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burnedbyshoto · 4 years ago

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hawks_littledove.mp3

— You’re an avid listener to NSFW ASMR artist Hawks. It’s just your luck that he’s offered to have phone sex with you.

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pairing: takami keigo (hawks) x fem!reader

warnings: smut, 18+, slight abuse of power/influence, phone sex, masturbation, degradation, praise, nsfw asmr artist!hawks

word count: 5,018

a/n: my keyboard is broken and i could actually cry. but hey, hawks do be sexy even tho I would never trust him with my life. also LOL this might be a call out to a lot of us, do not be offended or I will cry.

kinktober day 14 main kink: phone sex | kinktober masterlist

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Fantasizing about being in relationships with fictional characters was entirely healthy and normal.

That was something you believed to the core. It was fictional; thus, no one but you were to be hurt at the end of the day. The character, being fake, could never have an opinion because you must be real in order to have an opinion. So when you were between boyfriends, you discovered a new anime, and before you could stop yourself, you fell hard for a character.

It started as a mild obsession.

You had looked up fanart via google images, your heart warming when you saw the plethora of different fanart. The anime itself had been in circulation for a few years now, the manga for much longer, so the content was endless. Then google images wasn’t enough, and you began crossing into Twitter and Tumblr.

The fanart became better, more engrossing, and definitely much more NSFW. And then, one night during your endless rabbit hole down Tumblr after your daily search on Twitter, you stilled when seeing a new type of content.

⇒ grey fullbuster x reader

The obsession grew worse.

So much so that you had followed nearly five hundred self insert writers and artists on Tumblr, and maybe seven hundred artists, meta writers, and thread makers on twitter. But three months into consuming all the content you could find, you came across a new name that made you tilt your head.

Hawks Fierce Wings

It was a name that was being repeated and heavily talked about on both sites. It was an ASMR artist, apparently, and you frowned at the thought. You didn’t have anything against ASMR videos, but you weren’t exactly sure how to handle an anime ASMR artist. Were they cosplaying while making all those weird ASMR sounds? You really didn’t have any idea, but due to the immense boredom of your lazy day in, you decided to hell with it and tried out his most popular video.

It was simply entitled: Hawks is Jealous.

Did you have any idea as to who Hawks was? God, no, you didn’t. But if it was just some random cosplay he was going to do, you didn’t think it was going to matter. So as the only slightly educated ASMR listener, you never truly became invested when it was a thing; you slipped on your earbuds and pressed play.

The introduction screen faded into an illustrated picture of a slightly handsome man, and some calming yet tense music played in the background. You shifted, eyebrows drew as you waited for the ASMR session to begin, and when it did, you were not ready.

“I saw you walking around with that asshole today,” a voice practically growled in your ear, and you froze.

Oh, no.

Oh, no!

For almost an entire hour, you sat glued to your sofa, your fingers digging into your lap as the jealous, spiteful words of this man named Hawks poured bitterly in your ear. His words were a near aggravated assault on you and definitely something you were beyond uncomfortable hearing from a stranger, but there was something about his voice that kept you there. Maybe it was the tenor of his tone or the way there was this sly, cunning scent to his words that he seemed to hide deep within his throat, but there was something that kept you there.

The second the passionate, heated kissing noises and heavy moans began to spill from his lips, you screeched, slamming your laptop closed as your cheeks pounded heavily.

Oh my god?!

It took a bit, but eventually, you were able to finish the audio and quickly figured out why he was an NSFW artist. You had never, ever heard a man eat a pussy fake or real as eagerly or vigorously as he did. Your hands were gripping the pants of your leggings, and your chest heaved.

Oh, motherfucking shit.

Finding out there were almost seventy other videos for you to still experience sent you scrambling for more, and eventually, you had to confess you were obsessed. Despite the anime fandoms you had discovered him for, Hawks seemed to be more famous for the content he created as himself. His real name was unknown by the looks of it, and he was only addressed as Hawks by his audience, something you caught on to quickly. So only after creating a new profile for his Youtube account, you made quick work of liking and commenting on every single of his already published seventy-eight nearly one hour and thirty-minute videos.

Each one was different.

Each one filled with various roadmaps on how Hawks' scenarios would play out for you — the listener. When he used his own persona, he called the listener his little dove or his chicken nugget, sometimes his KFC thigh, or his shish kabob.

You were glad at the very least he didn’t call you by any of those nicknames when pretending to fuck you at a speed only a “porn-is-my-only-education-on-porn” virgin teenage boy. You knew it wasn’t ideal, usually, but for some reason, it just worked. You commented on everything, read his summaries and thoughts on each video. Eventually, when you found yourself on his final, most recent video, you were ready to go a step further.

The Patreon app on your phone seemed jarringly out of place as you opened the app and subscribed yourself to Hawks' highest tiered option for the price of twenty USD.

And when you got your access to his page, you were immersed in more heavier, better content.

It was a goldmine in a sea of fools gold, and you absolutely went insane.

You weren’t sure if you were insane, needy, or just straight-up idiotic for scrolling to the very first Patreon post and indulging in the content Hawks created.

There was a stark difference between the warnings alone between the Youtube videos and the Patreon posts. While the porn was readily accessible on Youtube, the kinkiest thing that ever happened in a video was a slight implication that Hawks had left the listener on a vibrator and fuckmachine as he went to go talk to the visiting neighbors.

It was a slight, tiny zone out and miss a detail, but one you had clung onto like an obsessed psycho and even commented on in your comment on the post. Of course, Hawks hadn’t responded, not that you had ever expected him to because all things considered, a video that was eight months old and hadn’t done that well, to begin with, didn’t seem like anything he would remember: notifications and all.

But Patreon? Oh good, sweet, ravishing Patreon.

The very first video was of the following:

Stepbrother!Hawks fucks Stepsister!Listener in the stairwell during Christmas Dinner.

After praying and swearing to all the deities of the world that you were merely a person with a voice kink for this man and not, in fact, a perverted pseudo-incest worshiper, you clicked on it and began. It was downright sinful.

There were active voices whispered in the background as Hawks laughed about how fucking slutty you were for letting your brother fuck you like this. In the hallway, like a dog, where anyone in your joint family could walk out into. He laughed that you probably wanted it, how your wet ass pussy was greedily sucking him in, so how could you even begin to deny your lust for your brother.

You had to take a break five times during that audio.

Eventually, you do end up catching up.

Each video he had ever posted to your disposal, and most likely due to the different tier levels, you always commented on the videos. Even if it made you feel awkward for lusting over things months old, even if there were no other comments on the videos, which was much more common than you thought, you always commented and liked. It wasn’t anything ever crazy, you had seen the rarest comments bring a whole essay of analysis on why they loved it or the hating words, but you kept it simple.

Just something to keep Hawks spirits high without draining you even further of energy.

A simple: holy shit, that was hot as fucking hell!!!! you never disappoint me!!!

You never expected anything out of it; as a matter of fact, you had merely thought that you were doing the least by merely appreciating his creations when, one night, a few hours after you had gotten home. Your phone chimed with an alert.

Your mouth formed an ‘o’ in surprise; you hadn’t realized there was going to be a new release after he had just updated four days ago. Still, you popped in your earbuds and began the audio with a simple title.

i fuk ur stupid lil pus until u cri

He wasn’t precisely putting much effort into his titles these days, but his tags were definitely accurate and entirely explicit in what was to come. And in this newest video, the prominent tag was degradation.

You weren’t entirely into degradation, but still, you did what you had to do because you weren’t turned off by it. With the beginning sounds of the music playing in the background, you warped into the situation Hawks carefully carved.

But, oh?

Your face simmered with heat as Hawks dirty words dripped from the earbuds, the wet, squelching noise of your cunt and throat being fucked like some inanimate object made you soak through your panties as his disparaging words burned against your spine like a hot brand. After the thirty-minute audio was finished. Your body trembling with the aftershocks of an orgasm that had come despite the lack of actual stimulation of your clit, and you panted on your bed.

