#as to support the post’s claim I just spent like 10 minutes typing this out

[danzainosolitude]

I cannot express how much the mha fandom has ruined my life

[ilovefandoms102]

The Worst Vacation

Pairing: Drew Starkey x Plus Size Reader

Summary: Your boyfriend surprises you on your vacation with your work friends...

Note: Inspired by my trip to AZ which was terrible so this is kind of based off real events that happened to me but dramatized for the story, and of course inserting my baby daddy Drew😛.

Click here to be apart of my taglist

=====================================

Life works in funny ways…

I never expected to find the love of my life a little over a year ago. Drew came unexpectedly into my life and we instantly had a connection. I know, I know...sounds extremely cliche, but it’s the truth.

Although our relationship was mostly long distance, we made it work. Sure it was really hard sometimes not having him around, but once I graduated from college we planned on moving in together. It might seem a bit fast since we have only been together a year, but I’m ready and I know Drew’s the one I want to spend forever with.

=====================================

I go on vacation with a girl I work with every year, Sally, since I started working with her two years ago. This year, we chose to go to Arizona. I was super excited because we had also planned on going to Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

Drew was extremely supportive and was happy that I was getting the opportunity to travel. I was hesitant with wanting to go at first because I had wanted to save up enough money to visit Drew while he was filming.

However, we both agreed his schedule was too hectic at the time and that we wouldn’t be able to properly spend time with each other. We were both disappointed, but still I was excited to go with my friend.

Or so I thought…

The trip was slowly turning into a disaster, everything that could have gone wrong did. My friend had brought along her niece, Caroline, which I didn’t mind despite not knowing her very well. It felt like the trip was mainly focused on them and I was just there to be the chauffeur.

I called Drew the first three nights of my stay crying because they were so awful to me. Drew being the sweet man he is offered to pay for a flight home, but I declined. I already had spent too much money to not finish out the trip.

“But sweetheart, if you’re not having a good time there’s no point in being there.” Drew pressed, his handsome face lighting up my phone screen.

“I know honey, but I’ve already spent a thousand dollars for this trip. I can’t just come home and leave them here.” I sighed, snuggling further into what would be my bed for another 10 dreadful days.

“I’ll give you the money back angel, I just don’t want you to be miserable when this is supposed to be a relaxing trip.” Drew insisted.

“I’m not taking your money Drew you spoil me enough.” I smiled, wishing more than anything he was lying here with me so I could kiss his cute face.

“I always want to spoil you baby, you mean the world to me.” he professed, grinning widely afterwards.

“I miss you so much,” I whispered, my heart aching to feel his strong arms around me.

“I miss you more,” he whispered back, pouting his lips slightly.

We talked until one of us fell asleep only to call back the next morning. My friends even had the nerve to comment on how much I talked to him.

“It’s a little obsessive...I mean you guys have been together for what a year?” Sally condescended, narrowing her eyes at me.

“Yeah? So what?” I questioned, the annoyance clear in my tone.

“I’m just saying it’s weird.” she scoffed, crossing her arms behind her head as we laid out in the sun by our pool.

“It’s weird for me to talk to my boyfriend?” I asked, making sure I was extra sarcastic.

“Every second of the day...yeah.” she chuckled, making my blood boil even higher.

I chose to be the bigger person however, and just kept to myself.

=====================================

The 5th day of my vacation, I hadn’t heard from Drew the whole day. It worried me, but I was also thinking about what Sally said. Maybe I was being clingy…

A knock on the door startled me from my thoughts. I thought maybe one of the girls had ordered food or something, so I opened the door and my mouth dropped open.

“Hi baby,” Drew greeted, my eyes watering from pure joy.

“Drew! What are you doing here?!” I asked excitedly, throwing myself in his arms.

“I came to see my baby,” he mumbled into my cheek, placing a gentle kiss on the red skin from being in the sun.

“Are you actually fucking kidding me?!” Sally exclaimed from behind us.

“Well nice to meet you too.” Drew mumbled sarcastically while letting go of me but not completely.

“Chill Sally, he’s just here a few days.” I huffed, rolling my eyes as I turned to face her.

“This is supposed to be OUR vacation!” She reiterated, throwing her arms out.

“It still is our vacation,” I emphasized.

“Not when you’ll be all over your boyfriend!” she shouted.

“I barely get to see him as it is Sal, you know that.” I said softly, trying to gain an empathy pass so she would just leave me alone.

“Whatever,” she sighed, clearly irritated as she stomped off.

I paid her no mind since she threw fits all the time like this. I pulled Drew to the room I was staying in, slamming the door shut. Drew threw his stuff by mine, then smirked at me and tackled me on the bed. I let out a little squeal, beaming up at the handsome man that I got to call mine.

“I’m so happy now,” I confessed, biting down on my lip to try and keep my tears in.

“Me too my love,” Drew whispered, sealing our lips for the first real kiss we had shared in a long time.

=====================================

Today was the day we were taking a drive to Las Vegas, which I was very very excited for. It was a nice change to wake up to soft kisses instead of Sally barging in here and demanding I wake up.

“Good morning beautiful,” Drew murmured in his deep morning voice, his kisses continuing their loving assault.

“This is a very nice wake up,” I giggled, snuggling further into him.

Drew hummed in agreement against the skin of my neck, his slight stubble tickling the delicate area. His large hands felt up the curve of my hips, taking my(his) shirt with them.

Drew had always claimed since we started dating that he was obsessed with the wide curves that I hated more than anything. He even said he loved how thick my thighs were, which I never thought in a million years I’d hear come from a man’s mouth.

“I love you, my girl. ” he whispered, my heart fluttering in my chest.

“I love you, my man.” I whispered back.

Our moment was rudely interrupted when Sally banged on the door saying we needed to hurry up. I couldn’t control my eyes from rolling in annoyance as Drew and I untangled from each other. We got ready quickly before making our way to the car to start the four hour trip.

=====================================

The drive was smooth sailing, Drew and I taking turns driving while Sally pouted about having to sit in the back. My hand clenched Drew’s tightly at her sly comments. Luckily, Drew wasn’t having it with her since he knew I wouldn't say anything.

“So this is the guy you’ve been obsessing over for the past year?” she asked snootily, knowing it would irritate me.

“I think it’s more like I’m obsessed with her.” Drew spoke up, squeezing my hand before smiling at me.

“Really? She never shuts up about you.” Sally retorted, raising a challenging brow at him.

“Well, I’m glad because I’m the same way with my friends, they love her.” Drew chuckled, but I could tell he was just as irritated as I was.

We stopped to get gas thankfully or otherwise I would have exploded. I stomped inside to the restrooms, slamming the stall door shut.

I got in the drivers side after I came out, Drew waiting by the door to open it for me. I smiled small at him, getting on my tipey toes to kiss him quickly before getting in.

We finally had made it, but things were not looking good. I had accidentally ended up in the old part of Vegas instead of the main strip, and Sally blew up on me.

“How can you be so fucking stupid is it really that hard to type shit in on a map?!” she screeched.

“It’s not that big of a deal, we're not far,” Caroline commented, annoyed with her aunt's attitude.

“God this is a fucking disaster I don’t even want to be here anymore!” she shouted, my hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. Drew sat in silence, not sure what to do to diffuse the tension.

“God will you just shut up! I don’t know where every fucking place is in the world! This is my first time here just as it is yours, now just shut the hell up and let me concentrate!” I finally snapped, angrily typing on my phone to figure out where we needed to be.

I found where Caesar’s Palace was located, and they just so happened to have free parking as well. I slammed the gas and took us there. Drew and I got out of the car, but Sally and Caroline didn’t budge.

A few minutes later, Caroline storms out of the car slamming the door as hard as she could. She rushed past Drew and I, heading towards the exit.

“I’m sorry y/n, I hate that she treats you like that.” Caroline spoke up once we exited the parking garage.

“I’m used to it, she talks to me like that at work too.” I confessed, Drew whipping his head towards me.

“Y-You never told me that…” he murmured, looking down at me with an almost hurt expression.

I shook my head at him, signaling now was not the time.

=====================================

Sally threw her tantrum, then met us in the Bellagio. We sort of made up, but I did it merely so the rest of the day wasn’t awkward. Drew was quiet, probably still a bit upset with me.

We toured the hotel, the decorative flowers and artistry truly breathtaking. We ended up in front of Hell’s Kitchen where we would be eating later tonight. Drew and I took some pictures together to post on our stories while Sally and Caroline walked towards Caesar’s Palace.

“I wish you’d let me say something,” Drew blurted, sitting on one of the steps with me standing between his legs.

“No Drew, it will just make things worse.” I sighed, leaning into him.

“She’s so mean to you my love, I don’t like it.” he stated, his arms coming around me.

“I’ll be ok baby,” I mumbled, playing with his hair while smiling down at him.

“How about...you and I sneak away.” Drew suggested, tapping his fingers on my hips.

“Then they’d really be pissed,” I chuckled.

“We can just say we got lost.” he shrugged.

“Why do I feel like you’re up to something Starkey?” I questioned, raising my brow at him.

“I may or may not have booked us a room for today.” he grinned slyly, suddenly pulling me tight against him.

“To cuddle?” I teased, smirking as I ran my hands up his chest to the hairs at the back of his neck.

“Well yes...but also to fuck.” Drew said bluntly, smiling as I gasped at him.

“Joseph Starkey!” I exclaimed, giggling as my cheeks turned a deep shade of red.

“Baby come on it’s been sooooo long, my balls are aching.” he whined, cupping his hand over his manhood.

“Awwww are they? My poor baby boy.” I pouted, rubbing his cheeks with my thumbs.

He nodded, his lips pouting out as well. I couldn’t help the smile widening on my face, his cute pout making my insides melt.

“Let’s go then Drewbear,” I giggled, pulling his arms to stand up.

=====================================

We quickly checked in, rushing up to the room. I didn’t have time to appreciate the beauty of the room, Drew immediately spinning me around and lifting me into his arms. Drew laid us down on the bed, my phone rang out, no doubt one of the girls calling.

“Drew, I-I should get that.” I panted, his kisses moving down my neck. I felt his hand snake down my body, reaching into my pocket to take out my phone.

“They’ll be fine without us,” Drew smirked, lifting up and silencing my phone.

“Drew I should at least text the-” I started, but stopped talking when Drew took his shirt off.

“Sorry baby, were you saying something?” he asked rhetorically, smirking at my staring eyes. I shook my head, my eyes traveling down his toned form.

Drew stared down at me, his gaze sending chills down my spine. His hands traveled from my knees, down my thighs, up until they reached the bottom of my shirt. His eyes flickered to mine, and I nodded my head. Drew’s hands went under my shirt, my breath hitching in my throat.

I lifted my hands, sitting up a little so Drew could take my shirt off. He tossed it to the ground with his, while he did that, I unhooked my bra and threw it in the same direction before laying back down. Drew’s hands ventured towards my breasts as his lips explored the skin of my collarbones, lightly nipping at the area. I couldn’t contain the moan that escaped when Drew lightly rolled my nipples between his fingers,

“Fuck,” I whispered, my nails lightly digging into his scalp as I tugged on his hair.

Drew wasted no time in getting to where he really wants. He shoved off both our pants and underwear, situating me just how he likes before he buried his face in me. His tongue worked wonders, licking and sucking on each spot that made me tick.

“Oh my, baby please don’t stop.” I begged, my back arching slightly off the bed as my legs started enclosing towards his head. Drew lifted his head momentarily to stick two of his fingers in gently, my eyes rolled to the back of my head.

“My girl has such a pretty pussy.” he commented, his breath ghosting over where his tongue had just been.

I moaned loudly at his praise, gripping the sheets between my fingers as I felt my orgasm just in reach. Drew smiled as his mouth went back to work, his fingers increasing their pace as well. I could feel the band about to snap, my legs shaking the closer I got. With just the slight curl of his fingers, the flick of his tongue, and I was done for.

“I’m-” I gasped, not finishing my sentence as my orgasm hit me like a freight train.

“Mmmmm fuck yes baby,” Drew groaned, working me through it as he watched the cum drip from his fingers and onto the bed sheets.

Drew took his fingers from me, sliding them in his mouth to suck them clean. My stomach fluttered watching him, it was the hottest thing I had ever seen him do. He then grabbed my hips and flipped us over so I was on top, my head spinning a bit from the quickness of his movements.

“My turn princess,” Drew smiled, kissing my lips hotly before lying back down.

I smirked down at him, kissing my way down his body. I got to his vline, leaving my mark down it until I got to his dick. I licked from his balls to the tip, squealing lightly when his hand was suddenly in my hair. His chest was moving at a rapid pace, his eyes burning into mine as I took him in my mouth.

“I missed your mouth so much my love, fuck it’s so good.” he moaned, throwing his head back.

I moved my head up and down, using my hands to meet my mouth with what I couldn’t fit in my mouth. His grip on my hair tightened, pushing my head slightly. I gagged once I got to the base, taking a deep breath as my eyes watered.

“I’m gonna cum,” Drew panted, thrusting his hips into my mouth as I sucked harder. I pulled all the way up, sucking on his tip and flicking my tongue as fast as I could. He moaned as he came, spurting his seed into my mouth.

“Let me see, did you swallow it all my good girl?” Drew asked, pulling my hair so my mouth was removed from him.

“Mhm,” I hummed as I showed him my tongue that was clean.

Drew smiled at me, moving his hold to either side of my face and smashing my mouth to his. I held his wrists, moaning softly into his mouth as I shuffled closer.

“Come on beautiful, I want to see you on top.” Drew whispered, helping me straddle his waist and inserting himself inside me.

“Oh my god, Drew.” I groaned, digging my nails into his shoulders.

“Fuck baby, you feel so good.” Drew grinned, helping me move on top of him.

I rolled my hips into his, the tip of his cock hitting my gspot which had me a moaning mess. Drew slid a hand down so his thumb rubbed against my clit, a high pitched whine flying from my lips as I moved faster.

“I could live in your pussy,” Drew moaned, his thumb pressing harder.

“Drew,” I pleaded, throwing my head back before coming back to stare into his beautiful blue eyes.

“Would you like that baby? To sit on my cock all day?” he growled, thrusting his hips upwards to meet mine as I came down.

“Yes, I would love it.” I whimpered.

“I can feel how close you are my love, cum with me.” he demanded, but I was already there before he finished his sentence.

“F-uck baby,” I squeaked, my body going to cloud nine as I shook on top of him.

Drew came seconds later, burying himself inside of me. I laid my head on his shoulder, ran out of energy to keep myself upwards.Drew held me to him, laying back on the bed as we calmed down.

“Ok?” he asked.

“Amazing,” I answered.

=====================================

After we met up with Sally and Caroline, explaining how ‘lost’ we were, we ate dinner at Hell’s Kitchen. It was amazing, but definitely not worth the price. We walked around a few more shops in Caesar’s Palace, actually getting lost and taking a while to find the way out.

Once we did, we came across a group of men walking by…

“Damn she thicc,” one commented.

“Ooooh she got a nice one, hello!” another yelled.

Drew turned around to say something, but I yanked his hand to keep walking.

“Do not,” I hissed.

Drew instead to make it clear I was taken, placed his hand directly on my ass.

“Drew! We’re in public!” I whisper yelled, but he made no move to remove his hand.

“I don’t give a fuck,” he shrugged.

“Hey baby! Why don’t you leave your pretty boy to be with a man for a night!” someone else called, Drew’s eyes narrowing.

I was suddenly airborne, Drew bending down and lifting me into his arms. I wrapped my legs around his waist, surprised to say the least.

“Drew! Put me down!” I yelped, holding on to his shoulders.

“Apparently, these boys need to know you’re taken.” Drew snapped, tightening his grip on me.

“Seriously babe, you’re gonna hurt your back.” I mumbled.

“Didn’t you say your feet were hurting babydoll?” he questioned.

“Yes, but Drew-” I started.

“You’re light as a feather my love, I could carry you all day.” he spoke softly, kissing my nose before coming to a stop in front of the water show between Caesar’s Palace and the Bellagio. He sat me on the railing, standing between my legs with his hands placed on my hips. I kissed his cheek, smiling at how sweet and protective this man of mine was.

“I love you,” I whispered.

“I love you baby,” he whispered back, sealing the deal with a soft kiss as the water show ended.

=====================================

Taglist:

@themaddies-obx @jeyramarie @mxltifandoms06 @bibliophilewednesday @evaporatedrosepetals @ilikealotofpeople-younotsomuch @haley-talks-too-much @dpaccione @itsyagirljay @abbyj1822 @gviosca @runway-to-my-aid @obx-direction-sos @iamaunicorn4704 @cheshirecat107 @kindahavefeelingskindaheartless @holy-spn @starrystarkey93 @poguestyleskye @x-lulu @deionswannabegirl @heresalltheshit @lynlovesouterbanks @lemur46 @nina1800 @ilovejjmaybank @noneofmybusiness-cl @artfork @bolaurel @ifilwtmfc @kaitieskidmore1 @outerbongs

[arlocedwards]

╰ ✧ HARRY STYLES. MUSE NINE. PANSEXUAL ❞ say hello to the s club’s very own ARLO EDWARDS! a TWENTY-FOUR YEAR OLD, CISMALE that goes by HE/HIM pronouns. i heard they were voted BEST SHOULDER TO CRY ON in high school, which says a lot about them because they’re very IDEALISTIC and INTUITIVE, but watch out for their DETACHED and DESTRUCTIVE side as well. i hope they’re ready to take a break from being a MUSICIAN and finally get this summer started! ( kt / 24 / pst / she/her )

hiya! i am kt &+ underneath the read more is some info about my bb, arlo. ** insert clown emoji but make him yee-haw ** 

trigger warning : death .

