#you know i do have a feeling like my content is getting increasingly niche

[vidumavi]

Prompt: Rhovanion & shadows of things that were yet to be

Hiii thank you <3 I understood rhovanion to imply my favourite niche family

(Names: Vinitharya = Eldacar, Minalcar = Romendacil II, Meligavi = Eldacar's canonical but unnamed sibling)

The messenger had been formally received with the same ceremonials as all of his kind who had made the journey from the far south over the last decade. He had come with greetings from one king to another and a stack of letters: for Vidugavia, for his son-in-law and his daughter. There had even been a small, cloth-wrapped package for his grandchildren that revealed finely made toys and a bag of dried figs and peaches.

Nothing had seemed out of the ordinary, but Vidugavia had taken note of a line of tension in Valacar’s face and a guarded look in his eyes as he watched the messenger approach. He had searched for a similar reaction in his daughter, but Vidumavi had been preoccupied with the bored and restless toddler on her hip, her face turned away and half-obscured by her hair.

Minalcar’s letter had offered nothing save for the usual diplomatic pleasantries and goings-on when Vidugavia had opened it that evening, but over the following weeks, he watched a strain grow in the bearing of his daughter and his law-son. They tried to keep their whispered arguments away from their children, he knew, but little Vinitharya, five years old now, was precocious and disposed to listening at doors. He soon lost interest in the beautiful, detailed model of a ship that had been gifted to him and began to look sullen and hide when he was called for.

Vidugavia had known this day would come, but foolish, soft old man that he had become, he had hoped he would not live to see it, that he might die surrounded by all his children and grandchildren. But it seemed Minalcar, who had after Vinitharya’s birth tentatively begun hinting that Valacar might best serve the realm in Gondor now, had finally lost his patience for good.

Vidugavia had some inkling of the stern conventions that ruled over an empire like Gondor, over its ancient, sprawling stone cities and harbours, over the far older families at its helm: the news of their prince marrying in foreign lands, not even deigning to bring his bride home for the wedding, must have been received with bitterness indeed. Had he been only a politician, he would have advised against it, told Valacar to be wed according to all standards of tradition to take the sting off his choice in spouse- but he was a sentimental old man as well, and he had wanted to see his daughter married where he had raised her.

Mist clung to the earth that morning when he walked toward her home. He had let her avoid him for too long already. But when he stepped into her entrance hall, he nearly stumbled over his grandson, who was carrying his sister in his arms with some difficulty. On his back was a large pack and he swayed slightly on his feet.

“Careful, there,” Vidugavia said and put a hand on his shoulder to steady him, “And where are you going, young man?”

Vinitharya’s expression was half guilt and half stubbornness.

“I’m running away,” he replied, jutting his chin out imperiously.

“I see. How come?”

Before Vinitharya could answer, the voice of his mother echoed from another room, closely followed by that of his father.

“ - sooner or later - “

“ - before my children – “

They caught only snatches of their words, but Vinitharya’s face scrunched up in distress, his eyes watering. Little Meligavi began squirming in his arms and Vidugavia bowed to take her in his own before she could drop to the floor.

“Alright,” he said, “Let’s go.”

He told a guard to inform his daughter that he was taking the children out for the day and led them out of the keep, through the town and its gates and into the forest. They went west, where the hills grew higher and the trees taller, stopping to pick berries and some of the year’s first apples. What luxury, to walk with children and no guard so far from any fortification- but Vinitharya and Meligavi knew nothing else, children of peacetime that they were.

May it stay that way, he thought as they climbed the tallest hill for miles, its top bare of trees and its western slopes steep and rocky. From its highest point, a dark smudge was visible far to the north: the mountains of Mirkwood and, past them, the Lonely Mountain. Fainter even, only a grey speck on the horizon, was the mountain to the south that rose over the darkened parts of the forest where shadows walked and poison stained the rivers and the air.

Vinitharya did not complain about having every landmark explained to him despite knowing them all already, hanging on his grandfather’s every word. Vidugavia even told him of the cave that reached deep beneath the hill, that had been used as a shelter during the war. It was no story for children, but he was overcome with the sudden urge to tell his grandson all he knew ere he was taken to be raised in a strange land. Vinitharya at least was old enough to remember: Meligavi, who had only just learned to walk a few wavering steps, would likely not even remember his face.

He looked at his granddaughter, who was sitting in the grass, grabbing at wildflowers with her chubby hands and babbling, oblivious to her family’s sorrow.

“Watch out for your sister,” he told Vinitharya, “She will not remember her home. See to it that she knows where she hails from.”

Vinitharya looked close to tears.

“I don’t want to go.”

“I know. But I must ask you to be brave.”

He bent his weary knees to heave Vinitharya upon his shoulders and let him gaze far and wide across Rhovanion. Summer was drawing to its close, the nights growing colder by the day, but the woods were yet green.  

“For six months, the cave below sheltered my company,” Vidugavia said, “Cradled us, protected us against enemy and elements alike. You, too, are children of this land. It will not forsake you when the time comes.”

Vinitharya sniffed.

“Are we not forsaking it first?”

“Earth and people both will remember you. You will always have a home here, I give you my word.”

Vinitharya appeared to reluctantly accept his words. Then, he insisted on looking at the cave himself. They climbed through the concealed entrance and into the narrow tunnels, where he touched the cold, granite walls with reverence. Vidugavia saw him collect two smooth, black rocks from the ground and put them in his pocket.

The sun was beginning to set by the time they returned. Vidugavia let himself into their private lodgings, Meligavi fast asleep in his arms. Vidumavi and Valacar turned to him as one when he entered. Valacar’s hand had been resting on her arm, but now he strode toward his son and embraced him.

“We’re sorry, darling,” Vidugavia heard him murmur, “We did not mean to scare you.”

Vidumavi looked at her father intently, perfect understanding passing between them.

“Thank you,” she said, “for watching them.”

He nodded and moved to return her daughter to her, but she shook her head.

“Keep her just a moment longer,” she said, “I would not wish to wake her.”

[max1461]

Thought for a moment in the 2010s that we were entering a new serious era (e.g. 1920s, 30s, 40s), but it seems that we're instead in an increasingly tacky era (50s, 60s, 70s). Like look at the change in YouTube. Well you all are textheads you don't do video, I know that. But like. In 2017 there was ContraPoints. Agree or disagree with her opinions, what she was doing was conceptually and aesthetically serious. Even her early, low-production-value stuff. She was talking about incels and other internet shit, but the internet is part of the real world, that's fine. In fact that's what gave me hope for another serious era, people were finally talking about internet stuff the way 1920s German intellectuals or whatever talked about the cultural trends of their day. Maybe because Contra has half a philosophy PhD and was explicitly influenced by those German intellectuals.

Another example from a totally disjoint cultural niche was Digi a.k.a. Trixie a.k.a. Ygg Studios or whatever they go by now. Drunk, smelly, and unkempt—yes. Or at least so went the persona. Talking seriously about anime—also yes. When they claimed they were the only good anime reviewer on the internet it made a lot of people mad. But they were right!

There were thinkers, we had thinkers. My generation, or roughly my generation, had thinkers. To be clear, when I include Contra here I'm not including all of her ilk, I'm not including the leftist-theory-regurgitators and so on. But Contra herself was a thinker! Digi was a thinker! We had thinkers.

But that era is over now, on YouTube at least. I go on there and it's all algorithmic drivel. I look for anime content and as I've explained it's all about #hype and #epic and how the new season of whatever #hits different and other empty meaningless bullshit. No analysis, no thought, fundementally unserious bullshit. Tacky! It's tacky! The the YouTube thumbnail O-face is fucking 70s-ass fake wood paneling tacky bullshit!

MrBeast. I've never seen a MrBeast video but I hate him for what he represents. I used to watch this channel called Wranglerstar, he made videos about different types of axes and forest fire fighting equipment and various other stuff. "Modern homesteading" I believe was the tagline. And it was always evident that he was a far-right guy but who gives a shit, his videos where good. Serious videos about interesting topics, that a fucking normal guy might watch. Well around 2020 he basically started flooding his channel with covid conspiracy bullshit and "the Chinese are going to attack us any day!" bullshit and other unserious crap. And I had to stop watching. How could I find any of that compelling? It's vapid nonsense.

And I don't know if it's a shift in the algorithm or people becoming more savvy to the algorithm or what, but all of YouTube is like this now. Vapid clickbait empty meaningless bullshit for another tacky commercialized bullshit era.

And you know, I felt like it might just be localized to YouTube for a while, but I started to look around, and it just feels like everything is like this. Backsliding to the tacky times. God I hate tackiness. I hate unseriousness. I'm having a little meltdown. At least SMW kaizo hacks are having a renaissance. People are doing serious shit in that space, serious shit that is also not anachronistic, you know, it's kept up with the modern world. It addresses modern concerns (fun to play hard Mario). But it's serious. People are serious. One of the few serious things happening in my orbit.

Even in science it feels like people aren't serious anymore. You know, standard Sabine Hossenfelder complaint about particle physics. But I don't really know enough about that to say. Get the vibe that biology is still serious these days.

To be clear, everything I'm saying here is pure vibes. I'm just saying shit. I'm just saying shit that I feel. But I'll be deeply disappointed if I have to live my youth in another tacky era, god damn it. Even the 80s seem like they were better than this.