Opening your phone once again, you quickly liked the new audio and typed out your comment.

listen, i know i always comment about how fucking hot this shit is, but i have /never/ fucking soaked through my panties… you just did that and i expect a full refund for these panties 💦

You pressed send and, without so much of a second thought, continued your night. You had dinner, talked with friends, and ended the night curled back on the couch with a wine glass in your hand and a simple sit-com playing on the TV. The familiar sound of the Patreon alert rang in your ear, and you frowned, confused.

Grabbing your phone, you opened up the device and nearly shrieked at the sight of the information the notification that said:

Hawks F.W.: lets see those panties before i refund anything

A chill ran down your spine as you quickly put together the indications of this message, and you smirked, despite your quivering hands.

Me: I have a seven inch dick requirement before seeing any of the goods — yes, that includes my panties

And from that very moment, you began a strange arrangement between you and the NSFW ASMR artist Hawks.

Working was the worst part of your life, you would say.

At work, you would sit in your small 4x4 cubicle, your shelves stacked with plenty of papers and items you needed, not to mention the computer that took up the majority of your desk. You weren’t quite sure what your job here was, you sort of sat at your desk and did meaningless assignments when assigned, but you did nothing for the most part.

Before becoming an active Hawks stan, you would spend your time doing nothing playing video games. You had somehow managed to install a VPN onto your hard drive so that your employers wouldn’t be able to see what was on your screen outside of the home screen. They couldn’t trace what you did all day, but they could care less, given you got all your work completed on time and done in an over exceptional way.

But lately, since you had dropped into this… engrossed whore like relationship with Hawks, things changed.

To be honest, it still shocks you to no end when he tells you that he had always been aware of you. Well, with your consistent, ever appearing comments on his posts and overall enthusiasm for everything he posted, it was hard to not be aware. The mental image of your soaked through panties after a long day at his own work had sent him over the edge, and he finally messaged you.

Through the DM’s in Patreon, the two of you grew to become quite the friends with benefits. He would send you countless personalized audio files because you had quickly confessed to your voice kink and how his voice sent your stomach into hormonal knots. In return, you’d send the picture of an occasional soaked panty, and if he was lucky, an audio clip of your pathetic whines back to his audios.

You couldn’t complain about this arrangement.

But as the number of his patrons doubled, and he wanted to entice his subscribers with paying him even more money, Hawks began to offer a bimonthly personalized five minute audios for his $20 tier. The fans poured into that spot, and Hawks and proudly sent you the new number of adoring fans he was getting. On account of growing platforms such as Tiktok, the number of new listeners he got was nearly exponential, as he currently passed one million followers last week.

The cheeky bastard was also making enough money to stop working his regular work hours anymore. Choosing to transition slowly into his Patreon career while recording.

Hawks, however, seemed to have other ideas for your eventual personalized voice audio.

Hawks had simply asked if, by any chance, you were going to be working tomorrow the night before. Groaning loudly in recognition of your work schedule, you had texted him back that you were going to be working. Snidely including the fact that you weren’t rich like him, you needed the tedious old nine to five job.

Hawks: how utterly boring anyway u can b free around 2?

Me: Eh… probably not. Busy girl w busy schedule, ill be back from lunch so no break Why?

Hawks: well, u knw tht uve been amzing & th bst follower so i wanted 2 give u smthing better then the personalized audio

Me: Oh? Well, what is it?’

Hawks: pick up tmrw n find out

He had changed the subject immediately afterward by dodging all of your questions with ease. So you dropped it, and the two of you resumed a night of flirting. But now, sitting in your small cubicle, your eyes flashing to the clock that read 1:57 p.m., sweat began to build on your palm.

You peered down to your phone as you waited for something, anything from Hawks to show up. The fucker was too cheeky, evasive, and quick for his own good. You felt like pouting as you glared at the phone, waiting for the screen to light up.

And you stilled when finally, at precisely 1:59 p.m., your phone gleamed with light. You couldn’t abandon your computer mouse quicker than you did as you grabbed your phone, unlocking it, and reading the message from Hawks.

Hawks: do u have earbuds?

Me: Yes?

Hawks: good put them on n pick up

The moment you had read the first message, you were already pulling out your earbuds, synching them up to your phone, and placing them into your ear. But your jaw dropped when, for the first time, the call feature highlighted onto the screen, the time immediately changing to that of 2:00 p.m. The decline or accept button had never looked as daunting as it did right now.

Despite the call trying to go through, you still saw his follow up.

Hawks: if u dont pick up u wont get shit

[Accept]

You felt your heart hammering in your chest as both fear, apprehension, and excitement boiled through your veins, the hammering blood pounding in your ears as you waited for some sort of noise on the opposite side of the line.

“Little dove?” Hawks' voices filled your ears, and despite yourself, you smiled softly. The naturalness of his voice sends warm thumps down your spine.

“Hi, Hawks,” you whisper breathlessly, your head already checking to make sure your neighboring cubicle mates didn’t try to look over the divisions to stare at you. For the most part, the office building was quiet except for the phone calls, the clanking of computer keys, and the monotonous music playing softly on the speaker's head.

“Whatcha doing?” he drawled, and you felt your skin heat up when you heard the all too familiar sound of his shoes hitting the top of his desk, the soft whine of his chair as he leaned back onto it. “Are you really at work?”

“What do you mean, am I really at work?” you squeaked, half horrified at the way the lazy, warm heat of lust was infiltrating your body at the sound of his voice, and the annoyance that he thought you had been lying? “Of course I am; it’s two p.m. on a Wednesday!”

“Ah, so little dove-chan is a raging pervert who engages in phone sex to bypass her long hours at work?” Hawks sighed his tone that of understanding and dismissal. You splutter. “You never fail to surprise me.”

“I do not do… that!” you stammer, your face feeling like hot cinders, your fingers and eyes double-checking to make sure that the audio was going to your earbuds and your earbuds only. You also couldn’t help the way your eyes swept around you, trying to make sure you hadn’t accidentally invited unwanted attention. “I said I was busy!”

“But, you picked up my call?”

“You said, or else!”

“Mmm, okay, I think I see,” Hawks tutted, and although you had never seen what you supposed to be his handsome face, you could imagine a lazy, toothy smirk on his face. “Don’t worry, I don’t mind using your little cubicle to talk you into fucking yourself good for me.”

Your jaw drops.

It hits the desk, and the muffled shriek of utter humiliation is only silenced because you bit onto your tongue like a rabid animal.

“Aw, you sound so excited for me already, little dove. I bet you want to know what I’m going to do to you, don’t you? I just know that I’m going to make you feel so... good…”

“Hawks!” you plea in a hushed whisper, your heart hammering where you sat frozen like a deer in headlights. Sure, you had definitely played his audios before to pass the time, but never before in your existence had you had actual phone sex. This was riskier than just listening to his audios; his audios always had a pattern, a way to escape from the madness of his voice when people were closer than you’d like. But this? No, there was no escape. “I’m at work! I c-can’t!”

“But, fuck, I want you so bad,” Hawks' voice dipped into a gravely tone, his voice just perfectly scratchy enough that your shoulders trembled in unspoken, untouched want. “I want to feel your cunt around my cock, baby, your pussy is so hot and I want to be the fucking lucky bastard that gets to fuck you through your bed.”

“O-Oh my god…”

“I’ve been thinking of what your tits look like,” Hawks continues on, his voice continuing in the style you liked the most. It was raw, heavy, and deep. No character impersonations, just him, pure Hawks. “I hope they bounce the way they do when I imagine you riding me. I want to see you moan when I kiss the underside of your tit, I want to see your face when you realize that you’re my girl, nobody's else's, but mine.”

