#niche posts that mean very little without context

[drdemonprince]

doctor demon prince im in my 5th year of undergrad suffering from functional freeze and Cant Write Papers disease (subtype where i eventually write it 7 months later and its really good for how rushed it is). ive also been doing unmasking work and trying to make progress w my nervous system and my relationships, i still have a long way to go . im going to graduate eventually (who fucking knows when) but with a pretty shit gpa.

Anyway my question is why the fuck do i keep wanting to get a masters degree when i know this setting sucks real bad for me. i love 2 learn but either dont have a handle on my adhd/autistic workflow yet or simply dont have the combination of traits it takes to succeed in academia. and i have student loans. i probably wont be accepted to any masters programs anyway but i dont know what else to do !!!!!!!!!!! 🙃 seeing as this is the transgender autistic grad student website maybe u or some of ur followers have advice for me..... 🫶 ok thank u byeee

I'm sorry to have to say this, but why do you want to go to graduate school? It will drive you deeply into debt, cause you a huge amount of stress, subject you to a wildly inaccessible environment where student neurodivergences are often unfairly cast as signs of laziness and lack of academic potential, and, in a majority of fields, it doesn't lead to improved career prospects (typically, the equivalent amount of time spent working in your chosen profession will get you just as far, if not farther, than a graduate degree).

I don't recommend graduate school to almost anyone. Graduate school was a stigmatizing, exhausting, abusive, exploitative, traumatizing experience for me that left me profoundly socially isolated and physically sick, and trained me in an increasingly irrelevant and scientifically unsound field that basically does nothing but regurgitate neoliberal truisms back to the elites that already believe in them.

Some of the faults I've just listed don't apply to *every* academic field in the world -- but it does apply to most of them!

I think it's important for people to know that Master's degree programs are, by and large, created as a revenue source for universities. Undergraduate enrollment has hit a wall -- there's only so many more people who can go to college, in a world where college has become increasingly obligatory, college pays off professionally far less than it used to, and in times of low unemployment there's very little reason to go to school -- and so the possibility of growing undergraduate enrollment has become more and more thin. This means universities have been unable to turn growing profits for years. And that's what matters to them -- profits.

Left without the revenue source of more college students' tuitions, universities have turned toward courting repeat customers -- duping college graduates who are unhappy with their post-graduate career prospects by investing in even more school. In most Master's degree programs, there are very high fees, very limited financial aid, and very very limited mentorship (compared to, say PhD programs, where shepherding you through the program is at least an advisor's duty).

I've worked in higher ed administration for years now and I've seen how disposable Master's degree students are taken to be -- they're paying for a pricey credential and they get very little out of it, in the end -- in most programs, and most contexts. When we need to fill a budget gap, we create a new Master's program -- without regard for whether it is necessary, and without ever being able to prove it will aid our graduates in getting jobs, or even that the degree will fill a necessary niche.

You can feel free to write back to me if yours is a field where a master's degree is necessary or yields positive career outcomes for a great many people (social work and athletic training come to mind). But even still, I don't think you should subject yourself to a completely inaccessible environment that you are already struggling in and taking on more debt to do so. You deserve better than that. And 99% of graduate programs will not do right by you.

If you'd like to read more about just how exploitative graduate programs generally are, and why, I recommend Karen Kelsky's book The Professor is In, or her blog of the same name:

[visceral-viscera]

not to poke my head in where it doesn't belong but. i have very little context for the current RW drama- but yall really need to stop acting like everyone who likes the same thing as you is your best friend. and that ALL different opinions are something to be actively shunned and shamed. ive seen like 3 posts that all boil down to "fandom bad it ruins the game for me im gonna leave" and people getting the weirdest anon hate, and its so confusing to me. Block the people who are weird (in your opinion,) and try not to make everyone in the fandom your bestie.

Note: never join a fandom discord expecting to make a bunch of live long friends. they almost always end up this way. if you are in a room with people who literally just have the same POPULAR game in common, there's gonna be people you dislike. and people who do bad shit.

And for the love of god- this is more general- take words like "zoo," "proship," "groomer" ect out of your mouth and just say what exactly they actually did/support. trying to figure out what the hell yall are talking about whenever this stuff comes up is impossible, because some people think its "proship" to write a fic where the adult characters are mean to each other, people think ALL anthro nsfw is zoophilia (including??? literally just adults doing it in suits?? you can think its weird but if it isnt hurting any real animals please just block and move on.), and that a 19 year old dating a 17 year old is grooming. (NOT examples i saw in the tag but ones ive heard in other places).

don't take this shit so seriously. the internet is full of creeps. yes even your favorite game that used to be niche back in the day. dont write "call out" posts. dont REBLOG callout posts. its so fucking easy to just change your identity online, all it does is spread fear and confusion and infighting. if someone you like is interacting with someone you know is a POS, just send them an ask or PM. and respect if they choose to continue interacting! maybe block them if they do! if you HAVE to let the wider fandom know- please just put factual info. do not buff it out with random shit or god forbid fabricated shit. put the info out there, clearly, without inflammatory/reactionary language, and trust that people who care will block as needed.

free yourself from the chains of "the fandom is mean/bad." start ignoring people. stop giving a shit what other people think. do not send anon hate. be free. god bless.

[secretmellowblog]

I hope tumblr doesn’t die because No other social media site is as good for long, thoughtful, nuanced analyses of media. Yeah tumblr is also full of dumb shallow hot takes and shitposts, but you can make dumb shallow hot takes and shitposts anywhere —-there are no other popular social media sites that let you easily format and share long essays on the media you enjoy, and then have conversations around those long essays.

Fandom on all the other big social websites just seems so utterly …shallow. And it’s not because people on other websites aren’t thoughtful or don’t have deep things to say, but because these sites’ formats do not allow for any kind of long nuanced conversations.

Tiktok? Things have to be crammed into a super short video with an attention grabbing headline, and you can’t hyperlink sources. Instagram? Everything has to be in an image format with strict limits on length, and nothing will be shown to your followers anyway because of how Instagram’s algorithm works, and also no hyperlinks. Twitter? Strict character limits, and if you split it into threads it means someone can retweet a part of your essay completely out of context, and also very little freedom with formatting.

It frustrates me so much. If I go into the Tumblr Les Mis fandom I’ll find really compelling long essays on the original novel (including essays being written for the ongoing book club) on the story’s historical context, or the parallels between different characters and their narrative foils, or the way the politics were defanged for certain adaptations, or the way Victor Hugo’s personal life and failings affected the novel. But on tiktok I’ll get the same five shallow stale jokes from 2013 over and over, or maybe the same “DID U KNO THAT IN THE MUSICAL JAVERT AND VALJEAN SING THE SAME LEITMOTIF” style of basic Intro To Les Mis 101 For Babies media analysis (which is what Tiktok considers deep media analysis), or stale “LOL JAVERT ACTS GAY” style jokes as if we’re living in the early 2000s and calling a character gay is still a funny punchline. And it’s impossible to have any kind of deeper thoughtful discussions than “DID U KNOW <x Kool Fact>” or “lol <shallow observational joke>” on tiktok because the platform just isn’t built for building niche communities around in depth conversations. it’s built to churn out bland generic content for as wide an audience as possible, which means pointing out a small detail like an Easter egg and calling it “cool” is deep media analysis, because you cant have longer more in depth conversations without alienating people. And I hate it. Bc like, it’s not because there aren’t smart clever thoughtful people on Tiktok— there are—it’s because Tiktok isn’t built for these conversations, and anyone who wants to have them has to really fight against the things the website encourages or prioritizes!

Or like, if I go into the LOTR fandom on Tumblr, I’ll find tons of extremely long analysis and fanfic, and analysis of queer readings of the story. On Instagram people will still shriek in terror if you suggest the characters are gay, and most of the popular lotr posts are stale memes recycled from like 2007. There’s really no room for thoughtful media analysis, and even if you did create it, instagram’s algorithm would make sure no one saw your post anyway.

And everyone’s going to say “the algorithm shows you what you’ve seen before so maybe it’s your fault ~” or whatever but i do look for things I want! I do! “The algorithm” doesn’t know me or what I want or value or care about beyond this meaningless surface level.

