#don't go around saying shit about this one is bad this one isn't

[lifeafterpsychiatry]

I'm curious to know your thoughts on this. I'm nearly 30 now, but I'm starting to wonder if just being a child/teenager is inherently a distressing or traumatic experience, even for people who had good mental health, didn't have really bad things happen to them, had supportive parents etc. I did have the bad mental health, shit support system, and fucked up things happen but even looking back at the "normal" things and what the "normal" kids experienced, I feel like they weren't exactly good either.

Like, you have no autonomy. If your parents are making decisions about your life or health you don't agree with, there's nothing you can do about it. You're rarely taken seriously about anything. If you say you're hurt or sick, you might get accused of faking to get out of school even if you're actually sick/hurt.

You hit puberty and all of a sudden, a lot of the adults start projecting their negative perceptions of teenagers on to you, even if you've never done anything to break their trust or piss them off. So if you make a mistake that even adults make, people don't give you grace and say it's just human error. They think you're intentionally being a disrespectful and irresponsible teen.

The adults think who you are is just a passing phase and your wants, desires, and interests are stupid and vapid. Even if some things were a phase, that version of you was still real at the time.

If you're a girl/afab, you start getting harassed and cat called as a child, especially if you're wearing a school uniform. I couldn't go outside from the ages of 12-18 without being harassed by multiple grown men. Like literally every time I went outside. Once I started looking like an adult, I didn't experience those things nearly as often.

Adults think they can just say the things they're supposed to say so they don't look like they're negligent (like "be yourself" "you can be whatever you want when you grow up" "I'll support you" "I'll help you") but a lot of them have no intention of actually following up. They get mad at teenagers for being able to see through false promises or calling them out on them.

You have to spend all day in school, then come home and do a mountain of homework and studying. Yeah adults have chores and responsibilities that are hard and time consuming, but generally, unless your job is diabolical, you finish your shift at work and don't need to bring more work home with you.

Sometimes you're moody for no reason because puberty sucks. You're insecure and are upset when you don't look perfect because the other kids in school are also insecure but are coping with it by making fun of everyone else's appearances. You're trying to learn social skills and boundaries, which is just awkward most of the time. You think your parents are annoying and cringe because that's believed to be an evolutionary way of keeping your family from inbreeding. You do all these things that are developmentally appropriate/expected but are shamed for them. Being rude to parents and teachers for no reason obviously isn't okay, but a lot of the time when teenagers are being disrespectful, they're just reacting to someone disrespecting them. They're still learning how to regulate their emotions and communicate, but are expected to handle things like an adult when a lot of adults aren't even that mature/emotionally intelligent.

Adults act like your grades in school define your worth. School is important. Grades obviously do matter, especially if you want to go to college. But, acting like you'll never get a job because there's some permanent record that follows you around for literally the rest of your life that potential employers will look at and decide not to hire you because one time you got detention when you were 14 and failed a random pop quiz in Spanish just isn't true. It's very very very hard to ruin your life literally forever at 14. It's not okay to use scare tactics on kids without the life experience to see through the bullshit just because them getting good grades makes the parents or schools look better.

Adults simultaneously think you're an idiot who doesn't understand the world and can't make good decisions, but also want you to decide what college course you want to go into debt for at like 16/17/18. I know some countries have free education. Mine doesn't. The narrative from my teachers, my parents, and other people's parents was "you're a loser if you don't go to college and if it's not immediately after graduating because the neighbours will judge us/the school will look bad so you need to decide literally right now." Then if you made the wrong choice, because you were a minor pressured into making a huge life decision without enough time, access to information, or life experience to make a fully informed decision, apparently that just proves that you were a stupid teenager after all even though you did the best you could with the knowledge and resources you had a the time.

College isn't for everyone or accessible for everyone. It's okay to not go at all or to go later in life. It's okay to not be able to work. Everyone's life path is different. But it sounds like everyone's school was extremely classist with their messaging that you *have* to college and it better be business or STEM and that only certain jobs are worth respecting. By the way, I didn't go to a fancy private school. My school was so bad it was considered disadvantaged.

Of course, not all adults were like that. There were some adults who treated kids better, but more than enough adults treat kids like shit. It's really concerning. It makes it very easy for predators to groom teenagers because they just need to pretend they understand and respect them. Of course, then the teenagers might get blamed for being groomed, even though they were just looking for the love and validation no one else gave them.

Then people make teenagers afraid to grow up because society acts like life is over after 25. You couldn't pay me to redo 12-24. Being an adult has its challenges but it's so much better.

I don't want kids but I want to remember how people treated me/everyone else back then and make sure I don't treat friends/family members kids like that when they have them.

I don't know enough about child liberation and family abolition to say much about it, but while I do think there are many adults who do respect children, I agree that there are a lot of structures in our current society which normalizes and justifies when adults want to deny children autonomy and treat them badly. In this society kids absolutely don't have the rights they need to protect themselves from abuse and mistreatment by the adults in charge of them, and that's a big problem that leads to a lot of trauma, abuse and suffering

[1thesewordsaremyown1]

I agree with you that Buck was not an attentive boyfriend to Tommy and it is noticable that his behaviour towards Tommy is more bratty and spoiled than towards his girlfriends. I don´t think that this is inherently a bad thing and I very much enjoyed the fact that we saw someone really be there for Buck and care for him. After 8x6 I was also still ok with Buck not calling because he was the one that got broken up with, it was imo on Tommy to make it right. Then 8x11 and 8x15 happend and it is absolutely on Buck now to make the effort otherwise I feel they don´t have to bother with this relationship any longer. I like Tommy and if Buck is a sucky boyfriend or doesn´t care enough, I won´t ship them anymore just like I don´t ship Buddie because Eddie is a shit friend. I´m now fully on team "Buck needs to do a grand gesture and say I love you first"

You are so right, nonnie.

Buck being a brat was absolutely a good thing - it showed that for the first time, he felt comfortable enough in a relationship where he felt he COULD be a little bratty without the fear of being "too much". That episode was called Masks, and it showed that here, we had a Buck with a partner where, for once, he DIDN'T have to be wearing a mask, to have to constantly portray this persona of being this badass fire-fighter. In short, we saw him drop the mask of Buck and allow himself to be EVAN. There was no fear of being exhausting or being too much or making everything about himself - he allowed himself to be petulant and sulky, knowing that Tommy was still going to stick around anyway. After everything he has been through, with all his failed relationships, no matter how hard he tries, it was nice to see him be spoiled and treasured and cared for. (To be LOVED.)

