#niche unfunny joke

[pranklinfierce]

If Robert Means Brooks

And Jane Means Appleton

What does Gaston Mean?

[euniexenoblade]

this isnt specifically abt slw but in spaceys post there was some1 in the nltes saying they haven't seen the same "vitriolic" criticism of RHPS about the portrayal of "crossdressing as evil or a joke as a whole" towards any other thing and how we should apply the same vitriol to south park first to not be hypocrites ig

Like??? first of the fact that yall admit you havent never seen any kind of criticism ane pushback about transmisogynist thropes and sometimes downright propaganda in media as a whole outside even the mildest dislikement from transfems towards this holy queer™ classic amongst TMEs says more abt yall than us lmao. like never heard of ace ventura?? shameless?? silence of the lambs?? family guy even???

Second we dont think its "evil jokes" we think is unfunny and most times targeted transmisogyny, and if the context of the fiction said thropes exist not only as jokes but to portray villainy and evil yeah thats actually really fucked up!! piss on the poor site bla bla

And third,, mf do u actually think transfemminists pardon or even like fucking south park?????

1) yeah it's just plugging their ears cuz none of that shit happens. I haven't seen one person in this transfem niche community I'm in say anything good about South Park. Hell I just ran that poll about what's worse family guy or South Park and South Park was considered the cringiest thing by a big margin. Like a 95% margin. 2) they're just lying. They've seen people criticize transmisogyny in media. They just ignore it because it doesn't affect them.

[i-am-totally-not-a-lizard]

*looks at you like a kid in bed awaiting a bedtime story* what was reddit like…?

Ahh my old home... It was beautiful... Well actually not really it kinda sucked but it was home. After a long day of hard work I would kick back and relax by immediately getting into arguments with conservatives about whether or not I deserve to exist, spending all night moderating every new post made to r/familyguyporn (erm... You broke rule #274, how dare you, permabanned for life), and visiting 30 different subreddits only to see the same unfunny joke recycled and reposted for the thousandth time!

Haha but seriously though it wasn't all bad I actually really enjoyed my time there. If Reddit ever becomes not stupid again there's really great communities on there and it provides a much more structured and useful method of interacting with interests you like. There are some great communities that I honestly can't find comparable groups to on Tumblr that I wish I didn't have to continue using Reddit or a discord server to keep in touch with.

If you guys ever want to see what's up with Reddit I'd highly recommend r/196 (currently not allowing posts but maybe someday, also it's just fun to look through the old posts) and its little sister subreddits r/691 and r/19684 because they have a similar Tumblr (queer, lefty, shitposty) vibe, it's where most of the Reddit refugees on here came from initially. Also r/Tumblr and r/curatedTumblr (both private right now), because it's just reposts of Tumblr screenshots so the people there would probably be more accepting of you little tumbleweeds. r/wunkus (silly cats and stuff, I love that sub so much, criminally underrated). r/vexillologycirclejerk and r/mapporncirclejerk (private) are some of my favorite communities and I'm sad there's not a similar big community here. They're pretty left wing and focus on shitposting and jokes about flags and maps, they're very funny but some of the jokes get old quick. As well as literally any community you can think of! I swear, no matter how niche your interest is, there's probably a subreddit for it. And if there isn't, you can make it!

I'd avoid major shitposting subs, as that seems to be where the 'edgy teenage suburban white boy with unlimited internet access' archetype tends to congregate. I'd also avoid sorting by controversial in the comments when LGBT people get brought up on mainstream subs. Reddit takes itself a lot more seriously than Tumblr does and people will not be afraid to argue with you. A lot. Also you get punished with downvotes if people don't like what you say.

Anyways that was a lot. I hope Reddit stops being dumb because it's honestly hard to replace and it's such a great place to find things and people that you're interested in. Not to mention if you have a very specific question about basically anything, Reddit will literally save your life. I like Tumblr a lot, but Reddit will always be near and dear to my heart.

