#i think i was most active between 2018 and 2019

[rizardofether]

I finally made it through this damn stealth mission. I suck at stealth. It's been literal years that I've been stuck on this..

And oh! It saves up all mastery points you get even once you've hit cap for your current mastery, that's nice....

...1 million mastery points...

[rainbowsky]

In all my years of being a GGDD fan, I don't think any year has ever been better than this last one.

In the past I have watched them struggle and face incredibly difficult situations, be forced to spend almost all of their time apart, and deal with scandals and setbacks.

2024 was a year I could never have dreamed of for both of them. Watching them both thrive so well, take charge of their careers and their lives to a degree never before seen, and to have so much time for their personal lives - it's all I've ever wanted for them.

And you can see how well they are thriving, how much happier they are, how much healthier they are, and how much of themselves is stamped on every single thing they do.

I frequently see fans spinning negative fantasies about them, and it makes me sad. As if there isn't enough pain in the world, why generate more in your own mind?

A lot of turtles tend to overly romanticize 2018 and 2019 because they were the years that The Untamed was filmed, promoted and aired, and that's where a lot of our favorite GGDD content was born. I think that's rather self-centered and shortsighted. If we take five seconds to remove our rose-colored glasses, surely we can see how difficult those years were for them.

Yes, they got to work together for a few months, they got to spend some fun time together promoting The Untamed and even got to be somewhat open about their affection for each other in front of a crowd, but outside of that summer dream, they were both in pretty precarious positions in their careers, and both of them faced a lot of really gruesome anti attacks. Neither of them had very much control over their careers or their choices, and their management situations were atrocious.

We don't even have to talk about 2020. That was an incredibly difficult year. GG was the focus of one of the worst cyberbullying and nearly career-ending scandals that's been seen in that industry. He was being threatened, the people connected to him and the brands that he dealt with were being threatened.

Any time he tried to do anything in his career, whether it was an appearance or an endorsement, antis would come out in droves and protest until it was shut down. There were active organized hate campaigns whose entire purpose was to destroy his life and his career. People were trying to infect him with COVID, and there were other threats upon his life. Multiple times online hate campaigns tried to spread the rumor that he had died.

He couldn't go anywhere without people following him and chanting hateful slogans at him and trying to infiltrate the hotels he was staying at. It was terrifying.

DD was constantly overworked, exhausted, always on the move with barely any time to come up for air.

They had to spend most of their time apart, including some of the quarantine time, when DD was isolated so that he could begin filming LOF, right when the worst of the scandal broke. GG's grandfather died, and he faced so many personal burdens.

They did get some fun times together of course, and there were some huge successes for both of them, including GG's spectacular comeback at the end of the year with his sea of red for Tencent All Star Night. Even turtles worked to help ensure he had his red sea.

And GG and DD got to clown around and be silly as well, and they made a real effort to show us that they were getting through fine, they would be okay and that they were still the same people, still able to be happy. We got so much candy that year, and so many great LRLG messages as well.

But that was just a sign of their character and strength. Make no mistake about it, that was a difficult year.

The intervening years between then and now have been a bit of a mixed bag. There were a lot of COVID frustrations (scheduling issues, Kafkaesque hoops to jump through, inability to travel outside the country, risk of ending up in a prolonged lockdown, inevitable health stress), they had to spend a lot of time apart and there were more and more crackdowns on the entertainment industry, on the queer community and on fandom culture, which made things feel positively dismal and oppressive - at times even scary.

However, it's undeniable that things have been gradually improving for them. They've both been building more and more autonomy and control in their careers, and building more respect from audiences and within the industry. They've both been prioritizing their personal lives more and more. And yes - they've BOTH been looking happier, more relaxed, more balanced.

I've talked about that a fair bit over the past couple of years. Most recently in this post.

Looking at 2024, they have had so much more free time in their lives, have been able to spend so much more time together in the same city, have spent time with each other wherever they were filming, and even got to travel and spend some fun downtime outside of China.

They are in such powerful positions compared to even a couple years ago. They have made great connections and worked on some amazing projects.

GG has been working with some of the top directors on some of the most anticipated projects in C-ent. He recorded an entire solo album and several music videos, and did all of that on his own time and on his own dime, and released it to critical acclaim and massive success with audiences.

He has been the talk of the globe in fashion circles and entertainment circles, and has been the face behind some of the most successful and exciting campaigns for some of the most prestigious brands in the world.

He got to travel a lot outside of China, and build on some of the great connections he's made over the years. He got to spend time with his parents traveling Europe!

He's given us so much incredible content with his vlogs and photo sets. It's just mind-boggling how much he's given us over the past couple of years.

DD took initiative to propose and participate in a documentary series where he got to explore interesting locations and engage in some of the most extreme outdoor activities. What could possibly be more exciting for someone like him?

He got to work with a team of conservationists who are fighting to save pangolins, and filmed a documentary there as well. Knowing him, that has to be one of the most rewarding things he's ever done in his life.

Both documentaries were highly acclaimed and award-winning.

Speaking of awards, he debuted as a film star and has been nominated for all of the top awards in China both for his film work and his drama work!

He has signed a new contract with his management company that will certainly have put him in a very powerful position in the company as their top breadwinner. He has been exceptionally successful with endorsements, holding more endorsements than anyone else in C-ent.

He got to play tennis on the top of The Great Wall with one of the top players in the world (regardless of how much I despise Djokovic).

He got to be an Olympic torch bearer! He is the ambassador for multiple high profile organizations and projects.

He earned his auto racing license, joined a racing team and finished in first place in his first ever auto race!

Make no mistake about it, they are both now solidly calling the shots in their own lives and careers, they are living their best lives, and they are both happier than I have ever seen them in all of these years.

And much more healthy! Just take one look at them and you can see how much healthier they both are. They've been playing a lot of sports and doing a lot of active outdoor activities together, and it shows in how much happier and healthier they are.

Frankly anyone who can't see that has their head stuffed firmly in a moist dark place.

I urge everyone to center GG and DD in all of our fandom explorations, theories and interpretations. The reality is that the more that they get to focus on their own lives and careers and personal freedoms, the less candy and CPN we're likely to see. We should be happy for them rather than try to spin sad tales about it.

[gabrielleragusi]

For Artists: My Experience with Commission Platforms and Illustration Agencies

Hi there! I’ve been wanting to compile a list of commission platforms that I’ve personally used for the longest time, and I finally did it! I’ve highlighted the still-active commission platforms in bold and struck those that don't exist anymore so you can jump to the sections that interest you without needing to read my entire story.

Let me start by briefly introducing myself.

I’m Gabrielle, a fantasy illustrator. Since 2014, I’ve been working on book covers and illustrations for publishers, authors, and book subscription boxes. Early on, work wasn’t as frequent as it is now. I had to search for opportunities myself, and even small private commissions were important for building my portfolio and earning some money, which I’d spend on materials, books, and online courses. Like many other artists, I started out by trying my luck with the biggest art community available at the time.

DeviantArt

2009-2018

Once upon a time, there was a virtual haven called DeviantArt. To my teenage self, it was a magical place. I signed up in 2009 and thought I’d never leave!

At first, I created an account just to share my work and learn. I didn’t even think about commissions for four or five years. But when that first inquiry finally landed in my inbox, things took off! My mum swears she remembers my excitement when I got my first commission, but for some reason, I’ve completely forgotten about it. I can't remember what it was or how much it paid. It might have been a portrait of a fantasy character.

Commissions on DeviantArt were fairly frequent, especially considering my cheap prices at the time. I used to offer discounts and post my rates in my DeviantArt journal, or in Commission groups that featured artists either monthly or weekly. After checking out my profile, a client could simply send me a private message and from there, we’d discuss payment, deadlines, and other details, and the platform didn’t take any fees, much like how ArtStation works today. Everything happened through private messages or email, with direct contact between artist and client.

The downside of this process was that there was no dispute resolution system on the platform. I had to handle all issues myself, and unfortunately, problems did arise sometimes: there were clients changing their minds about commissions, asking for refunds after work was delivered, refusing to pay, or just ghosting me. These issues didn’t happen because clients were evil, but rather because I was inexperienced and allowed some to take advantage of my naivety.

However, all that frustration helped me develop my commission process through trial and error (mostly error). And despite the challenges, I can say with satisfaction that most of the commissions I received through my DeviantArt profile were positive experiences.

DeviantArt eventually introduced a commission feature for Core (Premium) users, which came with a platform fee, but I didn’t use it much, and I’m not sure if it still exists.

The real beauty of dA, though, was the connections I made. I was able to meet people, both artists and clients, that I’m still in contact with today, and some of whom I still collaborate with.

I closed my account in 2018 or 2019, but by that time, I hadn’t really used it for a couple of years. The new user interface was a bit of a turn-off for me. I had always loved the geeky, and dare I say cozy, look of the old green and grey aesthetic, with its customisable panels that you could move around and personalise with HTML code... But I digress.

Artists and Clients

2013-2016

While taking small commissions on DeviantArt, I discovered Artists & Clients. It was a nice platform for clients to get things like their D&D characters or groups illustrated for relatively cheap. I think my highest price was $50 for a single character portrait, with the platform taking a 15% cut. I used it for about two or three years before the platform started to change.

As more artists with hentai art styles flooded in, the homepage shifted, and so did the clientele. There’s nothing wrong with drawing naked anime girls, of course, but you can understand that if a client is looking for a fantasy, semi-realistic painting of their female orc character, or a realistic portrait of their spouse, it's more than likely that they won't bother sifting through a sea of anime girls to find the style they want, imagining it isn't here. Let's just say that, at the time, the website took a definite direction that wasn't in line with my genre, but this direction didn't make the different, more realistic art styles stand out either.

