#covers to be sold commercially

[pjsk-headcanons]

HANYUU FUCKING MAIGO. WOW.

[undreaming-fanfiction]

Steve is a one hit wonder, or at least that's what most of the world thinks.

You'd assume that he peaked in high school, and his claim to fame was a kegstand record or something, but no, that's not it. He was the "king", sure, but one day he just happened to sit on a bench in his uni's campus, and because his lips felt really dry from the windy autumn weather, he re-applied some lipgloss. A photographer taking pictures of the campus for a promotional brochure saw him, approched him, and voila! The biggest success (or maybe a mistake) of Steve's life was born.

He starred in a lipgloss commercial.

Look, in his defense, he needed the money. His parents cut him off, he was finally finding himself in his new major, and he was passionate about being able to afford rent and groceries. So he went to the studio, let them powder his face to oblivion and apply some lipgloss. They also gave him a shirt two sizes too small, which was really uncomfortable, but apparently made his shoulders look nice. He tried his best to recall wooing girls in high school, put on a hopefully seductive face, repeated some silly lines, and that was it.

He bought a new mattress with what he called the "lipgloss money" and thought that he could get back to his life with no change.

Except that didn't happen. Because the ad took off. Really, really took off. It got sold out almost immediately. The restocks were so sought after, there were lines forming in front of drugstores. The lipgloss was nice, thought Steve, non-sticky and with a nice flavor, long-lasting as per the ad, but he failed to see the mass appeal.

As it turned out, the appeal was himself. People recognized him on the street. They asked him to repeat that stupid line he said for the commercial. Somehow it got him more modelling gigs, all good and well-paid, but sometimes he thought he'd forever be the lipgloss guy.

As he's now standing in front of his class of students as their new PE teacher, he realizes it's not that much of a curse. Not if they consider it insanely cool that their teacher is famous, and if he can use the famous catchphrase as a motivator. "Alright, alright," he laughs and tosses a basket ball to one of his students. "Score at least twice in this game and I'll say it."

He's never seen a game so competitive.

In the end, the students fulfill his condition. He grabs the lipgloss that one of the girls hands him, applies it to his lips, and assumes the well-practiced pose. He's so deep into his lipgloss model persona he doesn't realize the door to the gym opens.

"Just try kissing it off," he whispers in the most exaggerated, seductive voice he can muster.

His class explodes in laughter and clapping, but there's also an unfamiliar sound - a guitar case being dropped on the ground. Eddie Munson, the new music teacher who is supposed to prepare the gym for a students' concert that evening, stares at Steve as if he's a snack. A sweaty, lipgloss-covered snack.

In the awkward silence that follows, Steve rushes to pick up the guitar case, apologizes for shocking his new colleague and tries to explain the situation.

Eddie chuckles with him and assures him that no, it's all good, at least their first meeting was memorable. Steve sends his students to tidy the gym, and has to laugh when Eddie asks - "Sorry, what was that phrase again?"

"The lipgloss is supposed to be long-lasting, that's why," he explains. It's "Just try kissing it off."

And Eddie doesn't laugh at him, he just smirks and whispers:

"Well, don't mind if I do!"

[strictlyfavorites]

Ambassador Stevens was sent to Benghazi to secretly retrieve US made Stinger Missiles that the State Dept had supplied to Ansar al Sharia in Libya WITHOUT Congressional oversight or permission.

Sec State Hillary Clinton had brokered the Libya deal through Ambassador Stevens and a Private Arms Dealer named Marc Turi, but some of the shoulder fired Stinger Missiles ended up in Afghanistan where they were used against our own military. On July 25th, 2012, a US Chinook helicopter was downed by one of them. Not destroyed only because the idiot Taliban didn't arm the missile. The helicopter didn't explode, but it had to land and an ordnance team recovered the missile’s serial number which led back to a cache of Stinger Missiles kept in

Qatar by the CIA.

Obama and Hillary were in full panic mode, so Ambassador Stevens was sent to Benghazi to retrieve the rest of the Stinger Missiles. This was a "do-or-die" mission, which explains the Stand Down Orders given to multiple rescue teams during the siege of the US Embassy.

It was the State Dept, NOT the CIA, that supplied the Stinger Missiles to our sworn enemies because Gen. Petraeus at CIA would not approve supplying the deadly missiles due to their potential use against commercial aircraft. So then, Obama threw Gen. Petraeus under the bus when he refused to testify in support of Obama’s phony claim of a “spontaneous uprising caused by a YouTube video that insulted Muslims.”

Obama and Hillary committed TREASON!

THIS is what the investigation is all about, WHY she had a Private Server, (in order to delete the digital evidence), and WHY Obama, two weeks after the attack, told the UN that the attack was the result of the YouTube video, even though everyone KNEW it was not.

Furthermore, the Taliban knew that the administration had aided and abetted the enemy WITHOUT Congressional oversight or permission, so they began pressuring (blackmailing) the Obama Administration to release five Taliban generals being held at Guantanamo.

Bowe Bergdahl was just a useful pawn used to cover the release of the Taliban generals. Everyone knew Bergdahl was a traitor but Obama used Bergdahl’s exchange for the five Taliban generals to cover that Obama was being coerced by the Taliban about the unauthorized Stinger Missile deal.

