#old post on my Instagram but I’m doing this poll!

[fabuloustrash05]

[wintersoldiersoul]

Filming

Summary: You convince Sebastian to make a TikTok with you

A/N: This is kinda shitty but I just thought about how cute it would be if you made a TikTok with Seb and had to write about it. The relationship in this is platonic and I was picturing that Y/N is somewhere in her early 20s.

People always assumed that working on a Marvel movie meant constant action. But truly, most of your days were filled with waiting around in your trailer for hours on end. There were so many moving parts that there were some days you would be called at 4am and have to stay until 5pm only to shoot one scene. Needless to say, you had a lot of downtime. 

It was your castmates that made it all bearable. Instead of sitting alone in your trailers, you were usually all hanging out together. Today was one of those days where you had been waiting around for hours on end to film one scene with Sebastian. You were playing Bucky’s long lost grand-niece, naturally meaning that most of your scenes were with him. 

The two of you were sitting in his trailer, anxiously awaiting for a PA to knock on the door and bring you to set. “Ugh,” you groaned, throwing your head back. 

“You okay over there?” Sebastian chuckled, looking up from his cell phone. Despite being nearly 20 years apart in age, the two of you had grown very close. You were like his little sister.

“I’m losing my mind, Seb. I’ve never been this bored in my fucking life.” 

He laughed and continued to scroll through his phone. 

“What are you even doing on there, anyways? You don’t even use social media,” you sassed. You loved to tease him about his lack of social media presence, calling him old and out of touch, even though you secretly wished you could be as brave as him and stop posting on all of yours, too.

“You know there are other things to do on here,” he held up his phone. “I’m reading an article about space. It’s really interesting.”

You rolled your eyes and groaned again. “God help me.” You opened your own phone and clicked on TikTok, hoping that the For You Page would have something entertaining enough to grab your currently short attention span. After a few minutes, you threw your phone down and sighed again. You watched Sebastian from across the room, silently getting an idea. You smiled slyly, and he looked up at you.

“Oh no,” his eyes narrowed. “You have an idea.”

“Let’s make a TikTok.” You were constantly making TikToks with the other actors and your followers loved it. But you had yet to give everyone what they really wanted. Sebastian.

“Absolutely not,” he replied.

You pouted your lip and widened your eyes. “Pleeeaseeee,” you begged. He laughed at your desperation. “It will be fun I promise. Just one.”

“Stop acting like a child,” he said playfully.

“The fans want it. They’re constantly asking where you are in my videos. People are gonna start thinking that we hate each other, you know.”

He smirked. “Oh they’re constantly asking? They wanna see me in a TikTok that badly?” His tone was playful but you knew him well enough to know that he did seriously doubt it. Despite being so successful, he would always be humble and unsure of himself and just how much his fans truly did love him. 

You snapped a selfie of the two of you and posted it in your Instagram story asking if people wanted to see you and Sebastian make a TikTok. Within seconds, thousands of people were answering “yes” to the poll and your DMs were flooded with pleading messages, begging you to get him to make one. 

“See? Now they won’t leave me alone until I do it.”

He sighed. “Fine. Only for you.” Sebastian had a soft spot for you. Even though you were so much younger than him, he really did think of you as one of his best friends. You were wise beyond your years, having grown up in the spotlight. The two of you loved each other, even just platonically. He was always looking after you, obsessively googling people that you went on dates with, always making sure that you got home safe from nights out. You reminded him a lot of himself when he was your age in a lot of ways. “But no dances. I am definitely not doing a fucking Tik Tok dance.”

“Fair enough.” You scrolled through the app trying to find a good video that the two of you could make. “Oh, I know. This will be fun.” You selected the audio from Gilmore Girls. The classic Jess “Why did you drop out of Yale speech.” You filmed Sebastian as Rory, and yourself as Jess. It took him a bit to get the hang of lip-syncing the words but eventually you had a completed result.

You posted the video with the caption, “As highly requested.” Within seconds, your phone was blowing up with likes and comments of people freaking out over you actually getting Sebastian to make a Tik Tok. 

“See? I told you they wanted it.” You smirked, hitting him lightly on the arm.

He rolled his eyes. “The things I do for you, Y/N.”

[weird-arcanefangirl]

Please get off tumblr for a few years. At 14 you are seriously at risk of being brainwashed on here. Please, please take some time to grow up a little and then come back. This isn’t a friendly place for teenagers. There are numerous people who will shove their opinions in your face and make you feel guilty for not caring about every problem going on in the world. You’ve already bought in to some of this.

I mean this is in the kindest way possible. Just take some time off social media. It negatively alters your perception of the world without you even realizing it until years later.

Ive been on social media since I was 9. the amount of things I’ve seen have seriously desensitised me. I really really get what you mean and I know your worries but im not really active on this account anymore. I don’t have any contact with people anymore and I don’t really look at posts. My perception of the world is already altered, but not because of tumblr. Tumblr is one of the websites that really don’t affect me. Im on all these sites like Instagram and YouTube etc etc. and it’s something every teenager does today. It’s become normal. And again, im really grateful you care so much and you’re such a kind person for that! But im going to continue to be on tumblr. The amount of minors my age or even younger is more than you would expect, the amount of posts I’ve seen that are made my people much younger than me is horrendous. And I personally believe I’m old enough and mature enough to know which sites seriously damage my life and mind. This one doesn’t. Im on here for entertainment and the fandoms. Not for anything else. Im not in contact with anyone on tumblr, I don’t interact with any controversies and I really watch out. Im here sometimes, looking at funny posts or answering yes or no polls.

again, im really grateful that you care so much and you should continue on caring! It’s awesome and it shows how much of a good person you are. It really really does. But with the amount of minors on tumblr, this isn’t going to get you anywhere. There will always be children on sites they shouldn’t be on. And I agree, I don’t really belong here. But I am on here and I really watch out for what I do.

care about the people you can affect. Watch out for your cousins or maybe friends kids and tell parents what their children maybe shouldn’t do. You seem like you know a lot about the internet. You can affect peoples life, irl, but people you’ve never seen? That’s harder. I hope you understand me a bit here and I hope you’re not going to harass me for staying on here.

[hajimehaga]

Hey!!! You have fantastic art!!! And writing!!!! Thank you for making what you do!!! I really really love seeing it all!!

thank you so much !!

i intend on redoing my old severed and splintered comic before i’ll move onto other continuations of said comic focusing on the other characters involved. those who subscribe to my patreon and/or kofi will be able to see my work in progress on this as i don’t intend to share any of it elsewhere until it’s completely done

a long long time ago i did a poll on instagram for which character’s story you guys would like me to focus on next and it appeared to be in favor of redrawing s&s first and then going to the story of gaspard, the blu spy, afterwards. let me know if you guys like the idea of that or have another character in mind you’re interested in seeing first. i’ll likely do a poll here as well when it comes down to making the next comic- which won’t be for a long time lmao

(i’m sorry i’m using your ask as sort of an update post as well, yours was just the most recent one that wasn’t from like two years ago lmao)

[mariacallous]

If the question hasn’t hit your For You page or Twitter feed (or group chat) yet, it will: How often do you think about the Roman Empire? The provenance of the query is a little blurry, but it maybe started with this tweet (which also references an Instagram Reel) or possibly this TikTok. Or this one. The point is, everyone is trying to figure out how often the men in their lives think about the Roman Empire.

According to one of those ur-TikToks posted by @paige.elysee earlier this week, you will be “shocked with their responses.” But if my friend group—and the WIRED Culture Slack—are any indication, the responses are simply … interesting? When I sent the question to group chats yesterday, most of the responses skewed toward, “Is this that Twitter poll? lol” or “I got asked this last night. Truly never.” In other words, they weren’t shocking but were definitely amusing. Some colleagues generously interjected with “My brain: ‘The Roman Empire is to men what girl dinner is to women’” and “My theory is that it's because that Daily Stoic podcast is so popular.” WIRED legend Steven Levy offered that he thinks about Ancient Rome, “Every time I write about Mark Zuckerberg.” But according to people who aren’t my friends, the answer is more along the lines of “every single day” or once a week or “a few times a month.”

I decided to poll WIRED colleagues. Now, I’m of the opinion that it’s kind of ridiculous to gender this question—people of all identities can be history buffs, y’all!—but maybe that’s an argument for another time. As of this writing, answers are still pouring in on the impromptu Google Form I set up, but in a group that consists of a good balance of men and women, about a fifth answered that they “never” think about the Roman Empire. “Never��� was tied with “weekly,” followed by “monthly” at about 15 percent of respondents.

In my deep, morning-long investigation, there were also more than a few responses that pointed to the Cold War or Pompeii or the 1920s as time periods more worthy of contemplation. This, ultimately, led me to a theory: Dudes/people don’t think about the Roman Empire a lot, they think about media about the Roman Empire. Video games set in the Colosseum, old films like Cleopatra, roughly a million History Channel docuseries, Monty Python’s Life of Brian—these things are burned into our memories. Jay-Z was able to put Russell Crowe’s “Are you not entertained?” at the beginning of “What More Can I Say” because Gladiator was so popular. 

My own ponderings of Ancient Rome tend to hover around the persecution of Christians and the empire’s conversion to Christianity after Constantine. Then I think of Keanu Reeves. One of my former editors responded to my group text query by noting that she’d recently watched HBO’s Rome concurrently with Amazon Prime Video’s Domina to “contrast the characterizations of Octavian’s wife during the Second Triumverate.” Then I Googled this and went down a rabbit hole of my own.

This is the state of media consumption in 2023. Hollywood, hungry to adapt any story it can, has turned history into IP—shows and movies that we now watch with phones in hand and laptops open to delve into whatever new tidbit shows up onscreen. Who amongst us hasn’t lost hours on the KGB Wikipedia page after a binge-watch of The Americans or sought to fact-check The Trial of Chicago 7? Fire up any streaming service and there are hours of content about World War II. I once dedicated nearly a month of reporting to Alan Turing’s “Bombe” code-breaking machine after I saw The Imitation Game. Frankly, Turing is probably my Roman Empire. (Ask me about the Apple logo in the comments.)

As the cliché goes, history is always written by the victors. But in modern times, it often gets translated by screenwriters and then “punched-up” by studio notes. People tend to be obsessed with the past. The longer my text and Slack threads stretched, the more respondents tried to figure out why anyone was even talking about dudes and the Roman Empire in the first place. It devolved into questions about why humans are enthralled by war, the collective fascination with powerful men, and on and on and on. No one ever figured out why the meme went viral—or whether men really do think about the Roman Empire all that much, or more than people of other genders. But we were entertained.

[newmusickarl]

5-9’s Album of the Month Podcast

Reminder that you can head over to Spotify to listen to the January 2023 episode of our Album of the Month podcast, covering Billy Nomates's CACTI, Circa Waves's Never Going Under, The Murder Capital's Gigi's Recovery, Patchnotes's Endless Surrender and We Are Scientists's Lobes.

Take a listen below and be sure to follow 5-9 Blog on Instagram and Twitter for more news and polls relating to the podcast, along with other great content like film reviews, sports articles and more.

Listen to the January 2023 episode here

Album & EP Recommendations

This Is Why by Paramore

Back in the mid-00s when I was 15/16 years old, Bloc Party’s Silent Alarm changed my life.

