THE OLD GUARD (2020) Dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood

Watch John Oliver grill Dustin Hoffman about sexual harassment allegations

convinced no one actually reads posts on here

some people really need to understand that there’s a difference between saying ‘they’re a good character’ and ‘they’re a good person’

Last night I was hanging out with some people and the fact that ao3 won a Hugo came up and there was a mild sense of eye-rolling. No one said anything outright, and one person said they had “softened on fanfiction” lately, so all I said was “I’m very proud of my fanfiction archive and our Hugo award, thank you very much” and the conversation moved on. But in that moment, it occurred to me just how goddamn passionate I am about fanfiction. I felt myself rallying my arguments, girding my loins, ready to go into battle for fanfiction. Because, look, not everyone who paints wants to sell their paintings. Some people just want to paint along with Bob Ross or splatter something abstract on a canvass just to express their creative urges, to *make something.* Not everyone who starts a garage band is going to be the next Jimi Hendrix. The most “success” they may have is playing their cousin’s wedding for the price of free food, but they can still find fulfillment in wailing on their guitars or whatever it is the kids play these days (melodica?), having fun together and *creating something.* It’s not about success and fame and fortune. It’s about community and creativity. But, look, writing is a lonely hobby. You might be lucky enough to find a writing group that is healthy and stable, bit you know how many of those I have seen in two decades of hobby writing? One. Singular. One. And the people weren’t my types. I didn’t have much in common with them. But in fandom, hoo boy. You already have something in common with these people, you like the same dumb show and the same two idiots falling in love over and over. So it gives you a starting point. A built-in audience. And yeah, it can be hard to find a toehold, especially in a big fandom like destiel, but there is always *somebody* who will read your work. That’s not always true of original fiction. It’s a much harder sell.

People have been telling stories about their favorite characters since the dawn of civilization. Why do you think we have such a plethora of tales about the Greek gods and heros? These were our campfire tales. Before literacy, before the printing press, *everybody* was a storyteller. It’s about connection and expression.

There’s this toxic idea that if we’re good at something, we should try to make money off it. I don’t want to make money off my writing. I don’t want that kind of pressure on it. Writing is my joy and my escape from this capitalist rat wheel, and if I can do it for a group of wonderful friends who share in that joy, then by gods I’m going to.

Long live Ao3. Long live fanfiction.

I saw this one post ages ago where someone said that video games can’t have plus-size characters, because “how could they do cool action?” I can’t find the post, but it inspired me to show you guys some gifs of real people.

So my boyfriend of almost two years (Dec. 20 is our anniversary) and I just got engaged. His mother is pissed. She's originally from mexico but is an american citizen. Since we've started dating she's made it very clear that she doesn't like me cause I'm white. She's always pressuring my fiancé to date a nice Hispanic girl. Today she did so again right in front of me after knowing for two days that we're getting married.

My fiancé and her don't get along but I want to keep the peace because both of my parents are deceased. The problem is since we've told her she has been extra cruel to me. Calling me ugly and complaining about me being a tomboy. Needling my insecurities. I don't want to be the reason he doesn't have a relationship with his mom.

This situation is tearing me up which in turn tears him up which tears me up even more. I'm not an amazing person but I wish she'd see pass my skin and realize we're good together. Put her love for her son above her prejudices.

I find it somewhat funny because my Texas redneck family completely embraces him, and he gets along great with them. They see we are perfect for one another and accept it.

For us it's never mattered that I'm white and he's Hispanic. We bonded over all our similarities. We're both nerds. We met at work and for six months before we started dating we talked about star wars, batman, and harry potter. I thought I'd always be the girl trapped in the friend zone until he asked me out. He calls me beautiful even though I'm not and I call him dork because he really is. He's a misunderstood goofball who I love and want to spend the rest of my life with him. We're soulmates.

So, I’ve been pulled over a few times in my life. Not many, but a few. And I’ve also been in a couple of cars that got pulled over. And let me tell you, if you were actually doing something wrong, the officer doesn’t make any small talk, just straight into “I clocked you doing 70 in a 55.” The only time I’ve ever gotten the “do you know why I pulled you over?” was the time when I wasn’t doing anything wrong, and I got let go even though he insisted to the end that I was doing 87 in a 70 (white privilege at work).

“Do you know why I pulled you over?” is a trap. It means there’s a good chance the officer doesn’t actually have a good reason to ticket you, and is trying to get you to waive your 5th Amendment rights and incriminate yourself. If you make a guess, that’s a confession of guilt.

But there’s another trap, that I’ve heard of but haven’t yet experienced. It’s “do you know how fast you were going?” With that one, they’re hoping you’ll say no, because then they can name whatever speed they want – you just said you didn’t know how fast you were going, if you deny the speed they name then you’re lying to them.

what is a writer, if not a miserable little pile of ideas and half written google docs