#hollywood i hate you capitalism

[suenitos]

head in my fucking hands

[yundeob]

A NIGHT IN HOLLYWOOD ☆ | ATEEZ SERIES

— featuring ot8!ateez in iconic HOLLYWOOD romance and rom-com movies

— TICKET BOOTH IS CLOSED! 🎟️ : the movies are about to start! all fics will have MATURE CONTENT! MDNI!

sit back, relax, grab your popcorn and tissues, and enjoy the silver screen . . .

THE PARENT TRAP ☆ | KHJ

TROPE: exes to lovers! divorced!au

TAGS: nsfw, smut, fluff, angst, crack, slice of life

AS DIVORCED PARENTS to two twin daughters, you and hongjoong have your fair share of work cut out. Driving to piano lessons, cheering at hockey games, drop offs at each other’s houses, it can all be a little much. But could a relaxing summer retreat as a whole family possibly rekindle past emotions you’ve swept under the rug? . . .

— IN THEATRES

DIRTY DANCING ☆ | PSH

TROPE: bad boy!seonghwa, enemies to lovers!au , 60s!au

TAGS: nsfw, smut, angst, crack

THAT WAS THE SUMMER before JFK got shot, before the beatles came, and when you were working part time at your aunts summer resort. That was also the summer you met resident heart breaker and cocky entertainment crew member, Park Seonghwa. Remind yourself why you’re suddenly dance partners with him again? . . .

— not yet in theatres . . .

PRETTY WOMAN ☆ | JYH

TROPE: dilf!yunho x formerstripper!reader, strangers to lovers!au, contract lovers!au,

TAGS: nsfw, smut, fluff, angst

LIVING IN BEVERLY HILLS comes with its perks. But for two different people such as yourself and multimillionaire business tycoon, Jeong Yunho, both of you can’t seem to find what you’re looking for in the so called ‘Land of Dreams’. So the proposal is simple really… let him spoil you with money, jewelry and clothes while in return, you stay by his side. . .

— not yet in theatres . . .

MR AND MRS KANG ☆ | KYS

TROPE: marriage!au, established relationship, spy!au, assasin!au

TAGS: nsfw, smut, fluff, ANGST, crack

WHO WOULD’VE THOUGHT picture perfect suburban neighbourhood couple, Mr. and Mrs. Kang would be at each others necks trying to kill each other first. You’ve both come this far in your marriage while hiding your secret identities, but it looks like only one person can remain standing. I guess you both did promise “in sickness and in health”. . .

— not yet in theatres . . .

ROMAN HOLIDAY ☆ | CS

TROPE: royalty!au, princess!reader x reporter!san, strangers to lovers!

TAGS: nsfw, smut, fluff, angst

AS CROWN PRINCESS, you’re on a tightly scheduled tour of European capital cities. But after an especially rough day in Rome, you sneak out of the embassy to explore the so called Eternal City, running into no other than celebrity news reporter, Choi San, looking out for his next big royal scandal. . .

— not yet in theatres . . .

10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU ☆ | SMG

TROPE: college!au, stoner!mingi, enemies to lovers!au, fakedating(?)au, y2k aesthetic

TAGS: nsfw, smut, fluff, angst, crack, slice of life

YOUR YOUNGER BROTHER Wooyoung is desperate in getting you, his older sister in college, to date so that he can finally date in highschool. The options for potential candidates are scarce, considering men flock away like birds the second you’re near. Good thing campus stoner and weirdo, Song Mingi is the same as well. . .

— not yet in theatres . . .

HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS ☆ | JWY

TROPE: fashioncolumnist!reader x advertiser!wooyoung, y2k aesthetic, fake dating(?)au, enemies to lovers!au, mutual pining

TAGS: nsfw, smut, fluff, angst, crack, slice of life

LISTEN, IF IT MEANS getting a promotion at your editorial company as a news journalist instead of pop culture and lifestyle columnist, you’d do anything. And that includes pretending to be the most annoying and clingiest girlfriend to some guy for 10 whole days. But just so you know, Wooyoung likes clingy. . .

— not yet in theatres . . .

ROMEO & JULIET ☆ | CJH

TROPE: unrequited love, star crossed lovers!au, mutual pining, secret romance (shakespeare be rolling in his grave rn)

TAGS: nsfw, smut, fluff, ANGST

FOR CENTURIES, a plague of hatred and hostility has been present in the relations between the House of Choi and your own. You know you can’t be together, but yet why do you keep catching that dark haired boy staring at you so longingly? And why do you want him just as bad?. . .

— not yet in theatres . . .

a/n: for updates, follow my blog! this will be a work-in-progress so I ask for your support:(🙏

taglist: @vent-stink @dazzlingstarrs @vcutparis @xpixie @potatos-on-clouds @showingmafandomlove @bibbleypoof @kpop-will-kill-me @avantalem @beabatiny @gabrielle-brugger @nsixns @amaranth1ne @stayminho @myblovedjyh @kkeshia @rebekah-reads @yoonbroom @4kwp @butterflydemons @iwaizumiismybae @soobinsputnik @stayatinykatsy @atitties @justconniez @kitten4sannie @ghostskilledmyaddiction21 @cheolsthicthighs @morethingsfandom @geminiml95 @byuntrash101 @quailbagutte @syubseokie @newworldwritings @urmom26john @sleepy-kat-here @pearltinyy @hjshyhyssnmgwyjh @cursedeastern @starryunho @piratekingateez2001 @jiminbility @paumll @drinkingrumandcocacola @roomsofangel @channies-bbg-room @meanaonthemoon @teeztopia @pommelex @kiln9z @sanhwalvr @youresolivlie @edawg77 @a-0206 @summer-gyu @bvidzsoo @yoongzsmile28 @tournesol155

taglist became too long so find the second taglist here💀 no longer taking requests

[eccentricwritingbaby]

baby, incoming!

carlos sainz x fem!singer!reader

summary - you and carlos have been married for over a year now and you’ve gone MIA. what could be the reason? new music or a new beginning? maybe both?

fc - emrata

masterlist

-

Liked by carlossainz55, charles_leclerc, yourusername and 345,765 others

scuderiaferrari our boys are ready, tifosi! are you? #MexicoGP

username they are so attractive its crazy

username lets all pray ladies and gents that there will be a ferrari double podium

username now that is a reach but im right there with you

carlossainz55 ready as always!

username do we think yourusername will actually be there… she hasnt been to the last like 4 gp’s 

username idk but im hoping mothers absence is bc of a new album drop

username omggg pleaseee ive been needing her music

charles_leclerc <3

“and you’re sure you’ll be alright while i’m gone, mi amor?” carlos asks you for what feels like the hundredth time as he is packing up his suitcase. you sigh, walking out of your shared closet and placing another one of his clean ferrari polos into the suitcase and then heading to take a seat on the bed next to his luggage.