NAME: arlo cornelius edwards. GENDER: cismale. PRONOUNS: he, him. AGE: twenty-four ( 24 ). BIRTHDAY: february 14th. ZODIAC: aquarius !! HOMETOWN: kent, england. ORIENTATION: pansexual OCCUPATION: drummer. LANGUAGES SPOKEN: english & french. FACECLAIM: harry styles ~ currently featuring long hair.  :’-) 

kt’s note: I KNOW THIS IS SO LONG, SO IF YOU DON’T READ IT, I WILL NOT GET OFFENDED. 

but, just read this so y’know what you’re getting yourself into when interactions open : death tw: arlo will be joining this summers reunion coming from his parents home, post-funeral, trying to escape boxing up his brothers stuff and wanting to not be pitied. :’-( my boy is going through it, so his typical behavior and personality is gonna be v muted for a while.

ᴀʀʟᴏ'ꜱ ʙᴀᴄᴋɢʀᴏᴜɴᴅ

arlo was born in kent, england. i know what you’re wondering, and yes, he does have an accent. :’-) his family moved to new york when he was five years old because arlo’s father was offered a high level position within his company.

arlo was born into a loving family, him being the middle child. he has two supportive parents, sasha edwards (his mother), & carter edwards (his father). there are two years separating him from both his older brother and younger sister. his older brother ( now deceased ) was named holden edwards, and his little sister is named ivy edwards. his older brother can be imagined as eric matthews from boy meets world ( at the end of the day, they were bffs ) & his little sister is quite literally cher horowitz from clueless mixed w/ a splash of bianca stratford from 10 things i hate about you  ( they are polar opposites which makes for a fun dynamic !! )

growing up, arlo enjoyed playing all types of sports - there truly wasn’t anything that he wasn’t really good at, and that’s simply because he’s always been such a competitive individual. he would go home and practice a skill or trick for hours in order to be able to come back the next day and whoop everyone’s asses. he will fight  you over board games and make alliances in monopoly to mess w/ you. 

his interest in taking up an instrument kicked in when he was seven years old. he and his dad were driving back from a hockey game together late at night, and his dad played him the song moby dick by led zeppelin & he knew it was something that he wanted to pursue bc “john bonham was a genius.” ~ arlo vc. and so his dad gifted him a drum set on his eighth birthday !! :’-) soft. but over the years he was exposed to other instruments and can also play the guitar, piano, and he has a nice set of pipes !! harry styles being his vc as well ~ makes it easy. he really wants to learn the saxophone tho??? don’t get him started - he will go on and on and on.

throughout highschoool ; arlo was a v dedicated student. although he’s a bit reckless and loved to goof off, he was always acing classes and applying himself. he genuinely cares for others, you could’ve seen his ass volunteering at a soup kitchen with his mom on sundays and what not! just soft things.

until now - now anti-soft. hard things.  sdgjdjgd okay, so, arlo is A Mess™️. and i say that with so much love in my bones. arlo is the type of friend that is honest, and all about tough love when it’s needed. he doesn’t mind getting into a fight or two if he knows its worth the outcome he’s envisioned. he will tell you when you’re fucking up, and if you’re throwing a punch as a result - catch him leaning into it. this ties in l8r !!

he’s just a bit desperate to feel against following the death of his brother & also post-break up with shanley? ( which give me one hot sec and i’ll go into those v soon ) but overall he just wants to feel like himself again, y’know ?? don’t we all. amen & what not. to break it down, he just feels so intensely that he ends up numbing himself in the aftermath of it all, and he’s sadly willing to put himself into harms way in order to get a bit of that - happiness / pain, it doesn’t matter to him as long as he no longer feels numb. so, if ya see him with some scrapes and stitches ~ MIND YA BUSINESS.

arlo’s lurve life : woo ! okay, welcome back -- let’s get into it. so shanley and arlo dated throughout hs and into their first year of college, for a whopping five years together before they broke up. god if you’ve made it this far, i applaud you...but hmu and let me know your fav color, okay? like and comment below ?? subscribe ?? thx. OKAY BACK TO BUSINESS. in case you’re wondering who broke up with who, gosh so nosy, let me just tell you ‘twas arlo. he did it, we can unfollow his ass now. BUT ~ he didn’t want to ? y’know. he felt like due to the long distance, she was missing out on college experiences and her waiting by the phone for him to call was just sad, and he felt guilty. he wanted her to enjoy her time and felt as if he was weighing her down. although he did try make an effort to fix this doing by visiting her that weekend at her university in chicago, but when he came across her with friends he felt stupid and bailed back to cali again. a couple months later he called her, hoping to apologize for his poor judgement and admit to his mistake of ending the relationship, but she wasn’t the one who answered the phone. arlo assumed the random guy who answered was shanley’s new boyfriend (although , he was shanley’s roommates boyfriend but my sad dumb ass boi didn’t know ). arlo only assumed the voice belonged to shan’s bf bc he swears the voice distinctly said “coming, babe!” ( although he did, just not to shanley) and ever since arlo’s been a bit jaded when it comes to romance. shanley called him back later that day, and arlo shrugged her off bc he was jealous af and drunk - claiming he “butt dialed her and it wouldn’t happen again.” :’-( since then they haven’t been in contact. 

he was so in love with shanley, and despite him being the one to end things, he’s never fully gotten over her. he’s definitely hooked up with other people, but my boy is not the committing type after that relationship. 

after high school, arlo attended stanford university, as they offer one of the best criminal law programs across the nation. wahoo ! yahtzee !

after graduating college, arlo moved to san francisco & moved in with ali !! they have a nice little place overlooking the golden gate bridge w/ quality acoustics for their creative music projects. / also where he currently lives !! :’-) we love a bromance.

while in san francisco, arlo attended university to continue on pursuing his law degree  and after two years was able to graduate with his juris doctor. 

TRIGGER WARNING : DEATH / CAR ACCIDENT / DRUNK DRIVING. the death of his brother is very recent, like four weeks ago recent. arlo and his brother were road tripping across the states back to their family home in NY to visit their parents, when a drunk driver struck the driver side of their vehicle, which on impact killed his brother. arlo has survivors guilt as a result from the accident. he and his brother had switched seats a couple minutes prior to the collision, after arlo had asked to switch with him in order to rest for a bit. :’-( miraculously, arlo was unscathed in the greater scheme of all things injury-based. he’s entering the villa w/ a couple broken ribs, broken left arm and scrapes/cuts. so plz sign his cast. 

post-break up with shanley, they had some type of unspoken agreement of trading off years of who gets to attend the summer( aka who has custody of the sclub ) and so last year, arlo did not attend. however, this year, they somehow got their info wrong about who was going / not going, so they have found themselves here at the same time. this being the first time they’ve seen each other since holidays during their first year of college previous to their break up. so get ready for some spice.

last summer, since arlo wasn’t attending the sclub reunion, he was taking the california state bar exam. which is only offered twice a year - he opted for the one in july and passed! :’-) he spent some time after the exam in europe with hastrid. <3

however, arlo will be joining this summers reunion coming from his parents home, post-funeral, trying to escape boxing up his brothers stuff and wanting to not be pitied. :’-( my boy is going through it, so his typical behavior and personality is gonna be v muted for a while.

ᴘᴇʀꜱᴏɴᴀʟɪᴛʏ

overall : arlo truly strives to be kind, and genuinely wants for everyone to get along. treat people with kindness and the like. he has the best of intentions, but often times that can get a bit muddled with the way he goes about things due to his chaotic energy. he will do anything to lighten a dark mood, and will sacrifice / throw himself under the bus if its needed. however, he also is the type to cause the dark mood depending on the day.

however rn, with his current state of mind, arlo is just going through the motions. numbing himself with unhealthy outlets and has a different type of mentality. definitely engaging in a bit of the more chaotic activities, as well as leaving everyone alone to their own vices as well. whereas his typical behavior would be more so attempting to lead them onto a better path if it meant well for their overall wellbeing. 

habits : smoking cigarettes ( ali likely nags him bc they aren’t herbal ) . staying up into the early hours of the morning, and yet somehow still an early riser ( hence, he drinks an absurd amount of coffee ). yeah, hence. - get it, from the house bunny? sdjfkngdg any who, he’s in a phase of numbing via alcohol and drugs rn. 

personality type : INTP - T / THE LOGICIAN

moral alignment : chaotic good

tarot card : the hermit ( currently )

character inspo : connor walsh from how to get away with murder, jess mariano from gilmore girls, & ambrose spellman from chilling adventures of sabrina ( literally his #1 ranked personality match on a quiz i took ) !! so, we have that ! and also a heavy sprinkle of seth cohen from the o.c.

ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴꜱ

the album ‘fine line’ by golden child, harry styles in this case will be used as a hc for arlo. arlo wrote and recorded the album - all songs included, with his muse being shanley over the course of the last couple of years. he’s just kind of been sitting on the entire thing, never really feeling it was the right time to release his work/side solo project...but later this summer, he may just leak it. :’-)

arlo is a vegetarian ! he has been since his freshman year of high school.

those who inspire him : roger taylor, mick jagger, alex van halen, john bonham.

LUNA : ali and arlo co-founded the band with friends edie dorn and guy perkins in junior high. playing gigs where they could as often as possible. arlo was on lead vocals, ali as lead guitarist, edie on bass, and guy on drums. although when it came down to recording and what not they seemed to bounce around when it came to other instruments - v experimental. the band took off in college, prior to something strange and over the years they’ve produced numerous albums and have won a couple awards. 

red roses are his Thing™️ ; fans of the band will walk up and hand him them. i think that’s soft. and i am here for it.

he loves fancy wine ~ he’s cultured.

fun fact : dirty dancing is v much so a sharlo movie. they used to practice and be able to successfully pull of the jump & lift dance move literally just for fun / bc they wanted to. after nailing the lift, they learned the entire dance - i can't. dfjkgndjkg SOFT.

arlo has all of harry’s tattoos !! makes it simpler, might add more along the way !! stay tuned, folks !!

also the ‘ h & s ‘ rings that will be seen in photographs later on are for his brother, holden, and bbg, shanley </3

arlo is a gucci enthusiast - having much of his closet filled with staple pieces over the years. to further his love for the brand, he was recently asked to be in an upcoming campaign for the fall season - he’s v jazzed about it.

ᴏᴘᴇɴ ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴꜱ

𝖌𝖔𝖔𝖉 𝖎𝖓𝖋𝖑𝖚𝖊𝖓𝖈𝖊 ( open connection ) : with arlo being a bit chaotic in nature, he needs somebody that is likely going to steer him clear from all the ideas that’ll bring him to the brink of disaster. he’s impulsive and in that desperate attempt to feel again, he’s very likely to bring a bit of mayhem upon himself. so while they may constantly worrying and attempting to talk his ideas down, he’s trying to get them to go along with his plan. it may be rare that he actually takes their advice, but when he does it seems to be for the best.

𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖙𝖞 𝖋𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖓𝖉 / 𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖋𝖎𝖉𝖆𝖓𝖙 ( open connection ) : these two know how to have a good time together. despite the amount of alcohol they are throwing back and the shenanigans they find themselves in as a result, this is a time where they also find themselves confiding in one another. if you look at their camera rolls, it’s likely they have tons of embracing and unflattering videos and pics of one another, in between their sob-worthy confessionals and venting/rants. these two trust one another, and although they love getting wreckT together, they find themselves discussing very raw and personal details.

open to other connection you may have in mind! :’-)  LMK!!!! <3 i love me some chemistry !!!

ᴛᴀᴋᴇɴ ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ( featured on arlo’s connections page here !! )

𝖋𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖘 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖇𝖊𝖓𝖊𝖋𝖎𝖙𝖘 ( taken - simon peralta ) : these two went through rough break ups of their own, and a rebound didn’t sound too bad to either of them at the time things started. it may not occur all the time, but they sometimes still find themselves offering up to one another. this occurred more frequently then any of arlo’s one night stands, obvi, but it never surpassed anything other than the physical aspect of their relationship. the nature of their relationship outside of the bedroom can go either way !!!  :’-)

𝖆 𝖇𝖗𝖔𝖒𝖆𝖓𝖈𝖊 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖆𝖌𝖊𝖘 ( taken - ali mallick ) : as if living together for the past two years wasn’t enough, ali & arlo are also roommates every summer that arlo attends the sclub reunions. these two are always laughing, and saying some ridiculous ish. you’ll likely hear loud jam sessions and howling laughter / the occasional excited shouting back and forth from their room in the late hours. they are truly nothing but a good time and tbh, they know it. that and the fact that they have the best hair in the villa. djfgnjkdfg FIGHT ME !!

𝖍𝖎𝖌𝖍 𝖘𝖈𝖍𝖔𝖔𝖑 𝖘𝖜𝖊𝖊𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙𝖘 ( taken - shanley evans ) : these two began their relationship in their freshman year of high school - spending five years together before breaking up in their freshman year of college. * cries in sharlo * they were the “it” couple, no pennywise included … unless ? anyways, everyone thought that they were going to get married, and arlo was v much in love / thinking shanley was his romantic soulmate. yet when they did break up everyone was shookith - even the birds and the bees.

𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖞 𝖜𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖗𝖔𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖘 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖒𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖘 ( taken - ali mallick , willow finch , sirena rose ) : these four formed something strange. arlo is the drummer of the group, and also writes some songs for the group. they’ve blown up over the years and are a quite successful group.

𝖛 𝖘𝖎𝖇𝖑𝖎𝖓𝖌-𝖑𝖎𝖐𝖊 𝖗𝖊𝖑𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖕 ( taken - sirena rose / willow finch ) : these two have a love/hate relationship, very sibling like filled with pranks, competition, teasing and playful banter. however, when it comes down to it they have so much love and respect for one another. they know that no matter what happens they will always have one anothers back and be supportive of the other. pure relationship.

𝖗𝖎𝖉𝖊 𝖔𝖗 𝖉𝖎𝖊 ( taken - delilah jacobs ) : ride or dies ! need i say more ?? these two have one anothers backs despite anything and everything going on otherwise. they play in to one anothers antics and enjoy one anothers presence as they can likely be seen dragging one another across town and causing a bit of mayhem together. you can catch them in their beautiful, bitch #1 & #2 tee's.

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖔𝖙𝖎𝖈 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖕𝖆𝖓𝖎𝖔𝖓 ( taken - ramona verdez ) : it would be wrong to say one is the more likely the bad influence over the other, although arlo may just be. these two find themselves bounding into, well hell, ( i guess??? ) together. playing on one anothers impulsiveness and if one ends up in the back of a police car, the other is handcuffed to them. and yet despite the length of their potential injuries, they find themselves thinking of something crazier to subject them to the next time around. with arlo having his law degree, he’s always able to squeeze them out of trouble before it gets too serious, so trust - it’s ok !! 

𝖚𝖓𝖑𝖎𝖐𝖊𝖑𝖞 𝖋𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖘 / 𝖕𝖔𝖑𝖆𝖗 𝖔𝖕𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖎𝖙𝖊𝖘 ( taken -  izzy de la rosa ) : these two may have ran in the same circle, but were complete opposites when it came down to their personalities / styles / perhaps even humor, so it was expected for them to stand their distance. however despite the odds, they just clicked !! opposites attract and what not, ya dig??  somehow their dynamic just works and they have a lot of fun together by introducing new things to one another.

[spiders-n]

Tease Shirt

A headcannon struck when Z so graciously gifted us this image so I followed it straight to hell. 

Now on AO3

-----

Peter has been studying for his last final for what feels like years when his phone buzzes against the hard surface of the university library table.

MJ: Hey dork. I need a small favor.

Peter’s brow furrows.

Peter: Shoot.

MJ: I have been sexiled yet again

MJ: and while I would normally just kill time around campus for the next couple of hours I just finished my last final and I feel like if I don’t take a shower in the next 10 minutes I might not ever smell clean again. Would you mind if I came over and used your shower?

Peter couldn’t help the frown that slips onto his face. This is the 6th time MJ's been unable to get into her dorm since January because her roommate is having sex. She normally doesn't complain because she loves her roommate and is generally a huge supporter of any woman who actively claims their sexuality but she had let it slip to him once that she was beginning to feel like she spent more time avoiding her dorm than actually living in it. He doesn’t even need to think about it when he types out his response.

Peter: Of course, Em. You don’t have to ask, I made the extra key fob for a reason. I’m still studying for my Orgo Lab final but it’s all yours for as long as you need it. 🤓

Even though he was technically not allowed to, he’d taken his key fob apart in Mr. Stark’s shop and made duplicates for Ned and MJ to get into his building when it had become clear to them that his living arrangement in a newer dorm that gave each resident a private room and bathroom was, by far, the most agreeable place for the three of them to hang out.

