#yes i am referring to specific people in this post
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Sorry to OP for the political take, but I will proceed nonetheless.
The statement would make sense if Africans or non- western nations were the sole victim to the imperial/colonial west. The reality is harsh. The reality is that for every person that carries this view, there is another person willing to hold the western world to a high pedestal and relinquish them of their evil (which might seem like what I am doing, but let’s try to keep up and be honest for a few minutes). As nation states (political science term) we must learn to take accountability and learn from how our short coming benefit the “evil oppressor” west. *also when I refer to the west I am referring to the government or political powers.*
Thomas Sankara, Lumumba, and many other unknown leaders would not have met the fate they did had it not been for a selfish fellow country man. Yes, the west infiltrated their nations, but infiltration only works if there is a crack in the group. Belgium, France, and the CIA killed lumumba, but it was made possible by Morocco’s military (read the killing of lumumba) and the black leaders in Congo. In an effort to gain power, they chose to not only kill their fellow countryman (who was seeking peace for the nation), but also help plunge the country into a state of destitution it has never moved away from (argue with your mom, Congo is and will always be the biggest and most ignored humanitarian crisis). The same goes for Sankara, peoples need for power allows them to sacrifice the people of whom they should be advocating for. So, yes, let’s blame the western world for its wrongs, but let’s not act like we don’t have our own short coming that aide in creating the strong western influence in non- western nations.
Now to the point of the post, terrorism and immigration are not threats created and imposed by the western world. Xenophobia transcends borders, South Africa and its xenophobia against other *specifically black* immigrants; if you want to blame someone for your problems you have a large white and Asian populations taking away your resources over there in South Africa. Zambia, has a long history of violence and xenophobia against black immigrants. The list goes on for many other nations. These are not creations of the western world per se, these are a result of a lack of education, accountability, and simply the reality of living in a capitalist society. Placing blame on the west does not take away the fact that nationalism and capitalism breeds hate even in African, Asian, Latino (Hispanic, South American), and many other nations. it's not a western problem, it is a worldly problem. Also how do you argue terrorism? When Nigeria and Kenya have been attacked by terrorist groups, that claim to fight against western values. exactly what western values? women being given partial freedoms (partial because western women are not as free as they are made to look), freedom to an education and therefor a personal income. what freedoms are they fighting exactly? Two things can be true at once, yes the west is an evil super power that creates problems, but so is religious extremism (christianity, islam, Judaism, hinduism, etc.,) that breeds terrorism. These are not fears created or imposed by the west, these are fears of any nation having to interact with other nations. In the name of hating the western world, we end up praising our new oppressors and imperialist (China, Russia, etc.,). Two wrongs don’t make a right.
#anti imperialism#colonialism#imperialism#western#Africa#western world#Asian imperialism#reality#accountability
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If you have an issue with how strong I am, maybe you should have convinced people to help me instead of just praying for me.
#yes i am referring to specific people in this post#but the main one is dead#never stopped praying that god would make me agree with her#never asked herself if his unwillingness to acquiesce might mean she should consider agreeing with me instead#i'm not unwilling to listen#but maybe if people had been willing to let me engage with the other sun directly#fewer people would have been burned along the way#oh well#fire purifies#hurts like a bitch along the way but if children can't keep themselves from sticking their hands in the fire#and yell at me for warning them#there's really only so much i can do#especially when i was a child myself
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Little bright colored outfit with a fun vest ~
(shoes from ebay like 10 years ago. everything else is thrifted)
#ootd#jfashion#fashion#fantasy fashion#mori kei#....like... adjacent... lol#no idea what style this would be lol.. makes me think of like whimsical vaguely fantasy themed childrens book character#finally posting one of my aforementioned seven million drafts of actual outfits and costumes i have finished and edited#the photos for but just never feel like posting lol..#I need to find one of those people whos like 'omg i am ADDICTED to social media ugh i wish i could get off of it#im just browsing and posting like 60 times a daaaaay!!!' and take a little magical bottle and suck some of the social media#enthusiasim out of them. for moi. In exchange they can have some of my 'literally just never in the mood to post or interact with the#outside world ever' energy. We can balance each other. huzzah and so on#Though I think maybe it's part of the general thing I've heard of like.. I can't remember if it was in reference to adhd or just some sort#of general execcutive functioning issue type of thing - but the idea that things have to be ''just right'' before you do something. like#'oh i need to do this task. but i have to wait until XYZ first' or 'oh i can do this but only if X specific condition is met' or etc#The fact that I even have to be in a Specific Mindset to post. or sometimes will delay posting on social media because like 'oh well#I'm going somewhere tomorrow. somehow this matters. i cannot spend 5 minuts posting TONIGHT. clearly it will interfere#somehow schedule wise with the doctor appointment i have 15 hours from now. yes. yes. i must wait until my appointment is over#tomorrow afternoon. THEN i shall post' or etc. etc. lol. NOT even taking into account the many days#I just genuinely and physically sick and it's not even a mental thing. I just physically dont feel like sitting at the computer lol..#ANYWAY.. trying to get back into it. trying to get a business bank account.. make a proper paypal so i can start selling sculptures again.#selling clothes and sculptures.. posting about such things then of course as one must. etc... chanting to hype up and motivate myself lol#But yes. this is my favorite outfit out of the bunch so I am posting it first I guess.. maybe others later..#Also the purple dress says its from shein. which I've heard is bad fast fashion stuff. but maybe okay since its second hand? I havent#been to the bins since like 2020 or late 2019 even. and I think stuff like shein and temu has only become poular in the past few years#but I bet if I went to the bins now I might would find a good handfull of that stuff. Probably now not much different than what you#find in a walmart or a forever 21 or actual physical stores you can go to though. I hear quality of clothing is down everywhere no matter#where you get it or whatnot. What bountiful joys unfettered capitalism and exploitation bestows upon us (<being sarcastic).#Wearing one of my favorite little vests though. I love the texture of it and the clasps on it
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[just after having helped River make a getaway from a heist of an astatine lace shawl — the rarest substance in the universe — without her even needing to ask beyond a simple “hello sweetie” scrawl in the sky] [Eleventh Doctor] “I can see its worth — but Alice is right! What’s so special about a lace shawl?” [River] “Ah, well, lace, you see, is the traditional gift for a thirteenth wedding anniversary…” [Eleventh Doctor] “Wedding anniversary? Whose wedding anniversary?” [River] “Spoilers…!” *winks* [Thirteenth Doctor, reminiscing] “I love River.”