“quierdo, soy perfecto. i am pregnant, not dying. now please stop worrying about me while your parents as well as mine stay down the street. i am not alone, mi amor, and you are my first call if anything happens,” carlos listens carefully as he forgets about packing momentarily to come stand between your legs that were dangling off the bed, you reach out as he moves closer to hold both of his hands in yours in order for him to receive the message fully, “porfa, i will be fine just like i have been before,”

carlos gives a quick squeeze to your hands and a brief kiss on your forehead as he soaks in the words he was just told, “yo sé, cariño. i just hate missing everything and leaving you while you need me,” the guilty, solemn look on his face is enough for you to quickly stand, remove his hands from yours and wrap your arms tight around him.

he reciprocates the hug quickly with his hands finding your waist with a firm grip, “mi amor you've been there for me constantly and will be there for our baby once they come; besides me being stuck at home will finally give me an excuse to finish out my album so you have no reason to feel guilty,” you slowly loosen your grip in order to look into his warm, inviting eyes yet his hands never leave your waist.

he gives you a short kiss and then begins to speak up once more, “i just wish we could announce you’re pregnant already so that i could be with you, i hate being apart already and this just makes it harder,” he leans his forehead on yours as his hands disappear from your waist in order to lightly begin caressing your small yet prominent bump, “i know, my love, but my manager would kill me if she could not find a way to make one short announcement work in my albums favor, even if it means capitalizing on my baby,” you say with a short laugh.

carlos just smiles on with you by saying, “welcome to hollywood,” there is then a small kiss, a finished packing job, a sad goodbye and then a long plane ride for carlos as he arrives for the mexico grand prix. 

carlossainz_fanpage looks like carlos is riding solo again, now for the mexican gp … trouble in paradise? new music? baby bump? who knows but i miss our mother

username it looks like hes still wearing his ring in the pictures of him arriving and all the ones ive seen

username oh thank god bc i cannot handle being a child of divorce rn

username me neither i rlly hope its the complete opposite and us children are gaining a brother or sister

username omgggg i hope she is pregnant she’d just be the cutest

username pleaseeee i need an album from her its been like two years now i cant take it

username RIGHT?! she got married and abandoned us :/

you had already received a text from carlos telling you that he landed and was heading to his hotel and then the paddock and he would call you later.

something about his words earlier had been sticking with you all day in the back of your head, ‘i hate being apart already and this just makes it harder’.

you and carlos had known each other before the fame with your parents being friends and the both of you have dated throughout it. you rarely were apart as you would go to almost all his races and travel with him and in turn during his breaks you would tour and he would tag right along. it had always worked beautifully since the flexibility of your job allowed you to work from ultimately anywhere, therefore why not spend it following and being with the love of your life? the distance from carlos was difficult, not even remotely from distrust or anything negative, just the simplicity of missing out.

you made a fast but firm decision and began to pack a bag. you gave a quick call to your mother in law informing her of your plan and letting her know you’d be by soon to drop off the dogs and then she began to insist she even drive you to the airport.

she has always loved you like a daughter for as long as you and carlos have been together claiming ‘she is just so good for him, no sé’.

then there is a quick flight, a large hoodie thrown on, and a pregnant y/n waiting right outside carlos’ hotel door.

your hand is brought up and with a sharp knock you stand still simply waiting. carlos takes a minute to open the door and as he does his eyes immediately light up, “y/n!” he makes haste to pull you into his room and into his arms immediately, “qué haces aquí?”

“ay! you’re asking me what i’m doing here instead of a long i love you my beautiful wife thank you for coming,” you mock and joke as he continues to rock you back and forth in his hold.

“lo siento, amor, gracias para coming all this way,” he leans back to look into your eyes while one of his hands finds its way to your bump,

“i was just confused because everyone is going to see, no?” he continues. you nod and begin to laugh while saying, “to be completely honest, carlos, i dont give a fuck. my fans will either buy my album or won't, it doesn't depend on our child. and i for sure am not going to miss out on seeing you race or rob you from any papi/baby time just for a stupid album,” he listens to you speak while his eyes begin to glisten over with happiness, “y/n, i’m so happy porfa can we post now so that i can take you out to a nice dinner and we can actually be people again,” he finishes off his sentence with a laugh.

you just simply smile, nod and give him his answer in a long-awaited passionate kiss. “gracias dios,” he whispers against your lips with a small sigh as you just let out a giggle.

you were a bit nervous before but now after being with carlos and seeing his relief you know you made the right decision. 

yourusername and carlossainz55 baby sainz coming soon <3

comments on this post have been disabled.

y/ncarlos_updates PREGGERS Y/N ARRIVING IN THE PADDOCK TODAY!

username holyyyyy shit she looks so good

username MOTHER IS AN ACTUAL MOTHER

username and our daddy is about to be an actual daddy!!

username they are going to be the most attractive parents ever

username stop im so happy for them this is so cute

username their entire childhood bff to lovers trope and now they’re having a baby like dream come true

username no fr its like watching them grow up before our eyes its so cute

username shes still got such good style even when pregnant i am green with envy rn

username that makes two of us

username u just know the gc is blowing up rn with which driver is going to be godfather

username we all know that if it is a driver itll be landonorris

landonorris damn right

username WHAT THE FU-

[catboymoments]

I have some complicated feelings towards the Knives Out movies. I did like their plots when I first watched them, especially the anti-racism and anti-capitalist messages, but I hate that some of the actors in them are either not good ppl irl or are affiliated with bad people. Do you have any advice when it comes to engaging with media that have problematic actors in them?

You have to accept that in this day and age there is no “ethical” consumption under capitalism or under Hollywood culture. No matter what you do, there’s always gonna be someone bad profiting somehow. Celebrity culture is a nightmare and you have to accept that celebrities are not your friends, they are never going to be 100% unproblematic no matter how “wholesome” they seem! As long as you acknowledge that the particular actors you’re concerned about have done bad things and are critical of things they’ve done and do not support them blindly, you’ll be okay.

[look2the-starrs]

I just know the new Hunger Games movie won't be it🥲

Don't get me wrong I'm beyond excited for the new book. I have faith that Suzanne Collins— the woman she is— will write a story so gripping, undeniably tragic and beyond critical of our current global politics that it will irrevocably change my brain chemistry.

But I have no faith in Hollywood to stay true to the heart of her next story.

We've seen this recently with TBOSBAS. The book was gritty, gruelling, stripped back from all the glam of the first Hunger Games. But the movie took away the worst of it. Now all I see of the movie is fan edits of Tom Blythe and the costumes Hunter Schaefer wears as if that is what we are meant to take away. And obviously this is no hate to the actors.

This is hate to a movie that will completely trivialise the heart of the next Hunger Games book. A book we know to be about propaganda and the lies our governments sell us so they can continue to commit atrocities on a global scale.

I was thinking about sscene in Mockingjay where the Capital bombed a hospital and how, when I was 12 and first read that, my brain thought "God that's awful". That would never happen.

But it happens today. It's happening right now. 34 of Palestine 36 hospitals have been reduced to piles of ruble and bodies.

Make no mistake. This new book will be about the censorship of the truth, about the governments in the west that we live under, that aid and are complicit in crimes across the world.

It will be about the USA, Israel and Palestine, about the UK's hand in the genocide in Congo and Sudan.

But you don't even have to have half a brain to know that the movie, that Hollywood, will never go there.

[tgmsunmontue]

Never knew I was missing you 1/? WIP

Jake is just trying to find a connection. Shame the guy he connects with the most is lying about his identity online; because he sure as hell isn't A-list Hollywood star Bradley Bradshaw.

PART ONE

                Bradley hadn’t ever meant to become famous. He’d just been minding his own business, doing his own thing and adding some extra curriculars to his schedule to pad his USNA application when someone had sidled up to him after the school production and asked him if he’d ever considered doing it professionally.

                He’d been so confused he’d had to ask do what professionally?

                Act.

                Apparently, he has a flair for the dramatic.

                When he’d relayed this, Ice had rolled his eyes and looked at Mav and muttered I wonder where he gets that from and Mav had, for some reason, just snapped his teeth and then said truly a mystery.

                Bradley had just decided it was safer to ignore them and leave them to their dramatics, because who did they think they were kidding if they weren’t equally dramatic? So he figured he’d give it a shot. He had a year left of high school, and he could delay joining the Navy. Weirdly Maverick had been incredibly supportive, almost pushing him toward it, but he had left all his options open, and then… Well, he’d been asked to do a screen test, and then he’d done an audition and reading, which had then spiraled into being the previously unknown but now new-and-upcoming-star of Hollywood.

