✰ ☆ ★ I'm so excited to suffer ★ ☆ ✰

they/them | 21+ | ENTP prospit | witch of light  ✰ ☆ ★ ★ ☆ ✰ you can call me Tea / Tyx / Birb ✰ ☆ ★ ★ ☆ ✰ trans rights are human rights and inclusivity is how we survive

[splickedylit]

pag may tiyaga...

A gift commission for @teaagain of some dorks attempting a home-cooked meal with mixed success. Which is to say most of them are being very successful but they're doing it over the sound of IS THAT A BUG?! MIKEY I'M NOT GOING TO EAT A BUG!!!

[livelivefastfree]

Little commission via my main! :D

[shrimpchipsss]

✨ scum villain photocard pre-orders are open! ✨

closes sept 22

https://shrimpstore.bigcartel.com

[sharkface]

They are already selling data to midjourney, and it's very likely your work is already being used to train their models because you have to OPT OUT of this, not opt in. Very scummy of them to roll this out unannounced.

[misogynistcatgirl]

I loved when AI art could never be anything but AI art. the dreams of a computer. now it's all boobs and photorealistic women doing bad kink. but I remember you. I miss you. I love you, Secret Horses.

[misogynistcatgirl]

remember what they took from you

[wooteena]

are you telling me americans have stores that open up SPECIFICALLY for halloween and just. dont exist any other time of the year. you people are insane

[offishly]

Imagine an empty storefront. Some business that closed years ago. The building stands empty, unused for literal months. And then boom. Fall comes around and there’s a Spirit Halloween. There’s no escape.

[wooteena]

what the fuck 😁

[enderenby404]

Yeah this is a thing

[krystal-prisms]

Are you serious

[what-even-is-thiss]

Yes and they are divine gifts of beauty and cheap plastic lawn decorations.

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

… I honestly assumed that the existence of Halloween stores was just a running joke in American TV shows.

[what-even-is-thiss]

No they’re very real

[onepersonfriendgroup]

Can confirm this phenomenon also occurs in Canada

[fan-enby-anonymous]

It’s fun

[what-even-is-thiss]

Oh, it’s a blast.

[moonybyte]

Wait, so during non-halloween they are just empty? Like, they don’t switch between seasonal decorations (like christmas, easter, etc), they just…close and wait for next year???

[strawberrydragon]

Yeah, it’s not a permanent store. A company will rent an empty building for the 2-3 months before halloween, sell halloween stuff, and then clean everything up and disappear until the following year. And they’ll usually set up in different buildings from year to year. They just find any good-sized empty store space that will give them a cheap, short-term lease.

It’s so temporary that the halloween stores don’t even have a real sign, they just hang up a banner outside:

[wheeled-jack]

So you’re telling me that every year for a month or two the Spirit of Halloween possesses a dead building then disappears?

[velvety-vixen]

that is exactly what we’re telling you

[supervillainny]

Ngl when I think of Neverwhere’s floating market I think of a spirit Halloween

[hunxi-guilai]

all right guys, let’s have a conversation about linguistic register, Lan Wangji, and I guess Wei Wuxian can come too

(and I do genuinely mean conversation, I’d love to hear other people’s input on this, because I did just write a long-ass post about the subjectivity of interpretation in translations)

So when I started interacting with the fandom and reading people’s fics, I got really confused by the way some folks were writing dialogue for Lan Wangji; he often sounded super awkward, spoke in fragments, and sometimes exclusively in third person. To be fair, all of those are elements of his speech at various times, but like, seeing it in English-language material felt like a really heavy-handed way of rendering it in translation?

I guess when you use third person within the first three episodes of the show, it makes a pretty big impression on the audience

This is not at all intended to be a criticism of people who are 1000% writing and creating wonderful work, which is more than I can say for myself, but I want to poke and prod and tease at some linguistic nuance here.

Take a deep breath, grab a pot of tea (this’ll take more than a cup), because we’re going to take the scenic route on this one–

Keep reading

[hunxi-after-hours]

Omg Hunxi! You’ve read SVSSS?! What did you think of it? What’s your opinion on Luo Binghe? It’s often looked down upon among the 3 novels, but I personally love it and it’s chaotic energy.