And yeah, I agree that after 8x06, Tommy probably should have been the one to call as he was the one who broke Buck's heart. I knew it wasn't going to happen though, because Tommy is a recurring and Buck is a main - we see the relationship through his eyes, so he's the one who would be making any firat steps. (Plus Tommy probably a) thought what he did was for the best, b) clearly has insecurity issues and c) even though we know he also couldn't move on, he more than likely thought since he had broken Buck's heart he had blown any right to try again.)

But yeah, the onus is now on Buck to make the next move, ESPECIALLY after Tommy has now been the one making all the advancements - he's told Buck he wants to try again, he came to help even though the last words he heard out of Buck's mouth were essentially "I don't have feelings for you" and left the door open to a reconciliation by admitting that despite that, he still cares for Buck. That, no matter what, he's there for Buck (shame the 118, his "family" couldn't do the same, but I'm not going to go there). Do they need to talk and work out their issues? Absolutely. (Will it ever happen on the show, even if they get back together? More than likely, no. This IS 911.) And I've been on Team "Buck says I love you first" for a while, and it's not because he needs to make the first move but for one main reason - Buck is the main character, Tommy is the recurring. It will carry more weight for the relationship if HE is the one initiating it, rather than responding to it. It means he truly means it, and isn't saying it because he feels like you HAVE to respond that way after someone tells you that they love you (see his reply to Taylor's I love you - for me, I don't really buy it.)

Thanks for the ask nonnie!

[pinkyjulien]

I'm not going to dive into the logs and spill out what they all said about me; in all honesty, I do not care. It's the same shit since 2021, they always yap about the same stuff, going full ableist and accusing me of "bullying" and "gatekeeping" because I blocked certain people 5years ago haha

I did see this message here that made me laugh tho So allow me to lighten up the mood a little bit!

📰 NEWS FLASH - in today's Front Page of Pinky's News ⚡

Elfjpeg has been seen leaving the ship HOURS before it actually hit the iceberg! Deactivating her tumblr account, bsky account, and even removing her NexusMods profile picture! How dramatic 🤫

One might even say that Elfjpeg is -quote-

"a weakling and [buckled] under the pressure"

...and couldn't take accountability for her own actions!

Words directly taken from her co-capitan, Teacupfairy, towards Keysuspect* (Moderator who wanted to step down from the S7 moderating team but was forced to become the owner after Elfjpeg buckled under the pressure and couldn't taking responsibility of her own server) (haha)

And finally, to close today's gazette, I'd like to echo TeacupFairy's words once more

"You, [Dear members of the S7 server] are whole entire pieces of shit. I honestly don't know how you sleep at night or not feel any shame you have to rely [on constantly spying and belittleting everyone else around you] in order to be [relevant]. You are intellectually lazy, you are pathological liars, you are weirdos, you are despicable and most importantly you are [this community's] parasites. You may fool everyone into thinking you're just this [Group of] quirky "girly pop", ["2YK Baddies Mean Girl"] members of the fandom, but you are the BIGGEST conniving and scheming flaming bags of dog feces [this fandom ever had the unpleasure to deal with.]"

⭐ Pinky's Gazette - Bonus ⭐

Because it's Sunday, here's a lil bonus; a non-exhaustive list of all the time Wingdeer and her friends thought they owned "Intellectual Properties" of vanilla assets, 3D models purchasable online, inverted-cross makeup and other fun stuff 🤠 > Album Here "Intellectual Properties" is something both TeacupFairy and Elfjpeg were seen mentioning before as well, both in the Fairium callout doc and in the leaked chatlogs. I never had the occasion to share all of these past-drama screenshots (thanks to everyone who shared them recently or in the past) until now. If you're new to this fandom and are seeing the recent S7 Leaks, just know that this behavior isn't new - people are just tired of it!

In all seriousness, I don't know if the full chatlogs will be made public, but if they do, please be careful while browsing them; they are truly vile and reading it can be upsetting, I wouldn't recommend looking up your names or your friends' in there, or only if you're in the right mindset! In the end, this is all fucking ridiculous and pathetic, coming from an equally ridiculous and pathetic group.

Enough of the "she-said" "he-said", enough of the lies and theories, enough with the insane accusations with no founding - Show proof, show screenshots.

This "sharing private screenshots is bad and makes you just as bad" narrative is only used to protect this type of person. I'm thankfull for whoever leaked their chatlogs and for everyone who spoke up, and will speak up about their past/present behaviors.

Take care of yourselves and don't let these people get comfortable with openly treating other like shit. Keep on calling them out, share your side of the stories.

[jaxrants]

So uhhh, little update on how things are going..

TW: slight vent, m*th mention, drug use, bad mom, bad guardians, age regression, jealousy, I think that's it, please let me know if not

So for those that don't know, I'm living with my grandparents on my stepdads side now because my mom had m*th in her system (again) when we went to court, I'm going to school now, but I sit in a computer room all day, so there really is no sense in me going when I can just do the work at home. My anxiety shit is getting a little better, then immediatly getting worse. My case worker has to give me a full psychological exam, sign me up for therapy, and just it's a whole lot of shit and the damn trauma assessment person is the one that's demanding all of this, so apparently I'm a whole lot more traumatized that I had originally thought.

Onto some things about me and Val:

I am getting more and more attached to her. I can't sleep unless we're otp, and most of the time, unless she hums to me I can't fall asleep. I might be a bit more of an age regressor than I had originally thought. I fully regressed to just baby talk a couple nights ago after a really rough anxiety attack. I'm so fucking happy she loves me. If she didn't, I don't know what I'd do. I'm so fucking happy with her (when my anxiety isn't being a bitch and causing questioning and shit) and I couldn't imagine my life without her. She graduates soon, and she's planning on finding work so that hopefully soon she'll be able to buy us a place and get me out of here. I plan on trying to help as soon as I possibly can. I have also realized just how jealous both me and Val can get too. She doesn't like any of my friends, and I don't like how she talks to one of them. Kassandra is someone who's been super nice to me, but I don't like her and Val talking. I worry Val will end up preferring her over me, as her and Kassandra are close, if not the exact same age, and I'm younger than both of them.

The whole sich with my dad:

He's still trying to get partial custody of me. He and my stepmom send me lots of gifts and stuff. He got me a computer and gave me 50 bucks for my birthday and miss sam just keeps buying me things. She just recently got me a whole lot of nail polish, a Cirkul thermos, and some other stuff. They're really cool.

