#how was 2023 WORSE than 2020 2021 AND 2022????

[matchbet-allofthetime]

a fucking nightmare, glad it's almost over

its the last month of 2023 so i’m just gonna say it: what the absolute fuck was that

[unknought]

In 2007 the US Department of Housing and Urban Development started reporting homelessness rates:

As you can see in this chart (from Statista) there was a fairly steady decrease in the number of homeless people from then until 2016. It flattened out for a couple years in 2017 and 2018, and then rose in 2019 and 2020. No data was collected in 2021 (due to COVID) and the increase from 2020 to 2022 was negligible, so one might hope based on the data from this chart that the upward trend was flipping around, and that by now by now it might be on its way back down, but this does not appear to be the case.

For 2023 the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported a homelessness count of 653,104. This is a dramatic increase which blows previous annual changes out of the water. It's a 12.1% increase relative to 2022, an 18.7% increase relative to the low in 2016, and the highest absolute number of homeless people since data started being collected in 2007.

So this is one way, at least, in which standard economic metrics being up has not translated to people doing well.

An objection one can make here is that even this new high is only about 0.2% of the national population, and while things may have gotten worse for the people in the very worst of economic straits, this doesn't say much about what things are like for the rest of us.

I agree with this up to a point. (Probably not the implied argument about what we should care about but let's not get into that for now.) It's probably true that homelessness rates don't shed a lot of light on how the median American is doing. But I think they are relevant to the well-being of a lot more than 0.2% of the population.

Even though only a small proportion of Americans are homeless at any given time, there a lot more for whom the threat of homelessness looms very large in their financial considerations, not irrationally. More people who are homeless probably means more people who can just barely make rent as long as they skip a few meals, more people who stay with an abuser because they wouldn't have anywhere else to stay, more people who can't quit their job to find a better one because they couldn't afford to miss a month's rent, more people who can't move out of a mold-infested apartment, more people who are just struggling with anxiety about whether they're going to be able to make rent every month. It also almost certainly means more people couch-surfing and more people who were homeless for part of the year that happened not to include late January, neither of which would be counted in the official statistics.

How much of an impact does this end up meaning, on how many people? I'm pretty unsure, but here's a suggestive statistic from the Federal Reserve:

> Challenges paying rent increased in 2023. The median monthly rent payment was $1,100 in 2023, up 10 percent from 2022. In addition, 19 percent of renters reported being behind on their rent at some point in the past year, up 2 percentage points from 2022.

It seems at least very plausible to me that claims about how great the US economy is doing merit a substantial asterisk.

[queersatanic]

We fuckin' won, y'all

It hasn't fully sunk in yet, but we did just get some truly joyful news.

The Satanic Temple lost AGAIN, and ours is a full victory here

The King County Superior Court just granted our motion for summary judgment in full, dismissing all claims with prejudice and ruling on our declaratory judgment counterclaim we have the right to use "the Memes Page".

facebook.com/queersatanic

It has been 1635 DAYS since The Satanic Temple filed their case against us in federal district court. We got it dismissed there once in February 2021; we got it dismissed again in January 2023 after TST re-filed.

The Satanic Temple appealed the second loss to the Ninth Circuit and also re-filed part of the case in state court in April 2023 — notably after the three-year statute of limitations had run out.

The Ninth Circuit affirmed most of the lower federal court decision but allowed TST to revive their defamation claims if they could specify what exactly had been said about them that was false and defamatory.

Apparently unable to do so, The Satanic Temple voluntarily dismissed the federal case against us.

Meanwhile, in 2022, TST sued Newsweek for writing about our case back in October 2021. The Satanic Temple dragged us into those proceedings to give depositions, but Newsweek seems to be prevailing with just one claim remaining and a bunch of embarrassing stuff coming out about TST.

TST sued a woman in Texas for making TikTok videos critical of them, after first forcing her to record a pretty upsetting retraction. This is despite the fact that she was right.

TST has threatened more people than we can make a reliable count of with litigation both before and after us.

The Satanic Temple's agents have stalked and harassed us and our loved ones, and there have been long periods of misery and where it seemed like the courts would let them keep doing this sort of thing indefinitely.

But today we won.

The Satanic Temple has lost every step of the way and shown themselves to be a toxic, abusive religious organization to everyone who has bothered to pay attention — tho unfortunately, too few people have.

Thank you all for your support over these long 4+ years.

Based on their pattern of behavior, The Satanic Temple is likely to appeal this loss or perhaps invent a new pretext to continue this SLAPP in a new venue. We know that.

The Satanic Temple, its owners, and lawyers have had had no argument justifying the last 1635 days beyond their wealth and desire to hurt and intimidate people. But TST also should have much bigger issues to deal with than lighting money on fire by continuing to come after us.

So, maybe The Satanic Temple will finally walk away now. They're definitely more vulnerable now than they have been in a long time.

Please let people know what The Satanic Temple is and how they behave, and also that however scary they seem, if you stand up to them you can win.

When it comes to The Satanic Temple, there's always more, and it's always worse, but they are at least as incompetent as they are malicious. They are ghouls, to be sure, but not ones who can survive any light on their actions.

So Ave Satanas, and Hail Lucifer the Lightbringer

[i-like-to-look-at-your-back]

Yearly summary!

Here are the previous ones: 2022 / 2021 / 2020 / 2019 / 2018 / 2015

My thoughts under the cut ✂

Oh boy let me tell you. (TMI probably) It was a pretty good year until it totally wasn't. And I can't stress enough how much it wasn't good then. It all started with jumping head-first into WolfStar bc why not. And it was so nice, I still have like 5 other illustrations started. But then my doc prescribed me some hormones and it all went crashing down. I didn't expect it and I was so very not prepared. It started like a regular sad PMS that just didn't end. But then it got worse, every day I felt like I was stepping into depression at an alarmingly fast pace. When I reached the bottom it felt so much worse than what I've ever experienced and the only thing keeping me going day after day was the knowledge that those damn meds were to blame and if only I could go through the whole treatment I surely (HOPEFULLY) would go back to normal. Looking back at it now, I realize I could have contacted my doc and simply dropped the treatment bc it was totally not worth it (and it didn't work anyway so (^: ). But I didn't know my brain was capable of jumping so deep so fast. So I pushed through somehow, wasted 4 months of 2023 on barely surviving. With the hormones out of my system I managed toy prepare and finish whole Inktober. I still don't know how it happened. Where I found the energy to do that after my mid-year drama? But I'm very proud it somehow happened :) Also sometime during Fall I found out about and started "Artist's Way". It slowly changed my mindset and now I'm full of willpower and creative energy for 2024 (still have pretty much zero free time so ya know, I don't know when new works will drop)

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Private equity finally delivered Sarah Palin's death panels

Tonight (Apr 26), I’ll be in Burbank, signing Red Team Blues at Dark Delicacies at 6PM.

Remember “death panels”? Sarah Palin promised us that universal healthcare was a prelude to a Stalinist nightmare in which unaccountable bureaucrats decided who lived or died based on a cost-benefit analysis of what it would cost to keep you alive versus how much your life was worth.

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/26/death-panels/#what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-CMS

Palin was right that any kind of healthcare rationing runs the risk of this kind of calculus, where we weight spending $10,000 to extend a young, healthy person’s life by 40 years against $1,000 to extend an elderly, disabled person’s life by a mere two years.

It’s a ghastly, nightmarish prospect — as anyone who uses the private healthcare system knows very well. More than 27m Americans have no health insurance, and millions more have been tricked into buying scam “cost-sharing” systems run by evangelical grifters:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/02/health/christian-health-care-insurance.html

But for the millions of Americans with insurance, death panels are an everyday occurrence, or at least a lurking concern. Anyone who pays attention knows that insurers have entire departments designed to mass-reject legitimate claims and stall patients who demand that the insurer lives up to its claim:

https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/khn-podcast-an-arm-and-a-leg-how-to-shop-for-health-insurance-november-24-2021/

The private healthcare sector is designed to deny care. Its first duty is to its shareholders, not its patients, and every dollar spent on care is a dollar not available for dividends. The ideal insurance customer pays their premiums without complaint, and then pays cash for all their care on top of it.

All that was true even before private equity started buying up and merging whole swathes of the US healthcare system (or “healthcare” “system”). The PE playbook — slash wages, sell off physical plant, slash wages, reduce quality and raise prices — works in part because of its scale. These aren’t the usual economies of scale. Rather the PE strategy is to buy and merge all the similar businesses in a region, so customers, suppliers and workers have nowhere else to turn.

That’s bad enough when it’s aimed at funeral homes, pet groomers or any of the other sectors that have been bigfooted by PE:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/16/schumpeterian-terrorism/#deliberately-broken

But it’s especially grave when applied to hospitals:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/21/profitable-butchers/#looted

Or emergency room physicians:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/03/14/unhealthy-finances/#steins-law

And if you think that’s a capitalist hellscape nightmare, just imagine how PE deals with dying, elderly people. Yes, PE has transformed the hospice industry, and it’s even worse than you imagine.

