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ao3commentoftheday · 6 months

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been having a bit of a weird time in fandom recently, because i recently got into a new ship (call them A/B), in a pretty well-established fandom. A and B are both pretty new characters in this media, and a lot of people's initial impressions of B was that she's a bratty childish dramatic type, and that A (more on the serious side) was her "dad". but that bit of characterisation on B's part was revealed to be largely a facade. A also had a decently popular ship with another character C, and it's been a bit frustrating? because people who ship A/C will show up in completely unrelated A/B posts to like. intentionally ignore the explicit romantic implications of things like, A/B fanart of them dancing, and call it a father-daughter dance, or insinuate the artist is a pedophile for... *checks notes* ...daring to ship an unrelated adult woman and adult man with one another. and on the other hand (because A/B is a f/m ship and A/C is a m/m ship) there are people in the A/B community who are going out of their way to say weird homophobic bullshit about A/C. idk, i'm just. frustrated because it's been a struggle trying to find a community in this fandom that isn't either weird about A/B or weird about the,,, general existence of gay people. any recs on how to find that?

Oof. Fandom sure is a place, huh?

I think step one has got to be blocking all of the assholes. I'm extremely liberal with the block and unfollow buttons myself, and it makes my tumblr experience pretty great. You can mute people on AO3 too, for anyone who wasn't already aware, and block them from commenting on your works or replying to your comments elsewhere.

But that just removes the people you don't want to see. How do you find the ones you do want to see?

Start with one person. If you can find one person who also likes A/B but is normal about gay people existing, follow them and see who they follow so you can follow them too.

Post about A/B yourself. Talk about the ship, and when someone from A/C comes barging in being horrible, remove their replies, hide their reblogs, and block them. Don't feel the need to engage because that's just going to be a bad time for everyone concerned.

Be the kind of fan that you're looking for and you'll become a sort of beacon for the other ones who feel the same way.

What advice do the rest of you have? How did you find "your people" in the midst of a fandom that ... wasn't your cup of tea?

#asks and answers

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thecourtneychronicles · 5 years

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“What’s the writing process for a show like Under the Covers?

It starts with the title. Well, it starts with the poster! You’re forced into a title, image and concept. This one is covers of covers – It’s Oh So Quiet by Bjork, Gloria by Laura Branigan are covers… I did the show last year around the UK and Australia. Underbelly asked me to bring it back this year at South Bank!

Will there be any changes this time?

I’ll be doing it with a band. A few songs, a few hairdos, and the encore might be ballroom dancing…

Were you happy with the reaction to Dancing with the Stars?

It’s been amazing. Maybe I didn’t delve deep enough into negative comments and feedback, but everyone seems supportive. People were like ‘It’s weird this should be a first.’

Would you do Strictly?

If they asked. But I feel having just done Dancing With the Stars precludes me from that.

It’s so striking, the difference between the Australian and the UK versions, when it comes to gender formats…

Ballroom dancing, especially in the UK, is a very rigid, old school thing. That’s used as an excuse to not move with the times. But surely my appearance on Dancing With the Stars will encourage Strictly to have same-sex partnerships?

What else do you have coming up this year?

My schedule is up in the air. I’ve got all these spinning plates. We just shot a pilot in LA for a late night talk show!

Does negative commentary bother you?

No. There’s been very little negative backlash to Big Brother, Dancing With the Stars, The Bi Life, the Christmas special, any of those things in the mainstream.

I asked Jinkx Monsoon about the extremes of Drag Race fandom; when it oversteps the line into abuse. LGBT people who…

…not always. The majority of the Drag Race fandom is straight women. There’s definitely a level of toxicity in the fandom. But the problem is, it’s a vocal minority. Often, one negative comment, and it’s ‘people are saying this!’ People aren’t saying it. A person said it. You have to be mindful of how much attention you pay to negative comments.

You’ve been in entertainment for so long – has it always been like this?

We didn’t have social media when I was on Australian Idol! Or YouTube, comments sections – we barely had the Internet! It’s been interesting watching it evolve. I think it’s gotten better, because there’s more accountability on social. And there’s a block button, which I use.

Have you ever blocked a famous person?

I’ve certainly muted a few!

Do you feel pressure from society to appear a certain way, or the way society thinks nonbinary people should present, because of the misconception that you can’t be femme nonbinary or masc nonbinary, otherwise you might as well subscribe to male or female?

People who are nonbinary, gender nonconforming, gender-queer, gender-fluid – by definition, they’ve already stepped away from society’s expectations. The whole point of self-identification is, you’re the one who decided. So it’s counter-intuitive to the process. But yeah, I’m sure there are pressures. It’s interesting because I remember many years ago when I discovered the term gender-fluid. I felt liberated from the expectation of gender. It literally set me free from 30-something years of one of my biggest and most consistent battles. The expectation to ‘be a man.’

Do you remember coming into contact with the term?

Yes. Chaz Bono and I were having a conversation. We became good friends after Drag Race. We were on the phone and he said ‘have you ever heard of the term gender-fluid?’ I was like ‘no, what’s that?’ He described it to me and it as a pivotal moment.

From my late teens, 20s, I thought the only option was to be cis or trans. I didn’t quite feel either were me. I’d always struggled with the trans identity, even though I knew what I was supposed to be. I thought the only option was to be trans.

So you contemplated that you could’ve been trans?

