

She’s having too much fun to stop anyways. It’s fine. She’s fine.

She continues to watch Percy’s tiktoks, and he’s grown to over twenty million. It’s insane in her opinion that so many people could follow someone, and she almost doubts it, but then all she has to do is take a look at her account.

People begin to recognize her too. It’s not often, and it always catches her off guard, but it does happen. She tries to look at least somewhat presentable, which basically means she at least redoes a messy bun before leaving, but today’s luck has clearly run out.

Annabeth is running around through the city, just trying to find the specific pasta noodles that her roommate had asked for. She’s sure she looks like a hazardous mess, wearing plain grey sweatpants and a red Cornell hoodie just to spite Columbia kids, but she forgot until she was out the door and it was too late. She finally manages to find the pasta and she snatches the last package off the shelf, ready to fend it with her life. She checks out quickly before she’s back outside, running down the New York sidewalk. She’s not looking up at all, instead staring straight at her phone, but so was the other person, so what happens next is really not entirely her fault.

She slams directly into someone, and her box of noodles go flying to the floor, hitting the pavement with a thump that matches the sudden anger in her heart.

She looks up, wanting to scold the person, and then—

“Annabeth?”

Just her luck, Percy Jackson is staring back at her, a kind smile on his face. He takes one look at her scowl and his smile falls as he takes a subtle step away from her.

“I’m sorry,” he says. He ends up picking the box up for her, and she takes it from him with hesitant fingers. “I wasn’t looking where I was going, so it’s my bad.”

Annabeth just smiled painfully.

“Pasta?” he asks kindly. “Sounds good.”

“Yeah.”

Percy is beginning to look mildly uncomfortable as he shoves his hands into the pockets of his own hoodie. “Well, I guess I’ll just be going. Sorry to bother you, but it was nice meeting you.”

She has enough decency to mutter out a “You too,” as he turns to leave. It’s not until he takes a few steps away that it dawns on her that he knew her name.

“Wait a second,” she says more to herself, but Percy still stops. “You know who I am?”

“I mean... yeah.”

“But you’re you.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Yes, I’m me. Thank you.”

“You watch my tiktoks?”

“I have for a while,” he says, a slight smirk. “I didn’t think someone with millions of followers would be so surprised that I know their name.”

“You’re a lot bigger than me.”

He shrugs. “We’re both up there, I guess.”

She takes a step closer to him this time. “Modest.”

“I try,” he says. “So now that you look less ready to stab me, I can say that I love your videos.”

“I wasn’t going to stab you,” she says dismissingly. “But thanks. Yours are pretty cool too.”

He snorts. “Thanks.”

“You have no idea how long I’ve been watching you.”

“That sounds vaguely creepy.”

“So is running into you on the streets of New York.”

Percy smiles again, and she could drown in him. “It’s cool though. A sign from above.”

“What could this possibly be a sign of?”

“That we should do a collab.”

Annabeth pauses. “What?”

“No?”

“Why would you work with me of all people?”

“For starters, you’re here right now, but also because I like you. I think you’d be so fun to do something with.”

Annabeth feels like screaming, but then she remembers that she is supposedly also cool and keeps her calm. “I would do it.”

“You look like you’re going to explode.”

“I feel like I’m going to explode. Percy Jackson? Wanting to do tiktoks with me?”

“It’s not as impossible as you think,” he says. “You’re cute.”

“Oh?” Annabeth did not expect that to be the next thing out of his mouth, but she can’t say it doesn’t make her beam. “Boosting my ego over here.”

“Good.” He pulls his phone out of his pocket, “so let’s exchange numbers and I’ll take you out sometime and we can make some tiktoks.”

Annabeth grabs his phone to put her number in. “Is this going out a part of the tiktoks or something extra?”

“Whichever you want.” Percy takes his phone back, flashed her the prettiest look that makes her weak. “I’ll call you.”

“I’ll be waiting,” she says. Percy ends up stepping forwards to give her a hug, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she notes how he’s the perfect height for her.

He leaves with a goodbye and another promise of calling. Annabeth turns away too so she can head towards her apartment, and she feels that her breath has been taken away.

Her and Percy Jackson?

More possible than she would think, apparently.

(Works much better than she would’ve imagined, too.)