[hell-fm]

Im so happy that the hazbin tumblr niche found me! tumblr is my preferred platform, but as an artist twitter is oftentimes more lucrative. So I apologize for not being as active here as I could be. But thank you for following me.

Another reason why I’m more on twitter is the nsfw content. (This is me courageously coming out as a nsfw artist)

I see a lot of people here have very strong opinions on nsfw content with Alastor and I think having an opinion about that as an ace person is more than valid. But as an aroace spec person myself who mostly processes romance and sex through fanwork, I find myself increasingly frustrated with the fact that my peers (other aroace artists) and I are being accused of doing something *bad* by expressing ourselves and our sexuality through fanart with Alastor.

I understand the discomfort and I understand the boundary and I support that. But I want you to know that I’m not agreeing with the notion that we are responsible for ignorant views on aroace people. Instead of us drawing porn being considered a bad thing, we could use this opportunity to remind ourselves that the ace spectrum is very diverse and people have varying levels of feelings of discomfort or comfort with sex?

I even heard ace people make fun of the explanation *but ace people can have sex* and I personally don’t understand why we even bother to educate people properly if we can’t even agree on this within our own circle…? Why do we explain how sex and relationships /can/ work to allsexuals when we then police each other in a safer space such as fandom? It baffles me.

And I also had my own issues with my aroace spec identity for a long time, had ignorant views for a LONG time and have found some nsfw content with Alastor to be very healing and even empowering way of story telling for aroace people. (Especially @prince-liest fanfics!!!)

Look, fandom is a space where people express themselves and we all express ourselves differently and in a flawed way. I know that fandom is currently in a commercialization era where people legitimately make their income through fanwork, companies try to fandomify their franchises and thus there’s way more public attention on fans and what fans do, but that doesn’t mean that we have to compromise. Especially if we’re noncommercial. We are not responsible for other people’s perceptions when there’s enough educational content out there.

That being said, I obviously understand the frustration, I especially feel frustrated when I notice that a lot of fancontent turns Alastor allosexual because it’s more convenient for the ship. For me, even if I draw something that hints at romance or is straight up porn, I always pull from my own feelings and experiences of romance and sex to depict Alastor. Sure, that’s always going to be a bit ooc, but at least it still feels like him. So I get why people feel annoyed. But at the same time I don’t see the logic and necessity to make harsh accusations or judgements. Many years ago I’ve met people irl that I had harsh opinions about online and realized they are very different from how I perceived them based on their content. So now I’m trying to always keep that in mind, everyone is a person behind these accounts and everyone has different perceptions of media, life and interpersonal relationships. Sometimes aroace people themselves fall into the trap of depicting an ace character in an allo way, because those are the romance tropes we grew up with and all know and many people don’t even understand how it can work differently. It’s -simply put- a skill issue. I also think it’s unfair that people have to come out to justify themselves (which is why I came out even though I’m very uncomfortable with being out), you never know if the person doing the art is ace or not and you shouldn’t make assumptions.

I think the responsibility put upon fanartists is simply unfair and it is a double standard, because nobody talks this much shit about fanfics. It is not our fault that algorithms make it so that content gets pushed more that might not be the best representation. Keep the flawed social media systems in mind that show you stuff that isn’t for you in the first place.

This was a very long post that I only made to be very open and frank about the fact that I also draw nsfw content and don’t agree with this form of fandom policing. I respect boundaries and if people want to block me for my take on this, that’s valid.

[elialys]

hey. as a fellow writer from niche fandoms and unpopular ships, can i just say i really appreciate you being upfront about how much lack of engagement sucks. really thank you. especially because it comes from someone like you who has a fair amount of engagement, but you know what? you’re right being pissed. i know i am. i come from fandoms where people are constantly yapping about lack of content yet none of them engage w/ each other. i ended up leaving bc i felt like i was screaming to a wall. and you know what? i haven’t stopped writing, just posting. bc why bother? so yeah, i AM writing for myself, and also keeping it from myself. idc if that’s petty honestly, like no, it doesn’t make me feel any better if someone out there might end up liking it one day if they’re being completely silent about it. fandoms aren’t supposed to be one-sided. i’m fine w people not reading my stuff cause they don’t like it. you can straight up tell me you hate my ship and i will be like. cool 👍 but when people do read and like your stuff and yet never say anything, that’s something that i don’t like

anyway sorry for rambling, know that you’re much appreciated. i remember you from my doctor who days and i wish i were in your fandoms so i could keep reading your stuff. ❤️

For the longest time I didn’t say anything because I realize that in a lot of cases, I’ve had what you’d call great engagement, and I’ve always been so thankful for the love my stories have received throughout various fandoms. But the decline is STEEP these days, and I have the hindsight of having been writing/sharing fics online for two decades, so I have a lot of 'data' to compare these days’ numbers to.

That’s the thing that has always gotten to me. NUMBERS. Being so, so aware of how many people click on our fics, and how few of them actually engage with a comment. Even at my most “popular”, I didn’t get more than 5% of my readers interacting with me; it felt like a lot because I had a lot of readers, so it meant more comments, but it still was only 5%.

Like you said, it’s this knowing that people are reading, that they are coming back chapter after chapter, yet they don’t bother engaging with us, even when most of us basically BEG in author notes for them to comment and make us feel less like word spewing machines and more like creative members of their online community. What really got to me this last month was updating my fic for The Last of Us, a chapter that got 1,000 hits in two weeks, and I got 10 comments for it. I was just…how the fuck are 1,000 people reading and only 10 of them bothering? Especially since that fic had averaged 3 times that amount of comments for months on previous chapters.

Every time I get disheartened by the increasingly shitty reader engagement, I tell myself that’s it, I’m done writing fics. But then I always go back to it a few days later because I actually LOVE writing fics. Like, fuck yeah, I do write for myself and actually enjoy it for myself (in a love-hate kind of writing relationship obviously 🤣). I do it because I am in love with the characters I’m writing about, and fascinated by their dynamics and relationships, so it’s genuinely a THRILL, and my biggest passion.

But the abysmal engagement these days is just…it makes me feel like shit, there’s no other word for it. Because I spend so much time and energy on those stories (because I want to and I LOVE to write), but as a fic writer, there’s always this part of me that’s excited to be SHARING it with the fandom. Because twenty years of this have gotten me used to at least some decent interaction, and feeling like I'm part of a community. But then the hit count goes up and the comment count stays low or nearly empty, and it’s just gutting. People just consume, consume, consume.

Honestly, GOOD ON YOU for still writing while deciding not to share with your niche fandom at the moment. I’m thinking I might do the same with the rest of my Tess & Ellie AU, because I want to see it through and finish it for ME, but I’m done spoon-feeding an apathetic crowd. I’ll reach out to my most loyal readers and regular commenters when the day comes, and give them a way to read the rest of the story, might even just post the chapters straight on my blog here like I used to do, but not on AO3, not for a goooooood while.

Maybe it is petty, maybe I am just butt hurt. But fuck it, it does hurt my feelings, and I’m the one spending hours of my life writing those things, so I’ll do it my way. And I will continue to call readers out, and ask them to step up. We are human beings, not chatGPT, we just want some appreciation for sharing our art.

[starrypawz]

❝  have you ever had something…missing?  like something just doesn’t feel right inside you but you don’t know what it is.  ❞ for Johnny and Lucas? :eyes:

Prompts AO3 @the-passenger-if

Happy Passenger Game Eve, it's been a fun journey following this game since 2019 and Pime thanks for letting me run amock with your creation as I make my own very niche content from it and hopefully there's much more to come 💜

The voice of the budget Sagan has trailed into silence followed shortly by the sound of the projector winding down. The sparsely populated theatre had been quickly vacated leaving them bathed in silence, alone and the only light the dull glow of the exit sign and the dull lights on the stairs. 

Lucas leans into Jonny’s shoulder. 

“I don’t think they’ve changed that show since I was in 6th grade,” Jonny mumbles and Lucas gives a faint snort. 

“Was that the last time you saw it?”

“No,” Jonny pauses, “Last time I… wasn’t really paying attention to it,” 

“Are you trying to tell me I’m not the first person you’ve taken here to take advantage of the fact it’s a dark room,” Jonny snorts, “No… I uh was you know-” “Oh” “Yeah,” Jonny clears his throat and Lucas gives a knowing chuckle, “Mostly stared at the colours,” squeezes Lucas’s shoulder gently as he pulls him in closer. 

It’s little effort for Lucas to climb over the arm of the seat  into Jonny’s lap and Jonny pulls Lucas in for a kiss and sighs into it as his hands settle into that sweet spot on Lucas’s hips. 

Lucas kisses back, but Jonny finds it… lacking. He’s well aware by this point of the various ways Lucas enjoys teasing but… this doesn’t quite feel like it.

“Lucas?”

“Yeah darlin?”

“You…” He sighs a few potential sentences bubble up and then pop immediately before he settles on, “Ok? I mean are you ok?” 

“I’m,” Lucas pauses as also for him a few potential sentences bubble up and then pop immediately, “I don’t know,”

Jonny tenses up

“I just… I feel kind of weird,”

“Weird?” Jonny catches his lip, “Like sick or?”

Lucas shakes his head, “Just… weird,” 

Weird is probably the understatement of the century. But the word both seems to encompass everything and explain nothing. 

“Do…. Should we get out of here?” Jonny swallows, “Like… need some air?” 