Yeah, definitely. Many times in my 20s I questioned my gender identity. I was too afraid to fully consider it. I had a lot of internalized transphobia. I really struggled. A few times a year it’d consume me and pull me under. Before the conversation with Chaz, I remember calling my best friend Vanity. I thought I was calling to come out as trans. I thought I was finally ready to admit it, and needed that friend who’d listen and not judge. I got to the end of the conversation and thought ‘oh. I don’t think I am trans. I really like being a boy, I really like being a girl.’ And at that time, I was still afraid of the middle.

When Chaz and I discussed gender-fluid, it was weird to know that was what I’d always been, but because I never had a word for it, I always struggled with it. I was always trying to be more masculine than I was. I mean, I failed miserably! But I always was trying to be a man, especially in the bedroom with other guys when I was presenting as Shane.

It’s interesting because now I’m just me. I’m not afraid of the words ‘man’ or ‘woman’ or the middle ground anymore.

When we last spoke you were dating someone you met at Tom and Dustin’s New Year’s Eve party…

Yes. We’re no longer dating. But I can tell you, London is the city for dating. Sydney, nah, LA, nah. But I’ve dated a bunch of people in London in ways that I never have before. I love it. I went on a date with an opposite sex couple – a man and a woman – which was fun. I met them on an app, Field, for couples seeking a third. I met my ex-boyfriend on that. We were both singles seeking whatever! That app is handy, because people are more open when it comes to gender and sexuality. For a lot of ‘capital G’ gays, the idea of having a boyfriend who does drag or is feminine can be a bit confronting still. It’s getting better. For a lot of pan and bi guys, they’re attracted to masculinity and femininity.

Are you excited about Drag Race UK?

Drag Race in the US is wonderful but after 11 seasons and however many All Stars, it feels… I’m excited for the cultural injection. And to see the UK interpretation of drag. The girls are so influenced. The girls on season 11 started doing drag long after Drag Race began. Drag Race is huge and popular in the UK, but it’s still a fresh approach to drag. Drag as a culture needs new blood. The UK version is going to be so important for stopping drag becoming stale or predictable. It’s do different here. It can be polished, but some of the most entertaining drag I’ve seen has been roughly presented; the looks, the commentary, the politics.

Do you keep up with the US show?

I have every single season up until this one. I don’t know why. I watched episode three and just stopped watching. I didn’t feel as compelled. It just hasn’t taken me, and I’m a super fan of the show. I’m not one of those jaded people. I genuinely love it. Once my Underbelly show’s up and running I’ll have more time. But I do love Nina West. I knew her before and she is fabulous.”

Courtney’s interview with Gay Star News - May 13, 2019

#ca interview #13.05.19 #courtney act #rupaul's drag race #rpdr

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serpentinemalign · 3 years

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fanfic tag game!

tagged by @verybadmau - thank you!!! ❤

im pretty bad at tagging ppl so just feel free to do it if you want to and tag me if you do haha

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

i have five under this handle! :)

probably in total, about 11? the others are strewn across different abandoned handles. i dont like to delete stuff because it feels like it defeats the point of it being an archive? but thats my own preference.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

18653 words! a whole-ass novella of exclusively mind control erotica. jesus. i have a problem. i swear i write other things sometimes.

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Corpse

Still Life

Option Paralysis

Casket

Words Bleeding

4. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

i try to! if i haven’t i’ve probably just forgotten lol. i think it’s polite to do it, i am usually so thrilled to have a new comment, and it hopefully encourages people to leave more comments on fics!

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

that’s honestly hard to judge. i would say probably words bleeding because there there is no hope of respite and we also have alice who is completely innocent and still mixed up in the horrible things that are happening

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

hm. well, it’s only happy to me, but i suppose option paralysis. it’s a horrible ending! but i like that it highlights that hugo genuinely cares about his subjects, in a weird and fucked up way. corpse and casket are about complete dehumanisation, but with option paralysis, hugo knows you’re a person and has this weirdly paternal relationship with the reader throughout and still just decides to lock them up forever and use their body for fucked up experiments. bittersweet ❤

7. Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

i do! i’m struggling to recall any off the top of my head, though? actually my wildest one wasn’t a crossover so much as it was a ‘write for THIS fandom but in the style of this author’. i wrote a novel-length fight club au for ygo!dm and i was also planning side-stories in the same universe (one which involved mai kicking dartz/DOMA’s asses) but i scrapped it for a multitude of reasons lol. i think ultimately a japanese property - especially one that has already suffered a godawful localisation process - doesnt need to be broken and rebuilt under the style and aesthetics of a specifically western and american critique of capitalism and masculinity. this wasnt my intention, and i did do research to try and figure out how to marry the two together, but it ultimately just felt too iffy to continue.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

i have anon off and i am very very liberal with the block/mute button on social media, so if i have received hate it has been filtered out automatically lol

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

sighs.

so, you know the show totally spies? well, let me tell you, don’t watch that show as a kid! don’t watch it now either, it’s not very good, but ESPECIALLY don’t watch it as a kid!

i write a lot of smut that ISNT mind control related but it doesnt actually get edited or published... i dont think ive ever written vanilla smut. most of it involves edgeplay (weaponplay and bloodplay mmm!!!!). almost all of it involves power imbalances - we don’t want ethics in this house, only suffering.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that im aware of?

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

no but that would be pretty cool! hopefully one day :)

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yes! i co-wrote smut with my partner before we started dating. it was super self-indulgent and we did fics for our respective fetishes lol

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I CANT TALK ABOUT IT BECAUSE THEYRE FROM AN OBSCURE AND DEAD FANDOM AND I MOVED HANDLES AND IT PAINS ME. i wrote hundreds of thousands of words for those fucking idiots.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

i have a bunch of gotham wips that i never finished because i left the fandom lol! i had a long-ish hugo/jim wip that i might rework into like a 10k one-shot at some point

15. What are your writing strengths?

i think my style is decently readable. i like to get to the point and i like to make things visceral and nasty. im pretty good at dialogue? maybe?