                All that is over ten years ago now, he’s closing in on thirty, regularly on the most eligible bachelor and sexiest men lists to his mortification, and he’s also considered one of the most billable actors. He was open about his sexuality from the start, despite his agent advising him against it. So he’d found a new agent, who had crafted a very well worded statement which meant that Bradley has remained scandal free because he’s… Well, he’s pretty boring really. When he takes people out on dates they seem to think he’s going to be like one the characters he plays, and are always a little (or a lot) disappointed when they realize that Bradley is just… well, Bradley.

                “I made you a dating profile,” Callie says, slapping his phone onto his chest and Bradley grabs for it before it can slide down and hit the floor.

                “You did what now?”

                “A dating profile.”

                “Yeah. Sorry, I got that part. I meant why?”

                “Because you haven’t left the house for anything other than work in three weeks.”

                “So? I’ve been keeping busy. Plus I don’t have trouble finding someone to date. When I actually want to go on a date.”

                “Uh…”

                “What?”

                “I’d like to hold up exhibits A through D. Your last relationship and the last three dates you went on. All fucking disasters. If not PR wise, then romantically and-or sexually. Disasters. With a capital D.”

                “And he wants another type of D!” Neil calls out and Bradley rolls his eyes, because of course Neil is chipping in.

                “Do I have an HR department? Can I report you both to HR?”

                “Nope. You’re stuck with us. Your fault for hiring people who know you’re just a giant nerd with no game whatsoever,” Callie says with a grin as she settles on the sofa beside him and shoves her cold feet under his thighs.

                Bradley groans, he hates it when they’re right.

…            …            …

                Jake flicks through the profiles, looking for something to catch his attention. He doesn’t need perfect looking bodies, or dick-pics, he sees enough of both in the locker room. Plus he gets plenty of unsolicited dick-pics whenever he’s horny enough to reinstall Tinder and got looking for something uncomplicated. Of course, as he’s gotten older he wouldn’t mind something a bit more complicated, but some people like having a partner or boyfriend that is around, and Jake isn’t a lot of the time. So his job can be somewhat of a deal breaker, has been in nearly all his past relationships. He reads over his profile and he should probably take out GGG if he wants to be serious about something more but… It’s still true.

GGG Flyboy looking for something a little more heavy duty than a ONS but only in town for six weeks.

                He keeps scrolling and then there’s a picture of A-list actor Bradley Bradshaw and he snorts in amusement. He sure as fuck wouldn’t be on a fucking dating app if he was Bradley Bradshaw. He reads the profile and laughs again.

Half-decent actor, boring AF human. Hobbies include avoiding social interactions with people I don’t know, pinball machine restoration and building model planes. WLTM genuine M or F for dating to something more serious.

                He’s got nothing better to do, so he fires off a message.

>>No way you’re actually Bradley Bradshaw. Catfishing is illegal you know.

>>But I am actually Bradley Bradshaw.

>>Yeah, and I’m a veterinarian and part-time fire fighter.

>>Pretty sure Bradley Bradshaw wouldn’t be admitting to the world that his favorite past times are building model airplanes and restoring pinball machines.

>>Also if you don’t like social interactions with people you don’t know then a dating app is NOT the place for you.

>>I like pinball machines.

>>Well. I like playing pinball. The machines are just kind of necessary for that and sometimes I need some quiet time.

>>Plus this app wasn’t my idea. My friend made my profile.

>>Sure buddy.

>>Your ‘friend’ has some mad photoshop skills though.

>>Legit looks like Bradshaw is working on that pinball machine.

>>That’s an original Lumet. And I am working on it.

>>Not the oldest one I have, but the one that needs the most work.

>>Sure. Okay.

>>So what do you do?

>>I’m in the Navy.

                Jake settles back, wonders if the guy has even bothered reading his profile.

>>Huh. Flyboy. Aviator then?

                There’s his answer.

>>Yep. What do you do?

>>Restore pinball machines and lie about my identity on dating apps apparently.

                Jake laughs, and at least the guy has got a good sense of humor, even if what he’s doing is illegal. Jake’s never been that much of a stickler and he’s not hurting anyone.

>>Also said you build model planes. What kind? Vested interest and legit first hand knowledge….

>>Wait, your username is Brad2lover? You’re a fan?

>>Yeah, hello, I’m not blind. Guy’s scorching hot. And yeah, I guess I’m a fan. But he can do whatever the fuck he wants when he’s not working.

>>Except restore pinball machines. That’s the step too far?

>>He wouldn’t be using a dating app to hook up.

>>Wouldn’t need to.

>>You’d think that wouldn’t you.

>>And not looking to just hook up.

                Jake rolls his eyes. He could fucking start be being honest with who he is, but he feels like he might as well be talking to a brick wall with as far as he’s been getting there. So he’ll talk.

>>Well, I am and I am not…

>>?

>>Vague.

>>Well. I’ve got six weeks leave. I’d like to find something more than hooking up, but most people need more than six weeks to want a relationship, so I’m…

>>In a catch-22 situation.

>>So going to try meeting someone on this app and get to know them and then… what?

>>You’re still going to be deployed again for months on end.

>>Yeah, no shit. Got to at least try though right?

>>Might get lucky.

[lizbethborden]

Whether you like her music and persona or not, Chappell Roan is extremely interesting as an example of an artist speed-running the famous female experience in a matter of months. After her Gov Ball performance, she exploded in exposure and popularity, with massive crowds on the festival circuit. Her exposure came with a price--her safety and privacy--and when she publicly asked her fans to stop cannibalizing her well-being--to stop doxxing her family, calling her by her real name, and kissing and touching her forcibly--she became hated by large groups of pop fans virtually overnight. Her conduct in public since has only intensified this, as her response to red carpet hostility and her apparent exhaustion and frustration around award shows and publicity have made her appear "ungrateful."

What this reminds me of is Andrea Dworkin's analysis of Marilyn Monroe in her book, Right Wing Women. She is talking about Hollywood's most famous actress, but much of this also applies to Roan, who, like Monroe, performs period-typical ornate femininity and expresses orientation toward male aesthetics and desires (Roan specifically via her much-expressed worship of male drag artists). Here is Dworkin on Monroe:

“The actress is the only female culturally empowered to act. When she acts well, that is, when she convinces the male controllers of images and wealth that she is reducible to current sexual fashion, available to the male on his own terms, she is paid and honored. Her acting must be imitative, not creative; rigidly conforming, not self-generated and self-renewing. The actress is the puppet of flesh, blood, and paint who acts as if she is the female acting.”

Roan is not a subversive artist. Even her explicit desire for other women comes in a "queer" context; modern "queerness" is largely a joint invention of capitalism, antifeminism, and homophobia, which is why it has mass appeal to Gen Z. Many of her costumes and looks are overtly done in drag style and in tribute to famous male drag performers. She has talked about her Chappell Roan persona as her "drag" persona and relating heavily to the experiences of drag queens. (I have never, whether in person at her concert or in interviews, heard her express knowledge of the existence of female drag artists, drag kings.) All of this in combination with her feminine aesthetic--femininity being a social signal of acquiescence to male interests and desire--means that she is, as was Dworkin's Monroe, "reducible to current sexual fashion." Her aesthetic is performed in hero worship of male creators: "imitative, not creative; rigidly conforming, not self-generated and self-renewing."

Dworkin goes on to discuss the effect of Monroe's suicide on the public (male) consciousness:

“Monroe’s premature death raised one haunting question for the men who were, in their own fantasy, her lovers, for the men who had masturbated over those pictures of exquisite female compliance: was it possible, could it be, that she hadn’t liked It all along—It—the It they had been doing to her, how many millions of times? Had those smiles been masks covering despair or rage? If so, how endangered they had been to be deceived, so fragile and exposed in their masturbatory delight, as if she could leap out from those photos of what was now a corpse and take the revenge they knew she deserved.”

