one of the more bleak things to acknowledge is that if you pirate literally all of your music and then set aside a spotify subscription's worth of money each month to spend on a single pay-what-you-want album, it would almost immediately amount to you supporting those musicians more than streaming does
pirating all of your music and then buying a hat or something four times a year still makes you pull significantly ahead of the person who streams thousands of songs every year. it's not really a fair or good system for anyone
I saw a lot of people reblogging this with my addition two days ago and now I'm afraid some of them might have thought it was bandcamp friday that day lol. So for anyone with post timestamps turned off: I made that addition on Friday March 7th 2025. Bandcamp fridays always fall on the first friday of the month (when they do them) so the next one should fall on April 4th
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[Video Description: An ad with piano music over it all, showing an elderly woman in her home, knitting, when two younger men walk by her window, which catches her attention. She stares out her window at them as they kiss each other while walking, the old lady staring in disbelief. Cut to the old woman approaching a residence with a broom in hand, staring up at the second floor window where a small rainbow Pride flag is hanging. The old woman stares up at it and mutters "Ridiculo", before getting up on a ladder with her broom to remove the flag. Focus on the flag fluttering to the ground as church bells chime. The scene then cuts to the couple from before, approaching their home with grocery bags in hand before one stops and stares at the second floor, stopping his partner who then drops the groceries as he too stares up. It's then revealed that the small pride flag had been replaced with a gigantic, hand-knit pride flag. It then cuts back to the old woman's home, where a tin of rainbow-colored yarn sits on her table. The hands of the old woman are holding and fondly touching an old black and white photo of two young smiling women, leaning against each other. Cut to the old woman's face as she stares out with a look of happy pride on her face. At the end of the video, the name "Idealista" appears on screen, followed by "buon pride" along with a rainbow. End VD.]
The old lady is not in her home. She is at work. She's meant to be what in Italian is called "la portinaia", aka a cross between a doorwoman and cleaner of a residential building. She's in her small "office" space, at the entrance of the building, from where she can survey the coming and goings of the inhabitants. It's a job that has mostly disappeared, but is culturally very clear to us as having the connotation of "potentially gossipy, one-million-percent judgmental woman who sees everything that goes on in the apartment complex, knows everyone and their secrets, and has Strong Opinionsā¢ļø".
In this case, thankfully, the Strong Opinionā¢ļø is that those two men are ridiculous with their teeny tiny flag for ants.
The perfect post-workout snack, especially if your workout was sitting on a beach crying and then being ambushed by a man with an eight-pack.
So I've been looking forward to this for months as a great summer romance read because I loved the idea of an ex-volleyball player witch and a cocky pro-surfer shark shifter, and this completely blew past my already high expectations. This is not just a feel-good beachy supernatural romance read (although it is that, and the smut is stellar), this is also a story about both outgrowing and finding a home and family while fighting for what's right. It's also a story with a lots of snark and a hilarious side-cast, but we'll get into that in a minute!
Our main character is Selena, a witch with an affinity towards the beach but not too much magic, who has given up her dreams of beach volleyball stardom in favor of taking care of her family and tending to her town. Enter El Tibuton/Chase Perez, fuckboy surfer god supreme who should be everything she hates since he's the star of the energy drink corporate sponsored event taking over her beach and harming the hatching baby turtles, but from the start, he totally disarms and charms her with terrible pick-up lines and confidence, and you know, she does get a boost from sex magicā¦.
"Everyone wants El Tibuton. The smile, the sttitude, the big wave surfer. You want a battery for eco-terrorism. Torres, this is the most exciting thing anyone's ever said to me."
Chase is so game, and even if they fall into bed (or rather van/motel room/abandoned lighthouse/etc) quickly, the romance is at a slower burn, with Selena claiming that she's just using him for the magical boost to ruin the RipTide event and also trying to keep in mind that a star like that doesn't stay. Chase on the other hand is so far gone from her from the start, and he's fine with her using him since it just enhances the chase for him. But through banter, giving her info on the RipTide event, and playing volleyball with her, he also slowly comes to realize that he's managed to find his home with Selena and this town as well. And Selena gains confidence in herself and her own abilities as she fights against RipTide and her mother's expectations, and sees herself through Chase's admiring eyes.
She called out to me through miles of ocean and never once asked me to be the person the whole world had seen. She had wanted Chase Perez, shark and all, and had called me home.