Living with my grandparents:

It's honestly not all that fun. They constantly force me to go to school when I don't feel well (my voice was completely changed because of some sort of sickness and the still forced me to go), and I had a really bad panic attack at school, they still forced me to go back the next day. When we first got here, grandma had a TV from my uncle mike (from before he passed) and she stuck it in my sisters room at first, then gave it to me. Well, she took it last night because I don't leave my room often and because I don't let my sisters in here to watch it often. Like damn, I'm not being stengy, I'm just having a rough time and want to be alone. So I can no longer watch tv or listen to music when I'm playing like roblox and yandere sim on my computer (it makes the games laggy if I play it from my computer, and I use my phone to text Val, so I can't use it to listen to the music) and it essentially fucked up my entire system of listening to music/watching TV on it, playing/doing school work on my computer, and texting Val using my phone (or using my computer to text Val if I'm playing something on my phone)

School:

So far, I've made around about 10/15 "friends" (I don't know them all that well but say "Hi" if I see them) and lost 1 close friend that I made. (He was really creepy and touchy when I was going though that panic attack at school. At first, I thought that was just how he was with his friends, but it was later determined by his other friends that he was being really weird as he usually doesn't like being touched. He was like rubbing up and down my spine and my side but going just a little too far down. And he grabbed my face [in a way I'd only be comfortable with Val holding my face] and glanced down to my lips one time. I was honestly terrified he was going to try to kiss me. Both me and Val found it weird, and she no longer wanted me talking to him, so I don't).

I'm quite sure that's about everything. OH!! And I'm supposed to be being taken to get my hair cut and dyed here soon. We're doing black with like lilac or lavender, I haven't decided how I want the colors split yet, so if y'all have an idea or something, please lmk.

@purpleeggyboi @salem-the-puppet @blooming-skeleton @luciluck2046 @beecha @caretaleandotherstuff @evry1h8s-me

[saxandviolins77]

Transformers Skybound #19 and #20 spoilers below cut

ISSUE #19

I was going to talk about issue #19 last month, but what do you know? I had literally nothing of value to add, especially since I'm behind on Void Rivals (sorry, Kirkman) so I know shit about Quintessons in this continuity. Anyway, this story reads more like an intermission; not that this is bad, but there's nothing really meaty here. Well, I guess I have SOME thoughts, soooo.... Bullet point format...?

Ooooh yeah, the trait of Megatron having the need to have the upper hand even in situations where he is at another being's mercy is actually one of my favorite things about him (Movie.) I can't be the only person who thinks Megatron's autopreservation and fear (eh) of being controlled are actually important to his character, right? I'm a "Megatron was built by the Constructicons" believer, so take that as you will.

Evil Matrix of Control (that's the tyranny) AND good Matrix of Freedom ("freedom is the right of all YOU KNOW HOW THIS GOES).

Tank Megatron :(

Megatron loving his planet? Yessir!

Symbolic representation of forced suicide. Whatevs.

Isn't it ironic how Megatron gained his ability to control others through the loss of his own bodily autonomy and against his own volition? He's like, a tool, a tool you wieeeeld???? Yeah.

That was fun. (he says, with a blank look of indifference in his face.)

ISSUE #20

Ok, the one people are actually talking about.

You get your ass kicked for ten minutes and are already asking for him to kill you?? I could be charitable and pretend this is character writing, but like, no.

"WILL YOU PRAY FOR MEEEE WHEN I'M GOOOONE?? OR IS THIS THE ETERNAL DARK WITHOUT A DAAAAAWN?!"

Uh, I mean.

Wow, a Cybertronian getting captured by a human facility? Feeling bold today, aren't we?

Ok, jk jk, I really want to see Mags' PTSD explored. Hopefully.

JAZZ BACKSHOTS 🙌🙌🙌🙌

I liked this scene. I liked how DWJ didn't forget about the grief Spike must've been feeling. Or the grief he didn't have time to feel due to the... Giant robots.

I like Skybound Optimus. And I like how, despite being THAT guy, he still has moments of vulnerability and doubt (lots of it, actually).

Looks like someone was reading the tech specs/biographies before writing.

Brooooo, you can't just say that. Now we know they have a target on their backs.

Dada. Papa. Pops. Dad. Father.

Foreshadowing.... In the shadows! Wow.

Ohhh, we're gonna have an E.T. scene, right? Carly meets her old van, and Shredhead meets her. Bridge between Cybertronians and humans. (That's my pitch.)

Very convenient.

Did he bring Scavenger along too? Like, yk, Microbots. That's my HC.

SCRAPPER HAS A LINE OF DIALOGUE. WE WON. WE WON!!!

Foreshadowing or just a throwaway line? Place your bets.

Dude, you're adorable.

I haven't said this because I'm busy joshing around, but I really like this Megatron. He's very different from other incarnations of him, and I'm all for it. He's cold and calculating, but he clearly has a code of honor and actually cares for his subjects. I like him.

Also, one more Starscream abuse scene for the franchise.

they faces killing me why nobody gaf

Despite not being into this Starscream or his dynamic with Megatron. I can say that in the context of this universe and this issue, this scene was very well done and honestly kind of gut-wrenching.

I'm a little bit worried about Starscream's character from now on. Will he just dissipate into the background? 'Cause there's clearly no space for their common G1 Sunbow bickering.

Scrapper (thinking): "Fuck... Did I remember to turn the oven off back at the base?"

That's it?

DWJ has been building this shit up since issue fucking #8 for this cockblocking move? Not even a name drop? Like, I don't want to complain just so DWJ can pull the rug out from under my feet and make my chin DROP in the next few issues. But the only reaction I had from seeing this was a deeeeeep sigh of disappointment. Like, what a wet fart. I wouldn't mind it that much if he hadn't teased us for so long.

[princeseerow]

i think it all comes down to what marco's yeerk is like

the best case scenario for this would be if A) marco and his yeerk are more loyal to peter and edriss than they are to visser three and B) marco's yeerk is as overly cocky as marco himself can be.

since based on anon's original message it sounds like edriss is still visser one, i cannot imagine she would risk having marco infested with someone who isn't part of her loyal faction of yeerks. maybe this means she and esplin are constantly butting heads over ownership of the underground pool, whatever. point is: marco's yeerk (henceforth referred to as nesdu 105) is one of hers.

nesdu tries to play as many sides if this as he can. he wants to impress his visser, and while he could just immediately turn the animorphs over to visser one and have them all killed or worse, he has a better idea.

maybe marco persuades him to keep the identities of the animorphs close to his chest. regardless, nesdu thinks he can use the animorphs to intentionally target and weaken all of visser three's schemes and defenses, to make visser three look bad and to make visser one look much better in comparison. after all, SHE isn't the one getting routinely targeted by andalite bandits. must be a skill issue.

and, as a member of the sharing, he convinces the animorphs not to investigate it. after all, it was originally marco in book 1 who proposed that tom was a yeerk and the sharing had something to do with it. but, "nah," nesdu says, "i've been a member of the sharing for years. if there was something up, i would've noticed by now."