[thegeminisage]

STAR TREK UPDATE TIME! last night we watched ds9's "in the cards" and "call to arms."

in the cards:

this one was SO cute. i loved that the b-plot was the a-plot and vice versa. like yes you have open warfare getting ready to happen in the background but what really matters here is baseball

there's not a single unfunny joke in this whole episode. worf listening to klingon opera at 82 decibels. the mission impossible esque theft of bashir's teddy bear. the horrific puns in kira's speech. jake and nog accusing kai winn of stealing a baseball card. jake bullshitting to weyoun that he was a time traveller investigating willie mays. i could go on and on

but, of course, special shoutout to this guy who was doing the immortality thing. the uh. "my cells get bored and experience cellular ennui so i have to deliver uplifting and entertaining messages to my nuclei with this here machine" guy. the "getting hounded by soulless minions of orthodoxy" guy. shoutout to him for easily being the funniest one-off character trek has ever had. every word he said was full of like 10 other words. i felt like could listen to him ramble forever and he would just keep getting more and more outrageous. he is my favorite kind of star trek background freak i think

finally, the end did get me to well up a little. jake and sisko my BEST friends are so heartwarming and also his and nogs good deeds giving everyone that last moment of peace...wah

call to arms:

MY KING ROM! i'm so thrilled he's finally getting hitched. actually, between that and his general demeanor (calm and brave in the face of danger) i was SURE they were gonna kill him off in this episode. so sure that i paused and checked for "status: active" on memory alpha. very scary moment

also it's so funny how he came up with this saving grace hail mary solution while in the middle of a wedding panic attack. he is so smart and i love him

quark overbuying the yamok sauce and then kira calling him a worm right in front of dax, who is a worm, and then quark missing the yamok sauce at the end. this show is truly so funny sometimes. the way he like. wah. says he thinks rom's wedding is stupid and rom is dumb for staying behind but really he's elated rom got married and he's worried about rom's safety. alright. idk i think letting us see that he does HAVE a soul was so important because now when he says evil shit it's so much easier to infer that he doesn't mean it exactly the way he says it, or it's not all he really thinks, etc etc. he's grown so much for me this season <3

KIRA AND ODO'S LITTLE CONVERSATION.................man everyone seems to Hate this ship so i've been so worried it will be bad but Actually it was very good. neither of them are very good with the touchy-feely stuff unless someone's dying, about to die, or has just died so this was actually very in-character - even odo was relieved to sort of put it on hold for the moment. it was charming. also, it's romantic that he knows exactly what would make her the most comfortable in this moment <3

sisko and weyoun are great but theyre never gonna be what sisko and dukat were. like, weyoun has taken over that little frenemy who is also a freak niche because they wanted to remind us that dukat is ACTUALLY a bad-bad person and not just our friend shaped war criminal, and they're fine, i like weyoun, but he just isn't dukat

i do NOT like this thing theyre doing with garak and ziyal. please please please for the love of god no. he is like 20 years older than her. if you are going to make him date someone who is not bashir can that someone PLEASE be his age

DAX AGREEING TO MARRY WORF! now that's romance. damn it's really going around

idk, it's really nice because everybody was at their best and bravest. dax giving worf a reason to come back and kira and odo and quark all babysitting the station together and sisko giving dukat hell before he leaves, martok's perfectly timed rescue, jake and rom staying behind. ds9's action episodes normally feel a little weaker to me but this one had so much heart, it was absolutely fantastic

TONIGHT: voy's "scorpion part ii" AAAAAAAAAAA and "the gift." rip kes but HELLO SEVEN OF NINE!

[cindol]

˚₊·—̳͟͞͞♡. usually not a choso gal at all but the idea of casting director!choso x black fem actor reader came to me . ( blurb kind of . )

˖ ݁𖥔 ݁˖ — slight ooc choso? , fluff, banter,

casting!director choso has come across beauty of all ages, all ethnicities but never quite a beauty like you through looking at these casting audition tapes.

every girl who auditioned for the role of this girl for the romcom movie just didn’t fit the description for him, they were all the opposite of the role and how this main character was described in text. He really had half a mind to quit being the casting director for this movie until he came across you.

you fit the description well. 4c brown hair, deep brown skin and dollish eyes. You didn’t just have looks but acted out this role perfectly for someone auditioning and that’s all it took for him to decide to cast you and call back whatever people were running this movie.

he got some push back from the filmaker, questioning him on why he’d cast such a niche unknown actress for a hollywood movie but choso was sure of his choice.

“i think a new actress would be good wouldn’t it? I think some fresh faces would really make this film pop out.” was his only response to the film maker.

he ended up right with the romantic comedy movie doing pretty well and critiques complimenting your whit and charisma and overall acting. The movie doing so well that there was a after party.

usually choso wasn’t one to attend these types of parties. When he was invited he always just congratulated the film maker through text then went back to his usual routine of staying inside.

this routine for him changed when he decided to say yes since it gave him a chance to see you in the flesh. It definitely surprised a few to see someone as introverted as choso actually at a party.

when it came to actually wanting to talk to you it was hard. He forgot how much he actually hated talking to people, having to fake laugh his way through people’s unfunny jokes till he finally got to you.

you were all smiles in a pretty white a-line tie neck dress, long light pink bow tying up your dark brown hair and black pumps that were definitely making you two inches taller than your actual height.

you were happy to actually meet the man who made it possible for your career to have such a jump start, giving him a nice calm hand shake.

