*Squee* This Is Amazing

“I want to thank every single one of you for coming out. This is very important, this is very vital. Black lives have always mattered. We have always been important. We have always meant something. We have always succeeded, regardless. And now is the time. I ain’t waiting! I AIN’T WAITING! I’ve been born in this country. I am 28 years old. Born and raised in London. Every black person understands and realizes the first time you are reminded that you are black. You remember. Every black person in here remembers when another person reminded you that you were black. I need you guys to understand- I need you to understand how painful this shit is. I need you to understand how painful it is to be reminded every day that your race means nothing and that isn’t the case anymore, that is never the case anymore. We’re going to try today. We are a physical representation of our support for George Floyd. We are a physical representation on our support for Sandra Bland. We are a physical representation on our support for Trayvon Martin. We are a physical representation of our support for Stephen Lawrence. For Mark Duggan. It is very very important that we keep control of this movement, and we make it as peaceful as possible. We make this as peaceful and as organized as possible. Because you know what, guys? They want us to mess up. They want us to be disorganized. But not today! NOT TODAY! Not today! This message is specifically for black men: black men, black men we need to take care of our black women. We need to take care of- They are our hearts! THEY ARE OUR HEARTS! They are our future. We cannot demonize our own. We are the pillars of the family. Imagine this, a nation that is set up with individual families that are thriving, that are healthy, that communicate, that raise their children in love have a better rate of becoming better human beings. And that’s what we need to create. Black men, it starts with you. It’s done man, we can’t be trash no more. We have to be better. You don’t understand? I’m speaking to you from my heart. Look, I don’t know if I’m going to have a career after this, but f**k that! Today is about innocent people who were halfway through their process. We don’t know what George Floyd could have achieved, we don’t know what Sandra Bland could have achieved, but today we’re going to make sure that that won’t be an alien thought to our young ones. You lot came today, you left your kids, and when you see your kids they’re aimlessly playing, they don’t understand what’s going on. Today is the day that we remind them that we are dedicated and this is a lifelong dedication. Guys, we don’t leave them stop you now. This is longevity. Some of you are artists, some of you are bankers, some of you are lawyers, some of you own shop stores. You are important, your individual power, your individual right is very, very important. We can all join together to make this a better world.

Thank you for coming out today. Thank you for your support. To us. Black people I love you. I appreciate you. Today is an important day, we are fighting for our rights. We are fighting for our ability to live in freedom. We are fighting for our ability to achieve. We are fighting for equality. And you are the physical representation of that. NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE! Today is the day that we stand. We walk. It’s not about career, it’s not about money, it’s about your right to live as a human being.”

— John Boyega’s full speech during the Black Lives Matter protest at Hyde Park in London, England (June 3, 2020)

Maki Naro @ The Nib

Vixen Games’ OZMAFIA!! Giveaway~!

So ya’ll may have heard that OZMAFIA!! is being released on Steam in English.  How exciting is that?? Yay localization. And while I’m not entirely convinced this game isn’t about the Australian mafia (which would be such a good game holy crap), we’re I’m gonna give a copy away because HECK YES OTOME LOCALIZATION (also Poni-Pachet is still a new independent group in Japan and they deserve the moolah).

Prizes:  A steam copy of OZMAFIA!!

Rules:  

To enter, Like and/or Reblog this post.

You don’t have to follow/be following us (but we are pretty rad so maybe do it anyway?)

You must have a Steam account or create one to receive the game.

Secretly agree with me that a game about the Australian mafia would be tops (like, what would the Oz Mafia even do? Organised Bottle-o robberies? Crazy pot rings in West End? Bribe our already ridiculous politicians? We are not an organized crime kind of country. We’re not an organised ANYTHING kind of country)

Winners: Winner will be chosen by a random generator.  The Winners will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen (:

Winners will be chosen when the game is released on Steam (29th of April at this point), give or take a few hours because of Australia’s quirky timezone.

May the odds be ever in your favour and all that jazz.

Have some pretty art to get you in the mood:

Need this! 

Positive fangirlin is always good. This is where you draw a line.