HAPPY THIRTEENTH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY TO THE DOCTOR AND RIVER SONG!
Sources: Diary of River Song: The Furies, Diary of River Song: The Lady in the Lake, The Day of the Moon, Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #33, The Wedding of River Song, The Big Bang, The Angels Take Manhattan, The Many Lives of Doctor Who: Without a Paddle, The Time of the Doctor, Forest of the Dead, Let's Kill Hitler, Diary of River Song: The Wife of River Song, Eleventh Doctor Year Two: Physician Heal Thyself, A Good Man Goes to War, Eleventh Doctor Chronicles: Broken Hearts, The Husbands of River Song, Doctor Who Confidential: When Time Froze
#river song#eleventh doctor#twelfth doctor#tenth doctor#thirteenth doctor#yowzah#edits by seaweed#words by seaweed#I know there's not a lot of 12 and 10 and 13 rep but oh well theres not as much source material. I got like a quote from them each#regular reminder that psychopath has no clinical meaning and is more of a reclaimed slur than a descriptive term etc#reclaimed language#ableist language#this is about them being messy (positive) together. ALSO river was promised Stevie Wonder for her 13th anniversary <3#I HAVE ZERO SOURCES FROM BOOKS WHAT im sure there are some perfect quotes from novels & short stories but well#I got episodes and audios and comics and magazines#did I miss posting a thing for 'fourteen years since fish custard' day a few weeks back? yes. yes I did.#am I trying to make up for it by celebrating a day that references a very specific comic that less people likely heard of? yes. yes i am.#maybe shoulda posted this at midnight last night. April 22 is almost over in the UK I think#okay I gotta go to work now! ima watch Wedding of River Song tonight
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being openly queer and also regularly going to texas is actually kinda entertaining for me bc i know for a fact that no homophobe, texan or otherwise, can ever beat the sheer fucking wild shit you see in among us lobbies. absolutely nothing can top it. i fear no man, woman,or conservative christian bc of the silly two-legged space men that completely negated any attempts at homophobia for the rest of my life
#raccoon's thoughts#yeah among us lobbies get HEATED#there's a very specific story im referring to in this post but also just in general#[yes i am aware that people may get offended by this post for some reason. no i don't want to hear it (:]
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Tumblr challenge: have a post about herbalism and no one brings up grapefruit or St. John’s Wort*
*obviously counter indications are important to know and both of these are common examples. But not every post about herbalism needs a list of beginner’s safety concerns. A very specific point does not necessarily need to be broadened.
#witchcraft#witch#magic#herbs#herbalism#yes this is in reference to my recent popular post#no I am not directing this at anyone specifically#just frustrating to say ‘hey this is a thing’#and have a chorus of people responding ‘well what about this thing you aren’t talking about’#at a certain point#just make your own post
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Yeah, exactly.
Totally agree that "content" and "consumption" are rather soulless ways of referring to the experience of art.
But you also knew exactly what they meant by it, which is the whole point of words. Suggest better ones to concisely distinguish "consumption" from actively creating or doing things.
The reblog is right in that it's a meaningful distinction. If you want it to be poetic then make it poetic. Otherwise, what does it matter what words are used? The association of "content creation" with something impersonal or culturally vacant only exists for you because YOU made that association.
is the interaction with art and the culture of expression considered consuming content. is reading poetry or going to an art museum considered consuming content. is listening to music considered consuming content. if watching sports is consuming content does going to a game constitute content consumption? is the implication of this poll that an accusatory finger is being pointed at you, the media consumer, suggesting that you need to interact with something other than art? how did watching a film devolve into “consuming” “content” rather than an honest interaction between a storyteller and a fellow human being? is reading a book the same type of hobby as watching tiktok? what is the purpose of dividing the ways we interact with the world into categories like this?