“i’m glad i’m finally meeting the man who even made it possible for me to even have such a good role.” you giggled, a soft giggle that choso liked. Your voice matched your look nicely. “in a way, you’re kind of responsible for my career in a way.”

choso shook his head with a chuckle. “i’m just a simple cast director, i can’t be responsible for your current success. I just saw something about you that… just clicked for me.” he gestured with his hands making a snap of his fingers to indicate that.

your lips pursed, brows raised at that. “well i’d love to know what clicked. Out of all actress’s in the casting tapes you picked me.” you pointed your finger on your chest.

choso hummed. He could tell just by how you spoke and your questioning you were someone who wasn’t use to being picked first. “well, when i looked at the other girl’s tapes they didn’t fit the description of this character on paper.” he paused just to look at the intrigued expression on your face. “but you fit it well and just, acted the part beautifully in your tape. That answer your question?”

a impressed smile was on your pretty lips, nodding. “i’m glad not only do you find me pretty but a good actress.”

a slight blush was on choso’s cheeks while he chuckled and scratched the back of his head. “who knows, maybe i can find another casting gig and put you onto some slasher film.”

[savedgame]

Just in general it’s annoying how comfortable people online are being sexual as a joke like no I don’t wanna see the weird graphic niche porn you found “as a joke” no I don’t like it when you write unfunny comments about your personal fetishes in the tags of my post some of you just have to chill with that stuff

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 15/02/2024

Corridors of Vine

Season 6 Featured on: SiIvaGunner's Highest Quality Rips: Volume FF

Ripped by Heboyi

Right, okay, we've had a good streak recently of covering more "traditionally good" rips for the blog - arrangements and remixes like NIGHTMARESCAPE 〜Unrestrained HyperCam 2〜 (Final Boss Phase 2), genuinely good arrangements like mlp racism anthem (comix zone arrange), even the premiere of a new Season with the Magolor's Shoppe Fusion Collab. I think its about high time we change the clock to something "stupider" - the kind of rip that reminds you just how much SiIva is driven by the wild imagination, skill, and commitment-to-the-bit of its contributors. Only within a community like SiIvaGunner's will you get something like Corridors of Vine.

With memes as a whole, there seems to exist some sort of...invisible hierarchy that defines their public perception, that I've always found really fascinating. It's not impossible to understand why this hierarchy exists: Memes like the Hampsterdance in Wario's Hampster Mine, the Sparta Remix in THIS. IS. SOLEANNA. and more call back to a different, more innocent time in internet history, wheras memes like Despacito in Plains of Des-passing-to and It's Everyday Bro in It's Everyday Lake are oft met with comments like "I hate that I love this", or other similar sentiments. Memes generally follow a trend where, once one has worn out its period of inferred relevance - typically once it stops being a niche internet activity and spreads to marketing teams and unfunny people in general - its labeled as "dead" and unwanted, left as a relic of a smaller period of internet activity. That is, of course, unless it gets brought back into fashion by virtue of nostalgia and given some sort of new spin, as we've seen happen with Doge as of late - until that then too becomes co-opted by unfunny people (this time crypto-grifters) and the cycle begins anew. Yet part of what makes SiIvaGunner as a channel so great, is that very few of the memes it uses ever reach that state of abandonment: the team is so good at finding new, inventive ways to use memes as old as from Season 1, to where they rarely feel stale. And if they do feel stale - well, then that can ironically become part of the joke, playing into just how samey and played-out the joke is for a sort of ironic appeal.

All of this is to say, that I always find it immensely funny whenever the team decides - seemingly at the drop of a hat - to begin using memes that have been thoroughly labeled as dead for years by that point. A meme like the Harlem Shake didn't have so much as a pulse by the time Season 6 rolled around even past its sole revival to relevancy a few years back from being attached to Ajit Pai - yet The Harlem Shakeover of that very season was one containing over THREE HUNDRED rips utilizing the joke, next to none of which were made with the intention of sounding bad. Funny enough, then, that one of the first events we'd see during that same Season would be doing the exact same thing to a meme that's likely far more loathed than the Harlem Shake ever was - Damn Daniel, the core joke to Corridors of Vine.

