#i miss the days where you could use a website and all the features for FREE. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

rems-writing · 5 months ago

Text

Pirate vs. rapper. Allegedly

Pairing: pirate!Hongjoong × gn!reader

Summary: Hongjoong never knew what jealousy felt like until he and you won free tickets to go see famous rapper I.M in New York

Warning(s): jealous!Hongjoong, featuring I.M from Monsta X, mayhaps I.M isn't what he says he is? 👁👁

Genre: Fluff with a bit of angst

Nets: @blossomnet @mirohs-aurora-society

"Ok Emma said it was here..."

"Yeah this is it."

You and Hongjoong were currently in New York, standing in front of the Savior's old apartment.

This is where she and Henry stayed after Regina erased their memories before Peter Pan's curse swept them up and took them back to the Enchanted Forest.

That felt like yesterday to you.

As you and Hongjoong settled in, you flopped down on the couch and he flopped down beside you before immediately putting his arm around your shoulder so you can snuggle into him.

"Want to order take out? I'm too lazy to cook."

"Whatever you want, my baby."

You could never get used to that nickname Hongjoong gave you despite him saying it multiple times. It always gets you flustered.

"What do you feel like getting?"

"I feel like getting breakfast for dinner. Like how Wanda did it in WandaVision."

You had to pat yourself on the back for introducing the cute pirate to Marvel.

"Breakfast for dinner it is. I think we passed by a restaurant that does breakfast all day every day."

"I think you're referring to Denny's."

"That's what it's called?! How did I miss the bright yellow sign with the obvious name painted in red?!"

"Maybe you were busy admiring me."

"Damn right I was."

You didn't have time to react when Hongjoong pulled you in for a quick yet passionate kiss. You had to hold onto his collar to stabilize yourself. He soon pulled away and grinned mischievously before kissing your forehead. You shook your head and had a tiny smile on your face before snapping your fingers to make a Denny's menu appear.

"Aight so what you want?"

---------------------------------------------------

The Next Day

You and Hongjoong were walking to the designated concert venue to go see your favorite artist.

Im Changkyun. Aka IM.

You were dressed in a shirt from his official merch website, blue ripped jeans, and beat up Converse. Hongjoong opted to borrow his captain's wardrobe, which would explain the black outfit.

He topped it off with black eyeliner, gaudy rings on each of his fingers, and one nail painted in black nail polish.

You had one finger painted as well but it was a light blue color instead.

You checked your tickets it, went through security, and find your spots.

Which were right in front of the stage.

You only had a few minutes until the show started so you used that time to either make a few friends

Or make out with Hongjoong.

The venue was packed and no one seemed to care so you went straight in for the pda.

Soon, the concert started.

---------------------------------------------------

It had been only a couple of hours since it started, but to you, it felt like eternity.

Hongjoong was the same way, except he felt an unfamiliar feeling growing inside him.

It wasn't dread or anger.

He thinks it's jealousy, but his subconscious kept denying it. However, it would explain why he felt uncomfortable when IM kept glancing at you and smirking as he rapped and sang.

The jealousy grew when IM directly kept eye contact with the love of his life as he sang 'Happy To Die'

You noticed the way Hongjoong's hand tightened on your hip as he pulled you closer to him. You were also unfamiliar with the pirate's jealousy since he always trusted you with his heart and soul whenever you interacted with guys like Leroy, Killian, David, and so on.

You covered your hand over Hongjoong's and momentarily broke eye contact with your favorite artist so you could kiss your partner on the cheek.

"Hey. It's ok. You know I love you and you only. Right?"

"Yes, my baby. I'm sorry. I just... never felt this way before. I love you and trust you. But throughout the night, this nagging feeling kept gnawing at me."

"It's ok to feel like this from time to time."

"It's an ugly feeling."

"I understand, but as long as you trust in me and our love, it will go away."

Hongjoong smiled his pretty smile and kissed your cheek before shouting along with the crowd for IM to do an encore. You joined in on the shouting shortly after.

---------------------------------------------------

Soon, the concert ended and you and Hongjoong waited until everyone was gone so you could leave the venue without any hassle. As you waited, you noticed a familiar figure walking towards you. Hongjoong must've noticed as well since he wrapped his arm around your waist and pulled you closer to him. A shy smile appeared on the rapper's face and he spoke.

"Hey. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for staring at you the entire night. You're honestly so attractive and I couldn't help myself. It still isn't right though so here's my apology."

You didn't know how to respond since your favorite artist just complimented you so you hid your face in Hongjoong's neck so Changkyun wouldn't see the redness grow on your face.

"And I wanted to say I'm sorry to you for the same thing, man. They belong to you and I should've stayed in my lane."

"It's fine, IM. I appreciate the apology though."

"I have these for you guys."

Changkyun handed the both of you free tour shirts and you happily accepted one while Hongjoong accepted the other. You practically sprinted out of the venue so the cool air of the New York nighttime could cool down your face after you said goodbye to Changkyun haphazardly.

Hongjoong stayed behind for a little while longer, his smile turning into a snarl. Changkyun kept up the smirk on his face.

"You may have fooled everyone, including my love, but I know exactly what you are. So I suggest you back up and not follow us back to Storybrooke. Unless you want to feel the cold sharp metal of Killian's hook pierce your skin."

"Oh trust me. I wouldn't dare go near the pirate of the most feared pirate crew in all of the Enchanted Forest. I'll stay out of your way."

"Glad we reached an understanding of this situation. Have a nice night, Changkyun."

"You as well, Hongjoong."

Hongjoong walked out slowly from the venue, narrowly missing the way Changkyun's scales shimmered under the dim lighting of the venue and the way the rapper hissed quietly as his fangs poked out and his eyes turned from brown to silver.

Good thing the pirate saved you from the clutches of a siren.

#blossomnet #mirohsaurorasociety #ateez #ateez imagines #ateez fanfic #ateez x reader #Spotify

13 notes · View notes

alltimefail-sims · 2 years ago

Note

Hey! I was wondering if you could link some masc, toddler and children cc, if not thats ok i totally understand:D, i hope you have a great day/afternoon/night!

Hello! 💕 Of course, that's no problem at all! I'm just going to make a long list with some creator recommendations if that's alright with you! I will warn you... it's a long post lol. I went into my downloads folder and pulled creators that I noticed appeared frequently. Obviously there are probably some great creators I missed, but I did try to feature as many as I could think of!

Note that I'm a maxis-mix simblr, so some of these might lean alpha (with the exceptions of hairs, I exclusively use maxis match hair). But if you are against alpha all together, just ignore those suggestions obviously haha!

more info below ↓

@darte77: just scroll down their patreon posts, they are one of the holy grails of my masc sim cc.

@gorillax3-cc: so many good masc frame clothes on their website.

@qrqr19: hairs!

@johnnysimmer: hairs, lots of great hairs (has child versions of their hairs, too!)

@christopher067: a few simple but fashionable masc frame tops and bottoms along with a wide array of masc frame accessories (jewelry that usually works on both m-frame and f-frame).

@plushxsims: clothes, pants chains and belts, kind of edgy and I like that (leans alpha).

@sforzcc: even if I'm doing a "vanilla" playthrough, their cc usually stays in game lol. The pants and shirts variations are my favorite. Added bonus that the t-shirt variants are perfect because you can have a group where they all wear matching shirts but have the realism of reflecting personality (one person might wear a crop and one might not, someone might roll their sleeves someone might have holes in their shirt etc. but they can all have the same design and I like that personal touch of realism for like werewolf packs and such but I digress).

@softerhaze: specifically this pack they just put out. Great basics, very versatile, looks good on a wide range of masc frames.

@wistfulpoltergeist: lots of versatile male hairs and accessories.

@ceeproductions

@liliili-sims4: huge section of masc cc (even has a male cc pack). Love the unisex scarf accessories.

@amelylinaa*: does upload on simsfinds/simsdom, so warning for that, but lots of good clothes.

@aharris00britney: Obviously they make a lot of fem frame cc too, but I have every single male item they've ever created in my game because it is really well done.

@dyoreos

@gorillax3-cc

KK's Sims 4

@okruee: some of my favorite male hairs

@wyattssims: has two menswear fashion packs with a lot of content in each, just really good maxis match pieces.

@evellsims and @regina-raven both have some great goth maxis match cc that has fem frame and male frame variants, so it's versatile and not so "in the box" of atypical "average-joe" jeans and flannel, if you're into that!

@the-crypt-o-club: More punk/goth/edgy staple pieces for masc sims. Really unique cc with a ton of personality and versatility.

@clumsyalienn: they do a good mix of male and female cc. I have everything they've ever put out in my game tbh and their masc hair and clothes are versatile (they even have some great accessories for male sims as well).

@joliebean and @ice-creamforbreakfast: again, masc and fem cc. But their stuff is great quality and unique, they really hit formal wear for dudes, a category which I think is lacking in game imo.

@happylifesims: they have some great vintage pieces that also work for more intellectual or professional masc frame sims.

@pralinesims, @greenllamas: these two have a wide variety of cc but their beard packs for male sims are my go-tos because they have varying thickness and textures.

@simandy: all of their cc is great, but specifically this pack for male sims is a must have. The hairs in it are *chefs kiss*.

@igorstory: lots of facial hair

Gonna admit this section and the kids section might look short but that's because a lot of toddler creators also create child cc and likely fall in the "additional" category below!

@casteru: you literally can't have a cc rec list for toddlers and not include them, as they cover a wide array of basics. To me, they are the golden goose of toddler cc.