Sonically eclectic whilst lyrically urgent, it seemed to encapsulate the teenage experience at that time like no other record could. From the politically charged Helicopter, the glistening, post-festival blues of So Here We Are and quintessential indie love song This Modern Love, it firmly remains my favourite debut album of all time. So, when immensely popular American rockers Paramore announced that this record and Bloc Party were the primary influence for their sixth studio album, This Is Why, my interest was naturally piqued.

Although my knowledge of Paramore’s back catalogue is limited, even on the face of their career I can see that the trio aren’t afraid of reinventing themselves. From their early emo and pop punk roots to the 80s influenced synth-pop of their impressive last outing After Laughter, few mainstream acts have evolved their sound through the years quite like Paramore. However, with the primary inspiration of Bloc Party along with other great British bands like Foals, Wolf Alice and Arctic Monkeys namechecked in recent interviews, Paramore have undergone arguably their biggest reinvention yet. Where Silent Alarm offered a vital soundtrack for the post-9/11 youth, Paramore attempt to do the same for an apathetic generation of kids dealing with COVID lockdowns and ever-growing social and political divide on This Is Why. And whilst it isn’t quite Silent Alarm, this is unquestionably a brilliant indie rock record.

As they put in their pre-release statement, lyrically the album delves into feelings of agoraphobia, disassociation, moral superiority and righteousness, whilst sonically the band’s influences come through loud and clear too. Taylor York’s guitar work is arguably the star of the show, with the jittery riffs littered across the album’s concise 10 tracks reminiscent of that mid-00s Brit-rock scene in which I grew up. That highlights arguably the most impressive element of this record too, the fact it manages to strike the perfect balance between feeling both current and nostalgic at the same time.

Into the album itself then and the opening title track remains one of my favourite tracks of the last twelve months. With all the catchy, stuttering chords of prime Foals, along with some ever-impressive vocal acrobatics from enigmatic frontwoman Hayley Williams, the mid-song breakdown that ends with Williams’ cries of “I’m floating like a cannonball” is so gloriously cathartic, you can’t help but get won over.

Second single The News is similarly great, with the Bloc Party inspiration coming through strong on this raucous anthem that looks with despair at the ongoing Ukraine War. The lyrics on the chorus are particularly hard-hitting, as Williams passionately roars “Every second our collective heart breaks, all together every single head shakes, shut your eyes but it won’t go away.” Running Out Of Time then completes a blistering opening trio, where Williams battles with self-preservation and disorganisation as she sings “Intentions only get you so far, what if I’m just a selfish prick? No regard” over some of the coolest guitar lines of the whole record.

However, there are times where Paramore can wear their 00s indie influences slightly too much on their sleeve. The band stated that C’est Comme Ça was inspired by Yard Act due to its spoken word verses, but my biggest takeaway was how the opening riff is an accidental rip-off of Hard Fi’s breakout single, Hard To Beat (if you don’t believe me, listen to the opening of both tracks for yourself). The song thankfully does recover after that confusing first 15 seconds though, mainly thanks to more outstanding guitar patterns from Taylor York.

Beyond the opening gambit of singles, I’m pleased to say there’s plenty more great moments to be found here. Big Man, Little Dignity is another strong favourite, which sees the trio take shots at powerful men not held to account for their deplorable actions (“smooth operator in a shit-stained suit”). Boasting a flurry of flutes, some moody Joy Division-esque guitars and Williams’ beautiful cooing vocals, it ends up leaving a huge impression. Liar, arguably the album’s most subdued moment, is similarly awe-inspiring too thanks to some twinkly guitars and Williams’ graceful falsetto vocals. Thick Skull is then the emphatic finale the album deserves, with a big solo towards the back end that draws shades to early Arctic Monkeys, whilst Williams screams “Come on out with your hands up, I’m coming out with my hands up.”

As you can probably tell I’m a big fan of this record and from start to finish this is a simply thrilling listen. At a concise 36 minutes there’s not a second spared, as the band channel their message through the sounds from indie rock’s past, breathing fresh new life into the scene and helping it to resonate with a newer, younger mainstream audience. So, if you are sat there wondering why Paramore are one of the biggest rock bands in the world right now – This Is Why.

Listen here

Desire, I Want To Turn Into You by Caroline Polachek

I said in last week’s roundup that Raye’s debut album 21st Century Blues had set the standard for pop records to follow for the rest of the year, but it seems that American alt-pop artist Caroline Polachek didn’t get that memo. Less than a week later, Caroline has delivered a masterclass in experimental and art-driven pop music, that you’ll just want to lose yourself in again and again.

Originally slated for a Friday release, Caroline instead gifted the album a few days early by releasing on Valentine’s Day, which only feels fitting given this album’s passionate mood. Sonically it’s a mesmerising listen, with Caroline throwing the kitchen sink at this one by incorporating bagpipes (Blood and Butter), Spanish Flamenco guitars (Sunset) and even a children’s choir (Billions). There’s also a blockbuster collaboration with both Grimes and Dido (Fly to You), two artists whose influence you can hear frequently across many of the album’s other tracks as well.

Although the individual moments themselves are full of vitality, the beauty of this album lies in the sonic journey on which it takes you. From the Tarzan-like cries of introductory track Welcome To My Island, the Charli XCX pop stylings of Bunny Is A Rider, the Eurovision glow of I Believe to the folk-dance of Smoke, Caroline delivers a vibrant explosion of sound at every turn. That said it’s arguably the album’s most understated and atmospheric moment that ends up striking the biggest chord, as Hopedrunk Everasking beautifully shimmers through the speakers thanks to Caroline’s utterly angelic vocal harmonies.

Overall, this really is an utterly blissful listen from beginning to end, with Caroline building in every single way on her previous solo outing, Pang (also great). Colourful, uplifting and filled with endlessly fascinating sonic exploration, this is an album that I suspect will only sound even better come summertime.

Listen here

This Stupid World by Yo La Tengo

“Now almost forty years into their musical journey and on their sixteenth proper studio album, the trio of Ira Kaplin, Georgia Hubley, and James McNew sound reinvigorated on their latest for Matador. Longtime fans of Yo La Tengo can approach This Stupid World with an eased mind – with this gorgeous set of nine intricate yarns, there’s no reinventing the wheel. Yet, it is easily their best since 2013’s Fade and will go down as one of their finest albums.

“Fallout” is classic Yo La Tengo and easily one of their best singles, but this entire record is a vintage outing from the indie vets who continually remind us there are other greats in New Jersey besides Bruce Springsteen. We are blessed that this band doesn’t share an interest in packing it up at forty. Instead, with This Stupid World, Yo La Tengo shows that age doesn’t lead to less shredding, and there is certainly no room for a decline when you’re one of the best bands to ever do this indie thing.”

Read Kiley Larsen’s full review for HeadStuff here

Listen here

Moments of Clarity by Narrow Head

“It’s the third record for the Houston-based shoegaze/alternative/post-hardcore/enough-with-genre-labels outfit and the first in quite a while to really slap me with some damn good chugging detuned guitars.

Moments of Clarity comes from a time of significant loss in Duarte’s life, and Narrow Head is determined to shred its way out of it. Their gift lies in that elusive space where much of Moments of Clarity is downright heavy. Still, the pop-sense melodies on early songs like the title track and “Sunday” would slot in comfortably on any nineties alternative station. This is partially thanks to co-producer Sonny DiPerri, who has worked as a producer and engineer with the likes of Nine Inch Nails, DIIV, and My Blood Valentine, who Duarte says pushed them past the heaviness into writing legit pop songs. DiPerri’s effort also pays off sonically, as this is the lushest record from Narrow Head so far.”

Read Kiley Larsen’s full review here

Listen here

Also worth checking out: Truth Decay by You Me At Six

Tracks of the Week

A&W by Lana Del Rey

The release of Lana’s ninth studio album at the end of March is fast approaching and this week we finally got our second taste of (takes deep breath) Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd. Thankfully she is countering the annoying, parody-like title of her new record with this seven-minute epic, which sees Lana detail “the experience of being an American Whore.” It’s vintage Lana with the first half stripped back and centred around her gorgeous, hushed vocals, before it steadily morphs into a rumbling, trap style beat as she sarcastically sings “Your Mom called, I told her, you’re fucking up big time.”

With four albums in four years I had been feeling that Lana was somewhat oversaturating her catalogue, however if it gifts us gems like this then maybe I’ll allow it. Let’s wait and see though if she can keep the standard up for another full length.

Listen here

Lost by Linkin Park

It makes me feel incredibly old to see that Linkin Park’s Meteora, a defining record for me during my early teens, is turning 20 years old this year. To celebrate, the band are re-releasing the record with a mountain of unreleased demos, live recordings and never-before-heard tracks from the album’s recording sessions. The first of these to be unveiled is Lost, a track you can’t quite believe didn’t make it on to the original album but arguably hits harder now 20 years later.

Amazingly sounding fresh probably due to the recent nu-metal revival, you can’t help but choke up hearing the late Chester Bennington anguishly sing “I tried to keep this pain inside, but I will never be alright.” Truly heartbreaking but great that the band have enabled this song and Chester’s typically moving vocal performance to see the light of day.

Listen here

Ghosts Again by Depeche Mode

A band 43 years into their career at this point but showing no signs of slowing down, electronic pioneers Depeche Mode have served up the first taste of their forthcoming fifteenth studio album, Memento Mori. Their first new material since the unexpected passing of founding member Andy Fletcher, it’s a vibrant, synth-soaked anthem led by Dave Gahan’s signature haunting vocals.

Listen here

Yr Made of Gold by Fake Turins

It’s a real shame that North London's premier disco-psych 11-piece Fake Turins will be officially calling it a day on the 8th June, a date which is set to host their final farewell show at London’s Village Underground. Thankfully they are giving fans one final parting gift, in the form of their Inheritance EP, which is due out a month earlier on the 9th May. The first taste of this EP is new single Yr Made of Gold, which is being perfectly described as “a suspenseful yet sensuous funk-noir” and comes accompanied by a quite mesmerising AI-animated video too.

Check out the incredible visualiser here

I’m Sorry (Acoustic) by Josef Salvat

And finally this week, synth-pop sensation Josef Salvat has also reinterpreted one of the standout singles of his brilliant third album, 2022’s Islands. Taking the infectious, upbeat melody and transforming it into a gorgeous piano ballad, it’s a worthwhile reimagining of a great song.

Listen here

REMINDER: If you use Apple Music, you can also keep up-to-date with all my favourite 2023 tracks through my Best of 2023 playlist. Constantly updated throughout the year with songs I enjoy, it is then finalised into a Top 100 Songs of the Year in December.

Add the playlist to your library here

[lindsaywesker]

Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day. Welcome to the weekend!

Wow! Here we are again: Friday! Where did that week go? No, seriously, where did that week go?

Naturally, the highlight of my week was my birthday on Wednesday and, trust me, I will be celebrating my birthday all month! I have enough alcohol in here to sink a battleship, plus I have a couple of very nice dates in my diary!

The Mighty Josiah has returned from Brooklyn, so we will see him tonight and he will stay with us Friday and Saturday. I am his personal assistant, so I will be at his beck and call. You know how scrumptious he is, so I will attempt to hug and kiss him – attempt! – but he always screams and runs away.

My mother had her first experience of racial profiling this week. My daughter’s mother is black, so my daughter is mixed race, dual heritage, whatever you want to call her but, in a shop in Hove, she’s a black woman! My mum wrote, “Today, in Marks and Spencer, a security guard stopped your daughter and said she looked like a shoplifting suspect of theirs. At that minute, l appeared, all hell let loose and they were full of apologies. She was shocked, of course! It just makes me aware of how penalised black people are.” Yes, this week, Lady Wesker got a life lesson. You’re never too old to learn.

