#or any other social media i have really. good thing they're hidden in my video games folder!

[crescentmp3]

hnngh

[hamcakevaletguy]

My thoughts on the Damien situation, from the POV of someone who’s relatively uninvolved with posting on social media:

As a newer fan of Smosh myself (I watched some videos in 2012, but haven’t really kept up since, and only started regularly watching the last year or so), I went through the backlog of content that they have because I enjoyed their more recent videos. Zayna, a newer Palestinian fan, did the same and found this joke in an old TNTL disappointing and wanted him to address it firsthand and make his stance clear.

For anyone saying Damien has already made it clear that he is in support of Palestine: it’s not a given that the fan who brought up the clip would have already known about Damien’s stance on Palestine. Yes, he’s talked about it in a couple of his streams and posted Insta stories about it, but a newer fan of Smosh, not necessarily Damien himself, wouldn’t know about those unless they were looking for it because they are:

temporary (IG stories only have a lifespan of 24 hours unless you take screenshots) or

a few minutes hidden under several hours of game streams on a separate platform (he talked about Palestine several months ago and has streamed a lot since, unless you know the specific Twitch stream and the timestamp when he talked about it or had clips of it, most casual fans wouldn’t know either)

In his defense, Damien himself has recently said that more fandom stuff has reached his timeline than he would like, so maybe he thinks more people know about his activism because of that. However, even if Zayna did know, wanting a straightforward statement apologizing for the insensitive joke (because bringing up the "Israeli-Palestinian conflict" [as it was called back in 2019, not accurate to what has been going on for 70+ years and counting, which is an ethnic cleansing] for shock value, as he himself said, is insensitive) is not an unreasonable request.

More under the cut

When all you have is 240 characters per reply, the things that you do choose to say matter even more. When you parse out everything in Damien's replies, he doesn't come out looking too good. Yes, he did apologize for the original joke. In his replies, he said:

using it as shock value was in poor taste and naive of him,

it was in poor taste back in 2019 and he wouldn't make it now

(in response to his first couple of replies) he is sorry for reacting in frustration and he'll learn from it,

and, in his final reply, his parting words were "With all my heart, I hope for safety for your loved ones. Be well."

However, he also says and does things that undermine his apology in the same replies:

questioning why the clip was brought up in the first place, as if bringing up old content wasn't something fans regularly do with things they're interested about and as if it's not still a public video fans can easily find,

bringing up that the fan in question had 19K followers, a fraction of the followers he has as a public figure,

saying that this conversation could have been done in private, as if an initial DM request wouldn't be buried in his other requests as a public figure, and as if he doesn't have the capability to start a DM himself to clarify things after the initial reply/post,

saying that the original tweets tagging him should have been deleted after his first response when he never asked for that, and just assumed it would happen for some reason,

deleting his replies a couple of hours later,

and blocking Zayna and several others who were only interacting with Damien through quote tweets (I'm not sure how quote tweets work, do they notify the OP?), some who don't even say anything remotely critical of him - in his defense, blocking is not inherently a bad thing, it just means that he doesn't want any further interactions from them for whatever reason. However, silencing any Palestinian voice isn't good, to say the least.

Damien has always been a proponent of “trying to understand and see from different perspectives” so his response here surprised me, personally. I get that he has a fear of being misunderstood, but jumping to the conclusion that the other party is purposefully trying to be incendiary is the opposite of that.

I'm not going to try to make excuses for him. He knows better. He's been a content creator for years. He knows he has more influence than any normal fan would. His autism is not a part of this conversation either. Mental illness is an explanation for behavior, it doesn't absolve you of the consequences of it. If you're citing Damien's autism as an excuse for his behavior, you have to also account for Zayna's autism.

People are also bringing up the possibility of Damien getting death threats as a result of this, which we have no proof of and won't have proof of unless Damien himself decides to disclose that. He has only stated that he is taking a social media break, which has been a long time coming, not necessarily only because of this, because he has been busy and tired in recent months. What we do know has happened is that Zayna has received death threats (weird of people to want the death of a Palestinian when the original argument they're defending Damien for is that he is in support of Palestinian liberation).

