#streaming services can literally go fuck themselves

[extraemopossum]

yipeeeeeee

[saijspellhart]

Guys, buy physical media it’s dying. They are taking it from us.

My local Meijer (a regional variant of Walmart) has stopped selling physical media. Like outright. It’s now gift cards for streaming services, and online shit. They are phasing out physical video games too. They are phasing out laptops, DVDs players, blueray players.

I know, I know, streaming services are so easy and convenient. But like, you don’t own it. You are at the mercy of the services. Once they kill physical media completely they can hike up the prices as steep as they like, $30, $40, $50 and more a month. Because it will be the ONLY way (short of pirating) that you can watch shows and movies. They will make it cable and satellite premium levels of expensive. And you won’t be able to stop them. They’ll hold your favorite shows hostage behind paywalls and micro transactions. They’ll vault up shows and movies and make them unavailable for long periods of time. You’ll have to have 7 different streaming services all costing $40 bucks a pop to watch the things you want.

You’ll have access to NOTHING without paying a premium. And remember, you already pay money to have an internet connection. Are streaming services really as affordable as you think? Internet price + the price of each service? That adds up. And they keep raising the price, and will keep raising the prices, because they know you’ll keep paying.

Having physical media means you get to watch your favorite shows and movies anytime. With or without internet connection. Broke as fuck? You can still watch it, because it’s yours. Did they lock up your favorite show or movie to make it more exclusive? You can still watch it with physical media because you own it. Want to let your friend borrow it? You can lend it to them, or burn them a copy. No need to fret about stupid services cracking down on password sharing. Want to watch the movie or show with online friends? You can stream DVDs over Discord so friends can watch with you.

(Am currently streaming Teen Titans the original animated series with my best friend over Discord. It’s mine, so neither of us pay anything to watch it together.)

Companies are writing off physical media as unprofitable. They are culling it. Taking it out of stores, making it less accessible.

People around me talk about all these movies and tv series they’d love to watch, but have to buy another streaming service to access it. And I offer to let them borrow the DVDs or Blueray, and they straight up tell me they don’t own DVDs or dvd players. Why?! WHY!? They subscribe to 4 or 5 different service instead forking out $50+ a month. But they put themselves at the mercy of these services, at the mercy of internet connectivity and access. They can’t even borrow a movie or show from me, because they are so dependent on internet and streaming.

Did you know there are literally ways to save your movies digitally and take them on the go? Streaming should be a neat little thing that’s convenient, it has its perks and uses, but it should NOT the only way to watch media.

Save physical media.

Buy a dvd player.

Buy movies.

Buy shows.

Own your media.

Stop renting it. Streaming is just glorified rental.

Stop renting it.

Because soon that’s all you’ll ever be able to do.

[woodchoc-magnum]

.

nobody tells you that when your parents get old, and the competent, strong one dies suddenly, that you'll be stuck with the one who is incapable of taking care of themselves. why? because they've been looked after for the past forty fucking years, had every meal cooked for them, never had to lift a fucking finger to do any housework or anything like that.

and then suddenly they're alone and they don't know how to take care of themselves

and they're looking to you because you're the daughter, right? you're the adult daughter, even though you have an older brother who lives in the same fucking town, but no. it all falls on you because you're the woman who now has to take care of her father, after her mother spent forty fucking years doing the same thing and then suddenly dropped dead.

and your mother always told you that he was weak and selfish, but he's your dad and you love him so you never really believed it, but guess what? she was right. he is weak and selfish.

and it's not like he's a bad guy - he's not abusive; he's not mean. he loves you, he really does. he's just useless.

he's entitled.

he completely fell to pieces after she died, let himself wither away and even pissed the bed, so you had to drop everything to drive two hours down to be with him - even though your BROTHER LIVES IN THE SAME TOWN AS HIM. you had to get him into hospital; then drive him back to your town two hours away to get him into a BETTER HOSPITAL.

and then he has to go into a nursing home because he's not capable of taking care of himself, so you get him into the nicest. fucking. nursing home. in his hometown. all of his money is now tied up in that fucking nursing home, and you get him in there, and he has a lovely private room, a big TV, his own private bathroom, every meal catered all day every day and even someone to wipe his ass.

and even though you have told him a hundred times how tough you're doing financially, it's like nothing penetrates because at the end of the day it's all about him, right, and it's not about you. he doesn't really care that fuel is nearly $2.00 a litre; he doesn't really care that electricity and groceries are through the roof. he knows that you live alone on a single wage but like, he has needs too - he needs beer and Coke! he needs chocolate! he needs gambling money! he needs pay TV, because free to air isn't enough! he has to watch EVERY football game, you know? and golf! it's all about what HE NEEDS.

and just also with an additional side of guilt-tripping because you haven't been able to drive down to see him this year due to a) health reasons and b) the fact that you don't have enough money to pay for petrol for a trip/get your car serviced so it doesn't break down on the highway. but he's in a nursing home with an almost constant stream of visitors, and you can only imagine what the fuck those people are saying about you behind your back.

"oh she couldn't even take care of him"

"oh she put him in a nursing home"

"oh she's so hard on him, she won't give him any spending money"

"if she was any kind of daughter she would've given up her life and moved in to take care of him"

"she's not even married and she doesn't have kids, she could've looked after him herself"

despite the fact that your brother literally. lives. one. minute. from. him and can BARELY BE ARSED TO SEE HIM ONCE A MONTH.

and then tonight he rings, asks the perfunctory "how was your weekend? how are you feeling?" and then segues right into, well, I blew all my gambling allowance this weekend and I need you to top up the account.

and then he's like, shocked, when you go off at him? fucking SHOCKED? he can't possibly consider cutting down on the things in his life just until we get through this little hump? he can't possibly NOT GAMBLE for a couple of weeks? like, how dare you even ask him to cut back. how dare you. what kind of selfish fucking asshole daughter are you to ask him to just TAKE A FUCKING BREAK.

but no no, we're going to go off about the state government giving a $1,000.00 rebate for electricity, even though it means that his daughter won't have to pay for electricity for the next six months. WHAT KIND OF FUCKING SOCIALISM IS THAT.

"you voted for them" YES I DID, BILL. I FUCKING DID. AND I WILL VOTE FOR THEM AGAIN.

This fucking entitled boomer, sitting in literally the nicest nursing home, having a go at his daughter who has been struggling all fucking year to just get a little bit ahead. like what the fuck

and then getting all pissy when i fire back at him and is like, "oh well I guess i'm selfish."

