IANTHE NUMERO UNO !?

it's coming home!!!

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hermey the elf was transgender

female elves:

• blond hair and small noses

male elves:

• no hair and big noses

hermey:

• blond hair and small nose
• is a trans man

you can be a different gender than the one you were assigned at birth but may god forgive you if you want to be a dentist

Eat the rich

X X

ok @mylittleredgirl @sigynpenniman you two are my language friends what the FUCK does this mean

In this case “chat” is as in Twitch Chat, like when streamers talk to their twitch chats directly, like “hey, chat, what’s happening?” Not sure what they mean by 4th person pronoun - I would consider “chat” a 2nd person plural (you all) but I can see the potential for defining it as a completely separate thing due to the nature of “chat” being a undefined person instead of a specific one? Idk it’s fascinating tho

4th person is referring to the hypothetical collective of people beyond the fourth wall. the fourth wall is the invisible barrier between the stage and the seats, the actor and the audience. and actors 'break' the fourth wall when they address the audience directly and acknowledge that they're a person playing a character for entertainment. in some styles of performance this should never be done, like opera or musicals, because it can collapse the weight and momentum of the story. in others, like improv and game shows, audience participation is encouraged because it's explicitly a collaboration.

in the streaming era (in our panopticon culture) the fourth wall is extremely permeable in interesting new ways. streamers aren't just playing to an audience, they're able to read and respond to messages from that audience too. it's a collaborative improv, there's a call and response, the audience knows the streamer relies on them for attention as they rely on him for entertainment.

so, yeah, 'chat' isn't second person, it's fourth. i'm not referring to the 'you' that's here with me on this side of the stage, im referring to the people beyond this situation, watching our funny little problems. all the world is a stage, now. don't forget to like and subscribe.

-Anthony Bourdain

#I feel like we're all conditioned to give these corporatized apologies or statements for every interaction#because when you talk like a regular fucking person online it's much more easily misinterpreted by people who just want to be pissed off#you know the Tweet that's like “I like pancakes” “so you hate waffles?” “no bitch that's a whole new sentence what are you talking about”#corporate apologies and statements read the way they do because they're intentionally structured to prevent ambiguity or misunderstanding#while also conveying a certain tone that will hopefully prevent people from getting mad while they read it#and when we have to buffer everything we say with conditional statements to prevent some rando from ripping us apart over a perceived slight#everything we say starts to sound sanitized and corporate (x)

Reeducating myself on how to say “You are willfully misinterpreting me so this conversation is over.”

Recently watched a youtube video about tips for trying to buy sustainable and high quality textiles and the narrator started with several minutes of "I am not shaming anyone for having to buy fast fashion, no ethical consumption under capitalism etc., these are just some tips for if you have the means and desire to source these sorts of fabrics, I know being able to buy sustainable things is a privilege --" and the fact that that disclaimer is necessary, that we live in a culture so ready to read anything in bad faith that providing tips for something is assumed to be shaming people for doing anything else unless you do the "you're valid too! <3" speech at the start, made me want to eat my own face.

wait ok now i'm curious how old were you when you joined tumblr and how old are you now

me making sure i shake my head in disgust as i walk past booktok tables in bookshops

wow look at you!!!

you are so very edgy and Not Like Everyone Else!!!

keep acting pretentious and judgy about what other people read!!! it's not insufferable i promise!!! good job on winning at being a dick!!!

feels like my silly little post hit a nerve lol

There. The last one.

I don't give a fuck about "cringe." I truly don't. I give a massive fuck about the algorithimification of art.

A sing-song audio of "everything is content" being used to encourage creators to record their entire life into tiny videos day after day just for the privilege of being seen.

People referring to "feeding the algorithm" on sites that do not even function on algorithms.

Jump on this trending sound!

"X meets Y" descriptors going from a "don't use this in your elevator pitch" to "literally it's the only way anyone is gonna pick up your book."

Training up-and-coming authors to describe their book by tropes and aesthetics that are, golly, awfully easy to feed into ChatGPT.

It's the "Tok" of "BookTok" that is worrying. Not the types of books being read. Not the "cringe" (whatever that means for you). Not the people making the videos. I am a huge proponent of talking about books you love early and often. But the nature and landscape of TikTok - the things it pushes to the top - the way it encourages long-time users to think - looks and smells awfully similar to machine learning optimization.

To the point that reviews and recommendations sound more and more like prompts. To the point that we become more and more comfortable with viewing the worth of things based on what is shown to us, when, and how often.

Considering entertainment monopolies have a history of skewing numbers to send people where they want them to go, I'm just not a fan of priming the industry I love (both as a writer and a reader) to lead me around by the nose like that of my own volition.

Because what your FYP shows you is so easy to tamper with. What trends is so easy to game. Leaning into the fact that trending is a signifier of worth is just shooting ourselves, both as readers and as writers, in the foot.