#because i liked the designs of the labels

[variaandroise]

I... Don't know these characters. Like I've never heard of them. I can however say you are an insightful entity. I'm glad to have met you (and the rest of course).

As for my four characters... I only have two in recent memory I find terribly relatable, those being Voice of the Cold and Voice of the Opportunist from Slay the Princess. The other two spots I'm giving to Joshua Gillespie and Sasha James from The Magnus Archives, because the former only appears in one episode and I think I've been through enough on the latter to get the gist (On: Episode 61). And no, no one here has an official character design.

Under the cut will be a few quotes in case you've never heard of them. And if you have heard of them, I imagine what I highlight would be telling as well. But for tag (one of them), @acemakes-art143, care to join?

Voice of the Cold: "You're lucky you haven't been stuck here like the rest of them. There's no other way to keep going. You either need to forget or you need to stop feeling much of anything. They can't do either."

Voice of the Opportunist: "It's the blade, isn't it? I was going to tell you to grab it once we got upstairs, that was the whole 'Keep your eyes peeled' thing. Then you would've stabbed her in the back and we would've been on the top of the pecking order!"

Joshua Gillespie: (Context: He received a coffin labelled "Do Not Open" that scratched at anything put on top of it and melodically moaned in the rain) "I decided against doing any further experiments, and instead made the very deliberate decision to ignore it...Some might call me a coward, but I decided on the latter, that I would interact with it as little as possible while it lived in my house." "I lived like that for almost a year and a half. It’s funny how fear can just become as routine as hunger – at a certain point I just accepted it."

Sasha James: "I should really quit (Working at the Magnus Institute), you know. We, we all should. I don’t think this is a normal job, I, I don’t think this is a safe job." (She is asked if she's going to quit) "No. I’m just… I’m just too damned curious, I suppose."

Making a tag game cause I can

Rules: post 4 fictional characters you relate to and assume something about the person you reblogged from based on their characters

No pressure tag! @sidneyoftheblackwoods @mqstermindswift @stars-and-birds @zenilvar @forever-chained-to-myself @themidnightarcher @skeelly @thepencilsnameissteve @thislove-taylorsversion @thislifeissweeterthanfiction @swiftieannah @a-pessimistic-swiftie @catastrxblues @jellycanon @what-about-wendy and anyone else who wants to join<3

[fuck-customers]

Love that I just graduated this past fall with an associates in graphic design and unfortunately every single job posting labeled for a graphic designer I keep coming across is actually asking for:

-video editor

-animator

-UX/UI specialist/website coder

-AI tool user for aforementioned website e-commerce type job

-labeled as junior designer but posting specifies 5+ years and/or specifies they’re asking for a senior graphic designer

-retail associate but they labeled it as a designer to sound fancy

It’s getting very hard to find any jobs to even apply for, and all the jobs I’m ACTUALLY qualified for are all “please work on-site in this place that is across the country from you” so I’m stuck in Texas like….what do I do??? I can’t afford to move and I already can’t afford to work retail again because my hands have to WORK to do any art, and I can’t find any data entry remote jobs at the moment either.

I just want to design ads and/or packaging for products man, anything print and digital is fine by me, I just want a damn job.

Very much at a loss… :/

Posted by admin Rodney

[clairedaring]

brb. currently screaming at the DETAILS of gelboys ep 1

(SOURCE © Reddit user Virtual_Tadpole9821)

text version under the cut for readers' accessibility

I'll leave the raving about Boss and his team's meticulous craftsmanship to u/ThoughtsAllDay and others, but man, there's so much detail packed in here, I had to take notes. Which wasn't easy while watching on iQiyi without VIP, as each time you inadvertently scroll back past an ad insertion point it forces you to sit through another minute of unskippable ads that just ended five seconds ago. Anyway, some thoughts:

The biggest question I had from the series reveal was whether it's going to be one of those works that could generate endless discussions of "Is this a BL?" And so far it sure looks like one of those works. This first episode is the sliciest a slice-of-life teen drama could conceivably be. Or maybe it just feels that way because it's so different, due to the fact that...

The entire series being shot on iPhone (though they just say "phone" because Apple isn't paying them) gives the whole thing such an indie guerrilla film vibe, which is interesting to say the least. The unrestrained depth of field, the sound design picking up on every little jingling of the charms and chains the boys have on their bags, result in this raw, artsy feel that is almost jarring compared to conventional production values.

