#the false advertisement is real y'all

[panevanbuckley]

hate when a ship is the most popular in the fandom on ao3 but then has near to no content on this hellsite

[axtivaqe]

Life is strange Double Exposure is NOT canon

So its been getting around that Chloe isn't gonna be in Lis DE and I have never been more devastated in my life. Deck nine said they were going to respect the 2 decisions that players could've made, yet they practically said "fuck you" and took Chloe out of the picture. I just don't understand why though, like 50% of the fanbase picked sacrifice Arcadia bay and it was mainly because we are huge pricefield shippers (idk about y'all but I am). And their not stupid, they know about the pricefield ship and how much people wanted to see Chloe and Max in another game. They literally said they were going to follow through with the original games and the 2 decisions at the end, but then they completely scrap the idea of Chloe and Max being together, and they didn't even want to tell us. People had been asking about Chloes role in DE since the game first got announced, so why would they leave our questions unanswered for so long? It makes no sense on their behalf and its js overall bad marketing, They made it out that Chloe left Max because she didn't want to do long distance, but thats not Chloe at all. Chloe is the girl who dedicated her WHOLE journal to letters for/to Max in before the storm, Chloe is the girl who wrote "and she probably has all new friends up in fucking Seattle, i still miss her. if she came back tomorrow and said "hey Chloe, want to dress up like pirates and be stupid together?" i would take her back in a heartbeat." after she hadn't seen or spoken to her for 3 years, Chloe is the girl who told max that they would last forever and that she would never leave her. They completely mischaracterised her and made the whole sacrifice Arcadia bay option pointless, they spent 10 years together and Chloe throws it away because she cant do temporary long distance? Thats not like her at all. I see people saying "its realistic though, a relationship built from trauma isn't healthy" and it really annoys me, like yes their right, but thats in the real world, its a game about a girl who can jump between realities which isn't realistic at all. And don't even get me started on the rumour about Chloe flirting with VICTORIA.

But the game still isn't out yet, I mean we only have the first 2 episodes and I'm not sure if all of this is confirmed (if it is how do we know when we only have the 2 episodes?) or if people are just taking the 2 episodes and their story line, and then putting the pieces together. I was having a convo with someone in the comments under a yt video by Cucu on Games about how Chloe will be in DE (the video was made 3 weeks ago before all this info came out) and we both thought that maybe Chloe will come back into max's life in one of the last episodes, maybe she misses Max and hears about what happened with her friend Safi and comes to see her and reconnect with her, because surely Deck nine, a huge game company who know what their fanbase wants, wouldn't use false advertising by making us think Chloe is gonna be in the game only to scrap that idea after saying they wanted to respect and follow the two choices players could have made.

Its a really controversial opinion and I've seen a few people say it makes sense and its part of Max's character development, but Id say most of the fanbase isn't happy about this whole thing. I mean of course I'm happy to be able to see Max in another game, and we're lucky to even be getting another lis game. But to make us think we're going to see Chloe and then let us find out that we aren't is just bad marketing. If they never intended to have Chloe in the game then why wouldn't they answer everyones question, 'Is Chloe going to make a physical appearance?' (they would've 100% seen people asking because their social media pages are flooded with the one question about Chloe) Lmk what you think tho, and if you made it all the way through this then thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this long ass rant 😭

[yallemagne]

I watched a review of a Colleen Hoover novel a while back (the only way I would ever be able to consume her work) and this video's preamble in particular really... awoke me.

The video was by SAVY WRITES BOOKS and the review was of Ugly Love. The one where the baby has huge balls and dies in a car crash. Yeah.

Something Savy said was that the book was falsely advertised as a romance when actually it was a work of erotica. It blew my fucking mind. All the stars aligned. I realized then that some of the writing I hate most? It's just a fucking genre! EROTICA!

Lol I talk about sex so much in this I figured it earned the mature filter. No one's gonna read this anyway, this is functionally a diary entry.

I've made it clear before that I hate the trope in fiction where someone drops everything in their life to be with a literal shitstain of a man just because his stinky penis is large... AND THAT'S JUST EROTICA!! The reason why I'm so mad at that trope? It's because they always advertise it as Romance or Thriller, and it's just PORN.

Romance takes place in a realm that is adjacent to reality. When someone is abusive in a romance, there is a reasonable assumption that it will be condemned and a more healthy example will be raised. Emotional abuse? Physical assault? They are not displayed as attractive tendencies in a romance.

Erotica runs by porno rules. No matter what the author has to do, someone's gotta get a penis in them by the end of the page. The author is obviously writing with one hand in their pants no matter how horrific the events they are writing are because that's the point! It's their kink! And so long as the writing is advertised to the right audience? It will be the audience's kink as well!

In erotica, rationality is simply not required. You don't need build up, or... really anything. It's porn. It's smut. If you're writing a dubious scene or what have you, you don't need any preamble, you just jump in because the point is not to enlighten, it's to entice. I hate fiction that includes rape scenes that are written to be tantalizing. But holy shit. It's not that that person has a hard-on for rape (though it could be, rapists exist and are capable of creating art as well), it's that that author has a consensual nonconsent kink and just skipped the negotiation straight to the sex.

And y'all are gonna scoff at me and call me a dumbass... but I'm asexual. This is a bit confusing to me. I'm a complete outsider when it comes to sex. But when I think about it and try to put myself in the mind of a sex-haver, I imagine sex to be the most enjoyable when there is like... tangible intimacy between the two (or more) parties. Like I can enjoy a piece of fiction where people simply fuck dirty, and I have written smut like that, but... when it gets to the point that everything in the main character's life is being sacrificed for a penis... as a person who, in real life, finds penis to be laughable at best and repulsive at worst (if any penis havers take this personally omgggg it's not you it's genitalia in general), I just... cannot abide... But it simply is not for me. That's magical.

Man, it just pisses me off, dude. That people are marking their erotica as romance. Romance is already a niche genre. It's looked down upon by men, women, and enbys alike for being most popular with women. And then romance readers aren't able to enjoy their romance because a bunch of weird erotica (neutral) has infiltrated the genre and is all anyone wants to talk about. And I imagine some erotica readers are like "hey... where the fuck are my books at???" But erotica is obviously more niche than romance because of how appalling it can get, so publishers are just like "porn is shameful, market it as a romance so we can get a movie adaptation" and I find that shitty.

[eukaryotesrool]

"13 Animal Facts That Ruin Disney Movies" Is Silly

The article I'm discussing

(Bit of an introduction, feel free to skip to the creamy center.)

These clickbaitey lists have always been a pet peeve of mine. Though I get a lot of amusement out of mocking them, so why not ramble to you, yes you and only you specifically.

Lets talk about the introduction for a sec

"From Timone and Pumbaa in The Lion King" (An excerpt from the article intro)

I'm sorry, WHO THE HELL IS "TIMONE"!? Oh boy oh boy, you know it's a good one when they mispell a character name already.

"Mushu in Mulan, these animals add humor and life to the films." (An excerpt from the article intro)

Are... are they implying Mushu the dragon is an animal? They never even try to give 'facts' about him, so it feels like mentioning him just defeats the point they're making about animal characters being neat. If they HAD to talk about Mulan, why not Cri-Kee the cricket?

"You won’t believe which beloved characters are actually based on real animals!" (An excerpt from the article intro)

Yeah, we'll see about that one chief.

