So I (m21) was in an emotionally abusive relationship and wasn’t allowed to talk to anyone of the opposite sex without getting gaslit into feeling like I was in the wrong. However, after that ended I became good friends (platonic) with a coworker of mine who was married. We never were alone with each other, but sat in a group on lunch breaks. In those groups we talked about EVERYTHING, so the topic of kinks came up and I casually mentioned one of mine that had to deal with specific types of costumes. Fast forward to about a month ago and we had a themed day in the office and she came dressed up, but approached me and told me she was going to dress up in the style of costume that I had a thing for, but that her husband was not having it, but she did send me pictures of her in that costume. Other times she even talked about how me and her were like siblings and that she doesn’t understand why her husband gets weird when she talks about me. Am I going crazy or does it seem like she is sending mixed signals?

One: Having Avi Arad and Amy Pascal's production studios and names on the opening and closing credits made me angry at how prominent they were displayed. I get why they were, but fuck those two, Arad especially. He doesn't deserve any of the prasie that this movie will get.
Two: They made Jessica Drew just another Spider in the film. Nothing that made Jessica Drew unique was shown in the film. No venom blast, and no pheremones, and they even gave her organic webs. I feel like they mixed Ultimate Jess' powers with 616 Jessica's costume. It's just sad that a lot of people's first exposure to this character will be this and they'll have the wrong impression on who and what Jessica Drew is.

For anyone who has played Used Car Tycoon, do you know how to increase buying/acquiring more cards to sell? They are sold faster than I can replenish them. I know there is a guy that you can upgrade with crystals but I need more cars faster than that. And faster than the guy who wears a giant cup as a costume.
So, does this exist?
Thank you.

Since we're in for another round of Spider-Verse, I thought it would be fun to see what kind of Spider-People we here would/could come up with. Mine would be something like this...
[WARNING! Potential Cringe Incoming!]
Malibu, California.
Pro surfer Eugene "Flash" Thompson, is chilling with his best friend, Mary Jane Watson. The two have been inseparable since middleschool. Flash protected the shy, but brilliant red head from bullies. While MJ helped the big hearted, but scatterbrained blonde with his schoolwork. For them, life is good.
Today, however they find the beach completely packed with tourists. So Flash decides to go someplace that's always empty. MJ retorts that, that's because it's privately owned, and that this is trespassing. But Flash assures her that the old Oscorp warehouse is long abandoned. And a perfectly good beach is going to waste!
But, when they get to the beach, they spy some suspicious activity at the supposedly derelict warehouse. Going in for a closer look, they find hired thugs loading up barrel upon barrel of hazardous toxic waste. That they plan on dumping into the ocean!
Before they can retreat, a spider crawls out from between the leaky barrels. And bites Flash on the hand, causing him to cry out in pain. Flash tells MJ to run, as he tackles one of the goons to buy time.
But Flash begins to feel light headed, as the electric feeling in his hand spreads up his arm into his body. He blacks out, and after strange fever dreams, awakens to find himself tied to a chair.
One of the goons is on the phone with "the boss" who doesn't sound happy. After he hangs up, he informs his colleague that they're to "dispose of" the interloper. As they approach Flash, he begins to feel a strange tingling, and an overwhelming felling of danger! He strains against the handcuffs. And to his surprise, they shatter like nothing! This equally amazes the thugs, who quickly draw their firearms.
Getting that tingly feeling again, Flash instinctively jumps. Leaping all the way to the roof! Which he sticks to! The goons, now completely gobsmacked, take aim at the freak on the ceiling. Flash puts up his hand defensively, only for white sticky goo to shoot out of his wrists, covering the henchmen.
Flash has no idea what's going on. But he takes this opportunity to jump out the window and run home. After finding Mary Jane, and informing of all that happened, she runs some tests in her lab. And determines that the mutated spider, has somehow combined it's DNA with Flash's. Giving him the abilities of an arachnid!
Flash trains with his new powers for a few days, while MJ keeps an eye on the warehouse with some of her drones. It seems that they're going ahead with the toxic dumping! And have tripled their guard.
Realizing that they are the only ones who can stop it, MJ makes Flash a costume, to conceal his identity.
Meanwhile at the warehouse, "the boss" Norman Osborn shows up. Very displeased that he had to cut short his meetings overseas to get this bungled dumping operation back on track.
Just then, using his webs to create a sail, Flash parasurfs his board through one of the windows! Catching everyone completely off guard. As Flash uses his incredible strength and speed to take down the army of armed thugs. Norman picks up one of their guns. "If you want something done right..." He thinks, as he takes aim at the back of Flash's head.
But just as he pulls the trigger, Flash uses his new found "Spider Sense" to duck out of the way of the shot. "Not today, you old Goblin!" He quips as he kicks Norman back into the stack of barrels. The Billionaire screams in agony, as on of them breaks open. Spraying him with it's toxic contents.
His driver quickly throws a blanket over him, and shuffles him into his limousine. Speeding away, just as police sirens approach, drawn by the noise of the gunfire. Flash decides his work is done. And leaves before the police arrive and question the strange man in the mask.
As they sit, and watch the sunrise over the ocean, Flash tells MJ that their home is truly beautiful. But that there are people--not just Norman--who will exploit, and ruin that beauty if they can.
And now that he has this power, it's his responsibility to protect it. MJ says that they'll do it together. Mary Jane Watson, and Eugene "Flash" Thompson. AKA...
The Radical! Spider-Dude!
[Epilogue]
Norman Osborn lays covered in bandages, and hooked up to beeping medical machines in the master bedroom of his Malibu mansion. He lays, and watches the Daily Bugle News Network. Oscorp stock has taken a hit. But his army of spin doctors, and corporate lawyers have done their jobs well.
All the blame well be laid at "rogue elements" within Oscorp. And of course nothing is traceable back to him.
But before he can get too relaxed, the news shifts to talking about Malibu's newest sensation. The masked hero that calls himself "Spider-Dude".
Norman begins to feel his blood boil at the mere sight of that accursed wallcrawler. Norman gets out of bed, and stalks over to his 90' TV. And smashes it with his fist! Upon seeing his reflection in the now darkened glass of the ruined screen, he begins to frantically tear at his bandages.
His eyes glow a toxic yellow. His features are sunken, with sickly green splotches all over his skin. His ears are pointed. His teeth are like jagged fangs. His finger nails like hardened, razor sharp claws!
At the sight of himself Norman begins to laugh manically. "What was it that boy called me again? Oh, yeah..."
Goblin!
-
So there it is! What's your idea for a Spider-hero/villain/other? And no, it doesn't have to be as long or rambling as mine. A simple idea will suffice. I just had to get that out of my head. Been rattling around in there for awhile LoL!

