Non-consensual image creation / "deep-fake porn" has been a problem for a while that the legal system has only just begun to grapple with but part of what makes the Grok thing much worse is that it's delivered instantly & directly into replies to punish women for publicly speaking or even existing.

the discourse on what jobs are acceptable to replace with generative AI reveals a lot about what we think of other people's jobs

as someone who has personally benefited from Tal’s m/m romance curation and has also derived a lot of joy and comfort and emotional catharsis from books about queer people in love during a bleak and grueling year, this is a wonderful read about why romance matters

Tonight we're at Carriageworks for #sydfest show #2: BURGERZ.

BURGERZ: an absolute triumph. A powerful work that managed to be both devastating and riotous. Standing ovation from me (and most of tonight's audience!) It's going to be one of the highlights of #sydfest

👀👀

Many thanks to Treasurer Harold Holt

Punishing artists for (alleged) political speech hasn't worked for Creative Australia, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, State Libraries VIC and QLD, Bendigo Writers Fest, and the ABC... but maybe it will work in Adelaide

playing tetris can also help get you through bad brain times. this website is pretty good www.goodoldtetris.com

It's not culturally sensitive to be publicly Muslim at this time.

DEAR SON: a joyful introspection of what Indigenous fatherhood can and should look like. It felt like it was moments away from genuine heart-wrenching power and didn't quite get there. It might be right in the sweet spot later in the season. #sydfest

It's #sydfest time! I will be more high volume over the next few weeks as @sjhfletcher.bsky.social and I enjoy the cultural buffet of our fair city. Tonight, we're starting with DEAR SON at Belvoir.

thinking about how, in the Russian history elective I took in HS, every time a tsar was facing domestic weakness the teacher would turn to the assembled students and ask "so what is it time for?" and we would chant "stunning territorial annexation!" and she would respond "well, DUH, girls"

I don't mean to get earnest on main but I've watched so many shot for shot breakdowns of this show and a very simple reason in addition to everything Tal laid out is the show took the source material seriously. And so much stuff that takes romance and puts it on screen doesn't

“Cuteification” of language, writes @sesmith.lol, “reflects the larger societal trend of capitulation, in which people have convinced themselves that it’s necessary to compromise to win over the fence-sitters”

my hot take is that I don't think it's this website specifically that's toxic. the Circumstances are toxic and nobody really knows what to do about it so they come online and scream. and if I may offer an alternative: actually going outside and screaming feels better.

There seems to be a correlation between ‘the books that I can read during periods of Bad Brain‘ and ‘authors using their Classics education as a lens’. I think it has to do with, among other things, specific sentence structures??

The Wisconsin Gothic series kept popping up on my most reliable sources of book recs – including @feliciadavin.com’s excellent newsletter – which usually augurs well. I read all 4.5 current titles in the past week and had a great time.

Caught up on Taskmaster Champion of Champions 4 and the prize task index (said to be Little Alex Horne’s book’s betrayal of Greg Davies). Fine work by Andy Zaltzman @zaltzcricket.bsky.social, with much to love for @indexers.bsky.social. 🤓 #IndexSky #Taskmaster @alexhorne.bsky.social @taskmaster.tv

They say you are never more than six feet away from a rat at any point but I often *feel* more than six feet away from my closest rat, who is very emotionally distant.

Okay, I will preface this with the GIGANTIC disclaimer that I promise I know how this looks, and I *swear* this is not personally motivated: If you have an old #LiveJournal account, and it has things you still care about in it, download it or import it to Dreamwidth SOON. Details:

We are all in a state of constant panic and terror. It’s important to take a second when you see something online that triggers you to ask yourself “am it really triggered or am I just experiencing nonstop psychic damage from the world and my brain sees this as an outlet for my fear and rage.”

Yes my job is proofreading, I very much have to read the long document! (Also it's great how I'm paying so much more for my Adobe subscription now, just for the time-wasting treat of shutting these prompts every time I open a file and on other random occasions.)

So I did not play Animal Crossing when everyone I knew was intensely into it, but 5 years later I’ve fallen in headfirst. Do any of my mutuals want to trade for fruit? I need cherries. 🤡

jezcore

Japanese copywriting still reigns supreme

please use alt text on your screenshots of stupid people saying stupid things or else my very extensive mute list doesn’t work. thanks

Everyone who knows I love the Muppets: "You must be so excited about all these Muppet developments!" Me: *has minor existential meltdown*

On the one hand, I would like the new Muppet Show to succeed, on the other hand, I hate Disney as a company and Kermit's newest voice is different enough that it ruins the delicate but important illusion that Kermit is a real guy who lived on after Jim died.

I love doing this! 2020: Nomadland/Never Rarely Sometimes Always 2021: Official Competition/Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn 2022: Tàr/All the Beauty & the Bloodshed 2023: May December/Green Border 2024: La Cocina/Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat 2025: One Battle After Another/Fwends

one challenging thing for me in talking and reading about Heated Rivalry is that there are so so many truths that have to sit alongside each other, and talking about one of those truths inevitably makes it seems like you (well, I!) don't care about others

this is such an important thing to recognize and call out the fascism is mostly done being nice at this point, but it got here through well dressed men politely asking questions while the rest of us were scolded for pointing out where those questions led

Merry everybody and here's to 2026. Hoping the world becomes a better and kinder place next year, or at least that I get a culinary blow torch for cremes brulees etc that would be a notable improvement

Just texted a friend "can you remind me when you're around tomorrow/overmorrow" and I just think if a few of us really gave it a try suuuper casually we could bring back this word for day after tomorrow next year

I wrote about Arsenal supporters finding themselves lumped in with a nihilistic cult of serial jerkoffs for @defector.com defector.com/a-tale-of-tw...

One of the things I need to add to this is that you need to be careful about people NOT IN YOUR INDUSTRY reading your contract. A good lawyer who understands contract but is not a publishing industry professional will flag for you that there are things they don't understand!

I used to manage wine programs for movie theaters and I am in the extremely unique position to say with professional certainty that the answer here is a crisp Albariño.

Fantastic response to the AI-defending arsehole of the day by Foz, who has already written some great stuff on how much generative AI fucking sucks.

Finished my first book of our beach holiday, and it was excellent. A thrillingly current multi-generational epic about power and wealth in Malaysia and Australia. Poetic and immersive: I could feel myself in the jungle, in the streets of Kota Kinabalu, the patterned palm plantations.

I read Behind Frenemy Lines today and absolutely LOVED it. What a book.

This whole thread. To add, I feel like "what makes your work stand out?" is such a normal-ass question and if you can't answer it, you're not ready.

Funny Numbers xkcd.com/3184/

waaaaaaiiiiiiiit, the Girl Who Is Going To Be Okay meme is Caitlin from Dropout??

just feeling more and more like it’s journalistic malpractice not to lead with the fact that the instructor in question is trans

No Two Desserts Are Not On Fire

I would unironically listen to every one of these bands

The uncritical acceptance of ABA=good illustrates why we need not just more disabled reporters, editors, and other staff, but specifically disabled people covering disabiltiy and newsrooms respecting disability as a beat. Lot of parents-of quoted in here, but I don't see autistic self-advocates.

I have a lot of thoughts about why people devalue romance and romance writers and have expressed those thoughts in numerous long form places but it is INCREDIBLY telling that people doubt the technical and business savvy of people who work in an extremely feminized arm of publishing.

I just saw an AI generated Bunnings ad and I literally just exclaimed “what the fuck”. The terrible, gross irony of a hardware store, literally the definition of a store for handmade and DIY of both novice and professionals, using AI to make an ad. Fuck. Off.

It's time