#king con 2021

[fandom-hoarder]

@kdaught Someone in discord tracked it down. I remembered a little incorrectly so it's not exactly of his own volition-- the fan says "Dean jr" and Jared tries saying "just Dean" but then Jensen shakes his head and says "DJ" ���� -- starts at 7:35. This panel was a huge hit overall on bibro tumblr, iirc.

I was trying to find a con post from when Jensen called Sam's son "Dean Jr" of his own volition, but I can't remember when it happened or how i tagged it 🙃

[bones4thecats]

you can also do Orion pax/Optimus prime x cybertroniana reader, both were a couple before the war, and they still follow him on Earth

TFP! Optimus Having A Longtime S/O

Character: Optimus Prime (Transformers Prime) Requester: @zinnia1506 A/N: I love this trope. Just a calm and nonchalant boyfriend x his loving and slightly-feral S/O! Anyways, I hope you like this. ⚠️ Spoilers/Trigger Warnings for: The ending of the show and Predcons Rising Film ⚠️

Fun fact: I wrote this listening to Lion King/Guard songs😂

••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●•

»»——————————-　 Optimus Prime 　——————————-««

⚔️ Optimus doesn't have that many people left, at least people that he knows that are currently alive. He knew more friends were deceased than alive basically

⚔️ Though, he does have someone alive that he cares the most about; his adorable S/O. You.

⚔️ Meeting back when he was still Orion Pax and a young data clerk working inside of the Iacon and you were the current Grand Diplomat of Alpha Trion's rule as Cybertron's Council's head

⚔️ You had to deliver some information in pads to the place to get organized, and when the young bot smiled and allowed you inside to organize them to how Alpha Trion wished, you began to ask about his life

⚔️ As you began to speak from time-to-time whenever you visited with more classified documents, a bond was formed quick. While many solar cycles passed, the pair of young bots were ogled on by many elders, especially Orion's friend, Megatronus, and your boss, Alpha Trion

⚔️ You were there when Megatronus, now Megatron, was denied in favor of Orion. And you were right by his side when the war blasted off and you soared away with his small team to Earth in hopes of finding something to help with the war and your home planet

⚔️ And while you two would spend many of your days by one another, as the war progressed, that was becoming harder and harder. Thankfully, your teammates would get you two to spend time together by taking some work away from your servos

⚔️ Now, when it comes to missions, you guys almost always go together. Very rarely are you apart in battle. And whenever you go without him, he keeps solid contact with you, and whenever he doesn't get a decent reply, he gets worried beyond recognition

⚔️ During the time fighting against Megatron for the final time, you were help hostage with Ratchet. Being held not for assistance in finalizing the synthetic energon, but for your information on fixing Cybertron, in which you told Megatron to piss off and jump down a hole to a scrapheap

⚔️ Unlike Ratchet, you weren't given to Predaking to kill, rather, you were held in a cell surrounded by Vehicon soldiers. In a matter of minutes, you had gone from acting unconscious to wrapping your legs around on soldiers neck from behind and killing all around you. Think of that scene from The Suicide Squad (2021) when Harley broke out

(Here's a link for reference: Link) - warnings for A LOT blood and death!

⚔️ Optimus was very pleased when he saw both you and Ratchet okay, but when he saw a Vehicon attempt attacking you, he blasted him to the Well of the Allspark. Despite this, you fought brilliantly against the many soldiers against you

⚔️ You also showed a new depth of rhythmicity, from attacking Megatron from behind as Optimus took the front. And before you were knocked aside roughly and your sparkmate was hanging onto the Nemesis, everyone, including Decepticons, were shocked at how in-sync you two were. You really were sparkmates

⚔️ Bumblebee then killed Megatron, making you leap in joy and help him get your sparkmate up and onto the ship's base. You held the mech closely as you cheered with the rest of your team about the win against the Cons

⚔️ Throughout the rest of your lives together, you spent it fighting against Unicron. And while it was hard for you to say goodbye to your lover of many hundreds of years, you couldn't help but shed a tear when his red, white, and blue spark spun around you and acted as if he was pecking your forehead

⚔️ The others watched with smiles as you kissed the spark before watching it fly away. Ratchet patted your shoulder as Bee and the other, including Knockout, gathered around you in a large group hug. You were a family no matter what, thanks to the mech you called your one and only...

"I love you, Y/N..."

[thealieninhiding]

The Katie McGrath Archives (WIP)

A repository of my ongoing digital archeology & archival work please contact me if you have anything to contribute and buy me a coffee if you value my content

Updates

(last updated 2025-01-14)

2025-01-14

Scans:

2008-10 InStyle (LQ)

2009 DRAMA Magazine (LQ)

2009-10 The Sunday Times Style (Ireland)

2010-10 Tatler

2010-12 InStyle

2011-02 Instyle (LQ)

2011-07 Tatler (LQ)

2011-10 Sunday Independent

2012-03-14 Sci-FiNow

2012-03-23 The Lady Magazine

2024-07-03

Scans:

2014-02-07 London Times - Dracula sets

Audio:

(Un)likeminded 2x02 How to Survive The Apocalypse

2024-05-24

Video:

2017 Katie McGrath interview [CW|KMcGsource]

2017 Supergirl Season 3 Sweet dreams (are made of this) Music Video

2017 CW SDCC Promo Supergirl and Arrow

2019-01-01 The CW Promo Open To All

2021-04-25 Supergirl Season 6 Katie McGrath Lena Luthor

2021-09-15 Supergirl Season 6 Katie McGrath Reflecting on Supergirl

2024-05-22

Audio:

Interview - 2009-07-17 Katie McGrath Mr Media interview

Interview - 2009-10-15 Geek Syndicate Merlin BTS special

Video:

BTS - 2008-10-08 Blue Peter Merlin BTS

Events - 2009 TV Choice Awards Digital Spy interview

Events - Getty Videos of 2009 TV Choice Awards, 2010 Merlin Series 3 launch, 2011 W.E. premiere, 2017 King Arthur Premiere

2024-05-17

Archived interviews

2008-12-07 Tribune Magazine - What Katie Did

2011-10-14 What's on TV - Merlin's Katie McGrath- 'Bad girls have more fun!'

2012-12-03 Fanhattan Blog - Colin Morgan, Katie McGrath and Bradley James on Season 5 and The Series Finale

2018-08-01 The TV Junkies - Supergirl SDCC 2018 Interviews- Lena’s Impractical Lab Outfits, the Return of Reporter Kara and a More Grounded Season 4

Audio

HHush samples

Interview - 2009-2011 Sci-fi Talk rewind merlin the series specials episode 1

Interview - 2011? Merlin S4 Sci-fi talk byte katie mcgrath on morgana

Interview - 2013 BBC Radio 1xtra part 1 & part 2

(Un)likeminded 1x02 While You Were Dreaming

Trees a crowd- Irish folklore segment

Magazine scans

2008-09-20 Radio Times

2009-06-08 TV Week (Aus)

2010-09-05 Sunday Express

2010-09-30 Totally Merlin Magazine

2011-12 Total Film

2012-03-14 Sci-Fi Now

2012-10-06 Radio Times

2013-04-06 Irish independent

2013-09-02 Marie-Claire (UK)

2013-12 Instyle

2013-12 Total Film

Video:

Fans - 2012-04-16 Merlin4 [carlospyrrhus]

Fans - 2017-08-30 Supergirl cast together on set [Joyce Law]

Interview - 2009-09-?? Merlin S2 audio interview with Katie McGrath [BJsRealm] part 1

Interview - 2010-09-06 Merlin Series 3 - BBC Radio 1xtra Interview with Angel Coulby & Katie McGrath [BJsrealm]

Interview - 2011-10-14 Merlin S4 Colin Morgan, Eoin Macken Katie McGrath on The Late Late Show

Interview - 2012-07-15 Colin Morgan and Katie McGrath at SDCC 2012 - innerSPACE [merlinnetwork2]

Interview - 2012-07-18 Katie McGrath Talks Merlin At Comic Con 2012 [ThinkHeroTV]

Interview - 2012-10-25 BBC Radio 1 Breakfast - Colin & Katie part 1 & part 2 [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2012-12-03 Merlin S5 Katie McGrath interview international press day [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2012-12-03 Colin, Bradley, Katie phone interview [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2013-11-09 Katie McGrath on BBC One Saturday Kitchen [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2019-07-22 ENTREVISTA SUPERGIRL Elenco fala sobre a nova temporada [Warner Channel Brasil]

Interview - 2019-07-23 Melissa Benoist Teases Directing An Episode Of 'Supergirl' [ET Canada]

Interview - 2020-02-21 ‘Supergirl’ Celebrates 100th Episode [ET Canada]

Panels - 2011-07-28 Merlin Comic Con 2011 Panel [ThinkHeroTV]

[wrxangel]

Zenitsu Agatsuma with a GF who acts like Mikan Tsumiki

a/n: I kinned Mikan a few years ago so I definitely would've adored to read smth like this in 2021 lol. Zenitsu, my glorious king, would absolutely love her right.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚⋆

When Zenitsu first saw you, he was instantly smitten by how utterly gorgeous you were.