Lucas mumbles a no, shifts position so he’s tucked under Jonny’s chin and sighs softly as he feels Jonny’s fingers slip under the back of his shirt and start running circles on the small of his back. 

Lucas doesn’t even know where to start. His mind is seldom quiet at the best of times (Even on the best days he’s aware of that spot right at the base of hisnothecaket’s skull where the spine comes out and he’s got a grip right there, most of the time it feels like fingers, on a bad day it feels like he’s got the casket’s skull in his maw and then he just needs to bite down and he’ll puncture through and sever everything like in that documentary on lions in a highschool biology class.  Right now his thoughts feel tangled, like that time when the thecasketnohe was five and the Christmas lights had come out and they were tangled up all weird and somehow he’d sat there with Livvy and mom having to untangle them. 

(And Lucas had actually been pretty good at it, and they’d said that “Dad” has been pretty good at it and implied maybe he’d got it from them and Lucas hadn’t known if he wanted to revel in smugness at their ignorance or feel guilty about this whole situation) 

The show had started, a ten minute express tour of the seeming known universe (If only they knew) and as it progressed Lucas had found himself increasingly becoming unmoored whilst watching the cosmos roll on by reminding him of how he’s barely fits into these bones and it makes them ache and how everything here is small, so small not even a tiny dot within the eyes of what he actually is and how by the the time one of those four eyes blinks all of this would’ve been birthed and died and he wouldn’t have even noticed and how everything he feels is dulled but also too much at the same time and… 

“You…” Lucas begins as he grabs onto a stay thought like a lifeline,  “You ever feel like something’s missing?” 

“I…” Jonny pauses, “Is this… a trans thing?”

“No… kind of… not ugh,” Lucas catches his lip as he tries to pull something useful out of his tangled Christmas lights thoughts, “It’s… about everything,” 

“About everything huh?” Jonny huffs.

“Yeah,” Lucas sighs, “Everything just… feels weird sometimes? I guess, I don’t know, like… inside something feels wrong and you can’t quite work out what it is”

“I… I get it,” Jonny offers up with a sigh. 

You don’t A part of Lucas says You really really don’t

The projector whirs back to life and the film grain overlain starfield reappears with a burst of music where someone’s gone a little too heavy on the synthesiser  and the budget Sagan begins its narration of the vastness of the universe and the smallness of this planet he’s ended up on all over again and Lucas clings tighter onto Jonny and Jonny presses a kiss to the top of Lucas’ head. 

“It feels less like it when I’m around you,” Lucas mumbles and Jonny holds him closer. 

Homesick, the word comes to him some time later. 

Homesick.

[soundorp]

How to make 1000$ money per month with podcasts? Here are the Hacks.

So you’ve got a podcast, huh? Maybe it’s something you started just for fun, or perhaps you’re using it as part of your business strategy. Either way, did you know you can actually make some serious cash from it? And if you were searching “How to make money with podcasts” on the internet you are on the right page!

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What’s a Brand Sponsorship?: Think of it like – big and small companies pay you to talk about their stuff on your podcast.

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Quality Over Quantity: Why 200 Engaged Listeners Beat 2000 Social Media Followers

A thousand podcast listeners is more powerful than having thousands of followers on social media when the topic is monetizing your audience. Why is that? Because, my bud, it’s all about attention. For how long? How frequent can you keep your audience’s attention? Attention is currency these days. People get lost on their smartphones, sometimes going back and forth between apps and tapping on notifications. That iss getting increasingly hard for brands to keep the attention of their target audience for more than a few seconds. Unlike social media, podcasting has the incredible power of keeping listeners hooked for the duration of an entire episode.

The Attention Game: Attention is like gold these days. It’s hard to keep, but podcasting makes it easier because listeners stick around if you and your guest are talking stuffs.

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You might be sitting on some real opportunities without even knowing. Start reaching out to brands and businesses that would be interested in putting their products and services in front of your audience. Find the contact information for their marketing department and shoot that person a DM or an email telling them about your podcast and your interest in creating episodes highlighting their products. Be thoughtful and clear in your communication and highlight how excited you are to introduce their product or service to your audience. Also, don’t forget to include your podcast analytics and use the same argument I presented about why you have a small but real audience.

Reaching Out: Don’t wait for opportunities to come to you. They don’t come when you sit idle. Make a list of brands you’d like to work with and reach out to them personally.

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Get Their Attention: Find the right person to talk to in the marketing department and shoot them a message.

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Creating and Selling Intellectual Property

Another way to make money from your podcast is by packaging and selling your intellectual property online. So, it sounds more complicated than it is. Let me simplify it. You identify a problem your audience has, and you create a solution so they can go from point A to point B. You may be doing this already with your business. Maybe you have a digital course or an ebook you’re selling to your audience. If this is the case, I want you to create a special offer only for your podcast listeners, add more value in the form of a one-on-one coaching session or a mastermind or a more intimate event.

Identify Audience Needs: Use your podcasting to identify common problems your audience faces.

Offer Solutions: Develop digital products like courses, ebooks, or coaching sessions to address these needs. Just like a blog. We provide solution and sell products from amazon or services from in the process according to your needs.

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Affiliate Marketing

You know those awesome guests you have on your show? Well, if they’ve got something to sell, why not ask them for a little something in return? You can ask for a commission for helping them sell their things. Plus, don’t forget to score a discount for your listeners – they’ll love you for it! Just make sure to tell them you’re earning a commission, so they know what’s up.

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I have discussed some more hacks in my Full article on How to make 1000$ money per month with podcasts.

[octavio-world]

Oh this got big. First, let me say I feel like all of this is largely overblown corportese-induced panic, and realistically tumblr will just get sold off or circle the drain in stasis ala twitter. But I do think the reaction and scale of panic is an apt expression of where we're all at collectively with social media. With the common acceptance of enshittification as a hard rule of platforms online and either seeing the blatant injection of commerce (ala instagram, tiktok et all are now just shopping places ft your friends,) or alt-right conspiracy hate leading engagement-based sites (like twitter, facebook) it's easy to see the steady drip of thinkpieces working through a prevailing exhaustion with social media as a while.

Speaking as a 30s guy whose humor was shaped and born out of the early net, finding our slice of niche (albeit seemingly popular these days) humor has felt increasingly fraught. Weird-twitter and their ilk always held on to it's glint of SA/early 4chan irony and sardonic edge in a way that always rubbed me the wrong way. As someone who saw that pipeline into blatant alt-right/ reactionary/ or "dirtbag left" as it was being built, it was hard to laugh as 4chan reactionary lingo got adopted to the point where real life friends were saying twitter things offhand without knowing the often racist, incel-oriented origins. Tumblr, with no motivation for people to "build brands" or secure writing/ podcast fanbases and no sheen of networking or clout, became a place where the earnestly weird and expressively offbeat rose into it's own accord. Of course there are popular blogs and screencaps that gain a wider reach, but one look at the wild shit my mutuals post will tell you that we're not just doing a character for internet points. It's earnest, comedic, ugly, desperate, horny outlet for expression in the same vein of ytps or early forum comedy that is built from community. The existential loss of that, which I imagine must be only more real to a younger crowd just discovering itself (via RTVS and other internet oldheads) and especially the trans, queer communities that produce so much of the content, definitely feels abrupt and destabilizing. Of course there's Discord for chat and people can always stay in touch. RSS and legacy channels are all still fine, and there's a new legion of forums (ProBoards seems to be gaining traction) that can create the "old net feel," but it's worth reflecting on what that loss will mean, should this eventually be unplugged and vanish. How much smaller and more niche will things get? Is the solution entering back into the ego-politics of forum culture? (I'm old enough to remember past the nostalgia for the platform). I don't think it's earnestly time to panic over anything, but I do think it's an apt time for reflection. Would love to hear from fellow internet historian @beesmygod and fellow internet art creator @cheddar-baby, and any mutual's thoughts. I just care for my insanity outlet and got worked up.

if they shut down this site i finally snap. the niche of insane posting i have with my mutuals is all that is keeping me functioning in society. if i can't read about a suicidal tekken character jacking off and watch the kpop celibacy gif and look at beautiful artwork and rare auction pieces from niche archivists i will snap do you understand

[thetinypsychologist]

HOW TO SURVIVE UNIVERSITY AS A FIRST-YEAR STUDENT

So! I am currently in my first-year at University but I’ve been studying for a couple of months now and feel as though I have enough information and experience to make this post!

MANAGE YOUR TIME

Whether it’s a timetable, to-do list, writing in your planner - you need some sort of method to manage your time and note what tasks you need to do and when. Set a specific time for each class and plan your own class schedule. Even better, study for your classes at the same time they should be held. This will create a sense of routine and make things so much easier. Find what works for you! Your perfect system won’t work great for your friends! There’s no shame in not being able to keep up with the schedule you’ve made. If you’ve tried or if it hurts you mentally or physically, then that schedule is just not the one for you. Finding a system that works for you takes time, patience, and courage. but it will be absolutely worth it. Find yourself a routine that works best for you! I know that my method doesn’t work well for my peers: I make a to-do list for the week and note down the tasks I want to do for each day and do a little bit everyday but I know some people would rather do everything in two days and have the rest of the week free! Below I’ve showed how I organise my week:

BE ACTIVELY ENGAGED

In your lectures and seminars, engage!!! Ask questions, answer questions, take part in the discussions!! It’ll help you retain the content much easier and you’ll enjoy learning so much more compared to just sitting there mindlessly listening. Take notes, even if you can record your lessons and/or access the lessons later. This will force you into focusing and minimise the chance of you getting distracted and zoning out. If you have any face-to-face lecture/seminars then it’s a good idea to sit in the first few rows, towards the front - again, this minimises the chance of you zoning out and increases the chance of you engaging.

