#reblog polls which is why you end up seeing so many of the similar ones

[finexbright]

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[vintagestagehotties]

FAQ

Welcome to the vintage theatre showdown! The Vintage Theatre Actress Tournament to determine the hotness of vintage theatre ladies will begin Saturday, April 13. Submissions are currently closed! Hot male actors will come soon, but I’m in a ladies mood at the moment.

Can I currently submit hotties?

Submissions for hot fellas are CLOSED.

How long will the finals last?

The semifinals will begin on Saturday, November 9th and last one week.

What are the criteria for contestants?

Your hottie must:

Have a significant theatre career - ie, more than two theatre credits to their name, have played leading or featured roles, won awards, etc.

Have had a decent chunk of their career take place pre-70s (ie if they made their stage debut in an ensemble in 1969 but then became famous in years to come, I’m not counting it). Similarly, a decent chunk of their career must have taken place post-1900 (ie if their last stage role ever was in February of 1900, not gonna count it).

Exceptions to the above will be accepted at my discretion - for example, maybe they only played one or two shows but earned a Tony Award. To take into account the racism of past theatre, exceptions will be made nearly always for the sake of inclusivity and diversity

What counts as theatre?

I am accepting performers from plays, musicals, revues, and operas. Other types of stage performers (for example, comedians and ballerinas) will be accepted on a case by case basis, provided a case could be made that their stage career involved a degree of acting. I’m accepting Broadway, West End, worldwide productions, tours, even regional theatre counts! One of my personal favorite submissions for the ladies tournament was a Peking opera performer!

What counts as vintage?

The timeline to be considered vintage for this tournament is 1900-1969. A fella can have a significant chunk of his career post 1970 or in the 19th century, but at least some of it has to be within this time frame.

Can I submit propaganda?

Yes! You can send propaganda to my asks or submissions, or you can tag me in reblogs or posts. However, I won’t be posting or reblogging any propaganda until the tournament starts except the posts I have queued to lead up to the tournament’s beginning.

What tags do you track?

I track the tags #vintagestagehotties and #vintagestagepoll

The #vintagestagepoll will be the tag for all of the polls, while #vintagestagehotties is for anything relating to the tournament.

Other tags include #propaganda, which is pretty self explanatory, #losers highlights, highlighting some of our performers who are gone but not forgotten, and #mini polls for fun miniature pools featuring our contestants.

Why did you use this photo/propaganda/etc…?

Propaganda is entirely submitted. I try to remain as impartial as possible and will simply post the propaganda that is submitted to me, however I will not use negative propaganda.

For photos I try to use the main photo submitted whenever possible. I try to make sure the photo is from the period that they were active on stage within the time frame (ex I didn’t use use a pic of Greer Garson from the 40s when she wasn’t doing any stage work, I didn’t use any pics of Sarah Bernhardt from before the 20th century, etc). Other than that I try to make sure that you can clearly see their face, it’s not too blurry, and there’s no watermarks (I have a watermark remover but if it doesn’t work I’ll use the image in propaganda and find a different main picture). I also prefer not to use pictures where stage makeup or wigs change their natural appearance too much.

If you dislike the photo used for an actress or actor, send me an alternative and I’ll see what I can do!

How will the pairs be selected?

For round 1, I pit similar decades against each other and then am more random in following rounds.

There is a lot of overlap between theatre stars and film stars, and a great many major vintage film stars had successful theatre careers as well. So, in order to avoid the last rounds turning into a hot movie star competition, early rounds will see the incredibly famous movie stars pitted against each other. This is in the spirit of fairness to give lesser known performers with only theatre careers more of a fighting chance.

Will there be future polls?

Yes! In addition to the poll for vintage stage men, I have a few others planned - vintage women in STEM is pretty definite, and I’m tossing around the idea of a silent film star poll, a vintage ballerina poll, a femme fatale poll, and a poll just for vintage opera stars. And to be honest there’s enough vintage stage women in the world that I could easily do a second tournament for them! And clearly I HAVE to do a Peter Pan actress poll in the very near future.

[gaycavendish]

Sorry for being rude in this but you have made a statement I just cannot agree with so here’s an essay on why you’re wrong:

On April 27, you reblogged a post made the day prior with a poll asking what you thought of the PNF special “Mission Marvel.” You said in the tags, and I quote, “so much raw hatred in my blood, Phineas would never be so mean to candace. I find the very thought Insulting, I HATE THIS EPISODE”

You are wrong about this. Phineas would be that mean to Candace. He wasn’t even that rude in the first place.

Let’s look at this plot of the special. Thor, Spider-man, Iron Man, and the Hulk have all had their powers sapped after another failed scheme from Doofenshmirtz. On account of the fact that the power syphoning ray bounced off their satellite, Phineas and Ferb have been tasked with helping the superheros get back their powers.

This is a big responsibility with, as Phineas says, the fate of the entire Tri-State area, and possibly even the world, at stake. It makes sense that Phineas, a ten year old boy, would be on edge and not able to control his emotions as well as he’s normally able to.

We can see something similar to this in “Summer Belongs to You.” The goal that they have set out to accomplish is not strictly as desperate as this one on first glance, but in closer inspection it’s obvious that a lot is riding on this. Phineas has based his entire philosophy around being able to make the most of the day. While the sun’s still up, you’ve still got time to be seizing the day. So when they’re so close to end the setting of the sun, but they’re also so close to accomplishing what they set out to do (follow the sun around the world) and Candace not wanting her public image to be tarnished is the only thing stopping them, it makes sense that Phineas would lash out.

Which is why it makes infinitely more sense that he would lash out here as well. Honestly, based on everyone’s reactions in the tags I expected him to be worse. For example, this image in particular made me think he was gonna at least scream.