Monroe committed the ultimate act of self-declaration, and in our culture, the ultimate sin specifically for a woman like her. By committing suicide, she not only forever severed male access to her person; she also threatened the tenuous male fantasy that she had ever enjoyed male access to her body, her image, her mind, her creative expresssion. Her suicide, though a private act performed out of her own personal anguish, was nonetheless an indictment of the public that had fed itself not only on her creative output, on her beauty and sexuality, but also the contempt bred by such familiarity with her image. No matter what, whether you loved her or hated her, wanted to fuck her or didn't, you could bite off a piece of Marilyn Monroe and chew, and the public consumed her until there was nothing left.

Chappell Roan has made public what Monroe kept private: that the cannibalism of fame is agonizing; that no, she does not like "It—the It they had been doing to her, how many millions of times." Rather than fulfill the female prerogative of suffering in silence, or through hateable, explosive acts like those performed by Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan in their heydays, she has explicitly, verbally expressed that she is hurt, tired, angry, frustrated, annoyed; that she does not enjoy the myriad of intrusions conducted on her person and her life by her fans, by her haters, and by the public and press. In turn, the public has revolted against her: she has violated the ultimate female rule, which is, in very brief, "smile and take it." She has declared at the very outset of her public career that she has a self and interiority that does not belong to anyone else, and she is now despised.

[sgiandubh]

Hello! I have a new drinking game suggestion! If you haven't listened to that podcast yet (the part about Outlander and Sam starts at 51:00) how about a sip every time she mentions her recommendations for watching the series, stressing that it's something scorching? Also, every time it is said that he is single and dates a lot, in addition to being 🔥 The segment lasts about three minutes, surely no one could get drunk in such a short amount of time!

Dear Drinking Game Anon,

Please forgive the delay - almost everybody, even the trolls, answered the salvo of Deux Moi (that is a bastardized translation of 'Me Too', I bet the farm) Anons and perhaps you found me wanting. Oh, well: I never gave three dried shits about being FIRST.

Not even #sorry for the length, Anon.

That podcast is some mighty BS you are kindly asking me to dissect for you. So I just listened to that S focused bit again, as I am writing the answer. Fasten your seat belts.

I mean, where the hell do I begin? Everything is so unlikeable and so cheap about that podcast, I could start wondering if *urv is not poor man's Deux Moi, if you see what I mean (she came in first, alas). No, they don't give a flying fuck about S, in fact both of them have no idea even who he is, since they are mispronouncing his name repeatedly and need to check Wikipedia for his basic trivia. Their cackle does not really bring anything new to the table and it has all the predictable bits: his fandom 'who thinks he is dating his costar' (zero about the Mommies, its most vocal part, who definitely think he doesn't - interesting, huh?), him being on Raya and 'obviously dating' (yeah, yeah, we've seen the results, Dubai Hooker and then 'No Toxic People' on top), OL being a 'historical fantasy series, like GoT' (Lord give me strength), but you know, chock a block filled with sex (😱🤣). So it all boils down to the girl being 'identified in DMs' (by who, I wonder? 'Always Hands On' *urv?) as a 'creative type'. The core of the debate was, in fact, whether it was or not a first date and what about the lack of drinks on that table - it never occurred to them Einsteins that was a dead giveaway of those pictures being totally staged, eh?

Nothing to write home about and I honestly fail to see where the fuck did those women notice the girl 'lovingly gazing' at S. At any rate, this is so artificial I could cry and it does sound like a quid pro quo type of favor Deux Moi did to PR. It actually gave me the same 'shoehorned in' feeling as C's Remarkable Weekend non-photos featured in that magazine, in 2019. The two 'gossip columnists' clearly didn't prepare anything at all about it and DGAF pretending to be plausible liars. One more time, it felt cheap and a desperate retcon of the Dubai Hooker Walk of Shame, plus the added insult to injury Alice Don't Panikian was.

But, as always, there's more to it. And at this point, I do wonder why and actually how on Earth nobody in this fandom ever thought to find out what the fuss was about Deux Moi, at all.

[I was brutally cut, just here, Anon, by the worst power outage in our neighborhood for ages - heat does that to old, clunky European capitals. Sorry for that.]

Deux Moi came out of obscurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people were locked down at home, bored and depressed. It markets itself as a gossip column with a twist, almost never checks facts and apparently has no problem being seen by many as a neo Hollywood Dumpster Diver of sorts. To counter all sorts of possible legal problems, it launched itself and prospered because of the mandatory 'Anon pls' opening to each and every submission. It allows them to never feel or take any responsibility for the content it posts. The reason she can do this is the US Supreme Court's 1964 decision New York Times vs. Sullivan, which allowed media (including gossip sites) more liberty in expressing their opinions. It only sanctions actual malice in doing so, which simply means that if you hate Steven Cree (random example) and publicly comment he is a talentless bore, there is nothing he or his PR can do about it. But if you publicly comment that Steven Cree is a pedophile or a drug addict (OTT made-up stuff inserted here on purpose) and you fail to prove it with facts, well - that is actual malice all the way. You'd better pawn your silver spurs and sell your first born, because they will come to get you and won't do it with grace. In fact, as recently as 2022, the US Supreme Court refused to revise its doctrine on this particular point of law, further linking it to the US Constitution's First Amendment, that deals with free speech and strongly protects it:

[more on this, here: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/27/politics/supreme-court-new-york-times-sullivan/index.html - make no mistake, this is a very high profile political decision, for obvious reasons; therefore, I shall not further comment, you make up your own mind about it, according to your own creed. But I know what I think, and what I think is the analogy was promoted by a very conservative Supreme Court].

Deux Moi will never be that sophisticated, but that does not mean it was never above any possible threats & scandal. Its public image heavily relies on the mystique of an incognito mastermind, who, like the Mahdi, Shia Islam's Hidden Twelfth Imam, walks this Earth and sees/knows everything. From there to eternity, victimization is never far away:

[full article, here: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a43620663/deux-moi-identity-dark-side/ - I don't believe a single word of what the person shares, just so you know; for many reasons].

I mean, she is no Louella Parsons, no Hedda Hopper, hell - not even Liz Smith. And funny she mentions Taylor Swift (who I like more and more by the day, hahaha), who went for her via her PR, recently, in quite a clear fashion:

Wow, mother of all dragons: ' a marriage ceremony in the UK', that 'wasn't (...) legal (...) and wasn't made official'. Excuse me? RINGS A FUCKING BELL IN OUR OWN BACKYARD? Hell yes, rings a fucking steamer foghorn. Anyways, Tree Paine was not amused at all and the excuses were paltry, to say the least:

Sorry for the long quote, Anon, but I found Glamour's piece very enlightening, for once:

[our Spanish mafia girls could read the whole article here: https://www.glamour.com/story/taylor-swifts-publicist-tree-paine-thinks-deux-moi-needs-a-reality-check]

I still wonder why this 2021 'Anon pls' was never disputed and at least partially proven true:

Even better, check out this Reddit thread, just to see what The Casuals commented:

[whole thread, here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fauxmoi/comments/nzx8mw/ok_i_am_dying_to_know_who_this_is_about/]

I wouldn't describe this as people being exactly 'shocked'. Interesting reactions, at any rate, and not a Stan in view.

Go figure, indeed.

I hope this answers your ask, Anon. It took me a long while to write, due to unforeseen reasons, but I certainly did it with pleasure and two or three well-placed grins.

[old-school-butch]

What do they think Hamas wants? What do they think Israel is supposed to do? Do they seriously think Israel is supposed to be like sure here you go we are all going to leave Israel and you can have everything? Do they think that would bring about peace? I’m serious. Like really do they think there is anything Israel could do that would stop any of this? Do they think Israel should’ve done nothing and this situation would’ve just disappeared? Americans are the dumbest fucking people on the planet. Hamas wants compliance or death, that’s how terrorism works, that’s war.