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

i write erotica in name only lol. almost all my works involve copious sex and violence, but it’s very difficult for me to kick back and just write something unapologetically horny. i get caught up in things feeling too silly or improbable!

i also often have to edit for style-over-substance stuff, like i will come up with an image i love but that is COMPLETELY out of place. maintaining extended metaphors and stuff is tough for me!

i dont know how to make introspection interesting so i avoid it at all costs instead of accepting sometimes it is the best way to keep things moving

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

i don’t do it personally and i probably wouldn’t unless i was fluent in that language or knew someone who was who could check it for me. i dont think it’s a cardinal sin or anything, it wouldnt make me close the tab unless it was obviously wrong (for which i have almost no barometer because i am monolingual rip) lol

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

hmm i’m honestly not sure. it might have been w.i.t.c.h./neopets accidentally because i wrote a story as a tiny baby that was basically just the cast of witch goes to neopia, but then i just gave the witch girls different names and called it my Original Story. do not steal

19. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

option paralysis was me pouring my entire fucking heart out into a fic in one of the most horrible periods of my life and i still go back to it to cry happy, horny tears.

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lifesmojo · 7 years

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My 21 steps to a happier 2017!!

1. Remove apps from your phone that might be stressing you out.

2. Give a name to your negative thoughts and then call them out on their bullshit.

3. Develop a morning routine that will set the mood for the whole day.

It’ll look different for everyone, but find a routine that will center you and put you in a good mood before you have to face the day. Think: Exercising, meditating, writing out your to-do list, thinking about the things you’re grateful for, even just taking time to actually eat breakfast, have your coffee, and listen to your favorite podcast.

These ways to make your mornings infinitely better might be a great place to start. Oh, and make your bed, because it will work miracles on your life.

4. And while you’re at it, develop a before-bed routine, too.

Wash your face. Make some tea. Unplug and read. Do one of these before-bed activities that don’t involve watching Netflix. Anything that you can do to unwind and put a positive cap on the day can help your headspace A LOT.

5. Replace “I’m sorry” with “thank you.”

Like, instead of saying, “Sorry I’m late,” say, “Thanks for waiting for me.” Or instead of saying, “Sorry I messed up,” say, “Thank you for being patient with me.” Obviously, there will always be things that call for an apology, but if you find yourself saying sorry a lot, this might help shift your thinking to be more positive and it’ll make sure your loved ones are getting your gratitude instead of your negativity.

6. Revisit some of your favorite things from childhood.

Infuse some pure unadulterated joy back into your life by rereading Harry Potter, finding your favorite childhood snack, listening to the first band that you ever loved, whatever. Soak up the nostalgia.

7. Call your ‘Person’ on the phone more often.

8. Find a GP you love if you haven’t already.

Having a doctor you love comes in handy in so many ways — including referring you to where you need to go if you start having issues with depression, anxiety, stress, or any host of mental health-adjacent things. Not to mention, it’s great to have a stable professional relationship in your corner as you shop around for the perfect therapist, if you need one.

9. Try tracking your moods and habits to find the little things that make you feel better and worse.

When your life and emotions feel so out of control or chaotic, there is something immensely therapeutic about organizing it into a systematic structure like a bullet journal, You lay things out in an aesthetically pleasing way and already it feels more manageable. Like you can really tackle it and make it through. It feels luxurious, too. It’s like saying, ‘I’m worth it. I’m worth this notebook and the time it takes to turn it into something beautiful.’

For more information on how to use a bullet journal for your mental health, look here!

10. Commit to a work-life balance.

Leave on time, don’t check your email past a certain point at night, and in general, don’t think about your work responsibilities at home, and vice versa. Doing your best in each place — aka not feeling guilty about what you’re not doing — will keep you sane and feeling good about your output.

11. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb at night.

12. Be liberal with the mute, block, and unfriend button.

Because we have enough to deal with without annoying, anger-inducing, and uninvited comments from people on social media. BYE.

13. Listen to some hilarious movies/videos/clips in your downtime.

Because laughter is good for the soul. This list includes some a few comedies to start.

14. Check out your alcohol intake and how it’s making you feel.

I dont really drink, I have the odd glass of wine on social occassions, but not always. I dont need it, and I am much less productive/happy the mornings after I do indulge.

15. Get rid of old things that you can’t use right now.

If you have stuff in your closet or in your home that make you feel worse when you see them — like clothes that you plan on fitting into again “one day” or mementos of an old relationship — TOSS THEM. You don’t need that shit bringing you down in 2017.

16. Make moves to get out of a shitty job/school/major/living situation/relationship/whatever big thing is making you MISERABLE.

I did this recently with my job and I am looking forward to starting my new one at the end of this month. I am now in a great relationship and I have recently completed the qualification I needed to advance my career in HR.

17. Write letters of appreciation to people you love.

18. In fact, work on being a better friend in general.

19. Invest in a massage every once and awhile.

20. FEEL YOUR FEELINGS.

Don’t squash them down. Don’t force yourself to think positive. Acknowledge your negative emotions as valid. Not only do you you just owe it to yourself, but always distracting yourself from your emotions prevents you from learning how to cope with them, leaving you more vulnerable to getting derailed by them in the future.