Mars has decided to trial a ‘No Bounty’ tub of Celebrations this Christmas, after its consumer research confirmed their status as the least popular sweet. The experiment comes after nearly 40% of those polled told the company the Bounty should be permanently axed from the Celebrations line up, where it struggles to compete with the star power of “all-time favourite” Maltesers. To be honest, 40% sounds like a pretty low number to be making such rash decisions. Personally, given half the chance, I would eat Bounty until it made me sick! I love it! I’m down at Sainsbury’s this morning, so I will be stocking up on Bounty bars for those lazy Christmas days! Celebrations can do one! It’s a rip-off anyway!

The ‘follows’ keep arriving at Scam HQ a.k.a. Instagram. Every day, so many follows from women with an ‘Only Fans’ page, people dealing in Cryptocurrency or just people with no profile pic. For every person I follow, I literally delete about 20 wanting me to follow them. El*n M*sk calculates that about 90% of our followers are bots! I suspect he might be right but that won’t be happening on my IG profile. Not me, mate!

Yesterday, I forgot to post a photo on IG of some of my wonderful Wednesday students, which I have done today. Some people are a bit funny about selfies. They worry about the way they look, or worry about people knowing their whereabouts, or just worry about being in selfies. For my money, when people pass away, I am so grateful for my selfies with me and them. Beautiful moments, never to be forgotten.

For those of you that follow me on Twitter, if I suddenly disappear, I will have gone to @TribelSocial. As Twitter is now allowing very extreme right-wing people back on their platform, I may back away? Let’s see what happens?

Very sad to hear about Noel McKoy passing away. ‘Family’ by McKoy was released in 1991 and we must have played it hundreds of times on Kiss FM! I think anybody listening to Kiss at that time will remember ‘Family’ as being a huge radio and party record. In 2014, Noel became part of The British Collective, an exceptional group of young men, who many of us have enjoyed in recent years. One of the most distinctive voices in UK soul music. He will be missed.

Matt Hancock is about to find out how much people hate him!

Be warned: someone has created a FAKE Lindsay Wesker profile and they may send you a friend request. Do not accept it!

Hope you can join me tomorrow at 1.00 p.m. for ‘The A-Z Of Mi-Soul Music’. The Letter J (Part Seven). Some of the tunes are a bit saucy! You have been warned!

Have a fabulous and funky Friday! I love you all. You’re probably thinking, “You don’t even know me!” but, if people can hate for no reason, why can’t I love?

[bradyoil]

Iconic Commercial Director Tom Kuntz Talks Comedy, Pushing Creative Boundaries and Challenging His Own Process.

Iconic commercial director Tom Kuntz kicks off Season Two. Over the course of his illustrious career, Tom has pushed creative boundaries with award-winnning campaigns for Skittles, Old Spice, Tubi, Apple, Ikea, Bacardi, more Apple, Pringles with the guys hand stuck in the can... and so many more. He's won every award in advertising, including two Gold Lions at Cannes Lions for his Skittles "Beard", a Gold Lion for the iconic Old Spice commercial starring Isaiah Mustafa and consistent Super Bowl polls.

  We discusses his boundary-pushing approach to storytelling and how he constantly challenges his own creative process. Tom shares insights into working with actors to find the funny and taking risks to subvert expectations. He also reflects on pivotal moments in his career like directing Old Spice commercial and making an ambitious stop-motion Action Man spot. We go deep on stuff. You'll love it.

  This is Part One of my fascinating chat, and provides a retrospective look at Kuntz's success in the industry through his lens of constantly reinventing and evolving his work.

  Check out Tom's work here and well as on his site here. The specific Kuntz' spots we talk about are posted at my wesbite jordanbrady.com too.

  Thanks to our editor Jake Brady Jake is available to edit your podcast, we could not do the show without him and love this guy behind words. Check out his Podcast Wax.

FLOW STATE

All of January 2024, try Magic Mind for FREE with this link and code JB20.

Click MAGIC MIND and use this nifty discount code JB20 and gobble it up daily with your coffee. If you follow me on Instagram you've seen my geniune endorsment of this mighty mind power juice.

EVENTS

Our 3rd annual Filmmaker Retreat Joshua Tree is Thursday, September 26th – Sunday, September 29th, 2024. I always use the word "transformational" in describing the past two years - because our tribe of like-minded filmmakers express that the retreat truly changed their lives. Both professionally and personally. Reserve your spot before the end of the year to take advantage of that last minute 2023 write-off. Limit 20 Filmmakers.

My next in-person Commercial Directing Bootcamp is Saturday, January 20th, 2024 is SOLD OUT.  DM if you're interested. Next Bootcamp is April 27th, 2024. Limit 12 Filmmakers.

Check out my Masterclass or Commercial Directing Shadow online courses. (Note this link to the Shadow course is the one I mention in the show.) All my courses come with a free 1:1 mentorship call with yours truly. Taking the Shadow course is the only way to win a chance to shadow me on a real shoot! DM for details.

How To Pitch Ad Agencies and Director’s Treatments Unmasked are now bundled together with a free filmmaker consultation call, just like my other courses. Serious about making spots? The Commercial Director Mega Bundle for serious one-on-one mentoring and career growth.

  Jeannette Godoy’s hilarious romcom “Diamond In The Rough” streams on the YouTube, Tubi and more. Please support my wife filmmaker Jeannette Godoy’s romcom debut. It’s “Mean Girls” meets “Happy Gilmore” and crowds love it.

  Thanks,

  Jordan

  This episode is 93 minutes.

My cult classic mockumentary, “Dill Scallion” is online so I’m giving 100% of the money to St. Jude Children’s Hospital. I’ve decided to donate the LIFETIME earnings every December, so the donation will grow and grow. Thank you.

Respect The Process podcast is brought to you by True Gentleman Industries, Inc. in partnership with Brady Oil Entertainment, Inc.

Check out this episode!

[waitingformyfavoritesongs]

22 April 2023 Saturday 1:03 am pt

Incubus is threatening me not to put up 🆙 my intaglio print picture here. It’s on my Instagram. He is burning 🔥 my vag. Benny blanco put up 🆙 that song 🎵 on his post George Michael. Michael sounds like my kill. 1:06 am pdt no one seems to care though. I haven’t seen any progress towards resolution. Only threats to tear me apart. I wish I never dated Scott. He wasn’t worth getting to know for me Bcz I don’t like 👍 him now. Hot 🥵 above right ear 👂. If they’re threatening me what is it they’re afraid 😱 of? That people will believe me? Bcz my print was made between fall 2007 and spring 2008? And Amar Malik article said July 2010? 1:10 am pdt it would (left hip bone 🦴 pain) point it in my favor slightly but no one likes me so no one will do anything to help me... so? 1:11 am pdt

1:13 am pdt stereo hearts 🥰

1:14 am pdt never going to dance 💃🏻 again Bcz my hip bones 🦴 etc are being taken away. 1:15 am pdt

1:17 am pdt do you think stereo hearts 🥰 sounds like it was written by a girl 👧 or a guy? I would like to see a poll on this. If you didn’t know who. Wrote it. Curious to know what others think 💭 only for experimental purposes. 1:19 am pdt

1:20 am pdt I want (back pain sharp) my bones 🦴 back and my youthfulness! My health. I don’t care about the money 💰! 1:21 am pdt 😞😖😭 1:22 am pdt I want this nightmare to be over!

1:23 am pdt I want to be able to work hard again without consequences such as losing my bones 🦴 and brain 🧠! 1:24 am pdt 😫😤😰

1:25 am pdt incubus attacked my skull 💀 and probably brain 🧠 today from trying to walk 🥺😖😭 1:26 am pdt

1:29 am pdt years and years of postponement and unfulfilled promises so a lot of stuff I won’t believe until I see results. A lot of stuff is like in reruns. 1:31 am pdt my hotel 🏨 is not giving us extra recycling and compost bins... 🤷🏻‍♀️ Nothings changed. Composting should be mandatory everywhere. 1:32 am pdt

1:33 am pdt acid throat pain no tengo dinero. It’s too bad Travis McCoy didn’t become a millionaire. Wait did Bruno Mars? Did either of those guys do stuff in the billionaire song 🎵? Who can I ask for money 💰? 1:35 am pdt Benny Blancos post literally day after my birthday 🎂 so it looks intentionally dedicated to me about not being able to dance 💃🏻 again. 1:36 am pdt and Amar Malik has some weird posts with a pink liquid spill. Rose 🌹 Rosa pink . Shana = beautiful, rose 🌹, Lilly 1:38 am pdt right arm acid throat too

1:41 am pdt incubus pointed something out to me days ago. It sometimes hard to think 💭 when I can’t breathe 🧘🏻‍♀️ and fighting for my life. So it’s okay 👌 if I’m a whore and it’s my fault 🤦‍♀️ Bcz I shouldn’t have dated me for I don’t remember how long how many days but I don’t think 💭 it was more than 2 months. Some people say by the third month you will know if something will become long term? I don’t really remember spending July 4 th with Scott in 2007. Trying to remember but it’s hard. I used to keep everything. But I was bad at putting dates on drawings ✍️ in my sketch ✍️ books 📖. I guess it was my fault 🤦‍♀️. I don’t have a lot of experience with dating. I guess I never learned until Q said it’s supposed to work immediately. But that was after s*x with Scott. I was trying to see if people would grow on me. I was better off hearing the advice b4 not after. My parents are divorced and they have a huge age gap. My parents were pen 🖊 pals. But I guess my dad rushed my mom Bcz he was already very old. He wanted/needed to have babies 👶 ASAP I guess. They tried to make it work. They weren’t the right fit unfortunately. 1:51 am pdt teeth 🦷 pain 1:52 am some times you just bite the cookie 🍪 5 year engagement. My dad had a fiancé who was stolen by another man 👨, so he had bad luck. 1:53 am pdt my dad wasn’t rich 🤑 I think the other man was? 1:54 am pdt

2:21 am pdt while I was at UCB my eczema on my hands 🙌 got worse so I stopped printmaking. 2:22 am pdt I didn’t do printmaking my second year and beyond. 2:23 am pdt

2:37 am pdt incubus is extremely biased and extremely WRONG 😑. He or she is vilifying me about dating Scott. I was attracted to him too much. And I wanted it to work out 🏋️‍♀️ I wanted to like 👍 someone I was attracted to. But I guess it was too dangerous a situation and I didn’t realize it. Bcz it was hard for me to say no even though I wanted to and meant to say no, he physically didn’t allow me to say no. He physically stopped 🛑 me from responding and went for it. 2:41 am pdt that was probably only the second or third time we hung out even though I don’t remember anymore I think 💭 I used to think 💭 I remembered it being very early on. Too early. Bcz I wanted to say NO Bcz my heart ❤️ wasn’t there yet. But he said he could feel I wanted to. Duh 🙄 that’s hormones. But he is probably trying to lie (acid head pain 2:44 am pdt) and twist it into saying he was in love with out saying it then, but twisted it for later when he wanted to make me look 👀 bad. Bcz he didn’t want people to know what happened exactly. I already told him I don’t think 💭 we should be doing this, but he challenged me. It’s not ok 👌 to challenge a woman 👩🏼. If she says no respect ✊ it. 2:47 am pdt

2:48 am pdt at least I verbally said b4 the s*x a very long no. Acid lips 👄 pain b4 I typed. Acid brain 🧠 pain.