#commentary#idk just peeling back layers#specifically i never associated anything bad with 'content creation' until people online started whining about the concept#why is it so bad to you?#why should it have negative connotations?#like#y'all MADE it that way#i personally have no issues speaking in BROAD terms about a pile of shows on Netflix as 'content'#yes i AM looking for content i am interested in#i do not care for a platform that does not provide content#but also#I'm not referring to an artist's portfolio as content either#i do not post for the purpose of providing content#people who use 'content' about their work refer to their SPECIFIC CHOICE to post their work according to a specific schedule in order to#keep or grow views#these broad and specific uses of the term are fine to me#but like everything Tumblr hates it's about the nuance#like: ofc resist the concept of turning all art into 'content'#but realize that the word still exists and has a purpose#idk I'm just seeing a lot of complaints and ZERO suggestions at an alternative !!! which would be the OBVIOUS course of action#something something about you have the power to define your own experience#and it's tiresome that people won't look at any other levels of reality#you have so much power just for yourself#that poll is so mundane and not worth a rant and didn't imply anything negative actually
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On "Consuming Content"
Every now and then a post crosses my feed that follows the vein of, "you have to do things other than consume media or else you'll be a dumb person who doesn't know anything about how the real world works and does nothing but pointless fandom stuff."
I hate those posts for three major reasons, not counting the inherent ableism and classism of "you must have approved Smart People hobbies or else you're worthless" rhetoric:
You don't know what people do or talk about outside of what you see on their social media. Responding to fandom communities on a fandom-driven website as if all these people are one-note cardboard cutouts of people is asinine. In many cases this genre of post feels like repackaged 2012 tumblr "not like other girls" and hipster discourse. Yes, yes, you think you're better than everyone else on this website because your hobbies are less mainstream, more morally pure, and have greater intellectual merit, we get it.
What do you even mean by consuming content? As someone who purposely avoids using the phrase "consuming content" because I find the term too vague to be useful, please be more specific. Are you including every single form of media engagement and art enjoyment? Are you just talking about mainstream TV and film? What about novels? Plays and scripts? Nonfiction books and instruction manuals? Do you mean to imply that going to a book club is a worthless non-hobby? Are you including academic reading? Are you including going to the art museum? Going to the theatre, concerts, or other performances? Taped liveshows? Watching sports events on TV? Are you including news media? Are you including YouTube tutorials about how to do various tasks, crafts, or other hobbies? Are you including trade magazines? Are you including industry publications in various fields? What constitutes "content," and what constitutes "consuming" in this discourse? Define it. "Consuming content" is a nothing phrase that people use to mean multiple different things depending on what they, personally, judge as valid media. It's a buzzword at best, and when the same buzzword can be used to describe both "idly scrolling social media" and "reading and discussing a book," it's a meaningless phrase.
As an artist and author, if engaging with media is bad and worthless, am I supposed to conclude that making it is equally worthless? If "consuming content" is a bad, lazy, worthless, fake hobby, what makes creating art a worthwhile pursuit? If I am constantly being told as an artist that engaging with media isn't a worthwhile pursuit in its own right, and the people who want to engage with my art are just brainless fandom losers, what incentive do I have to make that art anymore? Furthermore, to everyone reading this paragraph and thinking, "that's not what content creation is," I refer you to bullet #2: If the phrase "make content" can be used to mean "low-effort posts made to advertise cheap and useless products" as well as "being a novelist" or "getting a gig as a writer on a TV show," it's a meaningless phrase.
None of that is even getting into issues such as the way influencers are preyed on by both brands and targeted harassment from trolls. Influencer culture has major issues, but boiling those issues down to "stupid vapid young people who are too lazy to make real art or get real jobs" (which is a mindset I see frequently online) is unhelpful. So many people pursue influencer deals because they're living in poverty but are skilled at various social media and advertising related tasks, and just like any worker, they're being exploited because they need to eat. Labor rights for influencers are a huge topic that entertainment industry unions have been actively discussing and working toward. (Related links for further info: [x] [x] [x] [x])
"Consuming content is not a hobby" is a worthless statement unless you define what you mean by both "consuming" and "content." Quite frankly, you also need to define "hobby," because if you're putting requirements on what is and isn't allowed to be a "real" hobby, you mostly just seem like you're moving goalposts and defining "worthwhile hobby" as "hobby I, personally, think is good." Use more specific language to articulate your actual problems with the entertainment industry, the art world, influencer culture, or whatever else you're actually upset by.
Media and fandom can involve any number of enriching, satisfying hobbies that take up a perfectly acceptable and healthy space in someone's life. If you aren't into it, go find hobbies you do like and stop policing how other people spend their precious free time in this nightmare hellscape of a world.
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The history of Solarpunk
Okay, I guess this has to be said, because the people will always claim the same wrong thing: No, Solarpunk did not "start out as an aesthetic". Jesus, where the hell does this claim even come from? Like, honestly, I am asking.
Solarpunk started out as a genre, that yes, did also include design elements, but also literary elements. A vaguely defined literary genre, but a genre never the less.
And I am not even talking about those early books that we today also claim under the Solarpunk umbrella. So, no, I am not talking about Ursula K. LeGuin, even though she definitely was a big influence on the genre.