You were the newest addition to the Butterfly Mansion, taken in by the Insect Pillar after proving your proficiency in medicine.

Many would argue you were almost at her level with the way you immediately got to work administering medicine, cures, and patching up slayers as soon as they landed in the recovery bay.

He’d seen you bustling around the mansion, always with a nervous smile and quick apologies whenever you bumped into someone.

You had a sort of anxious grace about you, a delicate way of moving that immediately caught his eye. Zenitsu, who was already a nervous wreck himself, couldn’t help but be drawn to you.

You were in the middle of helping one of the other assistants, your hands trembling slightly as you organized medical supplies. Your cheeks were flushed as you fumbled with a bandage roll, and Zenitsu was practically glued to the spot, his heart pounding faster with each clumsy gesture you made.

Finally, he mustered the courage to approach.

“Um, hi!” he said, his voice trembling a little. “I’m Zenitsu. You’re, um… the new assistant here, right?”

You looked up, startled, your eyes wide and your hands quickly stopping their movements. “Oh! Y-yes, that’s right,” you stammered, your cheeks turning a bright shade of red. “I’m, um... I’m sorry if I’m in your way.”

Zenitsu was immediately taken with your nervous charm. “N-no, not at all!” he blurted out. “Actually, I, um, I’ve been wanting to talk to you. You’re really… well, you’re really pretty and kind, and, um…”

He trailed off, his nerves getting the better of him. You looked even more anxious, and Zenitsu’s heart ached seeing you like that. He couldn’t help but blurt out, “W-would you, um, maybe want to, you know, marry me?”

You blinked at him, stunned, and your face went even redder. “M-marry you?” you squeaked, your voice barely a whisper. “I, um, I don’t think I’m—”

“No, no, it’s just that, um, I don’t have long to live, and, uh, I thought, maybe, you’d want to—” Zenitsu fumbled, face burning hot with embarrassment.

He usually has terrible luck with women, but to speak to someone as beautiful as you had him stumbling to keep his cool.

Before he could finish, you looked like you were about to crumble. Tears welled up in your eyes as you trembled, “I-I’m so sorry! I-I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable! I’m just… I’m really bad at, um, socializing, and—”

Zenitsu’s eyes widened, and he rushed to reassure you. “No, no, it’s not that! I just—uh, I really like you! I think you’re amazing and—”

You started to fidget with your hands, your voice trembling. “I-I’m sorry, I just, um, I’m not good at, um, understanding these kinds of things. I’m always worried I’m bothering people, and…”

Zenitsu’s heart melted at your fragility. He took a deep breath and stepped closer, trying to look more confident than he felt. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m really sorry if I scared you or anything. I just thought… well, you’re really nice, and I—”

You looked up at him, your eyes full of uncertainty and confusion. “I-I don’t want to be a bother. I’ll, um, try to do better…”

Zenitsu shook his head quickly. “No, no! You’re not a bother at all! You’re just—amazing, really. And I’m sorry if I came on too strong. I just—”

“I’m sorry,” you said again, tears welling up in your eyes. “I-I didn’t mean to—”

Zenitsu’s heart ached seeing you like this. He reached out and gently touched your arm. “Hey, don’t cry. I really do like you, okay? I’m just… kind of a mess myself, but I’d really like to get to know you better. How about we just, um, hang out sometime?”

Your tears started to subside, and you looked at him with a mix of confusion and relief. “Y-you really mean that?”

Zenitsu nodded, a hopeful smile on his face. “Yeah. I do.”

You wiped your eyes and gave a tentative smile, nodding slowly. “O-okay. I’d like that.”

Zenitsu had made it his mission to be around you more often. He found excuses to be near the Butterfly Mansion’s main area, casually dropping by to help with tasks he was absolutely no good at, just so he could spend a little more time with you. Your quiet, nervous demeanor was like a magnet for his clumsy heart.

Tanjiro had been observing Zenitsu’s behavior for some time now. While he usually kept a close eye on his friends, he couldn't help but notice the significant change in Zenitsu’s demeanor since you arrived at the Butterfly Mansion.

The way Zenitsu seemed to always be around you, the way his face lit up whenever you were near, and even the overpowering scent that radiated off of Zenitsu—Tanjiro was certain his friend was in love with you.

One afternoon, while Zenitsu was nervously practicing his breathing techniques in the garden, Tanjiro approached him with a warm smile. “Hey, Zenitsu. Mind if I join you for a bit?”

Zenitsu looked up, startled, and then gave a hesitant nod. “Oh, uh, sure, Tanjiro.”

Tanjiro sat down next to him, his expression thoughtful. “I’ve noticed how much happier you’ve been lately. It’s great to see you feeling more positive.”

Zenitsu’s cheeks flushed slightly as he scratched his head, trying to look nonchalant. “W-well, it’s nothing special. I just… feel a bit better lately.”

Tanjiro’s eyes twinkled with understanding. “I have a feeling it’s because of someone special. Am I right?”

Zenitsu turned red as he stammered. "I- Well-"

Tanjiro beamed and suggested he bring flowers and a gift. He told Zenitsu to be completely honest with how he felt about you, and surely you'd feel the same.

Zenitsu was scared to death. He really didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable or hurt your feelings. He wanted to show you how good of a person you are and how happy you make him just by looking at him.

Zenitsu spent the rest of the evening gathering a bouquet of flowers and selecting a thoughtful gift, his nerves mixing with excitement. He was determined to make this moment special.

The next day, Zenitsu approached you while you were working in the garden. Your usual nervous smile appeared as you noticed him.

“H-hi, Zenitsu!” you stuttered, cheeks flushing with a mix of nervousness and curiosity.

Zenitsu’s hands trembled slightly as he held out the flowers and gift. “H-hi! I, um, I brought these for you. I, uh, wanted to, well, tell you something.”

Your eyes widened in surprise as you looked at the flowers and gift. “Oh! Th-these are beautiful! What, um, what’s the occasion?”

Zenitsu swallowed hard, his heart pounding. “I just wanted to say… I really like you. More than I’ve ever liked anyone. I know I’m a bit of a mess, but, um, I really care about you. I’d like to get to know you better. So, um, if you’d, maybe, want to, I don’t know, go out with me sometime? I’d really like that.”

Your eyes filled with tears as you listened, your heart fluttering with joy. “Z-Zenitsu… I-I had no idea you felt this way. I-I’m so, so happy! I-I really like you too!”

Zenitsu’s face lit up with a radiant smile, his heart swelling with relief and happiness. He gently took your hands in his, his voice trembling with emotion. “R-really? That’s great! I promise I’ll do my best to make you feel special and loved.”

Without thinking, you threw your arms around him, your lips meeting his in a soft, tender kiss. Zenitsu’s eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly melted into the kiss, his hands cradling your face gently.

When you finally pulled away, your eyes were sparkling with happiness. “I-I’ve never felt like this before… I’m so happy. I-I’m really lucky to have met you.”

He gently squeezed your hands, his eyes sparkling. “No, I’m the lucky one.”

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚⋆ ˚｡ Thanks for Reading! ˚⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚⋆

[eugenedebs1920]

Trump is the most dishonest, corrupt, self serving, manipulative president of all time. He is high in the ranking worldwide. What has he done since he got into office? He fired almost 20 inspectors general. He gutted the aviation security agency, TSA, and FAA. He pardoned his shadow white supremest militia. He fired dozens of FBI employees. He’s purged DOJ. He’s allowed a foreign billionaire to hack the Treasury Department, giving access to every Americans personal information and access to the $6 trillion dollars of U.S. taxpayer dollars. He nominated and the Republican senate confirmed, known authoritarian murdereous dictator sympathizer, Tusi Gabbard, a woman who was on a flight watchlist regarding associations with American adversaries, to lead our intelligence agencies.

