#that's not to say it's kumbaya: plenty of characters take a while to get used to it | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lochnessies · 3 years ago

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CFstans really will be like "c'mon guys all routes are valid so why can't we all just get along and hold hands and sing kumbaya anyways here's my essay on why CF is the only good route that enacts meaningful change actually & the BEagles are the only queer house so if you don't stan El & the Eagles are you really even lgbt???"

like...I see plenty of annoying my route is the only gud route takes from AM/VWstans alike (to the 10 other SS fans out there...love & light and all that) but nowhere near on the same scale imo

also call me a bad member of the lgbt community, but I'm not too gung-ho about the fact that the supposed queer house is the only house to default to siding with the main villain in 3H...plus out of the four main characters, Dimitri & Claude- two straight dudes- are undisputedly the good guys, while Edelgard(bisexual) is the main villain and Rhea(also bi) is at best morally grey. to be fair to Rhea she does redeem herself at the end but still...

to be clear, I didn't play 3H for the lgbt rep & I'm not saying it's all bad. I certainly don't mind seeing lgbt chars being villains or morally grey for reasons other than the fact that they're queer, but acting like the Imperial Conqueror Route is a win for the gays is certainly a take, yanno?

anyways sorry for the mini rant it just gets tiresome that there's this attitude that I'm not queer enough or whatever if I don't stan Edelgard/CF as if that has any actual bearing on my irl identity

imo people can enjoy whatever route they like with no problem. it’s when, like you said, people use it as cudgel to attack or question a stranger’s identity. like 1) it’s none of ur business and 2) why do u care

like...I see plenty of annoying my route is the only gud route takes from AM/VWstans alike (to the 10 other SS fans out there...love & light and all that) but nowhere near on the same scale imo

oof same here. idk i’ve always found the “gay house” trend rather cringe tbh. i remember an anon sent me an ask with a link to a post about edelgard and lgbt people (and sent a follow up that i’ve yet to touch bc that post does psychic damage to me so anon if ur reading thing i’m sorry i’ll get it out eventually i’m not ignoring u)

don’t worry anon i’m not going to banish u to the bad gay corner lol it’s a valid criticism. in games that have romance options i think it’s best to make everybody “playersexual” to avoid what you mentioned above.

exactly. having gay villains is fine, and 3h does have objectively good people be gay so it doesn’t come across as bashing of a sexuality. and honestly i like how sexuality has nothing to do with the characters stories. no internalized homophobia or hate crimes or whatever. just people vibing and being unaware of that kind of discrimination. wish that was me lol

anyways sorry for the mini rant it just gets tiresome that there's this attitude that I'm not queer enough or whatever if I don't stan Edelgard/CF as if that has any actual bearing on my irl identity

oh no anon no need to apologize! i agree it’s really fucking annoying when people take media too seriously and push a narrative that you’re less xyz if you don’t like a specific media. like… my bisexuality has fucking nothing to do with video games or what have you bc that’s not what being bi is.

#asks

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nlrpgs · 5 years ago

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welcome back from your little vacation. did you all have fun holding hands and singing kumbaya? ... or, from what i heard plenty of you did more than just that. there’s lots of drama stirring and there’s nothing better than to add to it. as you know, it’s been five years since the last time i visited so it’s time for the q deeds.

q is an anonymous figure who has ears everywhere. some say she’s a child of metis, while others think she’s the goddess herself having fun. either way, no one is safe when she appears.

she only shows up every five years for a little over a month, but in that short period of time all hell breaks loose.

as stated before, q has dirt on everyone and she plans on using that information for her own amusement.

think hunger games and blackmail being blended up and creating the q deeds

how this works

every member in nl will be put in a raffle. q will choose from it and message those who are participating privately. no one, aside from your teammates are supposed to know who’s in the game

ooc: send in to the main who you’d like to participate. i suggest only doing 1 - 2 characters, 3 would be the max. no daemons or monsters are allowed to play ( they’re busy with their own things ) just send in your character(s) name and their secret. remember: the secret has to be bad or embarrassing enough to force the character to participate. you have until 1/8 11:59pm pst

those who were chosen will be given a location where they will meet their teammates ( each team will have 3-4 people ) they will meet at their given location to discuss their plans and such. each room has an smart tv that q will use to contact them and give them their deed. teams are also able to access their points through there.

ooc: this event will be kind of activity heavy. there will be 1 task given an week and this will go on for about a month.

ways to rp the characters completing their task

write it out like a script/screenplay

you can either discuss what will happen on discord, chatzy, etc. then have someone repost it on tumblr. you can reblog it as well, if you want, if your character participated in it or was mentioned.

