Louder For The People In The Back - Blog Posts

"love is love" until it doesn't include sex

"love is love" until it lives in separate beds

"love is love" until it is queer platonic

"love is love" until it does not comply with compulsory sexuality and amatonormativity

love IS love, for aspecs, for sex repulsed folk and for platonic relationships

"love is love" apply to more than same-sex relationships in a world where romantic and sexual relationships are considered more valuable

Remember to advocate for Asexuals and Aromantics this pride. Because we are also here, and we are also queer

fight club is a freaky ass movie/book, and your headcanons should also be freaky. dont water down the characters. they are all fucking insane

I didn't think I would have to say this but I am obviously against transphobia, terfs do not interact. I can't believe that there's a terf shifting community. If you are a terf, transphobic, homophobic or have any bigoted ideology for that matter do not interact with me.

Punk is whatever the state fucking hates so I'm sorry to announce to the functionally conservative but contemporary punk isn't leather jackets and punk rock from the 2000s, it's hyperfemininity, it's transsexualism, it's kinky leather harnesses, it's polyamory, it's Black female rappers, it's reading books from the library, it's pirating media, it's sharing your Netflix and Prime and Spotify passwords, it's patching up your thrifted clothes with cute embroidery until they're in tatters, it's "borrowing" groceries from corporations that make up inflation that doesn't exist, it's supporting small weird freaky artists on Etsy instead of buying the newest Official™️ boring low effort promotional image enamel pins, it's drawing and writing the raunchiest most disgusting and freaky porn you could possibly fathom, it's showing off your tits or top surgery scars in public, it's cis women packing and cis men tucking, it's dykefags and fagdykes and boylesbians and girlgays, it's paying for OnlyFans of trans people fisting themselves, it's making up new genders and sexualities and romantic orientations and editing whole new flags for them, it's refusing to label yourself for the gratification of a government that wants to know under what misspelled drafty legislation they should legally kill you

Punk is being/supporting whatever the state currently fucking despises and wants to burn off the face of the earth, not whatever you think is Punk Aesthetic. If you wanna be punk just to look like you were born in the 80s instead of actually BEING PUNK by supporting the degenerates and the freaks and the sex workers and the BIPOC and the transsexuals and the faggots and the dykes, burn your fucking $800 corp bought leather jacket because you're not Hobie Brown you're just a fucking poser.

Punk is fighting the system beside the ones the system is fighting against, Punk isn't a Pinterest moodboard.

ngl I thought the puzzle piece as an autistic symbol meant like. I am a vital puzzle piece to your society. humans would never have invented half the things they did without us. you're telling me it means I'm missing something?? buddy. listen. listen to me reeeeaal closely. no human has all the pieces to humanity. no one. no one has all the features enables no one has all the strengths weaknesses or quirks. no one has a whole puzzle. we make the freaking complete picture together. that's the freaking point.

thank god for the mythbusters though because it used to be that whenever i knew i had insomnia i’d just kind of accept it and stay up doing whatever until my morning classes and spend the day feeling like shit

but then they did an episode where they established that even just fucking laying there for a half hour, not even sleeping just laying there and not even for an hour, makes a significant difference and you’ll feel way better

it has made a huge difference in my life to know that it’s okay if i can’t fall asleep, it takes a lot of the pressure off and ironically helps me fall asleep better

while I do think that taking basira's "that does explain some stuff" response to jon's asexuality as meaning "that explains why he's so uptight" (or something else similarly acephobic) is a valid reading of the line, I don't think it's the only reading or the obligatory reading, particularly as she's on fairly good terms with jon at this point and otherwise mostly has good things to say about him. I think it could just as easily mean "that explains why he never made a pass at me even while we spent lots of time alone together and people assumed we were having an affair," or, in the context of the conversation, "that explains why he doesn't seem to be reciprocating martin's obvious attraction to him in the same way." like the other reading also works but I don't really think that's what basira is like? especially not at this moment in s3?