@rebekhanasims: cute clothes, great accessories (pacifiers, bonnets, hats, headbands).

@thecrybabystore

@georgiaglm: has some child pieces sprinkled in, but mainly toddlers.

@powluna

@ravensim: hairs, a few cute accessories like a crown, missing shoes, etc.

@madlensims: a lot of fem frame cc, but they have a ton of cute toddler and kids stuff, too (accessory backpacks and clothes).

@daisy-pixels: clothes cc. Super easy to navigate their patreon as you can just go to their "child" tag and download what you like.

@onyxsims: they do toddler cc, too! Huge variety.

Simiracle

C-Cerberus-sims: hair conversions folder HERE (their account doesn't exist on Tumblr any more). I pretty much exclusively use their hair conversions tbh.

@tommeraas-cc: has toddler cc, too!

@maytaiii: hair conversions and accessories (their crown and little face band-aid they just uploaded is so adorable).

ADDITIONALLY (specific things that fall in multiple categories):

@nucrests: child cc packs and loads of masc frame cc.

@simkoos: similar to nucrests, they have a good variety to child cc and masc cc (but they also have a few toddler items as well. The child items are my favorite though as they are unique and versatile).

@jius-sims have two children and toddler shoe collections that I recommend, and they also have two men's shoes collections!!

@lazyeyelids: they have a lot of great child cc and teen-elder masc frame cc.

Some of the old CC sets by @plumbobteasociety cover toddlers, children, and masc frame sims (I have cottage garden and rustic romance in my game). Obviously they have been inactive for a while, so hairs are missing the new swatches but the clothes and accessories are still very much worth it.

@rustys-cc: mentioning them because while they do make a lot of fem frame cc, they also have a sprinkling of hidden gem child and masc frame cc that is unique and well made (hairs/accessories/and outfits).

Vintagesimmer has some great cc for kids and toddlers that I enjoy, but it can lean alpha/maxis mix so if that's not your thing I'd stay away, but still thought they were worth mentioning!

@giuliettasims makes great accessories for fem sims, but for toddlers and children too.

Skin Details, overlays, presets blurb: I didn't really talk about these things because I consider them to be in their own category; I'd have to make an entirely different post on my genetic cc (I find everyone has their own method on this that works with their style). Additionally, a lot of skin overlays for masc sims aren't made specific to gender. This is usually true with age too, in the case of toddlers and children. However, I will note some general things I like that might fall under this category:

This hair overlay by @zombietrait changed my life because it helps unify the dark hair swatch more than anything or make the dark brown swatch true dark brown and etc. If two hairs in the same swatch don't match, this almost always fixes the problem.

THIS gray hair overlay by @sunnybelloria (works for fem sims, too) is necessary. Also THIS graying beard accessory for masc sims by @igorstory is my fave.

Paint/dirty hands and face makeup by @aroundthesims

Holy crap that was long lol but I hope this was helpful ❤️. I think I'm at max for links/tagging and I don't want Tumblr to have a crap attack, so I'll stop here. Anyone feel free to add on to this or reblog with your own additional suggestions!

Thank you for your ask!!

#ccfinds #resources #ts4 #simblr #the sims 4 #ts4cc #sims 4 #ts4 male cc #ts4 cc finds #ts4 toddler cc #ts4 child #ts4 child cc #ts4 toddler #ts4 masc #atfs ask #anon #custom content #ts4 cc #ts4 custom content

157 notes · View notes

genericpuff · 1 year ago

Text

Remembering My Roots - Rest in Peace, RateMyDrawings

I've talked about my old art before on here, but never really fully in-depth about the site that hosted it. I was reminded of it today while going through my FB memories and felt like I should actually write a true eulogy towards what once was.

Once upon a time, before LORE | REKINDLED, before Time Gate: [AFTERBIRTH], before I had even started drawing webcomics, I entered the world of digital art through one website - not DeviantArt, not Pixiv, but a little site called RateMyDrawings. Back in the day, it was one of the most popular browser-supported art tools, offering multiple different art tools that were, at the time, revolutionary. A flash drawing tool which could replay the progress of your drawing (but the tradeoff was that you had a limited amount of 'ink' aka recording data), a Java-supported tool that was essentially Photoshop Lite (but didn't come with the recording), and later, a more refined tool supported by HTML5 (?) that offered more 3D-like brush tools. There was also DrawChat, a live drawing flash tool where you could draw with others and chat.

And on that site, I created my first works of digital art. No drawing tablet, just a mouse and a loooot of patience. They'd host contests every now and then to win budget Wacom tablets. Sometimes I'd enter, I'd never win. I did eventually get my first drawing tablet, but by then, I'd moved on from RMD onto actual software such as GIMP and Photoshop Elements.

That site is gone now, one of the first art site deaths I'd ever experience in my teen years. I was around 12-13 when I started using this site and I adored it. When people talk about missing the 'tight-knit communities' of old, I don't think of DA, I think of RMD, my first home. Unfortunately, the site couldn't survive in the 'modern' era of the Internet, overshadowed by more advanced tools and art-sharing sites like Deviantart, Facebook, and Instagram.

But I did manage to backup some of my old art pieces before the site finally became completely shuttered in the early 2020's. For a while the site was awake but lacked any content or features, with a message from the site's creator Mick that it might come back, it might not.

It didn't. The old ratemydrawings.com URL now redirects to the inactive FB page. Any attempt to bypass that kill screen like before leads to an Error 404.

But while the site was in its comatose state - before it was shuttered permanently - I was able to access my old profile and extract some of my art pieces of old. I posted them to my FB about 3 years ago, and today they showed up in my memories.

I share a lot of art pieces from creators like Rachel Smythe in an attempt to preserve media. But I also need to remember to preserve my own. So here are a handful of the 100+ pieces I drew on RMD. Enjoy ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡

Don't be confused by the '1987' part of the username, I picked that number because I was a huge Zelda weeb and 1987 was the year the first Zelda game was made. Whoof.

What's ironic is I actually didn't have the Featured Artist award last time I was actively on the site, so it clearly happened while I was inactive in its final days. The one award I wanted the most and I wasn't there to witness getting it. RIP.

Unfortunately that's all I really have in the way of high-resolution drawings as I wasn't able to preserve much else (though if I find anything more I'll definitely add it to this post!) That said, I was able to nab some screenshots of my homepage via the Wayback Machine where you can see more of the pieces I did back then:

There are so many dorky ass drawings here, some from Time Gate (because it's that freaking old!!!), some are screenshot recreations from anime that I enjoyed (a very common trend on RMD), some are collaborations. There was a point where I learned how to color with the mouse by using low opacity colors and layering them one at a time. Really upped my game there LMAO That Ocarina of Time Link drawing was the first one I ever did that made it to the front page of RMD and y'all, I was so proud, the site back then I think had 50k users total which is nothing compared to the Internet today, but achieving that was one of the greatest things ever LOL The Skyward Sword drawing that followed was one that really felt like a milestone in terms of my art evolution, I felt like I was finally creating something good. I believe I did that Skyward Sword drawing off another DA piece at the time, it was really common to do redraw challenges on RMD what with the technical limitations of the site - I suppose redrawing stuff I liked back then should have been foreshadowing LMAO

That feeling wouldn't last forever ofc once the art high wore off, but even to this day I look back on the pieces from that era fondly. It's where the mysteries of digital art finally started to 'click' in my brain, and I had still barely gotten started.

I also have a few drawings preserved that were done after I got my first drawing tablet, and you can really tell with the improvement of the lineart LOL That said, I think I was around 18-19 when I did these:

Now, one thing that I really enjoyed doing on RMD were collabs - specifically, trading collabs where users would exchange drawing files through the RMD PM system with one another to do steps of a drawing together. Often times I took the role of coloring other people's lineart pieces, which is probably where I started to really learn digital art coloring and come into my own with it.

A collab with user "lime":

Collab with user "Mikai":

A collab with user "Overik", which I specifically remember struggling with because, at the time, my computer monitor's screen was messed up resulting in the entire thing basically being a fluorescent pink:

A collab with "Mist04" that I don't remember doing lmao:

Collab with "Adzumi" (?). I'm fairly certain that's who it was, I definitely remember the process of painting this one, I had loads of fun with it:

Collab with user "ForgottenArtist", IIRC this one was more of a coloring page where they gave out the file freely for others to color, so this was my version. The forums on RMD were great for that sort of thing, people would literally just upload their drawing files for people to have fun with:

So I guess I drew this next little thing in 2021 when the site was still 'live' but not functional, I completely forgot I did this though LMAO Basically the main URL took you to that kill page I showed above, but if you knew any of the extension slugs, you could bypass that kill page and get into the rest of the site, which I was able to by using my username URL. So I got into the Java drawing tool and made this little thing in the hopes I could upload it. Of course, it didn't work, but hey, it was worth getting a screenshot, I suppose:

It's equal parts nostalgic and bittersweet to go through these drawings. Life back then feels so far away and yet I still remember it so vividly, the hours I'd spend drawing on the family PC, feeling more at home with the friends I made online than the ones I had in real life, listening to music that I still listen to to this day. It's far away now, but it still lives through me, in the work I do today. Even someone like me can go from being a complete noob drawing with a mouse to a professional making their living stabbing ink into other people while still drawing the same stories they drew as a child.

There is one piece I had to dig up outside of FB memories, fortunately it wasn't hard to find because I knew I had shared it ages ago on my FB so the search bar saved my skin. My very first digital art piece, of Sheena Fujibayashi from Tales of Symphonia, one of my favorite games of all time.

