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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 2 months

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Michel De Adder

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 13, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAR 14, 2024

After yesterday’s primary contests, we appear headed toward a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024. But this year’s election is an entirely different kettle of fish than that of 2020.

In 2020 there were plenty of red flags around Trump’s plans for a second term, but it was not until after it was clear he had lost the election that he gave up all pretense of normal presidential behavior. Beginning the night of the election, he tried to overturn that election and to install himself as president, ignoring the will of the voters, who had chosen Joe Biden. His attack on the fundamental principle of democracy ended the tradition of the peaceful transfer of power established in 1797 when our first president, George Washington, deliberately walked behind his successor, John Adams, after Adams was sworn into office.

Trump then refused to step aside for his successor as all of his predecessors had done, and has continued to push the Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. His loyalists in the states have embraced that lie, undermining faith in our electoral system, although they have never produced any evidence for their claims of voter fraud. (Remember the Cyber Ninjas who handled the election “audit” in Arizona? The company went out of business in 2022.)

Then, a year after he left office, news broke that Trump had compromised the country’s national security by retaining highly classified documents and storing them in unsecured boxes at Mar-a-Lago. When the federal government tried to recover them, he hid them from officials. In June 2023 a grand jury in Miami indicted Trump on 37 felony counts related to that theft.

Trump is not the same as he was in 2020, and in the past three years he has transformed the Republican Party into a vehicle for Christian nationalism.

In 2016 the Republican Party was still dominated by leaders who promoted supply-side economics. They were determined to use the government to cut taxes and regulations to concentrate money and power among a few individuals, who would, theoretically, use that money and power to invest in the economy far more efficiently than they could if the government intervened. Before 2016 that Reaganesque party had stayed in office thanks to the votes of a base interested in advancing patriarchal, racist, and religious values.

But Trump flipped the power structure in the party, giving control to the reactionary base. In the years since 2020, the Republican Party has become openly opposed to democracy, embracing the Christian nationalism of leaders like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, who maintains that the tenets of democracy weaken a nation by giving immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, and women the same rights as heterosexual, native-born white men.

Rather than calling for a small federal government that stays out of the way of market forces, as Republicans have advocated since 1980, the new Trump Party calls for a strong government that enforces religious rules and bans abortion; books; diversity, equity, and inclusion programs; and so on. In 2022, thanks to the three extremists Trump put on the Supreme Court, the government ceased to recognize a constitutional right that Americans had enjoyed since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision: the right to abortion.

Last week, Trump formally took over the apparatus of the Republican Party, installing loyalists—including his daughter-in-law—at the head of the Republican National Committee (RNC) and purging the organization of all but his own people. Indicating its priorities, the RNC has hired Trump lawyer Christina Bobb, former correspondent at the right-wing media outlet One American News Network and promoter of the lie that the 2020 election was stolen, as senior counsel for election integrity.

In Congress, far-right Trump supporters are paralyzing the House of Representatives. The Republicans took power after the midterm elections of 2022 and have run one of the least effective congresses in history. Far-right members have refused to agree to anything that didn’t meet their extremist positions, while first Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and then Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) refused to reach out to Democrats to pass legislation except for must-pass laws like appropriations, when Democrats provide the majority of the votes that keep the government functioning.

The result has been a Congress that can get virtually nothing done and instead has focused on investigations of administration officials—including the president—which have failed spectacularly. Republican members who actually want to pass laws are either leaving or declining to run for reelection. The conference has become so toxic that fewer than 100 members agreed to attend their annual retreat that began today. "I'd rather sit down with Hannibal Lecter and eat my own liver," a Republican member of Congress told Juliegrace Brufke of Axios.

Meanwhile, Trump has promised that if he returns to office, he will purge the nonpartisan civil service we have had since 1883, replacing career employees with his own loyalists. He has called for weaponizing the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense, and his advisors say he will round up and put into camps 10 million people currently living in the U.S., not just undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers but also those with birthright citizenship, tossing away a right that has been enshrined in the Constitution since 1868.

Internationally, he has aligned with dictators like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and has threatened to abandon the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a security pact that has protected the U.S. and like-minded nations since 1949.

If Trump has descended into authoritarianism since 2020, Biden has also changed. For all his many decades of public service, it was unclear in 2020 what he could actually accomplish as president, especially since Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had weaponized the filibuster to stop Congress from passing anything on the Democrats’ wish list. But on January 5, 2021, in a special election, Georgia voters elected Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, and the Democrats took control of the Senate as well as of the House.

In Biden’s first two years—with the help of then–House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who managed a squeaky-small House majority—Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic majority, and on occasion, a few Republicans set out to demonstrate that the government could work for ordinary Americans. They passed a series of laws that rivaled President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s Great Society of the 1960s.

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan rebuilt the economy after the worst of the coronavirus pandemic; the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act) is rebuilding the nation’s roads and bridges; the $280 billion Chips and Science Act invests in semiconductor manufacture and scientific research; the $739 billion Inflation Reduction Act enables the government to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies and invests in programs to combat climate change. Projects funded by these measures are so popular that Republicans who voted against them are trying to claim credit.

Biden, Harris, and the Democrats have diversified the government service, defended abortion rights, reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act, relieved debt by enforcing the terms of student loans, passed a gun safety law, and reinforced NATO.

They set out to overturn supply-side economics, restoring the system on which the nation had been based between 1933 and 1981, in which the government regulated business, maintained a basic social safety net, promoted infrastructure, and protected civil rights. The result was the strongest economic recovery from the pandemic of any country in the world.

“Now, the general election truly begins, and the contrast could not be clearer,” Harris wrote after Biden secured the nomination. “Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy and our fundamental freedoms. He is proud of his role in overturning Roe, and has talked openly about plans for a nationwide abortion ban. He routinely praises authoritarian leaders and has himself vowed to be a dictator on Day One. Just this week, he said that cuts to Social Security and Medicare would be on the table if he receives a second term. Each of these stances ought to be considered disqualifying by itself; taken together, they reveal the former President to be an existential danger to our country.

“With his State of the Union speech last week, President Biden passionately presented our alternative vision. We will reduce costs for families, make housing more affordable, and raise the minimum wage. We will restore Roe, protect voting rights, and finally address our gun violence epidemic. The American people overwhelmingly support this agenda over Donald Trump’s extreme ideas, and that will propel our campaign in the months ahead.”

It appears that Biden and Trump will square off again in 2024 as they did in 2020, but the election is not a replay of four years ago. Both candidates are now known quantities, and they have clearly laid out very different plans for America’s future.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From An American #heather Cox Richardson #State of the Union #election 2024 #authoritarianism #dysfunctional congress #MAGA US House of Representatives

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goongiveusnothing · 1 year

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okay now I want more 2023 Harry predictions from you hahaha do you have any?😁

he will give a pretentious interview to someone which describes ordinary things as if they're extraordinary because he thought or did them. showering, going to bed, brushing his teeth, thinking a movie is like a real movie, this man will share something inane like it had the depth of a romantic french poet from the 1800s

he will win a grammy or two, perform at the grammys, it will be bland and nothing, he will hug jeff azoff, he will forget to thank the fans, he will wear something hideous and everyone will make jokes about gender roles beating his ass

he will release that circus music video closer to the grammys, as though it was part of his crowning accomplishment of his album, and like anyone is still checking for his house tracks a year later

his pleasing sales will really skitter along

he will sell a line of pleasing clitoral stimulators and prostate massagers and will use influencers to talk about them online, some of his young preteen fans will then start talking about this and this will create some more backlash

he will invest in something, a stadium or some such, a way to help try and push him as a billionaire off of very little work

someone will throw a wig at him onstage

more freeze frame drops of his hairline dissected every few months by his own fans to dissect his bald struggles

he will "donate" to charity using tour money as a tax write off and will produce endless media stories about this act, in a full on act of self fellatio that some fans will claim proves he's queer

he will make an incredibly tepid political statement on something so vague that both sides will hold it up as proof he sides with them

he will do something incredibly zionist

a fan will wave a palestinian flag somewhere in the crowd and another fan somewhere will take off her bra and wave her tits in his face and the fans will claim his smile was clearly at the palestinian girl and not at the tits in his face girl

he will larrie bait

he will find some way to be shady to olivia.

he will sign on to a movie role, but it will be less than his other ones, and he may try and keep it a secret till it comes out, to stem the backlash

he will film a small bit for Eros, but they will eventually cut out most of his scenes and they will claim this happened because of scheduling difficulties

he will manage to say something incredibly out of touch and privileged about queer people, LGBT rights, women's rights, racism, the war in Ukraine, etc. just something where he tries to speak on a subject directly for once and because he can't, he will say something goofy and people will clown.

more evidence of lipsyncing which his fans will claim proves he's just managed to perfectly sync up every performance so they all look and sound the exact same

he will attend an acting award show, maybe the Brits, and really posture like he deserved to win the awards for his performances

he will sleep with a lot of white blonde angular faced women

his fans will meanwhile insist he's actually dating his physical trainer, or various other heterosexual white men who walk near him.