Instead what he says is very tame. There’s only a stern tone in his voice as he tells her off for swapping around the superheros’ powers “Honestly, Candace, if you don’t know what you’re doing, keep your hands off the machinery.” Is a perfectly valid statement when very many people are in danger. Yes, he does get angry, he lashes out. But, as I have said previously, the entire Tri-State area is at stake. Thousands, if not millions, of people could quite possibly die. I think it’s reasonable to get a bit upset in that circumstance.

And at the actual moment of her getting her SHED ID card revoked, I was expecting so much worse. Their mom has gotten angrier at Candace for not doing her chores (or doing them very badly) Instead, he explains what she did wrong in a very “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed” voice. And then, with no screaming (and if you think that was screaming than you, my friend, have a very warped perception of screaming (or perhaps I do)) he says, “This is just too important and we can’t afford any more setbacks. I’m revoking your SHED card. You have to go. Now.” The “now” at the end was perhaps a bit aggressive but my father’s taken sterner sounding tones in his normal speaking voice so I don’t think anybody in their right mind could call it screaming.

And again, you have to think of his motivation for acting this way. While we know that Candace is “only trying to help” (as the brilliant, amazing, wonderful song with absolutely no off Isabella characterization says) Phineas sees these actions as hindering their progress in getting the heros’ powers back. This, by extension, is hindering their progress on saving the Tri-State area. We already know that Phineas is under a lot of stress from this herculean task. Not to mention he is a CHILD. Helping save a couple hundred-thousand people is a big task for a 10 year old and it makes sense that he wouldn’t be able to control his emotions that well. And he’s still doing a better job than most. I mean, if you have siblings you know that you’ve fought over much less.

Which is why I don’t understand how the people like you, or the person that said he was “tearing into” Candace, think that him being mad was out of character at all. A great deal of stress was being put onto him and he really wasn’t even as angry as would be expected from anyone else. Not to mention that it’s been shown that in similar (if less dire) situations he acts similarly.

(Here’s a link to the post of you saying this btw: https://www.tumblr.com/gaycavendish/748884156721889280 ) (also sorry for making such a long fucking essay of what is essentially hate mail) (I just couldn’t let this injustice stay unchallenged any longer) (also I really wish you allowed anon asks because my blog has not had anything to do with pnf for multiple months)

ok! im just a casual pnf fan and i havent even finished the show yet so my opinions on it are really not this serious. at the point i was at in my watching when i made that post it was kind of the first time i had ever seen phineas be that mean so i didnt enjoy it. I still dont like the episode and i still think he was too mean to candace even if its in character for him i didnt like it.

[thehollowprince]

Sterek, Thiam, & Queerbaiting, Oh My!

(Or how racism and homophobia suppressed the actual representation of gay men in the show that fandom so desperately claimed they wanted.)

So, I'm just going to come out and say it right off the bat: neither of these ships were actually queerbaiting. As a matter of fact, I'd say that those ships just by themselves (and the fandoms that rose around them) were low-key homophobic. The reason I say this isn't just because of the large number of women in this fandom that fetishize mlm sexuality, nor is it about those who attack anyone who has any critique of those ships, its just about the ships themselves.

Now, one could argue that those ships arose from the fandom, and that is true, forever linking canon and fanon in the worst possible way, but this is more to do with the fact that the production of this show cowtowed to the vocal fans on Twitter and put moments in there that, while not explicitly canon, was a not-so-subtle nod to those "fans" that harassed people over crack ships.

Of course, I've been over this before, the pedophilic nature of Sterek and the outright abusive elements to Thiam, but those very real complaints (from an actual gay man like myself) always fall on deaf ears or is usually met with the whole "fiction doesn't affect reality" spiel. And this is incredibly frustrating (or even downright infuriating) to those of us who have had to live with these stereotypes because of our sexuality. To this day there are people out there who equate gay men with pedophiles. That's one of the major talking points for these anti-LGBT religious groups and there's an entire group of people on the internet who are dedicated to promoting a predatory style relationship (Sterek).

What makes the popularity of Sterek so infuriating, is the fact that we had Danny right there. Danny was present in the second episode of the series. We were introduced to him before there was any kind of interaction between Stiles and Derek, and yet he is continually slept on by the fandom, and then by the production as a result of the fandom, which eventually led to Danny just disappearing from the show entirely. To add insult to injury, Danny was practically everything Fandom was crying for when it came to gay representation. He was handsome with a nice body, smart and funny, and everyone liked him, and yet there's usually cricket chirps whenever he's mentioned. Something similar happened to Scott - a character that who stuck fast to his morals and was just an all around good person, and yet so many people violently hated him. Now what could Danny and Scott have in common that made so many people look past them? Gee, I wonder?

Moving forward, once Sterek was no longer a possibility, rather than focus on, I don't know, Mason, a character that was tailor-made for the fandom, they once again make up a crack ship to flock around (Thiam) rather than focus on the actual, consensual relationship that was made up of actual gay characters.

But you may be saying to yourself, "at least these two (Theo and Liam) were around the same age", and you would be right in that regards. But what makes this ship bad, is that it's rooted entirely in first deceit and then later in physical violence. I remember very vividly seeing someone say that Liam and Theo punching each other was how they expressed their affection and I was horrified by that. How many times a day on this app do we see posts floating around that domestic violence is wrong? And then how many times do you see a ship (usually a crack ship) that a fandom loves rooted in physical violence? The disconnect is terrifying.

All of this while Mason and Corey were right there, being cute and in love and everything that fandom claims they want when it comes to representation, yet they're totally ignored in favor of the two straight characters beating the shit out of one another. This is why so many franchises revolving around these "macho men" are able to thrive, even though so many people (mostly women) in fandom claim they want softer men. And yet, whenever a softer man is presented, particularly if they're a man of color, they're brushed aside.