2:50 am pdt I seem to be punished for this. I move to ban lap dances from strip clubs . If I’m being punished acid brain 🧠 pain for that then I will be saving every strippers life by warning ⚠️ them this is what they are like. They will eat your brains 🧠 with acid if you don’t claim responsibility for any rape that occurs after lap dancing 💃🏻. If Scott is punishing me then you are warned. He likes teenagers. Teens at my high school 🏫 rubbed their butts on guys crotch in dances. They didn’t get raped? 2:54 am pdt

2:58 am pdt I guess it’s true. I’m going to die Bcz of Scott cano. Bcz they blame me for stuff they tricked me into doing. 2:59 am pdt men are messed up and 😧. 3 am pdt they are not safe (stomach pain) to be alone with or to conduct business 👨‍💼 with. Unfortunate. 3:01 am pdt

3:04 am pdt I will repeat 🔁 myself Bcz now there are too many posts 😑. Women only desire p*nis. Adequately sized. P*nis. Nothing else would satisfy a woman 👩🏼! But we don’t know what men will try to put their p*nis. Into a pie 🥧 or a sheep 🐑? 3:07 am pdt

3:09 am pdt if people like Amar Malik more than me then I guess there’s nothing I can do. They want to award 🥇 him and not me I cannot do anything. 3:11 am pdt

3:11 am pdt in this weird world 🌎 now that is coming out it doesn’t seem to matter who had the idea 💡 first under what circumstances. Whether I forgot about specific things or I wasn’t made 100% aware of the truth and they messed around with my head a lot for a long time b4 telling me. 3:14 am pdt a lot of sharp back pain. I forgot a lot. No crossover. 3:15 am pdt all I thought 💭 was those guys were regular people like me and they were doing weird bad stuff to me. 3:15 am pdt

3:23 am pdt I guess I have to give up 🆙 Bcz god wants them to have what originally thought 💭 was mine. I thought 💭 about stuff for a while b4 I sang in the shower 🚿 in my apartment. Everything (acid hot pain left hip pain bone 🦴 difficulty breathing cruncher groin bone 🦴 3:26 am pdt I need to face the music 🎶 is that this a cruel joke on me😖😭😫 and that there is nothing else to this. There is no new earth 🌍 that we will all go to together. If there was, I would think 💭 that (pain cramp fart 💨 3::30 am pdt) anyone who has a growing family should go first. Hopefully 🙏 that it’s a quick trip! 3:31 am pdt please stop 🛑 hurting me please stop 🛑 taking my bones 🦴😫😖😭🥵🥵🥵🥵 3:32 am pdt

[suckitsurveys]

What do you like about the house you live in? The yard is my favorite part. What’s the most cliche song you can think of right now? Depends on the cliche? Name three of your favourite crepe toppings. I actually don’t think I’ve ever had one. If I did, I can’t remember. Do you watch How I Met Your Mother? What did you think of the ending? I don’t. Have you ever played paintball? Did you get hit? I haven’t.

Right now, are you too hot, too cold or just right? I’m a little chilly. What was your favourite fairy tale when you were a kid? I liked Little Red Riding Hood a lot. How do you feel today? Tell me about it. I’m just sleepy. What’s the weather like today? It’s currently 60F and sunny. Do you ever use a laptop in bed? Rarely. What were you doing in 2014? My best. Are you wearing socks right now? What colour are they? Yes, they are black. What time are you taking this survey? It’s 10:09am. Have you ever eaten Caribbean food? Yes. Do you need to make any purchases soon, big or small? Halloween costumes and decorations. What was the first movie you saw at the cinema? How old were you? Nightmare Before Christmas. I was 4. Do you feel hopeful for the future? Yes and no. Where did you last fly to on a plane? Back home from Utah in March. If you were going on a daytime date tomorrow, what would you wear? I don’t know. Depends on where we’re going. Are your parents still together? If not, do you know why? Well, they aren’t “together” because my mom died in 2013, so. Have you ever been evicted? Why? ..The last survey I took asked me this too...and that survey was posted by someone else in 2019....and this one was posted just a few weeks ago. WEIRD. Would you say you’re an organised person? There’s a method to my madness. Have you ever worked as a manager or supervisor? No. Do you eat at a table or on the couch? I eat on the couch at a table. We have a coffee table that lifts up to normal table height. Tell me something good about the last week of your life. The way this is worded makes it sound like I’m going to die so thanks. When was the last time you heard a siren? What kind? I’m sure I’ve heard a fire/police/ambulance since then, but the last one I remember was last Tuesday when they did the monthly tornado siren test. Do you like jogging?

What brand is your TV? Uhhhhhhhhhh I have no idea. What was the last thing you voted for? A poll one an instagram story about a color scheme lol. Do you remember much from high school? Knowledge-wise? No. What’s the longest you’ve ever stayed awake? Why did you do it? 48 hours. I was a young dumb kid. Do you live in the state/province/territory you were born in? Yes. What do you want to eat right now? Anything, I am starving. Have you ever been wrongfully accused of something? Yes. What are the five apps on your phone that you use most often? My messaging app, Instagram, Tik Tok, Twitter, Facebook. And a buncha games. What’s one of the most useless things you’ve ever purchased? I'm sure there’s something.

[1ddotdhq]

🏹Mon 28 Dec ‘20🎤

Zayn and Gigi have elevated not photographing their baby to the next level with a picture of them cooing over a baby shaped but empty snowsuit, plus a trend towards less of Zayn's face as well with TWO pics today (the other one an old unseen) in which his face is mostly obscured. Louis was around on twitter: he boosted a petition for touring UK musicians to get Visa-free work permits in the EU following “Brexix” - oh, sorry, that would be Brexit! He quickly deleted his first tweet with the typo and corrected himself, but it was too late, we had seen it, and his typo would haunt him on the trending list for the rest of the day. AND he followed Emily Eavis, the co-organizer for the Glastonbury Music Festival! Okay, look, I KNOW that this could very well be nothing, but Louis has been in the audience for Glastonbury before (last year, in fact!) but he’s just now followed her, and I HOPE that it might mean that he’s on the line up! I mean CAN YOU IMAGINE??? He does have friends who’ve previously played: DMA’S played a ‘secret set’ in 2019, and will hopefully be back on the lineup in 2021. That has nothing at all to do with Louis but those are two of my FAVORITE artists in ONE festival and I am DYING!

Liam’s LP Act 4 is in FOUR (4!) days and he continues to advertise it all over Instagram, as he SHOULD, it’s going to be GREAT! Harry liked an Instagram post about a short film which centers around a “super fan” and their parasocial relationship with the art they love, Niall said that his resolution for 2021 is to get back on tour, and the fashion polls go on and MAN are the opinions getting HEATED! I am, however, enjoying the hunger games level vague posting that I’m seeing on my dash - may the odds be ever in your favor.

[zigtheeortega]

redeemed

pairing | m!raleigh x mc

word count | 6.6k

warnings | cursing, innuendos, mentions of sex

tags | @natesewell, @choicesarehard, @empressazura, @raleighcarrera, @pixeljazzy, @pixelsandkink [tagging people who usually ask to be tagged !] 

author’s note | i’ve talked about this before but i’m not a huge fan of the platinum mc’s personality, so i’ve kind of crafted my own that’s quite a bit more rebellious than canon. i’m obsessed with the idea of an mc who’s romancing raleigh and falls into the same pattern of behavior and it genuinely concerns them – so yeah i play with that idea here! i deviate from canon some but not too much ! this is my submission for day 2 of @platinumweekend as well ! also i had no idea how to end this so i apologize for the fizzle out at the end lol

•─────────────────•

As soon as he stepped off stage, he was shuffled to his tour bus, Fiona on his heels. She looked like the human embodiment of rage in a grey blazer, a look in her eye that made him thankful he wasn’t the one it was directed at – or at least he hoped he wasn’t the reason she was two seconds away from a murderous rampage.

She slammed the door behind her, locking it, running to the windows and closing the curtains, peeking out at the paparazzi that no doubt had already tried flocking at the edges of the blocked off area where the bus was parked.

“Damn, what’s the problem? Can’t I at least get my food from craft services? Jesus,” he complained, grabbing a bottle of water from the fully stocked mini fridge, downing it while Fiona frantically ran around the bus, turning off every electrical device in sight.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

She wheeled on him, a few strands of her hair sticking to her lips. “We’ve got a problem.”

“Yeah, you won’t let me go get my fuckin’ overpriced grilled cheese that I know is waiting for me,” he jabbed his thumb towards the venue. “At craft services.”

She eyed him, pupils wide, her anger nearly palpable. “It’s bigger than food.”

He ran a hand through his damp hair, some strands completely drenched in sweat. “Lay it on me.”

And the three words that fell from her lips were soul crushing, his post-show high wearing off in an instant.

“Dom’s been arrested.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” He sat up, posture rigid. “What happened?”

“Not here. We’ll talk on the plane,” Fiona said, twisting the knob of the closet door, grabbing the black duffel bag on the ground. She tossed it at his feet, motioning for him to stand. “The jet leaves in an hour. I packed for you.”

“The plane? Where is she?” He was getting more and more frustrated, nearing hysterics. He should’ve felt a bit more shame about how worked up he was getting, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

Fiona took notice, her fiery gaze softening at the edges, the blue flames flickering across his face. “Not here, Raleigh.”

He slung the duffle bag on his shoulder, walking to the door.

“Wait –” Fiona said, leaning over the couch to pull the curtain to the side, peering out again. “I paid off a security guard to distract the paparazzi. And when he does, we have to run to the car that’s gonna pull up any minute now – undetected,” she shot back at him, her icy gaze warning.

Within minutes, a security guard with a similar build to Raleigh sprinted towards the venue, jacket over his head, paparazzi on his heels.

With the camera’s flashing finally pointed away, they were able to slide into the back of the cab, thankful that Hank had connections everywhere. The driver rolled up the barrier without question as soon as Fiona tossed him a wad of cash that she’d fished out of a plain leather pouch.

She shook the pouch, her lips set in a thin line. “You know what this is?”

“A purse?” He asked, brows furrowed. “Is this some kind of fuckin’ trick?”

“It’s an emergency fund. Cash. Not traceable.”

She shook her head, dropping the pouch into her lap, before pinching the bridge of her nose. “When Dom first started getting into trouble, I had to pay off a few people here and there, but when it became more frequent, I had to actually sit her down with her accountant and sort this out.”

“Sort… what out?”

“How much money she needed to allocate to her… antics,” she rolled her eyes, propping her elbow on the back of her seat, hand pressed to her forehead.

She looked drained. Fiona never looked disheveled, but he sensed this was the closest she’d be to it.

“If it’s money she needs, that’s fine. Lemme call my agent –”

“There’s only so much cash I can hand people under the table before it becomes a problem. Not just financially, put publicly,” she sighed, chewing the inside of her cheek. “I’ve been able to cover up the smaller mishaps, but this, I’m afraid, might be the start of something… much worse than disorderly conduct.”

“You gonna tell me her charges?” His jaw set in anticipation, already running through a list of the best lawyers in L.A. that got him off from potentially hefty lawsuits.

Her short locks swayed as she shook her head. “I don’t think it’s my place to tell you.”