My very first digital art drawing:

Recreated in 2019:

Past me went through a lot, and they'd be doomed to go through even more still (they hadn't hit the plague yet). And yet they're going to survive, they're gonna keep getting better and better with each passing year. Thanks past me - you've done a lot of dumb shit in your life, but sticking with your craft wasn't one of them. Thank you for walking - through all the good and the bad that you've had to weather through - so that I could run for us both.

#i have other things i wanna mention about old RMD as well but they're better for another post #self post #old art #media preservation #digital art #ratemydrawings

39 notes · View notes

archoneddzs15 · 5 months ago

Text

Sega Dreamcast - PSYVARIAR 2 The Will to Fabricate

Title: PSYVARIAR 2 The Will to Fabricate / サイヴァリア2 ザ・ウィル・トゥ・ファブリケート

Developer/Publisher: SKONEC / Success Corp.

Release date: 26 February 2004

Catalogue No.: T-9907M

Genre: Shooting

PSYVARIAR 2 The Will to Fabricate is 2004's best offering for Dreamcast shooting fans and is certainly not to be sniffed at. Developed by the Korean company Skonec and released in the arcades by Success, this shooter has got to be one of the most original ones out there alongside Treasure's Ikaruga.

At first glance, Psyvariar 2 looks to be a blatant rip-off of Ikuraga with its flashy camera angles, fast fast-moving backgrounds with multiple layers of clouds but that's where the similarities end. Psyvariar 2 has NO power-ups nor Speed-ups to collect. The only way to power and speed up your craft (robot) is by using the BUZZ system. This is achieved by skimming your craft against the sides of the thousands of oncoming bullets. The more BUZZ chains you can achieve, the more powerful your craft will become. This system doesn't feel so good at first since your craft moves so slow with such a lousy firing rate. But after a little experimenting, I found that if you "shake" your craft from side to side a few times, it will start to roll. Enabling it to fire out bullets at a much faster rate whilst allowing you to move quicker to dodge the enemies' oncoming attacks.

Psyvariar 2 takes place over 6 (even though I can only access 5 for some odd reason) short but action-packed stages. Each stage is as beautiful as the last with each featuring a giant boss at the end that takes no mercy in throwing everything it has at you. Whilst some of the backgrounds could do with a much further draw distance. They make up for it in detail. The first-level boss is a prime example of sheer beauty by the way it fires 5 beams down to the earth resulting in one of the most beautiful (If an explosion can be called beautiful) explosions ever seen in a video game.

The Dreamcast title, Boarder Down, was criticized greatly for its music. Whilst I liked it, it could have been better. Well, being Asian I love the music in Psyvariar 2 with its Eurodance-style tracks (think Cascada's 'Everytime We Touch'). Try to imagine a Marc Snow track mixed with a bit of Euro rave with a tiny bit of Taito's Zuntata Team's music and that would probably be a pretty close comparison to what we have in Psyvariar 2. All in all, great stuff (^v^)

Earlier I wrote that there are 6 stages, but I can only access 5 of them. How the 6th stage is accessed I've yet to find out. I've finished the game with the woman character on ALL level settings including Very Hard but still, there is no 6th stage. If you look at the ranking tables, you'll notice that the top scores all have AREA 6 next to the score. Could this be some hidden level that will be revealed after playing for so long? Or must the game be complete with both characters? If so, you'll be in for a hard time since the male character's game is far more difficult than the woman's. The guy's bomb is next to useless, and his weapon seems to be far weaker than the woman's too. Maybe there's a point to this that I'm missing. All will be revealed once I've read or struggled through the instruction book.

So, is Psyvariar 2 The Will to Fabricate worth getting? In short, YES!! It's far better looking than Border Down. It's far more original than Ikuraga in my opinion but it is quite short. Then again, completing the game with the male character will keep you busy for quite some time. I've only had Psyvariar 2 for two days now but have already played it 8 times while Puyo Puyo Fever has only been on twice. So, it's certainly got that addictiveness to it.

My copy came with this cool Psyvariar 2 dog tag courtesies of Sega Direct. (photo from a discontinued website) I don't have a dog right now but if I did, it'd be cool.

youtube

#sega dreamcast #Youtube

2 notes · View notes

earlgreytea68 · 1 year ago

Text

Ruminations on Social Media Platforms

Since Tumblr has decided that it Needs to Make Money and the Only Way to Make Money is to turn all users into Mindless Servants of the Algorithm, I've been thinking a lot about social media platforms.

Tbh, I'm always thinking a lot about social media platforms, it's kind of part of my field of scholarly endeavor, if you will. But I think a lot about them not in the abstract but as an active user of many of them. And Tumblr is my faaaavorite. And of course so much of what makes Tumblr my favorite is what makes it "unprofitable" or whatever. I put these words in quotes because the definition of "unprofitable" is an extremely narrow one in our capitalist society. Could a website that has allowed many people to form communities / relationships / friendships / connections with people they would otherwise never have met in ways that have vastly improved their lives really be considered unprofitable, ever? Could a website that gives people any moments of pleasure or joy or delight be considered unprofitable? Could a website that sometimes makes you think or at least give you pause be considered unprofitable?

Yeah, it's also a website that's, you know, a hellsite, but, like, it's on the internet and it's made up of people, c'est la vie.

I left Twitter when the Elon Musk thing went down, partly because in those days he was actively taunting Twitter's userbase and it felt a little like I was just on this social media platform being bullied by its owner? Idk, I didn't like it, so I decided to take a break until things calmed down. I really thought he'd get bored and sell it, so kudos to Elon Musk for not doing that. But, anyway, sometimes I think about going back to Twitter. I miss my friends there, I miss knowing what they're up to. Twitter was actually, let's face it, terrible for keeping up with people but Tweetdeck, where you could put people in chronological order and better organize things, was great for it! (As usual, the only way to make the social media platform usable was to use it in a way it wished you wouldn't.)

But I've been going back to Twitter recently to find Tourdust content and I was reminded that Twitter is just...awful. Like, it is almost impossible to have an encounter with Twitter that doesn't drag you down a rabbit hole of terrible discourse of people being awful. I fully admit this is my own fault, for clicking on things I know are going to upset me, but this is why it's better for me just to be off Twitter entirely. Twitter's functionality makes it way too easy to trace and follow outrage, and then you end up just hate-clicking deeper and deeper into these spirals. My mental health is much happier for having given up Twitter, because I'm not a strong enough person not to get sucked into all the unhealthy snippiness of the place.

The reason I've been on Twitter looking for Tourdust updates is precisely because it's better-organized than Tumblr, easier to find the stuff you want to find (in among all the other stuff you wish you wouldn't find, of course). So Tumblr's poor searchability is why I was driven to Twitter, BUT I've come to the conclusion that in a lot of ways that is a feature and not a bug. I can see the ripples of a bunch of kerfuffles that have happened in bandom recently, they lap delicately up against my dash, but by the time they get to me they're the tiniest of waves instead of a tsunami, and if I wanted to figure out what went down, it would take me actual effort. I'm sure I could do it, of course -- it's not like it's utterly impossible -- but it's not as frictionless as figuring out on Twitter. I have to make more of an active effort to go in search of the drama, it's not just RIGHT THERE blinking at me to click on it, and that makes me better able to resist it. I am at heart a lazy person, after all.

So, like, in a way Tumblr doesn't function right, and in a way Tumblr functions beautifully. It all depends on what you're using Tumblr for. And Tumblr was always my escape platform, even when I was still active on Twitter. When I was feeling anxious or sad or upset, I would scroll my Tumblr dash and it would be mindless and soothing and endless (I follow a lot of people. This is for me the key to Tumblr, but see, it all depends on how you're using Tumblr! They don't all share my interests anymore, but I don't care. I just want to sometimes not be in the shouting match that Twitter seems to devolve into so often). And so this is why I feel like it does make sense that there should always be multiple social media platforms in the world. This idea that social media platforms seem to have that they should be the ULTIMATE ONLY ONE is so harmful. Different platforms are for different things. Chill out. (Of course, this is the conquer-the-world mentality formed by capitalism. I am really worried what's going to happen when Netflix realizes it can't keep growing subscribers indefinitely because the population of the planet is finite. Does it know this? I don't think it knows this...)

I was thinking of all this not just because of Tumblr's algorithm thing but because everyone's fussing about Threads, and like, in a way I get it. Clearly I still have a need for Twitter in my life even if I'm simultaneously aware how dysfunctional it is for me. I get that everyone's still trying to find a way to replace Twitter. But first of all, I dislike Facebook as a company so intensely, like, a lot. (I refuse to call it Meta. That's how much I dislike it lol). Second of all, the fact that people seem to think it's a good thing that Threads integrates with your Instagram, I'm just like, ......imagine behaving on Twitter exactly the same way you behave on Instagram? What??? This doesn't even computer to me lol. The same platform that wants you to post photos of your kids should be integrated with the one where people are constantly just yelling at each other over nothing???? Those seem like two completely different places to me?????

Facebook is obsessed with the idea that everyone needs to be Exactly The Same on every corner of the internet, and I just do not agree with that at all. Imagine me being the same on LinkedIn as I am on Tumblr. Like, God, what a boring world that would be!! What a boring life I would be leading!! I guess some people ARE that way, and either that is awesome that they are so fully themselves at work as to just post porn they've written, or it's that they never have any interests that aren't totally aligned with work, which just...is astonishing to me.