I grew up on a good few of the movies mentioned, so I'll tell ya when my childhood starts crumbling, lets get into it.

(Bwhahahahahahaha, what a great start, and the image they chose! This has to be intentional)

Guys! G-guys! Come quick, Aladdin is ruined for me!!!

So, this is actually true and not presented facetiously. It seems like you can't really train them to stop, but like is this ruining the movie for y'all? I smell false advertising.

Also, I've seen some claims you CAN potty train them, so in the context of a Disney movie, mmm well consider my suspension of disbelief... unstretched.

(What the fuck bro?)

A good few of these fall into the genre of "If the characters acted like perfect little robots dancing along to whatever facts about their species I read: the movie would be SO different guys!1!!1!1!" I won't talk about a few of them, to avoid repeating myself.

If they were perfectly realistic, they wouldn't talk or think like humans (I'm refering to the anthropomorphized animals) even IF Marlin still has that instinct. That is the last egg he had with his beloved (and now dead) wife, and the other eggs are all destroyed, it is NOT any stretch of the imagination to assume he would raise this egg because of

1: his emotional attachment to it and

2: if he ate it, there goes his ONLY offspring, this would only really work if Nemo had siblings and/or we see other clownfish Marlin would be willing to mate with.

Anyway, a list of all the "wouldn't movie be so sad/scary/gross different if the characters didn't act in character?" Ones: 8 and 5

This is caused by boredom, Donald isn't bored, overcrowding (like in poorly managed farms, such as the ones that need beak trimming), or poor nutrition, Donald seems to have good enough nutrition

Also this essentially goes into what I was just talking about in the previous point, but frankly, most of them do.

(Sheesh Cracked, no need to talk to Simba like that, what'd he do to you?)

1: That doesn't ALWAYS happen (especially when the cub is also the fucking prince, you wad!). I watched a documentary (called 'Born in Africa' I believe, would recommend) and there was a lion cub debiliated by a broken back, but she was still being raised, not treated as gently as she should have been, but not abandoned. YET lionesses will sometimes abandon weak, injured, or malformed cubs and since exceptions NEVER happen that documentery is unrealistic, clearly.

2: I'm pretty sure the abandonment only happens while the cubs are very young and the lioness leaves the pride to raise them. That doesn't seem to happen in the Lion King, so we can assume the abandonment wouldn't happen.

3: He's the fucking prince, you wad! But sure, lets kill him because he doesn't have a sibling, not like he has the protection of the lion pride and the respect of the animals of the Pridelands. This is totally the same thing as wild lions real life.

(My poor heart can't take all this childhood-ruining!)

Ah yes, the other primary genre; the ones that are just plain silly, how could THIS ruin a movie?

Though I do wonder, why did they name him Flounder? Both in an in-canon and meta sense... huh.

Also, flounders are adorable!

(Fun fact: Because elephant metabolisms don't digest their food too well, their feces is full of nutrients which goes into the environment, through bugs, and plants, and such.)

This list is starting to feel more like "Thirteen weird and worrying facts about animal species which happen to show up in Disney movies"

Anyway, refer to the Flounder rebuttal.

I'm skipping number four because it comes down to what I've just said.

What? How does that even effect the movie? Are they saying the other rats being able to tell Remy's food isn't poison ruins the plot? THEY NEVER THOUGHT IT WAS POISON! They thought cooking food was frivolous.

Again, this is just listing animal facts which are maybe kinda tangientially related to Disney movies.

(Imagine the bottom text without the context of the image or top text...)

"Those wild clothes-wearing-mice are filthy, don't touch them!"

Specist, much?

Admitably I don't have the greatest counter to this one.

(What a coincidence, I've recently read/posted about meerkats)

Our friends at Cracked saved the best for last.

By insinuating Timon (Oh sorry) Timone is a mass murderer, did you not watch Lion King 1½!? Listen bud, you can misunderstand the word 'ruin', you can clickbait me, but I draw the line at failing to do the simplest research into the lore of the Lion King cinematic multiverse!

WE KNOW TIMONE'S BACKSTORY!

Okay, but maybe the writer denies the canonicity of everyone's favorite midquel, sure that's valid as hell.

But!

Female meerkats are the ones doing the killing, like male lions, they (mostly the dominant female) kill the offspring of other meerkats to try and give their genes a better chance of passing on.

So, are they insinuating Timone is not just a mass murderer, but also trans? You know what Cracked? You win, lets go with that! But I wouldn't say it ruins the Lion King for me.

Sigh BUT the theory claims he killed his meerkat friends, not newborns, so it doesn't correctly use the real life fact, I could accept Disney using a bit of creative-liscense, I could accept a fan theory using creative liscense (I'd eat the "Timone murderer and trans dude" theory up, if not for the midquel) but an article dedicated to talking about fictional characters following animals facts perfectly, gets no such privilege.

Outro

To clear: I bear no real ill will to the author of this article, it is a bad article, but at least it made me chuckle, and gave me something to rant about. Either way, I'm sure the writer is a perfectly decent person, good even!

And hey! They cited their sources, in some cases they seemed to not even read their own sources, but they cited them! And it is my belief that spreading knowledge an inherent good.

But they wrote a silly article, so I get to point and laugh, them's da rules.

[lemoncupcake]

.

[simbelene]

Here I go blogging again!

I have stumbled across some hot tea and I am truly stumped by this one! I need y'all read my post and make it make some sense! Why is Slephora out here doing this?! I genuinely don't understand and I would love an explanation!

[ratatattouille]

Arcane is anti systemic oppression from beginning to end. But it does not give a solution to it BECAUSE of the two previous points.

Oppression only has one solution: liberation. To act as if there is no solution to oppression is to naturalize and necessitate it, which is fascist and imperialist propaganda. Also, the marketing and advertising for S2 deliberately teased a revolution story. To promise such a thing and not follow through (esp in times like these) is at best in bad taste.

Arcane is a lesson on how morality is complex.

Complexity has a bottom line. Also, morality was not a focus or theme of the show. The show demonstrates the complexity of its characters and their decisions. That does not make it a theme.

Arcane is a commentary on the cyclical nature of violence and how humanity has an unfortunate inability to break it.

And you don't see the problem with that? In a story that explicitly started out as a treatise on classism? How are the writers going to simultaneously be anti-oppression and say (falsely) that it has no solution? The only other alternative is to accept this inevitable imbalance, and acceptance is basically agreement. It's incoherent. If the "cycle of violence" is domestic/familial abuse, it would have an interpersonal solution, but a systemic "cycle of violence" CANNOT be solved interpersonally and that was EXPLICITLY what the characters in Zaun demonstrated.

This is also a mischaracterization of the initial discussion.

Talking about systemic oppression is not talking about human conflict. Human conflict is inevitable. Like problems. Both are solvable and both can be catastrophized. War (not inevitable) is a catastrophizing of conflict (inevitable). The same way arguing with your mother (inevitable) does not have to result in matricide (not inevitable). Solving a particular oppression does not need to extend to solving all human conflicts for all time. The same way curing colon cancer is still better than quitting the lab because you won't be able to find a cure for every cancer ever.

Progress /= utopia, and fascists keep conflating the two. Season 1 was explicitly talking about the former, and then mischaracterized it as the latter in s2, which is DUMB.

Y'all really swallowed the copaganda for your girl, lmao. Like American militarist propaganda did it's thing on you guys fr.