Whoever is running the information warfare at Hamas is truly brilliant. The ideology of Islamists has been run through some kind of autotuner so it sounds like it came from a chapter in Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Western liberals are eating it up. While liberals are still catching up on which river and which sea the chant refers to, they still don't grasp that the end goal here is the elimination of the state of Israel entirely. And while 20% of Israelis are Arab Muslims, there are zero Jews in Gaza. The PR people are saying Zionist these days instead of Jews, so maybe it doesn't sound too bad when they say Kill All Zionists but that's just the English translation. Zionism is the creation of a Jewish state. Hamas will call it the 'Zionist entity' because they don't recognize it as a state. They don't recognize it because all states should be Muslim. Israel is occupying territory that should be Muslim. When they say 'end the occupation' it sounds like a call for liberation of an oppressed people, instead of the desire to destroy Israel, kill or expel the Jews and create a Muslim state in its place.

Yemen's Houthi rebels (who are currently attacking Israel) have a slogan "God is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, A Curse Upon the Jews, Victory to Islam" and I think it says a lot that they take the time to double down on how much they hate Jews/Israel instead of a single 'Houthis are great!' thrown into their own slogan.

The Islamists have noted the 'anti-colonial' rhetoric in Western universities and capitalized on it by positioning Israel as a proxy for the West and thus a scapegoat for the West's sins of imperialism. It does rely on some very old anti-Semitic tricks - because Jews assimilate fairly well (because they don't have an evangelical aspect to the faith) they are both within a culture and othered from the culture - the perfect scapegoat. Many liberals shrugged when the Nazis marching in Charlottesville chanted "Jews will not replace us" but the suspicion that Jews control the media, capitalism, also socialism, Hollywood (and any other center of power you can imagine) runs very deep in Western cultural anxiety. Imagining Israel as a prowerful villian is all too easy when you're primed to believe that.

A wild example of this is how Westerners view Israel as a colonialist power rather than a gathering point for religious refugees. The reality that Jews originated from the land of JUDEA should not be hard to grasp, but is conveniently ignored. The fact that they've negotiated with colonial powers like Britain and the UN is viewed as a sign of political power, even though the main goal of those colonial powers was to prevent Jewish refugees from flooding their own countries. And the memory that the post WW2 boost in political heft came at the price of the Holocaust in Europe, seems to have been lost. The reality that most Israelis are Jewish refugees expelled from Muslim countries, is conveniently ignored. There are enough white faces and dual citizens in Israel for guilty Westerners to find a convenient scapegoat to do all that decolonizing and let themselves be destroyed for our sins. Not that anyone is thinking that hard about it, it just feels right, because it's safe and convenient to accept blame and then shift it to someone else - no matter how many land acknowledgements they crank out.

I guess Westerners think colonizing is something only white people do, and they are blissfully unaware of the size and scope of the Arab Islamic Empires of the past. And also apparently unaware that Islamists explicitly say they want to recreate that empire. Zionists want a single state - and I have a lot of issues with the idea of a religious state at all, but no one can accuse Jews of ever having or wanting to create an Empire. Israel might be criticized for not having a more liberal democractic state, but Hamas isn't even trying to create one. It wants a single Muslim state occupying their entire region, where Jews are killed or expelled and Islamists can consolidate regional power - that's their goal. But the slogan is 'end the occupation' which sounds way nicer than 'end the occupation of land of Israel by Jews so we can make an Islamic state in its place and kill all the Jews who don't run away fast enough.'

Maybe it's that most Westerners don't live in a theocracy, and have no sense of just how controlling and energetic theocratic societies can be, that they can't grasp the idea of global jihad and what that really means. "The Caliphate is the answer" is written in Arabic on protest signs, flying under the radar of English-speakers and certainly not seen as hate speech, but when people tell you they want to establish a global world order under Islamic rule, and are actively coordinating their efforts between states and regions - you should believe them. Moderation is apostasy, punishable by death. Anyone negotiating with Israel faces opposition from more radical Islamists ready to take their place. This is why Islamists spend most of their time attacking more moderate Islamic states and leaders. And by 'moderate' I mean the Taliban, which can barely set up a state in Afghanistan - because it means diverting resources from expanding and conquering other areas. A group called ISIS-K is trying to overturn the Taliban to bring back the glory days of the Khorason, an entity so sprawling it would involve invading China, Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, which would undoubtedly spark a global conflict. That doesn't phase them. Hamas can barely control the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which rejects any peace accords with Israel including the Oslo accord. Dying as a martyr is the highest achivement - eternal war is not a problem. The Islamic world is failing to contain radical movements it created and supported for its own interests.

The Palestinians are a good microcosm of this. When Israel declared independence in 1948, the region was invaded by its neighbors. The war ended with Jordan occupying the West Bank and Egypt occupying Gaza and normally the people living there would have been absorbed into these countries, or created a self-governed state. Instead Palestinians, as a group, were created as a stateless people. They didn't want to form a state within the boundaries determined by the war, but instead remain as refugees from a war and promised the 'right of return' i.e. that Israel would be returned to them. Importantly, the war didn't have a declared end. It's still happening, which is how they are still refugees 75 years later. And they live in 'refugee camps', otherwise known as buildings and towns, but it's all temporary in this narrative. Does no one wonder why the pro-Palestinian rallies call for a ceasefire and not for peace? Peace is not desired, just a pause in fighting until they can regroup and try again.

A separate reality was created where the 1948 war is still happening, Israel is not real, it's a 'Zionist entity' occupying the land and that refugees includes everyone displaced by the 'ongoing' war, and all their descendants are refugees too because they have nowhere to live - because where they are living is just temporary. And ‘all they want is to go home’ (but not their current home for 3 generations, the home back in Israel ofc). In this world, they all have to right to live in the region that the zionist entity is occupying, where their duty is to establish a Muslim state. The purpose of this fiction is to create a perpetual problem for Israel, a stateless population whose entire existence is focused on them eventually overthrowing Israel. But it's had unexpected effects.

Palestinian refugees have been more than willing to bring violence to any country that has taken them in as immigrants. Their nationalists have a long list of assassinations of anyone who supports a peace treaty with Israel, including the King of Jordan, the former prime minister of Lebanon, Robert F Kennedy and more. They've also started a civil war in Jordan until they were expelled to Lebanon, where they hijacked a series of international flights and started a civil war there that lasted for 15 years. Palestinians living as refugees in Kuwait aided Saddam Hussein's invading army until they were expelled when his regime fell. These are the reasons none of Israel's neighbor's will accept any more Palestinian refugees, but the Islamist problem remains for any country in its path. What I have found most disturbing among feminists on Tumblr, however, is the complete wilful ignorance about Islamist ideology and its relationship to women. You think you’re ok with the Quran? Read it. There aren't many religions founded by a conqueror who wanted to rule the world. Read what it says about conquest, murder, torture, raping and enslaving non-Muslim women. Arab slave traders castrated men and bred female slaves who were kept as captive wives. Using sexual violence as a tool of war and as a reward for Islamic fighters is long documented and continues today. The birth rate in Gaza is about 5 children per woman and frequently exhorted to be higher. Why? Arafat said it most clearly ‘the womb of the Palestinian woman is the weapon that will defeat Israel.' Population and fertility are part of the political landscape and Islamist strategy. It's how Lebanon went from being a Christian majority country to a Muslim majority country today. There is no reason whatsoever that feminists - who have not shied away from criticizing the sexism of Christianity or Judaism - should mince words when it comes to criticizing Islam in the strongest possible terms. Islamists - who combine Islam with a goal for global dominance - should ring every alarm bell we have.

[squish-o-blair]

So I got bored and decided to compile all the lore revealed in the Sonic Twitter Takeovers.