ACCOMMODATE YOURSELF

Accommodate yourself, not just with comfort, but also with actual necessities that you cannot usually get in your usual classroom/library due to whatever reason. Whether it be stress balls, stim toys, motivational cards, calming music/candles. comfort items. chewing gum. As long as it helps you focus better, keep it with you. Other necessities may be water, a snack, sticky notes etc. Make sure to declutter your study space. put your phone out of reach & turn off notifications. If you have problems with this, I recommend using an app called Forest or putting your phone in another room.

FIND WHAT WORKS FOR YOU

I know that I will start a lecture around 9/10am. But all mine is asynchronous (narrated powerpoint or videos) and so I will sit for literally two hours just listening to the lecture trying to take notes but very quickly losing focus. I’ve now realised that I can make notes from the powerpoint slides, and then use the narrations/videos for when I want more detail or don’t understand something. This saved me a lot of time, cutting down my time spent on one lecture from around 70 minutes, to 35. This gives me more time to start other content, work on my assignments, and give myself the breaks I need to work efficiently.

WORK TOWARDS YOUR CAREER

Since more and more people go to universities each year, the job market is becoming increasingly competitive for academics. It is important that you obtain skills outside of your studies – for example through societies or volunteer work. Just find something that’s fun and doesn’t feel like another burden. You might also want to become a student representative or part of a student parliament if your university has one. Your university’s career service provides you with tips and resources for a good start into your work life. Things are competitive - find something to make you stand out. Examples of things I’ve done (not just at university) include: Senior Prefect, write and directed my own play for younger students to perform, TEFL course, taught at an Arabic school, volunteered as a youth worker, Duke of Edinburgh Award, Course Representative etc.

MAKE FRIENDS

Being at university can be lonely. You might have moved to a different place, you’re faced with new challenges, and you might find that adult life is not at all like you imagined. Having someone to talk to is important. Good thing that it’s never easier to make friends than at university. You are surrounded by people your age (and it’s actually a lot easier to not see people you don’t like than it is in school.)

Fresher’s week is full of opportunities to meet new people! Check out the societies at the fresher’s fair. In the UK, there are usually societies for every niche interest you can think of. You might end up not actually going, but sometimes you still keep a friend. Another idea is to make a group chat with people in your classes - introduce yourself to the people sitting next to you. Ask them if they would like to go to lunch together, check out the library etc.

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF

University is not all about working 24/7 and pushing yourself. Listen to your mind and body. It’s normal and okay to feel lost or overwhelmed. Please take care of your mental and physical well-being during this very, very weird time. Keep yourself active. Re-ignite old interests/ hobbies. Give yourself some love. A tip I always give to people is to have some sort of creative/kinaesthetic hobby - whether it’s writing, art, embroidery, making collages, journalling etc. Having some sort of fun creative outlet is just what I need when I don’t want to do work but still want to be a little productive. Make sure you’re eating enough, and make sure you’re getting at least 8 hours of sleep. Take care of your body.

MISC TIPS

Make cheatsheets to revise from

See if your university offers free/discounted versions of resources like MS Word etc

Talk to your tutors. Get to know them so they know who you are.

Don’t be afraid to ask you tutors for help - that is what they are there for. They LOVE students that are self-advocates for their own learning.

Give yourself breaks.

Learn your methods. Learn how to use whatever resources / software your university uses. Learn what study styles work best for you.

[canmom]

i appreciate the jumbled up quality of tumblr; you never know what's going to be in the next post. serious but playful academic discussion of early capitalism? esoteric meme? incredible work of art? niche cartoon porn? treatise on perspective drawing? i am glad that you're all willing to stay here without knowing whether I'll be talking about federici or godzilla...

of course like all social media websites it's designed to channel the chaotic creativity of its users into a stream of Content in nice interchangeable measurable boxes that will keep people locked in to the place where the ads are; then sell that attention to the increasingly desperate players of the decaying wizard war, who have built a whole house of cards parasitic industry on the claim that they can provide the monarch gold opportunities to valorise their capital.

there's so much machinery now trying to hook into controlling people's desire. gacha games are probably the epitome, putting immense creative talent into, as far as capital is concerned, trying to build time consuming mind prisons for the sake of a minority who will spend vast quantities of disposable income on gambling for higher numbers/an ephemeral sense of 'ownership'. and this works well enough that like, most major releases are getting gambling features added, high profile anime are gacha adaptations...

perhaps this is not so different from cathedral builders commissioning artists. people will always want to create artworks, and the canny rich will recognise how much controlling the artists that can help them secure their rule. the current era though... it feels less like a functional self sustaining system of psychic control and more like a whalefall feeding frenzy; all these different players trying to jam themselves into your brain, trying out ever more esoteric strategies and absorbing more and more of the old capitalist industry into this futile self-directed game, and all weakening each other in the process.

and this all hooks into extractivism. all these technologies to try and grab attention and take control of desire depend on electronics manufacturing. for the sake of letting players grind their skill in a virtual mine, someone has to go down a real mine for rare earths; someone else has to build it. not that you can neatly separate these populations for the ones having their desires toyed with; for some reason this translated pamphlet stuck in my brain for showing shenzhen electronics workers going to an internet café to play LoL after work.

traditionally capitalism worked on a "double moulinet" where on the one hand you have money circulating through the reproduction of capital (finished goods are sold and used to buy materials and maintain machines) and on the other hand through the workers' social reproduction (wages are used to buy food electricity and clothes etc for the worker and everyone dependent on their wage including future workers) and these two circles come together at the moment of production; each one links up to other capitalist industries which work on the same principle.

one of the things the worker would spend money on would always have been entertainment products, including gambling, which would try to expand to suck up whatever money remained. so in a sense that's nothing new. what seems novel is... well, i don't have any figures to prove this, but it seems like a great deal more resources and effort are being expended on this gambling, and it has the odd side effect of trapping people who don't have disposable income to burn.

but it's like... thanks to the successes of technology, only a minority of the world's workers are now needed to meet everyone's need for food, water, shelter, and clothing, along with newer industries like 'white goods' that save domestic labour; yet this leaves a vast pool of capital that doesn't know what to do with itself, so in order to keep growing, it has ever more pressure to invent new needs and try to persuade people to want them. which means an intensification of the wizard war, since the flow of 'disposable' income doesn't really increase to match; and this leads to all sorts of bizarre extrusions as desperate dollars slosh around the world like a scattered host, all trying to find a way to keep growing.

i wonder how it will all end...

[cherubchoirs]

(same anon that was abt yal's slides) i also have many sc au brainworms on a near daily basis i have read if-then like. 3 times now? its so good i love it so much. it's also really sad to me that two of the three yal & akira fics are of that au imo though theyre both. such good content. i think there's a lot of stuff ppl could do but ig they dont bc like?? idk maybe more focus on ships or they just arent used to the gods having an active and always present role and connection to the protag in persona games so they dont play around with it as much as they can?

i also have. bad end akira thoughts i want to share which is like. the idea of him trying to stop the thieves from taking down the angels that lead to taking down yal, and possibly after each one he gets more of his own memories (to a degree not completely) possibly bc yal's grip is loosening? or something?? and that helps w the thing of reinstating his will for rebellion and specifically getting him to turn on yaldabaoth??

omg thank you so much!! i loved writing that fic and i actually have another one i'm slowly working on that i hope to upload eventually ^^ and don't even get me STARTED on how much i love the fic that tayani wrote, it makes me go insane just thinking about it dkfhdg BUT YEA...there's not many fics that really take a look at the relationship between akira and yal which of course is fine! people write what they love, and unfortunately yal just isn't the most popular character. i do also think there is a definite glossing over of the bond he and akira forged in-game, but it likely is due to the fact that the game ITSELF glosses over it almost entirely 😭 it's such an absolute shame since there was so much potential left on the table, but the game's near immediate dismissal of their confidant certainly led to a lot of the fanbase writing him off as another god-villain in persona despite his unique position in relation to the protagonist. so honestly i think that's why my aus often focus so heavily on yaldabaoth's involvement and character - i gotta make my own food!! as much as i love the thieves and of course most of my aus are shuake, yaldabaoth and akira get the spotlight since they're both my favorites and bc i think i just. genuinely want to see more content involving yaldabaoth and how he interacts with others. SO it's a pretty niche market, but i'm so happy other ppl are enjoying that content too (and it's even changed some minds about yal aaaaaaa!!)

ooooh i like this too! i have thought about how it's likely the angels would attempt to persuade akira to rejoin them, but it would be interesting for him to sort of feel...an opposing pull inside of him as they get closer and closer to the shrine. like with each angel that's defeated he can feel something shift in his heart, yet as he closes in on the shrine, yaldabaoth's presence becomes increasingly oppressive - ultimately, he has no idea what he might do when the last angel falls. his heart i think at that point is vulnerable, at least by his measure - with each passing angel, he knows more and more he's feeling a freedom he's forgotten...but without knowing how to manage it properly, he knows it could easily fall under yaldabaoth's control again. that feeling could really be what makes his decision for him though, as he knows he needs to feel his freedom and totally own it if he ever wants a chance at his life again. and the only way he can do that is to see how it stands now against yaldabaoth.

