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thehollowprince · 3 years

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Sterek, Thiam, & Queerbaiting, Oh My!

(Or how racism and homophobia suppressed the actual representation of gay men in the show that fandom so desperately claimed they wanted.)

So, I'm just going to come out and say it right off the bat: neither of these ships were actually queerbaiting. As a matter of fact, I'd say that those ships just by themselves (and the fandoms that rose around them) were low-key homophobic. The reason I say this isn't just because of the large number of women in this fandom that fetishize mlm sexuality, nor is it about those who attack anyone who has any critique of those ships, its just about the ships themselves.

Now, one could argue that those ships arose from the fandom, and that is true, forever linking canon and fanon in the worst possible way, but this is more to do with the fact that the production of this show cowtowed to the vocal fans on Twitter and put moments in there that, while not explicitly canon, was a not-so-subtle nod to those "fans" that harassed people over crack ships.

Of course, I've been over this before, the pedophilic nature of Sterek and the outright abusive elements to Thiam, but those very real complaints (from an actual gay man like myself) always fall on deaf ears or is usually met with the whole "fiction doesn't affect reality" spiel. And this is incredibly frustrating (or even downright infuriating) to those of us who have had to live with these stereotypes because of our sexuality. To this day there are people out there who equate gay men with pedophiles. That's one of the major talking points for these anti-LGBT religious groups and there's an entire group of people on the internet who are dedicated to promoting a predatory style relationship (Sterek).

What makes the popularity of Sterek so infuriating, is the fact that we had Danny right there. Danny was present in the second episode of the series. We were introduced to him before there was any kind of interaction between Stiles and Derek, and yet he is continually slept on by the fandom, and then by the production as a result of the fandom, which eventually led to Danny just disappearing from the show entirely. To add insult to injury, Danny was practically everything Fandom was crying for when it came to gay representation. He was handsome with a nice body, smart and funny, and everyone liked him, and yet there's usually cricket chirps whenever he's mentioned. Something similar happened to Scott - a character that who stuck fast to his morals and was just an all around good person, and yet so many people violently hated him. Now what could Danny and Scott have in common that made so many people look past them? Gee, I wonder?

Moving forward, once Sterek was no longer a possibility, rather than focus on, I don't know, Mason, a character that was tailor-made for the fandom, they once again make up a crack ship to flock around (Thiam) rather than focus on the actual, consensual relationship that was made up of actual gay characters.

But you may be saying to yourself, "at least these two (Theo and Liam) were around the same age", and you would be right in that regards. But what makes this ship bad, is that it's rooted entirely in first deceit and then later in physical violence. I remember very vividly seeing someone say that Liam and Theo punching each other was how they expressed their affection and I was horrified by that. How many times a day on this app do we see posts floating around that domestic violence is wrong? And then how many times do you see a ship (usually a crack ship) that a fandom loves rooted in physical violence? The disconnect is terrifying.

All of this while Mason and Corey were right there, being cute and in love and everything that fandom claims they want when it comes to representation, yet they're totally ignored in favor of the two straight characters beating the shit out of one another. This is why so many franchises revolving around these "macho men" are able to thrive, even though so many people (mostly women) in fandom claim they want softer men. And yet, whenever a softer man is presented, particularly if they're a man of color, they're brushed aside.

And that's just mlm representation! You hear almost nothing when it comes to wlw representation, unless its to get the women "out of the way".

This all comes down to the racism that permeates every level of fandom. I'm not saying this is intentional, because we've all done it. Hell, I did it. When I joined the Teen Wolf fandom, I followed pro-Sterek blogs and reblogged Sterek posts, because I wanted to be accepted in the fandom, and I bought into the propaganda that was fanon!Sterek. I read the metas and the fics and decided to believe in those instead of what I saw on the screen with my own two eyes. Thankfully, I snapped out of it, but that's why Sterek (and later Thiam) dominated fandom spaces, even making their way to polls for "Best Couple" on many websites.

And then, when these ships don't become canon, fandom screams QUEERBAITING!!! Even though those ships were something made up entirely by the fandom and never something that production considered being canon.

Another big part of how the situation gets as bad as it does is that fandom misunderstands (either accidentally or deliberately) what racism actually means. It's not just the throwing of slurs, it's the preference of the white character over the character of color, even though the latter has everything they said they wanted. Racism is reducing characters of color to stereotypes, such as a brown or brown person being violent (Tamora and Kali) or the sexually obsessed Latino (Scott) or the untrustworthy negro (Deaton and Morrell). Hell, even Boyd was thrust into the silent negro stereotype for some reason.

Now this part, this is as much the production's fault as it is the fandoms, because while the former introduced those concepts (or even if fandom thinks they introduced those concepts) fandom then takes them and blows them out of proportion. How many times have I gotten an ask from that one anon telling me that Scott was "obsessed" with Allison? How many times have I seen metas about how Deaton was "untrustworthy" because he didn't share his every waking thought? How many times did we see particular blogs slut-shame Braeden because she engaged in a consensual relationship with Derek?

And the thing about those is, yes, the original idea was introduced in the show, such as Scott's relationship with Allison or Deaton only offering advice when asked or Derek and Braeden flirting, but fandom took them and cranked them up to eleven in an effort to make these characters look horrible. This is something we don't see at all when it comes to their white counterparts. Stiles is never described as "obsessed" by the fandom despite his fixation on Lydia. Peter is almost never described as "untrustworthy" by the fans despite lying and decieving people all the time. Neither Lydia or Malia are called sluts for being sexually active despite not being in relationships.

When Derek repeatedly assaults Stiles (or Scott, not that fandom cared), it's seen as quirky or romantic (same with Thiam), but when Scott hits Isaac or Jackson, in scenes that were very specifically shown to be comedic, its seen as abusive and violent. Stiles asking Danny if he's "attractive to gay guys" or pausing after Caitlin asked him if he liked guys is deemed proof that he's bisexual, but Scott's interactions with Isaac and Danny (or even Stiles himself), where had they been a guy and a girl, it would have clearly been an intimate moment, is still considered absolutely straight by fandom.

So what's the difference?

It's the racism.

The real kicker at the end of the day here is that fans cry queerbaiting, all the while they're actively sleeping on the actual gay representation that's there. It doesn't fit their aesthetic, so they ignore it, and then wonder why mlm relationships are going down in television. I'm not saying we shouldn't want or demand more representation in media, but people can't be so ignorant as to outright ignore the representation they're given and then wonder why they're not getting more.

Well, this got way longer than I originally intended and I hope I'm not just screaming into the void, but this is an issue that's still relevant, all these years after Teen Wolf ended.

#teen wolf meta #teen wolf fandom problems #teen wolf racism #scott mccall defense squad #anti sterek #anti thiam

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migleefulmoments · 4 years

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Crisscolfer Strategy #1

I stumbled upon this 2017 post from Abby and I was struck by the first 2 paragraphs because she lays out her strategy for finding cc proof- nothing is surprising but to see her admit the simplicity of the 3-prong approach is breathtaking. For someone who spent a lot of time claiming she knew more than she could share, it’s impossible to imagine where that type of knowledge fits into this simplistic strategy. The rest of this writing covers satangate- I did make some comments but you can skip it if you want:

(X)Anonymous asked: I've been out of the CC game for a while since I moved but I still ship them. Basically I want to know if there's been any recent interaction between Chris and Darren cuz I can't find anything but I saw Darren's tweet about if you insult his you insult him and it really shocked me I've missed so much!

ajw720 answered: Hi anon. Darren and Chris have not publicly been seen together since the end of Glee. They both did the march in LA last week. But we’re a block or two apart. Fact is. Ours is not an easy ship to sail. To believe. You have to look at everything from the clues on social media. To the messages in chris’ books. And the ones in the lyrics of songs Darren talks about. Some clues are overt, like My Chris Col-Fur, some more subtle like a reference to Flounder a few days after the Little Mermaid. (Here she sums up her strategy and it looks as pathetic as it is. To believe in CrissColfer you have to look for clues on social media, find the messages in Chris’s books and Darren’s song lyrics-not songs he writes but songs he talks about as if he is Blaine breaking into song to express himself at Dalton. That’s it! That is the cc recipe for finding CrissColfer clues: hyper-analyze social media, read Chris’s children’s books, and hyper-analyze song’s Darren talks about.)