This isn’t an issue of cancel culture, it’s an issue of accountability and frankly, hero worship of Damien in the part of people attacking Zayna and other people on Twitter.

When the only people who had spoken about their support of Palestine in their own words, however briefly, are two or three cast members, some people are naturally going to put them on pedestals. This hero worship of Damien has been exacerbated by his image as the most politically correct member of Smosh, and Smosh’s (until recently) silence about the issue.

While we're at it, for people saying Smosh's sudden outward support for Palestine and joining Creators for Palestine is in response to backlash about Damien, or only in response to the block list going around:

It's only been a few days since the Damien's whole ordeal. Smosh is not that fast, and historically, their response to backlash would have been either complete radio silence or unlisting or privating the TNTL that the clip is from, combined with silence.

I’m sure Shayne, Ian and Courtney have been working on it for more than a few days, based on their liked posts, to get everything straightened out with the organization themselves and adding their names to the list of creators.

People have been asking for Smosh to be more public about their views on Palestine. Some of the cast members have said their piece on their personal social media, but their views could have changed. Those posts were made shortly after the events of October 7 brought even more media attention on Palestine and the Gaza Strip, which was not necessarily in favor of Palestine because of the effects of U.S. propaganda. It's been several months since then and people have a lot more information now, and more clarity.

Up until now, the only indication of Palestinian support not from social media is a brief statement from Ian who said something along the lines of "travel watermelon", while they were talking about their rejected roasts during Anthony's Funeral After Show in December, which are codewords that were used in TikTok for Free Palestine. However, this is heavily censored, behind a paywall, and temporary, because of the nature of their live shows. This support of CFP is the bare minimum of what Smosh could do, but the bare minimum is more than they were doing before.

They listed Smosh as the name under their $15,000 donation to CFP, not just Shayne, Courtney and Ian, which could be intentional, referring to Smosh as a whole company, or just referring to the three that have posted about it as a collective. Unless Smosh makes a full statement about it, themselves, it's still up in the air.

The timing of it is unfortunate. Damien has been silent about it so far, making his original posts about Palestine seem performative to some. However, it’s only been a few hours and he is on a social media break. The only thing he has briefly gone back online for is to promote something he's doing with Nintendo, which he could have been contractually obligated to do. He may or may not say something when he fully comes back from his social media break, but for now, that's everything we know. People can make their own conclusions based on all of this.

I am being very intentional with every single word I say on here, as to not be misconstrued in any way, however, if I missed anything or anyone else has anything to add (constructively, like images of either the actual conversation had by Damien and Zayna, or the cast and crew's support of Palestine prior to CFP, not outright anger and disagreement), please do. If anyone has any genuine questions about the situation, please feel free to message me directly and not bring it into this post, which is supposed to be a civil discussion surrounding more facts and events, less speculation. If I feel those questions have relevant points to add on here, I will add on in reblogs.

[thewritingofspencerrose]

A Women's Guide to Sports Masterlist

"Niña, are you okay?" Is the first thing that greets my ears upon returning to the Aston Martin garage, Fernando's concerned expression meeting mine as he gives me a once over.

"I'm assuming my debacle in Redbull has already made it back here?"

"It's all over the internet," Lance is the one to answer, looking hesitant to continue. "Including the part where he announced that you're Verstappen's little sister."

Of course someone caught that on video. "Fuck me."

"Don't worry, no one around here will treat you any different," the Canadian assures, looking more sorry than I'd really like. "We're all pretty tired of the Verstappen's anyway. As long as you're okay, and that ass was kicked out, we're good, yeah?"

I can't help but laugh, nodding at the Canadian. Why he's made out to be the biggest ass, i have limited idea.