Damn Daniel is perhaps the closest we've ever gotten to having a meme that felt like a social experiment - a complete non-sequitor of a joke starring an average, marketable teen and his immaculate footwear. At the peak of Vine's age of randomness humor, the series of various videos on Daniel's Vans absolutely blew up - and immediately, there were cynics from outside of Vine, older internet dwellers mainly, who made a big point about how lacking-in-funny the videos were. Yet the guy, Daniel, made it onto the damn Ellen Show of all things within mere weeks after his debut, and in a way it kind of made Damn Daniel a symbol for everything considered wrong about Vine: its mainstream appeal and focus on short, memeable videos had created a form of shitposting that...no longer felt like they were part of a community.

That is, of course, just my summary of the opinions I gathered from all the way back in 2016 - back when SiIvaGunner itself was first revving up into gear. And I find it so incredibly befitting that it was during Season 6 that the Damn Daniel event occurred on SiIvaGunner - the Season all about letting go of the past. To have it begin with SiIvaGunner, itself a 2016 meme, acknowledging its near polar opposite made around the same time: A meme that was, for a solid while, one of the most wanted-dead memes of all, one that the internet as a whole frankly felt a kind of hatred toward during what would come to be a rather cynical, hateful year in general.

There's definitely an overarching aura of irony applied to the anniversary celebration's rips regardless, of course - part of the joke with Corridors of Vine is that its using a song otherwise so closely enveloped in emotion and vulnerability (one SiIva itself used to similar effect with 時の回廊 ＜ver. CCC＞), alongside a joke that's so bitterly remembered that its mere inclusion makes it difficult to take seriously. Yet Corridors of Vine takes itself as seriously as the concept could be, it is a genuinely fantastic YTPMV using several of the famous Damn Daniel Vines in conjunction with one another, resulting in an infectiously catchy combination of lead- and backing melody instrumentation. I do think the commitment to the bit worked excellently, and the comments of the video itself appear to agree with me - despite how beloathed Damn Daniel itself was, the time to properly acknowledge and accept it had arrived, and we were for once actually...enjoying the meme?

To circle back to the point made in the second paragraph here - the truth is, there are very few memes that wind up actually full-on dead for long. Dead memes as a concept are a label we put upon jokes we feel have ran their course, yet especially in the world of YTPMV there will always be people out there able to prove the naysayers wrong, even if the intentions are purely ironic. Ironic or affectionate, the end result is the same, isn't it? You've got a smile out of your audience through your work in adapting the meme! And through all the comments expressing their concerns over returning to the hellscape that was 2016s meme culture, those smiles - even through the barrier of the internet, felt as if they were shared by all of us. The entire event - and Corridors of Vine in particular - showed Damn Daniel a sense of affection it likely hasn't had since the days when the SiIvaGunner channel's name began with a G.

Here's to 8 years, Daniel.

...Stussy man, Damn.

[lorephobic]

your first thought being that you want to kill a real person who died fighting the nazis for having a “meaningless” death is absolutely batshit. you cannot be surprised people are not happy with you when that’s your opening musing. it’s outright disrespectful and even if you were joking…jokes are supposed to be funny.

i think i’ve already explained my stance here, but i guess i’ll use this ask to go over it civilly and with the detail that it deserves, since apparently we are making this into a big deal.

• this was not ever meant to be seen as my mota thesis. after watching the ep, i had already posted a long thread on twitter explaining my thoughts, as well as talked to my other friends who were watching the show and aired my grievances to them. that joke should not have been the first thing that i posted to tumblr, but in my mind, it was supplemental to the many thoughts that i’d already typed out and shared.

• i did not anticipate that post being seen by that many people outside of my small circle, many of whom had already heard my full thoughts on twitter & discord and wouldn’t have misconstrued my meaning and frustration with the show. as i’ve said since, #mota is my personal tag for the show, i didn’t think people were using it as a main tag and i would have never tagged it with that if i knew that people outside of my followers, and the niche that i’ve created on this blog, would see it.

• the joke itself is being misinterpreted entirely and i know it’s not like. funny, but my intention with it was never even to be disrespectful to the irl curtis biddick who i have no personal qualms with LMAO. it is not his fault that he died the way that he died, but it IS the show writer’s fault for not doing anything to make that death meaningful and impactful to the television series that is supposed to be entertaining. i misspoke when i said the the real life curt’s death was meaningless (obviously bombing the nazis is important) but i genuinely only said all of that to point out my own deranged frustration with barry’s role in the show. i don’t actually wish any harm to the real curtis biddick, the joke is supposed to be on me for being insane enough to want to warp time and space to create a better story for curtis because the mota writers in eighty years are not going to do him any favors when telling his story. which of course gives me more (& better) barry content. which is all i ever wanted from this fucking show.