The conversation for HOW they got there has to be had, even if they belong to different classes. The differences in class MATTER, but do not negate their individual struggles.

I'd like to remind everyone that this story and these characters AREN'T REAL and are all NARRATIVE DEVICES used to COMMUNICATE A MESSAGE. They are not living, breathing human beings. They exist to tell a story, which is trying to communicate a message. Hence, they are a RESULT of decisions the WRITERS MADE and ONLY THAT. What makes a character good is not "complexity" but their "characterization" in relation to the setting and narrative. We want characters to make sense IN THEIR WORLDS. Talking about individuality for these characters is STUPID. They are TOOLS and everything they are is constructed to represent their backstory in order to flesh out the world and/or set up a discussion.

And what Arcane critics are saying that shippers clearly don't understand is that THE MESSAGE FUCKING SUCKS AND THE NARRATIVE IS INCOHERENT (both thematically and politically).

For people so horny about the words "nuance" and "complexity" you lot sure loved the whole "love and forgiveness will fix it" bullshit we got in the finale. I'm sorry I expected Fortiche to do better than Disney's Frozen. Bros couldn't even beat Avatar: The Last Airbender in nuance and it's supposed to be an "adult" show. Fml.

i for real need people to understand how upsetting it is that arcane said, "the revolution never mattered."

arcane said, "trying to actively bring about systemic change is both wrong and futile."

arcane said, "the only moral way to become unoppressed is to simply do mutual aid, and wait for your oppressors to decide to give you rights after a suitably high-profile child death and/or foreign invasion."

arcane said, "to resist or raise arms against your oppressor makes you as bad as them. it is the duty of the victims of violence and oppression to break the cycle of killing."

[vaveyard]

Imagine writing one of the most boring, sleep inducing novels of the last century and calling it a "Lord of the Rings meets Guardians of the Galaxy!" 🙄

Get back to reality, please. It's false advertisement at best and a very inflated sense of ego and self importance at worst. Y'all need to be held accountable for the shit you say just for the sake of $$$. I know many people whose trust in you completely evaporated after the first book or RQ, and they dropped the series completely. Now you got things wrong from the start with RB 🙄

Does being a "best seller" mean anything if it only happens because you LIE to people for publicity and then get slammed by critics/reviews? "I'm a #1 NYT bestseller" used to mean something... Now it's just a popularity contest. And it's readers who pay for it the most. Wasting money and making shitty authors rich.

People like you make a mockery of fantasy and literature and get paid for it. Well played. Now get a conscience.

Imagine your kids reading your shitty books one day... and having to tell you the love them or you'll call them stupid and act condescending like you do with critics 😂

Honey...this is is called marketing. Tonal references, pitching, publicity - this is all how you sell a story. And unfortunately, I live in the real world, so I have to do everything I can to sell my books. I don't know what else to tell you and I don't know why you're taking out your frustrations with the publishing industry on me? It seems like you have a lot of anger and rage, with nowhere to direct it but my inbox.

[sigmaleph]

@serinemolecule asked me for hot takes on this 2006 article on Argentinian food, which I am now reorganising into a proper post for y'all's consumption. you're welcome.

First of all: the titular thesis that you should eat two steaks a day. I am forced to clarify that as 'should's go you should eat zero steaks a day, but this is ethical rather dietary advice and I don't follow it as well as I should, so, y'know. I would engage with this on the level it was stated, but I actually have no opinion on it. Moving on...

Argentine beef really is extraordinary. Almost all of this has to do with how the cows are raised. There are no factory feedlots in Argentina; the animals still eat pampas grass their whole lives, in open pasture, and not the chicken droppings and feathers mixed with corn that pass for animal feed in the United States.

This is, as it happens, completely false. There absolutely is plenty of feedlot beef being eaten in Argentina, and this was also the case back when this article was written. There's grass-fed beef too, and maybe the writer structured their life around only eating those, but the claim that there are no feedlots is just not true.

if you let them make the call, you get a two-inch thick of meat[...]The Argentine steak stands alone, towering three inches over the plate,[...]This gorgeous specimen is called a lomito; it's a standard lunchtime steak, clearly so thin that the Argentines are embarrassed to send it out into the world without a protective wrapping of ham and cheese

I have no idea what their obsession with steak thickness is; meat exists at various levels of thick and thin to suit various tastes. If you like yours thick that's fine but quit the projecting, y'know.

As you might expect, vegetarians will have a somewhat rough time here. For most people in Argentina, a vegetarian is something you eat. One's diet will accordingly lean heavily on pastas, gnocchi, salads, and (for the less squeamish ) fish. Vegans will not survive in Argentina.

This is, unfortunately, true (well, hyperbole, but). Rinna had a rather bad time trying to find vegan food when fae came over for visits. The situation is improving slowly, at least.

The homemade cookies bought in the minimarket downstairs taste of steak. [picture of alfajores de maicena[

Jesus. Find somewhere better to buy your snacks.

It should be no surprise that the land of beef also has excellent milk and butter. The milk comes in plastic bags that would give any American marketing department a heart attack. They proudly advertise "GUARANTEED 100% BRUCELLOSIS AND HOOF-AND-MOUTH FREE". One brand even brags that its bacteria count never exceeds 100,000 per mL, and prints daily statistics to prove it (only 82,000 bacteria/mL on Monday! mmm!).

Are you under the impression American milk doesn't contain bacteria and that when it spoils it's because of the molecules' sheer willpower? Or do you just object to the reminder that they exist?

This menu is delicious, but with rare exceptions it is all you are going to get. People coming for more than a few weeks are advised to bring a discreet bottle of Tabasco sauce.

Eat at better restaurants.

With any order from the master menu comes the Bread Basket, which should be treated as you would treat a basket of wax fruit, that is, as a purely decorative ornament. It is considered bad form to actually eat anything from Bread Basket

What are you talking about. Do all your dining companions just suck, eat some bread.

Dulce de leche is a culinary cry for help. It says "save us, we are baffled and alone in the kitchen, we don't know what to do for dessert and we're going to boil condensed milk and sugar together until help arrives". This cloying dessert tar is so impossibly sweet that you wish you were ten years old again, just so you could actually enjoy it. It is everywhere. There is a special dulce de leche shelf in the supermarket dairy case, and the containers go up to a liter in size. Even the churros are stuffed with it - the churros, Montresor!

It is rare that I feel insulted for the sake of my country, but this? How dare you.

Yes, of course we fill churros with dulce de leche; the real question is why anyone doesn't, short of dietary restrictions. Finding out that people do otherwise was like learning that in other countries, "sandwich" just means two slices of bread. Live a little. Eat a real godsdamned churro.

I spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out how meals work in Argentina, and they remain a mystery to me. Dinner is clear enough: people tend to go to restaurants beginning at ten o'clock (for those with small children), with the main rush around eleven, and dinner is pretty much over at one or so in the morning. And breakfast - or rather, its absence - follows as a logical consequence of eating a steak the size of a beagle at midnight. But I have yet to figure out whether people eat some kind of meal in the afternoon, and if so, when.

At... noon? Like. We eat lunch. Usually somewhere around 12:00. I am eating lunch right now, and I have done so essentially every day of my life. This is just baffling.

I've come to think the culprit in the missing Argentine lunch scene is yerba mate.

how.