#harry styles #predictions

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theyoungturks · 1 year

Video

youtube

A Texas lawmaker introduced a bill that would give huge tax cuts to straight families with 4+ kids. Adrienne Lawrence, Cenk Uygur, and Benjamin Carollo discuss on The Young Turks. Watch TYT LIVE on weekdays 6-8 pm ET. http://youtube.com/theyoungturks/live Read more HERE: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/texas-republicans-tax-cuts-straight-couples-many-children-1234689876/ "A newly introduced Texas House bill proposes property tax cuts for couples who get married, stay married, and have lots of children. There’s a catch though. In order to qualify for the tax benefit, couples need to be heterosexual, never divorced, and their children born or adopted after their date of marriage. LGBTQ couples, single parents, divorced parents, and blended families will not qualify for full benefits. H.B. 2889 would provide qualifying couples with a 40 percent property tax reduction if they have four children, with the tax break increasing for every additional child. Couples with 10 or more children would pay no property tax at all. Just getting started? A couple that meets the requirements laid out by the bill gets a 10% reduction even before they have children. “Supporting Texas means supporting Texas families,” said Rep. Bryan Slaton, who introduced the bill. “Texas will start saying to couples, ‘Get married, stay married, and be fruitful and multiply.”* *** The largest online progressive news show in the world. Hosted by Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian. LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET. Help support our mission and get perks. Membership protects TYT's independence from corporate ownership and allows us to provide free live shows that speak truth to power for people around the world. See Perks: ▶ https://www.youtube.com/TheYoungTurks/join SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ http://www.facebook.com/TheYoungTurks TWITTER: ☞ http://www.twitter.com/TheYoungTurks INSTAGRAM: ☞ http://www.instagram.com/TheYoungTurks TWITCH: ☞ http://www.twitch.com/tyt 👕 Merch: http://shoptyt.com ❤ Donate: http://www.tyt.com/go 🔗 Website: https://www.tyt.com 📱App: http://www.tyt.com/app 📬 Newsletters: https://www.tyt.com/newsletters/ If you want to watch more videos from TYT, consider subscribing to other channels in our network: The Watchlist https://www.youtube.com/watchlisttyt Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey https://www.youtube.com/indisputabletyt Unbossed with Nina Turner https://www.youtube.com/unbossedtyt The Damage Report ▶ https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport TYT Sports ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytsports The Conversation ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytconversation Rebel HQ ▶ https://www.youtube.com/rebelhq TYT Investigates ▶ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwNJt9PYyN1uyw2XhNIQMMA #TYT #TheYoungTurks #BreakingNews 230303__BE01TXTaxCutsVsNonStraightPpl by The Young Turks

#IFTTT #YouTube

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pscottm · 1 year

Link

A newly introduced Texas House bill proposes property tax cuts for couples who get married, stay married, and have lots of children,” Rolling Stone reports.

“There’s a catch though. In order to qualify for the tax benefit, couples need to be heterosexual, never divorced, and their children born or adopted after their date of marriage. LGBTQ couples, single parents, divorced parents, and blended families will not qualify for full benefits.”

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potteresque-ire · 3 years

Note

Dear Pie,

I hope you’re doing well! C-ent seems to be going up in flames. The govt is trying to purge the ent industry i guess? It would be lovely to hear your thoughts on this. Esp on their take on BL dramas. The govt seems to be making their move. https://twitter.com/zhaoxiaotango/status/1430723789289967618?s=21

Hello Anon!! As usual, I'm late to answering this ...

I’ve included my thoughts on Dangai’s future below the cut. I’ve also, in the ... not-so-grand tradition of this blog, gone on tangent and talked about “C-ent going up in flames”.

(TW: due to the nature of the historical event described, the second half of this meta may be unsettling to read—it has been demarcated with a fake cut.)

With the latest notice from the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCPPD), also known as the Propaganda Department (中國共產黨中央委員會宣傳部, 中宣部 for short), the future of Dangai dramas is rather dim...

The notice actually included only one quick mention of Dangai:

但是，隨著文娛產業迅速發展，天價片酬、「陰陽合同」、偷逃稅等問題有以新方式新手段死灰復燃跡象，流量至上、畸形審美、「飯圈」亂象、「耽改」之風等新情況新問題迭出...

But, with the rapid development of the entertainment industry, issues such as sky-high paychecks, "Yin-yang contracts", tax evasion have resurfaced, executed with new methods and means. New situations and problems, such as traffic-above-everything, deformed aesthetics (Pie note: referring to “sissy” men), the chaos of fan circle culture, and the fad of Dangai, have appeared one after another...

In the current climate, however, this is enough for observers to believe that Dangai dramas have been dealt a fatal blow—the kind of Dangai dramas most people are familiar with, at least, in which the creative team "plays edge ball” by subtly supplying hints of a M/M romance; in which the marketing of these dramas translates these hints into “candies” to popularise CPs (character, and real-person); in which the CPs bring in loyal fans not only for the drama, but also for the actors...

These observers include the state censorship apparatus, the production studios and distribution platforms, social media where promotions would take place. They'll all likely raise the bar for Dangai dramas to make it to airing and promotion, even if the ban hasn’t been made explicit.

This kind of ... the government hints, people guesses the hint and takes it (much) further is a tradition passed down from China’s dynasty days. Emperors often kept their wishes mum, or vaguely worded, and waited for his subordinates to find out what the wishes were, interpret what they wanted. The extra time and effort needed for the interpretation boosted both the Emperors’ image and his status—Look, our Emperor is kind, humble enough to not speak his mind! Look, our Emperor is important enough that his wishes, unspoken they may be, should all be met!!

This practice also allows the ruler—be it an ancient Emperor or a modern-day authoritarian regime—to play “the good guy”: they didn’t ask for the ban, did they? It wasn’t, isn’t their fault that the people agree(d) with the hint so hard that they went / go on to prohibit the stuff. The Emperor, the regime remain the open-minded one, and more importantly, the guilt-free one, if the outcome of the ban is less than ideal.

Strictly speaking, Dangai the genre will likely survive; "Dangai” 耽改, after all, only means “adapted from a Danmei source material”. Adaptions after this CCPPD notice may nonetheless turn the material into strict brotherhood stories, or even heterosexual romances. The dramas that are in the process of shooting, or have completed shooting, may have to modify the script, re-shoot scenes such that the project can pass the inspection by the NRTA (National Radio and Television Administration 國家廣播電視總局; the “censorship board”), such that the production studios and their investors can still air the products and cut their losses. Tencent, for example, already has 4 Dangai dramas completed (Immortality 皓衣行，Winner is King 烽火流金 / 殺破狼， The Society of Four Leaves 張公案，Chasing the Light 撒野 / 左肩有你) and one in the works (今朝萬年長); to shelf all of them will be a financial disaster, especially after its already having to shelf one “S+” grade (big budget) series this year—The Golden Hairpin (青簪行), with Kris Wu 吳亦凡 as its lead.

Anon, maybe this is what you’re wondering about too—will the state’s expressed displeasure with Dangai affect already-aired dramas and their participants?

Here’s my thought as of today (2021/09/05) ~ for now, I’m cautiously optimistic. The current upheaval in c-ent, as well as in multiple other industries (for example: big tech, private tutoring, real estate), seems to be targeted at the so-called “Capital” (資本), the ultimate power players in c-business and the (domestic and international) stock markets. Already aired Dangai dramas are unlikely to be golden eggs for the companies involved and the power-player investors behind them—most of their profits have already be made. Actors who have risen to fame via Dangai are young and haven’t really had the time to accumulate the wealth, the power to be considered Capital.

(Being Capital needs more than affluence—it also needs influence in both business and political circles.)

(Back when the Zheng Shuang tax evasion scandal erupted earlier this year, “helpful” melon-eating c-netizens researched the list of companies c-ent celebrities own, under the oversimplistic-but-not-entirely-faulty logic that ownership of an abnormally high number may equate ... financial “magical trickery” (especially pertaining to tax evasion). Our ❤️💚 boys were on the search list, and they came up clean :) ).

That said, I feel I also shouldn’t sugarcoat things and say that things will remain perfectly peachy for aired Dangai’s and their actors, their associated “peripherals” such as CPs and fandom communities (such as the supertopics). The reason, however, isn’t because of their connections with the Dangai genre; the effect, also, isn’t limited to those with connections to the genre.

This has to do with what’s happening beyond c-ent.

I shall try to explain a little about this below. Please note that ... some parts may sound a little scary, especially to those who aren’t familiar with the turbulence, the violence of post-1949 Chinese history and politics. Please proceed carefully, and remember: this meta is only one pie’s word, and will be around if there’re better times to read it than now. Some people are comforted by having a sense of the worst that may happen, some aren’t like that at all, and both are perfectly all right. Taking care of yourself is the most important ❤️💛💚.