Soon, commissions slowed down for me, so I closed my account, but by then I was already working elsewhere.

That said, this platform could still be a useful tool if you’re looking to take on smaller commissions.

DreamUp

2014-2015

DreamUp wasn’t an AI generator back then. It was actually a subsidiary of DeviantArt, where clients could post projects and artists could apply. It was a competitive platform that offered well-paid work–very well-paid. I remember seeing jobs posted that ranged from $300 to $1,200. DreamUp was a very professional platform for clients with a mid to high budget.

I believe I landed my very first book cover commission through this website when I was in my last year of high school. I remember getting the job and going to school the next morning, excited to share the news with my classmates. Everyone was super thrilled for me (we were a really close-knit class!), and I felt like I was walking on air.

Unfortunately, as far as I know, that book was never released, but it didn’t matter because I was moving forward, and fast.

I’m not sure when DreamUp was shut down, but I do know that DeviantArt held onto the copyrighted name, assigning it to something so anti-old DreamUp that it still boggles my mind.

ArtCorgi

Now Artistree

2014-2019

When I received an invitation to join ArtCorgi from its founder, I already had a somewhat consistent portfolio. I was painting portraits and fantasy illustrations, and the clients on this platform were looking for both–your typical wedding and pet portraits, as well as book covers, which were what really interested me. To get to the latter, I had to do the former. Over the years, I’ve painted so many realistic portraits that now I have a strict rule for my own sanity not to do them any more. I have great respect for portrait artists, but it’s just not me.

When I first submitted my prices to the person I was in contact with, she kindly suggested that I raise them... a lot. That was a major step forward in my professional career. I went from charging $50 to $100/$200 overnight. And to my surprise, people actually wanted to commission me at those prices!

From 2014 to 2019, I took nearly every commission that came my way. I never spoke directly with the clients; all instructions and feedback went through my point of contact, which helped maintain a level of professionalism, although now that I’m used to working directly with clients, I’m not sure I’d want to go back to having an intermediary.

Sadly, as with all good things, this chapter came to an end. My point of contact eventually left communication in the hands of someone else, and shortly after, the commission fee changed to, I believe, 30%.

Simply put, 30% is an unrealistic cut for a website like this. For an agent that gets you all kinds of big work in the publishing industry, sure, but since this was not the case I had to stop taking commissions. Despite that, my overall experience with ArtCorgi was very positive.

Today, ArtCorgi joined another platform, Artistree. As far as I can tell, Artistree doesn’t take any fees from artists, with clients covering a small cost instead.

Sketchmob (?)

2016-2020

This was probably the platform I used the most. I’ve lost count of how many commissions I received through Sketchmob. Many. Enough to generate a steady income at the time. With reasonable fees and a variety of art styles available, clients contacted me almost daily. Communication was direct between artists and clients, and payments could be split. The review system also worked very well… for a while.

Once I raised my prices, requests became fewer and farther apart. But by then, I was already working with my own clients.

Is this platform still active? Who knows. The website is still up and the chat feature works, but I’ve seen users complain that money available for withdrawal never arrived via PayPal (the only payment method the platform accepted, if I remember correctly). Personally, I wouldn’t risk completing a job through Sketchmob right now, at least not until they release an update.

If you’ve used the platform recently and successfully received payment within the last six months, please let me know, and I’d be happy to update this section!

Upwork

2017-2019

In 2017, I was determined to break into the book publishing industry. After trying out Fiverr and Freelancer.com with no success (the competition was too fierce for someone just starting out), I decided to give Upwork a shot. The platform looked very professional, and while the process sounded a bit complicated, I wanted to land the interesting projects I saw featured in my category. I really wanted to work with a big client… but big clients didn’t seem to want me, despite having the Rising Talent badge.

In two years of bidding for jobs and submitting proposals, I only landed two projects: a small commission from a private client who actually reached out to me, and another project that I bid on.

Don’t get me wrong, I was ecstatic at the time and truly appreciated every opportunity that came my way. But looking back, I can see why Upwork didn’t work out for me. The platform just wasn’t the right fit for my style and niche, which is fantasy illustration. Graphic design, however, was (and still is) in much higher demand.

The commission process on Upwork wasn’t as simple as on other platforms. For instance, at the time, costs were calculated hourly, which was a challenge for someone like me who prefers working with flat fees (having already calculated my average hours spent on an illustration). From what I’ve seen, this has since changed.

One positive aspect of Upwork is its current 10% cut on what artists earn. I don’t recall if this has changed over the years, but 10% is quite reasonable in my experience. Of course, 0% would be even better, but for a platform as large as Upwork, 10% is fair.

Illustration Agency

2019-2021

By 2019, I had built a solid, consistent portfolio thanks to my personal work and commissions. I had a simple website in place, my Instagram following was growing… I was steadily working toward my goal of illustrating covers for big publishers (which didn't happen until two years ago).

So, when an illustration agency reached out to me one day, I was over the moon. I had always heard that artists were the ones who had to approach agencies, not the other way around.

Well, that should have been my first red flag.

I won’t name this agency because, unfortunately, I have nothing positive to say about it. In fact, the word “nothing” perfectly describes my involvement with them. Nothing came of this barely there experience.

The agency invited me to sign up, not on an exclusive basis, but they assured me they’d get me work. That work never came. Once in a while, I’d receive messages saying they were trying to pitch my portfolio to a French publisher or another client, but... nothing.

Please understand that meanwhile I was already working directly with shops and authors, so I don’t believe my portfolio was the problem. The real issue was something I didn’t realise at the time: some agencies do this. They feature talented artists in their catalogue without having actual clients lined up, just to appear more professional and credible to potential clients. Did this strategy work for them? Maybe. I’ll never know.

In 2021, I politely asked them to remove my portfolio from their website, and that was the end of it.

After that, I never actively sought out an agent again. By the time my portfolio was strong enough to approach a serious agency, I just didn’t need representation anymore.

Hireillo

2019-2022

My experience with Hire an Illustrator, or Hireillo, is mixed. At the time, Hireillo was a platform that hosted artists' portfolios, featured artist-submitted news, provided useful articles, resources, and directories of artists and agents. I joined the site hoping to catch the eye of publishers, but I was mostly contacted by authors and one fellow artist for a graphic novel.

Unfortunately, most inquiries didn’t go beyond the first couple of messages due to budget constraints. I did, however, have fun sharing news about my painting process and projects I landed on my own, which were often featured by the website. Additionally, if I had questions about 'complicated' things like copyright, or just needed advice, I could ask the website’s owner and that was incredibly helpful.

Despite these benefits, I didn’t see any real results, which was a little disappointing. The subscription fee was also... odd, for lack of a better word. $5 per week. In the end I just couldn’t justify the cost, so I stopped using the website altogether.

Reedsy

2019-2022

Finally, we come to the turning point.

I remember stumbling upon Reedsy randomly. It wasn’t very well known at the time, and I think it still isn’t. I was nervous when I submitted my portfolio because their catalogue features the best of the best: designers who’ve created covers for bestsellers, THE bestsellers, people who’ve worked on Stephen King covers, or George R.R. Martin's. Designers, editors, and marketers who are veterans. I didn’t have high hopes for my application. So, I was in shock when it got accepted.

I had an introductory Skype call with a representative from Reedsy, who explained how everything worked. Before the call ended, I remember asking if there was a good chance I’d get work through the platform. The rep laughed and said, “Yes.”

A few weeks in, I understood that laugh.

Reedsy has an overwhelming demand for book covers and commercial projects. For every designer there are many more clients. In peak seasons, I was getting requests almost every day. I’m not exaggerating.

Reedsy transformed my portfolio and my pricing structure. Thanks to the income I earned through the platform, I was finally able not to take everything that came my way but be selective and choose only the projects that really interested me.

The commission process is simple: artists pretty much decide how to split payments, what to include in agreements, and the best part, the most beautiful and helpful feature of all, they can request and adjust deadlines. For someone like me who's terrible with deadlines, this feature was a lifesaver. The admins are also very kind and responsive, available via email or chat.

Unfortunately (this is my last 'unfortunately', I promise), my time on Reedsy came to an end for personal reasons. I’ll explain since it’s no secret.

All my images on Reedsy were watermarked with my signature (my full name), which apparently violated the platform’s rules. Why? Because if a client saw my last name, they could contact me directly and bypass Reedsy, which meant the platform lost potential fees. I’ll admit this did happen a few times, but I had the good sense to redirect the client back to Reedsy.

After three years, an admin finally noticed and asked me to remove my full name from the watermark and any text on my profile. It was a simple and reasonable request, but here’s where the problem started. Profiles on Reedsy are public, and images appear in search engines like Google Images, meaning anyone could download my work and use it without permission. Sure, watermarks can be removed, but uploading my work without one in the first place felt like a bad idea. Btw, not only do I use watermarks, but I also use Glaze to protect my illustrations before sharing them online.

Anyway, for this reason, and also because I couldn’t get over the fact that full names were public at the time, something I won’t get into because, believe me, I tried over email, and my reasons went into the void (now, last names are just initialised, like Gabrielle R. Okay. Sure.), I had to close my account–they would have done it anyway because it was already 'flagged'.