#happiness #2017

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7r0773r · 5 years

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Anniversaries 1 by Uwe Johnson, translated by Damion Searls

If only the mind could contain the past in the same receptacles we use for categorizing present reality! But the brain, in recalling the past, does not use the same many-layered grid of terrestrial time and causality and chronology and logic that it uses for thinking. (The concepts of thinking do not even apply here. And this is what we’re supposed to live our life with!) The repository of the mind is not organized to provide copies, in fact it resists retrieving things that have happened. When triggered, even by mere partial congruence, or at random, out of the blue, it spontaneously volunteers facts and figures, foreign words, isolated gestures. Give it an odor that combines tar, rot, and a sea breeze, the sidelong smell from Gustafsson’s famous fish salad, and ask it to fill with content the emptiness that was once reality, action, the feeling of being alive—it will refuse to comply. The blockade lets scraps, splinters, shards, and shavings get through, merely so that they can be scattered senselessly across the emptied-out, spaceless image, obliterating all traces of the scene we were in search of, leaving us blind with our eyes open. The piece of the past that is ours, because we were there, remains concealed in a mystery, sealed shut against Ali Baba’s magic words, hostile, inapproachable, mute and alluring like a huge gray cat behind a windowpane seen from far below as though with a child’s eyes. (September 8, 1967 Friday, p. 53)

***

The car horns are tuned to a single note, but one modulated as the sound ricochets down brick and concrete channels, sideways, under bridges, upwards.The police sirens are almost an element of the air, adjustable from a polite whimper to the howl of berserkers. They are followed by the cars with beds for the dead.

Desperate shrieking of rails under Park Avenue in the Forties. The approach to Grand Central is the neck of the bottle that the police often use to describe traffic. Who wants to keep seeing all those trains under their feet? Are they anything more than a monument?

In the elevator, the buttons, soft receptacles for pressure, yield with a secret click when touched, as though in response to a good deed, and express their thanks with a yellow glow.

When the thermostats mandate a pause in the blowing of the air conditioners, everybody dies a little, because something they’re used to is gone and they can’t quite put their finger on what it was. Yet for a little while the ribs of the machine spew out absolutely no more cold air. As though someone would never breathe again.

The coins dance happily in the head of the coin counter that keeps bus drivers from one kind of dishonesty. And the nickels that the driver releases as change from a quarter sound fatter since the fare hike; now I can hear the silver in the dimes I used to get back.

The hospitable clatter of cheap silverware on the dining counters, the slapping down of the bill with what is almost a blow of the fist, and the plate placed with neatly sisterly attentiveness: There you go, darling.

And again the machine contentedly gulping subway token after subway token on behalf of the Transit Authority, down throats grinding with pleasure that the riders set chewing inside the three-armed turnstiles up to five times per minute, maybe six times a minute, that would be some sixteen hundred an hour in the four lanes, that’s too many, and yet there are more than that. And again the heavy rumbling noise, audible through all the sways and jolts and braking processes, which betrays the excessive weight of the payload and reflects it in the base of the skull as a feeling of almost dangerous pressure.

In the bar the man behind the counter puts down your glass with an uneven sound, and the other half of the base of the glass follows quick as an afterthought. Hesitantly perhaps he scoops up the coins placed on the counter and lets the prepared selection of three coins skip between two fingers against the countertop before ringing them up, after three inaudible steps to the register, by pressing on three keys, which snap into place and echo for some customers with the violence of thunderclaps, and like fate itself is the rough blow of the side of the hand slapping shut the drawer that has sprung out from the base. Sir.

“Off so soon, Mrs. Cresspahl?”

“Oh, here you are, Gesine.”

Late at night, the half-raised window. A defenseless ear to which cars driving by at liberal speeds patiently and yet again explain the Doppler effect, or into which sudden noises blast with no subtleties at all, buses starting up, creating the sonic world anew and carrying off the merely remembered one. Highway traffic noise, filtered through branches as thin as hairs, tests wind strengths of four to six, transmits groundswells and receding breakers, suspends pauses of wind, hurls waves like water—and now the comparison with the Baltic shuts the traffic out of this perception, replacing it with nothing.

In Queens not long ago, four blocks blew up with a noise one would expect from a gas main explosion, and the loved ones the residents the citizens of Queens told the paper: It was like something from outer space, like a cataclysm, somehow inhuman.

This is the sound I now hear from the apartment next door, from Vietnam. Like something from outer space, it is cataclysmic like flak shrapnel just before the sudden, dull, earthshaking impact of the bombs, it is human. Sir. (October 30, 1967 Monday, pp. 207-09)

***

[D.E.] wants “to live with us.” We are not even from the same place anymore. His past, the people, the country, Schusting Brand the cobbler, Wendisch Burg—he in no way regards them as real. He’s converted his memory into knowledge. His life with other people in Mecklenburg, only fourteen years ago after all, has been tucked away as though into an archive, where he continues the biographies of people and cities down to the present, or else closes the file in case of death. Yes, everything’s still there, and he can call it up at will, only it’s not alive. He no longer lives with it. He’d been in the States only a few years before he started using four dots to indicate rations in his lectures instead of the German two, a diagonal line for division instead of a horizontal one, as though that was what he’d been taught to do in Wendisch Burg: when he wrote on the blackboard his letters came out the way they do here, fluent, anonymous characters. . . .