(Below the cut: c-ent’s “Bitter Cold Winter”, “The New Movement”) (TW: Dystopian Darkness)

====================

The future for actors, directors, creative teams... workers of the entertainment industry in general, goes hand-in-hand with the financial health of the industry. A perfectly peachy future requires very good financial health.

C-ent is heavily reliant on and connected to the “Capital” the state is currently targeting. The tech giants Alibaba and Tencent are both its major players. If the Chinese government fails to exercise moderation in its efforts to rein in these “Capital” (and the Chinese government ... isn’t really known for moderation), if it breaks them rather than tames them, it can spell significant hardship to c-ent—adding frost to the snow that has already settled on the industry since 2018.

(”Adding frost to the snow” 雪上加霜, is a Chinese idiom meaning layering hardship upon hardship.)

What happened in 2018?

As an aftermath of the 2018 Fan Bingbing tax evasion scandal, Chinese tax authorities demanded the Chinese film production companies to “self-correct” their tax history, and pay back what it believed it owed accordingly. To avoid a full audit, the industry coughed up a total of USD $1.7 billion in back taxes in the end—a third of China’s domestic box office revenue.

The Chinese government wasn’t wrong in wanting to eliminate the rampant corruption and tax evasion from the industry. However, its approach was widely considered to be too heavy-handed. Having to pay their massive back-taxes in one go, production studios had to halt or cancel productions while the audit took place, while they figured out whether they had the funds for the taxes. Some companies had to liquidate eventually. Banks refused to finance the companies while the latter needed it the most, fearing associations with an industry that had just displeased the government. Celebrities of the industry (famous actors, directors etc) lay low, fearing the state would train its eyes on them, turn them into the next Fan Bingbing. C-ent was paralysed.

And it never fully recovered. From 2019 on, the Chinese film industry, and c-ent in general, has been said to be in a “bitter cold winter”. Thousands of companies have been shut down, and more people unemployed. The simultaneous restrictions on creative freedom, with the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party (a.k.a, the Propaganda Department) taking over the regulation of Chinese TV and film industries in 2018 and the further tightening of censorship rules, have made recovery even more of a challenge—hits that surprise and delight, even just cater to the audience have become increase difficult to make. For example, period dramas about infighting queens and concubines (宮鬥劇), a perennial favourite among Chinese audiences, were pulled off TV schedules in January 2019 after Beijing Daily criticised the genre for “glamorising lavish imperial lifestyles and palace intrigue instead of promoting "socialist core values".

Behind the films and dramas we love, therefore, behind the seemingly lavish shows and ceremonies, is an industry that is struggling. Production studios, in particular, need a proper budget to create media products that have an actual chance of becoming popular—the Chinese audience had already got used to extravagantly-designed sets, costumes, makeup etc—but the money is no longer around.

New business models have emerged to keep these studios afloat. One of them, for example, involves what is known as “bet-on agreements” (formal name: valuation adjustment mechanism VAM 對賭協議), signed between the smaller, money-short businesses in c-ent (production studios, management companies etc) and “Capital”, the power players of the Chinese business world and the major investors of the industry.

My poor business knowledge may mean I’ll likely never understand VAMs enough to talk about it intelligently, but the rough idea is this—for a production studio, for example, to get an investment, they must promise its investor (for example, a big tech) that they’ll hit a certain profit target for each year of the contract. If it fails to hit the target, it’ll have to pay the difference from its own pocket.

VAMs appear to be a win-win—the invested gets the funds it needs, while the investors are protected from high loses, become more willing to invest—but they also introduce their own problems. The time pressure associated with VAMS is *huge*. In desperate need to hit the profit target for that year, the invested may have to make decisions that may save them in the immediate future, but are not in their best interest in the long run. Production studios, for example, may have to cut corners, release their products at less than favourable time. They may have to be very aggressive in their marketing, copy proven-successful formulas—innovation, experimentation takes time and they do not have that.

Have some of you heard of 割韭菜 “cutting chives”? It’s a popular c-slang that describes how companies try to earn as much money from their customers as quickly as possible, by means that aren’t criminal, but morally objectionable. Fans are among the most talked about, most ... laughed at “chives”; they’re easy targets with their youth and passion, with the peer pressure from their fan circle to contribute to the sales numbers for their favourite celebrities.

While there are certainly evil Capital schemes behind the chive cutting, not all participants on the seller’s side are necessarily evil. Some, too, are under immense pressure themselves.

There’s Capital with a C, and just ... capital: businesses that aren’t small in the eyes of a common folk, but small compared to the financial risk that is the nature of their business. And capital in c-ent has not been doing well.

As a more tangible example of the kind of challenges Chinese production studios have already been facing before this summer ... please allow me to introduce a rumour that circulated around the release for The Wolf (狼殿下). As most rumours of such nature are, please bear in mind that it has never been confirmed, and never will be. The reason I’m spreading this rumour is because its truthfulness is no longer of consequence—this will be explained later.

Many of us may remember that all episodes of The Wolf were released within one day in November, 2020. A hypothesis I saw circulated in our fandom was this: to make sure the antis had no time to campaign against the series.

That made sense.

Outside fandom, meanwhile, another rumour circulated, and concerning a much-talked about VAM among c-ent business watchers: the one between China literature (閱文集團) and New Classics Media Media (aka Xinli Media, NCM 新麗傳媒).

China literature, a book publisher, became a subsidiary of Tencent in 2015. In 2018, it—and, most c-business watchers believed, Tencent’s Capital behind it—acquired NCM, a TV and film production studio. The VAM was part of the acquisition agreement: NCM promised to deliver the net profits of 500 million RMB (~77.3 million USD), 700 million (~108 million) and 900 million (~139 million) to China Literature in 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively.

NCM had already failed to hit the profit target in both 2018 and 2019. Nonetheless, market watchers had remained optimistic about its performance in 2020. You see, my fellow turtles, NCM had produced three to-be-aired-in-2020 TV series named The Wolf, Douluo Continent, Oath of Love and That Cute Dude who starred in all of them? He got popular … like, really, really popular in the second half of 2019.

But then, 2020 came, then late February, 2020 * sighs *. The airing of the three series had to be held off. Late Autumn that year, another NCM production, the classic Wuxia series The Deer and the Cauldron (鹿鼎記), ... didn’t do so well.

The rumour went like this: NCM had to immediately release The Wolf to make up for the commercial failure of The Dear and The Cauldron. The end of 2020 was drawing near, and it soon had to report to China Literature a 900 million RMB net profit. It had to release a series with That Cute Dude; it didn’t matter that, perhaps, the studio could’ve made more profit by delaying its airing just a little longer, with more marketing and fanfare. It had to try to hit the target.

In retrospect—the “hindsight-is-twenty-twenty” kind of retrospect—November 2020 was probably the right time to test waters for The Return of That Cute Dude anyway, and to clear the 3-year-old The Wolf off NCM’s shelf. But it was impossible to know then; testing waters means ... there was a significant chance of failure, of backlash. In all cases, however, this was a story with a happy ending (hence, the truthfulness of the rumour no longer mattered): NCM managed to make its target profit in 2020 after China Literature had agreed to relax the target because of COVID, which had led to a major decrease in revenue from commercials.

And here’s the thing: it was a close call, and NCM is no small potato; founded in 2007, it was already an established, well-reputed media production company before 2018.

Production studios run a high risk, high return business. A hit, and they get to sustain themselves for a while; a flop, and they may never recover. Meanwhile, in China, they also have little control of the release schedule—an argument against the truthfulness of the rumour would be this: The Wolf couldn’t have aired without the NRTA already having given the series its approval, without the online platforms agreeing to distribute (and turtles know how ... complicated this process can be).

Similar VAM stories, in which the invested barely made it, or had to pay a substantial sum of money after failing to hit target, have also been heard in the film production arm of the industry, the management arm. In the case of the latter, the management company may have to accept low quality projects for its artists just to hit the target—projects that can become dark spots in the artists’ career.

C-ent isn’t really well-positioned right now to take another hit in its income source. After decades of propaganda that capitalism is communism’s mortal enemy, talks of the term “Capital” (資本) in China often carry a negative connotation. And “Capital”, indeed, has been associated with corruption, under-the-table deals, bribery, getting people out of wrongdoings, getting people into wrongdoings. One may say, “Capital” has acquired a strange reputation in the country—as a thing people both dream they're part of and hate the idea of—that some of us may have heard c-fans trying to dissociate their favourite stars from the word.

However, stripped from the moral, ideological judgements, Capital is simply lots of money, and any entertainment industry without lots of money isn’t all that peachy, limited in the types of high quality productions it can make, the choices its actors, writers, directors, artistic teams etc have.

(Period dramas, Wuxia and Xianxia dramas tend to be significantly more costly to make. C-ent therefore has had a near monopoly on them these recent years. Cash-poor Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainment industries have focused on cheaper-to-make modern dramas instead.)

Fear is another major challenge to a peachy future for c-ent and its workers.