So we have a traitor as POTUS that is not only corrupt, but compromised, as well and a Sec of State that is a serial liar, who perjured herself multiple times at the Congressional Hearings on Benghazi. Perhaps this is why no military aircraft were called upon for help in Benghazi: because the administration knew that our enemies had Stinger Missiles that, if used to down those planes, would likely be traced back to the CIA cache in Qatar and then to the State Dept’s illegitimate arms deal in Libya.

They sold out our own Ambassador and àll of our men they could have rescued. What makes you think they wouldn't do the same to you? Thanks Obama, Biden, Hillary and all that worked with you, against our own men.

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Gotye featuring Kimbra - Somebody That I Used to Know 2011

"Somebody That I Used to Know" is a song written, produced and performed by Australian musician and singer Gotye, featuring vocals from New Zealand singer Kimbra. The song samples Luiz Bonfá's 1967 instrumental song "Seville", with additional instrumentations of beats and a xylophone playing a melody based on "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep". The song was released in Australia and New Zealand on 5 July 2011 as the second single from Gotye's third studio album, Making Mirrors (2011). It was released in December 2011 in the UK, and 20 January 2012 in Ireland and the US.

In Australia, the song won the Triple J Hottest 100 poll at the end of 2011, as well as ARIA Music Awards for Song of the Year and Best Video, while Kimbra was voted Best Female Artist, and Gotye was named Best Male Artist and Producer of the Year. The song came ninth in the Triple J Hottest 100 of the Past 20 Years, 2013. At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, "Somebody That I Used to Know" won two Grammys for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Record of the Year.

Commercially, "Somebody That I Used to Know" was a global success and became both artists' signature song. It reached the top of the charts in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US, as well as 25 other official charts, and reached the Top 10 in more than 30 countries. Globally, "Somebody That I Used to Know" has sold more than 20 million copies, becoming one of the best-selling digital singles of all time. Gotye paid tribute to the overwhelming number of cover versions of the song by personally creating a video remix, released in August 2012, using segments from hundreds of online covers to create a new, unique version of the track, titled "Somebodies: A YouTube Orchestra".

"Somebody That I Used to Know" received a total of 87,6% yes votes!

[achronalart]

Something I’m becoming aware of as I study aspects of cultural history is how prefabricated and unprecedented the image of the 1950s was even at the time.

This is important because at the time and ever since, reactionary forces keep trying to jam the nation into that image as some kind of blissful idyllic ideal.

But the image of suburban America in the 1950s was pure fantasy sold to cover over the wounds of a deeply traumatized nation.

The US 1950s ideal of one employed breadwinning man and one unemployed housekeeping wife living with 1d4 minor children in a freestanding house in a sprawling new-built suburb pretending to be an idyllic small town/country estate was invented in the wake of the massive unaddressed generational trauma of the one-two-three punch of the First World War, the Great Depression and the Second World War.

The image was never fully embraced and even at the time was a regular object of mockery.

The image of women as ditzy housewives was violently enforced to erase the gains women had made in employment and the competence they had displayed during the war. Likewise the attempt to crush the Black people who had also demonstrated competence and capability. Veterans’ trauma was swept under the rug.

The very idea that the prefabricated commercial advertiser-driven idyl of the lone nuclear family swathed in its swaddling 1950s housing development, sold to anesthetize a still-war-traumatized generation living in the 1950s of the Korean War, of “Losing” China and the McCarthy Communist witch hunts, of the great eruptions of the Civil Rights movement, of the Cold War and bomb shelters and sundown towns, is the way things are “supposed” to be is utter, ahistorical nonsense.

We can’t go back. We were never there in the first place.

[bogleech]

The last of the original print run finally sold out, but by popular demand I'm restocking them in limited quantity for October only! 31 more will be printed, and may only ever come back again as a Halloween thing! Probably not every year and probably not forever! This book contains:

The "Burgrr Entries" creepypasta with entirely new chapters, some new events, and an altered ending I think is a lot funnier. It also better clarifies some details that, originally, you would have only understood from website easter eggs

Every other short story that involved Harmburger's meat world, some of which also have additions to them

The book exclusive "Commercial Log" detailing the weird and eerie television ads that run as these entities leak into our world

An expanded guide to the meat creatures, now including more of the minor ones actually mentioned in the story

Cover art by Trevor Henderson!

[octuscle]

The ghost of Gamma Omega Lambda Delta

“Are you sure we're standing in front of the right house?” asked Leander. The property was in a miserable state. The porch was half collapsed, the front garden a mixture of jungle and garbage dump. The exposé had shown a reasonably presentable house, which certainly had potential as an investment property in the immediate vicinity of the campus. Leander looked at Jacob a little disparagingly. Jacob was the prototype of a sleazy real estate agent. A little too fat for his not-so-new suit. The heels of his shoes were worn out. And with the help of a little too much pomade, the top of his head painstakingly concealed his incipient baldness. Jacob struck a pose. “You know what my real estate investment is all about: location, location, location! And this is a prime location. Perfect for a boarding house for guest lecturers. Or as a commercial student residence for exchange students. The Germans and Scandinavians will pay almost any price for rent.” Leander sighed. He came from Berlin himself and knew how expensive it was to study in California. But it had paid off. He was in his late 20s, a millionaire several times over after the exit of his start-up and he had no intention of dying a millionaire. His goal was a billion. “All right, then, let's take a look at the wreckage from the inside.”

