#i hope my message is clear

[salora-rainriver]

Alright look.

You don’t need to be famous!

You don’t need to be a content creator.

You don’t need to have a hundred thousand followers.

You don’t need to make a massive impact on the world.

It’s okay to fucking EXIST in the world. To make a small impact. To have normal friends and a normal obscure life, like everyone else on this planet.

I get it if you’re lonely, I get it if you feel like there’s no point to life, but fame isn’t the answer to that problem.

Yes I am talking about James fucking Somerton. Hell, I am talking TO James Somerton, motherfucker if you’re reading this, somehow, despite me literally being a nobody on tumblr, then- wow! What are the odds! What the fuck is wrong with you. Also don’t fucking do it. Please log off and live a happy normal mediocre life. Please.

But I’m also talking to every 20-something (me included) who thinks “gee i want to be like those fancy content creators and filmmakers and artists who make stuff and everyone looks at it.”

LISTEN. STATISTICALLY SPEAKING, YOU PROBABLY WON’T BE A CELEBRITY, AND THAT’S PROBABLY A GOOD THING.

And I’m not saying don’t dream big. “Dream big” can mean all sorts of things, and none of them have to be about fame. Entertainment and academia are like 10% of the full breadth of human experience.

You can garden. Knit. Raise animals. Go scuba diving. Join a book club. Play sportsball. Dance at a club. Dance at a park. Learn tango! Paint pictures for small local galleries and people who want something crazy on their walls. Have sex. Go to concerts. Volunteer. Write poetry. Learn an instrument. Learn a language. Go hiking! Biking! Run a marathon! Collect coins, collect shells, collect bones. Find god (any god). Be the guy who hands put water bottles at protests. Join a tabletop gaming group. Play trading card games.

I’ve been saying for a real long time that someone like James Somerton is just not fit to write video essays, he’s not fit to be a content creator - James if you’re still here, we all saw your ‘measured response’, if you were telling the truth about those memory issues and ADHD and they genuinely are so bad that you can’t properly cite your sources- you can’t be a video essayist. I’m sorry. It’s part of the job description.

and look. that’s okay. because there’s so much other stuff he can do with his life. Stuff that doesn’t require him to, you know, make proper citations. Write creatively. Manage a film production company. Those things. The things he evidently can’t do competently.

The idea that he’d rather die than have a normal life, a peaceful life out of the public eye, working a job that he can actually be good at, having his hobbies and his real life friends and maybe even a family… there’s no other word for it than “sad”. That’s so fucking sad, and I don’t even mean that in an insulting way. I know I hate the dude, but jesus.

And I just. If you’re reading this post and the idea of someone absolutely who’d rather die than be normal resonated with you - first of all, do you need a hug, second of all,

This post is for you.

Please take care of yourself and just find joy doing what you want to do. Don’t try to Be Famous. Please.

[kentopedia]

some of you are just so lovely and sooo easy to love and i mean it when i say with 100% certainty that ur favs would be head over heels for you

[seventh-district]

Figured I'd try my hand at some Redacted character post/text edits!

[ 1 / ? ]

Credit to @/sainthowlzon for all the Listener icons, and to @/elisacaleisa for their google drive with all the canon icons!

(slightly alternative version of the Solaires' GC edit below the cut bc i had a lil too much fun with what Vincent would name his contacts)

[speakofcompersion]

TAEMIN - 'Eternal' Track List ♥︎

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Hi I hate to be cheesy but I wanted to say that while a lot of people - very rightly!!! - point out how cool your art is and how inspirational it is that you showed art can be learned, not just a rare natural born talent, I also LOVE your sense of humor. The dialog and visual jokes are always so sharp and are guarenteed to make me laugh! Because I'm autistic as hell lol I like to bookmark things I can read through over agian when I'm looking for laughs and your blog is now high on the list! Thx!