• i made that post in a moment of frustration and my anger that should have gone toward the writers (and did in other forums) definitely hit the wrong target here. i understand why people are mad about it but i think it’s been such a disproportionate response to me making an unfunny joke in the tags of a post that was taken out of context and only my friends were supposed to see. if you don’t like what i’m posting then ignore it?? if you actually find it offensive, then tell me to my face so we can talk about it?? idk. dragging me thru the mud in front of ur followers is so weird !

[thestalwartheart]

care

Rating: Mature/Explicit Words: 1,376 Relationship: James Bond/Q Tags: Hurt/comfort, PTSD, sex, allusions to cbt (and that scene in Casino Royale). Summary:

In bed, things don't go exactly to plan. Inspired by the following anon prompt I got from this list forever ago: one person turning the other off. [Read on AO3.]

Like most men, it’s right on the edge of an orgasm that Q lets slip his stupidest thoughts.

It’s even worse after he’s been denied, as he has been now. He and Bond have been in bed for an age. A long, languid, wonderful age full of teasing and laughing and kisses like treacle, as inescapable as the sticky tree sap Q had worked with in the lab last week.

And now Q is cresting, burning. Falling. He feels like he’s being entirely undone until—

Bond’s fingers circle like a vice around the base of Q’s cock, putting a vicious and immediate stop to the wave overcoming him. Q makes a sound that, in the light of day to come, he will never ever admit to making.

“I’ll have your balls for that,” Q gasps, incensed. “I should have brought a whip. I’ve got one, you know.”

(Never mind that he’d got it as a gag gift when he was promoted to Quartermaster — from Tanner, of all people — and that, even if Q had any real intention of using it, the thing probably holds no sting at all. Bond needn’t know that.)

Q expects a joke in turn. At the very least, a pithy comment. A sounds delightful, or a you’re welcome to try your hardest, darling, but Bond says nothing. It takes a moment for Q’s brain to return to full awareness, and when it does, something doesn’t quite feel right.

Q is no agent, but he hopes he’s considerate enough in bed that he knows when his partner is having a bad time. Bond is doing a very good impression of someone who wants to keep calm and carry on, but there’s a tightness in his that Q is only used to seeing after very bad missions and in meetings with Mallory that aren’t going his way. Never has he looked like this in bed. At least, not in the dozen or so times he’s occupied the same one as Q.

“Ah. Was that terribly unfunny?” asks Q. “I suppose cock and ball torture is a bit of a niche subject for comedic relief. The crown jewels are probably in enough danger out in the field.”

“Yes,” replies Bond carefully. His hand lets go of Q.

There’s a look Bond usually gets when they talk about things to try in bed. It’s a cheeky, heated spark that usually sets Q’s brain (as well as one other, far less cerebral organ) into overdrive. After all, Bond has an extensive back catalogue of lovers and, at nearly forty, Q’s no blushing maiden either. So the look happens fairly often, and it usually leads to an hour or so of furious passion where they try to outdo their own imaginations or memories as much as each other.

That look is nowhere to be found now, which must mean—

Oh. Oh, God.

Q wonders if it was a mission, and if so, which one it was, and whether it was in bed or during some less overtly sexual horror show outside of it. Stupidly, he also wonders whether it was a woman or a man. Would that have mattered to Bond at the time? He imagines it probably didn’t — getting one’s cock and balls smashed to smithereens probably shuts down most higher brain functioning related to things like gender. The thought of it happening at all turns Q’s stomach. Even before they’d started sleeping together, he’d never been very good at witnessing Bond in agony.

Before he can move off Bond’s lap and ask any more questions, Q finds himself being flipped until he’s under a wall of muscle. Bond wastes no time in kissing a path down Q’s neck. It’s usually one of Q’s very favourite things, particularly now that Bond seems to have memorised every sensitive spot, but now, it’s a lost cause. The delicious burn of earlier has faded to ash.

“James—”

“Relax.”

The affected smoothness of that voice is nothing but a front. Q only knows it is because Bond never talks to him that way, not anymore.

“No. No, you’re upset.”

“I’m not.”

Q swears as Bond licks around his nipple. It feels much too pleasurable for the moment. “You are. I’ve upset you.”

“I don’t get upset.”

“Oh, bullshit. You have a tell, you know.”

Bond huffs incredulously into Q’s chest. “You’re hardly one to be talking about tells.”