The first thing they saw was a cat fleeing from them in a panic when Jacob unlocked the door. It looked as if no human had disturbed its peace for a long time. The house reeked of cat pee and mustiness. Jacob searched for a light switch with his flashlight. Leander pulled aside a tattered curtain in disgust and opened a window. It was clear: tear it down and build a new one. There was no alternative. The wooden floor was rotten, the light switches didn't work and the stain on the ceiling suggested a leaking roof. But in his mind's eye, there was a Starbucks branch and a co-working space down here and, if he could bribe the building authorities, one- and one-and-a-half-bedroom apartments on eight, maybe ten floors above. The location was perfect. But he didn't want to let his interest show. Leander was a good poker player. “Give me a flashlight, I'd like to have a look around upstairs,” he said to Jacob. And of course he was prepared and handed his wealthy customer a flashlight. “Do you need gloves too?” he asked. Leander waved them off. He wasn't a wimp, he wasn't afraid of getting dirty.

The stairs creaked unconvincingly as he went upstairs. “What was this before?” asked Leander. “A frat house, as far as I know,” Jacob replied. That at least partially explains the dilapidated condition, Leander thought to himself, pushing a pile of leaves aside with one foot in disgust. It wasn't just leaves. There were also the remains of weathered jockstraps. The upper floor seemed to be in an even worse state than the first floor… But at least there was a light on in one room. Amazing!

Jacob left his client alone. When he sold the property, it would be renovated. The property was huge. There used to be a basketball court and a pool on the dilapidated property. Of course, both were no longer recognizable due to the undergrowth and junk. But a dormitory with 20, maybe 25 units could be built on the site alone. The battery in his flashlight was flat. He needed light… And air, it really stank to high heaven in this ruin. Jacob began to draw curtains and open windows. That made it brighter and airier. But it also made the misery more visible. Dude, this place was really run down. The floor was full of garbage and leaves, the walls were covered in graffiti… Jacob came into a hallway that looked surprisingly tidy. There were stains on the wall from pictures that were no longer hanging. Lots of pictures. All obviously the same size. Only one was still hanging:

Jacob read the writing on the plaque on the frame: "Bruh of the month 09/2024: Chad". What the hell? It was September 2024!

Leander struggled through the garbage towards the lighted room. While all the other doors hung crookedly on their hinges and were covered in graffiti, the open door to the room was almost clean and looked tidy. There was a sign on the door that read “Mitch and Scott's man cave. No entry if sock is on the door handle. Unless you can take two cocks!” The room was messy. The way a dorm room was usually messy. But it looked as if Mitch and Scott had just stepped out for a quick shower after a fierce sword fight. It smelled of musk, sweat and cum. Leander got a hard-on.

Jacob felt uncomfortable. Something's not right here. He also had to pee. No, he had to piss. Fuck, his bladder felt like after two pitchers of beer. He had to burp. And his burp smelled and tasted like beer. There had been toilets around here somewhere. Better to piss in a broken toilet than just in a corner, he thought to himself. Yes, this was where the washrooms were. A frat boy was standing at a urinal and wanking. He looked curiously at Jacob's crotch. Did Jacob have to be uncomfortable now? Never mind, he had to piss. And if a bro was wanking next to him, that was somehow a compliment.

Leander opened one of the cupboards. It smelled like a boys' locker room in high school. T-shirts, football gear, jockstraps, sneakers… Everything was just stuffed into the cupboard. Some of it was clean. Other things were obviously not. Without giving it much thought, Leander undressed and pulled on a jockstrap, a pair of ripped jeans and a shiny college jacket. He found a pair of formerly white socks and sneakers on the floor. Everything fit perfectly. But with his 35 years and beer belly, he looked really ridiculous.

“I'm Dylan, are you new here?” asked the wanking bro next to him as Jacob buttoned his jeans. “Because if you're new, you might as well leave your jeans unbuttoned. I prefer to see the cocks of the new guys who suck me off outside their pants”. Jacob looked at Dylan's hard-on. impressive compared to his own. He went down on his knees. “Wait a minute!” said Dylan. “No one blows me with a stuffy shirt like that.” Leander freed his upper body. And let his tongue play with Dylan's shaft.

Leander lay on Scott's bed. He sucked in Scott's scent. For a sophomore, Scott smelled like a real man. Leander thought about Scott's hairy balls. He liked it that Scott didn't shave. Nothing against a clean-shaven cock and clean-shaven balls. But a man was hairy, he thought as he scratched his chest hair. Out in the hallway, he heard Scott and Mitch coming. They were both praising each other's performance at football practice. The two of them came into their room. Scott grinned and said that his prayers had been answered. He had wished for an awesome cardio workout before the party tonight.

Jacob asked his roommate Dylan why they only ever had sex in the washroom and never in their room. Dylan licked some of his own cum, which was dripping from the corner of Jacob's mouth, off his face. “Because it would be totally homo if we slept in the same bed we were fucking in.” Jacob didn't ask. He was here for his wrestling scholarship, not his intelligence. If Dylan, who had at least once had a B in English and supposedly even in math, said so, it would be true.