I LOVE THEM xD

The Marvel Universe 

Created by Brett Weldele

My friend from Lebanon wrote up a really good thread on Twitter I thought I should share here, just to clear up some of the inaccuracies floating around:

And here are some of the links they provided:

https://www.supportlrc.app/

supportlrc.app

Save Lives – Become a Regular Donor

Support the Lebanese Red Cross by enrolling to our Individual Giving Program. Register as a Regular Donor by Donating through the web or by

https://www.gofundme.com/f/prevent-suicides-due-to-poverty-and-unemployment

gofundme.com

Foodblessed food boxes to help those in need organized by Joey Moawad

<p>There has never been a worse time to be poor in Lebanon. A political cr… Joey Moawad needs your support for Foodblessed food boxes to

https://www.gofundme.com/f/medical-relief-to-lebanon

gofundme.com

Medical Relief to Lebanon organized by Majd Faraj

Hello family and friends,  “Our elders and our children, they await the nation’s call. They are… Majd Faraj needs your support for Medical

https://www.gofundme.com/f/hope-for-lebanon

gofundme.com

Hope for Lebanon organized by Samar Seraqui De Buttafoco

<p> Beirut is crying blood. Beirut is breathing toxic air. The fundraising is urgent. It… Samar Seraqui De Buttafoco needs your support fo

https://www.gofundme.com/f/lebanonneedsorg

gofundme.com

Lebanon Needs organized by Christina Nakhle

<strong>What?</strong> We founded Lebanon Needs to provide those who need it the most with essential s… Christina Nakhle needs your support

http://www.caritas.org.lb/get_involved/donate

Caritas Lebanon

Donate | Caritas Lebanon

Donate | Caritas Lebanon

https://beitelbaraka.net/donation/pay/

https://gogetfunding.com/beirut-emergency-relief/

GoGetFunding

Beirut Emergency Relief

The Explosion in Beirut today feels surreal. I am still unable to fully comprehend what has happened. My neighbourhood is destroyed, my best

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lebanon-relief

JustGiving

Help raise £5000000 to provide disaster relief after the explosion in Beirut

Weʼre raising money to provide disaster relief after the explosion in Beirut. Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.

https://www.givingloop.org/offrejoie

givingloop.org

Offrejoie | Rebuilding our beloved Beirut! We need your support

Rebuilding our beloved Beirut! We need your support

https://www.gofundme.com/f/beirut-explosion-emergency-disaster-relief

gofundme.com

Beirut Explosion Emergency Disaster Relief organized by Marie-Joe Noon

Beirut, Lebanon's capital, was hit on August 4, 2020 with a massive explosio… Marie-Joe Noon needs your support for Beirut Explosion Emergen

FAN ART FRIDAY! I hope you guys like my Miyabi and Mc :D I must work to try getting better at this lol.