He blew air out of his cheeks, leaning into the corner of the cab, legs splayed wide as he tried to take a nonchalant stance. “Can you at least tell me where we’re going?”

“You’ll be glad you have a bedroom, shower, and fridge on the plane,” she said with another shake of her head.

––––

Raleigh laid in bed, aimlessly scrolling through his burner account.

He never really cared for social media under the public eye. Every post of his was either related to tour or the series of brand deals for products he never used. Each page was a personified advertisement – some shit he regretted signing up for.

One drunken night, his curiosity got the best of him and he found himself making a pretty inconspicuous profile, following some funny internet personalities and political commentators. And although he had plans to delete it, once Dom came into the picture, he unabashedly lurked.

He followed her on all platforms, and when he had the chance, he watched her stories, voted in her daily polls, and occasionally scrolled through her old instagram photos.

This time in particular, though, he was looking for something specific without really knowing if there was an answer.

He scrolled to her first post, hundreds down, smiling at high school Dom. Thick eyeliner, layered hair, brace-adorned grin – she was a poster child of adolescence.

Photos of her with Shane at pep rallies, in Halloween costumes, in prom formal wear filled the screen, later transitioning to senior portraits, graduation photos, and dorm photos. A setting of picturesque normality as Dom grew into herself, growing out her choppy layers, softening her makeup, her gleaming smile lighting up each photo.

She grew more beautiful with each year, each little phase of her life coming with a new style, a new little identity or association, Dom’s willingness to try new things the reason she was able to break free from her small town.

God, was Raleigh so fucking envious of this imperfect little portion of her Instagram. If someone were to look this far back for him, there’d be photoshoots and magazine spreads and paparazzi photos all neatly planned. The shaky off-guard photos, the unedited red eyes, the off guard photos, the expressions they made in them… it was something Raleigh never had the chance to do.

Being in the business for ten years, everything was pristine, crisp – always smiling or smoldering, no in between. Sexy and rugged or smiling and happy. Like he had two modes and he wasn’t ever able to exercise those other parts of himself because being in front of the camera was restrictive – while Dom was able to be unabashedly herself.

He was breaking shit just to feel something, to have some range of emotions even if it was a stupid fucking publicity stunt where he damaged property or made out with another politician’s daughter or attempted irreparable blows to his public image.

The more recent the posts, the more calculated her photos got, the phrase “ad” showing up more and more. But even with a skincare brand deal, her step-by-step skincare routine video was on brand for Dom, her bright smile and wit always present in everything she did.

But Raleigh couldn’t help but feel like parts of her were slipping away.

Her online persona was still pretty crisp, except for her style shift – tattoos, a couple piercings, and some edgier photoshoots signified a tonal shift in Dom’s aesthetic, but nothing he hadn’t seen before.

Hell, when he used his first innuendo on his solo album, there was widespread outrage on Sunset Skatepark fan forums, ripping into him for singing about using his dick (even though he was definitely an adult and definitely not a virgin).

But other than her general style, nothing was different. Nothing to indicate this downward spiral that Fiona kept a secret.

Where’s the shift? He thought to himself as he scrolled to the top. When the hell did she start changing for the worse?

She’d come a long way from her clean songs that didn’t require a radio edit. He felt a pang of something in his chest –– regret, maybe? Was he the reason she’d changed?

The questions sent him into a near tailspin, his pulse quickening at the realization.

He was the problem.

She’d since deleted her photos with Raleigh, because their breakup was so public, but he could tell that the shift happened right around the time she started spending more time with him.

He’d been a mentor of sorts, opposite of Avery, showing her the ropes… which meant that he was teaching her how to evade the press, fuck with the paparazzi, pick out industry plants – the whole nine yards.

She was impulsive, daring, adventurous, fearless – all the qualities he liked in himself. But he never thought those traits would take a negative turn, morphing her into a rebel with an affinity for breaking laws.

He could blame himself all he wanted, but he couldn’t blame her for taking the same route he took. 

He knew it better than anybody – it was hard to shift the public’s persona of you. Once you did something horrible to make them hate you, either the rebrands and ass kissing worked, or you get written off by everyone.

Raleigh Carrera was a special case, a wild card of sorts who toed the line, unpredictable, both with his craft and his behavior. The nastier his lyrics, the crazier his publicity stunts were, the more polarizing he was.

And that was no doubt the route Dom was on, heading towards an inevitable press nightmare – if people were to find out the home grown rags-to-riches Dominique Avalos dove headfirst into her rebellious phase with no smooth transition, she wouldn’t be able to Google herself for months without having a panic attack.

She’d changed drastically, but that’s what fame did to people. Some people cracked under the pressure, or they rebelled to show the public they were in control of their narrative… or that they desperately wanted it back.

He took a shaky breath, swiping out of the app.

He wasn’t sure if he could save her, but he’d be damned if he wasn’t gonna try.

––––

The moment the jet touched down, Fiona was in full manager mode, adamant on abandoning his phone, stressing the importance of going off the grid.

“If anyone finds out you’re here, they’ll be able to put two and two together. Why else would you be in the same country as Dom when you’re supposed to be heading towards New York for your next show?” She asked, hand outstretched.

“I hate it when you’re right,” he grumbled, tossing his phone into her palm. “Where are we exactly?”

“I can’t tell you,” she sighed, looking exhausted. He had a gut feeling she hadn’t slept a wink since they’d boarded the plane.

“Why not?”

“It’s a bit safer that way.”

He scoffed. “You’re serious? Look, I’m not exactly thrilled to pull the A-List celebrity card, but this is borderline kidnapping.” 

“Let’s just say you might be able to pick up on some of the language,” she said, turning on her heel to exit the plane.

Within minutes, they were pulling onto a dirt backroad, the small houses they passed barely casting shadows onto the ground.

The town itself was seemingly innocuous – the tiny brick houses riddled with dust, the stone paths lining the road cracked and deserted. The tiny town had turned in for the night, their old Sedan sticking out like a sore thumb despite the old model.

Raleigh squirmed in his seat, twisting the expensive watch on his wrist. He fucking hated this.

No matter where he went, he was noticed in some capacity – so wearing a Rolex and Cartier rings in a small village in the middle of nowhere just made him look pretentious.

He slipped the rings and watches off, shoving them deep into the pocket of his jeans, ignoring Fiona’s calculating side eye (one he knew all too well).

The only light, other than the gas lamp posts and their high beams, came from the building at the end of the road.

The car pulled around the side, flicking their lights off, the driver peeking around before motioning for them to exit the car.

“Throw the hoodie on, Raleigh,” Fiona ordered while slipping on a ball cap of her own, her casual t-shirt and leggings wildly different from her normal outfit.

“Sure,” he murmured, tugging the hood on.

The walk from the car to the dusty glass front door was short, Fiona breaking into a light jog to keep up with Raleigh’s brisk pace.

The makeshift “waiting room” in the front corner of the station was empty, the scratched up folding chairs in crooked rows. The front desk was occupied by a sleeping form, head buried in the crease of his elbow, snore muffled by the counter top.

The other officer stood at the back near an old vending machine, sliding coins into the slot, the clink of each piece ringing out against the brick and linoleum.

No cameras, he thought, after a quick scan of the room, shoving the hood back in its place at the nape of his neck.

The holding cells were farther back, but he couldn’t see her.

He stepped up to the counter where the man was sleeping, giving a gentle knock to the top. The man stirred, unfurling his arms, while the other man in the back glanced up from where he was, elbows deep in the snack machine as he fished out his bag of chips.

Raleigh offered a basic greeting in Spanish, frowning just a bit when both officers’ eyes lit up – the phrase “famoso” and “celebridad” falling from their lips almost as soon as they recognized him.

Yeah, he was gonna use his notoriety to their advantage, but that didn’t mean it still didn’t sting when people immediately tried gauging what they could get from him when they realized who he was.

For a long time he’d been waiting for the day where name dropping himself didn’t get him out of deep shit.

And the day he met Dom, when he assumed she knew who he was, all she did was raise her brow as if to say “Why the fuck should I care?”

It startled him, truthfully. But it was such a breath of fresh air. He couldn’t remember a time before or after that someone showed no interest in him.

The officer in the back jogged to the front, pulling his phone out of his back pocket while asking for a picture.

He looked to Fiona, who was shaking her head furiously, stepping up next to him like her 5’5 stature was enough to shield him. “Nobody can know we’re here.”

He nodded, turning back to the men, trying to negotiate with them.

Yes, Dom’s here.

No, you can’t see her.

He racked his brain trying to figure out how he was gonna get himself – and Dom – out of the situation unscathed if he couldn’t give them a photo or autograph.

“Dom bought me the Rolex and Cartier rings, right?”

Fiona’s brows furrowed. “Yes. She gifted them to you on your birthday. You know this –”

“No, what I mean is, she has the receipts? Or you do?”

“I don’t have them, but I have access to them,” she said, still confused.

“Get rid of ‘em. I haven’t told anyone she bought them for me.”

Her face lit up in recognition, and she nodded, encouraging him to go on.

He dug in his pockets, fishing out the watch and thin bands.

After a quick exchange, the officers took two rings each, and began rapid fire arguing over the Rolex. They tossed Raleigh the keys, stepping out the front door.

“I’ll keep watch,” Fiona said, turning towards the door.

“Hey –” Raleigh said, laying a hand on her shoulder.

She quirked a brow at him. “What?”

“You’re not coming with?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Why not? I’m not even sure what the fuck I’m supposed to say –”

“She specifically asked for you.”

He took a step back, resting his palm on the countertop behind him. “What the – are you… are you serious?”

She nodded once. “She might’ve been slurring, but she was clear as day. She wanted you.”

He blew air out of his cheeks, running a hand through his short waves.

Fiona’s gaze softened, her eyes still piercing. Fiona was a lot of things – steadfast, headstrong, determined – but she wasn’t soft. She didn’t sugar coat shit.

“She’s missed you. She doesn’t confide in me much, but even I can tell she’s unhappy. Be gentle with her,” she said, gaze tearing right through him.

The walk to the holding cells felt miles long – his resolve was shrinking with every step.

He wasn’t afraid of seeing Dom, not at all. He was afraid of whatever part of himself that might’ve been reflected in her.

The cell was empty, save for the curled form on the bench, long dark hair cascading over the edges of the seat.

“Dom?” He called, hearing her sharp inhale of breath as she stirred, bending into a long stretch, her limbs unfurling until she was lying on her back on the bench, tilting her head towards his voice.

God, even when she looked like life had torn her to shreds, she still looked beautiful.

“Raleigh?” She croaked, her eyes squinting to adjust to the low lights. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

She arched her back, stretching again, her long frame covering the bench. It was almost the right level of distracting to stop the creeping annoyance at her question.

“What do you mean? I’m here to bail you out, obviously.”

“Where’s Fiona?” She asked groggily, rolling off the side of the bench awkwardly, trying to gain her footing.

“You asked for me, didn’t you?” He raised a brow, sliding his forearms through the bars, resting them there.

“She told you?” She asked, voice raising in betrayal, a scoff following his silence. “I was drunk.”

“And? You still asked for me.”

 “Oh, fuck off,” she murmured, crossing her arms as soon as she was balanced.

He dangled the keys between his fingertips, gently jingling them. “I’ll let you out if you tell me what happened.”

Her lip curled in annoyance. “You’d really leave me here?”

“You don’t want to find out.”

She ran a hand through her hair, blowing air out of her cheeks. “Alright.”

