#but they're always extremely inaccurate to me personally lol

[swordsonnet]

it's always funny when i come across a child development timeline and go "hm, this doesn't apply to my childhood at all"

and then i remember i have a developmental disorder

[shinesurge]

in a fit of minor despair i blazed TWO (2) comic posts, and by chance a very kind reader ALSO blazed a completely different post the next day. Some insights from the new dashboard (assuming they're accurate lmfao), in case it helps anybody:

The major takeaway here is, as much as we all hate booktok ads and despite what people insist, nobody actually wants a real synopsis of your thing, they want zero-context clickbait.

All three of these were for 2500 views, mine were both targeted towards identical tag audiences and the Kind Follower's was ALSO for 2500 but they chose some different (still applicable) tags.

The pinned post, with some actual comic pages, the elevator pitch, and some basic info about the comic gained around 37 engagements, including 6 reblogs. Worth noting that I formatted this post specifically to be clear and painlessly sharable, it doesn't stretch the page or have clickable links and has all the info about the thing right out front, the sort of thing I respond to.

The softer world edit I originally made because I like making them, with no intention of using it for advertising and which includes zero context for the characters, also no links, got 80 engagements, 6 reblogs and one new follower.

And finally, the follower's blazed post was an actual comic update that differed from the usual for Reasons; instead of a real comic panel it ALSO had a softer world edit attached. None of the text was formatted well for an ad at all, just being the usual links to the comic's website. It gained 36 engagements overall, with 4 reblogs.

And no matter WHAT the post looks like: nobody clicks links.

I'll also mention that pinned post has been there since February, and before I blazed it it had gained around 175 notes in five months. A lot of my static character posts will get 70 or 80 notes without me tagging or trying or really doing anything to promote them, because. They're not meant to be used like that lol

Granted: tumblr as a website is a mess, these numbers could be wildly inaccurate, this is not a super scientific study, but Man.

Personally, I do not respond to this sort of clickbaity booktok shit very well when it's INTENDED for advertising, specifically because I feel like it disrespects the audience and, worse, imitates genuine art to exploit peoples' genuine feelings. It feels VERY close to those covert influencer ads, it honestly makes me kinda sick. But I have talked about this phenomenon before, and the numbers here do back it up. I do think there's some nuance here, but it would take a whole other post to get into it I think.

And I mean, when I make stuff about my own comic it IS always genuine. The audience for "fanwork" I make of my own stuff is extremely small (mostly Me) so it's not like it would be lucrative to crank out a ton of random fake fandom posts; they're not any less earnest if I use them for ads now and then. So I dunno, I guess it's not EXACTLY the same as those gross publisher ads pretending to be teen girls, but it's irritating to be here. I know what I'm looking for wrt ads and getting into new things and I try to treat others the same way. It would be cool to get some traction while treating my audience like Real People, but clearly that route doesn't work seeing as my comic career now has a very real expiration date lmfao. Get out there and make some memes I guess?

[tavina-writes]

i find it extremely funny that we (mxtx fandoms in general but mdzs especially) will get into huge shouting matches about timelines and research and accuracy and meanwhile she was like "the death of the nie bros' dad, an event extremely important to explaining the buildup to the war that affected literally every single member of the cast, could have happened anywhere in these five whole-ass years" and "yeah they totally had potatoes don't worry about it lol". truly airplane was an autobiographical character.

You know nonny, I DO find this intensely funny at times. My uh, main source of "shaking my head at this" happens when inevitably, meta goes around and we rush back and forth going "X WAS A GOOD PERSON" and "X WAS EVIL! EVIL!" etc, which happens every now and again and always makes me a bit like "ah, yes, it's difficult to convey nuance and also differing points of view that may in whole or in part also be legitimate and valuable to discuss on a place like tumblr/the internet in general because it is difficult to grapple with uncertainties and we often want to nail things down one way or another so we can figure out if we're right or not" <- but this often comes out as me writing a joke post. Or a saltier post than I intended. Sometimes because I'm tired and sometimes because I just happen to be a salty individual on main.

And I do think fandom is a place where like, multiple interpretations of an event or a statement or a character's "morality" and themes and choices are often equally valid. And fandom should be a place for that, that's what makes fandom fun. If there was a One True Interpretation of the text there'd be no need for interpreting text at all, and that's distinctly sad for me. That's no fun. Anyone who tries to use their knowledge to cudgel people into the One True Interpretation is wrong, btw.