"Ms. Hughes, Mr. Caufield, Fernando and Lance will be needed in 30 for prep, so-" One of the staff mentions, earning a nod from the for of us. "We have prepared a set of stools in front of an Aston Martin backdrop for you all. It is just over here," She explains, pointing off to the side.

"Great, thank you much," I thank, taking the microphones from her hands before stealing Cole's hand from himself, pulling him to our designated chairs.

"Okay, so, the camera is here and rolling, so when you all are done we will edit it together," The woman explains, waving her hands around before walking off without a response.

"Y'all are very straight to business around here, aren't you?" The joke slips, ignoring my knowledge that Lance's father literally owns this team.

"You get used to it," Is Lance's chuckled response, just shrugging it off, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I get it, hockey's the same," Cole chimes, the little comment learning a kind smile. They're relating, Mom would say, it's how boys deal with feelings.

"Okay boys," I begin, clapping quietly and collecting their attention. "Starting in 3-" Cole's hand is moving to my leg, resting just above my knee in support. "2-" Fernando is running a hand through his hair, using Lance's sunglasses as a mirror. "And 1!"

"Hello everyone and welcome back to today's episode of A Women's Guide to Sports! As always, my name is Emily Hughes and today I am coming to you from the Canadian Grand Prix!"

"If you are one of my people who are watching this on social media, hi!" She greets with a little wave. "Or if you're one of my podcast diehards, I'm here to clue you in."

"As you most will have seen prior to this episode on social media, today I am here at the race with my brother Jack Hughes and Trevor Zegras, both probably lost in the paddock, and my boy Cole Caufield as guests of Aston Martin!" Cole gives her a little squeeze of acknowledgment with one hand, the other waving to the camera with a smile.

"Speaking of AM, we have some very special guests today, gentlemen, would you mind saying hi to the people on the other end of the audio?"

Both Aston drivers wave to the camera, offering a verbal hello as well.

"It's great to be here," Fernando assures, his quieter teammate nodding.

"We'll see if you still believe that when we're done with the questions I have for you two."

"Starting with?" Lance has enough self-respect to be concerned. He has seen her interviews before, asking about life while living the sport rather than just logistics.

'Women connect to a sport more when they can connect to a person, rather than data,' Emily had answered once when asked about the peculiar nature of her interviews.

Everyone knows those are the hardest questions to answer.

"So, we'll start a little easy on the questions here: Is it true that you have unofficially adopted Lance, Fernando?"

The older driver laughs, a light pink taking over Lance's cheeks as both men laugh, making Emily's smile impossibly larger, a sight that makes her brothers smile from off to the side, hidden from view and the camera.

"She seems to enjoy this," Max comments to Jack, noticing how easily she prompts the borderline ridiculous questions along, making sure to include many real questions about the cars performance and what it's like to live and love in Formula one. "She is doing better than most of the journalists."

Jack is an older brother, it's in his blood, and while that prevents him from trusting Emily's newfound family, he also knows that anything less than an attempt at acceptance would result in puppydog eyes.

And God all her brother's are a sucker for those.

"Yeah, she's studying journalism in New York, it's always been a passion of hers," Is the Hughes boys response, although he can't help the smile that takes place on his face. "While Quinn, Luke and I were pretending to be NHL stars as kids, she was pretending to interview us."

Max knew it would be hard not knowing her since she was a child. With his other half siblings he had been given the opportunity to be in their lives for all of those moments, or to at least know they happened.

"Now, this question is for the both of you," Emily catches his attention once more, "Fernando, towards the beginning of the season you were connected to one Taylor Swift, with rumors of you two being together floating around," She begins, giggling when Fernando winks dramatically at the camera. "With her mention in the sport, there was an increase in attention as everyone tried to puzzle out what was happening. Do you both believe that if big names such as Ms. Swift began to invest more into the sport, the audience would grow?"

Lance takes the question, diving in to how with his father being an investor, he does believe that if large names were to contribute more, the sport would increase in numbers. Fernando expands on it, explaining that that's how these things work, and why the teams like Ferrari and Redbull have such a following.