HI! It's me, your new bestest friend. I'm Hannah and also bored, so come on, come all to chat with me. About anything really. We can talk about games, music, movies, play a number game, flirt even. I DONT MIND! Sooo hit me up already!

Hello, everyone!! We hope you're having fun with NieR Re[in]carnation!
This thread is to have a place where you can easily come in and post all your questions about the game. If you're looking for advice on your loadout, suggestions on whether it's worth it to continue rolling for that pesky 4* that the game just won't give you, this is the place to ask!

• Please remember to be polite!
• Patience is much appreciated; let's help each other out!

Megathreads:

• Gacha Megathread

General guides about the game:

• Subreddit Wiki with guides and various info is now up.
• Nier Re[in] fansite for more info about the game.
• Costumes/Weapons Database credits to u/SHINYnamazu

Please use this thread for easy-to-answer questions that don't spark a discussion. Thank you.

A historical costumer friend of mine says that they aren't (and weren't historically) all that bad as a bra alternative if you don't tightlace but I just feel like any place that had (if there are any out there in this our 21st century) actual corsets as undergarments as opposed to the corsets certain steampunk styles have you wear over your clothes wouldn't have stuff that forgiving to people our size or I'd give them a try

When I was 12, I made my dad a purple tie dye shirt and wrote "HANNAH'S DAD" on the front. It was not a school project. I just wanted everyone to know he was my dad. He wears it to any major event in my life and stole the show at my book launch yesterday

I tracked all these updates for my newsletter subscribers, you can subscribe here to receive these updates next time. enjoy your read!