Though I think, and here's where I feel that research and accuracy is a nuanced thing and should actually be of consideration for meta/fic/engaging with fandom in general, and why perhaps people strive for it -- the "lol, potatoes" and "poetry from whatever era I want" is fun! MXTX, however, is still writing about a fantasy version of her own culture, which offers along with it a foundational basis of knowledge that makes this...easier? And again, here's where the part of me that does enjoy these anachronisms and inaccuracies (because they're fun and since we have flying swords why not potatoes) wars with the part of me that's also like, "okay but there is a difference between 'not knowing enough to be respectful of the background surrounding the characters and why that might inform their actions' and 'I've decided that peppers, which did not exist in Eurasia prior to the Columbian Exchange are a big thing here now.'" The difference is respect. Different members of fandom will draw this line in different places and it hits different on different days.

And this is one of the struggles of engaging with foreign language media a lot of the time - we try to strike a balance between engaging with it based on our own experiences and backgrounds and not accidentally saying anything offensive or strange or 'that would totally never happen' or 'he would not fucking talk like that' and I've found, with my time in this fandom, most people who are concerned with accuracy and research are largely trying to be respectful and avoid such gaffes.

Over the two or so years I've been here, I've also reacted to people who've insisted their interpretation is the correct one when it was definitely a case of 'the version Chinese culture that I'm familiar with 200% does not work like that', and saltily wandered off to vent about how 'this is inaccurate and also rude' or try to explain why it wouldn't happen like that. Maybe this comes off as preachy at times, or overly concerned with "accuracy," but that is typically where that sort of reaction comes from for me. I expect this is probably true for other people as well!

And by no means like, do we only engage in fandom because we want to be educated or educate others, and by no means is that an obligation of any fic writer or meta writer or casual fandom goer. We engage with media because it engages us, and we engage with fandom because we love community, and sometimes its no more complex than that.

I enjoy research and art history so that's typically why this appears in my fic, and I started out on doing it to better connect with my own heritage, which I've found more important to me as I've gotten older, so that's where it comes from for me.

Apologies nonny, this was probably not the answer you were looking for and I do commiserate, I'm just chronically unable to be funny on main. 😔

TLDR: there's always nuance in everything unfortunately. Even if this is the no nuance webbed site.

[dragpinkman]

opinion on blended movie . i have seen this movie way too many times against my will

because of this ask i started watching it for the first time so you're getting a fresh review 👍 im just going to add to this as i watch.

⚠️ LONG POST (sorry)

first 5 min its eh not too bad, honestly i watched one of the worst adam sandler movies ever last night so everything seems fine its like eating cheap canned soup after only eating rotten food for a day. i like drew barrymore generally so im some what optimistic for her character.

i spoke too soon, it is not improving. this plot is extremely predictable i can tell its enemies to lovers very fanfic troupe whatever everything doesn't have to be groundbreaking cinema but it feels lazy. it has quite a few good actors so thats a plus?

my least favorite bit so far is the 12 (?) year old boy with a crush on the babysitter. i know thats normal it happens but the whole way of addressing it is unfunny jerking off humor yk. also not a continuing thing but i thought the period jokes were strange bc they're just inaccurate, its strange to me that two actresses were backing up that tampon size correlates to pussy size and that when your older you stretch out, its literally that frank iero meme the what pussy size are you- i didnt know people actually believed that lol. also another thing thats very typical for these type of movies were the lesbian jokes about the main character and her friend, it felt like it was going on too long. the joke seems like a one off comment adams character would make not a 3 minute convo yk. i personally didnt find it offensive but it was just long and unfunny, to be fair last night i watched the most stereotype of a movie besides zohan so far.

ooo terry cruz hes in this one as well. i like him too so again i hope his character turns out ok. nothing really to say about them going to africa, very predictable and you immediately find out what happened no suspense. the boy jokes about his daughters are a bit strange, short hair on women is not uncommon in south africa? in 2015 which i assume is around when the movie takes place it wasnt a wild concept, a ton of south african women have short hair and every other hair length. i dont get it. anyways.

ok some american guy made the joke too. i think all these people are stupid, bella thorne just dresses casual and has short hair.

can you tell i forgot everyones names, this is not very memorable.

ew ew i hate the teen boy sorry. hes so eugh. putting on a fake accent and finding his mom hot, bro get help. atleast the people around him are calling him out on it but. 😐