"So," Jack starts, doing his best to bond. "Do you have any other siblings?"

Max can't help the way his brows scrunch at the question. It's clearer by the second that as they watch their sister, they're just trying to get by.

"I have four," He decides to answer. "My sister Victoria is by full blood, then my sister Blue Jaye from my fathers second marriage and Jason and Mila from his third."

"God," the Hughes almost grunts. "Em has another brother and three sisters?"

"Yes," He hadn't processed that his siblings would be hers as well. "Does she have more brothers... through your family?" Is the only way Max can think to ask. "You mentioned a Quinn earlier?'

Jack nods, still in minor surprise that his sister has gone from simply having three brothers to now having five and three sisters. "Quinn's the oldest of us all, then there's me, Em, and we have a younger brother Luke."

Emily seems to have superior hearing, because her next question is on the same topic her brothers have been covering, "Now men, on to siblings, how does it feel knowing your sisters are superior to you?"

[uncloseted]

This might sound stupid. I feel insecure about my intelligence or how smart I am or if I am clever (I don't really know the difference). I find myself comparing myself with others that are in better classes than me get higher grades, participate more in class. Or just know an answer that I don't know. It is a vicious cycle: and i am aware I should focus on my own path rather than others. But it is difficult and I end up mimicking their personalities in the hopes that some of their intelligence will rub onto me. Like there was someone who was reading dystopian books so I started to and there was also someone who watched marvel movies so I did. I enjoyed it but my reasons for engaging in those activities didn't feel authentic. I also copy their mannerisms, like usually they are quite social and always talking about crazy concepts or they're telling funny jokes. Naturally I would say I am reserved but when around people like that I feel pressured to be the same so I bridge onto their thoughts and act loud and crazy but it feels forced. Something else that stems from it is just my experience with intelligence. I find it difficult to follow instructions sometimes and I end up making stupid, dumb mistakes that frustrates me when I realise I make them. I feel like people always know so much about a topic and I know nothing. I'll admit in my spare time I don't research things I just watch shows/movies and draw. But it doesn't feel nice being out of the loop. My memory sucks too. I just feel like my brain is not normal

Mainly I feel like what I want is tips on how to develop my intelligence.

But also what I should do to maintain a healthy personality because I feel like I don't have one.

I'm just asking because I try not to do these things I mentioned but I don't know what to do

I don't think this sounds stupid at all! I think this is something a lot of people struggle with, especially when it comes to comparing themselves with others.

I actually want to start by talking about something you said in the middle of this ask. You mentioned that you find it difficult to follow instructions, that you make "dumb" mistakes, and that your memory is bad. You also mentioned that you copy people's mannerisms and interests, and that overall, you feel like your brain is "not normal". This might be jumping the gun (and it's important to remember that I'm not a therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, or medical doctor), but have you ever been evaluated for a neurodevelopmental disorder? Conditions like ADHD and Autism can present with symptoms that remind me of the experience you're describing, and so it may be worth speaking to a doctor to see if that's what's causing your difficulties. A lot of the time, people with neurodevelopmental disorders or learning disorders grow up thinking that they're unintelligent, when really their brains just work differently than other people's.

That kind of brings me to the next thing I want to talk about. How important is it to be smart or clever really? Having esoteric knowledge is rarely useful in any practical situation, and it's not inherently any more valuable than anything else. And on the flip side, I'm sure there are things that you're better at than your friends- maybe you're a better artist, or you're more creative, or you're kinder, or you're braver, or any other number of things. You don't have to be any particular kind of way just because other people are. In fact, that diversity in personality traits and strengths is what makes people so unique and interesting. I know it can feel like your grades in school are the most important thing, but in the real world there are so many other characteristics that matter. The most successful people in life aren't the ones who are the smartest; traits like grit and conscientiousness are much better predictors of future success than IQ is. It's important to me that know that you're good just as you are. You're enough by being yourself.