Where the ignorant foreigner may see just another kind of herbal tea (yerba mate is a very unassuming shrub that grows in the northern parts of the country) the Argentine sees a taste treat of unimaginable subtlety, and a tonic for all his problems. The Wikipedia article on proper mate preparation should give you a warning of the level of obsessiveness attainable here (the Urugayans are even worse). To the virgin palate, mate tastes like green tea mixed with grass clippings. The beverage is traditionally drunk out of a little gourd, through a metal straw called a bombilla, with hot (but not boiling!!) water poured into it (without wetting the surface!! clockwise!!) from a thermos.

Yeah, this is accurate. Well, not the clockwise part, never heard anyone complain about that and I can't imagine it mattering.

What distinguishes mate from coffee and tea is the social context - two or more people share a gourd, with a designated pourer in charge of refilling it with hot water after each turn. The ritual is low-fuss but indispensible. You can buy mate gourds and thermoses in any grocery store, and get your thermos filled with hot water at any convenience store or gas station, but you will never see mate served in restaurants or sold in little disposable paper gourds, to go. it's not that people refuse to drink mate alone - anyone working a solitary shift will have a gourd in hand - but that the concept of being served mate by someone who does not share it with you seems impossible.

This is also true. Attempts have been made to sell to-go mate but it's never very popular, the social ritual is important. Also unfortunately a disease vector, I haven't had any mate in a year and a half.

Mate aficionados will tell you that mate contains a special compound, mateine, that serves as a tonic and mild stimulant, promoting alertness without making it hard to sleep, reducing fatigue and appetite, helping the digestion and serving as a mild diuretic. Scientists will tell you that mateine bears a suspicious resemblance to a chemical called caffeine. Mate aficionados will then grow indignant, explaining that mateine is really a stereoisomer (mirror image) of caffeine, with different effects, which will in turn irritate the scientists, who will snap that caffeine doesn't have a chiral center, so it can't have a distinguishable mirror image, and why don't the mate aficionados just put a sock in it.

The first part of this is true; some people definitely think "mateine" is different from caffeine and it absolutely isn't. Never heard the stereoisomer claim before but googling it does confirm some people say so.

still have no idea what any of this has to do with lunch, though. I promise you nobody skips lunch because mate is just too filling.

The wine here is very good (something has to stand up to that steak), but Argentina has no liquor to call its own, relying on whiskies like Old Smuggler and the low-maintenance Don Juan cognac to carry the flag.

There's a fundamental omission from this list and it's called fernet.

Beer is ubiquitous and comes in a bewildering variety of sizes, although there is a skittishness about the full-on liter. Things level off at 970 mL. In my case, it means I end up drinking 1940 mL of beer as a kind of personal protest, and all is well with the world. To make up for the abundance of sizes, beer comes in only one variety, Quilmes, which inevitably comes served with a tripartite platter of snacks - nuts, salty cylinders, and aged potato chips.

I never had trouble buying beer by the litre, but I confess I never tried to do so in 2006 on account of being under 18 at the time.

Anyway, beer comes in a lot more varieties today, thankfully, because Quilmes sucks. I'll never be a beer person, but at least these days there's options I tolerate.

[original post]

[queens-hoes]

so...the MLQC anime

It's the elephant in the room rn. We gotta talk about it!

First of all, shoutout to MAPPA for even giving us an anime of our boys, regardless of the end product, it's amazing that they did it in the first place, and shoutout to the animators and VAs that put a lot of time and effort into the show.

Now. We can all agree that this wasn't a perfect adaptation. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but it could've been much better!

A lot happened, a lot didn't happen, so first I'm gonna focus on the biggest issue.

I. The trailer

Naturally, it was the trailer that got us all hyped for the anime, like "omg that scene is gonna be animated, it looks so good!!! I'm so excited!!"

And then they just. weren't in the anime.

Y'all know what scenes I'm talking about too (and if not, @daily-mlqc made a great post showing the scenes that never appeared). Like, it's one thing to not include certain scenes/change them, but it's another thing to show said scene in the trailer and not include it at all. It's basically false advertising!

The infamous Chapter 10 Victor shot, Lucien's Midnight Date shot, the shot from Gavin's Slightly Drunken Date....all of them unused....all of them holding so much potential

II. The boys

Obviously, you've only got so much time. You've only got so many episodes. But when the story is propelled by "Bonds" and important relationships, not growing those bonds sticks out a lot.

The boys were done pretty dirty and we all know it.

Kiro was introduced, then pretty much ignored until the Hacker episode. I get that he doesn't make many appearances early on, but it would've been nice to build that relationship a bit more so we can really feel sad when he sacrifices himself to save MC on the rooftop. But I will say that his transformation into Helios was pretty good (but where was that phone call foreshadowing the transformation tho)

Lucien was done fairly well. His episodes were executed pretty faithfully (especially the Ares reveal), but towards the end he kinda just....disappeared? Which is a shame bc the scenes between him and the MC after she finds out he's Ares are so damn good. It was the worst in the last ep, bc she didn't even interact with him at all and he kinda just disappears?? He got slight redemption, but not to the extent as in the game

Gavin was done the best, undoubtedly, bc you can really feel the bond between him and the MC (that "wait for me" scene? Chills.) but it's bc of that that he feels so off in the last ep? Like I get that he's a changed person after everything, but brushing her off felt really weird to me.

Victor. I could write a whole essay on how dirty they did him (he's my fave, after all). I've already gone in depth on the episode 7 debacle (it still makes my blood boil), so I won't repeat myself here, but TL;DR they did his character development so dirty. Like it looked like they were really trying to sell us on Victor/MC in the last few eps, but it felt kinda off to me bc all the development just isn't there (honestly, I blame Victor's weak "overemotional" response to her almost dying. That scene is what drives their relationship forward, so him not being as desperate and emotional in the game...grrr)

MC is the real MVP of this anime, like she had a fully developed personality and cute/funny scenes that made her likeable and adorable (just think about it this way— she could’ve been like Yui from Diabolik Lovers. No one wants that.)

III. Missing Scenes

(Slight spoilers for chapters 15-18)

We've all got our fave scenes from the main story. It's inevitable. So not seeing a lot of them animated is sad, not just bc we like them but bc they expand the bond she has with each guy!

I would've loved to see Gavin's ferris wheel scene (Chapter 15), MC reuniting with Kiro through Helios, only for him to erase her memory (Chapter 17), Lucien's sexually tense press conference (Chapter 16), all the angsty scenes with Victor from Chapter 18, etc.

Heck, some dates could have been good to add too, especially some of Lucien's (Midnight Date, Crisis Date, etc. that foreshadow the Ares reveal)

And again, you can't have everything animated, but to completely cut out everything from these chapters?

IV. The Ending

Obviously MAPPA had to wrap things up quickly, but what the fuck was that ending? Not only did it feel kinda anticlimactic, but seeing MC turn into Sailor Moon and defeat Hades was pretty....weird, to say the least. I liked that it was her bonds with everyone that unlocked the power, but I thought the overall conclusion was pretty meh.

(Spoilers for Chapter 18)

They could've used the ending where MC decides to sacrifice herself to save humanity. Sure, it would've been sad, but it would've been such a way to go out, especially if she wakes up in the Eternal Winter world. They were hinting at a season 2 (that'll probably never come) anyway, so why not do it like this?