Be not afraid to be cheesy; your genuine message has brought me immense joy B’*)

[butterflysonnets]

yes i'm rooting for m*leven breakup because byler is neat but mostly? i'm rooting for m*leven breakup for the sake of el and mike.

to me, their romance was always a puppy love born out of a combination of social pressures, naïve curiosity, and a lack of true understanding regarding intimacy and romantic love and what it really is. it was real in that they do truly, deeply care about each other and they are close friends, maybe even shared an attraction, but a maturing romance is so much more than that. they've grown up and out of being boyfriend/girlfriend, and that's okay! i think television/film needs to show more often that most of us don't have definite "soulmates" or first childhood loves that we spend our whole lives with. it doesn't mean these relationships meant nothing and didn't impact us, it just means they've run their course and that something else is in the cards, and this is part of life!

i've always felt el was at her best and most confident self when broken up with mike, discovering who she was and what she liked alongside another girl her age instead of just relying on mike for mentorship on how to live in the real world. she deserves more of an opportunity to find herself, her autonomy, and her independence, and to love who she is, and she's made it clear she's felt insecure in the relationship with mike because she isn't being loved and understood the way she wants, needs, and deserves from someone who is her partner.

also, it's okay if mike doesn't love her in "the way he should". he is not obligated to love her romantically and stay in a relationship with her just because she's a girl, because she "needed someone", or because he cares about her a lot. he shouldn't be pressured into a romance if it's not truly coming from his heart. he deserves freedom to find out and honour who he is, too, instead of just staying in his non-functional first relationship — one he got into as a child, essentially — and defining himself that way because it's what's expected when a boy and a girl are close. he loves her in some way, yes, but it's okay if he doesn't feel comfortable or secure being her boyfriend anymore, for whatever reason that is. he's felt insecure too, and that's valid and it matters.

they are their own people and are steadily growing and changing every day. they need time to figure out who those people are, and it's become clear (at least in my opinion) that those people aren't meant to be a couple at this stage.

they deserve freedom. they deserve to grow up and be authentic to themselves and not feel like they need to lie for the sake of a relationship. they deserve to move on from this version of their relationship that isn't making them happy and rekindle the best part of their bond: their strong, beautiful friendship. they don't have to be a couple if it doesn't make them stronger and better and happier people.

i think it would be healthy and wonderful for a show, especially one consumed frequently by young adults, to show a relationship starting, progressing, and ending on good terms in this way. sometimes things don't work out, and that is okay.

[caelanglang]

By the setting sun,

the wind blows away

all that’s left to say

something (tears, bandages, a body) falls.

into gravity’s embrace.

There’s a story left untold.

There’s a place he longed to go.

Say good night to the suicidal man who didn’t really want to die.

[ihatedean]

i think its cute that they made dean jerk off to softcore magazines and hentai and silly casa erotica dvds when in reality he'd be so desensitized to porn the stuff he watches to get off is borderline illegal. leg in a bear trap and punches in the face to cum type of shit. he's got friction burn on his dick he probably needs to smell povidone iodine to cum

[katsu2ji]

in light of recent events with the election, i want to remind everyone to take care of themselves the best they can. i know that things are really hard right now for so many people—women, poc, lgbtq+, especially. but please do not forget that there are people out there who love you, who care for you, and wish nothing but the best for you. check in on your loved ones, and check in on yourself 🤍

i love you. we’ll be ok. it doesn’t feel that way now, and it might not feel that way for awhile. but we’ll be ok.

[pocketgalaxies]

hi! seeing you during all this ep95 mess has been a breath of fresh air. you seem to have a really firm grasp of canon so I wanted to ask what you think of the recent discord message from Liam where he says Orym didn't know that Laudna was under Delilah's influence when she killed Bor'dor? I watched the clip from 4SD, & it's pretty clear that Liam says Orym understood Laudna was opening the door for Delilah when he encouraged her to kill Bor'dor & even says "we'll need that." But the Discord message seems to walk that back. It's been super frustrating being accused of vilifying Orym or infantilizing Laudna for repeating what Liam himself said. I just don't really know how to reconcile these two statements from Liam & it has me a bit confused on Orym's character.

hi anon, thank you!