if he's really lucky, nesdu keeps the facade up long enough for them to rescue ax, who he can use to push peter's breakthrough in z-space research up by a couple of years. and won't his visser be so proud?

where it'll fall apart is that nesdu gets too confident. 2.5 secret identities is a lot for a young boy to juggle. he gives one too many excuses about why he can't go on a particular mission, promotes the sharing a little too heavily, and jake gives him a look with narrowed eyes that suggests he's onto him.

jake calls a secret meeting when marco is staying late after school one day. for the past year or so he's been part of the sharing's off shoot club at the school, and despite jake's insistence, marco has practically never missed a meeting. looks good on his resume, he says. jake gets tobias to surveil marco around town for a few days, while he and the others investigate a sharing meeting on their own.

eventually, they catch marco going down to the pool, or maybe they catch wind of shady yeerk shit happening with the sharing. either way, it's decided that what they need to do is tie marco up somewhere for three days just to be safe.

nesdu is calm at first. he tries to talk them out of it, i mean, come on guys, you don't really think i'm a yeerk, do you? if i was, wouldn't i have turned you in by now?

then, he starts bargaining. tries to tug on rachel's heartstrings by saying he just hasn't been the same since his parents' divorce, she'd know what that's like, wouldn't she? tries to convince cassie that jake has gone mad with power, and that he just can't handle it, surely she can talk some sense into him.

then he panics. tries to escape. nothing works. the fugue eventually comes for him, and marco gets to meet crayak.

What do you think would have happened if Peter was taken as V1's host instead of Eva?

I'm stuck on this one because I think there's a reason that in canon we never see an Animorph have a custodial parent who's a controller. And that is the fact that, in the U.S., kids are legally treated as being basically the property of their parents. There would be nothing stopping a yeerk who has custody of a kid from just infesting the kid for the sake of convenience (Chapman's deal with Iniss 226 being the rare exception). Like, you're legally allowed to drag your kids to meetings they don't want to attend, hold them in places they would rather leave, and even subject them to medical procedures or cult initiations they would rather avoid. So if Edriss has sole custody of Marco, there's nothing to stop her from just infesting him by force.

...which then means Elfangor accidentally recruits a yeerk among the Animorphs, which is a very short path to a total party kill.

Anyone else have a way out?

[withered-rose-unbreakable-lotus]

About Show's voice

Honestly it's a good thing I go to Jrock one only for news, otherwise I'd be arguing every damn day. I go back to comments on A9's and Kiryu's hiatus in case sb heard sth more, cause some of those fans do live in Japan, but when I see stupidity I can't deal.

I saw people claiming that Show isn't a good vocalist, that that takes from their songs lately and that there was more passion in older songs etc etc. Let's talk music shall we? When you don't like a singer doesn't make them bad. It makes them not YOUR taste.

When A9 started their career Show's singing style wasn't "correct". There was more to his voice that couldn't be heard, cause of the way he was breathing while singing (many jrockers sing "with the nose" as you might have noticed or run out of breath easily and it takes practice to learn to sing while holding breath in the stomach and not the chest). However, at that time was also when Show's voice depth was showing better. Songs like Velvet are proof of that. All that changed later on, though. By the time songs like Gemini, Hana etc came to life, you could hear his voice was coming out smoother, it had highs and lows, nice turns etc.. PSC gave them a chance to a vocal instructor which believe it or not, not many companies in the vkei scene were willing to pay for. As long as the dudes were hot and were bringing people in, the companies didn't bother. Hell most bands never had a manager, it was usually the leader that took up all that work, while also perhaps composing or writing lyrics and designing, learning only through experience and asking around.

In recent years Show's voice seems to have changed again but in a different way (the flatness that comment I speak of, mentioned). After they left PSC, things remained the same for a few years but then it came. I notice the same change in Ryoga's voice (Razor, ex. BORN). Ryoga is one of the few vocalists that brings up what is going on in the scene regarding vocals and has been open about his troubles with his voice the last few years. Screaming fucks a voice up unless done right. Ruki's (the Gazette) screams seem to be less painful because he changed his technique. Still harmful but not as much as Ryoga's. Ryoga is one of those who goes to extremes though and has said that he will keep screaming until his voice dies. He needs a better instructor though and lots of resting cause he also deals with the second big voice killer in their scene and which applies to Show more too, since he doesn't scream much, the repeated lives. Vkei artists play way too many shows around the year, and not with breaks in between. They could be performing one afternoon, then run straight to a hotel, get their things, move to the next one and have only a few hours of sleep until the next show (I know every band in the world does that but to the extent they do it, there, is a bit too much. Also that + lacking guidance on how to deal with your voice shows us why so many vkei vocalists had to deal with vocal issues and losing their voice completely). Show has been doing that way too much, since he also belongs to a band that had many gigs and even though 2020 forced everyone sit their ass down and take a break, it already had done its damage.

It's not just a matter of passion to keep your voice healthy and tension up. Unlike other instruments like strings, drums etc, the voice is more delicate and even the things you consume can fuck it up. A guitarist won't lose his ability to play guitar if he smokes. A vocalist who smokes though will affect his breathing and vocal tone. If you want proof of why Show's voice could be sounding like that now, you can try singing one of their difficult songs. Try Gemini. The breathing in this song is crazy to me. If you like singing and know your breathing, try singing that song. Keep the highs high, no falsettos. If you aren't exhausted after that, either your diaphragm is a badass, or you do have better technique (most vocalists who've been doing this professionally can probably pull it off easily but it still is tiring). Imagine this song sang every day among other songs, for more than 1 year, shows that last 2 hours.

Show is a good vocalist, his voice simply isn't for everyone (no vocalist will ever be for everyone) and especially now that it's in a "weaker" state than what most people are probably used to.