I've highlighted in Green stuff that could be (or is) canon to the games (AKA stuff that's canon, isn't contradicted in canon, or isn't some meta joke), in red is stuff that definitely isn't canon, and the rest you can make your own decision on.

-This is just regular lore but "Ivo" in "Ivo Robotnik" is pronounced "Evo" it's supposed to sound like "evil"

-Eggman is a PC gamer

-Eggman might not be able to swim

-Eggman is in smash he's just super hard to unlock

-Eggman wants to take over the world because "It's Friday" (in other words it's implied that most Sonic games take place or at least START on a Friday.)

-Eggman can't get any bitches

-Eggman works out

-The Sega Saturn is Eggman's favorite Sega console

-Eggman's a fan of old show tunes and lullabies

-There's an Eggman empire lot in North Hollywood

-Eggman has a cat he calls "Biggy Wiggy"

-Eggman is fan of Tokyo Ghoul and Chainsaw Man

-Eggman is Youtuber Cobanermani456's father

-The Egg Pawns have names (one is named Fred)

-Eggman and Sonic hang out sometimes

-Sonic and Eggman are both streamers

-Roger Craig Smith is a fake alias used by Sonic

-Sonic shares a universe with Assassin's Creed and Sonic and Eggman once kidnapped Ezio

-Sonic's a shitty gamer

-Sega is Sonic's agent

-The Sega Genesis is Sonic's favorite Sega console

-Sonic's a fan of Mongolian throat singing

-Sonic is salty about reviewers who continue to bring up Sonic 06

-Sonic's favorite Sonic games are Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric and Sonic Frontiers

-Sonic's favorite movie is Chao in Space (even though he hasn't seen it)

-Tails hacked Eggman's Twitter account (which eggman stole from Sonic) via a "lonley robots in your area" virus

-Tails is a My Hero Academia fan

-Tails is fucking ripped

-Tails is a pro among us gamer

-All their gloves stay clean because of a special polymer that Tails made

-Tails is an Acapella fan

-it took Shadow until the aftermath of Forces to find the damn 4th Chaos emerald

-Shadow only uses Android phones

-Shadow is a Breaking Bad fan

-Shadow has killed a real life person and plans to kill more

-The Dreamcast is Shadow's favorite Sega Console

-Shadow's a fan of classic rock

-Shadow is a fan of anime (specifically Kill La Kill)

-Shadow eats coffee beans raw with a spoon

-Shadow is good friends with Big and Knuckles (more-so than Sonic)

-Shadow hates Capitalism

-Shadow donates his rings to charity

-Shadow shops at a convenience store named "Maria" and feels like if he can support some Maria out there, then he feels like he's making the world a better place

-Shadow has a soft spot for kittens and wants to open a cat orphanage

-Shadow's favorite movie is Chao in Space 3 (which he features in)

-Shadow is a fan of Infinite's theme

-Shadow writes poetry

-Shadow and Maria ordered pizza on the ARK that came from Earth

-Doom's eye is still alive, him and Shadow occasionally go out for dinner

-Shadow is the living embodiment of drip

-Shadow very heterosexually hypes up Knuckles a lot

-Shadow specifically tried to keep Sonic away from him during the final boss of SA2 because he knew Sonic would've fell to Earth too if he tried to rescue him

-Despite all the issues Shadow has with Sonic's methods and morals, he doesn't hate him

-Shadow is a bad cook

-Shadow is (or will be) legally married to @/RealShadowFan01 on Twitter

EDIT: the wedding's off :(

-Shadow is panromatic/pansexual

-Shadow volunteers at soup kitchens

-The Shadow Dark Chao seen in promo art and the IDW comics does in fact belong to Shadow

-Shadow and Amy are both huge Taylor Swift fans

-Amy's favorite Sonic game is Sonic Heroes

-Amy is a Fruits Basket fan

-Amy still visits Little Planet and makes jewelry out of gems found in Quartz Quadrant

-Knuckles collects rocks that look like animals

-Knuckles is a Lizzo fan

-Knuckles, Cream, and Vanilla are big One Punch Man fans

-Chaos Control is activated by literally just holding the emerald and shouting "chaos control" that's it, anyone can do it.

-On the Planet Wisp, Hide and Seek is called "Don't be seen or perish" and whoever gets found is tossed into the volcano on Planet Wisp

-Yaker died once

-They physically can't take their gloves off

-The Sonic OVA is canon

-Mean Beans are living beings

-Grounder is canon

-Metal Sonic is a series of multiple robots and not just one that gets repaired each time (this probably isn't canon anymore)

-Infinite is still alive

-Infinite occasionally sends Eggman gay Sonadow porn

-Charmy runs a thrift store

-The stone tablet in Frontiers translates to sonic version of the Bee Movie script

-Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Shadow, all work in an unknown office somewhere

Things that exist in Sonic Universe (all of these could be red. You decide man idk):

-Twitter

-All forms of Sonic media (including games, comics, and TV shows) (they're retellings of Sonic's stories)

-Summer of Sonic

-Sonic Stadium

-Sega

-Undertale the game (and specifically Sans as a fictional character) and Toby Fox

-Game Grumps (specifically Jontron era)

-Tootsie pops (big day for tootsie pop Sonic fans)

-The Macarena

-Twitch

-Sonic songs (Escape from the City, Live and Learn, E.G.G.M.A.N., Believe in Myself, Infinite, and Vandelize are mentioned by name or referenced.)

-Cobanermani456

-Hulu

-Tyson Hesse

-Super Smash Bros (both as an event AND an in universe video game)

-SiivaGunner and GilvaSunner

-Hyper Potions

-Crush 40

-San Diego

-Apple

-Sega HARDlight

-Breaking Bad

-Sonadow porn

-Spike Chunsoft

-The Danganronpa Games (or at least V3)

-Etika

-North Hollywood

-Kill la Kill

-regular ass cats (not like Blaze, just normal real life cats) (also regular dogs)

-Alpharad

-Jacksepticeye

-Patreon

-Youtube

-Xbox

-Playstation

-Nintendo Switch

-The Completionist

-Gushers

-The "you know I had to do it to em" meme

-Tokyo Ghoul

-My Hero Academia

-Global Giving

-St. Jude

-Extra Life

-Hot Topic

-What does the Fox say

-Tee Lopes

-Tyler Smyth

-Sam's Procastionation Station

-Elsie Fisher

-Barry Kramer

-RubberNinja

-Sonamy fans

-Caddicarus

-Mario

-Among Us

-Colleen O'Shaughnessy

-Youtube

-Fadel Gamescage

-Lizzo

-Taylor Swift

-Elon Musk (implied)

[thatfragilecapricorn30]

Is 'Will They or Won't They' about David and Gillian?

I finally got around to reading Will They or Won't They by Ava Wilder, which is a novel about two Hollywood actors (Lilah and Shane) that star in a hit TV show in which their characters are a fan-favorite ship, but the actors famously hate each other. The author is annoyingly coy about who the book is about (if anyone) and in The X-Files fandom, fans have speculated that it's about David and Gillian. So what did I think? (mild spoilers below)

Yes, the book is definitely about Gillovny!

The show Lilah and Shane star in (Intangible) is filmed in Vancouver and is extremely popular. It's also a paranormal show: "Walt's main innovation had been to bring in every mythological creature under the sun, as well as open the show up to the world of larger supernatural conspiracies (government or otherwise)." (pg 34)

Lilah, like Gillian, has short, chin-length red hair.

Shane is described as "beautiful" with "long legs, long lashes, dark hair that fell over his forehead without reaching his eyes. Not just beautiful, but attractive, too." (pg 4)

Lilah and Shane meet before their audition, in a room with all the other candidates. They chat while waiting and then are both hired due to their intense chemistry with each other, which is pretty much how The X-Files audition went.