The only thing that was worthwhile about these sites was the great visual art people were creating, but now the websites are overwhelmed with meaningless soulless machine-generated AI glurge, and it sucks. It just really, really sucks.

I’m honestly confused about why people don’t use tumblr….There’s no character limits! You have freedom with post formatting, and can insert images throughout textposts to illustrate specific points you’re making beneath the paragraphs where they’re necessary! You can add hyperlinks, linking to your sources! People can reblog your entire essay and share it, and then add on with commentary that then becomes part of a larger conversation! People can find your stuff through the tagging system! Reblogging means posts stay in circulation for years instead of being dead 30 minutes after they’re uploaded! If you want to have genuinely interesting text conversations about a piece of media, there really isn’t a better social media website for it anywhere.

To be clear, I’m definitely not saying Tumblr media analysis is *always* clever and thoughtful or etc etc. there are shitposts and nonsense here too (plenty of which I’ve created lol.) I’m saying that Tumblr gives people the tools for in-depth insightful analysis to happen. Whether people choose to do it or not is their own decision XD. But the reason lengthy in-depth conversations and book clubs are even possible here is because Tumblr is built for allowing these conversations to happen, in a way other sites simply aren’t.

It’d really suck if it died, because it’d be a huge blow to…being able to easily find long insightful in-depth media analysis written by fans. I currently don’t think there’s anything that could replace it.

[onehundredthousandflies]

Flower Language

Words: 876

Summary: Among the typical lillies and carnations, one bright, colorful bunch stood out. It was a small bouquet of two-toned pink and yellow-orange tea roses with a sprinkling of lilly of the valley. Reid knew, as a decade old memory dug itself out of his mind, exactly who had sent these flowers.

CW: Referenced canon character death (Gideon), funeral (Gideon's), I think that pretty much covers it, let me know if I missed anything

A/N: This started out as a headcanon post, but it took on a life of its own and became a full-fledged ficlet

Click the Read More or read on A03.

The chappal was filled with floral arrangements accompanied by thoughtful cards with well wishes and expressions of friendship and gratitude. Victims he'd saved, former BAU agents, and even agents he'd liased with during his unofficial assignments with the CIA had sent arrangements to honor the life, memory, and selfless service of Jason Gideon.

But among the typical lillies and carnations, one bright, colorful bunch stood out.

It was a small bouquet of two-toned pink and yellow-orange tea roses with a sprinkling of lilly of the valley.  Even more puzzling than the flowers themselves was the fact that there was no name or card at all, not even a generic one from the flower shop.

In front of the table full of flowers, Reid stood with his hands in his pockets, arms stiff at his sides and his shoulders slumped forward. He stared at the out-of-place arrangement. He tilted his head as he inspected it without touching it, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.

He jolted slightly when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Sorry," Morgan said softly, "didn't mean to startle you. I was just making sure you were okay. You've been staring at those flowers for a solid minute."

Reid cleared his throat and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "They're an odd choice."

"What do you mean? They look nice enough to me."

"Oh no, they're lovely," Reid clarified, "but for a funeral, they seem a little... I don’t think inappropriate is the right word? They're certainly atypical. See, in flower language, Lilly of the valley represents deep sorrow, which is appropriate, but it's the roses that confuse me." 

Morgan raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

Now in his element, which was rambling on about some obscure piece of knowledge, Reid was able to relax his shoulders a little.

"Rose symbolism is among the most intricate and diverse in all of flower language, with different colors and combinations of colors saying vastly different things. A yellow rose says friendship. Some shades of pink say appreciation and gratitude, some share a niche with red and speak to romantic attraction, while others portray youthful innocence. Then there's the salmon color they make when they mix in these particular roses. Salmon colored roses can, depending on context, indicate excitement and fascination, or... um," Reid hesitated and glanced around, not wanting to say something inappropriate around the wrong person, "or sensual desire."

"So," Morgan mused, "Maybe it was the friendship in the yellow and the gratitude in the pink that they were going for. Gideon had a lot of friends in a lot of places, and a lot of people had reason to be grateful to him. He touched a lot of hearts and saved who knows how many lives."

Reid nodded, but before he could reply, Garcia approached and chimed in.

"They're 'dear dad' roses."

"They're what now?" Morgan asked.

"Salmon hybrid tea roses. Marketed by specialty flower nurseries as the 'dear dad' rose." She playfully swatted Reid's arm. "See? I know things, too."

Morgan grinned. "We know you do, Baby Girl."

Reid's brow furrowed, and he looked back down at the anonymous flowers. "Dear dad?" He muttered under his breath, just before his very next breath caught in his throat.

Reid knew then, as a decade old memory dug itself out of his mind, exactly who had sent these flowers. 

.....

"Gideon, will you tell him I don't need to go to the hospital?" Elle asked insistently, brushing her fingers over the corner of a small but deep gash on her cheek that was held closed by two butterfly bandages. 

Gideon shook his head and, with a mater-of-fact tone, answered, "Regulations are regulations." He strolled over the police car where Elle and Reid were sitting on the edge of the open trunk. "You alright?" 

Elle smiled up at the older agent. "I'm fine, Dad," she answered with a teasing laugh. 

Accepting her answer, he started walking back towards the group of officers. He stopped and turned back around before he got far.  

"Elle?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Don't ever call me 'dad' again." 

Reid grimaced as Gideon left. 

"How do you think he'd feel about 'mom'?" Elle asked. 

"Let me know when you're gonna do that," Reid said, "So I can, um. Run."

.....

A heady mix of emotions washed over Reid, some he couldn't quite identify. But before he had a chance to sort and process what he felt at the realization that Elle Greenaway, his former best friend who had resigned under the unprovable suspicion of murdering a suspect in cold blood and was never seen or heard from again, had sent unsigned flowers to Gideon's funeral, He noticed Hotch waiving for their attention.

People were beginning to take their seats in the pews. The service would be starting in just a few minutes.

Reid lingered by the roses a few seconds after Morgan and Garcia walked away hand-in-hand. He let out a wavering sigh before following suit, taking a seat next to JJ.

One last time before the pastor took to the pulpit, Reid glanced over at the brightly colored roses.

Elle was out there somewhere. She was alive somewhere. And she still, at least on some level, cared. 

He could sort the rest out later.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for arguing with someone over ships?

🧀⛵ so i can find this later

Yes, this is ship discourse AITA #294729472 you can scroll away, english isn't my first language, my apologies.

So I (16M (But 13-14 at the time)) am in a very niche fandom. As in, we didn't have any new content for the past 5 years and media is old af (2013), very few fans, most of us know each other already.

I used to have these mutuals Cheese (Not their real name) (around my age i think?? I can't remember) and Breadstick (Not his real name) (18M).

We all had our little ships, ok? I like the little (dumbass golden retriever boy) x (badass traumatized man) ship, Cheese liked the little (badass traumatized man) x (literally the same thing but evil and abusive) and Breadstick liked both ships.

I met Breadstick before meeting Cheese so we were already friends before i met Cheese. I thought "Cool, another person likes this little niche thing i'm hyperfixated on!" So we became mutuals.

I didn't anticipate that we would argue about ships, but oh well. So, i'm a very chill person regarding ships, literally any, although i do have NOTPs, i'm not really toxic about my hatred, i just go "Ah, not my thing" and scroll away not without blocking the person, but really nothing personal and no hard feelings, i can perfectly be friends with someone who loves my notp.

In fact, that was the case with Cheese. They shipped my NOTP, like A LOT. But I was okay with it, i mean these are just characters and all we're doing is being silly. I didn't take this THAT seriously. However, when I seemed to talk about my ship, Cheese seemed uncomfortable in some way.

When I was talking about my fankid (call me cringe idc) of my OTP, Cheese got very confused and asked who was i talking about. Breadstick came in and introduced my fankid to them, since he knew about it before. Cheese just started being rude, literally saying swear words (Not against them but, the context didn't really call for it? No one was being mean or mad), saying, and i quote as best as i can, "I don't know what the fuck made you think i knew who the hell [Fankid] was".

I got very mad about it, so i privately dm'ed Breadstick about Cheese's attitude. We began trash talking about them, which, i admit was a very trashy thing to do and definitely asshole material™.