The open environment alone sounds like a continuity nightmare, though not having paid much attention to the people and cars in the background, I didn't noticed anything egregious.

The opening toilet shot was... a choice.

The song Fourmod's mother plays in the beginning is เด็กมีปัญหา (Dek Mi Panha) by, of course, Four-Mod. It's one of the biggest early hits from the Kamikaze teen-oriented record label. Faye Fang Kaew is another of the label's first groups. You can tell their mother is a huge fan. (By the way, the iQiyi subtitles spelling Fourmod's name after his Instagram handle is really annoying. Hope they drop it soon.)

Fourmod said "this term" when asking to take the BTS, so it's probably the start of the second semester, i.e. November. Senanikhom Station opened in December 2019, while the entire northern extension opened in December 2020. Either Fourmod was referring to starting his P.6 and M.1 years after the station and line opened respectively, or the series is set in 2023.

I laughed at how they needed a disclaimer warning not to run up the escalators and to hold the handrail - clearly mandated by BTS the series sponsor. If you're wondering about the sponsorship, by the way, it probably just involved them making special arrangements for location access and not any cash - this was the case for the 2009 movie Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story, which revolved almost entirely around the BTS. Here, the lack of crowds during the morning rush hour points to most of the people probably being hired extras.

The BTS got plenty of indirect advertising in exchange, of course. Fourmod buying the monthly pass seemed almost forced at first, but was soon leveraged to explain why he didn't know how to tap out of the system, since he'd presumably only used single tickets before. (Like Thoughts said, the attention to detail is incredible, with things like these that you have to zoom in to even notice.)

The depictions of locations are so super specific to reality, almost as if this were a documentary. The school is fictional, of course, but it's slotted into the exact location of Watpathumwanaram School in real life, and everything around it, including the path of the students' commute, is real. Don't know why they'd take a tuk-tuk instead of walking 400 metres to Siam Square, though, as the traffic is totally impossible.

I have no idea how much creative liberty they're taking with the school's flexibility with body accessories, electronics, and transgender students. I'm sure the creators based it on what's possible at some actual schools nowadays, but I can't tell how realistic it is for the setting at all. Very much appreciate the variability in the lengths of the students' shorts as a reflection of their personality, though, as it's rarely seen on screen anymore.

I raised an eyebrow at Fourmod asking for extra MSG in his fruit dip. (The subtitles mistranslate it as "chili salt".) Didn't even know it was a thing - usually it's just sugar, salt, and chilli - but apparently recipes that also add MSG aren't uncommon.

I'm about curious about the passage of time. Their painted nails almost growing out suggests probably two months passing during each of the time jumps, but that would be almost the entire school term already.

It's funny to imagine how they got Yuedpao as a main sponsor. Their shop is actually opposite Kantima Salon, one wonders whether it's a coincidence or they found the location first, then got the sponsorship later.

The Kluay Kluay banana dessert shop was clearly included to keep older viewers connected - it's probably the only Siam Square location in the entire episode that's recognizable to someone who knew the place from the 2000s. Heck, the neighbourhood has changed so much recently, few of the scene locations would have looked like shown even five years ago.

Which brings me to my final point and main impression from the episode: Everything in it feels so deliberate in its depiction of today's youth culture. Which is of course what the creators set out to do. But the thing is, I (and probably most Millennial and older viewers) can't quite tell how accurate it is. I trust that the team did their research well, and on the whole it feels real enough, but the script's particular references, slang and vernacular might as well be a foreign language. It feels rather eerily uncanny how changed some things have become in the space of a generation, and yet how familiar some things remain.

[glitchy-creations]

“Mom didn’t tell me what dad looked like! How was I supposed to know!?” - Telegonus after he stabbed Odysseus, probably

Jkjk, I thought this meme would be funny with these two. Let’s just pretend it’s in a universe where Ody survives this incident and all the kiddos live together happily (let me be a little dululu for a minute 🙃)

My Older!Telemachus and Telegonus designs are going to be below the cut!

Just a few fun fact!

This is my design for Telemachus when he’s approx in his mid-late thirties

The bulk of his design is the same aside from the new shawl/cape thing (I can’t remember what it’s called) and the change in arm bands. I like to imagine Telemachus isn’t super picky with his clothes, his old outfit worked well enough he just had extra accessories as the eldest prince/king.