Yesterday, the Center for Economic and Policy Research published “Preying on the Dying: Private Equity Gets Rich in Hospice Care,” written by some of the nation’s most valiant PE slayers: Eileen Appelbaum, Rosemary Batt and Emma Curchin:

https://cepr.net/report/preying-on-the-dying-private-equity-gets-rich-in-hospice-care/

Medicare pays private hospices $203-$1,462 per day to take care of dying old people — seniors that a doctor has certified to have less than six months left. That comes to $22.4b/year in public transfers to private hospices. If hospices that $1,462 day-rate, they have lots of duties, like providing eight hours’ worth of home care. But if the hospice is content to take the $203/day rate, they are not required to do anything. Literally. It’s just free money for whatever the operator feels like doing for a dying elderly person, including doing nothing at all.

As Appelbaum told Maureen Tkacik for her excellent writeup in The American Prospect: “Why anybody commits fraud is a mystery to me, because you can make so much money playing within the guidelines the way the payment scheme operates.”

https://prospect.org/health/2023-04-26-born-to-die-hospice-care/

In California, it’s very, very easy to set up a hospice. Pay $3,000, fill in some paperwork (or don’t — no one checks it, ever), and you’re ready to start caring for beloved parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers, aunts and uncles as they depart this world. You do get a site inspection, but don’t worry — you aren’t required to bring your site up to code until after you’re licensed, and again, they never check — not even if there are multiple complaints. After all, no one at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has the job of tracking complaints.

This is absolute catnip for private equity — free government money, no obligations, no enforcement, and the people you harm are literally dying and can’t complain. What’s not to like? No wonder PE companies have spent billions “rolling up” hospices across the country. There are 591 hospices in Van Nuys, CA alone — but at least 30 of them share a single medical director:

https://auditor.ca.gov/reports/2021-123/index.html#pg34A

Medicare caps per-patient dispersals at $32,000, which presents an interesting commercial question for remorseless, paperclip-maximizing, grandparent-devouring private equity ghouls: do you take in sick patients (who cost more, but die sooner) or healthy patients (cost less, potentially live longer)?

In Van Nuys, the strategy is to bring in healthy patients and do nothing. 51% of Van Nuys hospice patients are “live discharged” — that is, they don’t die. This figure — triple the national average — is “a reliable sign of fraud.”

There are so many hospice scams and most of them are so stupid that it takes a monumental failure of oversight not to catch and prevent them. Here’s a goodun: hospices bribe doctors to “admit” patients to a hospice without their knowledge. The hospice bills for the patient, but otherwise has no contact with them. This can go on for a long time, until the patient tries to visit the doctor and discovers that their Medicare has been canceled (you lose your Medicare once you go into hospice).

Another scam: offer patients the loosest narcotics policy in town, promising all the opioids they want. Then, once their benefits expire, let them die of an overdose (don’t worry, people who die in hospice don’t get autopsies):

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/12/05/how-hospice-became-a-for-profit-hustle

You can hire con artists to serve as your sales-force, and have them talk vulnerable, elderly people into enrolling in hospice care by convincing them they have nothing to live for and should just die already and not burden their loved ones any longer.

Hospitals and hospices also collude: hospitals can revive dying patients, ignoring their Do Not Resuscitate orders, so they can be transfered to a hospice and die there, saving the hospital from adding another dead patient to their stats.CMS’s solution is perverse: they’re working with Humana to expand Medicare Advantage (a scam that convinces patients to give up Medicare and enrol in a private insurance program, whose private-sector death panel rejects 13% of claims that Medicare would have paid for). The program will pay private companies $32,000 for every patient who agrees to cease care and die. As our friends on the right like to say, “incentives matter.”

Appelbaum and co have a better idea:

Do more enforcement: increase inspections and audits.

Block mergers and rollups of hospices that make them too big to fail and too big to jail.

Close existing loopholes.

They should know. Appelbaum and her co-authors write the best, most incisive analysis of private equity around. For more of their work, check out their proposal for ending pension-plan ripoffs by Wall Street firms:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/05/mego/#A09948

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Burbank, Mountain View, Berkeley, San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, DC, Gaithersburg, Oxford, Hay, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

[Image ID: An industrial meat grinder, fed by a conveyor belt. A dead, elderly man is traveling up the conveyor, headed for the grinder's intake. The grinder is labelled 'HOSPICE' in drippy Hallowe'en lettering. It sits in a spreading pool of blood.]

Image: Seydelmann (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GW300_1.jpghttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GW300_1.jpg

CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

[starrysharks]

ive sent like 20 asks to you atp but i really love ur art soooo so so so much like ur like my biggest inspiration fr like seriously i could blab all day abt how much i love your art and your arts almost singlehandedly motivated me to start working on shape language more bc i think thats like the key part of your art (to me at least) and youre like the true embodiment of "same face syndrome fears me" but like fr because all your ocs are so distinct and unique

do you have any tips on creating unique silhouettes / just general character design tips?? also id love to hear abt how your use of shapes and shape language evolved over time if ur fine sharing that!!

ok this is literally the sweetest ask ever like first off thank you so much ;_; i'm glad i was able 2 inspire you!!!

for me if you look at my old art there's little to no focus on shape language cuz i wanted to express a 'pointy' animeish style. examples are from 2020, 2021 respectively

as you can see i did NOT flip my canvas and my art was samey as hell,,, but in 2021 i started going for softer colors and shapes rather than points and spikes and brighter shapes. but, if you were to look through all of my art from either era, you'd see it's identical cuz i didn't care for shape language. this went on for quite a while :,)

then i discovered worlds end club in late 2021 and everything changed !!! i watched playthroughs cuz i didn't have a means to play at the time, and decided on making my artstyle a blend of cartoony and animeish - which ended up in choosing more expensive silhouettes and faces in turn

honestly i'm too tired to actually chronicle my artstyle change so i'll just skip to late 2022 in this timeline, sorry 😭

so by now has my artstyle evolved into aomwthing super cool n expressive ? no actually i think my art got worse in late 2022

as you can see, my colors got super washed out and i didn't really take risks, i guess? but i was finally starting to come into my own in terms of artstyle and was finally acknowledging shape language a little bit.

very early 2023 is the same, so let's skip to the one thing that changed my artstyle - the big 8 lineups

suddenly everybody was like 'wow your shapes are so good!!!' this was because i had tried to challenge myself with character design in these drawings. so i tried to emphasise interesting shapes more - using a technique where i'd just take an interesting shape or line that corresponded with a character's personality and repeating it as much as i could across the design.

like this deep cut art, where i tried to 'dial up'their already exaggerated shapes and design aspects (such as making frye's pants sag more or changing up shiv's hair. big man is perfect and needs no changes)

but this journey is still not over because a few months ago i rewatched all of panty and stocking and watched clone high for the first time, and both of these shows emphasise shapes a LOT in their designs, and i picked those up. here's art from a few months ago - in short, i tried to find the 'focal point' of the design, something that set it apart from other designs with similar body types or clothing, and built around that, if it makes sense? here's some art that i think expresses that well

comparing the new quintet art to the old one, i think you can also see that i started to try and use different body shapes and shapes in general (such as clyde having a more triangular build ig) . and tumblr doesn't let me add more pictures so this is where the overview ends !

my advice is - watch and rewatch anything that might inspire you, because it has the ability to push you in the right direction. for technical tips, id say -

draw different body types and age ranges (often times same face syndrome is born from only drawing the same age range, usually 15-20 for most sufferers)

play around with style - do you want a more western inspired style or something more akin to modern anime ? maybe something entirely different! try drawing in different styles that you like and see which ones stick

research fashion if only a little bit - it can help understand visually pleasing silhouettes (such as the famous big jacket or big pants silhouettes)

speaking of big jacket or big pants, contrast is key !!! top or bottom heavy designs are an easy way to express personality and an expressive silhouette ig

ummm thaz it ithink. once again thank you for your kind words and remember to take advice from multiple artists im just one guy!! i hope anything in here helped or was at least interesting to read

[aleisters]

Would it be alright to get some recommendations on how to get into wrestling? I'm intrigued by your posting but I also have no idea where to start do I just search "most homoerotic wrestling" and go from there?

i will do my best to provide a baby starter guide … this is kind of how i got into things, but streamlined so that you dear reader can figure out what you want out of life, instead of fucking around consistently like i did

“isn’t wrestling silly and fake?”

yes. however, the unreality of wrestling and the blend between what’s real, what’s staged, and the genuine athleticism of the wrestlers makes for incredible long-term, partly improvised narratives that can happen nowhere else. you’re not watching a sports show — you’re watching a mix of theatre and gymnastics.

“is wrestling for me?”

suggestion: watch supereyepatchwolf’s video , “professional wrestling is stupid and beautiful and i love it”. it’s meant to convey the wonder and fun and joy of this silly silly thing to people who are not into wrestling or don’t understand it. if you’re still curious about wrestling when you’re done, it’s time to start watching for real.

“ok, i’m still curious. now what?”

fuck it, we ball. the beauty of wrestling is that whilst there are long term narratives, all the individual matches need to convey is the struggle of that moment. whether it’s a long term feud coming to a head, friends who have to compete or have turned on each other, someone struggling to the top of a championship mountain, or a challenger coming in to try and dethrone a champion - all that matters will be conveyed to you by the tone of the match and the commentators. so you can just pick up anywhere and dive right in. but across dozens of promotions, where do you start?

well, for you i’ll do what i did, which is pick on all elite wrestling (aew). they’re not better or worse than anyone else, but bluntly for me i think a lot of the wrestlers there are cute and they’re easy for me to find. here are a few matches off the top of my head, not in any particular order. i list their names and then what show you can find the match on. most of these can be found on the internet archive, if not all.