[bacchxnal]

[[hwang hyunjin, cis male, he/him]] — wait i could have sworn that was [soren kim] we just walked by, the [twenty-one] year old is a [tiktok star] who has been living in the city for [four years]. normally i see them wandering around [venice beach] but they apparently like to [figure skate] in their free time so that could explain why they’re here.  if you ask their friends they’re known to be [driven] & [savvy], but i’ve also heard some rumours about them being [intense] & [enigmatic]. something about them really reminds me of [athletic tape hidden under baggy clothes, designer cologne scented skin, & online analytics always in the green] but maybe that’s because they’re a [leo].

hi everyone! i’m cece and this is my newest child soren. i’m excited to play him here and figure him out further as i go along but if you want to plot something to go off of, we can do that too! just throw anything at me and i’ll probably say yes, honestly. also you’re gonna have to deal with gif icons because apparently not a single larger gif hunt exists for my boy sad. anyways, without further ado! 

tw: injury, addicition, rehab

adopted by a ballerina and her choreographer husband, soren was destined for a life of artistry. while he was encouraged to dance from the moment he could walk, it never really clicked. he liked the music and could see his parents’ discipline and passion for it but it wasn’t until his family moved from their prestigious new york residence to colorado after his mother’s retirement that he found his true calling -- ice skating. 

socializing was initially hard for soren. he had a soft spoken personality that directly clashed with his confident, ambitious and well-connected parents. as an only child, and an adopted one at that, soren had no one at home to really bond with besides the occasional housekeeper that smiled fondly at the sweet-faced babe.

with parents frequently busy with travel and making “appearances”, soren was often left in the care of his grandparents who owned a successful ice skating rink. olympic hopefuls would train there and soren would watch, wide-eyed and curious. his grandparents caught on and the minute they had training blades on his feet, the rest is history. 

soren blossomed into a charming, outgoing and popular child on the ice. he was a natural talent and started winning local competitions as soon as he was old enough to enter. he grew up surrounded by success and admirers, even attracting the attention of a coach to start him on a more competitive level. he made his first friends in the competition ring and while they’d often be pitted against one another, going out for ice cream together afterwards never left them with ill will or resentment. 

while his parents funded his endeavors, they were never any more present in his life to support their budding ice star. soren pushed himself harder and harder, hoping to garner their attention but besides a few spare compliments, it was more his grandparents doing the raising. he relied on his friends, even when they went long distance to meet with coaches, and kept himself busy although the homeschooling required for training of his caliber made the former more difficult. 

now an olympic hopeful himself, soren started winning championships on a national scale as an early teen. with more eyes on him, the pressure ramped up so it was less about familial approval and more about achieving perfection time and time again. he pushed boundaries and tested limits, to the point that injury was practically inevitable.

[ tw begin here ] 

the fall that put a stop in his career was a brutal one and very publicly documented. bones were broken and he couldn’t even get himself off the ice. the healing process was agonizing, both physically and emotionally. the doctors speculated plenty about whether he’d be able to get back on the ice let alone at the level to which he had grown accustomed. soren didn’t want to imagine a life without skating and so he pushed himself to get better just like he pushed himself on the ice.

he was lauded as an inspiration after his long recovery but things weren’t so simple. with his passion at a standstill, soren felt like his life was over but with the painkillers helping him feel better, he became addicted to the sensation. soon it became too painful to stop taking him and finally, his parents took notice.

how could they not? addiction is an ugly, crippling affliction that turned their ambitious, artistic son into a drug-dependent shell of himself. he was irritable and isolated, unhealthily fixated on his next fix in the same way he used to be hyperfocused on his sport. 

he was sent to los angeles under the ruse of seeing the best physical therapist money can buy but secretly attended rehab on the side. soren knew it was more for appearances sake than out of actual concern for his health so the rehab stint put an irrevocable rift between him and his family. slowly, he got better but in the interest of spending more of his parents money, soren feigned his continued struggling, draining large sums out of their accounts. even after his extended stay was up and he was given a clean bill of health and the number of his sponsor in case things went south, soren decided not to move back in with his parents and instead took residence in los angeles on his own.  