What I REALLY think Threads is doing -- and honestly what I think Facebook essentially wants -- is to turn all of us into some curated facsimile of ourselves. I mean, all social media does that, but if you only have one facsimile of yourself, then you never have any other aspects to explore. And if you only have one facsimile of yourself, it's probably going to be the one most designed to make yourself money. Like, isn't that what everyone wants to be doing these days? Using social media to make money? I saw people talking about Threads, and every single one of them was talking about building their brand.

So in a way I am totally sympathetic to Tumblr's problem. They're right. Social media is just a way to sell us stuff now, and if they're not selling us stuff, it's a "problem." Capitalism has finally succeeded in commodifying literally every relationship we have. Literally every single one. And we kind of just let it happen, like there was no other possible way the internet could ever have been designed but to create a handful of billionaires making money off of the fact that people want to feel connected to each other. And then taking that fact and making it all about "but what's the point of connection without making me some more billions?"

Anyway. I wish things weren't like that. Tumblr still is my favorite. Who knows what happens next. Sigh.

#long post #tumblr #social media

19 notes · View notes

watashime-slug-fan · 1 year ago

Text

Hi everybody, this account is my attempt to archive the music and miscellaneous content of the 2007 - 2009 Visual Kei band Watashime Slug. I will be uploading tracks every other day, but if you just want them all, this archive provides them as .FLAC files, along with all additional content I currently have.

The audio is all ripped straight from my CD collection, so they should be in the highest quality. If you think there are any issues - please let me know!

What's Here?

This archive includes the releases Juuryoku, Fill Me With Flowers, and Lyric. This includes all tracks in the .FLAC format, along with additional content (specifically, a couple music videos, some live recordings, and a couple interesting digital inclusions).

What's Not Here?

High-quality scans of insets, magazine content, compilation albums (to my knowledge Watashime Slug were featured on two, both times using a single that was not otherwise released), any live shows or interviews that weren't included on a CD release, "web content" (from Watashime Slug's website or otherwise), and the Rhythm Tengoku (GBA, 2003) CD soundtrack featuring Soshi performing an arrangement of WISH made exclusively for the game.

That's a Lot Missing!

Yes! It is! If you have anything you want to see, any information you think I may find interesting, or leads on where I could find rare Watashime Slug content, please get in touch with me! You can either PM me here, or email me at [email protected]

#watashime slug #juuryoku #fill me with flowers #lyric #SE~LIGHT UNDEAD~#ワタシメスラッグ #重力 #リリック #visual kei #jrock #vkei #music archival #music archive #music preservation #rhythm tengoku #rhythm heaven #WISH #WISH can't wait for you

11 notes · View notes

popculturelib · 1 year ago

Text

It's Crustacean Week at the BPCL, and we have another Crab Monster for you!

Roger Corman is a prolific director and producer known for his independent science fiction and horror films, among others. One of his earliest films was Attack of the Crab Monsters in 1957, which features a group of scientists who travel to an island in the Pacific to investigate why the previous scientists went missing. Turns out, they were killed by giant, telepathic crab monsters mutated by nuclear radiation. This two-page spread is from Roger Corman: King of the B Movie : Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses (2013) by Chris Nashawaty and features a behind-the-scenes look at the film's production.

The Browne Popular Culture Library, founded in 1969, is the most comprehensive archive of its kind in the United States. Our focus and mission is to acquire and preserve research materials on American Popular Culture (post 1876) for curricular and research use. Visit our website at https://www.bgsu.edu/library/pcl.html.

Transcription below the cut

Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)

In 1957, Roger Corman directed nine movies. Shot on the cheap and usually cranked out in ten caffeinated days, Corman's output during that Eisenhower-era annus mirabilis included such drive-in diversions as Rock All Night, The Undead, and The Saga of the Viking Woman and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent. All of these films (well, most of them at least) have their merits. But there's one that stands out for its willingness to grapple with weightier questions than the fates of bobbysoxers and bargain-basement bogeymen -- the luridly titled Attack of the Crab Monsters. Distributed by Poverty Row studio Allied Artists, Crab Monsters was released on February 10, 1957, as part of a Corman sci-fi double bill alongside Not of This Earth. Taken together, these two cautionary tales form the backbone of Corman's early obsession with the apocalyptic power of the A-bomb and the hubris of well-meaning scientists who, a short decade earlier, had unleashed a new form of wrath on the world in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Written by Charles B. Griffith, who would go on to pen several other Corman classics line 1960's The Little Shop of Horrors and 1975's Death Race 2000, the $70,000 Crab Monsters kicks off with a crew of scientists arriving by seaplane on an unnamed deserted island in the South Pacific. They're there to find out what happened to a previous research team that went missing. Could it have something to do with the fact that the island is smack sab in the middle of a nuclear testing zone? Before they have a chance to find out, things go disastrously wrong: One of the seamen bringing them ashore by raft falls overboard, only to resurface missing his head. Then, as the seaplane lifts off to return to the mainland, it explodes in midair. The table is set.

The team of stranded brainiacs include Dale Drewer (Richard Garland in an ascot), Martha Hunter (Pamela Duncan wearing more makeup and tighter sweaters than one might expect in the jungle), and Hank Chapman (a pre-Gilligan's Island Russell Johnson). Soon, they discover a journal filled with ominous entries of distress and hear the mysterious disembodied voices of the dead summoning them to the island's caves, where they finally come face-to-face with...huge, radioactive, papier-mache crustaceans with claws operated by piano wire able to absorb the thoughts of any human brain they nosh on! At one point, a crab monster telepathically warns: "So, you have wounded me! I must grow a new claw, well and good! For I can do it in a day! But will you grow new legs when I have taken yours from you?"

As the victims of this atomic retribution start to pile up, Corman's chilling allegory of nuclear folly becomes a briskly paced meditation on our most destructive impulses. We've played God and now must pay for our sins. In more ways than one, Attack of the Crab Monsters is a B movie with a bite.

[image caption]

Above: Production shot from the set of Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957). Pamela Duncan practices running in terror, lest she become the next entrée in Corman's seafood smorgasbord.

#bgsu #libraries on tumblr #crabs #crab monsters #roger corman #attack of the crab monsters

10 notes · View notes

silversapphire5691 · 9 months ago

Text

my personal cases of lost media

so i adore lost media, mostly because a lot of internet media i grew up with is now lost. i wanted to compile my own personal cases of lost media here in the hopes that someone else remembers them. maybe some of them could be found who knows :0

prepare yourselves for a loooooong post: hoops and yoyo/hallmark ecards

ive discussed this one a lot, but a lot of hoops and yoyo media and ecards from hallmark are lost. a lot of the interactive ones are missing because hallmark took them down sometime in the early 2010s. ive gone on the wayback machine and took note of old ecards i remember watching, but i cannot access the videos. some are available on a flash player, i think the blue maximus flash player?, so some have been found. but there's still a lot missing.

pokemon figure adventures videos

back in the day, i loved watching plush/figure videos, most of which were just kids goofing around with a camera and their toys. when i first got into pokemon, i remember watching a channel featuring "episodes" of a kid playing with his pokemon figures. some of the episodes i remember included one pokemon hypnotizing another and another video where togepi goes wandering into the woods and meets a charizard (or another big pokemon). pokemon that were used often included abra, gligar, sandshrew, and aipom. i remember the beginning of the hypnotizing video starting with the pokemon talking to himself before turning to the camera and saying something along the lines of "greetings pokemon fans."

this one very well could be buried under hundreds of other similar videos but i honestly think it may have been deleted long ago.

beanie babies movie part 1 of 6

another toy video (and there will be more) was a beanie baby "movie" that was split into 6 parts. i don't remember the plot of the movie, only the first part and the first scene. it involved a goose beanie at a milk bar drunk on milk i believe. the bartender says "sir you're going to have to pay your tab now." the goose refuses and asks for another glass, to which the dog bartender says something about the goose being lactose intolerant. that's all i remember from it unfortunately.

missing strawberry516 videos

strawberry516 was a pretty big webkinz youtuber back in the day, or at least i thought so. she uploaded a video called "webkinz go to the doctor" which got over 1 million views. i actually remember it being one of the top search results for webkinz videos. she has since deleted her channel and with it dozens of videos.

monkeybartv

switching away from youtube, this is a lost hasbro website i remember visiting back in the day. if i remember correctly, hasbro's more popular brands (littlest pet shops, my little pony, etc) had their own websites, so i think this was for the less popular brands. i remember idog and maybe gi joe had games and videos? i remember one game was some sort of sound maker maybe? i distinctly remember something involving mustard with that game, but i don't remember what brand it was for. i barely see anyone talk about this, so if anyone else remembers it, let me know!

ill probably make a part 2 to this, because this only scratches the surface! let me know if you remember any of these or if you know where to find some of these!

#lost media #internet lost media #personal lost media

6 notes · View notes

phanfictioncatalogue · 2 years ago

Text

Getting Back Together Years Later Masterlist

A favor for another man (ao3) - winstonlives

Summary: Dan needs help from Phil to please his current boyfriend. Phil is not happy about it, but does anyway. Dan's boyfriend isn't happy about it either. Dan and Phil have a bit of a fight and their true feelings are exposed.

All Over Again (ao3) - roryonice

Summary: It’s almost Christmas, and Phil goes back to his hometown to win back his high school love after five and a half years.

arms unfolding (ao3) - orphan_account

Summary: It's been two years since Dan and Phil have seen each other after an explosive break up. But now, a few years later when they're both a bit more certain of themselves, maybe, just maybe, they can make it work again.

but home is just a room (full of my safest sounds) (ao3) - blueshirt

Summary: In which things fall apart, and then back together.