To be here and believe. You have to be smart, observant, thick skinned, resilient and patient. And you have to be willing to overlook the many lies that have been told. (Now she sets expectations- they spent years bragging about how smart and observant they are. That has stopped in the last year or so- I guess the wedding she didn’t see coming even after Darren, Mia, Chord and a bunch of StarKids all headed to NOLA and Vera Wang posted on IG about a special wedding shook her enough to stop claiming she was observant. Smart? If you spend 5-10 years believing Darren’s life as told only through gifs, screen captures, and anon stories than you are not very smart. You have to be thick-skinned because Abby loved Darren and finding Darren and Mia together was very difficult. You have to be resilient and patient because there isn’t much cc evidence to find. This was written in 2017 - two years post-Glee so she knew that very little evidence was to be had and that the days of Chris and Darren hanging out bts or at work events were long over. The last line is the most. telling “you have to be willing to overlook the many lies that have been told”. Of course, the “lies that have been told" are actually Darren’s truth.)

But honestly. There’s enough. 2 years later and the clues are plentiful. And frequent. And we have the help of Team Beard who thankfully are horrific at their job. Plus. Chris truly is the captain. He can say what he wants about fandom. But he gives to ours a lot. (This is very disingenuous- there weren’t many clues at this point. The clues were in Chris’s books and Darren’s song. Mostly they were still skating by reblogging the cc evidence collected during Glee but that was getting very tired and stale).

Satangate. Not a lot is known to be honest. It was after the DC pops concert. A young fan, said to be about 15 years old, uttered the word Satan. The sound was caught on video. The word was said. No one. No one knows who it was directed at or why she said it. After that Darren left.

Allegedly he returned shortly after. Said fuck you to the young fan. But what’s interesting. No one. Not one single person out of what I understand to be about 10 people caught it on film. So we don’t actually know, do we? Do I think Darren is innocent? Not completely. I’m guessing something occurred. But how bad it was, we have no idea. (This argument is so stupid- Darren walked back in and yelled- it probably took 10 seconds total. The 10 fans were already dispersing and didn’t expect Darren to waltz back in and yell at them. Nobody had any reason to have their phones out or to start recording and it was over in an instant. This was the first time I remember Abby needing “photographic evidence or it didn’t happen” but only when she didn’t like the story. If it was cc-positive- it didn’t matter who or where the evidence came from).

Subsequently there was the disrespect tweet on twitter. No doubt that was posted by Ricky or beard herself. Both of whom were present. (See-no proof required. She just knows it wasn’t Darren who posted the words on his Twitter than matched the message he gave to the small crowd of fans. She doesn’t like the Tweet and she doesn’t like Mia so that is all he proof she needs- Mia did it)

The fall out. Darren got so much hate and for a prolonged period. It appears he called out a young fan for saying the word Satan. Do not get me wrong. No one should be calling names to someone’s face. I don’t agree with that and I think you all know my personal feelings about the people who surround Darren. That is disrespectful. But this was handled terribly and it appears that a young fan was shamed. Not just in person but on social media. By an adult.(Darren does something wrong but it’s everyone’s fault but his-this is a common theme in her writings)

My opinion? I think a bad situation was made worse by the toxic people in Darren’s life. I think he was pressured and didn’t handle it well. I also think it was greatly exaggerated to show him in a bad light. And I think he regretted it. And Again. The tweet is separate and I’m confident they were not his words. (Besides the outrageous excuses she makes for something he did that she didn’t like, she has to add the part about how he felt. There is no way she could know how he felt. It is comments like this that should worry Abby’s sister and anyone who follows cc because of Abby) .

The one good thing. She was banned from fan events for quite sometime. She’d didn’t go to We day in London. Nor was she present at the next 2 pops concerts. And the one in NYC included an after party with Darren and any member of the audience willing to pay the price of admission (to support the pops).

Darren isn’t always perfect. Nor would I be in his shoes. But he tries to learn and correct himself. And, I have said this multiple times, something happened to him the week he was in London. He was off the radar for a week. Officially we do not know his travel companion but can absolutely confirm she wasn’t there as she was tagged by friends in LA multiple times over the week. And well. It’s convenient that chris was completely off the radar that week. Darren came back with a renewed energy. And a renewed spirit. The NYC concert was the Darren we love.(”He tries to learn and correct himself” -again not something we know. It’s something she hopes and wants to be true but not something Darren spoke about readily. Every time Darren was not on social media he was “off the radar”. In truth, he was only off Abby’s radar. Chris is off the radar most of the time as he doesn’t publicize the events he does attend and he doesn’t do fan photos very often).

And I have noticed a difference in the bearding since then. A Major difference. We get heavy chunks of it. But there have been some deliberate choices made and I think Darren has been protecting himself more. She’s limited when he’s working. It was very evident during hedwig when there was little interaction between the two. (In Jan 2017 she was so observant that she noticed a “difference in the bearding” yet he was engaged by Jan 2018 and married by Feb 2019).

So I do think he learned from that event. And I do think changes were made. And I think that’s the important take away here.

#CrissColfer #Darren Criss #Crisscolfer lol #CC #Abby speaks #CC Strategy

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itsstickball · 5 years

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How do you imagine ppl/teams reacting when they eventually figure out the ‘my husband’ comment¿¿(I love your rivalry hc!!)

I think there are three groups of people who notice the comment at all.

Group number one: The conspiracy fans. They’ve been fighting over which of Neil’s teammates he’s been secretly dating for years. The ship wars started in earnest his fifth year of college and never really died down. Is his husband one of his current teammates? Is it one of his former teammates? Is it the supposed boyfriend of one of his teammates? There’s that weird tension he has with Jean Moreau too, they could totally be fucking. Unsurprisingly, a large portion of people ship him with Matt - despite the numerous articles and pictures that cite him as the best man in his and Dan’s wedding several years prior. (Neil really can’t even say he’s surprised by the fans who claim he’s married to both of them). Half of them are ecstatic that their ship could be the right one and the other half are mourning the swift sinking of their hetero-titanics.

Group two: Gay right warriors.Now this is technically two groups of people. There are those who find the footage and make every type of rainbow-overlaid gif you can imagine. They write posts and articles about bravery, about being gay in sports (it’s mlm, not just gay, a small remnant of them chide), about how they’re inspired to live boldly by Neil. They are internet denizens, news anchors, sponsorship deals, fans.And, unfortunately, just as loud, there are the homophobes. They also talk about homosexuality in sports, about Neil’s troubled past and tenuous relationships with teammates. They exist in the same crevices as the people they spew hate against. They bring up a God twisted into their own image and weaponize their words. As opposite as they are, both factions have the same effect. It’s not Neil they care about, not really. They push, and use him as an example, but really, they’d do the exact same thing if it was Oprah. For them, it’s about the agenda.