“You don’t have to be good at hiding them to recognise one. And yours is—”

“Shut up, Q.”

Bond’s tongue snakes over his other nipple. At any other time, this would feel luscious. Now, it only provokes an unpleasant shiver.

“Stop. Just stop. I’m not…” Q can feel his cock lolling against his leg. He’s not even half-hard anymore. “I’d really rather talk about this.”

Bond looks up at him with a bit of cold steel in his eye. “I wouldn’t.”

“I understand that, but…”

He trails off as Bond sits up, his thighs framing Q’s skinny hips, and gives him an awful look — a kind of sardonic smile that speaks volumes about how much he thinks Q understands. Q’s mouth goes dry at the sight of it.

“No, you don’t.”

“All right, then. I don’t.”

Bond’s fingers dig in around his wrist, where they’ve been playing pleasantly since Bond flipped him over. It’s no longer very pleasant.

“You’re hurting me,” says Q, even though Bond isn’t, really. Not physically.

The pressure on his wrist abates. Bond looks towards the door, and Q thinks about all the times they’ve mapped exit points from missions gone wrong. He makes a sound low in his throat.

“Wait,” he says, shifting over so there is space to the right of him. “Here, just…I won’t make you talk about it, but I don't—”

I don't want you to leave.

“You don’t want to fuck me anymore.”

Q sighs. “There’s no need to pout. I’m sure my resistance will last all of fifteen minutes.”

Bond tries a smile and a quip about what danger MI6 will be in if Q is ever pressed for information, but his humour is short-lived. As he lies down beside Q, his muscles are tight. Q kneads at them gently, feeling the handful of bicep sitting in his palm; the mole on the meaty part of Bond’s shoulder blade, which, paired with the thin scar from a knife, forms the dot to a gruesome exclamation mark; the tight band of muscle stretching over the radius bone while Bond’s fist clenches in between his chest and Q’s.

One by one, Q loosens his fingers from that fist and twines them with his own.

He longs to say something helpful, but he isn’t sure anything he says would help at the minute, and Bond is a man who seems to prefer the language of touch. So he keeps his mouth shut and his fingers moving in slow motion and breathes a little sigh of relief when, eventually, Bond tilts his head forward and grunts into his shoulder.

“I don’t enjoy pain, Q. Not anywhere, but especially not there.”

“That’s fortunate, then. I don’t enjoy seeing you in pain.” With a touch to Bond’s bottom lip, Q whispers, “I apologise for the terrible joke. And it was just a joke. Unlike some people, I try to be gentle with the equipment in my care.”

“And I’m in your care, am I?”

Ah. Right. Q worries his lip between his teeth. They’ve never ventured this far into the realm of feelings and emotions. But there’s a smile tugging at the corners of Bond’s mouth, one that wouldn’t be there if he were completely allergic to the idea of Q caring for him.

“Perhaps since we sat down in front of that Turner painting,” says Q, feeling as if he’s standing on the edge of a rooftop. “Are you, erm—is that—?”

Q’s answer is a long, insistent kiss that Q feels down to his toes. A few very pleasurable hours later, it’s also a “thank you” whispered in the dark that Q isn’t sure he was meant to hear at all.

He presses a kiss to Bond’s shoulder and makes a mental note to throw out the whip hidden at the back of the bedroom cupboard.

[limeade-l3sbian]

What’s a comedian whose popularity you simply do not get? I’m not talking so much as in “oh they pander to this or that subset of people, can’t people anyone would like them” because there’s so many comedians with very questionable morals the longer they are in the industry, i’m more sure talking purely comedy/charisma. like someone whose material good or bad just is not well delivered. Like as much as I fucking dislike Bill Burr and find his comedy extremely unfunny personally, I can see he does well for his niche of audience(misogynistic grumpy men mainly, lmao) and he has some charisma. An example of what I would say I do not get is Ricky Gervais. There’s some stuff he says I can technically agree on, but he’s so charmless and smug about it that it’s impossible to want to agree, much less laugh. Like when I imagine a smug little british prick, that’s his face that pops up. He just doesn’t seem to have the comedy chops to me. Which makes sense when I found out he wasn’t ever really like a struggling comedian or whatever, he started out with writing and did well and then eventually went into stand up. It makes sense his stage presence is abysmal. He basically comes on stage to condescend and grandstand.

Chris Rock.

Like you said, not for any moral reason. I just never thought he was that funny. Like, some of his jokes would be funny by nature, but I always felt like his delivery ruined it. I think people really underappreciate comedic delivery and timing.