Or, the one where they break up in 2012 and stumble across each other three years later. Featuring Dan as a radio show host and BBC presenter, and Phil as a weatherman on the Isle of Man.

Caught (ao3) - hygge

Summary: Just because they weren’t together anymore didn’t mean that Dan couldn’t read phanfiction while he got off, right? Or at least that’s what he thought before Phil walked into the room.

'cause I want what I want, but with you it's what I need (ao3) - t_hens

Summary: Phil had one rule: don't think of Dan, but that's hard to do when they bump into each other three years after Dan left.

Coffee & Coming Home (ao3) - spacekidwithapen

Summary: I wasn't aware how quickly years of someone's life could be practically erased from time until I looked Dan Howell in the eyes in that coffee shop and realized he wasn't looking back at me.

Or the one in which Dan and Phil meet in a one-off chance in a coffee shop after years of pretending not to know each other, and forget why they ever split.

Don't Leave Me (Please Come Back) (ao3) - roryonice

Summary: Dan and Phil broke up in high school and haven’t seen each other in seven years, but when Dan gets the lead role in a Broadway musical, Phil flies across the country to see Dan and they realise that breaking up may have been a mistake.

everything comes back to you (ao3) - curiosityandrain

Summary: Dan and Phil grew up together in a small town, where they had a secret relationship throughout their last year of school. When it comes time to leave for university, they lose contact. Three years later, they’re both back home for summer break and decide to reconnect. They soon realize how much they missed each other. After a whole summer spent together and a road trip with old friends, Dan and Phil begin to wonder whether or not they should continue what there once was between them.

From Eden (ao3) - transdimensional_void

Summary: It’s been twelve years since Dan last saw Phil, twelve years during which Dan has been to hell and back. It’s been twelve years since the boy Phil fell in love with vanished. But now Dan’s back, and he has a story to tell

In the shadow of your heart (ao3) - croissantbleu

Summary: Dan and Phil fell apart a few years ago, and if Phil seemed to have no problem getting used to his new life back in Manchester with his husband Noah, Dan has a few more difficulties moving on. But when Phil comes down to London to attend Louise’s party and ends up having to stay with Dan for a few days, who can tell what will happen

It Starts With A Flood. (ao3) - Vivthewriter

Summary: The scent of another man's aftershave in my - our apartment. The sound of his moans piercing through the paper thin walls making my heart wrench and fold over itself. The constant stream of all of his lovers parading up and down our hallways. I'm trapped. I can't do anything. He dumped me over a technical error on a fucking website. He stole my heart all those years ago and he never gave it back.

Just Like We Never Said Goodbye (ao3) - Eavans

Summary: AU where Dan and Phil split in 2012, only to reconnect years later.

___

It’s not expected.

Your words seem to catch onto one another and drag the fragments farther and farther from your grasp. Avalanche of emotion perhaps, tremor of the tongue surely.

This isn’t what’s supposed to happen.

Of Old Memories And Future Moments (ao3) - irphanfic

Summary: “Rummage inside Phil’s bedside drawer‘‘ it said. Oh no. What would have happened if Dan had found something more interesting than a lip-balm inside Phil’s bedside drawer?

Old Habits, Young Love, and Other Things That Just Won't Die (ao3) - blueberryphancakes

Summary: Despite their branding, Dan and Phil haven’t actually been friends for all of the seven years that they’ve known each other. For almost two of those years, ‘best friend’ was just a label they used on the internet, a clever disguise used to keep people from knowing what they really were. Because from the day they met until the day they broke up, Dan and Phil were something else entirely. Not something more. Just something else.

One last time (ao3) - outphan

Summary: 2009, Dan and Phil met.

2017, Dan and Phil broke up.

2022, Dan and Phil meet again.

In which Dan and Phil go out for an innocent dinner after 5 years. However the evening turns completely around.

Parmigiano and Anime (ao3) - Azure (Fancy_Ravenclaw)

Summary: From an unexpected breakup to an unexpected getting back together.

Retrace, Retry (ao3) - catboydan

Summary: In 2012, Dan left Manchester and Phil didn’t follow. Dan didn’t let him.

Now, it’s 2016 and Dan returns to retrace his steps and maybe, possibly, have a chance at a second try.

Scenes From An Italian Restaurant (ao3) - sierraadeux

Summary: Dinner together, once a year. Seven o’clock, the little Italian place in Manchester.

It hurt too much to stay friends. It hurt worse to lose each other completely.

Sleep Aid (ao3) - winstonlives

Summary: Dan can never sleep. Finally he finds a video that puts him to sleep almost immediately. The magical video not only cures his insomnia, but also helps with other aspects of his life. Making him and Phil happier than they have been in years.

Simmer Down and Pucker Up (ao3) - Sinncity

Summary: Maybe it would have been better, if he just left things alone. Because then he wouldn't remember Phils laugh in such avid detail, or how much his eyes light up when he get excited over the smallest, almost meaningless things.

After Dan's forced to pick between his family and Phil, he realizes he's made the biggest mistake of his life; but he's going to fix it.

Talk Me Down (ao3) - MaeTaurus

Summary: The Amazing Tour is Not on Fire is over and all Dan wants to do is be reminded of why this all started in the first place.

The Flower of Life (ao3) - worriedpeach (skeletonflowers)

Summary: For a thousand years Dan's regretted the choice he made in saving Prince Phil Lester's life, realizing far too late that love had never really existed for him after all. When the other gods get sick of the God of Death and the God of Life fighting, Dan and Phil find themselves chained together, forced to work out their differences in one way or another.

The Scent of Pining (ao3) - americanphancakes

Summary: Dan and Phil grew up together, but were separated by university and the mundanities of life. After years of missing each other, keeping track of each other's careers, and asking their families about each other, they finally reunite at a Christmas party back home. Surrounded by fragrances that cast their memories back to their childhood together, they each work up the nerve to finally do something about how they've been feeling for a decade.

things we leave unspoken (ao3) - zvyozdochka (paperdaisies)

Summary: There were things Dan never expected Phil to find, and likewise, Phil never did tell Dan about the ring in his closet. After they collapsed in 2012, that wasn't exactly an option. But 2017 was a fresh start in so many ways- why not for them as well?

#phanfictioncatalogue #phanfic #phan #phanfiction #dan and phil #masterlists #back together #back together masterlist

30 notes · View notes

hallmarknostalgia · 9 months ago

Text

Today I have the honor of interviewing Net of the popular blog, It’s A Wonderful Movie. I don’t remember exactly when or where I first discovered her, but it was around the time I started watching Cedar Cove on the Hallmark Channel. I remember conducting searches and invariably finding that her blog had the best information about what content was family-friendly on TV and at the movies. I mean, she even creates a Christmas TV schedule so that everyone can find their favorite movies at this time of the year. She is circumspect about posting the press information about Hallmark and other networks, and it is such a delight to feature her today. (By the way, she interviewed me today too!)

RH: Please tell us how, when and why you started your blog.

Net: Thank you, Ruth, for inviting me today – to share the details on my blog, “It’s a Wonderful Movie!” I’m also delighted I had the opportunity to interview you, too! It has been many years now that we have both been communicating back and forth – sharing our mutual love of movies!

Before my blog “It’s a Wonderful Movie” began, I started creating various websites on my favorite family-friendly TV shows. That was back in the early 2000’s! From there, I started sharing my love of Christmas movies. One of my followers asked if I would do a Christmas TV list, and so I did! However, the list was much smaller then.

In June of 2008, I transitioned from the old Geo-cities websites into the incredible world of blogging and created “It’s a Wonderful Movie!” Right from the start, I was featuring Hallmark Channel movies and other wholesome content from other networks. At that time, I was rather alone in doing so, but I loved the movies so much – I wanted to share that simple, yet profound enjoyment with others.

Growing up, before we even had cable, I remember my sister and I, as little girls, would look forward to receiving the TV Guide flier in our newspaper every week throughout December. We would get out a red pen or marker and circle all the Christmas movies and specials we could find, usually shows like Charlie Brown, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, perhaps, a Christmas movie of the week, etc…

When I share my schedule today, overloaded with Christmas movies, I remember those precious, simple times from my childhood- gathering around the TV with my Daddy, Momma, brother and sister to watch a Christmas special on TV, when they were a bit more scarce and unique.

Although we have an abundance of Christmas movie options today, my family and I still try to make watching them together – meaningful and special.

In addition to the Hallmark Channel, I’ve provided movie details and lots of updates throughout the years for UP and INSP, plus Hallmark Movies & Mysteries and Hallmark Drama and more! Each day, I’ve discovered, is a new journey and learning experience in this blogging process, and I have met so many kind, friendly people along the way.

In that very first year of having my “It’s a Wonderful Movie” blog, back in 2008, I was, of course, sharing Hallmark Channel’s Christmas movies, which included four new Christmas films that year. Two are still quite popular today – Candace Cameron Bure’s Moonlight and Mistletoe and Brooke Burns’ movie The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. We’ve certainly come a long way since then. From 4 to 40! Wow!

At that time, I recall thinking… four new Christmas movies are really great! Of course, every year since then, the number of movies has risen, as well as the popularity and ratings for the Hallmark network at Christmastime. And each year, I’ve provided a schedule of the Christmas movies on my site to help everyone navigate through the season without (hopefully!) missing their favorite Christmas classics, and of course, catch all the new movie premieres, too.

When I started out sharing these movies, I certainly could not foresee the extensive number of new movies we would be blessed with by this Christmas season. Sometimes I wonder how long it can last, and then I just try to hold on to the moment and enjoy it while it does.