[matteoberrettini]

genuinely hilarious btw how people on twt want soo bad to make matteo a villain in jannik's story or some shit like it's a disney movie. less than a month ago he said they'd talked recently and he's never had anything but good things to say about jannik but to some people it'll never be enough because he made a decision for his career that i understand is hard to digest but it has nothing to do with his relationship with jannik, jannik himself said it doesn't bother him, they both have never indicated they weren't on good terms. like yeah we can't ever really know the truth behind what they say in public, but i think we should stick with what we can see and read, yeah? because making wild assumptions based on nothing doesn't lead to anything good, it's just speculation and i don't see what anyone gains from it?? i think maybe some people need to grow up and accept that they don't know these people. they don't know jannik and what he thinks or feels or who he talks to or who avoids him or whatever. we know what he shows and tells us and that has to be enough because otherwise we go down dangerous paths

[unproduciblesmackdown]

maybe i already expressed specifically this amidst a thicket of tags but speaking of the Unexpected & Dynamic all throughout bsol's finale of a [hey all the characters are in the same place] beautiful stretch of vivacity, it's great that like. i mean one figures you're not gonna get [villain immediately kills hero] & you're right b/c that would be a surprise & slightly humorously so but too unrewarding in all other ways to be worth it as the end of a whole entire story & arcs here....but then the ways that banana has this like totally Self Imposed arc about wanting to be able to do whatever it takes to help the musician in return / in general, self imposed b/c the musician himself is like no you're good you're perfect my special little guy i will die without, & we're not exactly subject to any other characters' input like um btw banana you & your Failure to be as heroically bold & brave as to do whatever it takes, as the musician does, except when he feels he can't at some points including if he doesn't have banana with him on this journey, but not b/c he asks anything more of him but to be there with him on this journey....

that is to say, i say as i go "wait what was the specific thing i was gonna talk about in this specific post," that like it's a surprise banana might die of his own self imposed doing whatever it takes, but one of the Least surprising surprises perhaps, like ah yes the funny little guy devoted sidekick? what else would such a guy be For, even if the musician doesn't feel that way, see also: me taking 990 words to say it's fun how at the beginning we could think banana is misguided about the musician encouraging him with his heart words not his mouth words to dance, but then we would be proven wrong when the musician is like cough argh augh i Need banana & i will be encouraging him to dance with my heart And mouth words....but so that yeah even as it may be like Nooo & have stakes & suspense it could still be like ah well yeah that'd be what banana is for, alas, & That is the surprising & not "this was a total success for our heroes" downside to this finale. but it isn't, & banana getting miraculously saved himself as he nonmiraculously protects the musician b/c he wanted to do that himself too

just bringing all that back up to say i was thinking again about like "you wouldn't expect a private little moment following banana but you get one" and "and it's so earnest all throughout & with the more wrenching shift amidst the still perfectly [funny little guy] material & it Does make me cry" and then i was like :( and if he Had died i would have to cry about that too like nooo not banana for would-be dispensibility of the funny little devoted sidekick guy after it was like nooo banana :( (also held hostage in the evil marriage normativity larping but again also all the more "successfully" so b/c his guntoting spouse doesn't actually care about the mutual genuine affection you're also Supposed to have with this) & nooo banana :( (singing his beautiful sweet earnest prayer in this relatively brief song bookended with relative levity (relalelalevity) but still earnest b/c it's all earnest b/c where do you think we are) like yeah basically like i weep at that little moment with him Expressing the depth of his feeling about wanting to do this for the musician despite the musician being like huh wha of course i don't ask that it's nbd, if it paired with "& he does Resolve this by dying about it later" like noooooooooo. tambourine miracles (again thinking of a real tambourine with a disclaimer waiving liability for acts of god associated with? channeled through? that tambourine. sure)

wrapping up a post even less sure if i said anything novel or clearly enough what i wanted to say b/c i went on a journey like maybe it's about something else now, but i don't think so, i think it was just me like wah if banana died i'd be all the more like Oof Augh about his little solo packing its punch of perfect earnest real depth of feeling b/c Everyone's presumed to have that, and they do, and it shows, funny little nonprotagonists or no(s)

[shadesofmauve]

I want to step away from the art-vs-artist side of the Gaiman issue for a bit, and talk about, well, the rest of it. Because those emotions you're feeling would be the same without the art; the art just adds another layer.

Source: I worked with a guy who turned out to be heavily involved in an international, multi-state sex-slavery/trafficking ring.

He was really nice.

Yeah.

It hits like a dumptruck of shit. You don't feel stable in your world anymore. How could someone you interacted with, liked, also be a truly horrible person? How could your judgement be that bad? How can real people, not stylized cartoon bogeymen, be actually doing this shit?

You have to sit with the fact that you couldn't, or probably couldn't, have known. You should have no guilt as part of this horror — but guilt is almost certainly part of that mess you're feeling, because our brains do this associative thing, and somehow "I liked [the version of] the guy [that I knew]", or his creations, becomes "I made a horrible mistake and should feel guilty."

You didn't, loves, you didn't.

We're human, and we can only go by the information we have. And the information we have is only the smallest glimpse into someone else's life.

I didn't work closely with the guy I knew at work, but we chatted. He wasn't just nice; he was one of the only people outside my tiny department who seemed genuinely nice in a workplace that was rapidly becoming incredibly toxic. He loaned me a bike trainer. Occasionally he'd see me at the bus stop and give me a lift home.

Yup. I was a young woman in my twenties and rode in this guy's car. More than once.

When I tell this story that part usually makes people gasp. "You must feel so scared about what could have happened to you!" "You're so lucky nothing happened!"

No, that's not how it worked. I was never in danger. This guy targeted Korean women with little-to-no English who were coerced and powerless. A white, fluent, US citizen coworker wasn't a potential victim. I got to be a person, not prey.

Y'know that little warning bell that goes off, when you're around someone who might be a danger to you? That animal sense that says "Something is off here, watch out"?

Yeah, that doesn't ping if the preferred prey isn't around.

That's what rattled me the most about this. I liked to think of myself as willing to stand up for people with less power than me. I worked with Japanese exchange students in college and put myself bodily between them and creeps, and I sure as hell got that little alarm when some asian-schoolgirl fetishist schmoozed on them. But we were all there.

I had to learn that the alarm won't go off when the hunter isn't hunting. That it's not the solid indicator I might've thought it was. That sometimes this is what the privilege of not being prey does; it completely masks your ability to detect the horrors that are going on.

A lot of people point out that 'people like that' have amazing charisma and ability to lie and manipulate, and that's true. Anyone who's gotten away with this shit for decades is going to be way smoother than the pathetic little hangers-on I dealt with in university. But it's not just that. I seriously, deeply believe that he saw me as a person, and he did not extend personhood to his victims. We didn't have a fake coworker relationship. We had a real one. And just like I don't know the ins-and-outs of most of my coworkers lives, I had no idea that what he did on his down time was perpetrate horrors.

I know this is getting off the topic, but it's so very important. Especially as a message to cis guys: please understand that you won't recognize a creep the way you might think you will. If you're not the preferred prey, the hind-brain alarm won't go off. You have to listen to victims, not your gut feeling that the person seems perfectly nice and normal. It doesn't mean there's never a false accusation, but face the fact that it's usually real, and you don't have enough information to say otherwise.