Yes.

You are.

You always have been.

Mum was right.

I love you, but FUCK.

[lonesomedreamer]

The Rings of Power Liveblog: “Shadow of the Past” (Episode 1)

Two years late, curiosity got the better of me, and I decided I had to see this thing for myself ahead of the second season premiere…spoiler: I didn’t hate it.

I’m not going to gripe about these children looking decidedly human (or at least not Elvish), because I understand the limitations of using, you know—actual human children as actors. But I will question the notion of Elvish children being smug bullies.

But baby Galadriel definitely looks the part.

“It’s not going to float, it’s going to sail.” Not off to a strong start with the dialogue…

Oh, the Elf children are…throwing rocks at her paper boat? All of them? Why?? I know the behavior of Elves in the First and Second Ages tended to be less detached/noble and whatnot, but little Galadriel is literally about to punch this Elf boy…

I have so many questions about this hairstyle choice.

“We have no word for death.” Somehow, I doubt that. This is the Second Age, right? Elves had definitely already experienced death.

Why does this seem like a slightly retooled Minas Tirith design? Is this supposed to be VALINOR??? (Actually, this would be a decent Amber design…)

A very underwhelming depiction of the destruction of the Two Trees…this is what Amazon spent amlost a billion dollars on? I know they can’t accurately depict what happened because, you know, no rights to The Silmarillion, but it still underwhelmed me.

This sequence is just all so obviously CGI. While I’m no fan of the original Jackson films (sorry, I know—boo, hiss), a lot of it looks real.

“See, it’s just like that Game of Thrones spinoff you like, but with terrible CG!”

It would be so helpful if Galadriel’s voiceover told viewers that Orcs were created as a mockery of the Elves, or hinted at why Morgoth created them/why he hated the Elves. Unfortunately, this is what happens when you try to adapt a work to which you don’t have all the rights.

She is very, very pretty.

“What devilry is this?” Is that a word in Middle-earth?

Lots of Galadriel confidently assuming she knows things she can’t possibly know (for the sake of hurrying the story/journey along, I guess)…if only the streaming services didn’t limit themselves to eight or ten episodes and gave their stories room to breathe!

Anyone watching who’s never read The Silmarillion (or even the trilogy): who the fuck is Morgoth? What are the Trees?? What year is it??? What’s going on here??!? Again, the huge problem of adapting a larger story/universe when you only have partial rights…

Insert obligatory video game-esque troll battle that’s also a callback to the Moria scenes of the FOTR film. You can use the bathroom here and miss nothing.

Some proto-Hobbits, because why not? I did like the “hidden village” reveal thing, though!

I kind of love them?

There’s a lot to be said for the charm and appeal of the Shire from an audience perspective, the comfort of it (which is why the Scourging of the Shire is so thematically important and excising it was an irredeemable sin…but I digress), so I actually 100% understand why they included these guys. TTT is by far the bleakest book of the trilogy, my least-favorite, and the lack of the Shire is a huge reason why.

23 years later and I’m still not over the utter miscasting of Hugo Weaving. Visually, this Elrond isn’t really better. Why is Elrond so damn hard to get right??? And his hair is described as black!

The best costumes a billion-dollar budget could buy?

“Elf-lords only.” Such a dignified, Elvish thing to say…

Yes, Elves could be haughty and unkind; just ask Bilbo! But Elrond is an Elf-lord. Hmm.

Also…Elrond and Galadriel appear to be approximately the same age. It doesn’t matter that Galadriel is actually much older (and his eventual mother-in-law!), because TV is such a visual medium.

This is actually a larger overall problem. Because most of The Lord of the Rings takes place over the course of one year, an adaptation doesn’t need to hold the audience’s hand regarding the passage of time. But in this case, as Galadriel’s narration too-briefly mentions, events are taking place across hundreds and even thousands of years. Elves like Galadriel are significantly older than others, like Elrond, but unless you tell the audience that, they won’t know, and the story loses something as a result.

Even though this design is clearly based on Rivendell in the Jackson films, it is quite lovely.

Pretty!!!

How do Galadriel and Elrond know each other? They seem close. Inquiring minds want to know!

The content and context of this scene is meaningless, but I don’t care—it’s just so pretty!

Even though I know they get worse, for now I don’t really mind the proto-Hobbits. They’re obviously not Tolkien, but they’re an homage, and they’re fun/visually appealing.

The casting director gets a D+ for the male Elves. (Then again, they were poorly-cast in the Jackson films too.)

“And as a reward, you will all be exiled!” lmfao. Being shipped off to Valinor doesn’t seem like much of a punishment, though. Where do I volunteer?

Still, it makes sense that Galadriel, who (correctly!) believes Sauron to still be alive and a threat and who wishes to avenge her brother, would be upset about this. They’ve changed her backstory/motivations—which I hate—but her attitude does track with those changes.

Nuns??

This set design is magical, no notes.

Luthien??

She really is perfectly cast.

Elrond, one of the wisest and kindest of all the Elves, is being written as some smug royal enforcer. Just like the Jackson films wrote him as a grumpy, condescending overprotective dad. Sigh.

“[Evil] waits. And at the moment of our complacency, it blinds us.” I mean…yeah, that’s basically how it goes down in Middle-earth. Repeatedly.

Not Elrond mansplaining about Valinor to someone who was literally born there…

None of these people look like Elves.

“I’m going with you!” But why?!? This lady is a healer with a youngish son still dependent on her at home!!!

I really hate them saying “mum” instead of “ma” or “mama” or something similar. (I’d also hate it if they were saying “mom,” to be clear. It’s just so modern-sounding and breaks any immersion they’ve built so far.)

Wow, the hilt of a broken sword with Sauron’s symbol on it… Generic “halfling” characters I can enjoy as a homage. This is lazy writing. And see? I knew her son needed adult supervision. (It’s also a ripoff of Pippin and the Palantir.)

(muttering) None of these people look—oh, forget it.

Elves don’t age as Men do (or age extremely slowly/imperceptibly), so what’s going on with this dude?

Gorgeous, all.

Ents???

Galadriel jumping off of the ship and just…floating there in the middle of the sea is as silly as the naysayers said it would be. However, I thought the scene leading up to it was fairly well-executed, though I wish they’d done a better job animating the rain of silver glass that leads into Valinor…that image has always resonated with me.