“Here’s my life. My husband and I get up each morning at 7 o’clock and he showers while I make coffee. By the time he’s dressed I’m already sitting at my desk writing. He kisses me goodbye then leaves for the job where he makes good money, draws excellent benefits and gets many perks, such as travel, catered lunches and full reimbursement for the gym where I attend yoga midday. His career has allowed me to work only sporadically, as a consultant, in a field I enjoy. All that disclosure is crass, I know. I’m sorry. Because in this world where women will sit around discussing the various topiary shapes of their bikini waxes, the conversation about money (or privilege) is the one we never have. Why? I think it’s the Marie Antoinette syndrome: Those with privilege and luck don’t want the riffraff knowing the details. After all, if “those people” understood the differences in our lives, they might revolt. Or, God forbid, not see us as somehow more special, talented and/or deserving than them. There’s a special version of this masquerade that we writers put on. Two examples: I attended a packed reading (I’m talking 300+ people) about a year and a half ago. The author was very well-known, a magnificent nonfictionist who has, deservedly, won several big awards. He also happens to be the heir to a mammoth fortune. Mega-millions. In other words he’s a man who has never had to work one job, much less two. He has several children; I know, because they were at the reading with him, all lined up. I heard someone say they were all traveling with him, plus two nannies, on his worldwide tour. None of this takes away from his brilliance. Yet, when an audience member — young, wide-eyed, clearly not clued in — rose to ask him how he’d managed to spend 10 years writing his current masterpiece — What had he done to sustain himself and his family during that time? — he told her in a serious tone that it had been tough but he’d written a number of magazine articles to get by. I heard a titter pass through the half of the audience that knew the truth. But the author, impassive, moved on and left this woman thinking he’d supported his Manhattan life for a decade with a handful of pieces in the Nation and Salon. Example two. A reading in a different city, featuring a 30-ish woman whose debut novel had just appeared on the front page of the New York Times Book Review. I didn’t love the book (a coming-of-age story set among wealthy teenagers) but many people I respect thought it was great, so I defer. The author had herself attended one of the big, East Coast prep schools, while her parents were busy growing their careers on the New York literary scene. These were people — her parents — who traded Christmas cards with William Maxwell and had the Styrons over for dinner. She, the author, was their only beloved child. After prep school, she’d earned two creative writing degrees (Iowa plus an Ivy). Her first book was being heralded by editors and reviewers all over the country, many of whom had watched her grow up. It was a phenomenon even before it hit bookshelves. She was an immediate star. When (again) an audience member, clearly an undergrad, rose to ask this glamorous writer to what she attributed her success, the woman paused, then said that she had worked very, very hard and she’d had some good training, but she thought in looking back it was her decision never to have children that had allowed her to become a true artist. If you have kids, she explained to the group of desperate nubile writers, you have to choose between them and your writing. Keep it pure. Don’t let yourself be distracted by a baby’s cry. I was dumbfounded. I wanted to leap to my feet and shout. “Hello? Alice Munro! Doris Lessing! Joan Didion!” Of course, there are thousands of other extraordinary writers who managed to produce art despite motherhood. But the essential point was that, the quality of her book notwithstanding, this author’s chief advantage had nothing to do with her reproductive decisions. It was about connections. Straight up. She’d had them since birth. In my opinion, we do an enormous “let them eat cake” disservice to our community when we obfuscate the circumstances that help us write, publish and in some way succeed. I can’t claim the wealth of the first author (not even close); nor do I have the connections of the second. I don’t have their fame either. But I do have a huge advantage over the writer who is living paycheck to paycheck, or lonely and isolated, or dealing with a medical condition, or working a full-time job. How can I be so sure? Because I used to be poor, overworked and overwhelmed. And I produced zero books during that time. Throughout my 20s, I was married to an addict who tried valiantly (but failed, over and over) to stay straight. We had three children, one with autism, and lived in poverty for a long, wretched time. In my 30s I divorced the man because it was the only way out of constant crisis. For the next 10 years, I worked two jobs and raised my three kids alone, without child support or the involvement of their dad. I published my first novel at 39, but only after a teaching stint where I met some influential writers and three months living with my parents while I completed the first draft. After turning in that manuscript, I landed a pretty cushy magazine editor’s job. A year later, I met my second husband. For the first time I had a true partner, someone I could rely on who was there in every way for me and our kids. Life got easier. I produced a nonfiction book, a second novel and about 30 essays within a relatively short time. Today, I am essentially “sponsored” by this very loving man who shows up at the end of the day, asks me how the writing went, pours me a glass of wine, then takes me out to eat. He accompanies me when I travel 500 miles to do a 75-minute reading, manages my finances, and never complains that my dark, heady little books have resulted in low advances and rather modest sales. I completed my third novel in eight months flat. I started the book while on a lovely vacation. Then I wrote happily and relatively quickly because I had the time and the funding, as well as help from my husband, my agent and a very talented editor friend. Without all those advantages, I might be on page 52. OK, there’s mine. Now show me yours.”

—

Ann Bauer, ““Sponsored” by my husband: Why it’s a problem that writers never talk about where their money comes from”, http://www.salon.com/2015/01/25/sponsored_by_my_husband_why_its_a_problem_that_writers_never_talk_about_where_their_money_comes_from/ (via angrygirlcomics)

This is so important, especially for people like me, who are always hearing the radio station that plays “but you’re 26 and you are ~*~gifted~*~ and you can write, WHERE IS YOUR NOVEL” on constant loop.

It’s so important because I see younger people who can write going “oh yes, I can write, therefore I will be an English major, and write my book and live on that yes?? then I don’t have to do other jobs yes??” and you’re like “oh, no, honey, at least try to add another string to your bow, please believe that it will not happen quite like that” 

It’s so important not to be overly impressed by Walden because Thoreau’s mother continued to cook him food and wash his laundry while he was doing his self-sufficient wilderness-experiment “sit in a cabin and write” thing.

It’s so important because when you’re impressed by Lord of the Rings, remember that Tolkien had servants, a wife, university scouts and various underlings to do his admin, cook his meals, chase after him, and generally set up his life so that the only thing he had to do was wander around being vague and clever. In fact, the man could barely stand to show up at his own day job.

It’s important when you look at published fiction to remember that it is a non-random sample, and that it’s usually produced by the leisure class, so that most of what you study and consume is essentially wolves in captivity - not wolves in the wild - and does not reflect the experiences of all wolves.

Yeah. Important. Like that.

(via elodieunderglass)

What the fuck dude.