Group three: Those in the know.Predictably, the Fox group chat blows up. Neil stops even trying to read after Nicky starts typing out his exclamations one letter at a time. He also receives several texts from his current teammates, a call from his manager that he ignores and seven voicemails from Kevin that lead to him turning his phone off altogether. The ride home is quite pleasant after that. When he turns the device back on the following morning (after letting it vibrate non-stop on the counter for twenty minutes while the rest of his missed messages queued up), he finds mostly a lot of support. Nicky, of course is indignant because he never quite got over the fact that they hadn’t told him they were getting married at all (He’d found out three months after the fact) and here he was, getting blindsided by the announcement again. Neil smiled at the various messages of support from the old Foxes, including a gruff warning from Wymack to stop giving him grey hairs. The smile morphed into an eye-roll at Kevin’s messages - four of which got deleted without him even listening to them (a good thing probably, the sixth one was just Kevin complaining that Neil insulted his dick on live television). He did call his manager back and promise to come in early before their next practice to talk PR. Not all of his current teammates knew he was in a relationship with another man, but of those who didn’t he’s confident he can handle any negative reactions without benching anyone. Mostly, he knows, management just wants to make sure everyone is on the same page. It’s one of the reasons he likes this team.

Ironically enough, big fans of the rivalry don’t think much of it. Unless they fall into one of the above categories, they’re far more interested in the fact that Andrew effectively blew up his twitter for the sole purpose of getting Neil Josten to insult himself on live television. If that isn’t peak rival behavior, then they don’t know what is. He insulted his appearance, his attitude, his obsession with exy. And again, he had to flood his twitter and the mean tweets tag in order to monopolize Neil’s airtime. Before this (and after, tbh), they were lucky if they got one tweet from him a year. The “he’s ugly too” tweet becomes a meme and shows up on many a glitter posterboard in the opposing teams’ sections at Neil’s games. (He likes to take pictures of them and send them to Andrew to be annoying). He doesn’t ever comment on who his husband is, though.

In the end, of course the only reaction that matters is Andrew’s.

Ten minutes after he turns his smart phone off and two after he walks into the door of his apartment, a dingy, cracked plastic brick of a flip phone tries to rattle its way out of the top drawer of Neil’s nightstand. He doesn’t bother looking at the caller ID before flipping it open. Only one person knows he has the thing, let alone remembers the number for it.

“I didn’t know you’d taken up writing love letters.” Neil says into the receiver, his smile evident in his voice.

“I didn’t know you were planning on announcing your relationship status to the world.”

Andrew’s rebuttal is calm; he’s not angry. Neil can tell even over the phone. Still, he sits down hard on the edge of the bed.

“Oh.” He says, scrubbing his eyes with the heel of his hands as his words from earlier come back to him. Even with all of the hubub from the Foxes, the implications of what he’d said hadn’t really sunk in. He tells Andrew as much.

Andrew, thankfully is neither surprised nor tired of dealing with him. He hums non-committally then tells Neil he’s trending on twitter.

“Still think no one likes a smart mouth?”

Neil grins into the silence, imagining the way Andrew’s mouth flattens into a line when he thinks his husband is being particularly bothersome.

“What I think is that I’d still rather hear you choking on a dick.”

“Yeah?”

Neil’s grin grows to the edges of his face and he flops back onto the bed. He had other plans for the morning before meeting Kevin for lunch, but they can wait. Andrew is transferring to his team in three months. But until then, he’s going to soak up every possible opportunity to spend time with him. After all, he is Neil’s husband.

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jihoonmi · 5 years

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hello!! ❣

hello mi!! i’m so excited to be here (again!!) many of you know me! i’m carly. i was previously @jeonggukxmi last time mi was open, and thankfully, i’ve returned with him-- same exact muse, but after undergoing some pretty drastic changes since i dropped him at the end of 2017. i also have my new little baby monster, jihoon here, whom i might be even more excited for (yes, for those of you that follow me on twitter, this is [redacted])

for those of you that don’t know me, it’s great to meet you! i hope we’ll be fast friends ;w; a little bit about my history with mi, because a bitch is emo: i actually founded this roleplay back in 2014, first edition of mi-- murder inc. we closed after about three months because none of us were cut out for adminning at the time, and then we reopened mi again with some of the same staff and a new addition sometime at the end of 2015! i was actually mod of another roleplay at the same time i did that, and eventually had to step up to admin that and could not admin two roleplays, so i stepped down in mi, i think in 2016. that’s when our current champions, bek and abbie, stepped into the arena and grew mi into a wonderful community up until august of last year, when the last iteration of mi went on hiatus. now, we’re back with a new mi, better than ever!! and words cannot express how proud i am of bek and abbie and how grateful i am that they ended up inheriting the roleplay and making this new (beautiful!! showstopping!! spectacular!) version of it. it was divine intervention tbh, i’m convinced

AS SUCH i am so so happy to be here and get to be a part of this!! i apologize for the mi history lesson...i just got in my feelings. more importantly, the muses!! i have jeongguk’s profile here, and his full length novel of a life story is linked at the bottom. jihoon, on the other hand, has no pages because i’m a big flop, so i’ll put a rundown of him under the cut.

i’m going to try and avoid plotting on jihoon (see: try) because i’m holding myself hostage until i get at least a profile page done for him, but anyone that is interested in plotting with jihoon or jeongguk, please like this post. i’ll find my way to you as soon as i can so we can at least start talking, even if you want jihoon and i have to kindly ask you to wait on me hahaha. alternatively, contact me on twitter @taekaimoon! (i also have discord) feel free to follow me and talk to me even if we aren’t plotting, too ;w; onward!!

jihoon is a ‘99 liner, he will turn 20 at the end of may

born and raised on the island!

he is seemingly a human emoji, very ^o^ uwu ^ ^ on the outside, but do not be fooled, the cuteness is merely (mostly) an illusion meant to manipulate

in reality, his dad was a successful businessman due in part to making deals with all of the gangs. he never pledged loyalty to one, thus acting as a middleman of sorts. to his credit, he did build up his reputation and and fortune on his own, he wasn’t born into it

jihoon’s mother always dreamed of being a chef but worked most of her life as a seamstress, not ignorant to but ultimately avoiding the crime of the island, until she married her husband. true love flowed and prevailed and she didn’t leave his ass despite his shady dealings, and instead she learned to defend herself too

about a year before jihoon was born, jihoon’s dad surprised his mom on their anniversary with a deed to a building that would be their restaurant, co-owned by both of them. they named it the crow’s nest

jihoon was born not long after, and tcn’s head chef couldn’t just abandon her post, so jihoon essentially grew up in the restaurant

this was not any ordinary restaurant, however, and quickly became a neutral hub for gang activity, including but not limited to meetings, deals, and alliances, though they always exercised a no violence policy (sometimes resorting to violence themselves to enforce this)

therefore jihoon was exposed to the gangs very early on despite his mother trying to protect him, and grew desensitized to the dark side of myeongcho very quickly

since his mother couldn’t shield him from the reality of myeongcho, his father trained him to protect himself in it. thankfully, this was not in an unhealthy way, and consisted mostly of street smarts, self defense training, how to shoot a gun, and other useful things for someone frequently dealing with gangs

he’s never really had a normal life, and hasn’t really tried to. sometimes he resents this fact, but it’s rarely-- he usually enjoys it just fine

this has had some troubling impact on his personality, including but not limited to him being manipulative as hell and a spoiled little punk, having kleptomania, having a twisted nature, fixating on people instead of developing healthy feelings for them, and having a deeply sarcastic, controlling, and broody nature underneath all of his saccharine candy floss pretense. when his uwuing fails to manipulate you, sometimes the act will drop and he he’ll get a dark glint in his eye and turn all stone-faced and start threatening you and he Can back (most of) those up

he grew up “working” at the crow’s nest from as early as he can remember, but only really officially once he became a teenager, where he was a waiter. after he turned 19, his dad promoted him to manager and fired their old one. dad is in and out these days because he’s traveling back to the mainland a lot for a potential crow’s nest expansion, so jihoon is The Man In Charge when he’s away, yes he is way too young for this, no he does not think so

he has already confirmed shot a man dead and broken a plate over a man’s head to maintain order in the past year, and i’m sure he’s done more he hasn’t told me about yet

somehow in spite of this the crow’s nest is still a largely trusted neutral establishment, and most people that come trust the staff to also remain neutral and protect all activity remaining civil. maybe their commitment to this aids that reputation?? maybe it hurts it?? we don’t know...you decide