Both actors are unknowns when they are hired and the show propels them to mega-stardom: "He was the only person who understood what she was going through, because he was going through it, too: the surreal, thrilling, terrifying, one-in-a-million experience of going from nobody to capital-S Somebody practically overnight." (pg 80) This sounds a lot like how David and Gillian describe their relationship.

They famously do not get along on set, meanwhile their on-screen chemistry is ever-present and their characters' slow-burn romance is what hooks the fans: "No matter how the two of them felt about each other when the cameras were off, it was the chemistry between their characters, Kate and Harrison, that made the show worth watching." (pg 16)

The showrunner suggests that Lilah and Shane go to couples counseling, which Chris Carter recommended to David and Gillian.

Lilah and Shane participate in a photoshoot that sounds just like the Rolling Stone shoot, in which they are in bed in minimal clothing, while the photographer takes pictures from above.

Lilah and Shane's characters are known for gazing at each other: "...staring longingly at each other when they thought the other one wasn't looking." (pg 19)

No, it's probably about some other couple or no couple at all.

There's no height difference between the two. In fact, it's specifically stated that Lilah and Shane are almost the same height (and Lilah is taller if she wears heels).

Shane was not interested in being an actor, but was scouted and encouraged to audition for the role of Harrison. He had zero acting experience before the show.

The book opens with Lilah returning to Intangible after leaving the show for four seasons. Which I guess is similar to The X-Files but is a much larger gap than David's absence.

Most of the similarities between this book and The X-Files occur in the first half. Once past that point, the characters are pretty fleshed out and don't seem like they are necessarily based on anyone in particular.

Parting thoughts:

There are so many similarities between Lilah/Shane and David/Gillian and their experience on The X-Files that it almost feels like it has to be about them. I've seen speculation that it's about Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev on The Vampire Diaries, which is also a possibility.

Whether or not it was about David and Gillian, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it if you're into romance novels.

If you read this book, what do you think? What famous Hollywood couple was Ava Wilder basing her story on?

[locusfandomtime]

Fake logo designs of various districts/companies in Hermitcraft S8! Something about Hermitcraft brings out the graphic designer in me (*cough* it’s because I love worldbuilding and making tiny details in a world) anyway!

Design notes under cut! (Alongside some headcanons - it is quite long)

Horse Head Farms: this is the logo that started this idea basically. I got such a cool image of an eclipse with a repeated b+w horse head pattern and I really wanted to make it happen. M.C. Esher has done designs like these but as tiles, which I used as inspiration. I think I could have made it look a bit clearer but for my first time drawing something like this I’m pretty happy. The text is from one of the default Procreate fonts and kinda makes HHF look like a law firm (which is the vibe I was going for, soul-stealers and lawyers are often sorta linked in fiction, and supposedly xB and Hypno are their own legal team). xB and Hypno are the only employees other than the people they blackmail into doing stuff for them.

Big Eyes: I wanted a red eyeball as a reference to Tango’s amazing prank on Boatem and I imagine it’s a goofy little mascot for the company. Some big goofy text felt fitting alongside this. I wanted to make a Pass n Gas specific logo too but I wanted to focus on the main “districts” rather than specific shops. I feel like this is kind of obvious but in-universe Big Eyes are VERY unsuccessful and actively losing money.

Hohenzollern Castle: not really a company but Joe and Cleo are cool so I wanted to include them and I had a tiny bit of blank space left on the page so here we are. I actually really love how the sign looks, the wood texture came out nice. They don’t have a logo as much as they do a sign outside their area, created by Joe, with the text written by Joe’s dyes. The “Hohenzollern” is kinda squished because he began to run out of room but was too stubborn to split the word in half. Cleo argues that it isn’t a logo and is just a sign with the castle’s name on it. Joe argues back with a deconstruction of “what is a logo, really?” and something about companies and capitalism and Cleo doesn’t care enough to respond.

Octagon: I am a fool who initially thought it was spelt “Octogon” and had to fix it well after I finished. Oh well. I wanted this to have a very evil look about it. You can instantly tell they’re the evil tech company running experiments on the quantum realm or whatever in a Hollywood movie. Between the unsafe work conditions and the tax fraud, it is a miracle they haven’t been shut down (reason: the government is scared of Doc)

The Evil Empire: the “the” wouldn’t fit so I had to make some sacrifices. Evil Xisuma is dramatic and edgy so he wanted the logo to be in fancy black calligraphic medieval looking text. It fits the evil castle aesthetic the whole area has pretty well too. The Evil Empire is kinda like a Hot Topic store and a Renaissance Fair combined, but it is also involved with Crypto. Despite being so weird it has a perfect niche of marketing to edgy teenagers so it is quite successful. The employees hate it there because their work mandated uniform is to “dress like an evil minion”. Jevin is a slime monster, Wels cosplays a knight and Beef turned into an alien so they thankfully didn’t have to change.

Boatem (BTM): heavily inspired by Grian’s simplified logo he made in Minecraft, where he shortened it to BTM. Despite already having a reference to work off, this was the hardest design. I knew I wanted it to be simple, all-white and leaning back dramatically but I spent ages fiddling with it. Boatem is the most successful company, being perfect for the general public and their shopping district a tourist destination in of itself. It nearly went into bankruptcy when Mumbo was CEO but has been very successful since his Robot took over.

Zedaph Laboratories: my favourite design. Hand writing the text was a nightmare but it came together nicely other than that. Sheep symbol because sheep are his brand. I used the same colour palette as his laboratory. “Laboratory” is misspelled for two reasons: 1) I realised my mistake too late to change it, 2) I think it is completely in character for Zedaph to not know how to spell laboratory and only realise after Tango points it out and be forever haunted by his mistake. Don’t let the sleek corporate design fool you, Zedaph is still wild and is the only person in the “Zedaph Labratories”.

[thenwethrowitonthefire]

hello. hope you doing well (and if by any chance you don't take a ball🟡 :)

what is been in my mind recently was "the girl crying in her latte" but not the song, the title. does crying in latte have underneath meaning in english? (I couldn't find anything so I'm guessing not) so what could it mean? the best I came with was the sense of sadness that could be felt on daily life. or perhaps overwhelming days that can't be soothe by a simple act even. what do you think? I would like to know

Hey! I am doing well but can I have a ball anyway? 🌞 Yellow is my favourite colour for the album as well! How did you know! (It was initially released in different colours which is hella cool and collectible.) I will be using that phrase, "take a ball". I like it a lot :)

"Crying in your latte" to my knowledge isn't a phrasing that already existed (@ native English speakers: please correct me if something similar did already exist). It's such a strong phrase though, I really like it. I really needed time to try and word the concept of it properly though because it contains so much in one phrase. It's simple, but it says A LOT. So bear with me, this will get long.

"Crying in your latte" is a metaphor for a couple of things but what it speaks to the most, to me anyway, is what life is like under late stage capitalism. (They may or may not agree with that exact wording, so please note those are my words.) To be crying in one's latte you'd need 1) things to be crying about, 2) to be living in a place where you can order a latte, 3) have the means to afford the latte. So to me, that means the girl crying in her latte is a girl with the privileges of the Western world, but who is at the same time thoroughly depressed about the state of things. This is a girl who should have it good, right? She clearly has certain privileges and has the means to buy a latte after all. So why the tears? It could be a whole range of things, from shallow "meaningless" things like social media drama about celebrities to a breakup to hating her job that she is trapped in to climate change to the excessively poor state of the world.

I do have to bring the song into this though, because who knows what came first: it being the album title or a song. The song has seemingly simple lyrics, which to me speaks of the shallowness of social media, how people are pretending to one another online, and there being a lack of real connection with each other. (Something something loneliness "epidemic".) The observer in the song to me doesn't seem very judgemental about why the girl might be crying but simply observes that every time one girl crying in her latte leaves her spot, another one will take her place. Acknowledging what's clearly a widespread feeling of depression, grief and sadness permeating life at the moment; there are too many things to be crying about. ("So many people are crying in their latte".) The girl is crying in her latte might initially read as a boomer-like judgement on this girl, phrased in a way that might make someone laugh, but most of all it seems to be an acknowledgement of there being something deeply wrong with the way the world is right now.