MJF vs CM PUNK (Revolution 2022) — dog collar match. they’re collared and chained to each other. mjf hits cm punk over the back with the chain and it leaves very real, visible marks. extremely sexy if you’re into that sort of thing.

DARBY ALLIN vs JON MOXLEY (Dynamite 08/05/2020) — i’ll be real this one awakened something in me it’s just very. um. it’s just very. umm. uhhh. 😓

DARBY ALLIN & STING vs TEAM TAZ (Revolution 2021) — this is fun because it’s filmed in a warehouse location and more cinematically. it’s goofy, but has some intense stunts too. i love this match. bonus points because sting literally picks darby up and throws him.

BRYAN DANIELSON vs KAZUCHIKA OKADA (Forbidden Door 2023) — so fair warning, bryan breaks his arm for real in this match. you can’t really tell except for how he stops using his right arm for the last 10-15 mins of the match, but i love this match. bryan and okada are just both great and very intense. (btw okada broke bryan’s orbital socket last month, please help)

MJF vs KENNY OMEGA (Collision 28/10/2023) i wanted a kenny match on this list and this one is recent but great, in part because of the respect the two men show each other, rather than being an outright feud. my heart grows three sizes whenever matches end in a cuddle.

i also recommend AEW ALL IN 2023, which was a ppv at wembley and literally every match is incredible and a banger. fucking rules.

“i watched those and they sucked!”

i dunno man try wwe or npjw or gcw idk or maybe you just don’t like wrestling

“i watched those and they RULED!”

congrats! now look into aew’s weekly shows or their numerous PPV shows, and start looking at shows from other promotions like wwe, njpw, and gcw! search the names of wrestlers you enjoyed to find more matches that they’re in! be free, and let the half naked sweaty men consume your brain 💜

i hope this helped 🥹

[foxes-that-run]

2017 Haylor Timeline

Timeline Tag, or years 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

3 January - Taylor "based in London" (end of Cornelia St period)

5 January - date of Harry’s leak “lately” recorded. Anniversary of clear blue water/rain on window posts which may be their last break up anniversary. He was pictured in London

8 January - Taylor and Zayn film I don't wanna live forever music video in London

13 January - Taylor was in LA papped at the the gym in LA. The scenario she told secret session fans she wrote  DWOHT

21 January - Harry goes to LA

22 January Joe in Paris

28 January - Harry in LA

1 February - Harry's Rose Ring maybe at his birthday in Malibu 1 February 2017. Taylor posts a video of her and Gigi singing along to "I Don't wanna live forever" for the first time on the radio, which ‘happens’ to be on Harry's birthday.

4 February - Taylors only performance of 2017 in Houston. Super Saturday Night, rep coded.

14 February - Tom Hiddleston GQ article where he sounds traumatised, it is bad press for Taylor and later indirectly referred to in the Joe dating announcement.

7 - 19 February - Fans spot Taylor in London, once in a brown wig

24 February - Little Big Town perform, say Taylor is on London

March - Stalker arrested for breaking into Taylors NY apartment

5 March - Rose Ring seen clearly at Studio in London.

7 March - Ed Sheeran seen at Taylors NYC Apartment, he said they would collab again and March 2 said she was working on new music. (End Game)

8 March - Harry at Cottons Rhum Shack London

15 March - Harry arriving NYC with head down

23 March - E New story: "Where in the World is Taylor Swift?" that she had not posted candids since Thanksgiving.

Late March. Behind Album performances likely recorded at Abbey Road, they appear in the documentary in May and Harry was holding Ben’s daughter who looks about 3-4 months. Harry’s hair is also shorter than it was 5 March, a similar cut April 21.

4 April- Taylor recording Rep in Nashville 'to avoid paparazzi'‘. Joe in London. Harry shot Sign of the Times in Scotland. Mirror headline "Harry Styles goes all Peter Pan in his gloriously magical new video for Sign Of The Times"

7 April - Sign of the Times released

10, 16 April - Harry in NYC

18 April - Harry’s rolling stone interview where he leaves the table over her name and tips his hat and ex because it’s all for them. Harry possibly shades Matty Healy:

There’s nothing worse than an inauthentic tortured person. ‘They took my allowance away, so I did heroin.’ It’s like – that’s not how it works. I don’t even remember what the question was.”

21 April - Harry on Graham Norton, performs sign of the times and writes Spanish girl that later leaks backstage.

26 April - Harry in Paris for nrj

29 April - Harry is papped wearing the same St Laurent shirt Calvin copied for the Ole music video, on the date Taylor later identified in High Infidelity.

1 May - Taylor filmed LWYMMD Video, Harry London 2 & 7

6 May - harry driving in London using phone behind wheel wearing packers hat with Tess ward

7 May - Tess ward wore a shirt Harry wore in an interview

8 May - Harry in Williamsburg

9 May - Harry today show with the pink suit when he performs Stockholm. Xander and Jeff there. left NY

11 May Tess ward posts a photo of Harry’s kitchen with his cap in and is never seen again

12 May - Harry styles debut released, behind the album released just after. Cute Nick Grimshaw interview with 2 ghosts question

15 May - Harry behind the album released, includes parts of performances. Taylor paped in Nashville and flys to London in Charter (not her plane)

16 May - The Sun reports a source that Joe and Taylor dating 'for several months.' "after what happened with Tom Hiddleston", reminding me of the Tom GQ article from February. Having not been seen at all with Taylor previously Joe will now be seen 20 times for the rest of the year. The way this changed from completely unknown to very public (but saying it wasn't??) is .... sure they were totally together before this. Harry went on Carpool Karaoke wearing Haylor ring

18 May - TMZ pap photos of Taylor in Nashville

19 May - Harry at troubadour ONO. James, Jeff and Xander there carpool karaoke, Harry sang IKYWT in broadcast not you tube. Stevie Nicks comes, Harry emotional on stage in Landslide with Stevie Nicks. The music business people there were impressive, including the then head of the recording academy and Grammy voting member Savan Kotecha, who wrote WMYB, had fell out with 1D and some members but remained close with Harry.

20 May - Harry lists LA house, reported on the 22nd, sold in 2019.

1 June - Joe and Taylor papped together

5 June - Joe mention in blinds and seen having coffee. Harry rumoured in Hawaii with Jeff at wedding.

9 June - Taylor returns her music to Apple Music on the same day Katy Perry releases Witness.

11 June - Joe and Taylor and her plane

18 June - Joe and taylor spend fathers day in London with his dad

15 June - Harry follows Camille on IG, fans abuse her.

17 June - Harry attends Pixie Geldof's wedding in Mallorca, Louis rumoured to be there but no photos of Louis. Daisy Lowe is a bridesmaid.

20 June - HS stepdad passed away :( H Tess BUA

21 June - Mirror: "Taylor Swift "hosted Father's day for boyfriend Joe Alwyn and his parents - who served up a classic Sunday roast"" also referring to Joe as a 'new boyfriend'

24 June - Joe and Taylor at gym together

July - Harry NY in bar with Xander

4 July - Karlie Kloss posts a photo with Kendall in Paris, the internet realises KK is not in the squad. Taylors inflatable slide seen being inflated - but no 4th July party for Taylor. Blind item that Taylor skipped the party because Joe would not do a photo shoot.

13 July - Taylors last post before her socials wiped was to promote Selena's album. Reputation promo planning underway, Joe was announced a month before.

14 July - End Game written. Kendall came to Harry's show.

21 July - Harry and Camille seen together, Nick mentions her and she is in the background of a fan photo.

19 July - Dunkirk released

24 July - Joe and Taylor walking NYC

27 July - Joe and Taylor with umbrellas this time

29 July - Harry in NY

7 August - two ghosts release date

14 August - Taylors sexual assault trail v David Mueller, from his hand allegedly under her skirt in 2013 is settled and Taylor wins damages of $1.

27 August - LAWYMMD video, Karlie not on junior jewels shirt, Kendall tea time reenactment, Katy car crash and she eats a lobster in a cage.

28 August - Taylor deletes instagram

31 August HS releases two ghosts recording from Behind the album performances

3 September - Taylor at Abigail's wedding Martha's vineyard. Ready for it...? released after Saturday football preview.

7 September - Joe and Taylor NYC

9 September - Joe and Taylor in NY at Cornelia St

Sept 2017 – 14 July 2018 - Harry Styles Live on Tour

19 September - Harry points at himself on ‘I’m a fool for you’ in JALBOYH

25 September - Watermelon Sugar written

20 September - Harry LA, Greek Theater, wears same custom Gucci suit as Kiwi Music Video, with roses. Shania Twain comes and posts a photo of them together. Plays 'Still the One' on Kazoo in Grammy Museum interview. Taylor at Cara's London for month

27 September - Harry released Two Ghosts and Girl Crush as a Spotify Single recorded in Metropolis London, and photos of him recording it. Two days before he performed it in Nashville

28 September - Harry wears red in the Radio City music hall, NY plays Story of My Life in full and has an aborted heart kiss.