The Good:

Many absolutely stunning visuals thanks to great set design (with Valinor of all places somehow being the least-impressive!) and, apart from some cheap/underwhelming looks, costume design that varies from good to great

A solid score that seems to be trying a little bit too hard to mimic Howard Shore’s from the films

Morfydd Clark, in her entirety; the writing for Galadriel might be awful in upcoming episodes, but her casting was inspired

I find the Harfoots whimsically charming, at least so far, especially Nori.

The use of Tolkienesque maps to indicate location changes

An attempt was clearly made, in this episode if nowhere else, to pay homage to the source material, even the source material they don’t have the rights to use outright (the Two Trees, Morgoth, perhaps Luthien)…it’s better than nothing.

The Bad

Every single male Elf is miscast; yes, I said every single one, from Galadriel’s brother to Elrond to the OC Arondir. Gil-galad and Celebrimbor look like they’re in their late 40s/50s, at best, and idk…there’s nothing “Elvish” or “ageless” about any of the male actors playing Elves. (Full disclosure: I don’t remember being impressed by the male Elves in the Jackson films, either.) I also saw someone say that Gil-galad looks like Liam Neeson in a mullet, and now I can’t unsee that.

Some really clunky dialogue

Lack of adequate backstory/exposition…but exposition in an adaptation like this is hard, because most of it is contained in The Silmarillion, for which they don’t own the rights.

Building on that theme, I appreciate the idea of “showing not telling,” however…did they ever tell us Galadriel’s brother name (Finrod)? Or that “the king” is Gil-galad? Or even suggest that there are a variety of different Elves in Middle-earth? A lot of people know these things, because we know Tolkien. But I’ve got to assume that a lot of others don’t. Heck, it took them until almost the end of the episode to name one of their OCs (Bronwyn).

Some worthless scenes, like Galadriel’s company fighting the “ice troll” in the mountains. Actually, the entire sequence in the mountain lair was badly-written.

I don’t care about the “forbidden romance” subplot between the OCs Arondir and Bronwyn…if they’d spent longer than a few minutes in the first episode establishing their relationship/characters, maybe I’d be more invested. (See my earlier complaint about unnecessarily short seasons—some stories need room to grow!)

Even though my criticism outweighs my praise, even though I’m a self-identified Tolkien purist, I thought this was…fine. It’s an absolute feast for the eyes, truly gorgeous to watch (even with all those woefully miscast male Elves)—visually, apart from a few moments of obvious CGI, it’s what I would expect/want from a Tolkien adaptation! My expectations aren’t high for the rest of the series. There are upcoming plot points that I know will disappoint, infuriate, and disgust me. But considering that I went into this episode expecting to loathe it, I was pleasantly surprised.

Besides, I’m going to keep watching no matter what to see more of Nori and Morfydd’s face. This also makes me want to finish The Silmarillion, which I have been starting and then “saving for later” since I was a small child.

[xray-vex]

here are some of my really general a/i predictions, re: art --

techbro types who want to generate bullshit as a get rich quick scheme will saturate the market and nobody will want their worthless shit, they'll get bored and move onto the next get-rich-quick trend. remember nfts? lol

people who got into a/i because they thought it was a legit way to make art will get bored of it because it won't challenge them to do anything & it will not be gratifying in the long term - those types will either: 1.) quit or 2.) start making actual art

people who buy art will get sick of looking at a/i generated shit that essentially all looks the same. real artists making real art will get more interest again because it will seem new and exciting.

same thing with films & stuff too. i definitely think that various actors & creators guilds & other creative industry unions should do everything they can to protect their art & craft against being outsourced to a/i, but i do think that people who watch films will get sick of a/i in films the same way people got weary of CGI overuse in films. a/i in film might not go away completely, but audiences will absolutely be drawn to films that don't use a/i.

i think the basic gist of what i'm trying to say is that human beings need actual art, and the vast majority of people don't fully, actively realize how interwoven art is to literally everything in their lives. on some level they must know, because when it's missing, they miss it. they seek it out. art in general is important to the fabric of society: storytelling, entertainment, community, emotional fulfillment, etc. and people want something real, tangible. they want something created by humans.

****this is why, i'm guessing, that fan art & fan fiction are so popular. most people who create those sort of works are doing them for the actual love of what they're making. and then those works create community. humans have been sitting in groups to tell each other stories and to express themselves visually & dance together with music forever. for literally ever. all of human history. literally all. art is the fucking foundation of society, civilization, human evolution. to make art & to experience art, to some degree, on some level(s). non-negotiable. essential as food and water. i'm dead serious.

a couple of examples of similar times that tech threatened to make the "real thing" obsolete, but failed to do so:

e-readers were supposedly going to make print books obsolete -- they didn't.

streaming music services helped usher in a renewed desire for physical media again.

for awhile, both of those things did kill a lot of brick & mortar music/book stores, but there has been a bit of a resurgence and lots of small businesses.

and no, things will never go back to the way they were, but things would have changed regardless, capitalism being what it is.

it would be nice tho, wouldn't it, if digital tech presented augmentations to our need to have art in our lives constantly, instead of threatening to replace them completely?

i'm just going on pure vibes here & from what i know about art & being an artist for 35+ yrs, some tech & aesthetics philosophy, and from having worked in retail books & music/dvd sales many moons ago. so i could be completely full of shit here.

but i do have some hope that things re: a/i will get better for people -- for real, working artists & authors & musicians & performers & creators. humans need art the way they need food and water. this has always been true for the entirety of human existence.

i'm just sort of in my thoughts & feelings about art tonight and felt like rambling about it.

now i'm gonna make more tea.

[tenrose]

I gave up, the website is too shitty, literally nothing functions. Idk if the payment really failed or if those suckers are just not able to properly write 'it's sold out'

Now that I'm slightly annoyed...

I'm gonna rant.

First of all theaters can go fuck themselves if they are not able to provide proper services. The cinema I'm talking about in particular is not indie by the way, it's one of the biggest chains here (fuck you UGC) so the bare minimum they could do is provide with actual functional website so people can actually use it and make reservations. Don't even get me started on the price. 11,60€ for me to fucking go out and see people???? And we know seats aren't as good as they used to be in the past. Don't know about the snack prices, I bet it costs two kidneys.

That being said...