[astrowithkaro]

Hi. Can you do January 16th birthday personality? Also what are the traits like do they attract people with their aura? Thanks.

Language Of Birthdays: January 16 - Capricorn

[You can find the rest of the series here; or check out my masterlist]

The Day Of Fulfillment

Fulfillment is the ultimate goal of a January 16 person, whether of a personal, social or even universal nature. Ultimately, it is a feeling of satisfaction or wholeness those born on this day are after, often involving a completion, rounding off and tidy resolution to endeavors. But this is not the whole story. Fulfillment also includes an intangible something which says that they have done their best and that their hopes and wishes have been finally realized. In a sense, this subjective state (which may not last very long before a new goal is set), signals for them that things quite simply have gone well.

Such indications of well-being and acknowledgment are needed regularly by January 16 people, as a kind of ego-reinforcement or security apparatus. Those born on this day are well suited for work where they can clearly accomplish tasks in a given time, rather than occupations with a great deal of uncertainty or flux. As for any habituated person, however, their feelings of satisfaction may diminish over time unless the projects are upped both in their scope and intensity.

This is where the chance of failure can enter the picture. The excitement sharpens, the involvement deepens, but so does the risk of projects falling through, and consequently those born on this day (who may not be well adapted for stress) have to learn to deal with more improbable outcomes, and of course a certain lack of fulfillment which now and then insidiously rears its head. Worse yet, they may perversely come to accept uncertainty as the norm and ultimately deprive themselves of fulfillment altogether.

Successful January 16 people recognize when challenge becomes self destructive and find a realistic level for their endeavors. They come to know and accept themselves, and live with their limitations. It is crucial that they find their work niveau or niche in society. Indeed, those January 16 people who accomplish a series of varying but not necessarily increasingly intensive objectives are more likely to find lasting happiness. However, a new project beckoning over the horizon or a refusal to quit or retire from their professions are ever-present threats to such stability.

January 16 people can drive themselves and everyone else around them to distraction, unless they are able to accept the regularity of everyday life. This goes very much for their interpersonal relationships as well. Perhaps those born on this day could more often seek fulfillment on a day-to-day, even minute-to-minute basis. Indeed, their personal success may well depend on their ability to focus on present concerns and find greater satisfaction in the matter at hand.

To Answer Your Question:

Those born on the 16th day of the month are ruled by the number 7 (1+6=7), and by the watery planet Neptune. Those ruled by the number 7 often fail to follow through on their ideas and can get out of touch with reality easily, particularly true for January 16 people if they overstep their limits. I don't know too much about auras but considering that they are almost always about their bag 🤑I'm sure it attracts a lot of partners for sure. Neptune is the planet of dreams, fantasies and religious feeling, which coupled with the saturnian influence of their sign (Capricorn) grants those born on this day material luck, if they can keep themselves under control.

Strengths:

Diligent

Steady

Thorough

Weaknesses:

Habituated

Stressed

Advice

Those born on January 16 are capable of having long and healthy lives as long as they do not subject themselves to an excess of stress. On the other hand, if they are lucky enough to find a suitable life for themselves where they feel contented, they must guard against complacency and its physical manifestations, such as weight gain, listlessness. mental dullness, etc. Vigorous physical exercise, including competitive activities of many types, individual sports with the challenge of personal athletic goals, and group workout routines are all suggested. As far as diet is concerned, cutting down on dairy and meat products, pastries and sugar, and emphasizing fresh vegetables and grains help reduce body fat and increase alertness. Regular sleep patterns are necessary, but too much sleep can work against an active lifestyle.

Make a realistic assessment of your abilities

Keep your nose to the grindstone, but don't take on more than you can handle

On the other hand, remain active and avoid complacency

Pay sufficient attention to your relationships

[animatedminds]

Star Wars: Visions - Episode 9: Akakiri

And here we make it to the end of the set: the last episode of Star Wars: Visions. It’s been a wonderful ride, and a fine addition to the recent influx of great Star Wars content: really making me itch for more. But all things must be released in The Force in time - which is to say, all things must come to an end, so we reach that finale together, with...

Episode 9: Akakiri Developed By: Science SARU Directed By: Eunyoung Choi This film makes for a fine bookend with The Duel. Like the Duel, the plot of this one is somber and straightforward. And like The Duel, the like entire story is a slow build up to a striking conclusion... this time, due to a terrible twist.

The plot of this one regards a Jedi in an indeterminate time period - perhaps best presumed as during the Sith Wars - returning to his home planet in order to aid the princess of his land, who seeks to reclaim her throne after her aunt joined the Sith and murdered her way into power. The short is mostly a small scale, tightly focused set of traveling scenes as they approach the castle: just the two of them, along with two more comedic but loyal traveling companions. The two muse over their lots in life, reaffirm their resolve, and deal with their feelings for one another, all before the final battle... in which things do not go quite as one might expect.

This, like The Twins, comes across as an abstraction of a story we all know, but unlike The Twins rather than a referential cavalcade this film proceeds like a retelling: a unexpected story that descends tragically into something familiar. I won’t go into all the details of what that story is, but let us just say that it seems no accident that over the course of the story the princess slowly comes to physically resemble the traits of a certain Padme Amidala, and the Jedi a certain Anakin Skywalker.

Like The Duel, this short is another where the straightforward nature of the plot means there isn’t much to say about - at least if is not going too deeply into the spoilers. Visually, this one is stylized towards action: simpler character designs which move with an increased fluidity. Another one that puts a lot of design into its settings and backgrounds: the locations go from rural to increasingly urbanized over the course of the short, with the final locales being rigid, cold and imposing. Thematically, this transition works well for the destinies the characters increasingly wrangle with, a visual progression of peace falling to oppression.

For this review’s obligatory digression, we both start and finish with an awesome fight with a female Sith, something that’s woefully underdone in Star Wars proper. The fight itself was very surprising: there’s a significant size advantage, and I’m always used to bigger opponents in anime being portrayed as less competent than smaller. Size is typically an indicator of brutishness rather than strength in Eastern storytelling, but the short plays with this: our antagonist is not only larger in strength in stature, but larger in control - smarter, and more cunning than the heroes are wholly prepared for. And so it all leads up to the darkest hour: the moment where heroes are made or broken by their decisions. And the decision made may surprise you - or may not, depending on your genre savvy. Though it had the slight misfortune to follow the short I believe to be the best of the bunch - or at least close to the best of the bunch - it is a very good short to end the set on, a similar feel and experience to start and to finish. And so we conclude with the final look at canon potential. None of these shorts have been canon. We all know this, but we all love them regardless. However, in a series like Star Wars, becoming incorporated - or even simply followed up on - is a matter of support: if some of these shorts get enough pull behind them from the audience, you can bet that the studio will at least consider doing more with those particular characters. But it also depends on whether the short fits into the setting - or what the studio wants to do with the setting - as well.

And does this Akakiri fit? I’d give it Good Chances. Not great chances, but decent ones. As I mentioned before in an earlier one of these, Lucasfilm seems fairly hesitant to canonically depict the earliest days of the Republic and the Sith Wars: which is my presumption for why they have been evasive and frankly less than positive about whether upcoming KOTOR remake will be canon. This short taking place in a time where the Sith are a large enough organization that individual defecting to them is a real possibility, there are few other eras where it can fit. But also, the nature of this short as a more overt - if only partial - retelling of a familiar story does give it a bit less of an identity of its own. However, despite that, the characters, the setting and the concept still work very well within the framework of Star Wars: and if they did choose to do so, it wouldn’t take much work at all to give this concept its very own significant niche. And that, in the end, is that. Nine episodes, nine different anime from a slew of different studios. All with their own unique takes on a franchise that’s loved around the world. Would I like to see more of this? You bet: more of certain specific ideas we’ve seen here, and perhaps another season of this with nine more shorts and another entirely new slew of developers

This has been Star Wars: Visions, with an Animated Mind for an Animated Time. May the force be with you: it’s a good time to be a Star Wars fan, so embrace it. Don’t let the hate get you down, and look forward to more Visions like this.

[atmilliways]

On the 2nd day of Dethmas this writer gives to thee…

Dec 14 - Kissing under the mistletoe (or office party shenanigans)

Charles gets roped into the role of Santa Clause at the holiday office party. 

Charles/Pickles

~

The dreaded Dethklok Inc. office Christmas party was coming up—dreaded not by the band or most of the employees, who typically had a blast, but by the CFO who had to arrange and organize everything before and after, up to and including the inevitable handful of resulting funeral arrangements.

Charles was looking forward to it even less than usual, because the band had thrown an absolute shitfit to get him to agree to play Santa this year. He didn’t know why they wanted him to do this. The party didn’t even normally have a Santa. His first thought was that it was Toki’s idea, but on second thought Toki tended to lack the charisma to get the rest of the guys to throw in with him on niche interests like that.

But fine. Whatever. He’d agreed to do it once, and next year he could simply point to whatever came of it this year as an argument against repeating the experience.

He kept telling himself that right up until donning the red and white Santa suit, the iconic hat, and the fake beard. (The damn thing was so big that practically all he could see of his own face in the mirror were his eyes. At least they were letting him keep his glasses.) Then he took his seat in a throne-like chair that had been special ordered for the occasion, specially decorated with carvings of presents, the most unsettling depictions of Christmas elves that he’d ever seen, and skulls with real candles balanced on them, lit and already beginning to dribble red and black wax . . . and immediately felt that somewhere in life he must have made a grave, grave mistake to have ended up here.