29 September - Taylor releases Spotify playlist of 70 songs. Anniversary of Harry’s “we don’t need no piece of paper tweet” and Harry’s another man mixtape. Song 7 is Boys, 20 is Liam Gallagher "for what's worth", followed by "miss you". 27 is We don't deserve love, Niall Horan is at 37 "Too much to ask", it also features Ariana Grande, Kesha, Kings of Leon, Bon Iver, 57 is Perfect by Ed Sheeran, the same name as the 1D song. It ends with #70 'She's casual' about a guy falling in love with a fling.

11 October - Taylor in London with Joe's family

14 October - Phoenix - Harry cries during Meet me in the Hallway (1:39). After “I walked the streets all day” before “running with the thieves”. This was Harry's last US show

16 October - Taylor films End Game music video in London

4 October - Rob Sheiffled on Swiftcast Podcast

Well, I mean, it's funny because that's a special case because her Harry Styles songs are really good and his songs about her are really good, and it's really kind of weird that, like, you know, the songs they write about each other are so consistently good, I can't think of any analogic pop history to it, where these two artists of that stature are going back to, like, who knows even, like, you know, how long they dated or anything like that, or, like, and of course all these songs are just, you know, allegedly about the other one, but when I was listening to the Harry Styles album for the first time and I heard him sing about, you know, like, you know, why can't we just be us in the refrigerator light? And I was like, oh my god, you went there. You went to the refrigerator light. I mean, really kind of, you know, mind- blowing. Even when I was listening to the last One Direction album, and that was another one where I was, you know, listening to it in the record company offices and had to keep a real straight face because you don't want to show any reaction. I get to Olivia and I'm like, seriously? Harry wrote a song named after her cat? Did they not think people would notice this kind of thing? But it's kind of a beautiful thing. It's that kind of inspiration that they bring out of each other.

October - Liam said he saw Harry at the Bowery Hotel “I bumped into him in The Bowery Hotel. He’s been through a rough time recently. God bless him, he was really happy to see me. The funniest thing was we didn’t really talk business. Dunkirk was out and all this was happening, and we just gave each other a big hug.”

20 October - Taylor reportedly likes a post "I’m here to drop some tea listen up and listen good!! Any love song Taylor writes now is about Joe and only Joe. She is so happy and this is about them. And only them. This is confirmed. It's a rule. Joe love songs from here on out, this goes for all of Reputation. No speculating if it is about Taylor’s ex from a million years ago because I promise you it’s not. Joe and Taylor. Happy. The tea has been served."

25 October - Harry performs in Paris, he cries on 'even my phone misses your call' twice in FTDT (1:53 and again 3:30). Taylor was in Nashville for Rep Secret Sessions.

2 November - Call it what you want - Taylor posts home movies that are in the CIWYW lyric video.

8 November - kiwi video released with Taylor looking kid

11 November - Taylor in NYC

10 November - Reputation released end game radio single on 14th

13 November - blind item that This Is What You Came For was about Harry

17 November - the HS behind the album performances released, first seen in BTA

28 November - Harry performs VS Show, Taylor cancels. New Years Day released as a single 27 November.

29 November - Derek Blasberg (fashion journalist reportedly the person KK had in TS apartment that ended friendship) posts a photo of KK sipping tea and asks for captions then comments "I knew brew were trouble when I met you"

4 December - Harry Haneda Airport

8 December - Joe and Taylor papped holding hands NYC

10 December - Taylor performs then watches Ed's show with Joe at Jingle Bell Ball London

12 December - Taylor and Joe in NYC

13 December - Reputation Stadium Tour tickets go on sale

31 December - Joe and Taylor NYE (Toe Twitter timeline)

Continue in 2018

[chaifootsteps]

Metallica Anon here responding to Taxidermy Anon's roll call. I'm going to be a little more extensive with my post so grab a snack and a drink. I'm a 31 male and I'm 10 months older than Viv. My story began around November of 2019 when I was (and still am) a member of a forum related to a show that I used to love but completely lose interest in. (If you're wondering what show? Let's just say Blitzø would love it. 😉) Then I noticed a few members had this particular character as their avatars. That character turned out to be Angel Dust of Hazbin Hotel. My curiousity grew and I eventually watched the pilot. I was completely enamored with it. I loved the animation, the characters, the voice acting, etc. Not long after, I began watching Helluva Boss and soon became enamored with show as well. For nearly four years, I was quite emotionally attached to Viv's shows, almost at the level of the cartoons I loved from my childhood. For a while, I thought Hazbin and Helluva could be some of the greatest cartoons in history. Unfortunately, as Phil Collins once sang, something happened to on the way to Heaven.

Actually, three things happened. I'll explain each one.

The Long Wait for Hazbin Hotel: I don't know how or why I managed to hold on for so long, but I did. I've endured HH's signing to A24 in 2020, the voice actor replacement debacle in 2021, and the character "redesigns" in 2022. I remember in November of '22, I had two things to be excited for in '23: the new Metallica album in April and Hazbin in the summer. (At least one of the things happened.)

To occupy my mind, I binge watched a cartoons until Hazbin would air, which I assumed would be as early as June. When June came, a lot of us were expecting at least a trailer. What did we get?  A cheap Angel Dust picture! I think this is when my hype for HH began to deflate. Then in July, Viv announced HH would be delayed due to the WGA/SAG strikes. At first, I thought the reasons were understandable, but then found out A24 can promote their stuff during the strikes. This made me feel suspicious on what’s going on. Once summer ended, I officially gave up on Hazbin Hotel… then the trailer came out with a release date, which is JANUARY 2024!

Did the trailer reignite my interest? HAH! No! I’m wasting any more time waiting for this shit! But that’s not the only reason…

The Decline of Helluva Boss: Up until this year, I loved Helluva Boss. I enjoyed the shenanigans of Blitzø, Moxxie, Millie, and Loona. I would always find some enjoyment in every episode, even the bad episodes like “CHERUB” and “The Circus.” However, Helluva had long waits between episodes ranging from two to six months. Yet somehow, I endured because at least new episodes were coming out.

Then came the episode “Exes and Oohs.” I hesitated to watch it at first as some previews and clips I saw turned me off. Then I finally watched the full episode… and I absolutely hated it! Unlike the previous bad episodes of HB, I did not find ANY enjoyment in this episode. Then came the episode “Western Energy “and the same happened again. Hesitated to watch at first, finally watched it and absolutely hated it. I began to question myself on why I am I still watching this. Finally came the episode “Unhappy Campers,” and that episode was the final straw for me. That episode made me so angry that I wanted to smash my head into my laptop. Three strikes, you’re out!

Ever since that damn episode, I swore off Helluva Boss. I have not watched a new episode or even rewatched an old episode. It also got me thinking if HB’s writing is this bad, I believe HH’s writing will be just bad or worse. Now let’s get to the source of the shit…

Viv’s True Colors: For a long time, I did not know very much about Vivienne Medrano, her history, or who see really is. I simply viewed her as a regular person who somehow found success in independent animation…

Then came spring 2023 when I learned of the ErinFrost and KenDraws allegations against her by Ayy Lmao’s YouTube videos. Those allegations really got me thinking and my views of Viv began to change. Later in the summer, I began using my abandoned Tumblr account and I stumbled upon the Viv Critical community… and learned everything awful about Viv. Not only is Viv awful, so is her fanbase. I can honestly say that the VivziePop fanbase is probably the most toxic I have ever been in… and this is coming from someone who was apart of another infamous fanbase back in the 2010s. I mean, I have never seen a creator that encourages their fans to attack and send deaths to anyone who has even the slightest bit of criticism.

*sigh* This post has gotten too long so I’m gonna wrap it up. Fuck Viv, she’s a leper messiah. 🖕

-Metallica Anon 🤘

That was a great story, Metallica Anon. Sucks that it had to happen, but if it had to, glad you found your way here!

[ikjun]

AL'S DRAMA RECS VOL.1: these recs will solely focus on the writing of the shows, which to me comes down to two things: how well does the plot accomplish what it set out to do in the beginning? and how compelling are the characters written, no matter if their character arc means they become better or worse through the story or even remain who they are? my favourite dramas usually succeed in giving us a satisfying answer to both questions and these are the ones you will see on this list!