Overall, if you’re willing to overlook the last name conundrum, I can’t recommend Reedsy enough. If you have a killer, solid portfolio and a love for books and editorial projects, go for it!

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

I hope you'll find this useful! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask (: Oh, and here's an old article I wrote in 2020, titled:

Tips to freelance illustrators to avoid being screwed over

Who knows, maybe I'll write another 'article' post in four years!

Instagram  - ArtStation - Website - Inprnt - Etsy - TikTok

[milfygerard]

hello bestie you are my resident taylor swift moot so i thought you’d be a good person to answer: i’m like 40% a swiftie and i know Some of the lore around the gaylor theories but not all. is there some kind of masterpost or blog you can link me to where i can like Gain Knowledge abt it i just really feel like wasting my time on that today

hi ok. God.

Most of the comprehensive ones are either lost to the annals of tumblr or fucking historical documents at this point

the two biggest non-tumblr starting points (though a few of them are still built on a few tumblr links) are the iconic reputation is about karlie kloss powerpoint and the abandoned-in-2019 blog kaylorevidence which are great looks at of-its-time gaylor culture opinions and in jokes as well as having a pretty comprehensive swiftgron timeline, though lots of things have changed w context and time. A big problem w post-2019 kaylor is that widely agreed upon timelines split massively between LSKs and more general gaylor fandom who just like think shes gay/bi or like her music in a lesbian fashion which makes it way harder to keep track of (though i did find this extremely long post-folkmore kaylor update from before midnights was announced) and makes it harder to divide like actual interesting or relevant stuff from babygating or person-who-knows-a-person-who-knows-taylor-wears-someting-with-flowers-on-it type of stuff. @/throwbackgaylor is a good example of having a very uneven mix of both of these things that can be hard to sort through but is probably a good resource for backsearching. If anyone knows how to find the old 2018 kaylor masterlists (of which there were a TON

I know @that-curly-haired-lesbian used to do queer readings and reinterpretations of her songs that I used to scroll thru and ashley norton did a pretty comprehensive breakdown of the taytaysbeard clusterfuck from a non gaylor perspective which as someone who was in the thick of that in high school I thought was pretty respectful and well done even if its kind of unbearable to watch and remember. If you want to see the state of LSK now ttb is still active at @/spade-riddles I believe but that person is a genuine certified weirdo and i dont really recommend it. penelope and priscilla are gay twins also is a good source of at its time gaylor culture and in-jokes (warning for being probably dated I havent watched any of these in a Long time)

if anyone else has masterposts or resources of Gaylors Past pls add on! I feel like so much is lost in social media based communities like this one and it can be hard to illustrate a time in online fandom without a broad spread of examples and stories and pre 2020 gaylor was such a specific moment in time!

[myjunkisyuzuruhanyu]

ISU released an article about Shoma

Two-time ISU World Champion and three-time Olympic medalist Shoma Uno of Japan has announced his retirement from competitive skating after a long and distinguished career and is ready to open a new chapter in his life.

“I have decided to retire from active competition,” Uno wrote on Instagram. “I am very grateful to have been able to continue skating for 21 years since I was 5 years old, and to have had a wonderful athletic life.”

The Japanese star will talk in more detail about his retirement and future plans in a press conference scheduled for May 14.

The 26-year-old looks back at a career with many highlights and also difficult times, but he always came back, proving his talent and showing resilience. When five-year-old Shoma went to the ice rink in his hometown of Nagoya with his father to have fun, he had no idea that he would become a World Champion, Olympic medalist and super star of the sport. He only knew that the enjoyed skating and kept coming back to the rink, taking lessons. He trained with Machiko Yamada, the coach of Japanese skating icon Midori Ito and also with Mihoko Higuchi for many years and worked his way up in the skating world.

Uno debuted in the ISU Junior Grand Prix in 2011 and was so tiny that he was unable to look over the boards. He won a few medals on the Junior circuit but his breakthrough came in what was his last Junior season in 2014/15 when he qualified for the first time for the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final where he claimed gold. Shoma went on to take the ISU World Junior title in 2015, in what was his fourth and final appearance at the event (climbing from 10th in 2012, 7th in 2013 and 5th in 2014).

Once at the senior level, Uno quickly became one of the top Skaters in the World. In his World debut in 2016 he placed 7th but then the next year won silver, his first of a total of four World medals. In his first Olympic Winter Games in 2018, Shoma skated off with the silver medal and returned on to the Olympic podium four years later, earning the bronze. In 2022 and 2023 Uno crowned himself ISU World Champion.

However, in between there was a time of struggle. In the 2019/20 season, for the first (and only) time in his career, Uno finished off the podium in the ISU Grand Prix Series. He had left his coaches since childhood and struggled with confidence.

“At first, to be honest, I was thinking about finishing my career,“ he said in an interview at Skate America 2021 about this time.

“I did not know how much longer I would keep going. But imaging the end (I thought) maybe I'll enjoy the rest of this career as an athlete.“

Uno started to work with two-time World Champion Stéphane Lambiel as his coach and choreographer in fall 2019 and soon came back strong. He grew as an athlete and a performer with beautiful programs that highlighted his versatility: “Turandot” (Free Skating 2017/18), “Great Spirit” (Short Program 2020/21), “Bolero” (Free Skating 2021/22) and “Spiegel im Spiegel” (Free Skating 2023/24) to name a few.

At the same time, the Japanese star always pushed the limits technically and made history by becoming the first Skater to perform a quadruple flip in competition in 2016.

“When I train and want to become better, it's not good for me to work on what I can already do. If I'm satisfied with just giving 80 per cent, I'm not good. The right training for me is to push my limits,” Uno said in an interview.

The Japanese Skater has an independent mind and a fun personality. He has a Youtube Channel where you can meet his three toy poodles Emma, Baron and Toro.

“When I am on the ice, I am totally focused on my sport, but when I'm off the ice, I am sure most people know I am just a lazy slacker, but I thought that would be a good way to show to the people how I am off the ice, but still this is Shoma Uno,” he explained.

When asked who inspires him the most, Shoma’s surprising answer was:

"Myself. Of course, I think I am inspired by many people and heard some good words from everyone, too, but in the end when you break it down, I do feel that it is myself that inspires me and sadly, I don't listen to anyone. Sometimes I listen, but mostly I go with my own mind,” he added.

For sure Uno will follow his own ideas in the years to come but you can certainly expect to see him gracing the ice in shows for a while.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

hey weird question but, with the context that while conspiracy thought in and of itself is just a sort of dangerous logical fallacy, most conspiracy theories have some kind of tie to antisemetism, are there any antisemetic aspects to gaylor theory? i can't think of how but somehow it almost always weasels in there, no matter how innocently silly something seems on the surface.

DEEP SIGH okay it's time to talk about Scooter Braun and his place in the Gaylor conspiracy

I'm not going to recap everything but will instead link you to this US Weekly article (I know, sorry) which is basically a fine summation of events despite being a bit sensationalist in calling a business disagreement between two adults a "feud"

tl;dr for anyone who doesn't want to read all of that (it's not actually that long, I prommy): in 2019 talent manager Scooter Braun acquired Taylor Swift's former record label Big Machine, giving ownership of the masters of her first six albums. Swift objected to this very publicly on the grounds that she wanted ownership over her own work and had repeatedly been denied the opportunity to buy it outright, while also alleging that Braun has been harassing and bullying her for years. ultimately, Swift has remained unable to buy back her work, leading to her steadily re-releasing expanded versions of her first six albums under the "Taylor's Version" headline.

obviously, given my stance against speculating on the personal lives of famous rich people, I'm not particularly interested in debating whether or not there's merit to Swift's accusations against Braun, although given the exploitative nature of the music industry I hardly think her claims are implausible.

regardless of whether or not Braun sucks as a person, it's important to note that he was only very briefly in ownership of Swift's discography: as the linked article above notes, he only owned them for about a year and a half before selling them off in 2020.

despite this, Braun holds what I would consider a rather outsize role in a lot of Gaylor conspiracy theorizing, with many apparently believing that Swift fully intended to come out in 2019 with the release of her seventh album, Lover, but was prevented from coming out by Braun purchasing her discography. I've seen some claim that he actively subjected her to homophobic bullying and others saying that she didn't him to financially benefit from any career boon she might have after coming out (although no one ever seems to have an answer for why she still hasn't come out three years after he sold her discography).

I can't say whether or not the majority of Gaylors, like, know or care that Braun is Jewish, but it feels tragically predictable and yucky that a Jewish man is given such a disproportional share of blame for why Taylor "can't" come out and is made a scapegoat in the ongoing effort to evade reality with "arguments" like this

(source)

... hang on, what's that?

oh man I love when a Jewish family gets put n SCARY ALL CAPS

okay so let's talk about Karlie Kloss and Josh Kushner!

as many of you probably know by this point, Karlie Kloss is the pinnacle of Taylor Swift's platonic gal pals that she gets relentlessly shipped with; I think it's fair to say that "proving" a romantic relationship existed between the two of them is the primary focus of a lot of Gaylorism.

since 2018 Kloss has been married to Josh Kushner, heir of THAT Kushner family. his infamous brother Jared is in fact Donald Trump's son-in-law and probably guilty of, like, a lot of federal crimes. that doesn't inherently make Josh a shithead or anything and he and Kloss both claim more liberal politics, although it should be noted that like a lot of rich liberals Josh does also suck pretty hard. he and Jared own a real estate management company together and were suing their tenants and evicting them during the COVID-19 rent moratorium, so that's kind of everything you need to know about him and Karlie Kloss IMO!!!

having said that, Josh being a bastard landlord doesn't make it appropriate to frame a Jewish family as having some kind of sinister interest in suppressing a queer woman's sexuality or imply that Kloss and Josh Kushner are in some kind of sham marriage. for YEARS Kloss' marriage to Kushner, including her conversion to Judaism and their two living human children, have been dismissed as elaborate turbo-bearding, with some Gaylors going so far as to allege that Kloss and Swift have actually been married for years and Kloss is just having Kushner's children for... reasons unknown... which feels like, you know. a pretty gross dismissal of a Jewish family in favor of pretending two WASPiest WASPs to ever WASP are secretly scissoring.

anyway I certainly don't think it's the most egregious or deliberate anti-semitism that's out there in the conspiracy world but are there some Gaylors blaming The Jews(TM) for forcing poor innocent Taylor to stay in the closet? resounding yes.