The actual history of Solarpunk goes something like that: In the late 1990s and early 2000s the term "Ecopunk" was coined, which was used to refer to books that kinda fit into the Cyberpunk genre umbrella, but were more focused on ecological themes. This was less focused on the "high tech, high life" mantra that Solarpunk ended up with, but it was SciFi stories, that were focused on people interacting with the environment. Often set to a backdrop of environmental apocalypse. Now, other than Solarpunk just a bit later, this genre never got that well defined (especially with Solarpunk kinda taking over the role). As such there is only a handful of things that ever officially called themselves Ecopunk.
At the same time, though, the same sort of thought was picked up in the Brazilian science fiction scene, where the idea was further developed. Both artistically, where it got a lot of influence from the Amazofuturism movement, but also as an ideology. In this there were the ideas from Ecopunk as the "scifi in the ecological collaps" in there, but also the idea of "scifi with technology that allows us to live within the changing world/allows us to live more in harmony with nature".
Now, we do not really know who came up with the idea of naming this "Solarpunk". From all I can find the earliest mention of the term "Solarpunk" that is still online today is in this article from the Blog Republic of Bees. But given the way the blogger talks about it, it is clear there was some vague definition of the genre before it.
These days it is kinda argued about whether that title originally arose in Brazil or in the Anglosphere. But it seems very likely that the term was coined between 2006 and 2008, coming either out of the Brazilian movement around Ecopunk or out of the English Steampunk movement (specifically the literary branch of the Steampunk genre).
In the following years it was thrown around for a bit (there is an archived Wired article from 2009, that mentions the term once, as well as one other article), but for the moment there was not a lot happening in this regard.
Until 2012, when the Brazilian Solarpunk movement really started to bloom and at the same time in Italy Commando Jugendstil made their appearance. In 2012 in Brazil the anthology "Solarpunk: Histórias ecológicas e fantásticas em um mundo sustentável" was released (that did get an English translation not too long ago) establishing some groundwork for the genre. And Commando Jugendstil, who describe themselves as both a "Communication Project" and an "Art Movement", started to work on Solarpunk in Italy. Now, Commando Jugendstil is a bit more complicated than just one or the other. As they very much were a big influence on some of the aesthetic concepts, but also were releasing short stories and did some actual punky political action within Italy.
And all of that was happening in 2012, where the term really started to take off.
And only after this, in 2014, Solarpunk became this aesthetic we know today, when a (now defuct) tumblr blog started posting photos, artworks and other aesthetical things under the caption of Solarpunk. Especially as it was the first time the term was widely used within the Anglosphere.
Undoubtedly: This was probably how most people first learned of Solarpunk... But it was not how Solarpunk started. So, please stop spreading that myth.
The reason this bothers me so much is, that it so widely ignores how this movement definitely has its roots within Latin America and specifically Brazil. Instead this myth basically tries to claim Solarpunk as a thing that fully and completely originated within the anglosphere. Which is just is not.
And yes, there was artistic aspects to that early Solarpunk movement, too. But also a literary and political aspectt. That is not something that was put onto a term that was originally an aesthetic - but rather it was something that was there from the very beginning.
Again: There has been an artistic and aesthetic aspect in Solarpunk from the very beginning, yes. But there has been a literary and political aspect in it the entire time, too. And trying to divorce Solarpunk from those things is just wrong and also... kinda misses the point.
So, please. Just stop claiming that entire "it has been an aesthetic first" thing. Solarpunk is a genre of fiction, it is a political movement, just as much as it is an artistic movement. Always has been. And there has always been punk in it. So, please, stop acting as if Solarpunk is just "pretty artistic vibes". It is not.
Thanks for coming to my TED Talk, I guess.
#solarpunk#solarpunk aesthetic#solarpunk fiction#political movement#history#history of solarpunk#amazofuturismus#put the punk back in solarpunk#scifi#science fiction#clifi#climate fiction#ecopunk
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i feel a little personally attacked by this so just to reiterate many times, my narinder is part jackal and the tail wagging i draw him with is specifically supposed to evoke more canid traits.
also, pet peeve: FULLY lashing tails means your cat's upset. having just the tip twitch can mean a cat's interested or even that it's friendly. this is read in conjunction with the rest the cat's body. and personally i am owned by a cat whose tail lashes all the time, especially looking at birds. she's not upset, that is just Her Thing. varies between felines.
going by normal cat body language, the type of tail wagging depicted here actually means narinder is interested in something, perhaps seeing a heretic he can kill.
IMPORTANT PSA!!
i'm slightly peeved about this portrayal of narinder so i made a comic about it grrrrrr wagging means the cat is ANGY not HAPPY anyway have a good day c:
#post probably isn't specifically targeted at me but afaik#i havent seen any portrayal of wagging tails except me so it feels a lil targeted#and i'm sick and tired of hearing people correct me with 'narinder is a cat' fandom headcanon#when i specifically headcanon him as part canine#btw the only place narinder is ever referred to as a cat is in the game files#he is never mentioned as a cat in game#and in the beginning of the fandom there were multiple different interpretations of narinder#before fandom 'uhhh he's a cat' truthers stamped all the rest out#am i a little salty? yes. absolutely.