Jacob, Dylan, Mitch, Scott, and Leander all arrived at the Gamma Omega Lambda Delta fraternity house party cave at almost the same time. The party was in full swing. Jacob and Leander greeted each other with a chest bump. It was customary among the college wrestlers. And then they started drinking. The others had been at it for an hour. They had some catching up to do.

Shit, it was 05:00. Both of them had already thrown up some of the beer and tequila they had drunk. And poured new beers and tequilas. Leander actually had to rewrite his microeconomics exam today. If he failed again, he would probably have to allow the dean to blow him again. But what was much worse was that they had wrestling practice this afternoon. If Coach found out that they had overdone it again as party animals, they would be in big trouble. Okay, but that could also be settled with a blowjob. Besides, they still had four hours to sleep, no one expected the two stallions to show up on campus before 10:00. Life as a frat boy was just awesome!

[rainbowsky]

On GG's album, and hints of what was to come

As everyone here likely already knows, I'm completely losing it over the news of a full album from GG. There's a lot more to all of this that I haven't yet discussed, so let's dig into it. I have thoughts...

Disclaimer: Most of what's discussed here is rumor and interpretation, and could be inaccurate. We'll find out what's really happening soon enough!

I never dared dream that GG would put out an album. I have been begging for crumbs of a song for years now, it would have seemed completely outrageous to dare to dream of an entire album!!!

But now that it's on its way, and I've heard more info/rumors about the release (more on that in a bit), I can look back over the past year and see some signs that have been there all along, of what's to come.

More on the release

Promo has already begun, and we now know more about the release schedule based on what's posted on the streaming platforms.

The songs will be released in 3 waves, with the first wave happening on the 12th, the next one on the 19th and the final one on the 26th.

The physical album is going to be coming in December, and there are some tantalizing rumors about what that will include:

The album cover was drawn by GG.

A Xiao Zhan Studio red gift box containing various items including postcards, t-shirts etc.

There will be a CD version and a limited edition vinyl version.

A music video is also rumored to have been completed. This has been confirmed, and will be premiering on the 12th.

Clues we've had all along

What's interesting to me is that for months I've been posting updates about changes to XZ Studio's business license, that have been clues to what GG might be up to.

In January a license was obtained to establish a domestic performance agency.

In March that license was expanded to include services for film production and live performances.

In June there were some legal trademark applications made, pertaining to office supplies, calendars and paper gift wrapping.

And now we know that he's releasing an album, at least some editions which will likely be sold with bonus gifts, paper products and packaging (I think this is a very credible rumor because if he's going the physical album route, it's likely designer GG will want to do special editions like this).

Licenses recently purchased protect the studio's exclusive rights to produce and sell such items.

We also know GG and his studio love to produce stunning high quality videos. Was there ever any doubt that he'd make a music video? Maybe even more than one.

Licenses purchased earlier this year give the studio the right to produce such commercial videos.

And there's another license that is associated with live concert performances! I think it's highly likely we'll see a concert from him in the coming year or two.

Generous GG

As Fat Shrimp mentioned, the songs will be free on streaming. This has made a big impression on some fans, and there has been a lot of discussion about it, and about how much this album will have cost to produce, for GG to give it away for free (here's a compilation of some of the comments via Nili, and another from Estefanita).

People have expressed so many thoughts about this. Everyone agrees that it's almost unheard of to give an entire album for free. One or two songs, maybe, but just as a teaser for the full album - which must be paid for.

A lot of people have talked about the 'old days' (ack, I feel old!) when people would buy physical albums, often after having heard only one or two singles on the radio (although where I'm from people could go into a record store and listen to the full album before buying).

They say that he's opening himself up to that evaluation before people are expected to commit to paying for it, and that it's very generous and honorable, but that it will also open him up to being heard more by passersby who wouldn't otherwise be willing to pay for the music - therefore expanding his possible audience.

I personally think there are a few possible factors contributing to why he chose to share his album for free:

To me, this feels almost like GG's bigger 'debut' as an independent solo singer. He's finally releasing music entirely on his own terms. He wants to share and celebrate that with the world, as a gift to the world and to the fans. "I'm here. Please enjoy."

He's inviting people to listen to his music and judge for themselves whether it's worthy of their investment. It goes along with his personality as someone who wouldn't want people to associate any sort of 'buyer's remorse' with something he's sold them. He's always saying, "people are free to like or to hate," and this is his way of giving people that choice without judgment. "Listen and if you like it, buy it. If you don't, that's fine too." By doing this he's likely to build a bigger audience than by doing a traditional release, because everyone has a chance to hear and evaluate him without any up-front investment.

He wants to avoid any possibility of a repeat of what happened with Spotlight, where he was criticized because fans were buying dozens of copies as a means of boosting sales, and then bragging that their idol was the biggest seller of all time. He doesn't want fans to spend all their money on his songs or on boosting his 'sales', nor does he want any perception that the success of his album was bought by fans.

He could be bargaining on making more overall sales via charging for only the physical copies than by selling both, due to the expanded interest a free release is likely to generate.

He has confidence in what he's created, and is happy to share it openly.

He's doing this out of the joy of it more than anything else, and money isn't a central factor for him.

To me this approach, along with the stated plans for rolling all of this out, feels like a marketing plan, and we all know GG has a professional background in that kind of thing.