@gahyeonmi is his cousin, but was essentially raised as his sister after her parents passed away early in their life. their relationship is...complicated, but he cares for her

he was pretty popular in high school because it turns out acting super friendly and cute even when you aren’t gets you that. he went to myeongmoon! he played soccer, and he dated a bit but decided pretty quickly that dating wasn’t for him because he just felt Nothing on an emotional level. also discovered pretty quickly that he likes boys, though he’s still not sure if that’s entirely exclusively or just a heavy bias

he’s now going to myeongcho university, studying pre-law with no intention to actually become a lawyer, he just thinks the knowledge is useful and figures he’ll inherit the restaurant anyway, and he’s fine with this

he picked up magic tricks in middle school because he needed a hobby, and since has become pretty passionate about it, TOTALLY not because it gives him an excuse to pickpocket people, not at all. his specialty is card tricks, but he’s not limited to that, and can also break out of some handcuffs and supposedly a straight jacket though he hasn’t actually tried that yet

yes, he is a thief. he steals things from everyone and keeps what he collects on a bookshelf in the dorm he shares with @mihaknyeon. he used to keep them in a display case back when he lived with his parents, yes he is a freak

he’s not just a pickpocket, he also picks up larger scale thief missions from the crow’s nest patrons that know his skillset, and as such has a little experience with everyone under the sun (his favorite gang to work with is lynx)

i think that’s all i’ve got, and SURELY it’s enough!! excuse me as i paste this word for word on his profile page thank you for reading! [jihoon vc] ^^

#mi:intro #&out of control #& // we in this bitch #this was so long #you'll quickly learn this is common with me #tl;dr: i LOVE YOU!!! HELLO!!!

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lakeham · 5 years

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JACK DALEY is 26 YEARS OLD, resides DOWNTOWN and has lived in Lakeham for 3 YEARS. He is MALE and works as a PODCASTER/COMEDIAN. He is portrayed by TARON EGERTON and is played by MAD.

Jack was never sure what the root of his pain was. Maybe it was jut that he had been painfully average his whole life. He was always halfway good at something, where maybe with a little practice he could maybe get somewhere, but why practice if you’re not immediately at the level you want to be? One thing Jack was good at, had always been good at, was sitting down and watching The Simpsons. In hindsight, maybe that wasn’t a bad thing, because it taught him how to be funny, which is how he ended up here.

Jack had started doing stand-up comedy first in the local scene of Philadelphia (where he was born), which he enjoyed the process of, but performing was another thing; he wasn’t great in front of a crowd, and tended to go off-script and start ranting about politics. Another thing he did in his childhood was read a lot of news, and thankfully he had been steered in the direction of leftism; though Jack jokes he was just one hour of 4chan browsing away from becoming another alt-right shithead. His personality unfortunately read that way too; he wasn’t great at being politically correct, but he learned early in his comedy career that there are buttons you can’t push anymore. Fine with him, if anything, it made him have to get a little more creative with his jokes, and therefore, a better comedian. But he still likes to be a little bit mean–Jack just learned you have to be mean to the right people.

The crowds were an issue, though. Jack always had the kind of personality where you either loved him or hated him. Live shows hated him. But the internet–the internet loved him, in the way the internet usually adores anyone who says their opinion the loudest, the meanest, and the funniest.

He chalks it up to being in the right place at the right time: in this instance, the early days of twitter. Due to the sheer force of his jokes online, he gathered a following, even fans. Other comedians started talking to him too. Jack had a knack for collaboration, but only if other people could get on his level immediately. Somehow, and he wasn’t sure how because he never went to college, the kinds of people most attracted to Jack were smart. Political journalists, professors, psychologists. Jack joked that psychologists loved him because they wanted to crack into his head to try and understand where the jokes ended and where his life began; a line Jack had blurred so much at this point he wasn’t even sure who he was. But all that aside, he got to talking with some people and he got inspired. He didn’t need to go in front of crowds to make a living as a comedian anymore, because as soon as his follower count on twitter hit 200k, the golden age of podcasting and twitch streaming had begun.

Jack integrated the two like many had done before him with a bi-weekly late night livestream comedy/radio/political show, subtly titled Jackin’ It. He does the show twice a week: once a week he has a call-in show, where fans and friends from all over call into the show, mostly to complain about their jobs or living in late-capitalist America. The other show is just an interview/comedy podcast that pertains to current events with various comedy guests. The appeal of the show is Jack’s quick-wittedness in the face of pessimism, his ability to recall random, true facts about politicians or other public figures (and oftentimes, do impressions of them), and how expertly he can roast anyone who deserves it. He makes a pretty penny on his Patreon, enough to not have to work a real job anymore, though he does do the occasional live show here and there still. But he doesn’t need the finer things in life, and he didn’t care for travelling anyway; however once the podcast started garnering popularity he decided to move a little further from the city; somewhere where no one would recognize him on the street: thus, he moved to Lakeham. It’s a nice, expensive town, but he lives modestly.

However, all the professional success has brought little in the way of actual peace of mind for Jack. He’s depressive, relies on drugs and alcohol too much, and doesn’t talk to his dad anymore. Maybe it’s too much of the internet, overly- ironic comedy, or politics that’s poisoning his mind, but Jack thinks it’s something deeper. Something at the root of his soul he can’t quite shake, which comes out sometimes on the show; manic descriptions of various injustices taking place all over the globe, a penchant for conspiracy theories, and on occasion, just general rage and an unforgiving attitude.

But if he just smokes enough weed, it’s fine. Usually.

He was born and raised in Philly to a single father. His father loved him but had communication problems, leading to a rift in their relationship by the time Jack was a teenager. He started doing improv and stand up comedy at 17, including drawing and making strange online videos. He also started on twitter very early, making friends with a lot of comedians based on the sheer power of his posts. Jack’s online following grew, and soon he was collaborating with comics who he had grown up loving. He realized, however, that he didn’t like performing in front of a crowd, which is how the podcast began.

❝ I AM FREE AND THAT IS WHY I AM LOST.❞

Jack has a little bit over 200 thousand followers on twitter and 25 thousand on instagram, his podcast gets anywhere between 15-30 thousand streams and his patreon is at 10 thousand patrons with 40 thousand dollars a month. With this excellent salary, Jack tries to save what he think he needs, knowing that his luck will probably run out when he can’t get meme famous anymore. However he’s very generous and donates to many charities and political organizations he believes in, including but not limited to the DSA and CPUSA.

Jack identifies as “straight”, but the truth of it is that he definitely has an attraction to men and is trying to explore that (as casually and discretely as possible).

It’s possible that Jack is on the spectrum; he has obsessive tendencies and an oddly sharp memory recall. However, on the flip side he can seem isolated and a little strange in initial conversations (but he makes a lot of eye contact; maybe too much.)

He loves the gym; most of the time spent outside his house is there.