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✨Anniversary and Follower Milestone Celebration and Giveaway!✨
A little over a year ago, I returned to my old photography blog and repurposed it to what you see today - purging all my old followers (including the sex bots 🥹) and started from scratch and now... OMIGOD?! 😭😭😭 I've recently passed a follower milestone that seems unbelievable to 1 year ago Emily who screenshot when her post got 11 notes and sent it to Mr. 604 so excited (oblivious that one of those likes was me liking on accident 😂). I love you all so dearly for visiting me and reading my silly stories - every interaction and follow has been treasured. Sometimes I still can’t believe y’alls kindness towards me 🫣🥰
At this time last year, I also started writing my first fic, which has turned into my longest running series: Safest with You. Some of you have been with me and this series since the very beginning and I couldn’t be more grateful - the first one shot, Carnival Fright Night, was posted Oct. 13/2023 and Ch. 1 followed on Nov. 10/2023. Now one full year later, we've wrapped it up with the Epilogue😭😭😭
To celebrate, I would love to do two things:
1) A Giveaway! Everything in the first pic (full description below the cut) will be sent to one lucky winner! You don’t have to follow me or have read any of my fics - all you have to do to enter is say something nice about someone in our community. You can leave it in a comment or a reblog of this post, or send me an ask (with 🎁) - BAM! You’re entered 😁. No one needs to follow me - I just love it when people hype each other up and spread positivity 💕
2) Nonsense Outros. The first piece of writing I ever posted wasn’t actually a fic but song lyrics 😂🤭 specifically, Sabrina Carpenter Nonsense Outros inspired by Pedro characters 😂 They are silly and challenging to write and I want to do some more! If you want, please send me an Ask with 🎶 for a character or a link to a fic (it can be yours, someone else’s if they’re ok with it, or you can request one of mine even!) - I will read it (if I haven’t already!) and write you an Outro for the PBoi in the fic/character (or try, anyways! 😁)
You can do both if you want! And as many times as you want 🥰 until Monday, December 2, 2024.
Thank you thank you all again! 💋
It’s been a great year here with you all 🥹🥂🥂
Giveaway prize includes: Din Djarin magnet, postcard and washi tape, Barón Tovar Takes a Wife holographic keychain, Safest with You washi tape, one (1) copy of Pedro fan magazine, one (1) copy of Vanity Fair 30th Hollywood Issue, one (1) customized Pedro photocard holder (I will make you one based on your fave colours/themes and I also have a bunch of photocards for you to choose from or I can make you one from a photo you send!).
I am happy to pay for shipping and will ship internationally from Canada (when the strike is over), but yes it means you have to provide me an address. I am active in a collectibles trading community on IG and can provide references if it makes you feel more comfortable in doing so👍🏻.
Winner will be selected randomly via the Excel random number generator in the first week of December 2024. This giveaway isn't administered, sponsored, endorsed by, or associated with Tumblr.
Tagging a few lovely people to help spread the word and/or may be interested 🥰😘:
@aurorawritestoescape @milla-frenchy @yopossum @almostfoxglove @sawymredfox
@inept-the-magnificent @jeewrites @jessthebaker @nerdieforpedro @joelalorian
@magpiepills @secretelephanttattoo @joelmillerisapunk @holacia3 @galaxyedging
@tuquoquebrute @whirlwindrider29 @pedroswife69 @pedges-world @ghotifishreads
@penvisions @jobean12-blog @auteurdelabre @angiewatson @morallyinept
@mermaidgirl30 @arcanefox207 @baronessvonglitter @grogusmum @ace-turned-confused
@furiousmushroom @cheekychaos28 @72scsuze @toobsessedsstuff @mellymbee
@that1nerd-20 @alltheotps @evolnoomym @greenwitchfromthewoods @maievdenoir
@hipabbster23 @bitccchmood @bigbutchenergee @rainbowcat164 @the-strawberrythief
@johnssherlock221 @misstokyo7love @vivian-pascal @florxdexcerezo @fanficlover1414
@rarachelchel @heartbrokenlilbitch-nef @sunnytuliptime @kulekehe @guelyury
@rav3n-pascal22 @sjc7542 @kilamonster @mandoshoney @syd-djarin
@moonlessnight14 @lucienofthelakes @heareball @lillaydee @yorksgirl
@sheepdogchick3 @desert-fern
#604celebrates#thank you#follower milestone#tumblr anniversary#fic anniversary#pedro pascal characters#Pedro pascal characters merch#pedro pascal characters fanfiction
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okay so I was watching a video about videos and decided to write about writing (specifically, fanfic)
Typically I don't share my thoughts on fandom as a subculture and how it's changed because I don't have the stomach for the kind of things that can happen when one posts their opinions on social media. But I'm gonna give it a go today because I watched this:
You don't have to watch it, I'll tell you the thing that got me: it was about how on YouTube, people are likely to be fans of specific channels, and if you subscribe to one, you could probably, if asked, discuss what you like about that channel/creator with others. But the way TikTok's feed works (turning you into a passive consumer of an endless stream of short videos), it's more difficult to differentiate who the creators are, even when you subscribe to them. You're more likely to just say, "I'm a fan of TikTok" (...or "I'm addicted to TikTok"). This is evidenced by the fact that at a recent VidCon, TikTokers who had millions of views and hundreds of thousands of subscribers faced empty lines at the meet-and-greets, because their content was just part of a blur of content their subscribers passively put their eyeballs on every day.