He’s asking for the resignation of 3,000 CIA agents now, demanding documents from the FBI, on behalf of his involvement in the January 6th 2021, election interference and seditious conspiracy, riot case, that he promoted, organized and led, be turned over, and requesting any agent that worked on the case be fired, mind you this was the largest criminal investigation ever undertaken due to its sheer scale and size, and threat that its impact would have to our representative democratic constitutional republic, that this was the first attempted seizure of the capital since the early 1800’s, who’s primary legal obligation was to make an example for the consequences that occur when one assaults an officer of the law, when one desecrates a federal building, particularly the capital, and when one tries to stop a constitutionally mandated congressional procedure, in an attempt to overturn the election, a case that in one way or another involved hundreds of agents on over a 1,000 separate cases, which accounts for almost 75% of the workforce would have had contact with it. (Wew! That was quite a sentence! 😅)

Less than a month ago if id told you this story it would have been interpreted as the ramblings of a crazed liberal, brainwashed by the vast and all powerful left wing media apparatus that had warped my mind into some Marxist sphere of delusion.

Yet here we are…

You don’t need to be a top notched intelligence expert to see what’s going on. This lunge towards coverup and away from accountability is clearly visible. Why would someone oppose fact checking? Because they want to lie. Why does someone remove individuals tasked with investigating fraud and corruption? Because you wouldn’t want to get caught committing fraud and corruption. Why does someone want to eliminate those tasked with asserting whether you committed crimes or not? If you were innocent wouldn’t you await the day you could clear your name? You do that when you want to hide what your involvement was.

Why would someone violate the Constitution, dissolve essential agencies and fill them with loyalists, take over independent law enforcement agencies with loyalists, and release a shadow military force through pardons? Because they intend to overthrow and usurp an entire country’s constitutional government and claim rule of it as an emperor.

This is a coup.

He’s not a king, he just plays one in TV. Just because he’s a criminal doesn’t mean he can break the law. He’s not a dictator but a clown in a circus of his own making. The executive branch is but one part of a multilayered system. Remember when Biden declared that the equal rights act was “officially the law of the land.”? That was an executive order also and everyone just blew it off as non binding and ceremonial. His EO’s are the exact same thing.

Just a criminal trying to get away with crimes. Just a conman working his con. Just a clown in the circus.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Brian Merchant’s “Blood In the Machine”

Tomorrow (September 27), I'll be at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine. On October 2, I'll be in Boise to host an event with VE Schwab.

In Blood In the Machine, Brian Merchant delivers the definitive history of the Luddites, and the clearest analysis of the automator's playbook, where "entrepreneurs'" lawless extraction from workers is called "innovation" and "inevitable":

https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/

History is written by the winners, and so you probably think of the Luddites as brainless, terrified, thick-fingered vandals who smashed machines and burned factories because they didn't understand them. Today, "Luddite" is a slur that means "technophobe" – but that's neither fair, nor accurate.

Luddism has been steadily creeping into pro-labor technological criticism, as workers and technology critics reclaim the term and its history, which is a rich and powerful tale of greed versus solidarity, slavery versus freedom.

The true tale of the Luddites starts with workers demanding that the laws be upheld. When factory owners began to buy automation systems for textile production, they did so in violation of laws that required collaboration with existing craft guilds – laws designed to ensure that automation was phased in gradually, with accommodations for displaced workers. These laws also protected the public, with the guilds evaluating the quality of cloth produced on the machine, acting as a proxy for buyers who might otherwise be tricked into buying inferior goods.

Factory owners flouted these laws. Though the machines made cloth that was less durable and of inferior weave, they sold it to consumers as though it were as good as the guild-made textiles. Factory owners made quiet deals with orphanages to send them very young children who were enslaved to work in their factories, where they were routinely maimed and killed by the new machines. Children who balked at the long hours or attempted escape were viciously beaten (the memoir of one former child slave became a bestseller and inspired Oliver Twist).

The craft guilds begged Parliament to act. They sent delegations, wrote petitions, even got Members of Parliament to draft legislation ordering enforcement of existing laws. Instead, Parliament passed laws criminalizing labor organizing.

The stakes were high. Economic malaise and war had driven up the price of life's essentials. Workers displaced by illegal machines faced starvation – as did their children. Communities were shattered. Workers who had apprenticed for years found themselves graduating into a market that had no jobs for them.

This is the context in which the Luddite uprisings began. Secret cells of workers, working with discipline and tight organization, warned factory owners to uphold the law. They sent letters and posted handbills in which they styled themselves as the army of "King Ludd" or "General Ludd" – Ned Ludd being a mythical figure who had fought back against an abusive boss.

When factory owners ignored these warnings, the Luddites smashed their machines, breaking into factories or intercepting machines en route from the blacksmith shops where they'd been created. They won key victories, with many factory owners backing off from automation plans, but the owners were deep-pocketed and determined.

The ruling Tories had no sympathy for the workers and no interest in upholding the law or punishing the factory owners for violating it. Instead, they dispatched troops to the factory towns, escalating the use of force until England's industrial centers were occupied by literal armies of soldiers. Soldiers who balked at turning their guns on Luddites were publicly flogged to death.

I got very interested in the Luddites in late 2021, when it became clear that everything I thought I knew about the Luddites was wrong. The Luddites weren't anti-technology – rather, they were doing the same thing a science fiction writer does: asking not just what a new technology does, but also who it does it for and who it does it to:

https://locusmag.com/2022/01/cory-doctorow-science-fiction-is-a-luddite-literature/

Unsurprisingly, ever since I started publishing on this subject, I've run into people who have no sympathy for the Luddite cause and who slide into my replies to replicate the 19th Century automation debate. One such person accused the Luddites of using "state violence" to suppress progress.

You couldn't ask for a more perfect example of how the history of the Luddites has been forgotten and replaced with a deliberately misleading account. The "state violence" of the Luddite uprising was entirely on one side. Parliament, under the lackadaisical leadership of "Mad King George," imposed the death penalty on the Luddites. It wasn't just machine-breaking that became a capital crime – "oath taking" (swearing loyalty to the Luddites) also carried the death penalties.

As the Luddites fought on against increasingly well-armed factory owners (one owner bought a cannon to use on workers who threatened his machines), they were subjected to spectacular acts of true state violence. Occupying soldiers rounded up Luddites and suspected Luddites and staged public mass executions, hanging them by the dozen, creating scores widows and fatherless children.

The sf writer Steven Brust says that the test to tell whether someone is on the right or the left is simple: ask whether property rights are more important than human rights. If the person says "property rights are human rights," they are on the right.

The state response to the Luddites crisply illustrates this distinction. The Luddites wanted an orderly and lawful transition to automation, one that brought workers along and created shared prosperity and quality goods. The craft guilds took pride in their products, and saw themselves as guardians of their industry. They were accustomed to enjoying a high degree of bargaining power and autonomy, working from small craft workshops in their homes, which allowed them to set their own work pace, eat with their families, and enjoy modest amounts of leisure.

The factory owners' cause wasn't just increased production – it was increased power. They wanted a workforce that would dance to their tune, work longer hours for less pay. They wanted unilateral control over which products they made and what corners they cut in making those products. They wanted to enrich themselves, even if that meant that thousands starved and their factory floors ran red with the blood of dismembered children.

The Luddites destroyed machines. The factory owners killed Luddites, shooting them at the factory gates, or rounding them up for mass executions. Parliament deputized owners to act as extensions of law enforcement, allowing them to drag suspected Luddites to their own private cells for questioning.

The Luddites viewed property rights as just one instrument for achieving human rights – freedom from hunger and cold – and when property rights conflicted with human rights, they didn't hesitate to smash the machines. For them, human rights trumped property rights.

Their bosses – and their bosses' modern defenders – saw the demands to uphold the laws on automation as demands to bring "state violence" to bear on the wholly private matter of how a rich man should organize his business. On the other hand, literal killing – both on the factory floor and at the gallows – was not "state violence" but rather, a defense of the most important of all the human rights: the rights of property owners.