MJ had used her’s a hundred times over the course of the last 9 months, Peter is sure, but there is something oddly intimate about letting her be there while he isn’t. When he'd typed his message, the only thing in his mind had been his memory of MJ during last semester's final season, exhausted and worn, and even Peter had to admit, looking a little worse for the wear. Now that he's paused long enough to push past that mental image and the immediate urge to fix it anyway he can, he thinks that perhaps saying "you don't have to ask" may have been a bit too much. He panics for a long moment, trying to remember what state he’d left his room in but eventually resigns his worries to the back burner when he remembers that MJ once saw him blow his nose with a sock and then proceed to leave the snot crusted sock on his bedside table for a week and has since managed to voluntarily and enthusiastically kiss him 59 times since (yes he’s counted). Either she was just as gone for him as he was for her or she had a serious lack of regard for the hygiene of others. 

He can't help the surge of excitement he always got when he and MJ crossed into any new territory in their relationship. He'd given her the key to his dorm as a friend and now she'd using it as his girlfriend and that felt very significant to him in a way he knew would make her fondly roll her eyes at him if he shared with her.  

MJ: omg I’m definitely taking a nap in ur bed and you can’t stop me!

MJ: also thank you

Peter squirms as he reads the first message and tries desperately not to think about MJ freshly out of the shower and in his bed.

He’s seen her just out of the shower twice in his life, and would be lying if he said they were anything less than moments that defined his teenage sexuality. The first time was when she accidentally got snowed in at May’s apartment one weekend in their junior year of high school. She'd stopped by the bring him his homework and decathlon flash cards after he'd missed school due spider-manning a little too hard the night before, and didn't get the chance to go home until Monday evening. That was the weekend she'd found out about him and also the weekend that he'd first realized that he was probably in love with her, a realization that came about largely because of how incredible she looked after her shower. He remembers the very confusing combination of feelings he’d felt when he’d seen May’s green stripped pajamas sticking to MJ’s still wet skin as she stumbled into Peter’s room from the steam-filled bathroom and shook out her hair from it’s bun. He’s still convinced that the whole scene happened in slow motion.

The second time was during their summer abroad after graduation. They were staying in a bunk bed laden Airbnb in south France with Ned and Betty and a couple other Midtown Tech graduates. Peter had been talking himself in and out of just finally asking her out all summer. They were practically already dating in that they spent most of their time together, wholeheartedly supported each other's hopes and dreams, and very routinely accompanied each other to various events that society required people to bring dates to. His only hang up was the unyielding fear that making things romantic would ruin the best friendship he'd ever had outside of Ned. That hang up was mostly stomped out when he saw her next that night. She’d stepped into the room in blue silk shorts and a matching tank top wearing, and Peter remembers this very clearly, absolutely no bra. She had water droplets sitting on her shoulders and arms as she wrestled her hair into a towel and she finally moved her body upright he could see the faintest sliver of exposed stomach resting just above the band of her shorts. It was, in Peter’s opinion, one of the most under appreciated Michelle Jones looks of all time. And Peter had very thoroughly appreciated it at least 4 times.

He glances back down at his Organic Chemistry text book from the screen of his phone, the page half hidden by the notes he’d been going over, and groans at the reality that he’s at least an hour away from an A on his final and more realistically two if he wants to walk in feeling really confident.

Peter takes a second to gather his will and silently reminds himself that even if he was with MJ in his room at that moment the most that was likely to happen would be some making out and co-napping since they hadn’t actually done anything more than that yet. His monkey brain then counters back at him that literally nothing in the world actually sounds as good to him in that moment than making out with MJ and then taking a nap and he’s back to grumpily looking down at his textbook.

It only takes a couple minutes of begrudging reading for him to actually gets caught up in the material and loose track of time for while. It's an hour after their original conversation that his phone buzzes and snaps him back into the real world.

MJ: How much longer do you think you’ll be studying? You should come nap with me.

And then the temptation to say fuck it and just chance getting a slightly less awesome grade in Orgo was back in full force. He takes a deep breath and pries himself away from the alluring thought of a warm bed and an even warmer MJ. 

Peter: The thought did cross my mind. I am probably another 45 minutes away from feeling very confident for this exam, though. Will you wait for me?

Peter hits send and forces his attention back to the material. Whatever the answer, the sooner he finishes studying the sooner he’ll be able to see her.

Five minutes later his phone buzzes and he flips it over to see that he has a Snapchat from MJ.

When he opens it his barely suppressed moan is caught in his throat. MJ is laying on his bed, hair twisted up into a towel, glasses on instead of her normal contacts, lips covered in his f a v o r i t e shimmery chapstick that tastes like mint, all of which would make Peter want to jump her bones even more than he normally does, but on top of all that she is very clearly wearing one of his shirts. One of his Stark Industries shirts.

He’s so overcome by the image that it disappears and he has to replay it again to read the text she’d left in small print over her shoulder.

“I’ll be here all night….” It read. At that Peter actually does moan at that. Out loud, and it turns a couple heads from near by tables. He doesn’t care though because this picture of a very cuddly and soft MJ in his fucking shirt literally waiting for him to get home is too suggestive for his over crowded brain to take. He closes his textbook with more force than is sticky necessary and shoves it into his backpack, scrambling to do the same to the highlighters and notebooks he’d spread around the table as well.

When he’s packed up he grabs his phone and texts MJ.

Peter: I’m coming home now

MJ’s response is almost instantaneous.

MJ: what happened to feeling really confidant for your Orgo exam?

Peter rolls his eyes and then grins. If she wants to play coy he can too.

Peter: it got really hard

He sends and then waits for her to open the message before typing again

Peter: to focus, I mean

MJ’s response lives in the gray dot dot dot at the bottom of Peter’s screen for what feels like ten years before she finally send it.

MJ: Maybe I can help you work it out…

And it’s the ellipsis at the end that forces him into action. Suddenly, before he can bully his brain into keeping up with his body, he’s out of the library and making his way steadily across campus to his dorm with the kind of speed that he normally only employs when he’s patrolling but he’s loathe to find a time that more desperately calls for such measures.

In the end, he learns two very important lessons.

The first is that there is nothing hotter than coming home to find your girlfriend spraying canned whipped cream directly into her mouth clad not only in your T-shirt but also in your boxers. And as he later finds out, absolutely nothing else.

The second is that you tend to test better when you take an exam after a post orgasm induced sleep. Who knew?

[oxygenamjoon-blog]

Artwork [kth]

Part of my 10 Day Writing Challenge.

You may find other ideas that I will be working on in my previous post.

Please support by following, liking and reblogging this post! Thank you so much.

Word Count: Less than 1.6k

Pairing: Taehyung x Reader

Warning: None

Genre: Slight angst? I’m not sure please enlighten me.

Having pursued your passion was something that your parents were against off. They had wanted you to become a doctor, but it just wasn’t something that you have dreamed of since you were a child. The artistic side of you wanted to become a painter and be known worldwide. It was something that you have put your mind to and it had set in stone.

When you debuted at the age of 18, it was something that you were really proud of. Your art was being shown to the world and the world loved it. You became a widely known artist in your country because of the painting that you have created that had gone viral. People were looking at it; critiques were giving it their opinion. They couldn’t believe that it was made by the 18. Of course, not everyone loved it but it was something that made you known. Now, 3 years after your success as a known artist, you let your business side take over. It was something that you wanted to make money out of, it was your passion, yes, but that passion needed to be converted to something that would give you the basic needs that you must have for your daily life.

The art gallery that you had was something that you were proud of. You had wanted to help people purse their dreams, give them the opportunity that was given to you. Being the art director of your own gallery wasn’t an easy task. You had to turn down people that had hopes and dreams because it wasn’t something that was meant to be in your gallery.

Every 4 weeks, the art that was displayed in your gallery would be shuffled from the people that you have chosen to display. The artists only pay a small fee to have their work displayed but they must pass the criteria that you have imposed to be able to be displayed in the gallery for the next four weeks.

You had people working for you who pre-examined pieces of art for you and they would have it passed to the next round, if you should say, to the final say which was your decision. You were the one that gets to approve the work if they are to be displayed for the next few weeks. It must have structure, pass the average quality that you desired, passion, and love for the art. It was the basic requirements – and a fee to have it inspected of course. The final say that you had was supposed to be with you.

You were Taehyung’s role model when it came to arts and business. He was so inspired to see you work for the artists who had less opportunities, all of the art that he has created was worked towards you. And he may have been attracted to you, when he first saw you on the daily news when you were 18.

Somewhere in his work, there was a hint of you. He had been addicted to the idea of you, he couldn’t help it. It was your name that he thought of when he had created his works of art. And it was you who inspired him to bring his pieces to the gallery to have them inspected. He was so excited when three of his ten pieces passed to the second round of examinations. That meant it would be you who would be seeing his work and he loved the idea of it.

But a call from the gallery broke his heart– “Sorry Mr. Taehyung, your work did not pass the last round of examination. Kindly claim your art by…”

The lady on the other end was explaining how Taehyung would get his art back but he was too lost in thought to even hear what she had to say.

He couldn’t accept the decision; something must have been a mistake. Maybe she didn’t see the work or she didn’t understand it... he thought.

The following day, he arrived at the gallery. No intention to pick up his unclaimed works of art, but to talk to you. Someone he looked up to and really inspired him. His heart was crushed when he heard the declining of his art, but something would be breaking his heart even more.

“May I know where Miss Y/N? I really need to speak to her.”

“Do you have an appointment sir?”

“No, but –”

“Sorry, but Miss Y/N doesn’t accept walk in meeting or meetings from anyone.”

“But I really need to speak to her.”

“Sorry, but I’m only doing what was told to me. No random meetings by anyone. Please leave or I’ll have to call the security.”

He sulked. His demeanor changed and all he could do was be sad over the fact that he may never have his chance with you. He wanted to be the artist couple… he wanted to take you out. Not because of the way he loved your art, but you as a person. He had grown to love what you did and your personality. Even if the personality that he saw was based on the YouTube videos that you had set up for the growth of the gallery.

“Brie, what’s my next meeting?”

“Miss Y/N, you don’t have any meetings for today.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“Miss Y/N!” Taehyung suddenly called out. “Can I please talk to you?”

“I’m so sorry, Miss Y/N…” Brie, the receptionist suddenly replied, “I’ve been trying to get him to leave. He’s just not budging.”

“I just really have to talk to you, I’m sorry for intruding.” Then Taehyung bows, giving his respect.

“Sure, I’ll give you a few minutes. Please, come to my office.”

Taehyung rambles to himself. He was so excited to finally be able to meet you.

“Miss Y/N, I’m so thankful that you’re giving me this time to talk to you. I would like to express how you’re my biggest inspiration to my work and I look up to you so much!”

“Wow, thank you for your kind words Mr…uhm?” You didn’t know his name, but you could tell that he had good looks.

“Taehyung…” He reached out his hand to shake your hand, but you just smiled. “Kim Taehyung.”

“Mr. Kim, thank you for your kind words. Now, I know you heard that my schedule is free today. But I must leave in a few minutes for something personal. I hope you understand.”

“Y-yes, I understand.” He gulped. “I would like to ask for reconsideration for your decision on my work. It’s that… I’ve spent a lot of my hard work and I just, just want to ask you about it.”

You chuckled, remembering the handful of people who try to convince you that their work was worth it.

“Well, Mr. Kim… haven’t you thought that a lot of people have tried to do this in the past.” You smirked, a bit. “What makes you think that you’re different?”

“Maybe I can show you?” One of your eyebrows rose, unsure of what he meant. “I have a new one, just finished but I think its best you know me better before you see it so you can understand my perspective.”

“Mr. Kim, I think you need to –.”

“Please, Miss Y/N… let me take you on a date.” You gasped so lightly that you couldn’t hear it yourself. Being so busy with your business and you passion, you were unable to plan dates and have relationships with anyone but yourself, a few friends and mostly your family.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Mr. Kim.” You shook your head. It wasn’t something that was on your mind. “Maybe I can give you a certificate that you were able to place your work here for a week… and we’ll call it quits.”

You were afraid that you’d fall for him. He was good-looking, deep voice, and amazing proportions. He was the man that you’d describe if someone asked you what was your ideal type and you didn’t want to take the risk.

He scoffed. “You think that’s what I wanted from you? A goddamn certificate?” He pushed his seat backwards. “You think that lowly of me? I want to take you on a date! I like you, okay? I wanted to make art for you; you were my inspiration. I guess I was just stupid. Thanks for nothing.”

With that, Taehyung left… pushing everything he could but he left something for you to remember him by.

….

 A few days passed and you were working on some papers. You were looking for your favorite pen that you used when you signed anything… it was your favorite and meant the world to you, your father had given it to you.

At the end of your desk, you see it… but something also captures your attention. A photo. It was a small printed out photo that showed something that made you gasp, this time you could definitely hear it. It was a work of art that showcased a person… that was looking rather sensual and full of passion… it was you.

Taehyung had made a painting of you, a semi-nude photo that had his signature at the bottom. When you looked at the back, it was his number. He had left this for you to see and now you were rethinking your decision.

Would it be worth it if I contact him?

---

[justanotherdumpingground]

Rant on RCD

Normally I don't rant about stuff because doing so feeds negativity, but Red Carpet Diaries continues to nag my mind. I know it's a story most people, including me, hate, but I also think it had potential. Note: In this post, I'm using the name Jessica to refer to the MC, as that's her default name. Also, this post is pretty much personal opinion.

Initial Expectations

For starters, I don't mind the concept about being an up-and-coming actress trying to work her way up to stardom, the underbelly of the film industry, and the relationships she builds up from the bottom. In fact, it has the potential to have some variety if it focuses on building up one's career from the ground up properly, like gradually climbing from the bottom and learning a lot from experience along the way.

Reality

The execution, however, destroyed my expectations. Even though my interest in this story started decreasing since about Chapter 5, Chapter 8 is when I officially dislike this series because of Markus von Groot upgrading Jessica's supporting role to a lead one in Tender Nothings without much effort shown. This reeks of Mary Sue vibes that also makes me dislike her as quickly as I dislike the series, which dragged too long with little substance along the way. After all, it shouldn't be easy to get a lead role, and to see Jessica doing it without getting through so much of the trouble actors go through sends a bad message that you don't have to do much to get to the top. This applies to all professions instead of just acting.

I also notice people's complaints that the HWU characters are sidelined, but since I've never played the game, I wouldn't want them to hog the story. What they could've been is having the same level of significance as the HSS characters from the original app: supporting characters at the most while the new cast continues to dominate the spotlight, just like the HSS series in Choices.

One character I utterly despise is Markus von Groot. He shows unprofessional behavior towards others like attacking them for their insecurities, wasting resources and other people's efforts by rewriting scenes at the last minute (hypocritical of him because he claims to value practicality), and valuing property over people. I also hold him responsible for making Jessica a Mary Sue and singlehandedly ruining my enthusiasm for this series. He's also a pretentious snob who looks down on others for not having the same level of "intelligence" as him, which points out to his massive ego. Not to mention that his disorganized way of directing the movie shows how useless he is in the end. It was good riddance that he never came back for Tender Nothings.

The last scene of Chapter 12 is, without a doubt, controversial. Thank goodness the writers changed Victoria's reaction from a physical attack to a verbal one, but the damage had already been done, and I blame Pixelberry for daring to write such a scene like this in the first place while not doing so to acerbic male love interests. Now, this comes as a shock to others, but when I first played the scene, the person I was angriest at wasn't Victoria, but Markus. Honestly, Victoria has the right to react angrily at betrayal, whether real or suspected, though having her physically assault Jessica is too much. As for Markus, there's trouble brewing among the cast members, yet he gets mad not because of a quarrel breaking out but because a priceless painting gets destroyed. I get that such a painting is valuable, but diffusing tensions, which he never did, is a much higher priority than a broken painting. Can't he just take a good look at the mirror and realize all the blunders he committed towards other people? It doesn't help that he insulted the actors and studio executives evaluating his work, which he has no right to do. That makes him the ultimate asshole in the scene.

Inner Circle, particularly the Love Interests

I like that all of the love interests are unique in their own ways. Each have their own personalities, backstories, and struggles. Matt wants to prove Hollywood that he can be a versatile actor. Seth talks about getting rejected for his ideas. Teja has to put up with feeling unappreciated for all the hard work she has done. Victoria struggles with sexism and ageism in an industry that treats women as expendable despite the skills they've built up. All these prove that they are much more than meets the eye.

As for which love interest that fascinates me, that would be Victoria Fontaine. She's the best LI in the series as well as the only one I like, though moderately. Look, I know she started with a rocky relationship with Jessica, but that doesn't mean I excuse the bad things she has done. In fact, I disapprove of her mind games during Jessica's audition. Even if characters are supposed to be flawed, they should make amends for their mistakes, and she's no exception, such as burying the hatchet, which is what she did (albeit in a premium option). She also acknowledges her own shortcomings, such as criticizing the tension between them as unprofessional. She even apologized immediately for the verbal assault when she had the chance. What seals her as the only love interest I like is that she's aware of reality's harshness and gives good advice on celebrity life and some scenes for Tender Nothings, in part because she has a good amount of depth in many of her scenes, whether free or premium. For example, she works in an industry where women are treated as commodities with a short shelf life. Directors and tabloids judge her by her appearance and disregard her acting skills, prompting her to prove them wrong, swallow her pride when working with Jessica, and surprisingly make efforts. It doesn't justify her initial hostility, but what it does is that it gives sense to her actions. It's far too easy to demonize her just because of personal bias against certain character "types", but doing so is a disservice to her character by assuming she's a one-dimensional character, which she isn't and shouldn't be. After all, she provides the harsh reality of the film industry looking down on women.

