#semi-rant

[flightsoffancyonpaperwings]

Screams from the rooftops:

The point will never be to not be a burden! You will be!! You don't get to choose that!!! We bear one another's burdens!!!! In love!!!!!

[theflowergothic]

Call The Paps: A Field Guide to "Candid" Fame

Hey guys, it's me again.

Recently, there has been some confusion over how celebrity photographers/paparazzi work. You can blame our good friend Kelly Piquet for that, as two new paparazzi photos of her dropped recently. For some reason, gossip blogs are insisting that Kelly didn't call the paparazzi (which we know she does) or that her victim Max Verstappen had to approve them before release.

THAT IS NOT TRUE. That's not even REMOTELY how paparazzi work. And today, I feel obligated to set the record straight with a quick, no-nonsense explainer.

I'm only going to say this once. Let's get this over with:

Let's start with the general paparazzi image pipeline. To put it simply: A photographer captures a picture of a celebrity, they upload it to an online agency (like Backgrid), outlets buy the licenses, and the picture gets distributed. The shooter/agency keeps the rights, and the outlets get a chunk of spending money from the views.

But like many things in this world, the practice is easily exploitable. This is an open secret in the celebrity and journalism worlds—one veteran paparazzo in England said as such a few years back in The Guardian, and a young influencer admitted to calling the paparazzi on herself in the same article.

As someone who regularly encounters media licensing and the strange world of celebrity in my day job, I'll be blunt. The idea of celebrities calling the paparazzi on themselves isn't even remotely false or a conspiracy theory; it's absolutely true.

Think of the celebrities that NEVER appear in paparazzi photos. Daniel Craig only comes to us through red carpet premieres or official photoshoots. Googling "Chappell Roan paparazzi" gives you the same results—save for a Just Jared article of her cycling around New York City. You rarely see "candid" paparazzi pics of them because they don't buy into the system.

But the ones you see all the time, even if you barely know who they are? They do. And here's how they feed the beast:

Tip-off the time and place. A publicist (or the celeb) gives a reliable window and exact spot, like a coffee walk or a valet, The paparazzi have plenty of time to arrive.

Run predictable beats. Same café, same route, same hour. Shooter camps once, agencies get fresh frames weekly.

Dress the frame. Pap-friendly styling (logos forward, new ring, headline tee) so the article writers have something to talk about.

Feed the agency copy. Let details "leak" ("seen leaving X after Y", for example) so captions sell the storyline for you across dozens of outlets.

Amplify without owning. Repost the set via fan pages or Stories, let blogs embed and aggregate; the media pipeline does the rest.

We've seen this time and time again with Kelly Piquet, especially since she has the yacht now at her disposal. She can give the paparazzi a time and place they can see her on the boat, and she'll be ready to perform for the camera.

And before you come at me with "But Max HAD to have approved them!!!!", no he fucking didn't. Agencies don’t send JPEGs to boyfriends for sign-off; they sell licenses to outlets. Max is notoriously private, and of the two pics that sparked this post, only one even had him in frame— and he was likely asleep.

Don't forget that a vast majority of the paparazzi pics OF Max come when he's AROUND Kelly and her associates. SHE'S the one calling the paparazzi, NOT him!

Because let's be for real here—what fucking Joe Normal gives a single shit about the women dating athletes?

TL;DR: Pap pics are a licensing business, but the pics are usually coordinated beforehand. No boyfriend approval button. No subject veto. Just shooter → agency → outlet.

[bugdoodlez]

Scrolling through my old art be like

Forgotten OC: wow! So cool

Forgotten art that I spent a lot of time on: wow! So cool

Forgotten vent art about a situation that I’ve moved on from but it still lowkey haunts me sometimes: oh god. oh fuck. holy shit. nightmare nightmare nightmarenightmare nightmare nightma

Forgotten concept art I can use in future projects: wow! So cool

[cvbullshit]

I want to say this: The Cookie Run Kingdom story is likely planned ahead of time, Devsisters can do what they want with their story as well. This was probably always going to happen and not much would change. However.... That doesn't mean we can't be frustrated. And boy, for the first time- Upon rethinking the ending to Beast Yeast- I am frustrated. It's not fair. How come HE gets to live?! Why is he THE ONLY ONE who gets to?! That's not fair. My bias for which one of the five was my favorite might be taking over but just... Why him?! In my opinion, it should've been all of them or none of them. But him?? HE gets to live?! Out of all of them?? One of the least deserving in my opinion! It's. Not. Fair. I cried like a baby at the ending, I cried like a baby. And when I had it confirmed that the rest of the five were gone, when my favorite was gone. It hurt more than it should've. It's probably due to me being very in tune with how some Cookie OCs I own and co-own would feel on the situation and I was thinking of them the entire time due to having AU projects I want to do for CRK at some point. It's not fair. Why HIM. Why Shadow Milk Cookie. My frustrations will probably go away later but until then... I can't stand that Shadow Milk lived while the other Beasts had to die.

[plus-lilith]

I'm quite weird. I'm self-aware of how I derive all my self-worth from others and how my self-hatred is not rooted in any real reality, but I rather have my brain let me be a hater.

[coinandcandle]

I personally hate the idea that I need to be "clean" in order to do magic.

Like, sure, physically I like to take a shower if I feel icky but I rarely "cleanse" myself before doing a spell. I have read so many times over people saying you need to cleanse yourself before casting a spell but like!! you don't!!!

If you want to then that's a-ok but to any beginner witches out there: if you see someone saying that you need to cleanse your body before doing a spell then please know that is their personal preference and experience! You don't have to!

Get comfortable with dirt under your nails and dust on your shelves! Shit happens!!!

[art-of-mathematics]

Do you think it's a reasonable argument to say you travel 500km to a city in your country where there are tasty cinnamon bun-like doughlings selled all time of the year, instead of just during the winter time, because you love these doughlings (it is your safe food) and you have absolutely nothing to do 24/7 and having a target for traveling makes traveling enjoyable - even tough the goal for traveling would just be to buy a weekly ration of said safe food?

- additional info: Traveling this route with the train would cost no additional money, as the country you are living in offers a train ticket you can use for very many train routes.

(Only financial cost to think about would be a possible stay at night - or finding other ways to solve this problem - there might be a route where you could travel back on the same day)

Another additional info: imagine you hate to be at the place where your rented apartement is located. and being anywhere outside the city you have to keep yourself existing in, brings relief to your anger and sadness.

Consider the cost-benefit-analysis. (!)

[eliyah-de-dark]

Ok ok okokok so fun fact about me: I like to sit with lore from different media and ask the Questions, right? Like my first date with my husband was rewriting the sequel trilogy for Star Wars because we liked the concept of Rey, Kylo, and Finn, but we didn't like the execution. I enjoy looking at things and thinking of how to tell compelling stories within the constraints of said universe.

And tiktok just reminded me that Harry Potter exists. Specifically, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. And the dumbass plot of "If we don't stop Grindelwald, then WWII can't happen :/" and all it's implications.

Now I haven't written HP fanfiction in a while, but the muses are singing softly and I feel the urge to write about a young witch/wizard risking the secret of the magical world to help their neighbors flee the gestapo and the aurors caught between helping and arresting them.