If the fight between The State vs The Capital continues to escalate, if the pressure on Capital from the state continues to increase, fear may eventually become the prominent motivator behind business decisions pertaining to c-ent, overtaking common sense and financial incentives that are more comprehensible and predictable. In this case, anything can happen; anything that is thought to displease the government—even if the government doesn’t actually care—can be axed, offered as a “sacrifice” to get the government to get off the offerers’ back.

This risk is, again, not limited to those who have participated in aired Dangai dramas. As one may see these days, the list of things that has displeased the Chinese government is long. Things that once pleased the government may become an offence in a few years time (example: fan culture).

The more practical question to ask, then, is: will the pressure on Capital continue to increase? Will the tech giants, for example, have to continue to haemorrhage their company’s worth to the government? Will more billion-dollar industries be uprooted?

This has been a very hot issue among c-politics watchers.

Those who have lived under the rule of the Chinese government, or are aware of its policies, may know that it’s actually common for the Chinese government to interfere with ... everything every now and then, with loud opinions and louder (but not always useful) new rules. These people may know, too, that it is just as common for everything to simply return to the status quo after a while of sound and fury.

The return to the status quo may still be the outcome for this round of c-ent’s “regulation”. Why are so many people watching then? And on the edge of their seats?

Many c-politics analysts and watchers—those who cannot usually tell one idol from another—have been watching because of what some have suspected, or feared, about Xi for years. And before I get into their (worst) fear, I’d like to emphasise this. Political analyses are often speculative, and political analyses pertaining to China, especially so. Trying to guess the motivations of a government that lacks transparency always requires ample guesswork, piecing together subtle hints and shaky rumours. Word choices are dissected, compared to historical texts; key terms are counted one by one

(It’s not unlike how turtles excavate candies, sometimes).

This care is necessary. Too liberal an approach, and the conclusions become conspiracy theories. Too conservative, and they miss the important warnings—warnings that, if ignored, can ruin the lives of some people. When the government works in obscure ways, when its policies can change over night and important people can override what is written in the laws, these analyses, speculations are often what their audience rely on to make their decisions.

I’m not much of a follower of these analyses for that reason; I'm often uncomfortable with speculations. I’ve also, therefore, refrained from talking about them, spreading them. However, I’m making an exception this time because the following viewpoint, as I mentioned, has circulated for years and among multiple analysts who understand the Cultural Revolution well, some as first person. The same viewpoint has also been whispered in the recent grumblings of unhappy c-netizens.

More importantly, I’m making an exception because this viewpoint offers insight as to why, despite many of the recent criticisms made by the state have actually been made before (example: ”fan circle”: 1, 2, 3 from 2020; “sissy”: 1, 2 from 2018), c-ent is reacting so strongly to them, putting in so much effort to comply.

Why, in other words, the industry appears to be so afraid.

Perhaps, a good place to begin is a Maoist commentary published online on 2021-08-28, which caused an uproar among c-politics watchers. Written by a small time writer, the commentary was nonetheless reblogged by all the important Chinese state media (the original text is found here).

This article went into more details about why the commentary drew so much attention both domestically and in the Chinese diaspora. The TL;DR version is this: those familiar with the “May 16th notification” (五一六通知) that started the Cultural Revolution in 1966 found the language and content of this commentary similar. This commentary was therefore viewed to be possibly historic, the first shot fired for a New Movement similar to the Cultural Revolution—the New Movement postulated by many that Xi has been trying to make happen, based on the accumulating list of current events; the New Movement that some, for simplicity’s sake, has named the Cultural Revolution 2.0.

The Cultural Revolution (1966-76) has been widely interpreted as a power struggle between Mao and his once heir apparent, Liu Shaoqi 劉少奇. This New Movement, these c-politics watchers have postulated, will be the battle between Xi and Capital.

How is c-ent relevant to this? Why are people watching c-ent to see if this hypothesis—that A New Movement is about to take place, or is already taking place—is true?

This has to do with the role played by, and the fate of the arts and entertainment during the Cultural Revolution.

What was memorable, and terrifying about the Cultural Revolution was this: in the name of attacking the 'Four Olds' of Chinese society (Old Ideas, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Customs), the movement ... almost destroyed China itself. The “Four Olds” included every pre-Communist element of China that, supposedly, was getting in the way of the Communist revolution; almost all adults were therefore connected to them in some way—”Old” was often just their habits, their background, their jobs, their favourite pastime. Association with the Four Olds was, therefore, an easy “crime” to accuse anyone of. And to carry out this attack of the Four Olds—and remove Liu in the lawless chaos that would result—Mao mobilised the Red Guards, student youths whose fervent worship of Mao made the fan circles of 2021 look like bored passer-bys.

Intellectuals, anyone with ties to the West, with the former Nationalist / Kuomintang government were killed, tortured or publicly humiliated; books old and new, historical sites, cultural relics were destroyed. Laws, ethics and moral codes of the society, common sense ... they were no longer relevant (story); sinners and not-sinners were judged by one criterion—perceived loyalty of the accused to Chairman Mao, determined by the Red Guards who would then oversee, execute their punishment.

(The ”Three loyalties, 4 Infinites” slogan will demonstrate this in a bit.)

It was a period of extreme unrest, and extreme violence.

It affected all levels of the Chinese society. Arts and entertainment, however, were the first sectors to be purged. They were already intricately tied to Old Ideas and Old Culture; Chinese opera, for example, the favourite pastime of commoners of the time, was almost two millennia old. Back when literacy was very low—and that was true for most of China’s history—these plays and their related forms of storytelling were how folk lores and histories, especially those omitted in the official source, were passed down from generation to generation.

Chinese operas were filled with the Old—stories of Old dynasties, Old imperial courts, Old war heroes and Old scholars and Old trials and Old romances. Old songs. Old poetry. Old costumes. Old dances.

As it is the case now, however, the Chinese government during Mao’s era saw its arts and entertainment as tools of propaganda. Propaganda tools are to be controlled tightly, and early especially if a war, a quest for power is to be waged. The corollary, one may say, to this logic is this: before, or at the beginning of the war, the quest for power, perceivable shudders are expected in arts and entertainment.

In the case of the Cultural Revolution, may considers the first shudder to be Mao’s denouncement of a popular Chinese opera named Hai Rui Dismissed from Office 海瑞罷官, written by the historian and Beijing politician, Wu Han 吴晗, in 1961.

The play, about an incorruptible official in the Ming Dynasty who had dared to impeach the Emperor for his corruption, was meant to encourage officials to be upfront about the challenges they met during the implementation of state policies; Wu wrote the script at Mao’s request to create something for that purpose. However, in 1965, an opinion piece appeared in the press—commissioned by Mao’s wife Jiang Qing 江青 and approved by Mao—that panned the play as a veiled criticism of Mao’s dismissal of his former defence minister Peng Dehuai 彭德懷, who had been fired in 1959 after telling Mao that the Great Leap Forward had not succeeded.

(”Not succeeded” was a vast understatement: the series of failed policies in the Great Leap Forward (1958-62) led to death of 15-55 million people).

Artists connected to Hai Rui were arrested, their possessions seized; they were publicly humiliated, tortured, killed. Wu Han died in prison in 1969 for his “crime”; his wife was tortured to death the same year and near the end of the movement, his daughter committed suicide in a mental asylum—a common final destination for those who survived the torture. The main actor of the play, the beloved, legendary Ma Lianliang 馬連良, was also tortured to death.

The targeting of artists and entertainers would continue for the rest of the Cultural Revolution, while creative expression came to an almost complete complete halt. The need for extreme political correctness, in combination with the severe punishment of those accused of not being sufficiently correct, led to, perhaps, the largest scale, most brutal “Canceling” in history. Soon, only a handful of Revolutionary Operas (aka Model Operas 樣板戲) were performed in China.

How many is a handful?

There were eight original Revolutionary Operas, listed in the editorial of People’s Daily on 1967/05/31, named 革命文藝的優秀樣板 “The Fine Models of Revolutionary Art”. By the end of the Cultural Revolution, the number was twenty-six.

Advertisement by the Anhui Revolutionary Committee, celebrating the performance of all 8 original Revolutionary Operas in their province. (Source)

Stage photo from 智取威虎山 “Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy”. Performers in Revolutionary Opera wore modern costumes. (Source)

The legendary Chinese opera actor, Mei Lanfang 梅蘭芳 (1894-1961), known for his lead female roles (Dan 旦), in a traditional Peking Opera costume. (Source)

*Nods *. For almost 10 years, 800 million people watched the same, two dozen stories over and over again. Chinese operas sung those stories; ballet dancer danced those stories; orchestra played the the music of those stories. Performances of these stories was considered essential to show devotion to the early Cultural Revolution slogan 三忠於四無限 (”Three loyalties, 4 Infinites”), the three loyalties being:

忠於毛主席 (Loyalty to Chairman Mao) 忠於毛澤東思想 (Loyalty to the Thoughts of Chairman Mao) 忠於毛主席的無產階級革命路線 (Loyalty to the Road to Proletarian Revolution by Chairman Mao)

The 4 infinities were as follows, describing attitudes towards the 3 loyalties: 無限崇拜 (Infinite worship) 無限熱愛 (Infinite adoration) 無限信仰 (Infinite faith) 無限忠誠 (Infinite loyalty)

”Three loyalties, 4 Infinites” highlight the Chairman Mao craze in China during the Cultural Revolution. They also highlight the critical differences between the Cultural Revolution and the political climate in summer, 2021 ~ why other analyst believe that, even if there is a New Movement, it won’t be a Cultural Revolution 2.0.