NOOO THEY'RE GOING TO GIVE HER A "GIRL" MAKEOVER DAMN IT WHY. she likes it more thats fine but i hate when this always happens in movies I wish for once they'd do an opposite makeover where they go from feminine to masculine. she really just said "the boys at school think im a lesbian but not the hot kind". why does this movie have so many lesbian and "she looks like a man" jokes.

i cant believe im only halfway done. im really wondering the conflict of this movie, or does nothing happen?

her makeover is fine im glad she likes it but i still dont appreciate the casual clothes short hair slander smh. and why is adam sandlers character so mad like shes 15 bro let her figure herself out.

i feel like drew is doing a lot of motherly stuff and really getting close with the girls but adam did like one thing with one son so far.

the scenes with not a lot of talking and them just doing stuff isn't too bad, it kinda feels like a vacation ad ha.

ok hes doing a bit more now. the oldest boy is still so annoying sorry. its almost over right.

drew barrymore looks so pretty in that dress, and terry cruz has a nice singing voice. wow i think we aren't getting conflict. huh. where are they going to pull out an argument for this. wish i was stargazing rn.

ok i hit it i think, the conflict is just that he isn't ready to move past his dead wife? why cant they just wait. oh hi shaq.

ew wait no i hit the conflict, so her ex husband is insecure and lying. cool. sad adam leaving the house music. im cringing at her ex flirting with her blegh. can they just figure this out already he lied adam likes you get together the end.

slay adam and his kids showed up for the ball game. are they going to get past the misunderstanding yet. this part of the movie isn't too bad it could be the joy of only 7 minutes left.

why did the kids just call each others parents hot. ok.

yipee its the end thank you terry.

...

well its not the worst movie ive seen, but its not one i would rewatch either, it feels very early 2000s so im suprised it was made so recently. i would say overall its a 5/10 on the sandler scale, nowhere near as bad as zohan or ridiculous 6 but not as good as say bedtime story*.

*i wouldn't give that one a perfect rating or even an 8 but it falls on the better side of the scale rather than the negative

ok im done writing i wonder if this will be read to the end. hi if you are still reading 👋

[turtwig387]

Holy fucking shit

Okay, so many things.

I badly wanted to use the meme of John Mulaney going "we don't have time to unpack all that" but actually, let's unpack all that.

Let's do it.

I don't think my life is shitty

I'm disabled

So many people in the notes agree they're badass.

Except for you who supports assisted suicide apparently

Next thing, literally having a disability isn't that bad assuming you've gone through the grief of not beinf able to do some things that you used to be able to do.

Yes I admit there is grief involved just like any "loss" you have to go through, but your pet dies does that mean you kill yourself? No, you go through the grief until it doesn't hurt as badly anymore.

Most of the time once you go through the grief you're perfectly happy as yourself, as being disabled, as existing disabled, happy with your disability. I am.

I love the way my legs are shaped and how they curve even though I was raised to think they were wrong

I love my scars

I love my crutches

I love my leg braces

I admittedly still have a problem loving my wheelchair but I love it a lot more than I used to!

I want to address your use of the word "anymore" lol, the op, that is, original poster, that is, me, was always disabled, so that invalidates your sentence there, but anyway...

My life isn't shitty. Their lives aren't shitty.

I frankly think you're a terrible, sorry excuse for a human being to even mention assisted suicide. Full stop.

Let's address that too.

Assisted suicide is legal in where was it? Swizterland I believe? A place I will leave out the name but I'm aware of, because they don't deserve any publicity.

There's a wretched book that is wildly hated by disabled people called Me Before You

Where the disabled man kills himself at the end of the book in said way.

Do you know why disabled people hate that book? Besides that the entire book was extremely degrading and judgemental and inaccurate to being disabled?

Because he commits suicide at the end! He goes to the place and does assisted suicide!

And most disabled people, assuming they're no more self-loathing than the average suicidal person, don't want to commit suicide! For being disabled!

So no, we are NOT out here existing just because it's not legal to have someone help us kill ourselves.

We are out here existing because we want to. Because we love it. The same reason anyone else does.

Being disabled does NOT make our lives shitty.

I could've just reported you and hoped tumblr @staff @support actually gave a fuck about it's users, and more specifically its disabled ones, but I thought I should make my response clear before/instead.

You're a terrible human being.

Disabled people are badass.

Honestly disabled people are badass