To be fair, I guess that would be unsatisfying to anime-onlys but bloody hell, I just wanted something stronger

V. The Black Queen

She was teased in the opening every damn episode, only to briefly appear in the last one. Well, parts of her anyway. Why include her at all if she's barely going to be incorporated? I was hyping her up to my friend the entire show, only for her to just. not really do anything.

In conclusion

I think adding a few more episodes would've made a huge difference in terms of story, pace, characterizations, etc. The ending felt way too rushed, the "bonds" felt somewhat flat, a bunch of scenes were missing even though they showed up in the trailer......like, I'm overjoyed that it got animated at all, but dammit I just wanted more bc I love this game

So what are your thoughts on the anime?

[womenofcolor15]

Megan Thee Stallion’s Lawyer Responds To Reports Tory Lanez’s Camp Allegedly Made Fake Emails Posing As Her Team

The Megan Thee Stallion vs. Tory Lanez drama continues! Meg’s legal team is speaking out after reports suggested folks from Tory Lanez’s team created fake emails posing as her team to keep an alleged “smear campaign” against him going. More inside…

The shooting scandal – drama – whatever you want to call it - continues! Smear campaigns, fake emails – it’s a mess!

Tory Lanez claims Megan Thee Stallion has a “smear campaign” against him. Meg’s team feels Tory’s team has launched a “smear campaign” against her. At this point, there is just a lot of back and forth and limited facts.

So, what’s going on? After Tory released his DAYSTAR album where he said he did NOT shoot Meg, a source went to Billboard to spill tea about what’s going on behind-the-scenes. The source alleges people on Tory’s team created fake text message conversations between Tory & Meg and sent them to media outlets. According to the source, Tory’s team allegedly created fake emails pretending to be 300 Entertainment’s Head of Creative, Kevin Leong. The email supposedly contained a link to a report that made claims that the Houston Hottie did not want to testify against Tory.

The publication reports:

The source also alleges that Lanez's team created fake text message conversations between Megan and Lanez, and sent them to various media outlets. A screenshot of an email, sent to Billboard from a different anonymous source, included a fake email account for 300's Head of Creative, Kevin Leong, that was allegedly created by Lanez's team. The email contained a link to a report that claimed that Megan did not want to testify against Lanez.

In a statement to Billboard, 300 Entertainment writes, "In this day and age, digital security is of utmost importance. The email impersonation of our Head of Creative Kevin Leong, with the intent to disseminate false information has been brought to our attention and we are working diligently on Megan's behalf to get to the bottom of the matter."

Meanwhile, a representative for Lanez -- who released a new album, Daystar, last Friday (Sept. 25) -- “strongly denies" that he was the one sending the emails or doctoring fake text messages. "The only commentary which has been made on this topic was the creative output on the album," says the representative. "We are investigating who could be sending these false emails and intend to take action against them.”

The “Say It” rapper-singer took to Instagram to question if blogs were on payroll to continue this smear campaign he thinks has been created against him:

        View this post on Instagram

                  #ToryLanez still believes there’s a smear campaign destroying his image.

A post shared by TheYBF (@theybf_daily) on Sep 30, 2020 at 4:50am PDT

Variety got their hands on emails and reported on what sources told them about the shooting scandal that happened on July 12th in L.A.:

Variety received one of the emails cited by Megan’s reps, which linked to a three-minute video in which a man who claimed to be Lanez’s former bodyguard stated (rather awkwardly) that he had never seen Lanez be violent with women and “wouldn’t do nothing like” the accusations that have been leveled against him. TMZ, which first reported the news, posted a screen shot of an email from LIV nightclub in Miami that claims Megan’s management, Roc Nation, influenced the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against Lanez, claiming he went on a menacing attack in the club, a claim Roc Nation has denied.

A source close to the situation tells Variety that law enforcement is in possession of the bullets that were removed from Megan’s foot.

Roc Nation declined to comment; a rep for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office did not immediately respond to Variety’s inquiry whether there has been any update to its most recent statement, which reads: “On July 24, our office asked law enforcement for further investigation before making a filing decision on a charge of felony assault with a semiautomatic firearm – personal use of a firearm, against Daystar Peterson [Lanez’s real name]”

Now, Megan’s lawyer - high-powered attorney Alex Spiro (who’s working with Roc Nation & 21 Savage) – said no matter what information the Canadian entertainer puts out, it still doesn’t change the facts.

“We have been made aware of manipulated text messages and invented email accounts that have been disseminated to the media in a calculated attempt to peddle a false narrative about the events that occurred on July the 12. A smear campaign can’t change the truth,” Meg’s lawyer said in a statement to Variety.

And that’s that on that.

Meanwhile…

Tory’s father, Sonstar Peterson, claims his son is INNOCENT.

"This is not a Megan-Tory thing. That's just the billboard advertising so that they can change our opinion or our attention to some other direction. This is much bigger than Megan and Tory. This is first started out as Tory versus the industry. Now, it's taking on a life of their own and they're scared of it because Black folks are waking up. Before the 26th of September, most people had Tory crucified. He's guilty, he's whatever. They did not expect what was about to happen, and now the tone of popular opinion is shifting."

He continued, "There have been a lot of lies that have already been told. I think a lot of these people, be it TIME magazine who put Megan on their front cover as the most influential person fo the year and then put Tory in another page as being the poster child for how to block troublesome artists on your Spotify. I want y'all to know very clearly: This game ain't over yet. When the stuff really starts to come out of the closet, they will realize who was right, who was wrong."

You can check out the full interview above.

Anyone else exhausted by this drama? We sure are...

Photo: Michael A Walker Jr/Shutterstock.com

[Read More ...] source http://theybf.com/2020/10/01/megan-thee-stallion%E2%80%99s-lawyer-responds-to-reports-tory-lanez%E2%80%99s-camp-allegedly-made-fake-em

[anti-yuri-on-ice]

essay on why katsuki is a very generic character and is just as overrated as the anime itself

hello people today i wrote an essay on why ya boi pork katsuki is only a very generic and mary sue character and isn’t reall that Big Of A Deal as so many people insisted. im doing a comparison of him and 4 other sports anime protags, which is a fucking disgrace bc yo/i isn’t even a sports anime. but since so many people think it is i might as well cater to their taste.

now before you send me hate and ask me why dont i spend my time elsewhere or that i dont have a life, yes, i want to spend my time hating on this anime, and second, i really do not have a life. if i had to bear with the y/oi fandom for 4 fucking months, you can deal with a small meta which you dont even have to read if you dont click ‘keep reading’

i wont go far into defining what exactly is a sports anime but here is a link for you to check it out yourself https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Sports_anime_and_manga. this page contains almost every sports anime/manga.

imo sports anime/manga tend to focus 50/50 on the actual sport and character development. while they spend a lot of time explaining/portraying certain tactics and skills, or having characters monologue through a montage, they often focus on one character at a time (at most two) when giving character development, and such development is often done through realisation during a game/competition/practice. apart from these, sports anime/manga is also about teamwork and friendship. the ultimate goal is often set to be the ‘national champion’ and the whole team works together towards this dream. either they do achieve the goal or not varies in different anime/manga.

so, lets go back to our beloved katsuki shall we. since y'all like to think that yoi is a ‘serious ice-skating anime’ *coughs* *false advertisement*, let’s do a comparison between him, and the other sports anime/manga characters from actual sports anime/manga.