chatzy may be the easiest because everyone can still rp with it being more of headcanons

thread, keep it short so it doesn’t take long since you’ll only have a week to finish

teams who complete the task the fastest will receive the most points and it will trickle down from there. there are also ways to lose points but those are known as secret rules

ooc: so everyone has a week to complete their task ic and ooc. then, i’ll put each team who finishes into a random order generator and the points will be distributed that way.

secret rules

characters are not allowed to tell anyone that they’re doing something for q deeds. if they do, points will be deducted from your team. ( -5pts )

they’re not allowed to share the list with anyone. ( -10pts )

all team members needs to be present for the task. ( points don’t count )

the only exception would be those who are on semi/full hiatus

don’t openly speak about the teams or participation. ( -5pts )

random ones q makes up on the spot to mess with the players ( a random amount of negative or positive points )

the most negative points someone can get is -30, so make sure to watch out for your points. first team out gets all the members secrets revealed, and it goes down from there. if no one reaches the -30, the same rules will apply to the last place team: everyone’s secrets will be revealed.

ooc: depending on how many participate, the numbers of how many people get exposed will vary.

make sure to follow the tag qdeeds for updates!

as always, please don’t hesitate to ask me any questions you have about the event!

don’t forget: you all have until 1/8 11:59pm pst to message the main with your characters and their secrets!

#nl;event #appless rp #oc rp

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raywritesthings · 5 years ago

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What Have They Lost? 4/?

My Writing Fandom: Arrow, The Flash Characters: Laurel Lance, Oliver Queen, Thea Queen, Barbara Gordon, Barry Allen, Wally West, Bruce Wayne, Tommy Merlyn Pairings: Barry Allen/Iris West, Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen, Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel Summary: “I can definitely tell you that there’s a way we’re going to bring [Laurel] back and she’s going to be alive and well. And Flashpoint might have a little bit to do with that.“ -Wendy Mericle AKA: The AU where that wasn’t a blatant lie, and Flashpoint has bigger repercussions for Barry’s friends and allies than he first realized. *Can be read on my AO3, link is in my bio*

After the weird encounter with a man named Barry and seeing Dinah from Birds of Prey in one night, Mia’s life had gone back to depressingly normal. How was that fair?

She’d thought about sharing the discovery she’d made about Larry online, but then who would really believe her? And pop stars had to have lawyers and stuff looking out for their image. She really couldn’t afford getting sued.

A part of her still didn’t believe it anyway. How could someone so cool like Dinah have such a schlub for a father? But then again, nobody knew her past.

Mia has always kind of assumed — or maybe hoped — that her idol was a kid from the system, like her. No parents, no roots, free to do as they pleased for good or ill. More ill in her case, as it had turned out so far.

It was another long night of pouring shots and drying glasses. The nights all seemed to blur together after a while, unless something extraordinary happened.

And then something did. “I’m gonna take my fifteen,” she called out, not really waiting for a response. Mia tossed her apron aside and walked to the door, only vaguely noticing the guy who stood from one of the two-seater booths to do so as well.

She did notice when he followed her around the corner. “Hey, buddy, this is kind of the unofficial employee-only section, so if you could—” The rest of her words died in her throat once she’d turned towards him.

Because it was Oliver Queen.

“Yeah, sorry,” he was saying, his eyes jumping all over her appearance. “I just wanted to ask you when your shift ends.”

Mia raised both eyebrows. She’d heard he was some kind of player back in the day, but seriously? “Don’t you think I’m a little young for you?”

His jaw dropped. “No! No, that’s not what I — I promise, this is not a come-on. I just...we need to talk, about something important.”

This was so weird. That Barry guy had asked her what she knew about Oliver Queen, and less than a week out he turned up looking for her?

“I’m here for another four,” she said, breaking every rule of how to interact with male customers, but this one was famous so it wasn’t like he could get away with too much.

“Okay,” he said. There was a spark in his eye, like the prospect of getting to talk to her more was something to be happy about. He was about the only one who’d ever thought so.

“Yeah, so can you let me have the last of my break?”

“Right. Yeah, I can do that.” He retreated back inside.

Mia shook her head. What was even going on anymore?

Four hours later, he was still at his booth. She sighed, throwing herself down into the empty seat across from him.

“Okay, what’s this about?”

“Did you want to talk here? We could go somewhere else.”

“I’m not going somewhere with you. Stranger danger and all that.”

“Right,” he said with a wince. “That’s good. That’s smart.” He scrubbed at his goatee. “So that’s probably where we should start. Uh, recently I learned that you and I — we’re not exactly strangers.”

“Aren’t we?”

“Well, in a way. The thing is...I’m your half-brother,” he told her.

Now it was her turn for her jaw to drop.