(+) Sharp-witted, creative, passionate. (-) Manic, insensitive, fatalist.

#jack daley #taron egerton #male #all #downtown

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podcake · 7 years

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Podcast Teatime: The Question Session

A very welcome February day to you all! This is my first Q&A of the new year and I thought no one was better to pick for this beloved series than the creator of The Bright Sessions podcast, Lauren Shippen.

I’ve been itching to know what this starlet in the podcasting scene has to say about her work on the show, her muses, and what she might have in store for us in the future.

(The following is a direct copy-and-paste from the email)

Hi PodCake!

Thanks for reaching out! Here are my answers:

Question One: What drove you to make the series have therapy as a central plot point? Is it more of a framing device for the overall narrative or is there a more specific reason?

It definitely started as a very convenient framing device. Everyone knows what therapy is, and has an idea of what happens there, so there wasn’t a complicated premise or world that the audience needs to buy into. It also gave me the excuse to keep things confined to two people in one room - those kinds of scenes can be hard to keep active, but with therapy as an activity in of itself, the audience doesn’t get bored (hopefully).

But ultimately, I wanted to write something that would allow characters to really discuss their feelings and delve into their own emotional lives. People rarely do this in their actual lives, but therapy provides this space.

Question Two: Is there an ultimate plan you have for your overall story or do you simply make things up as you go along?

It’s a little bit of both. My writing is always very focused on character, rather than plot, so I usually think about where I want to take the characters and build the plot around that. There are some exceptions to this (which I won’t identify here because: spoilers), but I’m rarely thinking about the big plot machinations first.

As I start to map out a season, I have a target that I’m trying to hit, whether it’s a reveal about a character, a big change in the dynamic of the group, etc. I then start to write the season with that target in mind, but how I get there is discovered along the way. This has meant that some things have changed pretty drastically from when I started out, but it has also led to some really exciting, organic discoveries about the characters themselves.

Question Three: Your show has a very interesting cast of characters. Is there a specific character you have the funnest time writing for? Whose the hardest character to put on paper?

I think this shows in his scripts, but I love writing Caleb. That’s why his scripts are usually at least 5 pages longer than everyone else’s. I like getting my brain into that teenage boy voice and I love the contradictions that Caleb contains - he’s smart, but so often oblivious; he’s very caring, but he also has an anger problem; he wants to talk about his feelings, but he can be so bad at communicating.

I’m also really enjoying writing both Mark and Wadsworth this season. Mark is such a cheery, charismatic person who has been through so much trauma - balancing who he is by nature with what has happened to him is a fun challenge. Wadsworth is just…she’s awesome, and so unbelievably arrogant, but has reason to be, and that’s a lot of fun to write.

Chloe is definitely the hardest to write. She’s constantly having at least two conversations: the one that’s happening out loud and the one she’s participating in in her head with everyone’s thoughts. Chloe is always at least one step ahead of everyone she’s talking to, so balancing each of those conversations and thinking about how what she’s hearing is affecting her own emotional state can be really difficult.

Question Four: I tend to use The Bright Sessions as a great example of expressive and effective acting in audio drama and I’m curious as to where you found so many wonderful actors. Did you already know them all or did you seek them out yourself?

I am lucky enough to live in Los Angeles, where I am surrounded by incredible actors that the big shots haven’t discovered yet. Most of the cast are from an acting class I’ve been taking at The BGB Studio for three years. Julia (Dr. Bright), Briggon (Caleb), Charlie (Damien), Andrew (Mark), Phillip (Frank), and Alanna (Rose) all go to that studio and that’s where I met them.

Anna (Chloe) and I met in a UCB class three years ago, and she introduced me to Ian and Alex M., who play Agent Green and Wadsworth respectively. Briggon, appropriately, introduced me to Alex G., who plays Adam. And then we have Reyn, who plays Charlie Decker, and who I know from ars Paradoxica, which our sound producer, Mischa Stanton, created. So it really is a family affair.

Question Five: The Bright Sessions has been achieving a lot of success in the podcast community over the few years it’s been out. Did you expect it? What do you attribute this success to?

I definitely did not expect it. I certainly hoped that people would listen, and had lofty goals to have tens of thousands of subscribers, but when we started out I assumed that was a pipe dream. I - and I think this applies to everyone else involved as well - have been delightfully surprised by its success at every turn. In just the 15 months we’ve been doing this, we’ve had so many people listen and send us messages and draw fanart and be enthusiastic, and we are incredibly grateful.

I wish I could tell you that we followed a very specific set of steps to have a successful podcast, but I honestly have no idea how we’ve gotten to where we are. Obviously, I’m proud of the show - I wouldn’t make it if I thought it wasn’t good - and I think people should listen, but I’m still surprised by how it’s taken off. I spent a lot of time in the early days on Tumblr, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, etc., just trying to get people to listen and I think putting in those hours really helped. And then I think it’s just been a lot of dumb luck of the right people finding us.

Being featured in different publications and on iTunes has really helped people find us and those features came up more or less organically - thankfully, there are people out there who actively seek out audio drama and then write about what they like. But mostly, I think the show has done well because we’re telling stories about characters a lot of people can relate to. I’ve certainly made an attempt to write something that is engaging and compelling, but having the actors that we have to bring these characters to life is, I think, our biggest asset.

Question Six: What drove you to make this into an audio drama? Do you have any inspirations you’d like to credit?

The reason for making The Bright Sessions an audio drama was two fold. First, there was the practical reason: making an audio drama is far less expensive than making something for film. I needed to be able to do every step myself - the writing, the recording, the post-production - on a tight budget. Audio drama was the solution.

Second, the creative reason: I like the freedom of interpretation that audio drama provides. I’ve been in fandom spaces for a long time and, though I’ve never been a creator of fan works myself, I’ve always loved consuming them. The wonderful thing about audio dramas is the variety of listener interpretations they spur. Listening to an audio drama is like reading a book - you can fully immerse yourself and imagine the world and the characters however you like. Creating something that encouraged that kind of imagination really appealed to me. There were many creative reasons for sticking to audio, but this was the one I was most excited about.

While there aren’t any direct inspirations for the content of The Bright Sessions, Welcome to Night Vale and BBC Radio’s Cabin Pressure were the two pieces of audio fiction that I listened to before writing The Bright Sessions. WTNV is simple - mostly just one man talking into a microphone, with music. Cabin Pressure is elaborate - multiple scenes with different soundscapes and effects each episode, recorded in front of a live audience, big name actors. I didn’t have the dough for a BBC-like production and I think Night Vale only works as a mostly one-man show because of the magical combination of Cecil Baldwin, Cranor & Fink’s writing, and Disparition’s music.

That formula is impossible to replicate. When thinking about how I wanted to tell a story through audio, these shows were my two reference points and helped me find the middle ground in which The Bright Sessions exists.

BONUS: Has creating The Bright Sessions been a major impact in your life? How have things changed for you?

Oh boy, has it ever. The Bright Sessions has become my life. It started as a side project - a way for me to try my hand at writing and do some acting with a couple of friends. It has now turned into a full-time job (or, more accurately, three full-time jobs). On a practical, macro-career level, doing this podcast has completely changed the way I approach my professional life. Whereas before I was mainly an actor, I’m now a “writer/creator”.

People like the thing I make and they write about it and invite me to come places and talk about it and that could not be more different from the life of general obscurity I lived as an actor. I’m by no means famous or even known outside of podcast circles, but I do feel that I am beginning to experience a level of recognition that is exciting and weird and genuinely a bit confusing. Also on the practical side, the success of the show has opened a lot of doors to me in entertainment that were previously closed. You’ll have to stay tuned on where that leads, because I certainly can’t predict at the moment.