FUCK STREAMING PLATFORMS TOO OR EVEN ESPECIALLY

obviously I ain't paying for any. I won't pay for 10 different platforms, and especially not Amazon they can literally rot in hell. Don't even get me started on netflix. I used to pay sometimes back then. Honestly they had something. They used to do an actual effort and trying to show different stuff. They let creative direction to their writers. We wouldn't never have sense8 with today mentality tbh. Everything is just a reboot, a book adaptation emptied from its substance, a reboot, and book adaptation a reboot, a book a- you see the thing. I mean I shouldn't be bitching as pretty much never watch anything new for years so what do I know? I mean I would like to, but every time I watch a trailer, I'm tired just by watching it. Latest exemple I'm thinking about is the three body problem... Like having read the book just watching the trailer you could see the Americanism all over it... For a chinese book. And it's the problem with everything. I mean American TV shows have always be like this, maybe being younger I wasn't aware back then idk. But it feels so empty, so soulless? They can give me all the diversity they want, that doesn't change that it's still empty. And for TV shows (actually I'm talking more specifically about TV shows cause I'm not a big cinephile so I don't have the legitimacy to criticise) I know it's because of that stupid ass 8 episodes format. I've already talked about it. But it's literally draining the whole industry imo. Also writers clearly having little creative freedom since they have to make stuff that sells. But yeah, TV shows lasted physically and in memories because we were watching them slowly instead of this boulimie stuff we have now. Everything is like consume, forget, consume forget and pay shit ton of money.

And I'm thinking I am actually not built for this shit. I felt so burn out not being able to enjoy anything. So now I don't even try. I don't try new shows cause it's not worth it even when there's an actual good one. Because it's gonna be cancelled anyway. Who wants to emotionally invest in shows that get cancelled (I did so many time).

But when I do.

Be sure I will pirate the shit out of it. None of these industries deserve our money.

To finish on a positive note, if there's one thing I'm really happy for in the end. It's books. Sure the book industry is oversaturated too and there's ton of shit to criticise too (but I won't here). But it's so vast there are books everywhere for everyone, and even if tomorrow not a single book would be published (which I don't believe in), there are enough books for my entire life anyway. But yes books, even if formatted too (looking at us french snobs with our novel format), are like the only place writers can still let go of their creativity. Plus you can have cheap books (I'm starting to get there) and obviously free books thanks to libraries, and also you can pirate books too. Yes I pirate books too but tbh it doesn't even compensate how much I spend buying books so I'm not feeling guilty and I either pirate popular books or old books (if they are really old it's free anyway). But yes if you go out unlike me go buy books if you have money, to your local bookstore, or if you can't library is your way.

Reading is my anchor ⚓

[tedcicle]

i find it so interesting how the chuckle sammy boys branched out and became very popular within their chosen niches. jschlatt, one of the most popular streamers on twitch. ted nivison, greatly beloved commentary youtuber. charlie slimecicle, massive minecraft streamer currently going through a cuntification arc.

charlie slimecicle, deranged toxic yaoi roleplayer

on a more serious note, i think the big shift in focus comes from well, they don’t want to really play video games all the time. you can say a lot about how the market is kind of shit right now (indie games are dominating over huge AAA releases, games are releasing unfinished because “live service” games are all the rage, the goal is to get you to spend as much microtransaction money as you possibly can before the game becomes irrelevant and buried by the newest trending one) and that probably contributes to all of them stepping away from video games as a sole source of content/income

the best example is schlatt: a lot of people kind of forget/never watched schlatt’s 2020-2021 stuff, where he did a LOT of big irl projects (oh jenga vod I miss you). he’s got a similar content cycle to say, ludwig, where he balances big projects with simpler to make videos like streams, react videos, tier lists, podcast episodes, and of course, the occasional gaming video.

and yet, people seem to eat up the stream react content slop (in a way i don’t really understand. like, yeah weezer meme funny but it’s not really my thing). this happens to ted and charlie as well — people simply don’t watch charlie if he’s not playing minecraft, to the point where he’ll end streams early, and yeah ted’s videos perform well, but you can see the difference in millions of vides between his last three big videos and the videos in between them.

not to imply there’s a “correct” way to be a fan of someone, just that i don’t think they really CHOSE these niches. charlie’s “bimbofication” arc, ted’s return to streaming, schlatt’s big interview and moving back to NYC… the underlying current is a lot of big changes coming for all three of our dear boys. good changes, i hope

this is parasocial as fuck, but like, i would rather have the most authentic and happy versions of the chucklefucks then have them burden themselves making content they don’t enjoy for an audience that doesn’t give a shit about them. if that means less to watch, so be it, i have literal years worth of shit to catch up on. they deserve to be happy

[donnerpartyofone]

Because of my unspeakable streaming habits, I see a lot of ads for "unscripted" Discovery shows that I would never conceive of watching, that fascinate and horrify me. The exploitation and voyeurism of the actual shows, about dysfunctional people with sometimes (but not always) serious personal problems, doesn't surprise me as much as the ads themselves. They don't introduce any of the players or their narratives, because the target viewer of the ad already knows everything about the shows and is already a fan--which is a strange thing in and of itself, because shouldn't the main point of advertising be to seed new awareness and compel an action that is NOT already happening without the expense of an ad campaign?* But anyway, imagine me, a space alien, watching this ad: An average, unimpressive sort of woman, in no place in particular, speaks into her phone and also to a camera crew about how her mother is dying in the hospital and she's not ready to let her go. She sobs hysterically. And that's it. That's the whole entire thing. Within the bounds of the ad at least, there's no gimmick, nothing to differentiate the people from any other person alive, no overarching drama to give it a special context; like, many of these shows are about people with unusual medical conditions or who have extreme jobs, or they're very rich or very poor, or there's an unwanted pregnancy or something else that raises the stakes, so there's a hook. But as far as the ad in question is concerned this show is like, "Something awful happened to someone, something that happens to everyone, but now you get to see it in extreme closeup!" There is the floating implication that the intended viewer of the ad knows exactly who these people are and why you would want to watch what happens when one of them dies, but for me, who just landed on the planet of Earth, I'm like, this...is a show? How? Why? I'm not surprised by the bad taste aspect of it, just...I can't figure out what's supposed to make it entertaining to begin with.

