Oddly enough, the best and simplest summary of what the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are about is contained in this extremely sweary Phil Jupitus cartoon. People have been asking me to summarize. This does the job.

(Can someone do the alt text?) I'll do it as a picture and as a link.

[ID: A twelve panel webcomic posted by Phil Jupitus @/phillipjupitus7276 on Instagram.

The first panel reads "Mark Ruffalo and his Sweary Buffalo" in bubble writing with an angry cartoon buffalo saying "Monkey Cock". All the ensuing panels are a conversation between Ruffalo and the buffalo on a red background with speech bubbles.

Ruffalo: Oh blimey! The Screen Actors Guild have called a strike! And me about to pay for speech therapy for my sweary buffalo!

Buffalo: Shit the bed!

(Ruffalo is now wearing a black shirt that says "Hell no, we won't appear on your show" and holding a black sign that reads SAG AFTRA WGA STRIKE.)

Ruffalo: As much as I would like to curtail my ungulate's potty mouth, the strike has to take precedence

Buffalo: Great big sweaty bollocks

(Ruffalo's shirt now says "Mark Smash")

Ruffalo: What the industry fails to address is the changing way the consumer is granted access to the labour of both actors and writers

Buffalo: Knob cheese

(Ruffalo's shirt now says "Act Up!")

Ruffalo: The fact that the payment model for residuals has not been properly adjusted to take into consideration the way that viewers now access content is a major issue

Buffalo: TIt wank tit wank tit wank

(Ruffalo's shirt now says "Actor-vist")

Ruffalo: Also the implications of AI and ownership of the image of an individual requires clarification

Buffalo: Buggery fucktwat

(Ruffalo's shirt now says "Unionize")

Ruffalo: Another sticking point is that streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Plus will not share viewing figures...

Buffalo: Shit prick turd balls

(Ruffalo's shirt now says "Fuck the algorithm")

Ruffalo: One industry organisation actually proposed scanning actors and owning their very likenesses for future projects without consent or compensation.

Buffalo: Fucksticks

Ruffalo: The issues are complex at least. But producers and studios need to recognise that a proper debate must take place with the unions.

Buffalo: Management are CUNTS

/End ID]

Thank you for spreading the message, Neil! As a fellow screenwriter (non-WGA but still supporting), this is important and a great comic.

In the wake of the dual strike I would like to remind everyone that "hollywood elites" is an antisemitic dogwhistle and if you are referring to company executives call them executives

GUYS DO NOT GIVE YOUR MANUSCRIPT TO AN AI THIS IS A BAD IDEA ON EVERY LEVEL DON'T DO IT

original tweet from @jamesjyu reads: "We launch Shrink Ray today on Sudowrite! Upload your manuscript and get loglines, blurbs, synopsis, and full outlines automatically. Takes a ton of legwork out of book marketing. Below the tweet are two images of the program."

original quote tweet from @sudowrite reads: "New in Sudowrite: Upload your whole novel/script, get instant longlines (sic), blurbs, synopsis, and outline!"

tweet from @FantasyFaction reads: "Oh jeez! Bad bad, very bad! Writers DO NOT willingly give your manuscript to an AI so it can "learn" by stealing your work! I know blurbs and synopses are hard, but PLEASE do not do this! - JI 🐉

(stolen from ML Brennan & Sravani Hotha so I can include alt text)"

#Amazon #Unions

i came here to FUCK*

* watch the dungeons and drag queens finale at the worlds oldest queer bookstore

CATEGORY IS: Night of 1000 Brennan Lee Mulligans

i came as everyone’s favourite hot older sister miss Aelwyn Abernant

There is a balance between mindfulness and fear I'm trying to figure out. There's a balance between taking risks and pushing past my own needs and boundaries that worries me.

I spent much of tonight contemplating whether or not I wanted to message a particular guy from OKC to see if he was free to meet up. And there were just so many questions in my head.