And that's just mlm representation! You hear almost nothing when it comes to wlw representation, unless its to get the women "out of the way".

This all comes down to the racism that permeates every level of fandom. I'm not saying this is intentional, because we've all done it. Hell, I did it. When I joined the Teen Wolf fandom, I followed pro-Sterek blogs and reblogged Sterek posts, because I wanted to be accepted in the fandom, and I bought into the propaganda that was fanon!Sterek. I read the metas and the fics and decided to believe in those instead of what I saw on the screen with my own two eyes. Thankfully, I snapped out of it, but that's why Sterek (and later Thiam) dominated fandom spaces, even making their way to polls for "Best Couple" on many websites.

And then, when these ships don't become canon, fandom screams QUEERBAITING!!! Even though those ships were something made up entirely by the fandom and never something that production considered being canon.

Another big part of how the situation gets as bad as it does is that fandom misunderstands (either accidentally or deliberately) what racism actually means. It's not just the throwing of slurs, it's the preference of the white character over the character of color, even though the latter has everything they said they wanted. Racism is reducing characters of color to stereotypes, such as a brown or brown person being violent (Tamora and Kali) or the sexually obsessed Latino (Scott) or the untrustworthy negro (Deaton and Morrell). Hell, even Boyd was thrust into the silent negro stereotype for some reason.

Now this part, this is as much the production's fault as it is the fandoms, because while the former introduced those concepts (or even if fandom thinks they introduced those concepts) fandom then takes them and blows them out of proportion. How many times have I gotten an ask from that one anon telling me that Scott was "obsessed" with Allison? How many times have I seen metas about how Deaton was "untrustworthy" because he didn't share his every waking thought? How many times did we see particular blogs slut-shame Braeden because she engaged in a consensual relationship with Derek?

And the thing about those is, yes, the original idea was introduced in the show, such as Scott's relationship with Allison or Deaton only offering advice when asked or Derek and Braeden flirting, but fandom took them and cranked them up to eleven in an effort to make these characters look horrible. This is something we don't see at all when it comes to their white counterparts. Stiles is never described as "obsessed" by the fandom despite his fixation on Lydia. Peter is almost never described as "untrustworthy" by the fans despite lying and decieving people all the time. Neither Lydia or Malia are called sluts for being sexually active despite not being in relationships.

When Derek repeatedly assaults Stiles (or Scott, not that fandom cared), it's seen as quirky or romantic (same with Thiam), but when Scott hits Isaac or Jackson, in scenes that were very specifically shown to be comedic, its seen as abusive and violent. Stiles asking Danny if he's "attractive to gay guys" or pausing after Caitlin asked him if he liked guys is deemed proof that he's bisexual, but Scott's interactions with Isaac and Danny (or even Stiles himself), where had they been a guy and a girl, it would have clearly been an intimate moment, is still considered absolutely straight by fandom.

So what's the difference?

It's the racism.

The real kicker at the end of the day here is that fans cry queerbaiting, all the while they're actively sleeping on the actual gay representation that's there. It doesn't fit their aesthetic, so they ignore it, and then wonder why mlm relationships are going down in television. I'm not saying we shouldn't want or demand more representation in media, but people can't be so ignorant as to outright ignore the representation they're given and then wonder why they're not getting more.

Well, this got way longer than I originally intended and I hope I'm not just screaming into the void, but this is an issue that's still relevant, all these years after Teen Wolf ended.

[wetookanoath]

Nini’s birthday plan 2019 to be annoyingly postive ~

So, it’s that time of the year again. 

My birthday is coming soon on November 18th, and like every year, I thought of making a wish list. But, this year I decided to actually make a little activity. 

I love my birthday, and I want to share it with all of you because this place has been a great source of positiveness lately and, even after the worst parts of it, I’ve been blessed with your support.

That said,

~ ACITIVITIES

I’ve decided that, starting November 10th, there are a few things I would love to do and they include your participation. From the 10th to the 18th, we are going to be positive as fuck, let’s annoy haters.

November 10th: Fanartists appreciation day. Like last year, I’ll make a post appreciating my favorite artists in the shyan fandom, I’ll be also reblogging my favorite works from them even If I have reblogged them before. I would totally love to see if other people make their own appreciation posts as well, don’t doubt on sending them my way to reblog them or tag me in them.

I’m doing only shyan artists because there aren’t many and to avoid unpleasant encounters with other sides of the fandom. I want peace, I’m not fighting anyone on my birthday month!

November 11th: Follow Forever. I know this is something most people do on New Year’s or whatnot, but I already have other plans for December so I’ll be doing this now. It’s a little post appreciating my favorite blogs that include mutuals, writers, gif and graphic makers, etc. All people I follow and that I love seeing on my dash.

On this day, you can totally rec to me and others your favorite blogs. Can be off or on anon, I’ll post the messages and we can check out blogs together. 

You can include in your ask with your recs postive messages directed to said blogs, I will @ them and we can have an appreciation day for everyone.

November 12th: Favorite fanfiction. I’ll be doing a rec list of my top 50 favorite shyan fanfics in the fandom and a smaller list for my favorite buzzships fanfics in the fandom. 

I would love it if you guys could recommend me your favorite shyan fanfics on that day. Can be off or on anon, I may read the ones that take my attention, but I will certainly rec them all at the Library in one single list that will be posted on the 13th. 

If you want to also make your own list, please do. Tag the Library and/or this blog, I will reblog them for sure in the Library!

I will also be commenting on said fanfics I will put on those recs, even if I had commented them before. This is just to remind the authors how much I love their work and why. I encourague you guys to do the same!

November 13th: Rec your fave something to someone. Which means, send me and other people you like, off or on anon, recs for music, tv shows, blogs, fics, movies, books, FANDOMS IF YOU WANT, and talk about why you love it. I sure as hell want to hear it.