★★★★★ dramas (aka the greatest hits):

SECRET FOREST / STRANGER (2017-2021): the pinnacle of all dramas. follows the duo of no-nonsense prosecutor hwang si-mok (the acting star turn of he century by cho seung-woo) and police detective han yeo-jin (the ever-exceptional bae doo-na) investigating a murder case that blows open several scandals in the prosecution. season 2 follows several cases leading to an internal investigation on police bribery. it just does not get better than this and i fear it won't ever will. this drama has the understated styling of nordic noir, the classic shenanigans of an unlikely leading kdrama duo, and one of the tightest scripts ever seen in any tv show ever. | genre: thriller, melodrama, crime procedural

MY LIBERATION NOTES (2022): following the yeom family's three siblings living in the small town of sanpo on the outskirts of seoul, and the stranger moving into the house next door to theirs, this story navigates questions of sibling-hood and family, the purpose of life, as well as the sacrifices we make for the relationships in our life as well as our own happiness. this show earned its hype from the central love story between mr. gu and yeom mi-jeong (son seok-ku and kim ji-won acting the house down) but every one of the three main storylines is well-paced, gives the main actors moments to shine and grow, and ties neatly into the overarching plot to render you either moved or comforted, or even both. | genre: slice of life, melodrama

VINCENZO (2020): at this point are there still followers on this blog who haven't at least seen me talk about vincenzo? the writing of this show is maybe the peak of genre-blending done in kdrama, a culmination of years refining this skill to sharp perfection in a biting black comedy. vincenzo cassano (song joong-ki), consiglieri of a mafia clan he got adopted into, goes back to south korea to recover a frankly unholy amount of gold and fights a gigantic conglomerate (babel) to get there. if you watch past episode four, you will finish this drama, because everything ensuing from then on is just one iconic story beat after another. | genre: black comedy / satire, crime, romance

HOSPITAL PLAYLIST (2020-2022): a medical drama beyond reproach. this show is on this list for the way it wrote its characters and achieved the most satisfying character arcs in any kdrama, maybe, ever. a group of five friends in their fourties all working at the same hospital and navigating their professional and private lives, this drama doesn't shy away from eclectic backstories (and the leads all playing music together in a band) as well as truly heart-tearing moments of friendship and romance. never have i seen character growth done as well as i have seen it in the characters of yang seok-hyeong and kim-jun-wan. | genre: medical, slice of life, rom-com

D.P. / DESERTER PURSUIT (2021-2023): d.p. to me is a no-notes kind of show. it depicts the work of the military police pursuing army deserters through freshly enlisted ahn jun-ho (jung hae-in playing years below his age and leagues above many his actual age) who ends up empathizing and working to help and save the deserters he and his team partner han ho-yeol (an exceptional koo kyo-hwan) are meant to bring back to the army instead of incriminating them further. d.p. is much better for its tone, its writing and the risks it takes in its no-nonsense approach than some of the drivel revered solely for being more flashy and showy in this genre. | genre: military drama, action

★★★★☆ dramas (aka near-perfection):

PRISON PLAYBOOK (2017): the perfect prototype of the bromance as romance formula and one of the best found family dramas that really focuses on that. star baseball player kim je-hyuk (park hae-soo in his career-defining role) loses his career and lands in prison after he assaults the ex-boyfriend of his younger sister to protect her. the show centers on je-hyuk's time in prison, where he reunites with his childhood best-friend-now-prison-guard lee jun-ho (a supreme jung kyung-ho) and assimilates himself with the people he meets in his cell. this show hits all the beats so well from a stellar supporting cast to a great comeback kid narrative for je-hyuk from his time in prison to being released. glaring flaw: the age-gap / childhood friends romance, the conclusion of hanyang's story arc, who gets the short end of the stick while being the one out gay character in the show. | genre: black comedy, found family, slice of life

GOBLIN: THE LONELY AND GREAT GOD (2017): the defining kdrama for many. it may be the one drama that really delivers in answering its plot's defining question twice over and then some. goblin kim shin (gong yoo), cursed to immortality, gets his life upended once a grim reaper (lee dong-wook as wang yeo, a performance never to be seen or repeated again since) and the young woman (kim go-eun as ji eun-tak) who turns out to be his fated bride enter his life. an immortal man resigned on life finds purpose while knowing he will fatally die once the woman he falls in love with cures him of his curse. glaring flaw: the age gap romance between eun-tak and kim shin. could she have not been in college at least? | genre: melodrama, romance, fantasy

CRASH LANDING ON YOU (2019): the romance drama that could, and did. based on a real life incident, ceo yoon se-ri (son ye-jin, an acting veteran near beyond reproach imo) accidentally crash lands in north korea after a paragliding flight gone wrong. there she meets active duty soldier captain ri jeong-hyeok (hyun bin, thank you for your service) and has to stay with him and his military company. the fated love story starts there, but neither of them know they have met before, and already changed the courses of each other's lives before doing so again. minor flaw: is this drama romanticising the military? or is depicting of that on screen just that and nothing more? that is up to you to decide. | genre: melodrama, romance

HOMETOWN CHA CHA CHA (2021): the series remake of a korean rom-com film of the early aughts, this remains my favourite romance drama over all. dentist yoon hye-jin (shin min-a blessing our screens) moves to rural gongjin, a seaside village where nothing happens at all, after her professional life in seoul goes up in flames. it's not all sunshine in gongjin either as ye-jin meets hong du-sik (kim seon-ho),a handyman who is called chief hong by everyone and fixes all the big and small fires in the village. the two start as enemies that eventually fall in love. the romance is well-handled and paced and the second lead (lee sang-yi) is the best i have ever seen in a show, especially because of the arc written for him. minor flaw: the plot is not as tight as the respective character arcs, so sometimes sacrifices are made for the sake of a more emotional scenes. | genre: rom-com, slice of life

THE GLORY (2022): when you put the revenge in revenge drama, this is what you can get. song hye-ko returns to small screen brilliance in an incomparable performance as moon dong-eun, a woman who decides to infiltrate the lives of her school bullies and take them down one by one. this show delivers on plot even more than on characters, following through on every step of moon dong-eun's revenge without shying away from how gruesome or painful that path of vengeance can be. dong-eun gets help from plastic surgeon joo yeo-jeong (a delightful lee do-hyun), and the main cast is rounded out by lim ji-yeon and jung sung-il as dong-eun's grown up tormentor and her reluctant husband respectively. minor flaw: the show does spend a big chunk of its time on the group of school bullies and their interpersonal relations, which sometimes takes time away from the main plot. | genre: psychological thriller, revenge drama

♡ more specific genre watches (beware: usually crime):

LIFE (2018): written by the writers of secret forest, life is another thriller with understated direction and a more sombre tone. i would have put it in the greatest hits category, but watching it with other people made me realise how niche it actually is in genre. a corporate hospital thriller, the show revolves around the newly-minted ceo of sangkook university hospital, gu seung-hyo (a once again flawless cho seung-woo) and a dedicated ER doctor (lee dong-wook, stellar as ever) who depict the two sides of the patient care vs. profit conflict in the hospital. i can't even say more about the show because every other plot point is basically a spoiler. sharply directed and written, this is one of the best genre pieces i have ever watched, and is mildly reminiscent of hbo prestige television of the decade before. | genre: medical drama, corporate thriller

THE WORST OF EVIL (2023): are you even surprised? this was the drama of 2023 for me, one of the most stellar scripts i have seen. the worst of evil is very firmly a noir show and you have to treat what you are watching as such. it is heavily entrenched into its genre tropes and arcs, even more than most crime shows i have seen, and that can be off-putting for people unfamiliar with the genre, but if you are up for it, you will not be disappointed. opportune violent crime detective park jun-mo (ji chang wook, korea's finest new gen action actor) infiltrates a drug ring lead by jung gi-cheol ( fantastic and emotional tour de force by wi ha joon) and the lines begin to blur when neither of them knows if what they bargained for is actually what they want. the show lets its main plot dictate the pace, focusing on park jun-mo's descent into crime, and it is all the more better for it. | genre: noir, crime thriller, action

BEYOND EVIL (2020): the story about dejected and grieving small-town detective lee dong-sik (baeksang-awarded veteran actor shin ha-kyun) being partnered with elite detective and spinster seoulite han joo-won (child actor prodigy turned actor to watch du jour) has made its waves online for its very apparent gay subtext, but to reduce beyond evil to this would be a crime in itself. following lee dong-sik and han joo-won as they are tasked to solve a reoccurring serial killer case, the framing plot then fans open the age-old wound of dong-sik losing his twin sister and being blamed for her disappearance with joo-won having taken an obsessive fascination with the case. the two crime cases are exceptionally interwoven and the stories of the people in the small town of manyang, and how they all somehow tie back to dong-sik, is the perfect example of turning the small centrepiece of a plot into the binding force of every thread. | genre: procedural, psychological thriller

OUR BELOVED SUMMER (2021): i put this into the genre-piece category because obl is majorly focused on its main trope. romantic dramas can easily be trite to me, as this obvious list of crime shows doesn't tell you, but our beloved summer is one of the few that did everything right. it plays out the best trope ever done - exes to lovers - and does not back down from embracing the whole shebang to the nth degree. high school / college sweethearts choi woong (known beloved actor on ye-xiu tumblr dot com, choi woo-shik) and kook yeun-soo (the ever great kim da-mi) have to unite to replicate, or rather continue, the viral high school documentary they filmed years ago. the show shimmies its way from one moment of reconnection to another, culminating in the best kdrama kiss to ever be put to screen, and concludes in one of the most satisfying and, yes, romantic endings ever. the things a show can do when it just sticks to its main narrative, huh. | genre: rom-com, coming of age

[babyarty]

An incomplete list of Trans and gender nonconforming people murdered for existing in the 2020s

Here is the complete list of Trans people murdered in 2023, compiled by Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide (TvT).

2020 – Özge Bilir, aged 25, was a Dutch trans woman of Turkish descent living in Leidsche Rijn, Utrecht. She was stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend.

2020 – Alexa Luciano Ruiz was fatally shot in Puerto Rico on 24 February, after an incident in a local restroom. Ms. Luciano was killed while the assailant men laughed.

2020 – Michelle Michellyn Ramos Vargas, a 33-year-old trans woman, was found dead on an isolated road after being shot multiple times on 30 September in San Germán, Puerto Rico. She worked as a bartender and was studying to become a nurse.

2020 – Selena Reyes-Hernandez, 37, was fatally shot in Chicago, Illinois, on 31 May by a man she went home with, after telling him that she was transgender.