[ end tw ]

personality and present day: soren hides the troubles of his past behind fake smiles and a confident, almost cocky personality. he’s successful in a different way now, attracting attention for his physical appearance and impeccable online life. he started tiktok as a way to distract himself but the algorithm worked in his favor: an attractive former sport phenom now using his talents for dances and trends caught attention and quickly. 

he ‘dates’ other semi-famous internet stars, maintains his audience and fabricates the perfect existence. he indulges in designer brand deals and his posts earn more than most people see in a few paychecks. he creates parasocial friendships with his fans and hangs out with other tiktokers on the regular. people know him but no one knows him. 

he pushes himself behind the scenes to try and get back on the ice but it’s an uphill, and very slippery slope that may reintroduce the worst of his habits. he almost definitely shouldn’t get into competing again but with his age not slowing down, he wants to make the most of his ice time and the career he put on hold. 

tl;dr -- popular, charming (and slightly self centered) ice skater turned social media star who probably makes it into snapchat news and twitter trends on the regular. his icarian past -- the fall, the injury -- is swept aside for his successful and lucrative los angeles future. 

facts

name: soren kim (birth name kim seojun)

faceclaim: hwang hyunjin

ethnicity: korean (adopted into a white american family)

height: 5′10

hair: blond (dyed) shoulder length 

eye color: brown

sexuality: bisexual

tiktok handle: sk8rboy (like, figure skating -- so clever)

relationship status: single

publicly, he’s only dated women but he’s made it clear in his content that he ‘goes both ways’ and is often ‘shipped’ with some of the other guys in his tiktoks 

(he doesn’t mind) (he thinks its fun really)

favorite color: black

aesthetic: think eboy meets sporty

[groovesnjams]

“Toxic Pony” by Britney Spears x Ginuwine x Altégo

DV:

Mashups never really went away, to be fair: in 2022, we just take it for granted that any given DJ could drop an utterly wild sample into a peak-time set and turn up a combination that would have been unthinkable pre-Girl Talk. But at as a concept, mashups have largely been relegated to the margins for the last decade or so - partially because their popularity peaked, fad-like, and also partially because as corporations have diligently worked to enclose the wilder spaces of the internet, it’s grown harder and harder to defend “fair use” in any kind of broad terms. Anyway: mashups have continued to vaguely exist on YouTube and Soundcloud, where the copyright algorithms can’t always detect them, subject to removal at any moment even when they clearly had no commercial impact or potential. And they’ve started to make a comeback more publicly on TikTok, to the extent that “Toxic Pony” is being released by RCA as a single. This is a song that started as a viral Tiktok mashup by a duo that does nothing but try to release viral Tiktok mashups (all of which FIT WAY TOO WELL TOGETHER or ARE A MAJOR VIBE.)

And "Toxic Pony” does bang! I want to be clear about that. “Toxic” will go with damn near anything, and “Pony” has an equally adaptable beat. Together, they’re absolutely fantastic. But mostly what “Toxic Pony” makes me wonder is how the labels have managed to monetize these mashups, because whatever they’re doing to profit on Tiktok (a deeply corporatized and corrupted platform) will probably wash over the Soundcloud DJ sets and YouTube ephemera I actually love someday soon. Earlier today I was listening to a sunrise set that dropped Lady Gaga’s immortal “Let's have some fun, this beat is sick/ I wanna take a ride on your disco stick” into the mix. Gaga’s been a hugely important figure in pop for over a decade now, but these two lines are sampled and mashed up so often that they may genuinely be the most indelible piece of her oeuvre. Once companies figure out how to monetize mashups at scale, will  things like that DJ set still exist online? In other words: I like “Toxic Pony”, but I don’t trust it.

MG:

I’ll start where DV left off: “Toxic Pony” is two great tastes that taste great together. Well, almost. Ginuwine’s vocal is eventually mixed back into the track and he doesn’t fit well with Britney Spears, with her vibe especially, but also the harmonies. I do wonder why Altégo opted to go duet instead of having the first lines of “Pony” echo refrain style or using the chorus as a feature verse, but these are quibbles because the satisfaction of having every one of “Toxic”‘s explosive pop moments subsumed by the gurgle of “Pony”‘s beat is powerful. I can only assume that’s the point. An iPhone costs $1000, but the lifetime of addiction to a device, to a handful of apps, to glowing light as confirmation of your existence and your worth, inextricable, is worth more than any series of numbers after the dollar sign could possibly indicate. I’m sure there’s significance in the choice of songs, two indelible hits that appeal to Millennials in vast, boundary-crossing ways, and even in picking a Britney Spears hit and not, say, “Bossy” or “Bootylicious” because neither Kelis nor Beyoncé are currently a cause célèbre. 