When January comes along, I’m always back to reporting new, original family-friendly movies throughout the year – on various networks, typically starting with Hallmark Channel’s “Winterfest.”

In the time that you have maintained this blog, how have you seen it expand and change?

Throughout my time of blogging, the audience for these movies has grown exponentially, and I have met so many dear friends who enjoy movies as much as I do. Beyond the movies, I believe it’s a feeling of joy and happiness we receive each time we watch one of these uplifting films. That’s the spirit that unites us!

I’ve also been blessed to come into contact with most of the networks of the movies I feature, whether it be at Christmastime or all year long. INSP and Hallmark were the first ones to reach out many years ago, and you can only imagine my excitement when they did! Being recognized by those I featured regularly was a considerable honor.

I know you’ve done many interviews over the years. While interviews are not your focus, how do you decide who to interview? What have been your most memorable ones to date?

Interviewing is always a unique experience based upon the actors and actresses, writers, directors, etc… that I’ve interviewed. Sometimes the person, themself, will reach out, or I’ll see a movie, like A Godwink Christmas, and just know, I have to try to find a way to interview someone about that movie! Thankfully, author SQuire Rushnell was available to do so! What a precious soul!

In fact, all the writers I’ve spoken to have been truly wonderful, from Karen Kingsbury (The Bridge) and Dandi Daley Mackall (My Boyfriends’ Dogs), to most recently, Barbara Hinske (The Christmas Club).

My most memorable interview overall was definitely Jill Wagner and Jet Jurgensmeyer – for INSP’s The Legend of the 5 Mile Cave! That was the second time I had interviewed Jill (who was already incredible in our first interview – sharing details of her film, faith, fashion, wedding, etc…), but this time around, it was the first time I had interviewed two people at once! They were both wonderful with their responses and it’s definitely a very special interview I’ll always treasure!

I also must say – I loved interviewing Cindy Busby! She’s so warm and friendly, you feel like you’re having a chat with your best girl-friend!

Plus, it was wonderful interviewing Kristin Booth from my favorite Hallmark film series, Signed, Sealed, Delivered. It was always my hope to have the opportunity to chat with someone from SSD, and she made that little dream come true!

Also, Lacey Chabert was an absolute delight to share details with me of her movie, Love on Safari. She was so giving and cheerful in all of her heartfelt responses. And most recently, I just loved talking with the down-to-earth Erin Cahill for her Christmas movie, Christmas on the Range.

As for the Hallmark guys, I was ecstatic when I was given the chance to interview the effervescent Cameron Mathison early in the Murder, She Baked series and absolutely thrilled when I was recently able to connect with the charming, Brennan Elliott!

It was a blessing to chat with these actors and actresses, and I look forward to whoever is next!

Your blog focuses on family-friendly content. With all the content out there today, how do you choose which content to feature?

Yes, I focus my website on promoting only family-friendly films. I’ve had people email and leave comments telling me – this is my calling, my mission. At first, I thought, really? These are only movies, but the more I see where the entertainment world is heading, I do think it’s very important to keep my moral standards, and godly principles, while sharing wholesome entertainment with others and informing my followers when a program does not meet those standards.

I also appreciate when my followers reach out to me – to let me know they’ve seen content in a movie that they feel would not meet the family-friendly model. It’s a blessing to know how many others enjoy and want only quality, wholesome entertainment.

What is your process of reviewing films and shows?

Reviewing is often based upon how much time I have (which isn’t a lot these days) or if I see a particular movie that has moved me deeply. Then, I know I must take the time to share how much that story impacted my life, whether it made me laugh out loud (which I’m known to do quite often!), or brought a tear to my eye (which happens, from time to time… I have such a sentimental, tender heart!).

Since blogging is your passion, but it’s not always financially profitable, how do you keep this blog successful while keeping costs down?

My followers are the best and so supportive! I wouldn’t be able to do this without them. I love to feature the latest DVD releases from Amazon and Walmart, and I also have a passion for fashion! I’ve been featuring some of the clothing from the Hallmark movies, mainly when something special catches my eye or if a follower comments and asks, “Where can I get that… (for example) coat worn by Candace Cameron Bure or that dress- seen on Jen Lilley?” It’s so fun when I’m able to find these special things and share them with my readers!

Do you have aspirations to be involved in writing professionally in the future? Elaborate if you would like.

What a great question, Ruth! Yes, I’ve had quite the passion for writing, ever since I was a little girl. I was always walking around with my notebook and pencil, being imaginative, and writing stories. In fact, I would often write little plays that my family or friends would perform.

I still enjoy writing today – and maybe one day I’ll write a book or movie script!

What are some of your favorite movies in general that you have featured on your site?

Oh, I have many dear favorite films.

Two movies that immediately come to mind and always touch my heart are: It’s a Wonderful Life and Anne of Green Gables. I’m always completely captivated by those films and the incredible stories weaved within.

In the Hallmark library of films my top favorites include: The Nine Lives of Christmas, all of the Signed, Sealed, Delivered movies, especially Christmas, Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade, All of My Heart, How to Fall in Love, The Christmas Secret, Autumn Dreams, A Country Wedding, Window Wonderland, A Joyous Christmas, A Shoe Addict’s Christmas, Winter Castle, and so many more!

What would be your dream Hallmark movie cast?

Well, I love the incredible ensemble casts Hallmark brings together in When Calls the Heart, Signed, Sealed, Delivered and the Christmas in Evergreen movies! It is always so wonderful to see so many people I like in one program!

Besides that, it is fun to imagine who would be good paired up together from the Hallmark family. As people have already suggested, I, too, think it would be enjoyable to see Jill Wagner and Andrew Walker in a Hallmark movie. They were excellent together in one of the recent Christmas Preview Specials, and I think their equally mesmerizing high energy would be an excellent blend!

In addition to them, I think it would be interesting to see Candace Cameron Bure with Brennan Elliott. Since Candace’s roles are typically more serious and he’s generally the delightful, life of the party sort, I think they would make a great mix.

Also, Cindy Busby and Trevor Donovan would definitely be a sweet pairing, along with Jen Lilley and Michael Rady and Kristoffer Polaha and Pascale Hutton!

And I would absolutely love to see Brooke D’Orsay and Eric Mabius together again. They were truly phenomenal in the Hallmark movie How to Fall in Love. By the way, I was elated to have a portion of my movie review from my blog, *It’s a Wonderful Movie* featured on the How to Fall in Love DVD! Truly, it was such an honor! To see these two teamed up together again would be such a thrill!

Plus, I’ve been hoping to see some people who’ve been on Hallmark, once or twice in the past, return to the network… such as: Laura Bell Bundy (Dear Dumb Diary), Brandon Routh (The Nine Lives of Christmas), Virginia Williams (Reading, Writing & Romance), James Wolk (Front of the Class), Jaime King (The Mistletoe Promise), Matt Long (Christmas Joy), Jana Kramer (Love at First Bark), Brant Daugherty (Mingle All the Way), and Meredith Hagner (My Christmas Love)! To name a few! haha! Seriously, I would love to see any or all of them return at some point to Hallmark.

I know your faith is very important to you. How is your blog an extension of you and your faith?

Yes, absolutely YES!!! It’s a Wonderful Movie is a place where I not only share my love of movies, but the joy of my salvation and knowing Jesus! I was blessed to be raised by such loving parents who always took my siblings and me to church and instilled that faith in us by example – and continue to do so today. They are so giving, loving and supportive – I owe everything to them and the love they give to our family each and every day!

Coming from a farm family in the Midwest, I know firsthand how a small seed – can reap a large harvest. That’s why I want everyone who visits my website to know that our Heavenly Father loves them, too!

I just recently saw a t-shirt at Dayspring that says, “I Only Overshare Jesus.” In their description, it says this shirt is… “a thoughtful reminder to take every opportunity to share Jesus with those around you.” That’s exactly how I feel! I want everyone to know they are loved, and they can be forgiven and saved by the grace of our Lord.

It is my hope that those of us, who already know the love of Jesus, are compelled to share that amazing love with others – everywhere we go and in everything we do. We should be a reflection of His Light, a shining example. Christmas is a celebration of that first Gift given to all mankind- the Christ Child. What a special, perfect time it is to share and unwrap that amazing Gift!

Thank you, Ruth, for this wonderful interview and opportunity to share my website and love of Christmas movies and more with your followers. You have always been such a great friend to me. Blessings to you and all who visit here!

As you can see, Net is one of the foremost and most well-established bloggers in the blogosphere today. I would venture to say she is the authority on family-friendly content, and she is immensely supportive of other quality bloggers as well. She regularly visits my blog, reads my interviews, and then comments with the most encouraging and kind words ever. I hope that everyone checks out her links below and considers following her in some fashion. I have been receiving her emails for years! And to be honest, Net has never steered me wrong. You will not find a blogger who is more gracious, engaging, and pleasant than Net, and I would hope that if you love family-friendly movies and shows, you would not hesitate to check her out this holiday season!

FOLLOW NET OF IT’S A WONDERFUL MOVIE

Website

Twitter

#hallmark #up tv #insp #faith #religion

2 notes · View notes

blazehedgehog · 2 years ago

Text

My take on the Twitch "brand guidelines" situation, which I've been believing more and more over the last 24 hours:

StreamElements is a popular site that hooks in to the Twitch API and lets you create custom alerts (those fancy animated graphics that pop up on stream) for when people subscribe/cheer/follow/donate. Tons of streamers use them! I use them!

Very recently, like within the last three months, StreamElements has launched a new Sponsorship tab. If you use StreamElements, it's impossible to miss, because they've been sending me 7-10 emails a week about each new sponsor offer I have.