“On my mother’s side,” he added, like he thought that was helpful.

Thea placed her head in her hands. “Okay, really, what’s the joke? Is it the last names thing? Cause that guy was in earlier—”

“What guy? Barry?”

“Wait, you know him?”

“He’s my friend. He’s the one who told me.”

Mia sat back. “What do you mean? Why would he know?”

“That’s kind of complicated. But we can talk about that, too. I...gosh, there’s so much to talk about.” He said gosh. Who even said gosh anymore?

Her shock was starting to give way, however, and Mia found herself narrowing her eyes. “Why?”

“What?”

“Why do we have anything to talk about? For over twenty years, you couldn’t be bothered to even notice my existence. Now because some guy says we’re related, you’re suddenly interested?”

He was stunned speechless for a few moments. “Mia, I- I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Right, because our mom — your mom — didn’t tell you. Because she didn’t want me.”

“I’m not sure why she sent you to the orphanage. But she kept an eye on you, made payments—”

“Oh, because that makes everything better?” Mia said with a nasty laugh. A couple people glanced over their way, but she paid them little mind. “Trust a Queen to think that money solves all problems!”

“That’s not what I meant. I’m still trying to figure everything out, I just wanted—”

“Screw what you want, alright? I’ve survived my whole life without a family. I don’t need you swooping in to force me to be yours.” Mia stood and stormed out of the bar.

“Mia!” He called after her, but she didn’t stop and he didn’t follow.

What did he expect? That she’d move in with him and his bastard kid, they could forget everything that had come before and sing kumbaya? If what he said was true, she’d had parents, and they’d willingly given her away. Not out of some kind of necessity, not because they couldn’t afford it, but because they hadn’t wanted her. She’d long ago given up wondering what her family might have been like, but the reality was worse than anything she’d ever imagined.

Mia stopped and let herself lean against a wall, willing her eyes to just stop stinging already. She’d promised to stop feeling sorry for herself.

“Well, that wasn’t very nice of him.”

Mia stiffened at the unfamiliar voice and looked up. Standing across from her was a man with dark hair and a beard. He looked about the same age as Oliver Queen and even richer in his expensive suit. Mia sighed. She so did not want to deal with this.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help noticing what was going on back there. It was Mia, right?”

“What do you want?” She huffed. “You about to tell me you’re my secret brother, too?”

He smiled, but there was something off about it. It didn’t reach his eyes.

“Funny you should mention that.”

---

Dinah looked at the street down below and gulped. “Why’d I let you guys talk me into this?”

“Hey, you’ll be fine. Think of it like stage-diving.” She was used to earpieces on stage, but it usually wasn’t Babs’ voice in her ear. It hadn’t surprised her in the least Ted had a working pair of comm links, though.

“I am not jumping from this high. Not without a wire, at least. Just...getting a feel for things. Lay of the land.” It sounded unconvincing to her own ears. Dinah scowled at herself and reached to tug on the material resting around her eyes.

“Stop picking at the mask.”

“What makes you think I’m doing that?”

“Because I can see you through the security cam mounted on the high rise across from you.”

Dinah made a face in the high rise’s direction.

“Cute.”

“I try. Look, Babs—”

“No names on the comm. We use code.”

She rolled her eyes. “Alright, Bat-ling.”

“Please don’t call me that.”

“Well, what do you want to be called? Lady Bat? Batgirl?”

“I’m kind of thinking of making up my own thing. You know, since this is just us.”

Dinah felt herself smile. “Alright. Just let me know once you have something.”

“Sure thing. You start thinking about one, too.”

“Yeah,” Dinah sighed. It wasn’t like she wasn’t used to rebranding. From Laurel to Dinah, after all.

She’d been hearing the name she’d gone by in childhood a lot, recently. Visits to her dad tended to do that, but she could’ve sworn that one camera guy from the Central City publication had nearly called her it the other week. Maybe she’d imagined it, or maybe it had just been a herald of the strange turn her life was about to take.

Her eyes caught shapes moving down on the street below, and she quickly went to the fire escape and slid down the railing partway.

A few young men were giving chase to another of their group, yelling epithets as they went.

“You’re a dead man!”

“You think you can walk away? You think it’s that easy, huh?”

“Maybe not a damsel in distress situation, but one less murder’s always a good thing,” Dinah muttered to herself. She continued down to the ground level, doing her best to blend in with the shadows as she tracked the men to an alley.

“There’s nowhere to run!”

“Come on, guys, I don’t want a part of this anymore! I gave you my cut!”

“We said at the start, all in. That was the deal. And you gave us barely half!”

“I had bills, man! I can get you the rest later!”

Dinah cleared her throat. She’d heard plenty to get the gist. “Boys?”