Knowing Pixelberry's disregard for its female characters, my anger's directed at the writers for doing her a grave injustice, such as giving her a very negative first impression, delaying the progress of her storyline in favor of unnecessary screen time with Matt, and paywalling her, up to and including her involvement in the movie. All because of her gender and Pixelberry's blatant pandering to their target audience without regard to the story's quality. This post essentially sums up Pixelberry's mishandling of such a well-crafted character. I get that Pixelberry is ultimately a business, but in an app explicitly titled Choices and focused on telling stories, nothing can justify this mistreatment of a character with a good deal of depth in her just for the sake of pandering to your target demographic.

Unfortunately, all love interests have uneven screen time. Matt continues hogging the spotlight even though most of his screen time is pointless fanservice. Seth and Teja don't have a lot to offer, while Victoria has the least, and not enough to progress the story in a meaningful way. Honestly, Pixelberry made a mistake by adding too much screen time for Matt without addressing him as a character. Sure he's nice, but most of that screen time should be given to other love interests, particularly Victoria because of her story having a slow progress. By lavishing all attention on him at the cost of other love interests, Pixelberry has created a self-fulfilling prophecy that discourages players to pursue other love interests not favored by Pixelberry, and this has been going on in various stories.

As for Chazz, he's the only member of Jessica's inner circle that I dislike. For a best friend, he comes across as unreliable, such as lying about his house and job to his own best friend. I get that there are times that he's helpful, such as giving moral support to her when she was down, but his job as her agent means he has to be sincere at all times, even if it means giving the unflattering parts of his life and career.

Book 2

Fast forward to Book 2, and we get a warning about mature themes in this book. Sounds exciting that RCD will tackle serious issues in the film industry inspired by the #MeToo movement, yay?

Unfortunately, it's badly executed. At first, it seems alright. Viktor Montmartre established himself as a threat by attacking Jessica and using his power to make her career and even life as miserable as possible. After all, that's what a villain should be portrayed as. However, he more or less remains on the background while using Tommy Phelps as his proxy to do his dirty work, which makes it hard for me to think of him as a real threat throughout the story. Even worse, the last third of Book 2 turned the book from a mildly interesting plot regarding an important issue into a nostalgia filler for characters I don't know. Not only does this left me confused, but disappointed. In the end, it irritates me that Viktor Montmartre receives a mere slap on the wrist by being hounded by paparazzi. Why can't he be put in jail instead? It's a huge disservice to people who have experienced this kind of stuff, considering the amount of effort and pain they went through to get their story heard.

Even the love interests were done dirty. Matt, who spent Book 1 proving his versatility as an actor, ends up in an action movie again, even though he's playing the villain this time. Look, I get that action movies are his specialization, but would it be better if he tries something that doesn't throw his efforts to waste for once? It doesn't help that him starring in the same movie as Jessica means he ends up hogging the spotlight again until Chapter 10. Seth finally gets to work with Teja, who gets to direct her own movie. Unfortunately, they end up bickering like kids while expecting Jessica to take one side over the other. This is a far cry from their personalities back in Book 1, where they were sensible and addressed serious issues of their respective careers. It's like the writers decided they no longer cared for both of them and screwed their personalities. Victoria is shoved aside to a movie of her own and given no storyline, rendering her superfluous, which is another huge disservice done to her, especially since it's revealed that her experience resembles Jessica's the most. That could've given her some opportunity to help Jessica in a major way while not imposing her as the main love interest. All this happened just to build up Thomas Hunt, a character from the HWU app, as a love interest. As someone who has never played that game, I wonder why he should be a love interest even though he already has a story that paid its due, especially since he may already have a love interest to someone who isn't Jessica in some people's games, which made me uncomfortable. Not to mention that she never knew him on a personal level in Chapter 10. It was a no-brainer for me to reject him.

Chazz does yet another thing that proves how much I dislike him. Instead of quitting when his own best friend got attacked, he quitted when Matt got injured even though he wasn't responsible for Matt. If he is really Jessica's best friend, he would've quitted right after she got attacked. Some friend...

As for the HWU characters finally becoming supporting characters during the last third of Book 2, it gets ruined by the Viktor Montmartre arc, which addresses an important issue, getting sidelined. It gets worse with Thomas Hunt becoming a love interest just to pander to nostalgic HWU players while ignoring the important issue that is sexual harassment in the film industry. Look, I get that there are people who have played HWU who want to see more of them, but it shouldn't be done at the cost of the storyline, especially one that addresses an important issue.

And what about Apricott Persimmon and Chadley Fortnum? Honestly, I agree with this post that Apricott's insecurities should've been hinted at early during her debut and developed throughout her screen time instead of dumped at the last moment possible as a buildup to a premium option. Doing so would've given another perspective from a sheltered individual, especially one serving as a foil to Victoria, who clawed her way to the top instead of being born and raised in fame like Apricott. I also think her method of "I'll help you if you help me first" makes it hard to understand and sympathize her or even convince players to pick the premium option to accompany her. Chadley's okay, though I think he can be a better friend by standing up to Tommy and Apricott.

What could've been done to make it more interesting

Make the protagonist a veteran actor trying to disprove the tabloid rumors about being washed-up a la Victoria, or even make her the protagonist: I know the latter's controversial because not everyone likes Victoria, and doing so means altering her character in some ways, but I find the idea of a veteran defying the odds a more interesting story than that of a newbie rising to the top. To be honest, I prefer playing as a character who starts out having flaws in behavior and skills and doing their best to overcome them.

Work with the HWU crew since Book 1: I admit that working with the HWU characters in the last third of Book 2 was fun because of how helpful they've been, especially Holly Chang. Then it struck me: Why wasn't this in Book 1, where Jessica could've been at least content to get a supporting or minor role and sticking with it? Having her work with the HWU characters alongside the love interests would've been a better way to use them, like with the HSS old guard. That would've at least pleased HWU players who expect to see more of them. I think their lack of real involvement in Book 1 is one factor in the series' failure, which contributed to demands for more of their appearance in Book 2. Unfortunately, their growing prominence derailed the #MeToo-inspired plot by sidelining it. Since I prefer having the protagonist being a veteran instead of a newbie, have her work with them as a last resort to prove the tabloids wrong while addressing important issues of her time.

Get rid of Markus von Groot: The previous point brings me to the conclusion that Markus is ultimately unnecessary, in addition to being loathsome. I've already mentioned the reasons why I hate him, though I started disliking him when I first played the last third of Book 2. Ironic because he doesn't appear on that part.

Do not make Thomas Hunt a love interest: No offense to those who are romancing Hunt, but his setup as a love interest raises too many red flags on creepy older men taking advantage of younger women. A mysterious note in your room telling you to meet that person in a dark, secluded area? What could possibly go wrong with that? Another factor is that Jessica didn't know him on a personal level during the bridge meeting. Look, I get that he's not a bad guy like Viktor, and he's a capable director, but Jessica was still suffering from the attack, and Hunt hates Viktor as well, so the latter should've known better than to meet Jessica in a secluded place. Not to mention that as a HWU character, Hunt has no business hogging the spotlight, let alone as a love interest.

Stick to one tone: After reading this post, I couldn't agree more on the weak points of RCD. The weak execution of the harassment issue and the shift in tone despite its original presentation as a light-hearted take on Hollywood is proof that Pixelberry is desperate to keep making it lucrative no matter the long-term results and costs.

My thoughts on Book 3

Honestly, I was furious at the announcement that there will be a third book and Pixelberry continuing such a horrible series just because it was "popular" with the "silent majority". If this book eventually gets released, I'll just play it as a diamond mine and for Victoria Fontaine and the ocelot. If I'm feeling optimistic about it, which I'm not, all the love interests have equal face time, I get to see more of Holly Chang, and Markus von Groot never appears. Unfortunately, the more I think about RCD, the angrier I feel, bringing me to the conclusion that it's a lost cause and irrefutable evidence of Pixelberry's mismanagement of time, resources, and effort. If it weren't for the few characters I like in this series, I would've shunned Book 3.

[isthemedia]