He also grew his hair out longer to mimic Ody’s (I like the designs of Ody with long hair when he returns to Ithaca 🫣)

Telegonus is approx in his mid-late twenties. Him and Telemachus are roughly ten years apart in age, though I imagine Telegonus looks a bit younger due to being a demigod.

Telemachus also looks a little bit younger but i imagine that’s likely from Athena occasionally making the entire royal family a little younger. This is based off how Athena would make Penelope and Odysseus look younger in the Odyssey, it’s just not a major change.

Telegonus takes after Circe the most physically and personality wise. He does have Ody’s mischievous side though

I like the idea of Circe having cat/lion like elements (cat like eyes, mane of hair, etc.) so that was the idea behind Telegonus’ design. He has fluffy hair, I tried to mimic cat like eyes, and his nose shape was slightly inspired by lion noses though I mostly just wanted to give him a bigger nose regardless. He also had sun motifs in honour of peepaw Helios 💕

[Ignore the lack of shines and details in the meme. I just didn’t feel like adding them in 😅]

[summertimesadnessirl]

I don't think "women's spaces" are a good idea?

Like? Most of the time they're not really necessary.

Even a place designed for discourse about feminist issues that has strict moderation policies like "no not all men, no what if he's neurodivergent, no have you tried communicating harder, no are you all gold diggers, etc." Which is designed for women discussing their difficulties with male partners or their experiences with dating really needs no men to comment, they just need men not to act like weird little minimizing misogynistic trolls, which men love to do.

I mean misogynistic men whatever label you want to put on it, love to troll women and get them angry for attention. It's like a game to them.

They also love to do that thing where they accuse women of causing problems for them and demand to be pitied and placated and for women to defend themselves.

I don't think the problem is men.

I think the problem is that bullshit.

If a trans man does that, it's still bullshit.

If a woman showed up in a feminist group and started saying feminists were persecuting her and making a big deal over nothing and making up reasons to be mad at men or whatever, that would also be bullshit.

The woman being trans or cis would not actually matter.

Trans men might belong in a discourse group for college rape victims who were raped because of bad information about alcohol and clothing and consent, because they might have gotten raped before they transitioned.

Trans men might belong in a space where they are campaigning for birth control and abortion rights because they can get pregnant.

Trans men might belong in a space for "daughters" of narcissistic mothers who tried to control their gender presentation or dress them in ways that made them uncomfortable. They might have an ability to relate to and a need for the benefit of support from women who went through things similar to what they went through.

Trans men might belong in spaces where people talk about being gatekept from employment in certain fields because of the perception that they aren't biologically strong enough.

Trans men definitely have stuff to say about when cis men claim that hormones make them unable to stop themselves from sexually assaulting people, or being faithful, or whatever, because they have firsthand experiences with different hormones and their impact on mood and decision making.

Cis men might not even be the worst people to talk to about those things if they don't talk over women or start with the misogynistic fake nice guy and fake victim trolling routines.

Most "women's spaces" don't really need to be women only, they just need to be free of trolls.

Honestly there's just something so insidious about the people who claim trans men* should be allowed in women's spaces. It's incredibly concerning how much traction this rhetoric is gaining as it is truly TERF lite rhetoric.

What kind of women's spaces would allow in transgender men? I can think of a few descriptors I've seen around. "Women and femmes" might. "But they're trans men not femmes!" I hear you cry, and you are right. But the TERFs who run these operations don't think so. They're often places that are open to vulnerable trans men who they will consistently try to force to detransition. These are locals of social forced conversion, an attempt to show that if they ever dare to go too far they will be exiled for transgressing the gendered binary.

Any women's group that accepts transgender men will never actually see them as men. And that's the point isn't it? This rhetoric comes from those who believe trans men are "female men" and are "actually women" they seek to deny him his masculinity not because of a hatred of men and masculinity but of a hatred for those who actually go against the patriarchal standards of bioessentialist ideals.

Stop trying to get vulnerable trans boys and men to engage with groups that will be bigoted towards them. This isn't helping transmascs!