Heat floods your panties at his words, your shallow breaths making him chuckle on the other end.

“You’d be so lucky to be just mine, wouldn’t you, little dove?” Hawks snaps, his voice demanding a response, and you heave.

You look around, no one is near, and you croak out: “I’d be so lucky.”

“Louder.”

“I’d be so lucky.”

“Mm, there we go,” Hawks laughs, and your ears prickle for any noise that may indicate that someone was listening in. “What? Are you getting nervous that your needy ass will be heard by your coworkers right now? Answer me.”

“Mhmm,” you hum loudly, your cunt pulsing with more incredible heat and your hands shaking with a slight fear of being caught.

“Aww, don’t worry, little dove. I’m sure your boss will understand that you’re my newest fucktoy and will let me continue. Maybe they’ll want to join in?”

You whimper softly, shifting in your seat at that thought. You didn’t really want your boss coming anywhere near you, he was old and gross for one, and nothing could take the place of this beautiful man's voice in your ear right now.

“Oh, was that a no? You don’t want other people fucking you, do you, y/n? I bet you only want to have my cock in your tight little pussy, bet you want to watch the way that greedy little thing sucks me in, begging for my seed. Would you want me to cum deep inside you? You would like that little dove; you’d like to be full of my cum.”

“H-Hawks,” you keen as quietly as you can, your hips shifting uncomfortably in your seat, your heart hammering in your throat. The pressing heat in your cunt is growing, your panties growing with wet slick as Hawks' voice whispers down your ear, filling every empty and void space in your brain until you were having trouble focusing on the very much public spot you were in.

Hawks let out a soft, guttural moan, and you froze, face entirely combusting into an inferno as the familiar slick slapping of his fapping cock filled your ear. Immediately, you forgot everything.

“A-Are you—?!” you splutter, unable to find the words or the energy to come up with a way to ask if he was masturbating right now. Your eyes spun, your mind in a complete haze as soft, raunchy moans spilled from his lips, striking against your nerves and soul with each successive sound.

“I’m only trying to help you out here, dove,” Hawks growled, undoubtedly in effect to a rather loud smack of his fist colliding with his thrusting hip. “You’re the little office slut who picked up a phone call to entice in phone sex. I bet you knew exactly what I was going to do, and your pathetic, needy whore self caved to my instructions.”

Your fingers curled into the armrest of your chair.

“I bet this makes your boring ass job tolerable, the perfect distraction to a shit job, then imagining a few minutes of fucking yourself against my hard cock.”

“That’s not true!”

“No?” Hawks laughed, not believing you any more than you did. “So you wouldn’t hate it if I showed up and fucked you into the wall of your cubicle? You wouldn’t mind if I claimed your sweet-smelling pussy against your desk for everyone to hear? I know you can scream like a bitch in heat. I know that pretty little cunt of yours would milk my cock dry. Oh, I just know you would look so fucking sexy with your back arched, eyes closed, and you begging for hours just to cum. You wouldn’t cum without my permission, right?”

You gasped, heart fluttering, hammering in your chest as you shook your head, not trusting yourself to speak.

“I need a verbal answer, little dove.”

The heat in your core was blistering, your thighs shaking with your unadulterated lust and need as you ground into the cushion of your chair. All logic and moral long gone as he snarled and moaned your name in your ear, the slick of his fapping cock echoing like a great bell in your ear. You wanted to hear him cum, wanted to listen to the pithering sound of his echoing moans as he spilled the contents of his balls onto his hand — and how you wished it was your womb.

“I won’t cum w-without your permission!” you whispered, your skin shivering with your fear of being caught.

“God, you sound like such a dirty fucking bitch. I bet your pussy is fucking soaked already. Bet you really want to run that slutty embarrassed finger against your clit but don’t want to be caught by your perverted coworkers,” Hawks hissed, his breaths turning into steady, heavy hot pants. You mewl softly, confirming his spoken thoughts, and he huffs out a laugh. “How many fingers do you normally shove up that pretty cunt of yours, little dove?”

“T-Three!” you gasp, your forehead pressing to the cool of your desk, your eyes glazed over and looking at the entrance of your cubicle, fervently wishing that no one tries to check on you as you grind against your stable chair. “O-Only three fit.”

“Fuck, you really do have a tight cunt, don’t you,” Hawks snaps, the wet sounds of his fisting hand around his cock a beautiful melody in your ear that makes you whine at the back of your throat. “Bet you can’t even fit cocks up your cunt without lube, huh. You gotta stay on top, or else you’ll get hurt with how thick and long my cock will be up that baby pussy of yours.”

“H-Hawks!” you grit out, the friction of grinding on the seat no longer working.

“Go to the bathroom, now,” Hawks commands, the small gasps on his voice from his approaching orgasm more than enough ammo for you to do as told.

You sprint to the bathroom, the slick of your cunt hot, and evident to you as you sped to the bathroom. Your phone clenched in your hand as you locked the door behind you, glad the room was empty. Barely managing to get yourself into the stall, the toilet paper placed on the seat as you raised your legs up, already prepared. The skirt you wore was bunched above your ass, and the panties you wore, stretching out around your knees.

“Sounds like you’re ready to start fucking that pussy for me,” Hawks laughs, but there's no humor, just bite. “Put in three fingers, now.”

Without even arguing or caring, three fingers slip into your cunt, and you cry at the feeling of your fingers completely stretching you out. The smell of sex and slick filling your nose as your fingers slick up, fucking your tight cunt as you moan louder and louder for Hawks.

“God, your fucking pussy is so fucking wet, I can hear it from here!” Hawks moans, the frantic sound of his drilling hips gaining speed and momentum.

“I want it to be you!” you moan, your face burning in your humiliation. “I want it to be you fucking my pussy, claiming me in this bathroom. I need you, Hawks, I want your cock so badly!”

“Fuck,” Hawks gasps, something tumbling in the background. “Such sweet words for a fucking dirty ass cumslut,” he growls, and your legs shake, your clit and cunt thrumming with your increasing arousal and pit of tightness in your core.

“HAWKS, FUCK!” you sob as your hips try to start a merciless speed against your fingers, your body trying to match the speed in which Hawks was fucking his own hand.

“Keep screaming my name, whore.” Hawks gasps, his noises of pleasure beginning to grow louder and louder, your eyes crossing in satisfaction. “Screaming my name like the fucking slutty mess you are. All this shit just to get me to fuck you? God, you’re so fucking pathetic y/n. Begging for me, begging for more? I think you’re my favorite little dove ever, gonna make you mine whenever I get to fuck that pussy.”

“Hawks!” you wail his name again, your arms and pussy throbbing with the energy it takes to keep up with his inhumane speeds. Your vision seeing stars as you tremble more and more, your legs slipping from the toilet seat, yet. “I am your whore, your little dove. Please let me come, please! You fuck me so well, fucking hell, please, I needa cum, I needa cum!”

“Cum with me,” he snaps, his voice so deep, so dangerously smooth. It was precisely what you needed, the voice kink you had for his tenor exactly fulfilled entirely with that simple, last command. And just like that, your jaw slackens, head slamming backward, and pleasurable waves crash through you.

Your fingers still rock at your clit, and your vice gripped walls, your toes curling within your shoes as you soundlessly scream. Hawks, on the other end, is practically snarling, voice deep and altogether dangerous as grunt after grunt leaves him, and you can imagine the milk-white cum splattered all over his chest and hand. A beautiful, perfect sight that you wish you could see for yourself.

Exhaustion settles in your bones as you sit on the toilet, still entirely exhausted as you heave for air.

“I think that was the best fucking orgasm I ever had,” you mumble, your eyes closed, not ready to stand up and move. “Thank you.”

“I’m good at what I… at what I do,” Hawks stumbles, husky exhaustion ringing in his own voice. “Now, little dove, finish up work, and I promise there’ll be a surprise waiting for you when you’re done.”