Ao3 Link

Chapter 1 NSFW

Chapter 2

Chapter 3 NSFW

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7 NSFW

Chapter 8

Chapter 9 NSFW

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

~~~~~~

                                                Chapter 12

He hated this. Hated it! He didn’t care what those reports said. Ain’t no way this villain was some type of saint in disguise!

Snipe scowled behind his mask. He KNEW what the blonde was capable of. He remembered helping Shouta try and trace the blonde after a heist. Managed to funnel the whole lump sum of donations from a function right under their noses--

Alright, sure Snipe know the guy who was putting on the function would weasel out of making sure every cent went to charity he claimed he was supporting...but since HE managed to drain it all, that meant that it weren’t going anywhere but the blonde’s own pocket!

He was a crook. A thief. A villain. And there was no way he’d keep playing this game with him.

“YAMA-SAN!” He tried to ignore, just how happy those kids sounded when they arrived at Wings of Refuge.  

How could everyone be so blind? Oh yeah sure he didn’t notice him at first either, but...come on. He stuck out like a sore thumb! The guy was WAY too noticeable.

He watch as Mic picked up one of the kids and carried them inside. Snipe was just counting the seconds. This was a waste of time.

HE was making THEM waste their time.

Mic greeted and gave a soft kiss to the top of one of the caretakers head. An older man with prominent wrinkles around his eyes, who just seem just too goddamn happy to see the blonde.

Villains were villains. And heroes were heroes. No acceptions. It was a clear black and white matter. There were no grey areas in this.

--

Mic sat with the boy on the bench seat at the piano. Ahhh, he remembered how hard it was to get them one. Took a hell of a lot of work. But so worth it...and it wasn’t all that bad if he was being completely honest. Had to be the most time he spent with HIS hero before all this. He held back the laugh as he remembered.

Ahhh...good times.

Even though with all that’s happened, and he’s now under this...protection program, he had to admit that he did miss those times. He felt like he was getting lazy a bit. He needed to get back out and just do something!

Maybe he could convince the kids to help him sneak out?

No...no he couldn’t do that. They’d be in more trouble than they already are.

He felt a tug on his shirt and looked down to see the boy grinning, waiting patiently. He gave a soft chuckle. “Alright, what do you want me to play kiddo?”  

--

As the kids were getting ushered into the to mess hall, Snipe roughly grabbed the back of Mic’s shirt. The blonde could hear seams pop some as he was roughly hauled up against a wall.

“Listen here,” Snipe drawled. “I don’t know what ya did to get Thirteen and Cementoss ta trust ya, but it won’t work on me.”

“Tch, they’re adults they can make their own decisions,” Mic huffed. What was this hero’s deal with him. Alright he didn’t like him. Did he have to be such an ass about it?

“You’re making us waste our time with all this,” the homing hero hissed. “We could be doing something more important, but instead we’re babysittin’ your ass!”

“If it bothers you so much than why not leave?” Mic sneered. “If it’s OBVIOUSLY that annoying to you.”

Snipe scoffed as he shoved the blonde aside. “I don’t have time for this. I don’t know what your game is, but I sure as hell ain’t playing it.” He turned away and headed out. If he left, and then there was a distress call, then that would just prove this guy was jerking their chains. It would PROVE that he was just playing them.

Give them the chance to just haul his ass to jail where he could just sit and rot! He grumbled and kicked the door open...flinching as he remembered that probably wasn't the best thing a hero should do to an orphanage.

Fucking Voice villain.  

Mic huffed as he watch the hero leave. Jeeze, what had him so uptight? Not like he MADE the hero come with him. It was Princi-pet’s idea. And nobody else seemed to have a problem with it. So what the actual fuck?

“Yamada?” the elderly man asked as he stepped out. “Is everything, alright out here?”

“Ah yeah Atakita-san,” Mic jumped a bit, shit did he hear? How much?!

“Hmm? Where did that hero fella go off too?”

“He, ah, g-got a call! Ya know, hero work and all,” the blonde explained. “No worries...come on, bet the kids are starvin’!” He continued as he ushered the elderly man back into the mess hall.

Unbeknownst to any of them, a set of eyes were watching the orphanage from afar.

--

“There’s a distress call coming in,” Thirteen stated.

“Ah from where?” Ishiyama asked.

“...Wings of Refuge,” the space hero said.

“Ah, M-Mic-kun was suppose to be there,” Toshinori said as he stood up and went over to the other two.

“Wasn’t Snipe suppose to be with him?” Thirteen asked.

“What’s going on?” a voice asked as the door slid open. Shouta stepping in, sleeping bag tucked under his arm.

“And incoming distress call from...ah, Wings of Refuge,” Ishiyama summarized.

Shouta’s eyes widened some...Mic was there. Did he do something?

Or...did something...happen?

‘He’s in trouble,’ the voice urged. ‘Save him.’

“Ah Eraser-san,” Thirteen called after. Shouta faltered some, realizing he was already rushing out of the faculty room and down the halls.

It was, almost like instinct. He...needed to go find the Voice villain.

--

Oh...oooooh! This was going to be fun. Mic covered his mouth trying his best to hide his grin, to muffle his laugh.

Ah fuck! It has been too long since he’s had any action like this! Even if they weren’t heroes--he just HAD to do it! It was an itch he just couldn’t scratch himself. Couldn’t get the same relief.

He just...couldn’t help himself.

--

Snipe’s phone went off. When the homing hero answer he was greeted by a curt tone.

“Where are you?” Nedzu asked sharply.

“Patrolling the center of the City sir. Wasn’t needed to just keep babysittin’ our guest,” he stated.

“That’s NOT what you were assigned to do,” the principal stated.

“We’re just wasting our time! Sir, you should know that there’s something he’s hiding! I know he’s up to somethin’. Eraser and I had to deal with his crimes before. Just ‘cause he can act like he plays nice doesn’t me he actually does.”

There wasn’t an immediate response from the high spec user. In fact the silence stretched for about a minute. “Is that why you left your post?”

“It is.”

There was a heavy sigh. “We’ve gotten a distress call.”

“I can take it sir!”

“...at Wings of Refuge.”

He fucking knew it! He called it! That blonde bastard WAS just using them! When he’d get there he was going to make sure the Voice villain was locked up for good! Snipe hung up without any further explanation and ran off.

--

Seems that the villains didn’t expect somebody to fight back. Let alone ACTUALLY be able to fight back. They were all so slow. They were sloppy with their moves too.

Ahhh, so boring. Nothing like when he fought Eraser.

God he wanted to fight his hero again. Fuuuuck to just feel that weapon around him...tightening. Maybe he’d gag him again? Just glare at him with the eyes. Look at him with disgust.

Dammit he missed that. And this poor fight wasn’t helping him in the sligh--

“You fucker!”

Mic laughed as he sidestepped. Too predictable. Just too, too predictable. He grabbed the wrist of his attacker, about to toss him when...he suddenly couldn’t move his hands. “What?”

Green eyes took a quick look and saw where his hands were on the other’s wrist, were now hidden under what looked like a metal coating. Shit! A Quirk user!?

The other laughed. “Metal Coat. Sure can’t cover my full body...but I can cover any area and anything that fucking touches it.”

Fuck! He fucked up. Mic was too busy reeling that he didn’t see the coating retract, and reform about the user’s other fist…

Until the blonde was met with a hard and near devastating uppercut.

He royally fucked up.

--

“I tolja the guy couldn’t be trusted!” Snipe yelled.

“We don’t know if he’s the one behin--”

“Are you hearing yourself Cementoss!? Do you really think a villain would do this stuff in his off time!?” The homing hero argued.

“H-he just doesn’t seem to be the type…” Thirteen stated. “He seems to be very much against hurting kids.”

“Villains are villains! It’s as plain as that!”

Shouta couldn’t take it. The arguing between the three, he rushed to the door and kicked it in. ‘Your villain is in trouble. He’s YOURS.’

--

Mic gagged as he threw up from to a strong kick to his abdomen. Shit, that metal coating quirk.

His vision blurring slight...shiiit he saw blood in it. Another swift kick had him rolling across the floor.

Kids were screaming...crying...the caretakers were pleading and trying to calm them down.

Fuuuuck he couldn’t use his Quirk. Too many risks. Everyone would be affected. He could end up bringing down the roof. HE’D be found out, and this place would just forever be a target. Purrs and Paws….Open Doors Open Hearts...his old apartment--

U.A would be in another fucking scandal--

He struggled as he tried to push himself up...a laugh bubbling out of him. Dammit...where was that fucking hero? Did he REALLY up and leave? What a judgemental ass.

“You just don’t know when to quit do ya!?” A villain sneered as they knocked Mic down again. A sick grin split the metal coat user’s face as he kicked him in the side.

The Mic gasped as he clutched his side.

Shit shit shit! Fuck shit!

The villain stomped on his left hand, it wasn’t enough to break anything, but mother fucker it still hurt! Mic bit his lip. It was getting harder and harder to hold back his Quirk.

But he had to.

He HAD to!

The sound of the door being kicked in stuttered the blonde’s thoughts as sunlight poured in. He had to squint his eyes--

And felt his right arm suddenly getting grabbed and pulled up. Eyes widened as he felt a foot placing itself along the outside of his elbow.

--

The sound of bones cracking was the first thing Shouta heard. It was deafening. It had him freeze in place...in fact, everything just, slowed down for him. Eyes widening as he saw Mic bite his lip to prevent himself from screaming as his right arm, now bent at an angle that was unnatural, as it flopped useless to the blonde’s chest.

‘Help him. Help him...he’s yours. Don’t let anyone touch him!’

The blond curling in on himself. The villain that stood over the blonde laughed as that metallic coating shifted and covered the base of his foot as stepped down on side of Mic’s face.

“Just gotta play hero doncha!? Well look at where it ge--” He was nearly thrown off the blonde when Shouta’s capture weapon wrapped around him.

The Eraser hero only saw red. All he could hear were the pained muffled whimpers of the Voice villain.

He yanked the villain to him, and delivered a punch to their gut as he came down.

--

Thirteen rushed to the kids and caretakers trying to calm them down and direct them out of harm's way.

Snipe stood in shock inside the doorway. What-what was this? W-wasn’t the blonde suppose to be the one causing the trouble? Why was he lying out all battered and broken?

Just what the hell--

A pained howl left the metal coat user as Shouta elbowed him hard in the face. Breaking his nose. The villain was already pleading. Surrendering.

Stop stop stop! I give up! I give up!

He had no problems dishing this out to Mic. He thought, he ACTUALLY thought that if he begged that would make him stop!? Shouta scowled as pulled the cowering villain up and gave another punch to their already brushing face.

Then another.

And another.

And another.

And--

Cementoss had to forcefully pull Shouta away from the villain, as he snapped out of his blind fury. The villain’s face was battered, bruised, and bloodied.

“SONNUVA!” Snipe swore. “He tried to bite me!”

Shouta looked over and saw the homing hero kneeling besides Mic. He felt his blood boil again as he shrugged off the other’s hold on his shoulder. He marched over. “Maybe it’s because YOU left him here.”

The underground hero glared at the other before he knelt down. His heart was racing. H-he didn’t know what was going on. B-but seeing Mic...seeing him in such pain.

Usually the blonde would laugh when he was in pain. But...he wasn’t. He wasn’t laughing now. He wasn’t grinning.

Carefully he rolled the other onto their back. He could see small trails of blood down the blonde’s chin from biting his lip to keep him from screaming and activating his Quirk.

“Mic,” he called softly.

Slowly, glassy green eyes opened and looked over. “Era...ser.” His voice was choked and cracking some.

Finally the extent as to the blonde’s injured started to crash down on him. The reason why who didn’t use his Quirk. The fact he put the lives of the kids and the caretakers ahead of himself, That fact that he--

“H-hey,” Mic began with a choked laugh as he reached out with his left hand and touched Shouta’s cheek, causing the man to jump. “Breathe, Eraser.”

Shouta didn’t realize he already reached up to cover Mic’s hand with his own. The blonde hissed at the contact and he pulled back. His eyes studying the hand. It was...black and blue, possibly fractured.  He opened his mouth to say something. He wanted to ask how he was. But all that came out...

“I...thought you...liked pain.”

Mic gave a wet laugh. “Oh...baby,” Shouta watched as the blonde’s body hitched as he tried to take a deep breath. “I-it onlys feels good…” he hissed and bit his lip again. “W-when you do it.”

‘Only you...only from you.’  Shouta felt his heart race a bit. J-just what was this villain...doing to him?

--

“--so you’ll just need to rest up until you’re fully healed,” Recovery Girl instructed.

“...do you wanna see a man with a broken arm climb the walls? Cause that’s what gonna happen,” Mic huffed. He couldn't believe this…He was going to lose it. He knows he would!

He could barely stand staying at his apartment for more than a few hours before he started to go stir crazy. How the fuck could he handle bed rest for...however the long this whole fucking thing would take?!

He had a lot to do still! Who was going to pick up his slack if his couldn’t get to his volunteer shifts?

Who was gonna make sure Girly didn’t over do it when she practiced her Quirk and got sick again?

And Shining Girl! He was gonna show them simple things they could do with their hair since they didn’t feel comfortable growing it out yet.

Not to mention there was--

FUCK! He was not going to be able to just lay here!

Recovery Girl just laughed. “I could bring in Eraser Head to tie you down.”

The blonde perked. “You promise?”

The healer only giggled slightly. “He was insistent that you rest up, and to call him as a last resort. His direct orders, according to him.”

Mic felt himself grinning as he laid back again. Eraser...Aizawa...his hero’s orders. Goddamn, he just knew how to get him to do anything. Though part of him wanted to disobey. His hero tying him up? Oooh, he was sure that would make him feel so much better than he did now.

The sound of the door sliding open drew the blonde from his thoughts.

“I-is, he awake?”

Recovery Girl nodded. “But please try to keep it down.”

Kirishima grinned as he stepped in followed by several other students. “Yama-san!”

“Oh fuck, ah RockBoy? What are you…” he trailed off when he saw all the kids. “The hell?”

“Well, um,” Kirishima began. “W-we heard that you got pretty hurt...and so ah--”

“Well we know you don't like getting bored so we-we came up with something!” Uraraka finished. “I-I mean it-it’s not like your volunteer work...but we hope it’s something!”

“Lay it on me, ya got me curious,” Mic said as he gave a small grin.

“Well, ah,” Ashido held up a notebook. “Um...I...I kinda suck at English. And I...well since I feel bad asking A-All Might for help…”

The blonde stared at the kids. Homework? Th-they wanted him to help them with their homework? He...he couldn’t help as he chuckled a bit. He saw the looks on all their faces fall--fuck! “No no, don’t take it like that,” He assured as he tried to get himself to stop laughing. “I-it’s a fucking great idea!”

“R-really!?” Uraraka asked as her eye sparkled slightly.

“Yeah,” he nodded and grinned.

Shit these kids...he fucking loved them.

He...almost forgot that...when he was younger how much he wanted to be a teacher. This wasn’t quite the same but, fuck it. It was close enough.

-------

A/N: No I'm not trying to vilify Snipe. Snipe's personality and just how he carries himself has this notion that there is no grey area. To him there is no in-between. Yes he's stubborn for thinking this, however in the series in general we really haven't seen a character that is completely morally ambiguous (haven't had a chance to read Vigilantes so I don't know how they handle moral ambiguity there); so the idea of Mic being just that is something that's a new concept to him and a lot of other people.

The kids are more accepting because they're young enough to see and learn that sometimes life just puts people into these boxes because it's just easier to keep them separated that way then.

(Also we're getting more looks into Mic's more illegal acts)

[chatting-leaves]

Thursday September 20th: Part 1 of 2

Genre: Personal. Very thinly veiled fiction.

The last time September 20th was on a Thursday, I woke up feeling very optimistic. That morning was to be the first morning of a new job assignment I had taken from a small staffing agency, my first work in nearly three months. Eight months earlier, my wife and I had moved to the northern suburbs of Boston, her home, after she had complained of feelings of homesickness and ennui and she felt she had nothing to lose by going back home. While in theory neither she - or even myself, who had been out of work prior - had nothing to lose, in practice we had everything to lose.

On that morning, I awoke in the guest bedroom of her grandparents house, our residence since we had moved as a means of having some place to stay at the outset. Instead, our lives had become what I would refer to as a “sadistic game of Wack-a-Mole” in which our employment statuses varied - first I had a contract position, then she finally got a relevant job four months after our arrival, then my position expired - and kept us from getting a place of our own. When this job arrived, I was told that it was a “sure thing” by the woman at the hiring agency; that while it was at the outset for only one month, there was “a very, very good chance” that it would become a permanent position and that my new employer, a semiconductor startup, was “a very strong operation that liked [my] background.” Over the ensuing eight months, we had become a bit more cynical, a little more than a bit chubbier, and a lot more worn down from having had little privacy for most of our first year of marriage and we were wanting to get a place of our own. After a shower and breakfast, I packed some snacks and a lunch and made my way out the door, walking down our residential street with signs for the upcoming elections littering our street, a byproduct of sorts of toxic political culture. Amidst the signs before reaching the main road came another form of litter echoing an alarming trend, discarded syringes and needle covers left by those abusing injectable drugs such as heroin. At the main road, I waited for a bus into Boston and upon boarding then weaved through an assortment of working class areas that could be seen by some more exclusionary types as the epitome of the stereotype of the “Townie”: rarely traveled, insular, working class, yet also a bit elitist in terms of town status and their defence of local sports teams. This commute is something I had done too many times to count when I had previously worked and on other days when I had taken a day off to ward off cabin fever and to try to have some semblance of the life we had left prior in a compact, accessible neighborhood of Washington, DC where everything I needed was either within walking distance or accessible by copious amounts of transit. We worked out way into Boston, eventually reaching the notorious highway of Route 1, through the twists of the post-industrial Chelsea before what some called Boston’s “other Green Monster”, the Tobin Bridge. At that time, it was a hunk of vaguely green metal pockmarked with copious amounts of rust where we sat stopped as the morning rush meandered its way through the toll booths to be waved through en route to our eventual arrival. After that point, I went through a similarly meandering journey via subway - Green Line to the historical Park Street, then Red Line to the bustling South Station, then a transfer to a confused mode known as the Silver Line, a mode often derided as a “bus that acts like a train” which would bring me to the front door of the building where I was to work. In my two weeks of waiting for this job, a period which my start date had been postponed twice as I was originally to have started the Thursday prior, I had never made the decision to do a dry run to see how this commute would have worked out and once the bus dropped me off I was a bit in shock at the scale of where I was working. I had known that it was in a relatively isolated of the South Boston Waterfront - or the “Seaport District” in modern marketing lingo - but the mass of the buildings once used as warehouses seemed a bit stunning as I tried to find exactly where to go in the linear maze I had fallen upon.

Having a few minutes to kill before my shift, I made my way to a restroom to give a final check of how I looked to make sure I made an excellent first impression. While the email I had received stated that business casual was the code, I decided to side with a pair of suit pants and a nice sweater I owned with a green and red argyle pattern. This choice was giving deference to the weather that morning, unseasonably cool and a harbinger of the coming autumn set to start officially the next day. I then made it upstairs to find an office full of people mainly in t-shirts and jeans, typical for a technology startup but I always liked being one better as to set a good example. After asking for the woman who was to be my boss, Kathryn, I was given the terse word that she was in a meeting and that I should wait a few minutes. Once she returned, someone spoke with her and then brought her my way. Without given any sort of greeting or salutations, Kathryn went immediately to business.

“Can you put together those three chairs?,” Kathryn said gesturing to three unopened boxes. “I’ll give you 30 minutes to an hour to do so. The sooner you finish these, the better because we need these chairs.” I responded affirmatively but withheld the truth - that I had never put office furniture together in my life and that the job description furnished to me had mentioned nothing of the sort. I will gladly say that I am a team player and will go above and beyond the call of duty, the description had been given had a lot of phone calls, emails, editing correspondence such as press releases, nothing of the sort about light furniture assembly. Not wanting to show weakness or failure, I spent the better part of the next hour trying to put together said chairs and succeeded in doing so. After finishing, Kathryn barked another order at me.

“Can you make some construction paper footballs for the football watch party on Sunday?” I had been told at the outset that the entire office had a Fantasy Football league and that they often had day-long watch parties during the NFL season. This Sunday made things convenient as the Patriots were playing in the night game, viewed nationwide and one of a handful of games each week seen all around the world. As with furniture assembly, arts and crafts was never one of my strong points yet once again I did what I needed to do even if it was well outside my job description. While doing my best to get these assembled, both via creation and by writing the names of employees and other guests on them, I started to feel some doubts about the job as twice they had given me duties well beyond what I had prepared myself for; in fact, in assembling the furniture I had started to sweat as I obviously had not dressed for such a task. When done, Kathryn directed me to a computer and left a copy of their corporate compliance handbook with some notes attached.