I have chosen a few popular/well-known characters from recent sports anime/manga

Hinata Shouyou from Haikyuu

Onoda Sakamichi from Yowapeda

Fujida Tatara from Ballroom e Youkosou

Sawamura Eijun from Diamond no Ace

And I’m going to do a compare and contrast by listing out their

personality

ability and skills

supporters (people who support him throughout the story)

hardships

Hinata Shouyou

personality: ray of sunshine, positive, cheerful, very determined, wants to play volleyball more than anything else, and doing so also gives him the utmost joy. may be a bit of a nuisance sometimes but the goods of this child still weighs out all the bads.

ability and skills: starts off as a 60% rookie, grows up as a strong player and a valuable member of the team. again, he achieved this by being determined. has stamina through extensive training, can jump very high.

supporters: his family, his middle school friends, and now his teammates

hardships: being at disadvantage because he is too short, being teased because of it, having doubts about himself and whether or not he can really be the next chiisana kyojin or not. losing his first competition (cries forever) (now i haven’t read the manga in a while or watched the third season of the anime so i don't want to add inaccurate details)

2. Onoda Sakamichi

personality: easily intimidated, has very low self-confidence and is very shy so he doesn’t have friends in middle school at all. can talk for hours about his favourite anime/character, very loyal to friends and is also helpful to others. genuinely enjoys being in a road racing team after mastering it.

ability and skills: again, starts off as a 100% rookie, grows up to be the national champion (sheds a tear). wins through sheer determination and the will to chase after others.

supporters: his mother, his two best friends in high school, his rival, and his senpais (especially Makishima, who is a great inspiration and role model to him)

hardships: having no friends before high school, zero self confidence, his mother has shown little knowledge in what he’s actually doing (tho she is still very supportive), nearly losing his first race because his bike broke down, chasing a hundred people in a race because he fell, and now holding the weigh of being a national champion and meeting people’s expectations and his own expectations.

3. Fujida Tatara

personality: very socially awkward, doesn’t really know how to express himself and gets teased/bullied because of it. starts dancing by chance and has no former interest/experience in it but learns to enjoy it and wants to master it.

ability and skills: starts of as a 100% rookie and now he is picking up skills here and there and has great potential in winning future competitions.

supporters: his teachers, his dance partners and the friends he met at the dance studio

hardships: still not yet very skilful in dancing and there is still a lot for him to learn. wants to ace every competition but at the same time knows it is impossible. had a big fight with his current dance partner and might cause collaborative problems with her.

4. Sawamura Eijun

personality: OVERHYPED all the time, shouts very loud, sometimes very annoying but is tolerated by his friends and teammates. at the same cares and encourages people all the time, very friendly, isn’t afraid to speak up, recognises rivals’ strengths and works hard to surpass them

ability and skills: he is scouted into a very good baseball team and has great skills and more potential yet to be discovered. trains hard, runs hard, and shouts a lot too.

supporters: his family, his childhood friends from his hometown, his teammates, and himself.

hardships: fear of being replaced mid-game, not being competitive enough in such a strong team, being very far away from home, very frustrated to why he can’t control the ball as he wish, fights with his catcher/captain a couple of times.

Now we look at katsuki

personality: very anxious all the time when he is a professional sportsman and should have a great deal of experience when dealing with defeat, low self-confidence, whiney, but sometimes is also weirdly positive and upbeat and non-whiney (inconsistent characterisation which is read as ‘unreliable narrator’ by the fandom)

ability and skills: is literally an international-level skater but somehow is not good at his job (?) idk because he is an ~unreliable narrator~ and has a lot of ~depth~

supporters: his family and friends back home (whose support is often neglected), and ofc, victor-senpai uwuwuwuwuwu

hardships: self-inflicted drama and inferiority complex and ‘omg what should i do victor-senpai will leave my ass if i dont win ;;;;;;;;;’

From this we can see

katsuki is a very generic character personality wise, and his personality isn't even charming. it’s just fucking annoying.

HIS JOB IS BEING A SKATER LITERALLY LIKE???? JUST HOW UNPROFESSIONAL CAN YOU BE WHINING ABOUT EVERY SINGLE ASPECT OF Y O U R JO B

he only values support from victor-senpai because his family and friends doesn't mean shit to him. they exist to run the onsen hotel where victor-senpai can flash him in front of everybody.

he hardly went through any real hardships as far as i can see. like i get that at first he was unfit to skate but then he magically can again and then everything was just great for him. everyone loves him (for some reason mmm do i sense a mary sue here) and he got noticed by victor-senpai through pole dancing and he hardly even practiced bc he spent all his time dating victor-senpai and won silver. lmao.

[elizabethcariasa]

Tax ID theft victim? Get a copy of the fraudulent return filed in your name

We are heading into the heart of tax filing season. That means it's also prime tax identity theft time.

As part of its continuing efforts to fight cyber tax crime, the Internal Revenue Service this week launched a new web page, Identity Theft Central.

Among the areas this new IRS.gov section covers is what to do if you're a victim of tax identity theft.

The one that caught my eye was getting a copy of a fraudulent return that was filed in your name.

I know that my journalistic tendencies make me nosy in the first place. But if I ever was a victim of any crime, tax or otherwise, I'd want as must information as I could get about it and what was being done to solve it.

In the case of a 1040 filed by someone pretending to be me in order to get a fraudulent refund, I'd also want to see that fake filing. I suspect most of y'all would want a look, too.

Maybe you'd discover that it's "just" your Social Security number, which is awful, since that identifier is an entry point for other personal and financial data. Perhaps it was "only" a dependent's name used on the fake 1040, which also is awful, since they about your loved ones.

You get where I'm going here. So I want to know it all.

Thanks to the agency's Fraudulent Return Request Program, if you are an ID theft victim, the agency will send you a copy of the fake return. But you've got to follow the proper steps.

Here they are.

Fill out the form: The process starts with Form 4506-F, Identity Theft Victim's Request for Copy of Fraudulent Tax Return.

The form must be completed with your real identifying data. This includes:

Your name and Social Security number

Your mailing address

Tax year(s) of the fraudulent return(s) you are requesting

Due to federal privacy laws, you can request the fraudulent return only if your Social Security number was the one used as either the primary or secondary taxpayer on the fraudulent return.

Those privacy restrictions mean that the IRS cannot disclose any return information to a person listed only as a dependent.

Paper-only requests: Don't forget to sign your Form 4506-F. Like all taxpayers' transactions with the IRS, the agency wants you to literally sign off on it.

In this case, it means a real pen to paper John Hancock.

That requirement brings up another procedure point. This request cannot be made electronically.

You've got to download the fraudulent return request form, fill it out and mail it to the IRS at the following address:

Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Fresno, CA 93888-0025

If you prefer to use a private delivery service, send your request to:

Internal Revenue Service 5045 East Butler Avenue Fresno, CA 93727  "Identity Theft - Request for Fraudulent Return"

Third-party request steps: If you've handed over the fraudulent return tracking to someone else, that person will have to take additional steps.

The Form 4506-F must contain the third-party's —

Name and tax identification number (usually your Social Security number)

Relationship to the identity theft victim (for example, parent, legal guardian, or authorized representative)

Mailing address.