Okay, so getting to your actual questions now, because I know how frustrating it can be when you just want a list of actions to take and instead you get a lecture on changing your mindset. "Intelligence" is kind of a squishy concept that incorporates a lot of different elements, but I would focus on trying to develop intellectual curiosity. A simple exercise you can try is just Googling the answer any time you have a question about how the world works. Because it's a question you had, you're more likely to be interested in the answer and to remember the answer.

I would also try to find a form of learning that you enjoy. Maybe reading books is difficult for you, but listening to a podcast (I recommend Stuff You Should Know, Radiolab, and Freakonomics, and if you like Queer Eye, Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness is also good), watching a YouTube video or TikTok (Contrapoints, VSauce, AsapSCIENCE, It’s Okay To Be Smart, TED-Ed, VOX), watching a docuseries (such as Explained or Connected: The Hidden Science of Everything) or documentary, or listening to an audiobook will be more engaging for you. The more information you interact with, the more you'll know, and the more you'll become interested in other things. You can also try to learn something new, like a new language (try Duolingo, Memrise, or busuu) or learning a new skill (Coursera is good for that kind of thing).

As for maintaining a healthy personality, I think it's really normal to feel like you're still figuring it out. Discovering and developing who we are takes time and exploration and trying things on to see if they fit. I think a really important part of that process is trying out the things your friends like and seeing if you like them, too. So I don't think you're doing anything wrong by reading dystopian books or watching Marvel movies because your friends do. I don't think there's anything inauthentic about liking things that other people introduced you to, but there's also nothing wrong in deciding that those things aren't for you. Try a bunch of different things (activities, genres of media, foods, whatever you can think of) and see what you enjoy, regardless of who introduced you to them.

In terms of more concrete personality traits, this might sound like strange advice, but I would try taking a bunch of personality tests (for example MBTI, Enneagram, VIA Character Strengths, Strengthsfinder, your zodiac sign, your Hogwarts house, whatever you can think of).  Not because they have any real validity in terms of telling you who you are, but because I think being able to look through the different traits and compare them against how you view yourself can be helpful in figuring out what’s true about you and what you like about yourself. In turn, that can give you a more concrete idea of "who you are". And from there, I think maintaining a healthy personality is about reminding yourself who you are in situations where you're pressured to be someone else and focusing on playing to your strengths instead of focusing on the ways you don't match up to others.

[ppgxrrblove]

as always one of those off topic posts that i need to share this on here as well, please do check his video out - he is discussing important topics that i really would want you all to listen to whenever you get the chance to do so.

If you want to know the topics he discusses on the video it's; censorship on social media like youtube, how he is video got taken down when it was finally reaching people for they can know about this good information, he also discusses in between censorship - thanks to youtube doing what they did his channel got a strike and now it is being hidden just like any other channel that hasn't broken no actual rule he got hit as well, it's utterly disgusting but he was going to present an important video that he recieved from the same people he helped out before in Nigeria with a mans home being destroyed now thanks to the donations of folks - it was rebuild anew ♡ - the video was about the same man asking for help on another family that is suffering, they're homes cieling is just barely standing by those giant rain cloth things - they do not have no roof meaning they can catch a cold, or worse - nor do they have a kitchen, the kids in the family eat on the dirt ground - that is there kitchen ...............this was supposed to be shown to all those viewers that saw his video - finally, but it didn't...now it got half of what it got.., - the other topic is about covid how there forcing shackles onto people to not go outside, to stay shut in to follow what big brother say, to just forget about god - the bible to be distracted by worldly things .. - you need to all stop that, do not allow such anger for others get to you to a point that you are lost with the sins you are holding onto to the sins you never repented on.

It isn't worth it to stay like that, gonna be a prune at that point lol, - it's best to take a break, grab the king james bible or if you are new here, hi - i hope you convert into true christianity and are praying even preaching the gospel please know that you are not alone, and those who already know you got the bible there - god is there, pray to him, for times will get worse and the more you are glued to such worldly things that will not go with you when you die - yes, i will go there, your xbox or diary won't be coming with you, what's gonna be with you are the sins you've comitted and god is gonna judge you righteously.