*I feel like I see an increasing amount of advertisement that has no particular purpose as far as compelling an action goes, and there's something really apocalyptic about that to me. Like, ads for just ordering products on Amazon: Who do they think they're reaching? Who are the as-yet untouched-by-Amazon audiences of the ad? There really isn't anyone who will see that ad on a streaming service who doesn't know what Amazon does, and Amazon pretty much holds the entire world hostage; the only people not using it, who will possibly see the ad, are already conscientious abstainers. Or TV ads for Facebook just kill me, that's another situation where if you're even seeing the ad, you already know what Facebook is and you have already decided whether or not you're going to use it, plus odds are good that you're in a hostage situation with that too where you need to use it for your business or something. What in the fuck are these ads supposed to actually DO? Why spend money on them, at all? My honest feeling is that this is a kind of emperor's new clothes thing, that our economy is just so disproportionately advertising- and sponsorship-based that nobody can even admit that sometimes ads are just not necessary, like at all. They're not producing anything. They are not increasing business for the businesses they advertise. They're actively wasteful in fact. And if we admit that this is true, we might have to just scrap everything and restart society.

AND FINALLY the funniest thing to me is those Metaverse ads that are literally like...hey guys, can you fucking imagine if the Metaverse were actually a product or service that did something? Wouldn't that be totally amazing? And then it just runs through a series of science fiction scenarios complete with goofy floating transparent screens that have already become an embarrassing cliche of, you know, bad science fiction movies. The ad doesn't offer you ANYTHING. It is only designed to get you to imagine using and enjoying something that doesn't exist, has no immediate plans to exist. I assume what's going on is that investors are bailing and the only thing Meta can think to do about it is try to make regular jagoffs talk about the Metaverse as if it's something they want and look forward to, so therefore it's worthy of continued funding and development, even if it is mostly just a very general concept now that may never fully cross over into reality.

Between the last paragraph and now I have enjoyed the following article from last year, since which time nothing has apparently changed. The End.

[tartlette1968]

I have a feeling some people haven't thought about this, though most of us have.

The strike... THE strike... yes, streaming residuals are important. Last century, every time we got to watch an old series on TV, EVERY time, the actors (if they didn't get screwed) got paid a little bit.

All the streaming services, now, have not one idea how to organise or arrange payments, so they just blundered ahead. Sometimes, however, as we can guess, it was deliberate. How can actors, and writers, in fact anyone, survive, feed themselves or family, and keep a roof over their head at all. And then how do they do what they do for a living.

Then there's the bloody AI.

And AI can actually BE an actor, use their face, their voice and we wouldn't know, if we weren't told. This will literally take the food right out of their mouths. AI can BE a writer, not a particularly good one, right now, but that's not going to be the way it is forever. AI has the potential to take over every single art-form humans enjoy pursuing, music, painting, sculpture, singing, writing, acting, for a fraction of the "cost". But that's not the whole point of art, and AI, no matter what it might "say", does not enjoy doing art.

So we can trust the US to bring forth the end of Art, can't we?

The reason why nowhere else is going on strike is because everywhere else is courageous enough to discuss this.

But every single one of us should be angry at this sheer bloody fucked up stupidity. They can actually kill art. That's a stupid thing to be able to say.

AI can cure a multitude of medical problems. AI can manage impossibly difficult systems so that our lives are better... and we should pursue that. But AI can take actual things away from us that we don't want to lose.

[kamenwriter]

Saw Across the Spider-Verse...

It is very much an "act two of three" film. If you loved Empire Strikes Back you'll probably love this. Me? I'm a Return of the Jedi guy, myself.

Animation is gorgeous. Soundtrack is a banger.

The plot...plays into a lot of tropes I'm not a fan of, and as I've said before I'm so burned out on multiverse stories and metafiction.

Spoiler filled thoughts behind the cut:

Starting the film out by fleshing out Gwen is a good choice. She is absolutely the co-protagonist of this film, and it sets up her motivation to go along with Miguel for as long as she does. She's terrified of returning home.

I feel like The Spot is only a "gag" character because of how he looks. Bro has a dangerous powerset. And this kind of goes into the metanarrative the film has I could have done without.

Spot having illustration blue-lines in his model I guess is an indicator of his ability to dimension hop without glitching...but still feels like an odd choice to me.

The whole "we have to maintain the canon, certain people have to die" is just eye-rollingly annoying as a conflict motivation. First from my personal "god I'm sick of meta narratives" perspective, but also from anyone calling themselves Spider-Man having that attitude.

The movie at least establishes that all evidence points to Miguel being right, but everyone's tacit agreement with him is dumb.

As mentioned before, Gwen has a good established reason to go along with Miguel. And yes they at least show Peter B. trying to walk the tightrope of how to handle Miles, but I feel like he'd be more against doing things that way.

Everyone giving Miles shit...because the film needs a conflict. Doesn't matter if it makes sense. This is a problem the first film has as well.

I like that everyone keeps going on about how cool Spider-Punk is but the film does take the time to point out he can be a contrarian for contrarian's sake.

I liked how Spider-Punk was a proper "Fuck the establishment" punk at the end, and the set-up/pay off of "use your whole palm."

How sad is that Ganke once again can't do anything because the MCU films all ready used Ganke and just called him Ned Leeds? (MCU Peter is gentrified Miles, you know it's true)

I sincerely hope in the sequel they explain why Prowler Miles (and Aaron) think they have something to gain by holding Miles hostage. He literally just wants to leave.

I'd complain about how Miguel and Ben Reilly are almost nothing like their comic counterparts...but neither was Peni or Noir in the first film. So...

Excited for the old gang and the new gang to team up in part three, but part two just had too many "folks being assholes in service of the plot and in disservice to the character" and bullshit meta narratives (a police captain has to die? What? Of all the Spider-Man variations in the comics I think that only happened once? I haven't been reading Ghost Spider)

Anyway if schedule permitted I'd go to the second showing of Shin Kamen Rider before I'd watch this again. I'll pick up the soundtrack, though. [edited to add] I'll pick up the soundtrack if GETS A PHYSICAL RELEASE, THAT IS. God I hate the streaming era.

[itsthenerdwonder]

I'm reminded of that post about Olympic gold medals and what qualifies. I can't find the original post, but here's a video about men's vault over the years.

Literally everything is harder now. Before it was a simple up and over, now, you cannot win gold without spinning 4 times and a perfectly stuck landing. And while this is the big leagues, this is what we're supposed to look up to. This is supposed to be the goal of the human body, to be this good. So it has a little bit of a trickle down effect.

Teenagers compete in the Olympics because their bodies can handle some of the stress better than adults. Sure, but that contributes to the idea that your life is over once you hit 30. Sports with thin athletes get more focus than those with larger athletes. Lots of people watching the runners, not so many watching the shot putters. And this DEFINITELY doesn't affect people's perceptions of how "healthy" bodies look and DEFINITELY won't encourage eating and exercise disorders in minors.