Tiktok: Changes Affecting Creators & Advertisers

Tiktok made major changes to its platform. With the launch of their new creator fund “creativity program beta”. They have encouraged the top 4% of creators to push more long-form content.
And this push is also delivering results for Top Advertisers in the space. This fund was launched alongside a new Tiktok Ad format, PulsePremiere. These Ads currently in beta are shown after a trending piece of content.
For Music Marketers & Artists, Tiktok launched #newmusic to support upcoming artists.
And after that boom, we got smashed with the TikTok US state ban in Montana. There is a huge controversy around it but this news isn’t affecting marketing spend.
Executional Angles 🎬
Tiktok’s Ad platform and creator marketplace are getting better. The updates aren’t public. I have tracked a few cheeky practices from the Tiktok product team to gather more user data and better their Ad platform. Expect better location-based targeting in the upcoming few months.
For organic, With the new creator fund. Many long-form content creators are seeing an engagement hike for their content. You can experiment with long-form content as a business to connect longer with the audience.
And a nice sign is TikTok is now pushing more content from “people you follow” to the For You page. As mentioned in my Tiktok marketing post, this is something new and encouraging for brands.
Upcoming: Tiktok is testing an AI Chatbot similar to snapchat. This launch will help them keep users more engaged.

Pinterest: Affecting Organic Content

In April, Pinterest got into huge issues with user safety on the platform because many users were targeting young audiences. After that Pinterest made a few changes and at the beginning of May, launched their transparency report showcasing how they are filtering harmful content.
A great callout here is “Gen-Z is on Pinterest”. Every single platform mentions that they have Gen-Z users on their apps to attract advertisers. But data from different research shows that Pinterest has a growing Gen-Z user base, especially for diverse and Female audiences.
Bring back to the latest content ranking system and algorithm changes to Pinterest. Earlier this week, I shared this blog post from the Pinterest engineering team about the latest updates to the platform.
Executional Breakdown of Algorithm
First of all, how the Pinterest algorithm ranks content is very simple and it's all based on user interactivity.
All different engaging elements like comments, save, share, and like give the content system a signal to rank your content for relevant topics. As revealed by their engineering team in this post and by the previous product manager at Pinterest on Lenny’s podcast.
The new changes to Pinterest are very simple:
Diversifying your content, Pinterest is making changes to the content system to make sure the content it ranks on the app isn’t too sensitive toward a demographic. That is why they want Pinterest businesses and creators to diversify their Pinterest boards and content strategy.
This affects niches like Beauty, Fashion, and other lifestyle-related brands. Don’t try to sell the idea of clear skin or a perfect body shape. Pinterest is looking to provide a better and healthy space for young audiences.
The second change is “keyword search”. In the blog post, there are mentions that the algorithm will try to show more of the content that includes identical keywords & sentence structure to “user search queries”. To promote more relevancy and better content to users.
These are the main changes, I will share more on Pinterest in my upcoming blogs to help you overall with Pinterest marketing.
Platform Changes: Pinterest users can now add links to every single Posting format. And added a new platform analytics feature for better insights.

Twitter: Regaining Advertiser Trust & Bots

With the new Twitter CEO coming in, One of the Top Advertisers mentioned their comeback to advertise on the Bird app. But mid-micro advertisers are still not loving the Ad platform.
Besides advertising, Twitter continues to launch new services and features for Blue subscribers. And decreasing creator monetization requirements, increasing the video upload limit to 2 hours. The other focus is on attracting more advertisers to the platform.
A lot going on forTwitter. But the biggest issue is that Bot spam is at its peak, removing bots was one of the biggest promises made by ElonMusk. Still not delivered.
I have my fingers crossed for June.
Execution Considerations:
Twitter is getting better at recommending relevant tweets under the original tweets you read. And as you know it is mentioned on Github that the Twitter connection network plays a huge role in getting content discovered.
I recommend refining your network and networking with the right audiences. Kinda old advice but the platform is testing new prompts related to this. That is why you should click on it.

Agencies & Brands: Who got the best campaign?

Starting with the world's biggest marketing agency will get even bigger with a new partnership with Nvidia. WPP is partnering with Nvidia to use its AI technology to level up its campaigns. Link!
Shorty Awards took place in May and here is the full list of winners. Have a look and get inspired for next year.
VCCP, a London-based creative agency, is launching an AI-creative agency. The usage of generative AI is increasing very fast and adaptation is the key now. Link!
This month was filled with brand and marketing events. I found a curated list of brand marketing events that took place in May. Link!
The New Bud Light is “The North Face”. The new campaign featuring a drag queen is catching negative attention like Budlight. Link!
Jaskaran: I started tracking agency news for the newsletter last week, for future monthly recaps you will find more and better recaps.