Two key differences are, for example:

1) Worship for Xi in 2021 is nowhere near in fervour compared to the worship for Mao in 1966. Relatedly, Xi’s words have not demonstrated the power to mobilise the masses to the point of completely overriding laws, ethics, moral codes and common sense. Mao was a very charismatic leader; more importantly, he was the founding father of Communist China. Xi, meanwhile, has not had any major political accomplishments, or scored important military victories during his 9 years in office (some believe the military aggression against Taiwan has been waged for this reason).

2) While Reporting (”Ratting out”) Culture has returned with a vengeance, the Red Guards who were permitted to dole out punishment based on the reports and their whim have, so far, not re-surfaced. There are no parades of torture and public humiliation on the streets. The Cultural Revolution was a social movement of the masses; the re-distribution of power proceeded from the bottom towards the top of the power hierarchy. Right now, the state’s take down of Capital runs in the opposite direction: the state is at the top, acting against Capital on a lower rung.

youtube

ETA: What has NOT happened in 2021: a public humiliation party (批鬥大會). Wu Han is at 00:15 of the clip. Note the size of the crowd and their young age.

Regardless of their opinions, c-politics watchers are watching c-ent closely. They’re watching not because they believe the artists and entertainers of 2021 will be publicly humiliated or tortured, but because arts and entertainment, by having to face their audience public, offer a relatively transparent window to the opaque workings of the Chinese government. Because history has informed these watchers that, if a New Movement is indeed about to happen, arts and entertainment will be among its earliest battlefields, and where the first well-known casualties will likely be found—similar to Wu Han and Ma Lianliang from Hai Rui’s Dismissed from Office. Because the industry, in being the state’s propaganda apparatus, means the message it sends (and doesn’t / cannot send), via its stars, its media products, will have to be clear to be communicated—it isn’t difficult to guess the take-home message of the opera Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy just from the stage photo above. These messages will offer vital clues about the direction, and more importantly, the intensity the state is intending to move—whether it’ll stop at “trimming” Capital, or it’ll only stop at the latter’s destruction.

Does Capital, the power players in business and the stock market believe that the state is waging a New Movement against them? I’m far too distant from them to know.

But, movement or not, the Chinese government has already shown a willingness to make significant economic sacrifices, shake the pillars, the very foundations of its economy in the battle. Capital, therefore, has a reason to be afraid, to be super careful about what they do, play the very obedient child for the time being.

Things are therefore volatile right now in all areas where Capital touches; c-ent is just one of them. This volatility, however, isn’t likely to have truly stemmed from the “incorrectness” of Dangai, or “sissy’s”, or the list of “cancelled” stars and their mistakes, or “fan circles”, or even, from the Clear & Bright campaign (which is actually in its 2nd year; there was a Clear & Bright campaign 2020 that few noticed). They may be cited as the reasons, but the volatility is part of the pressure system of the overall political climate of the country.

And people are watching, alarmed because of the backdrop, because other billion-dollar industries collapsing in the background. How truly afraid is c-ent itself? A simple thing to watch, perhaps, may be how the state-issued criticism against “sissy’s” will translate into action. As mentioned briefly, the same criticism has already made its round once in 2018, the lasting legacy of which is the (in)famous earring ban that while making little sense, has also done little harm.

(As with this time, the industry had little idea of how the state defined “sissy” in 2018.).

What will happen this time may serve as a gauge of the atmosphere in c-ent. How much fear, how much anxiety it actually contains.

With all that said, what are us fans to do then? Is there anything we can do to help?

The best thing we can do—and this is my humble opinion, as usual—is to keeping doing what we usually do. Keep fanning. Keep loving. Keep our corner of fandom calm and happy. Whatever is happening, whatever will happen, is way, way bigger than any of us, than fandom, than even the entire Chinese entertainment industry. And should something less than peachy happens to our favourite things in China, to our sibling communities, I hope everyone will consider remembering this—and this is, perhaps, the message I hope to send with this meta—it’ll very unlikely be the fault of anyone, any subgroups within our fandom(s), even though the blame may be laid upon them. Scapegoating is common at uncertain times like this, mob mentality even more so, and the most precious qualities one can combat them with are independent thinking, and a good memory of what, and who, we’re here for.

(Love. Gg and Dd.)

The giant cogwheels of Chinese politics are turning, as they’ve always been. Are they beyond our control? Yes. Can we pitter patter on the teeth of the gears, and for the more nimble ones among us, hiphop, lock, pop, break, urban?

Yes.

(My move: King Tut. Um, the King Tut in Egypt, not the ones in SDOC4 :D.)

Keep calm. Carry on.

That’s what turtles do. That’s what turtles are born to do. ❤️💛💚

#pie metas #yizhan #bjyx

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androidsvsvikings · 3 years

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No matter how much Pride becomes a corporational event to try to sell us shit, and no matter how much heterosexual people put themselves in the center of attention, gay people will forever be more groundbreaking, and will always be the reason we celebrate Pride.

From the most boring and conforming lesbian or gay couple paying taxes, to the most non-conforming adventurous couples and single gay people living any kind of life – every single gay person will always be more interesting to me than any straight person with blue haircut. To every gay person, the homophobia prevalent in every society was like a Sword of Damocles. Consciously or subconsciously, to various degrees, they struggled with their sexuality, even if there was no doubt about it for them from the beginning. In some countries they faced (and still face) legal repercussions and violence. But even in progressive countries they struggled (and still struggle) with homophobia – they have to evaluate people around them, people who otherwise probably loved them unconditionally, in order to determine if this person is safe to come out to or not. They have to elevate the pros and cons of coming out in regards to their careers. They have to make difficult decisions, have to make sacrifices and cut people out of their lives just for being the way they are, just for being gay. Every single same sex attracted person had a history of overcoming various degrees of homophobia in their lives and that is why we have Pride – to celebrate the gay, lesbian and bisexual people, who stood up for their right to love who they loved, who did not let a deeply heterosexual and homophobic society dictate their lives to them. The sheer fucking will power and courage every single gay, lesbian and bisexual person brought up in themselves to resist and fight for the right to love is the reason we have Pride.

Love is love.

#lgb #pride #gay #lesbian #bisexual #homosexual #pride2021 #febfem

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landofspaceandrainbows · 2 years

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been re-reading “the shoebox project” prompted by some hp discourse and man, it still slaps! also working on a snippet from the narnia/marauders crossover

She was tricky to get along with sometimes, and argumentative in a way that seemed to cut to the heart of the issue. But he had liked her since she met. And she had a brother named Peter. The way she had said her older brother's name at their first introduction, and later the way she said his name, repeated through his mind and made him want to stay together with her. With her friendship.

He, Peter Pettigrew, tried to say "Sue" in a similar way sometimes, or to do little things to get the same idea across.

As the light april breeze blew around them, Susan Pevensie stood in her rolled-sleeved blouse and wool skirt, all navy with pale pink silk beneath, her hand shook slightly as she knocked the first arrow, then she hooked the butt against the string and shot volley after volley into the target as Peter Pettigrew leaned back against the warm scratchiness of the hay bale and watched. The more he watched the more he had to admit this was mostly her own physical skill. She had no wand. Though some of course did magic without one of those, the only motions her hands sketched in the air were the ordinary magic of knocking arrow to string. And the one thing she had shown him…. it was a magical artifact sure, but nothing more, and artifacts could be used by anyone. He was starting to think, to admit, she was his favorite squib.

And no that wasn't quite it, there was another thing, she was a squib…. born of squibs, who were also….. born of squibs. There was another word for that, and it started with an M….. but the way his new, good friends talked about "mudbloods" and "muggle rights activists" the word just didn't seem to fit right on her someway.

And also have some possibly spicy takes about “the problem of susan”

basically like it’s fairly obvious that the “problem” isn’t just the lipstick and stockings, it’s also that she’s becoming a sort of (not entirely one, but maybe getting there) anti-fujoshi NLOG. like she doesn’t see why she or her siblings should be indulging so much in their old stupid stories, or roleplay. and she kinda takes it out on her younger siblings too.

though looking at some of his other writings, there *is* a suggestion that at the time, CSL thought feminine people or women were more susceptible to this sort of thing, and that *might* play into why he chose to represent it with a woman, which is... not cool.

but srsly, "What memories you have! Fancy you still thinking about all those funny games we used to play when we were children."