. . . . He doesn’t presume to know me. When I do something he thinks of as particular to me, he smiles in recognition, but openly, not taking observations and secretly tucking them away for later use. If he does have a mental picture of me, it is of little more than my needs (as he understands them). He reveals a lot—all of it acceptable, much of it delightful. He doesn’t discuss Marie’s father with her, or even with me, but he knows everything about Jakob’s life that you can learn from letters to and from friends in Mecklenburg. He spends $70.00 a month on alcohol, damn right, and if you don’t like it you can lump it, and when he drinks alone he punishes himself by serving his Beaujolais chilled. He too has his quirks and prejudices that he offers up as careful observations or unquestionable facts: for example, he calls the DC-8 the most efficient plane in the world, when all he knows about flying is what you need to get a license to fly a single-engine propeller plane. He plays the game you’re supposed to play here, of showing off your money: he shows off a house, a Bentley, but he’s paying for the house in installments and the car is used and he does his flying in borrowed planes. He likes keeping his real assets secret from his neighbors. His behavior is steady and consistent; he doesn’t fly into rages. He has arrogated no habitual rights from his visits to us; he comes as a guest, every time. He’s not jealous: it’s only what goes on in my thoughts that he wants to be the only one, or at least the first, to know. There are many things he is the only one to know. What else does he want? Can’t he rest on the laurels of his famous affairs, and conveniently acquire a family that already has a child, one who already understands him too? He says: No. Am I supposed to do at my leisure, financed by him, what he can’t do: live for one person alone? He would say: If it were up to me. He would even spare me the endless acting of “social life.” He doesn’t even want children from me. If I ended up in a cage with him, at least it would be a cage made to my measure and furnished according to my requirements, down to whatever discretionary bank accounts and credit cards I wanted. The only thing is, why does he need someone in his life? (November 22, 1967 Wednesday, pp. 293-96)

***

— I never promised truth.

— Of course not. Only your truth.

— How I think it was.

— Come on, Gesine, there are some things you know.

— Friedrich Jansen’s leg-span meter. But I don’t know why my memory preserved that. Why not another view of him, or a more meaningful conversation?

— Memory the Cat, as you put it.

— Right. Independent, incorruptible, intractable. And yet a pleasant and beneficent companion, when it does show its face, even if it stays out of reach. (February 2, 1968 Friday, p. 579)

#uwe johnson #book quotes

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iquey · 7 years

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How to have a GOOD TIME on Tumblr

Is it still possible?

I have a lot of love for art, design, and social media, and designers love to tackle problems and look for a variety of ways to solve them.

After sort of falling away from Tumblr, (Due to a loss of interest, being busy with work, and getting tired of seeing lots of repetitive drama in some spheres of it) I retreated to very casual use of a rant/vent/anime/aesthetics account on mobile, and instead migrated to twitter for most of my online social interaction. This led to some improvements in my overall digital life. What twitter lacked in depth and the immense emotional discourse very prevalent on Tumblr, it made up for with expedience, conciseness and ease of blocking harassing agents. After about a year of being very inactive on Tumblr and trying to progress somewhat with adult life, I'm happy to return with the experience and some tips learned from the post-2016 Election trenches of the twitter-verse. Rule #1 The online world is (mostly) your oyster.

Follow who you want to follow, and unfollow those who no longer enrich or add value to your web time. This is ESPECIALLY true if you pay for your own internet bills (not only a Wi-Fi Router, but mobile data counts too.) Don't spend a dime of your time on bothersome accounts. Block whatever you need to block. Don't get roped into feeling socially obligated to carry out arguments or discourses that are going nowhere or are simply created for the sake of starting a crap-flinging contest. Block swiftly, and don't make a production out of it. They will know who they are eventually if they're the determined type with no life. If you need to turn off anon messages for your own mental health, just go on and do it. If you're a character themed or ask blog and feel you need anon messages for traffic, you still aren't obligated to reply to everything. It's your blog.

Which leads to... Rule #2 Be yourself. Value yourself, and value your content. If you don't like someone else's content, see Rule #1. If there's something truly harmful, promoting violence, hatred, or illegal activity, the report button exists for a reason. If you're that mad that something exists and the mods of Tumblr are slow to remove something, you can get your friends and followers to block the post or username creating strife. As for your own content, revel and enjoy what you create and the fandoms you participate in. People will be jerks sometimes and it sucks, but feeding the trolls helps nobody. Fed trolls just come back. If someone is trying to play you, but you're not sure, watch some YouTube videos on dealing with internet trolls, or abusive personalities. Usually just blocking and ignoring or muting works.

Rule #3 If you want to be political on Tumblr, that's totally fine, but PLEASE take time away from Tumblr to cultivate your own personal sense of morality, ethics, knowledge of civics, economics, environmental issues, race, culture, gender, sexuality, and basic human psychology. You will probably be much happier if you don't let Tumblr be the one and only yardstick for what's right and wrong and everything in between in our world. If you get into your own echo chamber too much, the thought styles can become very "all or nothing." which can cause a lot of anxiety for anyone with a nuanced opinion on anything. Didn't I just say the online world is your oyster, and you should only follow blogs that you like? Yes, sure. That doesn't mean you make them your only slice of the world you ever see ever. Duh. Chances are not all the blogs your follow are going to stick to their main topic 100% of the time, 24/7, anyway. Sometimes there will be world events that appear in your feed no matter how focused you try to make your follows. Sometimes you'll want to participate in the fray of topics, and other times, you'll just want to take a nap or work on other things. But having Tumblr as your main source for political views can lead to awkward disconnects between how you want things to be and how things currently are, whatever the political situation is where you live: from the most liberal of metropolitan eras (which despite seeming like utopian LGBT havens on the outside, still have their share of problems), to the most stereotypically conservative, white-bread rural suburbs (Where a lot of great people might actually live). And that disconnect can definitely trigger a lot of pain. Maneuvering your own personal role in social justice movements is many parts knowing who you are and who you want to be first, where the issues in your sphere of influence currently stand, and where you really want things to go. It can take years to build a solid sense of core values and political leanings. Don't feel too awful or in a rush to get everything right overnight, or ever, because perfection is the enemy of sustainable progress.