Yes, all those other elements of artistry, generosity and magnanimity come into it as well, of course. Marketing is treated as a dirty word, but we must remember that every marketing plan is based deeply in the values and intent of the individual/organization doing the marketing, and is focused on their goals.

I feel that his plan will have considered the factors I mentioned, and will be aligned with his values, intentions and goals.

This is just my take on it, of course. Only GG and his studio really know for sure what his plans and goals are.

Can't wait!!!

Whatever his feelings or plans are, I can't wait to hear this album, I can't wait to buy it, and I can't wait to see what kind if interest and critique it generates!!

I also hope that this is just the beginning - that he will be releasing more music, and hopefully doing concerts in the future.

[suzukiblu]

WIP excerpt behind the cut; "Knockout gets knocked up". (( chrono || non-chrono ))

“Oh,” he manages. “Uh . . . uh, okay. Sure. Yeah. Uh–but I don’t know how to convince anyone I can take care of a kid. Like–I work all the friggin’ time when I’ve got shoots or commercials or whatever, and the rest of the time I’m doing superhero stuff, and everybody knows where I live, and–like, if Scavenger or King Shark or whoever knew I had a kid at my place . . .” 

He swallows, and tries not to grimace. Tries not to think about what’d happen, if . . . 

“That’s a concern, yes,” Superman says carefully. “You could . . . relocate, though. Somewhere safer.” 

“I guess I could, if I sold the compound,” Superboy says, grimacing after all. He doesn’t like that thought, but he’s the idiot who fucked up here, so . . . yeah. Well, it doesn’t matter if he “likes” it or not, if the fucking alternative is a baby getting disappeared into a lab somewhere. “But like . . . I don’t even know where I could live and still stay under the radar. Like, I gotta file taxes, man, and I’d still have a mortgage and shit I had to work to cover, or at least rent, so like, how hard would it even be for a bad guy to find me? Hawaii’s not that big, but Metropolis is so obvious, and I–uh, I mean, I wouldn’t wanna crash your territory anyway, that’s not–” 

“Kid,” Superman cuts him off gently, looking–weird, kind of. Almost . . . pained, a little. 

But it’s Superman, so there’s no way Superboy’s reading that right. 

“Sorry,” Superboy says, trying not to look as embarrassed as he feels. “I just . . . I dunno. I don’t know where you raise a fucking baby, like . . . what do you even need, to raise a baby? And when I had to go to school fucking supervillains attacked it, so what about when they’re supposed to?” 

He needs to be a superhero to get shoots and commercials and sponsorships, and needs to get shoots and commercials and sponsorships to make money, but as long as he’s a superhero there’s always gonna be people who wanna hurt or just literally fucking kill him everywhere all the time and–and he– 

What’s that even mean, he thinks? He can’t be anything but a superhero. That’s–all he is. He doesn’t know how to be anything else. Definitely doesn’t know how to make money being anything else, and kids take a ton of money to take care of, and–

How’s he gonna convince anyone he can do that? How could he even . . . 

How's he supposed to figure out how to be a dad, when all he's ever been is a superhero? 

He was never even anybody’s kid. So like, it's not like he can reverse-engineer the process or whatever.

[h20goflashnsplashsealrideon]

okayyy soooo

THINGS THAT I THINK IT’S IMPORTANT YOU KNOW ABOUT TAKING CARE OF POOLTOYS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER OR SENSE (TUTORIAL (?)(EASY)):

keep them clean! chlorine, oils (of any kind– body oil/mineral oil included), bug spray, acetone, a lot of these things can wear away at or remove the paint, and eventually ruining the plastic and making it brittle. rinse them with fresh water and soap, then towel dry them. do not air dry them or they will get nasty water spots. wash them when you notice many oily spots. 

overinflation is okay in moderation, do not overinflate and ride! commercially sold pooltoys are typically rated to handle ~80ish pounds, and while they can typically handle a little more than that, past that point they are more prone to breaking, and once a seam pops or splits it can be difficult to get it under control. 

(be careful of sharp things of course, and be gentle on tightly curved negative seams.)

when repairing a pooltoy, always wear protective gear (gloves) and work in a well ventilated area, the vapors released from vinyl glue are toxic and can cause brain and lung damage. 

vinyl glues like loctite vinyl repair and HH-66 vinyl cement will ruin the paint on any pooltoy, and greatly softens the vinyl it is adhering to, making it more fragile temporarily. be careful to not rub, only push down to avoid warping the plastic. 

reuse pooltoy parts! once pooltoys are in the trash that’s tonnssss of plastic just wasted. you can reduce that by reusing old toys that are beyond repair or unwanted! plus, this is the easiest and cheapest way to acquire vinyl for patches and projects. also valves!

i highly recommend heath dragon’s youtube channel, there are tons of videos of projects, tutorials and sooo many toys. sooo many. 

be safe! things like pooltoy suits and other vinyl face coverings can cause suffocation and yknow dying. if you’re gonna be doing anything like that do it with a partner. 

i'll add more if i think of anthing this is really bare bones and i am too inebriated.

[imsovoguesblog]

Yugoslav singer, actress, and businesswoman. Lepa Brena graces the covers and inside editorial of Vogue Adria November 2024 Issue, shot by Branislav Simoncik and styled by Petar Trbović.