The ones cornering their former friend turned, looking her up and down in clear confusion. Aside from the mask, she supposed she didn’t look much like a vigilante; Ted was working on getting something a little more durable made for her, but for now Dinah was in her jacket, a navy tank top and a set of her workout leggings. She was working on a limited wardrobe here since she didn’t exactly want anyone recognizing her outfit. Instagram was terrible for going unnoticed.

These guys were probably also expecting a big man in green, she reflected on a moment later.

“Who the hell are you?”

Damn, she hadn’t expected to need a name already. Was she supposed to tell people her codename? How did that even work?

“A concerned citizen?”

They scoffed at her. Dinah hadn’t had anyone scoff to her face in a long time, outside of the band anyway. It was kind of refreshing.

“We’re just settling a score here, lady. Nothing to get ‘concerned’ about.”

“Settling it physically?”

“What exactly is your plan here?” Babs asked in her ear. Dinah ignored her, mostly since she didn’t feel like looking crazy talking to the air.

One of the men looked about fed up. “Yeah, physically.”

“Okay, just wanted to confirm.” They’d admitted to trying to commit a crime, right? That gave her due cause or something. She stepped forward and grabbed the arm of the man closest to her, whirling him around and throwing him towards a dumpster behind her.

“What the fuck?”

“Get her!”

She ducked a fist that came careening at her and tripped the guy it was attached to. With her planted foot, she pivoted to send a kick to his rear end.

A third man grabbed her elbow, and Dinah pushed instead of pulled, jabbing him in the chest and sending him sprawling into his back.

They weren’t exactly hardened thugs, it turned out. Dinah glanced around at the three of them groaning on the ground. Her blood was pumping and she was fully in the zone, but here they were just...lying there. “Figures. No stamina,” she grumbled under her breath.

Dinah started to leave when the young man she’d been defending called out, “Um, thank you.”

“Some free advice? Turn yourself over to the cops. They can get you protection I’m not able to provide 24/7.” Dinah turned, marching over the fallen man in her path. “What did you think?”

“Couldn’t see much,” Barbara told her. “But not bad. Want to take on something a bit more challenging?”

“Why not? Night’s still young.” And she doubted this was the only crime or almost-crime happening in the whole city. Though that caused a thought. “So where do you think Green Arrow is?”

“Who knows? Why, you want to meet him?”

“I dunno. We’re in the same neighborhood and all, he might get nervous I’m on his turf.”

“And you’re worried about that?”

Dinah smirked. “Worried? No, that’s the fun part.”

Barbara’s laughter filled her ear, and Dinah picked up her step.

---

Bruce was a very busy man. Even if he didn’t have a secret night job, he would likely be considered a busy man. A ridiculous notion; CEOs tended to delegate more than anything. Nevertheless, running Wayne Enterprises was only one in a very long list of tasks he had to complete each day to ensure his city stayed afloat.

Which was why he didn’t appreciate when others came asking for his help in their own cities unannounced. Particularly when said others bypassed all his security measures.

Alfred tsked whenever he wore the cowl in the cave, but it was necessary for times such as these when two speedsters zipped right into being.

“Woah,” the older of the two said, looking around the cavernous space.

Bruce hit a button on the console which locked the door to the upstairs from the inside to ensure Alfred didn’t accidentally arrive in the middle of whatever this was.

The younger one nudged his mentor, who gave a start. “Oh, right! Uh, Batman.”

“Yes?”

“We wanted to ask if you could run a background check for a case we’re working?” Allen probably didn’t realize how much his easy parlance with law enforcement terminology gave away about his identity, but Bruce wasn’t going to point it out to him.

Especially when he could tell the man was hiding something. “What’s this really about?”

“What do you mean?” Flash asked, as if a desperate attempt at casual was going to smooth everything over.

“You’re acting like you’ve never seen this place or me before.”

“That’s...because I haven’t.”

Bruce worked to keep any surprise off his face. If Flash was out of step with the rest of their reality, there was only one logical explanation. “Time travel.”

The speedster gaped. “How did you—”

His sidekick, West under the mask, raised both hands. “Don’t look at me. We’ve never told him about the time travel.”

Bruce rolled his eyes. “You both are capable of reaching speeds that break the sound barrier and beyond. It’s a logical assumption that should you achieve a velocity higher than the speed of light, it would allow you to transcend the normal barriers of linear time as well.” Not that he liked it, but that was a discussion for another day.

“Okay. Well, yes, there was time travel involved. It’s better for the universe if I don’t say much more.”

“Then why did you come here?”

Flash blinked. It seemed he was once again unused to Bruce’s gruffness. “Well, Kid Flash said you call yourself a detective?”

