~Riene's Phantom Phan Site

Last week, the Trump administration quietly released a sweeping new federal rule that would use funding threats to force institutions across the country to reject transgender people. The 400-page proposed regulation would codify the administration's anti-trans executive orders into binding federal policy, imposing a blanket prohibition on federal funds going toward "gender ideology"

The proposed rule, formally titled "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance," rewrites the government-wide framework governing all federal grants across every agency. Among its most consequential provisions, it requires that before a federal grant recipient can receive money, the award must pass a "pre-issuance review" conducted by a political appointee—not a career expert or peer reviewer—to ensure it is "consistent with applicable law, Federal agency priorities, and the national interest." The regulation explicitly instructs these appointees to screen for "denial by the recipient of the sex binary in humans or the notion that sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic." [...] An institution that acknowledges transgender people exist—through its policies, its training, its healthcare, its bathroom access, its HR procedures, its name-change processes—could be deemed to "deny the sex binary" or to “support the notion that sex is mutable” and have its federal funding blocked.

This torches everything. And I do mean everything.

A very abbreviated list of its ramifications include (but are not limited to):

ending funding for ALL DEI related initiatives

allowing the government to terminate grants at any point for any reason

preventing researchers from publishing, going to conferences, and being part of academic societies

requiring that topics must support the president’s agenda.

What this means, and if anything I’m under selling it, is the death of science and research in America. It allows the government to restrict any topic they please at a whims notice, putting officials who have no background in the topic in charge of deciding funding continuity. It controls what gets researched and if/how researchers are allowed to share their discoveries. There are no books to burn if the government never allows them to be written. This is fascism plain and simple.

A ban on international collaboration with a list of the "scary" countries (like China, one of the US's strongest research partners despite It All), and a presumptive ban on ALL OTHER international collab.

An end to any binding peer review process in funding. All review will be by Trump stooges, deciding what has scientific merit. This isn't the top headline evil thing about this rule change, but it means that even well-meaning, very careful scientific review boards can't try to evade censorship. JD Vance is essentially in charge of deciding whether your metabolic enzyme computational model can exist or not.

Please make sure you have a reminder in your phone reminding you to not look at 2028/32/36 Democratic candidates and say "why are they not promising/delivering Cool Shit?" because you are going to understand that to get Cool Shit we must have competent people running a decently funded government, and we are not going to have that.

We are not getting UBI. We are not getting single payer healthcare. We are not getting free college or free preschool. We are not redistributing wealth on a large scale. We are not getting free internet. We are not getting ranked choice voting.

We have been aware of ebola for the past 50 years. We know bats in west and central Africa are virus reservoirs, they carry the viruses without showing symptoms. Outbreaks of ebola keep occurring because the viruses are now endemic and bats aren’t the only species that can harbor the virus without showing symptoms.

This is the 17th ebola outbreak in the DRC in the past 19 years. This is the second outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus in the DRC. The current outbreak is decimating gold mining regions because panning for gold is a perfect storm for zoonotic & water-based illnesses, you are constantly outside in nature, ankle deep in rivers and streams, interacting with others, often temporary workers sharing cramped accommodations. Historically and worldwide, mining camps and mining settlements have been decimated by infectious disease.

Oh my gosh, how cool! I LOVE the idea of a Chinese opera-inspired look!

I did do an Erik look wayyyy back in ye olde 2019 (actually hoping to do another soon). Here are some photos:

It wasn't hard at all! I used Ben Nye, Mehron, and eyeshadow. I didn't have any prosthetics, so it's all illusion paint! (And contacts. If those were my real eyes. I'd be due for a liver function test.)

If you're not familiar with face paint, check out a skull tutorial (sans the teeth) like this one!

Or, if you'd rather do an ALW take on it, here are some reference photos you could pull from for inspiration:

Phantom On A Budget has been THE resource for Phantom makeup since, like, 2008. She uses prosthetics, but you can easily adapt with just paint!