By the end of the day or on November 14th, I’ll do a post with all recs by category. Meaning, music list, tv shows list, etc.

I’ll also rec my favorite things, too!

November 14th: Apreciate your own work day. That. We are gonna go as hard as we go for our faves and appreciate our own work, doesn’t matter what kind of work is.

On November 3th, I’m going to post a poll where you can vote for your favorite fanfics written by me. On this day, I’ll post the results and talk about each fic. This was my original plan to celebrate my birthday, but I decided I really prefer if I can give something to people instead of just having one benefit for me.

Though, it’s my birthday and a little ego bust never hurt anyone. On this day, I will start posting a series of edits made by me based on the top5 fics you guys chose.

I’ll be self-reblogging my fics, some edits and my favorite headcanons/aus I have made for the fandom on this day. I invite you guys to do the same.

Rec your own fics, art, headcanons, blog, do it!

Make edits and art for your fics, post them that day. If you don’t have fics or what, make art or edits that you want to see, do it for yourself and other will love it, too.

Don’t be afraid to say “I fucking nailed this one”, be proud of your creations and how you have gotten better with time. Appreciate your work!

November 15th: Pet Day! Which means, show me your cute pets. You can submit your pics, make your own post and tag me, or just send me an ask talking about your pets. I’ll be making a post showing mine!

We can also appreciate the boys’, the crew’s and other buzzfeeder’s pets!

Make headcanons, art, fics, whatever about your fave buzzfeeder’s pets!

November 16th: Favorite Author appreciation. We all have one and like with the fanartist appreciation day, I’ll be doing a post to appreciate all my favorite authors on tumblr and another one for all my favorite authors only on AO3 (or that I know only on AO3 lol).

I’ll be making a rec list with one or two favorite fics for each author on my appreciation post, will be posted at the Library.

If you make a similar post, make sure to send the link my way or tag me and/or the Library so I can reblog it!

Same if you make rec lists with your fave author’s fics.

November 17th: Shyan Positivity Day. On this day, we are gonna fill our tags (shyan, skeptic believer, shyan fic, shyan art and even buzzfeed unclean) with shyan things. Can be headcanons, metafiction, edits, art, fics, drabbles, memes, funny text posts, appreciation posts, anything related to shyan in a positive way (although, angst is also accepted).

Send to me or your favorite shipper your headcanons, au ideas, little observations or fic recs.

Or make your own posts about these things and have fun with the interactions!

Post your edits, videos, art, fics, whatever as long as it’s shyan and you love it.

REMEMBER TO NOT USE THE GENERAL TAGS! For real, I don’t want to fight anyone on this day.

And a second reminder that if you are going to send me n/s/f/w stuff, send it at @bigdickmadej! I promise to have anon on for that day.

November 18th: It’s my birthday! I may not be much around that day, so for the final day of this little positive thing, I’m going to leave it to you guys to go on and please be the most loving you can be.

Go have a nice day, do whatever you want.

Maybe comment on that fic you’ve been reading or that one you liked the other day.

Check out your favorite fic again, comment it even if you have done it before, remind that author that you love their work and why you do it.

Send nice anons! Or nice messages off anon!

Buy a coffee for your favorite artist, author, etc. Maybe donate to your charity of preference. 

If maybe you want to do something for me, keep reading the next part for my little wish list for this year!

~ WISH LIST

It would mean the world to me if you guys really would like to participate in this little project. Even if just for one day, doesn’t matter which one, It really would mean so much to me.

I love getting messages on my birthday! And that’s really a great gift to me, so off or on anon, you can totally send me your birthday wishes and make me the happiest person alive.

Not gonna lie, I would cry if I get comments on my fics, kudos and whatnot.

And of course, I’m a big slut for blessed gifts such as fanfics, edits, headcanons, art. Especially if made based on my fanfics when it comes to edits and art.

Because of the laptop situation, I’m considering setting up a ko-fi and then close it or retire it from my blog once I get shit sorted and fix my laptop or even get the chance to buy a new one. It’s not much what I need to get to the amount I need, this is why I’m considering getting it. I really don’t like asking for money, but sadly my economy is on the ground at the moment and I really need that laptop thingy. Still, I’m honestly just considering it.

~ REMINDERS

You don’t have to participate.

If you do, please don’t use the general tags when posting and/or talking about shippy stuff.

Use the hashtag #shyanpositiveparty for all your posts regarding the project! Why this tag? Because while it was inspired by my birthday, I would love for everyone to feel included. Put this tag on the first five tags of your post so the post will appear on it and we can all see it.

If posting stuff made especifically for my birthday, then please use the tag #nini’s bday 2k19 :)

Again, you DON’T have to participate.

I’m very aware that some people have no chill and may want to spoil the party by either sending me hate or other people, even inviding the tags. I recommend to everyone to not let them win. I will be blocking and blocking only, I don’t want to fight anyone on this day and I will not post anything negative regarding it.

I’m also prepared for the scenario in which no one may actually be interested on this. I will still post on these days what I have planned. Even if no one wants to do this, I still would love for the people I’ll be sending positive vibes to get them. It’s my birthday after all. I want it to be a happy one.

I still don’t know when my birthday party in real life may be, so that day I may not have much time to be around, but I will still programm my posts on that day and answer stuff on mobile. If I don’t, I’ll do it the next day, no problem at all.

If you missed a day and wanted to participate on it anyway, it doesn’t matter. Do it, please. Have fun with us.

~ POLLS

Last thing. I would love for your guys to help me decide a few things regarding this:

What is your favorite fanfiction by me (poetdameron)?

Should I set up a ko-fi?

That’s all. I’m sorry I made you guys read so much, but I really hope you want to participate! You can reblog this post so others can see it, that would be amazing. Thank you!

