#jackson hawke

[witchofthemidlands]

wizards vs aliens was ✨a show✨

(it's not letting my post show up with my tags so they are here:

[lilhawkeye3]

A Crash Course to Kendrick's Super Bowl Performance, from a Black Woman

Note: this does NOT go in depth into all of the song's lyrics. I don't have time to recount two decades of his discography. This is just a summary of the performance itself.

Let's start with the first visual we get:

UNCLE SAM - most notably recognized from WWII American wartime propaganda, Uncle Sam is the personification of American patriotism and freedom. The term "uncle" is also evocative of Uncle Tom from Uncle Tom's Cabin, an abolitionist book that aided in inciting the Civil War. Uncle is also a very common term (both endearment and derogatory) towards Black men (eg. "unc"). Samuel L Jackson was fantastic. (Edit: and please look up his history of civil rights activism, he was on the FBI watchlist and even a pallbearer at MLKJr’s funeral.)

Uncle Sam also resembles a circus ringleader, notable for my next point:

THE GREAT AMERICAN GAME - no, not Super Bowl. The GAG is us the people being pitted against each other: through late-stage capitalism, through the culture war, through class warfare, through being built of the backs of slaves. We are all players in the GAG because none of us on this site were the oligarchs seated at the inauguration.

This is also seen as Kendrick's stage was a Play Station controller. Not only did it remind of circus rings visually, but it was a game battle stage. The Great American Game is a battle royale of the commoners for the amusement of the rich whites.

Remember the foods / Them color was tin and brown / But now they 100 and blue - For this I'll just say, look what the last election said about lowering the price of eggs... and look at the prices now.

The revolution about to be televised / You picked the right time / But the wrong guy - Election 2024 once more. *Edit to add, the first part of this lyric is in reference to the Black Liberation Song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" by Gil Scott-Heron. Thanks to everyone who mentioned that.

THE FLAG DANCERS - yes, the dancers formed the US flag... off of the backs of Black people. Not a single white person in sight, and that's true of the cotton pickers in the fields. Plantations are part of how the US came to economic prominence after being a "backwater" colony. Remember tobacco? Cotton? Our bloodlines do. *Edit to add: they also all piled out of a clown car. The US flag in a clown car? Brilliant.

The red and blue dancers are also notable for representing the Crips and Bloods, two infamous street gangs. The dance in Not Like Us is the Crip Walk. I recommend researching more on your own time about them, but just know they are a large part of the stereotype of Black people being "ghetto."

TOO LOUD, TOO RECKLESS, TOO GHETTO. Do you really know how to play the game? - This is exactly what Black people, especially Black men, get told all the time. It's why we change our names on resumes if they sound "too Black." It's why we codeswitch in non-Black company. This is especially rich considering how non-Black people love our culture and love to make money off of us, as the latter part of the quote points to. And it's even more profound during the Super Bowl-- the NFL is majority Black players.

STREET LIGHT A CAPELLA -- "thug" stereotype dancers to counteract the a capella connotations, with Uncle Sam then saying that Kendrick figured out "bringing other street guys around being a culture cheat code." Yes, this is a direct hit at Drake (listen to "Not Like Us") but also politically. Look up "model minority". Notably I would point to Candace Owens, or the Miami Venezuelan political group that's been in the news recently, especially as this directly led to Kendrick being surrounded by...

DANCERS IN WHITE -- it's white America. That's... that's the allegory.

NOT LIKE US TEASER -- Kendrick says "Not Like Us" is "their favorite song." -> he means white people specifically here. It comes after he's surrounded by all white dancers, the women around him who are his call and response are also in white (my opinion, they represent the industry). He's saying "Not Like Us" is the favorite of yts because it is about BLACK MEN FIGHTING. This again is reflected in the video game stage and ringleader Uncle Sam.

SZA -- instead of giving what they want, we see SZA. She's one of Drake's exes and Kendrick has always supported her.

ALL THE STARS -- This was in the first Black Panther movie, which I recommend you watch. Rest in Power Chadwick. Notably, this movie was incredibly mainstream as a major Marvel movie, and then we have Uncle Sam say...

"THAT'S WHAT AMERICA WANTS: NICE AND CALM. DON'T MESS THIS UP" -- translation: Marvel (the industry, America, etc.) wanted a safe, semi-pop song because white American likes safe pop songs, not Kendrick's usual heavy rap style about his life as a Black man! Don't mess up what you've got going mainstream for having this "Black rap feud" with Drake, who is an R&B model minority to white people because he's safe.

So what does Kendrick say?

IT'S A CULTURAL DIVIDE / IMMA GET IT ON THE FLOOR -- He was warned not to be political or apologetically Black for this Super Bowl performance, but he is using this big stage opportunity to speak out.