19th century textile factories were the original Big Tech, and the rhetoric of the factory owners echoes down the ages. When tech barons like Peter Thiel say that "freedom is incompatible with democracy," he means that letting people who work for a living vote will eventually lead to limitations on people who own things for a living, like him.

Then, as now, resistance to Big Tech enjoyed widespread support. The Luddites couldn't have organized in their thousands if their neighbors didn't have their backs. Shelley and Byron wrote widely reproduced paeans to worker uprisings (Byron also defended the Luddites in the House of Lords). The Brontes wrote Luddite novels. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was a Luddite novel, in which the monster was a sensitive, intelligent creature who merely demanded a say in the technology that created him.

The erasure of the true history of the Luddites was a deliberate act. Despite the popular and elite support the Luddites enjoyed, the owners and their allies in Parliament were able to crush the uprising, using mass murder and imprisonment to force workers to accept immiseration.

The entire supply chain of the textile revolution was soaked in blood. Merchant devotes multiple chapters to the lives of African slaves in America who produced the cotton that the machines in England wove into cloth. Then – as now – automation served to obscure the violence latent in production of finished goods.

But, as Merchant writes, the Luddites didn't lose outright. Historians who study the uprisings record that the places where the Luddites fought most fiercely were the places where automation came most slowly and workers enjoyed the longest shared prosperity.

The motto of Magpie Killjoy's seminal Steampunk Magazine was: "Love the machine, hate the factory." The workers of the Luddite uprising were skilled technologists themselves.

They performed highly technical tasks to produce extremely high-quality goods. They served in craft workshops and controlled their own time.

The factory increased production, but at the cost of autonomy. Factories and their progeny, like assembly lines, made it possible to make more goods (even goods that eventually rose the quality of the craft goods they replaced), but at the cost of human autonomy. Taylorism and other efficiency cults ended up scripting the motions of workers down to the fingertips, and workers were and are subject to increasing surveillance and discipline from their bosses if they deviate. Take too many pee breaks at the Amazon warehouse and you will be marked down for "time off-task."

Steampunk is a dream of craft production at factory scale: in steampunk fantasies, the worker is a solitary genius who can produce high-tech finished goods in their own laboratory. Steampunk has no "dark, satanic mills," no blood in the factory. It's no coincidence that steampunk gained popularity at the same time as the maker movement, in which individual workers use form digital communities. Makers networked together to provide advice and support in craft projects that turn out the kind of technologically sophisticated goods that we associate with vast, heavily-capitalized assembly lines.

But workers are losing autonomy, not gaining it. The steampunk dream is of a world where we get the benefits of factory production with the life of a craft producer. The gig economy has delivered its opposite: craft workers – Uber drivers, casualized doctors and dog-walkers – who are as surveilled and controlled as factory workers.

Gig workers are dispatched by apps, their faces closely studied by cameras for unauthorized eye-movements, their pay changed from moment to moment by an algorithm that docks them for any infraction. They are "reverse centaurs": workers fused to machines where the machine provides the intelligence and the human does its bidding:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/17/reverse-centaur/#reverse-centaur

Craft workers in home workshops are told that they're their own bosses, but in reality they are constantly monitored by bossware that watches out of their computers' cameras and listens through its mic. They have to pay for the privilege of working for their bosses, and pay to quit. If their children make so much as a peep, they can lose their jobs. They don't work from home – they live at work:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/22/paperback-writer/#toothless

Merchant is a master storyteller and a dedicated researcher. The story he weaves in Blood In the Machine is as gripping as any Propublica deep-dive into the miserable working conditions of today's gig economy. Drawing on primary sources and scholarship, Blood is a kind of Nomadland for Luddites.

Today, Merchant is the technology critic for the LA Times. The final chapters of Blood brings the Luddites into the present day, finding parallels in the labor organizing of the Amazon warehouse workers led by Chris Smalls. The liberal reformers who offered patronizing support to the Luddites – but didn't imagine that they could be masters of their own destiny – are echoed in the rhetoric of Andrew Yang.

And of course, the factory owners' rhetoric is easily transposed to the modern tech baron. Then, as now, we're told that all automation is "progress," that regulatory evasion (Uber's unlicensed taxis, Airbnb's unlicensed hotel rooms, Ring's unregulated surveillance, Tesla's unregulated autopilot) is "innovation." Most of all, we're told that every one of these innovations must exist, that there is no way to stop it, because technology is an autonomous force that is independent of human agency. "There is no alternative" – the rallying cry of Margaret Thatcher – has become our inevitablist catechism.

Squeezing the workers' wages conditions and weakening workers' bargaining power isn't "innovation." It's an old, old story, as old as the factory owners who replaced skilled workers with terrified orphans, sending out for more when a child fell into a machine. Then, as now, this was called "job creation."

Then, as now, there was no way to progress as a worker: no matter how skilled and diligent an Uber driver is, they can't buy their medallion and truly become their own boss, getting a say in their working conditions. They certainly can't hope to rise from a blue-collar job on the streets to a white-collar job in the Uber offices.

Then, as now, a worker was hired by the day, not by the year, and might find themselves with no work the next day, depending on the whim of a factory owner or an algorithm.

As Merchant writes: robots aren't coming for your job; bosses are. The dream of a "dark factory," a "fully automated" Tesla production line, is the dream of a boss who doesn't have to answer to workers, who can press a button and manifest their will, without negotiating with mere workers. The point isn't just to reduce the wage-bill for a finished good – it's to reduce the "friction" of having to care about others and take their needs into account.

Luddites are not – and have never been – anti-technology. Rather, they are pro-human, and see production as a means to an end: broadly shared prosperity. The automation project says it's about replacing humans with machines, but over and over again – in machine learning, in "contactless" delivery, in on-demand workforces – the goal is to turn humans into machines.

There is blood in the machine, Merchant tells us, whether its humans being torn apart by a machine, or humans being transformed into machines.

Brian and I are having a joint book-launch tomorrow night (Sept 27) at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-internet-con-by-cory-doctorow-blood-in-the-machine-by-brian-merchant-tickets-696349940417

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

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/26/enochs-hammer/#thats-fronkonsteen

[bell-swamp-fitzjames]

Oops all the rest of crew! for the Terror (2018) playlists

Happy Silna Day 1a!!!!!!! I was already going to post two cluster playlist posts today because the final total of playlists ended up being 11 and I thought that was too much for one post. So here is Henry Collins, Billy Orren, Farr, Hornby, Pocock & Charles Best!!!

Thank you everyone who's been having fun not only with davechella but also these project of mine. I can't begin to express how much I love and loved this event, it's been so fun and joyous and I've gotten to listen to so much good music. And think about the terror no less, one of my favorite pasttimes. Thank u to all who check this playlists out in any capacity & thanks for making this event the coolest thing I will ever experience. There's gonna be one more post with the last of my Terror (2018) playlists. I really could cry thinking about how it's like. the end. not quite, quite, but close enough. Careful with the word close, of course.