Instagram: Targeted Advertising!

Believe it or not. Meta is moving fast with Instagram now. Tiktok announced their search ads will roll out slowly to marketers, and last week Meta came in clutch and announced “Instagram search Ads”. You can access them through the Instagram marketing API. Link!
Besides that Instagram made a huge spark as the information about a new Twitter viral came up. Meta is expected to launch a new decentralized Twitter-like app for their users in June. Many are excited about it. It could be a great opportunity for businesses as many find IG very hard to scale.
Decentralized means your followers can follow you on the new app with one click. This app can help you reach more existing followers on IG & FB.
Other than these two, there was a list of updates including a new creator fund announcement. But not much impacting your organic growth.

PPC: New Policies Kicking In

For the second half of 2023, Advertisers in the UK & EU need compliance with these new Google Ad requirements. Link!
Google and Walmart both took steps to make media buying and Ad creative creation easier. You can read here about Google’s new approach to media buying and how Walmart here is trying to help businesses with Ad creatives.
Microsoft is moving fast with Bing Chat Advertising, You can now use Chat Ads API to integrate ads within Bing AI. Link!
There were a few other marketing product updates for Microsoft in terms of improving targeting and utilizing AI. One of my favorites is the recent UET update to their analytics dashboard.
For more information, I recommend revisiting our last emails & read this recent Google marketing live recap.

Meta: Data Limitations & AI for Marketers

Meta is stuck. Yes, because they have developed one of the best AI languages and structures to benefit marketers. For example, this new engineering blog showcasing its new AI content structure is golden. Link!
At the same time, Meta is having huge issues in the EU & UK with their data usage. The platform Received a $1.2B fine and now UK representatives are limiting data usage for Meta. Good for privacy but points to a huge problem for paid media marketers.
Meaning Meta’s future is bright due to AI research & frameworks but data issues are like close friends showing up every single day.
Other than this, Meta is launching AI tools to help marketers create better Ad creatives. Link!
In April, Meta increased its involvement in AI to push organic content and in May was focused on utilizing AI for paid media offerings.
Facebook: New Lead generation forms features and a few updates to Facebook reels were key product updates.
WhatsApp: New Updates to WhatsApp Chat features with the addition of Chat Lock, sharing with captions & new polls feature.

SEO: It's all changed but…

With multiple announcements, Google search page structure & how content is ranked will be changing. The new interface is expected to prefer AI-generated results but for June. This new feature is opt-in, users on the desktop can choose to get AI results within a search. Changing their Google page experience.
Many SEOs are predicting a 70-80% traffic drop in the upcoming months. But many experienced SEOs believe changes are good and the traffic for the future will be more quality-oriented.
These insights linked below are from the best SEOs and their opinions on recent search engine marketing changes.

• 11 Realizations from testing search generative experience. Link!
• Aleyda Solis on new Google Changes. Link!
• The AI takeover of Google Search. Verge

The technical SEO world is going through many changes. My advice is to keep your focus on the content strategy part for a while. And improve that!

Youtube: New Ad Formats & Algorithm

After doing $40B in revenue last year. The platform announced new Ad formats at IAB Newsfront. With the launch of 30-second unskippable Ads on Connected TV.
Where Youtube is headed with Unskippable Ads is the future of online movie & content streaming. Either platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and other services have to give up a share of revenue. Or they need to go back to unskippable Connected TV Ads format to pay the writers.
Coming back to Youtube, Every week on their “creator insider” channel they announce various new updates. The highlight was the recent update of community post creation for all users.
Partnering with Influencers and using community posts to target core audiences is one of the best strategies based on this new update.

Marketing Research: What Changed?