I mean, I've only read 2/3 of MXTX's novels, but I have a suspicion that SVSSS might be my favorite because the book is batshit insane and also so much fun

there's this manic energy to it that generates a heady mix of irreverence and intensity, slingshotting you from startled laughter to stunned silence and right back with the maximum amount of emotional whiplash possible

incidentally, this novel taught me more Chinese internet slang in <100 chapters than I've learned in my entire life

the best analogy I think I could make might be that... SVSSS kind of has the same energy as Bo Burnham's Inside? in that it is simultaneously a satire, a love letter, a deconstruction, and a reimagining of a genre (for Inside, Netflix comedy specials; for SVSSS, transmigration and stallion webnovels), while doing a really damn good job of its most direct purpose (being a rollicking good ride all the way down)

but sdlkfjsdlfkj Luo Binghe. oh man what a character

I feel like, no matter what long paragraphs or thematic complexity I can tease out of Luo Binghe and his characterization, his character arc and journey, no amount of words I write can beat @blackelement7's one-sentence summation of his character, which is: it's hard to be Luo Binghe

and really, much of SVSSS revolves around the deconstruction of narrative and character tropes--like, literally. (Shen Yuan as) Shen Qingqiu dismantles the ludicrously hackneyed and exaggerated plot of PIDW and accidentally puts it back together in a different shape just by, y'know, existing and being -- get ready for this -- a decent person

so Luo Binghe fits into this whole agenda by deconstructing a familiar archetype of the masculine, heroic protagonist--virile, undefeatable, hopelessly attractive, naturally talented, beloved of fate/happenstance/coincidence, unique and unlikely inheritor of multiple legacies, gifted with unrealistic sexual prowess. he has the tragic orphan origin story, the bitterly cruel and traumatic youth, then the vengeful return, the eventual violent triumph over those who had wronged him, his """happy""" ending of supreme power and supreme sexual satisfaction and supreme unbeatability

or at least, that's the original Luo Binghe

MXTX takes this larger-than-life legendary figure and shows us his hidden shadows, his deep insecurities, the flaws that have been expunged by the demands of readers and narrative (and oh boy does this book have things to say about the relationship between the author and the consumer). she takes the original Luo Binghe (and by extension, the entire stallion genre) gently by the hand and asks, have you found love?

I have a harem of hundreds of beautiful women, the original Luo Binghe replies.

have you found satisfaction? MXTX asks.

I rule the entire world, both human and demonic realms, he replies.

are you happy? MXTX asks, and cruelly, crucially--the original Luo Binghe cannot answer yes, and have that be true

MXTX takes every aspect of the original Luo Binghe and systematically subverts it: his virility is undercut by the fact that the person of his affections prefers Luo Binghe's younger, innocent self, not the virile, manly man that maidens ostensibly swoon over. Luo Binghe's undefeatability and ridiculous talents are undercut by the fact that no amount of strength, or power, or influence, will get him what he truly wants -- Shen Qingqiu's genuine love and affection. in the original PIDW, the goddamn trauma congo line that Luo Binghe gets put through only makes him stronger, laying the foundation of his eventual, triumphant, vengeful return. but in SVSSS, we see all the ways that Luo Binghe's trauma doesn't make him stronger -- in fact, leads him to incredible levels of insecurity and self-sabotage and self-hatred

or, in short:

PIDW: I've done it, I've crafted the perfect stallion novel protagonist

MXTX, busily typing: no you haven't, you've fucked up a perfectly nice young man is what you've done. look at him, he's got enough trauma to cause the apocalypse

a lot of our understanding of Luo Binghe is filtered through the lens of Shen Qingqiu, who is one of the most unreliable narrators I've ever had the privilege of laughing at. much of Shen Qingqiu's character arc in the novel is coming to realize that the people around him -- Luo Binghe, yes, but also Yue Qingyuan, Liu Qingge, all the women previously dismissed as love interests, and even, eventually, Shen Jiu -- are actually people too, not just flat fictional characters, but individuals with agendas and feelings and unwritten histories of their own. Shen Qingqiu is so preoccupied (and rightfully so!) with his fate and foreknowledge of the plot that he fails to notice for a comically long time that the plot has changed on him while he was busy jumping to conclusions about what certain people must be thinking