He unlocked the door and slipped in, the heavy door creaking as he slid it wide enough for him to fit through.

She backed up, plopping back onto the bench, arms lowering to curl around her sides.

He followed suit, sitting a couple feet away from her on the other end of the bench, shoving his hands in the front pocket of his hoodie.

She stared at the floor, clearly waiting for him to make a move.

“So…”

“So, what?” She grumbled.

“So… how’d you end up here?” He asked, trying to remain as relaxed as he could since she was clearly on edge, ready to tear him a new one at a moment’s notice.

“I was drunk. I got in a fight. Here I am.”

He sighed. “Look, you don’t have to tell me everything, but I can’t help you if I don’t know if you’re ankles deep or neck deep.”

She chewed her lip, chin dipping lower, strands of her hair falling forward, creating an inky veil. “Fine. I’ll tell you but… can you not… look at me?”

Raleigh’s face contorted in confusion, but he listened, swivelling until he was facing the back wall, propping one leg up on the bench.

He waited for her to speak. The break in conversation was a bit too long – but before a quip could fall from his lips, she spoke.

“I did get drunk, and I did get in a fight. I’m telling the truth but I, uh, left out some details,” she started, her voice low.

“I, uh, was passing through this town after my last show because I wanted to go to a bar without being noticed. Like the old days. I know it was stupid, but I didn’t think anyone would find me here.”

That was her first mistake. Smaller towns surprisingly had the most dedicated fans – maybe because they’re bored or nothing exciting happened in their towns, but most of his die hard fans came from the middle of nowhere. 

“The first hour was fine, and I was able to drink and dance with strangers. Most of them were a lot older than me and spoke zero English – and I speak a little bit of Spanish as you know, so I could make some small talk, but I was on my own just… enjoying myself and my freedom,” she said, and he could almost see the grin tug at the corner of her lips.

“I noticed someone taking photos of me with their phone, so I got a bit paranoid and sat in a booth in the back drinking for a little while longer so I could figure out my next move,” she continued, before sighing loudly. “I guess they told the local news or something, because by the time I decided to leave, I ran smack into a reporter on the sidewalk.”

Silence ensued again, this time more deafening than the last.

“I didn’t mean to give her a black eye. Or break the camera. Or elbow the camera man in the face when he tried restraining me. I just… couldn’t think straight. I was mad. Intoxicated and wrong, but still mad.”

“I know Fiona’s trying her best to get me out of this mess but… I think I went too far this time.”

Raleigh stared at the wall, racking his brain for something. He was a little dumbfounded that she spilled to him so fast. He figured it was gonna take a bit more digging to get her to open up, but she blossomed in front of him; despite the wilted petals, he was relieved to know she still trusted him enough to confide in him.

“Are you gonna say something?” She asked, a bit timidly.

“Not if I can’t look at you.”

“Okay, then don’t say anything.”

He sighed, settling into his spot on the bench, waiting again for her to speak.

“Why did you come?”

Instinctively, he shrugged. “You asked me to.”

“But you don’t owe me anything. We’re not together.”

“Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t drop everything to come help you. I mean, I’d like to think we’re at least acquaintances, if not friends,” he joked, resting his arm over the back of the bench.

“Sure,” she said, voice straining just a bit. Just enough for him to notice.

Dom was a special kind of resilient – one trait that Raleigh was sure she didn’t copy from him.

He knew that being a woman in the industry was already hard enough – everything from beauty to body standards to raging misogyny was enough to give people reasons to hate her, as stupid as they were.

Raleigh benefitted from the standards in place for men. He was young, attractive, talented – didn’t matter what he did wrong. He’d bounce back.

But he’d seen some vile shit since he’d ascended to fame. So many celebrities fading into obscurity after one mishap. One bad album. One bad interview. One rude encounter. One rumor.

For some reason, despite diving headfirst into troubled waters, Dom bounced back every time, fire in her eyes, her jaw set in determination, her face painted with the look she got when she was ready to face the world.

But whatever she was feeling in that moment, in that jail cell in the middle of nowhere – was enough to break her. 

He heard her take a deep, shaky breath, and he started to turn, but he felt her warm palm on his shoulder, holding him in place.

“Don’t,” she whispered.

He listened to her labored breathing, likely struggling to hold back tears, while he stared at the cracks in the wall, trying to think of something – anything – to console her.

“Did Fiona seem… upset?” She asked, seeming a bit nervous.

“It’s kind of hard to tell, to be honest. She’s pretty intense all of the time,” he laughed, not really meaning to.

He was relieved to hear a light chuckle from behind him.

“Yeah, I figure she’s pretty mad at me. I don’t blame her,” she sighed, another break in conversation ensuing. A couple beats later, she asked, bluntly, “Are you mad at me?”

“No,” he answered with zero hesitation. “I know you’d do the same for me.”

She laughed again, a bit more genuine that time. “Not sure where you got that impression.”

“You wouldn’t leave me here to rot if I asked you to come, Dom. You’re not that heartless,” he teased gently, glad that things were taking a lighthearted turn.

“I’m just glad you’re not gonna lecture me. I already know I’m gonna get an earful from Fiona, not to mention the shit I’ll get from Shane and Avery. I couldn’t handle one from you.”

He grimaced. “Uh, well, you’d rather hear it from me than Fiona, right?”

“Oh, you’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” she mumbled under her breath.

“You know I normally don’t care what you do, because it’s your life, and you should be able to do whatever the fuck you want, but Dom…” he trailed off, trying to choose his words carefully.

“I know I fucked up, Raleigh. I don’t need you making me feel more guilty than I already am,” she said defensively, voice raised.

“I’m not gonna make you feel guilty. Just offering some advice.” God, did those words feel foreign to him. Offering advice. He never did shit like this for anybody.

He took her silence as a green light. “You’ve just gotta slow down, Dom.”

Whatever impact his words made, he couldn’t see it, since he was still facing the damn wall. “Can I please turn around? I can’t talk to you like this.”

“Sure.”

He adjusted himself on the bench, trying to look attentive without staring. She was stunning, even with the smudged makeup, the dark circles, the red eyes  “You don’t have to do anything and everything you’re asked to do, but you gotta find some kind of balance.”

She wrung her hands in her lap, picking at her cuticles absentmindedly. “Yeah, I know.”

“I mean balance the good and bad, Dom. There’s a line for people like us and you can’t cross it often. You can get close, but you can’t just dive over it and not expect there to be some fallout.”

“I know,” she said, bluntly, looking a bit more annoyed with each word that came from his mouth.

“You can cause some chaos, but some of it isn’t acceptable,” he said, watching her expression contort in anger. “For them. Not acceptable for them. The average person, I mean.”

“Oh, you’re one to fucking talk!” She rolled her eyes. “How are you gonna sit here and tell me that your brand of shit stirring is okay, but mine isn’t?”

“I’m not the one sitting in a jail cell right now, Dom,” he said, calmly but firmly. He wasn’t used to being the rational one, but he had to be level headed. He was trying to save her.

She ran a hand through her hair, leaning back against the back of the bench. “You’re infuriating, you know that?”

“Trust me, I know.”

“You’re hypocritical.”

“Not necessarily,” he said, propping his arm up on the back of the bench. “I was in the industry for years before I started dirtying up my image. You just got here.”

“And you’ve been here too damn long to act the way you do,” she nearly spat, lashing out.

“I’m too far gone,” he simply stated, keeping surprisingly calm through it all.

“What the hell do you mean by that?”

“I’ve been here for a long time, which means, I’ve got a lot more fuck ups under my belt. Irreparable damage, if you will.”

“People love you,” she said, matter-of-factly, like that solved it – it honestly relieved him. A bit of Dom’s naivete from when they first met was shining through.

“People also hate me, because I’m a little shit who sets fires for fun,” he grinned. “For legal reasons, my lawyers insist I clarify that I’m joking.”

She rolled her lips, trying to suppress a smile. “People who hate you don’t know you.”

He nodded. “You’re right, and you’re so close to the point I’m sure you can taste it.”

“I’m too far gone to save. No matter how hard I try for the rest of my career, I can never get away from the wild card label. Plenty of people don’t wanna work with me. I’ve damaged business relationships. Lots of artists don’t want to collab with me because of how it’ll make them look.”

“Why are you telling me all this?”

“Because I know you don’t want this. You’re too good for whatever baggage comes with being a ‘rebel’, Dom. I don’t want to see you turn out like me.”

For the first time that night, she stared at him – really stared at him. Her deep brown, nearly midnight eyes searched his for any sign of insincerity.

“You’re… serious?” She asked finally, brows furrowed in confusion.

“One hundred percent honest,” he said, nodding.

She sat back in her chair, chewing on her lip, contemplating.

“Can you turn back around again?”

He nodded, wordlessly facing the wall again.

“I left out a few details,” she said from behind him.

“I’m listening,” he affirmed.

“I, uh, was pretty hammered by the time I left, so it was even harder for me to understand what people were saying,” she said before he could speak. “I heard the reporter say ‘Raleigh’ and ‘novio’ and I saw red… so… I, uh… swung.”

His chest clenched, tightening until it was difficult to breathe. He was thankful she’d asked him to face the other direction, because he knew his reaction betrayed his cool demeanor.

“I guess I’m not over it,” she laughed humorlessly.

He ran a hand over his face, racking his brain for a response, but coming up short.

“You, um, don’t have to say anything if you don’t feel the same. I shouldn’t have gotten attached. It’s on me.”

That made him turn, swivelling around before she could finish speaking.

She flicked her head towards the bars of the cell, raising a hand to cover her face. “I said ‘don’t look at me’, Raleigh. Goddamn.”

Years and years of PR training and interviews and he had no idea how the fuck to console her. Partially because he was trying to get a grip on whatever the hell was going on in his brain as well.

Instead, he answered her with a question of his own, a tactic he’d used anytime he wanted to deflect in interviews.

“Why can’t I look?”

Dom tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, slowly rotating to meet his gaze. She sank her teeth deep into her bottom lip to keep it from trembling.

“Fuck,” she cursed, rubbing the backs of her hands under her eyes, the dried black mascara under her eyes beginning to liquidate again. “Because I’m crying, Raleigh. And I don’t cry.”

“You wanna tell me what’s wrong? I know there’s more to it than you’re telling me,” he asked, holding up two of his fingers in a solute. “No judgement.”

She sighed, crossing the room to put some distance between them. She began pacing, taking slow steps as she spoke.

“I might’ve fucked up my career and I keep letting people down and I’m destructive because this whole fame thing isn’t what I signed up for and I didn’t think I’d cave under pressure like every other mid twenties child actor who goes through a premature mid-life crisis, but here I fucking am,” she said, nearly out of breath by the end.

His legs carried him across the room before he could think twice, pacing towards her while she strode across the room in the opposite direction.

“God, I’m so fucking stupid –”

“Stop. You’re not stupid.”

“I am,” she said, wheeling on him. “And – and I’m embarrassed. I’m embarrassed that my manager and – and my ex –” She stopped in her tracks, rubbing a palm over her forehead, shutting her eyes.

He reached out to her, but let his hand fall almost immediately.

“My acquaintance had to fly out to a fucking village in the middle of nowhere to bail me out –” 

“Dom, stop –”

“– because I fought a fucking reporter over not being able to handle my fucking feelings –”

“Dom –”

“– like an adult with a functioning frontal lobe all because I love someone who –”

Her eyes popped open, her expression horrified. “Oh my god, I’m – I –”

She dug the heel of her hands into her eyes, dropping into a squat. “Fuck, fuck, Goddammit –”

“Did you just –”

“Yeah, Raleigh, I did. Don’t make me feel worse, alright? I know I fucked up,” she groaned from her heap on the ground.