Not entirely agreeing, but not disagreeing with his command to go finish you last… two and a half hours at work, you begrudgingly said goodbye to Hawks before washing your hands and exiting the bathroom.

When five o’clock came, you watched as your phone screen lit up, and your face flushed as you read the DM from Hawks.

Hawks: this is my fav audio now ↳ hawks_littledove.mp3 but you surprised me today, so in case u ever want to have more fun sometime call me 03-9183-2495 ;)

#hawks smut #hawks x reader #bnha #bnha x reader #mha #bbs kinktober 2020

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diamondcitydarlin · 5 years ago

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For those of you that may have missed it, some highlights from the Harvey and Kayvan insta stream/video chat yesterday (in which they answered one of my questions!!). Bear in mind I had to miss about 30 mins of it to go to the store, so if anyone saw the whole thing in completion feel free to add to this. WARNING THERE ARE SOME -LIGHT- SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2 HERE:

- To my question of, “How did Guillermo and Nandor meet?” (keep in mind, Harvey and Kayvan are actors, they do not write the show and have little control over the direction the writing takes, this was just their collective theory and is subject to change within canon...but it’s still funny, also this is paraphrased from memory): They both posit that Guillermo knew of Nandor and suspected he was vampire for awhile (personally I like to think there was a Twilight esque montage involved of Guillermo googling ‘vampire-familiar relationship’ stuff). Determined to become a vampire himself via familiar-vampire exchange, Guillermo was on Nandor like white on rice, constantly asking him to strike the familiar deal, loitering outside his house, etc. Kayvan improvised Nandor yelling at him; “Leave me alone or I will SUCK YOU...OFF” (legit) to which Harvey started laughing and Kayvan said to the effect of, “Hey, vampires are pansexual ok”, and, of course, we can assume Guillermo’s ‘annoyance’ campaign eventually worked. This then transitioned into them talking about Guillermo’s unflinching loyalty for the past 10 years, how it’s much like when you’ve hungered for someone so long and finally enter into a relationship with them, there’s a tendency to do anything they ask and never take your position for granted. At least to a point.

- There was an improv puppet show with the Guillermo and Nandor plushies made for them. I do not know/remember the name of the artist that crafted these for them, so I hope you were there and got to see them loving on your creations!! If you see this post please tag yourself! Anyway, the improv puppet show went something like:

Nandor: Guillermo, are you at the top or the bottom of the instagrams

Guillermo:....I don’t uh-...I don’t talk about that.

Nandor: ...you do quite often in the green room.

They then both broke character, laughing. So CUTE.

- SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2: Harvey revealed that we will be meeting Guillermo’s mom in this season and getting a glimpse into his home life growing up. Kayvan then expressed the wish that Nandor could meet Guillermo’s mom/family, much like how one introduces their boyfriend to their parents, etc, just so they could all complain about/tease Guillermo together. CUTE. I wouldn’t assume this means Nandor doesn’t meet his family in season 2, because these two are only allowed to directly tease so much and I think gave us little clues of what might happen next season via “Oh I wish this could happen...winkwonk” etc.

-Kayvan did several impressions of Harvey which were hilarious and on point.

- They both talked about the glitter portrait and how there were actually several versions of this portrait made before the final was chosen for the episode. Harvey thinks the final choice was made in regards to colors/lighting and what looked best for the camera. Harvey claims to have one of these and has seen all of them, but the only way they seem to differ is in the colors chosen.

-THE POSSIBILITY OF A ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEIR CHARACTERS WAS ADDRESSED. However, it was answered as I expected it to be- that is, with no definitive answer. Kayvan and Harvey both expressed their support and interest in exploring this, however, and teased that we should just wait to see what happens in season 2. They also talked about the multiple layers of Guillermo and Nandor’s relationship, the romantic/erotic tensions that they’ve explored in their chemistry, and why it’s so fun to act out and explore because of the complexity of everything. If nothing else, we shippers can feel validated in knowing that, yes, this is an element of their dynamic. Whether or not we’ll see it come into fruition, well...we’ll just have to wait and see.

-There was another puppet show with the plushies in which ‘Nandor’ sang the drug blood song and they both danced. CUTE.

And, finally, here’s a snip of the screencap I accidentally took of the stream lol, taken from my IG story as the original is on my new phone and I don’t feel like setting up the tumblr app right now

#wwdits #what we do in the shadows #what we do in the shadows tv show #nandor #guillermo de la cruz #nandor x guillermo #guillermo x nandor #kayvan novak #harvey guillen #spoiler #spoilers

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spnfanficpond · 5 years ago

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May 2020 Pond LiveChat Recap - User Friendly Tumblr Pt 2

@fictionalabyss (Mel) and @girl-with-a-fandom-fettish (Kay) yet again did a great job teaching us the magical ways of Tumblr! Thank you, girls, for helping out and sharing your wisdom!!

This was a continuation of last month’s chat, which you can read all about HERE. We also talked a little bit about this back in July 2019, and you can read all about that chat HERE. A rundown of this month’s chat is below the cut!

Keep Reading function via the app

We started off talking about the Keep Reading function, and how it works, and doesn’t work on the app. Back in July 2019, if you were using the app, you could add the text [ [ MORE ] ] (without the spaces) to a line, and it would create a Keep Reading cut in your post for you. We’ve heard recently that it wasn’t working, so we did some testing. This is what happened:

As viewed via the app on the blog:

As viewed via the app when looking at the desktop:

As viewed via desktop on the blog:

Long story short, It only works if you view the post on desktop. Mel noted that if she went onto desktop and edited the post from there, then the cut would work everywhere, but that defeats the purpose of posting using the app.

TD;DR - [ [ MORE ] ] no longer works effectively.

Keeping your formatting when copying from Google Docs into Tumblr

@flamencodiva (Vanessa) told us all about a workaround that she learned from @winchest09. Anyone who was tried to copy and paste from Google Docs to Tumblr knows that you lose all of your formatting, including any italics. @mrswhozeewhatsis has not had a problem copying and pasting from Microsoft Word (as part of the Office 365 Suite) into Tumblr, but Kay has, so she needs to use this workaround. Basically, the trick is to post to AO3, first, and the copy and paste from there. Here’s the step-by-step per Vanessa:

1) make a new chapter on AO3, 2) set it to rich text, 3) paste your fick, 4) got to tumblr and click on pencil to add text, 5) change setting to html, 6) go back to ao3 click on html, 7) copy and paste the html format of your fic and paste it to tumblr, 8) change the setting back to rich text and your format is the way you want it from google docs.

Submitting your fics to the Pond to be posted on the blog

Via the app:

Submitting via the app is a pain, but it is possible.

[Side note: Posts submitted to the Pond via the app can not be edited by the admin. We don’t edit your posts often, but occasionally we will add or change tags, or try to make your post look more appealing. If you submit via the app, we can’t do that.]

Kay was gracious enough to go through thr process and make screenshots for us, explaining what was happening along the way.

First, click on the envelope at the top of the screen:

Nect, click “Submit Your Fics”:

Then you’ll see this screen:

The various options for the type of submission show up at the bottom just like when you compose a post in the app for your own blog. I would add that my “asks” seem to get eaten more often when my phone auto-corrects something. So, one post I did not use auto-correct (and that took way too many tries, honestly) and one post did use auto-correct (and I surprisingly had success).

All the tags available are already applied when submitting through the app (at least on my phone) so you would have to delete those that don’t apply, which is opposite of how you do it when submitting on desktop.

To do this, tap on the #tags (you can see them starting to list in the middle of all the white or you can tap the # in the bottom right corner) and you will get this big list of all the tags available when submitting.

Tap on the one that does NOT apply, and you will get this tiny little x.