Largely, I wanted to be touched and hugged and held and kissed and maybe fucked. Like, that was the biggest motivating factor. Which isn't bad! Casual intimacy is very much something I do want! But is that what I want with him? I kind of actually do like him quite a bit and I don't want to push myself into a space where I'm triggered and running away. A casual experience that ends up feeling more than casual would likely send me spinning. I'm okay with casual connection organically becoming deeper - totally! But I just want to be mindful about it if or when that happens. Not cuz I'm bored and lonely and horny one night.

Tarzan and I just 'went with the flow' until we were in too deep and then had to figure tough shit out. I trust in my ability to figure shit out so much better now. I trust in this guy's ability to do that with me way more than I ever did Tarzan (even though we've only been talking a few weeks). So maybe after all this thinking, I'll say, "Meh, just message him next time. Not a big deal." That's an okay answer. I just... want to be sure that's what I want.

Also, I'm questioning if I'm defaulting to him just because he's accessible (nearby) and we've already been physical (familiar). Just very convenient. Again, not a bad thing! Potentially a GREAT thing! But is it actually what I want? It's too early to know. If that isn't the right vibe for us, I don't want to make a mistake out of that boredom, loneliness and hormones. I don't want to have to repair something that isn't even created yet.

And - maybe the biggest factor - I don't want to be rejected. Point blank. These connections I'm making are still so new. I've figured out within myself that not being chosen is a big trigger for me and, because these connections are so new, and all non-monogamous, I've already been "not chosen" more than once. Like I make a plan with someone and then something (totally valid) comes up. Or we're chatting then they gotta go cuz someone else needs them. Or we haven't made a plan because they're holding off until they confirm with other people. It's all normal. It's all perfectly understandable. It's actually the dynamic I've created, because I chose to only match with people who were already seeing others (with varying level of commitment). So none of it bothers me. But there's a story in my brain that pops up every time it happens, tied to my sense of self-worth. And I'm trying to work through that when I feel it. BUT tonight, when I'm bored and lonely and horny, I don't wanna put myself in a position where it's likely I'll be rejected. This last minute invitation was not likely to be accepted - even if he didn't have other plans, we already talked about how this week's schedule is tough for him and he's just outright exhausted. He could have perfectly reasonable reasons to turn me down, but in this mood, I'd have felt sorry for myself.

And then spun in circles about WHY I'm feeling so upset over a guy I've literally only met once!

So I'm home. I'm sitting with all these feelings and all these questions. I am not beating myself up for over-analyzing cuz this is who I am. Thinking this much is my superpower. It is what helps me be so in tune with who I am, what I want, what's gonna help me or harm me. This level of mindfulness is helping me craft the exact life I truly want.

It just... sucks sometimes. It just means I'm sitting at home, bored and lonely. Less horny now, cuz I've understood where most of the feelings were actually coming from lol. There's a chance I COULD HAVE been with someone who made me feel great tonight. But there was also a chance I'd have felt even worse, and that isn't a price I'm willing to pay anymore.

Love how this implies that after the downfall of humankind that doge is the species to supercede us

hey netizens! i'm not sure how many people are aware, but youtube's been slowly rolling out a new anti-adblock policy that can't be bypassed with the usual software like uBlock Origin and Pi-Hole out of the gate

BUT, if you're a uBlock Origin user (or use an adblocker with a similar cosmetics modifier), you can add these commands in the uBlock dashboard (under My Filters) to get rid of it!

reblog to help keep the internet less annoying and to tell corporations that try shit like this to go fuck themselves <3

Mario creepypasta fundamentally doesn't work because you know what Mario would actually do if we saw some dimension-warping hundred-handed cosmic horror? He wouldn't lose his mind; he'd take one look at that Shin Megami Tensei looking fucker, pull out his dorky little mushroom-shaped cell phone, hit the fourth number down on his contact list, and go "hey, Kirby, I think-a one-a your boys got lost".