I know it is scary for some folks, or more but do know this gonna repeat it like other's do not fear evil, stay vigilant and continue to pray no matter how much the darkness/demon/voice tries to slitther you away from the lord himself, cast it out my dear random people, and pray, preach the gospel as well ...

Now that i got off track? The finale topic he discusses is about how you can help the family in Nigeria by donating if you cannot truly donate because of what is going on, please reshare his video for others may view and can help out more.

[bytheangell]

You already wrote me a family dinner but I would like to see one in which they're older and Magnus is so nervous of introducing his parents to Alec and Alec is nervous too lmao and Magnus is like all night "mooom" "daaad" cause they're embarrassing him and basically that sjsbsks k adiós

Finding My Place (With You) (Read on AO3)Magnus is nervous. He’s so nervous it shows, which is how his boyfriend knows that this is a big deal. It isn’t that Magnus never gets nervous, of course, because everyone gets nervous - Magnus, however, is a master of hiding it behind charming smiles and silky smooth words.

Every time except this one.

It doesn’t help that his parents also know this is a big deal no matter how much he tries to pretend it isn’t. He’s dated - a lot -  but this is the first person he asked to bring to a family function in years. They all know the implications of that.

“...oh god it’s hitting me now,” Alec says, fixing the collar on his emerald green shirt. “I was fine keeping calm before because I could tell how stressed you were but now-”

“You have nothing to worry about. They’re going to love you - how could they not?” Magnus reassures, reaching around the back of Alec’s neck to smooth down the folded fabric. “Then why are you so worried?” Alec counters. “I’m not.” Magnus insists, and they both know he’s lying though neither dispute it. They both need to convince themselves it’s the truth.

Magnus knows why he’s anxious - his parents want the best for him, as all parents do, but unfortunately sometimes that translates to expecting too much from those around him. He’s been through this a thousand times before to varying degrees of success.

Alec, on the other hand, is worried for a very different reason. Only recently out to his own family, Magnus is his first proper boyfriend; the kind he could share things about on social media, and talk about in front of his parents instead of just in whispers to Isabelle after family dinners during his college breaks. In fact, Magnus is his first of a lot of things: including ‘meeting the parents’ dinners. What if he isn’t what they’re expecting? What if they don’t think he’s good enough for their son?

What if they’re right?

But Magnus promises this isn’t about getting their approval, Alec reminds himself as they get out of the car and walk up to the front door. The memory plays clear as day in his mind, words echoing--

“You’re in my life whether anyone else likes it or not, for as long as you’d like to stay. You don’t have to impress anyone for me.”

The door opens, breaking Alec from his thoughts. “It’s been months!” The woman exclaims, immediately moving forward to envelop Magnus in a hug and simultaneous kiss on his cheek, and Alec bites back a laugh at the tinge of color that spreads from Magnus’ cheeks to his ears. “Would it kill you to call more often?!” “Mom, please.” Magnus squirms a bit under her hug.

“And you must be Alexander!” She says, turning to Alec. “Come here!”

Before he has time to realize what’s happening there are arms wrapped around him, pulling him close. He tenses instinctively - his family was never one for excessive physical affection, but given Magnus’ affinity for hugs and casual touches he should’ve expected this. After a moment he sinks into the hug, bringing his own arms up to return the gesture in greeting. Over Mrs. Bane’s shoulder he can see Magnus giving him the most apologetic look.

“Alec is fine, Mrs. Bane,” he says once she pulls back. “Thank you for inviting me.”

“Of course, darling! We always invite Magnus’ significant others over for the holidays, but you’re the first one he’s brought home in years. You must be something special.”

It’s Alec’s turn to flush now. “Oh, no, I’m not really,” he mumbles, looking to Magnus for help, expecting him to play it off and diffuse the situation by reassuring his parents this isn’t a big deal.