Centralized authorization file (CAF) number if you were assigned one by the IRS for an authorization that is on file with the IRS covering the requested tax year(s)

Tax year(s) of the fraudulent return(s) being requested

All that information is in addition to the taxpayer's name and Social Security number and mailing address.

And, of course, the third-party seeking the information must sign the form.

The Form 4506-F also must be accompanied by a copy of your documents demonstrating your authority to receive the requested tax return information, such as Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative; Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization; or a court order.

The IRS doesn't require the added docs if you're seeking return information for your minor child as a parent or legal guardian. They're also waived if your authority to obtain return information for the requested tax year(s) is on file with the IRS and you are providing your CAF number.

Form limits, special requests: Right now, the IRS will only accept requests for fraudulent tax returns filed using Forms 1040, 1040-NR or 1040NR-EZ.

You can, though, request copies of fraudulent returns filed using those forms for the current tax year and previous six tax years.

Note, too, that if the address you entered on your Form 4506-F is not the same as the one the IRS has your address of record, you're copy request will be rejected.

This is just another recent to keep the IRS in the loop if you move. You can resubmit your request of a copy of the fraudulent return after the IRS processes your address change.

Fraudulent return turnaround: The IRS knows you're anxious to get a look at the fake filing, but just how long it will take for you to get a copy of the fraudulent 1040 depends. (You knew that was the answer, right?)

There are several factors that could affect the delivery of the fake return.

A key one is whether there are any open, unresolved issues with a tax return for a tax year requested. "These are very complex cases," says the IRS on its website, "and we will need to resolve the underlying identity theft case before we can provide the return."

Generally, though, the IRS says it will acknowledge your request within 30 days of receipt and within 90 days you will receive the return or follow-up correspondence.

A look at some, not all, info: When you do get the fraudulent return, be prepared, if you're a tell-me-all kind of person like me, to be disappointed. You are going to see less than you wanted.

Your copy of the falsely filed 1040 will be masked, which is the replacing of information with something else, like ###-#### in place of a phone number, or redacted, which is the total blacking-out or removing of information that is personally identifiable, sensitive, confidential or classified.

The IRS table below details what won't be visible on your copy of the fraudulent return:

 Return Information

 Masked / Redaction

 Names of all individual persons  listed on the tax return, forms  or schedules

 Entire name except the first  four letters of the last name  (If the last name is 4 letters or less,  then fewer than 4 letters of the  last name will remain visible.)

 All addresses on the tax return,  forms or schedules

 Entire address except the first  six spaces of the street line

 Names and address of all other persons  or entities on return

 Entire name and address

 Taxpayer identification numbers  (Social Security number/SSN  or Individual Taxpayer Identification  Number/ITIN) and employer  identification numbers (EIN)

 Entire number except  the last four digits

 Personally identifiable numbers, such as  Designee's Personal Identification  Number (DPIN), Preparer’s Tax  Identification Number (PTIN), etc.

 Entire number except  the last four digits

 IP address and names  of software companies

 Entire name and address

 Telephone number(s)

 Entire number except  the last four digits

 Bank routing and account number(s)

 Entire number except  the last four digits

 Signature

 Entire signature

Don't fall victim in the first place: Of course, the ideal situation is that you never become a tax identity theft victim.

Sometimes it happens when things aren't under your control. A company or doctor's office or other entity with which you do business could be hacked, exposing your data to criminals.

But there are some steps all of us can take to safeguard our personal information and prevent tax identity theft.

If you're in one of the 19 states or Washington, D.C., you can get a pre-filing IRS Identity Protection PIN to fight tax identity theft.

Always be sure to secure your mobile devices before making online tax moves.

Peruse my post on the variety of ways to stymie tax identity theft attempts and scams.

And if you're already become a tax fraud, fake filing or scam victim, check out what to do if you're an ID theft victim.

You also can digitally thumb through all my posts on tax scams and tax identity theft (this post will show up first; keep scrolling for the rest), as well as visit IRS.gov's aforementioned Identity Theft Central.

Let's all stay safe out and on there and have a happy 2020 tax filing season!

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[imaginaryculturepress-blog]

TFTP: Shadow of You’s “Venom” Launch Show

In which we welcome the new year and Shadow of You welcomes their new single.

Hi, hello, and welcome!

My name is Skyler and yES I'M ALIVE STOP CELEBRATING MY DEATH. Yes, I stopped posting the Christmas spectacular (more like the Christmas fail), updating, and like, breathing, but I'm here! I'm alive! Sorry to ruin the festivities.

Anywho, let's skip all that stuff that I was supposed to post and fast forward to January 6th, 2018. T'was the first week of the new year and I was already failing my resolutions and wanting to shoot myself, when I remembered that that evening I was photographing Shadow of You's single launch.

It was over two months ago and I honestly don't remember much of what was happening - besides the fact that I had begun writing a novel and stalking my neighbours - so let's just fast forward to Grill'd:

Leederville's weather was being its usual shy self, avoiding the promotion of any sinister moods, just casually chillin' in the sky, when we found ourselves awaiting the burger chain's classic vegan burger. Okay, that's a lie: we're actually those weirdos who "customise" their orders, so it's the Veggie Vitality with the vegan meat swapped for a giant freaken mushroom. It's amazing and expensive as fuck. Use the promo code IMNOTSPONSORED to get a discount. (Disclaimer: don't sue me, Grill'd. It's just a joke. I'm not allowed to offer discounts. False advertising. Don't kill me.) Y'know what isn't a joke, though? The fact that those mushroom burgers are the best thing ever. Also the fact that I'd really like a sponsorship. And the fact that someone should seriously start a petition to get Imaginary Culture Press sponsored.

But I digress.

I would honestly do some random challenge thing where they'd give me generously discounted vegan burgers for a year if I reviewed all their WA locations. It'd be a road trip solely based on mushroom burgers and I can't think of a better thing to add to my bucket list.

But again, I digress; we're here to review the single launch, not beg a company for food.

So after that lovely meal, we headed to HQ, just in time for Curbside Drive.

The dudes had it rough; their crowd was initially two people, myself included. But they persisted, playing on and pulling a camera stunt... or five. At one point, I forgot what depth perception was and thought I'd get my D750 knocked out by a guitar. Evidence that I hadn't shot anything for a while.

Anywho, by the end of their set, a few people bothered to show up. That was nice of them. Late, but there nonetheless. Supportive regardless. I wish school was like that; y'know, just show up when you want and be like "Yeah awesome five-minute lecture, teach'. See ya next week... after the test..." With free entry, though.

Intermission. More people turned up. A lot more people.

Up next were the lovely lads in High Rise Estate. Their set was strong, with each member demonstrating passion and skill. They did really damn well and actually had an audience! (Side note: not the band's fault about late audiences. If everyone just hurried up with their Grill'd ventures and arrived on time, we wouldn't have these issues.) For real, though, their musicianship was wonderful and I'd love to shoot their future sets.

Intermission.

Gone by Morning are those super nice dudes who you don't exactly expect to go full on rip-your-face-off hardcore, but then they do and you're just there like, "I didn't know this would happen but I'm glad it did." Because, let's face it: they're bloody incredible. Their performance was wonderful and they've definitely got talent. They're certainly on my list of "bands that'll definite

Intermission.