Rule #4 FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS WHOLESOME AND DESERVING OF MERCY, STOP BULLYING MINORS. Tumblr is a venue for users 13 and up, so a large portion of the accounts here are probably 13-17 year olds. They go to school, have friends, have families, and all the stress comes with living in the world that exists today. What they really DON'T NEED is the 18+ crowd punching down on them for making honest, even "cringeworthy" mistakes, posting art that may not be expert-level quality, or having the courage to post their own picture online, especially if they're LGBTQ, or closeted. And they don't need people DOXING and harassing them. If you are in your 20s, or more, and a teenage user bothers, annoys, or even says very hurtful things to you, YES it can still hurt a lot. Young people are capable of being very mean, sure, but at the end of the day it's the elders who are expected to show responsibility, be a good role model of behavior, and supply the more mature response. As for the teens on Tumblr, if you're dealing with a problematic butt-face, you can block them. If they push the envelope into threats or potential violence, just take screenshots and report them. Please try to remember that there are older people on Tumblr who do care about you, and want you to have a good experience, and adults who bully and harass minors are just wimps who are not the kind of people you should want to associate with.

Rule #5 If things just get too damn awful but you still love your feed, there's always the option of setting your account to private.

Give your URL (or personal Tumblr if you have a separate Artist/Business page) to people who you trust, and Trust with a capital T. It can be more complicated if people are being rude on your business related Tumblr, and you may have to prioritize the fires you're willing to try and put out. In order to best use your energy, it may just take a solid PR campaign and a lot of work to rebuild a reputation if you've been mobbed by trolls or a smear campaign for any number of reasons ranging from a minor mistake or misunderstanding, to a bigger problem that may have truly been your fault. Take some time to learn from the experience and reevaluate what you can approach differently or better the next time you do your online presence.

Summary! 1. Make Tumblr your oyster (Or whatever favorite food you like to eat. I think oysters are kind of gross actually.) 2. Value yourself and your content. Don't let likes and reblogs determine your whole day.

3. Develop your own personal sense of values away from Tumblr's political weather. Social Justice is about actually helping people, not ego gratification. The issues our world faces will be constantly changing and reacting long after Tumblr becomes totally obsolete, and kindhearted people with a willingness to learn and act will always be more effective at social change than a follower count.

4. Stop Bullying Minors. Just stop. Take callout/cringe culture with a grain of salt and skepticism. Resist the urge to join a mob-train. Unless you're roasting an established, public figure, adult asshole, you may never know who you're bullying until it's too late.

5. Go on private mode with a trusted network of friends if you need to. It may not always be fair, but do what works, when it works.

It seems the way to redeem the experience of Tumblr is to just not be passive about how you use it. If you just "Let Tumblr Happen To You," your results may vary. Sometimes you just have to grab the wheel and steer your blog and what you follow into a more positive, purposeful, or individualized direction. Even for those of us who use Tumblr mainly just for laughs and to shoot the shit about memes, I hope these tips can be helpful!

#Tumblr tips #Good times #How to #Tumblr #Twitter

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ourhealthyfoodblog-blog · 7 years

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New Post has been published on Healthy Food and Remedies

New Post has been published on http://www.healthyfoodandremedies.com/2017/05/05/21-little-ways-happier-2017/

21 Little Ways To Be Happier In 2017

1. Remove apps from your phone that might be stressing you out.

Nathan W. Pyle / BuzzFeed Comics

Seriously. I asked my coworkers at BuzzFeed for one thing they did this year that actually improved their mental health, and about half of them said removing Twitter and Facebook from their phones. Twitter and Facebook might not be your happiness-suck, but chances are, there’s an app that is doing you more harm than good. Try going without it for awhile and see how you feel.

2. Give a name to your negative thoughts and then call them out on their bullshit.

The more you try to ignore negative thoughts, the more power they have over you — and the truer they feel. “Sadly, many people make the mistake of believing the negative things that their ‘inner voice’ tells them, often without even being aware of their right to question whether these things are accurate,” Simon Rego, Psy.D. “Catch, challenge, and change negative thoughts.”

And, honestly, treating that voice like a particularly annoying backseat driver or someone whose opinion you don’t respect at all can really help with that.

3. Develop a morning routine that will set the mood for the whole day.

These ways to make your mornings infinitely better might be a great place to start. Oh, and make your bed, because it will work miracles on your life.

4. And while you’re at it, develop a before-bed routine, too.

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5. Replace “I’m sorry” with “thank you.”

6. Revisit some of your favorite things from childhood.

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7. Call your Person on the phone more often.

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Maybe for you, that means calling your parents to check in and get an instant pep talk or maybe it’s your best friend from college. Or maybe it’s just a friend down the street you don’t see enough because of your busy schedule. It doesn’t even have to be a long phone call — just say hi when you have a free five minutes so your day is a little brighter.

8. Find a general practitioner you love if you haven’t already.

9. Try tracking your moods and habits to find the little things that make you feel better and worse.

Taylor Miller / BuzzFeed

“When your life and emotions feel so out of control or chaotic, there is something immensely therapeutic about organizing it into a systematic structure like a bullet journal,” Andrea Bonior, PhD,“You lay things out in an aesthetically pleasing way and already it feels more manageable. Like you can really tackle it and make it through. It feels luxurious, too. It’s like saying, ‘I’m worth it. I’m worth this notebook and the time it takes to turn it into something beautiful.’”