[panelshowsource]

a note about women’s month 💘

thank you to everyone who voted in the fave female panelists poll this year! last year was a blast and this year was even better! we’ve seen more woman on tv this year — and some improved, though grossly insufficient, diversity within that — and i love celebrating that with you everyday!

last year, i wrote this:

the lack of diversity in british comedy is an alarming issue that has only recently become headline news. statistics presented by this study, based on 50 years of panel shows and over 4,700 individual episodes, are beyond disappointing for women (here is an easy-to-read graph by series & by year); similar disappointment stems from the lineups at popular comedy festivals, like edinburgh. in 2014, the head of tv at the bbc promised to end all-male comedy shows, a “step in the right direction” that hasn’t been without fear of tokenism, fair criticism as well as some naysayers. women, people of colour, lgbt peoples, those differently-abled and those all of the above and in between are just as funny as cis-identifying white men and deserve a place on our screens. watch their standup, buy their books, stream their videos, listen to their podcasts, comment on and like their content, follow their social media. this support can directly help women become more visible in british comedy.

in the last year, have you been actively conscious of supporting women in comedy? i’d like to take a moment to talk about some ways you can do that :)

➡ from feminist discourse to tales of humans & their dogs to ghost stories, these women are providing some of the most touching, stimulating, and funny reading coming out of comedy:

How to be Champion: My Autobiography by Sarah Millican

Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body by Sara Pascoe

The Guilty Feminist: From our noble goals to our worst hypocrisies by Deborah Frances-White

The Actual One: How I Tried, and Failed, to Avoid Adulthood Forever by Isy Suttie

Cheer Up Love: Adventures in Depression with the Crab of Hate by Susan Calman

The More You Ignore Me by Jo Brand

Can't Stand Up for Sitting Down: A Memoir by Jo Brand

Look Back in Hunger: The Autobiography by Jo Brand

Born Lippy: How to Do Female by Jo Brand

Is It Just Me? by Miranda Hart

Peggy & Me by Miranda Hart

Nina Is Not OK by Shappi Khorsandi

A Beginner's Guide to Acting English: A Memoir by Shappi Khorsandi

Spectacles: A Memoir by Sue Perkins

East of Croydon: Blunderings through India and South East Asia by Sue Perkins

Once More, with Feeling: How We Tried to Make the Greatest Porn Film Ever by Victoria Coren Mitchell and Charlie Skelton

For Richer, For Poorer: A Love Affair with Poker by Victoria Coren Mitchell

Dead Funny: Horror Stories by Comedians featuring Sara Pascoe, Katy Brand, and Danielle Ward

...and that’s just to name a handful! my fingers would need a 5 min power nap if i tried typing out all of susie dent’s books 💪

➡ this is a list of a lot relevant active podcasts coming out of britain right now (though it is missing, most notably, off menu). for example, if you liked alice levine on taskmaster, why not listen to her podcast? or watch/listen her on rhlstp? this is such a fun way to get more deeply involved in the comedy of some of your favourite ladies! might i recommend isy suttie’s the things we do for love, anneka harry’s brown bread, or box set go! with nicola stephenson (the newest ep features rebecca front!)? most of these are free, or they can be found/requested at /r/notapanelshow p.s. suzi ruffell, rosie jones, tiff stevenson and more are scheduled to appear on rhlstp this season 😍

➡ here is a list of some radio programmes currently on the air. while it does look stacked with men (because it is), women do feature on so many of these series and absolutely smash it! did you know sandi toksvig hosted the news quiz for almost ten years, and its regular panelists include susan calman, rebecca front, zoe lyons, and more? or that victoria coren mitchell has hosted heresy since 2006 (because there’s nothing she can’t do)? or that sarah millican, jo brand, and sally phillips have each hosted series of the museum of curiosity? these are all on the masterpost! 👏 p.s. you can always search for and/or request more radio shows at /r/panelshow or, if they’re not panel radio shows, /r/notapanelshow :)

➡ social 👏 media 👏 determines 👏 relevancy 👏 do i agree with this system? no. is this the system entertainers are currently slaves to? yes. do you follow your favourite women on twitter, instagram, youtube, etc? one click. one like. one retweet. one reblog. here is a list of some of the comedians i follow on twitter to get you started — all of your faves are on there! when you like something they are on, tweet about it! tag them, the network, the channel, use the hashtags, post pictures! tell channels like dave or people like richard osman who your faves are, who deserves more exposure, who you want to see in the future! we’re already obsessing over how much we like these ladies anyways, so why not make that obsession even more visibile?

➡ we have a really sweet, modest community here of at least 10,000 people. this is not something i’ve ever talked about because i don’t want what i’m going to say to be misconstrued as begging for notes — that is not my concern. but you may have heard people on this site talk about something called the like/reblog ratio. a lot of creators are concerned that, apart from tumblr’s ever-evolving ludicrous algorithms murdering their visibility, people are so obsessed with their blog aesthetics that they’re not actually reblogging everything they like. here’s a couple of my gifset details, one from a nicher post and one from a more popular post:

while i appreciate any notes, numbers likes these aren’t always encouraging. i’m not here to tell you how to enjoy your spare time and interests, or to criticise people who enjoy aesthetic. i just want to point out that if you want someone to be successful, you play a direct part in promoting them and spreading their art. as the years pass, this becomes more and more true. i know how much you all love these ladies — i get messages about them every single day — but it’s a simple fact that a gifset of james acaster or noel fielding or richard ayoade or david mitchell is going to get more notes than a post about any of the women who placed in the top 5 of this poll. i am not bringing this up to this make anyone feel guilty about what they enjoy; i only hope my mentioning this encourages you to be conscientious when participating on social media, especially when your interest lies in the products of a grossly unjust industry that is taking a lot fucking time to get itself on the right track. more followers on a comedian’s twitter = more work for that comedian, because that’s simply the direction the film & tv industry is going. if your follow yields that much power, why not use it for good?