Instead he’s looking over at Alec as if he’s the biggest deal, nothing but appreciative smiles and heart eyes that could melt Alec into a puddle despite the chill in the air. “I wouldn’t say that,” Magnus replies softly.

They go inside and Alec immediately asks if there’s anything he can help with, but Magnus’ parents are suspiciously quick to tell him no and keep him away from the kitchen.

“You told them I’m a lousy cook, didn’t you,” he accused Magnus immediately.

“What? No!” Magnus swears up and down, and thankfully his parents don’t confirm or deny anything he may have mentioned about letting Alec near the kitchen.

Instead, Mr. Bane leads Alec into the living room while Magnus vanishes to help his mother finish the last of the meal preparation.

They get to talking, share a drink or two, and in no time at all Mr. Bane has the baby photos out from an album at the bottom of the bookcase. Every single photograph is a hidden gem, and Alec snaps pictures of the photos on his phone to save for later. He’s already set one of Magnus in nothing but cowboy boots, a cowboy hat, and underwear at the age of roughly 4 years old as his phone background.

“I can’t leave you alone for five seconds,” Magnus laments once he re-joins them. “Please tell me he didn't show you the talent show video.”

Alec nearly spits out his drink, turning to Mr. Bane with an arched eyebrow. “There’s a talent show video, and you kept it from me?”

“That can be the entertainment for dessert.” Mr. Bane promises, to more groaning from Magnus and delight from Alec.

Over dinner they talk about a little bit of everything - the state of current politics, favorite foods, what shows they were all watching or musical artists they listen to. Magnus’ family is very creative, his mother an artist and his father a writer, which makes Magnus’ fascination with the arts and museums and his degree in art history such an obvious choice, given how easily the three of them share such common likes and dislikes.

When Alec admits to being a business major who is just now entering into a small start-up venture with Steven Underhill, one of his best friends from college, he braces himself for the same backlash his own parents gave him: that it’s idealistic, destined for failure, and a poor use of his talents. Instead they applaud his risk taking and offer any assistance they can if he needs help in graphic design or composing articles for publication.

“I don’t think Alec needs you to run his business for him,” Magnus tries to cut in, but Alec only shakes his head, eyes wide in surprise.

“No, it’s -- thank you. Really. That means a lot.”

For as nervous as he was going into this, he’s shocked at how easily he feels welcome here; at how much Magnus’ family feels like it could feel like home to him one day, the same way Magnus himself does by now.

The night ends with dessert, and the promised talent show video, which Magnus actually gets up and leaves the room during out of shame, claiming he only wants to help clear away the empty pie plates. But as the terrible charango performance draws on even Alec has to look away out of second-hand embarrassment of 15-year-old Magnus.

“I hope they weren’t too overbearing,” Magnus checks in as they’re grabbing their coats, getting ready to leave. “I haven’t brought anyone home for a while, they’ve been waiting for the opportunity to properly mortify me for years now.”

Alec laughs. “No, they were wonderful. This whole day was wonderful. Thank you for having me over… I’m glad I didn’t realize how big of a deal this was beforehand, or I probably would’ve freaked out a lot more and ruined everything.”

Magnus smiles. “I don’t think you could ruin anything if you tried. They love you. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” By the end of the night Alec is leaving with two books to borrow, several Tupperware containers of leftover food, and a small flicker of hope that this might be his to keep for the rest of his - no, for the rest of their - lives.

[lovetheplayers]

Taylor's interview on Karen's Night From 8 | Energy NRJ (May 2, 2019)

Karen: Since the snake we all knew from reputation transformed into a bunch of pastel colored butterflies in the brand new video to ME! is there a new Taylor on track again? Tell us about that.

Taylor: Well, I always tried to make my music a reflection of how I'm feeling, and a lot of the times you'll see that reflected in the color tones and sort of the imagery that I use with my music videos. So yeah, I think that if you're a musician, a lot of the times you can see how we're feeling based on what our music is doing. You know, I definitely am in a very good place in my life and really excited about making new music and excited about the new album I've made, so I think that is very reflective in the new video. Thank you for watching it, by the way.