*in this case I'm speaking about trans men who do not identify as women in any capacity. Not multigender men, not demi girls who may also be trans men- just the big standard trans guy

[smartzelda]

Sorry guys I gotta speak my truth on this one

I'm not kidding when I say that I think that blaming shit media literacy from fans on shipping/shippers avoids the actual root of the problem to throw people you can easily throw under the bus (simply because it's not unpopular to consider people who post about ships or ship characters in media as having lesser or derivative tastes by default)

And here's why.

I think when you blame people who are "shippers" or "consume media through shipping lenses", the true root of it all is a mindset problem.

In actually, putting on shipping lenses can be helpful when trying to analyze a piece of media. When analyzing media you're supposed to approach it through a number of mindsets and put on different lenses (both to deepen your personal understanding of the media, and to pick it apart and see what you can find there (whether intentional or not on the author's part)), and different ships can be some of those lenses

When it comes to ships between main characters (for those who are genuinely willing to see what the narrative is showing with their relationship and what it's doing), there are times when analyzing it from a shipping lens may be helpful. As someone from KH fandom, I have seen people come to deeper understandings and pick canon apart in the process of analyzing a relationship that is genuinely integral to the story (platonic or not). I've also seen people get into rarepairs of characters who barely interact or who just suffer little screen time, and I've seen them come to better understandings of those side characters and how they potentially fit into the world of the media simply because people are now focusing on these characters and how they fit into the narrative.

Frankly, I resent the idea that the only way to truly objectively analyze a piece of media is by turning off the part of your brain that gets excited over relationships and individual characters. Don't get me wrong, that is a way to approach a piece of media and a valid one at that, but the truth is that we cannot be free of bias.

For instance, I was watching House MD with my parents circa last year. At some point I started heavily tuning into what was going on with House and Wilson's relationship. My parents, on the other hand, were largely watching casually. They're not thinking of character relationships or getting heavily invested in most characters, they're watching because they like watching. One of them in particular did try to analyze things that were happening in the show as they happened. However, when it came to the scene late in the series where House threw out Dominika's letter approving her American citizenship, my parents could understand that he was doing that because he didn't want her to leave, but not much beyond that. I ended up explaining to them that House's fake marriage for Dominika was an explicit parallel to when Wilson was living with House in the early seasons. Both situations started with House being none too happy about it but ultimately letting them stay, spending a considerable amount of effort getting them to leave/getting this situation to be finally over so he didn't have to deal with it anymore, and then by the time a piece of news comes through that would mean the person in question actually leaves, House hides this news as long as he can. Because he doesn't actually want them to leave and has grown attached. And by doing this he became a self fulfilling prophecy. By reacting to the truth of Wilson and Dominika leaving him the way he does, he seals his fate and they ultimately leave anyways. Maybe I ship Hilson, but becoming open to how their relationship was handled allowed me to transition to doing character studies and recognizing patterns/parallels that I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't particularly care about the characters or their relationship.

Likewise, I've seen mutuals complain about how people who don't like or don't care about certain characters often overlook these characters (what they're actually like and their place in the narrative), while the mutuals in question (by default) are able to come to deeper understanding of what the writers/story is trying to do because they care about this funky guy

You can't eradicate bias when you're engaging in media analysis, but you can consciously put on a range of lenses and observe the media through different povs with the goal of understanding the media better or bolstering your reading of it. And those lenses/povs can include focusing on specific relationships or the perpective of certain characters

And this is why I say it's actually a mindset problem. Shippers and people who have this one blorbo they like a lot aren't inherently terrible "fandom brained individuals" who are the root of media analysis problems. The problem only arises when people's readings/analysis of a piece of media are inherently restrictive/narrow and self centered. Your problem is with people who view a piece of media through a ship they like but don't keep an open mind about it, and whose "media analysis"/views on canon cannot be split from fanon and their comfortability levels. These are the people whose "media analysis" starts and ends with justifying their fanon as canon, whose views on media revolve around sorting characters and relationships into categories they personally enjoy rather than trying to understand what's going on.

Here's another example.