Tap the x to remove that tag. Repeat for all the tags that do not apply. If you do not tap the x, it will go back to the darker blue color of a tag that will be applied to your submission.

Caution: if you remove a tag you wanted by accident, you will have to type it back in. My experience with this was my app generating popular tags related to what I was typing first, not tags that were previously there, so please read carefully to get the correct tags.

To change the type of post to link instead of text: click on the link icon along the bottom (there's the Aa for a text post, links, GIF, a camera, etc). However, I copy/pasted a link into the body on a Aa post and it still seemed to work.

A long time ago, THIS ANSWER was posted on the Pond blog about making your submitted post “prettier” and more attractive to readers. This was made based on using desktop (not the app), and just copying and pasting from one tab to another, like this:

On desktop, in Chrome, this works very well, for most people, most of the time. (Mel had some issues doing it for a couple of days, and then it magically started working for no apparent reason.) The gif will transfer over, along with the gif credit, too. This way, the submission to the Pond looks exactly like your original post, and will thus attract more readers.

In the app, though, the copy function doesn’t like to go through an image, and it seemed to be hit-or-miss if a gif copied and pasted would load properly. Basically, it’s a LOT of work to submit via the app, and it is not recommended. You can, but it’s a lot of work.

Why should I make my submissions “pretty” when just posting a link works just fine?

When you are submitting your story to the Pond to be posted on the blog, you’re doing it to attract readers who might otherwise not see your story. You want to sell your story on our blog the same way you sell it on your own blog. That means including all of the elements of a header that are suggested IN THIS POST (Suggested Format for Fics). If you don’t add this information, you could end up with a post that looks like this on the blog:

Readers might not even clock that as a story to be read! Some readers won’t even look at a story that doesn’t list a word count, warnings, or if there’s a pairing. Simply copying and pasting your header into the submission box gives potential readers everything they need to know. Also, here is a good list we came up with a while back of Warning Tags for Fics.

I worked really hard to craft this “secret” (but possibly triggering) ending so I don’t want to spoil it in the warnings; any suggestions?

In your header, let your readers know that there is possibly triggering material in the story, direct them to your tags at the bottom of the post, and then use the “#tw:” format to list the spoilery triggers in your story. This way, people who have few or no triggers can read without being spoiled, and those with triggers they need to avoid can make sure they’re reading safely.

I’m bad at writing summaries. Do I really need one?

Yes. And don’t wimp out and say, “I’m bad at summaries.” That will turn readers off. Think of a summary like a movie trailer. Would you go see a movie is the trailer was just a guy saying, “It’s a good movie, I swear, but I suck at making trailers, so just go see it, yeah?” If a reader is at all unsure about reading your story, your summary can make their decision. Your summary doesn’t need to spoil the story, but just give the reader some idea of what they’re getting into. Set the table, as it were, before the meal. Is it canon-compliant, or an AU? When is it set? Who’s involved in the story? Bring your readers to the ball park before you start the game.

Should I use a specific tag for my writing? Why or why not?

After some discussion, we determined that you should if you don’t have a masterlist set up, yet, or if you don’t keep your masterlist updated. As long as you have a masterlist and keep it up-to-date, then the extra tag isn’t necessary.

That’s it for this month! Don’t forget to submit your stories and your Angel Fish nominations! Want to know what’s happening in the Pond? Check the Pond Calendar to see what’s coming up! And, as always, if you have questions or suggestions, let us know! You can send us an ask, or send a private message to @manawhaat (Mana) or @mrswhozeewhatsis (Michelle) anytime!

#chat recap #spnfanficpond #spnfanficpond livechat #michelle answers #chat room #let's chat #THE CHAT ROOM #pond chat

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chicoriii · 4 years ago

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I was thinking about it for a while and finally I decided to make an Instagram account for my arts. I will post there my new and old (sometimes very old) arts I still have somewhere. Unfortunately I lost most of my old digital arts, due to moving to new computer or formatting hard disc, since I deleted many of them from my devianart account. They were bad, but they had sentimental value for me.

I’m chicoriiii because with two or three “i” was already taken. If you also have Instagram, let me know, I will follow you too. :)

BTW. That sucks you can’t easily upload things through desktop without tricks (personally I installed an extension for my internet browser). If I knew it before making an account, I probably wouldn’t do it. I'm a dinosaur who really doesn't like post things through mobile devices much. I even don't have Tumblr app on my old and slow phone (but I could download it if needed if it only works, when it comes my old phone I can't be sure) and I post things here via my PC only. Especially that I do or edit my arts on the computer, so it's much more comfortable to post them using it.

#original post #chicoriii

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poyointhemirror · 5 years ago

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hey guys i wanna say something about icons really quick

as someone who rps with and without icons (here and on nightmaresindreamland respectively) i can tell you that people very much do like icons much more than they do without. it adds spice to a normally purely text medium and you can immediately tell how a character is feeling by looking at this neat little picture which is usually around 50x50 to 150x150 or so. personally i like 100x100

when it comes to icons, rp seems to be centered around having them or else you won’t get people interacting with you. i spent two years on nightmaresindreamland and i can tell you that’s not the case. people will rp with an iconless rp blog, you just have to find out who and be friendly to them. sure, some people won’t rp with you on the basis that you don’t have icons, but whatever. it’s not an insult to you or your ability to write, they’re just doing what they prefer and that’s fine.

people who’re stuck to mobile and try to use icons usually find that mobile is a hellapp and the thing automatically resizes icons to be like GIGANTIC? like, take up the entire size of all these paragraphs above or so. which sucks because if you’re stuck to mobile, have no other options to get on tumblr other than mobile, and want to use icons, the app basically demolishes that experience by being ridiculous and upscaling all your icons into being these huge blurry monsters.

it’s not as though this is impossible to fix, though. @of-boxes-and-ufos is a mobile rper who is capable of making it so their icons aren’t stretched out to be huge and here’s how:

go to the internet browsing app (google chrome, safari, etc) on your phone and open up tumblr

request desktop site via settings, if you dont know how to do this then google based on what phone you have and what app you’re using

go ahead and reply to whatever you’re replying to, add in your pictures. they wont be stretched out if they’re small

done

a special note from box mun:

‘ Also it's really recommended to never try to type up an entire post when you reblog. As soon as you reblog, draft it. While editing, save as drafts a couple of times until you're SURE you're done. You'll never know when it might suddenly crash and refresh itself. ‘

i would rp with someone that doesn’t use icons. but i wouldn’t rp with someone who does and they’re huge. unless i know them and we’re friends, in which case I’d just delete the icons to make the post more readable. i rp on pc, and seeing huge, giant photos in a rp is a personal no from me. having consistent picture size isn’t an issue, just the size of the picture is. please, if you’re rping on mobile or pc, make your icons a decent size for the rest of us. if you don’t have a decent editing software on your phone or on your pc or what not, here’s one.

#ooc #this is okay to reblog #long post

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kaja-skowronek · 7 years ago

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Prompts! Three times Yuuri Katsuki made it impossible for Viktor not to fall in love with him and one time Viktor did the same for Yuuri. (is this okay? I wasn't sure if you were looking for general prompts or something else, like for the 3 sentence one...) I have more if you get bored! Have a safe trip

Thank you! This is perfect ❤ I loved writing this. I’m sorry it took so long, my access to tumblr was limited and I could only post it tonight!

Victor falls in love with Yuuri three times.

It’s not as easy as skating; Victor would like to think that he fell in love with Yuuri at the Sochi banquet, fluttering in Yuuri’s arms like a butterfly against the rhythm of that awful, awful tango which is now Victor’s favourite.

But no; it’s not as easy as skating. Victor doesn’t glide into love with Yuuri on the parquet like on the ice, and no, it’s not at the Sochi banquet.

It’s the morning after.