“We’ve had to update our policy on bringing dogs into the office. Can you edit this in? Here’s your login,” she said while also giving me a piece of paper with a username - my name, last name heavily mangled - and temporary password. After helping myself to some complimentary pretzels and a soda, a hallmark of a startup leaving free food and drink for their employees, I tried to log in only to find the username the had created for me did not work and after multiple tries brought the matter to Kathryn who claimed that she would have it sorted out during my lunch later that day. Logging me into a guest account, I made all the edits that I had been given as well as doing some general copy editing as there were some typographical and grammatical errors lingering in the bowels of that handbook. At around 12:30, two-and-a-half hours into a six-and-a-half hour shift, I was given a request.

“Can you go to lunch?,” Kathryn asked.

“It’s a little early to take my lunch, I was going to hold off until I was completely done working on this,” I responded, knowing that I liked to take my lunch closer to the mid-point of my shift to break up the day easier.

“I really want you to take it now,” Kathryn fired back.

“Okay. I brought a lunch in with me which I put in the fridge. Let me just go get it since I don’t need anything else,” I continued.

“I really need you to leave for lunch. There’s an Au Bon Pain two buildings over. I’m sure you can get there, eat, and get back in a half hour. Your work can wait,” Kathryn insisted.

Under protest, I relented and took the walk over to Au Bon Pain, a bakery cafe with the typical assortment of salads, sandwiches, baked goods, and the like. While walking, I realized that “two buildings over” was a good five minute walk given the massive scale of each building and upon arriving I discovered that this literally was the only viable lunch spot for a pretty large community of workers as there were no other establishments open at that time. Not being a fan of salad and not wanting to hold up the line, I ended up deciding on a container of lobster macaroni and cheese from a small self-serve bar and a baguette as it was the easiest option to get, eat, and run back. This lunch set me back about $10, not much to the established people there but for someone who had not worked in three months was a relatively large sum as by that point I was not even getting unemployment due to a conflict that surfaced right before taking this job. As I ate, I wondered if my being forced out of the office had a ulterior motive to it such as ending the assignment; a prior non-temporary job I had did this to set up a meeting to let me go due to having less resources to support my position than originally thought. “Surely a job would not let someone go after only two hours,” I thought as I finished my lunch and made a mad dash back to to the office. Upon returning, I found a slip of paper with my fixed username and a temporary password. Once again, it did not work and once again Kathryn put me back on a guest account to finish editing the handbook then to add some more names to a mailing list they maintained. By 2:30 that afternoon, I had exhausted all of the work I was given only to find that she was in a meeting and the only advice given to me was to “wait for her”. For the next half hour, I sat and waited while trying to not play with my charging phone, my fear being that had I done so it would be used as just cause to end the assignment. Upon Kathryn’s return, she came with news.

“I think they fixed your username,” she said. Once again, I tried only to find that the username in the system still did not exist. After a couple of minutes, she ended up relenting.

“You can go home now if you want,” she offered. “We really don’t have anything else left here and we can just start fresh on Monday.” Going into this, both she and the agency knew that I had a standing commitment that required I not work on the 21st - we had plans to go to Vermont for our first anniversary.

“Are you sure I’ll be here on Monday,” I asked.

“Yes. As much as today seemed rocky we really will need the help starting next week,” Kathryn concluded. I went to get most of my stuff but I felt confident to leave my lunch - a package of frozen pizza bites - in the freezer for the weekend. After that, I went to catch a bus home, about an hour later reaching my front door before the afternoon rush intensified. As optimistic as my departure that day was, I couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that something might be slightly awry given what had transpired. While packing my clothes for the imminent vacation, I wondered what would happen when the agency inevitably called to see how my first day was and mulled giving them a preemptive all to get it over and done with.

Little did I know what was set to transpire.

[shirlleycoyle]

The ‘PC Master Race’ Still Sucks

On September 13, 2018, The Verge published a video guide for building a PC. Hosted by writer Stefan Etienne, the video was only 10 minutes long, and included a shocking amount of errors in that short time, some of which could ruin a computer. 

The video instructed viewers to install components in the wrong order. When laying out his tools, Etienne referred to two zip ties as "tweezers." He applied way too much thermal paste to the CPU. 

The response from the PC building and gaming community was immediate and ruthless. People started pointing out the numerous errors in the video on forums and social media. PC-oriented YouTubers and Twitch streamers made reaction videos, analyzing and mocking Etienne's many errors. While the written version of the guide is still up on the Verge, the publication eventually took down the video. 

Today, Etienne will readily admit every error in the video, and has recently gone on the massively popular PC YouTube channel Linus Tech Tips to talk about the ordeal, and build a new PC with the eponymous Linus in an attempt at redemption. 

The video aims to be a capstone for the whole affair. With Linus's blessing, Etienne has served his sentence of terrible internet virality. He made a mistake online, was run out of the PC community he considered himself a part of, and now that he's been thoroughly punished, he is ready to continue making the kind of content he'd been making for years before the infamous video derailed him. 

It's a familiar cycle for online infamy, but allowing the Verge video debacle to simply end there ignores that the PC gaming community remains a largely unchecked haven for assholes. The clearest example of the worst aspects of this community is that, in addition to being mocked for his mistakes, Etienne said that he also received threats of violence, and that some people used racist slurs against him and the Verge editor in chief Nilay Patel. 

"You put a couple screws in wrong, and you're a [n-word] now?" Etienne told me in an interview. "Nah, no, no, no, that's not how it works, bro."

That racial slurs would come out of a community that still jokingly defines itself with a reference to Nazi ideology—on Reddit the "PC Master Race" community has more than 5 million members—is not a surprise. In 2015, PC Gamer, a publication that caters to this community, encouraged readers to reject this term because of its racist connotations. 

In 2016, I had my own brush with this side of the PC gaming community, after I published an article saying that getting into PC gaming is still way too hard. I've spent almost 20 years writing and editing online, sometimes covering criminals and actual neo-Nazis, and have seen plenty of readers respond with very angry, sometimes anti-Semitic comments. But the only time an editor ever checked in with me to see if I was doing okay because of the fallout of an article was after I said that installing an all-in-one CPU water cooler is not super easy. That's how big and vicious the response was. 

My argument was and remains that while a PC is the best way to play games, it can be quite difficult to get into because of a high upfront cost; difficulties in shopping for the right build for the right budget; and the actual process of building the PC, which requires significant time and effort if it goes well, and can be frustrating and costly if anything goes wrong. 

I've recently upgraded my GPU to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, and, after months of diagnosing a recurring problem, upgraded my failing CPU to an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, which required a new motherboard. While I was at it, I also replaced (on Linus's recommendation) my all-in-one water cooler with a Noctua heatsink and fan CPU cooler.

The size of these new components made installing them even harder. My Gigabyte-manufactured 3080 is over a foot long, and the Noctua cooler is so large it almost touches the far end of my large PC case. I had to move my SSD and remove an HDD tray rack entirely to make room for the GPU, which barely fits in the case. The CPU cooler is now so large that, as far as I can tell, I have to remove it in order to reach the RAM in case I want to upgrade it, which would mean reapplying the thermal paste and reinstalling the cooler. If I make a mistake during this process and damage a part, it could cost hundreds of dollars, and I might not even be able to get a replacement because there's a global shortage of parts. 

It all worked out, but building a PC can be stressful depending on your budget and level of experience, and as Linus pointed out in his video with Etienne, doing any of this in the context of a video shoot, where there's limited time and things have to be performed for the camera, makes it much more difficult. According to Etienne, this is a big reason why the Verge video went so wrong. 

Etienne told me the video shoot started at noon on a Friday, but that the shoot began with around three hours of photographing every single component, inside and outside the box. At around 3 p.m., he began the actual building process by unboxing the components on camera. As the process went on, prolonged by the fact that the camera had to capture it from several angles, Etienne and the video crew were getting close to 5 p.m. on a Friday, and the crew was itching to start the weekend. 

"They start talking about what they want to do that evening, because it's Friday, which, hey, like we're all human, it's a Friday, we want to leave work," Etienne told me. "But it's 3 p.m. Right? You're not leaving anytime soon, the shoot just started."

"The Verge has always had zero tolerance for vile, bad-faith harassment campaigns against reporters, and this situation is no different," Patel told Motherboard in a statement. "You can read the editors’ note that Verge leadership posted in support of Verge writer Sarah Jeong in August 2018, and my own tweet below denouncing internet harassment, specifically addressing the PC build video. In addition to public support from editorial, Vox Media provides security support to ensure the safety and well-being of any staff members experiencing harassment."

Patel and Vox Media, which owns the Verge, did not respond to a specific question about how long Etienne had for the shoot.

The kinds of pressures Etienne describes are entirely familiar to me from Motherboard's own video productions. We've published two similar videos, one about building an Ethereum mining rig, and another about upgrading RAM on a 2017 iMac. It involves much more than just turning a camera on and doing the thing. There's a studio space that is booked ahead for a specific period of time. There are lighting and sound considerations which are different for every angle. If you fumble, you have to do it over again. PC enthusiasts often say that building a PC is just like playing with Lego, but imagine installing a CPU heatsink backplate in a cramped PC case while it's facing away from you and towards a camera, and while the clock is ticking. 

"Members of [the crew that shot the video] came back to me personally after to literally walk me outside and apologize to me and say 'I didn't know building a computer was so hard,'" Etienne said. "It's not a quantum computer, but it's not Lego."

"That's one of the reasons I didn't get personal about what went up in that video," Linus said in his video with Etienne. "To me it looked more like a systemic problem. Someone, especially who has never done something before on camera, should have an experienced supervisor making sure that they don't say or do anything dumb, because it happens. That's the role that I'm playing here that was clearly completely absent at the Verge. How the fuck did that video ever get uploaded?" 

Etienne said that after the incident that having that kind of supervision during shoots did become policy at the Verge after the PC video. 

“Any time we issue a correction or in rare cases take down published material we try to learn from it and prevent similar things from happening in the future," Patel said.

One mistake Etienne makes in the Verge video is using the wrong screws to mount the motherboard to the case. As Linus points out in the video with Etienne, when you're building a PC, you'll have multiple types of screws with the same threading that look similar, but have different purposes. Here, for example, is an M3 button head screw and an M3 countersunk screw, side-by-side. One would be used to mount the motherboard while the other would be used for installing an SSD into a tray:

Image: Linus Tech Tips

This is the kind of minutiae a user has to internalize in order to build their own PC correctly, and it's a big reason why people cling to their game consoles and Macs even though a PC is so much better than both. It might not seem like a big difference, but using the wrong screw, especially a screw that is too long, can permanently damage the motherboard or other expensive components. 

This is basically what I said in my 2016 article, and I still get angry emails about it today. My favorite reaction came from Gamers Nexus, a PC YouTube channel (that I like!), which made a response video to the article to "defend the PC building culture." In it, Gamers Nexus editor in chief Steve Burke (again, big fan!) opens by mocking me for saying that I cut myself while building the PC and joking that "I bled for this fucking thing." Ten minutes later into the same video, Burke proceeds to cut himself while building a PC.

That some people reacted to Etienne's Verge video with harassment doesn't just make PC building inaccessible because it requires a basic familiarity with the technology. It allows a minority of bigoted idiots to lay claim to a fine hobby, and alienate everyone else. That some of the harassment is racist and misogynistic also turns the hobby into a space that's difficult to enter if you're anything but a white man.

Etienne told me that so far, the reaction to his video with Linus has been positive. It's the reaction we should have had from the start. Rather than punish and harass someone for making a mistake, the community should have reached out to help and bring more people in. Etienne said the video with Linus has invigorated him to make content again. Some people, he said, have sent messages to him and his girlfriend, apologizing for using slurs against them when the Verge video came out. 

"Sometimes people are phony, they'll say they were sorry, when they were never sorry," Etienne said. "Or they'll say sorry, because they feel bad, and they want you to like them again. There's all types of angles. My thing with it is, I don't care. As long as the right content got out there."

The ‘PC Master Race’ Still Sucks syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[covid19worldnews]

What If Facebook Is the Real ‘Silent Majority’?

The Shift

Right-wing influencers are dominating the political discussion on Facebook, raising questions about whether it will translate into electoral success in November.

President Trump continues to have a lot of support among users on the social network.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

Published Aug. 27, 2020Updated Nov. 4, 2020, 6:42 a.m. ET

Listen, liberals. If you don’t think Donald Trump can get re-elected in November, you need to spend more time on Facebook.

Since the 2016 election, I’ve been obsessively tracking how partisan political content is performing on Facebook, the world’s largest and arguably most influential media platform. Every morning, one of the first browser tabs I open is CrowdTangle — a handy Facebook-owned data tool that offers a bird’s-eye view of what’s popular on the platform. I check which politicians and pundits are going viral. I geek out on trending topics. I browse the previous day’s stories to see which got the most reactions, shares and comments.

Most days, the leader board looks roughly the same: conservative post after conservative post, with the occasional liberal interloper. (If you want to see these lists for yourselves, you can check out @FacebooksTop10, a Twitter account I created that shows the top 10 most-interacted-with link posts by U.S. Facebook pages every day.)

It’s no secret that, despite Mr. Trump’s claims of Silicon Valley censorship, Facebook has been a boon to him and his allies, and hyperpartisan Facebook pages are nothing new. (In fact, my colleague John Herrman wrote about them four years ago this month.)

But what sticks out, when you dig in to the data, is just how dominant the Facebook right truly is. Pro-Trump political influencers have spent years building a well-oiled media machine that swarms around every major news story, creating a torrent of viral commentary that reliably drowns out both the mainstream media and the liberal opposition.

The result is a kind of parallel media universe that left-of-center Facebook users may never encounter, but that has been stunningly effective in shaping its own version of reality. Inside the right-wing Facebook bubble, President Trump’s response to Covid-19 has been strong and effective, Joe Biden is barely capable of forming sentences, and Black Lives Matter is a dangerous group of violent looters.

Mr. Trump and his supporters are betting that, despite being behind Mr. Biden in the polls, a “silent majority” will carry him to re-election. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s oldest and most online son, made that argument himself at the Republican National Convention this week. And while I’m not a political analyst, I know enough about the modern media landscape to know that looking at people’s revealed preferences — what they actually read, watch, and click on when nobody’s looking — is often a better indicator of how they’ll act than interviewing them at diners, or listening to what they’re willing to say out loud to a pollster.

Maybe Mr. Trump’s “silent majority,” in other words, only seems silent because we’re not looking at their Facebook feeds.

“We live in two different countries right now,” said Eric Wilson, a Republican digital strategist and digital director of Marco Rubio’s 2016 campaign. Facebook’s media ecosystem, he said, is “a huge blind spot for people who are up to speed on what’s on the front page of The New York Times and what’s leading the hour on CNN.”

Image

Mr. Trump with Terrence K. Williams, a conservative comedian, at the White House last year.Credit…Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Agence France-Presse, via Getty Images

To be sure, Facebook is not the only medium where right-wing content thrives. Millions of Americans still get their news from cable news and talk radio, where conservative voices have dominated for years. Many pro-Trump Facebook influencers also have sizable presences on Twitter, YouTube and other social networks.

But the right’s dominance on Facebook, specifically, is something to behold. Here are just a few data points I pulled from CrowdTangle this week:

The conservative commentator Ben Shapiro has gotten 56 million total interactions on his Facebook page in the last 30 days. That’s more than the main pages of ABC News, NBC News, The New York Times, The Washington Post and NPR combined. (Data from a different firm, NewsWhip, showed that Mr. Shapiro’s news outlet, The Daily Wire, was the No. 1 publisher on Facebook in July.)

Facebook posts by Breitbart, the far-right news outlet, have been shared four million times in the past 30 days, roughly three times as many as posts from the official pages of every Democratic member of the U.S. Senate combined.

The most-shared Facebook post containing the term “Black Lives Matter” over the past six months is a June video by the right-wing commentators The Hodgetwins, which calls the racial justice movement a “damn lie.” The second most-shared Black Lives Matter post? A different viral video from The Hodgetwins, this one calling the movement a “leftist lie.” (The Hodgetwins also have the 4th, 6th, and 12th most shared posts.)

Terrence K. Williams, a conservative comedian and Trump supporter, has averaged 86,500 interactions per Facebook post in August, more than twice as many as Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, who has averaged 39,000 interactions per post. (Mr. Trump outdoes them both, naturally, with an average of 92,000 interactions per post.)

A few caveats, before my Democratic readers jump off the nearest pier.

These figures include only posts on public pages, in public groups, and by verified accounts, and they don’t include Facebook ads, where the Biden campaign has been outspending the Trump campaign in recent weeks. Counting Facebook interactions doesn’t tell you how someone felt about a post, so it’s possible some conservative posts are being hate-shared by liberals. And Facebook has argued that engagement isn’t the same thing as popularity.

“These points look mostly at how people engage with content, which should not be confused with how many people actually see it on Facebook,” Joe Osborne, a Facebook spokesman, said in a statement. Mr. Osborne added that “when you look at the content that gets the most reach across Facebook, it’s not at all as partisan as this reporting suggests.” (Facebook does not disclose this type of data publicly, except once in a while in response to my tweets.)

Democrats aren’t totally absent from Facebook’s upper echelon. Ridin’ With Biden, a pro-Biden page started in April by the founders of the liberal Facebook page Occupy Democrats, has quadrupled its following over the past three months, and routinely gets more engagement than Breitbart and other right-wing heavy-hitters. Individual posts by Bernie Sanders, Barack Obama and other prominent Democrats have broken through in recent weeks.

And political campaigners have pointed out, correctly, that being popular on the internet isn’t a guarantee of electoral success. (“Retweets don’t vote,” as an experienced Democratic operative once told me.) In addition, Facebook’s older, more conservative user base may not reflect what’s happening on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, which draw a younger crowd.

Still, the platform’s sheer scale makes it vital to understand. As of 2019, 70 percent of American adults used Facebook, and 43 percent of Americans got news on the platform, according to the Pew Research Center. (Those numbers may have increased because of the pandemic.) We know that the company’s product decisions can make or break political movements, move fringe ideas into the mainstream, or amplify partisan polarization. Registering four million voters before the November election, as Facebook has said it would do, could be a decisive force all on its own. (Typically, higher turnout benefits Democrats, but given what we know about the media diets of hyperactive Facebook users, who knows?)

The reason right-wing content performs so well on Facebook is no mystery. The platform is designed to amplify emotionally resonant posts, and conservative commentators are skilled at turning passionate grievances into powerful algorithm fodder. The company also appears willing to bend its rules for popular conservative influencers. Recent reports by BuzzFeed News and NBC News, based on leaked documents, found that Facebook executives had removed “strikes” from the accounts of several high-profile conservative pages that had shared viral misinformation in violation of the company’s rules.

Image

The Biden campaign has been outspending the Trump campaign on Facebook in recent weeks.Credit…Pete Marovich for The New York Times

