Ann! What Have You Done Now?

3liza:

3liza:

I saw a screenshot from zoomer Instagram today saying millennials were complaining about “not getting zoomer aesthetics” which I don’t think is actually possible because zoomer aesthetics are millennial aesthetics like we already wore that last time it was 2006. I mean I’m sure there are millennials who didn’t get it then either but it’s not like it’s new or perplexing. I kind of wish it was. not that I’m blaming zoomers I mean what would even be “new” aesthetics at this point. exactly

just to be super clear when I make generational observations I’m doing it from the position that there’s no reason to expect a 20 year old to be intimately familiar with archive fashion that trended for six months, ten years before she was born. when I was 20 my mom was always nodding at my weird outfits and going “oh yeah we used to wear that in the 60s glad to see them getting another go-round” and she was right and this is true of every fashion trend we think of as new or crazy. people were dyeing their hair pink in the 1700s (described at this Christie’s listing as “strawberry blonde” but that’s ludicrous, it’s clearly fucking pink lol) and I’m not kidding. and it was considered weird and avant-garde then.

and it was considered weird and avant garde when young people were dyeing their hair pink in the 1920s. and then again in the 1940s. and the 60s. and the 80s, 90s, 00s, etc.

anyway this is not and is never a “kids are so dumb, they think they invented fashion” post, because I don’t believe that and I also wouldn’t think it was unreasonable for a young person to not be familiar with historical trends they didn’t live through even if they do think they invented something. I think they deserve credit for coming up with interesting and creative stuff even if someone already thought of it. who cares.

anyway someone in the replies pointed out millennials are being really performative about this stuff as we transition to middle age and they’re right. pretending you’re shocked and appalled by Kids These Days is a form of in-group signaling for old people and I don’t like it. we criticize boomers for the exact same thing so I’m not gonna put up with it from millennials either.

I’m just not willing to imagine a millennial is sincerely surprised by layered synthetic knits, flares, platforms, deconstructed basics, choppy hair, bleached and shaved eyebrows, dark lipliner, and high contrast eyeshadow when that’s all that was on TV from 1996-2010. maybe you were in the ROTC or homeschooled or something but if you were American at the time and they let you out of the basement at least once you definitely saw this same stuff on newsstands and on MTV once in a while. c'mon

genericpuff:

triaelf9:

Naver's 'Webtoon' CEO says barrier for new entrants is high

South Korean tech giant Naver's webcomics business, called "Webtoon", will rely on its deep bank of content and creators to fend off new com

Reuters

This article makes me SO MAD

some choice quotes:

“Webtoons are low-cost to produce - one person can make them with a tablet and stylus.” I’M SORRY WHAT?? THE ONLY REASON IT’S LOW COST IS BECAUSE YOU UNDERPAY YOUR CREATORS

Webtoon Entertainment and its subsidiary have run amateur artists’ debut programmes for years, generating 1.6 million titles from 900,000 creators as of January.“ generating from creators ah yes, just like solar panels generate energy from the sun that we can use up, WOW what a gross way to put this

”'If big tech is serious about this IP-creating business, they’d have to buy us out,’ Kim said.“ OH CEO, you don’t say? Sound like this article with tons of unverified numbers & projections is more you all advertising yourself FOR a buyout

"deep bank of content and creators” OH COOL WE’RE JUST MONEY TO USE AND TRADE. you could have used any other anaology, a LIBRARY comes to mind “a collection of outstanding creators” maybe, but the use of the term DEEP BANK here is very telling.

Especially given THIS is more the truth of the situation for webcomic creators in Korea rn: https://www.cbr.com/korea-occupational-agency-report-tragic-picture-health-webtoon-artist/

Reblogging this for visibility and to add my own points as someone who’s been a webcomic creator for a decade and an enthusiastic pain in the neck for platforms like Webtoons for at least half that time.

Everything the CEO here is saying is a shitload of audacity for a platform that relies entirely on its creators to even have “content” let alone survive in the literature market. The fact that WT doesn’t release its internal numbers to its own contracted employees (the creators) speaks volumes to how far up shit creek WT likely is, at least here in NA, and they’re just trying to save face in an attempt to pull in new investors and creators.

Just to remind y'all, Webtoons doesn’t create an equal playing ground for its NA creators and they criminally underpay and overwork their LATAM creators.

Creators are not paid for their pre-production time. Many creators are subject to WT’s “Minimum Threshold Revenue” rule, which means they do not get a cut of their FastPass income until they’ve hit a certain threshold for profit which Webtoons does not disclose to them. Webtoons depends on keeping their creators in the dark and enticing them with the stick-and-carrot method as if the vast majority of them aren’t sinking due to WT’s own practices and methods.

Originals creators are still subject to the same “fight for attention” games as Canvas creators. They still have to do their own networking, supply their own marketing designs, and fight with Webtoons staff to get even just a few hours of attention in the banner reels, all the while Webtoons continues to advertise the same outdated series that don’t need help in the banner reels for days - sometimes weeks - on end.

Webtoons’ own creators are not pleased with how the platform is run but are often still forced to work for them because of how their malicious work practices have trapped them into a grind of constantly working just to make ends meet.

Even after Originals creators put their job on the line to write to Webtoons and demand better treatment and communication, Webtoons refused to cooperate, making it clear that the creators are just capital to them, not people. Instead, Webtoons put out a statement filled with false platitudes and empty promises.

We’ve called out Webtoons on their bullshit before. Don’t let it fall on deaf ears. Take the WGA and Marvel VFX artists strikes as motivation - we have more power than they want us to believe.

birlinterrupted:

when you are terminally ill back in the day they used to give you the secret ultradrug

lockvogel:

Views from the Sandia Mountains, New Mexico

straycatj:

まいにちいろいろ…

Various things happen every day

papasmoke:

the main thing you’ve gotta remember about our ruling class is that they are by and large very stupid short sighted selfish people who tend to reward other very stupid short sighted selfish people which is why the EPA’s upper echelons can end up getting filled with suits so air headed and greed driven that the agency doesn’t even stop for a second to consider not legalizing the chevron fuel that is guaranteed to give everyone on earth cancer over a long enough time frame because not green lighting it might negatively impact their future career prospects as lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry

guerrillatech:

jareckiworld:

Jeremy Olson — Intrusive Discourse (oil on panel, 2021)

iphisesque:

have you guys read the review of the dsm-5 as a dystopian novel it’s my favourite piece of creative writing ever

3liza:

adz:

adz:

adz:

adz:

at a bar in lower manhattan and they’re playing catholic choral music. on the wall there’s a giant mural of gregorian monks on a raft

the only other people in here are talking quietly about japanese verb conjugation. there are many statues of gargoyles and gnomes

reading reviews while quietly sipping my drink. i feel like i’m in an alternate dimension. it’s called Burp Castle btw

probably goes without saying this is now my favorite bar in the world

new yorkers are so fucking spoiled it is unbelievable

velvetcloak:

oakmoo