Reason why may i be the asshole: over time, Breadstick just started complaining a lot about Cheese, and I could honestly agree, it came to the point of us disliking them to some degree but not telling them and not breaking the mutual, that could be considered two faced behavior.

This was partly influenced because of another incident. So Cheese and Breadstick where rambling about an OT3 (3 person ship) they had in common, basically sharing ideas and stuff. I thought it would be fun and went "Hey, I have an OT3 too, maybe i should post about it too". So I went and posted about it, but Cheese felt very uncomfortable with that, since basically my OT3 was exactly like Cheese's OT3 but one character is different, "basically".

They said "You have your thing, let US have ours". Felt bad and honestly, maybe i shouldn't have intruded their ot3 rambling. I didn't expect such negative reaction out of them.

In other occasions they complained about me posting a little too much about my ship, even though they did the same thing with theirs. And they also had a mutual that said "If you ship [this character] you suck and i fucking hate you. [character] is too abusive to be shipped with anyone and you can't just make an AU, that would just change him as a character completely" which, dear god, that language wasn't needed, right?. And despite that crazy person saying that, Cheese agreed with their take, despite literally shipping the character in question with another one. And abusively too, which like you do you, lord knows i do that too, but agreeing with a take like that while doing exactly what it is complaining about is weird. On the other side, that person wasn't my mutual, so it's unrealistic of me to expect Cheese to control their mutuals over me, Cheese can mutual whoever they want, but i can still be weirded out right?

That is without including them telling other people to kill themselves over shipping, so it was clear that Cheese took this shipping thing seriously while me and Breadstick to some degree didn't. Honestly another reason why i might be an asshole, clearly they felt their otp was personal and me not liking it + ignoring it caused a bad environment, mala mía, but what else could i have done?

So, clearly Cheese is kind of an asshole to some degree. But i think what makes ME an asshole too is when I trash talked behind their back and cut them off way later than i should've. And also, i guess i shoved my ship down their throat taking by how mad they were about it? I didn't do it intentionally though and i could definitely say they did the same thing too when 80% of the fandom and character tags was them posting about their ship. Again, small niche fandom for old unpopular media, we are keeping it alive ourselves.

What are these acronyms?

[mushiemellows]

Frobin hc- they both know how to hand sign and it’s their primary form of nonverbal communication

- Robin picks some up here and there when she’s a teen on the run but the use cases for it are few and far between so she’s a bit rusty. But there’s definitely times where she’ll sprout a few hands to get info out quickly and silently

- Franky learns from a few Family members. He has to reconstruct his hearing after the accident and he does a good job at it, but there’s still some days where the tech’s not working right and he’s gotta go a few days at a time without hearing.

-he also gives big Dad With Hearing Aids joke potential energy (turning them off when Luffy’s too loud, etc)

- Robin’s got a tendency to go a bit nonverbal sometimes and retreat, and that’s how Franky starts signing to her. He’s checking in from across the deck at a distance and her signs aren’t perfect in response but she gets the message across.

- she picks up a couple of books on the topic to polish up and soon they’re having full conversations that way

- they use it more in every day contexts than actually on days where either of them is feeling under the weather because it’s far more convenient

- Franky’s welding and doing like, construction stuff and his ear protection’s on goggles down but Robin’s able to ask him questions with just her hands

-(he doesn’t love when she signs with just her hands because he can’t get any info from her face/lips/rest of her body so it’s confusing sometimes. But he’s figured out what she generally means)

-(she doesn’t love his general sign style, he’s too relaxed and his hands are big enough that sometimes she can’t tell what he’s specifically trying to say. And he has a niche w7 regional accent to his signs)

- when the crew goes out dancing and partying, they’re usually the two on Round Everyone Up and Get Them Home Before They Make a Mess duty at the end of the night, so they sign to each other from across the club. The music’s too loud and- shit where’s zoro

- sometimes they sign at the dinner table and no one knows what they’re saying but Sanji has his suspicions 🤫

- they sign during battles and it’s helped immeasurably in their strategizing and planning. Franky’s overly concerned, checking in with her from a distance like every five minutes even though she’s usually handling herself well

- if Robin’s too far away she’ll sign to him in battle with Giantesco Manos but he like, never knows what she’s trying to say. And then he’s just in the General trying to sign back for clarification and neither of them are doing an effective job

-post ts she picks up a ton of actually practical signs from the Revs (intersectional gays that they are) and her signing improves very very quickly

-post ts he gets so much worse and so much better simultaneously, he’s all on his own so he gets rusty and his new hands take all the nuance out of whatever he’s trying to express, and it frustrates him

- but the little hands? He uses them to sign like a pro, they’re quick and snappy and so much easier to read (for Robin, at least. Everyone else thinks he’s lost it)

- like he’s on the deck and she’s leaning out the library window and he’s trying to sign up something to her and she’s just not getting it and he just sighs and puts his palms out facing her and the precision hands get the message out immediately.

[bigsnzstanacct]

Fanfic Writing Ideas / Goals

Fandoms I want to write for that you should ask me about or talk to me about or give me ideas for or pester me about writing for (and I’m not putting the slashes and stuff in so if you stumble across this post while not being a part of my niche fetish community, no you didn’t):

Fellow Travelers: thinking in a context where Hawk has the fetish and Tim indulges him with some of the topping from the bottom/role reversal dynamics from the show. And Hawk sneezes really loud. Bc I want him to. Tim meanwhile just has the woooooooorst allergies and get some satisfaction out of someone being turned on rather than turned off by them for once.

Red White and Royal Blue: kinda thinking it would be fun to do a mutual fetish thing, probably changing some details about how they met and their interactions prior to the Cake Incident, but also I can’t work out the timing. I want one or the other (probably Alex bc how would Henry even do this) to have Very Secretly put some sneeze fetish content out into the internet and the other has been getting off to it since that very day, without realizing who it was. Also really trying to decide how much I can convince myself that Henry has a mental block and/or *always* stifles but actually if you get him to let it out he has a surprisingly big/loud/harsh sneeze. I know Alex sneezes loud and proud and uncovered and with a high-pitched upturn at the end, and is the kind of guy who sneezes just kinda randomly all the time, but it isn’t like intense fits unless he encounters one of his few allergies and then it is Intense Fits, you know what I mean?

Check Please: which I have a whole setup for, definitely a mutual fetish situation for Nursey and Dex where like Dex has The Perfect Big Loud Sneeze for Nurse but he always stifles so Nurse has the hots for a Mystery Loud Sneeze Guy who is later revealed to be Dex. Also something involving Holster also having Big Loud Uncovered Epic Dad Sneezes that echo through the Haus and Nursey and Dex both are like SO into, bc that guy just seems like he’d absolutely holler out his sneezes for real. And that he’d get like Epic Man Flu with Epic Dad Sneezes, etc.

Ted Lasso: specifically giant!sneeze Roy, and more specifically: “sex-linked giant sneezes are common and considered hot and Roy’s are EXTRA BIG and therefore considered Extra Hot but he is grumpy about this as he always is about everything” also he’s in some sort of romantic entanglement with Keeley and/or Jamie. And I still haven’t decided what Jamie’s sneezes should be like but he’s definitely going to have some degree of jealousy-of-Roy-and-the-jealousy-is-also-horny situation going on.

9-1-1: Somebody on here suggested Buck as a possible Big Sneezer character and I was like eh maybe that actor’s hot but THEN they made him Canonically Bi on the show and now I’m like fuck yeah make it happen need it yesterday. And I’m trying to decide if I want to go with the whole Buddie thing and have Eddie be a fetishist and maybe they can do a like “well like I’m Not Into Dudes like you are (yes he is stop lying) but I have this weird like… Thing for Sneezes and your sneezes are I dunno they’re like really big and hot and maybe we should make out about that and definitely not about Feelings” or if I want Buck to have the kink, but actually I think I’m leaning towards the former bc I want Buck’s big loud sneezes to be like A Problem somehow bc he’s such a cute golden retriever guy that I kinda want to whump him a little. Gentle whump. And then comfort bc like “I don’t have a problem with your sneezes and actually I kinda think they’re… hot?” Yeah, that sounds fun. I am deciding this now as I’m writing lmao.