• Don’t stress out about AI. More than 40% of Americans have never heard of ChatGPT. And only 14% have tried it. (PewResearch)
• Watch out for Podcast Ads, the Ad spend on podcasts is increasing and revenue is up 26% YoY. (IAB)
• Gartner’s research on How ChatGPT is useful to CMOs. (Gartner)
• CTV Ad fraud is increasing with the usage of Bots. (Double Verify)
• Are Twitter users planning a comeback or leaving? (Pew)
• Where is the media spending moving? It is decreasing for a few industries, but only moving to other channels for many. (Insider)

LinkedIn: Continued Organic Growth

As the round of layoffs is not stopping, LinkedIn is having its best time. The in-app activity continues to increase and now the platform has 930 million monthly active users, closing in on the 1 billion mark very soon.
LinkedIn is embracing AI in May with new AI features to help with messaging, job descriptions, and other hiring processes.
All that growth doesn’t mean everything is great. As the platform laid off 700 employees this month.
Overall, LinkedIn is doing good and viewers are loving their new marketing campaign. Watch!

Reddit: E-commerce World

I wrote about this in my updated social media trends post. Reddit is working on various new e-commerce features.
While many believe that the nature of Reddit doesn’t fit e-commerce offerings. Many product reviews and conversations take place on Reddit and users get the ability to integrate products from other businesses within the content. It could work very well.
Using these features to self-promote is impossible but with the right execution. It can do a charm.
Others: Reddit is going through a bot followers scam.

Mini-Bites: Snapchat, Airbnb & Others

• Airbnb did the social listening well to steal the attention of an influencer’s audience. (Business Insider)
• Peacock’s Twitter strategy and latest viral tweet. (Read)
• Snapchat continues to develop its AR offerings with recent updates. Brands can take advantage of AR even more. (SMT)
• Lulumelon’s Tiktok page is an inspiration board for SMMs. (Watch)

​
PS: You can subscribe here to receive these updates every month with my insights.

So to start off, I (AMAB22) am bi (technically homoromantic bisexual, but I find the bi label is easier to tell people). I’ve known that for a few years but there were definitely signs I missed while growing up. I’ve recently come out to 3 people I am close to (although no family members)
I’ve always had tendencies where I would dress up as a girl, I can specifically remember an incident when I was like 8 where I was caught while wearing my sisters halloween costume, which was a pop star at the time. The costume consisted of a wig, a top, and a skirt
Now that I’m a bit older and have accepted my sexuality and am starting to understand gender concepts a bit more, I’m starting to question that side of me
I cut up an old shirt of mine to make a crop top a few days ago and I really enjoy wearing it when I can (usually when the rest of my family is asleep and won’t come into my room), and I’m planning on buying a skirt at some point to go with it. I plan of wearing this top when I go to any pride events although will probably wear shorts rather than a skirt but we’ll see
Where I am getting confused by is my gender identity. I like being “one of the guys” and doing traditionally male stuff, but other than that I couldn’t really care what my gender is (but I do want one). I am fine with he/him pronouns and sometimes they/them but not she/her, and neopronouns don’t really do anything for me. The shortened version of my name that I usually go by is definitely masculine but I like my name. I don’t want HRT or any sort of surgery, but do want to start presenting a bit more androgynous, even though I’m still fine being seen as a guy
I want to try wearing black nail polish most of the time and occasionally some makeup like eyeliner and black lipstick, although idk if that’s a fem part of me or more of a like punk thing, as I’ve gotten into a lot of punk rock/ pop punk music recently and really like that aesthetic (or maybe that desire could be a bit of both at the same time??)
I feel like femboy kinda fits when I dress fem but it doesn’t really feel fully right as I don’t want to present fem all the time. Maybe gender-nonconforming male but that also doesn’t feel right as I don’t really feel like I’m 100% male. I’ve also heard of gender apathetic but I do want a gender identity of some sort so idk. Genderqueer maybe, but I feel like that ignores my masc-leaning identity. Maybe something under the non-binary umbrella??
Any advice or similar experiences is welcomed

Ah, Eurovision season. The time of hype, music, unity – and a shit ton of drama. This year’s winner is maybe one of the most controversial we’ve ever had, and that’s saying something considering we've had broadcasters straight up end a broadcast because they didn't like the winner (don't ask).
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start from the basics:

What is Eurovision?