On a personal level, The Bright Sessions has given me so, so much. It’s given me the opportunity to work with people I deeply admire and grow something with them. I cannot ever express how rewarding that is. Beyond the friendships that doing the show has strengthened, and the amazing work I’ve been able to observe in these actors, the show has, funnily enough, been very good for my mental health. Creating the character of Sam was like giving my own anxiety a voice. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend acting out panic attacks for everyone who struggles with anxiety (those scenes are hard) but for me, it has been extremely cathartic.

Sam and I are very different people in what we want out of life, but our anxieties are the same. It is such a relief to be able to write a scene in which Sam explains why going outside or talking to people or feeling a certain way is terrifying. I now have something to point to and say, “this is who I am, this is how it feels sometimes to just go to the grocery store, these are my fears” and, while that is a vulnerable and frightening thing to lay bare, it has been oddly healing.

And then to get messages from people saying, “I relate to Sam so much, thank you for her, I feel less alone now” is truly moving for me. It makes me feel less alone and I am unbelievably grateful for that.

And, mixing the practical and the personal, doing The Bright Sessions finally made me get my act together and actually start going to therapy last year. I thought it was time for me to practice what I preach.

Such elegance. Such confidence. Such charisma towards her field! I want to thank Miss Shippen for doing this Q&A with me and to you all for reading this.

I say you make your appointment pronto and take a listen to The Bright Sessions for yourself. This has been PodCake, end recording.

#the bright sessions #podcast #lauren shippen #looking at the BRIGHT side today #ha ha #q&a #podcast teatime

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recentanimenews · 4 years

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Magic School Brings New Friends and Foes In My Next Life As A Villainess Episode 4 Recap

Ah, the start of a new school year! Even for those of us far removed from that life, there really is nothing like the breath of fresh air it seems to bring to one’s year. New people, new challenges, and new… doom flags? Well, maybe that’s only in the case of Catarina! Welcome back to our recap of My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! I’m Professor Nicole, and we’re here once again to study up on all the juicy moments and details of episode 4 before watching the latest episode today!

Last time, Catarina celebrated surviving childhood with a lavish party, while also cluelessly assembling quite the following of admirers. As she transitions into young adulthood and school life, will she continue to bumble through life and avoid doom? Or will this be the start of Catarina’s downfall?

**SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 4 AHEAD**

Catarina and Keith are prepared to leave home, but not without some final warnings from their parents (mostly for Catarina) that now was a time to grow and mature. Honestly, we don’t really see what the problem is with Catarina’s hobbies, but that’s nobility for you, I guess!

For Catarina, this is a change not just in her life, but also in her potential fate. While she worked hard during her childhood to put her knowledge (and dumb luck) to use in trying to avoid bad endings, the real test begins now at the magic academy, the setting for "Fortune Lovers."

We start off by getting our first inclinations about Maria, the real protagonist of "Fortune Lover," who seems to be your fairly traditional otome game lead: common birth, humble, and of course, born with a rare and unique magical gift. Typical protagonists, always with the rare gifts! Oh, right, I guess Catarina falls into that category too, huh?

The Council of Catarinas tries to take stock of what this new beginning will bring. Aside from Catarina being, well, a real person and not a programmed AI now, the rest of the world has also been changed by Catarina’s actions. What exactly will happen when the fated encounters occur—if they even do occur? The council seems at a loss but remains hopeful.

Catarina’s growing harem has changed as well, although she seems totally clueless as to why these changes are important. Geordo still has a somewhat dark heart but is no longer feeling oppressed by Catarina as it was implied he was in the game.

Keith has become an earnest and polite young man, although he certainly seems destined for an early grave if Catarina keeps putting him through so much stress! Keith doesn’t seem to be frivolously flirting it up with women at any opportunity, but his sister doesn’t give him a lot of downtime to do so, to be honest...

As we saw in episode 3, Alan has also changed quite drastically from the game, feeling a bit of an equal, brotherly rivalry with Geordo now instead of feeling taciturn and resentful. Of the entire cast so far, Alan seems the most openly changed, and even Catarina picks up on his changes!

Of course, that’s come with the added benefit of Alan’s relationship with Mary irrevocably changed. Rather than being interested in Alan, she’s quite obviously interested in Catarina! Alan seems to be interested in Catarina as well, so it doesn’t seem to bother him too much. Still, what ripple effect will such a change have? Only time will tell!

Finally, Nicol and his sister Sophia have become more prominent in Catarina’s life, whereas "Fortune Lover" originally saw the trio rarely interact. Nicol certainly seems to be the dark horse in this race, and we have yet to hear or see much out of him in regard to Catarina, so it will certainly be interesting to see what happens when—or if—he makes any moves!

Catarina seems obsessed with tracking down Maria, but failing to find her during orientation, she instead finds herself once again in the clutches of Geordo’s attempts to woo her back to his room. Of course, Geordo seems fairly smart, so he’s learned the best way to attract a stray Catarina: sweets!

Before that, though, we’re introduced to a new character: Sirius Dieke, the student council president. Honestly, I’m getting a weird vibe from this guy, so I’m very interested in seeing what develops with him in the future. Doesn't he seem a bit too perfect?

But who cares about that when sweets are in the picture? Of course, Catarina doesn’t really let anything bother her and instead finds herself chaperoned by Keith (such a good brother!) at Geordo's. She immediately loses interest in anything else and chooses to eat her fill of baked goods, instead.

WARNING: DOOM FLAG APPROACHING!

While Catarina stuffs her face, Keith and Geordo recount their run-ins with a mysterious new girl: the one and only Maria! Catarina, this is why you need to think with your brain, not your stomach!

Turns out there's one unexpected change from Catarina’s childhood: People in her social circle just seem to find people climbing trees totally normal. Frankly, it’s a little weirder for Maria than child Catarina, but, well, when in "Fortune Lover," make like the Fortune Lovers do!

In one of the more vexing parts of this episode, it seems our dear Bakarina can’t quite realize that Geordo (and others) aren’t at risk of being conquered by Maria because the game is no longer following the same script, and finds herself unable to sleep instead.

Catarina starts her first day of school by nearly giving Keith a heart attack, accusing him of trying to play pick-up artist with Maria. Pure, kind, sweet Keith. We’re so, so sorry you have to put up with such a blockhead of a sister! Jumping to immediate conclusions based on her faulty reading of the game again, Catarina nearly kills Keith with accusations of falling in love with a girl he has spoken to literally once. Come on Catarina! You even said he isn’t the same Keith earlier!

Thankfully, Catarina and Keith’s maid steps in with the assist, stopping this charade. At this rate, we predict poor Keith is going to die of high blood pressure in a year. Hang in there, Keith!

The fateful meeting finally occurs, however, as Maria and Catarina pass in the hallway to… not much fanfare, really. You’re being kind of a creeper, Catarina!

The Council of Catarinas is thrown into a panic as they find Maria as charming and wholesome as promised… except they need to make sure they don’t lose to her to survive! Of course, Catarina doesn’t seem to imagine just… not bullying Maria as the obvious solution here.

Determined to survive, Catarina revives her interest in farming, using a technicality in “flower” to find ways to grow some vegetables. Her maid gives quite the RBF here, to be honest, but I suppose if you’ve had to put up with Catarina’s antics this long, you’d probably feel the same way.

Of course, crops aren’t the only things Catarina is harvesting, as her entourage shows up to court her attention. Conveniently, all at the same time. Weird how everyone always shows up to pursue you at the same time, huh, Catarina?