Also possibly interested in Disco Elysium, like y’all make that fandom sound really hot and again one of those characters having the fetish could be suuuuuper hot also Harry definitely has the Dad Sneezes of all Dad Sneezes.

Also also I have the whole Dream Daddy setup that I’ve written about before on here. Really want to do the Hugo and Brian dates that I have plotted out especially, but always feel like once I get out of the Dream Daddy world I lose the voice for that fandom and it really requires a very specific voice. Although maybe I’ll just base it on the fics I’ve already written. Like if I just emulate that voice it’ll be close enough and at least it will be internally consistent.

Also also also I have the King’s New Allergy story that I feel I have basically revealed as a BBC Merlin fanfic, for which I want to write a steamy epilogue involving The King and The Mage huddled up in the King’s chambers while he sneezes out the last of the Big Magic Sneezes and they talk about the fetish and they fuck lmao.

I think that’s all I have on my list fanfic wise but if I’ve mentioned something else or you think something else would be a good idea for me to look into hit me up! In particular I think Ted Lasso and the sorta-kinda-Merlin-ish fic are the only ones that include real giant!sneeze (as opposed to my usual ridiculously loud and borderline unrealistically so sneeze) and perhaps I should also think of more fanfiction contexts that could accommodate that too.

[acacia-may]

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I got tagged by @library-child in 20 questions for fic writers (thanks for the tag, friend), and I had way too much to say about this topic so I've made it its own post (I'll post answers to the other questions as soon as I can).

Fun fact about me, I majored in Languages at university and have written a few stories with dialogue in multiple languages, so I might be a little biased here, but I think it can be good depending on how it's used and in what context. Writing a multilingual character can be a great way of creating a dynamic, well-rounded character and really pay homage to who they are and their cultural identity.

At the same time, I think that it can be difficult to write a multilingual character in a way that is realistic but also doesn't confuse a reader that doesn't speak all of the languages that appear in the story. It can be difficult to balance how much of another language you can put into your dialogue without losing your reader or without the story suddenly feeling like a language lesson. (Unless of course, that's a major plot point of the story like in my very silly and tongue-and-cheek fic "Everything I Need To Know About Love I Learned From Latin" which actually centered around a Latin grammar lesson).

I think my big feelings on this topic really hinge on how much language swapping there is and the context.

More thoughts under the cut.

In my Horrible Histories: The Movie fanfictions which I mentioned, for instance, Atti speaks both in English and Latin, but it is relevant to the story because the main plot points of these stories often surround breakdowns in communication due to Atti being multilingual and Orla not being able to speak Latin well (or depending on the point in the timeline, much at all). One of the fics is actually called "Lost In Translation" for this reason, and I'd like to talk about it a little bit as an example here.

For those who are unfamiliar with the very funny but very niche Horrible Histories film, it is the story of the unlikely friendship between a brainy but a bit awkward Roman soldier named Atti and a badass Celtic princess named Orla during the Boudican Revolt during the Roman invasion of Britain. There is a really interesting moment in the movie in which Atti sings a song about Orla (and his feelings for her) in the front of the Roman army and they all start crying before cutting him off for being "too soppy." The refrain he sings in English is "I miss you," but in Latin (which is of course, the language he would have actually been singing in given the historical context), this phrase is "Te Desidero" which can also be translated as "I desire you" or "I love you" so the Roman Army is basically hearing him express his undying love for her when Atti is really just intending to sing about them being friends (He loves her too, of course, but that's a different story). In "Lost In Translation," Atti discovers that his army buddies completely misinterpreted his song when, in the future, his daughter learns the song and translates the refrain to "I love you" rather than "I miss you." Here is a short excerpt:

“But Marcus said some of the words are “Te Desidero’”—Camilla’s brow furrowed—"that means ‘I love you’, right?” “Well yes…technically…it can mean…” He stopped. “But a better translation is probably…”  Atti’s voice trailed in an awkward chuckle. Deciding it was best not to explain to his young daughter the nuanced differences between love and desire, he cleared his throat and changed tactics. “Well…it can actually…really mean a lot of things…like…um…‘I miss you’, for instance. And, you know, I think that’s what he meant—just from the context…of the story…They’re friends, of course, but he barely knows the girl—he isn’t ready to profess his love or anything yet….”  “But Marcus said that he really, really, really loved the princess and everybody in the army knew and that’s why they all cried…” “Or…” Atti gestured with his hands. “Here’s a thought that I am sure the soldier never considered at the time but would probably make all of that crying make a lot more sense to him now—um…maybe his entire legion completely misunderstood what he was saying…and he  meant ‘I miss you’ the whole time but everybody else thought that he was singing about…romantic love…”

Clarifying all of this made for (what I hope) is a fun story, and since Atti being multilingual is one of the big plot points of the story, there is a lot of dialogue in Latin in that work.

On the other hand, in other projects I've worked on in which introducing additional languages just serves to flesh out a character or provide background or context to them or their family, I will be much more sparing in my use of code-switching (or switching languages in dialogue). It's also my personal preference to avoid having characters hold entire conversations in languages that are not the main language of the fic (i.e. I wouldn't interrupt a fic that is written in German to have the characters suddenly start conversing in English).

In general (except in the rare occasions in which the story is centered around the use of multiple languages), I personally prefer to save language swapping in stories for the things that are important, meaningful, or special since switching to another language will draw emphasis to that piece of dialogue. I also like including language swaps in small but deeply personal things like terms of endearment (i.e. a character who speaks both Latin and English might use the Latin "Principissa" instead of the English "Princess" as a term of endearment) or family titles (i.e. a character who speaks both Spanish and English might use the Spanish "Abuelito" or "Papá [Character's Name]" rather than the English "Grandpa"). I think that really adds to the story and the characters that are being written about.

A few other thoughts...

I think it is very difficult to write dialogue in a language you are not personally fluent or proficient in. I tend to do all my own translations freehand, and most of the multilingual characters I've written about speak English and Latin (which are my strongest languages). I have written dialogue for other languages (I've actually written an entire fanfiction in German, but I've never posted it anywhere and probably never will 😅), but I have not felt nearly as confident about that as I do not feel as proficient in them personally. I think something important I always try to keep in mind is that different vocabulary words can have different connotations so even if on paper what you're writing supposedly means one thing, it might have different, unintended implications to someone who is fluent in that language and grew up speaking it and/or uses it in everyday life versus learning it in a classroom. For this reason, if I am not entirely confident with my own translations, I will double check with someone who is fluent in that language, if possible. For instance, one of my current projects includes a bilingual character who speaks English and Spanish, and my cousin who is fluent in Spanish has been incredibly helpful: double checking what I write and confirming that I am in fact saying what I want to say, with the implications I want it to have.

Additionally, I think it's important to keep in mind that if you are going to include multiple languages in a story there will be a lot of readers who won't be able to translate what you write on their own and will feed it into an online translator like Google Translate so I always double check how Google Translate would translate my dialogue and make sure it's at least close enough to what it's supposed to be (since Google Translate is rather notoriously inaccurate). I also sometimes will put a glossary in the notes for really important things or will try to have the characters explain enough about what they're saying in the context of the story so the reader isn't left confused or out of the loop.

Overall writing fanfiction is just for fun, and if you feel comfortable including multiple languages in a work, go for it! It can definitely add something to both your story and your characters, but I would just caution prudence and moderation and suggest trying to be mindful of your target audience and making sure that they will be able to get the most out of what you are writing.

Thanks for reading my ramblings! Cheers!! 💖

[ipreferfiction]

20 questions for fic writers

@spyscrapper tagged me (shocking for everyone, i'm sure). thanks beloved

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

26!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

337,006 (a chunk of which is cowritten)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

posted, i have star wars (totj, kotor, swtor, prequels, and tcw), lockwood & co., and asoiaf. i've also written hotd-era asoiaf fics, a couple of unfinished mdzs fics, and something for grimm floating around.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The Bond Between: fic i wrote for a tcw zine, Ahsoka & Obi-Wan. 137 kudos.

(note: technically the second fic is one that got hit by the kudos bot, so i am taking it out of the ranking because i cannot trust its numbers)

How Far We've Come: Lockwood & Co., written and set right after TCS. Kipps and the crew. 62 kudos.