2020 – Brayla Stone, 17, was murdered in Arkansas in June 2020 by a man seeking to conceal his sexual relationship with her. The killer pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

2020 – Valera, a 46-year-old man, a janitor, was raped and killed on 10 February in Chelyabinsk, Russia, by his dorm roommates after they learned he was a transgender man.

2021 – Ebeng Mayor, a trans man from Batasan Hills, Philippines, was found raped, mutilated, and killed on 20 May 2021, after being missing for three days.

2022 – Briza Garces Florez, a 40-year-old Colombian trans sex worker from the Netherlands, was stabbed to death by her 32-year-old boyfriend.

2022 – Doski Azad, a 23-year-old Kurdish transgender woman, was murdered by her brother for being transgender.

2022 – Ariyanna Mitchell, a 17-year-old Black trans girl from Virginia, was shot and killed by 19-year-old Jimmy LeShawn Williams with an assault rifle, after he asked her if she was transgender, and she replied, "yes".

2022 - Cherry Bush, a homeless 48-year-old trans woman, was shot to death in Los Angeles.

2023 - Brianna Ghey was stabbed to death in Culcheth Linear Park on 11 February 2023.

2024 - Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old non-binary American student died one day after being assaulted in the girls' restroom.

(This is Nex)

Their friends and mother say that they experienced bullying for more than a year, because of their gender identity, before the assault. The bullying got progressively worse after a bill was passed in Oklahoma to prohibit the use of non-binary gender markers on birth certificates. Public school students are legally required to use restrooms only according to the gender on their birth certificate.

Nex was assaulted in the restroom by three girls and beaten unconscious. Sue Benedict, Nex's mother, was called to school and she found Nex with bruises on their face and scratches on the back of their head. She was informed that they had been suspended for two weeks. Sue took them to a nearby hospital and called the Oklahoma police department.

Nex told the officer how they had heard the girls making comments about their group and how they had poured water on the girls which then led to the altercation. They then said that had been attacked and had blacked out on the floor. The officer told Sue that this could be considered "mutual" and if they were to press charges, Nex would be open to those same charges. She declined at the time. Nex were later discharged and reportedly went to bed with a sore head.

(Nex with their cat)

The following day, on February 8, as they were preparing to travel with their mother for an appointment, Nex collapsed in the family's living room. Sue Benedict called 911, saying that Nex’s eyes had rolled back and they were struggling to breathe. Nex had stopped breathing by the time EMTs arrived. Nex was declared dead at the hospital that evening.

This is, by no means, a complete list. It does not even include a fraction of the murders of gender queer people in the 2020s, let alone the suicides, rapes, assaults, attempted murders, etc. It does not include the crimes against the rest of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Thank you for reading the whole thing.

[gabrielokun]

Hi. You watch a lot of dramas/series. Do you have any favorites? If you do, what's your top 20 favorite Asian BL dramas/series?

Hi, anon)) thank you for asking. Sorry, it took a while) but I have to prepare a visual representation to compensate for the lack of writing skills))) english is hard T_T

anyway, here are some of my favorite things

Love by Chance (2018)

The show that started it all (づ ᴗ _ᴗ)づ♡ Yep, my first Bl therefore I just must include it. Is is a good show? - not really. BUT! AePete are my babies, I love them. Nobody does it like them ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡

2. My Only 12% (2022)

Childhood friends to lovers done right! My favorite show of the last year. It is a slooooow burn but it's so worth it! Very lively and real boys. great family and friend dynamics, kind of meh last story outside of CakeEwi but still…If you want some great friendship slowly blooming into romance this is the show

3. Kieta Hatsukoi (2021)

Super cute show. All characters are amazing, story well written, minimum hurt all the comfort. Good girl-not an enemy (im really easy too please ( •̯́ ₃ •̯̀) xd)

4. 30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii (2020)aka Cherry magic

JapBL are totally for me when they do fluff, (cause their angst is on a such level I need a lifetime to process it xd)

but this one is so fluffy (ฅ́ ˘ฅ̀)♡ They make me happy and I grateful for it

5. My Ride (2022)

Speaking of fluff °ʚ(´꒳`)ɞ° Other couples are kind of boring But! Mork's uncles, MorkTawan's adopted son (still a bit salty we didnt see him again, Tawan should've had more parenting time, he is clearly a great dad ଘ(੭◌ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ♡‧₊˚) natural growth of their friendship into love *_*. This one is good!

6.Color Rush (2020)

I love soulmates. Its short, simple story but with very interesting and original idea.

7. Hello Stranger (2020)

Such a simple story but the way it was done is amazing! Falling in love through web camera (੭ ˊ^ˋ)੭ ♡ Characters have such an incredible chemistry even tho they have minimum personal contact(kudos to actors they done well)))

I Will Knock You (2022)

Okay, yes age gap not for everyone. But again it was done very respectful. ૮₍ ´ ꒳ `₎ა I love love love Noey's ˖°.✧aesthetic✧˖°., his room is my fave ngl, i want everything he has))))I love this delusional king He was so sure Thi is into him from the second they met and i live for it.

9. Until We Meet Again (2019)

I love soulmates 2. I just love this show. Its gonna traumatize you and then comforts you with cutest fluffiest boys that going through it

10. Vice Versa (2022)

I didn't like it at first

Puen annoyed me too much ૮꒰˶> ༝ <˶ ꒱ა but then I binge rewatch it in one weekend and I just fall for it. Its so good))) I love soulmates 3 and it's super pretty. I love colors

11. About Youth (2022)

Show where I love main and second couple the same ପ(๑•ᴗ•๑)ଓ ♡ thats rare))) Again very simple story but told beautifly

12. HIStory2 Right or Wrong (2018)

Let's talk HIStory. They kind of getting worse imho. 4 and 5 were just fine. thats sucks ʚ₍ᐢ ›̥̥̥ ༝ ‹̥̥̥ ᐢ₎ɞ i still love them tho

HIStory2 Right or Wrong (2018) 13. HIStory3 Trapped (2019) and 14. HIStory2 Crossing the Line (2018)

are superior for me. but just watch any of them they all are worth your time

15. Our Dating Sim (2023)

Second chance romance done very very right!

16. Oxygen (2020)

Good fluffy fluff. P'Phu and his bunny are so precious. Main are cute and sweet and adorable. Ignore weird girl and doctor everything else is just so lovely

17. Light on Me (2021)

Love triangle done right. Good light fluffy show that did hurt so good (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)

18. To My Star Season 2: Our Untold Stories (2022)

I love how they told this story

19. Not Me (2021)

its hard to explain how good this show is, its more serious than usual bls, great acting, amazing story, strong message told through not just cinematography but art and dance too. its truly great show

20. Triage (2022)

Time loops are fun

+ some honorable mentions

Ingredients (2020)

not a show))) just an add but damn. It such a feel good little comfort add Jeff and Gameplay have an amazing chemistry, simple slice of life stories but so good , mutual pining done so well

anything by strongberry, literally just go at their YT chanel and enjoy ଘ(੭ˊᵕˋ)੭ ੈ♡‧₊˚

emmmm that a long post sorry

[strideofpride]

On that note, can you imagine how INSANE the media circus would be if it did come out publicly that Chuck and Blair illegally backdated their marriage certificate and the case against them was actually re-opened? Especially in 2023, at a time when anti-billionaire “eat the rich” sentiment has become very mainstream, and true crime is one of the most popular and profitable genres of entertainment?

Like, the events of season six happen so fast that we don’t really get to appreciate just how wild they are from the outside looking in. Imagine if Michael Bloomberg or pre-presidency Donald Trump died in a car crash, and their then-teenage progeny took over their real estate empires. Everyone just gets used to the idea of a little boy real estate mogul, I guess, and a few years pass, and then - surprise! They were faking their death all along!! Yes there was a funeral, yes they were legally declared dead, but who cares! They’re back baby, and ready to go back to being the same shitbags they were before!

Except, a mere handful of months later, they’re dead again - this time having gone careening off the side of one of their company’s most famous buildings (imagine if Donald Trump died falling off of Trump Tower lmaoooo). Did they fake it again? Was it foul play? By the time rumors start to swirl of the alleged involvement of their recently deposed nepotism baby, the cops close the case and rule it an accident. Their heir, still barely an adult, retakes the reigns of leadership - newly married, a detail no one realizes is suspicious because they likely have no idea that the spouse was at the scene of the crime.

Years pass. YouTubers and online conspiracy theorists periodically bring up the case, but the public at large once again more or less accepts the public narrative. Another piece of shit real-estate mogul gets elected president, and the attitude of the general public towards the uber wealthy turns increasingly hostile. Then there’s 2020, and 2021, and 2022, and- And then. “Billionaire boy and family linked to father’s mysterious death after discovery of faked marriage license”.

Even though we, the audience, knows Chuck didn’t actually kill his father, do you think in a world where this was an actual case involving actual public figures anyone would believe that? The coverup is so ridiculously suspicious that the general public almost definitely assumes they really did do the crime.

And consider the players in this case - a terrible billionaire who died a deliciously ironic death, his somehow worse son who in a post-#MeToo world is already a PR nightmare waiting to happen, and the ex-princess of Monaco (?!) who just so happens to already be tabloid fodder. If they get especially unlucky, Dan (a pretty famous novelist, at least according to the reboot), Serena (a 2000s era “it girl” and semi-celebrity), and Nate (an ex-NYC mayoral candidate, media mogul, and in universe Kennedy equivalent) might just find themselves implicated too - or at least forced to testify - given they were at the very much in public wedding where any rando could have snapped a picture.

