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@ohfugecannada

Brianna | 24 | she/her/they/them | born/raised in Vancouver, Canada, currently living somewhere in england. Posts animation stuff, social justice things and whatever I happen to hyper-fixate on.
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ohfugecannada
supermariomamafucker
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rozentias

in the latest cyber-news: the internet archive has lost their case against 4 major publishing houses (verge article). they’re going to appeal, but this is still a bad outcome. the fate of the internet is currently hanging in the balance because 4 multibillionare publishing groups missed out on like $15 of combined revenue during the pandemic because of the archive’s online library service. it’s so fucking stupid.

for those who don’t know what the internet archive is, it’s a virtual library full of media. books, magazines, recordings, visuals, flash games, websites - a lot of these things either don’t exist anymore or cannot be found & bought. heard of the wayback machine? that’s part of the internet archive. it is the most important website to exist, and i don’t say that lightly. if the internet archive goes down, the cultural loss will be immeasurable.

so how can you help?

  1. boycott the publishing companies involved in this. they’re absolute ghouls, frankly, and don’t deserve a penny. the companies involved are harpercollins (imprints), wiley (imprints), penguin random house llc (imprints), and hachette book group (imprints). make sure the websites are set to your location as it may differ worldwide.
  2. learn to torrent. download a torrent client (i recommend transmission), a vpn (i recommend protonvpn - sign up and choose the area that’s closest to your continent/country), and hit up /r/piracy on reddit for websites. with torrenting, you can get (almost) any media you want for free in high quality, with add-ons such as subtitles, and with no risks of loss. i would also recommend getting into the habit of watching stuff online for free. the less you can pay to a giant corporation, the better.
  3. get into the habit of downloading and archiving materials. find a TB external hard drive, ideally the higher the better. it’ll probably cost around $60 for 1TB and continue to go up, but they’re so so useful. if you can’t afford a drive, look for any GB harddrives or memory sticks you have lying around and just fill them up. videos, pdfs, magazines, songs, movies, games - anything you can rip and download and fit on there, do it, because nothing is permanent.
  4. donate to the internet archive. this is the most important option on the list. the IA relies entirely on funding, and it’s going to need more to fight this case. whatever you can donate, do it. i promise it’s helpful.

and finally…

#internet archive#wayback machine#copyright
ohfugecannada
susiephone
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susiephone

while i find a lot of criticism of booktok and "booktok books" to be valid, a lot of it seems......very reminiscent of the anti-twilight stuff in the early 2010s. like specifically the parts that were like "TWILIGHT IS THE DEATH OF FEMINISM AND LITERACY" and "VAMPIRES AND BOOKS ARE RUINED FOREVER" and "THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO LIKE TWILIGHT ARE DUMB TEENAGE GIRLS WHO ARE DUMB AND DON'T KNOW ANY BETTER" rather than like. actual critiques of the books. and even some of the more valid claims would sort of position themselves as if teenage girls reading twilight can't tell fiction from reality. like i'm not saying you can't or shouldn't criticize popular books (i certainly have), or saying that it's not fun to rag on a book you hate (it sure as hell is). but treating a book you don't like getting popular (esp with teenagers) as the end of literacy and the publishing industry and good writing is just plain absurd.

like i'm not saying all these books are secretly masterpieces, or even that they're all good. i've read some shit booktok books, just like i read some shit YA books back in 2012. but weirdly, the world did not come to an end and good books are still getting published. many of those books provided me with genuine entertainment, solace, and community, even if in hindsight they weren't the best, and i don't think it's fair, kind, or logical to treat people like they're stupid for enjoying books like this. (not to mention, how many people really got into reading because of Generic YA Fantasy #45 or Fun Mindless Romance #207 or Pulply Trashy Sci-Fi #62? maybe they'll branch out into other types of literature, maybe not. but it's still good that they're reading.)

and, frankly, learning to recognize and critique genuinely problematic tropes and elements in these books has made me a better writer and more attentive and educated reader. sometimes being able to articulate why something is bad is important, and sometimes that requires actually reading the damn book. and i would say that goes double for books you enjoy but contain iffy elements - it's a lot easier to completely dismiss a book that's nothing but 500 red flags in a trenchcoat, but if you're in a place of "wow this book really spoke to me in x, y, z way and i really enjoyed it BUT a, b, c were really poorly handled," it gets trickier.

TL;DR: no, barnes and noble having a booktok table is not going to kill literature as we know it, and no, people enjoying a book you find overhyped and cringe doesn't mean they're all mindless sheep who can't enjoy True Literature. calm the fuck down.

#booklr#bookish#booktok#literature#reading
ohfugecannada
sleepytoycollection
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sleepytoycollection

PSA for people who got into Barbie because of the movie:

Just because it was in the movie doesn't mean it's like, an actual fact about the line or Mattel.

Like, the idea that Earring Magic Ken was discontinued. Like. Yeah, he was, but that's how all doll releases work? He had a normal run for a doll. He wasn't cancelled early or pulled from shelves. They still make Ken dolls. "Discontinued" is really misleading. By that logic all the Barbies in Barbie land not being currently sold in stores are discontinued. Ponytail 1959 is discontinued. President Barbie is discontinued. Ect. Ect.

Also those tiktoks claiming to explain Barbie history and lore? A lot of those are spreading misinformation as well. Just be careful at taking info at face value.

#barbie
ohfugecannada
lazarel-3000
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black-is-beautiful18

Since Disney hasn’t said anything outside of the trailer we got like…almost a month ago: Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire is out today on Disney+. It is a 10 part anthology series that honestly deals with a variety of things. African lore, aliens, spirits, etc. Each story is unique and has its own unique style. The stories are also by and animated by a variety of African artists so that makes it even better.

Update: Don’t know how this happened but I forgot to put the trailer so here it is along with a teaser

#kizazi moto: generation fire#disney#animation#disney plus#disney+
ohfugecannada
prokopetz
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tyrantisterror

For years I've heard that those booby mousepads are actually really good for a person with carpal tunnel syndrome but didn't decide to test that knowledge because I don't want to buy a booby mousepad that would make me some sort of sex pervert, I was raised Catholic I'm a good boy not a sex pervert. But earlier this year I bought a Gigan body pillow as a joke only to find out body pillows are actually really comfortable sleep aids, so... so I bought one... I bought a booby mousepad.

...and my wrist feels so much better when I'm using it.

How many other comforts and aids have I forsaken because they're embarrassingly horny? How many discomforts have I endured purely out of a societal shame about expressing anything sexual? This world is fucked man.

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prokopetz

For those curious why exactly this is, it's because booby mousepads are pretty much the only ergonomic mousepads which still use silicone gel. Basically everything else has switched to either air-filled memory foam or a cured silicone rubber – like the kind used in silicone bakeware – because it's not prone to springing leaks and oozing everywhere; unfortunately, it also doesn't work nearly as well.

(In theory, if you're not a fan of boobs you could get a silicone gel wrist pad without the booby design. In practice, good fucking luck; consumer fraud is rampant in non-prescription medical and assistive devices, and the overwhelming majority of non-booby mousepads which claim to use silicone gel are straight up lying – what you actually receive if you order one will be air-filled memory foam or solid rubber at least 80% of time, regardless of what the product description says.)

#life#health#disability