Sports is just one example of how the bar has been raised higher than most people can achieve, but I honestly don't think it's the main factor of why kids aren't allowed to be kids anymore. Genuinely, it's technology.

I hear you. I know. "These kids today and their technology." I get it.

But the technology of Evening News spreading information--good and bad--to every household with a television set. The technology of home computers streaming classes. The technology of, like @elfwreck said, personal consoles, especially the streaming library so you can just wait a little bit to get your game or movie or whatever rather than going out somewhere you're not wanted and can't afford when you can just get a bigger selection at home from your X-Box 1 or Amazon Fire Stick. GEEZ! The technology of FUCKING AMAZON SHIPPING! What use to people have for malls when it can go straight to your house?

I want to state NONE OF THESE TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS ARE INHERENTLY BAD! A whole bunch of people survived COVID with getting food or whatever shipped directly to their door instead of potentially exposing themselves and others by going to the grocer. Education backslid during COVID, but people didn't lose a full 2 or more years of education, just partial losses for classes they were distracted by or lost internet service for, but not the full thing. And, I like being able to play MY version of a video game without having to compete with L1CKMYA55 for the proper place in the quarter line. But...when everything that was a third space moves into the home...and you're only allowed to exist at home or at work/school and better not "loiter" anywhere, it makes it a lot harder to exist outside those spaces.

And those spaces are filling up with extra pressure.

The pressure to compete academically because everyone needs a college degree for the simplest jobs. The pressure to protect kids because Columbine/Parkland/Buffalo/two streets down/etc. The fact that there's not as many child or teen websites, just social media, so the pressure to perform in front of online strangers. The pressure to know everything perfectly, because google is free so why don't you just look up every question ever asked. No nuance for the fact that all learning in all of human history resets to 0 on the day you're born, you're expected to know and act like adults with 10 years job experience from day one. So, bye-bye childhood and any learning and growing that would've occurred during that time.

Not to mention the infantalization of actual legal adults and how the removal of Third Spaces and technology inserting itself in adult lives making adults work harder for less too. And...I don't know how to fix it.

Maybe this is the wrong platform to pose this question given the average tumblr user but

Is it just me or did our generation (those of is who are currently 20-30 ish) just not get the opportunity to be young in the 'standard' sense?

Like, everyone I talk to who's over 40 has all their wild stories about their teens and 20s, being young and dumb, and then I talk to my friends and coworkers and classmates, and we just... dont.

[tinylittlecubby]

Since I either have the curse of cassandra or am a Moko Jumbie here are some further not fun predictions:

1) Elon Musk is making the moves he is making because he wants to be the next celebrity president. I dont know when, maybe when he is in his mid 60's or 70's but he wants it. I can see Mark Zuckerberg trying to do something similar, but maybe going down the Bill Gates route of political influence instead.

2) The resource wars, which are being positioned as wars for essential resources like water, are only being called such to distract from the fact that we have had many major resource wars in the past already. Wars over oil? Resource war. War over gold? Resource war. Every single god damn war over fucking land? Resource war (and maybe the most enduring version) Invasion/international interference in order to eradicate communism? Layered resource war (hard to do trade with a country that has a fundamentally different economic system/ideology then you) This narrative shift will be used the same way that the modern 'gender division' is being used. There has always been a gender divide. Gender divides have been an issue longer than capitalism has been an issue. Mysogyny was an issue before the 700 year long plague. So the current one is just a seperate chapter, not a new series. "We never had wars where people were going into other countries for a specific resource" is the same as "we never had so many men express so much vitriol for women" like where the hell have you been?

But I digress, this is a problem because it makes us treat the issue likes its new which calls for new solutions, instead of seeing the issue as old with already proven solutions. This leads to wasted time (both in terms of wasted time while living and destroyed time in terms of peoples lives being lost)

3) Online communities are gonna get messed up so much that over the next 2 decades everyone is going to migrate to tor based platforms. Although not tor based, this is already being seen with the fediverse. As tech literacy becomes better and people become more comfortable with teaching themselves things ( a cultural hallmark of the internet already) tor services are going to become accessible itself and user friendly and we are going to have a repeat of the early 00's and 2010's in terms of the internet but on different servers. I have many theories on how it could play out in different stages but I would literally need to make a video for it to make sense. Factors at play that are informing my call is: identify theft via A.I, lack of data privacy, the historical trend of dynamics flipping throughout history in general (in this case the white web becomes the deep/dark web and vice versa) advertising becoming so invasive and inescapable that people would rather lose out on money instead of deal with it (for example I could see the shift starting with cyber security oriented content creators making the shift over after they have made enough money, then other comp sci creators making the shift and not having made enough money from traditional social media so they are actually the ones to begin to learn how to monetize tor social media on mass and set up things like live streaming -which is extremely!!!! difficult currently to do on tor but they would be incentivized to make it happen due to money) also in terms of connecting with creators but creators protecting their identity, there is already vtuber culture and I could see people making avatars that pretty much look exactly like themselves irl but its still a vtuber model so its still personable but still distanced from a security perspective. Visual A.I might be accepted culturally to allow for this one circumstance so you can make a hyper realistic A.I vtuber model of yourself (JUST for aesthetics, it doesn't function independently from the live streamer they are still actively streaming) by using your own images and ONLY your own images.

[dwarf-vader-of-middle-earth]

My biggest pet peeve is the constant pressure for everything to be considered a monumental success. Anything that is made and fails to completely outdo its predecessors by a huge amount of views/profit/downloads/streams/etc. is immediately considered a flop, therefore is entirely abandoned and seen as unenjoyable, unplayable, unwatchable, unconsumable, and is discontinued and taken off all services and is forgotten about entirely.

Critics of anything ever will treat all flops as a detriment to society and production, say they should never be enjoyed, or watched, played, read, listened to, etc.

But the thing is almost all "successful" media fucking sucks. It follows the same formats, the same formulas, uses the same dry "jokes" that aren't funny, the same cliches, the same plot arcs, literally everything is the same. Nothing critics say is a success is ever really unique. And for something that is unique to become a so-called success, it NEEDS to be so popular and make such a huge profit that, again, it outdoes every single predecessor.

But when push comes to shove, the margins for success become entirely unachievable by any means. What is considered a success will be beyond what we as people are capable of doing, whether because there's not enough money in the world, or not enough people to view/download/buy the thing, whatever.