Henry Collins [LINK]

Down Diver by Perfekt Square || The Cruel Angel's Thesis (Director's Edit Version) by Yoko Takahashi || Gdzie Jest Biały Węgorz (Zejscie) by Cypis || Fuck Feelings by Born Ruffians || I'm Gonna Win by Rob Cantor || Sick and Tired by Slaughterhouse || Murmuration by Suns of the Tundra || I've Got My Own Mind To Think About by Adult Video || THIS LINKED SONG by JA SEAZER || Chainsaw by Skinny Puppy || Cactus- 2007 Remaster by Pixies || The Foundations of Decay by My Chemical Romance || Sweet Violence by C.B. Carlyle & the Desert Angels || An Animal In Your Care by Wolf Parade || I'll Kill My Friends (in an Honest Way) by Cade Crider || What a Wonderful World by Slothrust || Drink and Drugs They Can Be Fun, Until You're Coughing up a Lung by My Name Is Ian || The Room Is Filled With People Who Love You by Foresight || Too Heavy A Burden by The Tiny, Elle-Kari || Memory by SEATBELTS

Billy Orren [LINK]

Drown Me! by Junie & TheHutFriends || The Water's Fine! by Liana Flores || G-G-Ghost by Steven Universe, Kate Micucci || Ideal World by Girlpool || California by Joni Mitchell || Little Fang by Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks, Avery Tare || BackBreaker Taker by Yuno Miles || D.A.N.C.E by Justice || Rainbow Connection by Weezer, Hayley Williams || Cold Cold Man by Saint Motel || Corsican Mastiff Stride by The Mountain Goats || Haunted by Pinc Louds || The Bright Side by They Might Be Giants || Old Devil Moon by dodie || Mamma Mia by Austin Weber || The Wind- Remaster 2021 by Yusuf / Cat Stevens || Meow Meow Lullaby by Nada Surf || Tickle Me Pink by Johnny Flynn || Sink to the Bottom by Fountains Of Wayne

Charles Best [LINK]

Gibbons: The Silver Swan by The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips || Poor In Love by Destroyer || Old King Cole by The Mechanisms || Eli, The Barrow Boy by The Decemberists || Iceman Stole The Sun by Caleb Burhans, Alarm Will Sound || Partita for 8 Voices: No. 2 Sarabande by Caroline Shaw || Possum by Night by The Mountain Goats || The Trapper and the Furrier by Regina Spektor || In an Operetta by The Magnetic Fields || Jeff Davis County Blues by Julian Koster

Thomas Farr [LINK]

Stabbing by Christina Bowden || Shadow Stabbing by CAKE || Fall by The Terrordactyls || The Chills Peter Bjorn and John || I Hope I Become a Ghost by The Deadly Syndrome || Benjamin Alphabet by Super Whatevr || Girls on Film- 2010 Remaster by Duran Duran || Everywhere by Ex Hex || it's different for girls by of Montreal || Things I Don't Remember by Ugly Casanova

Frederick Hornby [LINK]

A Cold Freezin' Night by The Books || Working For The Knife by Mitski || Death Toll by The Casualties || Your Heart Is A Muscle The Size Of Your Fist by Pat The Bunny || Black Me Out by Against Me! || Obligatory Folk Punk Song by Panucci's Pizza || My Idea Of Fun by Wingnut Dishwashers Union || The Beers by The Front Bottoms || Condition 11:11 by Defiance, Ohio

Francis Pocock [LINK]

Accident at a Harvest Festival by Matt Berry || Soul Meets Body by Death Cab For Cutie || Hold Yr Terror Close by The Go! Team || Congratulations by MGMT || Satellite by Dan Warren || Swim and Sleep (Like A Shark) by Unknown Mortal Orchestra || Left Hand Free by alt-J || La Femme Ressort by La Femme || Your Cover's Blown by Belle and Sebastian || When I Was Done Dying by Dan Deacon

[supercalifragipopculturevomit]

DANIEL BRÜHL MASTERPOST

This isn't everything — I also post behind-the-scenes stills from film sets, photos from shoots and events, updates from current projects, and tidbits from interviews — what's here is most of my original content, pinned and constantly updated, for easy reference.

(updated as of 17 April 2025)

BLOGS & RESOURCES

6 Types of Daniel Brühl Characters

A Guide Through Daniel Brühl's Filmography

The Best of Daniel Brühl

In Search of Daniel Brühl Movies?

Alignment Chart: The Danny Bunch x Fistfights

Daniel Brühl's Film Recommendations

GIF & PHOTO COLLECTIONS:

Dancing Brühl

Smoking Hot

Sleeping Beauty

Professional Sad Boi

Love Triangles

Sniffing Kink

Smarmy Motherfuckers

Hostage Eating Aspic

Lips Always Sealed

Funny Sitting Position

Posing with Hands

Danny with Glasses

Bearded Brühl Supremacy

Hand on the Hip Moments

Petition for Daniel to do more comedies

My Favorite Fashion Moments from Daniel Brühl

Icons Only: Daniel Brühl Characters (2011 - 2021)

Icons Only: Baby Brühl

Icons Only: Daniel Brühl's Cinematic Universe

FAN VIDEO

Heads Will Roll - Baron Zemo in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

GIFFED PROJECTS & APPEARANCES:

Der Pakt - Wenn Kinder Töten (1996)

Paradise Mall (1999)

Schule (2000)

Deeply (2000)

Honolulu (2001)

Vaya Con Dios (2002)

Good Bye, Lenin! (2003)

Love in Thoughts (2004)

The Edukators (2004)

Joyeux Noël (2005)

A Friend of Mine (2006)

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Un Poco de Chocolate (2008)

In Tranzit (2008)

John Rabe (2009)

Inglorious Basterds (2009)

Dinosaurier (2009)

Lila, Lila (2009)

The Coming Days (2010)

Lessons of a Dream (2011)

All Together (2011)

Eva (2011)

Rush (2013)

The Fifth Estate (2013)

The Face of an Angel (2014)

Me and Kaminski (2015)

Cualquier Otra Parte (2015)

Burnt (2015)

Alone in Berlin (2016)

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

The Zookeeper's Wife (2017)

The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

7 Days in Entebbe (2018)

The Alienist (2018 - 2020)

Just One Last Question (2020)

Nebenan (2021)

The King's Man (2021)

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)

The Making of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)

Loro Piana: The Sweater Jacket (2022)

La Contadora de Películas (2023)

Race for Glory: Audi vs. Lancia (2024)

Canneseries (2024)

Becoming Karl Lagerfeld (2024)

The Franchise (2024)

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (2024)

Eden (2025)

[toomanystoriessolittletime]

The Christmas/New Years Masterlist

all my christmas/New Years themed fics in one place 😌

Updated: December 19th 2024

✨ = newest updates

Fic Ratings (read warnings in fic for details):

(G) General Audiences

(M) Mature

(E) Explicit: only suitable for adults

A Christmas Carol - Made in Colombia 

Nothing was the same since Escobar was gone. Javier didn’t want to be back, but he had no other choice. He was there to do a job and a job only. When a stake out went wrong and Javier ends up in a drug induced coma the three ghosts of Christmas show him what he was blind to see. (Mini Series, Javier Peña x fem reader; G)

How I met the King of Mandalore (without knowing it) 

AU: A business meeting after Christmas takes you to the small kingdom of Mandalore where you meet a handsome stranger at your hotel bar who does not only show you the beautiful town but a side of himself that made you fall for him in a matter of hours. What happens when you run into the same man on your mission to return a child you had run into on your tour through the palace the next day? Did you… accidentally sleep with the next King of Mandalore? (One Shot; Din Djarin x fem. reader; E)

Alone (with me) 

Christmas sometimes is a lonely affair. Until you find someone you can be alone with. (One Shot; Frankie Morales x fem. reader, G)

Alone (with you) 

You spend the week between Christmas and New Years getting to know Frankie better. (One Shot; Frankie Morales x fem. reader, G)

A walk in the woods 

Frankie talks you into taking a walk to the local farm to pick out a Christmas tree. (One Shot; Frankie Morales x fem. reader, G)

Roasted Almonds 

Almost getting knocked over by a handsome stranger on a christmas market might be the start of your personal Hallmark Movie experience. (One Shot; Marcus Pike x fem. reader, G)

New Years wishes 

After spending difficult six month without Marcus he surprises you for New Years Eve. (One Shot; Marcus Pike x fem. reader; G)

Lonely Christmas 

A storm that makes it impossible to leave the island, leaves you spend Christmas with your friend and boss Javi. (One Shot; Javi Gutierrez x fem. reader; G)

Cookie Kisses 

Dieter finds you baking cookies in your home after being away to shoot his series for months. (One Shot; Dieter Bravo x fem. reader; G)

Here comes Santa Claus 

After working as Mrs. Claus with Dieter Bravo as your local mall Santa for the last six weeks you finally agree to go out for drinks with him, not knowing how this night would end for you. (One Shot; Dieter Bravo x fem, reader; E; dub con/noncon)

✨ Miller's Christmas Tree Farm ✨

Wanting a fresh start after your husband died, you and your nine year old Step Daughter Ellie move from San Francisco to Noel, a small town in Colorado where you, looking for a job are found by Tommy Miller, who offers you a place to stay and a new job at his family owned Christmas Tree Farm that is in dire need of some fresh ideas to make some money. There is only one problem, his brother Joel Miller, who, judging by the google reviews of the Christmas Tree farm, is an asshole. But you like a challenge. And Joel? Joel can only try to pretend to be grumpy for so long until he finally realises that you might just be what he needed. (Mini Series; Joel Miller x fem. reader; E)

Christmas Writing Challenge 2019

Christmas Writing Challenge 2020

Christmas Writing Challenge 2021

December Writing Challenge 2022 

Winter Writing Challenge 2023

[walkergirlsposts]

I know the hellers tried to make Jared’s “homophobic rant” at Denver con 2021 something to take him down, but I didn’t know there was articles about.

https://thealisthype.com/jared-padalecki-disappoints-lgbtq-community-at-denver-con-2021/

The way everyone hangs on his every word like he's God, tho?? I love that for him. The pearl clutchers of the fandom. And it wasn't that serious, it was just his opinion. Go King, I guess?? LOL

[tnbc-thoughtsandheadcanons]

An early release edition of Sally's Lament: A Twisted Tale is being offered today and this weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, at the Disney Books booth #2021, along with other pre-release content like Hocus Pocus and Haunted Mansion.