And I had a thought: Has AO3 done this for fanfic? Of course AO3's content cannot be passively consumed; you have to enter search terms and use filters to find what you're looking for. But once you have entered such a search, you could well be faced with thousands of results, which you begin consuming by opening tab after tab after tab. If you were not in fandom before 2012, I cannot stress how ludicrous this amount of fanfiction is. Before AO3, unless you were in a MASSIVE fandom (like HP or LOTR), you eagerly awaited the arrival of new fics because there just weren't that many -- and even if you were in a massive fandom, if you shipped one of the less popular pairings (or preferred Gen), you still could not necessarily count on even one new fic a day that was to your tastes.
And in those days when fics were fewer and farther between, and when fandoms were more siloed, you got to know fanfic authors. You recognized their styles. When someone posted a new fic, you were excited because you knew what you could expect based on what you already enjoyed about that author's talents and inclinations. In a small fandom I was in long ago, where only about ten people wrote fic, we once sat around and brainstormed which popular music act's vibe corresponded with which each author's style! (I was The Clash.)
Compare that to now, where many readers in fandom have the opportunity to just click-read-click-read-click-read, not just as a reward at the end of a long day, but on the bus or anywhere. I don't think it's a coincidence that fics get fewer comments than they used to, and there's far less discussion of individual authors. There's no incentive to linger on something even if you enjoyed it, when the next fic is waiting in another tab.
Now perhaps it's better that the structure of fanfic culture has changed such that we have less potential for BNF drama. But it also means that whenever I see newcomers to a fandom asking for recs, most of the responses are "Have you read [the fic with the most kudos and comments on AO3]?" It's not just that this response is a bit superfluous, as the newcomer has probably already sorted the AO3 results by kudos/comments -- to me it also indicates that folks get so much fanfic from The Fanfic Website and so little community from The De Facto Fandom Platforms that it becomes difficult to remember individual fics, what you enjoyed about them, or how an individual author's style might make them a better match for a certain reader. (Yes, I am aware that AO3 has histories/bookmarks for people to refer back to, but when one accumulates 1000 bookmarks and then someone asks for a rec, most likely the bookmark holder is only going to remember, off the top of their head, That One Crazy Outlier Fic That The Entire Fandom Lost Their Shit About Seven Years Ago.)
I dunno, this is all I got in the way of thoughts. I'm not saying I want to go back to the way things were 10 or 20 years ago, but I sure do wish I could a-la-carte it a little, you know?
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It's not really my business, but honestly it feels like it would be advisable to hire a copyright lawyer. Like I don't feel like you're in it for the money, but it might be gratifying to have the guy milking your idea at least have to formally acknowledge you. I think I'd do it just for the peace of mind to know if I've been "legally" wronged or not. Either way, hope you continue to inspire, and live out a peaceful life.
(In reference to this post about the guy who pretends to have invented “Elder Teletubbies,” specifically how he is now kickstarting DnD minis of them.)
Ha, well, it’s all a little tricky I think. I might, hilariously, post on the r/legaladvice Reddit (even though they’re all cops lol) because the only thing I want here is for him to stop selling my “transformative work,” and ideally to stop pretending he invented it (which might be difficult as he appears to fully believe his work is creatively independent.)
I think if anything, my post counts as protected commentary or a transformative work of BBC’s Teletubbies, and I think it’s stinky to profit on that stuff in general (like I’m 190% okay with buying LotR fanart on stickers ! but I wouldn’t dream of trying to publish a fic with the serial numbers filed off. Why?)
I think ultimately I’m not a grifter, I’m a grownup, and I think it’s several levels of eye roll to sell fanart of a tv show on this level. I would be embarrassed to touch money made on that. I’m too fucking scrupulous and artisanal. I have toyed with a silly original novel for funsies since 2019 but keep saying things like, “oh, people will think this is too similar to something else that already exists” as if a silly original novel I write for fun has to somehow pass a Bar of Originality higher than anything salary-writers aim for.
I’m also pretty anti-intellectual-property myself in that leftist sense where I don’t believe people should be acting as if creative works are, like, oil. Like the resource extraction angle of intellectual property freaks me out, I don’t think getting super high-horse and snotty about Magical Brain Property is entirely compatible with the artisanal temperament I personally got going on here. I am like snufkin about this, simply smoking a pipe and making a flower crown saying “poor fools! Producing works for market, and serving as the guard dogs of the market, lest their work lose value if it becomes more common!” I do not have a high horse. I am not going to post 6900 words about the importance of defending fucking… Mickey Mouse. I buy those lotr stickers on Etsy! I do have a horse, but it’s a pretty low horse.
If it was his own work I would not care about this guy doing this in the least (apart from loftily calling it stinky - but hey, nerds are common and nerds are stinky, it’s not rare) IF he wasn’t STEALING FROM MY ANTI-COMMERCIALISATION DREAM TO DO IT.
That’s the bit that PISSES ME OFF too much to ignore: that and accepting compliments for being original like 😌 yes my twisted mind did this idk lol.