And because anything that isn't a success is automatically deemed a flop, it becomes a target for all critics to hate it, point out every flaw, everything possibly wrong, most of which is opinion based and not actually flawed by mechanics/technicality. It gets hated on so much that creators lose their entire careers, and critics pressure everyone to never engage with that media under any circumstances for any reason because they themselves say it's just that bad.

But really, in the end, you like what you like. Nobody can or should tell you to stop consuming media that has "flopped", that hasn't made it to triple A status, or to the big names. Nobody has the right to convince you to drop all interests that aren't mainstream, and consume solely mainstream media. Mainstream shit sucks a lot of the time. They're soulless money grabs, versus a small name project that was made with heart and soul, originality, and uniqueness. It's something NEW. And legit by design, humans need new experiences to enrich us. Doing the same thing or experiencing the same thing over and over and over again, especially if it doesn't bring you joy, is legit damaging to the mind.

So I am begging everyone. PLEASE listen to those small bands and musicians, watch those movies that seem interesting even if you feel or know they aren't going to be popular/successes, play those games that nobody enjoys but you love for whatever reason. Whatever media it is, if you find enjoyment in it, and it's not actively harming anything or anyone to consume, just enjoy it.

Not everything will be a huge success. Not everything has to be. Not everything will become mainstream. Nothing ever has to be for it to be enjoyable.

[hua-fei-hua]

i don’t typically announce ahead of time that i’ll be streaming myself working on fic (since it’s a regular thing, most people who like my writing/personality enough to hang out like that know what’s up, and so as a result, posting abt it ahead of time on tumblr doesn’t rlly do anything to increase viewership), but since i’ve been picking up a lot of followers as of late might as well!!

in abt two hours (7 p.m. PDT / 10 p.m. EDT / ~10 a.m. taiwan / ~3 a.m. london) i’ll be streaming myself on picarto.tv typing out a long itafushi oneshot i wrote by hand when on a road trip last week, as well as posting the first chapter of zenith when it turns saturday in my timezone, so if you wanna come hang out, don’t be shy!!! i typically stream for anywhere btwn five to eight hours, so you can hop in and out, come in late, leave early. it’s just fun hangout time, apparently i give off podcast vibes, n just like yeah!!!

[dimmadoome]

Yall will do anything but actually take responsibility for what you've created. Fanon is literally that. Canon crested by fans. They're all headcanons created by you, yes. Literally you, the person reading this that has written fanfic and drawn comics and posted your essays. You are the people writing stories and sharing art and making tumblr posts. Each an every person on here, commenting on my post outraged that I like the collicteve works of yourself had had a hand in creating fanon just by existing in the fandom. You all speak with such derison about yourselves and its actually making me laugh.

You actually can find fanon from people of color. Many many different ways. From discord servers to tumblr to twitter and beyond. AO3 Is just an archive for writers. It is not the be all end all of fandom. But, while we are talking about AO3.

It is not a streaming service. It is not youtube. The works there are not paid for. They are made by you and me and a billion other people who only want to share their art. THEY ARE YOUR PEERS, NOT A CONGLOMERATE. This whole response makes it sound like you're all complaining about the fucking disney channel queerbaiting you again. If YOU want more Babs stories. Write them. You dont want racist tropes in your fanfiction? Well howdy do you've already proven you can both write and post to the internet just by responding to this post. Write. Create. Build. Just like the rest of us normal people did when we added onto the fandom. If you want Cass to be more present in stories, write those. Jesus christ yall. This is YOUR baby you're trying to throw out with the bathwater.

At the end of the day, you need to step back and realize that if someone is telling you they like your work and the community you built with your own bare hands. Maybe say, hell yeah. Im glad you like it, instead of acting like you're above your own hard damn work.

Also. As a side note. Im an indigenous trans person. I understand what it means to desperately want to see representation for me and to know that i will likely never be able to make it a reality in any canon works. I find that fanon is more likely to be written by people of color, disabled people and queer people than canon will ever be. Fandom is a bigger and more diverse collective than canon. Which makes me love it more. Because I can have my voice heard. Because you can have your voice heard.

Its new and its beautiful and its ever changing and its so, so much better than almost 100 years of writers having to sanitize themselves for the capitalist elite who need every batboy to look the same and cant let gay characters exist without making it tragic or retconning it every two seconds.

In the end all I can say is this

Fanon is beautiful.

Fanon has more for me than canon does. Likely, if you are not white, not straight, not cis or not able bodied, it also has more for you than canon ever will.

You all deserve to love your community too. If there are racists. Well fuck man, do what everyone else is doing by drowning them out with your own, obviously not problematic the sligtest, content. So go. Fix what youre complaing about. But realize that you are part of the problem. You are part of the collective you are angrily decrying and nothing you can say will change anything unless you put your hands to paper and actually start working for the changes you want to see.

Hot take but I prefer fanon Batfam to Canon batfam because at least fanon does its best to give each of the batfam very distinct personalities and looks.

I love living in a world where blue eyed black haired white boy doesn't describe half the group, ya know?

[calciopics]

When Megan Rapinoe met Ada Hegerberg: ‘Euro 2022? Everyone was late to the party’

The Ballon d’Or winners come together to discuss England’s Euros triumph, next year’s World Cup and their teams’ sorority

It’s been three years since Olympique Lyonnais acquired a majority stake in Seattle-based NWSL club Reign FC, forging an international sisterhood between women’s clubs unlike any model in professional sports.

The partnership has brought some of the world’s best known players into the same organizational stable, including Lyon’s Ada Hegerberg (who won the Ballon d’Or in 2018) and OL Reign’s Megan Rapinoe (who claimed the trophy in 2019). Ahead of their clubs’ joint US tour, Rapinoe and Hegerberg sat down for an exclusive conversation with the Guardian to discuss their teams’ unique sorority, their impressions of England’s epochal Euro 2022 triumph and their hopes for next year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

What were your thoughts on Euro 2022 and how it seemed to penetrate English culture, not unlike the 1999 World Cup in the United States?

Megan Rapinoe: My overarching feeling was like, everyone’s late to the party. This is not surprising to me at all. I feel like I’ve known that the level of play was going to be that [high]. I knew that the European teams, especially in the last five years with the rise of the club game, have been sensational. Of course this was going to be how it was going to go. We literally grow gardens out of cement every single time. Tell me one women’s tournament in the last 15 years that hasn’t exceeded expectations. Part of it is like: “Welcome, everybody, to the party. You’re extremely fucking late, but fine.” And I feel proud about that. Ada should feel the same and all the women’s players should feel the same because we did this. We did this. We put this into motion through literally sheer will, while also being the best players in the world.