Wasteland: prequels/tcw/original trilogy, Obi-Wan on Tatooine having a truly questionable time. 60 kudos.

Dragon's Rise: asoiaf, post-series. Dany, Jon, Tyrion, and Arya go to Old Valyria so Dany can break the Doom and rebuild the Valyrian Freehold. i hate several things i did with characters here, truly, and i am never going to finish it; i'm keeping it up so i can see comments and kudos, because it got a lot of engagement (posted right after the show ended), but i would change so many things now. 54 kudos.

tremble for yourself, my man (you know that you have seen this all before): kotor - Cassus Fett dies on Malachor and wakes up six years in the past, with the knowledge that something is manipulating the war. he kidnaps Revan and Alek right off Dantooine at one point to help him. extremely full of torture! also the cousin of found family, sibling acquisition via kidnapping. 50 kudos.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i try to, but i haven't been great at it for a while. so occasionally it takes me a few months, lol

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

posted? probably my mando wars novelization. none of the really angsty stuff is finished, and i also tend to shy away from bitter endings because they make me depressed. and i do mean depressed, i have depression and i tend to get a little too into my characters' heads, which is not great when they're having bad times.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

uh. um. the... ahsoka and obi-wan one maybe??

8. Do you get hate on fic?

the only ones that actually hurt me were on a years-old asoiaf fic. i've gotten two or three in recent years when i've been writing star wars stuff, but they're so out of pocket they're absolutely hilarious to me. i make fun of them with my friends. shoutout to the person who told me not to use bitch because it was a slur against women when the context was literally a man calling his long hair a bitch to deal with. i am NEVER getting over that, it's so funny.

9. Do you write smut?

periodically, yeah. it's fun, i just am also horribly embarrassed trying to write it lol. i have very little posted, but i've got a handful of half-finished ones in docs.

10. Do you write crossovers?

nnnnnnot really? i toss them around for some of my OCs and original works (between each other), but i don't really write them or post them. now, fusions? yeah, i write those. the hp au is the only one i've posted, and also is my favorite. read the main fic before you read the oneshot, though, because besides being utterly awful (affectionate) it also makes no sense without context. not that the series has given basically any of that context yet, but, yk. it's coming. eventually.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not as far as i know. there's less theft in really niche communities like the stuff i tend to write.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

yes!! @spyscrapper (i keep typing revanchxst as your url beloved when will you change it back) is my coauthor for the hp au and for our big swtor novelization, plus a couple of totj fics.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

frankly, a couple of my ocs who live rent-free in my head at all times, from one of my original works. 1920s monster hunters, secret government organization, repressed queer people (person. the others are not at all repressed he's just a dumbass about emotions), constant threats of violence, morally grey pov characters, murder. i am literally insane about them. also a different set of ocs from fic that developed their own original work as well: magic university, depressed gay people, Plots, the usual. i am constantly chewing on them. in fandom, knight/scourge and cassus/ultimate, probably.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but probably won't?

most of my asoiaf stuff, tbh

16. What are your writing strengths?

prose. give me a good several paragraphs and i will give you gorgeous prose. flowing, poetic, great imagery, the works. i am not afraid to say that's what i'm good at

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

FUCKING dialogue. i hate dialogue so much. no more talking society has progressed past the need for talking. i can do a sentence or two, but full conversations? evil.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fics?

I'll throw in a word or two without translating, because single words are easy to remember and write a glossary for at the end of the chapter. full sentences, though? They're either in italics (if the fic is generally speaking one language and this is another), or unmarked except by dialogue tags (much rarer, generally only do it if the pov character would mostly be speaking another language and so marking it as unusual doesn't make sense. e.g., Cassus talking to other Mandalorians isn't gonna be italicized because it being in Mando'a is expected.)

19. First fandom that you wrote for?

sherlock, i think? i wrote an OC fic that has now evolved into its own original universe because i ended up hating sherlock after season 4, and also the fandom was so fucking annoying. i was writing doctor who and supernatural OC fics around the same time, but i'm pretty sure sherlock was first.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

tremble for yourself, my man (linked above) or start a war, for posted fics. for unposted stuff, a cassus wip i will eventually. eventually finish

tags: @zaolat, @hermitmoss, yeah that's all i've got lee got all the other people i know lol

[tfmedicmedius]

Now listen - despite being on tumblr for over a decade I have yet to ever make a post. So cheer to me for my first post! This blog is mainly going to be my rants about comics whenever the inspiration hits me (which is often, given how much I bother my friends with this.

Now for a little context: I am currently earning a dual bachelors degree in history and interdisciplinary studies. Within these two degrees, I'm combining history (specifically medieval and renaissance history), art, and women and gender studies into one big scope of analysis. This, combined with my interests, have led me to be really interested in visual literacy. It is one of the easiest ways to understand and comprehend different ideas and it is everywhere. Now I have come to realize that I have a very niche connection between Manuscripts and Comic Books through visual literacy. Now manuscripts are mainly writings, but depending on the manuscript, there would be commissions, doodles, or different visual aids to the chapter a drawing was included in. This art had a purpose. Some famous examples are usually propaganda pieces for the current monarch that commissioned the manuscript. Other times, if it there were educational sections, there were helping images. Like drawings of lawyers in a law section of a manuscript. Art still has a purpose! It does the same exact thing!! Visual literacy is one of the areas of study where you see that humans have evolved and changed, sure, but we also haven't!!

Now obviously comics are not manuscripts (to me they are that's my scripture). And comics are a lot more visual art than writing compared to manuscripts. But the things you learn from comics, the ideas, the stories, the world building, they all hold purpose. Whether it is propaganda, it is political, it is educational, it is anything, they do it! We loved to learn via art and share ideas through art! There is so much to learn about the ways in which we understanding the meaning behind an artistic work without having to know the context and the intentions of the artist.

This has been a longer post than I intended, but visual literacy is probably the coolest thing ever. There is so much to be said and so many parallels to be made. History is cool.

[dramaklub]

‼️FORMAT‼️; Red ink is me talking, in the present. This tool will be mostly to add context. The rest is copy pasted directly, the only edits not explicitly stated (in red) are things like spelling and punctuation. I will put the TW in blue ink.

TW: unaliving and childhood SA and the weird aftermath of it. No direct descriptions of it. Just the grey area of the understanding what your relationship with family is supposed to be, and the fundamental misunderstanding of those boundaries I had crying the abuse and after.

Time unknown; for the Club section. most likely past midnight. Most likely pretty drunk:

From Mandela club, puerto Vallarta; bathroom

Post colloquy; it’s like I watch from the outside, im like Casper, i watch people’s lives go, watch them grow up, see them hit milestones. And I would fucking give anything to be them. Not enough though I suppose. What to do?

Idea; the woman in the window? (I was reading this book at the time, meaning of this note is unknown lol)

I keep asking myself ‘what’s wrong with me’ and answering ‘you know what’ and that conversation ends with me being thinking about who I am. What I am. My place. It’s daunting to remember. To be honest with yourself about what people think, about what they’re laughing at when I’m dancing and when I’m making out with someone. It’s unbelievable to them. Hilarious. I’m hilarious. That’s all I’ll ever be. I don’t know how to not be funny it seems. A curse out upon me by I don’t know what. I don’t know why I had to be this person. Why I couldn’t be average. Not Kendal Jenner but Sarah who is insecure about her small judding out belly or non-thigh gap. Why do I have to have this? Why is this me? Why can’t I leave. Why can’t I sign out? I suppose I could but it’s not exactly like deleting my wizards 101 account is it? It’s dramatic and traumatizing to everyone around me. I have to endure because everyone around me will have to live with my death. And not just death but traumatic death. Dramatic. Suicide. As if I brought anything to the table. I don’t. I won’t ever bc I’m nothing. I have nothing. I just want to go home and be comfortable. I want to never leave and be perceived again. But I have to leave and I have to continue to ignore it. me. fucking suffer. It sounds fucking dramatic I know, but how could I describe it. I’m not simply annoyed or bothered by such bothering and annoying things. I’m fucking plagued by them. Will I ever love. Sorry, correction, I probably will, the question is will I be loved. Will be desired after for my body and my conversation. I don’t know, obviously, but Im sure not, either because such a simple thing is obviously off the table, in trying to imagine facing a summer where I could go without trying to overcome some major fear/ anxiety. It’s not for me. I was here for what? Exactly! No se, I have nothing to offer, maybe recommending a specific niche of fantasy books or fan fiction and smut. Perhaps what I have to offer is nothing. Some people have nothing, give nothing. Maybe I gave some life lessons to someone. But someone’s life can’t be summed up to their achievements can they? But aren’t they? How will I live up? How will I be remembered. Something tells me it’s in the manor of my death. Nothing else is worth taking about. I never lit up a room with my smile. I was never outgoing. I’m forgetable no matter how hard I try not to be. God I’ve written so many of these things. Had so many dreams and wants. Why don’t I get them. What’s wrong with me? What don’t I get those nice things? I know why. It hurts though.