: |

and now she’s getting more involved with heterosexual dating, and setting herself up to be married and “paying her taxes and taking care of her kids” as is “appropriate” for a woman of “her age”.

but there’s still something “off” about this, at least when i look at it through my own eyes, like why are these her only two choices? why are these oppostitions being set up? so when writing fan stuff i kinda want to see her as something other than slowly becoming a bitter anti-fujo/anti-fic i’d like to give her other options. and in the HP universe and the marauders era in the fight against the death eaters and anti-muggleborn supremacists i can see her interest in the mundane and ordinary things as a strength, a good thing! and likewise severus snape and peter pettigrew could use some other people who aren’t “good old boys” to hang out with for a variety of reasons i can’t go into here. Go off and do something, and celebrate even if neither they nor Susan Penisieve are part of the “golden inner circle” at the moment, even if for different reasons. Heck, maybe we can have a gentle Queen of this Plain Old Earth along with “The Halfblood Prince”.

edit: talking with someone about this reminded me of something else! they were commenting on how this might make sense since they all could slightly traumatized and Susan P. is parentified.

and there was a part i forgot to put in this:

about how ppl often talk about the influence of war in tolkien's stuff,.... but there might also be something(s) to say about the group of these four kids coming back and having been kings and queen yes, and also having weielded swords and bows, and yet when they come back out of the wardrobe, they are in another sort of world now, and seen in teen/ya bodies, and not even really being able to talk with anyone about it except the people who had also been there... and if one of them starts going "nope, didn't happen" maybe there might be reasons?

or she might just have different interests now. idk.

#chronicles of narnia #harry potter #the shoebox project #the problem of susan #pro fiction #susan pevensie #peter pettigrew #severus snape

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inkdemonapologist · 3 years

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in our cthulhu game, being fused with Bendy the Lurker (who, i cannot stress enough, is an eldritch horror in addition to being our cartoon friend) gives Joey some terrifying inky powers so honestly why WOULDNT you just immediately pounce on the first person who catches you somewhere you’re not supposed to be while distorting your body in mind-rending ways??????

anyway here’s some out of context quotes for Session Four under the cut

[Sammy is played by me, Joey is played by Boo (inkyvendingmachine), Henry is played by Maf (inkcryptid), Jack is played by Mochi (whatyouwantedmetosee) and Thren (haunted-hijinxer) is our GM!]

[Sammy] Are you planning to break in? [Joey] I wasn't not planning to.... not... break in.... [Jack] Jack might be giving Joey a look. [Joey] They broke in first! [Sammy] Sammy shrugs and nods, this makes sense.

[Henry] I want to say by now Henry has finally read the room and is also looking at Jack. [Joey] (Henry has realised it's Looking At Jack Time) [Jack] Now he's mute AND self-conscious!!

[Jack] He's going to write "I'll be fine," pause briefly, and then write, "probably."

[GM, as Bendy] Are you sure you want us to go alone? [Sammy] I'M sure I DON'T want him to be alone! [Joey] I won't-- I won't be alone! I can't be alone right now! We know this!! [Bendy] Uh-huh. [Henry] Mm-hm. [GM] A skeptical look is interjected.

[Sammy] But if we told you to go and take a look but not do anything stupid, I'm not sure you're capable of that!! [Joey] I'm-- wait. I can do non-stupid things!!

[Henry] While Joey is getting ready in his room, Henry has already stolen his plate and is finishing it.

[Sammy] I'm just laughing at the concept of Joey and Sammy being in separate parties but like, watching each other across the street, [Joey, interrupting]: in a NON gay way. [Sammy] Mostly not gay. [Joey] Definitely Not Gay [Jack] The MOST heterosexual, [Jack] That's his middle name! Joey Heterosexual Drew! [Sammy] That's what I remember from the book, yeah.

[GM] Roll lockpicking. [Joey] Uh, that was, a bad roll, so instead of pushing it, can I use one of my... points, and just unlock it with my finger? [GM] .....SURE, [Sammy] WHAT. WHAT!! WHAT IS HAPPENING. [GM] Henry should make a Spot(Hidden) roll! [Henry] oKAY??? [Sammy] PLEASE make this Henry, I need to know what's happening

[GM] It looks like a landing, and a staircase, going up! [Henry] Still no one around? No symbols? [GM] Nope! [Joey] Then let's go up! [Henry] ...didn't you say this building was one story, though? [GM] :) I did! [Henry] oh..... [Joey] OH,......

[GM] There IS a person puttering around in there. [Joey] Hmmm... I did say I wasn't going to do anything stupid.....

[Joey] *inspecting pen covered in weird goo* Can I smelllllll it? [GM] ,,,,YOU SURE CAN,

[GM] So you currently have this symbol-painter gaping up at you guys at the top of the stairs [Joey] UM, [Jack] He sees it. He is looking. [Joey] UHHH,, [Henry] No! He does not see it, he is looking away!!

[Joey] I feel like we should just,,, graB HIM, AND uH, i- th- uh, drag him up the roof, or pin him down--- I don't knOW, dEFERS TO BENDY! [GM] I mean, Bendy's instincts are definitely to pounce on something that is doing something he doesn't want!

[Henry] uh, I, uh, w- wELL HENRY, was planning to put his words together, and try to convince this man that, y'know, we're supposed to be here, like we're roof maintenance or something, but then JOEY just fUCKING JUMPED ON HIM! [GM] Down the stairs! [Henry] DOWN THE STAIRS! I think his first action in this fight is going to be "Joey, what the FUCK"

[GM, cheerfully] Joey also needs to make a Sanity Check, his body is distorting in horrifying ways! [Joey] (Joey made it!) [GM] Just one sanity damage each! No big deal. [Sammy] YEAH, no big deal!! Just part of your sanity, dripping away!!!!

[Sammy] This is NOT the jungles of Haiti, this is an establishment in New Orleans, please don't murder people! [Joey] He wasn't planning on murdering, he just wanted to make him shoosh! [Sammy] YOUR METHOD MATTERS!! [GM, speaking for Bendy] ...There might have been some miscommunication in the desired result,

[Jack] Joey's lowest skill is "stay out of trouble" and his highest skill is "get self out of the trouble you got yourself into”

[GM] The Lurker rolled a fumble, so he's super distracted with something... he is NOT paying attention. [Sammy] Super distracted with all of Joey's human emotions at, uh, murder, which is normally such a fun, wholesome activity!

[Sammy] Sanity check for the greatest horror of all: TAXES.

[GM] Weirdly, Henry thinks he recognises this from descriptions he's read in some of the books he's looked through of Joey's; he thinks this is a drink that lets you survive in the vacuum of space!! [Sammy] WHAT [Henry] Why the heck would they need that... [Henry] ......how big is this jug? [Sammy] (*laughing* "I wanna survive the vacuum of space! Lemme at it!") [GM] It's like a gallon? [Sammy] (glug glug glug!) [Henry] He's not going to DRINK it, he was just considering taking it! [Sammy] I've seen Henry go at bacon soup. I believe he can do it.

[Sammy] This isn't important and I PROMISE I'm not going to get distracted but I just want to know if there's any nice instruments in here,

[Sammy] He's not going to wait, he's just going to turn around and leave. [Jack] Jack will -- now that he can use his words! -- say, “thanks for the help anyway,” and then go follow Sammy.

[Sammy] Ugh, Sammy might take a drink, [Jack] Jack is very much not going to take any drinks. [Joey] (Jack takes the drink OUT of Sammy's hand and hands it to somebody else!) [Jack] ......he MIGHT do that,

[another player returns to the call] [Sammy] Welcome back! Sammy did not do a good job vaulting over a fence, in case you were wondering, which is why my HP is now listed here!

[GM] He makes like he's going to close the door again. [Joey] (Stick your foot in the door!) [Jack] HMMM, tries to think if I have any good words for being polite, [Jack] “hey, no, please don't shut the door haha your so sexy,”

[Sammy] Cool, Sammy will walk in. [Jack] Jack will thank him! And walk in.

[Jack] (i'M REALLY DISTRACTED BY THE CAT,) [Sammy] (I'M SORRY!! IT'S MEOW TIME!!!) [Sammy] (The cat needs us to know about the King in Yellow, it's VERY important) [GM] The rune expert's cat, clearly. [Jack] I think this guy needs a cat, in these trying times.

[Jack] Jack would definitely have been petting the cat, I'm just mentioning that.

[GM] He opens the door and gestures inside. [Sammy] O...kay, looks inside closet? [GM] "Go, go on, look, look!" [Jack] (LOOK IN THE CLOSET, I'VE GOT ALL THIS WINE!!)

[Sammy] I- I reaLLY THOUGHT,, THE OTHER GUYS WERE GONNA BE THE ONES WHO GOT IN TROUBLE,,,

[Joey] Is there a window? [Jack] IN THE CLOSET???