The way that the English players held themselves in this tournament, they just embraced the moment fully and didn’t fall into the narrative or didn’t allow themselves to be stressed out about it. You could just tell they stepped into themselves. And it’s yet another data point, justification, reason, a clear picture of why investing in women’s football is good business, first and foremost. It’s a proper money-making opportunity.

So I feel so many different emotions. Just being as old as I am, it’s hard not to be jaded by some of this stuff, but progress moves at the speed that it does and I think being able to build on this is huge. And I’m just hoping that all of the main stakeholders can really take a look in the mirror and understand that it’s been them that’s been holding the game back, it’s not been us. I feel incredibly proud. I think all of the supporters should feel incredibly proud. I think this is a total watershed moment, this whole year, going from Champions League to what Barcelona did [setting multiple world attendance records].

While the US women’s national team routinely draws large crowds, the NWSL has failed to capture the same audience. What is the next step for growing the club game in the United States to what we’ve been seeing lately in Europe?

Rapinoe: It has to come from a place of investment. It can’t just be a charity thing. That’s sort of willfully naive at this point. I think we’ve proven time and time again – whether it’s in the club game, in the international game, in friendlies and Euros and Champions League, whatever – it’s good business to invest in women’s football. And it’s also the right thing to do, but I think before it’s the right thing to do, it’s good business. We shouldn’t be trying to copy every single thing that men’s sports has, and I think that’s obviously a really easy trap to fall into. But I think when you actually invest in women’s sports: the energy is there, the culture around it is there, the fandom is there, but if I can’t figure out how to find the [video] stream … nobody is going to watch the game.

So it’s investing around the streaming services, investing around the front offices, investing around the facilities for the players, the stadiums for the players, ticketing, marketing, all of that. That’s the only thing that’s missing. The players and the product on the field have never been missing. It’s just that we’ve been neglected and under-financed and under-invested in forever. Lyon’s a perfect example. Champions of Europe a million times, champions of France a million times. You have that success and now coupling that with maybe a sea change in the culture, especially after the World Cup in France, you’re seeing obviously massive returns. The Euros were just sensational, Champions League this year was absolutely sensational and you’re seeing bigger attendances around the world.

There is this unmistakable sense of momentum coming out of the Euros straight into a World Cup year. Aside from lifting the trophy, what would you most like to see out of next year’s tournament?

Ada Hegerberg: I keep on scratching my head after every big tournament. You have the World Cup, you have the Euros and then we get back to club and then it’s like the whole momentum just fades away. And I think that’s a huge problem. Like I’m a player in Europe, obviously, and I’ve seen what’s been happening here and – it’s like Megan mentioned earlier – every tournament has been a success in terms of interest from your home country, on a world basis, the coverage. You have this insane momentum and then you have all these best players going back to their clubs and it’s like you kind of lose this momentum. And I think it’s a shame.

Dazn did an incredible job with the Champions League this year. You had some pretty powerful coverage. People actually got a good platform to see all of the best games. But the problem is our home leagues, basically. I feel like England, they’re very good at selling their league. They’re very good at marketing their league, but the other leagues, we’ve got to step up. The federations are in control of these leagues and they have a huge job to do in order to lift the whole product, with the clubs obviously, and kind of shake it up a little bit and start selling the leagues, start selling good football matches where you actually have the best players playing every weekend. And that’s the next step, especially in Europe. You have to get the momentum up the whole year round.

Rapinoe: The only thing I would say about the World Cup next year, I would love to see the ball not be dropped. It’s absurd if it’s dropped again. That’s from the major stakeholders. That’s Uefa, that’s the federations, that’s Fifa, that’s Gianni [Infantino], specifically. It’s the Australian federation, everything. We know now that if you invest in this World Cup, it’s going to work. It’s just not even a fucking question. I would love to see people stop saying: Wow, I think we have something here! This is insane if you don’t invest in it. Whether that’s people are producing content or streaming services or sponsors or whatever it is.

It’s like a literal gold mine and I just don’t understand. I mean, I do understand: it’s sexism and patriarchy. The major stakeholders, most all of them are men and white men. Them being able to stand up and say: “You know what, like we got it wrong. We’ve been getting it wrong. We’ve been sexist.” Because that’s really what it is. We haven’t invested despite all of the key metrics pointing that this would be an incredible [return on investment].

You need to invest in the infrastructure around women’s sports, whether that’s streaming, branding, marketing, journalism, all of the things that help prop it up. I mean the men’s game, everybody talks about it all the time. I don’t want to know as much about LeBron James as I do, but I can’t not, because it’s in my face all the time. I’m sure in European football, with Canal+ and BBC Sport and all that, you probably don’t want to know as much about Jack Grealish as you do, but you’re going to anyway, because you can’t get him out of your mind. Stuff like that is really important.

Hegerberg: This kind of coverage will help change the mentalities, will help raise a completely different generation into training different, training smarter, to put the same demands to six-year-old girls that you do with six-year-old boys, for example. I wish that we were taken as seriously as boys when we started playing. And I think that has a huge impact on the level and long term as well, because I think that the game only can get better. The way the girls read the game, technically, we’ve seen that it’s been a huge change in the tempo and physically. Changing mentalities with having better coverage and investment, it will also have a huge impact on the next generation and how they play in 15 years, and I think that’s very important because we’re here to also raise the level year in and year out.

You mention the quality of European sides, Megan. How is the US women’s system planning on keeping up with Europe when they’re so clearly on America’s heels?

Rapinoe: The game is growing exponentially every year. It’s a huge challenge for us. I think the football being played at the Euros was the best football in the world that we’ve seen ever. I don’t think that’s even a question. It’s a huge challenge for us. We do know how to win. We do have a winning culture here. We know what we’re up against. So I think, for me, honestly, it’s exciting. It’s exciting that so many teams are so much better. It’s exciting that the level of competition is what it is. I think that brings out the best in everyone. But yeah, we’ve got a tall order to keep not only obviously our No 1 standing but to keep ourselves world champions. I’m excited for it. I think if you’re not pushed and you’re not challenged and you’re not shitting yourself a little bit, like what’s the point?

(Bryan Armen Graham by The Guardian)