There is just soooo much fucked up entertainment value in a case like this I can’t imagine it being anything less than a public fucking spectacle, and not the kind Chuck or Blair could just shake off. I genuinely do not know how they could absolve themselves in the court of public opinion if it actually went to trial, even if they managed to prevail legally.

Oh my god. Okay well, first of all, I really want the fake Serial podcast that unpacks all of this lol. Someone should make that lmao.

"little boy real estate mogul" took me out lololololol

also like...faking your death is a crime right??? how was Bart just able to re-enter society so easily??? did they ever say???

i'd also like to point out that it's actually much vaguer whether or not Chuck killed his father. They cut away during their fight and then next thing you see is Bart hanging onto the edge. Chuck himself says that he isn't sure whether or not he pushed him or Bart fell over. but also Chuck and Blair both just stood there and did nothing to help Bart before he fell, which is involuntary manslaughter I believe

But seriously though, you're so right anon that all of this was made for true crime. In 2030, someone makes a "Jinx" style doc about Chuck I bet

[netscapenavigator-official]

I'm ranking all of my Apple Watch bands because it's my blog, I'm bored, and I want to.

The Contenders:

(The Normies)

White Silicone Buckle Band

(Product) Red Silicone Buckle Band

Cloud Blue Sport Loop Band (S)

Silver Stainless Steel Milanese Loop Band (†)

Black Unity Knitted Solo Loop Band

(The Pride Collection)

2018 Pride Woven Nylon Buckle Band (LE, †)

2019 Pride Sport Loop Band (LE, †)

2020 Pride Silicone Buckle Band (LE, †)

2021 Pride Knitted Solo Loop Band (†)

2022 Pride Sport Loop Band

2023 Pride Silicone Buckle Band

LE: Limited Edition (This band was Limited Edition at its time of release.) †: Discontinued (This band has been discontinued by Apple, for now.) S: Seasonal (This band is currently on sale, but is "Seasonal." When Apple reveals their next Season's collection of colors, this band will be pulled from sale. It will not be know if the band will return or be discontinued until next year when the same season debuts again.)

#11 - 2018 Pride Woven Nylon Buckle Band

This band is (unfortunately) the worst of the worst. It will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the first Pride Band I bought after coming out. In fact, I much prefer the design of the 2017 Pride Band, but the reason I don't have it is because I hadn't come out when the Band was released, so I couldn't buy it. Regardless, both bands were Apple's now (thankfully) discontinued Nylon Buckle design. The fabric is scratchy and not really comfortable to wear for long duration of time. On top of that, unlike the Sport Loop which has pretty durable and hydrophobic fabric, the Nylon Buckle had neither of these. The fabric was weak. It easily frayed if not treated delicately, and the hole that you latched the buckle into could easily stretch out. The loop that secures the excess band is also 100% Nylon Fabric, and it by far feels like the most fragile part of this band. In addition, because the fabric basically wicked liquids into it, this band stained super easily. The white fabric also made this significantly more noticeable. Overall, the design is fine (they get much worse in later years), but the scratchy fabric, poor durability, and easy discoloration make this the worst Watch band I own. It sits in its box, and that's where it will stay because not only do I not want to swear this band, but I am too afraid to wear it, for fear of destroying it. Good riddance to the Nylon Buckle Watch bands. May they rest in piss.

#10 - 2023 Pride Silicone Buckle Band

The only reason this band is placed above the Nylon Band is because it has durability on its side. Everything else? Awful. The Silicone Buckle Bands (while iconic) are suffocating. They are not breathable in the slightest. As a result, they build up grime and body nastiness very easily. This, by itself, isn't a problem since the all-silicon design of them makes the very easily to clean without fear of destroying them. However. This band is one of the ugliest I have. There is one that I consider uglier... but this one is placed lower because of how low effort it is. I mean, this is supposed to be a pride band? This sucks ass. I'd rather just wear a white silicone band (which I own, and as you can see, it ranked higher than this one). The "sprinkle" gradient wouldn't even be that bad... if it was done properly. Since the band tucks under itself, however, a lot of the colors are actually obscured from view. As a result, irl, this band looks like it only consists of Orange, Green, Yellow, and Blue. That's not pride. That's a sports team or some shit, and the "sprinkles" design doesn't even look that good. It looks lazy. The polished button piece with "Designed with Pride in California" engraved onto it is a really nice touch, but it doesn't come close to outweighing just how lazy this band's design feels.

#9 - 2022 Pride Sport Loop Band

You'll notice (unlike the other images on this post) that this band is pictured backwards. That's because of it's cool "Pride" lettering. This band, admittedly, is very cool looking. The colors are... somewhat close, and the "Pride" word written out in Apple's iconic "Hello" font is a very nice touch. In fact, it's unique to this bad. No other Sport Loop has lettering like this. The dual-tone-ness of the band is also really nice. Overall, this is among my favorite Watch band designs. So, where does it fall flat? A few places. Firstly, the colors. They're mostly right (and they're certainly better than some of Apple's Pride bands), but they're not right. They tried to integrate the pastel pink and pastel blue stripes of the trans pride flag into the regular pride flag. The pastel blue is fine, but the pink between the orange and yellow is horrible. Also, the brown and black stripes being separated on opposite sides of the band was... a choice. I don't hate this design... it just feels busy and overthought. Where this band earns it's #9 spot... is its durability. The Sport Loop bands are more durable than the Nylon Buckle bands (and the Knitted Solo Bands), but they simply can't hold their own to good old silicone. As a result white fabric is this things Achilles heel. I knew from the moment I laid eyes on it, I would be able to wear this band for extended periods of time, and I was right. I think I got about two weeks of wear out this band before it noticeably started turning gray. I didn't want to ruin it, so I cleared it with OxiClean the best I could, and it's lived in its box ever since. It's a beautiful, comfortable Watch that I'm terrified to wear because if you sneeze in the wrong direction it turns gray.

#8 - 2021 Pride Knitted Solo Loop Band

I love Apple's Knitted Solo Loop bands. I just absolutely adore them, so for this one to be this low... it has some issues. In fact, you may even be able to guess one my major gripes with this band. Before that, however, let's talk positive. This is THE most comfortable-to-wear Apple Watch band you can buy. The elastic fit is comfortable, but never tight. The fabric is so soft. The durability also isn't too bad. From my experience, the bands haven't really stretched all that much. They have a little, but not enough to make them unwearable. I've also recently had one where the fabric starts wearing down enough to show the elastic bands underneath, but I've had that band for years, so... it gets a decent grade for being fabric and lasting that long. That's about it for the good, though. On the down side... this band is fucking ugly. The weaving pattern of this band cannot handle the number of colors in the Progress Pride flag. It simply cannot. This is a mess, and it's ugly. Apple replaced this band in 2024, and the replacement is still ugly. Secondly, staining. The pastel blue, pink, and white suck up stains like it's their job. This was Apple's first attempt at explicitly including the trans flag's color's into their band, and... while I'm appreciative of the effort... those colors are so fucking sustainable it's unreal. This band (despite not wearing it for too long) is one of two (alongside the Nylon Buckle Band) that I managed to permanently stain, even though I cleaned them to the best of my ability. Lastly, the price. I'm not talking about the price for other bands because they're like $50. That would be a lot... if they didn't last as long as they did. The Sport Loops have surprisingly good durability for fabric bands, and the "Silicone" bands are actually made of Fluoroelastomer which is a very premium, high-durability "rubber." The Knitted Solo Loops, however... are just a small layer of fabric coating elastic wires, woven into a pattern. They're not fancy... and yet Apple charges $100. That is insane. There's a reason I only own two, and don't wear one of them, That shit is insane. The bands are comfortable, but with their durability limits and stainability... are they $100 comfortable? No. No they are not.

#7 - White Silicone Buckle Band

A classic. Apple's iconic white silicone buckle band. This band has come as the default for almost every silver aluminum Apple Watch there is (up until recently). This band came with my Series 4 Watch, and I still have it. It's a classic. The white color is a bit boring, but it is Silicone, so at least it's easy to clean and stain-resistant. Overall this band has the same shortcomings of other silicone bands: not breathable and gets kinda nasty quickly, but that's about it. It's placing #7 not because it's bad, but because there's simply bands I like more. It's a good "average" band, so it's a shame is has to place at #7.

#6 - (Product) Red Silicone Buckle Band

Another classic. Apple's iconic silicone buckle design with their also iconic Product Red collaboration. In addition to this band's beautiful vivid red coloring, a portion of its proceeds go to the Product Red foundation which donates to vaccinate people in third-world countries from HIV/AIDS. Its shortcomings are the same as its predecessor (gets nasty fast and not breathable), but it's, again, a good "average" band with a small bonus of a beautiful color and putting some of your $50 towards a good cause.