[fae-morrigan]

I Read Bendis So You Don't Have To: The Famed Jon Kent Age Up

Hi! I'm Milas. I've read more Bendis Superman than is probably healthy.

No matter if you liked the age up or not, most fans are in agreement: this run was bad. Pretty dang bad. And I agree- this run is often hard to parse through all the... er, bendisisms, and often mangles what little themes it has through poor storytelling and lackluster use of page real estate. However, I unfortunately have become an expert on this particular story due to how many times I reference it in analysis, and I do not wish my suffering upon anyone else. So, to spare us all from said suffering while writing meta, I encourage Jon fans, from whichever corner of his fandom you come from, to use and link to this series as shorthand if you so need to.

This installment will be going, objectively as possible, beat by beat through the actual events of the famed 2019 Jon Kent age up.

Issues covered are Superman (2018) issues 7-10, as well as briefly covering the events of Super-Sons of Tomorrow (all issues) and The Man of Steel (issue 6).

Before we can get to the actual mainline Superman run where this event occurred, we should real quick go through the events leading up to this.

In Super-Sons of Tomorrow, Jon is confronted by Savior, an evil version of Tim Drake from a future where Jon accidentally causes a massive loss of civilian life via an explosion of his powers. Savior is travelling from back in time to try and prevent this from occurring by killing Jon, therefore stopping the catastrophe. This causes infighting amongst the Teen Titans, even more fighting with people from this alternate future timeline, and concludes with a vote being held to decide if Jon is welcome amongst the Teen Titans. The vote decides no, Jon will not be admitted onto the team.

Though the Teen Titans tell Jon that this is because the events of the book gave them a lot to think about and work out, this is not what Jon takes away from it.

In Man of Steel, Jor-El shows up and invites Jon out to space with him. This is meant to be a journey where Jon will be able to learn things that Clark has "neglected" to teach him, as well as connecting with his Kryptonian heritage.

Clark and Lois are vehemently against this at first. Clark, especially, does not change his mind on this being a bad idea, even after Jon leaves.

However, the reason Jon goes is because, in his own words, he feels like there is something wrong with him.

This is a feeling, that, in text, Jon feels specifically sparked on by the events of Super Sons of Tomorrow. Feeling lost, and like he needs to explore himself, Jon (and Lois, who does not want to leave her son unattended, and intends to write a book about the experience) join Jor El in space.

(I highly do recommend you all read Man of Steel, because it's about as close as Bendis gets to writing genuinely well in this whole collection of books, and I can only screencap so much of the sheer amount of discussion that happens between the three Kents about Jon going on spacecation. Trust me, they didn't just shoo Jon off! They talked about it for what in comic time was AGES.)

This is where we get to issue 7 of Superman, where Jon returns from his vacation... as a seventeen year old.

As Jon himself says, he didn't get aged up magically- He lived those years. So, what actually did happen to him while he was out there? What happened during those six-to-seven years (depending on who you ask)?

First: What happens to make Lois leave?

The House of El suit Clark lends her to keep her safe makes her a target, a target that puts her in active danger (in exact opposition to what Clark intended), and so for her own safety she departs.

Leaving Jon alone with his grandfather. Who, as Jon says, has gone completely insane.

The nature of Jor El's insanity is revealed in the next issue, issue eight, as we reach what I and friends call the Jor El Nihilism Speech:

Jon follows Jor El's line of thinking for most of the conversation- He understands what it feels like to not belong in the story, because that fear of being somehow wrong was what brought him out here in the first place. Jor El, Jon Kent, both men outside of time, outside of belonging. Neither should exist. But Jor El takes it to a conclusion Jon doesn't accept: That it's a hopeless existence.

This makes Jon want to go home. Concluding Jor El has utterly lost it, he decides he needs to make a break for it somehow. Because of how far from Earth they are, he can't just fly off, so he attempts to get some help from some Green Lanterns:

It doesn't go well. At this point, Jor El stops speaking to Jon for awhile, and they spend... an indeterminate amount of time fighting through the galaxy, trying to solve people's problems. While not talking to each other. At all.

But when Jor El finally does try and talk to Jon....

Well. Here's the part you're probably reading this post for:

Yay! Its volcano time! An unexpected black hole throws Jon (and Jor, but we'll get to him later) through dimensions, landing him on Earth-3. At the feet of the Crime Syndicate.

If you're going to read ANY issue for yourself, I recommend it to be this one. The Ultraman stuff is not only perpetually relevant to Jon's story, its LIKELY going to be relevant again when Absolute Power: Super Son releases. Ultraman is the one member of the Syndicate who claims Jon as 'his':

And proceeds to imprison Jon in a volcano. As I am sure all of you know by now. The Volcano.

Ultraman and Jon trade some conversation back and forth, establish who each of them are, before Ultraman tells Jon he is never going home, and that this is home now:

It becomes quickly apparent that due to the lack of sun, Jon has no protection, no way of escape. He tries to fly out, but no dice:

And so stuck he is. For multiple years. With nothing but pigs to feed on, stuck with a monster who intends to 'train' him to his full potential:

But eventually, Jon escapes. He takes a rock, bangs a hole in the side of the Volcano, and gets himself out, relying on what little he has left of his invulnerability.

Now is a good time to mention a small misconception I see peddled around a lot: There is actually significant evidence pointing to the idea that Jon did NOT spend all six years in the volcano. After wandering Earth 3 for an indeterminate awhile, going from city to city and stopping to help people along the way, there is a strong suggestion by the way Bendis frames it that this was also years. I'd personally estimate Jon's time on Earth 3 was about half and half- Three ish years of the volcano, three ish years of surviving out in the wild. Anyways, Jon finds his way to the Syndicate's headquarters, encountering an evil version of Lois who tries to attack him. But surprise! Onto issue 9, we finally get to Jon's rescue!

Jor El was also displaced in the multiverse, of course- But we have no idea for how long, where, and what he did during this time. All we know is this: Jon wasn't just thrown across space and time, he was thrown backwards.

I think this is where the source of the most misconceptions come from: Its complicated to grasp! But very simply, the reason why Jon was able to live six years while everyone else stayed the same age was because he wasn't just thrown TO Earth-3, he was thrown backwards as well. Here's a chart I made about a year ago to try and visualize it:

If you're wondering how Jor El found him... we actually don't know. All we know is Jor El apparently made some fucked up arrangements in order to accomplish it.

And that kind of brings us back to the beginning, where Clark and Jon reunite. There are still a lot of unanswered questions, namely how Jor El managed to get Jon back in the first place, but this is essentially the rundown of the age up. So to recap very quickly: 1. No, Jon was not magically aged up. He lived those years. Its spacetime travel, not just space travel. He is mentally 17-18. 2. No, Clois didn't just 'let him go' with no conflict. It was actually a huge argument that ended up also really mentally fucking with Clark in later arcs. He goes to therapy with Khalid Nassour about it! 3. Jor El has a lot more to do with all this than he reasonably should. I could explain why he's alive but it would give us both an aneurysm- Just know in this story, he kind of serves as a foil to Jon.

Now, why did Bendis write the age up? Here's a post by a friend that gets into the metatextual reasons why this was a thing.

[shopwitchvamp]

Ello!! Same person who was trying to emo-fiy his mom lmfao. (Just changed my username) but anyways, how exactly did this business start? It seems newer.

How new does it seem? I'm curious!

Witch Vamp has been solidly it's own thing since 2017, though it was originally "Witch Vampire" for a while and only on Etsy / at conventions. I think my first skirts hit the con scene in 2015, but at the time the vast majority of what I was doing was crocheted amigurumi plushies (which I'd been selling since 2008).

The most ancient of my skirts!

This is gonna be SO long sooo if you want a whole spiel, it's under the break-

How those first few skirts started was that a friend said, "Hey, I found this place called ArtsCow where you can get custom clothing printed! Wanna try making skirts?" And I was desperate for anything I could try selling that didn't involve me literally and actively breaking my body to produce it (I had multiple bouts of tendonitis in my wrist from crocheting a ridiculous amount to produce enough plushies for cons ✌️🥲), so I tried designing some patterns to put on skirts, zipper bags, lanyards, etc. After a time, skirts were doing really well in particular.

Between 2015-2018 there was a gradual shift from the focus of my time/work/con tables/etc going from plushies to clothing. By 2019 I gave up crocheting all together and had fully shifted my focus to Witch Vamp, and it's also when I set up my shopify so I could have a stand-alone site and start escaping Etsy.