At work: 12:13pm in the bathroom

“You’re only as fucked up as your secrets” from the Stevo podcast feat. Shane Dawson. Fuck. I mean that’s not good? Is it. Not in my case. It means I’m really really fucked up. There are things I know. I just know I will never ever ever speak about. To anyone. Therapist, loved one. Absolutely anyone. Because they’re disgusting secrets. They were when I was little and had a very warped view of society. And people. I have family that are not very eager to be friends with me bc they remember something I did that definitely sat right on that line of inappropriate. (Very interesting pov from her on this day bc to be clear this is complete speculation lmao, in this she is talking about my cousins, I’m just not very close to my cousins, we all grew up and what I ‘did’, what im referring to, is one awkward encounter with my cousin - one cousin- not so bad to have cause this alleged shunning lol. Definitely still weird, I dared him to watch porn and I stayed - I can’t remember who decided that good idea lol but i am taking blame- in the room. It was weird for all parties) I don’t even like writing about it now. I mean, here is the thing. I never did cross that line. Not like my cousin did. Never. But I did walk it. Because I think I wasn’t sure how the world worked then yet. I’m gonna be honest and say; idk why I didn’t cross that line. I could have. Very easily. Bc the reason I was even walking it was bc I didn’t know what was right and wrong. (I’m giving myself more grace then she gave herself here; she didn’t cross the line because what she did, did feel weird and wrong and she very simply, didn’t wanna cross the line) I didn’t understand. People told me I would never be kidnapped or raped or touched bc I was an ugly and or fat child. But it did happen and I think I didn’t know what to do about it. It made me feel things I didn’t understand and it made me confused. Bc I thought I was disgusting. My world view at 4 was already based on how attractive I was. At 4. I was already worried about sex. At 4. And with the people I was close with I didn’t understand that line existed. So I happen to walk it. I thought it was normal. And it’s a huge part of my past that I regret and I am ashamed and scared of. I don’t like that idea, that that could be me. I’m scared That that wasn’t a product of my perception of the world that was put on to me at young age, but me. That’s scary. I don’t want to bring it up and hurt someone like that. Like I said I never crossed that line but what if what I did was enough to damage my relationship with them. That’s scary. I don’t want to face that.

And I don’t want to face therapy to talk about it all. I’m at this point and have almost been in it for a year. I’ve made a real mess of my life and I don’t think I will make it worth loving frankly. Maybe I will? But reality is that I probably won’t. I’m waiting to get to the point where I can finally kill myself. I’m okay right now, but I’m trying to get the people around me to a good place. So I can let go. My thought; I know it’s selfish but why should it be? I’m not having a good time right now. I never have. I want to sign out. No I want to delete my account. I’m so fucking done. There are things I want to do of course. God so many things. And maybe if I was someone else I would have done them but I won’t in this life. I just fucking won’t. In video games; if I don’t play exactly how I want to - if Mario didn’t land atop the flag pole- I restarted completely. I would need to delete my start. Is that mentally ill? I mean why should I have to be here? Im an adult, I don’t like it here. I fucking hate it as I am. I love it as someone else. That what makes it sad I think. That I don’t hate all of it. In fact I’m in love with so much of it. But I can’t experience it purely. It’s tainted with my existence.

No need to be worried about this authors state of being, im alive and not actively planning my suicide anymore

[gorgynei]

[rollercoasterwords]

omg hi, hello, it’s me again (anon from the non fandom rec ask)

I’d absolutely love to hear the nonfiction recs you alluded to as well.

Already added all the last books to my reading list, thank you so so much 😖🙏

omg hi hello yay this is so exciting for me okay here are some nonfiction recommendations!!! most of these are pretty accessible even if u aren't super familiar with reading theory + i've noted the ones that are a little more dense or might require some more background knowledge before jumping in:

The Invention of Heterosexuality by Jonathan Ned Katz. Literally what the title says - Katz traces the historical invention of the word "heterosexuality" along with how its meaning has changed over time, bringing into focus just how recent our modern social constructions of sexuality are. You can also find a condensed article version if you don't want to read an entire book--same title and everything.

Screw Consent: A Better Politics of Sexual Justice by Joseph Fischel. I just finished this book recently and loved it, but it's not something I would recommend engaging with if you don't already have some like...groundwork for engaging with feminist and queer theory. Like it is very much not a beginner text but the work it's doing is so so important in addressing a lot of the issues with our post #MeToo cultural rhetoric and politics when it comes to discussing rape culture and sexual violence.

Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde. Personally I simply think everyone should read some Lorde at some point in their lives.

Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldúa. Because I also think everyone should read some Anzaldúa at some point in their lives.

Women, Race & Class by Angela Davis. Another essential feminist text.

Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis. Highly highly highly recommend for anyone wanting to learn more about prison abolition (specifically within a U.S. context).

The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale. This goes hand in hand with the Angela Davis listed above and is a pretty straightforward breakdown of why police are unnecessary and some possibilities of what a society without them (or defunding them) could look like (again, within a U.S. context).

+ some bonus recs that are a little more niche:

Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag. This book dives into the ethics of like...trauma + photography but honestly a lot of the points Sontag makes feel very relevant beyond that context considering the world we live in where pretty much everything gets uploaded online.

No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive by Lee Edelman. This is perhaps the single most influential work of theory i've come across in my life on just like...a personal level. Like Edelman's theory of reproductive futurity is burned forever in my brain and fundamentally altered my worldview. That being said this book is NOT FUN to read and it is incredibly dense. I had to return to it many times and discuss it at length with the professor who was teaching it to me before I finally started to grasp it, and then it was literally like my eyes had been opened and could never be shut again. so! i feel compelled to include it in any nonfiction recommendation list, but i definitely recommend going in with some groundwork already laid when it comes to ur engagement with queer theory.

Men, Women, and Chainsaws by Carol J. Clover. Simply a quintessential text for anyone interested in feminism + horror, which i very much am.

Zombies and Sexuality: Essays on Desire and the Living Dead ed. by Shaka McGlotten and Steve Jones. This book is soooo fucking fun i absolutely love zombie theory. some of the essays are denser than others so it's probably best to go in once you already have some background engaging w queer + feminist theory. my favorite chapters were "Take, Eat, These Are My Brains: Queer Zombie Jesus"; "A Love Worth Un-Undying For: Neoliberalism and Queered Sexuality in Warm Bodies"; and "Re-Animating the Social Order: Zombies and Queer Failure".

+ my current nonfiction read:

Texts after Terror: Rape, Sexual Violence, and the Hebrew Bible by Rhiannon Graybill. Look even if you've never touched the bible in your life my favorite thing about this book is the way Graybill questions our frameworks for discussing sexual violence and proposes new ones that better account for the gray area that is so often (and so problematically) scrubbed out by the cultural emphasis on consent. This text engages with the Fischel book I mentioned above, it's just that Graybill's trying to add more nuance into our discussions of rape culture specifically in her area of expertise, which happens to be the Hebrew bible. This is another one where I'd recommend some groundwork in feminist and queer theory before jumping in though :)

[polyglot-sock]

Hi there!

Today I'm gonna share some tips for language learning!

So, we all know that understanding spoken language is a very important skill. Hovewer, developing this skill may be quite difficult. Here are some tips that helped me and might help you:

• watching subtitled videos/videos with script. This is a really good method to memorize pronunciation rules and to get used to them. On the other hand, you shouldn't abuse it, otherwise you'll end up not being able to understand the audio without them. A nice tip for beginners.