[not-a-space-alien]

Someone shows you a SNL clip insisting it's the funniest thing ever and it features someone's blorbos you don't know not because they're not good enough for you you just don't find it interesting enough to be worth the time and brainpower and they're making the most unfunny jokes you've ever heard but everyone is laughing hysterically and you realize how broken you and your sense of humor are that you can't connect with this apparently ubiquitous cultural milestone and it honestly feels like everyone is gaslighting you trying to convince you to think it's funny or insisting you don't have a sense of humor but the reality is the jokes you find funny are only accessible to a niche of like 100 people online because you gave yourself a very specific kind of brainrot by tunnelling Posts directrly into your brain for so long

[mlynar-nearl]

alright i have about 15 minutes so here we go.

one: “silverash bloodline” jokes are already unfunny to me. that said if you wanna talk about the silverash bloodline man up and fuck him yourself, because it’s not like enya or encia are theoretically available in a noble birthright scenario. even if this was a concern for him, it’s very much not for mlynar, or did we all miss the part where he renounced the nearls’ titles? the nearls are not recognized nobles, and he is very clear that margaret and maria are old enough to make their own decisions and live with the consequences. he is not likely to force anything on them apart from trying to dissuade them from doing anything he thinks is risky, which is, for real, normal older person to younger person behavior.

two: they wouldn’t get along in the slightest. enciodes is very interested in building a reputation and a business and playing the game, and mlynar is not that. he plays the game, but he hates it, and he wants out. they would tolerate each other at best. further, i just dont think they would have anything to talk about, despite being the functional “heads” of both their families. they’re in completely different worlds.

three: they do not have the same type of relationship with the doctor in the actual slightest if you read their dialogue for five minutes. to enciodes, you’re a respected business partner, and possibly even a friend. to mlynar, you are another hopeful idiot who is just not going to be able to achieve anything like he was. he thinks you’re making a mistake by pursuing rhodes’ ideals this way, but agree to disagree, because you both want to help people. they aren’t competing for your attention on the same level at all. one of the many things i like about arknights is that not necessarily every character is obsessed with the doctor, or thinks of the doctor in the same way. that’s fun. it adds texture. you have operators who dislike you or distrust you, operators who disagree with you, operators who respect you, and some who maybe do love you. it’s not all or nothing, and that’s fun.

their gameplay niche overlap =/= any sort of meaningful lore comparison.

[peterlorres21stcentury]

pictured: the ghost of Peter Lorre dictating my next work of fiction

Peter: "yeees, you should start those three different stories all at the same time. It won't be at all difficult! You can trust me." me: yessir. I just need another year or several. :3

Somewhat off topic but there's something I have wanted to say about writing and my own opinions of modern storytelling for a while, but I realize it's going to be a whole load of irrelevant waste for most, so behind a cut it goes:

I realize that I write for a pretty niche audience, namely, the Peter Lorre megafan community (hi there, all ten or twelve of y'all 😉). But in doing so, I'm not only trying to create worlds and stories well-suited to our boy's talent, even so many years after his death. I'm also attempting to keep a tradition of older storytelling alive.

What do I mean by this? Mostly it's my own irritation at almost all visual media (at least American media; I can't speak to everything in this world) made in the last 15-20 years or so, which seems designed to stifle anything that might be the least bit interesting or fresh. Or even the fact that "normal" dramas and slice-of-life stories that were commonplace in film as recently as 30 years ago, would never in a thousand years be considered for production today. And what is it replaced with? A lot of sloppy, unfocused, really bloated franchises that go nowhere and say even less in two and a half hours (??!!) than most older films and TV could convey in the average 30-60 minutes. You cannot tell me with a straight face that the kids today find older movies too "boring" or "unappealing" when absolute fuckall is happening in whatever bland shit is currently overstaying its welcome.

And maybe t'was ever thus, and mass entertainment has always been stupid, and niche voices from the past always fade into obscurity. But the loss of gold-standard, very tried and tested methods of storytelling on a really fundamental level feels especially keen to me now. It really does feel like so many screenwriters have thrown all history of good writing out the window in favor of... I dunno, the random STUFF ping-ponging around in their heads without rhyme or reason or motivation or setup, or an endless parade of unfunny jokes, or a lack of compelling characters, or a general lack of anything that made me care about writing in the first place. I first ran into this problem as a college student in a very disappointing creative writing course almost 20 years ago, and it hasn't gotten any better since.