I think there's a general consensus that we should have that all ships are "toxic". The thing is we can't perceive the character's relationships in a "normal" sense because they're in a world where love and romance was not something that's normalized or even seen (atleast between humans) so ofc these people aren't gonna have a what our society's outlook on love is nor the separation between platonic or romantic, they don't have that. They don't know what they're doing they don't even know what they're feeling all they know is they like having this person around. They don't know the word "Love" nor it's deepest sense

i'm so tired of the yaoi-ification of mlm ships where people feel the need to make one of them (usually the fandom-assigned bottom) into a teeny tiny waifish twink and the other into a huge musclebound super aggro guy (usually the fandom-assigned top) i know this is like a thing many people have been saying for years but i just feel like it has never actually gotten better in fandom spaces. the fatphobia of it, the gender essentialism, the homophobia, it's all so fucking annoying it makes me want to scream

one thing I don't understand about f1 fandom is the war against esteban ocon. estie bestie they could never make me hate you

thoughts about link click and its great characters (major spoilers)

I think what I really like about Link Click is the emotional maturity of its characters. Granted, our protags are all adults, and so we expect them to react to serious situations with more emotional intelligence than a child or teenager (even if they are goofy in other circumstances), but I really liked how Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang never truly blamed each other for their actions. If this were a more generic/trope-y story with teenagers as the protags, we would probably see the two split and monologue dramatically about their ideologies and how the other is wrong (Lu Guang for focusing too much on the “big picture” of events, and Cheng Xiaoshi for being too emotionally invested in each client’s life). But besides Cheng Xiaoshi’s (justified) outburst of pain and anger after what he experienced from eps 3-5, he never blames Lu Guang for trying to be neutral, because he understands deep down that Lu Guang is right to a degree, and that they can’t fundamentally shift the past if they want the world to exist as it is now. Cheng Xiaoshi is also responsible enough to see and acknowledge the negative consequences of taking independent action from Lu Guang’s instructions while in the photos. He never uses the differences between him and Lu Guang to create a rift between them, because he trusts Lu Guang, has a deep friendship with him and Qiao Ling during a period of his life when he had no one else, and knows that Lu Guang is ultimately looking out for his (Cheng Xiaoshi’s) safety. There’s no drama and misunderstanding for the sake of drama and misunderstanding, because they have the same goal of helping their clients and friends to the fullest degree possible. 

Additionally, Lu Guang, despite looking like the trope of “cold/detached/cruel white-haired boi who is juxtaposed with his emotional dark-haired counterpart,” is very much empathetic and driven by his emotions himself. When Xu Shanshan goes missing, he immediately takes the lead to find her, because he knows Cheng Xiaoshi is in a terrible emotional state and doesn’t want him to get hurt. Lu Guang isn’t above being silly and enjoying Cheng Xiaoshi’s and Qiao Ling’s company. He always tries to protect Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling, just like Cheng Xiaoshi always tries to protect everyone he meets. And his reserved nature seems to stem from loneliness and the burden of seeing the inevitability of outcomes in the clients’ photos rather than “edginess.” I think a nice example illustrating his personality is in the chibi specials: 

Even though it’s a silly episode, like all the chibi specials, this is a nice microcosm of all the stress that Lu Guang needs to take on whenever he looks into a photo. He needs to be the calm one who guides Cheng Xiaoshi through the photos, because he knows Cheng Xiaoshi will be experiencing all of the unwanted turmoil of whomever he possesses. Even when he sees the misery of others, Lu Guang has to push that aside in order to ensure that he can at least save one person (the client or whomever he knows can be saved within the photo’s timeline). And considering how quiet he is by nature, Lu Guang has likely kept this burden all to himself. Yet Lu Guang never turns his back to helping someone when it is possible for him to do so.

That is to say, I fucking love Link Click and its wonderful characters - the writers, VAs, animators, etc. really knew what they were doing and they honestly deserve so much more credit for this show

your first DeviantArt OC is better than any piece of AI art. your heterochromic half angel/half devil tragic backstory blorbo is more impactful and meaningful than any piece of AI art.

your napkin doodle, your first attempt at sculpture, the funny lil creatures that you make, your amateur makeup skills, your badly proportioned medieval lookin horse drawing, your macaroni art from first grade, your MS paint color gallery, every creation you've made with your thicc juicy creative brain is better than any piece of AI art.