Victor wakes up and he’s alone – the sun brushes the white walls of his nondescript hotel room. Victor is cold and that reminds him of Yuuri – he blinks, sleepily, and that suddenly makes him realize how Yuuri blinked, how he squinted when they twirled and swirled on the dancefloor and then Yuuri deftly led Victor to the bathroom.

Victor from the night before knows what kinds of things happen in bathrooms when there’s a party in full swing, and he’d be a liar if he said he didn’t look forward to this kind of things happening with this person in this bathroom.

But no; Yuuri, a bit drunkenly, pushed Victor into the bathroom, closed the door shut, and pointed a surprisingly steady finger straight at Victor’s face.

‘Stay’, he said.

Victor stayed. He was too stunned to move.

Yuuri reached into his pocket, and Victor knew – that’s where he’d keep a condom, too, so he knew what was coming. But Yuuri just looked at him, intently, and then stared hard in the mirror as he slowly took out a glasses case from his pocket.

‘Contact lenses suck’, Yuuri announced then to the world, and even if the world was just Victor, and even if the world was just the bathroom, no one could be more stunned than Victor was then – and nothing could be more stunning than Yuuri, who was just washing his hands like he had no care in the world, suddenly softer and less intense.

Yuuri, who took out his contacts with visible disgust and throw them out, and put his glasses off, and Victor didn’t fall in love then but he fell back against the door as Yuuri pushed him out into the corridor, eyes big behind the blue glasses, lips red and ready to be kissed.

Victor doesn’t fall in love then; it’s not as easy and instinctual as tying up the skates and readying himself for a quad.

He falls in love the morning after, when Yuuri is not there and the light shines on the walls like a tentative promise. Victor remembers the Yuuri and the bathroom and even the disposable lenses in the rubbish bin, and there it is, the oh moment he’s only ever seen in movies.

And then it gets as easy as skating.

“Victor”, Yuuri shouts, “come here!”.

Victor is in his bed in Hasetsu, warm and ridiculously comfortable, but it’s simple logic – when Yuuri calls, Victor comes. When Yuuri leads, Victor follows.

He untangles himself from the soft blanket that smells a bit like Victor’s own cologne, and a bit like Yuuri, and probably has more Makka’s fur that is sanitary, and drapes it around his body like a cape.

It’s not cold, but Victor likes soft things, and he likes Yuuri the most.

(Who is he kidding – it’s more than simply liking, much more, and Victor’s heart is in pieces).

Yuuri waits for him downstairs, in the kitchen, eyes bright, smile wide, a sight so domestic that Victor almost melts and becomes one with his blanket.

Makka is with Yuuri – her tail waggles, a long-familiar sight, and Victor can’t help but smile.

“Look!”, Yuuri then says. “I bought Makka a toy!”

And there it is, a squeaky duck in Yuuri’s hands, but for all Victor knows, it could be his heart instead.

Victor holds it with his hands like a precious stone.

The jar is simple, the standard glass cut that makes no promises about being fashionable, the kind you get when you take care to get things done but prefer practicality over looks. Victor has some decorative jars in St Petersburg that would probably be offended to be put in the vicinity of this one.

Victor would shatter each of them in a heartbeat, and his heart indeed is beating fast.

“What is it?”, he asks, even though he knows. Some things are better when you have a confirmation.

“It’s jam”, Yuuri answers with a softness in his voice, and Victor loves him all the more for it. “You know. For—for your tea. You drink it differently”.

The thing is: Victor knows. He got a few weird looks from the locals here and there, and even Hiroko raised her eyebrows once, as if bemused by the peculiar foreigner who knew nothing about tea culture.

Victor knows plenty about tea culture, only not the Japanese one. Russians have their own.

“I—I tried to find out what flavour was the most popular but couldn’t find anything specific? So I just got you this one. It’s a local brand. I know it’s not the same but I thought it would still make you feel a bit more at home here”.

And Yuuri, sweet, soft, ridiculous Yuuri, still doesn’t know Victor’s home is where his heart is, and his heart will always follow Yuuri.

+ 1

Phichit will later say it’s completely idiotic, but he’s not surprised since it’s also so Yuuri.

He may or may not be right – but the fact is, Yuuri falls in love when Victor is not even there.

Phichit is there, via Facetime, sunny as usual, teasing Yuuri as usual, and Yuuri bears it all with the kind of fondness that shows in his dimples and makes Tumblr swoon.

“So what is he like, for real? As good as the posters? What kind of shampoo does he use?”.

Yuuri answers all of these. He could talk about Victor for ages. This is all he was doing in Detroit. But this is new; this Victor is new, much more real and much closer than even the best-limited edition poster could ever be.

“He downloaded seven language learning apps last night”, Yuuri shares. “Not even the free versions, all premium memberships. He’s on the beach with Makka now, going through Japanese vocabulary”.

“Has he learnt Will you marry me yet?”, Phichit asks because he’s Phichit.

“Phichit”, Yuuri says like he always does.

But that’s it; Yuuri may have had a crush the size of Mount Fuji, but this is all real – the person is real this time, and this person is Victor, and Victor is learning Japanese for Yuuri. Phichit blinks at him innocently, his face a bit blurred, but Yuuri doesn’t see him. Instead, he thinks of Victor, silver-haired and care-free as he sits on the beach with his phone in his hands, painstakingly going through hiragana.

“I don’t know”, he finally answers.

A moment passes. Yuuri knows Phichit. He knows his friend wants a better answer.

“But I know if he doesn’t ask it”, he begins, “I will”.

#prompts #yoi #yoi ficlet #3 + 1 #yuri katsuki #victor nikiforov #yuri on ice #writing

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semperdiscens · 6 years ago

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Should I leave social media?

A brain dump on my thoughts on social media. I may as well write for a newspaper considering how much I got out on this one topic with minimal research. Imagine what I could write with research!

Facebook’s attempt at creating a cute, inviting and wholesome log-in screen (February 2019) despite its multiple privacy scandals that has affected literal millions of people.

I love learning about different topics, researching, and contemplating them. My most recent topic is that of the effects of social media on people’s lives. Suddenly, you look around and social media is a part of everyone’s lives—from children to older adults. In 2010, I created my Facebook account (after peer pressure set in from my friends). During that year and the years that followed, adults were like, “Oh, you kids and your Facebook.” But suddenly it’s 2019 and everyone can spend hours scrolling through Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and swiping through Snapchat without questioning it; it’s just what people do now. It’s not just a young people thing anymore; now it’s just a people thing.

I’d like to say that I’ve never been extremely attached to social media, but I don’t think that would be true. I remember when Instagram didn’t have its noisy “Explore” tab and people wouldn’t get sucked into watching random videos and looking at random pictures they would have otherwise not been exposed to if that content weren’t conveniently located under the search bar/tab. The few times I was curious and found myself scrolling through it I had to tell myself, “Why am I even looking at this stuff? I know this is actually just a waste of time” in order to move on with my day. When I used to post much more often on Facebook, I always found myself uncomfortably waiting for those notifications, just waiting to see people’s reaction to my posts. The same can be said of Instagram and the few times I used Twitter. When I used to post stories to my Snapchat, I would just wait to see how many people saw it or responded to it, checking it until the full 24 hours had gone by. This includes all the “Instagrammable” moments of my life and how I spent so many of them thinking, “This would be good to share” instead of simply allowing myself to fully enjoy the moment.

Even though my personal experience with social media has not been as extreme as that of others, I nevertheless wonder how I could ever let my own life be dominated by the anxiety of waiting for people’s reactions when I could have simply...not done that. My teenage years were highly influenced by social media and it’s hard to ignore it when you’re 16 and everyone around you is using it and “Why don’t you have ________? You should make an account” and “Don’t tag me in that picture, please delete it!” and it just becomes a central part of your life because it’s what’s new and interesting, just like having the glossy, new iPhone 4 when it came out in 2011 (this iPhone was, BTW, the first iPhone with a front-facing camera). It was all about attention and all teenagers want attention.