Generally they'll tell me how I could make "up to $900" by doing a sponsored stream with a list of requirements and goals I'd have to meet in order to earn my payout. There's a lot more to it than that, but we'll get to it.

The thing is, this StreamElements Sponsor system is an almost direct clone of a system Twitch already has: the Twitch Bounty Board. But there's a twist: The Twitch Bounty Board is only available to the upper-crust of streamers who hit consistent and moderately good viewership numbers. And the higher numbers you pull in, the bigger bounties you get with bigger payouts.

StreamElements Sponsorships aren't anywhere near as high profile. A Bounty might have a streamer order food from Dominos, comp them the price of the meal, and have them eat and talk about it on camera. A typical StreamElements Sponsor is a gacha mobile game you probably haven't even heard of.

And that "up to $900" claim on StreamElements is just the hook. Once you actually read the terms, you'll learn that the minimum payout is $15, with $900 being the maximum possible earnings. And usually, just to earn that measly $15 minimum, you have to stream for multiple hours, across multiple days, with special overlays, a special chat bot, while also requiring several viewers to use your offer code and also play for multiple hours.

It creates a discrepancy where Twitch Bounties have a higher barrier of entry but a much higher success rate, and the StreamElements sponsors have a much lower barrier of entry and probably a much smaller trickle of money.

The thing is? Twitch likely gets a cut of the bounty payout, but StreamElements doesn't have to pay Twitch anything for a sponsor. And even if the StreamElements sponsor program has lower payouts and more difficult/nebulous requirements, slots still fill up quickly. That's a lot of money changing hands on Twitch that is not necessarily feeding back in to Twitch itself. And it is through a system seemingly designed to devalue something Twitch is already doing.

Twitch slapping down all these rules about "burned-in advertising" were undoubtedly about pulling people out of StreamElements. After all, the new guidelines said it was fine to link things around the video, like in the description/bio below the stream. Since Twitch literally owns the website, in theory it probably wouldn't have been too hard for them to reskin a streamer's entire page for a bounty integration. There are already plugins and things to generate widgets that aren't burned in to the video and hover over the player's HTML.

It's not hard to imagine a scenario where you accept a Twitch bounty for Mountain Dew and it adds a special Mountain Dew Widget over your stream that's part of the video player code itself, something StreamElements would probably never be allowed to do.

Further evidence for this comes from the fact that, just a few weeks ago, Twitch added a feature to let you generate stream alerts from the Twitch dashboard itself. StreamElements literally started their entire business on robust and highly customizable stream alerts, and once StreamElements started pushing their own bounty board clone with Sponsorships, suddenly Twitch starts testing its own in-house alerts generator.

Twitch was obviously trying to head this off at the pass and provide users as little reason to use StreamElements as humanly possible, but they obviously didn't get there fast enough and were more than a little overzealous.

#twitch #branding #streamelements #bounty #sponsorship #alerts

13 notes · View notes

mostlysignssomeportents · 2 years ago

Text

Oops! All linkdump!

Tonight (May 2) I’ll be in Portland at the Cedar Hills Powell’s with Andy Baio for my new novel, Red Team Blues.

On May 5, I’ll be at the Books, Inc in Mountain View with Mitch Kapor; and on May 6/7, I’ll be in Berkeley at the Bay Area Bookfest.

In 1997, Jorn Barger coined the term “web-log” to describe his website “Robot Wisdom,” where he logged his journeys around this exciting new digital space called “the web.” Two years later, Peter Merholz shortened “web-blog” to “blog”:

https://peterme.com/archives/00000205.html

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

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/02/wunderkammer/#jubillee

Two years after that, I started blogging, when Mark Frauenfelder made me a guest-editor on Boing Boing:

https://boingboing.net/2001/01/13/hey-mark-made-me-a.html

I’ve now been blogging for 23 years, nearly half my life, a near-daily discipline that forms the spine of my writing practice. I take everything that seems important, and, in summarizing it for strangers, embed it in my own mind, and then find connections that turn into essays, speeches, stories and novels:

https://doctorow.medium.com/the-memex-method-238c71f2fb46

For the past 3+ years, I’ve been blogging solo on my Pluralistic.net project. It started off as a “link-blog,” in the Robot Wisdom vein — short hits summarizing interesting things:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/02/19/pluralist-19-feb-2020/

But over the months and years, it’s turned into a place where I write long essays, sometimes six or seven per week, trying to pull on all those threads that I’ve cataloged over the decades, weaving them together into big, thoughtful pieces, often to great and gratifying notice and even a little fanfare:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys

But I miss the linkblogging! For the past 14 months, Pluralistic has featured a little section called “Hey look at this,” where I post three short links, bare-bones pointers to interesting stuff online:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/03/01/reit-modernization-act/#linkdump

These links pile up in my todo.txt file, ebbing and flowing. Some days, I’ve got nothing for the section. Some days, I’ve got a backlog. These days, I’ve got a massive backlog — enough links for many, many editions. I am drowning in linkblog debt, and the interest is compounding. It’s time for a jubilee:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/24/grandparents-optional-party/#jubilee

Here, then, is the first-ever Pluralistic Jubilee Linkdump Backlog Bankruptcy!

First up:

“The Internet Isn’t Meant To Be So Small,” Kelsey McKinney’s crie-de-coeur for Defector:

https://defector.com/the-internet-isnt-meant-to-be-so-small

This is part of the enshittification canon that includes Cat Valente’s unmissable “Stop Talking to Each Other and Start Buying Things”:

https://catvalente.substack.com/p/stop-talking-to-each-other-and-start

McKinney’s money-shot:

It is worth remembering that the internet wasn’t supposed to be like this. It wasn’t supposed to be six boring men with too much money creating spaces that no one likes but everyone is forced to use because those men have driven every other form of online existence into the ground. The internet was supposed to have pockets, to have enchanting forests you could stumble into and dark ravines you knew better than to enter. The internet was supposed to be a place of opportunity, not just for profit but for surprise and connection and delight. Instead, like most everything American enterprise has promised held some new dream, it has turned out to be the same old thing — a dream for a few, and something much more confining for everyone else.

This doesn’t just make me want to stand up and salute — it makes me want to build a barricade (or a guillotine).

On to “Reddit Data API Update: Changes to Pushshift Access,” a Reddit thread where the volunteer mods are discussing another enshittification move: Reddit’s pre-IPO API shut-down that has broken all the mod tools that volunteers use to shovel out Reddit’s Augean Stables, getting rid of spam and catfishing and fraud:

https://old.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/134tjpe/reddit_data_api_update_changes_to_pushshift_access/

This isn’t just “stop talking to each other and start buying things” — this is “stop doing billions of dollars in volunteer labor keeping our users safe, and start paying us for the privilege.” Good luck with that, Reddit.

Hey! The Hollywood writers are back on strike! The Guild is a shitkicking, take-no-prisoners, radical union with massive solidarity:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/2/23707813/wga-hollywood-writers-strike-2023-streaming-ai-wages-contract

It’s what let them trounce the talent agencies — hyper-concentrated to just four companies, two owned by private equity ghouls — over a 22 month strike:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/23/opsec-and-personal-security/#monopsony

The talent agencies had rigged the system so that instead of getting a 10% commission on the writers’ earnings, they were taking as much as 90% out of every dollar — and were about to make it worse, building their own studios, so they could negotiate with themselves on behalf of their clients. In the same week, 7,000 writers — even the ones who weren’t getting screwed — fired their agents, and demanded a return to the 90/10 split and a ban on agencies owning studios. The agencies say nfw. The writers stayed on the picket line.

There’s a whole chapter on this in Chokepoint Capitalism, Rebecca Giblin’s and my book on creative labor markets and monopoly. One of our sources was David Goodman, who led the strike:

https://chokepointcapitalism.com/

David hosted our LA launch, where he told us, “We thought the agencies had all the power. We learned that they only had as much power as we gave them. You can make a movie without an agent. You can’t make one without a writer.”

The new strike is about the same thing as the old strike: shifting money from labor to capital. The studios have figured out how to use streaming to avoid paying writers, using gimmicks like shorter seasons and running their own streaming services to dodge the wages the writers are owed. As the union says, the studios “created a gig economy inside a union workforce.”

I live in Burbank, where many of these studios are located. I’ll see you on the picket line.

Sticking with labor for a moment: the Biden administration is investigating the use of bossware — the spyware your boss uses to monitor your driving, keystrokes, web usage, location, hand-movements, facial expressions, even your eyeballs:

https://gizmodo.com/remote-work-surveillance-software-workers-rights-1850392911

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s Request for Information solicits your experiences with bossware:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/050123_OSTP_RFI_PREPUBLISH_.pdf

They want to know:

Workers’ firsthand experiences with surveillance technologies;

Details from employers, technology developers, and vendors on how they develop, sell, and use these technologies;

Best practices for mitigating risks to workers;

Relevant data and research; and

Ideas for how the federal government should respond to any relevant risks and opportunities.

If you’re living under bossware’s yoke — say, if your boss has transformed “work from home” into “live at work,” then you know what to do: melt the switchboard!

One more labor story: a reminder that labor rights are a marathon, not a sprint. A group of Amazon drivers won a $30/hour contract through their union, the Teamsters. Even more importantly, the contract lets them refuse to work under unsafe conditions (it’s never just about money):

https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/4/27/23667968/amazon-contractor-delivery-union-teamsters

But there’s a catch: these are Amazon drivers, but they don’t work for Amazon. They drive Amazon-branded vans, specced down to the last rivet by Amazon. They wear Amazon vests. They deliver Amazon packages. But they work for “Delivery Service Partners,” a kind of pyramid scheme created by Amazon that tricks workers into thinking that paying Amazon for the privilege of working for a trillion-dollar company makes them “entrepreneurs.”