So, yeah. It fucking sucks. Writing about this twists my insides into tense knots, and it was almost a decade ago. I was never in danger. No one I knew was hurt!

Just countless, powerless women, horrifically abused by someone who was nice to me.

You don't trust your own judgement quite the same way, after. And as utterly shitty as it is, as twisted up and unstead-in-the-world as I felt the day I found out — I don't actually think that's a bad thing.

I think we all need to question our own judgement. It makes us better people.

I don't see villains around every corner just because I knew one, once. But I do own the fact that I can't know, really know, about anyone except those closest to me. They have their own full lives. They'll go from the pinnacles of kindness to the depths of depravity — and I won't know.

It's not a failing. It's just being human. Something to remember before you slap labels on people, before you condemn them or idolize them. Think about how much you can't know, and how flawed our judgement always is.

Grieve for victims, and the feeling of betrayal. But maybe let yourself off the hook, and be a bit slower to skewer others on it.

[vamplvs]

SLEEPY HCS WITH THE THUNDERBOLTS

INCLUDES -> yelena belova, bob reynolds, john walker, bucky barnes WARNINGS -> literally all fluff! no need to fear angst here (there is some minor swearing tho); walker calls the reader beautiful, and bucky calls them 'doll' NOTES -> y'all i feel crazy about thunderbolts. i haven't had a writing kick like this in YEARS. also, no one hate me for john in this one, he's my problematic wife, ok? also i want wyatt russell bad. anyways, my requests/asks are open! and as always comments and reblogs are much appreciated <3

YELENA BELOVA. — sleepy movie night? you got it. there's snacks, blankets, a random movie, and so many cuddles.

"are you sure you don't want to go to bed, love?" yelena mutters to you. the tv softly glows in front of you both, whatever period piece was playing long forgotten. you've been curled around her side since the movie began, but now your arm is draped over her and your head has fallen to her shoulder.

"no, i'm up," your voice is rough from sleep, but you pick your head up anyways and stretch. "see?" yelena rolls her eyes at your loopy, exhausted smile.

"whatever you say," she replies with a teasing smile.

"mhm..." you adjust your position under the blanket so you can be sitting upright next to her. but the blanket is just so soft and yelena is so warm, and before you know it, it's only a few minutes before you're curled against her once more.

yelena works hard to stifle her laugh when you fall asleep, but she lets you stay there. the movie plays on dully—the man in it has made some apparently irredeemable mistake that the woman he loves will no doubt forgive him for. yelena leans her head against yours, swearing that she'll get up once the movie is over so the two of you can sleep in a proper bed.

the next morning, when bucky is getting coffee he sees the two of you curled up on the couch and can't help but smile. it's nice seeing that yelena's found someone she trusts.

BOB REYNOLDS. — both of you are up late at night, entirely unable to sleep. you because you're working on tech for the thunderbolts new avengerz, and bob simply wandering the tower at night.

bob doesn't exactly sleep well these days, not after the mess with the void. it isn't unusual to find him roaming the tower at odd times, and this time it's your turn to run into him.

you're working in some old lab that you assume was tony stark's back in the day. your back aches, your fingers raw from tinkering with yelena's widow equipment, and you can hardly keep your eyes open. it's a miracle you haven't electrocuted yourself already.

"you're still up?" a voice softly speaks from the hallway.

your heart nearly stops right there and then. "holy shit!"

"sorry," bob steps into the dim lights of the lab, his hands up in a show of peace. "i didn't mean to scare you."

"no, no, it's fine! you're fine." you smile at him. "what are you still doing up, sweetheart?"

"i can't sleep," his response is sheepish.

you stand, stretching your arms above your head, and walk over to him. "let's see if we can do something about that." you pull him along by the hand, fingers entwined.

by the time you both get to bed, your eyes are heavy with sleep. you pull bob closer to you, letting his heartbeat lull you gently to sleep. the comfort of your body against his, a reliable weight to keep him still and grounded, has him dozing in no time.

JOHN WALKER. — he's the one up, unable to sleep. you're fast asleep and he just takes in everything about you. maybe it's the slight frown you have in your sleep, or the way your hair falls into your face just a little, but he's captivated.

john lays opposite of you on the bed, just tracing your features with his eyes. he takes everything in slowly: the flutter of your eyelashes, the curve of your cheek, the curl of your lips. you're so beautiful, and honestly, john has no idea how he got so lucky.

with his track record, it's a miracle you-

"why'd you stop?" you mumble, still half asleep, interrupting his train of thought entirely. his hands, which had been tracing patterns softly over your skin, have long been still.

"didn't wanna keep you up," he mumbles back, and you crack open an incredulous eye at him.

you grumble something under your breath that john can't quite catch before pulling yourself closer to him.

"it was nice," you say, sleep already calling your name. so john continues.

he traces abstract patterns from the nape of your neck to your shoulders to your back. he feels the way your muscles loosen beneath his touch and the way your breath evens out.

and you know what? fuck his track record. if he got lucky enough to be graced by you, he damn well won't mess it up.

BUCKY BARNES. — this time it's you who can't sleep, and it's a good thing bucky has a tendency to stay up obnoxiously late reading his novels despite his other old man tendencies.

a soft knock comes from the door, startling bucky from his book. it's too late for anyone to need him urgently for anything, so he's almost inclined to ignore it until your voice rings through the door.

"bucky? you still up?" you're tentative, almost wary, as you ask for him.

"yeah, doll, i'm up." he sits up, ready to open the door for you when you walk in wrapped in a blanket.

"can i stay with you?" you mutter, still standing a ways away from the bed.

without saying a word, he pats the spot next to him on his bed and leans back against the headboard, leaving enough space for you to curl up next to him.

"what're you reading?" your voice is muffled by his shirt and the blankets wrapped around you.

"the hobbit. mind if i keep reading?" you shake your head, listening to the steady beating of his heart.

"it was at this point that bilbo stopped. going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did. the tremendous things that happened afterwards were as nothing compared to it..." bucky's voice rumbles soft in his chest, gentle despite the intensity of the moments he read out to you.