this turned into a much longer one than i was expecting dfksjdkfs

so last week i posted this Really Long Ask about the whole discussion, if you want to take a look. but i intentionally didn't bring up liam's discord message because you're right! it seemed contradictory to something that was stated in the past, which was confusing

honestly i think the most realistic answer is that liam probably didn't mean for what he said on 4SD to be understood as such a strong and maybe even polarizing character choice. i think a lot of us heard it as "orym sees delilah as a useful/necessary asset that outweighs what might happen to laudna afterward." particularly because he framed it as something that made the whole situation "even creepier," and during that same convo, marisha was emphasizing the psychological impact that killing bor'dor had on laudna. it's a strong stance and it reflects what orym is doing to himself (handing his endgame over to the questionably fickle nana morri to increase their chances of success against ludinus)

but i suppose liam's clarification suggests that he meant it in a softer, more practically level-headed way, like "orym knew he couldn't do a whole lot about delilah's return but he also thought it could have benefits," or something along those lines. they're obviously two hugely different interpretations with pretty big implications on how we understand orym's relationship with laudna

i'm not a connoisseur of orym's character by ANY means so i can't confidently tell you what the change might mean from a narrative perspective, but i personally still prefer the former stronger stance. because i think it raises interesting questions about how orym views his own place in this war and whether or not it's valid for him to (intentionally or subconsciously) project that placement onto the other party members. is it okay for orym to expect the same level of personal sacrifice from laudna, or imogen with predathos (a whole separate can of worms), or anyone else? is it safe? etc etc. but maybe liam doesn't want to go in that direction, or maybe he does but just not in the way we expect, i don't know! only time will tell!

also regardless of what he meant, i think it's important to acknowledge that it's really easy and completely understandable to feel like he was walking something back. that episode of 4SD was almost a whole year ago! many of us built that statement into our perception and understanding of orym's character for a long time, so it's totally valid to go "wait what the fuck???" when liam suddenly pops into the discord to say that's not what he meant. those feelings are valid and real! especially when discourse can already make you question your own intelligence and your personal interpretations of a story, having that pillar, as big or small as it might've been in your mind, knocked over can be really jarring. you are very much not alone in that, and it's okay!!

[infiniteseriesofhalfways]

i saw @poetry-protest-pornography do this and it seems really fun! help decorate my tree and leave a little note, and make your own tree so i can send one back 🎄

[mayasaura]

There's a weird kind of tension I feel being in the Locked Tomb fandom without being Christian. Especially having grown up in a heavily Christian part of the world, constantly surrounded by pressure to convert.

I don't only mean the constant low grade cultural pressure underpinning daily life, though I mean that too. I mean I get accosted in the street by missionaries. I mean I was first told I was going to hell when I was four years old, by a babysitter who would only let me watch Veggie Tales. I've had a man handing out leaflets follow me around attempting to lay his hands on my head or shoulders while reciting what I think a Catholic friend later told me was called the Sinner's Prayer, cajoling me to repeat after him. My grandfather died after being unable to find a support group that wasn't rooted in the christian faith, and didn't therefore require him to violate his religious beliefs.

Which is all taking the long way around to saying I don't really vibe heavy with the series' christian subtext. I like to enjoy the story primarily through other lenses.

But at the same time the symbolism is there, and intentional, and doing a lot of very interesting things. So I am paying attention to it. I try to consider it an interesting mythological theme, like the classical Greek references. It usually works, but maintaining that distance can be a struggle.

I don't really have a conclusion here. It's just a weird place to be. The draw of wanting to connect the dots, to appreciate the intricate symbolic art, at war with... all that, and with the creeping anxiety that whispers: how much of a philosophy can you know before you get filled up with it? Is there ever a point where you are what you know, whether you want to be or not?

[nobodybetterlookatme]

What if your coworker is on snzblr? 👀

Don't say that 😭😭 I'll have to pass away if he is lmaoooo

[lil-raven666]

Do you know what it means - not interested? Weirdos

[valvesoftware]

breakups are so fucking weird. three years and just like that it's gone. huh

[oh-hools]

valentibners thoyghts yesterday: i love my girlfrebd and i wish i wasn't so sleepy all the time