but back to Luo Binghe. the novel takes Luo Binghe's intense traumas and fears -- abandonment, self-loathing, rejection and very real hurt -- and makes them matter. past suffering doesn't just build character to make you stronger in the future -- you have to come to terms with it first, gain closure, let the wound heal over before you can safely build upon it. and despite having loyal subordinates, despite having more love interests than he can shake a evil sword at, Luo Binghe has no one to truly, emotionally support him

all those people flocking around him, all those women (allegedly) trying to sleep with him, and Luo Binghe doesn't have a single friend

the original PIDW would have you believe that's indicative of his strength and independence, his ability to stand alone. a Man (TM). MXTX takes one look at that and calls bullshit

or, in other words:

PIDW: I've done it, I've crafted the ultimate male fantasy

MXTX, typing faster: no you haven't, you've subscribed to toxic masculinity is what you've done. you created a lonely, overpowered young man who only knows how to deal with his problems through violence. look at him, he's got abandonment issues and unhealthy masochistic tendencies

(masochism is fine! but someone needs to gently pull Luo Binghe back into the realm of kink rather than deliberate self-harm, and while we're at it someone please give this man a hug without also detonating at the same time)

SVSSS takes the unrealistic, overperfected model of an archetypal male protagonist and shows us all the ways this person (and this model) is broken. the text constantly cracks jokes about 'the protagonist halo,' but for much of the book, Luo Binghe is never allowed to be a person--he is always The Protagonist, the half-demon spawn, the existential threat to the human cultivation world, and Luo Binghe’s continual dehumanization breaks him. and guess what? the eventual resolution of the conflict comes from nothing more and nothing less than Shen Qingqiu showing kindness. was it messy and fraught as hell? you fucking bet it was. but was the underlying message of the entire story also as simple as "but the villain needs love too!" you fucking bet it was.

this is a running theme in MXTX’s writing--we see it prominently in both SVSSS and TGCF: the colossal, literally world-saving power of empathy, and kindness, and love, and forgiveness, and that, I think, is crucial for understanding and appreciating Luo Binghe as a character

[astraltrickster]

Periodic reminder that you are not immune to reactionary radicalization through fandom.

We all know the "jokes" about how old bronies either came out as queer or became fascists - except they're not really jokes, and a lot of the queer ones admit to having been in the pipeline before they came out (some in a way that implies they never totally got out of said pipeline and don't understand the gravity of it),

GamerGate was an entire right-wing reactionary movement that was - and this is not hyperbole - partially responsible for turning fascism into a "legitimate" position by the American Overton window, composed entirely of people who feared losing their fan spaces,

We've had terfs right here on tumblr dot com BRAGGING about how useful fandom is as a recruiting space,

TJLC was a big pipeline for acephobia on this hellsite in particular, when people argued that headcanoning Sherlock as ace was inherently homophobic because it was denying a TOTALLY GONNA BE CANON (while the creators were promising that it wasn't going to be canon) gay pairing, and puritanical, and just HAVING that headcanon was saying that people COULDN'T ship Johnlock, all in the interest of a "fake" sexuality and "pretending to be oppressed" and oh whoops there you went,

We see people who all but center their fandom activity and identities around figuring out which people in predominantly queer fandom spaces are SECRETLY PEDOPHILES AND GROOMERS, acting consciously or otherwise under the assumption that predominantly queer fandom spaces are just massively infested with them in a way that other spaces are not for SOME reason, who twist the definition of "pedophilia" in these spaces until it covers shipping a 17-year old fictional character with an 18-year old fictional character, or a 30-year old with a 45-year old, or including an autistic character in a ship, and drawing two 17-year old characters kissing constitutes "child porn", and who unironically say we should bring back the Hays Code and Censorship Is Good Actually And Our Problem Is We Don't Do It Enough and this often becomes a pipeline to "sex ed is child abuse; people shouldn't even know what sex is until they turn 18; you need my consent to wear certain outfits in public if I see them as sexually charged, and Pride SHOULD be an assimilationist sideshow for our corporate overlords family-friendly party with no sadness or anger or ESPECIALLY acknowledgement of sex allowed",