Name a super chill band with immense talent and 11/10 performances. ShadowShow seems to fit this description perfectly. They're this calm, soulful group who manages to incorporate not-so-calm elements every now and again and I'm 182% there for it. They had the audience mesmerised and played exceptionally well, and it kind of made it weird to be the awkward photographer who runs around but it's fINE. There's also like three of them in the band, but they have this ability to make it seem as though there's a whole bunch of musicians just... music-ing... y'all know what I mean.

Their aesthetic is this mix of Tumblr and Reddit with a hint of 4Chan... if that makes sense... anyway, I freaken love their music and I'm sure you would, too. So check 'em out.

Intermission.

You know those bands that you think you're ready for, then they come onstage and you're as shook as that time Shane Dawson posted a conspiracy trailer and took a two week break? Yeah, Roses for Ghosts are one of those bands. They're also one of those few bands that give Those Who Dream a run for their money; after all, their singer rolls on the ground, in the middle of the crowd, looking like a student during the end-of-year exams. RFG move around more in twenty minutes than I do in a month, their instrumentals are phenomenal, and their stage presence is not to be underestimated.

I cannot think of anything negative about their performance, except the classic "it could've been longer". But that line is far too stereotypical and makes me want to throw a brick at myself, so let's just say they were freaken awesome.

Intermission.

Shadow of You didn't hold back. They got up onstage, smoke machines in full swing and the whole crowd engaging with them. Hey, speaking of smoke machines... guess which idiotic photographer and their precious D750 managed to lean over the operating smoke machines and nearly die? Three times? Yep, me. I should apologise to my camera.

Anyway, as I chocked on red-lit smoke and tried not to die, Shadow of You were having the time of their lives, ensuring the audience were having the time of their lives. If that made sense... Regardless, they did really freaken well and were soon playing a cover of Set It Off's "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing". Look, I've said it before and I'll say it again: any band that covers Set It Off is amazing. And it wasn't one of those crappy covers that manifest YouTube searches, it was actually marvellous.

Before we knew it, the show was over and [insert camera name here] was pissed off at me for getting it caught up in the smoke.

And... that was that. Up next: Hasmatt at HQ.

MUSICAL SUMMARY:

Curbside Drive: deserved better/5

High Rise Estate: talent/5

Gone By Morning: didn't expect this but I'm here for it/5

ShadowShow: super chill vibes/5

Roses for Ghosts: yOU'RE LATE TO WORK, MATE/5

Shadow of You: yes. just yes./5

PHOTOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY:

Lenses: really cool and deserve more recognition/5 Camera: the only reason I haven’t off’d myself yet/5 Lighting: red. extremely red./5 Editing: underestimated/5 My sanity: aaaHHHHHHHHHHHHNO/5

Do yourselves a favour and check out all the aforementioned bands:

Curbside Drive

High Rise Estate

Gone by Morning

ShadowShow

Roses for Ghosts

Shadow of You

Live long and headbang,

xx-Skyler Slate

[dorothygipe]

The 1 Shame-Free Community That Made Me Fall in Love With Dance Again

Because Today, as usual, you woke up like this, #flawless ❤️💃🏼

A post shared by Broadway Bodies (@broadwaybodies) on Dec 7, 2016 at 9:48am PST

I took my first dance class when I was just 5 years old, and that was it — I was hooked. I spent my entire childhood and all of my teenage years hanging out in dance studios, building lifelong friendships, a passion for music, and a love for pushing my body beyond what I thought it was capable of.

But when I started dancing in college, suddenly I found that my favorite thing in the whole world was starting to make me miserable. My peers at the collegiate level were more technically skilled and flexible than I was; more adept at memorizing complex choreography at the drop of a hat; and total pros at making auditions look like a breeze.

I'll be honest, it made me feel like sh*t. And instead of rising to the challenge, my 18-year-old confidence level sank like a rock. It was my habit of incessantly comparing myself to others that eventually squeezed all of the joy out of something I used to love.

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I came home from college that semester and slid my plastic drawers full of leotards and ballet slippers under my bed. I wasn't entirely sure if I'd ever take them back out again.

But then a few months ago (and seven whole years later), I found myself toying with the idea of giving dance another go. I had taken up indoor cycling classes to stay in shape, but they were starting to bore me to death. I decided it was time to drag the bin of dance clothes back out from under the bed and give my favorite pastime another shot.

For the next few weeks, I tried out dance class after dance class at some of NYC's most reputable studios. I was determined to rediscover that same spark I'd felt for dancing all of those years ago, but I wasn't having much luck finding a studio that taught real choreography without taking itself too seriously. The vibe in classes frequented by professional dancers felt too stiff and competitive, and it reminded me of the anxiety-inducing classes that made me give it up in the first place.

Just when I was ready to bag the experiment altogether and head back to the cycling gym, I stumbled across Broadway Bodies' Beyoncé-themed class on ClassPass. I signed up immediately, because Beyoncé.

As soon as I walked through the door at Broadway Bodies, I knew it was going to be the total opposite of every other dance studio I'd tried. My friendly classmates were men and women of all different shapes, sizes, ethnicities, ages, and experience levels. I'm fairly confident that the only trait everyone in the room had in common was an insane amount of enthusiasm for getting down to Queen Bey.

Broadway Bodies understands there's little point in dancing if it isn't going to be a good time.

Before class even began, my Broadway Bodies instructor shared three magical words from the studio's core mission that made me fall in love: "F*ck the choreography" (FTC). Let me tell you, those are not three words you will hear often in other dance studios. She explained that FTC means that no one at Broadway Bodies is pressured to nail all (or even some) of the choreography taught in class. Can't seem to get the steps down? Cool, no one will judge. After my first class, it was immediately clear that what made Broadway Bodies so special was its honest commitment to being a shame-free, positive community. Broadway Bodies understands there's little point in dancing if it isn't going to be a good time — it's that attitude that's kept me coming back for more.

If you're looking to get down in NYC but a Beyoncé class isn't your jam (judging you a little), don't worry. There's a class at Broadway Bodies for all music tastes. Each class's choreography is modeled after your favorite music videos, Broadway shows, and pop stars, from Hamilton to Justin Bieber to Rihanna and more. And better yet, they take requests for future classes! Check out a sample of some of the classes currently on the schedule below — I personally recommend the Ariana Grande "Side to Side" class and Kanye West's "Fade" class — and come prepared to have the time of your life while getting a good workout in, too.

This is how you can start a #beyoncé month, and it is just the first day ❤️💁🏽#seveneleven #broadwaybodies #beyoncemonth

A post shared by Broadway Bodies (@broadwaybodies) on Dec 1, 2016 at 6:48pm PST

That's your class y'all #freakumdress #shamefree #FTC #Beyoncé

A post shared by Broadway Bodies (@broadwaybodies) on Feb 15, 2017 at 6:21pm PST

Tonight we have Britney and all of her hot dancers in a class #shamefree #FTC #britney #oopsididitagain #neide #broadwaybodies

A post shared by Broadway Bodies (@broadwaybodies) on Jan 17, 2017 at 6:56pm PST

Missed last night? Check it out what happened in our twerk Thursday #shamefree #FTC #booty #JLO

A post shared by Broadway Bodies (@broadwaybodies) on Feb 17, 2017 at 4:13pm PST

Related: Sizzle the Calories Away With This Dance-Party Workout These Dancers Slaying the Hell Out of Ariana Grande's "Side to Side" Will Give You Chills Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" Suddenly Sounds Sexier When You Watch This Dance Routine