The band took the stage in the center of the hall, half the room away from where Charles sat, and went into a jumbled “Merry Christmas, go fuck yourselves!” sort of speech. He mostly tuned it out until—

“And hey, errybody,” Pickles slurred into his mic, “don’t ferget ta sit on Santa’s lap and tell ‘im what you want fer Christmas!”

That had not been part of the discussion, let alone the agreement, but at this point what was he going to do about it? Besides hope that grown men and women hired for their professional abilities would have no interest in sitting on the lap of the man who signed their paychecks.

~

“You can’t have a pony,” Charles said flatly. “There isn’t space for one in the employee barracks, and even if there were it would be both impractical and unsanitary.”

The Klokateer perched on his lap, crushing the feeling out of his legs, tittered and took another sip of his holiday punch through a straw poked up under his mask. “Oo-kay Mr. Grinchy-claus, no pony for me then. Aren’tcha going to say ‘ho ho ho, Merry Christmas’?”

“Ho ho ho. Now go away.”

Laughing drunkenly, the man lurched up and made his way off the Santa podium to get a refill of punch. The next Klokateer in line had an Online Division pin on one shoulder and a spiked eggnog in her hand. Charles braced himself for yet another request for fewer blocks on searching for porn using company computers.

~

“Hey look, it’sch Schanty Clausche!”

Charles grimaced behind his beard. “Hello, Murderface.”

The first of the boys to visit him, Murderface seemed to be in unusually high spirits. His ass landed on Charles’ knees like a ton of bricks. “Wow,” he crooned with exaggerated delight, “Schanta really does know all the namesch of the good little boysch and girlsch!”

“Very funny. Would you mind telling me whose idea this was?”

The bassist shook his head. “Hey man, I’m not here to narc on my bandmatesch, I’m here to tell Schanta what I want for Chrischtmasch. ”

“Alright. Fine. What would you like for Christmas.”

Murderface looked around furtively, then leaned in and whispered, “A dischguische kit.”

“A . . . disguise kit.”

“Yeah! I’m tired of being mobbed whenever I go out in public, scho I need it. For camouflasche. ”

Charles couldn’t remember a single incident of a fan mob forming for just Murderface; it only ever seemed to happen when one or more of the other band members were with him, though there were probably a few people who did wander up and ask for an autograph. There had been one unfortunately memorable band meeting a few months ago where Murderface had bragged about someone wanting to touch his penis for good luck, pleased at the recognition but at the same time calling said fan an ‘incredibly fucking gay regular jackoff.’

“I’ll, ah, make sure that’s added to the list,” Charles assured him, and breathed a sigh of relief when Murderface nodded in satisfaction and stood to leave.

~

“Hey, knock knock.”

Charles sighed from the depths of his soul at this second Dethklok visitation. “Who’s there.”

“Nathan Explosion,” said Nathan Explosion, dropping unceremoniously onto his lap.

Luckily, the beard hid Charles’ wince at the impact. He was probably going to have a lot of weird leg bruises tomorrow. “Nathan Explosion who.”

“Nathan Explosion, here to tell you you’re the party ho ho ho! ” Nathan broke into riotous laughter and clapped Charles good-naturedly on the back, causing him to accidentally inhale a mouthful of fake beard.

After a moment to catch his breath, Charles nodded along. “Very amusing. What would you, ah, like for Christmas, Nathan?”

“I need new pants.”

Well, that was unexpectedly straightforward. “New pants. You got it.”

“One hundred pairs. Exactly one hundred.”

“Okay.”

“Just, uh. A couple inches bigger in the waist. For the holiday weight that I am definitely going to lose in January.”

He couldn’t feel his legs; this was not the time to point out that Nathan wouldn’t have time to wear all one hundred pairs of new pants between December 25th and the start of January, nor that January as a deadline for such a drastic fitness undertaking was probably an unrealistic deadline.

“That’s fine, Nathan. One hundred pairs of pants. I’ll make sure, the, ah, elves get the message.” Maybe he would throw in some math flash cards while he was at it.

~

Toki weighed less than the first two, but was unfortunately so excited that he landed on Charles’ lap hard . Definitely, definitely going to have bruises.

“God Jul, Charles —I means Santa!” the guitarist chirped, bright-eyed and swaying slightly. Charles fervently hoped he wasn’t about to throw up; he didn’t even think being covered in vomit would do much to get him out of this holiday circle of hell. “Merries Christmas!!”

“Merry Christmas to you too, Toki. What do you, ah, want to ask Santa for this year?”

He didn’t have a watch, but he estimated that Toki’s list, plus miscellaneous excited chatter, took at least half an hour and mentioned many things he knew for a fact that Toki already owned.

~

“Eeuyghh, looks, it ams everys-ones favorites butler,” Skwisgaar said, then folded himself gracefully into a sitting position. After an hour or two of being sat on like this and having plenty to compare it to, Charles wondered if the man was eating enough.

This was in spite of the fact that Skwisgaar was toting around a small plate loaded with various cheeses, fruit, and greasy finger sausages skewered on toothpicks. Party food. To Charles, who hadn’t realized that this gig would take so long and therefore hadn’t eaten in advance, it smelled wonderful.

The Swede must have noticed him eyeing it, or perhaps heard the growl of his stomach over the noise of the surrounding party somehow, because he smirked and held it out in offering. “Pickle says for you to haves this. Gots to keep yous strengths up, you knows.”

Pickles, Charles noted as he balanced the plate off to one side on one of the less obvious and candle-less Christmas skulls. He also pulled one of the sausages free of its toothpick and reached under the beard to jam it in his mouth. Still warm.

“Thank you, Skwisgaar,” he said once he’d finished chewing. “Now, what can I get for you? Ah, as Santa. Ho ho.”

“Everyones know it ams three ‘ho’s, dildo.” Skwisgaar steepled his fingers. “But I woulds like five ins mine room to enjoy ons the Christmas morning. You know the kinds I likes?”

Charles didn’t know what he’d expected. “It’s my job to know, so . . . yes.”

“Greats.” The guitarist patted him on the shoulder of his Santa suit. “Glads that ams sorted outs. Keeps up that good works, yous.”

Then he got up and wandered away, leaving Charles to realize that he hadn’t had a chance to ask him who was behind this whole Santa idea.

~

Charles finished the plate of food before Pickles made an appearance. He also realized that he could persuade his increasingly inebriated employees to bring him more food, and also drinks, by threatening them with cleanup duty after the party. (He was not in a generous mood; the ones that tried to weasel out of it at first would get cleanup duty regardless of whether they eventually caved or not.) There was no way to escape the alcohol content in the drinks—even when he asked for water it came spiked with vodka or peppermint schnapps, because everyone wanted to see the company’s CFO hammered.

At least they knew better than to roofie him, because Charles would have them killed.

He saw Pickles coming from a mile away. Maybe it was because Charles knew that once all of Dethklok had a chance to visit with “Santa Clause” he would be allowed to escape this torment; maybe it was because he really wanted to know if Pickles was, indeed, the mastermind behind this whole thing; and maybe it was just a tiny bit because he was annoyed the drummer had forgotten to wander over earlier.

But being annoyed at any of the guys was a nonstarter. Putting up with their antics was just part of the job.

“Heeeeeeeeeeey,” Pickles greeted him as he swayed his way over and plopped onto Charles’ lap. Unlike everyone else who had visited Santa this evening, he didn’t stick to perching closer to Charles’ knees but scooted in as close as he could until they were practically nose to nose. Mingled notes of every kind of booze available at the party wafted the short distance from the drummer’s mouth (and shirt, and hands, and dreads), until all Charles could smell was Pickles. “Lookin’ hot in that suit, dood. Is the temp in here okay? Gettin’ a little warm in there?”

“I’m fine, thank you,” Charles said, trying not to be too aware that Pickles seemed incapable of sitting still and his ass was rubbing against . . . things. “Ah. Merry Christmas.”

Pickles snickered. “Did Nat’en make that ho joke?”

No one could see for the beard that Charles’ lips twitched toward a smile at that. “Yes, he did.”

“‘M glad yer not a ho, Charlie,” Pickles slurred affectionately. “A'least, not no much'a one. That’d be a bummer.”

“Ah . . . okay.” He didn’t know what to make of that, or the continuing subtle lap dance, so he said, “What would you like for Christmas this year, Pickles?”

“Weeeeell. . . .” Grinning, Pickles waggles his double-pierced eyebrows. It seems like he’s trying to be suggestive, but Charles has no idea what that’s supposed to suggest. The drummer leaned even closer, lips brushing against Charles’ ear as he murmurs, “I kinda already got my present right in front’a me, chief. Just gotta unwrap it.”

All of this was sending shivers and goosebumps down Charles’ spine under the (admittedly warm) Santa suit, but for heaven’s sake, it was just Pickles. When wasted, which he was more often than not, man oscillated between being a destructive drunk and clingy one. Apparently tonight it was . . . very much so the latter. Not a good time to ask about the Santa plot, really.

He had dealt with this before, just not with Pickles literally draped over and inconspicuously grinding on him. Come on, Offdensen, pull it together . Do not get a boner at the holiday office party. No matter how long it’s been!