Tokyopop's booth is also present, selling Zero's Journey, Mirror Moon, The Battle for Pumpkin King, etc.

I and others are on the lookout for any editions of Sally's Lament being sold/offered online, so please point me if you have or see a listing!

[manueljiniesta]

Hail to the King by Manuel J. Iniesta ilustración inspirada en #scarface #thelion

Digital Art con @procreate y @Photoshop

Scarface, nacido en 2007, fue el león más legendario del Maasai Mara. Su cicatriz sobre el ojo le dio su nombre, pero su valentía lo hizo inolvidable: mató a más de 400 hienas y 130 leones machos, expulsó cocodrilos de su territorio y se cree que fue el único león que venció hipopótamos adultos en combate uno a uno. A diferencia de otros leones, cuyo reinado rara vez dura más de tres años, Scarface dominó múltiples manadas durante casi una década. En 2012 sobrevivió a una grave herida en el ojo, y en su vejez desafió toda lógica, recorriendo 25 km de regreso a su antiguo territorio. Incluso los temidos Salas, una feroz coalición de jóvenes leones, lo respetaron en su última etapa. El 11 de junio de 2021, a los 14 años, murió en paz, algo inusual para un león salvaje. No hubo batallas finales ni derrotas humillantes. Se fue como un rey, solo y con la dignidad intacta, dejando un legado que lo convirtió en el león más famoso del mundo.

https://manueljiniesta.artstation.com/  https://www.facebook.com/iniestailustraciones/  https://www.instagram.com/manueljiniesta_art/

#manueljiniesta #art #arte # dibujo #Draw #draws#concept #conceptart #conceptartist #digital #ilustracion #digitalilustracion #digitalart #digitalartist

[tf2heritageposts]

Elizabeth Eden Harris[2] (born May 31, 1997), known professionally as Cupcakke (often stylized as cupcakKe; pronounced /ˈkʌpkeɪk/ "cupcake"),[3] is an American rapper and singer-songwriter known for her hypersexualized, brazen, and often comical persona and music.[4][5]

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Cupcakke began her career as a rapper in 2012 by releasing material online. She drew attention in 2015 when she released two music videos, "Vagina" and "Deepthroat", on YouTube that went viral; the songs were later included on her debut mixtape, Cum Cake (2016), which was included on Rolling Stone's list of the Best Rap Albums of 2016 at number 23.[6] A second mixtape, S.T.D (Shelters to Deltas), released in 2016, preceded her studio albums: Audacious (2016), Queen Elizabitch (2017), Ephorize (2018), Eden (2018), and Dauntless Manifesto (2024).

Aside from a brief retirement at the end of 2019, Cupcakke has been steadily releasing standalone singles, such as "Squidward Nose" (2019), "Discounts" (2020), "Mosh Pit" (2021), and "H2hoe" (2022).

Elizabeth Eden Harris was born on May 31, 1997,[7] in Chicago, Illinois, and was raised on King Drive, near Parkway Gardens. Harris was raised by a single mother and spent nearly four years in Chicago's homeless shelters starting at age seven.[8] In the lyrics of her song "Ace Hardware", Harris recounts her experiences struggling with depression and being raped by her father, who is a pastor.[9][10] She has referred to her father as a "deadbeat", "con artist", and "child molester."[11] She attended Dulles Elementary School[12] with other established Chicago rappers such as Lil Reese and Chief Keef. She got an early start into music and poetry at the age of ten by her involvement in her local church. It was also there that she got her start in performing, where she would perform for her local pastors by reciting poetry about her Christianity and faith.[13]

When she was 13, she met a fellow churchgoer who encouraged her to turn the poetry into rap music, and she became infatuated with the art form. She cites 50 Cent, Lil' Kim, and Da Brat as early influences to her musical style.[14][13]

Harris released her first music video, "Gold Digger" onto her official YouTube channel in August 2012. She was only 15 at the time of its release—the original video has since been deleted.[5] Over the next few years, she continued to release original music, as well as freestyles using beats from other artists through her YouTube channel, where she has amassed over 919,000 subscribers.[15]

In October 2015, the official music video for her song "Vagina" was released on YouTube via YMCFilmz. According to Cupcakke, she wrote the song because she was inspired by Khia's dirty rap song "My Neck, My Back (Lick It)" from 2002.[16] One month later, Harris released "Deepthroat" on her own channel. Within weeks, the two videos went viral on YouTube, Worldstar, and Facebook. The songs later became singles for Harris' debut mixtape, Cum Cake, which was released in February 2016. Its release was also supported by further singles such as "Juicy Coochie", "Tit for Tat", and "Pedophile". A writer for Pitchfork, which included it on "9 Rap Mixtapes You Might Have Missed This Year", called the mixtape a "well rounded introduction to a skilled writer" and said it used songs "about love, loss, and hardship with its more explicit tracks to create a full profile of the up-and-coming Chicago rapper".[17] "Pedophile" was also specifically noted for its "blunt commentary" on sexual assault.[5]

In June 2016, Harris released her second mixtape, S.T.D (Shelters to Deltas). It was preceded by the single "Best Dick Sucker". Other tracks, such as "Doggy Style" and "Motherlands", were also later released as singles. The mixtape was listed among Rolling Stone's "Best Rap Albums of 2016 So Far".[6]

In October 2016, Harris released her debut studio album, Audacious.[18] The album was preceded by the single "Picking Cotton", which was described by MTV News as "a protest song about racist cops".[13] Other tracks on the album such as "Spider-Man Dick" and "LGBT" were accompanied by music videos.[19][20] In an interview Harris stated that she made the song "LGBT" "...strictly for the gay community to know that they are loved and don't need to feel judged."[21]

In February 2017, Harris released "Cumshot", which served as the lead single to her second studio album. On March 7, English singer-songwriter Charli XCX premiered her song "Lipgloss", which featured Harris. The song was later included on XCX's mixtape, Number 1 Angel, which was released on March 10.[22]

Her second studio album, titled Queen Elizabitch, was released on March 31, 2017.[23] The Fader described it as "the type of nasty rap that made her a viral sensation, alongside all-out pop bangers like '33rd' and the confessional a cappella freestyle 'Reality, Pt. 4'."[24] Stereogum also noted that the album "sees CupcakKe engaging with the current political climate and radio trends in a way that could help her cross over to a more mainstream audience".[25][26]

On April 7, 2017, Queen Elizabitch was removed from online streaming services and digital music stores due to an illegal backing track that Harris had purchased from what she described as a "shady producer". She soon announced on Twitter that Queen Elizabitch would be re-released on April 16.[27] She then released the singles "Exit" and "Cartoons" in November 2017.[28][29]

Her third studio album, Ephorize, was released on January 5, 2018.[30] Exclaim! called it "her most polished work to date" and noted that "she still slides in plenty of deliciously dirty one-liners throughout the new record."[31] HotNewHipHop commented that "Ephorize might be one of the most introspective bodies of work she's dropped off to date."[32] Pitchfork called it Cupcakke's "best album yet, with terrific production and a barrage of raps that reveal Elizabeth Harris to be far more than her hilarious and absurdly raunchy one-liners."[33] She released music videos for the songs "Duck Duck Goose" and "Fullest".[34] The former features her "showing off an extensive collection of dildos as well as a souvenir Statue of Liberty."[35]

On November 9, 2018, Harris released her fourth studio album, Eden. She released music videos for the lead single "Quiz", and for the following singles "Hot Pockets" and "Blackjack".