[GM] You definitely sense something in one of the shoeboxes. [Sammy] SAMMY'S TRYING VERY HARD TO IGNORE THINGS THAT HE SENSES RIGHT NOW

[Sammy] I've got Joey luck today, it's weird!?! [Jack] It's to protect Jack! [Jack] The shepherd must protect the sheep!!!

[Sammy] Yeah, let's git, let's skeedaddle, let's just run, [Jack] Channel our inner Wally Franks, [Sammy] and get outta here!!

[GM] Henry does have at least one person try to trade drinks and get some of the jug he's carrying. [Joey] *sulky* No!! Our special juice!

[Sammy] Joey and Lurker are the two children who should not sit next to each other, because they are a bad influence on each other

[Sammy] (Oh, P.S., Jack can talk now!) [GM] Oh, you're better! [Sammy] Sammy's feeling better too, but that might just be adrenaline.

[Joey] As long as the show isn't Alice In Wonderland or The King In Yellow! [GM] Do you say that? [Joey] [Sammy] NO [Sammy] That's out of character, I think, [Joey] UMMMM, [Sammy] Is, is it-- jOEY DREW, [Joey] ...........it is out of character.

[Joey] We're down here due to something to do with that symbol coming to bother us at the Studio! [GM] She wants to know if that's why your eyes are weird. [Joey] [Joey] Yes.

#call of cthulu: haunted hijinx #sammy lawrence #joey drew #Henry Stein #bendy the lurker #when in doubt just keep drawing #'joey what are you doing' is the most oft-quoted bendy line in this game fOR GOOD REASON #Session Four AKA EVERYBODY PANIC #Session Four AKA Don't Do Anything Stupid #failed step one

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css1992 · 3 years

Text

Guilty Pleasure

Summary: Peter and Beck used to be a power couple in the porn industry, but after Beck dumps him, Peter is forced to start over. With no money, no family and nowhere to go, he doesn’t have much choice other than to keep doing porn, so he joins Just4Fans to get back on his feet and then one day he gets a very generous tip from someone under the username of YKWIM. All the warnings listed on Part I apply.

Read on AO3

Part I / Part II / Part III / Part IV / Part V / Part VI / Part VII / Part VIII / Part IX / Part X / Part XI / Epilogue

-x-

Living with Ned and MJ was both a dream come true and a bit of a nightmare.

A dream, because when they were kids, they always talked about how they would all go the same college and live together one day, and Peter would finally have a real home – and a real family, he used to think to himself, in secret.

A nightmare, because he couldn’t help but feel a little jealous of his friends, and that was the worst kind of feeling to have for the people who opened their arms and their home for him when he needed the most. Still, he couldn’t avoid it and he felt awful for that. They were both attending NYU; Ned was majoring in Computer Science and MJ in Journalism. All according to the plans they made in high school.

When Peter was younger, he made plans, too. He wanted to study Biochemistry, his teachers used to say he could probably get a scholarship to a good college, he was smart enough. Mr. Harrington, his science teacher, even offered to write letters of recommendation for him. Instead, Peter’s life choices led him to his current predicament: a 20 year-old porn actor, selling dirty pictures for a living, crashing on his friends’ couch, not a single dollar in his wallet.

He was definitely not getting any awards for good decision making, that was for sure.

He had been staying with Ned and MJ for a week when he was finally able to set up his Just4Fans account. He knew that had to be a temporary thing, it couldn’t last, even if he wanted it to. He wouldn’t be young forever, let alone a “pretty twink”, as his subscribers loved to call him. He had maybe three or four years left of that hype, at most, then he would be too old for that, and/or people would start getting bored of him. So he had to be smart, the plan was to save up as much as he could while he thought about what he was going to do once the fountain of youth dried up, and the clock was ticking fast.

But for the time being, porn.

Good thing he had his own Instagram account with a few thousand followers. All the other social media accounts were under Beck’s name, and those had hundreds of thousands of followers, but Peter no longer had access to them – he checked. He also checked and noticed that Beck hadn’t announced that they had split up yet, his last post dated from five days earlier, when he released their last video together – two days after kicking him out of the house, the asshole.

So Peter posted a few Instagram stories explaining to his followers that he and Beck weren’t a thing anymore – he didn’t give many details, he didn’t want any drama, specially not with Beck – and that he had set up a Just4Fans account for the time being. In minutes, his Instagram blew up. Apparently, people were either heartbroken over their breakup; relieved he “got rid of that perv!”; or devastated they wouldn’t get to see them doing porn together anymore.

He got a hundred subscribers in just a few hours, which was incredible. The subscription fee was ten dollars a month, so even after the website’s cut plus tax deduction, it still was a good start. He wondered what kind of money Beck made with their videos, because they had thousands of subscribers on their channel.

Once he got the hang of the site, he tried to post at least two sets of pictures a day – which was challenging at that moment, because the apartment was tiny and he didn’t have any outfits or toys with him, they were all at Beck’s. He made plans that as soon as he got the subscription money in around fifteen days, he would try to buy a few things and take tons of pictures to last a few weeks.

He also made sure to answer people’s messages every single day, which often earned him a little more money in tips. It was shocking how many people were willing to tip him just because he answered them. Some other people asked for extra content, like specific pictures, videos or even voice notes, which he sent via “pay-per-view messages”.

In the end, he felt like he was prostituting himself. Again.

He would never judge a person for earning their living in any way necessary, as long as it didn’t hurt anyone, he just never thought that would be him. Never ever. As a kid, he thought he’d be an astronaut. Growing up, he wanted to be a physicist. As a teen, he made plans to study Biochemistry. And somehow he ended up selling his body online, one way or another.

He didn’t dwell on that for long, he focused on the fact that it was temporary. If he managed to retain at least some of the people that had subscribed to his account for two or three years, then he would be able to start a small business of some kind in the future. Maybe he could go back to school. Twenty-three wasn’t too old for college, right?

Right.

It was two weeks later when he got a weird message. Not a weird message, actually, a weird tip. Someone under the username of YKWIM had sent him ten thousand dollars for no reason, there was no prior conversation, nor did the person ask for anything in return. Peter was sure there must have been a mistake, maybe they had typed in some extra zeros or maybe they had sent it to the wrong person, so he decided to reach out.

“Hey. I think there must’ve been some sort of mistake with your last tip. Lol.”

He left his phone on the counter and got started on dinner. He was a terrible cook, but to be fair, they all were, so it was fine. Ned and MJ were both at work, but they would be home soon and they were having a quiet night in. Those few weeks at their place had been good for Peter, it felt nice not to be alone after what happened, but at the same time, he was starting to feel like he really needed his own space. He was already looking for an apartment to move into as soon as he got the money. He was hoping to get one in the same building or at least close by, so that they could still see each other often.

His cell phone beeped as he sliced some onions and he stopped to check.

“Hey, gorgeous. There’s been no mistake, it’s correct.” Peter was taken aback by the answer, so he checked again to see how much the person had tipped him, and sure enough, there it was. Ten thousand dollars. Ten thousand. American dollars.

“Oh. Wow, that was very, very generous of you. Is there any particular content that you’d like to see from me as a thank you? I could send you exclusive pics and videos, whatever you want.” Inwardly, he was thinking that no amount of pictures or videos from him would ever be worth ten thousand dollars. Ten thousand dollars, holy fuck.

“That would be excellent.”

“Great. What would you like to see?”

Please don’t be weird, please don’t be weird, please don’t be weird… Usually, Peter’s subscribers liked to see him in cute outfits or with cute toys, but some people liked very messed up stuff. He usually said no, but that person had just sent him ten thousand dollars. Fuck, that was so much money, it would cover rent for at least a few months.

“I’ve enjoyed everything you’ve put out so far, baby, so surprise me. I’m sure I’m gonna like whatever you send.”

God, generous and reasonable? Had Peter died and gone to porn heaven?

“You flatter me.” He typed in quickly, leaving the sauce unattended for a few seconds. “Give me a few hours to work on it, I don’t want to disappoint you.”

“Take your time, but I don’t think you could disappoint me if you tried.”

Peter felt so stupid when he blushed and giggled to himself, because that was exactly how Beck lured him in when he was seventeen, with charming, easy words. He was an adult now, for Christ’s sake, and he didn’t even know who he was talking to. To be fair, it was probably a woman. For some weird reason, according to his Just4Fans statistics, a surprisingly large percentage of his subscribers were middle-aged, cisgender, heterosexual women. Peter supposed those were the ones who used to follow his “love story” with Beck – most of them hadn’t got over them yet, apparently they were “the perfect couple! So cute!”.

He couldn’t blame them, they sold them the perfect love story. And for a time, it was true. Peter really thought Beck was it for him, the love of his life, his soulmate. He didn’t know at which point it all became an act to Beck – or if maybe it had always been an act.

He sighed, shaking his head, he couldn’t afford to waste time thinking about him, so he focused on what he should send YKWIM.