Bruce frowned. “Others do.”

“I need your help finding out information about a woman. She’s a meta, potentially dangerous or potentially not. I need to know more about her.”

“What do you already have? A name?”

“Dinah Laurel Lance, born um...1985!” Said Flash, as though he’d just recalled it.

Bruce turned to his computer and started to type. He could sense the speedsters shifting restlessly on their feet behind him as he did so but pushed that minor irritation to the back of his mind.

“Dinah Laurel Lance, as you say, born in 1985. Her father gained sole custody of her when she was about seven years old but lost it in another year due to his alcoholism making him an unfit parent. She was sent into the foster care system. No record of adoption.”

“Oh man,” West murmured. Sympathy, likely from his own history with a parent embroiled in addiction.

“Any, uh, criminal record?” Allen asked, his nerves plain even behind the mask.

Bruce narrowed his eyes but scanned through the documents.

“Some records indicate a tendency to get into fights, but nothing beyond juvenile censure. What was she doing when you came across her?”

“That’s the thing, I really don’t know. She might have been helping a woman, but then she might have been trying to hurt some guys just for the heck of it. It’s...she’s complicated. But she was definitely born here?”

“She was born in Starling City.”

Allen shook his head. “Right, never mind.”

Bruce grit his teeth. He wasn’t being told something still.

“Thanks for the help.” The speedsters were both gone in an eye blink, leaving him alone once more.

Bruce frowned as he looked over the information. He could see why Flash had needed help; her records for the most part seemed to stop several years ago. But then, if he was right…

Dinah, the singer. They were the same woman. And Barbara Gordon was involved with this woman, a member of her band after leaving Gotham. A metahuman with powers he still didn’t know what were capable of doing.

If this Dinah was dangerous like Flash was fearing, and Barbara thought this was her in to the sort of life he’d tried to shield her from for Jim’s sake…

He was going to have to keep his eyes on this one.

#lauriver #laurel x oliver #laurel lance #oliver queen #arrow #the flash #dcu #thea queen #bruce wayne #green arrow #black canary #barbara gordon #my writing

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jordantstatham · 7 years ago

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How Social Media Has Changed Us: The Good and The Bad

It’s hard to believe that, only a decade ago, social media was little more than a budding trend. Sure, there were websites such as Friendster and MySpace that had a decent level of adoption, but the population as a whole had not come around to it yet.

Back in 2005, Facebook was still in it’s early stages of its spread across the world. Heck, I was signed up for it back then, but didn’t really see the point until a few years later. Twitter appeared around that time, but a lot of us saw it as a pointless lifecasting toy. LinkedIn was essentially a digital resume and, for some of us, a pseudo-Rolodex. And Google+ didn’t even come on the scene until 2011, followed later by Pinterest and other platforms.

Fast forward to 2014, and social media has become not only a key part of the modern lifestyle, but a useful marketing channel for businesses of all sizes. Yesterday, a friend commented (on Facebook of course) that her elementary age kids were stunned to know that phones were only used for conversations a few years ago. They were dumbfounded to hear that we didn’t even carry phones with us 15-20 years ago.

This tells me that everything has officially and permanently changed. There is a generation of kids coming up (mine included) who can’t even conceive of a world without smart phones and social networking. It has officially embedded itself in our culture.

As someone who spends nearly every waking hour connected in some way, including both personal and business, this really hits home for me. Let’s look at ways that social media improves our life experience, and also a few ways that it uncovers a few of the more unsightly parts of humanity. Surely you’ll agree on at least some if not all of them. Social Media: The Good

Before I cover the “Bad,” let’s start by appreciating the things social media has done to add to our lives. Here are some of the better things I’ve observed.

Immediate Access to Information

Given all the consolidation of media companies in the United States, it is pretty easy to question whether the news we get from the major media is the full story or not. After all, it’s not a rare occasion to hear more about the latest Kardashian scandal or celebrity death than a political uprising in Turkey or elsewhere in the world.

One of the things that attracted me personally to Twitter was the immediate access to other sources of information. Back when the government raided Osama Bin Laden’s fortress in Pakistan, there was a nearby citizen live tweeting his observations of the whole situation through the night. I was out at an event that evening, and learned of it pretty soon after news broke domestically, directly from my contacts on Twitter.

Social media is also very helpful for expanding our sources of content as a whole. With so much being blogged and written, then curated and shared proactively, the volume of content has grown exponentially. Now, there is no shortage of viewpoints and sources from which we can draw our own conclusions about what is really happening in the world. It’s less important to have a news team interpret it on our behalf.