The songs on the album really drive this home (I won't mention all of them but I will mention *almost* all of them): we've got a song about a Hollywood star giving up her career to win a war and to keep other women safe who were escaping reality through fantasy, a song about a baby who wishes they hadn't been born, a song about people kept apart by their opposing work schedules, a song about someone who no one knew had been deeply unhappy because she kept up appearances and now can't take it any longer, a song about external pressure on who one should be, a song about dictatorship, a song about escaping the blandness of daily life, and a song literally called "It Doesn't Have To Be That Way" near the close of the album. Plus a Japanese bonus track called "This Is Not The World I Signed Up For". (All of these messages wrapped up in songs that are often energetic, beautiful and humorous. They know how to acknowledge hard truths in ways that leave you grinning and hopeful. To me this album is a wish for a better world.) I know, you simply asked about the phrase and not the song/album, but the phrase does contain all of that.

One more thing that I also feel in the meaning of the phrase is also made visible on the album cover, where we can see them reading a newspaper. There's this distance and disconnect between the person crying in their latte and some of the things they might be crying over. There's a constant stream of news coming from the world. But she's sitting in a cafe, with her latte. Not all of it is happening to her directly, she's seemingly safe - but she's also affected by it. (Maybe she bought that latte in an attempt to make it all a bit more bearable.) The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte contains these contradictions of privilege and powerlessness, connectedness and disconnect. It's someone who seemingly should not have something to cry about. And yet...

[shesnake]

@1995lahaine tagged me to post 8 shows to get to know me 🤔 I'm only going to do shows that have ended which I think are worth revisiting. tagging @akajustmerry @anthonysperkins @summoneryuna @sonyarebecchi @toraks @a24thegreenknight @holly-mckenzie

Utopia (2013-2014) created by dennis kelly. beauty is terror we quiver before it etc etc oh this show is so violent and beautiful and so deeply human I explode every time I think about it. you know cristobal tapia de veer from the white lotus soundtrack but that is Nothing compared to the work he did on this.

Bojack Horseman (2014-2020). as someone who loves movies this show is truly the best meta fiction out there about Hollywood that isn't afraid to throw punches. hilarious and brutal. the animation format and animal absurdity allows them to tell real unrestrained narratives that I don't think live action could ever achieve. Raphael bob-waksberg will never get his foot off my neck

The Bisexual (2018) despite the title I genuinely think desiree akhavan made the greatest lesbian story of all time with this. short, sweet, and soul crushing precarious fleabag type miniseries. also she's sooooo hot oh my GOD

Mr. Robot (2015-2019) it's a shame people forgot about this show towards the end and stopped watching because it is truly theeee speculative epic of all time speaking to issues of capitalism and identity and rebellion. between this and the lazarus project it's like a spiritual sequel to Utopia in the way it explores how much of yourself you have to sacrifice to escape from All This. probably got my favourite needle drops of all time.

The Hour (2011-2012) can you believe the bbc cancelled a show about a bbc show trying to be cancelled? between this and the newsreader yeah I'm obsessed with dramas about people who don't get to tell the truth

Les Revenants (2012-2015) are you sure. are you sure you're not a ghost?

Cowboy Bebop (1998) of course.

Westworld (2016-2022) I hate this show so fucking much there's so many things wrong with it that get my blood boiling but it's also one of the greatest shows I've ever seen. the only thing that makes me feel human is the way I'm treated. I choose to see the beauty. motion picture soundtrack. ramin djawadi is everything to me.

these are my mains but I also highly recommend (other than the obvious succ/yj/iwtv/etc) :

WE ARE LADY PARTS

SORT OF

Mythic Quest

Black Sails

The Third Day

The Lazarus Project

The Newsreader

The Great

Glitch 2015

Better Call Saul

Rutherford Falls

Ghosts BBC

Luther

The Thick of It

Brave New World 2020

Moriarty the Patriot

Elementary

Miss Sherlock

Tuca & Bertie

Some Girls 2012

Misfits

Community

Mad Men

True Blood

Lost

[vaulttechie]

Just finished episodes 3 and 4 of Fallout on Prime.

Still into it! Still enjoying it for what it is but more things that play into the lore of the franchise are catching my attention as the story continues. Yes there will be spoilers ahead so don’t read further if you don’t wanna see the juicy secrets.

Yays:

I like seeing the different creatures coming into combat with the main party. Hoping a Mutie, Centaur or Deathclaw will appear soon.

I love that they’re keeping a storyline going with Vault 33. I feel like the deterioration of Vault 101 was one of the moments I really wanted to see in Fallout 3.

I like that Norm and Chet are developing in their own quest of finding out what happened in Vault 32.

Nays:

The wasteland surrounding Hollywood is not clicking with me. It is not inherently obvious where the characters are for me outside of seeing the huge pier on the beach in episode 1 or street signage of various famous locations in California. In the games they make plenty of references (Mojave Wasteland and it’s casinos/lights/billboards, Capital Wasteland with its monuments/architecture and scale, Commonwealth with its New England-centric vibes). As an East Coaster myself, nothing really stands out to me as, yes, this was Hollywood, this was showbiz, this was the playground of the rich and famous.

I have a love/hate relationship with the fact they imply everyone will turn into ghouls and every ghoul will turn into a feral ghoul. Yes it makes sense realistically after being exposed to radiation and consuming irradiated nourishment for decades that everyone could turn into a ghoul. I see that The Ghoul Cooper Howard has to take a drug (I’m assuming Jet?) to prevent himself from becoming feral - but this has never been implied in the games so this is quite an adjustment to everything I know so far, unless I’m forgetting an encounter somewhere.

Let me know what you think in the comments if you’d like!

[hopefulstarfire]

I've been refusing to go see the Flash movie, for obvious reasons-- that being Ezra Miller, who should have been recasted and thrown in prison for, you know, all the Crimes they have committed -- but also like. There's another pivotal thing that needs to be talked about in the discussions and trashing of this film.

Because yeah. It's absolutely fucking weird and disrespectful that they CGI'd in Adam West, Christopher Reeve and George Reeves. They are deceased, they cannot consent to being in this movie and also it seems like you're just. Using them for props to try and get people to come watch your shitty movie (and let's not forget Michael Keaton Batman was all over those damn trailers because you KNEW his legacy as Batman was a real cash cow and a distraction away from Ezra Miller).

Let's not forget this either; George Reeves did not even want to be Superman again. He was, at the time of his death, struggling financially and wanting to find other ventures, including hoping to direct. All of the options he had to keep going required him playing Superman, and, he being in his 40s, was not eager to reprise it. And given everything surrounding his death, whatever side of the coin you fall on as to what exactly happened, it feels extra icky on top of that.

Hell, given what old interview footage from Christopher Reeve has to say, he would have probably been against this too; he hated Hollywood's bad case of sequelitis and seeing the execs get the key figures back to pump it through a second, third, whatever movie for sales. Which is what this is;

It's a way to try and capitalize on the heroes and actors people loved so they'd still go see this movie. It's sad and sketchy as hell and is something that infuriates me with DC.

Instead of doing gross shit like this or continuing to enable horribly people by still giving them the spotlight -- and especially after swiftly punishing those who have spoken out about abuse on set of your movies, don't think I forgot about what y'all did to Ray Fisher -- DC needs to step up and do better in the movies they make and the world's and stories they craft within them.

Because if this is the only way you think you can get people in your seats, rather than not canceling perfectly good movies (BATGIRL), then y'all don't need to be doing these movies anymore.