please support women. if you buy one of their books, please message me and tell me which one! if you think one of them is shining on a radio programme and we’re sleeping on her, please let me know (timestamps appreciated!)! if one starts a gofundme or patreon to start a podcast or a tour, please donate 50p and then send me the link! there is always more we can be doing and we are always underestimating what even smallest amount of support means for their bigger picture. i don’t have all the answers, but i love the feeling i get when i believe society is evolving in the right direction. rose matafeo won the edinburgh comedy award in 2018, and sarah keyworth and kiri pritchard-mclean took the top awards at the 2019 chortle awards. women are here to stay and they’re fucking killing it. because duh ❣️

if you took the time to read this, i appreciate you x

[ciestessde]

Danny Fenton, Substitute Soul Reaper: Whatever Lies Beyond

A self-explanatory request from an Anon on Tumblr: Danny becomes a substitute soul reaper.

“Dear Daniel,

There is something I need your help to accomplish. Please go through the door you’ll find at the location written below. Make sure you are in your human form.

Thank you for your continued assistance.

- Clockwork

P.S. Make sure you pay Ghost Writer a visit first, or things could get especially confusing. He’ll be expecting you.”

“… Well that’s not a door you see everyday.” Danny had, of course, done as Clockwork asked. (Did he really have a choice?)

Ghost Writer had just done… something? to him – some sort of spell, he thought – and sent him on his way. And this door(?) had appeared right after he arrived at the location – which was so far away, it had come with instructions on which OTHER portals to fly through in order to reach it!

… It looked like an unzipped zipper – or a mouth.

‘*sigh* I could spend all day floating here, or just get this over with.’ Prepared for whatever was beyond the portal – which could be literally anything – Danny flew through.

… He was not prepared to find a man bleeding out inside a cave. More than that, the air there felt… weird. Similar to being in the Ghost Zone, but more… raw? Wild? … Desperate. Sad, even.

The man had auburn hair, was dressed in some kind of robe and fur cape, was holding a katana, and was bleeding from what was definitely a fatal wound to his side. He was still conscious, judging by his wincing and shivering, but his eyes were closed in a grimace. He had a death grip on that katana.

Danny and the man jumped – something just screamed from outside the cave. Which meant the man noticed him.

He raised the katana slightly (he didn’t seem capable of raising it much further) and glared at Danny suspiciously. “Who are you? How’d you get here?” Although Danny understood what he’d said, the man was not speaking English. ‘Oh. So that’s what he did. Thanks, Writer.’ “I’m Danny. I came in through-” He turned to gesture to the portal – and it closed. “… Well, crud.”

There was a moment of silence as the man considered him. He looked scared, but not of Danny. Then, “… How… old are you… ?” “Uh, sixteen. Why?” He winced. “So young… But.” The man looked even more pained than before. He shifted to sit up straighter. “I suppose I don’t have a choice. Listen, boy-” “Danny.” “Danny. Do you want to live?”

“Uuuuh…” Danny broke eye contact nervously. The screams came from outside again; they were closer. He seemed to misunderstand Danny’s hesitation (‘Although, it’s not like he could guess.’), “Well?!” “Yessir!” “Then… come here.”

As Danny walked closer to him, the man, using the last of his strength, lifted his katana in front of him – and pointed it at Danny. It wasn’t exactly threatening, but it still made Danny a little nervous. “I don’t have time to explain completely, but… I can give you half of my power. It will only be temporary, and it might kill you. But right now it’s your only chance of making it out of here.” “Listen, I don’t nee-” “Grab the end of the sword!” “Right!” Danny yelped.

Carefully, Danny grabbed the blade of the katana. “In order to pass my powers on to you, you’ll have to run the zanpakutō through to the center of your being. Place it over your heart.”

‘Clockwork, you better know what you’re doing.’ He did as the man said – and placed the tip of the blade in front of his core.

“You said your name is Danny?” He nodded, “Danny Fenton.” The man locked eyes with him. “Danny Fenton. I am… Ashido Kanō.” And Ashido ran him through.

It took immense self-control for Danny not to turn intangible, at first. Then-

It couldn’t have been more different from the portal incident. Aside from the initial pain, it didn’t hurt at all. There was just a rush of energy, and suddenly he was in his ghost form. Except he… had a sword? And was wearing the same kind of robes as the- as Ashido.

“Wh-?” Ashido looked very confused. “All my power…” Danny blinked at him. His outfit had changed. His robes were completely white now, and there seemed to be less of them. … Had he stolen the guy’s clothes???

“You… aren’t human.” Danny rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, no. That’s… what I was trying to tell you.” “…” Ashido’s eyes lit up. He thought for a moment. “Danny… *cough*!” “Woah!” Danny rushed forward as Ashido collapsed.

“Not much time…” Ashido looked up and locked eyes with him again. “If you make it out of here… There’s a group of friends. They’re trying to save someone, but… The beings they’re up against… are far more powerful than what you’ll face outside this cave.”

Ashido grabbed his collar. “Please… I know you have no reason to, but… Please… Help them… Like they helped me. So that, maybe…” Ashido’s eyes lost their focus, and his grip loosened. “I’ll have repaid them… in some way…” Ashido collapsed after that.

‘… He’s… dead…’

Carefully, his hands shaking, Danny lowered Ashido’s body. The screams were right outside the cave entrance now.

“Jeez… You didn’t need to ask. Of course I’ll help them.” His voice shook – he was crying. “That’s the whole reason I’m here!”