Here we have a fictional ship we'll call uhhhh...Blanebin. this fictional ship I made up on the spot for characters that don't exist named Blane and Corbin

Person A is super into Blanebin. They're part of the main cast of characters and canonically childhood best friends, so person A (as much as they enjoy fanart and fic) is also enjoying analyzing how narratively important to each other they are. Recently, Corbin started dating another character in canon, but Person A is enjoying watching how Blane is reacting to this. "Is this potentially a tell that Blane is jealous or is having complicated feelings about this? What if he was, how would that contextualize his behavior this season? Here's what I think based on how Blane dealt with explicit jealousy last season in a different situation". It's not impossible that person A is still missing further understanding due to their obsession with Blanebin, but at the end of the day this obsession has allowed them to start picking through the characters both in and outside this relationship. It has allowed them to see potential subtext and theorize on what might happen next with these characters' relationship. Not to mention that with addition of Corbin dating someone else, instead of trying to erase this fact or state that Corbin canonically isn't into that person, Person A is trying to factor in how Corbin's current dating life affects his relationship with Blane (irregardless on personal views on the nature of Corbin's relationship with the person he's dating).

Person B is also super into Blanebin. They really enjoy fanart and fic of the characters, love obsessing over their moments together, and just feel like there's really something between the characters. To person B, every moment between them is just further proof that the writers are ship teasing them. But Corbin getting together with someone else this season? Oh that pissed person B off. They cannot believe that even though Corbin and Blane are CLEARLY gay for each other the writers had Corbin get with someone else this season. Perhaps, they think, it was even a decision specifically made to spite fans. How evil of the writers to tease a perfectly good ship and then have them not get together first? They must have been just doing those teases to get views from Blanebin shippers those scoundrels. To Person B, since Corbin started dating someone when he obviously has some chemistry with Blane (even though the series is far from over) means that Blanebin can never get together now and Corbin x person he's dating is ruining Blanebin by existing. In fact, they think, this is terrible writing for Corbin to be dating someone else because they don't like that relationship and don't see the point. Obviously if the writers were good then Corbin would have started dating Blane instead because this was supposed to be the Blanebin show.

Person C despises Blanebin. Don't get them wrong, they've always enjoyed the character's childhood friendship, but they actually have always thought Blane would have been better off with Victoria. They have a lot of moments too! But they're tired of seeing people ship Blanebin. Corbin just got together with someone else, so obviously that's not gonna work out. Plus Corbin and Blane totally has always given person C bro vibes. In fact, person C thinks, sure Corbin and Blane have a close friendship, but people shouldn't be shipping them. Person C likes Blanetoria and Blanetoria can't be canon if Corbin is in the way of it. So Person C likes to read Blanebin as siblings anyways. Sure they're canonically friends, but obviously their friendship turned into brotherhood. This means that nothing can be in the way of Blanetoria and Corbin can keep dating the person he's already canonically dating. Actually, now Blanebin just straight up makes Person C uncomfortable. Don't the pesky shippers understand that Blanebin are sibling coded because they're childhood best friends and that they're important to each other because they're brothers? It's obvious to anyone with eyes.

Sure, ships are involved here, but is the root of this problem shipping? Character A isn't as knowledgeable of other characters in the plot due to this lens they're using, but at the end of the day they're dedicated to analysis. Their love of the characters is pushing them beyond what they like or dislike to try to understand what might be happening through their lens. Not perfect, but they are slowly broadening their horizons. But Person B and C's problems here are their restrictiveness. What is or should be canon to them is tantamount to what they personally like or find comfortable. Is person C actually analyzing the this fake show when they decide to "read" Blanebin as basically canonically siblings (and this all of their moments are totally a bro thing) just because they don't like Blanebin and the idea of them getting together over Blanetoria makes them uncomfortable? Is person B actually analyzing this fake show when their "analysis" of Blanebin goes only as far as asserting it's being ship teased and deciding anything short of canonizing Blanebin is a targeted attack or "bad writing" because it's not what they wanted personally to happen?

This is what I'm talking about. This is the mindset. Shipping isn't the problem. The problem is when people marry fanon and canon to the point where they have a vested interest in superimposing their fanon over canon as "a reading" and trying to make "collective decisions" on what is canon (or what canon is trying to say) based on what does or doesn't make them uncomfortable. The problem is people being restrictive and centering their own likes and dislikes in the conversation, so they can only interact with canon "analysis" wise by deciding what is canon or should be canon "as obviously agreed on by everyone". You can't simply claim you like media analysis. To be able to analyze media and bolster your views on any given canon, you must be open to looking at it through multiple povs, to studying characters without trying to pretend things you don't like don't exist or do like do exist. There is a balance that must be kept between trying to keep objectivity and putting on specific focus/bias based upon the lenses you're putting on. You have to be willing to try to figure out what a media is doing or saying, not saying you're trying to figure out what it's saying while in actuality trying to define the narrative around what people believe it's saying in ways that suit you.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[tearlessrain]

oh god I found a secret third version of the linguini incident. on tubi naturally. I know what I'm doing this evening.