I’m a bit worried about what sort of malware this song is introducing to my brain, but I also accept that I clicked and now it’s too late and all I can really do for myself is touch snow. I can’t help but shove the lion’s share of my thoughts to Britney Spears who last week sent her sister a cease and desist and routinely posts to Instagram about how she can’t trust anyone and why should she? Indeed! Why should she? She hasn’t announced a return to music or even a desire to ever return to music but here she is, front and center, a perpetual hitmaker. It seems unfair, at best, to point this spotlight at her. Definitely in this moment, but probably ever again.

[chaos-and-recover]

I am married to someone with an intense, if only midsized, fanbase. Parasocial relationships have been a part of our lives since long before it was a buzzword. It is weirdly fascinating to us, but sometimes a bit frightening. Now that it is the buzzword of the hour, seeing it misattributed is one of our pet peeves. I have seen people claim any amount of interaction on the fan's end is "pick me" (although fan interaction is necessary for his job) or claim that him utilizing social media makes him more culpable for forcing parasocial relationships on the fans because of power imbalances. If he is obvious about promoting something, though, it doesn't go over well because audiences don't want to feel like their being advertised to. Parasocial relationships are sometimes hurtful and scary on our end. 1) There was a woman who had been following his career since the 90s, when he wasn't as well known. She would often send him letters, gifts. Within the past 5 years something changed. I don't know why, but she suddenly began to consider him a boyfriend of sorts. He had never responded to these letters. I discovered she had been catfishing me under my private, locked social media accounts under a fake name, pretending to be someone I knew from high school. He blocked her on all social media. She harassed his coworkers until they blocked her too. A friend of mine said she went on TikTok to brag about how overly sensitive celebrities will block if you call them out for not being better than regular people. Meanwhile, we got a letter from her last year begging for him to forgive whatever she did that offended him. 2) 15ish years ago, in a magazine interview, my husband states his fave color. 2 years ago, I was having lunch with a friend, without my husband. A younger woman approached the table. She asksnif my husband was around and I said that he wasn't. Immediately her tone and expression changed to something nasty. She asked if I would at least give him a painting she had done of him. It was all done in various shades of the same color. I commented on this and she sneered at me with; "It's his fave color." I am still trying to be polite at this point and casually go; "Oh is it?" and she ery rudely snaps that I am his wife and I don't know his fave color like SHE does, so I have had it and say, assertively that I've had enough and she needs to leave. I gave it to my husband and told him the encounter. He laughed about it and said that it wasn't his fave color anymore. I had never thought to ask about his fave color because it just didn't seem important to either of us. He had never asked mine. Her twitter handle was on the painting so I looked it up. Her and a few friends were discussing the incident, using my first and last initials and my husband's first. They were discussing how clearly they know him deeper than I do, that he must secretly hate me if his own wife doesn't understand him like she does, and she altered the story so that she had seen him there earlier so I was clearly lying and that she had timidly approached the table and I had screamed at her that the color was ugly. I don't watch his interviews unless he specifically asks me to, because this is like listening in on someone's work meeting. This has been misconstrued by "fans" that I don't support him. I absolutely do, 200%, probably more than they support their husband's jobs, but watching his interviews isnt how i support him. I support him in our home, in our phone calls, in other ways he appreciates in our personal lives. Parasocial relationships are absolutely fine, until people start to believe they aren't in one, or that it is somehow more substantial than personal relationships the celebrities have with their loved ones. They truly think that they can Sherlock Holmes someone enough to truly know them better than the ones who actually know them in real life. (Sorry if you got this multiple times. Tumblr said it didnt send my ask.)

(Same anon from before) What fans need to understand is that parasocial relationships are good. It is fine to be a fan of someone, support their career, analyze them and write fanfiction and draw fanart of them or their characters. This is how my husband keeps his job, this is completely normal fan behavior. It isnt bad for the sake of existing. But they need to be aware that it is parasocial. I think the problem doesn't lie with parasocial relationships so much as when those in the relationship aren't aware that it is parasocial. Those who are aware of it being parasocial aren't the ones claiming that I do not know my husband but that they do or sending him love letters thinking their in a relationship with him. Those who know it is parasocial know that there is a difference between him answering questions in an interview (after being coached by a professional on how to appear and how to speak, and going into it knowing 90% of the questions) and having a conversation when there aren't cameras around, behind closed door. There is a difference between remembering a list of favorite things and watching someone enjoy those things in the moment every day in person. You just HAVE to be aware that they ARE parasocial.