Over the past few years, I’ve come to view my daily Facebook data-dive as a kind of early-warning system — a rough gauge of what’s grabbing America’s attention on any given day, and which stories and perspectives will likely break through in the days to come.

And looking at Facebook’s lopsided political media ecosystem might be a useful reality check for Democrats who think Mr. Biden will coast to victory in November.

After all, Mr. Trump’s surging popularity showed up online before it showed up in any polls in 2016. And even though much about Facebook, and American politics, has changed in the past four years, the basic laws of social media physics still apply. Controversy wins. Negative beats positive. All attention looks good to an algorithm.

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Brad Parscale led Mr. Trump’s digital efforts in 2016. Credit…Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Brad Parscale — the digital director of Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign — told “60 Minutes” that of everything Mr. Trump did that year, the thing that actually moved the needle was Facebook.

“Facebook was the method,” Mr. Parscale said. “It was the highway which his car drove on.”

That highway is still open. And right now, the fastest cars on it have MAGA bumper stickers.

Read More

https://www.covid19snews.com/2020/11/04/what-if-facebook-is-the-real-silent-majority/

[healthmxkf655-blog]

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[stillachildatheart]

My Story

Fair warning ahead, this is going to a be a long post. I have no other avenue to vent my hurt and frustration. And as humiliating it is to talk about this, I strongly believe that it needs to be said because I would not wish what is happening to me to happen to any other girl out there. 

My story begins from the time I was a 14 year old girl. My mom and her siblings are quite close-knit. We hang out with each other regularly and always meet up for the holidays. And her elder brother was a favourite uncle because he was cool and always knew how to make us children feel included. My story began when I got my first phone. Those were the days when we youngsters had to rely on a credit-based plan as part of our parents’ idea of teaching us responsibility. Credit for the phone line would come from our own pocket money so we had to learn to balance our expenditures. 

I forgot how my uncle ended up getting my number. He did somehow and he started texting me. He runs his own food business so sometimes he stays up until 2 or 3 in the morning selling food in the local street market. Initially, he texted me saying that he was bored and he wanted a friend to talk to. He was my favourite uncle and I liked that he considered me matured enough to be his friend. I began texting him and conversing with him too. 

The constant texts took a toll on my credit balance and he further hooked me into constantly texting him by topping up my balance with 20 to 30 bucks every week. For someone who learned to survive with 10 bucks for 2 weeks, it was a huge amount and I felt further obligated to keep him company when he used the excuse of being bored. My parents brought me up saying we should never accept something without giving something back in return, so I swallowed my discomfort at the growing attention he was paying me and carried on. The initial conversations were pretty standard, nothing out of the ordinary. He’d ask me about my day, how was school.. how are my parents. Stuff like that. 

Then he slowly started getting personal. He’d ask me about my friends.. if I had any crushes. If I had any boyfriends. What would I do if I had a boyfriend. Have I ever been kissed. In my mind, it didn’t strike me at the time that his conversation topics were growing out of bounds, because he was my uncle. I trusted him. But eventually, even I began feeling uncomfortable at his probing questions and I started pulling away. He began guilting me into responding by pointing out that he was paying for my phone bill. 

One night, he went too far. He began texting as usual when out of nowhere, he started testing the waters saying that he had a question he wanted to ask me but he was worried I was not cool or open-minded enough to take it. After much leg pulling, he asked. “How big are your nipples?”

I cut all conversation with him and told him I didn’t want to text him anymore if he was going to keep talking like that. I thought it would end there. To my utter astonishment, a few days later, his wife called my number thinking that I was some bimbo preying on her husband. Even when she found out it was me, instead of admitting that her husband was a pedophile who was harassing his own niece, she made a huge fuss and blamed a 14 year old girl for trying to seduce her husband. She called up my mom and blew up about me. 

The biggest mistake I made in my life was deleting his texts. I was young and naive. I had never faced a situation like this before. And I was embarrassed by my uncle. So I erased his texts. This meant that I had no proof to support my claim. And until now, it hurts me so so bad that my mom never stood up for me. It hurts so much that instead of calling him out for what he is, the blame came squarely upon me that I had instigated him by texting him in the first place. I spent the next 2 years of my life avoiding him and refusing to be anywhere near him. 

When I was 16, he invited the whole family to get together for a beach vacation for New Year’s Eve. And since it was his invite, my mom warned me saying that it was impolite to be avoiding him after so long and she forced me to let things go. So I did. I tried my best to be polite and not cause him to look at me in that way again. The whole time we were there, I’d make myself sit in the table away from him. But after lunch, he came up to the table where my cousins and me were and sat himself down with a beer in his hand. He’d had a few by then so I don’t know if he was tipsy at the time. He sat next to me and began running his foot up my leg. Even when I pulled away, he’d start back again after a few minutes. I begged my brother to leave and he followed me out. 

The Eve dinner party was supposed to be by the beach with the promise of fresh grilled seafood and free flow booze. I was already traumatised by the afternoon incident so I made myself sit far away from him at the dinner table. But he did it again. And this time, my brother saw it. I got up on the pretense of getting myself a drink and when I came back, my brother had switched seats with me. But did that stop him? No. He ended up slouching as low as he could on his seat just so he could stretch his leg out to rub mine. I was close to tears by that point so I took my cousin sister and went out to the beach instead. 

He came with his children awhile later and made my cousin sister run after them. He came up behind me and hugged my waist. I pushed him away and ran back to my parents table. But yet I didn’t say a word because the last time I tried defending myself in my house, nobody stood up for me. Every one blamed me. So I kept my silence. 

The day after we came back from the beach, my brother broke it to my parents. And when I finally told them what happened, they still never fought for me. My mom actually said that if I never put myself out there to him when I was 14, none of this would have happened. At one point, she even defended him saying that he was drunk at the time and was not in control of his actions. I love my mom to bits, but this is one hurt I still carry so deep, it cuts like a knife every time I think about it. 

I resorted back to my old tactic of avoiding him at all costs. Even if I ended up meeting him in family functions, I wouldn’t talk to him. If he asked me a question, I’d give him a one-worded answer by looking at the floor or anywhere else but his face. And the harassment stopped for a while. Until a year back when he suffered a heart attack. Again, my mom told me I was being impolite, especially to someone who’s ill. 

So once again, I swallowed my terror and disgust towards him and talked somewhat normally. I didn’t go out of my way to make conversation but I wasn’t so rude to him either. I thought things were fine. Until the recent Diwali festivities this year. I noticed that he has now started eyeing me again. I’m a woman now. I know I’m not imagining it. I know how a male looks at a female like when he has “thoughts” in his head and that was the kind of look he has been giving me over the weekend. He began hinting that my college was only one hour away from his house so I should come over and stay if I was free. He started walking past me a little too close for my comfort. 

I came back to campus last night and exploded into terrified tears because I know he’s building up again. I can feel it. I don’t have the words to explain how terrified I am of him because time and time again, he has proven that whatever he does to me, he can get away with. I am stuck with no one else in my house to talk to or even believe my story to begin with. I have been branded for life as the one who is at fault. And I am now crying as I am typing this because I still feel so helpless. 

Please. To whoever who is reading this, just please. If you have a friend, a sister or a cousin who is telling you about a man harassing her, do NOT tell her she is at fault. Please help her out. Please stand up for her and show her that she is protected. Please don’t let her feel as vulnerable as I am feeling because no girl deserves to feel this way. Please.

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #161 - Star Trek Beyond

(GIF originally posted by @forquicksilver)

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: Yes.

Was it a movie I saw since August 22nd, 2009: Yes. #440

Format: Blu-ray

1) The preproduction for this film was slightly troubled. JJ Abrams was committed to Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens so co-writer of the first two films Robert Orci signed on as director. He ended up leaving production though, taking his cinematographer with him, and it was a little while before Justin Lin (Fast and the Furious 3 - 6) was hired to replace him. Writers Simon Pegg and Doug Jung reportedly wrote the script in a bit of a hurry as they still had a release date to meet. But at the end the film turned out really well, so everything worked out in the end.

2) This film was released during the 50th anniversary of the Star Trek franchise.

Having said that, the work done by writers Pegg and Jung as well as Lin’s direction I think help to make the film feel like a balance between old Trek and new Trek. I’ll get into more details on that as I go along.

3) The opening scene.

The opening has an incredible sense of fun and humor to it (with the aliens Kirk is trying to break peace with seemingly gigantic and ending up being the size of a chihuahua) and honestly feels like it could be the concept of an episode for the original “Star Trek” TV show (says the guy who’s never seen an episode of the original series). It establishes some of the lighter/funner tone this film will feature compared to the titular darkness of Into Darkness as well as Kirk’s initial conflict in the film. It is a wonderful beginning.

4) Kirk’s tiredness.

Kirk is three years into his five year mission in space (which, in a not-so-coincidental-way, is how long the original series got before cancellation) and it is starting to weigh on him.

Kirk [in his captain’s log]: “As for me things have started to feel a little...episodic.”

There’s no direction in space, it is just infinite and that is starting to weigh on Kirk. It has him questioning the point of it all. It has him questioning who he is.

Kirk [after commenting he’s now a year older on his birthday]: “A year older than [my father] got to be. He joined Starfleet because he believed in it. I joined on a dare.”

Bones: “You joined to see if you could live up to him. [Mentions how Kirk has spent all this time trying to be like his dad.] Now you’re wondering what it means to be Jim.”

And it is through the fire of conflict in this film that Kirk will reclaim his identity and who exactly he is.

5) The release of this film was given an unexpected dose of sorrow as actor Anton Yelchin tragically passed away about a month before the film’s release.

There is a scene early in the film where Bones and Kirk drink some Scotch they found in Chekov’s locker. They pour three glasses, the third one being for “absent friends” (as in those we’ve lost who could not be here now). The absent friend I believe was meant to be Kirk’s later father, who the pair are talking about. But in the wake of Anton Yelchin’s passing the scene takes on a much more somber meaning and feels more like a tribute to him. After the film’s release I read on IMDb that the scene was included to pay tribute to Yelchin, but I can no longer find that piece of trivia suggesting it may have been false. Either way, it is impossible to divorce Chekov from that scene or the unintended tribute it pays to the late actor. I’m going to miss seeing you in the movie, Anton.

6) Yorktown.

Yorktown is quite possibly the stand out new element introduced into the film. The space station/outpost/colony/whatever is visually outstanding. Most space stations in film are defined by rigid edges and sharp boundaries but Yorktown is circular. It’s fluid, it’s organic, it moves into and through each other like a planet. Some of the camera tricks and technical aspects used to show off this new location is great. It also has an incredible atmosphere to it which ties directly into the sense of hope this franchise is all about. The air is clean, the sky is bright, multiple alien species are working in unity, and Giacchino’s again excellent score just lifts up the sense of optimism that bleeds through this place. It is a wonderful addition to not only this film but Trek lore as a whole.

7) This film introduces what I believe is Star Trek’s first canon gay character by revealing that John Cho’s Hikaru Sulu is in a partnership with another man.

(GIF originally posted by @maclexa-bane​)

However, this decision had one person surprisingly against it. Original Sulu actor and LGBT activist George Takei himself. Here is an excerpt from an article covering this in the Hollywood Reporter.

"I’m delighted that there’s a gay character," he tells The Hollywood Reporter. "Unfortunately, it’s a twisting of Gene’s creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it’s really unfortunate."

Takei would take to social media a week later to clarify - but not disavow - his statement.

“I hoped instead that [Star Trek creator] Gene Roddenberry’s original characters and their backgrounds would be respected. How exciting it would be instead if a new hero might be created, whose story could be fleshed out from scratch, rather than reinvented. To me, this would have been even more impactful.”

I personally disagree with Takei. As a film student I can say that there seems to be this strange devotion to the “vision” of something. A decision will or won’t be made based on its support of the “original vision”. The original vision of something is almost totally irrelevant to what something actually is, however. Takei’s statements seem to be largely out of his respect for original creator Gene Rodenberry, which I can understand. But imagine some gay kid today LOVES the Star Trek movies and its characters. That kid is not going to care about Gene Rodenberry’s original vision, he is going to care about what Star Trek is today. I think seeing an already established (and incredibly important character) like Sulu express his sexuality in an open and accepted way is very much in line with what Star Trek is today (and will also have more of an impact on that kid than introducing a new character who they have no emotional investment in, but that's just my personal belief).

The franchise has transcended Rodenberry or any one person involved. It is about unity (a major theme in this film), diversity, tolerance, and hope. And as long as it respects these core beliefs which make Star Trek what it is than I think it does more than respect Rodenberry’s original vision. It respects Star Trek.

8) I am going to talk about Spock and Uhura’s breakup and Spock Prime’s death, I promise. Just later.

9) Even though JJ Abrams did NOT direct this film, Greg Grunberg is still featured in it!

Grunberg is JJ Abrams’ lucky charm, appearing in almost all his films (notably absent from Star Trek into Darkness) in one form or another. And even though Abrams serves only as producer on this flick Grunberg still gets a part. Yay!

10) I like that Commodore Paris (one of the Starfleet higher ups at Yorktown) takes the time to say this to Kirk:

Commodore Paris: “It isn’t uncommon you know, even for a captain. To want to leave.”

It’s a common problem people have in life, the loss of identity. And of course it makes sense that it happens to Starfleet officers. Nothing is defined in space. It’s just space.

11) The skirmish between Kraal’s crew and the Enterprise is great.

As a way of introducing the primary plot into the film, it shows a clear lack of preparedness on the part of the Enterprise crew which is a great place to start the conflict and move forward. A, “started from the bottom,” type way. The film opening with such a heavy thrashing and the destruction of the Enterprise leaves a strong impact on the audience. You know these bad guys are people you do not want to mess with, you don’t even want to be in the same room as them. They just took down one of the best starships ever in a matter of minutes. The scene features great action, nice surprises, and is incredibly well paced. As the first major action set piece for the film, it is truly great.

12)

Kirk: “Abandon ship, Mr. Sulu.”

There is literally NO question from Sulu and only a the hesitation needed to process that request. He doesn’t even say, “Sir?” There’s no doubt in his mind. That is how much he trusts his captain and that is how well he knows his ship to admit when it’s done.

13) Idris Elba as Krall.

I will forever be upset that Suicide Squad won the Oscar for Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling when this film is PACKED with some of the most amazing practical creatures and aliens I have seen in years. You don’t have to look any further than Krall to see that. Idris Elba is not giving an animated performance, he’s not motion capture (not to knock motion capture actors, they’re some of the most under appreciated geniuses in Hollywood). That’s him. He is able to deliver a menacing and powerful performance through strong physicality. Elba does not play Krall as human and he shouldn’t. A huge factor for the character is that he’s lost his humanity. He is a beastly shade of his former self, motivated only by madness. I think Krall may be the best villain of this new trilogy (although it’s hard for me to be objective because Nero is still my favorite). Honestly, Elba freaking kills it as Krall and I don’t think they could have cast anyone to do a better job.

From a writing standpoint, Krall just gets more and more interesting as the film goes on.

Krall [after Uhura claims he has made an act of war against the federation]: “Federation act of war!”

But more on this later.

14) This film benefits from unique groupings for a good part of the film. Bones/Spock are the most prominent, but it’s not often you get to see Kirk and Chekov interact one-on-one or Uhura and Sulu. But for now, let’s talk about Bones & Spock.

I don’t think Bones and Spock get as much one on one time as they do in this film and I am so grateful for that. It provides a unique examination of their usually humorously tense interactions which was touched upon in The Search for Spock. I’ll discuss this more as I go (in one scene in particular), but they are able to be vulnerable around each other. Let their guards down, be totally honest, and make their friendship even stronger.

15) Sofia Boutella as Jaylah.

I fucking love Jaylah. So much. I want more Jaylah.

To start, her design is incredibly unique and memorable. It helps her standout from not only the rest of the Enterprise crew but the rest of the inhabitants on the planet as well. And from the strong visual you are able to build into a living, breathing, unique character. She fits into the crew dynamics (particularly through her relationship with Scotty) wonderfully well and she is a kick ass queen. She is a technical genius with no training or teaching, able to set up a number of booby traps/cloak the Franklin/keep auxiliary power going. She has this deep pain that is in direct relation to Kirk’s. Her father - her entire family - died trying to save her, just as Kirk’s did. She has fears, she has strengths, she loves punk music! Jaylah on paper is amazing and actress Sofia Boutella is incredible in the part. Boutella is able to portray all of Jaylah’s wonderful layers - her badass exterior, her painful past, her growth and dealing with her fears - beautifully. Boutella is a star on the rise in Hollywood (already having starred in Kingsman and appearing as the title character in the new Mummy film coming out soon) and to date this is - I think - her best performance. She is just SO good.

A quick final note: it has been said by the filmmakers that they will not be recasting Chekov after Anton Yelchin’s death. I want Jaylah to take his place on the bridge. Because I fucking love Jaylah.

16) The relationship Jaylah and Scotty forge is so fun and heartfelt. Jaylah is able to constantly surprise Scotty and show that she’s his equal in a lot of ways, but when it comes to the pain of her past Scotty is able to help her deal with that. It’s one of my favorite relationships explored in the film and I hope to see it continue in the future.

17) The relationship with Kirk and Chekov is explored a little more subtly than say Bones and Spock but it is still there. The fact that Kirk is able to signal Chekov to help him trap the traitor amongst their midsts, and then of course this wonderful piece of dialogue.

(GIFs originally posted by @alecc-bane​)

Seeing any two characters have this back and forth suggests they’ve done it before. There’s a comfort there that Chekov is able to talk to Kirk so honestly about his doubts and...I’m sorry, I’m just laughing thinking about this scene. I love the exchange between the pair.

18) So it later turns out that Krall is a captain named Edison from VERY early in the Federation’s life span.

Krall: “Federation has taught you that conflict should not exist.”

Krall [MUCH later]: “We knew pain, we knew terror. Struggle made us strong. Not peace, not unity.”

He is an outdated relic, an ancient ideology in a progressive time who thinks HIS way of life was right. And he’s willing to commit mass genocide because of his outdated and hateful ways. There’s also a lose of identity there, as he tells Kirk in the climax, “I’ve missed being me.” That lose of identity in the face of infinite space is exactly what Kirk is at risk of going through, so there’s a connection there between the two that ties back in to Kirk’s main conflict (something that I love). All in all, Krall’s pain is utterly unique in the Star Trek films I’ve seen and I am impressed with the elegance they were able to write it.

19) Spock and Bones having a heart-to-heart about where Spock is in life is one of the best scenes in the film.

It is in this moment when Spock is at his most vulnerable, and it’s with Bones. He speaks as to how being one of the last Vulcan’s effects him, how it was that and the death of Spock-Prime which upset him so deeply he even broke up with Uhura because he thought he had to. He’s planning on leaving Starfleet. But Bones is an excellent friend in this scenes, listening to Spock and offering some kind non-judgmental words. He even gets Spock to laugh! It’s a great moment between these two characters who have been around for 50 years and I think one of the best character moments in all of Trek.

20) Did I mention I love Jaylah?

Jaylah [about her punk music]: “I like the beats and shouting!”

21) If I haven’t made it clear before, this film has some very well done humor. I think this is largely a result of Simon Pegg’s work on the script, but it wouldn’t have worked if cowriter Doug Jung hadn’t worked with him on it. Some examples...