Eurovision (or ESC) is an annual song contest originating from Europe, organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). It’s been held without fail since 1951 aside from 2020, when it was cancelled for truly mysterious reasons. (COVID, guys, it was COVID). Originally incorporating only European countries, the contest has grown in its scope since its early days, nowadays having almost 40 countries participating (including some decisively non-European countries like Israel and Australia) and reaching a viewership of 150+ million, making it measure up to live events the likes of Super Bowl.
The concept of the competition is simple: each country sends one original song to compete. Aside from the biggest sponsors of the contest (UK, Spain, Italy, Germany and France) and the winner of the previous year (Ukraine in ESC 2023) each entry participates in a semi-final, from which 20 countries are selected to advance to the final via voting. The winner of the competition is the act that gets the most votes in the final, who then gets the right to host next year’s contest and enjoy the tourism money. This year, UK took over the hosting duties from Ukraine for reasons (the war, guys, it was the war).
The voting system is important to understand for context: each country gives two sets of points, both equal in value and weight. Points are given to the top 10 entries, 10th getting 1 point, 9th two points and so on. Third place gets 8 points, second place gets 10 points and first place gets 12 points to make the top two positions more valuable. The two sets of votes come from professional juries and the televote. Countries can’t vote for their own entry, naturally.
Juries are 4-5 member teams consisting of music professionals (artists, producers, managers, vocal coaches, music reporters, radio DJs, choreographers etc.) who appraise each entry based on the following criteria:

• Composition and originality of the song
• Performance on stage
• Vocal capacity of artist(s)
• Overall impression of the act

Televotes are collected by having viewers vote via the official Eurovision app, or by calling/texting. A person/device can give a maximum of 20 votes and each vote costs money, the amount depending on each individual country, but it usually hovers somewhere around 1€/vote. Yes, I blew 20€ on the grand final. Yes, I blew another 20€ on the semifinal I was allowed to vote in (there are two semifinals and you can only vote in the semi your country’s in).
This year's Grand Final was held on May 13, but things start happening way before that. Each Eurovision season typically starts with countries selecting their representatives. Some use internal selection (as in, broadcasters decide who goes all by themselves) but most host national finals, competitions where the winner is granted the golden ticket to Eurovision. These national finals are keenly followed by eurofans (passionate fans of Eurovision).

Ready Player One: UMK 2023 and the Launch of the Dark Horse

In January 2023, UMK, the Finnish national final for Eurovision, started revealing its finalists. Seven finalists were announced, and their songs were released one by one on a once-a-day schedule. Finland’s journey in Eurovision has historically been poor, having only managed to secure one win (granted, there are many who have never won) and often finishing on the back end of the results.
Since 2020, however, UMK went under new management and did what was pretty much a 180: in a few years, it became one of the highest quality national finals around, and because of that, many eyes were on Finland when UMK started. The overall quality of songs in 2023 was very good, but one emerged as a clear frontrunner.
Käärijä, a Finnish rapper who was virtually unknown even in his home country, entered the competition, as the kids say, guns ablaze and mad as hell. His song Cha Cha Cha, a rap/metal/techno fusion song that does a complete tonal and genre shift halfway through, immediately became the fan favourite to win. When the time came, Käärijä absolutely landslided the national final, getting more points than the three runners up put together.
Hopeful buzz started amongst the eurofans; would this finally be Finland’s time after seventeen years (Finland’s last and only win was in 2006)? Finland is by means not the most beloved country in Eurovision, but many see it as an underdog that’s finally catching up to speed. Many wanted it to do well. Some were cautiously optimistic.
That was, until Sweden entered the competition, as the kids say, guns ablaze and mad as hell.

Ready Player Two: Melodifestivalen 2023 and the Awakening of the Sleeping Giant

Sweden, by all possible metrics, is one of, if not THE most successful country in Eurovision history. Before 2023, they’ve raked in a massive six wins (second only to Ireland who has seven), two of which during the last 11 years alone and the last one as recently as 2015. Additionally, on years they don’t win, they place in the top 10 almost without fail. They have only failed to qualify from the semifinals once, and it was largely seen as a national disgrace.
Sweden takes Eurovision VERY seriously, and it shows in their results. Melodifestivalen, Sweden’s national selection, started gathering curious eyes even before it started, because rumours were murmuring of someone very remarkable returning on stage. These rumours turned out to be true.
It’s hard to overstate how iconic Loreen is to the Eurovision community. She won the competition back in 2012, with a song that’s widely regarded as the best winning song of all time. She’s beloved and for a good reason. Known as a passionate, skilful vocalist and a world-class performer, the moment her participation was confirmed, many considered Melodifestivalen 2023 a done deal.
It must be mentioned that Loreen did attempt to return to Eurovision once between her win in 2012 and entry in 2023, but failed to win Melodifestivalen. However, this year’s entry was not here to play. She entered with Tattoo, a pop epic crafted by some of the best songwriters Sweden has to offer, with a staging so impeccable it could pass for a music video.
Critics and audience alike were raving. She was back, more powerful than ever. Expectedly, she won Melodifestivalen and earned her place in the line-up of 2023. In the community, the buzz was immediate, but not all of it was positive.