First of all I gotta say I'm SUPER curious who you are (obviously you don't have to tell me!)! I've heard and seen things like what you described happen in several different fandoms of varying popularity, and I'm sorry you have to deal with that. But you're 100% right, engaging in regular fandom behaviour is perfectly normal, even interacting with creators/actors/musicians/whoever on social media (or in person if you meet them). It's HOW you interact with them. You need to both have your own and respect their boundaries.

I'm a fan of a couple 80s/90s boybands, as you just... ARE as an elder millennial lmao, and I can understand how easy it is as a young teen to go too far and cross boundaries because you just don't have the life experience or really, emotional regulation to interact with your idols in a normal way. But I've seen that now carry on well into adulthood, the things grown-ass women TO THIS DAY say about the wives of some of these band members is shocking (maybe not to you though since you've lived it!). I've had several conversations where I've had to remind people that literally every interaction they've had with these people at official meet & greets and stuff, even to an extent their interactions on social media, it's like the famous-person equivalent of Customer Service Voice. They're working! Of course they're nice to you when you paid like $500 to talk to them for thirty seconds! It doesn't mean you're friends!

(Not shaming paid M&Gs, I've done them, I'd do them again, it's an opportunity my 13 year old self never thought she'd had but like... I'm not secretly dating a Backstreet Boy because I met them for five seconds, y'know?)

Anyway yeah... all this to say, you're right. Parasocial relationships are a natural part of fandom and they're FINE and GOOD you just gotta respect boundaries.

[swizzoo]

2020 - The Great Greeting Card Revival

When I started my funny greeting card company, Swizzoo, back in 2018, lots of people said it was a bad idea. “No one sends cards anymore because it so much easier to text / message / email /post on Facebook /Twitter/Snapchat/TikTok etc. etc. etc.” But I loved sending cards and I loved receiving them, and I didn’t want this tradition to die, so I setup Swizzoo anyway. It turned out that my timing couldn’t have been better. After years of slow,gradual decline, the greeting card industry around the world has started to grow again. People are buying more cards today than they have for along time, and the upward trend started long before Covid invaded our planet and forced us to stay at home for Christmas and Birthdays. 2019 – The Revival Part 1 In 2019the US market alone grew by 3%. That doesn’t sound much, but given the market size is 6.5 billion cards, it actually equates to 195,000,000 additional cards. Valentine Day wasa particular highlight with card sales increasing by 10% to a value of just under $1 billion. What is even more gratifying is learningwho is buying the cards. The same people who told me that Facebook and text would destroy the greeting card industry, would also say the card-giving generation …. those who are 50 plus and who still read physical newspapers …are dying out and taking traditional industries like greeting cards, newspapers, books and magazines with them. Well all you naysayers I have some news for you! The greeting card revival is driven, not by the older generation, but by the young, and millennials in particular. And what is more, the reason the young most frequently give as to why they send physical cards is … are you ready for this … sending messages via social media is too impersonal. A physical greeting card says to the recipient, I thought of you before your Birthday, took the time to choose a card just for you, wrote a personal message in the card, bought a stamp and walked to the Post Office to send it. This is so much more meaningful than getting an auto-reminder on Facebook and posting “Happy Birthday John” on their wall! In other words, a physical card provides a way to break through the digital clutter and it says I really do care. 2020 – Part 2 - The Great Greeting Card Boom During 2020 my sales have grown by 250%. A large part of this growth will be down to the fact that many high street card shops have had to close at key times of the year, like in the lead up to Christmas. This has forced more people to buy cards online. Much of this trade will have moved directly to the online stores of the offline shops such as Hallmark, Paperchase and Card Factory. However small designers, like myself, who sell on Etsy, Amazon and Ebay, have also benefitted. It is going to be very interesting when the industry publishes their 2020 figures to see if the industry as a whole has grown, and if it has, by how much. My bet is that it has grown a lot. Covid and lockdown have forced people to revaluate what is really important in their lives and for many people, at the top of their list, is friends and family. Before Covid, we all took it for granted that we could see family and friends whenever we wanted, so seeing them was not a high priority. After all, they were on social media so we all felt we were in touch anyway. However, when you are suddenly told you cannot see family and friends, it is amazing how deep and profound the feeling of loss is. I have felt it, my family and friends have felt and I know from comments from my customers, they have felt it too. This year it has become really important to tell people how much you miss and love them, and greeting cards have become one of the most important ways of conveying this message. This year a greeting card has become so much more than a folded bit of paper it has become the physical manifestation of the bond of friendship.A text or Facebook post is a miserable and inadequate substitute. It’s Funny How Important Humour Is! All the card designers and sellers I have spoken to this year have also said they have noticed a big increase in the sale of funny greeting cards. The British have always been known for turning to humour in the darkest times, and the pandemic has been no exception. Cards that make fun of the virus and lockdown have been particularly popular. Google also reflects this trend with a huge increase in people searching for phrases like ‘funny birthday cards for friends’ and ‘funny Christmas greetings’ card. Beyond 2020 So what will happen to card giving beyond 2020? Well nobody knows for sure but I predict 2021 will slip back from the exceptional increase in 2020, but be higher than 2019. After 2021 I think the industry will stabilise and any increase will be small, but the decline will have been stopped for the foreseeable future. I believe the more reliant we become on social media and digital messaging for our daily communication, the greater the impact will be of receiving a handwritten greeting card through the post. Only time will tell. Long live greeting cards and the smile and joy they deliver! Original Source: https://bit.ly/3ivOI4u