Fast-forward to late 2018. I’ve graduated college and I have spent the past ~9 developmental years of my life, high school and college, fully immersed in a world that is fully immersed in normalizing an increasing amount of time spent on and thinking about social media. We have to keep in mind that the hours that people spend on social media may be trackable, but I believe we also need to consider the time we spend thinking about our posts, other people’s opinions about our posts, etc. I think that probably adds up to A LOT of time. Social media has successfully integrated itself into our lives the same way microplastics have entered the food chain (“We Know Plastic Is Harming Marine Life. What About Us?” by Elizabeth Royte).

The catalyst that caused me to draw away from social media was how I felt that Snapchat was becoming increasingly tacky with its tabloid-like stories on the easily accessible “Discover” tab. I was simply not interested in this information at all and it seemed as though I had no choice but to see it every time I happened to use the app. But that was just the thing. I did have a choice; there was nothing stopping me from not using the app. There was nothing stopping me from deleting the app. There was nothing stopping me from deleting my account! “But what about my friends?” I thought. “How will I keep in touch with them?” The thing is, social media is just various outlets that allows for one thing: communication. An email, a text, a phone call, an in-person meeting can all achieve this. We just have to choose it. “But what about communicating with long-distance friends/lovers?” A relationship that falls apart from a lack of social media is not a stable relationship in the first place. If you have access to social media, you have access to the Internet; if you have access to the Internet, you have access to email and other forms of communication; you do not NEED social media. You do NOT NEED social media.

I began with deleting my Snapchat account and then moved to delete my mostly unused Twitter account. I then disabled my Instagram account and have been considering deleting my Facebook account as well. Since late December 2018, it has been refreshing to not be checking these accounts and not having their apps taking up space on my phone.

“Why are you still on Tumblr, then?”

Much like life, this is an ongoing process; I’m testing the waters outside of living with certain forms of social media. Obviously, I’m still using Tumblr. I may decide to leave it completely; I may decide it’s best taken in small, controlled amounts. I’m learning! I’m sharing this unironically via social media because I’m interested in extending this message to anyone else who may be feeling overwhelmed by social media or who may be questioning the actual benefits of using it like I am.

If you have read this far, I just want you to know that:

You do not have to let social media swallow all of your precious time. Read: All of your time is precious. And social media is just making money off of YOUR time, off of YOUR LIFE.

You are an autonomous being and social media for personal use is YOUR choice.

You do NOT NEED social media.

You are not “weird” for not having an account with every major social media outlet out there. What’s “weird” is that it has become so normal to give so much of our time to social media. THAT’s weird, unhealthy, and yet the new “normal”.

If you are interested in viewing this information in video form, I’m considering creating a YouTube channel (unironically) as a way to express and document what I believe to be highly relevant information. I think this message needs to get out there and it needs to be discussed. We have to take control of our own future! And that may potentially be giving social media a taste of its own medicine.

#bysemperdiscens #social media #tumblr #facebook #instagram #privacy #millennials #gen z #twitter #youtube #capitalism #communication #opinion #2019 #technology #IG #society #culture

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readersforum · 6 years ago

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How I podcast

New Post has been published on http://www.readersforum.tk/how-i-podcast/

How I podcast

I’ve been podcasting in various forms for about a dozen years now. Sometimes it has been within the corporate confines of the various publications I’ve worked for and sometimes it has just been for myself. That’s the beauty of podcasting — there’s no overhead.

It can be recorded on a terrible Skype line or meticulously crafted by an army of producers. You can do it for five listeners or five million. Do a five-episode miniseries or suddenly look at the calendar one day and realize you’ve been putting up an episode a week for five years.

My current podcast, RiYL, falls into the latter category. Episode 322 just posted this weekend. That’s a lifetime in podcast years, and I’m not exaggerating when I say there’s no way the show would have lasted this long had I not assembled the proper gear.

It’s true that doing the show has been an ongoing process of refining my setup, both in terms of recording hardware and the software workflow, but the core components have been in place for a while. A number of my more successful friends have invested thousands to build home studios that sound as professional as any NPR affiliate.

For me, however, the key has always been mobility. I’ve fine-tuned a podcasting rig that sounds good, but is small enough to slip into a laptop sleeve. Leave no trace, as the saying goes.

Always keep a podcasting rig you can fit in a laptop sleeve. pic.twitter.com/BAwbHAuzKG

— Brian Heater (@bheater) January 25, 2019

The motivation dates back to the show’s humble beginnings (though, for the record, the first few episodes were done over Skype as I was still figuring things out). I realized pretty early on that getting touring artists and musicians to come to my place in Queens (with a few exceptions) was going to be a non-starter.

Piecing together a lightweight rig has given me the flexibility to meet people where they are, be it a hotel room, bar or their PR rep’s conference room. And now that I travel pretty regularly for work, it means I can easily slip the setup into a carry-on, so I can meet guests in their hometowns.

Here’s a photo of upcoming guest Hannibal Buress, recorded in my hotel room in Lagos, Nigeria. My setup is placed gingerly atop my overturned suitcase on a coffee table. He’s clearly impressed.

The other thing the setup has helped me realize is that people’s expectations for professionalism has shifted considerably in recent decades. My rig is small and simple, but various guests have commented over the years that they’re impressed. The last person who interviewed them had them speak into their iPhone.

At the very least, this is certainly better than that.

It’s not the end-all, be-all, by any stretch of the imagination. This is just what has worked for me. Over the years, I’ve had plenty of people — guests and otherwise — ask me what I use. Also, in the wake of last week’s Spotify acquisition of Anchor and Gimlet, podcasts are, once again, the hot newness. So now seemed like as good a time as any to get this all down on paper.

TASCAM DR-40 4-Track Portable Digital Recorder ($170): This was my first acquisition and the one piece of hardware I’ve held onto through the duration of the show (though for the record, I’ve purchased it twice after an unfortunate incident with a lost backpack).

Zoom and Roland also make solid multi-track recorders that will probably be interchangeable for most. The key is finding a system you like that sports dual XLR mic inputs that you can monitor on the fly. They pretty much all have built-in mics, but you’re not going to want to rely on room mics for a podcast. It sounds like crap and it’s a nightmare to edit if you’ve got more than one speaker.

Recording works like a charm. The system records each mic to a left and right channel, which it saves as a WAV file on an SD card. Just make sure the mics are placed at a sufficient distance, so you don’t pick up too much cross talk.

Of course, here you’re limited to two mics. That’s been an issue at points when entire bands have wanted to join in on the fun. The aforementioned companies do make recorders with more inputs. Those are generally larger and a lot pricier, though.

Honorable mention here goes to the Rodecaster. The board is really great at what it does. We recorded an episode of TechCrunch Original Content on the thing, with it doing guest duties and producing in real time. The recent addition of multi-track recording makes this thing an absolute killer.

It has eight channels, including multiple mic inputs, triggerable sound pads and the ability to beam someone in via phone. If I was setting up a home studio on the cheap, I would shell out for one of these, no questions asked. That said, it’s just way too large for my current needs.

Weymic New Wm57 ($10): Okay, true story. Right after I bought the TASCAM, I invested in a pair of super-cheap mics. They sounded… OK, but the presentation was lacking. One afternoon, I went to Reggie Watts’ Brooklyn apartment to record an episode. I handed him a mic. He looked it over, moved it around in his hand a bit, then slyly unplugged it and reached into a drawer behind him, grabbed a mic and popped it on.

The guy knows from microphones.

My takeaway here is that presentation is important. Looks matter, as does weight. A microphone should have some heft to it. People’s expectations have lowered with regards to what an audio setup looks like, but you need good mics if pros are going to take you seriously.