Besides Selena and Chase, I also absolutely loved El Soldado, Selena's chaotic seagull familiar. He's hilarious, stealing cellphones to force the couple to talk! And so smart :DDD I also really enjoyed the dolphin shifters, Tanner and Diego, whose peppy antics and occasionally good advice adds so much flavor to Chase's sections. And despite the fact that we only really get three scenes with them, I really liked Mai and Marcus, Chase's little sister and best friend who form so much of the core of Chase's motivations and make up one of the most emotional parts of the book.
I did love the ending, but I have to admit that I thought Selena's image-obsessed mother would end up being behind the dark feelings of the beach along with RipTide. There's no real closure on the Selena's mom front; she tells her to shut-up once, but that's it. I thought she'd have more of a reaction to nearly drowning her own daughter with her wave-summoning magic, but there was a complete lack of reaction there that I found odd.
And of course, Crescent Cove is such a richly described and beautiful town in this book, with both Selena and Chase's love for its beach and environment shining through. I can't wait to read the rest of the novellas set in this universe, and I highly recommend everyone check this novella out first! And you can preorder the novella with NSFW vellums included for free on the author's site here!
#public libraries are good because they let people access books they might never otherwise read#private book ownership is good because it's Yours#physical books are good because they last a long time and again it's Yours#ebooks are good because you can fit a whole library into the physical space of a single book and they're cheaper to produce#audiobooks are good because they're accessible to people with eyesight or visual reading issues and leave your hands free#in conclusion: all books are good and people should enjoy them however and whenever they can#(lest it be misunderstood I agree with you completely OP I just also really like books in general and it got away from me)
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chatgpt is a threat to the symbiotic relationship between fanfic writers and their betas. we are losing our traditions. eradicate the soulless machine and ask your friend who has a full time job and 3 kids to annotate your omegaverse fanfiction like any other responsible adult.
Okay. I was on my beloved AO3 and I saw something that made me do a double take. So, now I really want to knowā¦
What is your AO3 user ID?
Iām an OG user 5 digits or less
Six figures baby!
Iām in the millionsā¦
Remaining time: 1 day 18 hours
Iām so curious to see how long people have been on AO3! I know some people have been on there since beta/invite only, but I would love to see what the number is on tumblr!
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I ended up experimenting a lot with this painting, pouring layers of ink washes over the watercolor and building back up with gouache and pastels. I'm trying to get a look that is soft and highly textured but still has clear strong details in places. I haven't gotten it down yet quite the way I want, but this is a step closer!
āI often wonder if I shouldāve been born in another time.ā
#okay i need a minute hereĀ #i LOVED this sceneĀ #because at first i thought all it was was a cheeky nod to canonĀ #oh har har what if heād lived 200 years ago isnāt that funnyĀ #but itās not JUST thatĀ #this is something that seems to have genuinely kept him up at nightĀ #something he almost seems to long for; something he wishes he could know for certainĀ #and itās something deeply personal. he doesnāt just brush it off as bullshit like he did his anders reveal in 1x03Ā #(that we later learned was partially the truth in 2x04)Ā #listen to how upset he gets when he says he never wouldāve spoken up if he knew the meeting had been compromised by mycroftĀ #this is such a difference from sherlock using his NA meetings to practice going into a trance stateĀ #such a difference from regaling everyone with the story of the blue carbuncle rather than talking about his addictionĀ #and you know what broke my heart the most?Ā #200 years ago? ā¦ he was still the same addict he is here.Ā
Those copy pasted tags are SO correct. This is part of why I love Elementary. They cared so much about the characters, their thoughts and actions, it made them so much deeper.
i love how most mattfoggy fights basically boil down to foggy saying āhey i care about you and want you to be safe and happyā and matt going āfoggy the city NEEDS me to kill myselfā
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Potentially unpopular opinion but this trend to "bookclub" fics in private servers largely ends up excluding the author from a lot of positive reader feedback. It's treating fan creatives like they aren't, y'know, -part- of the fandom community, is what I mean. In my experience it does not actually foster community despite having the outward appearance of doing so.
Like, it's not even about wanting to be showered with praise. It's that this person spent a lot of time making the thing yall are gushing about. Don't you think they, more than anyone, want to chat about it with other people who love it too? Putting them on some weird exclusive pedestal isn't flattering or validating. They're just another fan who wants to talk about The Thing We All Like, Together.
Anyway, I am once again encouraging yall to talk to creatives whose work you enjoy, they don't bite. š
(Literally you can just compile a few of the things you said in the server about it and copypaste where the fan creative can see it. Simple!)