Pervasive Connectivity To Others

I remember the days of phones with old style dials. We didn’t even have answering machines back then. If you called someone and they didn’t answer the phone, you had to call back and try to catch them in real time.

When a call came in, there was no caller ID. You just picked it up and said, “Hello.” It was sometimes hard to catch up to people, so you had to hand write and send a letter to communicate when you were both leading busy lives.

Today, if you can’t catch someone on the phone, you can leave a voice mail or send a text. Or even better, tweet, Facebook message, or touch base in some other means. You can see what others are doing within seconds of them doing it, assuming they share it on a social network of some sort. It’s not hard to catch up with someone if they want you to find them. Kids have no idea how convenient this is in our daily lives (privacy concerns aside).

Globalized Voices

Similar to the phone situation I just spelled out, it was extremely difficult to access a globally reaching platform where one could share their opinions or findings back a mere 25 years ago. I recall in the early 1990s where it was a huge deal to send in a letter to the editor to a local newspaper, and have them actually decide to include the letter in the paper.

Today, all we have to do is login to our platform of choice. We can rant, rave, kumbaya, tell jokes, share images, and generally mix and mingle to our heart’s content. For those of us who can write, it takes only a couple of minutes to create a new blog and start putting our thoughts into words. And those thoughts could grow legs of their own once the social sphere grabs hold of them.

It is far easier to do something remarkable and noticeable, and have it reach people across the planet, than it has been at any time in our history. We now have truly globalized voices. What a privilege!

Hashtags

Here’s one that originated on Twitter and eventually made its way out to the other social networks. Hashtags served a very important purpose on Twitter in the early days – you could create one tied to a specific trend, event, or topic, and filter out everything that didn’t relate to the hashtag.

This was great for allowing a completely unstructured app like Twitter to enable focused conversation. It’s amazing how people will find answers to problems or needs on their own, and make the most of a platform. This was the beauty of Twitter – it was powerful in that you could take its simplicity (140 characters of whatever you wanted to post) and tailor the experience to your own preferences.

Now, hashtags have grown into a phenomenon of their own. Some people use them for snark, others use them in the traditional way, and still others have been experimenting with completely new ways of applying hashtags. Since they operate almost like keywords for social media, they’ve truly become part of the culture of online discussions.

More Level Playing Field for Business

Some may argue this point, but by providing us with global reach for our voices, social networks enable businesses across the world to amplify their message in a way never thought possible only a decade or two ago.

In the old days, mass media ruled. A company had to pony up thousands or even millions of dollars to be heard in most cases. Very large companies with deep pockets ruled the roost. Only those businesses could afford to have wider reach.

Now, a small company can achieve global reach within days of launching their business when the cards fall right. Perhaps it’s via an ingenious video, by sharing opinions that resonate and haven’t been stated in the past, or creating new knowledge that spreads like wildfire. Maybe it’s by simply sharing the business concept and bigger voices latching onto it. In any case, social media has provided a means to have a voice on par with the big dogs for everyone, including the smallest startups or “Mom & Pop” businesses. Social Media: The Bad

It would be short-sighted to only highlight the good from social media if I want to stay grounded in reality. Now here are som eof the things that make me want to close the browser window and move on.

Selfies

I know, it’s been mocked and made fun of ad nauseum – the selfie. No matter whether it’s because of a shirtless guy flexing in front of a mirror, girls making abominable duck faces, or people with bad judgment taking selfies in front of natural disasters or sunbathing with their grandmother’s ashes, we’re stuck with them.

I get why so many selfies make their way out onto the social networks. Phones come with high res cameras now. Computers have webcams where it’s easy to take a snapshot. You don’t even need anyone present to catch a picture from the top of Mount “Amazing-est View in the World.”

But really, it’s not hard to ask some friendly passer-by to take a picture if you really want one. Everyone can see right through your humble brag about the cool places you’re visiting or the awesome people you are hanging out with. If you aim to post selfies, please, PLEASE take at least a moment to consider whether it will come across as narcissistic. In many cases, it will. And those are times to resist the urge. Especially if posting to a business page or Twitter account.

Hiding Behind Anonymity

Although it is getting harder to shield your identity these days, anonymity has been a key piece of the internet since its early days. It’s amazing to see how people behave when their true identity is masked.

Now we have everything from outright trolls to habitual pranksters. This is the kind of behavior that makes the whole internet, and particularly social media, less productive and enjoyable for all. If you want to say something and are afraid to have anyone know you said it, perhaps you should buck up and use common sense before putting it out there. Being offensive anonymously is not only cowardly, it shows a lack of character. We should all be better than that.