[yuquinzel]

atsumu who goes above and beyond to impress you, his crush and classmate of four years, in all definitions of “impress.”

honestly how the fuck isn't it obvious to you by now, he might as well be walking around with “i like y/n” tattooed on his forehead.

you mention you like guys that can cook once and holy fuck atsumu who still doesn't know how to use the microwave without quite literally burning the food, who's never chopped onions before without ending up with enough cuts to bandage his whole hand— that atsumu practices for weeks and stays up till 2 am to prepare for the lunch he'll make for himself, because osamu said said no and then because you bring homemade lunch to stay and eat in class with your friends— he'll casually just plop down on the seat next to you, his friends will then very obviously willingly talk loudly about his lunch and he'll just throw in a, “yeah, made it maself, 'm a solid chef, who do ya think taught 'samu?”

okay if that didn't get your attention, no worries, what are his friends there for?

if atsumu gets lucky in a day and catches you chatting away with your friends in the hallway, then he instructs his friends to walk past you, hover in the corner, just within your earshot— “'kay, so when we pass her by, ya gotta speak ma name real loud, loud enough so she can hear it, but don't annoy her”

and so for the time you stand there, trying to hold a conversation with your friends, all your mind can really focus on is the, “atsumu was so fucking good in practice today, if we're gonna win, then it'll be all him”

and then you hear the subject of the conversation speak, “nah, we're a team, every time we win, it's all thanks ta you guys,” because you also mentioned you like modest, humble guys.

god forbid the days you're absent in class.

atsumu who's sulking all day, doesn't know what the fuck is going on in classes, he's half in and half not in every conversation, even his passes are sloppy and weak. to the point osamu and suna are concerned, well, in their own ways, “are ya constipated or something, yer missin’ your spikes and yer passes as clumsy,” osamu says off-handedly.

“i heard y/n didn't come today, i think her friends said she's sick.” suna chips in, and atsumu shrinks in his spot like a grumpy cat.

“i already know that, wouldn't have come today if i knew she wasn't comin’.”

“you'd miss practice then.”

“don't care, don't talk to me, don't wanna do anything, what's the point.”

“down fucking bad,” suna muses, and atsumu glares at him.

atsumu's day is ruined and his disappointment is immeasurable. why did you get sick? how could you get sick? now he's worried and half of himself and his passes are shit and god, he wants to see you. he feels like he could die.

then when you finally show up the next day after what felt like eternity to atsumu, you find on your desk a pile of snacks with a little note— banana milk, everyone knows it's your favourite, the bar of chocolate they only sell down the convenience store near the school, the glazed donuts that you're always eating in class, and a lot of bubblegums that only one person in class knows you like— atsumu's handwriting is rushed and barely comprehensive but you know it by heart because he doesn't know you saw him slip the note you found in your locker this morning, and countless other mornings—

“i hope you smile because of this”

atsumu as a secret admirer is... not so secret because he's still unaware that you see him every morning, and let him giggle to himself as he slips the notes and the strips of bubblegums in your locker— you don't even like that flavor.

but he gave them, so you think they might just be your favourite.

then again, maybe atsumu doesn't want to be a secret admirer.

atsumu has a crush on you and you know that— he's very obvious. but he's also very dense and doesn't realise that everyone besides him can see you like him too. he doesn't know the only reason you bring homemade lunch is because he had started to eat lunch in class with his friends. you stand in the hallways with your friends pretending to talk so that when atsumu's walking past you, his friends will practically yell his name and you'll see him blushing shyly. he still doesn't know you come to his every match, cheering for him and scream with joy at every one of his scores.

atsumu makes it obvious he has a crush on you but is stupidly dense that you reciprocate all the same :'))))

© yuquinzel 2024 [ plagiarism is a violation of moral rights ! ]

POSTING BECAUSE WHY TF NOT HUH HUHHHHHHHHH

@kyoghurts hi bbg

[writersdrug]

Bartender Simon when a customer yells at reader for a mistake?

I love the way you guys think LOVE keep em comin!!

It starts when he's restocking his bar, carrying crates with fruit, bitters, coasters, and straws. He comes down from the pantry upstairs to a decently relaxed lunch crowd, when he hears the second half of the customer's tantrum.

"You expect me to eat this?! It's bloody raw!"

"I'm so sorry, I can take it back aga-"

"You already did that - went to the kitchen and stuck it under the warmer for a few seconds and thought I wouldn't notice, huh?"

"No sir, I gave it to the che-"

"I don't want to hear fucking excuses, just go fix my damn burger. I'm paying for this shit, aren't I? And you're working for my tip. So fucking work, cunt."

Humiliation isn't enough to describe what you feel - there isn't a strong enough word for it. Claiming you're a liar, saying you grovel for tips, yelling at you in front of your other tables, calling you a cunt - it makes your eyes sting with oncoming tears, staring at him and using every muscle in your jaw to keep from spitting insults back at him. You want to throw the food in his face, but instead, you grab his plate and storm off to the kitchen before he can see you cry.

The man scoffs, looking at his watch. "Fuckin' great..."

Simon's still standing at the bottom of the stairs, holding his crates and staring daggers at the man. He knows what it's like, being berated by customers. He says "that's customer service for ya" and moves on. But for this wanker to berate you - he sees red. He sees his next target.

He swiftly crosses the restaurant floor, boots thudding against the old wood as he drops his crate behind the bar. Soap's already yelling about the asshole when he pushes his way into the kitchen.

"Order it fuckin' rare and ye get fuckin' rare, bloody clipe- talkin' mince, bawface bastard-" he slams the burger back onto the grill with a tense arm, continuing to grumble as it sizzles. "Cookin' ye a nice strip o' shoe leather-"

You're sitting on an overturned crate, sobbing into your hands, pen and notepad on the ground beside you. Price is on one knee, one arm around your shoulder and the other on your leg - you'd never officially met the owner of the pub, but now was as good a time as any, you suppose.

"Wot happened?" Is all that Ghost could say without going off on a rampage. He's saving that for later.

"He fucking embarrassed me, that's what happened!!" You snap, looking up at Simon. Your eyes are red and puffy after only crying for a minute or two, cheeks wet from your tears. You hug your arms around your middle and choke on a sob. "Told me his fucking burger wasn't cooked, so I sent it back- then he tries to say I never even gave it to Soap?! Calls m-me a cunt in front of my tables?! Make me fucking work for his money - I don't want his goddamn money!!"

Price shushes you, worrying your anger might be leaking through the kitchen door - he doesn't want the same customer to hear you bad-mouthing him, although it's rightfully deserved. He rubs your back gently as you drop your head into your hands again, shoulders shaking as you cry.

Simon's seething - he's already moving before his brain can catch up, still stuck on the picture of your teary face. He marches behind the line and reaches across Soap, picking the burger right off the grill.

Soap makes a shocked sound. "Ye gone mad, LT?!"

"Table six?" Ghost asks, holding the sizzling burger patty in his hand, grease dripping onto his forearm.

You stare between his face and the patty - your crying stopped, your face now replaced with a stupefied expression. "Uh- yeah."