I am not a professional. I am not here to write what is profitable. But I am highly influenced by the storytelling techniques of the past, which is why I have gotten more than one cherished comment from readers telling me that my stories "feel like movies." That is deliberate. I always said that I am a thief; I steal from many sources. At the end of the day, I am here to write the stories I want to read, as strange and niche as they may be, and share them for free with anyone who cares to remember when strong writing and well-crafted stories really meant something. I can only hope I live up to that legacy in a day and age I cannot keep up with, in my own small and extremely insignificant way.

[novampiresremain]

insert unfunny niche joke here

[littlestarprincess]

There's a rot in my head that says if I'm lonely, I should have known better than to be so unlikeable*. I should have given more to the people who cared about me. I should have taken less. I should have been less self centered and less angry.

And I kind of remember a time when I was all that (except maybe more likeable, because likability is subjective and I can't actually measure it, and except maybe less angry because the anger was stamped into me from the cradle, and how old do you have to be before you need to be accountable for that?) and I was actually still pretty lonely.

Though I wonder if the people who disappeared on me would look at my loneliness and think, "You should have given more to the people who cared about you. You should have taken less. You should have been less self centered and less angry."

"You should have known better than to be so unlikeable*."

*laughing too loud at stupid things, being hyper aware of the little things people do (that might be a sign that they'll hurt you), being aware of how much the world is screaming, being responsible for my actions instead of letting a "friend" hold the leash, saying something when someone is being self-destructive (I just wanna make sure you have the chance to save yourself if you want to), making snide comments about people who hurt the people I care about (even though I know you're still friends with them), having niche interests that no one else cares about, smiling wrong, being ugly, making awkward small talk (I can tell you're afraid of me, and I don't want you to have to feel afraid), living every day like I might die tomorrow, taking things too seriously, telling unfunny jokes, begging you to hear that someone is hurting me or scaring me

[paulisweeabootrash]

The Gorgeous Life of Strawberry-chan

The Gorgeous Life of Strawberry-chan/The Super-Cool Life of Strawberry-chan (1999/2004)

Format: Manga

Volumes read: 2 (whole series)

I bought this from the clearance section in the final days of Right Stuf to get up to the free shipping threshold. And let me tell you, sometimes things are on clearance for a reason. You ever read a newspaper comic strip and wonder "wow, how is this in print"? Like, something so aggressively unfunny that you can't imagine a target audience for it? Well, Strawberry-chan is the closest I've come to that in a manga.

Strawberry-chan was published very gradually in Zero (now Kurofune), a fantasy and sci-fi magazine from a publisher that specializes in BL, and was compiled in two volumes, titled "The Gorgeous Life of Strawberry-chan" and "The Super-Cool Life of Strawberry-chan" in English (rather than being numbered volumes of the "same" series). I think the original run was 1995-2004, based on the artist afterword at the end of volume 2. According to the afterword, she tried to end the series but it was brought back by audience demand. Demand for what? Unclear.

The title character, Strawberry-chan, is a pet frog, and the manga follows the terrible things that happen to him at the boys' boarding school where his owner, Akiyoshi Taro, is a student. The two main running jokes(?) are that Taro mistreats Strawberry-chan, usually by sticking a straw up his cloaca, and that his roommate Fujikake Masayuki is in love with Strawberry-chan and wants to take him away. And that's basically it.

On the one hand, I don't want to trash something purely because I don't understand it. I wonder if this made sense at the time if you were really immersed in the 90s BL world, or at least you read other things from the same magazine. Even if it was genuinely bad at the time, I am willing to give slack to fans of strange niche media. I have definitely enjoyed, and still enjoy now, things that make other people cringe. On the other hand, ugh.

I am not the target audience for this, and I know there are jokes I'm not getting. A handful of things read as parodies, most obviously the early gag where Masayuki rejects a human-form Strawberry because he's not into humans -- I'm sure this is a play on a confidently-gay character not being interested in a woman version of his love interest -- but most of it is just confusing and unfunny to me. So I asked my wife, who has read quite a lot more yaoi than I have, for a second opinion, and she reports that if the premise is overall supposed to be some kind of joke about the dynamics of yaoi relationships, then it's a pretty badly-executed joke.

A few specific gags do stand out as pretty funny, like when Taro seems to be unable to distinguish Strawberry-chan from other frogs, or when Strawberry-chan buries himself in a flower pot to hibernate. And maybe you'll enjoy Strawberry being a butt monkey if you're a bit of an asshole or if you're a really big tsundere fan (Taro doesn't actually hate Strawberry, despite all his mistreatment), but to me it's all just tedious and grating.

W/A/S: ?/?/?

I don't know how to rate this.