“Well, ah, sounds like you’re all taken care of then,” Charles hazarded. “All that’s left to do is, ah, enjoy the party. Why don’t you go do that.”

Pickles chuckled, a low, sultry sound that just made the situation even more difficult. “Workin’ on it dood, I’m workin’ on it.” He shifted thoughtfully again, then bit his lip through a grin. “And it feels like we’re gettin’ there, huh chief?”

“I. Ah, what?” At least the big fake beard was concealing his blush better than he’d been able to contain his body’s mounting interest in the increasingly distracting ass squirming around on top of him. This is a public place , he wanted to protest, but didn’t want to risk pointing out something that might be completely unintentional. After all, it was Pickles , who did this sort of thing fairly regularly.

But the next murmured words out of Pickles’ mouth stopped every single one of Charles’ thoughts in their tracks.

“Fuck, even in this stupid suit yer sexy. How d’you do that?” A brief nip, teeth closing and tugging on Charles’ earlobe before releasing with a soft wet pop .

Nothing but overwhelmed static on the other side of that ear; the quiet gasp was completely involuntary.

“C’mon Charlie,” Pickles all but whined, “you don’t have to do this anymore. Jest call it a night and meet me in the bathroom or somethin’, okie?”

The amazing thing, Charles thought distantly, was that from a distance, it wouldn’t look like anything was happening. Just a grown man, swaying drunk off his ass, sitting on Santa’s lap to whisper what he wanted for Christmas. Regular office holiday party shenanigans for a laugh. But under the surface, Charles was starting to feel like a shaken champagne bottle.

“You, ah,” he managed. “You do realize that you, ah, seem to be prepositioning me for, ah. Sex?”

Pickles leaned into him with a laugh. “Like I said, dood, that’s what I’m tryin’ ta do. Fer like, fuckin’ forever. For a smart guy you can be pretty stupid, y’know that?”

“Ah.” Charles shifted awkwardly and nearly choked when Pickles very pointedly pushed into it at the exact right moment. “There’s . . . a chance I’ve been told that before,” he hedged, already vowing to himself that he would never admit how many times. This isn’t something he ever would have looked for, but mistaking Pickles hitting on him for god only knew how long for just being an affectionate drunk? That was pretty fucking funny if you thought about it, and he'd consumed just enough alcohol so far to really give it some very serious thought.

And . . . his job was to keep everyone in the band happy.

“So, ah. There are several bathrooms off this hall. . . . Which one did you have in mind?”

[bisluthq]

?? I meaN tavi is known but not to gp in my humble one. But with gg 2.0 maybe she will be!!

Okay see we are back to a term y’all love to throw around that annoys me because it… feels a little silly. And that’s this whole idea of a “general public”. Now, no doubt you get SUPERSTAR celebs - Beyoncé, Madonna, Taylor, the living members of the Beatles, Brad Pitt, Leo DiCaprio, JLo, the KarJenners etc - where you do kind of have to live under a rock to not have heard about them. They’re ubiquitous. They’re iconic and legendary and like… yeah everyone’s heard of them, whether you’re a fan or not. You know the name and you know what they do and you can put the name to the face, which you… know.

Then you start getting era specific celebs tbh. Like everyone of a certain age knows the supermodels - Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer etc - but I honestly don’t think all Gen Zs do. They were HUGELY famous in their moment, but that moment passed. If some 16 year old doesn’t know who Claudia Schiffer is, does that mean she’s not known? Like almost on that tier of iconic tbh? Not at all.

And after that, it really depends on your own personal interests. I don’t follow rap, especially dude rappers, so I was last week years old when I heard of Fetty Wap. I was today years old when I heard of Stormzy (I got an anon about him and had to have a young Google). Does that mean those two incredibly successful men are unknowns? No it just means I don’t follow rap and don’t know who the big names are.

I don’t follow KPop. I know that BTS exists and BLCKPINK (sp?) exists but I can’t name a single member of either group off the top of my head. That doesn’t mean that these groups aren’t fucking INSANELY successful and popular. It’s just not something I follow.

Gossip Girl reboot is absolutely not going to make someone superstar level famous. It’s a big show and all but like one can easily not watch. It’s not a cultural moment in the way Game of Thrones was (and tbh nothing will probably ever be again, but that’s a whole separate conversation on the end of the Golden Age of TV and the rise of streaming). And even with GoT the individual actors didn’t get superstar status, their CHARACTERS did, but plenty of people watched the show and can’t fucking name those names.

I think a lot of Taylor fans get confused about this shit because they’re stanning a fucking SUPERSTAR, so y’all seem to think if someone isn’t as famous as THAT then they’re unknowns. That’s just not a reasonable benchmark.

With the rise of streaming and the advance of social media and the death of print media tbh, we’re seeing a lot less superstars in general because we can now watch whatever the fuck we want - there is so much content - and follow our fave celebs. We don’t all need to tune in to the same show, we don’t even know exact numerical ratings for shows/films anymore a lot of the time, and we don’t need to wait for Us Weekly to report on the celeb, we can curate our information about them on socials and articles can be churned out about all sorts of people and get clicks/earn money without needing to sell someone a cover with a huge star’s face (which everyone will then learn to recognize).

So like celebs are becoming a lot more niche specific and age specific.

Gossip Girl can make Tavi popular amongst English speaking teenagers and millennial girls (and some boys). It will not and cannot make anyone a fucking superstar though, and like I say - becoming a superstar is an increasingly nuanced process because you can be HUGE in your industry but unknown by someone who isn’t interested in that.

And on top of that we layer language and region, right, someone can be HUGE in their country, but unknown elsewhere. The stars of Magnificent Century are fucking Turkish ICONS and are very well known like throughout Europe as well but aren’t really known in English speaking countries. Does that mean they’re not a huge deal or that fucking GIANT of a show was a flop?

I hope this makes sense but ya I really wish y’all would stop throwing around that term because it doesn’t ever really make any sense to me.

[khattikeri]

sorry to bother, but do you have any anime recs for people who want to break out of the normal shounen/shoujo genres? like, something more niche and less action or romance.

There’s a lot that could fit with those specifications… but I’ll do my best to present underrated shows that don’t concretely fit within those two genres. 

This post is SUPER long. Here we go!

If you’re looking for unique art:

Gakutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo – a loose, more magical and sci-fi-esque adaptation of the famous novel The Count of Monte Cristo made in 2004. It’s a fantastic show, and the art and animation are incredibly unique, even fifteen years later.

A wonderful take on the original story, and an even more wonderful experiment with underused art and animation forms. Though it can be a bit hard on the eyes sometimes, and the (rarely used) CG is rather outdated, Gankutsuou is a beautiful show that I just can’t forget about.

Tsuritama – a sci-fi coming-of-age story about a boy with extreme social anxiety who makes some friends and bonds with them through fishing.

It’s a bit weird, but the show’s uniqueness and absurdity in terms of its plot and characters is what really makes it special, along with its beautiful art and color palate. Though it’s been years, I still remember Tsuritama fondly.

and 3-gatsu no Lion – a slice of life/drama that follows Kiriyama Rei, a depressed 17-year-old professional shogi player. The show chronicles his depression and subsequent slow recovery after meeting and befriending a neighboring poor family who own a sweets shop. 

This is a phenomenal show. It realistically handles depression, and portrays it symbolically in such a way that you really won’t be able to forget it. But it’s not just an angst-fest– Rei does find happiness and contentment with himself, and eventually comes out of his shell through the help of his friends and coworkers. As a teenager who struggled with similar feelings, seeing that message of recovery meant the world to me.

If you’re looking for humor and comedy:

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. – a short-form comedy about a boy named Saiki Kusuo, who has psychic powers but hates the fact, and keeps getting wrapped up in wacky, stupid shenanigans with his eccentric classmates and family members.

Here is peak comedy in anime. You probably won’t surpass it, not even in the oft-recommended Gintama. I actually enjoyed the dub over the sub for this one, which is saying something considering I’m a subtitles-only person (sadly, only one season out of three is dubbed). But even so, Saiki’s deadpan personality and irritation towards getting caught up in abnormal situations when all he wants is to be normal carries through no matter what language you watch it in.

My Neighbor Seki – a simple short-form show about a girl named Yokoi Rumi who keeps witnessing her seat neighbor, Seki, doing increasingly odd activities in the middle of class. Though she tries ratting him out at first, she slowly gets more and more invested in his strange pastimes.

This show was both funny and odd because of its sheer absurdity– the boy goes from dominos to cards to playing miniature golf on his desk. Short and sweet, this show and its skits all appealed to my sense of humor.

and Aggretsuko – another short-form about a red panda named Retsuko who deals with the obnoxious realities of office life and de-stresses by singing death metal at a karaoke bar.

The sheer realness of working that Aggretsuko presents– though a bit painful, given how life is for most Millennials and Gen Z-ers– is part of what makes it so relatable and funny. Everyone knows what it’s like to have annoying coworkers, or an asshole boss you hate. That’s exactly what made me enjoy it.

If you’re looking for heartwarming slice of life:

Usagi Drop – a show about a man who adopts a young girl whom his grandfather had illegitimately, and him adapting to fatherhood as he raises her.

It’s adorable, and made me realize some things about parenting as well. A necessary warning, though– don’t read the manga, because the author decided to make the story go from heartwarming to gross towards the end.

 and Sweetness and Lightning – a show about a widow who begins to take cooking lessons from one of his students from school so that he can prepare proper home-cooked meals for his young daughter instead of having to order takeout all the time.