Sweden and Eurovision: A Turbulent Relationship

I think it’s fair to say that Sweden is, for the lack of a better term, suffering from success. Lately, there has been a somewhat anti-Sweden mentality brewing in the community, stemming from a few key criticisms Sweden regularly gets

• Genre loyalty: Swedish entries generally all fall under the umbrella of “radio friendly pop”. They’re well composed, well produced but seemingly leave the fandom cold. “Generic”, “soulless” and “safe” are terms often thrown at Swedish entries
• Jury bias: For a while now, Sweden has done better with juries than the televote, the difference once notoriously being as massive as 220 points, or 2nd place (jury) vs 22nd (out of a possible 26) (by the public). That being said, it’s disingenuous to say the televote hates Sweden as they regularly rank in the top 10, but it’s hard to deny that their point tally routinely consists of more jury than televote points
• Same songwriters: Melodifestivalen has been quite frequently criticized for having a large chunk of its songs written by the same core group of ten-ish people. In Sweden’s defence, a country of 10 million does not have that many active songwriters, but it’s hard to deny it’s a striking detail. For instance, in this year’s final, Melodifestivalen didn’t have a single entry that didn’t have at least two of these songwriters credited

This has led to things souring between Sweden and eurofans. To sum it up concisely: many eurofans feel like Sweden never takes risks, sends ungenuine lab-crafted jury baits and is always rewarded for it no matter what the viewers do because the juries always have Sweden's back. There's a lot of intricacies that go into this and there's nuance to this criticism, but for the sake of keeping things concise, I won't go into them now, all you need to know is that this is something that's going on.

“I love Loreen, but…”

Because of this sentiment, while Loreen undoubtedly had her fans, a sizeable section of the fandom started being critical of her. People started negging. Her song was called generic and soulless, the fact it was written by a huge group of the “regulars” in Melodifestivalen was brought up. People said it was too similar to her 2012 winning song, a 2.0 or carbon copy if you will.
As soon as Loreen was announced as the Swedish representative, the competition took on a narrative of its own. It was widely seen as a race between Finland and Sweden. While Loreen definitely had her fans, the overall mentality was leaning more towards Käärijä. He was seen as the underdog from the country that has a winning chance once every 20 years, if that, going up against the Eurovision powerhouse Sweden who wins so often the fandom is getting tired of it.
That’s not to say no other entries were ever in the talks: Spain’s artsy fusion flamenco song was seen as a potential jury darling. France’s sassy chanson was seen as a potential sleeper hit. Norway’s TikTok viral Viking techno banger was seen as a potential televote magnet. Ukraine was still a big unknown given that the previous year, they had received the largest televote tally in the history of the competition and many thought sympathy votes would keep pouring in this year as well. And then there’s whatever the fuck Croatia was doing (okay, they never had a chance of winning, I just wanted any excuse to subjugate people to this chaos).
But the overall sentiment was heavily leaning towards this being a neighbour war between Finland and Sweden. As the press and pre-parties (fan arranged concerts where artists are invited to perform to get their first interactions with the fandom) started, eyes were undeniably on Loreen and Käärijä.
During his Eurovision journey, Käärijä became somewhat of a crowd darling and went moderately viral on TikTok. A little guy with a bowl cut and a thick accent who had quickly gotten the reputation of being both funny and extremely friendly, coming to the competition with an out of the box and blatantly flamboyant genre fusion banger, walking around in a green bolero with no shirt. It's hard not to feel endeared. (Not that Loreen was unfriendly or anything, she’s perfectly nice by all accounts, but her off-stage personality wasn’t as much of a focal point as it was for Käärijä who became so beloved he was locked in as an icon even before the competition began).
Finns, they, well… Rallied behind Käärijä like crazy. Their government officials sent tweets wishing him good luck. The state owned railway company dressed its statues as Käärijä. The Helsinki tram got a Käärijä makeover. Cha Cha Cha topped the Finnish charts for ages (and still does AFAIK). The Finnish press was going gaga, broadcasting how only Loreen stood in the way of Käärijä’s victory.