Karen: You're very welcome. Well, you broke the records already. Like, it went, like, wow! The video is completely insane; like, so colorful and beautiful. I love it, by the way.

Taylor: Thank you!

Karen: So, yeah, tell us a little more about the new song ME! What is the message behind it?

Taylor: The message behind the song ME! is basically trying to celebrate and own your individuality and what makes you different from everyone else because I think so often in this age of social media and everyone comparing each other, I think that we can feel really, really low and really insecure and down about ourselves and think that there must be a better version of us out there somewhere and I think that we really just need to remind ourselves that we're completely irreplaceable. And I think that with a song like this, it's very catchy and it can get stuck in your head and so I really wanted that to be a message of, kind of, self love and positivity because I think we all could use that because I think we all have really bad days sometimes when it comes to trying to accept who we are and appreciate who we are.

Karen: I absolutely, completely agree. So do you have a secret for self confidence then?

Taylor: Well, I'm just—I'm just like everybody else in that I have really, really bad days with self-confidence too where you feel like you can't pull yourself out of it and I don't think there's any way to to say, "Oh, this is how you feel good about yourself." It's not that easy, is it? Like, but I think one thing that does help me is if there's a happy song that I can listen to that kind of makes me—makes me feel a little bit better. That can be helpful gradually, but you know obviously there's no pressure for anyone to feel good all the time. That's—that's completely—it's unattainable; that's never going to happen. But I just, you know, I was writing this song and I was, like, imagining, like, little kids dancing to it and feeling good about themselves and feeling like they're special and, you know, ever since it come out some people have told me, like, if this song makes them happy or if it makes them kind of forget about what they're stressed about and it's that—that's a really nice thing to hear. Like, that's all we can really hope for if we're making music, is to try to make things easier for other people or make things better.

Karen: This is a wonderful kind of thought you just have while listening to the song, which is completely an ear worm in all of our heads right now; so completely in love with it.

Taylor: Thank you!

Karen: You're so welcome. Can you give us a little hint about the new album yet? I know it's completely, like, you know, you don't talk about it and stuff like that, but can you give us a little hint. What can we expect?

Taylor: Well, definitely. I really want to tell the fans everything there is to know about the album probably pretty soon. I definitely want to be able to tell them directly from me everything that I've been working on, but I just really wanted to not do that as soon as the song came out because I feel like that's information overload. It's just so much information coming at them all at once. Like, "Here's a new song, here's a new video, here's a bunch of clues in the video." Like, "What does it all mean?", "And here's the information about the album." Like, I wanted to kind of give everyone a moment to decompress and kind of—and then tell them everything that there is to know about the new album. But I'm so happy and flattered that you're curious about it.

Karen: Absolutely completely curious, and the thing is that I just read about these—these hidden hints in the video and just watched it five times now and was like, "Okay, where could all these hints be?" Like, you know? We're completely in love with it.

Taylor: Thank you! That's awesome.

Karen: One short last question: since the Reputation Tour unfortunately didn't reach us here in Germany do you—do you know yet when you'll be back together with us?

Taylor: I definitely, definitely want to come back to Germany because the fans have been so incredible and that's on my list of things I want to do, especially with this new album, and so I really, really hope I get to, like, come there and see you and see all the fans because they have been so supportive of me and I'm really appreciative.

Karen: Cool, very looking forward. I just had the honour to see the Reputation Stadium Tour in Dublin. I went all the way to Dublin to just see it and I cannot imagine it to be and to get any bigger, so I'm completely, completely in love with all what's coming up for us.

Taylor: That is so amazing of you to go all the way to Dublin for the tour! Thank you so much.

Karen: Thank you for taking time for us! Thank you, Taylor.

Taylor: Thank you! Hopefully I'll get to meet you soon. Taylor.

Karen: You too! Thank you so much. Have fun. Bye, bye!