On January 8, 2019, Harris was reportedly taken to a hospital in Chicago after tweeting that she was going to commit suicide.[36] In a tweet posted the next day, Harris wrote "I've been fighting with depression for the longest. Sorry that I did it public last night but I'm ok. I went to the hospital & I'm finally getting the help that I need to get through, be happy, & deliver great music. Thanks for all the prayers but please don't worry bout me."[37]

On January 11, 2019, the single "Squidward Nose" was released,[38] and on February 21, a music video for the song featuring John Early premiered.[39] On April 17, 2019, Harris released a remix of Lil Nas X's song "Old Town Road", titled "Old Town Hoe", on her YouTube channel,[40] and its music video the following day.[41]

In September 2019, Harris made several posts on social media criticizing several artists such as Camila Cabello (she accused Cabello of racism) and Shawn Mendes, followed by her retirement announcement in an Instagram Live video.[42] She stated, "This live is going to be the last video that y'all [will] see of me. I am completely done with music". She said that she would no longer be releasing music to the public and that she would be removing her music from all streaming platforms.[43] She stated that she was disturbed to see children in videos and young people at her shows singing along to her explicit songs, felt she was corrupting the youth with her raunchy songs.[44][45] Harris also told fans that she has a "very bad gambling addiction" and that she had lost $700,000 at a casino in September 2018.[45][46] Harris' Instagram and Twitter accounts were deactivated after the livestream ended.[45] Her music remained available on streaming platforms.[46]

On November 7, 2019, Harris came out of retirement after a 40-day absence on all social media platforms with a tweet; "Jesus fasted for 40 days & so did I...... Nov 16th".[47] On March 6, 2020, Harris released a new single, "Lawd Jesus".[48] Harris uploaded her first video to YouTube since her previous deletion of all videos on her channel the previous year, with the double video for singles "Grilling Niggas" and "Lawd Jesus", on May 13, 2020.[49]

On June 1, 2020, Cupcakke released the single "Lemon Pepper"[50] with half of the proceeds going towards the Minnesota Bail fund.[51] Another single, "Discounts" was released on June 26.[52] The song received critical acclaim, peaked at number 78 on the UK Singles Downloads Chart and number 80 on the UK Singles Sales Chart, becoming her first single to do so.[53][54] "Discounts" also reached number one on the US iTunes chart, which is her first song to do so. She is also the only female rapper to have a number-one song on the iTunes chart with no label.

On December 16, 2020, Harris received significant media attention after releasing "How to Rob (Remix)", a diss track. It was released on YouTube and sees Harris take aim at Megan Thee Stallion, Lizzo, and Lil' Kim, among others.[55] The song received positive reviews.

On March 1, 2021, "Deepthroat" was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which denotes five hundred thousand units based on sales and track-equivalent on-demand streams.[56] It is her first song to be certified by the RIAA.[57] In June, Rolling Stone magazine reported that Harris will be co-hosting the upcoming OutTV reality show Hot Haus with Tiffany Pollard, which will mark the rapper's TV hosting debut. Harris said of the casting decision, "As soon as I heard what this show stood for, owning your sexuality and talent, I knew I had to be involved."[58]

In 2021, her songs went viral on TikTok, mainly in the form of remixes; she later joined the platform because of it.[59]

On May 31, 2022, Harris released the single "H2Hoe".

On June 23, 2024, Harris announced her album Dauntless Manifesto, which was released on June 28, 2024.

wow

[weclassybouquetfun]

Matthew Vaughn was at New York Comic Con this weekend and gave an update on the potential third KINGSMAN film. And by update I mean, reiterating the same thing he's been saying for years.

During the same NYCC panel, Vaughn was asked about the future of the Kingsman film franchise, which he said it was not over.

“We’ve got to get on with Kingsman 3 because I was joking that Colin [Firth] is going to end up being a portrait on the side while Taron is Arthur,” he said. “So we are working on that at the moment.”

This seemingly non-committal response is bewildering because at one point Taron Egerton said they were to begin filming in September 2022, but he then walked it back. But with such a definitive date in mind it appears they did have movement at one point.

Vaughn did have a more definitive answer about the follow-up to 2021's THE KING'S MAN. There will be a sequel titled THE TRAITOR KING and will deal with the rise of Hitler; which isn't surprising considering the end of the film. He will also be rebooting KICK-ASS. The original two films starred Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Chloe Grace Moretz.

What are the men of KINGSMAN up to?

Taron Egerton is still MIA. The only credit he has on IMDB is the Netflix film CARRY-ON which wrapped some time ago. He was even absent from the BAFTA Cymru awards this weekend where he beat out Rhys Ifans (House of The Dragon), Owain Arthur (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) and Graham Land (Melt) for Best Actor for his work in BLACK BIRD.

The award was handed out by Luke Evans - a winner that night for Best Entertainment Programme- who said Taron is his neighbor so he will bring it to him.

Another MIA Kingsman is Colin Firth who has zero projects listed on IMDB. He did turn up in a recorded program this weekend in support of the charity organization Action for Stammering Children.

Looking good, Cols.

I can't believe this is the last image we've seen of Colin Firth this year.

Know who is never not working? Mark Strong, that's who. He's a work horse! He even has his son Roman working.

Roman, who appeared in three episodes of Strong's series TEMPLE, which is executive produced by his wife Liza Marshall.

Strong has 3 films that have yet to come out and 8 pending gigs on IMDB. However, IMDB is user-maintained so it's likely some of those 8 are dead in the water or inaccurate. One of those iffy entries is that he is listed as being in the upcoming Max THE BATMAN, spinoff series: THE PENGUIN starring Colin Farrell. It's listed that Strong has been cast as Carmine Falcone who was played by John Turturro in THE BATMAN.

Now someone who wasn't working, but now is finally back at it is Edward Holcroft who is Lithuania filming the six-part series WOLF'S PALATE.

As long as the selfies keep coming.

[lemonpoundcakes]

The spotlight refocused, and the performer emerged. The figure striding out from the curtain was not a drag queen but a drag king. She was average in height, a few inches shorter than herself, and roughly her age. Her vivid pink side-cut was combed and slicked back. She wore a vintaged red and black motorcycle jacket over a white shirt, with pin-striped pants. Motorcycle boots with something of a steampunk motif completed the outfit. She struck a disco pose, isolating her hips skillfully and jerking them to the beat.

She spun around on her heel, popped the collar on her leather jacket, and launched into motion: Strutting, dipping and swaying purposefully toward Caitlyn with a gleeful spark in her eyes. Surely, she had mortified many a woman on her birthday.

_____

Finding herself at a drag show on her birthday, the wealthiest heiress in Piltover becomes taken with a struggling ex-con who intends to give her the best birthday of her life.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Stellantis wants to make scabbing woke

I'm coming to Minneapolis! Oct 15: Presenting The Internet Con at Moon Palace Books. Oct 16: Keynoting the 26th ACM Conference On Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing.

I know, I know, it's weird when the worst people you know are right, even when they're right for the wrong reasons: like, the "Intelligence Community" is genuinely terrible, pharma companies are murderous crooks, and Big Tech really does have a dangerous grip on public debate. The swivel-eyed loons have a point, is what I'm saying:

https://locusmag.com/2023/05/commentary-cory-doctorow-the-swivel-eyed-loons-have-a-point/

When conspiratorialists and reactionaries holler about how the FBI are dirty-tricking creeps who are framing Trump, it's tempting to say, "well, if Trumpists hate the FBI, then I will love the FBI. Who cares about COINTELPRO and what they did to Martin Luther King?"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI%E2%80%93King_suicide_letter

It's a process called "schizmogenesis": forming new group identity beliefs based on saying the opposite of what your enemies say, and as tempting as that is, it's extraordinarily foolish and dangerous:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/18/schizmogenesis/

It means that canny reactionaries like Steve Bannon can trick you into taking any position merely by taking the opposite one. Bannon's followers are even more easily led, so it's easy for him to convince them that we have always been at war with Oceania. The right has created an entire mirror world of "I know you are but what am I?" politics.