And like that, he's off; he shoves himself back out onto the floor and makes his way towards the customer who yelled at you. The burger burns his hand, but he doesn't even notice the pain. He drops it onto the table in front of the man, who yelps in disgust. "What the fuck-"

"Better?" Ghost says, hands clenching into fists at his sides as he looked down at the man, now stuttering and blubbering in shock. Specks of grease are freckling his white dress shirt.

"Are you- is this a fucking joke?"

"It's your fuckin' burger."

"I can't believe this-"

"Then get the fuck out my pub." Ghost growls; he grabs the man by his arm, ripping his blazer off the back of his chair, and drags him to the front door. The other customers look with wide eyes as he busts the door open with his shoulder and throws the man onto the sidewalk. He wheezes as he hits the ground, and Ghost throws his blazer at him next.

"If I ever see your face in 'ere after this, 'm throwin' you out again and keepin' your bullocks as a fuckin' souvenir."

The man stares at him, flabbergasted, as Ghost walks back inside. People are focused on their meals now, heads down and pretending they didn't see Simon body a man to the ground - the guy deserved it, after all.

Simon huffs, picking up the burger from the now-empty table. His hand stings a bit, but he has years of callouses built up to keep any real burns from settling in. He gently kicks the chair back into place and starts heading back to the kitchen, when he sees you.

You're staring at him with wide, wet eyes, standing in the entryway to the kitchen and mouth slightly ajar in awe. You've fully stopped crying, but there are still tears on your face from before. Eyeliner and mascara are smudged a bit, but it only makes Simon's fondness for you blossom.

He gently nudges your shoulder with his elbow as he pushes past you. "Take a fifteen. I'll watch your tables."

You stare after him as he throws the burger into the trash, grabbing a fresh towel and wrapping his hand. Wide back facing you as he looks at Soap, who stares at him with a frustrated sigh.

You're horny now. Horny for Simon - and you're definitely relaying this entire shebang to your friends tonight.

[evilwetbread]

So i've been thinking a lot about Sir Frank. He's this guy in the lost village area.

My first few playthroughs, I never really thought much of him? I mean, he was there, allegedly due to being a sinner or outcast, and unlike most other characters he didn't seem to mind ENA's presence. But then on one occasion when I went to do the "raze the roofs" achievement(making every hut vanish except for the correct one), I went to talk to him and found that his dialogue had changed. (contd)

Now, there are a few details i want to point out about this- first, his delivery of these lines is incredibly sincere, I'd go as far as to say even fond. He is literally the only character- aside from maybe Froggy- who ever speaks to ENA this way. Second, he "pronounces" ENA's name correctly. As in, spelling it with the backwards E. Only two other characters do this(to my knowledge), the suspicious man and Theodora. The suspicious man does it, obviously, because he has researched ENA and knows a lot about her. Theodora does it because she is a Genie, and thus probably all-knowing. Frank, however, pronounces it correctly out of respect. He addresses ENA like his equal, and I'm pretty sure he's the only character that does this. Every other character that isn't directly hostile or dismissive towards ENA is at the very least a little backhanded. Even Nonkey Jong of all people says some shit like "Nonkey Jong likes having company, even from ENA" which implies that ENA is like. The bare minimum lmao. Froggy might be an exception to this? But there's a degree of "you're my cool coworker and all but you're also weird and i don't understand you completely" to his interactions. A curious thing I also noticed about Frank's cutscenes is that he's one of the only fully voiced characters that ENA doesn't vocally respond to. I have a couple theories as to why this is- provided it's intentional. which it might not be. but I'm still thinking about it lol When interacting with Theodora after reaching the bathroom, there is an option when she asks for ENA's aspirations to "aspire for Frank's forgiveness". This could be taken one of two ways- either ENA has done something to Frank that she wishes to be forgiven for, or Frank has done something bad that ENA wants to forgive on his behalf. Either way, whatever it is, Theodora doesn't entertain it ENA's silence during Frank's dialogue could simply be that she's shell-shocked at not being treated weirdly. Or it could be that she feels guilty. I've seen a theory floating around that she may have been the one that blinded him?? I wonder if they knew each other before meeting in the lost village? Man idk. I just think it's interesting that he is so friendly. It caught me totally off guard ngl, discovering this about him elevated him to an S tier character for me lmfao

[doolallymagpie]

oh no i'm foreshadowing stuff for drummer that makes me sad

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

what’s the story about the generative power model and water consumption? /gen

There's this myth going around about generative AI consuming truly ridiculous amount of power and water. You'll see people say shit like "generating one image is like just pouring a whole cup of water out into the Sahara!" and bullshit like that, and it's just... not true. The actual truth is that supercomputers, which do a lot of stuff, use a lot of power, and at one point someone released an estimate of how much power some supercomputers were using and people went "oh, that supercomputer must only do AI! All generative AI uses this much power!" and then just... made shit up re: how making an image sucks up a huge chunk of the power grid or something. Which makes no sense because I'm given to understand that many of these models can run on your home computer. (I don't use them so I don't know the details, but I'm told by users that you can download them and generate images locally.) Using these models uses far less power than, say, online gaming. Or using Tumblr. But nobody ever talks about how evil those things are because of their power generation. I wonder why.

To be clear, I don't like generative AI. I'm sure it's got uses in research and stuff but on the consumer side, every effect I've seen of it is bad. Its implementation in products that I use has always made those products worse. The books it writes and flood the market with are incoherent nonsense at best and dangerous at worst (let's not forget that mushroom foraging guide). It's turned the usability of search engines from "rapidly declining, but still usable if you can get past the ads" into "almost one hundred per cent useless now, actually not worth the effort to de-bullshittify your search results", especially if you're looking for images. It's a tool for doing bullshit that people were already doing much easier and faster, thus massively increasing the amount of bullshit. The only consumer-useful uses I've seen of it as a consumer are niche art projects, usually projects that explore the limits of the tool itself like that one poetry book or the Infinite Art Machine; overall I'd say its impact at the Casual Random Person (me) level has been overwhelmingly negative. Also, the fact that so much AI turns out to be underpaid people in a warehouse in some country with no minimum wage and terrible labour protections is... not great. And the fact that it's often used as an excuse to try to find ways to underpay professionals ("you don't have to write it, just clean up what the AI came up with!") is also not great.

But there are real labour and product quality concerns with generative AI, and there's hysterical bullshit. And the whole "AI is magically destroying the planet via climate change but my four hour twitch streaming sesh isn't" thing is hysterical bullshit. The instant I see somebody make this stupid claim I put them in the same mental bucket as somebody complaining about AI not being "real art" -- a hatemobber hopping on the hype train of a new thing to hate and feel like an enlightened activist about when they haven't bothered to learn a fucking thing about the issue. And I just count my blessings that they fell in with this group instead of becoming a flat earther or something.