Turning to the world outside the cave, Danny prepared himself for whatever was beyond it – which could be literally anything-

-and flew through.

~~~~~

Chapter 2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT!

“Halloween SOSW”

Halloween is approaching, and I want to do something special. So I’m trying out what I’m calling “Special One-Shot Wednesdays” or SOSWs (pun very intended). If you have any ideas you want to see me write for the Spoopy Season that you don’t think will make it into a normal OSW, or any ideas you don’t think will make it into the OSWs at all, send them in for an SOSW.

I will include as many ideas as I can. NO LIMITS. GO WILD. Make my life a living hell. Give me your most obscure, forgotten, no-content fandom; your “no one will ever vote for this” request! GIVE ME ALL THE SPOOPIES! And it will be my personal challenge to write something even remotely coherent that honors each and every request.

Will I succeed? We’ll see. Will I get any SOSW requests at all? GOD I HOPE SO.

You can send the SOSW requests through the normal channels (make sure to say it’s for the SOSW), OR I have a spot on the current poll you can type it into. Either works.

Ok, back to the normal AN!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you liked this, please REBLOG!

AO3 version

OSWs Master List

{This is part of my “OneShot Wednesday” project - I’m trying to write a one-shot every week that other people have requested! Original Requests one week, and Fanfic Requests the next.

You can vote for the next OSW here until Oct. 9th, or find the current poll on my Tumblr, Twitter, or Website!

While I will try to keep track of all the requests I receive regardless of how they’re sent, you should send Fanfic Requests through the pinned tweet on my Twitter, and Original Requests through either my email (CiestessDE@gmail.com) or my Patreon (if you’re a patron) if you want to make sure I see them.

Just about everything goes – I’ll tell you if there’s a problem. But if you want to know more about how they work, you can read about Original OSWs here, and Fanfic OSWs here.

So please send me ALL the ideas!!! I will make sure to recognize whoever’s idea/request it was in the work – just ask if you want to remain anonymous.}

[stop-him]

People Don't Change, Rules Change.

If you saw my last reblog of, and answer to, the poll by @supersoftly - this is further musings on the theme of my response, comparing old and new incidents. I may go on for a while. There may be a cut.

Anyhow, as I mentioned, I was once a moderator on the site Gaia Online. As such, I got to witness some of the worst behaviors that cropped up from time to time. An example: once a user named Cigarette announced that she had terminal brain cancer. This prompted a massive outpouring of support and well-wishing, including the "1000 cranes for Cigarette" community event based around the bit about folding up multiple little paper cranes for loved ones - and it all turned out to be a hoax. Some people noticed that nobody could get any real-life information about the hospital where she was supposedly being treated, and somewhere along the line Cigarette confessed to making everything up.

Most everyone thought that was pretty awful when the news hit. I don't even remember what, if anything, the admins of the site did to Cigarette herself - technically it wasn't against the TOS to lie about one's personal health. But I was involved in a related incident, where another user posted a Flash animation depicting his character, enraged by the news of Cigarette's deception, pulling a gun and (to the theme of the Mentos commercials) shooting her to death. It was actually more funny than my description makes it, and it would be understandable that anyone investing any emotion into Cigarette's purported illness would be legitimately angry and frustrated. But, after some discussion, we Mods decided to remove it from the site, because regardless of the circumstances, it was essentially a personal attack on another user, which was definitely against the TOS.

That was the standard we operated under at the time. You could say, "I think that is a stupid viewpoint to have, that idea is dumb," but you could not say, "you are stupid and dumb for having that opinion". You could not just call anyone a Nazi without direct evidence that they were literally part of a self-identified Nazi group, because it was well understood that calling someone a Nazi was a personal insult, and intended as such. "I feel that this person is like a Nazi" wasn't an excuse.

One's opinion was not a justification.

The teeth of Gaia Online's enforcement was their avatar system - for those unaware, GO's big attraction was that a user had a little anime-styled avatar that appeared by their posts. You gained currency by doing things in and around the forums, and you used that currency to buy clothes and other items for your avatar. Part of the outcry over Cigarette's stunt was that sympathetic users had donated high-value items for her avatar under false pretenses.

As Mods, we had the ability to not only ban users for infractions, but also monitor and undo trades and transfers of items between users. So if a user feared that a post they were going to make was going to break the TOS, they might want to stash their items with friends or in alternate accounts - only the Mods could see these actions and know they were attempts to avoid the consequences of their behavior, so often the items got confiscated anyway. What happened was that many users created a cache of "junk" accounts - no items, not much history, built up around the mass of free email accounts one could get. They would use these accounts to break the TOS, because they risked little if those empty accounts got banned. Some Mods had access to IP address info, so that wasn't a guarantee of safety, but it was a common practice among the more contentious users.

I explain all that for the sake of context in the following tale. After a few years of being a Mod, Gaia Online began to grow in popularity, and its userbase expanded, and after a while the Admins decided to outsource much of their Mod duties just to handle the load. I retired from being a Mod at that point, so no longer had access to any of those investigatory tools. I stayed on the site for a little while longer, but it's one thing to be in your 30s when the bulk of the site is 20-somethings, it's another to be pushing 40 when the bulk of the site is in their mid-teens.

But before I eventually left, i spent a bit of time hanging around in the forum's creator-oriented areas, notably in art, writing and comics-centered sub-forums.

There was a clique in those days of what I call "art snots", people who not only had ideas on what was the proper way to go around making art but who would aggressively advocate for their way as being the best way and anyone who didn't toe their line was not only wrong, but a fool. Many of them were products of formal art schooling, and many of them had open contempt for the trend of art styles emulating "that shiny animu shit".