"Or he'd just fight it himself" no, he would not, for two reasons:

"I wouldn't take-a the food from another video game mascot's plate!"

"I don't think Kirby gets paid for this."

"That's-a not what I said."

*off-screen vacuum sounds*

Can verify JUST from the shows Blue & Red do together - Red simmers, Blue goes 0-100-0 in LIGHTNING speed.

Light Dragon WIP

I know generations are centered around consoles, but if play games on PC or a handheld was your first system, then just pick which gen was going on at the time

If you don't play video games then move along

There’s a special, specific kind of joy watching Worlds Beyond Number listeners call out what they see as the beginnings of Suvi’s disillusionment arc.

It just makes me want to pull them in close and whisper in their ear “Do you think you’re watching Barbie or Oppenheimer?” before giving them a little kiss on the cheek.

I support women’s rights but more importantly I support women’s wrongs

100% Disagree

It’s an underdog story about classism in which the folk hero (Johnny) is confronted by a powerful man (the Devil) who tries to exploit the hero’s perceived ignorance and inferiority by offering a great reward with impossible odds. Although Johnny warns him that looks can be deceiving, and that he’s going to regret the dare because Johnny is the “best there’s ever been”, the devil is blinded by his greed and arrogance.

The devil creates an awful cacophony of technically excellent fiddle playing that would be impossible for Johnny to replicate. It’s a trick.

But Johnny just grins at him and starts to play “simple” classic country fiddling songs - Fire On The Mountain, House Of The Rising Sun, and Daddy Cut Her Bill Off. He doesn’t rise to beat the Devil - he simply creates his own music from his home, in the style that he knows, and his love of it and the familiarity of the music make his “backwoods” fiddling more perfect than the Devil could ever achieve.

It is thus the devil’s pride, not Johnny’s, that allows Johnny to Bugs Bunny his way into a golden fiddle.

(In that sense, I do agree that it is the most American song: in a land of prejudice and inequities, great power lies - dormant but ever-present - in those we underestimate and attempt to exploit.)

Also people initially react to the devil's part like "holy shit that's badass" because he's got electric guitar and bass and a whole backing band to make him sound good. Of course he sounds amazing. But if you drill down to the actual fiddling -- and this is straight from Charlie Daniels -- it's not as technically difficult as what Johnny does. It's fast? But it's mostly just going up and down scales.

Here's a good performance -- the devil's part starts around 2:00. Check out how long Daniels just stands there holding his fiddle while the guitar and piano carry the weight. I love that piano bassline but fiddling it ain't.

It's still an American narrative: if you can afford to hire a bunch of more talented people, you, too, can look like a genius. Doesn't make you one.

Weirdly specific and unrelated asks to know someone well:

1.  Chipotle order?

2.  Thoughts on veganism?

3.  A specific color that gives you the ick?

4.  Mythical creature you think/believe is real?

5.  Favorite form of potato?

6.  Do you use a watch?

7.  What animal do you look forward to seeing when you visit an aquarium?

8.  Do you change into specific clothes for the house when you get home?

9.  Do you have a specific daily routine (and how many steps is it)?

10.  On a plane, do you ask for apple or orange juice?

11.  Anything from your childhood you’ve held on to?

12.  Brand that you trust 100%?

13.  First thing you’re doing in the purge?

14.  Do you think you’re dehydrated?

15.  Rank the methods of death: freezing, burning, drowning

16.  Thoughts on mint chocolate chip?

17.  An anxious compulsion you do everyday?

18.  Your boba/tea order?

19.  The veggie you dislike the most?

20.  Favorite Disney princess movie?

21.  A number that weirds you out?

22.  Do you have an emotional support water bottle?

23.  Do you wear jewelry?

24.  Which do you find yourself using, American or British English?

25.  Would you say you have good taste in music?

26.  How’s your spice tolerance?

27.  What’s your favorite or go-to outfit?

28.  Last meal on earth?  

29.  Preferred pasta noodle?

30.  Ask me anything!