40 ACRES AND A MULE / THIS IS BIGGER THAN THE MUSIC -- 40 acres and a mule are what the freed slaves were promised. Instead, this land went to white sharecroppers. Research Jim Crow laws.

THEY TRIED TO RIG THE GAME / BUT YOU CAN'T FAKE INFLUENCE -- rig the election, rig the industry like with model minority Drake, rig the Great American Game with culture war to distract from active class warfare.

NOT LIKE US -- the only thing I'll mention because it made me holler is Serena Williams crip walking on Drake's metaphorical grave. She's another one of his exes (read: Drake harassed the hell out of her). *Edit: she was also fined at the 2012 Olympics for crip walking in celebration at Wimbledon.

TURN THE TV OFF -- exactly like he said! The TV is a distraction, the Super Bowl is a distraction, the mainstream news is often a distraction. Turn it off and get with your people!

GAME OVER — could not see this on my stream but at the end of the performance, the lights in the stadium spelled this out. The world is watching, America…

In conclusion, Kendrick Lamar is a visionary and thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[yawneon]

how i look at my screen after y/n just got called kitten/puppy/bunny

[catfilms]

i need him. but not in a sexual needy way. more like the way i want that weird plush on aisle 4

[baihujun]

Six, featuring a pride-heavy roster this time

[thebiggerbear]

I keep seeing complaint posts about all of the free creative content people get on here. This is the second post I've come across on nicknames in stories alone in the past few weeks. Three quick things:

1) If you don't like a nickname or whatever about a story, simply click out of it and go about your day. Or engage with the writer and explain (respectfully/constructively) why you don't think the nickname fits that character/scene, etc.

2) You are literally getting this creative content for FREE. Someone who took time out of their busy lives to create content for a character/ship/fandom for YOU to enjoy. Rather than sit there and make fun of the story and/or writer with your buddies online, again move past it. If it's not your thing for whatever reason, then it's not your thing. It's as simple as that. No need to make shitposts that you purposely put in tags where said writer will see it so you can make them feel badly and possibly give up writing altogether. Just because they may have written something you don't like doesn't mean they're a bad writer.

3) You don't like a nickname in a story or whatever? Here's a question: how about you give writing a shot yourself and see what YOU come up with? And let's see how YOU do and how YOU feel when people start making shitposts about you and your story. Writing is not an easy process. Even the most successful published writers on the planet will tell you that. Even someone who sneezed which typed out 500 words of a fanfic randomly. So give it a shot for yourself and see what you come up with. And who knows? Maybe you'll get lucky and find a new hobby for yourself. Something for you to enjoy rather than tear down for once.

Enough with these shitposts already and putting them in the tags for writers to see. If you have a complaint, make it to the writer directly in a respectful manner. Or just simply click out of the story and go find one you actually enjoy. There's a surplus amount of fanfiction on this site for various characters/ships/fandoms. It's really not that hard.

[soranatus]

DC Pride (2024) anthology wraparound variant cover by David Talaski

[whichcouldmeanothing]

FELLOW TRAVELERS 1x06 “Beyond Measure”

[fumssketches]

lily and friends hanging out

[gremextras]

DC Pride polaroids 📸

part 2

[ladychunli68]

SFVI Anniversary by @tuzi717

[witchofthemidlands]

WIZARDS VS ALIENS || Rebel Magic

[mr-president]

i don’t usually like to post WIPS, but i love darkstalkers and i love sf6 so here are my costume ideas, as well as some potential others under the cut

i mostly drew costume ideas for characters parallels i hadn’t seen with the new color variants or for ones i disagreed with (like manon). i’ll still touch on the ones i do like here

originally, i had luke as jon talbain because he needed a counterpart and white men love wolves but jon talbain just fits terry waaaay better (kung fu werewolf vs vaguely chinese martial art wolf associated guy)

luke could be fucking sasquatch idk, maybe he’d just be demitri, but ed was already demitri in sfv. consequently, ed’s build is different now, so maybe he’s okay handing the costume to luke now. otherwise, luke is sasquatch idfk

chun li as morrigan and juri as lilith is fine there’s nothing wrong w that so yeah

aki as hsein-ko is perfect no notes 10/10

marisa for victor is also great

i like JP as jedah good job

lord raptor as dee jay may be cool

i much prefer cammy as q-bee (cammy’s old codename was literally “killer bee”) but i understand why manon gets the alternate color, since she already has a q-bee-like outfit

[solidsmax]

STREET FIGHTER 6 | Outift 3

[castlewyvern]

[lexion219997]

DC Pride 2024 cover featuring Batwoman, Midnighter, Apollo, Dreamer, Jackson Hyde, Connor Hawke, Jess Chambers, Xanthe, Tim Drake, Circuit Breaker, Aerie, Nubia, Io and Poison Ivy by David Talaski