All Talk, No Action

In recent years, we’ve seen a ton of hashtag activists and similar behaviors across social media (most recently, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge). It has become a trend to take a selfie (double whammy) holding a sign with a political or social message on it, and a new hashtag of course. Or take a video in the case of the Ice Bucket Challenge. The idea is to get likes and shares on the picture or video, or challenge others to take part, aiming to have a message spread.

While that’s fine in concept, hashtag activism is all talk. If an issue is important enough to take action, why not take real action? Facebook is crawling with people ready to go to social media war with anyone on a topic they care about, but what else are they doing to fix the problem? Venting on social media doesn’t fix a thing; it just stirs the pot.

There are plenty of charities and volunteer opportunities available. Rather than get spun up on Facebook, go give back on the weekend, or make a donation without taking part in a random stunt. Not only will it make a real difference, but it will make you feel better inside. And in the end, isn’t that part of the story anyway?

Ignorance Amplified

The ugly underbelly of ignorance is easy to ignore while you’re going about your everday life. But on Twitter, it’s all over the place. There have been many blog posts highlighting hateful, misinformed, or just plain confusing and delusional tweets at various times in the past.

It would be easy to laugh at this, but it’s also important to realize that this stuff is really going on out there. The world is not a perfect place, that’s a fact. If something is ignorant and it offends you, sharing it to express that outrage just amplifies the message further.

Like the adage goes: “Don’t feed the trolls.” The more attention you give to this behavior, the more the person spewing it feels compelled to continue the behavior. Let’s focus our attention on the positive sometimes, because the negative gets old and tired, doesn’t it?

Summary

I love social media. As with any communication medium, it comes with its ups and downs, pros and cons. Overall, I truly believe it makes the world a better place in many ways. It also gives a platform to some less savory behaviors and opinions. Each to his/her own, I suppose.

What about you? What else about social media has changed your life for the better? Did I miss any huge negatives that you see? Do you think the world is better or worse off with social networks?

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latashamelva · 7 years ago

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How Social Media Has Changed Us: The Good and The Bad

youtube

Before I cover the “Bad,” let’s start by appreciating the things social media has done to add to our lives. Here are some of the better things I’ve observed.

Immediate Access to Information

Pervasive Connectivity To Others

Globalized Voices

Hashtags

More Level Playing Field for Business

Selfies

Hiding Behind Anonymity

All Talk, No Action

Ignorance Amplified

Summary

What about you? What else about social media has changed your life for the better? Did I miss any huge negatives that you see? Do you think the world is better or worse off with social networks?

Content seen in here : http://targetmarketing.tumblr.com/post/138670397627/how-social-media-has-changed-us-the-good-and-the

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aion-rsa · 8 years ago

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INTERVIEW: Image Comics’ Extremity Is An Unconventional Revenge Story

Launching this week from Image Comics, Skybound Entertainment’s “Extremity” aims to present a revenge story unlike most others. Centering on the brutality of war and the opposing tribes caught in a conflict that divides families, the new series from writer/artist Daniel Warren Johnson and colorist Mike Spicer combines elements of fan-favorite manga and science-fiction to serve up a post-apocalyptic tale as enticing and original as it is violent.

RELATED: Skybound Announces Image Comics Sci-Fi Epic: Extremity

CBR had the opportunity to speak with Johnson about “Extremity” in the lead up to the first issue’s release on March 1. Over the course of our conversation, we discussed the series’ real-life origins, and its unconventional spin on a revenge tale. Johnson also explained how anime inspired “Star Wars” inspiration for the series’ post-apocalyptic visual aesthetic, and more.

CBR: Where did the idea for Extremity originate?

Daniel Warren Johnson: I had been working on “Space-Mullet” for more than a year — it was super tongue and cheek-ish, kind of like a fun rock and roll vibe, not very serious. Even though it would get dark sometimes, I never purposefully got serious with it; it was just kind of an experiment for me, which I like doing. Doing “Space-Mullet” for a year, [I decided] I wanted to start doing something a little more serious. I was just keeping my eyes and ears open for any inspiration for any kind of story that really got me thinking — because it’s hard for me to create something from nothing — and my wife told me about an NPR interview that she heard around that time by a Jewish woman who was in the Nazi concentration camps. She’s famous for forgiving her Nazi captors. What really intrigued me about it was that the rest of the global Jewish community said, “You’re not allowed to forgive these people.” These people who would be considered her family more or less turned their back on her, and I thought that was really interesting and made me think about what causes families to turn against each other.

[“Extremity”] has had many iterations over the years — it took me two and a half years to really figure out what I want to do. It got me thinking, and then basically I created a world to fit what you see in “Extremity.” The emotional component for me, being an artist, you know, is, what does the main character feel losing her hand? That’s kind of the emotional core of the story. That’s what drives it home for me. That’s the only way that I could make another revenge story work.