Like if you asked him point blank about the artistic choices he’d be like idk my twisted mind just sees the Teletubbies this way teehee! but if you ask ME why, for example, the adult Teletubbies live in the forest I’ll explain that in 2017 I was at a major life crossroads and this dream was ABOUT that. It was goodbye to my identity as a foreigner from the pine forests, and full steam ahead to settling permanently in the fucking shire (where the baby teletubbies on the bbc show live). It was about going back to work having had my first child, and saying goodbye to my various career dreams for myself (famous scientist! Published author!) as I chose instead, finally, the responsibility of working humbly as a public servant for the actual good of society. It is about witnessing the wild and saying “I am not of it, but it is my job to be its witness and voice.” That’s why the adult Teletubbies are dancing in my native forests while I’m watching them from the English hills. This guy doesn’t know that he just vaguely heard “spooky forest cryptid” and didn’t develop it at all, I do more work than that with FANFICTION in my time off!!!
So it’s really about nebulous stuff and ethics and not something worth paying a lawyer for I think!
But thank you so much for this, I think the thing that gets most perennial about it is the TOTAL GASLIGHTING of the “outside world” of the rest of the internet like, fully believing they invented this, and they DIDNT. They’re so wrong on the internet and they don’t know
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i forgot to add that we are actively being killed by our government every day through gross negligence and even murdered intentionally constantly. disabled people are not safe in this country. people of colour are not safe in this country. queer people are not safe in this country. the citizens of the country that you are placing the blame on are having pur votes suppressed. we are living in a country where a man running for president has a plan to become a full blown dictator with power of every part of our lives. and he is running for president with that AS HIS PLATFORM. and the vocal minority of people that is supporting this kind of shit is all in power in our government fueled by voter suppression and voter tampering. russia is involved in our elections to an extent i previously only considered a joke and its just becoming a reality before my eyes. we are being killed from the inside. i am not saying that you cant be annoyed by americans but i dont know what good it really does to try and treat the individuals who live here as a Monolith That Hurts You when so many of us are dying and barely surviving.
i understand why this is the case which is why ill never say anythijg about it to people because i believe they have the right to feel this way even if i dont necessarily think it needs verbalized on tumblr lol... but id be a hypocrite since im writing this right now. that being said, occasionally ill see a post talking about the ways in which americans are to blame for [blank] and i truly dont know what to say to it much of the time because americans are being shot and drowning and dying on the street at a higher rate than most of the countries i see people complaining from 😭 like obviously this shouldnt happen to ANYONE. and you are also allowed to complain about the ways in which the american populous contributes to the things that you atruggle with. but this just goes hand in hand to me with comparing ANY group of people to their governement. especially because there is so much hatred and prejudice towards the usamerican south, both in and out of the country, that is pure classism, ableism, and racism. its all it is. and there is so little in a rich or middle class persons brain that makes them want to understand the plight of the poor and impoverished that they simply dont even make the attempt. i dont find value in fighting about when people are more or less oppressed than me generally, i understand i live in a position of relative privledge when you take the rest of the world into account. but i find that often big posts on tumblr that i see mutuals reblogging in good faith will just kind of assumes that whichever american is reading their post is well off because they have a phone or access to the internet like girl i was scrolling tumblr on the library computers to stay sane some days when i was homeless JJFJFJC you find anything u can sometimes. this is more of a personal ramble and this doesnt mean anything about any moral implications of any actions described, just kind of some food for thought for anyone who happens to stumble accross this i suppose on top of just being me yelling into the void lol
#not to mention that 'american tourism' is famously seen as more inherently annoying and dangerous#and i cant say that were NOT but i dont really understand how its different from any other tourist#because anyone who comes here from any country that doesnt have the kind of widespread danger we have in our national parks#does not generally understand the severity of the things they will encounter#like not in a rude way just like. how would you if you had no reference for it even?#like yes these hot springs will boil you alive. this bear will eat you for fun. if you do not drink enough water you will pass the fuck out#(arizonan specific lolll the grand canyon is famous for tourists doing shit theyte not supposed to)#im not saying americans ARENT like this i just think that it isnt an american thing 😭😭#like just generally i think that much is placed on the people of any country that is simply too broad to ever apply to even most of them#guy rediscovers the concept of stereotyping and gets PISSED#also further note: this has NOTHING to do with the US involvement in Palestine. i am not speaking to that issue at all in this post#because it is not my sentiment in the slightest regarding that. this is more aimed at people in countries who have relatively good#human rights policies. i am frustrated at the concept of people punching down and saying its okay because americans have it so good.