Anti-vax co-opts "bodily autonomy." Climate denial becomes environmentalism ("wind turbines kill birds"). Transphobia becomes feminism ("keep women-only spaces for real women"). Support for strongmen becomes anti-imperialism ("don't feed the war machine in Ukraine"). These are the doppelgangers Naomi Klein warns us against:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/05/not-that-naomi/#if-the-naomi-be-klein-youre-doing-just-fine

The far right has even managed to co-opt anti-corporate rhetoric. Culture warriors rail against "woke capitalism," insisting that when big businesses take socially progressive positions, it's just empty "virtue signalling." And you know what? They've got a point. Partially.

As with all mirror-world politics, the anti-woke-capitalism shuck is designed to convince low-information right-wing pismires into buying "anti-woke pillows" and demanding the right to pay junk fees to "own the libs":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/04/owning-the-libs/#swiper-no-swiping

But woke capitalism is bullshit. Corporations – profit-maximizing immortal transhuman colony organisms that view workers and customers as inconvenient gut-flora – do not care about social justice. They don't care about anything, except for minimizing compensation for workers while maximizing the risk those workers bear; and locking in and gouging customers for products that are as low-quality as can be profitably sold.

Take DEI, a favored target of the right. It's undoubtably true that diversity, inclusion and equity initiatives have made some inroads on correcting bias in hiring decisions, with the result that companies get better employees who would have been excluded without this explicit corrective.

However, corporations don't value DEI because they abhor their history of hiring bias. Instead, DEI is how corporate management demonstrates to workers that their grievances are best addressed by trusting corporate leadership to correct their error of their ways – and not by forming a union.

Before the passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, corporations would create fake "Company Unions" whose leadership were beholden to the company executives. These were decoy unions: they looked and sounded like unions, but when they negotiated with management, they were actually working for the bosses, not the workers.

This is more mirror-world tactics. They're the labor equivalent of the "crisis pregnancy centers" that masquerade as abortion clinics in order to fool pregnant people and trap them with endless delays until it's too late to terminate their pregnancies. Company unions get workers to trust in negotiators who are secretly working for the bosses, who emerge from the bargaining table with one-sided, abusive contracts and insist that this is the best deal workers can hope for.

Company unions were outlawed 90 years ago, and for decades, labor had a seat at the table, with wages tracking productivity gains and workers getting protection for discrimination, unsafe labor conditions, and wage-theft. Then came the neoliberal turn, and 40 years of wage stagnation, increased inequality, and corporate rule.

Anything that can't go on forever will eventually stop. Finally, finally, we have reached a turning point in labor, with public approval for unions at levels not seen since the Carter administration and thousands of strikes and protests breaking out across the country:

https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/

It's not just the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA, either. For the first time in history, the UAW is striking against all the major automakers, and they are winning:

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/10/striking-uaw-workers-win-key-battery-plant-concession-from-general-motors/

The automakers are getting desperate. Stellantis – Chrysler's latest alias, reflecting the company's absorbtion into corporate-human-centipede of global carmakers – has mobilized its DEI programs, trying to get marginalized people to believe that scabbing is a liberatory activity:

https://theintercept.com/2023/10/10/uaw-auto-strike-stellantis/

Stellantis calls each of its DEI silos a "Business Resource Group" (BRG): there's a "Working Parents Network," an "African Ancestry Network," "Asians Connected Together," a "DiverseAbilities Network," a "Gay & Lesbian Alliance" and more:

https://blog.stellantisnorthamerica.com/2021/07/20/business-resource-groups-drive-inclusion-and-diversity/

The corporate managers who lead these BRGs have established a scab rotation for each subgroup, calling on members to cross a UAW picket-line at a Michigan Parts Distribution Center run by Stellantis subsidiary Mopar:

Each BRG will pick a specific day of the week/weekend to volunteer as a team. Help continue to be the RESOURCE the BUSINESS can count on! Stellantis needs your help in running the Parts Distribution Centers (PDC) to ensure a steady supply of parts to our customers while negotiations continue. Working Parents Network has identified Friday, October 13 as WPN’s BRG Day at the PDCs!"

Now, these BRGs weren't invented by marginalized workers facing discrimination in the workplace. They come from literal union-busting playbooks produced by giant "union avoidance" firms that charge bosses millions for advice on skirting – or breaking – the law to keep workplace democracy at bay. All the biggest anti-union consultancies love BRGs, from Littler Mendelson to Jackson Lewis. IRI Strategies touts BRGs as a way to "union-proof" a business by absorbing workers' grievances in a decoy committee that will let them feel listened to.

BRGs, in other words, are the Crisis Pregnancy Centers of workplace discrimination. They're a Big Store Con, a company union dressed up as corporate social responsibility.

Now, let's not pretend that unions have a sterling record on race and gender issues. Giant labor organizations like the AFL had to be dragged into racial integration, and trade unions have sometimes been on the wrong side of anti-immigration panics:

https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1997/summer/american-labor-movement.html

But unions have also been the most reliable way for people of color and women to win better workplace treatment. The struggle for racial and gender justice was fought through labor organizing. Remember that MLK's "I've Been To the Mountaintop" speech was given in support of striking sanitation workers in Memphis:

https://www.afscme.org/about/history/mlk/mountaintop

Black organizers have always been militant labor organizers. Labor Day commemorates the victory of the long, hard-fought Pullman strike, where Black workers brought one of the most powerful companies in America to its knees:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike

And women have always fought for gender justice through the labor movement: the New York shirtwaist strike is the Ur-example, when women-led unions fought thugs and scabs on icy New York streets:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_shirtwaist_strike_of_1909

It's no surprise that labor activism, anti-racism and feminism go together. Since the earliest days, the labor justice struggle was also a social justice struggle. To learn more check out Kim Kelly's Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor:

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fight-Like-Hell/Kim-Kelly/9781982171063

The most exploited, underpaid, and abused workers in America are also the most marginalized (duh).

From nurses:

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/kaiser-healthcare-union-says-week-long-strike-possible-early-next-month-2023-10-09/

To teachers:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-18/l-a-teachers-win-21-wage-increase-in-new-lausd-contract

To Amazon warehouse workers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Labor_Union

To publishing assistants:

https://apnews.com/article/harpercollins-union-strike-ends-0a94238718879066d9b21af6266be526

To baristas:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/29/business/starbucks-union-wages/index.html

To fast-food workers:

https://www.ufcw.org/about/

The vanguard of today's labor surge is Black, brown, female and queer. Without a union, workers who face discrimination are on their own, hoping that their bosses will voluntarily do something about it. Black workers in Tesla's rabidly anti-union shops face vicious racism, from slurs to threats to violence. Without a union, they have to rely on the shifting whims of an Apartheid emerald mine space-Karen for relief, or hope for help from the NLRB or a class-action lawyer:

https://apnews.com/article/tesla-racism-black-lawsuit-class-action-21c88bddf60eca702560be58429495de

The far right isn't wrong when they holler that woke capitalism is bullshit. As with so many of their mirror-world causes, they've got a point, but only a limited one. The problem with woke capitalism is that it's no substitute for a union. The problem with relying on Business Resource Groups to fight racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia is that these struggles are all class struggles, and a BRG is never going to fight against the company that created it.

To understand how bankrupt woke capitalism is, conside this: Stellantis is calling on its "Working Parents Network" to scab this Friday. Stellantis is also being sanctioned by the Department Of Labor for discriminating against nursing mothers – the same "working parents" that the BRG is meant to protect:

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2023/02/08/investigation-finds-stellantis-violated-rights-of-nursing-mothers-at-sterling-heights-plant/

Woke capitalism is just another kind of "predatory inclusion," like Intuit's campaign defending its "Free File" tax-prep scam, where they're claiming that ending this ripoff is racist because it denies Black families the right to be tricked into paying for something they are entitled to get for free:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/27/predatory-inclusion/#equal-opportunity-scammers

When I learned about Intuit's wokewashing, I thought I'd found woke capitalism's rock bottom, but I was wrong. Stellantis's call for woke scabbing is a new low.

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

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/11/equal-opportunity-class-war/#inclusive-scabbing

My next novel is The Lost Cause, a hopeful novel of the climate emergency. Amazon won't sell the audiobook, so I made my own and I'm pre-selling it on Kickstarter!