Alan shows some amazing growth here in the episode, having matured into a fine young man who is no longer obsessed with inferiority complexes. Catarina, you should take more notice of how people act and feel, or maybe you wouldn’t have missed how much Alan’s changed from the game!

We finally meet the student council president up close... I don’t trust smiles like this one. I’ve seen enough anime and played plenty of games to know how this is gonna play out!

Catarina gets to spend time with Maria whenever she visits the student council room. And Maria immediately finds out Catarina’s weakness: baked sweets.

Catarina... You’re not supposed to fall in love with her, too!

Of course, as usual, Catarina finds herself playing the role of heroine, coming to the defense of poor Maria. (And the baked goods, those are important too.) Hm, something about this scene seems familiar…

Having the gaze of a villain comes in handy, though, as Catarina terrifies these three bullies into submission! That’s one heck of a gaze!

Catarina’s devotion to all things baked and sweet really doesn’t know any bounds. Also, didn’t your mother say not to eat things off the ground anymore at the start of the episode, Catarina?! PROMISE BROKEN.

Oh no, that smile is deadly cute!

Of course, Catarina seems to remember things after the fact and realizes the reason this situation was so familiar was… SHE was the one doing the bullying?! Aside from directly changing the game again, it is interesting that the same sequences of events are happening, but now with different players.

That’s the spirit, Catarina! Steal all of those flags! Become the heroine yourself! Grow your harem! That’s the true way to conquer the game, right?! *Ahem*

Well, that brings us to the end of yet another episode! This one has shown the most direct changes to the game so far. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for our heroine (villainess?) moving forward. Who exactly is Sirius, and why does he have such an ominous smile? What will become of Maria and Catarina’s budding friendship? Will Bakarina EVER get a clue? Well, we’ll just have to find out in today's episode! Until next time, viewers, remember to eat your sweets in moderation!

Have any fond back to school memories? Are you also addicted to baked goods? Let us know in the comments!

Catch My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! every Saturday at 10:30am PST / 1:30pm EST on Crunchyroll!

----

Nicole is a frequent wordsmith for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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one2findout · 5 years

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My Big Announcement

It seems that every so often I get carried away with the availability of some new technology that calls to me like the Siren called Odysseus. I can’t resist. The first major case of this was getting a new, more expensive, smart cell phone. I had a very nice “flip-phone” for several years. It made and got phone calls, a primary use of a cell phone. It cost me $35 and was easy to slip onto my pocket. I liked it. It didn’t sing, dance, or allow me to play “Angry Birds.” It was a phone.

Then, along came Uber. A perfect add-on career for my retirement situation (needing money) and completely under my control: “Drive when you want for the time you want to drive and make tons of money in your spare time.” Sounds great!

But! you have to have a smart phone, a small computer to give you the path you would have to drive, take the payment, all automated for the happy Uber driver. So, I shopped around and my cell phone service provider had the best pricing for a moderately powerful unit. I think it was one of the “left overs” as the manufacturer was switching in newer, more expensive, powerful and function overloaded phones. I signed on, and started researching how I could become a happy Uber driver. Perfect!

Then I hit a very interesting road block: reality. As I researched I found more and more that Uber, which serves a very desired service, and one which makes a lot of sense from time to time for the public, had its dark side. I was in Georgia for my son’s wedding. Everything worked well. After the event and following evening, he called for an Uber to pick me up at the hotel and whisk me to the airport. In the morning, there was a bit of a problem connecting with the Uber driver. I guess I’m a little hard to notice. Anyway, when Uber came it was a pleasant trip to the airport, and all prepaid by my son. Nice. Then I heard from my son that the driver had taken longer than he should have and took some weird path to the airport. My son called Uber and they said they were giving him a rebate since the driver had done the drive wrong. I find this amazing. They knew how long he took and what route he drove, etc. Like magic, they have all the information they need to run a great business. But, after analysis, I have come to the end point to believe that the drivers don’t really make as much as it would appear. Hourly, at any rate, I can’t afford to become an Uber driver.

Fortunately, I’ve been doing calligraphy for many years (over 50). I did it free for organizations and political parties, personal events, and so on. My seating chart for my son’s Bar Mitzvah was great (a torah scroll with the attendees seats, written on a model scroll that I built). So, it was a new revelation that people could make money selling art and products they create. Etsy! and there are several others, I gather. I discussed this with my son and he said we could set up a “store.” He would do all the planning and I would do the calligraphy. I started studying how Etsy works, how you get a sale, how you send out a product, etc. Etsy makes it all pretty easy, and I can see that there is a lot more under the covers that you have to do to understand what you have to do to get results you want.

Along with all this is the requirement (at least from my point of view) to produce a high quality product that people cannot get easily on the open market. I, for example, hand create all my calligraphy, do all the design and layout, work in various hands, and can customize anything in many ways. How to communicate all this and do the jobs and get the product out is a real challenge. As starters, my son had me research what were products more people wanted, and in what sizes, and what hands, and papers, cost out all the elements, and then get busy and create an inventory of some calligraphy that would be our store’s starting products. Whew, this was a lot. As we worked on this I found I needed to have some tools to handle the work I do and produce final products that would be the best I can do.

There turn out to be a lot computer programs that would be of help to us, including things like having shared and synchronized data points that would keep us on the same efforts. Thankfully, my son knew that kind of thing because that’s what businesses do, and he’s an MBA from Pepperdine. And it’s the kind of thing he does in helping people set up new or renewed businesses. My background is in computers, so finding and evaluating programs to do what I need to do graphic processing wasn’t a big problem for me. I found a lot, and as I found them I read a lot of reviews and analyses of them. Then, I had to find, test, and use them myself. I learned a lot!

After seeing all the really great programs, and some of the most expensive, I have found a flock of “free” programs and services that I could be using. The learning curve on some of them is pretty sharp, mostly because they have so many ways of doing all kinds of graphic processing, and the language used in describing them to the user is an unknown argot to me. So, I am learning, trying, and amazed at all the things I have to absorb and use properly. As it is coming along, it is streamlining the work I do, and makes very good products at a pace that makes them available relatively quickly, compared to what I used to do in the old days. I have pretty much settled on Krita (a free graphics program similar to Paintshop Pro, which I used in past years for editing my photos, and Photoshop which I can’t afford) and I’m looking at ipiccy, which is an on-line graphics program that runs in your Chrome browser, but puts you work in the ipiccy servers. Until I understand the complete meaning of that I won’t use it.

Anyway, this is a long trip, and we are just starting. It takes a long time to expose people to your work, and the Internet is a gigantic place (a universe) and getting them to look at my work is a daunting task, which I have to figure out. We are starting to get some “looks” at the products, and have even sold a few which our buyers have said they are pleased and happy with. Since the startup investment isn’t overbearing, I am pleased to see anything working. As each day goes by I learn more and more, and I am willing to try things that I am just beginning to understand. I’m even starting to look at “trade shows” where I can display some of my work. Maybe that is another thing to learn about.

And all this is because of high tech. If I was living in a small town, where social media was a weekly column in the newspaper, and you already knew a lot of people from daily contact, it would be a handout, maybe a sample, and word-of-mouth to build a following. In today’s world it’s Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and what else is out there that are like my new smart phone replacing my flip-phone. I have to learn the new stuff to make my way in the world. This blog is my “flip-phone” stage of reaching out. I guess I’ll have to move on. BTW, that media I listed above are things I have never used more than a few times each! I haven’t figured out yet how to use them, either.

Look out world, here comes my store: LabowCalligraphy on Etsy. It should have said “Father and Son,” which is “Gary and Dave.” If you have a moment, just take a look at https://www.Etsy.com/shop/LabowCalligraphy and see if you like it. I’d love to hear from anyone with comments on the store. Thanks.