Side note, 2018 and especially 2019 I was slowing down on cons a lot. I used to get sick all the time, be exhausted and miserable all the time, and generally had started feeling too old & weary to keep doing them at such a grueling pace. I also spent about 1/4 of each of those years having run off to Japan to do an English teaching/Japanese learning exchange program in a countryside town called Ojiya. Going into 2020 I thought I might be returning to Japan to teach full time and help the program director open an English school for adults in a nearby city.. But 2020 had a big surprise in store for us all, didn't it? As you can guess those plans got absolutely demolished. So 2020 hit and cons got cancelled, Japan plans got cancelled, thankfully I had already started up my shopify so I went fully online-only pretty quickly. Things started picking up quite a bit in 2021 & 2022, and in 2022 I left Fresh Hot Flavors (a group shop I was in with other artists, including the one that got a bunch of us ((as in me, FHF, Vetiverfox, and Maya Kern)) all started on this clothing journey) to only run Witch Vamp. Around the same time my partner quit his increasingly awful job and started helping me out with the shop instead. January 2023 is when we made the business part of our partnership official and Witch Vamp became Witch Vamp LLC. Up until then I'd been a sole proprietorship the whole time and doing all of everything myself. With my partner around to start taking on various tasks (like fulfilment and customer service emails) and with my clothing order schedule no longer being tied to FHF, things started to speed up a ton. This is when Witch Vamp fully coalesced into Witch Vamp as it is now, with the weekly restocks and more frequent new designs and preorders. If you consider the business as having started (in it's current state) as when the LLC was formed, then yeah it is pretty darn new! But depending on when you consider it starting it also goes wayyy back. It's been a long road, haha. PS: if you're interested in seeing old designs, plushies, and con tables from my past life, I made a big long post about it -here- :D

[thelionandthelark]

Some of the actors who participated in the Brazilian soap opera adaptation of Les Misérables in 1967

Sadi Cabral as The Bishop Myriel

Born Sadi Sousa Leite Cabral (September 10, 1906 – November 23, 1986) he was an actor who was active between the years of 1923 and 1986. In addition to being an actor, he was also a announcer, scriptwriter, screenwriter, director, dancer, lyricist and producer.

Leonardo Villar as Jean Valjean

Born Leonildo Motta (July 25, 1923 - July 3, 2020), he was an actor who was active between the 1950 and 2011. His career, like many actors of the time, began in the theater; and to this day he is considered one of the best Brazilian actors, and was acclaimed by many colleagues in the profession.

Both of his parents were Spanish immigrants from Andalusia, and he was the youngest of 7 siblings.

Otávio Augusto as Javert

Born Otávio Augusto de Azevedo Sousa (January 30, 1945), he is an actor, comedian and director who originally began his activities in 1965, and continues with them to this day. He has many credits involving films, plays and other soap operas.

Laura Cardoso as Fantine

Born Laurinda de Jesus Cardoso Balleroni (September 13, 1927), she began her career in 1950. However, her love for acting began many years before her adult life. As a child, she used to play theater with her friends in the neighborhood; and at the age of 15, she decided to finally pursue an artistic career, starting her work in radionovelas.

"She is one of the actresses who has acted the most in the country, with more than 100 works [...] including more than 60 soap operas. She has also made 30 feature films for the cinema."

Chico de Assis as Félix Tholomyès

Born Francisco de Assis Pereira (December 10, 1933 – January 3, 2015) he was a Brazilian playwright who began his activities in 1953. I believe that of those mentioned so far, he was the only one who was not actively in the acting field. Although he participated in some soap operas, the focus of his work was most directing and producing plays.

Maria Isabel de Lizandra as Cosette

Born Maria Isabel Reclusa Antunes Maciel (June 5, 1946 – March 14, 2019) she was an actress of soap operas, series and plays who was active between 1963 and 1998.

She starred in Les Misérables early in her career, making it the fifth soap opera in which she appeared.

Serafim Gonzalez as M. Thénardier

Born Seraphim Gonzalez (May 19, 1934 – April 29, 2007) he was an actor and sculptor who was active between 1946 and 2007. Like the actor who played Jean Valjean, his parents were also Spanish immigrants.

And here's a fun fact about him: Here in Brazil, there is another very famous soap opera called "Mulheres de Areia" (I think in English it would be something like "Sand Women") and there is the original version, and the remake made two decades later. He participated in both versions. He was the one who sculpted the sand statues that appeared throughout the story.

Cacilda Lanuza as Mme. Thénardier

Born Cacilda Lanuza de Godoy Silveira (September 1, 1930 – June 17, 2018) she was an actress of theater, cinema and television. In addition, she also worked as a television host, radio broadcaster, writer, reporter and announcer.

[hertwood]

"I do find it interesting that ppl will ignore the many many times Taylor Swift has publicly supported democrats just because she was friendly to her boyfriend's coworker's wife"

the "many many times" in question being an entirely self-serving activism kick in 2019 and 2020... she hasn't even spoken up about this year's (arguably more consequential) election Imao if normal ass people can cut off their own relatives for being bigoted then white woman of the year can certainly avoid snuggling with a loud and proud racist. i'll also remind you that the "political arguments" in question that occur between trumpies and normal people directly affect the lives and safety of millions of people both in the States and abroad but okay! sure! not everyone has enough empathy to care about that! whatever!

if you want to believe taylor swift is a bad person, or not progressive enough, or a performative activist thats fine!! you don't have to like her and you also don't need to justify it with any "good enough" reason!!! you can just hate the bitch you're allowed!!!

the point i was trying to make is it is weird as hell to be making polls and speculating if she's a republican when she's endorsed joe biden in 2020 and many other democrats since 2018, it really seems like a bad faith fucking conversation to me 🤷 i think the people who are having these discussions have already decided that she's a bad person and are discounting very significant data points to present their opinions like they're reality. if you think it was self-serving activism, that is actually just your opinion :) that you are allowed to have but that does not change the objective truth that she has never been vocally anything other but liberal in her political views.

i also think its fucking weird that people who hate her so much won't shut the fuck up about her TBH!!!!!!!

also acting like i, a disabled nonbinary dyke don't know how politics affect real people?????? bitch i'm one of them. and you're right, not everyone has enough empathy to care about everything wrong with the world all the time. not everyone has the capacity to argue with every bigot they meet 100% of the time without getting burnt the fuck out. it is not sustainable and also not very effective to do! most of these crazy assholes are not gonna have their minds changed with an argument. caring for vulnerable members of our communities is a far more valuable way to spend your energy. getting young leftist people registered to vote is gonna be a much more viable strategy for change than arguing with trumpies.

i have also, for the record, been kind to bigots. so fucking cancel me too i guess. i've said hey i'm not gonna start an argument bc my siblings deserve a christmas without all that. i've heard coworkers say bigoted things and said hey i'm exhausted from the work day i dont have a capacity to deal with this right now. and if you think i'm a bad person for that? dont worry you can unfollow me i will still sleep easy at night :)

i also think it's worth mentioning that taylor swift recently had to cancel a show bc of a real terrorist threat. i personally think it's very likely she's being advised not to say anything in order to not increase risk of another tragedy like the manchester ariana grande attack. if this is true and you still think that taylor swift prioritizing the safety of herself and her fans dying over speaking up politically, thats your right to think so!! but i don't expect my faves to be activists 24/7 personally, for any reason. i dont think thats fair to expect of people who aren't politicians.

but that's just me!!!

[accio-victuuri]

fandom stories that have been on my mind recently…. 📑

as what the title says, cpn things that have been living in my head rent-free for the past days/ weeks. i just need a place to write them down and let them shine on their own ✨

same disclaimer applies. for cpn-loving turtles only. please don’t ask me to elaborate cause as i said, i have very minimal information on hand.

☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆

• The one thing that inspired me to make this post, a bit about WYB’s side account. It’s not a secret that he has one, probably even multiples but for some reason this one got leaked. especially back in 2019 when his phone number got leaked and some people allegedly verified that this same number was used to register the account. they noticed it followed a couple of motorcycle related accounts, bobo’s true love at the time lol and well the most juicy thing here is that he was visiting the bjyx supertopic.

Then by the end of 2019, it gained followers. WYB might have noticed that he was somehow discovered so the account cleared all it’s watch list and never moved again. Everything is gone. That freakin moon profile picture does not help at all cause we all know his fondness for it and how it’s one of the fandom’s symbolism. The way it was created on 3/14 is also very sus.

We have all CPN’d that he visited the ST and why not tbh. Even if you don’t believe in BJYX, i think you can say that he has visited it and at the very least knows of it’s existence. I wonder what he saw tho. LOL. I would love to get more information on this account’s watch list and it’s just so funny to have some confirmation about one of his side accounts.

no i’m lying, there is another alleged side account from 2018. A weifen gave the tip ( allegedly lol i’m gonna use this word a lot ). It is also cleared but people did capture that he kept an eye out on XZ and XZS, and also liked a motorcycle video that was not really popular. So maybe someone who knows about the moto world would recognize. I just noticed the times both accounts were created. I don’t think WYB has the time to maintain his side accounts anymore with how busy he is but i imagine this gremlin having all the accounts and just looking at everything out there.

maybe i can make a post about all his alleged side accounts one day. 😂😂😂😂

• I have always loved personal stories from turtles and while I am wary of some, there are ones that particularly make me soft. this one for example:

My uncle is the kind of staff who works with the crew, he is ten years into the circle. I usually ask him about gossip in the circle. This year (2019 ) I carefully asked Bojun Yixiao if it was real. Uncle said he didn't know them that well, but he knew that the relationship between the two is very good. It is said that WYB & XZ are modest and polite. They have no personality problem and have always been real and not fancy.