“You just said you love me, Dom. I think I’m allowed to react,” he said, a slight teasing to his voice.

She glanced up, glaring. “Okay, then, react.”

Her gaze was fiery, her deep brown irises challenging – something else a bit more vulnerable lying beneath.

She was terrified.

He leaned down, gripping her around the waist to pull her back up, wrapping his arms around her upper back, hugging her to his chest.

She melted into his arms, relaxing and leaning into his embrace.

“I didn’t mean to say it,” she murmured into his chest.

“So do you?” He asked, chin gently balanced on her head.

“What?”

“Do you love me?”

“I don’t know,” she said truthfully, voice small.

“You don’t have to know. I don’t know either,” he said, just as earnest, feeling her tense in his arms. “But I do know that I like you enough to want you around, and that counts for something, right?”

She laughed (as genuine as he’d heard it), leaning back to look at him. “Yeah, it does.”

Their bodies were still pressed together, Dom’s chin tilted upwards towards him, their faces nearly touching.

“If this gets out, don’t let anyone make you feel like you’re a bad person,” he said, voice low. “You’re the best person I know –”

Dom closed the gap between them, capturing his lips in an intense kiss. He cupped her face in his palms and held her in place, moaning into her parted lips.

God, there was nothing that compared to kissing her. Nobody matched up. He’d made out with a lot of people since he was flung into stardom at sixteen, and no one – absolutely no one – left him in a daze like she did.

She gripped the strings of his hoodie, pulling him closer, sighing contentedly against him.

The smell of her shampoo mixed with the sweet scent of her skin and the warmth of her hands and her chest flush against his – it was the next best thing to being inside of her.

He pulled back, trying to catch the dreamy, half-lidded look she always got when they parted.

“So… did you take your jet here?”

He smirked and rolled his eyes. “Out of context, that sounds so superficial.”

She grinned, her first genuine smile that night. “Oh, but you’re not? Hanging around a rising artist to cling to relevancy?”

He laughed, the sound reverberating off of the walls. “I really am rubbing off on you, aren’t I?”

“Yep. The good and bad,” she agreed, still smiling at him.

“The good?” He shook his head. “Nah, I’m not so sure about that.”

“You’re literally the reason I haven’t walked out on my label and moved to bum fuck nowhere and lived off the land,” she said, shrugging. “You taught me how to have fun. You were the only one keeping me sane.”

He thought he was the one encouraging her to leap over the edge, but he was the one tugging her arm back.

The whole time he was convinced he was a bad influence, but he was doing some good – for her.

But with that revelation came the guilt at her words.

“‘Were’?”

“Well, we don’t really talk anymore. I haven’t seen you in weeks.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t care about you.”

“Yeah,” she chewed her lip, stepping back, unraveling herself from his embrace. “I’m sorry.”

That was a slap to the face. Dom rarely apologized, because if she felt she was right, she wasn’t going to budge. She was stubborn as hell.

“Huh? Why?” “I don’t want to guilt you into spending time with me… or feeling things for me,” she said, rubbing her arm. “I didn’t mean to corner you.”

“You didn’t. I wanted to come.”

She glanced up, blinking at him. “No, you didn’t –”

“I did,” he emphasized, slipping her hand into his, intertwining their fingers. “I kinda missed being forced to hang out with you. Feels like old times.”

She couldn’t stop the laugh from ripping from her, this one louder than the last. “Oh, shut up.”

“No, but seriously, I’m here for you. Whatever you need. Always.”

“Thank you.” With her free hand, she punched his shoulder lightly. “You’ll regret that sooner or later.”

“Nah,” he said, lip curling into a smirk. “I don’t think I will.”

––––

[nemirutami]

How to grow an audience as an artist (by your own means)!

There’s been a lot of discourse lately in the art community and I’ve seen a lot of small artists bicker with big artists regarding followers and commission prices. Well, I’m not having any of it. I made a nifty tip-list on twitter on how to grow an audience and I think it needs to be said here too for those who need to hear it.

This thread is for you, me, and everyone who wants to grow an audience & find business opportunities. I've compiled a list of helpful ways to have your art seen (from my own experience) and i'll be breaking them down step by step in this thread. Let's start with 1.

1) You should not only be posting on twitter (the search engine is very poor here). You should post your art to instagram, tumblr, deviantart, Youtube, ANY media platform where images and videos are easy to digest. It's a chore, but also a worthy sacrifice to get more eyes on you

2) If you post in a EU timezone but your audience is mostly american, well, then you missed your optimal posting window. Know where most of your audience is located (you can put up a poll!) And schedule posting during/around a time where people are likely to be free + awake.

3) Supporting other creators isn't annoying! Your engagement doesn't only help boost the artist you love in the algorithm, but it also makes you easier to find if someone clicks on their art to read the comments! It's a win-win for both of you!

4) If you want to make sure your work is seen, use tags on all the art you post! On twitter it looks ugly (that's why i don't do it often if at all) but on sites like instagram and tumblr it's easy to hide tags for aesthetic. Know what tags are most active and tag accordingly.

5) If you draw something really popular, keep in mind that the content pool for said popular thing/ship is INFLATED. Try to bring something new to the conversation. Something that makes people go "i NEED to follow this person bc they're the only one that GETS IT".

6) Twitter and tumblr (with the right extension) has a function that can "turn off retweets/reblogs" To make sure others are guaranteed to see your art, you can post it again as a new post to make sure it doesn't get blocked by the RT/RB feature. Repost old art for new followers!

7) Collaborating with others helps build both your audience and your friends/mutual's audience! If your interests align (like fandom or even ships) people from both your sides are more likely to go follow you/your friend based on what they see! Give your best in collabs!

8) Not everyone can host streams because of cpu limitations, but what you CAN do is make step-by-step gifs/imgs with online tools to then post it online. Make sure you host streams when people are free and not at work! It's a good chance to engage in chat live, too.

9) If you have commitment and time, join zines, fan projects, weeks, and events hosted by your fandom. This way, you're making content of something you love and you have an audience already willing to watch what you make!

10) You can host your own digital zine to avoid merch/shipping cost and put it up in an online store for download! You can also host weeks/events yourself to get others on board. Only make physical zines/prints if you know what you're doing and have resources to spend!

11) character bdays, game updates, and game release dates happen once a year, but they happen once a year for PLENTY of things. This way, if you draw for things you love and post on the day it's most relevant, more people will be likely to search/share and see it!

12) We all know when the next nintendo direct drops, we see artists RUN with excitement to draw for it RIGHT AWAY. This is both bc we're excited and because we know we have a small window of oppertunity to hit the PEAK of online activity. Your art is more likely to be seen NOW.

13) You have to make content to be seen. Sometimes, being seen doesn't mean your art is good as much as it means you're posting consistently and giving people reason to come back to you/enjoy having you on their feed. The more you post, the more likely you can be seen/rtd.

14) Sketches, doodles, wips, unfinished things! None of these things matter as much to your followers as it does to you! Most of them enjoy seeing you post art, no matter what kind. Post sketches, doodles, comparisons, etc! Let them see/share more of your work!

15) Don't be afraid to interact with your followers or even people who approach you with questions! Being social is difficult, but know that followers love when you reply to them (speaking for myself bc i love when other artists  or reply to my comments )! Engage!

16) You'll learn this from personal experience. There are (with attitude) definitely bad clients and bad artists. But all you need to consider is being respetful and mindful and take your clients consideration to heart. If you can't offer something, be honest! They'll understand.

17) You can grow a lot in a year, but you know what will impress people? If you take that 1 drawing you did when you were 14 of tokyo mew mew and redrew it in your new style! Success stories are worth following. Hard work is always valued and appreciated- flaunt it!

18) Tutorials or step-by-steps are easy ways to get more artists to notice you because we're all trying to do our best to learn and grow. By posting studies or tutorials, you're not only inviting others to share your experience, but you're inspiring them to try new things!

19) Have your art/business email EVERYWHERE. In your twitter bio, on your instagram, tumblr, youtube, etc. Anywhere where you might need it. This way, no matter WHAT platform people find you on, they can ALWAYS count on reaching you via email if your dms are closed!

20) There are several free websites (weebly for one) that offer a lot of freedom and customization. My best tip for making a site is: make it organized, easily readable, un-cluttered, to-the-point, and aesthetically pleasing. No complicated navigation; focus on accessability.

21) Sometimes, drawing 1 popular thing ONCE is not enough. This is bc unless you have something unique or mainstream, people will go where they can get more of said popular content. If you've already been drawing for a fandom, yr more likely to get followers from that fandom.

22) The most important point. Never equate your audience to your worth, and never equate your followers to a progress bar. It's insulting to both you and your followers who are rooting for you. You're worth much more than you get, but it's your job to make others see it. BE LOUD!

Addendum: I didn't put "luck" here bc it isn't something you yourself can control outside of what I've already shared. But keep in mind a lot of the time, it really is about A LOT of luck. Keep your head up, and do your best. 10 followers or 10k followers idc, IM rooting for you.

[marshmallowprotection]

Hey! Hey! I just read your answer to the writing reader x character fics ask and wanted to bonk you with a LOT OF APPRECIATION FOR CALLUNA!!

I'm so amazed by it still, it's so heartwarming that you've written something so beautiful inspired by one of my pieces and from where I'm currently at, the story, the plot, SAERAN, the MC/reader, every other character, they're all so on point. I just love it so much, your use of words is wonderful and the whole fic is incredible, I still cannot comprehend how good it is?? I can with no doubt say that you're currently my favourite MM writer out there, everything you come up with is just so incredibly well written and thought of. I've had to hold on giving any feedback till now because I wanted to finish reading it first before throwing all the love I have for it at you, since I'm currently just on chapter 11 because I was following it as it was getting published at first but then school got the better of me (since I always read fics at night and lately school has forced me to go to sleep way to early to do that, and I'm so deprived of fics oh my god), and as I'm only on chapter 11 I know that there's still a big storm coming because sadly someone happened to spoil something about the fic for me, but you bet I'm gonna throw even more love at you when school gives me time for that and you BET I'll be drawing some art for it too 😌💞 It's what you deserve

Also, the post itself really resonated with me, like the things you said about writing what makes you happy. It wasn't only relatable with me drawing things I enjoy, there's also the fact that I've been writing fics for myself lately. That writing has also kinda replaced my activity of reading them as much, but I really enjoy it! Idk why I never did it before honestly, but writing them just for myself is really...therapeutic in a way? There's no pressure of anyone judging you and you can do anything you've ever wanted, it's so comforting. I'm just not showing them to anyone because 1. I feel ashamed of them, I'm not the best writer but I find doing it fun 2. my headcanons are sometimes really different to others' and I sometimes feel bad for that or afraid of getting backlash/into arguments for my headcanons. But writing them is fun, and the same goes for you, I hope you continue to do what makes you happy! Though I do enjoy some good old reader x character fics, reading about Lila is also interesting and sometimes she sounds a lot like what Sunset would do so that's just a huge plus lolol

(also me 🤝 you

giving Saeran CMCs who like lolita fashion)

Pat yourself on the back! That Prince Ray art just lit a fire in me with an idea that was already in the back of my head for a while and it smacked me in the head the second that I saw that handsome boy. It was only the moment I saw a pretty boy in a crown. I am nothing but a simp.