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lookingstunning · 5 years

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April 28, 2019 is the one year anniversary of WICOMICON, a pop up convention in Baltimore that was planned and executed in one week.

The past few days I’ve seen people on twitter reminiscing and I thought now was the best time for me to finally write that blog post that I really should have wrote last year.

I was very sick during the whole Universal FanCon situation so I wasn’t able to follow it as closely as I might have otherwise and even then I tend to be a bit too trusting so who knows?

I fared better than many, in the end I lost less than $50. That’s still a significant amount of money for me, but way less than what others lost. I hadn’t booked my hotel or rental car and if need be, I could have easily gotten back on the schedule at work. Financially, I would have been fine. But spiritually, I was devastated. I had gathered up the courage to make business connections! I reached out to people about that con! I was gonna do everything I could to help make FanCon a success and the universe told me that my decision to do so had been incorrect.

And then I saw The Nerds of Color’s twitter. They were gonna do something.

And then I DMed saying I’d be happy to help in whatever way I could. This whole time I was under the assumption that they’d made a call for volunteers that very day but I can’t find a tweet so I suppose I just reached out knowing they’d need people.

It took a few minutes for me to decide after I saw the first tweet saying they’d be doing something. I was mostly worried about money and practicality: Maybe this is the universe’s way of saying I really shouldn’t take a trip right now. Maybe it was the universe saying I should just slow down with my con work in general.

But then I thought of the people already on their way to Baltimore who had to find out about Universal FanCon during flight transfers. I thought of all the vendors who’d spent so much money and time preparing. I thought of myself and how I hadn’t stopped shaking since I heard the news. Like I said, it only took a few minutes for me to decide.

I booked my hotel. I booked my rental car. And, my younger sister and I drove up to Baltimore.

I listened to Season 1 of Dice Funk during the drive and had to keep the volume all the way up because I couldn’t hear otherwise. My sister hated it.

I drove over 13 hours to Baltimore. It’s the longest drive I’ve ever made to date.

We got there Thursday so I could get a full night’s sleep before helping with set up on Friday.

I got a tour of the Black Cherry Puppet Theatre by its founder, Michael ( it is a gorgeous space and if you get a chance, you definitely need to see a show there).

And then, as always in a new city, I had no idea where I was allowed to park when I got to 1100 WICOMICO. It was slightly better on Saturday but only slightly. Parking… just sucks.

But back to Friday happenings! I was very nervous and if I’d given myself the chance I probably would have felt inadequate.

Thankfully, I didn’t give myself that chance. I was in con prep mode and con prep mode is by its very nature: optimistic, enthusiastic, and very sweaty. At least for me anyway.

We got some supplies upstairs and went over the game plan for Saturday. Most job assignments would be assigned the day of because most volunteers would be arriving the day of. I had no idea whatI’d be doing on Saturday other than “a lot”. I did know I was SUPER excited for how they were letting people into the con.

And with good reason, look at that!

https://twitter.com/Darian_Robbins/status/990376172650364928

Tweet from @Darian_Robbins. It reads: “Me and the fam stepped into #WICOMICON like whaaaaat!!!!” Contains video of the WICOMICON main entrance.

I got an ok amount of sleep Friday but not nearly enough. I stayed up for a bit making marionettes until I realized I needed to go to bed because I probably wouldn’t have enough time to do puppet stuff outside of volunteering because I know how I am…

Had breakfast, stuffed my bag with snacks, juice, and water and headed back onsite.

A lot of Friday and Saturday prep melds together in my mind.

I remember I got a rec list for some new romance novels to check out on Friday.

I remember I met another Sade on Saturday.

Both days involved moving a lotta chairs and tables.

I can’t remember exactly when the phrase popped into my head: “Healing while doing the damn thing” but that’s sure as heck what I was doing.

What happened with Universal FanCon, for the longest time it felt like a betrayal. It took me way too long to realize it felt like a betrayal because it WAS a betrayal. I think a part of what made this post so difficult to write is because I didn’t want write about Wicomicon and taint it with UFC talk. Wicomicon was this wonderful experience and the UFC hurt was still fresh. I know Wicomicon wouldn’t have happened without all the Universal FanCon BS but still!

Time hasn’t healed that wound but it’s made it easier to write about.

I decided to go to Baltimore and do what I could to help because I think I would have been a wreck otherwise. When we talk about my work with cons, my older sister refers to it as my passion and I am passionate about it! I’m passionate enough that I gave my last damn dollar to a kickstarter. I’m passionate enough that despite being so sick I couldn’t stand most days, I was gonna find a way to give them my labor, somehow. I’m passionate enough that after getting surgery in late 2017, I was most excited about being able to work more cons.

Wicomicon helped me remember that placing my passion, my love, and my effort into cons isn’t futile. Wicomicon helped me remember that I am a part of a community of passionate and giving people.

There was a lot of going up and down for supplies to set up. We finished setting up the dealer’s room, panel room, and show room just under the wire.

I was real jazzed about that elevator entrance, I kinda wanted to be the operator but I let that idea go pretty fast, I was moving around too much and helping with set up, on e of the volunteers that got there later would probably hold down that particular fort.

Me and a lovely young woman did our best to solve the puzzle that was arranging the dealers’ room. A dealer came in and asked us questions about set up and I happily told them she was in charge of dealers room set up.

She tried to deny it but she legit had been in charge of dealers room for well over an hour at that point without realizing it. She was doing great and it was a pleasure working with her.

We helped dealers set up and as the day started I ended up where I’d spend the majority of the day: programming. We had to start a bit late and so I and another volunteer made sure the two panel rooms stayed on schedule. I remember googling numbers on my phone so I could hold my phone up as a title card to warn the panelists when time was almost up.

I remember being on audience microphone duty and regretting one of my choices… I remember zoning out during Sailor J’s panel and being rightfully roasted. I remember spending most of the day standing until I had to sit down or I knew I’d never make it through take down.

I remember going up to every volunteer I met to make sure they had lunch and being happy to hear that lunch had been had or was scheduled to be had soon. I brought food with me because I was broke and didn’t trust myself to remember to take a lunch break.

I did take a break. I spent it attending panels.

I remember spending so much of the day smiling until I had to force my face to stay neutral for awhile because it hurt because I’d been smiling that much. I am a smiley person y’all. My Wicomicon smile was no joke.

I walked around for a minute or two, earlier in the day, so I could send a video to my siblings back home through Marco Polo.

{Put video here}

I remember being so happy to see cosplayers and especially the child cosplayers. I remember being so happy to see so many people throughout the day.

I remember being so grateful to the panelists and doing my best to express that gratitude and being worried I was doing enough to let them know how awesome they all were.

I remember feeling unbelievable happy and proud of what we accomplished.

The day was long and there wasn’t nearly enough artificial lighting in the panel room.

I was exhausted by end of day but got my second wind during take down. I was super sweaty and forgot to take any pics of myself until after I looked a whole mess and had removed half of my cute outfit, that’s life.

I am so grateful for this experience.

I got to meet so many people I knew from twitter and tumblr and had the honor of working with them to make this ridiculously wonderful event.

I got to relearn that I have expertise and I am an asset to whatever team is smart enough to add me on.

I got to go to Wicomicon.

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#WICOMICON: Healing While Doing the Damn Thing It's been a year! Time to finally write a blog post about it! April 28, 2019 is the one year anniversary of WICOMICON, a pop up convention in Baltimore that was planned and executed in one week.

#cons #editing? never heard of it #let&039;s talk about me #Me #wicomicon

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