He also said (emphasis!) he will help me get Xiao Zhan’s autographed photo in October. The time was right to take advantage of the work appointment, and after the end of XZ’s work, he signed one, my uncle said that “my niece likes you two very much”. Xiao Zhan raised his head in a daze, and said, “huh” My Uncle was about to explain, Xiao Zhan laughed a bit and said, "Is it Wang Yibo?" Uncle also laughed.

What gets me in this is how XZ is confused then it immediately clicks for him — is it WYB? ☺️ I mean, granted that 2019 was such a big year for them as a pair and who could someone be referring to when talking about “you two..” This exchange ( true or not ) lives in my head rent free. and the fact that people in the industry have nothing to say but good things about them really says a lot.

• The COVID test schedules that were leaked actually showed it was the same date and time. down to the second 02:23:38. I know this is bad, people shouldn’t actively seek out things like this but my brain won’t let this piece of information go. 💀💀💀

• WYB’s “Changsha” residence when he was still actively working in TTXS was provided by Hunan TV network. It’s not his, it is located very close to the station to make it easier for him. Other staff also stayed in that same area. The candy is, XZ allegedly sends things to that address.

• This video and fake rumor that is going around recently. People are speculating that WYB’s reaction in this routine was because of something that happened and that the dancers are actually teasing him. The rumor is XZ visited the set of SDC and he was just lounging, WYB was there and was about to kiss him but some dancers saw them, and our boys ended up being embarrassed.

you can definitely give a more plausible explanation of why he reacted like this but that’s not the point of this whole post. it’s the cpn that could be connected to it. and i mean if had someone like XZ, the love of my life just lounging, looking all gorgeous — how can you blame WYB for wanting to kiss him 🥺

• I’m not really a kadian enthusiast like all the other BXGs but the recent 232323 timing is making me 👀. Yes we know you Love Zhan.

Time is 14:30, but it can be 2:30 so it keeps up with the 23. I think the reason why i’m drawn to this CPN is it was posted a day after the whole yibo relationship rumor. If you look at YBO’s page, after the post saying the rumor is fake, the next one is this. So it’s like saying, those rumors are false and I only love XZ. 23. 🤍

• the emoji similarities between xzs and ybo used in their douyin posts. not only that, it’s a match for ones during OOL ( Gu Wei ) and BAH ( Chen Wei ). I mean, do they ship them too?

• I don’t really believe in 🍉 unless they are about upcoming product endorsements cause I think those can be leaked by the brands themselves. but during HB’s initial run, there was one with 2m followers who shared that XZ bought multiple screening slots for the movie.

The melon didn’t say he bought it because of WYB, it only mentioned WYB because let’s face it— his name is associated with it and he is actively promoting. What’s so entertaining to me and makes me grin when i think of it are the people’s comments. HAHAHAHAHA! They know what is being implied. You all know deep down there is some truth it but you refuse and say all kinds of things.

- END.

[daughter-of-sapph0]

quick question, what's an era 2 tumblr user? we have eras??

it's sorta something I made up myself. tumblr has gone through various shifts in presentation and tone that dramatically affected how people use the website. honestly idk if anyone besides me actually uses this system, but I'm gonna use it anyway because it's funny

so Era 1 is from the start of tumblr until dashcon. this is where the dashboard had those weird lines on the side of reblogs, was the hight of superwholock, allows editing other people's posts, and was filled the overwhelming prevalence of fandom. back then, tumblr wasn't very mainstream and most people who used it were big nerds (affectionate). so there was a strong sense of community between people who had shared interests.

Era 2 starts after dashcon in summer of 2014. this was a disaster of an event that sorta boosted tumblr's popularity for better or for worse. this is also when I first joined in late 2015 as an undertale blogger originally (my first blog has since been deleted though). this is what I'd call the meme era of tumblr. it's when most of the most popular jokes are from. it's when massive inside jokes and tumblr references started. and it's the time where the most people were active. and it lasted until about late 2018 with the porn ban

Era 3 was kicked off with many users deciding to leave tumblr near the end of 2018 beginning of 2019. tumblr's policy on porn up until then had been "go nuts. show nuts" until it was bought by virison who tried their best to make it "family friendly". the whole thing was handled very poorly ("female presenting nipples") and didn't even get rid of all porn, just porn from sex workers and artists who sold nsfw content to make a living. most of those people left for sites like twitter, and many other sfw artists (and also people who just used tumblr for free porn) left with them. for a while, tumblr was pretty empty. but not entirely. there were still very close knit communities, arguably even closer than Era 1 even. and honestly, this is when tumblr was at its most usable. it was quiet. the only thing that you had to worry about was the occasional porn bot (and staff's growing authoritarianism, but we'll get to that). it's hard to argue when exactly Era 3 ends. I like to say it's when elon musk bought twitter, but I also think it might have started a bit before then. it's more of a slow transition that happened sometime between early and late 2022

Era 4 is the return era. when everyone who went to twitter came crawling back. this was sorta kicked off with staff starting to be more lax with their porn restrictions. but don't think that staff was having a change of heart and suddenly nice. for the longest time, they had been overstepping boundaries and abusing their authority, such as banning mainly Black and leftist users calling them "Russian psyops". it was also around this time that people discovered that there were several terfs on the development team, and that was likely the reason they didn't ban nazis and terfs despite both being in clear violation of the tos. tumblr staff tried to distract from this controversy by adding a bunch of gimmicks. the crabs for April fools, blazing posts, checkmarks, tumblr live. this for some reason actually worked, and a lot of people just forgot or didn't care about staff any more, and it actually brought in a lot of new users. I have no idea how long Era 4 will last. all the Eras have been kicked off with a massive change in how social media operates that becomes more dramic and impactful each time. so short of the us government completely banning tiktok for good, I doubt Era 4 will end any time soon.

sorry this turned mostly into a rant against staff near the end. as you can obviously tell, I'm sorta biased towards Era 2 and 3, as that's when I had the best experiences with tumblr. and a lot of the problems I have with the site today can be traced back to staffs stupid decisions and abuse of power and authority.

but yeah. I hope that makes sense.

[cantcompetewhereudontcompare]

Larries are so out of this world absurd I cannot cope. Since before Harry's tour ended they have been pedaling that he's gonna take a long break to let Louis "shine." Some of them have even become so cuckoo that they think he's flat out retiring, forever.

This Larrie, in particular, is unhinged.

She's talking about the first time she said this weird ass thing (Harry walking away from his career to be with Louis) and how the comments called her delusional. "How are we feeling now" ... because it's been a year since his last show and he... IDK? Hasn't come back yet?

Hmmm. Last show of Live On Tour was July 14 2018. Was Harry active in July 2019? NO. He was still on a break. No news of a new album. He hadn't even been seen in a studio since 2018.

This is Harry with his producer Kid Harpoon about a month ago (June 2024) in Rome

He was also seen with his creative director Molly in Civita about 10 days ago (multiple people saw her there). His assistant Luis was seen hauling a suit over his shoulder and both of his photographers, Lloyd and Anthony were there.

I know Larries, for all their attempts at portraying themselves as knowledgeable, never actually know anything. They don't pay attention to this sort of thing because it doesn't involve Louis, so they're not interested, but Harry is working on his fourth album. This isn't even speculation, Billboard reported on it.

Harry takes 2.5 years between albums, he has done that twice already. But I sincerely doubt he's gonna release an album at the 2.5 year mark this time because the US election is in November and it's gonna drown absolutely everything. It's the reason so many artists released music at the beginning of the year. Most likely scenario he's gonna wait for the dust to settle on that, and release in the spring again, making it 3 years instead of 2.5. But he is working on that album. Rob Stringer, head of Sony, was hanging out with his producer and sister just two weeks ago at Stevie's show.

This woman then goes on to say that someone is "messing with her" implying that it's someone in the know telling her stuff. And she doesn't know if this person is seeing if she's trustworthy and won't speak or if this person is using her to speak.

Honey, no one in the know is talking to you. You're a delusional grandma with no life who has focused her entire existence around a relationship that was never real between two people who have not interacted publicly in almost a decade. No one is testing you, no one is feeding you info. Someone equally as bored and lifeless as you is literally messing with you, but just for the fun of it.

"They told me HS4 was coming and I was like, really? I didn't get the vibe." No shit. He's never released albums this close together. Why would he start now?

I just don't understand how these people who act like they pay such close attention can't look at past release dates and do some basic math. In fact, if you're supposedly experts on all things 1D and management and whatnot, how can you not know that the main thing Harry objected to in terms of 1D's schedule is that they released albums too close together. Actual literal quote from Harry "five albums in five years is pretty crazy, huh?" In the shadiest voice, when talking about something else entirely. He just felt the need to tuck that comment in.

He talked about how he didn't want to exhaust the fanbase. He saw it happening in real time with 1D, which went from big (UAN), to bigger (with TMH) to big but slightly lower than before (Midnight Memories) to a slump (Four). He saw concert tickets have to go out on Groupon, their singles barely cracking top 10, and the enthusiasm all around dropping. Because they released too much music too soon and toured too much too close together. He's not gonna make that same mistake. He LITERALLY talked about it in his Rolling Stone interview. He used the sentence "we didn't want to exhaust the fanbase."