Scotty: “I have an idea sir, but I’ll need your permission.”

Kirk: “Why would you need my permission?”

Scotty: “Because if I mess it up I don’t want it to be just my fault.”

22) So 2009′s Star Trek was about Kirk and Spock moving past their conflict to form a respect and kinship with each other. Star Trek Into Darkness had them solidifying their friendship. And now we’ve reached this point:

Spock [while severely injured]: “We will do what we’ve always done, Jim: find hope in the impossible.”

23) I think something the filmmakers really use to their advantage is taking problems and solving them in a creative way through the sci-fi genre (where aliens are a norm and we have artificial gravity and such). A brilliant example of this:

(GIFs originally posted by @trek-daily)

Also this is all practical makeup. Did I mention this film lost the makeup and hairstyling award to Suicide Squad? I’m bitter.

24) The funniest freaking part of the entire movie!

25) I know I mentioned this before, but Jaylah’s past trauma with her family is incredibly strong for me.

Jaylah [talking about Krall’s hostage camp; refusing to take Kirk and company to their crew]: “Everyone who goes there he kills!”

And it is just another great example of the relationship Scotty and Jaylah have made.

Kirk [after Jaylah leaves & Scotty moves to go after her]: “Let her go.”

Scotty: “She’s lost people too, Captain.”

The fact that Scotty is able to help Jaylah through her grief in a respectful but pressing way speaks a lot to me. And Kirk overhears this, specifically that Jaylah’s dad sacrificed himself for her. Hmm, why does that sound familiar?

The entire scene is great for me for those key reasons: it develops Jaylah, it strengths her relationship with Scotty, and it ties into Kirk’s conflict in the film.

26) The entire diversion/rescue scene on the motorcycle is awesome and one of the strongest set pieces in the entire film. It is brilliantly and intelligently choreographed, keeping the audience and Krall on their toes through the use of decoy projections. It also features a fight between Jaylah and Mannix which ties directly into her arc as he is the man who killed her father. And Kirk - who said to, “Let her go,” about ten minutes earlier - risks himself to save her. She’s a part of his crew now and I love that.

27) Remember how in the 2009 Star Trek Sulu messed up the take off of the Enterprise the first time? Well, I think the phrase, “started from the bottom now we’re here,” applies perfectly to this moment.

(GIF originally posted by @toakenshire)

30) I just love Jaylah’s face when she sees Krall’s planet drift away in the distance. That place was her hell. Her family was murdered there. She never thought she’d be able to escape. And now...

31) Ladies & gentlemen: the most badass moment in Star Trek’s 50 year history.

Some highlights:

Kirk saying, “That’s a good choice,” tying directly into Young Kirk rocking out to this song in the 2009 film.

Bones: “Is that classical music?”

Chekov toe tapping.

Just how f***ing awesome that moment is. It gets you pumped!

I don’t know who had the initial idea to put this scene in the film, but I love them and I want to give them an award or something. This is glorious.

32) The climactic fist fight between Kirk and Krall is a lot of fun. Similar to Syl’s alien head hiding an important piece of technology, the filmmakers are able to use the concept of artificial gravity in a space station to their advantage by choreographing a unique and fun fight scene.

33) And with this Kirk resolves his conflict of identity in relation to his father.

Kirk: “Better to die saving lives than to live taking them. That’s what I was born into.”

34) I love that Kirk says this but for a weird personal reason. It’s something I learned as a film student and something I wish other directing students (and a lot of professional directors) would learn.

Kirk [after Commodore Paris says he saved the lives of everyone in Yorktown]: “It wasn’t just me. It never is.”

35) Holy shit, I honestly cannot believe I forgot that Spock found this in Spock Prime’s belongings:

Not only is this a wonderful thing to include in the 50th anniversary of Star Trek but also it is something Spock REALLY needed to see. He wanted to live the life Spock Prime did and he thought that meant continuing the work on new Vulcan. But then he sees that Spock Prime was with the Enterprise crew DECADES into a future. He had a family for life. And so does Spock.

36) It’s hard for your eyes not to fall on Anton Yelchin when Kirk makes a toast, “To the Enterprise and to absent friends.”

(GIF originally posted by @soundsofmyuniverse)

37) The fact that the entire main crew of the Enterprise gives the ending monologue for the first time speaks greatly to themes of unity present in the film and Kirk’s giving them credit.

38) And now I’m sad again.

39) “Sledgehammer” by Rihanna.

It’s not often that I talk about an end credits song for a film, but I felt I should make an exception this case. Rihanna is a major Star Trek fan, saying:

"This is something that's been a part of me since my childhood, it's never left me, I love Star Trek. It was automatic. I would do anything in terms of music. It's such a big deal not only as a fan, as a musician... because Star Trek is such a big deal across the globe."

You can feel the love for Trek come across in the song. Not necessarily a radio pop hit, I love this song nonetheless. I find it moving and it’s themes of fighting back after you get knocked down very much tie into the hope and resilience which is Star Trek. I think it is a wonderful composition and a great addition to the Star Trek musical library.

I love Star Trek Beyond. Although the 2009 film introduced me to the franchise, this film has the potential overtime to claim its place as my favorite Trek film. It is an absolutely perfect balance of old and new Trek, featuring standout writing, amazing effects, new ideas, a vibrant visual design, and a standout cast (with special mention to Sofia Boutella as Jaylah). It is a totally wonderful that taps into the hope and sense of adventure that the series has always been about. If you were disappointed with Star Trek Into Darkness or are looking to reclaim some love for the series - or even if you’re watching for the first time - give this film a viewing. You won’t regret it.

[personalcoachingcenter]

12 Easy and Efficient Ways Entrepreneurs Can Help Others

New Post has been published on https://personalcoachingcenter.com/12-easy-and-efficient-ways-entrepreneurs-can-help-others/

12 Easy and Efficient Ways Entrepreneurs Can Help Others

Everybody is busy, so find another excuse for not giving back.

May 24, 2019 8 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

As a member of the startup community, giving back and helping others is a part of the job. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs claim they don’t have the time or resources to lend a helping hand. While I don’t doubt that they’re limited on hours or assets — there are ways all of us can give back easily and efficiently to others. Here are 12 ways entrepreneurs can help others.

1. Listen to what your team is saying.

Your employees are an indispensable resource. They’re a talented bunch of individuals who can take your idea and make it a thriving business. They also have fresh ideas on how to better assist your customers. After all, they’re often the ones who are interacting most with your audience.

Additionally, your team members may have suggestions on how your business can give back to the community. For example, maybe they’re aware of a local non-profit that aligns with your values that you had never heard of. Most importantly, when you listen to your team you can find ways to become a stronger leader that can help them grow both in and out of the workplace.

Don’t be afraid to solicit ideas from your staff. Whether it’s through surveys or a town-hall type of meeting, turn to your team for advice on how you can become a more effective leader, better serve your customers, and help the community.

Related: The 4 Levels of Listening: Why Every Good Entrepreneur Should Talk Less

2. Stop saying, “I don’t have time.”

We’ve all been guilty of using this excuse — but we should begin to eliminate it from our vocabulary. You get an email from a colleague asking for your feedback. Sometimes a friend or client asks if you can schedule a lunch meeting with them. Unfortunately, because you’re so busy, you automatically respond with something on the lines of, “Sorry, I don’t have time.

The truth, as my business partner John Hall notes in an article for Forbes, we’re not as busy as we believe. As a result, you lose trust and credibility with others. Even worse, we become viewed as someone who isn’t reliable.

Does this mean that we have to stop what you’re doing when someone asks for a time request? Of course not. You can’t always put other people’s priorities ahead of your own. But, you could take five minutes to answer a quick question, send them a link to a resource, or refer them to someone who is more equipped to help them then you could.

3. Mentor other entrepreneurs.

You’ve been able to start and run a business. Because of this, you have plenty of advice to offer to an aspiring entrepreneur. Whether it’s a friend you’re helping or someone who contacted you after reading an article you wrote, mentoring other business owners is one of the easiest and effective ways to help others.

The most direct way is to share your failures and successes during your journey with those new to the world of entrepreneurship. It may not sound like much. Those who you choose to help can replicate what worked well for you and avoid the mistakes that you’ve made.

4. Sponsor local non-profit organizations.

There is no shortage of organizations within your proximity that could use corporate sponsorship. In most cases, they need financial assistance to lessen the burden of hosting an event. Even if they have enough cash to cover the costs of the function and administrative tasks, there’s still a need for people to raise funds and motivate donations. You may even merely opt to spread awareness of the non-profit by promoting the non-profit on your website.

As an added perk, helping other people or businesses gets your business some additional visibility. And, it shows that you want to be an active and supportive member of the community. Again, ask your team if there are any non-profits you could sponsor. Or, check out an organization like Startups Give Back.

5. Donate to charities.

Giving to a charity is one of the most common ways that you can help others. For instance, you could donate a portion of your company’s proceeds to a local non-profit that is near-and-dear to your heart. However, there are several other ways that you can donate without breaking the bank or devoting too much of your time.

Ideas include: giving blood, donating the items you no longer use and shopping at socially responsible businesses. You can also play a vocabulary game at Free Rice. For every correct answer, 10 grains of rice will be donated to the World Food Program for each correct answer. Another option is Care2 where, thanks to advisors, whenever you click on article donations are generated to a specific. It’s not only an easy to support a cause; it’s also informative.

6. Share your skills.

There are various opportunities for you to put your talents to good use. For example, if you can code, then you could build a website for a non-profit, educational institution, or startup that has a tight budget. Personally, I use my skills by working with the Open to Hope Foundation.

Even if you aren’t an “expert,” but still possess some expertise in a particular skill set, you can always be of assistance. A couple of years ago, for example, a friend of mine wanted to start blogging. I spent a couple of hours with him setting up a WordPress site. Even though I didn’t consider myself a WordPress pro at the time, I had enough knowledge to get his site up and running.

7. Encourage your team to volunteer.

It’s not uncommon for businesses to provide their employees paid time off to volunteer for any charity of their choice. Even better, make volunteering a part of your company’s culture. For instance, maybe once a month you and your team volunteer together at an organization like Habitat for Humanity or Girls Who Code.

Creating time for these charities not only helps others, but it’s also great for team building. Additionally, it gives your employees a chance to strengthen their skills, and it will improve the morale of your entire company.

Related: 5 Ways Volunteering Helps You Do Well While Doing Good

8. Support local SMBs and startups.

As an entrepreneur, you want to make the world a better place. But that doesn’t always mean that you have to act globally. Sometimes it’s best to focus your efforts locally. There’s no better way to do that than by supporting other small businesses in your community.

When possible, buy as much as you can from your neighbors. Examples include purchasing supplies from vendors, using local service-providers, and promoting these businesses on your site. Other alternatives would be to leave online reviews, run cross-promotions, or host an event together like a sidewalk sale.

If there aren’t any ways to be more active in the local ecosystem, you can at least support startups. You can back a Kickstarter campaign or just spread the good work about the founder so that they get a little traction.

9. Speak or teach.

Entrepreneurs and students are always searching for advice. Some are hoping to learn new skills and information, while others are hoping to sharpen their existing skills. Accommodate them by sharing your knowledge and expertise by speaking on a panel or teaching a class at a local college or university.

10. Write about your experiences.

What if you don’t have to an opportunity to speak or teach others in person? The best solution is to write about your experience and industry knowledge. Regardless if you have your own blog or guest write on leading industry publications, sharing your advice and ideas is arguably the best way to help your fellow entrepreneurial community.

11. Move from closed to open-source.

This suggestion may not be applicable to every startup. However, if you have a piece of code, you may want to consider open-sourcing your code. It could be useful to someone else who is building a product or service. It’s a great way to build a community and attract talent to your startup.

Related: How Open Source is Changing The Landscape for Entrepreneurs

12. Use your business to make money and give back.

Finally, design a business model that can turn a profit while being charitable. It may sound hypocritical, but it’s acceptable to run an enterprise while giving back. One way you can do this is by automatically donating a portion of your profits from each sale to a cause you champion.

Another idea is to be socially conscious. I’ve already listed some of these ways that you can achieve this. But, as a wrap-up, this could be done by partnering with local businesses, being charitable, and providing learning opportunities for your employees.

Go To Source

[killerspectrum]

FAMILY ANNIHILATOR: BAD DADS

   Familicide: 

When the whole family is obliterated, usually in a single act, by a member of that family. 

Cases of fathers deliberately killing their wife and children is both shocking and increasing in frequency.   An overwhelming 70% of all family massacres are carried out by men.

Generally speaking, the act represents a last attempt to display a masculine role over the family.  I’m the father, so I decide!  

It has also been suggested that it’s a man’s general attitude to women and their reproductive nature.

Let’s see if we can understand a teeny bit of a very complicated and multifactorial crime.

COMMON CHARACTERISTICS

More likely than a woman to kill themselves afterwards.

Usually successful men in their 30s, ranging from surgeons, executives and engineers. 

Will spend days, sometimes weeks planning and fantasizing down to the smallest detail.

Murders mostly occur in the family home.

Younger children are often murdered with a 'personal weapon’ using their hands; strangulation or stabbing.

Older children are usually shot.

Feel like their masculinity is being taken away.

Sundays and the month of August are popular choices for fathers who pulverize.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILES 

WHY DAD LOST HIS SHIT

FAMILY BREAK UP

Family disintegration is the #1 factor behind fathers who kill their own family, making divorce and separation a risky period for any potential household bloodshed.

UNDER PRESSURE

Even if a family is intact, other influences are overwhelming the individual with life duties to the extent they see death as the only way to alleviate the pressure.  Examples are health issues and financial ruin.  

SELF RIGHTEOUS

These type of killers are proud of what they have done and want to share details with others.  Convinced they are justified in some sick manner, this killer is known to call remaining family members or local media to make special announcements.  More recently, they are posting their deeds on Facebook.

DISAPPOINTED

This killer holds the mindset that his family let him down or he is unable to achieve his vision of ideal family life.

ANOMIC

This family is socially disorganized.  Alienated from family and support systems due to a move, loss of job or being generally secluded from others. 

PARANOID

Those who envision an external threat to the family.  This could be social services, the legal system or another family member which creates a twisted desire to protect the family from outside ‘forces’. 

MENTAL ILLNESS

People who commit spontaneous domestic homicides, are more often mentally ill or had a history of mental illness.  

JOEL SMITH

Murdered: (4)  Wife and three children.  Ages 12,7,4

Date:  July 12th, 2014

Location: Saco, Maine

Manner of death:  Shooting

The Smith family spent that last Saturday night having a BBQ outside their apartment complex and chatting with neighbors.   Described as looking calm and relaxed, the Smiths went inside their home around 9 pm. 

Just a few hours later, Joel shot his wife and three children with a shot gun, before killing himself.  Having recently moved from Arizona, Joel became despondent and depressed as the family struggled financially and a wife with substance abuse issues.  

Besides a previous suicide attempt, there was no history of abuse or noticeable signs of violence leading up to the slayings. 

ERVIN LUPOE

Murdered: (6)  Wife and 5 children, including two sets of twins.  Ages 8, 5 and 2

Date: January 27th 2009

Location: Wilmington, CA

Manner of death:  Shooting

Things started to unravel for the Lupoe Family when both parents were fired, simultaneously, from their job at the local hospital where they worked together as X-ray technicians. 

A few days after the loss of their jobs, he killed his wife and children in their upscale home with a revolver and spent the night with their corpses. 

The next day, Ervin calmly called the local news station to report the crimes and let them know he was sending over a fax: his suicide note.  He shot himself while the cops were en route.

In the note, Ervin explained that he and his wife were being investigated for misrepresenting their employment to an outside agency to obtain child care.   With 5 young children, he felt their financial situation was hopeless. 

Further in the letter, Ervin even attempted to claim his wife Ana was responsible planning and demise of their family.  As for the kids...

"Why leave our children in someone else's hands?"

FERNANDO MANRIQUE

Murdered: (4)  Wife and two children age 10 and 11

Date: October 16, 2016

Location: Near Sydney, Australia

Manner of death:  Carbon Monoxide

Neighbors couldn't figure out what the hell Mr. Manrique was doing on his roof that last Saturday.

"He was up there replacing tiles, using power tools...Cutting and making all sorts of noise...."

Mr. Manrique was not replacing roof tiles, but something a little more sinister. He spent his last day alive installing an elaborate pump system to fill his house with carbon monoxide in order to kill his wife and two special needs children. 

Because running-cars-in-garages is so cliche, Mr. Fancy Pants Engineer spent months designing the mechanism.   In Mr. Manrique’s mind, gassing his family while they slept seemed like a reasonable solution to an upcoming divorce.

   DANIEL LYNAM

Murdered: (7)  His parents, his wife and two children, age 2 years and 5 weeks, and her parents  

Date: July 11-12, 1987

Location:  Tacoma, WA

Manner of death:  Shooting

Over the course of a weekend, Daniel methodically killed several members of his family leaving behind three grisly crime scenes in his wake.   

After killing his own parents at their house for whatever reason, he drove over to his wife's parents house, about three miles away, shooting them all in the head.  Eventually, he drove back to his own house killing his wife and two kids in the same manner. 

Police received an anonymous tip the following day from a man who said his brother had killed people and directed them to the house on Federal Way. 

When the cops came, Daniel was polite enough to warn them to stay outside so he wouldn't have to kill them too.  Ten minutes later, deputies heard a gunshot.

Daniel had a history of mental illness, but he didn’t leave a note of explanation nor was there any apparent motive for him to kill the majority of his extended family.

DR. ANTHONY PAUL

Murdered: (3): His wife and two children age 17 and 12

Date:  July 18, 1990

Location: Philadelphia, PA

Manner of death:   Sedatives

"We lived together, we loved together, we die together''

Highly regarded in the medical field as a specialist in gastro-intestinal cancers at the Fox Chase Cancer Center, none of his colleagues could imagine the horrific development Dr. Paul was planning. 

Caring for his severely disabled daughter and a wife who suffered from chronic arthritis, Dr. Paul was distraught with the ongoing health issues and the inevitable financial stress.  The middle aged doctor was convinced there was no other alternative than to kill everyone.

Dr. Paul left work early on a Friday afternoon, casually mentioning an envelope he left on his desk.  Open it on Monday, he said.

As they read his suicide note that following Monday, his co-workers came to the shocking conclusion that there a house full of dead people they should probably do something about.  

Inside their 10-bedroom estate, investigators found the family in the master bedroom.  Each person was found holding their own empty IV bag. 

His suicide note detailed the reasons for his actions and even though his son was healthy, Dr. Paul did not want his only son to grow up in foster care and become an "outcast".  

Mark Short Sr.

Murdered: (4)  Wife and three children, aged 8, 5 and one year

Date:  August 6, 2016

Location: Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania

Manner of death:  Shooting

The Short family had been featured several times in the local media as they documented their struggles to care for their youngest child, who received a heart transplant when she was just a few days old.  

A shining example of perseverance and being strong in difficult times. 

Privately however, the couple were not getting along.  Soon after one altercation ended with the cops being called, his wife Megan decided it was time to get a divorce and started making plans to move out.

The day before the murders, Mark took his three small children to Hershey's theme park while Megan announced on Facebook that she was leaving her husband and needed help moving into her new apartment the next day.  She never made it. 

Her family became concerned when she didn’t show up on moving day with her belongings and called authorities.

Investigators found the whole family dead in the living room dressed in their pajamas with blankets spread out as though they were having a slumber party. Everyone, including the 1 year-old heart recipient and a family dog, were shot with a .38 caliber pistol.

Short left a note describing his emotional turmoil over the loss of his family.