For those unfamilar with this amazing lady: She's One-Of-A -kind a phenomenon, a star beyond comparison, an Icon, known by her stage name Lepa Brena (Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: Лепа Брена), a Yugoslav singer, actress, with around 40 million sold records, she is regarded as the commercially most successful recording artist from the former Yugoslavia.

(On the covers the the Icon wears #MaisonAlaia)

[tippenfunkaport]

How hard is it to rewrite your fanfic to publish as original? Is there a difference to how you write it?

Anon, I sat on this one a few days trying to think of how to answer this. Because there're a lot of little differences between writing for fanfic and writing original work that I could list but I think it's all really covered by the one biggest thing which is: you need to realize that, in fanfic, readers and canon are doing a lot of the work for you.

In other words, even in the AU-est AU, you're still starting with the basic characterization and world-building of canon. A fanfic reader comes in with a base of knowledge that comes from the source material that you, the writer, can take for granted. They're helping you out by doing a lot of the heavy lifting while reading in a way that a reader coming to something 100% original isn't.

Which is, obviously, a lot of the fun of fanfic! You can just riff on a single scene or do a character study that's light on plot or write missing scenes that make no sense without the context of canon and it's all part of how we play in the fandom space. But when you make the switch to writing for publication, you need to remember that your readers aren't coming in with any of that context and aren't as willing to suspend disbelief upfront.

Think about it. Fanfic can be light on description because you already know what the characters and setting looks like. Fanfic can tread the same beats as canon even when it's narratively unearned because the reader has the background of canon to fill in the blanks. Fanfic can cover the in-between moments or things an editor would consider "pointless" because the readers are already invested in the characters and know how the rest of the story ends. 

I think we've all had that moment when someone raves to you about a fic, how it's amazing, life-changing, better than any published book, and you read it and it's... not good. At all. Not the writing, not the plot... BUT you can absolutely see why your friend loved it so much. It centered their favorite character or ship and they were so overcome with blorbo-love that they were willing to overlook all the writing issues. Which can happen with published books too if they get enough hype (just look at some of the recent BookTok darlings), but is far more likely to happen with fanfic because we're all coming into the work high on love for our favorite show/characters/pairing.

(It's been fascinating as an author to witness this first hand bc my fandom friends and I have a book club and it's been so eye opening to watch people nitpick a published book for minuscule issues and then the exact same people turn around a praise a fanfic as the pinnacle of literature that has all the issues they hated in the published book and FAR MORE. The author of the published book has to work harder to not only make you care about their original characters and world, but also sell you on their story while fanfic knows you're already sold on those elements and just here to play. And also people hold something they paid for to a far higher standard to something they are reading for free and allocate praise accordingly.)

Which shows that, in most cases, it's not enough to just file the serial numbers off your fanfic if you want to publish. Because the exact same people who raved about your fanfic would call it derivative/shallow/etc once the names are changed from their favs and they aren't looking at it through blorbo-colored glasses anymore. It's just human nature, absolutely no shade here, but it really sums up the majority of issues you need to consider when making the leap out of fandom and into a more commercial writing space.

It all comes down to: if you've been predominantly writing fanfic, you may not realize that you're used to the combo of the reader and canon itself doing a lot of the heavy lifting for you. And now you need to learn how to pick up that slack yourself.

A reader coming to an original work about new characters they don't know yet is far less charitable when they crack open your book that they paid their hard earned dollars for than a reader who clicked on your free story about characters they already love. A paying reader is less tolerant of narrative downtime, has a higher expectation of quality writing (ie no typos, grammar issues, consistent tense, pacing, tension etc) and needs the author to make them care about the characters and world because they aren't coming in pre-loaded with love for their favorite media.

So certainly not impossible, but re-writing fanfic into something original involves a mental shift, significant expansion and retooling of what's written, and is by no means as simple as just replace all-ing the names as seems to be the popular misconception.

(And this is not going into the legal issues at all because, frankly, if you are really doing the work to flesh your fanfic out as an original work then it's probably so far removed from canon at that point it's unrecognizable. But obviously be smart and don't publish something with someone else's copyrighted characters or world unless you want your ass sued. Disclaimer that I am just a writer, not a lawyer.)

[strictlyfavorites]

Ambassador Stevens was sent to Benghazi to secretly retrieve US made Stinger Missiles that the State Dept had supplied to Ansar al Sharia in Libya WITHOUT Congressional oversight or permission.

Sec State Hillary Clinton had brokered the Libya deal through Ambassador Stevens and a Private Arms Dealer named Marc Turi, but some of the shoulder fired Stinger Missiles ended up in Afghanistan where they were used against our own military. On July 25th, 2012, a US Chinook helicopter was downed by one of them. Not destroyed only because the idiot Taliban didn't arm the missile. The helicopter didn't explode, but it had to land and an ordnance team recovered the missile’s serial number which led back to a cache of Stinger Missiles kept in

Qatar by the CIA.

Obama and Hillary were in full panic mode, so Ambassador Stevens was sent to Benghazi to retrieve the rest of the Stinger Missiles. This was a "do-or-die" mission, which explains the Stand Down Orders given to multiple rescue teams during the siege of the US Embassy.

It was the State Dept, NOT the CIA, that supplied the Stinger Missiles to our sworn enemies because Gen. Petraeus at CIA would not approve supplying the deadly missiles due to their potential use against commercial aircraft. So then, Obama threw Gen. Petraeus under the bus when he refused to testify in support of Obama’s phony claim of a “spontaneous uprising caused by a YouTube video that insulted Muslims.”