Harry went through some massive years, and he didn't get a proper break in the minds of people during his actual break (2020/2021) because he exploded during the pandemic and his songs became huge hits. He took his usual break, disappeared, didn't perform for a long ass time, but he KNOWS he was still very present in people's minds. And then he had two huge years in 2022 and 2023. So yeah, he's gonna disappear for a little longer, but there is literally no indication that he's retiring.

In fact, during his last show, where people used parts of what he said out of context ("when the time is right" is a big one), he made sure to over and over say that he was coming back and it was just a break. Something he never did with 1D, mind you.

When the time is right was absolutely warning that he was gonna take a proper break. The man was probably exhausted. But he was seen with his producers in September 2023. Mind you, Tyler lives in Nashville and Kid lives in California. They were seen with Harry in London, blocks away from RAK Studios, which is where he recorded his last two albums. Do you think his two producers who live across the ocean, happened to travel to London at the same time and hang out near his usual studio for what reason? Fun? They both have kids and wives back home lol. Like, lady, you're full blown delusional.

Remember the pic I posted before? This one?

There's a third man in it. Who is it? This man. Nikolai Haas.

Where did that photo come from? The Harry's House photobook. Where was it taken? Italy. The man is legitimately wearing the same fucking sandals lol.

In fact, Molly was seen in Civita, remember I just said that? Well, here are Harry and Molly in Civita for Harry's House booklet

So while you're going off "vibes" I'm going off factual evidence.

"I rewatched clips of him on stage. That man was saying goodbye." Lady, you're convinced that he's been in a secret relationship for ten years with someone he doesn't even tolerate. And I will touch on that in another post right after this one. Your instinct is completely wrong in every sense of the way.

Whatever "vibe" he had (according to you) is irrelevant when the words coming out of his mouth contradicted that. But I know Larries aren't known for listening to what he says, so I shouldn't be surprised.

"Ultimately we want him to be happy" no you don't. You want him to be happy in the specific scenarios you created. If he dares go outside of them you won't support him anymore. Y'all have made that very clear. You literally repeat constantly that if he's not with Louis then he's not a good person lmao. You perpetuate this idea that he'd be a womanizer if he was actually into women. You have to believe his entire life is a lie or you don't like him.

But I guess more fool me for trying to debunk and argue with someone who says "I can feel him a little bit." Claiming to actually feel what he feels. Like, this is beyond normal levels of conspiracy theory delusion. This is the level of having you institutionalized deranged.

"I do have lots of tea." Yeah, grey earl tea. NOBODY IS TALKING TO KAREN FROM IOWA.

I don't know how to break this to y'all but I've been a part of this fandom in one way or another since 2012 and this type of person has always existed. They always have some "tea" they always "know someone" and they're always hinting at something that will happen "soon." And then they move the goalposts for a while, "something changed behind the scenes" or a new contract popped up, or someone did something that changed something else, etc. There's always an excuse as to why all the "tea" doesn't end up happening. Until eventually they realize they were lied to and just drop out of the face of the planet. That is if they weren't making it all up in the first place.

"If you take a look at Louis Tomlinson's career currently *smug smirk* where's Harry? Not in the spotlight. And while they were both touring, people were going to Harry's shows mostly, but if they had the time and in between they wanted to go to Louis' shows. They wanted to go to both."

Absolute bullshit.

"And I really feel strongly that they felt 'If Harry is not touring people will go to Louis.' His crowds have tripled, since Harry left. Ok? T R I P L E D."

No, they have not?

I mean, you guys...

Louis in Argentina had sold 25,957 tickets in 2023 "while Harry was touring. (Harry sold 123,942 tickets in the same country)."

In 2024, Louis did Argentina again and this time he chose the same stadium 1D had performed at back in 2014. 1D did two shows in that stadium and the attendance was 80,622. So each show was roughly 40,000. So already we're not at "tripled" territory, because triple 25,000 is 75,000. But alright, it's a boost isn't it?

Wrong. Turns out he couldn't even close to sell out, so they "virtually" sold out the upper stands so people would buy tickets elsewhere, then didn't even open them and made fans go to lower stands or floor. A bunch of people also got in for free. And even then the floor wasn't even close to full and neither were the lower stands. It's all on twitter and there's pictures and video of it if you want to look it up.

If he even repeated his 25,000 crowd I'd be shocked. But he definitely didn't grow this audience. It was as small as before, at best.

And this is an example of him somewhere he's loved. He also did Allianz Parque, which is a stadium as well, but he cropped the stadium to fit only a fraction of its normal attendance.

This is Allianz Parque for Harry

This is Allianz parque for Louis

Harry had three shows in Allianz Parque which had a combined attendance of 137,009. Each show roughly 45/46K. That is a third of that stadium. And Louis did not sell out, there were tickets available in all sections right up until the moment the show started. Louis had one show. You can see the empty seats in multiple videos on Twitter. Meaning, Louis' attendance was at best 15K. That is, once again, the same exact audience he had for his previous tour.

Not tripled, not double, not even grown! Same audience.

What his fans gloated about the most was a show in Mexico and people use this aerial pic to show the audience and be like "oh wow"

Those... those are seats. Every single person in that picture is sitting down (or at least has access to a reserved seat). It is indeed a lot of people, particularly for someone who can't write music (admitted by himself), writes trite lyrics, can't sing, and can't play instruments. But that's not "70,000." You have to be particularly bad at gauging crowds to believe it is.

This is a standing, crowded audience of 83,000 (Harry at Slane). Not only is the physical space already much, much bigger, but people are standing up, elbow to elbow. Not sitting down ON A CHAIR.

How is it possible for this fully GA crowd in a much bigger space to be only 13K more than a sitting down crowd in like half the space? You guys defy the laws of physics at this point. I know perspective might kick your ass, but look at the size of the stages to compare, look at how tiny Harry's looks because of how far away the picture was taken. You can see the roof of the stage in Louis' show in the picture above.

The 70,000 number came from a fan and people just ran with it, particularly multiple Spanish speaking blogs who aren't very reputable. The actual attendance was 32,000. I know there's a source for this but I didn't save it, it was an official Mexican news outlet who spoke with the organizers.

That is a lot of people! But it wasn't sold out, and once again, his attendance in 2023 wasn't far off? It was 23K.

And that is because harry being active or not has no impact on Louis' career. Harry's fans by and large do not GAF about Louis.

Harry has 63,890,885 monthly listeners on Spotify. Louis has 2,513,662.

And btw, his two most popular songs are collaborations, meaning most of those monthly listeners don't come from actually listening to him, but from listening to those two songs with two other artists. Bebe Rexha has 42,805,994 monthly listeners. Her collab with Louis is not in the top 10 of her most popular tracks, it is the most popular track for him. Steve Aoki has 13,765,900 monthly listeners, and his collab with Louis is also not in his top 10 most popular tracks. It's Louis' second most popular track.

Of course, Louis' fans (mainly Larries) believe the world is conspiring against him and Spotify is actually forging these numbers, for some reason. Even though his actual number of streams fits perfectly with this. And he gets paid from those streams, so that number gets audited and reviewed by lawyers. Spotify can't just claim whatever lol.

This is a festival (Arre in 2023) on the same ground as Louis' show with actual 70,000 attendance, but it's not seated, it's GA.

Presumably this is where they got the number.

Here you have an entire Wikipedia article about the difference. Seated capacity tends to be roughly half of standing capacity. So half of 70,000 is... 35,000! Which is what organizers said was his actual attendance (32K actually, I remember that number vividly, I wish I had saved the source, but I'm sure we can find it if we actually look for it, I just don't speak Spanish).

Anyway, no, his crowds didn't triple. They didn't even grow. He has the same captive audience as always and it's mostly just conspiracy theorists. In the US and Europe his attendance was low as ever.

[bunnytalksf1]

What is happening at Red Bull?

I've talked about this before, and recently, but new info has come to light so I think it's prediction time.

So, according to racingnews365 (not sure how reliable this is, but the info seems reasonable) the specifics of Perez's performance clauses are:

He cannot be more than 100 points behind Max in the championship (the gap is 119 now) by the Belgian GP.

He cannot be more than five places behind him in the standings.

I think most people expected performance clauses to be a pretty big thing in a contract that long, but these are clauses in the contract signed last year, allowing RBR to make a driver swap mid-season.

Based on performance, the driver that would be logical to promote would be Tsunoda. I don't think that will happen. They seem to be actively ignoring his performances. CH said that if Ricciardo continues his upward trend, he could replace Perez after summer break.

The truth is that RBR is wholly unprepared to make a driver swap, whether that driver is Ricciardo or Tsunoda. Ricciardo is not the driver he once was, and is being outperformed by Tsunoda, let alone Verstappen. He'd likely be an upgrade on Perez, but that's a low bar. Ricciardo and Verstappen have been teammates before, and it didn't end well, but it's a different story now.

And then there's Tsunoda. Because of their resolve to not promote him or even consider him as an option, continually renewing him on one-year contracts, they haven't tested him in a red bull. For context, Liam Lawson is getting that privelege soon, and he's driven a handful of races for alpha tauri. Yuki has been in the team since 2021. Throwing him into that redbull now, which is famously one of the most difficult cars on the grid to drive, would be setting him up for failure. Of course, I think he deserves the opportunity, but a mid-season swap with a ton of pressure with a driver with very little testing experience... hm. Where have we seen this happen before? Albon in 2019, which famously ended VERY well.

Regardless, it will probably be Ricciardo to replace Perez if they make a swap, and then they'll bring in Lawson alongside Tsunoda again.

Then there's Hadjar, who now leads the F2 championship. Will they ship him to super formula if he wins? Probably.