• for trying to develop actual speech understanding skill you should constantly exercise, starting with the most easy-to-understand audios and gradually going to real-life conversations/TV-shows/others. I reccomend to change the learning material (moving to a more difficult type of audio) when you can easily understand 90-100% of the grammar and 80-90% of the vocabulary, especially if you understand how to write the word and can search its meaning without problem.

• I'd really reccomend starting with Peppa Pig. It has easy but varied real-life conversations, different voices to get used to, not so difficult grammar and is translated in lots of languages. Of course, if you learn an endangered/not popular/dead language, there can be ploblems with finding something, but if there are Peppa Pig/other cartoons for little children episodes available, go for it.

• after Peppa Pig some toddlers/pre-teens cartoons are fine. Especially if there aren't many fantasy elements (these can create difficulty with vocabulary). I'll probably make a list with a couple of them later. Tell me if you're interested :)

• if there are easy-to-understand videos made by native speakers specially for foreigners, they're really cool too. People there usually talk slowly, put subtitles (just remember not to use them too often) and explain lots of things about culture/history/common mistakes. These may be really useful not only for improving your language skills, but also for learning new stuff!

• gamers are also great, especially if they play translated games. Not only can you learn vocabulary and some informal expressions, but you also have fun! Another advantage is that gamers usually have good microphones and the audio quality is really great. Sometimes they start to ramble a bit, so you probably will learn something not related to games, too. I'd reccomend watching Sims let's plays because there are lots of slice-of-life situations. Damn, you can even learn about architecture and furniture!

• if you're not really into video games, you can try storytime videos. Drawings really help to understand the context and people there usually have good microphones, too.

• if you already have an advanced level, trying niche videos is fun. Not only will you learn new things from different spheres, but also tones of vocabulary! Relationships, computers, art, mechanic, fantasy, science — you can learn whatever you want!

• songs are great for different reasons. First, you get used to unusual word order, learn new words and grammar. Second, songs usually get stuck in your head, so it's easy to remember things. Third, it's more difficult to catch the words if they're sung, so it's nice practice. Fourth, music makes you feel better. Don't forget about your mental (and not only) health when learning!

Well, that's all for today! If I remember something I forgot to mention, I'll add it or write another post. If you also have tips, feel free to write yours!

Have a nice day and good like with language learning!

[anatthema-art]

well, okay, at least finding your channel meant I found some cool animations. still, I barely understood any of them.

i. HAHDJIAHSJS god i am. i did not expect a post of me talking about tumblr men taxonomy to inspire anyone to look at my youtube channel but i’m glad you enjoyed the incomprehensible monstrosity that it is regardless. genuinely thank you! it means a loy

for uhhh…??? context because APPARENTLY i have some sort of observer audience now, i will leave that under the cut for anyone curious about fandom history of a stupidly insular community

i was/am a fan of a niche webseries/podcast thing called discord murder party (DMP), which has now ended after 4 years. most of what’s on my channel spawns from the incomprehensibility of a single discord server size fandom making memes and in jokes which cannibalized itself, and as you can probably see if you look at my upload list, most of them revolve around dreamland, which is the animatic to the song by the swingrowers, i made last year around 3/4 of the length into DMP.

now, dreamland became a huge meme within this extremely niche webseries community to the point where the joke (mainly being based around my personal hell of the animatic being something i tried to make one years prior then failed and it continually coming back to haunt me) kept finding new ways to invent itself and multiple people in the community covered it and made meme versions of it

this culminated in that hour long cinematic shitpost with the salt and pepper diner playlist but with various versions of this song and it has far too many layers of what’s essentially a large friend group’s 3 year history of memes. catatonic is the same: it’s a meme animatic i made for the anniversary of dreamland which i didnt intend to put as much effort as i DID but it just kept going

now for the last small piece of context to tie this nightmare together you may have noticed if you go into my animations playlist the single video that’s not on my channel with a very long title. that’s the animatic i worked on OFFICIALLY for this show. i got brought on as essentially an ascended fan for the last 6 months of the show’s run as an artist and this spawned a whole OTHER wave of in jokes and memes which are borderline incomprehensible without me walking through every step of the way. also it… kinda ended up getting me into art school so thats neat??

ALL THIS IS TO SAY is that i don’t actually super recommend watching dmp to get these jokes. almost all of them are fandom memes that ARE connected if you have it EXPLAINED WHY but DMP is a very very long show that has a ROUGH first 2 seasons and if you know nothing about it you will probably not have a good time because the quality and style shifts rapidly in the second half

HOWEVER COMMA this is where i go to plug and say the director of DMP will eventually be working on a new show called chaos van, and a little behind the curtains peak is that the two main characters of that show are what INSPIRED me to write the tumblr men taxonomy post, because if charlie was a man i argued she would be a TSM with the disney channel eldritch horror body type and Oz would be a DCHE with the tumblr sexyman body type.

the show is only in early production but it’s planned to be a lot more accessible and easy to jump in on (you dont need to have watched dmp even though it’s technically a continuation) and is a real fun pitch: it’s a multiversal road trip where a god of stories and a god of chaos are on the run as they meet absurdist set pieces and characters while learning to fight gods!

so. yeah. lmao

[tomwambsmilk]

“And has a tendency to want to be good in this world. And she can be pretty harsh on Tom and I think Greg’s gut would be like, “You know what, leave her you’ll be less tortured.” taking out the buzz worthy quotes, i don’t think morality always has to be an overall picture of the world. maybe it can just be that he wants to see his friend have better. i just feel like that is a valid theme for both tom and greg, they tend to be the most open and probably think with their hearts because they don’t have to be as guarded or are as traumatized as the roy siblings

So I didn't answer this right away because I wanted to roll it around my brain for a bit. I don't necessarily entirely agree, but at the same time, you are kind of getting at some interesting ideas so I want to break it down a little.

But first - I'm going to drop the screenshot just so we're clear on what Nich actually said in its full context. Because he did say Greg was "on the side of morality in the show”. We don't have to talk about it but that did come out of his mouth, and if we take it at face value I do think it's a questionable statement:

Nich Braun is really the one who brought morality into this particular conversation. Yes, we can absolutely analyze the end of season 3 and Greg's potential response to Tom's actions through other lenses, but the reason we're talking about morality is that Nich started talking about morality, and his explanation for why Greg would be supportive of Tom hinged on the idea that Greg "wants to be good in this world" which… is a position that implies that either Greg sees himself as a moral actor or Nich sees Greg as a moral actor, depending on whether we take this at face value or assume Nich was implicitly speaking from a “Greg headspace”. (I do think there’s some real ambiguity in that.) And that's a really fascinating statement given how rarely his actions seem to reflect that on the show, hence the other post I wrote breaking down what we can assume about Greg's understanding of morality and what it means to be good from this. I do think a lot of people are overly fixating on the “Greg is on the side of morality” and “Shiv can be a real bitch” without considering the wider context - but we also can’t discount that he said those things just bc they’re kind of uncomfortable.

(And now that you mention it and I've been chewing on it for a while, it's extra interesting that Nich decided to bring up morality when he clearly didn't need to... He could've just said "Tom is Greg's friend and he wants better for him" and that would've been true and valid. So his need to morally justify it - or his reading that there is a moral dimension to this - is extra fascinating. But I'm getting sidetracked.)

So. Depending on exactly what it is you mean by "I don't think morality always has to be an overall picture of the world" I'm not sure how much I agree with that. I do agree that morality isn't the only lens through which to analyze the Succession characters and their actions and motivations, although it is one I keep coming back to because it is interesting to me personally. That being said, I do think it is an omnipresent dimension, even if we aren't actively analyzing the show through that lens. Most actions do have a moral dimension to them, and that's especially true on Succession. It's not always a clear-cut dimension - there are a lot of nuances involved in the choices the characters make - but I do think the questions of "are these choices morally good? are they morally bad? are they somewhere in between? what does this say about the characters?" are inescapable. It's very valid to have a conversation about "was it morally justifiable for Tom to betray Shiv, and is it morally justifiable for Greg to support him in that", even if the characters themselves aren't using that as a decision-making framework, because there is a moral dimension to those decisions, even if the characters don't think of it that way. And that conversation is especially valid because it is a complex question, and while I do have my own opinions on the subject there are a lot of different viewpoints that I think have some degree of validity to them.

