#red exploit

[khruschevshoe]

You know, it's rather interesting to me that Taylor Swift's parasocial relationship with her fans is honestly more akin to a YouTuber than a writer's. When I scroll through her tag on tumblr/Twitter, it's far more regarding the connection to her personal life/relationship developments than the actual metaphors/fictional story she might be telling. Everything comes back to how her songs reflect back on her relationships with Joe/Matty/Travis/Jake/insert ex-boyfriend here. And what fascinates me about it is that even though she complains about it, she leans into that very perception because it strengthens the parasocial bond.

The marketing for TTPD so clearly being about Joe Alwyn and the songs to Matty Healy. The marketing/video for Red TV so CLEARLY being about Jake Gyllenhaal, with so many of the new lines in All Too Well specifically being digs at him (I'll get older but your lovers stay my age, casting an actor that looks like him for the video, specific lines in I Bet You Think About Me). The fact that songs like Getaway Car and Bejeweled and Gorgeous and London Boy and Lavender Haze being picked apart at time of release and long after for signs of relationships crumbling. The way she uses surprise songs in relation to her relationship development with Joe/Matty/Travis. The damn TTPD "stages of grief" playlists where she deliberately undid/changed the meanings of old songs just to keep her audience speculating on her love life.

It's not sexist to point out that her wielding her love life is a marketing tool and that the strongest connection to her audience isn't the strength of her writing/the composition of her music- it's her deliberate crafting of a connection between her music and her personal life, leaving the audience invested in her music as an extension of Taylor the Person/Girlfriend rather than Taylor the Artist.

[nando161mando]

This is why you owe them nothing, they would not do it for you.

[myballsitchaurghouchie]

Drew the Lamb and my sweetie-baby-darling dnd character together because they're so similar i find it hilarious. They would not get along well tho

[feroluce]

I love the fact that the Silvermane Guards are essentially just a very devoted "We Love Gepard Landau" fanclub, and I desperately need for all of them to get into ship wars about it behind their Captain's back. The soldiers are all split into several factions:

Some of them ship him with Sampo 🛡💣 (enemies to lovers/hateship enjoyers; this does not necessarily mean they like Sampo- in fact it's more like most of them want to sic their Captain on him skzjsmdm)

Some of them ship him with Bronya 👑🛡 (knight and princess trope enjoyers and also a sorta-kinda "that is our mom and dad" type of deal; this faction gets riled up and ridiculously hypes Gepard up to Bronya every time she comes down to the frontlines mskdkxmd)

Some of them ship him with the trailblazer 🛡💫 (the smallest and newest faction, but steadily gaining!)

Some of them ship him with Pela ❄🛡 (workplace romance enjoyers; Gepard once charged out into the Fragmentum alone to save Pela from an expedition gone horribly wrong, and when this faction saw Gepard carrying Pela back princess style they threw a whole party)

Some of them ship him with Dunn 🛡🗡 (also workplace romance; Dunn is very flattered by this because yeah wrong Landau, but wow, the troops really think he's good enough to woo the Captain, what an honor)

And some of them ship themselves with the Captain 🛡❤ (yumejoshi enjoyers; this faction throws a massive group effort every Valentine's Day and are also all very supportive of each other)

The final faction is an odd one, because they're defined not by who they ship their beloved Captain Gepard with, but rather by who they don't ship him with. Their name is generally shortened to the A.B.S. Group- Anybody BUT Sampo 🚫💣 DKSZJJSMSOZ

[mahoganygold213]

[eirianerisdar]

Daniel don’t take the ambassador role let the sponsors and Red Bull tear themselves apart. Let them lose money because of you. Go dirt bike and drink beer with your mates on your farm and watch them burn

[trappezoider]

It's mental health drawing time!! I've been stuck on this one commission and getting frustrated with it. I had to draw something else and let it simmer over the night😭So meanwhile, here's a needy Phineas, hungry for more than fingers :>

[daemon-in-my-head]

As much as some of the stuff in Realms lore is messed up or has some very clear very outdated views on shit, the way they wrote evil cults and their motivations is actually pretty nice nd I'll give em that.

Like we've got Shar, lady of loss, who appeals to all those people who experienced something unimaginable and want to forget that experience.

Bane, a self made guy, who appeals to all those who came to resent the status quo nd were made to feel powerless, who's cult establishes the idea that everyone can become the game master and rise as long as they're dedicated enough but also gives excuses to the already powerful for abusing their power.

Myrkul who appeals to people in a similar way Shar does, but he has and grants the ability to reverse the loss. Reunite with those you lost before you arrive in the afterlife yourself. Don't fear death because your life will continue the same way it was before even if you die. Basically my guy offers a solution to the whole being afraid of death bit

But the most fucked up one is arguably Bhaal, who targets a very spefic group of people that deem life to be hopeless and death to be the better choice, and introduces them to the idea that this warped mindset is a fact and by killing someone you show them mercy and you can become their hero.

Like these are definitely not the healthiest claims those cults make, and any 'normal' individual would look at u like u have issues if you presented these ideas to them. Still, for a (not very) small group of people, these thoughts validate them in their feelings and struggles and offer a twisted understanding. And that is why recruitment works, and these definitely not-so-nice cults manage to survive and thrive at times. Because they very purposefully target individuals that could be easily manipulated if offered nothing more than some sort of understanding or recognition, and then they built on that. Very much like real life cults did and do in order to establish themselves and gain following.

Like very much fucked up but I can see very well why these cults work, why people join them and how they manage to manipulate their followers into blind loyalty and going above and beyond. The gods they serve and their lil libraries nd stuff may be dorky at times but the cults themselves are nothing besides absolutely terrifying. 11/10 no notes.

[queerdiazs]

casually reminding people to watch the way they speak about poor uneducated working class folks because a lot of you fall off into racism and classism and elitism and that is not very left of you

[transmasculinizing]

imagine if any other version of the batboys met arkham tim which 1s do u think would bully him which 1s do u think would call him discount eminem

[rickybaby]

Is an RB podium bad for F1?

[snottertooder]

Imagine being Willis or Cathrine Todd, working for the 1% your whole life in order to create stability for your child while struggling yourself, only for said kid to be adopted by the 1% who influences YOUR child into wearing scaled shorts and fight crime at night while risking his life. And his said life later gets BRUTALLY taken by the actions of his new father, and in retaliation his new 1% father takes the clothes he died in, puts them up on display like it belongs in a museum, and uses his life as a cautionary tale.

[nando161mando]

'For the past hundred years, every seller in the tear gas business has spent thousands—if not millions—in legal settlements. They have watched as their products are used to kill, maim, and torture people around the world. They have bought new houses, seen their children off to school, perhaps spent $150,000 at a Christie’s auction to acquire historic souvenirs. Investigating the financial lives of the elite is crucial for understanding how the security industry operates.

Riot control is, and always has been, in the business of protecting the wealth of a tiny minority.'

— Anna Feigenbaum, Tear Gas: From the Battlefields of WWI to the Streets of Today

image: Ceyda Sungur, Woman in Red

[videoreligion]

Kiss Me Monster (1969)

[lyss-butterscotch]

The Solstice Priests talk about karma

[sailforvalinor]

Trying to write James and Lily Potter as parents is so funny for me, because partway through I realize that I’ve started writing them like my parents, and I’ll think “wow, girl, you really need to broaden your horizons, there are other types of parents and parenting styles out there,” but then I’ll think about it some more and realize, no, I’m pretty sure my parents are just James and Lily Potter