The whole thing is a mess. RBR has narrowed its options, and as a result they have the choice between a notorious underperformer, an ageing driver who may or may not be slightly better, and a young talent who is remarkably consistent but is woefully underprepared.

They can't rely on Max Verstappen and other teams being a joke for much longer, though. McLaren and Mercedes are fast. So, there will likely be a swap this season. I would tentatively predict Ricciardo, based on Horner's biases.

Funny that RBR still haven't truly replaced Ricciardo since 2018. Even funnier that he might end up replacing himself.

[formulatrash]

hello hazel! first time watching the indy 500 yesterday and i just found it so strange and uncomfortable how all of the commentators were speaking about santino ferrucci. i didn’t follow the junior series till recently and even i found out about how much of a bad person he is.

everyone was actively rooting for him to win and i think i just kept muttering to myself “he’s a raging racist” the whole time and every time i thought they would stop, they would just bring him up again.

honestly, if they don’t care about what he did then maybe don’t vocalize that you’re ok with it? and anyone that says well maybe he’s changed, this guy has openly said he doesn’t regret what he did.

i don’t know, i just found the whole thing so bizarre because i didn’t realize that he was actually well liked in indycar for some reason.

cn: racist bullying, generally being an arsehole

so for anyone who doesn't have the context for this: in 2018 Santino Ferrucci was America's hot new Formula 1 prospect, signed to Haas as a junior and competing in Formula 2 with ehhhh I guess. some results. he'd scored points for Trident, which isn't a frontrunning team but good drivers have taken the car to wins.

his teammate was Arjun Maini, who during the French round gave one of the most desperate-sounding, saddest radio messages you've ever heard, sounding close to tears and begging "I swear you guys don't support me at all" and saying no one believed him about his car's performance.

at the time it was extraordinary but maybe didn't ring the right alarm bells. the F2 car was very tricky for teams to manage and even Maini's explanation, that parts were failing and he was losing pace compared to his teammate, more accused the championship of having a shoddy car than anything else.

Ferrucci didn't exactly seem nice. but then there was a battle at the front of the 2018 field between Russell, Albon and Norris that was fairly distracting so someone picking up the odds point finish wasn't getting too much press scrutiny.

then it gets to Silverstone and things explode. Maini is clearly miserable and at the end of the sprint race (which then was after the feature race, so this is Sunday) Ferrucci comes out of fucking nowhere and crashes deliberately into Maini on the in-lap. he's banned for four races for being a weapon and then it all starts coming out.

Trident apologise to Maini, who it turns out was totally right that his car was essentially being sabotaged by Ferrucci and was also being subjected to racist bullying by Ferrucci and his father. Ferrucci's also dropped for non-payment, in a statement that basically says we couldn't wait to find a legal way to get away from this asshole.

Haas bin him at the same time and that looks like the end of this wanker who adds 'texting while driving a racecar' and 'trying to run a MAGA livery' to his list of misdemeanours all over the course of the same weekend.

he does a bit more postural nonsense including claiming he can't be racist because he's Italian and then seems to go away. until 2019 when he turns up in IndyCar as darling of the year. I don't watch a lot of IndyCar but it was to pretty much everyone's dismay to find this dude being gassed up from the start and given opportunities to put his "behavioural incidents" behind him without any regret.

idk how much he actually changed even on an operational level within teams cus he did get binned out of Indy for a bit to NASCAR, which actually has a pretty strong anti-racism and anti-asshole thing going on so unsurprisingly he didn't last there. now he's back in Indy being gassed up as the next great American dream by anyone with a microphone and I can't tell you what the Penske corporation sees in him but it's always been this way since he rocked up there.

some of it is a bit of 'well screw Europe and their whiny moralism we're backing our boy' kind of thing but like. this wasn't 'oh no you don't have the correct experience of our intricate continental racing' this was 'fuck off, you racist non-payer who held a team ransom while abusing your teammate, along with your garbage dad.' I guess someone always has to be the worst cousin at the barbecue and like so often, they're the one with the sports medals lately.

[yuzu-all-the-way]

Do you think we'll ever know why Yuzu was consistently underscored in the last few years of competing? Like, I can't fathom why they would do that - he's so well loved, so surely scoring him accurately would just draw more people toward the sport to see him? Honestly I believe that if he hadn't attempted the 4A at the Olympics that he could have won if he was scored fairly. Having a 3x Olympic Gold medalist would have made such a buzz in the news which would be good publicity, no? So... idk. I'm confused by the whole thing and my heart goes out to Yuzu for putting up with so much for so long.

Hi, anon! Oh, this is such a long story. I'll try to keep it as short as possible and make it comprehensible.

Officially, there most likely will never be an explanation given, it's just not how the sports' world works. There is no accountability since the "behind the scenes" is mostly a power play between several figure skating federations (USA, Russia, JSF - but that's a whole other story), lots of politicking going on.

However, the fans and those who know figure skating have become aware of Yuzu being underscored over the years. There were a hell lot of discussions about that too, but they literally led nowhere - there were a lot of fights and Fanyus accused of being irrational and delusional.

The narrative goes something like this:

Yuzu came into the senior competitions as a very successful junior and he actively improved his technical as well as his presentation components - he was constantly on the rise winning a world medal in his 2nd year as senior, winning everything there was to win in the 2013-2014 season - GPF, Worlds, OLYMPIC GOLD, except 4CC (I don't think he participated in 2014), achieving incredible scores at 2015 NHK Trophy and 2015 Barcelona, winning a second world title in 2017, winning a second OLYMPIC GOLD in 2018... and finally winning 4CC in 2020.

There is a huge discrepancy in scores that occurred after 2015 GPF. Yuzu was constantly improving, yet his scores don't reflect that at all - they look like he remained through his entire amateur career at the same level as he was in 2015 or that he became worse - which is a blatant lie.

Frankly, when he broke consecutive records in 2015, ISU and the feds became aware that he was untouchable. There were skaters younger than Yuzu who were bringing quads to the game, skaters like Jin Boyang, Shoma Uno and Nathan Chen. But their skating skills could NEVER get close to Yuzu's, and Yuzu was also bringing new jumps into his arsenal - 4Lo, 4Lz. USA having lots of power, started pushing Chen as the quad king and Chen was supposed to be Yuzu's rival, narrative woven like this until Yuzu turned pro.

Anyway, Chen's scores were rising although there was barely any visible improving seen in his skating, while Yuzu, obviously constantly improving, if he had the smallest mistake he was penalized. The penalizations became greater when the scoring system changed from +/-3 GOE to +/-5 GOE because there could be greater manipulation of scores.

If Yuzu was getting +3 GOE for a 3A prior to 2018/2019, he was supposed to get +5 GOE for the same jump starting with 2018/2019, but that barely happened. The average GOE for Yuzu's 3A on the international stage stayed around +3. So, on paper, Yuzu seemed to be getting worse. Not to mention the PCS... which Yuzu openly talked about after turning pro, he was no longer awarded almost perfect PCS although he kept improving.

About Beijing 2022, Yuzu was never meant to win the gold as set by the ISU. Had he went clean, his Rondo probably would've been around the same as his last WR (lower than 112 points) because of literal judging corruption, and Chen would've still had impossible inflation and set a WR.

I won't go deeper into Beijing, it was Yuzu's choice to continue skating while remaining true to himself, it was his choice to challenge the 4A, it was his choice to do everything as it went. And I respect that because there's nothing more worthy of admiration than a person who remains true to himself while undergoing abuse (because, in the end, that's what it was). He came out on the other side stronger and better than any other skater and his pro career already shows it.

ISU seems to not care that figure skating is dying, they are not doing anything to improve the circumstances in which this sport is "developing". They lowered the PC components from 5 to 3, they want to let Russia back in the game, they push quads in juniors, they continue white-washing the whole sport (look at the countries of the skaters who were given the ISU awards).

In a nutshell, Yuzu's competitive career was hell, he had numerous injuries that threated his skating life, he continued, he was getting underscored, he continued. He did try to play ISU's "jumping competition" game for a while - Aoi Honoo III reveals that - with Origin. He didn't like that and his scores didn't improve even while playing by ISU's rules. He went back to the programs that won him 2015 NHK, 2015 GPF and 2018 Olympics gold... he was awarded just a tiny bit more than his previous SP world record. So, he continued skating in the hopes of landing that 4A. He challenged it until the end of his amateur career. He showed the best he could at Beijing... but it's over and done with now. Now he continues challenging that jump, but for himself, because it's his DREAM.

Now, we focus on Yuzu's pro career - he continues changing what figure skating means. If Prologue wasn't enough to show that he is so much BETTER than when he competed, GIFT and NS will definitely cement that in. Yuzu continues pursuing his ideal figure skating, hard tech content, beautiful skating skills, all possible because of hard work and training.

FORGOT TO SAY:

ISU did use Yuzu, they used him until July 19th 2022. While we were anxiously waiting for the 2022-2023 GP assignments, ISU put the tickets on sale for all the GP stages minus GPF. There were people who went in blindly to buy tickets because Yuzu's photo was on several ticket sites (for example, the Finland GP had Yuzu on their site). People were going to buy GPF tickets, too without any concrete assignments.

Yuzu announced him turning pro in July, the Yuzu fans who had bought tickets to see Yuzu found a way to sell them or ended up not going to the GPs. ISU knew Yuzu brought in the crowds, they knew he was the favourite. They did not promote his skating, they promoted him PARTICIPATING in competitions.