One thing that could be done in the art community was to "give critique". Ostensibly, if you posted your art on the forum, you were making it available to be commented on, and were expected to be able to withstand a certain amount of unfavorable criticism. This (naturally) led to conflicts between very sensitive beginning artists who did not really want any criticism on one hand versus many of the aforementioned "art snots" who took the opportunity for "critique" as license to utterly verbally savage every tiny aspect of the poster's art, especially if it had any hint of anime influence. And so Mods were often called in to keep the peace, and when it was apparent that outright abuse would be disciplined, the "art snots" would, like many others, gather a collection of throwaway accounts to take the bans, using them as one-shot insult delivery systems. (Though, a few became masters at playing the TOS, making posts that were just within the boundaries of what was acceptable, and never needed alternate accounts...)

Near the end of my stay at GO, there was one user who was "art-snot-adjacent". They were a webcomic creator, whose webcomic at the time was garnering some popularity (as those things go) and critical acclaim. Obviously talented and well-spoken, it was apparent that they were sympathetic to the stances of the "art snots", but without nearly the same amount of vitriol. If they spoke on those matters, they spoke in civil, measured tones. Many of the "art snots" circled in their orbit, possibly due to friendships outside Gaia, or possibly due to simple sycophancy.

I took up reading this person's webcomic - it was pretty good - and while I didn't always agree with the opinions they stated on Gaia, I appreciated the way they kept their tone nominally respectful.

The front page of this webcomic had a few widgets installed, one of which was a feed of the author's Twitter account, back when Twitter was a lot newer and less ubiquitous. So there was a little sub-window on the page that displayed, say, the last five Tweets the author made.

One day I went to the webcomic to check if there were updates, and saw that one of the recent tweets mentioned Gaia, so I looked more closely. It has been ages at this point, but the general thrust of the message was:

"Looks like I'm going to have to burn another Gaia account so I can set this other user straight about how stupid they are."

And now immediately I knew that this webcomic creator that I had somewhat respected up until now was not any different than so many others, they were simply better at putting up a polished public face. They were just as eager to hide their true feelings in order to keep all the little virtual clothes on their Gaia account, until they could let fly with an alternate sockpuppet, and be abusive to their heart's content.

[As an aside: I think this was one of the only times I've ever been unable to separate the artist from their art. For a little while I still kept up with the webcomic, but one day, I found myself about to click the bookmark for the page and I just didn't feel like reading the story anymore. Just - "meh", and I didn't click to it, and never went back. It wasn't like seeing that Tweet enraged me, I wasn't scandalized, I just... didn't respect the creator anymore. I'm not sure why that killed my interest in the story, when I have few problems engaging with art by artists who I know have done far, far worse in their lives. But there it is.]

These Gaia anecdotes establish something I think is true: people were just as nasty then as they are now. But a site like Gaia - at least at the time - enforced a code of behavior that said, "as long as you're on our site, you'll behave with a minimum of respect towards other users."

And now, let's come to the present day. As I write this, YouTube has been sending me recommendations for videos about a bit of drama. Of course, YouTube has no shortage of drama. But in this case, it reminds me of Gaia in some ways, because it's an artist-related drama.

At one point, YouTube proposed I watch an artist draw a picture as they told a story about the worst commission they ever drew, and I did, and so of course YouTube then bombarded me with a thousand similar videos. Some I watched, if they had interesting subjects. Many I didn't. And one type I stayed away from was the callout videos, where while drawing some pic, the artists would detail the various sins of some other YouTuber and make the case for them being an irredeemably awful person.

But, I've been floating around the edges of this drama, because for a while I was watching the videos from Girl Artist 1 (actual name/account redacted - probably if you're actually an active part of that community you can guess who it is, and if you don't have any idea, well, count yourself fortunate). Only now I no longer get videos by her recommended to me, now I'm getting videos about her.

First it came to light that she was sockpuppeting on some site, pretending to not be herself in order to stir up drama/make herself look good/whatever. Then it seems she was involved in a harassment campaign, and even more serious charges involving downright illegal shenanigans are being leveled.

I'll make it clear that I don't know all the details, or whether any of this is true or not. I watched some of Girl Artist 1's videos when the subject interested me, but ignored many when it was clear she was calling out other artists, YouTubers and the like. I noted the name of Girl Artist 2 come up a few times, and even in the titles of other videos by other people. Apparently Girl Artist 2 had her own moment of being condemned. But now she's back, with her own video to speak out against Girl Artist 1, along with a host of others all dogpiling on the current object of ire.

Is Girl Artist 2 forgiven now? Will Girl Artist 1 undergo her own journey of redemption? Will that be possible? Who knows, and outside of the community, who cares?

YouTube doesn't. And finally I come to my point: This is the difference between an older site like Gaia Online and newer platforms like YouTube and Twitter - the incentives.

Gaia had its own economy based around its avatar system, and its own motivation to promote an even keel and keep drama to a minimum. The latter was achieved by using the former as both carrot and stick. The reward for good behavior was getting to keep your virtual items, punishment was their loss.

Twitter's reward is internet fame, reinforcement of things you say with likes and retweets and new followers. Drama is a path to this - sometimes a much easier path than actually creating a work of art to attract attention. YouTube is much the same, only with the added incentive of real money for select users. YouTube does not mind controversy in and of itself, because controversy drives views, and views pay off for advertisers, who pay YouTube.

Therefore, there is often little incentive to not be an asshole. Every judgemental soul can freely pontificate about the sins of others, and condemn them in the most explicit terms. In a practical sense, the accusations don't even have to be true. My example of calling people Nazis as an insult? Go ahead! It gets clicks. YouTube and Twitter like the clicks. Not only do you not have to show anyone any respect, it's almost expected to be actively disrespectful to anyone who annoys you in the slightest.

That's my thesis: the overall nastiness of the human race is, I think, much the same as it's always been. A lot of people have always been judgemental pricks. It's just that the rules have shifted just so, and now the nastiness is being rewarded instead of discouraged.