10. Commit to a work-life balance.

11. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb at night.

There is nothing going on between midnight and seven AM that can’t wait ’til you wake up, I promise. You’ll sleep better and your mind will thank you — because lack of sleep can seriously magnify feelings of unhappiness or depression and anxiety.

12. Be liberal with the mute, block, and unfriend button.

Because we have enough to deal with without annoying, anger-inducing, and uninvited comments from people on social media. BYE.

13. Listen to some hilarious podcasts in your downtime.

14. Check out your alcohol intake and how it’s making you feel.

Everyone is different, but it never hurts to check in with yourself about your drinking — especially if you’re prone to depression. “When you’re feeling depressed and you drink, that’s when it becomes dangerous, because the protective walls come tumbling down,” Jan Collins-Eaglin, PhD,.“Drinking is not going to make it better. If anything, it’s going to make it worse.”

If that sounds like you, maybe cut back for a bit and see if you see an improvement in how you’re feeling, or maybe commit to only drinking in certain settings, like on Wine Wednesday with your best friend.

15. Get rid of old things that you can’t use right now.

16. Make moves to get out of a shitty job/school/major/living situation/relationship/whatever big thing is making you MISERABLE.

It won’t happen overnight, but if there is something in your life that’s like a BIG DARK CLOUD ruining every other aspect of your life, it’s a worthy 2017 goal to make a change. Take stock of whether there are any big things in your life that are really getting you down and start making a structured plan to change them.

17. Write letters of appreciation to people you love.

Expressing gratitude is one of the easiest ways to improve your mental health day-to-day, so get on it. Bonus points if it’s handwritten.

18. In fact, work on being a better friend in general.

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Because better relationships = happier you.

19. Invest in a massage every once and awhile.

Pampering yourself = great self care. Also, I bet you $10 you’re holding a lot of tension somewhere right now and you deserve to get it worked out.

20. FEEL YOUR FEELINGS.

21. Learn about resources available to you if you ever need a bit of help.

#Happier

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theunabridgedgamer · 7 years

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Shutter (Vol 1 - 3) Review

Talking psychotic robot clocks, grand old school adventure, and cyber roman lion bounty hunters. This one has it all, and is one hell of a journey.

Also, bear in mind, minor spoilers.There is also one specific quotation from the end of Volume 2, but it is block quoted so it can be easily skipped. I try to avoid the majority of the story’s twists and turns, but some examples and key points needed to brought up. I apologize for the inconvenience.

So, without further adieu, this is…

Shutter (Volumes 1 - 3)

Writer: Joe Keatinge Artist: Leila Del Duca Letterer: John Workman Colors: Owen Gieni Cover Artist: Leila Del Duca Format Read: Collected Trade Publisher: Image

You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to do this one!

Shutter is a prime example of what makes comics so different from other media. It is as heavily reliant on its vivid visuals as it is its razor sharp writing, and it blends the two (along with twists on several comics conventions) into a riveting tale of famed explorer and photographer Kate Kristopher dealing with the sins of her father while trying to figure out her own identity. Also, things like this happen:

Yes, that is an assassination hit being ordered in Sunday newspaper comic strip paneling. The story uses this sort of framing device at several points, actually, and while you’d think it might clash with an otherwise more “Gabriel Ba but somehow more intensely on acid than usual” aesthetic, it works remarkably well. In fact, the story seems to pride itself on continually breaking traditional barriers without even a hint of smugness or pretension. It knows the story it wants to tell, it wants to tell it as well as it can and it does not give a shit how crazy the means to tell that story may become.

It uses flashbacks sparingly yet has an incredibly complicated history for all its characters. It changes narrative framing to seemingly minor characters, building them up only to kill them off or shift course entirely until far later down the line, like something out of Urasawa’s Monster. The world is too complex to be fully explained in one series, let alone a single book. The sheer density of it all hits you like a freight train, and you just cling on for dear life as it rushes along.

And when I say it rushes along, I mean it flows fast as all hell. The sense of momentum to Del Duca’s art is amazing, and makes me hope that some day this comic will get turned into something animated. Each panel looks like a frame of animation given an extra polish of detail. You have to linger on each page and just soak in all the details. The earthy tones of the world give Shutter a rather grounded feel, and are contrasted by the bright hues whenever conversations get intense or bullets start flying. The layers Gieni adds punctuate the world when other colorists might have simply given the line work all the emotional reigns.

Owen Gieli’s coloring, lighting and shading, on top of Del Duca’s expressive line work and use of perspective; just absolutely astounding work all around.Credit must also be given to the lettering by John Workman. The lettering is not only varied and impactful, but the bubble placement is always directing your eye to the next critical moment.

The story itself is also quite endearing, despite the larger than life setting and progressively large cast of characters. At the heart of all things is Kate, daughter to the famous (and now deceased) explorer Chris Kristopher, and current travel photographer. She’s got a flat with her transwoman friend Alain and a talking robot cat clock. Life was always an adventure for Kate, but after her father’s passing, she’s tried to put those times behind her.

However, when a gang of rabbits, ninja spirits, and a robot start fighting over Kate against a lion mafia hit squad (yes I just wrote that sentence with a straight face), things quickly begin to unravel as all of Chris’ past choices all start to come crashing down on Kate. A quick visit to the old family home leaves Kate with more questions than a struggling 20-something ex-adventurer can handle, leading to a struggle to regain control in the face of a world determined to force her down a path she refuses to go down.