[vicpuckerman]

{ FLORENCE PUGH, FEMALE, SHE/HER } - hey look it’s { VICTORIA PUCKERMAN }!! i heard they are { 20 } and in { SOPHOMORE } at { COLLEGE }!! someone also told me that they are { +CHARISMATIC, +EMPATHETIC } and { -GUARDED, -ESCAPIST } but it could be just a rumor! { GABBY, 19, SHE/HER, EST } 

   quick little intro for me, then onto vic!! i’m gabby, i’m 19, i’m from upstate ny and very much excited to start this rp!! i love plotting and character development, so never be afraid to hmu in my IMs! okay, onto what everyone’s here for! i’m so so sorry for such the wait on this!!!!!

       victoria has been studying journalism since she was 18.  it’s something she’s always loved and realized in high school that she had a passion for writing.  she prefers informative writing, and not just those “choose through these pictures and we’ll tell you what disney character you are” pieces... but she does take those quizzes late @ night. 

       she has such a special relationship with her mom.  she grew up being quinn’s “mini me”. quinn always made sure that victoria could come to her with anything and never be afraid to tell her things.  whether that meant what she was feeling, or how things affected her.  quinn instilled how important glee and cheerleading was for her, and how much it helped. this caused vic to join the minute she could for both in freshman year.  overall, do not mess with victoria and her relationship w her mom.  they are golden!  still, vic calls her mom most days and definitely texts her everyday.  (  if anyone were to app. for siblings, i believe vic’s relationship w them would be very very close!! definitely ride or dies )

on account of never really knowing her dad, as she was pretty young when he passed, she always wants to know more.  she knows puck never really had the best rep, but wants to know what parts of her is from him and all that.  usually doesn’t bring it up with most people.

       TW: EATING DISORDER.  the “mini me” label of her mother didn’t help much during school. victoria had been cheerleading since she could.  from camps in middle school, to finally getting to high school, able to put that cheerios uniform on was like a blessing.  until, that is, the imagery and popularity got to her.  junior year was especially tough for her.  at that point, she could only think of her image.  there were days where she felt that looking good made it so that the empty feeling was okay.  it was normal.  for a few months, until her mother found it.  she got into therapy, and things were getting better.  it still didn’t make things completely better.  shortly after getting into therapy, she quit cheer for good.  it just wasn’t worth it to her.  with all that extra time, she could use it to focus more on her love of singing and writing.

since college has started, she’s had amazing grades and truly loves learning! she gets to focus on what she loves!  currently, she isn’t really involved in any extra curriculars and has tended to keep to herself.  truly, she just needs the push to get out there again.

she is currently working at dinky rinks to make some cash.  yes, she doesn’t like it in general.  but, she does love roller skating! 