I love Zuko and Azula's characters, but I'll be dammed before I said they suffered more than any nation their family oppressed.

Atla fandom is the only fandom where the oppressor characters get more sympathy and empathy than the oppressed characters

I'm sorry, you deserve better

It’s important to recognise that Barbie (2023) criticises both the patriarchy AND the matriarchy. Yes, the Ken’s are just accessories to the Barbies. Yes, they don’t have any say in the government they live under. That’s the point, you’re supposed to feel awful, you’re supposed to want the Kens to have their own agency, you’re supposed to want equality. The Barbie movie explicitly states that the way Barbie treats Ken is wrong, so much so that once he finds a safe space for his masculinity and individual identity he’s so excited to share it with the other Kens.

But they go overboard and replace a matriarchy with a patriarchy and now the same issue exists but in reverse. That’s the POINT!! THATS THE POINT!!! Barbie is not anti-men it’s pro equality PLEASE understand this

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/25/books/greeks-myths-adaptions.html

Westerners never cease to amaze me with their entitlement - this was nearly too infuriating to even read.

Also, honorary mention: “There’s no final word on anything, because language is always changing, so there’s no definitive myth,” said Miller, who is currently working on a new novel about Persephone and Demeter, her mother. “These were fluid texts right from the beginning.”

Said Miller, who twists and bends myths and cultural elements beyond recognition so as to excuse all her inaccuracies and downright murder of the Mythos. Also, it's a known fact that Miller sees Demeter as an oppressive mother and that she bases said belief on British poetry of the 19th century. Therefore, when that monstrosity of a book does come out (where Persephone is twice assaulted by Zeus, no doubt), I honestly wonder how they will find a way to present her portrayal of Demeter as "feministic", especially knowing her previous distaste towards maternal and female familial figures, in general (Thetis, Kirke's mom and sisters etc).

The article is titled "The Women of Greek myths are finally talking back". Which is disgusting because the Women who talk are Western Anglo women and they cover with their voices the voices of modern and ancient Greek women.

They paint our antiquity and our struggle like some type of torture porn and, in the process, ignore how much depth and power female characters were given in our ancient texts.

Those retellings are a cheaply written, stereotyped power fantasy for Western women who use us and our ancestors to feel like they are doing something against the Patriarchy.

normalize reading a book without caring if the spine breaks, folded cover, misspelled annotations and just ruining the book completely as a form of art

one thing the show missed how deadpan and hilarious kaz is like he had such a slick mouth like in the books one of the reason why he was such a fun character was because how ruthless he was but also he was so outta pocket all the time like he had so much witty one liners

the dialogue around babs and her disability is so cooked because if there was some understanding that disabled people with a mobility aid — whether it be a chair, a frame, a walking stick, a scooter, prosthesis, whatever — aren’t “trapped” by the devices designed to help them navigate the world we wouldn’t be stuck having the same reductive conversations. kim yale and john ostrander reintroduced babs as a disabled woman who took pride in her intelligence and abilities and saw her wheelchair as a means of reclaiming her independence and autonomy. she removes the handles on the chair because no one, whether it be her father or batman or darkseid, gets to push her around. taking that from her is an act of violence, whether ur tom taylor who can’t envision a world where disabled people are respected and capable unless they are magically cured, or a random online who thinks stealing the wheels off someone’s wheelchair is funny

Hey guys, we need to talk. Because a certain little something in TMAGP 8 is causing what is genuinely the most toxic part of the Magpod fandom at large to once again rear its ugly head. So let's talk about podcast character appearance head canons, shall we?

I'm tagging this with the Magnus Archives, TMA and Magpod tags because I am absolutely calling all of you out, but if you don't want spoilers for The Magnus Protocol episode 8 then stop reading right now.