Obama and Hillary committed TREASON!

THIS is what the investigation is all about, WHY she had a Private Server, (in order to delete the digital evidence), and WHY Obama, two weeks after the attack, told the UN that the attack was the result of the YouTube video, even though everyone KNEW it was not.

Furthermore, the Taliban knew that the administration had aided and abetted the enemy WITHOUT Congressional oversight or permission, so they began pressuring (blackmailing) the Obama Administration to release five Taliban generals being held at Guantanamo.

Bowe Bergdahl was just a useful pawn used to cover the release of the Taliban generals. Everyone knew Bergdahl was a traitor but Obama used Bergdahl’s exchange for the five Taliban generals to cover that Obama was being coerced by the Taliban about the unauthorized Stinger Missile deal.

So we have a traitor as POTUS that is not only corrupt, but compromised, as well and a Sec of State that is a serial liar, who perjured herself multiple times at the Congressional Hearings on Benghazi. Perhaps this is why no military aircraft were called upon for help in Benghazi: because the administration knew that our enemies had Stinger Missiles that, if used to down those planes, would likely be traced back to the CIA cache in Qatar and then to the State Dept’s illegitimate arms deal in Libya.

They sold out our own Ambassador and àll of our men they could have rescued. What makes you think they wouldn't do the same to you? Thanks Obama, Biden, Hillary and all that worked with you, against our own men.

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

The Mamas & the Papas - California Dreamin' 1965

The Mamas & the Papas was an American folk rock vocal group that recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968, with a brief reunion in 1971. The group was a defining force in the music scene of the counterculture of the 1960s. Formed in New York City, the group consisted of Americans John Phillips, Cass Elliot, Michelle Phillips, and Canadian Denny Doherty. Their sound was based on vocal harmonies arranged by John Phillips, who adapted folk to the new beat style of the early 1960s. The Mamas & the Papas released five studio albums and 17 singles, six of which made the Billboard top 10, and has sold close to 40 million records worldwide. After their break-up in 1968, the band reunited briefly to record the album People Like Us in 1971 but split again shortly after the album was released. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 for their contributions to the music industry.

"California Dreamin'" is a song written by John and Michelle Phillips in 1963 and first recorded by Barry McGuire. The best-known version is by the Mamas & the Papas, who sang backup on the original version and released it as a single in December 1965. The song peaked at number 4 in March on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cashbox. It reached number 23 on the UK charts upon its original release, and re-charted after its use in a Carling Premier commercial in 1997, peaking at number 9. It was certified three-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in June 2023 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2021, Rolling Stone placed the song at number 420 in its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list. The song is used repeatedly in the 1994 Hong Kong film Chungking Express as a central plot point and a cover by the Beach Boys was used on season 4 of Stranger Things.

"California Dreamin'" received a total of 90,6% yes votes!

[reasonsforhope]

Lomwé and Macua communities in Mozambique’s Zambezia province traditionally harvest wild mushrooms to eat alongside staples like cassava. Conservationists are working with hundreds of indigenous women there to commercialize the sale of mushrooms like the vivid orange Eyukuli (Cantharellus platyphyllus) as part of a wider strategy to protect forests surrounding Gilé National Park.

The mushrooms are harvested in a 55,600-hectare (137,400-acre) buffer zone surrounding the national park during the height of the Southern African country’s wet season, from November to April. After harvesting, the fungi are cleaned, dried, and transported by road to Maputo, the capital, more than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) away. There, they’re packaged and sold under the trade name Supa Mama.

This is the first time that native Mozambican mushrooms have been commercialized in the country.

Gilé covers an area of 286,100 hectares (707,000 acres), much of this covered in miombo woodlands that include tree species, like those from the Brachystegia genus, whose roots host mycorrhizal fungi. These underground networks help the trees absorb nutrients and moisture, and announce their presence in the form of diverse fruiting bodies above the ground: mushrooms.

Providing an economic incentive to protect the trees could be key to leaving them standing while promoting the wild mushroom harvest, says Alessandro Fusari...

Communities living around Gilé harvest at least 46 species of mushroom for local consumption. These include eyukuli, the trumpet-shaped khaduve (Lactifluus edulis), and the broad-capped namapele (Lactarius densifolius). So far, a total of five species are being harvested and packed for commercial sale under the project.

Pictured: Cantharellus platyphyllus (called Eyukuli in Lomwé) is one of 46 wild mushroom species Indigenous women harvest.

“Slowly, the community, especially the women, are learning that keeping the trees standing means having a bigger production of mushrooms,” Fusari tells Mongabay. “Since they’re starting to see commercial results, more and more avoid cutting trees.”

The project, which is supported by the French Development Agency, is in its third year, meaning the team doesn’t yet have the hard data to determine its success. But, Fusari says, the reduction in tree cutting “is a clear trend that is happening.”

Mushroom harvesting around Gilé is typically done by women while out doing other tasks, such as gathering firewood. The mushroom project works with 900 or so members of 30 women’s groups drawn from communities living in the national park’s buffer zone.

Gilé National Park is home to animals that include buffalo, wildebeest, sable, waterbuck, and around 50 elephants. Many of these animals were reintroduced from other areas to rebuild the wildlife wiped out during Mozambique’s 1977-1992 civil war.