Why is the series called “Extremity”?

I had been trying to find a title for a really long time, something that would show the themes behind the book — how far are you willing to take this quest of revenge? I can’t really take credit for the title. Our friend and comic book artist, Bryan Lee, was spit-balling ��That’s it, that’s the perfect title.” I wish I could say I came up with it myself, but I did not.

What is it about revenge stories that you, personally, find so compelling?

I think there’s something really interesting about how — when you see a movie like “John Wick,” there’s a righteous feeling, at least for me, when you see a movie like that. It’s like, this person who kills John Wick’s dog is gonna get it, and he’s gonna get it so hard, and it’s gonna be great, and he’s gonna deserve it. Eventually, after seeing a lot of these, like “Kill Bill,” there’s really no relation to real life. People who go through revenge in non-Hollywood, non-novel experiences, it’s never really that clean, and there’s not this feeling of victory. It seems like in American storytelling there’s like this completely righteous, anything goes attitude in revenge stories in general. I was trying to find a way to take this genre that I really loved, and I think does have value, but also instill it something that’s a little more personal and also…make something that people haven’t seen before when it comes to revenge stories. Maybe it’s a little heavy-handed, but this is the story that was in my heart and it had to come out.

There are many things that I think in “Extremity” will make people go, “Wait, I thought this was a revenge story.” And it is a revenge story, but it’s a revenge story that maybe has a bit more element of — I think you know what I’m trying to say! When you watch a revenge movie, or you read a novel or a comic, there’s plenty of times and plenty of instances where you’re enjoying yourself, but everybody knows what’s going to happen in the end — which isn’t a bad thing — but I wanted to try and throw people for a curve through “Extremity.”

Why was it important for your story to focus on family?

In line with me trying to buck the trend with revenge stories, as I was kind of developing it in my head, it started sounding like “Kumbaya.”. Everybody’s getting along, it’s going to be awesome — and, of course, that’s not how anything in life is. Part of the reason that’s so difficult is, there’s so many ways to look at something. While I’ll feel one way about something that happened, another family member may feel differently. It was a way to bring more viewpoints to the table, instead of it just being Thea’s point of view, and only Thea’s. We have different characters that are responding to crisis in different ways. That makes it easier for Thea’s personality to bounce off — it allows for drama. It’s sort of character-driven over McGuffin-driven.

What’s so evil about the villains of “Extremity”?

I think it’s just their willingness to engage in brutality. You meet people in life, and you experience people, and there’s just like this darkness about them. You don’t really know where it comes from, and maybe they’ve made decisions in life that led to this path. There’s these people in life that just have this energy about them that’s very negative, and those are the villains in “Extremity.” [But] it’s not totally cut and dry.

What’s your inspiration for the visual aesthetic of the series, combining monsters, technology, and this post-apocalyptic world?

When I first came up with the story concept, I started crafting a world that would fit that as well as I could. One of the reasons that you have the Paznena was that it looked kind of Middle Age-y, because they reside in a world where the Roto do not. World-building and inspiration is awesome, and it’s all super important. It’s kind of like window dressing; without window dressing, you’ve got a really boring window, so I wanted to try and take different visual inspirations to make that exciting. I took a lot of inspiration from medieval architecture and armor, and I also did a lot of “Star Wars”-style scrappiness, piecing things together. You’ve got one side that’s kind of Middle Age-y, and another side that’s all scraps and manages what they can, and put them together, so you have two very distinct visuals for each side. As soon as you see an outfit or location you instantly know where you’re at.

In a comic, anything you can highlight to show people without telling is a positive thing. And, of course, “Akira,” specifically the comic, has been monumental. I’ve been reading that forever. “Appleseed,” of course, and a lot of manga. I love the tattered look of “Children of Men.” There’s a lot of different stuff, but those are definitely big inspirations.

What does colorist Mike Spicer bring to the series?

I actually had a colorist before Mike, and the deadlines didn’t work out. We were looking for a new artist — Mike Spicer was kind of a happy accident, we had another colorist, Brian Level, who recommended me to Mike. We gave him a try, and he completely blew us away. It was a really happy surprise. Ever since then, it’s been a fantastic experience working with him. He brings a lot of new ideas to the table that I didn’t think would work, and they totally do — that’s 50% of the time, and the other 50% he is in my brain, exactly putting down the pallete that I imagine. I give him a few sentences before he starts coloring the issues, to give sort of the vibe and feel that I want, and he takes it to a whole new level. It’s amazing!

“Extremity” #1 arrives in stores on March 1.

The post INTERVIEW: Image Comics’ Extremity Is An Unconventional Revenge Story appeared first on CBR.com.

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