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I've gotten some interesting responses to my post wondering if Um Actually 3 AM Is The REAL Time For Supernatural Occurrences was a traditional thing before I first noticed it in the creepypasta boom of the late 00s-2010s, as many of those creepypastas claimed. some of them along "guys. please. reading comprehension" lines, I admit
"Lots of cultures have a Witching Hour!" yes, true, but that's not 3 AM specifically. for a long time it was usually midnight, or an unspecified late night/wee hours of the morning period
"This author says 3 AM feels like depression or vice versa!" that is not about Spooky Things Happening; try again
"early Christian beliefs say-" "well, in traditional Japanese folklore-" sources??? (also from what I've seen while looking into this, the Hour of the Ox in historical Japanese timekeeping was between 1 AM and 3 AM- 3 AM specifically was the end of it, not the beginning. but it was a traditional time for curses)
A mention of 3 AM as a particularly bad time of night re: health, sleep, nightmares, etc. in Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962), which DOES seem reliable and close enough to what I'm talking about
Apparently the 1974 Amityville murders happened at 3 AM, and of course that house had a highly public (probably faked) haunting. So that could have contributed
I haven't yet found anything earlier than that Bradbury reference that SPECIFICALLY mentions 3 AM as a time when scary and/or supernatural things happen, WITH ACTUAL SOURCES
Interestingly, the Bradbury quote doesn't seem to refer back to an existing cultural belief in the idea of Evil 3 AM(TM). rather it's framed as the narrator's personal feelings around that particular time of night:
"Oh God, midnight’s not bad, you wake and go back to sleep, one or two’s not bad, you toss but sleep again. Five or six in the morning, there’s hope, for dawn’s just under the horizon. But three, now, Christ, three A.M.! Doctors say the body’s at low tide then. The soul is out. The blood moves slow. You’re the nearest to dead you’ll ever be save dying. Sleep is a patch of death, but three in the morn, full wide-eyed staring, is living death! You dream with your eyes open. God, if you had strength to rouse up, you’d slaughter your half-dreams ... And wasn’t it true, had he read somewhere, more people in hospitals die at 3 A.M. than at any other time." [I can't find any credible studies of this, for the record]
so it seems like the seeds of the idea were floating around in the cultural consciousness for a long time, between unspecified Witching Hours and the Hour of the Ox curses and this probably erroneous but popular belief that most people who die in hospitals do so at 3 AM. but as for the very strictly-defined notion that Supernatural Things Are Most Likely To Happen At 3 AM...the earliest anecdotal reference I saw to someone having heard that was from the 1980s, and it doesn't seem to have really entered the zeitgeist with force until the late 2000s, earliest
unless someone shows me a source on something earlier, that's what I'm going with
which leaves my takeaway, as a paranormal believer, being: there's nothing supernaturally special about 3 AM, unless it has individual significance to a specific entity or haunting (ie residual apparition of an event that took place at that time). it's something people came up with for interesting fiction, as a fresh take on the longstanding western idea that the Witching Hour is midnight, and not even that long ago
#paranormal#folklore#ghosts#hauntings#urban legends#of course I also don't think there's anything supernaturally significant about ANY particular time of day across the board#my most recent ghost encounter was at approx. 4:50 PM (near the end of my work shift which is why I remember it)#I've had them at midnight and I've had them around 8 PM and I've had them at 9-ish in the morning#and everything in between#my working theory is that more things seem to happen at night because you're less likely to have other distractions at night and thus#more likely to notice anomalies that you otherwise wouldn't
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(Extreme on-brand post incoming) Some translation discourse about Chainsaw Man's latest chapter right now - in English this scene is translated as "slut":
But in the original it is 痴女/Chijo:
Literally "dumb woman" but almost always today used to mean "female molester". So people are complaining that, particularly given that Asa was the initiator of the current sexual encounter in question, that this is an incorrect translation - her anger is more over being a violator than shame over her sex drive or whatever.
I don't think they are right about that - "slut" is the best translation of 痴女. It doesn't not mean 'molester', it is used for someone who actually does that, but that is comparatively rare - its primarily used more metaphorically for a "sexually aggressive woman". Here is a typical dictionary entry for the word, which includes this line:
色情におぼれ迷う女
"to lose oneself in lust". Because the idea of this molester is that it isn't some calculating predator or anything, it is that she is overcome by her emotions, unable to reign herself in, and thus crosses boundaries. Hence the word origin - "dumb woman", right? Sounds like a slut to me, pretty similar to how we use that term - even if it has no connotations of sexual assault in English.
Also this is just the culturally accepted translation of the word, I think that counts for something.
But I want to go deeper - after all, there are other words in Japanese that mean "slut", like パンコ/Panko - yes like-but-not-exactly the breadcrumbs let's not get distracted okay? So why use 痴女? Here, I am going to note that this is a manga, it's part of a specific culture. Maybe you've noticed that in eroge male media - even tame ones like harem shows - compared to western porn the men are pretty passive? They don't make a lot of stories of chads pulling chicks, it is nerds having alien space hotties throw themselves at him.
This definitely comes from wider Japanese culture, don't get me wrong (and I lack expertise there, lets not oversell myself), but it is definitely the case than in animanga a male passivity streak is just sort of embedded as the default. And you can see that in the use of 痴女 in the medium.
So let's run an experiment! Let's go to e-hentai, and find the first relevant result with that word in the title. Here we go:
カースト上位のあの子は実は淫乱ドスケベ痴女
"The girl in the top caste is actually a lewd, perverted chijo"
And yeah, its about a hot, popular teen girl being paid to fuck some guys who propositioned her. The fourth page literally includes a guy saying "I am so excited, this rules". He isn't being consent violated in the slightest, the fantasy that makes her a chijo is how eager and lustful she is.
Audiences read all this stuff and cross reference each other, like language does. Its a pretty common term in the space. None of the cultural focus is on the violation aspect, all of the cultural focus is on the desire, and it has added punch as a sort of shameful secret ("Popular girl is actually..."). It's just slightly confusing because there are undercurrents of default norms in the sexual language that we in English don't have. The default Japanese slut is 20% more aggressive, as it were.
Slut, therefore, is the correct term for a manga translation. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.
#chainsaw man#Ash Eroge Studies Adventures#As always when it comes to the japanese I am not an expert so def welcome corrections from the speakers on this one
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