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. Okay, so, Gerry exists in the TMAGP universe. He's happy (or at least acts cheerful). And some people have headcanoned this to mean that he is no longer goth, or at the very least isn't dying his hair black with bad box color. And other people have decided to get seriously agro over this. I have literally seen with my very own eyeballs someone call "un-gothing" Gerry a "hate crime" and calling the person they were talking to "gothphobic."

Let me make this absolutely clear for all of you: podcasts are a purely audio medium and unless a physical trait of theirs is explicitely stated, everyone's headcanon for how a character appears is valid. Goth TMAGP Gerry is valid. But also

Rainbow Goth TMAGP Gerry is valid. Pastel Goth TMAGP Gerry is valid.

Not Goth At All TMAGP Gerry is valid.

Bald Gerry who has actually gotten his brain cancer diagnosed in time and is getting treated for it is valid. Somebody's headcanon of a character that has no canonical description to them, or whose headcanon matches the few crumbs of canonical description we have but otherwise doesn't look the way you imagine them to, is not going to take away from your own headcanon of what a character looks like. If someone imagining or drawing a character looking a different way from how you imagine them looking somehow takes away from your enjoyment of the fandom or otherwise makes you feel like you need to barge in and tell them that they're Wrong and need to conform to your headcanon or else, that is a reflection on you, not them.

And this problem way predates TMAGP, let alone TMAGP 8. The only description we have of John is that he is in his early 30's and has prematurely greying hair.

If someone thinks he looks like the pastiest motherfucker to ever dwell in a basement, an extra-in-the-Adam's Family or Tim Burtan protagonist of a man, let them.

What's that? You want to tell them that John is BROWN and if they don't headcanon him looking that way they're WRONG and RACIST? Back away from the keyboard and go outside.

(Ironically, as someone who started getting grey hairs in my hair in my 20's myself, I'm pretty sure everyone's headcanon of John, with tiny little whisps of grey in his hair, is wrong, because if he was so grey that people were surprised to learn he was "a child of the 90's," he was probably full on salt-and-pepper when he was in his 20's.)

The only description we have for Martin is that he (man who canonically has the self esteem of a used doormat) describes himself as "not the smallest guy", Not-Sasha called him "roomy", Melanie is skinner than him, and Jonny said he imagined him as a "bigger guy" who would beat Alex in a physical fight. If someone decides to take this information and conclude that it means he's tall, broad and has muscle, rather than that he's overweight, fucking let them. If your first instinct to this is to run to your keyboard and call them "fatphobic" or otherwise bash them for it, I once again urge you to back away from your keyboard and go outside.

Someone headcanons Basira not wearing a headscarf? We have exactly 0 canonical physical description of her and the people who headcanon her as having one are basing that purely off of her name alone. Fucking let them. Someone headcanons Melanie and/ or Georgie as a skin color you don't agree with or a hairstyle you don't like? Fucking let them. As long as someone's headcanon of a character's description doesn't contradict the few canonical descriptions we have of a character, why do you care? Them having a different headcanon from you doesn't take away your right to imagine the characters looking however you like, anymore than it should take away their right to do the same. Someone headcanoning John as white (or Black, or Asian, or Mixed, or whatever) isn't going to make all of the fanart of John as brown with long hair suddenly disappear, nor the fanfiction describing him as such (although I do often wonder if the opposite is not true; is the fact that John looks the same in so much of the fanart I see on here really because of fandom "consensus", or is it because people are absolutely awful to anyone who draws him Different?). Someone headcanoning Martin as not fat isn't going to make the mountains of fanart of him as a fluffy little marshmallow vanish into the void (although I do remember hearing about someone getting bullied off the internet for daring to draw Martin as not fat). And someone headcanoning Gerry in TMAGP as not being goth isn't going to take away your preciouse goth TMAGP Gerry headcanon. That should be part of the fun of it, shouldn't it? Seeing what different images people have conjured in their heads of these characters we only get to experience with our ears, and celebrating the differences as well as the similarities? Why are we bullying people into conforming to one appearance of a character when no actual canonical appearance of them exists?