anyways, here’s a few things she loves doing!   singing in the shower way too loudly  journaling!!!! w cute little doodles!!!  caffeine freak, but hates coffee. usually energy drinks or some type of soda   tiktok ...  pinterest because the aestheticcc

anyways! this will definitely develop when i start writing and all that good stuff :)

WANTED CONNECTIONS!

friends!!  :  although introverted, vic loves to be friendly and meet knew people.  she makes friends easily, but has trouble keeping up with them.  she’s very very loyal to her friends and would do just about anything for them and to keep them as her friends.

childhood best friends  :  this could be as they have always been friends or those that have grown apart.  embarrassing memories and sleepovers, just always someone that vic’s really trusted. 

good / bad influence  :  she has her own opinions, but is VERY easily influenced!  this could go either way and definitely plotted further!

co-workers  :  this one is pretty self-explanatory.  someone to work and bitch w that she sees very frequently!

exes  :  everyone loves a good exes plot.  this could be plotted to be on good terms or bad, but definitely a lost love.  bring on the angst!

there’s a lot more that i could put on here, but for now i’m brain fried! thank you to all that read through all of this <3 :-)

[blissfullydeadly]

jan.12th.2022..fuck 2022?

recently, ive had no drive to write. to express my emotions and take the time out of my day to take a pencil to a paper and just mindlessly write. maybe its because ive been busy? im working finally and its taken up a majority of my time. plus, ive also started classes again. and, im in a relationship with someone. those three main things take up a majority of my time. i obviously do other things but they are all mind-numbing. scrolling through tiktok or other social media platforms, eating, watching some bullshit on youtube or netflix.

wow. its 2022 huh? a new year. we're 12 days into and it feels like so much has happened. i dyed my and cut my hair, my parents relationship is falling apart, the pandemic is still ongoing and getting worse, I'm questioning my major, I'm in a relationship and the world seems to be coming to a slow but sure ending. perhaps that's just me being dramatic. but things haven't felt right for awhile. but as a society we will continue to ignore it and focus on the now instead of the detrimental later.

its two days into classes and I feel as though I'm already lacking motivation. the need to succeed as they would say. but, I will keep pushing. if it means that my future will hold more possibilities. i know college is a scam but, I've already jumped into the water and there's no getting out.

i left home from break new years day. i couldn't handle being there another day. but when I leave, I feel guilty. so guilty it makes me sick to my stomach. seeing my mother so unhappy and stuck in an abusive relationship crushes me. there's only so much can do. and to see my sisters; my girls, go through the same thing I did...if not worse kills me. i want nothing more than to give my mother and the girls the world. they deserve it. but, if I were to give them the world..that would mean sacrificing myself and my future. Im pretty sure i wrote about this before but...for so long i hated my brother. He left me with my crazy parents. He had the saving grace of my grandparents. Sometimes I wish I could have stayed with my grandparents but I wouldn't be the person I am today. My brother was taken away from my house's bullshit in his early teens. He had things handed to him for the most part but I know he struggled with a lot.

the last time I wrote. i felt pretty heavily against my mother. but the more time I think about it. the more I empathize with her. she's just trying to be happy. she's been the number one in my life. the only person that hasn't switched up. its only right to do the same thing. a couple years ago, she felt happy with my step father. but years have passed and he's grown into a different person. the new person that he's grown into, she doesn't love. and that is okay. he is so manipulative and there's nothing I can do. you know how people say, "its much easier said than done"? that line has never been truer.

sometimes, I think of my sisters as my own. granted, I didn't birth them. but I stand by the fact that I raised them more than my step father ever has. truth be told, I did an okay job. not a good job but an okay one. it started from changing their diapers, to watching them, to introducing them to a new world of things. my 2nd youngest sister is on the varsity basketball team and is doing well in school. not that it matters but she is popular and has a huge clan of friends. my youngest sister, is having a hard time...but I see so much potential in her. she is going to do amazing things. she's good at drawing and is so creative. maybe its selfish and crude to say I helped raised them. but I guarantee you that I helped change more of the girls diapers than my stepfather did. not to mention, I was going to school, trying to make my own friends all at the age of 9 and up.

ANFDNFSDIFNSIDNFISDF anyways, obviously...my life has been heavily consumed in regards to my family. i try to steer away, but its so hard. as shitty as this sounds, sometimes I wish could be like Rue in euphoria and just not give a fuck. do harsh drugs and not give a damn where my life is headed. but as I said....Easier said than done.