We've seen otherwise progressive people defend literal hate symbols in fanart when pushback against the above brand of reactionaries gets corrupted into zero-nuance "it's us vs. them so anything they don't like is Good",

Even outside of those examples some of the most vicious, unapologetic, blatant queerphobic abuse I've seen in recent years hasn't come from right-wingers but from LGBT+ people, dressing their deep, violent, seething hatred for queer people who aren't exactly like them in a thin veneer of progressive language, who have become so convinced that they're the main character of the fucking universe that they think writing or enjoying a queer story that doesn't resonate with them is more queerphobic than sending a queer person who writes or enjoys such a story countless rape and death threats and denying their identity,

We've seen these examples again and again and again, and we keep seeing it again and again and again, so I am once again on my knees BEGGING people to recognize that this is not Something That Happens To Other, BAD People, or Something That Happens To People In BAD Fandoms, or Something That Happens To People On The OTHER Side Of Perennial Drama; this is something that CAN happen to you.

These things are the result of the fact that fandom is, by nature, a place of heightened emotion and if you don't know what to look out for that is very exploitable; you need to know the methods people use to do this, simply Being In The Right Fandoms or Liking The Right Ships is not enough.

So, if you see someone trying to convince you that you have the ONLY valid approach to any specific character, or ship, or show, or whatever, that your ship is activism and your fanfics are praxis, and liking something else or liking the same thing differently is Only For Bad People, that is the single biggest red flag that YOU NEED TO RUN, THEY'RE TRYING TO SELL YOU SOMETHING THAT YOU DO NOT WANT

[anarchistmemedistro]

sad to report that being queer and being a fascist are not mutually exclusive

[watcherscrown]

weird anti ideology finally leaking out into the mainstream

[vaspider]

I'm so exhausted by all of this.

[glossyfeathers]

I think we're seeing the consequences of surveillance, honestly. Like they're policing themselves this heavily because they've never had privacy before, not from their parents, not from their peers, not from advertisers, not online, nothing. And with all that constant and conflicting criticism, there are no consistent rules for when they're going to be attacked so they're responding by making elaborate, false rule-sets as a coping strategy. LIke "maybe, if I act this way, I'll finally be safe" but it doesn't work so they get more desperate.

Add on all the school shootings in the US, inaction on climate change, and a pandemic that was allowed to rip through schools unchecked, kids and young adults have a deep sense that their lives are disposable. And they're right! Our society is systematically hostile and abusive to children in so many ways! However, the only child abuse society gets riled up about is pedophilia. Adults act like pedophilia is the only kind of child abuse that counts as abuse.

And that's why I think we are seeing kids stretching the meaning of pedophilia. They are looking for language that encompasses all of the kinds of abuse that they're experiencing. All of the emotional abuse of children is normalized, quite a bit of physical abuse is normalized, and the lack of privacy, agency, and bodily autonomy is all socially enforced. The truth is that all of these other forms of abuse can and do lead to sexual abuse, too. These kids are on to something, but it's getting deflected and warped by the fact that they still live in the dangerous environments they've been abused in. I think more specific language will be empowering here and will also bridge the gap between the current generation of young people and other anti-violence movements.

So if you are a child or young adult who resonates with any of the above, I want you to know that as a child abuse survivor, I believe you when you say that you've been abused. I think the anxiety about fandom websites and queer people and kink is misplaced because strangers don't usually have the structural power and access to you to hurt you but I know that there are people in you life who do have that power and I'm worried about you. I think ao3/queer/kink are just the issues that you feel safest speaking up about. I see you speaking up and I think there's more going on.

So what I can do for you, as a random stranger on the internet, is give you some resources and language so you can start to articulate your experiences and find solidarity with others.

Some terms you might find helpful:

Youth rights - Wikipedia

Here's a copy of the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child. The US has refused to sign this but it's still a good idea of what the rest of the world believes you deserve and what we know will help you thrive.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child: The children’s version

Read and download the child-friendly version of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Here's a copy of the power and control wheel for child abuse. Power and control wheels are commonly used in many forms of victim advocacy to help map abuse. To be clear, we count these things as abuse because we know from research that they are traumatic. Many laws have not been updated to include all these forms, so you'll notice that many of the things on this wheel are completely legal even though we know they are harmful.