As he finished making dinner, he tried to come up with ideas. They said they loved everything Peter had posted so far – he had posted thirty pictures and five short clips over the past two weeks. The pictures were all in MJ’s bedroom – she offered –, most of them in her bed. There were only a few pictures in which he was completely naked, in the others he had some sort of underwear on – lingerie or tight briefs.

So, he decided he should do something similar, but different enough that YKWIM would feel somewhat special. He had a few good ideas, but they would have to wait for the next morning, he would need good lighting and privacy.

“Hey, nerd, what’s up,” He almost burned his fingers when he heard MJ’s voice, and realized he had spaced out for a minute there. He shook his head quickly and smiled at her.

“Nothing, how was you day?”

The next morning, once Ned went to visit his family and MJ left for work, Peter started working on the pictures. For some reason, he didn’t want to tell his friends about YKWIM, just like he didn’t want to tell them about Beck when they first met, three years earlier. And if he really was as smart as his teachers used to say, he would have seen the pattern. But as it was, he just focused on the fact that YKWIM was probably a woman living on the other side of the world, who just liked to get off to pictures of pretty boys in lingerie.

But.

For the sake of getting in the mood for the pictures, he imagined YKWIM was a guy. Not too tall, but taller than him. He imagined he had a beard, but not a full one, like Beck’s, no, perfectly trimmed, scratchy, in a good way. He’d have dark, warm eyes, not blue and cold. He’d be older, older than Beck, more mature than him. A real man. Maybe he’d have a few streaks of gray amidst his otherwise dark hair.

He’d be gentle, despite Peter’s past. He’d treat him like he was the first one to ever touch him, even if he knew that was far from the truth. He would be careful, mindful of his pleasure. He’d start off slowly, kissing along his collarbones, fingers brushing the sensitive skin on the inside of his thighs, just shy of where Peter wanted him to touch, as his mouth traveled down his chest; hot, moist breath leaving a trail of kisses down his stomach.

He sighed. Yeah, that would do to put him in the mood.

He put on a white t-shirt that was just long enough to graze the tops of his thighs, and a simple, plain black thong. He decided to take the pictures in the shower – the classic wet, white t-shirt, he couldn’t really go wrong with that. He positioned the camera on top of the bathroom sink, set the timer, and started posing.

First, he rested his back against the wall, one hand pulling the t-shirt down to cover the front his underwear, eyes staring directly at the camera lens as water ran down his face, neck and chest, making his nipples stiffen, becoming visible under the wet shirt.

Next, he pressed his chest to the wall, looking at the camera from over his shoulder, lips parted, just a peek of his exposed ass cheeks showing where the t-shirt ended, but by then it was so wet it was mostly see-through.

Then he turned so his side was facing the camera and stuck his head directly under the stream of water, running his hands through his hair, back arched obscenely, eyes closed. He let his hands travel all the way down his neck, chest, and stomach, hearing the familiar “click” as the camera took several pictures.

He turned around again, placed his hands on the wall and lifted his t-shirt just over his lower back, sticking his ass out, showing off his provocative underwear.

He got out of the shower and turned the camera into filming mode, then got back under the water and also shot a short clip of he sensually and slowly taking the thong off, but in a way that the viewer couldn’t really see the skin that was revealed. He pulled the wet t-shirt down so it covered everything, but by then it was so see-through that it left nothing to the imagination. Peter twirled a little, then threw an innocent, shy smile at the camera.

That should do it.

He finished his shower, put the wet clothes in the washer, then went to edit the pictures. He didn’t do much, just adjusted the light and contrast, then cut them into squares, because he though it looked classier or whatever. He chuckled to himself at the absurdity of that thought, as he attached the photos and the video to a direct message to YKWIM.

“Hey, gorgeous! Hopefully these won’t disappoint. Let me know if you’d like something different.”

He cringed re-reading the message, he thought he sounded desperate and insecure about himself and he supposed that wasn’t very attractive, so he decided to change it just a little.

“Hey, gorgeous! Hopefully these won’t disappoint.” And he finished off with a hot face emoji, because why not.

He sent the message and went on with his day. Ned and MJ were both back for lunch and since none of them felt like cooking – and they all sucked at it anyway –, they ordered something to eat in front of the TV, as they binge-watched the first seasons of The Office.

“Oh, hey, Pete, I almost forgot, I talked to our landlord earlier and he said there’s an apartment on the fifth floor that should be vacated by the end of the month, if you’re interested,” Ned told him around a mouthful of pizza and Peter’s head snapped up.

“I’m definitely interested!”

“Cool, I’ll talk to him for you, I’m sure I can get you a good deal on rent.” He winked, and Peter smiled, feeling hopeful.

Things were getting better. Slowly, yes, but they were. He was spending time with his friends – who he had neglected for the past two years–; he had a good amount of money to withdraw in the next few days, that could get him going for a while; he was still doing porn, yes, but at least he was in control of the whole thing, including his own body, which was nice; and he only cried for Beck every other night instead of every single night, so he had that going for him.

All in all, things were looking up.

Ned and MJ convinced him to go out for a bit in the afternoon, they said he had been cooped up in the apartment for three weeks and should breathe in some fresh air, and since it was the first somewhat warm day of March, they decided to go jog at Central Park in the afternoon. They didn’t really jog, but they walked around some and Peter must admit that it felt good to stretch his legs and feel the sun on his skin for a change.

They were lying on the grass, resting for a bit, when they saw a blur of red and gold fly overhead. People started cheering and clapping and Peter smiled when MJ groaned, because he knew exactly what she was going to say.

“How can people cheer for that guy, he’s an egocentric, misogynistic, elitist, disgusting asshole.” He laughed to himself, because he knew what came next.

“He’s a genius, he changed the world multiple times and he even saved it at least twice. I think he’s pretty cool,” Ned argued without any heat and Peter could hear MJ rolling her eyes.

Peter didn’t love or hate Tony Stark or Iron Man, like most people, he just – didn’t pay him any mind. Sure, when he was a kid, he was obsessed with him, he was New York’s first superhero after Captain America, who was still in the ice when Stark announced he was Iron Man. But as he grew older, he had other concerns in mind other than who was the coolest Avenger, so he kind of forgot they existed, except for when there was some crazy alien threat looming over New York City – which was, like, a biannual thing since they found out aliens existed back in 2012.

The fact that Iron Man was flying over Central Park on a Saturday afternoon was a little alarming though. From what Peter knew, Stark was mostly retired since around 2016, he only ever “avenged” when there was a big threat, like the near-end-of-the-world they had back in 2018.

“Do you think we’re under attack?” Peter asked and Ned shook his head calmly.

“Nah, I think he must be late for something. I read an interview recently and he said he uses the suit sometimes when he needs to get some place fast.”

Seemed like overkill, but who was Peter to judge, he would probably do the same if had a suit like that.

They spent the rest of the afternoon in the park and then headed home for the night. MJ turned in early, she said she was beat from a busy week, and Peter and Ned stayed up until a little later, re-watching Star Wars movies. It was close to 2AM when Ned said his goodnight and Peter went to check his Just4Fans, because he hadn’t answered any messages all day long.

There were quite a few, but he did notice there was one missing. YKWIM hadn’t answered him yet and Peter immediately felt like a failure. They probably hated the pictures, they must have thought “ugh, ten thousand dollars for that?”. Peter should have photoshopped them. He could have made himself look at least a little bit better, if only–

Before he could hate on himself too much, YKWIM messaged him, like they could read minds. Peter quickly opened their chat, still a little worried about their reaction to the pictures.

“Damn, baby! You have no fucking idea what those did to me. Fuck! Can I show you? Please?”

Peter was oddly relieved to read that, and was endeared by the fact that they actually asked before sending a dick pic. Or a clit pic? Was that a thing?

“Of course, gorgeous, I’d love to see it.”

Within seconds, they sent a video in the chat. Peter was a little surprised by that, but pressed play anyway, and almost fell off the couch when he did.

It was a thirteen seconds video. He could see the man’s midriff, all the way down to the tops of his thighs. His belly was toned and spattered with dark hair that led down to perfectly trimmed pubes that framed the most beautiful cock Peter had ever seen. There was no other way to put it.

It was long and thick, but not so much so that it would hurt – Peter knew better –, it stood proudly between his thighs, attached to a heavy set of balls that made his mouth water. He was jacking it mercilessly, Peter could only hear him grunting quietly before his balls recoiled and he came, covering his stomach in thick, pearly white come. Peter whimpered, pressing down on his hard-on, and almost cried when the video was over.

“Fuck, daddy, that was so fucking hot.” It was probably the first time ever that he actually meant that answering a DM from a subscriber.

“That was the third time today, baby, I have been thinking about those pics from the minute you sent them. Spent the whole day with blue balls, even after coming twice.”

Fuck.

“Wish I could have helped you with that.”

“Who knows, honey, maybe someday.”

Yeah, Peter thought, biting his pillow on the couch so he wouldn’t be heard when he came embarrassingly hard in his pajamas pants, face burning with shame. Maybe someday.

#starker #peter parker x tony stark

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