[windydrawallday]

Found some character notes about [Marauder Lockdown] 's optic colors I did just for myself but tweaked it a bit to post for the ones curious! (Sorry if something reads funny, didn't check my English).

I like to HC that these bots' optics fluctuate naturally through analogous colors, two that can switch voluntarily most of the time and one as a visual alert when in lack of maintenance.

Because I barely render and doodle him a lot, these notes are rarely followed up by me except when writing him pfff

[melonisopod]

I think a big underlying factor of the backlash against her is the idea of having to confront your possessions and grapple with whether you actually want them. Do you just have stuff because buying/owning things is a pasttime or does the thing you own actually add joy to your life?

And some people mock the whole “sparks joy” thing regarding necessary stuff like a kitchen appliance or a hairbrush, but even if those things don’t trigger a dopamine effect they still make your life happier because they serve a specific purpose. And again, you’re confronted with what the things you own actually do for you - do they make your life happier? That sort of thing bothers consumerist culture where things like fast fashion and shopping are considered pasttimes in themselves without regard for the actual things you have.

[ruined-sketchbook]

Hello WTTT fandom, been a minute hasn't it (it's been 4 months)

So a video of drag king Magnus Opium performing both parts of Phantom of the Opera came across my TikTok FYP and I got struck with inspiration, so here's a New York. I will take every opportunity given to push my theatre kid NY agenda.

Have a lil stupid bonus meme under the cut too

[age-of-moonknight]

After Midnight. Marvel Superheroes: Official Game Adventure (Vol. 1/1990), pg. 29.

Designer: Anthony Herring; Editor: Mike Breault; Illustrator: John Statema

[dreamsy990]

drawing the first two ocs i ever cared about, ft the one who i made to vent and inspired my username, and the one i accidentally ended up in the exact situation of. its been like 10 years since i came up with them but i still think about these two. might draw gijinkas of them or redesign them or something

[featherymainffins]

Kinda fucked up how all the people I know are like "Yeah I know what I want in my life. I want to work in X field and I want/don't want a long-term partner who I'm going to marry, I want kids and-"

and I'm there just like 🧍

[jenn-the-mostly-harmless]

Being a graphic designer is fun, because nobody who isn't one seems to know how it works, and they will find new and interesting problems for you to solve that didn't need solving.

For instance, they will ask you to make a person's lips thinner even though that person's lips are going to be printed at 3/32 of an INCH (less than a quarter of a centimeter if you care). Will their label printer even show the difference on final print? Who knows?

[elisedonut]

I'm always like man i hate making ocs but i also want to make a visual novel one day and that's only become more true now that I write

so like i'll have to learn how one day

like i mean i know technically how to like ive made four characters

its just do i give a fuck about them thats problem because the answer is no i'm a bad mother

i just can't bring myself to care about them enough to like do anything with them

so they are useless to me as they are now

[inexplicably-spookified]

cairn's design looks really cool!!

what's their deal? as in, what is the character about?

oops i got this ask just as i was walking to work and then forgot to answer it :')

the short answer is that cairn is a character who i have a bunch of different and conflicting ideas/scenarios for, but there is some lore that's remained consistent!

when they were younger, cairn deliberately sought out and made a deal with a fae - in return for their name, the fae would give them 'cool magic shit'

however, the name they gave up was their deadname - their 'public' reason for doing so being that they wanted to see if they could cheat the system... which was part of their goal, but they also wanted to get rid of the weight of the knowledge of their pre-transition self

this, unsurprisingly, had consequences, and now it's as if they didn't exist at all before they stopped going by their deadname - they can't remember their younger years, or recognise any depictions of themself pre-transition, nor can anyone else draw a connection between the two. they claim this is the outcome that they wanted and they are happy with it, but are probably not quite telling the truth

also they currently live in a (possibly haunted), crumbling tower 'because there's no rent' and work in a bakery because they enjoy, uh, baking