I’ve since been through various mics, and lately I’ve settled on these things. For the record, they’re a wholesale knock-off of the Shure SM57 Cardioid Dynamic Microphone — the go-to microphone for podcasters. The SM57 is the thing I assume Marc Maron and Terry Gross would talk about if they had to share an Uber Pool to Silver Lake.

The Weymic looks nearly identical and sounds great for one-tenth the price. Don’t ask me how. And hey, I’m not exactly swimming in Casper ad revenue here. Also do yourself a favor and invest in a couple of foam windscreens to cut down on sibilance. You can get a bunch in a pack for cheap.

Universal Adjustable Desk Microphone Stand Portable Foldable Tripod (Two for $15): I’m embarrassed to admit how long it took me to add these to the repertoire. Guests jostle mics a lot during long interviews, and that stuff picks up. I’ve also had a number of older guests on the show, and asking them to hold a microphone for 45 minutes to an hour is just cruel.

These, picked up from Amazon, are super-cheap and fold up into nothing, making them perfect for my laptop-sleeve constraints. The only issues are: 1) They’re not great for super-tall guests. I recently had a member of the band Health on the show and ended up sticking the stand precariously atop a pile of several books; and 2) The screws loosen themselves like crazy for some reason, so I just purchased a pair of keychain screw drivers to keep them in check.

I pair all of that with a couple of six-foot XLR mic cables ($7 a piece for Amazon basics) and some velcro ties. Those fit nicely in the outside pocket of the laptop sleeve, along with backup batteries.

Audacity/Garage Band: Sometimes you just stick with the workflow you’ve got. I should probably upgrade to Adobe Audition (maybe this article will be what motivates me) one of these days, but I’ve been using Audacity for like 10 years at this point. It’s simple and it works fine for chopping up a show. That’s my biggest complaint with a number of the free apps like Anchor — they mostly suck when it comes to editing a show.

And editing is important. It’s true that another one of the wonderful things about podcasts is they can be as long or as short as you want, but everything can benefit from a little tightening up. I also spend a lot of time adjusting levels (often on the subway ride home). And make sure to record a little room tone to get rid of ambient noise in post.

After the show is edited, I export it as a single track and import it into my show template in Garage Band. That’s where I add the music beds, outros and the like.

Podbean: A couple of friends are launching a podcast soon. They asked me who I use for hosting. Podbean is something I found early on. I’m not sure I’d recommend the service, but I’m 300+ episodes deep at this point. There are a lot of options out there, so shop around a bit. Anchor is compelling for novices, including its built-in ad-servicing (though I’m a little wary of how the Spotify acquisition will play out) and a lot of my friends swear by Libsyn for more popular shows. Heck, even SoundCloud has a decent option.

Everyone has an embedded player and the means with which to syndicate to iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, et al.

I’ve found Podbean to be a bit clunky and the service has experienced a handful of outages. That said, recent additions have streamlined the program, and they’ve added some pretty decent analytics to the backend, so it’s definitely headed in the right direction. Once uploaded, I embed that into a Tumblr post.

This week on RiYL, a frank discussion with @michaelfranti about the power of human connections and optimism in a difficult world. https://t.co/Q8Y6joNlCy #riylcast pic.twitter.com/PoVseiihWf

— Brian Heater (@bheater) February 11, 2019

Headliner: I’ve tried a number of speech visualizers for promoting the show. I found Anchor’s clunky. Wavve’s was decent, but they start charging you after your first 30-second clip. I only just started using Headliner this week, and it’s terrific. Easy to use, highly customizable and, best of all, free.

The transcriptions are okay for a free service (you’re going to have to clean them up) and the online editing tools are great. I think I’m sticking with this one for a while.

Additional shout-outs to Google Drive. The first thing I do after transferring files from my desktop is back them up here. It’s the one place where I’ve got all my files and has helped quite a bit with scheduling episodes.

YouTube is another recent experiment for me. I’ve been syndicating the show to all of the usual places, as mentioned above, but it recently occurred to me that people use the video platform to listen to audio programs. I asked a bunch of folks on Facebook and found it to be surprisingly popular. This will become increasingly important as more people purchase screen-sporting assistants like Google Home Hub and the Amazon Show. It’s a new thing for me and I’ve only got a handful of subscribers at the moment, but I’ll let you know how that goes.

I do still find myself recording remotely from time to time. Auto podcaster extraordinaire Kirsten recently introduced me to Zencastr, which is great for this purpose, recording each caller remotely and backing up those files to a server. If I’m using Skype, I go with the old standby, Ecamm’s Call Recorder, to record locally.

I’ve also become attached to Blue’s Raspberry USB mic for this purpose. It’s adorable and tiny, so you can stash it in a backpack for travel. It’s not the best-sounding mic, but it’s good for its size and it sounds a hell of a lot better than the company’s Yeti Nano. Rode’s got a company of models with optional windscreens I’ve been meaning to check out as well, but I’ve heard good things.

If you’re hip to any new tools you think I should check out, hit me up on Twitter at @bheater. I’m always looking for ways to step up my game.

0 notes

toomanysinks · 6 years ago

Text

How I podcast

For me, however, the key has always been mobility. I’ve fine-tuned a podcasting rig that sounds good, but is small enough to slip into a laptop sleeve. Leave no trace, as the saying goes.

Always keep a podcasting rig you can fit in a laptop sleeve. pic.twitter.com/BAwbHAuzKG

— Brian Heater (@bheater) January 25, 2019

Here’s a photo of upcoming guest Hannibal Buress, recorded in my hotel room in Lagos, Nigeria. My setup is placed gingerly atop my overturned suitcase on a coffee table. He’s clearly impressed.

At the very least, this is certainly better than that.

The guy knows from microphones.

After the show is edited, I export it as a single track and import it into my show template in Garage Band. That’s where I add the music beds, outros and the like.

Everyone has an embedded player and the means with which to syndicate to iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, et al.

This week on RiYL, a frank discussion with @michaelfranti about the power of human connections and optimism in a difficult world. https://t.co/Q8Y6joNlCy #riylcast pic.twitter.com/PoVseiihWf

— Brian Heater (@bheater) February 11, 2019

The transcriptions are okay for a free service (you’re going to have to clean them up) and the online editing tools are great. I think I’m sticking with this one for a while.

If you’re hip to any new tools you think I should check out, hit me up on Twitter at @bheater. I’m always looking for ways to step up my game.

source https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/12/how-i-podcast/

0 notes

fmservers · 6 years ago

Text

How I podcast

For me, however, the key has always been mobility. I’ve fine-tuned a podcasting rig that sounds good, but is small enough to slip into a laptop sleeve. Leave no trace, as the saying goes.

Always keep a podcasting rig you can fit in a laptop sleeve. pic.twitter.com/BAwbHAuzKG

— Brian Heater (@bheater) January 25, 2019

Here’s a photo of upcoming guest Hannibal Buress, recorded in my hotel room in Lagos, Nigeria. My setup is placed gingerly atop my overturned suitcase on a coffee table. He’s clearly impressed.

At the very least, this is certainly better than that.

The guy knows from microphones.

After the show is edited, I export it as a single track and import it into my show template in Garage Band. That’s where I add the music beds, outros and the like.

Everyone has an embedded player and the means with which to syndicate to iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, et al.

This week on RiYL, a frank discussion with @michaelfranti about the power of human connections and optimism in a difficult world. https://t.co/Q8Y6joNlCy #riylcast pic.twitter.com/PoVseiihWf

— Brian Heater (@bheater) February 11, 2019

The transcriptions are okay for a free service (you’re going to have to clean them up) and the online editing tools are great. I think I’m sticking with this one for a while.

If you’re hip to any new tools you think I should check out, hit me up on Twitter at @bheater. I’m always looking for ways to step up my game.

Via Brian Heater https://techcrunch.com

#TechCrunch

0 notes