It's also perfectly valid to say "tbh I don't really care and that isn't a lens that's super interesting to me personally". Morality is only one of the issues Succession grapples with, and you aren't required to hold an equal interest in every single facet of the show.

I also want to touch very briefly on the end of your ask because the idea that Tom and Greg are "thinking with their hearts" is REALLY interesting to me. I think you probably aren't gonna like the rest of my answer, so I'll say upfront that I do think analyzing the end of Season 3 through the lens of Tom and Greg's particular relationship, and the ways in which their lesser degree of attachment to the Roys proper allows for a greater degree of openness and emotional intimacy is absolutely a valid take. That's a very real thread, and holding the two of them (and I think Tom in particular) up as a foil to the Roy siblings is certainly interesting. But... I do think you have to go a bit deeper because while that idea is true, it's definitely not quite as straightforward as all that, and I don't think it can be entirely divorced from the question of how you're approaching morality.

On the one hand, you're right that they aren't as guarded as the Roy siblings are... On the other hand, they are still very guarded. Tom isn't very guarded with Shiv in season 1, but he is pretty guarded with Greg - at least in terms of actually expressing affection for him, hence all the bullying (that and the power trip involved, of course). By season 3 this has flipped somewhat, and we see him being more guarded with Shiv and more open with Greg, which is a really fascinating development in the Tom-Greg power dynamic - by being more open with Greg, Tom is effectively giving him a degree of power over him. But it's not as simple as Tom being open so much as - a) Tom seems to have a greater capacity for openness than Shiv and the Roy siblings do, likely as a consequence of not being brought up in the Roy family, and b) who he is open with and when is contingent upon a myriad of different factors. (On top of that - I don't know that Tom is all that open with Shiv at the beginning. We see him eating his emotions quite a lot - in the fight with her at the beginning of 1.06, on their wedding night, Ternhaven - hell, most of Season 2. There's a selective openness there which could be a whole point of analysis on its own.)

And I think I actually would characterize Greg as being pretty guarded, but he's also desperate for connection and affection, and that desire is constantly at odds with his fear of vulnerability. He's anxious that he's going to get burned by Ken, but he gives Ken the papers anyways. Tom is his best friend but he still feels the need to have leverage over him. So yeah, comparatively speaking Tom and Greg are more open than the Roys are, but they are still in the same cutthroat world, and so they can't really be all that open and unguarded. But there is a very interesting arc in terms of how their relationship with each other evolves in this context.

The idea that they think with their hearts is interesting, and if you weren't on anon I'd probably DM you to get some clarification on what exactly it is you mean by that because there are a couple of possible interpretations that come to mind for me. On the one hand, if you're talking about being driven primarily by a desire for love rather than being strategy minded, you're absolutely right - but in that case, this definitely is a trait they share with the Roy siblings. Every single character on this show is primarily motivated by love, even if they aren't admitting that to themselves.

(Another reason that's interesting to me is that I'd actually characterize Tom's arc as learning not to love, as becoming increasingly calloused and self-serving and strategic rather than prioritizing the people he loves. We see that death knell hit his marriage first - understandably, to be sure. I don't think it's going to stop at his marriage, though. I don't think Tom and Greg's relationship is coming out of this unscathed. I think Tom is increasingly starting to think like a Roy, and I think his new partnership with Logan is only going to enhance that, and I think that Greg has proven himself slimy and untrustworthy in the past and that he may end up as collateral damage because of this. But those are just my personal predictions, so who knows how it will actually play out.)

Anyways. To circle back, the one way Tom and Greg are different from the Roy sibs is Logan has spent the Roy kids' whole lives pitting them against each other. That means that in their pursuit of Logan's love, they have no choice but to go after each other. That's why they're only able to unite at the end of Season 3 after they've each individually despaired of receiving Logan's love and approval. They can either have Logan's love or they can have each other's, but not both.

Whereas Tom and Greg aren't stuck in that kind of dichotomy. Tom also wants to be loved, but his primary target is Shiv, and she isn't asking him to sacrifice any of his other relationships. She does ask him to sacrifice his career ambitions, which he does until he realizes it likely still will not result in the kind of marriage he wants. Greg wants to be loved by anybody, frankly, and Tom is the one who's most consistently validated him (as Nich pointed out), so by Season 3 Tom is the target of Greg's affections. And by the end of season 3, we get the sense that Tom does love Greg and will continue to do so even if Greg continues to try and fuck him over (although obviously, he'd prefer for that not to happen), if only because he doesn't hold Greg's momentary jaunt with Kendall against him. So yeah, in a sense both of them are able to pursue love more freely and openly because they don't have Logan pitting them against each other. (I do think this is likely to change at some point, but again, we're wading into my predictions here).

There's another dimension to the idea of them "thinking with their hearts" though, which is that it could also refer to the idea of them thinking with their desires. And this is where we circle back to the question of morality, I think, because... It sounds lovely and romantic to think with your heart, but if you want to be a good person you also need to think with your actual head. You kind of need both. Yes, I think a general state of willing the well-being of other people (which can be characterized as 'thinking with the heart') is important, but the thing is you also have to contend with the fact that your desires and your emotions can mislead you. In the course of your life, you will want things that do harm to others, or to yourself. This is part of being human. Your emotions, if not properly managed, will cause you to misread situations and react inappropriately. Desires and emotions are tools, important tools, but that can't be all you're running on because you will get into trouble.

And that's where I think you've kind of hit the nail on the head, albeit possibly accidentally if your end goal was to examine this through an amoral lens. I think it's one of the reasons why people struggle with the relatability of the Succession characters. They aren't good people, they keep doing things that are morally reprehensible, and yet... we find them compelling because we get it. We understand their desires and we recognize them in ourselves. We understand their emotions and we relate to them ourselves. What they're doing is wrong but we see how they got from point A to point B. The extent to which this is true for you personally for each character depends on your particular personality and traumas and issues, but I think it is true for everybody and that's part of why there's so much rancid discourse in the fandom. You see a character that's relatable and you either become a blind apologist for them, or you despise them because they remind you of what you hate in yourself. And I do think that instinct is there for everyone, even if you've learned to temper it, and if you don't think it's there for you that might be because you're lying to yourself just a bit. (Or maybe you're a normal well-adjusted person who finds all the characters abhorrent, but I think most people who are part of the Tumblr succession fandom don't fall into that category.)

To bring it back to Tom and Greg - yeah, I think they might actually be "thinking with their hearts", and I think that's part of the problem. They're being driven by their emotions and their desires, and they aren't thinking about the moral qualities of their actions, and that's why they keep making morally dubious choices, and it's why they're likely to continue making increasingly morally dubious choices. I think on some level that goes for all of the characters on the show, it's just that "thinking with their hearts" looks different for each of them.

(TBH there is a little more to it than just that, if we're going to analyze the moral dimension of these characters, but I'm saving that for a different post because that'll be the tangent to end all tangents.)

I imagine this is a manifestly unsatisfying response because it is basically the opposite of how you want to analyze the show. And at the end of the day - yeah, I do think "Tom is Greg's friend and he wants better for him" is an accurate assessment of the core of what's going on. Where the morality discussion comes in is a) Nich Braun positioning this as a morally good act, or at least a morally good act in Greg's mind, and b) the wider context of Tom betraying Shiv. Because it is possible to say that yes, Tom should leave Shiv, and yes, Shiv has been terrible to him, and no, betraying her like that was not a morally justifiable thing to do, depending on what your moral framework is (side note: personally I do think there is one convincing argument for it being justified, which I don't see laid out very often, but I am restraining myself from getting into it here). So the fact that either Nich or Greg (depending on what Nich Braun actually meant in the interview) thinks what Tom did is morally justified tells us a lot about Greg's moral framework (or possibly Nich's), and if, like me, you already spend a disproportionate amount of time thinking about how the Succession characters approach the concept of morality than that is exceedingly fascinating.