...Giving commercial value to something normally only collected for subsistence is part of a wider program to promote sustainable agriculture...

The teams collecting mushrooms have already been trained in sustainable harvesting methods. For instance, they cut rather than pull the mushrooms from the ground, to avoid damaging the mycelium, or root-like structure, beneath the surface; they brush the dirt off the mushrooms wherever they pick them, to leave as many spores there as possible; and the women carry their harvest home in open baskets, to allow spore dispersal along the way.

-via Good News Network, October 14, 2023. Based on reporting by Mongabay News, September 1, 2023.

[im-a-king-baby]

I was just watching videos of Omar on tour and it reminded me of ELYN. The way he is on stage is so ELYN vibe. I feel like I’m watching the chaos tour haha (minus the negative stuff)

<3 <3 <3 Hiiiii, thank you!!! It's been fun to see all the pictures and videos coming from the concerts and play spot the difference with my mental pictures of Simme. (Sadly I haven't been able to go, very rude of Omar not to go to Australia on his Europe tour. We're in Eurovision! That makes us basically part of Europe.)

Also since you reminded me of it and my November resolution was to try to post more things, here is a Simme Chaos tour snippet that is (mostly) the positive stuff <3 😅

(And for the reblogs, this is a prequel snippet to Everybody Loves You Now @ AO3)

He has his first solo concert in Europe. Not counting the promo events, or the industry shows, or the monopolized Open Mic Nights.

The first show in a concert venue, which was booked in advance, with tickets sold that have his name on them, printed in all-caps.

Of course it’s tiny compared to the stadium they were in last night opening for Ariana. A theatre most used for plays with a single bathroom backstage in place of a dressing room and where Candace had had to drag them all out to the alley where the van was parked for the pre-show pep-talk so they couldn’t be heard on stage over the support act.

But Simon has a support act now. There are other solo shows booked, in and around the Ariana dates. Every day Candace is making calls and emailing contacts and adding things to the calendar pinned up on the inside of the van. Filling up all the gaps.

Which is good. It’s great. They’re gaining momentum and Simon is getting better at jumping from show to interview to show, at catching sleep in bursts crammed between commitments, at finding products that cover up the exhaustion on his face. And now he’s got a solo show, and Candace is In Talks about the second album that he might be able to work with a songwriter to put his own songs on, and he’s in Europe again for the first time in… months.

“This could be the start of bigger things,” Candace had said in the alley, while Simon bounced on his toes to keep warm, already dressed in his show outfit of a black mesh tank and jeans slashed open on the sides. “So drink it all in tonight, we’re only going bigger from here.”

He’d thought he was used to it by now, the noise of the crowd, the sight of phone lights spread out before him like stars, but it turns out it’s different when they’re all there for him. When they’re screaming his name before he’s even stepped on stage, rather than him having to slowly win them over. When he runs out onto the stage and the screaming ramps up and hits like a wall and he can feel the smile stretching at his cheeks that he can’t even pretend to hold back. He might cry, actually has to sniff a few times, turning away from the crowd to pull himself together.

There were so many moments he thought he wouldn’t get to have this. When the label said his songs weren’t good enough, when the graphs showed sales were falling, the shows where he opened and the crowd barely seemed to notice, the phone call in Texas to ask what the plans were for the tour break only to get Rachel’s Assistant ‘Ms McKenzie has decided to cull her list and focus on acts with more commercial appeal.’

“Sim-me! Sim-me! Sim-me!” The crowd chants, falling into rhythm and his heart seems to speed up to match Sim-me Sim-me and it doesn’t matter that it’s three hundred people rather than ten thousand, he spins around to the mic and there’s enough light from the spots and the phones to pick out faces. Girls with glitter dots around their eyes, boys in black eyeliner edged with gold, people in Simme T-shirts, waving signs saying DANCE LIKE THIS, people who came to his show who traveled and paid money and got dressed up because they wanted to see him.

“Oh my god, hi. Hello. Hi. I love you.” There was a script, he thinks, but he has absolutely no idea what it said. It’s only thanks to the set-list taped to the floor by his mic stand that he can even remember what he’s meant to sing. “Hello Cologne. This is the first official show of what I think we’re all agreed is the Chaos Tour.”

They laugh along with him and they cheer and Simon can only hope he’s still capable of singing around this wild, insane grin on his face because it absolutely isn’t going away. “Thank you for coming. Thank you for supporting me. The fact that I’m here, the fact that we can do this at all, is all because of you talking and filming and sharing and streaming and this was my dream for so long I can’t say thank you enough for making it come true.”

The fight is lost, the fight is over, he is absolutely crying as they scream again, someone shouts 'Simmers forever,' and more people shout 'Simme,' and the exhaustion melts away like it was never there.

He’s not cold, or tired, or lonely, or afraid. It feels like getting his song picked for the jubilee, like seeing Wilhelm running after Sara’s car, like everything.

“Now I hope you’re all here to dance,” he says. “Because all of us up here, We Wanna Dance.”

Kevan hits the intro, the backing track hits the beat, and every single person in front of him starts singing. Every word, thrown back at him. Screaming, applauding, chanting his name.

And it’s all worth it. Whatever it takes. To have this.