#5 - Silver Stainless Steel Milanese Loop Band

This is the only non-Solo Loop band I have that costs $100. Unlike the Knitted Solo Loops, however, this band feels its price. It's absolutely stunning, and the chain mail-like mesh of stainless steel loops is beautiful. The magnetic "latch" on this is so seamless. I only wear this watch band for special occasions when I'm dressing up, but I can't imagine the durability would be bad on this. It's stainless steel, for fuck's sake. Overall, I have zero qualms about the design of this band. It's simply elegant and beautiful. It is placed #5 because I simply have bands I favor more. Also, the stainless steel construction makes this band slightly uncomfortable to wear. The chain mail loops will pinch and rip out any arm hairs you have, and part where the magnet is can uncomfortable dig in and scratch your arm. Also, while not factored into my rating, it is a concern: This is the fancier version of the Sport Loop band. However, unlike the Sport Loop band which cannot have it's band removed from the bottom connector on the watch, this band can. It's actually surprisingly easy. Therefore, if you were careless when taking off/putting on this band, there is a non-zero chance that the Milanese mesh could slip out of the lower hardware, which would mean the tiny lower hardware could easily get lot, rendering your $100 Watch band useless. It's not that big of a deal, but still something to watch out for.

#4 - 2019 Pride Sport Loop Band

After a three-band break, we finally return to my Pride Collection. This band ranks highly for all of the pluses of the Sport Loop design: It's comfortable, with surprisingly durability for a fabric band. While the lighter colors can stain, I've never had too bad of an issue with it on this band. This band was my first experience with Apple's Sport Loop Bands, and after wearing the Nylon Buckle Band for a year, this one finally taught me that fabric bands don't have to be torturous. The red plastic hardware on this band is peculiar, but in an interesting way. Overall, this band has all the pros and cons as every other Sport Loop band, with the subtraction of staining and the addition of one thing: Colors. The Pride flag is simple. It's beautiful. As we've establish... Apple isn't the best are taking the colors of the Pride flag and making something inspired by them. This band, while not terrible by a long shot, is too red. This band's color story is the equivalent of the section of the alphabet that goes "LMNOP" that people always blast through. There are 8 stripes on this band... and 5 of them are warm-toned. Plus the red plastic hardware on the ends of the band. The dual tone reds and yellows were simply a choice I disagree with. I'm also not fond of the green being more of a lime, and the blue more of a cyan. The colors could be worse, but I feel like this band would be simply perfect is Apple had just left the Pride flag's colors alone.

#3 - 2020 Pride Silicone Buckle Band

Speaking of leaving the pride flag alone, Apple finally got the memo (before losing it again in 2021) in 2020. The 2020 Apple Watch band (as well as it's 2020 Nike Pride band which I don't have) were peak Apple Watch Pride design. This is my final and favorite Pride band. Despite it's shortcomings are a silicone band... it makes up for everything else by being absolutely perfect. The colors are simple, yet they're somehow invigorated by that pastel hue over them. The Pride message is simple and obvious without being overthought. This is a Pride band. Plain and simple... However... things aren't as simple as they seem. Do you see the slight waviness of the lines where the color meet? That isn't photo compress weirdness or a poor concept render. Those are actually on the Watch band. Why? In addition to being a cool design element that adds some excitement to the band, those bands also signify something more: This is the only Apple Watch Silicone Buckle Band to be made of 100% recycled Apple Watch bands. Each color you see on this band was once apart of a single-color band which Apple cut up and spliced together to made this Limited Edition Pride band. The band itself is perfect. The design is perfect. The construction is perfect, and the story is perfect. This was my #2 favorite for a long time, only being dethroned recently. The new Pride Silicone Buckle band is a far cry from the perfection that the 2020 Pride band embodied.

#2 - Cloud Blue Sport Loop Band

This is my newest band. With my Series 4 finally not getting updates anymore, for Christmas 2024, I splurged and finally upgraded to a Series 10. Wanting a carbon neutral spec one, I was left with the fabric bands. I was also stuck with the default configurations since I got the thing off Amazon for $90 off during Black Friday. I'm not complaining, though. Specifically because I love the Sport Loop Band, and I love Apple's Cloud Blue color. I am obsessed with this borderline white pastel blue. It's beautiful on this band, and it's beautiful on the (knockoff) Apple Silicone phone case that I have. Cloud Blue is by far my favorite Color Apple has ever released on their official accessories. While I do have concerns about the color in the future, in-person, the Blue is just gray enough that I think it might be able to hide staining and discoloration over time. This band has all the usual pros and cons of Sport Loop bands, but it's in one of my favorite Apple colors. The pros of the Sport Loop plus the Cloud Blue color (plus some recency bias) put this beautiful band at #2 for catching my eye and matching my watch band with my phone case.

#1 - Black Unity Knitted Solo Loop

At the top of the list is my other Knitted Solo Band: Apple's Black Unity one. This band overcomes (almost) all of the shortcomings of the Pride 2021 Knitted Solo Loop. These combined with perfect comfort that the Solo bands have rockets this band to #1. I wore this band for years before I got my Series 10 and started using the #2 band. Everything about his band is perfection. The design is simply yet beautiful. The black is darker than Apple's regular black Knitted Solo Band, and the flecks of color create a starry night vibe. The color prevents the band from being too boring, while the simplicity of the black keeps it grounded. The dark color also hides stains and discoloration perfectly. I've never discolored this band after years of wear. The only flaw in this band is its durability. I've worn this band for so long that on the underside (where my wrist lays on my desk) the fabric coating of the elastic wires has started to wear away and reveal the clear elastic underneath. For $100 I expect better, but multiple years isn't too bad either. If I ever start staining the #2 band and want to stop wearing it, the Black Unity Knitted Solo Loop will be the one I go back to. I love this band, and it's the only one I've worn out and actually considered replacing with another one of itself. The comfort, the practicality, the design is all perfect. I love this band, and I'd say it's probably the Knitted Solo Band since it's probably the most resistant to staining and discoloration. 10/10. I love this band, and I'm sad it's starting to wear out.

[myimaginarywonderland]

Here's why I will never not make fun of this situation.

2018: Ricciardo leaves RedBull because he doesn't want to be second driver to Max. Maybe he didn't say it but it was clear as day that was the reason. Max was a great driver that was slowly becoming the talent he is now and everyone knew that and everyone also knew Daniel would probably have to take the place as second driver in a season. He leaves to go to another team which is Renault eventhough there were engines problems with that engine in this year.

2019: An okay season in the midfield

2020: A great season. He is in the top 5, had 2 podiums and Cyril adores him. Him and Esteban both got podiums. And yet Ricciardo decides to go to McLaren. Everyone is surprised, Cyril saying that they had many changes and that it takes stability which he thought Daniel valued. He also though that Daniel would provide that stability. Not surprising given that Cyril made bats, got a tattoo and truly valued both of his drivers deeply. Nonetheless Ricciardo decides to go to McLaren. Cyril supposedly warns him not to trust Zak Brown. I feel it is also worth nothing that while I would argue that with Esteban they were close matched, after one season Lando was already shaping himself up to be a genuine great talent with beating a far more experienced driver.

2021: Yeah many people will say this was a good season for McLaren but looking at it the only real standout result was Ricciardo's win. But already he pales in comparison to Lando who continues to get podiums and is consistently in the top 10 in nearly all races.

2022: The final nail in the coffin. I frankly don't want to hear about how bad McLaren treated him. I truly don't. Yes, they did sometimes make questionable calls and yes they weren't kind at points. That doesn't matter though when one team-mate is scoring 3x the points off the other. There are no excuses for that big off a gap. The qualy stats speak volumes. No team-mate qualified worse in head to head than Ricciardo. There was all reason to drop him especially since he was already worse than Lando the previous year eventhough he won a race. It turns out that McLaren treated him horribly to the surprise of no one and once again, we are reminded that his former teamboss warned him about his exact same scenario.

The moment Oscar is announced Ricciardo fans twist him as a villain, accuse him of stealing someone's seat, call him a snake etc.

2023: This is even before the season. Ricciardo declines seats at teams such as Haas because he doesn't want to be in a backmarker. He then says he needs a break from racing and that for now he will take the role in RedBull as it allows him to focus on himself and have more time for everything that F1 makes difficult.

So what am I getting at?

Ricciardo leaves a team not to be second driver. He then leaves another team where he is beloved to go to a team that his former boss warns him about because he doesn't trust the dude that is plastered everywhere eventhough he is not the boss. Said team turns out to be shit and he then does not accept other team offers because the teams are so far back that he apparently doesn't consider it seat worthy. He also wants to take a break from racing.

Then, he joins the worst team on the grid this season as third driver in an environment that is notorious for throwing at anyone that doesn't perform to their ideals see a rookie that wasn't even halfway through the season.

Sorry if I can't stand him but he brought this entirely on himself.

[tweeterwilbury]

Ok personal post kinda but. im having a weird day because of the flu (not even bad its just Weird) but its so crazy to think like how things are so different now than they were on this exact same time last year yknow its so crazy. Its been a year and a week since the last time i attempted suicide and yknow i havent gone through More Than A Year without a suicide attempt since 2020 and its so crazy because 2021 was a good year after i changed my meds but when 2022 started everything had gone to hell already and it only got worse in 2023 and like in the first 2 months of this year I thought it was going worse than before (and IT WAS!!!! for many reasons!!!!) but then idk HOW everything changed like its so weird i was so paranoid in february and then in the beginning of may I started to idk. Heal lowkey? And im so well now? Like better than ever before probably which is so weird to admit but its true i guess? Life is so crazy. Literally never kill yourself