That's the good thing about being in fandom. There are people in these places that make art inspired by writing or writing inspired by art. I love seeing that because it's a testament to the harmony in fandom and it is so easy to look to each other when we feel as if we're making an impact on everyone.

It just feels so good to create something from nothing, even if it's art or writing. The process is cathartic and we cannot deny making something makes us just feel accomplished! Your passion to your art is something that we all see and recognize! I'm glad to have been able to watch you progress with your art because you are very talented and you will only continue to better the more you have fun and practice.

Goodness Gracious, I don't know I'm prepared to see anything from the fic drawn out! I have all of these outfit references for Sparrow and for all of the other cast members in the story but I've not been able to flash them out myself. There's just something really sweet about the aesthetic that exists within fairytale AUs that I can't ignore. I am sorry to hear that someone spoiled you on one of the events in the story.

At least you don't know how it builds up or leads to that point in the story where the incident occurs. I've been spoiled in a few stories before and how I reason with myself is that: I don't know how we get to [Spoiler] and that means the full experience isn't robbed from me. I'm glad that you've enjoyed it! I put a lot of care into the story because it was such a great piece of art to work with.

I'm not ready, Seeme. Don't kill me. I don't think we can handle it. Prince Ray already kills me on sight.

Shfksnrowneoehe! Sunset is really cute. I always love seeing her on my Instagram or over here on DailySaeran. Her hair is really bouncy and sweet and it just makes me feel some kind of way. I just love frilly clothes and we need more cute MCs in big skirts. I'm very OC positive and I try to make sure that all kinds of people in this fandom know that they should shamelessly write what makes them happy.

I am glad to hear that you're exploring writing for the first time. I hope you know that you don't have to share with other people of you don't want to do that. You put your heart and soul into your writing even if there's spelling errors, translation errors, or what have you within the story, you put a piece of your heart into what you're writing. I say this with the utmost sincerity write for you and nobody else. Write what makes you happy no matter what anyone says.

I don't care if that means you're writing Self Insert Fics where you have cat ears, rainbow hair, or everyone loves you without question. Or If you're writing about an OC who loves without reason or can do "impossible" things without trouble. It's your story.

You create the canon. You create the universe. You put yourself into it. It is unashamedly you.

If it makes you happy, you write it. Put your heart into it. We put ourselves into the characters, not just our OCs. But, we put our soul into the cast of canon characters. So, just know that even if you do not share your writing, you should never feel like you have to share it for it to be proof of skill or talent. If anyone hits you with discourse if you do share it one day, let me know. I will mess them up with a Hello Kitty bat all the while wearing the cutest dress.

I've got a lot of Saeran x Reader story ideas, I'm gonna make a poll with my general ideas and let people vote on that later once I get home. It'll be a Google Form. I'll probably link it on my IG too. I hope you guys are interested in that! I hope that you're able to slow down and enjoy yourself soon here! I know that school must be really rough with everything right now. I gotta wish you luck with that.

Meanwhile, I gotta go smack myself or something, I admire you and here you are hitting me with the same thing. Djwkdhekdnodbeie

[william-williams]

Black Americans experiencing collective trauma, grief

Carlil Pittman knows trauma firsthand.

As the co-founder of the Chicago-based youth organization GoodKidsMadCity-Englewood, he grieved the loss of Delmonte Johnson, a young community activist, more than two years ago to the very thing the teen fought fiercely against: gun violence.

He’s also been angered and frustrated by the onslaught of stories of Black Americans killed at the hands of police across the nation throughout the past year.

First, there was Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky, home last March. Then there was George Floyd, whose Memorial Day killing by a Minneapolis officer sparked global protests. Just this week, Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by a police officer during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota — just minutes from where Floyd died. And on Friday, Pittman spent much of the day planning a demonstration with other Chicago organizers to protest the police killing of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, who was Latino.

“We’re constantly turning on the TV, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and seeing people that look like us who are getting murdered with no repercussions,” said Pittman, an organizer for A New Deal for Youth. “It’s not normal to see someone get murdered by the click of a video on your phone, yet it has become the norm for our people, our Black and brown communities.”

Many Black Americans are facing a collective sense of grief and trauma that has grown more profound with the loss of each life at the hands of police in America. Some see themselves and their children reflected in the victims of police violence, heightening the grief they feel. That collective mourning is a great concern to experts and medical professionals who consider the intersectionality of racism and various forms of trauma impacting communities of color a serious public health crisis facing America.

The racial trauma impacting Black Americans isn’t new. It’s built upon centuries of oppressive systems and racist practices that are deeply embedded within the fabric of the nation. Racial trauma is a unique form of identity-related trauma that people of color experience due to racism and discrimination, according to Dr. Steven Kniffley, a licensed psychologist and coordinator for Spalding University’s Collective Care Center in Louisville, Kentucky.

“A lot of cities across the country are realizing that racial trauma is a public health issue,” Kniffley said, citing health concerns such as increased rates of suicide among Black men, a life expectancy gap and post-traumatic stress disorder. ”There’s no other way that we can explain that except for the unique experiences Black and brown folks have based on their identity, and more specifically, when they encounter racism and discrimination.”

Kniffley said each generation of Black Americans since slavery has faced its own unique iteration of racism and discrimination, which has manifested into a form of intergenerational trauma.

“We’ve essentially handed down 10 or 15 generations worth of boxes of trauma that have yet to be unpacked, and that’s what’s contributing to a lot of those biological and mental health related issues that we’re having,” Kniffley said, noting the trauma extends beyond police violence.

In a 2018 study examining the mental health impact of police killings on Black Americans, researchers found exposure to police killings of unarmed Black Americans had adverse effects on mental health among Black people. Nearly half of Black Americans who responded said they were exposed to one or more police killings of unarmed Black Americans in their state of residence — either through word of mouth or the media.

“That effect was found only in Black (Americans),” said Dr. Atheendar S. Venkataramani, one of the authors of the study and a physician at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia.

Rashad Robinson, the president of Color of Change, said the trauma has also created generations of Black Americans who have valid mistrust of law enforcement agencies. And many are experiencing further mental anguish while watching the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck.

“We have a whole set of folks with badges and guns who are supposed to protect and serve and they do neither,” Robinson said. "In order to survive, we have to integrate into a system in a structure which is brutal — brutal to our lives, our dignity, our health. It has collective and long-term impact.”

While much of the media spotlight on police killings impacting Black Americans is focused on Black men, experts say it’s important to also highlight misogynoir — misogyny directed toward Black women. Black women experience misogynoir in various aspects of their lives but also in connection with police violence. The #SayHerName campaign was launched in 2014 to bring awareness to the lesser-known stories of Black women and girls who have been victimized by police. The hashtag flourished again after Taylor's death, prompting accusations of delayed justice in her case.

“As a mom, I’m constantly in fear for my son and my heart is broken by this country over and over again,” said Aimee Allison, who leads She the People. “It really calls into question how Black women in particular, who’ve sacrificed so much to serve this country in terms of democracy and bringing voters to the polls, upholding a vision of peace and justice for everyone else, how much more can we take?”

Chicago resident Erendira Martinez said the Little Village community, a Chicago neighborhood with a majority Latino population, is also hurting, not just from Toledo’s killing but also from the trauma of losing other children to gun violence.

On Thursday night, just hours after the video of Toledo’s death was released, a 17-year-old girl was shot and killed in the same neighborhood. Martinez’s own teenage daughter was shot and killed in Little Village in December.

“We had just buried my daughter, and a month later, we’re burying this kid that grew up with my daughter," she said. "No mother should bury their child.”

Some community organizations are working to address the trauma, said Aswad Thomas, chief of organizing for Alliance for Safety and Justice, who runs Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, a network of more than 46,000 crime survivors from mostly Black and Latino communities. The group is releasing its first-ever National Crime Victims Agenda next week to address collective trauma.

“The tragic truth is that police violence is the most horrific, visible symptom of a larger systemic problem of how our public safety system is designed and we need to address that head-on,” Thomas said. “But while also investing in the mom and pops who are on the front lines to violence, hosting the community vigils and interventions groups.”

Uzodinma Iweala, CEO of The Africa Center, based in New York, said sometimes the thought of what he and so many other Black Americans have experienced is rage-inducing. He thinks of the times he and his brothers have been stopped by police. Or the time his uncle was called a racial slur by an officer. And how in each instance they prayed they would make it out alive — experiences he thinks some white Americans willfully ignore.

“We’re going to need a real fundamental examination of the roots of what America is,” Iweala said. “America refuses to acknowledge that America is not a country without the labor of and the blood, sweat and tears of Black people. Until America values those contributions, it will never value Blackness as a life form.”

[lindsaywesker]

Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day. Happy Hump Day!

You may have read the shocking story in America (yes, another one) about a black boy who went to the wrong house to pick up his siblings and was shot twice by 84-year-old white man, Andrew Lester. Mr. Lester shot him once through the glass door and, as he lay on the ground outside, shot him again (to make sure he was dead!) Ralph, a 16-year-old from Kansas City, Missouri, had been sent to pick up his younger twin brothers at a friend’s house but mixed up the address, finding himself in front of a house on Northeast 115th Street, instead of Northeast 115th Terrace. Thankfully, Ralph survived and is now at home with his family. Andrew Lester has now been charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. My question is: why are some people white people so AFRAID of black people? Afraid for their life!

We’re watching ‘Wellmania’ on Netflix – which we’re now kinda getting into it – and the lead characters said something like, “These are not your people. One day you’ll find your people.” Do you understand what that means? Have you ever found yourself within a crowd of people (or trying to fit into a crowd of people) and you suddenly realise you DON’T fit in? It’s a devastating realisation. You might have spent a lot of time trying to be part of it, trying to enjoy it; you might have spent a lot of time and money and emotional energy trying to fit in and then you suddenly realise … you don’t! Not saying that’s happened to me – I’ve got wonderful friends everywhere – but I’m sure some people find themselves in that situation.

My hacked Instagram is spewing out beggy-beggy messages again! People tell me they have been responding with anger and sarcasm. What’s the point? It’s just a bot! People say they have reported it. What’s the point? Instagram don’t give a f*ck! People: the account was hacked LAST YEAR! If you are STILL subscribed to that OLD Instagram profile (and hundreds of people still are), please UNFOLLOW IMMEDIATELY, or the bot will keep promising you money and, once they have your bank account details, the bot will empty your bank account! I already have a new IG account (wesker.lindsay). And watch out for MORE scammers leaving 'helpful' comments underneath this post! If they're offering some phone number or email address, DON'T go there!

‘Loose Women’ created a Twitter poll asking the question, “Should protesting be banned?” When the results came back 96% ‘No’, the post was suddenly deleted. Hmm … wonder who asked for that poll to be created and I wonder who wanted the results quickly deleted?

Needless to say, if the immensely-talented Bukayo Saka would like to come to a club where he isn’t viciously and racially abused by HIS OWN SUPPORTERS, we will happily have him at The London Stadium!

After a very long Easter break, term resumes at the other place I teach. Looking forward to seeing my Wednesday students. Really nice people and a lot of fun to work with. Discussion is spirited and always entertaining but, by the time I get home, I am spent!

Have a wonderful and well-endowed Wednesday. I love you all. Yes, a crazy, bald man loves and cares about you.