Among the early revelations for Kate is that her father sired several children, some of which would very much like for Kate to be dead, and others just as innocent as Kate in the ongoing schemes for power and revenge. Along the way, cyber-foxes, secret societies, and even inter-dimensional entities come to blows with Kate and her ever shifting group of allies.

If there’s one thing you are probably noticing at this point, it’s that a core focus of the entire series is on defying expectations and cutting your own path, even if you struggle for it. From the way the story is told to the actions of our protagonist, the traditional Campbellian hero’s journey gets tossed out the window in favor of a protagonist who actively says things along the lines of “no, f**k that noise, we’re doing this my way” and grapples with the consequences; which is part of what makes Shutter so interesting.

In improv, you’re taught to always say “yes”, no matter what, but Shutter makes a compelling argument for how much more interesting things can become in a story when you dare to say “no”. Volume 2 encapsulates this beautifully with Kate’s rant when she stands before a coallition of her enemies who have been pulling the strings and causing suffering for all those she cares about:

I’ve been trying to deal with it all. Sometimes very poorly and definitely too reactionary because I hoped it’d go away on its own. Sometimes I caved in and ended up doing some really stupid shit, like running off with a minor and possibly killing a fox or jackal or whatever she was, instead of using my brain. And the whole time you all keep relentlessly coming at me with this issue or that whatever, and I kept trying. And I kept messing up. Because everything you all want out of me isn’t who I am.

Everybody feels like I have to deal with their crap or alter my life to suit their needs and do things their way. But guess what? FUCK EVERYBODY! You all want me? You all got me! But on MY terms. Kate Kristopher is back. By popular demand. And she’s going to fight every one of you morons until your collective bullshit is straight up non-existent. Any questions?

So long, Hollywood bog-standard “the chosen one” narrative storytelling! While some stories have taken this concept and rolled with it, like Avatar: The Last Air Bender, Shutter does all it can to flip that notion the hell off and tells it to go jump in a lake.

It’s a sentiment that appeals to us all, dealing with a world that always demands more of us than what we’re often prepared to give, and is a universal story as a result. The at times absurd scenarios Kate and company find themselves in work because the unusual is normal in the world of Shutter. You can’t get lost in the grass critiquing a particular political angle or detail because the world is intentionally built to shut up that noise and get everyone to sit down and focus on what it’s actually trying to tell. It’s kind of a reverse mute-button, going full blast to keep your attention.

For example Chris Jr., Kate’s secret little brother, has to use a shotgun on someone at some point in self-defense. They address it and talk briefly about it, but in the context of survival and making snap decisions, not the gun itself. Alain being trans is a part of her character development, they even devote a flashback to it, but that’s not even a tenth of Alain’s character as Kate’s best friend and an awesome ass-kicker coming in to save the day. The existence of deities is known and some pay reverance to arcane aspects of the world but others don’t and no one blinks an eye either way. Ghost ninjas aren’t terrifying so much as a nuisance, with people dismissing their ancient moans as a running gag for the first volume.

it’s not that the story doesn’t obviously have a liberal slant, and it’s far from pro-spirituality, but also isn’t taking potshots at anyone (unless you’re part of an ultra-secretive Illuminati-esque organization, in which case, um, hi!). And in our current online and political landscape, that is a refreshing change of pace.

As if I haven’t gushed enough, it must also be said that good gravy are the amount of cogs in motion in this story just utterly insane. I wasn’t kidding when I said the story could pull Monster levels of bouncing about, with character development for the whole cast and a litany of sub-plots playing out. Also, unlike certain video games, these sub-plots do get properly fleshed out over time, even if the narrative can ignore certain plot beats for a time before bringing them back into focus.

There’s also a sequence in chapter 3 that goes so meta that you almost double-take at the sequence on display. It’s pretty typical for such a surreal universe to have a crazy drug-induced dream sequence, but Shutter goes out of its way to really knock your socks off, and that’s all I’ll say.

Beyond that, I fear I’d spoil too much of the experience for you describing what happens. The series so far has reached Volume 4, and I’ve got my copy patiently sitting on my desk as I write up this review. Each act of the story has taken two volumes, so I’d imagine it will take at least until Volume 6 to wrap everything up.

If you’re interested in catching up before Volume 5 gets collected, you need to decide if you are going physical or digital. Digital copies have been fairly cheap on Comixology recently, but I honestly plan to get the copies I have digital in physical form at some point. The volumes do cost $15 a piece, but the art is just so much more vivid in physical form, with some of the best covers I’ve seen in ages.

In Summary

Shutter is probably one of my new all-time favorite series. It’s fresh, interesting, laser-focused and realistic of its limitations but also ambitious as hell within those very same boundaries. I can’t wait to see how Kate’s quest to solve the conspiracies and save her friends pans out, but odds are good it’s going to be one hell of a final fight. Until then, it’s going to be a very trippy, hilarious, poignant, and beautiful ride. Available at: https://www.amazon.com/Shutter-Vol-1-Wanderlost-TP/dp/1632151456/ref=pd_bxgy_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EYFQSKZBNEHSEWH74TY8 For: $3.99 - 14.99 (Depends on if you get it digital, especially in the case of sales, or physical) Next Time: Giant Days (Volume 1) FOR REAL THIS TIME!

#Shutter #Comics #Comic #comic book #comic books #comic review #image #image comics #inkblots and madness #indie

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