Similar to Usagi Drop, this show was just a nice breather to watch– it’s sweet and cute, and I got to learn a few things about cooking as a bonus!

 If you’re looking for pure drama and feels: 

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – a historical drama spanning the Shouwa era of Japan (~1926-1989) that tells the story of a man nicknamed Yotaro, who, after being released from prison, becomes the apprentice of famous rakugo performer Yurakutei Yakumo. The story alternates between Yakumo’s haunting past with his late friend Sukeroku, another rakugo performer, and the present in which Yotaro struggles to gain popularity due to rakugo dying as an art. 

I’ll say now that I usually can’t stand drama, especially contrived anime drama. But this series truly is a masterpiece. Its story is among the most phenomenal I have ever seen, and will tug on your heartstrings if not make you sob outright. The journey is absolutely unforgettable– it’s a must-watch.

If you’re looking for slice-of-life with supernatural elements 

Natsume’s Book of Friends – a story about an orphaned boy named Natsume Takashi who has been able to see and interact with yokai spirits as long as he can remember. When he is adopted by kinder, distant relatives, he moves into a new town and learns that his grandmother Reiko had the same ability. She manipulated the yokai she met by trapping them into a contract with her using a prized artifact known as the Book of Friends. Having inherited the Book from her, and with a new cat-like yokai companion named Nyanko-sensei, Natsume resolves to set the spirits in the book free.

Though the premise may seem a bit heavy, the show itself is relaxed. The gentle kindness with which Natsume’s problems are treated warmed my heart. Watching Natsume’s life with his new family and friends– both yokai and human– is really a treat to enjoy.

and Flying Witch – a story that follows the daily life of a teenage witch named Makoto who moves in with relatives in Aomori in rural Japan so that she can study magic. Surrounded by nature and kind-hearted people, Makoto finds peace and fun in her whimsical, magical life.

Flying Witch is a genuinely relaxing series– there is absolutely zero underlying plot, no evil magical threat that Makoto must tackle. It is 100% calm and quiet, and because it is so rare for a series to have that, I must recommend it.

If you’re looking for a coming-of-age story

Silver Spoon – a story about a boy named Hachiken Yuugo, who enrolls in an agricultural high school far from home to avoid his parents’ harsh expectations of him. Though he expects the school to be easy, he comes to realize the difficulties of farm life and management, and makes friends while learning to adapt to his new environment and find his own path for the future. 

Hachiken’s trials and tribulations as a teenager are both relatable and harsh to face. It gave me a new perspective thanks to its uniqueness– be honest, how many series about farming have you ever watched? Through both its humorous and thoughtful moments, Silver Spoon made me smile and appreciate the hard work of others. 

 and finally, IDOLiSH7 – an anime that follows seven young men who form a new idol group, each with their own goals and personalities. Though they become fast friends and coworkers, the industry is harsh, and they learn both through their missteps and successes what it really takes for them to follow their dreams.

Though I normally wouldn’t recommend idol anime, I really loved this one, specifically because it’s more realistic about how toxic the industry can be to its young, emotional performers. It highlights how idols themselves aren’t just cookie-cutter smiley-faces wanting to perform and make people happy 24/7– they’re real people, too.

[cipheramnesia]

So Easy It's Child's Play

Child's Play is a strange franchise. Most horror franchises have a familiar arc to them, quality often progressively falling as they drag on, and increasingly seek only to reproduce the success and material of earlier iterations, while the original creator is decreasingly involved in the material.

The Child's Play series, or the Chucky series as it's now become, is a bit different in that it has made it to seven sequels, with the original writer (Don Mancini) writing all of them save part three. What's fascinating about the series is that it rapidly departs from attempts to match the source material. Instead, each movie is uniquely it's own specific thing. And while each movie is not a thing for everyone, they all successfully accomplish their goals. Even if a movie isn't for you, it's possible to admire the fact that it successfully exists as the type of art it's meant to be. More unusualy, even when the tone and content departs wildly from each previous film, Don Mancini maintains the series continuity. It's a genuinely impressive, if very niche, accomplishment.

I say all this as a preface because I watched the somewhat recent Child's Play remake. Don Mancini wasn't involved, and so this might be difficult for some of you to hear:

It's rather good. I mean, it's not just okay, but it's well made movie which I can see myself re-watching a few more times.

Part of this might be my expectations, which were extremely low. I was anticipating a movie something like the horrible Scream knock offs in the 90's or the many other more recent efforts, all bland and bloodless and toothless, Truth or Dare, Friend Request, etc.

Rebooting a franchise which is not only still going, but has recently fielded some of its best entries, is the kind of thing that producers who don't care about the movie quality would do, and probably did. The premise of it sounds so terrible. Chucky is no longer a possessed doll, but some kind of advanced walking, talking, iPhone that becomes evil when all his safety programming is turned off. Like, only slightly different from the Killer Krusty doll in the Simpson's Tree House of Horror, he pretty much has his digital switch flipped from good to evil. They redesigned the look of Chucky which, I don't know if you've seen it, but it is genuinely terrible. It looks terrible not in the same way Chucky classic looks terrible, as in scary, but terrible as in like someone turned in a first draft and they never bothered trying to fix it.

I need you to understand how much the deck was stacked here, because I really liked this movie. See, the very first Child's Play is one of those horror movies from the 1980's with a proto-Spielberg vibe, which happened when everyone saw what he was doing and tried to hit the same notes and some people actually did a passingly decent job. It's an enjoyable movie about a kid coming of age and dealing with weird difficult shit which happens to involve a horror element. And you know 2019 Child's Play is the same deal. It's very much a more modern "kids on bikes" horror movie, where a young boy has to make friends in a new city while dealing with his single mom, and there's also a murderous robot doll that brings everyone together.

People in this film feel committed to making it work. There's no phoned in performances, there's mostly no actors waffling directionlessly about their character. It's all tight, unified, it has the chemistry you get from good performers under good direction. The script doesn't feel like it's a binder full of stapled producer notes. It kinda feels like whoever had the money mostly left everyone alone, mostly, maybe a prod here and there.

More surprisingly for this sort of movie, it's very well paced. It's willing to build up the characters and the setting and the necessary foundation for Chucky to go from a "best friend" to a murderous mechanical moppet. Yeah, you could say it's weird to care about building up settings like this for a killer doll movie, but the end result is we have a real sense of what this Chucky is, what it can do, and how it's doing it. Because it takes the same time with characters before getting into any violence, we’re able to get invested in everyone, even in Chucky himself.

While we're on the subject, the movie also ventures into the wonderful sub-genre of "teenagers have to solve horror problem on their own because it sounds absurd to adults," which is played with just the right about of time to add that coming of age Spielberg styled glow of nostalgia that gives it a real emotionally hook. This movie got me invested well before the 1/3 mark, but if you can't enjoy a bunch of kids plotting to take down a killer robot then what can you enjoy any more?

Another detour here, at one point Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is playing in television with a lot of cutaways to shots from the movie. It's an interesting choice, as TCM2 was in part made by Tobe Hooper as an intentionally absurd movie for everyone who didn't understand he'd meant the first TCM to be a kind of black comedy. Difficult to know what the intent was - could it be the director or writer signalling to the audience that he had real horror chops? TCM2 is a pretty rarely referenced movie unless you're a genre fan. Or he might be signaling the audience that his movie is also a black comedy (which feels unnecessary because it's about a killer mini-me). Or just maybe it was a head's up to let everyone know things were going to get gory.

Because, by the way, it gets gory. Far be it from me to dwell on gore as a critical part of a horror movie, but everything about Child's Play 2019 screamed "bloodless violence" which isn't really what a Child's Play movie should be. It's in fact plenty gory as it would need to be for its pedigree. While it's nothing bonkers like TCM2, it certainly delivers some pretty grotesque kills (save for one death of a character where it would have ruined the emotional impact, so that's kind of impressive by itself, knowing when to pull back). And the conclusion, if not precisely a grand guignol of gore, is at least a nicely overblown escalation into the realm of the absurd in a fashion which is supported by rest of the film.

Lastly, by around the 1/3 mark, I was sold on the design. I'm not sure why or how. Still, in the context of the film, Chucky looking like a weird, fleshy, sanitized and corporate version of the more friendly/creepy classic design really sells the idea that it could be a real, modern, mass marketed doll, and very much amplifies the creepy factor of when he's engaged in malevolence. The classic Chucky over time feels like (and is) more one doll which has been increasingly warped by an evil spirit into its own thing. Digital Chucky feels much more like something designed with the modern aesthetic of being blandly palatable, but which has become sinister from the inside.

Which, getting down to it, is where a modern Child's Play ought to be at. The protagonists are all in the pre-teen or teen range. Young enough that I can believe they'd have a doll like Chucky purely based on it being able to act like some kind of Alexa or Siri in manikin form, but too old to want something like Chucky classic, which is more like a Teddy Ruxpin. The age of people who are engaging with the world through the smartphone, another device with a sort of dull, harmless aesthetic, user friendly with a cheerful interface, but which has some sense of sinister infiltration into our lives. I wouldn't say Child's Play is committed to the theme, but if nothing else it has thoughts in its head and a reason for doing what it did.

Somehow, against all odds, the Child's Play remake is not only a good movie, but a worthy remake (for me anyway) lives up to the original.