Instead, they’re “chickenized reverse centaurs.” “Chickenized” because — like poultry farmers — they are totally controlled by a monopoly buyer that dictates every part of their business to them, dribbling out just enough money to roll over their loans and go deeper into debt. “reverse-centaurs,” because they’re the inverse of the AI theorists’ idea of a “centaur,” that is, a computer-assisted human. Instead, they are human-assisted computers, with their every last move scripted to the finest degree by bossware that they have to pay for:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/03/19/the-shakedown/#weird-flex

Amazon now has the luxury of terminating its contract with the union’s employer — the cutout that allows Amazon to maintain the worker misclassification pretext that these drivers in Amazon vans wearing Amazon uniforms delivering Amazon packages don’t work for Amazon.

Amazon hates unions in ways that are hard for everyday people to grasp. One of the organizers of the union drive has been illegally terminated in retaliation for his labor activism:

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/amazon-delivery-owner-says-he-was-punished-for-supporting-union

This fuckery doesn’t mean that union organizing is dead. As Jane McAlevy writes in “A Collective Bargain,” her superb memoir of her union-organizing career, unions started winning the class war when labor organizing was illegal, fighting in the teeth of a rigged legal system. We won then, we’ll win again:

https://doctorow.medium.com/a-collective-bargain-a48925f944fe

Seeing defeat (seemingly) snatched from the jaws of victory is a major bummer, but a better world is possible. It’s not even complicated — it’s just hard. If you are in precarious housing, or homeless, or if you experience the moral injury of living in a city where your neighbors lack the foundational human right to a home, it’s easy to feel despondent.

But solving homelessness isn’t complicated, it’s just hard. In Finland, they solved homelessness through the simple expedient of giving everyone a home. This didn’t just address the problem of not having a home — it also made incredible progress on the comorbidities of homelessness, like mental health problems and addiction. Turns out, getting sober or getting treatment is a lot easier when you’re not freezing to death on a sidewalk. Whoathunk?

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/how-finland-solved-homelessness

There are many ways to improve our cities. You can (and should) fight for better local government, but there’s always the tantalizing option of taking matters into your own hands. That’s what the Crosswalk Vigilantes do. They research the intersections where cars are killing their neighbors, then they put on hi-viz vests, set out traffic-cones, and install crosswalks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x33yLuJ5slI

If you’re wondering how the forces of bossware, homelessness, and other enshittifying factors came to rule, it’s actually pretty straightforward. 40 years ago, we installed a software patch called neoliberalism (in some regions, this patch was had localized names like Thatcherism or Reaganomics).

40 years later, the patch is an unequivocal failure and now it’s our job to roll it back, despite all the broken dependencies this will trigger. Most of us can see this is true, but not The Economist, which Brad DeLong calls “Neoliberalism’s Final Stronghold” in his Project Syndicate article:

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/economist-writers-last-true-believers-in-neoliberalism-by-j-bradford-delong-2023-04

De Long’s catalog of the recent bizarre, delusional work in The Economist embodies Upton Sinclair’s maxim, “it is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

Every Naomi Kritzer story is a fucking delight and “Better Living Through Algorithms,” just published in Clarkesworld, is no exception:

https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_05_23/

Few writers are better at inhabiting the uncomfortable space between recognizing the delights of the internet without flinching away from its horrors. This one is simultaneously hilarious and horrifying.

If you’re just discovering Kritzer, check out “So Much Cooking,” an eerily prophetic 2015 story in the form of a series of perky cooking-blog posts amidst a global pandemic. It got a much-deserved second life during lockdown’s peak sourdough moment:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/17/pack-of-knaves/#so-much-cooking

And then try her at book length! “Catfishing on Catnet” is Kritzer’s book-length adaptation of her Hugo-winning short story “Cat Pictures Please.” It’s an AI caper about cat memes, community, and the anti-enshittification underground:

https://memex.craphound.com/2019/11/19/naomi-kritzers-catfishing-on-the-catnet-an-ai-caper-about-the-true-nature-of-online-friendship/

Speaking of science fiction: I’ve got a new novel out. Red Team Blues is an anti-finance finance thriller, a heist book about cryptocurrency and forensic accounting with a 67-year-old hero, Marty Hench:

http://redteamblues.com/

The book came out last week and I am still in the nailbiting interregnum where its fate is unknowable — will it be another bestseller, or fizzle? Thankfully, the reviews have been stunning. Mitch Wagner calls it “the most exciting technothriller about a 67-year-old accountant you’ll read this year”:

https://mitchw.blog/2023/04/25/warning-cory-doctorows.html

Mitch ruminates some on the distinctive way I’m handling Hench’s aging process in this book and its two (at least sequels). Reading other peoples’ insights into one’s own work is a wild experience. I mean, it’s nice when a reader notices something you worked hard to put in there, and frustrating when a reader imagines something that definitely isn’t there.

But the best thing is when a reader notices something that you didn’t consciously put in there, but which is undeniably there, and also very cool. In his Locus review, Paul DiFilippo homes in on the way that Marty Hench is totally reliant on his friends and comrades to get out of hot water:

https://locusmag.com/2023/04/paul-di-filippo-reviews-red-team-blues-by-cory-doctorow/

Marty is besieged and almost helpless without the aid of friends, acquaintances, and even strangers. He is no go-it-alone superman, but rather an individual tied into a network of humanity, relying on the goodness and altruism of his fellows for survival.

This is so right. Marty is no great man of history — he is part of a polity, a collective of people from all walks of life who try hard to help each other. Call it solidaritypunk. Also, Paul opens his review with “I can’t possibly say enough good things about Cory Doctorow’s new novel.” I mean, who can complain about that?

I was also very gratified by Henry Farrell’s Crookedtimber review, which says some very nice things about the way I work in technical detail, and suggests that this technique is one that all kinds of technical experts, policy wonks and scientists could learn from:

https://crookedtimber.org/2023/04/27/red-team-blues-and-the-as-you-know-bob-problem/

Which makes Matt Green’s review, where the eminent cryptographer digs into the cryptographic technical details of the book, especially delicious. Green is a brilliant scientist and science communicator, and he says I get it right, and do it well:

https://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2023/04/24/book-review-red-team-blues/

One of the first reviews to hit the web came from Matt Haughey, AKA “Metafilter Matt,” who called it “a ‘ripped from the headlines’ romp”:

https://a.wholelottanothing.org/2023/04/25/red-team-blues-is-a-fun-ripped-from-the-headlines-romp/

Matt’s fellow PDXer and olde timey blogger, Andy Baio, called it “a wild ride”:

https://waxy.org/2023/04/cory-doctorows-red-team-blues-is-out-now/

Andy is my host at tonight’s book signing in PDX, at the Powell’s in Cedar Hills:

https://www.powells.com/book/red-team-blues-martin-hench-1-9781250865847?partnerid=33241

As I type these words, I am sitting in a window-seat on Alaska Air, en route to Portland for that event. I am wearing slip-off shoes, a jacket with pockets of sufficient volume to store my watch, wallet and belt, and socks that I don’t mind exposing to a dirty airport floor. As I shuffled through the TSA checkpoint an hour ago, I found myself looking on the beleaguered “officers” who were patting people down with pity and even a little sympathy.

The TSA is an abomination. A boondoggle that doesn’t make aviation safer, lights billions on fire in lost productivity, wages and capital equipment. Its legion of underpaid, miserable workers invade the privacy and even sexually assault millions of Americans every day, and have been at it for decades without any sign of stopping or even slowing down.

The agency is now 20 years old, and it just keeps getting worse, finding new ways to make America hate it. Reading “The Humiliating History of the TSA,” Darryl Campbell’s giant reckoning in The Verge was a wild ride, and a reminder that while most of us only interact with the TSA’s awful, inexcusable policies a couple times a year, TSA workers live with it every day:

https://www.theverge.com/c/23311333/tsa-history-airport-security-theater-homeland

Before I close, please let us have a moment to acknowledge the passing of Gordon Lightfoot, the Canadian music legend, who has just died at 84. He will be missed:

https://www.joeydevilla.com/2023/05/01/r-i-p-gordon-lightfoot/

All right, it’s time to hit publish on this linkdump, but before I go, a couple of absolutely lovely little webtoys and grace-notes for you to take away:

Womprat (the font you’re looking for) is the world’s greatest Star Wars font collection:

http://womprat.xyz/

And finally, Tumblr, now owned by WordPress parent company Automattic, is striving mightily to reverse decades of enshittification from Yahoo and Verizon. They’re leaving very heavily into listening to their users, paving the desire-paths and putting the community ahead of any other priority.

One place where that is paying unexpected dividends is their deeply weird little merch store, where you can buy up to 24 blue checkmarks to appear on your posts (they sell in pairs at $8). Even better: they’re now selling a 3D printed, light-up, Tumblr-themed Dumpster-Fire:

https://shop.tumblr.com/product/tumblr-dumpster-fire-3d-print/

The dumpster-fire was hoisted from a community member, who made their own, sent it to management, and struck a bargain to sell them through the store. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you make sarsaparilla when life gives you SARS.

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

[Image ID: A page of comic book 'small ads.']

#pluralistic #hey look at this #web-log #linky linky #bricolage #linkdump #linkblogging

12 notes · View notes