Claude Raines' from the 1943 film may be an easier version, especially if you're just using paint:

I'd also recommend looking up skull anatomy in general for some good ideas for where you could take the shapes of the deformity. This site has a moveable 3D skull you can use for reference!

Also, if you've never tried blocking your eyebrows to remove them and your eyebrows aren't insanely thick like mine, I like this tutorial! (I've long since given up blocking and just use silicone prosthetics to cover my brows when I need to...my eyebrows are Brillo pads.)

Also, especially if you'll be wearing the paint all day, don't forget to use a setting spray when you're done so the makeup will hold. My favorite ever is Ben Nye Final Seal. Spray 3-4 coats of this on your makeup (wait for each layer to dry before adding another) and you will be all set all day. I've worn elaborate, full-face makeup finished with Final Seal for 8+ hours and that makeup did not BUDGE. (It comes off with makeup remover, don't worry.)

In 2021, Swarovski (the company that makes the very sparkly crystals you see in certain jewelry, on figure-skaters' twinkliest outfits, on red carpet dresses), decided they didn't want the grubby fingers of small-time jewelers, clothing designers and costumers and crafters on their shiny beads and rhinestones anymore. They decided to limit their sales to "luxury" and couture creators, not girls who sell stuff on Etsy. The tenor of their press release on the subject was snide and insulting. Resellers (like your favorite bead shop) would no longer be allowed to carry their product; the average Jane on the street would not be able to purchase them. You could only get them if you had an authorized business agreement that bound you to very strict brand behavior. And those of us who still had good stock of the crystals would no longer be "permitted" to use the brand's name in our listings for sale.

Every bead shop and craft supply place and many, many small clothing makers--wedding shops, prom and dancing dress suppliers, the sort of salt of the Earth mom and pop time machines of shops that are the backbone of the field--scrambled to find something that could replace them. The last of the stock dwindled quickly, all of us grabbing what we could get while there was any chance of it, and then it was gone and we no longer had any access.

I was Big Pissed about it at the time. It was just so goddamn stuck-up, when wholesalers and indie jewelers had made them so much money, when some people I knew--when *I!*--had been brand-loyal for decades. But with no recourse, everyone pivoted fairly quickly, most of us to Preciosa Crystals. Those are Czech, quite sparkly, and considerably less expensive than Swarovski. The faceting method they use is different, but not worse; any differences are hardly noticeable when you're seeing them as a hundred pinpoints of light.

Well, out of nowhere, Swarovski just dropped this: https://www.harmanbeads.com/swarovski-brand-policy-update

"Effective June 1, 2026, Swarovski updated the distribution and brand usage policies introduced in 2021. Businesses may now purchase Swarovski Crystals without signing a Brand Control Agreement, and Authorized Distribution Partners may once again sell Swarovski Crystals to resellers, including bead stores and online retailers. Businesses may also use the Swarovski brand name when following Swarovski’s Proper Use Guidelines. Designers, manufacturers, artists, brands, retailers, and resellers are now eligible to purchase Swarovski Crystals through authorized distribution channels."

They want us back. A lot of the companies who could have kept a brand relationship with them also have swapped to Preciosa, over the last half-decade, in solidarity with indie creators and out of a sour awareness that it could be them, next. And it doesn't hurt that Preciosa was able to expand their line quite a bit now that everyone who wanted sparkle had no choice but to go to them.

And I'm not seeing nearly anyone who intends to return. The feeling is, "Y'all told us to fuck off! Off we fucked! And now, that's what you can do, too!" I'm seeing a lot of "How many of us did you stab in the back?" comments from the people whose money they're hoping to attract.

The illustrations are not new, I've seen them before - just in the Korean edition. And now we have a book with these illustrations.

There are a lot of illustrations, they decorate both the cover and accompany the story. It was very, very pleasant to see the scene in the cemetery, Eric's mirrored room, the Sweet nights of Mazandaran, the iron tree from the torture room, the Angel of Music playing the violin to little Lottie. The artist also depicted the directors, Christine and Raoul, walking between the sets.… I've never seen such an illustrated edition of The Phantom.

P.S. Christine is so beautiful 🥰