Understanding The Power And Control Wheel For Child Abuse

The Power and Control Wheel for abuse of children is an effective tool that can help you identify child abuse tactics and help you start the

Additionally, I'm including a zine I found on peer support for suicide ideation. I know that growing up, my friends and I were always told to tell a trusted adult but we didn't have one and ended up trying to help each other through some really awful shit. This is a guide written by someone with a similar experience and it details ways to informally support someone who is feeling suicidal.

Helping Your Friends who Sometimes Wanna Die Maybe Not die.pdf

[taohun]

did you guys see the poem from a couple of days ago in poetry dot org’s daily poem it was so good and a treat to read 

[taohun]

been thinking about it since i read it 

[dankmemeuniversity]

[daddy-war-stache]

It's beaten out of you in elementary school.

[queerasflux]

[lucifvonkatze]

I get them too and am also autistic.

[ashelyskies-deactivated20241121]

By the way with the supreme court reopening Lawrence and considering making anything other than cishet vanilla sex illegal, the "kink at pride" debate needs to die, right fucking now. We're about to see firsthand why kink and queer rights are so closely tied together and what we need is to stand in unity. This also means queer discourse needs to die, right now.

Listen, everyone. You have pride because of leather daddies and Trans Women of Color. You have pride because of the same people you're ashamed to accept into the community.

We're all about to become targets, and we can't win separated. And we especially need to protect our most vulnerable, we need to protect the members of our community that will get targeted the most.

Discourse needs to end. The United States' fascism and hate is getting worse, and anyone that knows their world history knows things might get really bad here soon, and it's more important than ever that we can stand together. If we get caught up on labels or "is this person really LGBT" or anything like that, the people that hate us all for existing will divide and conquer and we will all lose.

[magneatio]

the most disappointing thing about music is i can’t bite into it like an overripe peach

[magneatio]

i listen to music at full volume but i’m chasing the feeling of biting into a peach so ripe that the juice runs down your face but with music but with music but with music

[daystarsearcher]

Current linguistics obsession: the difference in English between “few/little” and “a few/a little”

“He convinced few people” Negative connotation; he did not convince that many people.

“He convinced a few people” Neutral to positive connotation; he did manage to convince some people.

“They found a little food” “Neutral to positive connotation; it might not be a lot, but they did manage to find some food.

“They found little food” Negative connotation; that’s not going to be enough food.

[daystarsearcher]

Current linguistics obsession: the difference in English between “few/little” and “a few/a little”

“He convinced few people” Negative connotation; he did not convince that many people.

“He convinced a few people” Neutral to positive connotation; he did manage to convince some people.

“They found a little food” “Neutral to positive connotation; it might not be a lot, but they did manage to find some food.

“They found little food” Negative connotation; that’s not going to be enough food.

[campyvillain]

btw if you live in the midwest (a region where a lot of the states are going to have trigger laws or ban abortion completely it looks like) and if it’s possible that you can leave ur state, get to illinois. Illinois isn’t just a state where abortion is permitted, in illinois abortion is strictly a protected right. illinois’ right to abortion is permanent and isn’t going to be changed anytime soon. in illinois your abortion rights are completely confidential. illinois is one of the easiest states to access abortion in and the process is fairly simple, and it’s going to always be legal to do so even as the right to abortion is overturned in other states. it’s very much a safe haven to anyone who needs to flee their state right now. if anyone can provide any resources and links that would be greatly appreciated.

[campyvillain]

here is a post detailing how you can get an abortion in chicago.

it’s extremely in depth and shares a lot of very valuable info if coming here is in your best interest.

[daystarsearcher]

Current linguistics obsession: the difference in English between “few/little” and “a few/a little”

“He convinced few people” Negative connotation; he did not convince that many people.

“He convinced a few people” Neutral to positive connotation; he did manage to convince some people.

“They found a little food” “Neutral to positive connotation; it might not be a lot, but they did manage to find some food.

“They found little food” Negative connotation; that’s not going to be enough food.