“Just Ignore Everyone”: The Main Event That Undeniably Shaved a Few Years Off Of Graham Norton’s Life Span

The main event came about at the Liverpool Arena. As expected, both Sweden and Finland qualified for the final (later revealed to have come second and first, respectively). As the grand final came about, what was supposed to be a fun event (ironically carrying the slogan “United by Music”) turned into a rather tense occasion. Sweden performed 9th whereas Finland performed 13th. Both of their performances went largely well.
During Finland’s performance, the crowd went so crazy some commentators even said the whole building was shaking. People shouted Cha Cha Cha at the top of their lungs. The audience was on his side. Not that Loreen’s performance was poorly received either, she clearly had a lot of friends at the arena, but Finland got the audience by the balls.
After all of the 26 acts were done performing, the time for vote announcements came. The structure of vote announcements goes as follows: first, each country gives their jury points one by one, their spokesperson saying out loud the country that got 12 points, the highest one possible. After that, the total televote points given by all countries are given to each act one by one starting from the country currently at the last position.
Very soon, it became obvious that the juries had taken an immense liking to Tattoo.
Loreen got 12 points after 12 points, and the atmosphere at the arena shifted. The audience got more and more agitated with each 12 points Sweden received, and cheered very loudly whenever Käärijä (who was expected to do significantly worse with the juries thanks to non-mainstream genre and his lesser singing abilities due to being a rapper first and foremost) got any points. It got to a point where they responded to Sweden getting 12 points by chanting Cha Cha Cha.
The hosts (Graham Norton and Hannah Waddingham) were getting visibly uncomfortable and had to calm the crowd more than once. Hannah Waddingham eventually gave the exasperated yet iconic one-liner “just ignore everyone” when the chanting wouldn’t calm down. In the end, Sweden was comfortably in 1st place, having raked in a massive and historic 340 points, almost double that of the runner up Israel (who got 177 jury points). Finland ranked 4th with the juries with a total tally of 150, nearly 200 points behind Loreen.
Once the time for televotes came, everyone’s eyes were on Finland. Käärijä was expected to do well, but no one could quite gauge how well he’d do. Turns out, very well. He raked in a massive 376 televote points, getting the full marks from 18/37 countries and not placing lower than 5th with any country. To put it in perspective, this is the 2nd highest televote score ever (by percentage of available points), the highest being Ukraine from the year prior, and the circumstances were quite unprecedented.
By then, it was obvious the two-horse race had become true. Loreen would need 189 points (roughly the 3th-4th place in televotes) to secure her win, a tally that wasn’t a walk in the park, but was very doable with her popularity.
The following sequence is still very bizarre to me. Loreen’s points were announced. She got 243 points, making her the televote runner up. Which in turn meant Käärijä had lost to her by about 50 points despite outdoing her televote score by 133 points. As the winner was announced, Käärijä buried his head in his hands, clearly devastated. Loreen was immediately guided back on stage for her winner’s reprisal.
Footage from backstage shows many contestants beelining for Käärijä to comfort him. They’re seen hugging him, chanting Cha Cha Cha like he’s the actual winner and trying to cheer him up. All the while, Käärijä himself was obviously heartbroken. The crowd wasn’t happy, to a point where when Loreen accepted the trophy, she asked if anyone even wants her to perform again.
While Loreen’s fans were ecstatic to see her win and perform again, a portion of the audience reportedly walked out, disappointed. That was the end of the main competition. Sweden had won its 7th Eurovision trophy, catching up to Ireland for most wins ever. Loreen had become the second person (and first woman) in history to win twice.
The fandom, while disappointed, quickly got over themselves and accepted the outcome- yeah no one’s buying this lmfao. The dust was up in the air and wouldn’t settle for a good while.

Let the Shit Slinging Begin: Conspiracy Theories, Petitions and the Media Fight

The outcome received immediate backlash. Loreen’s winning performance and grand final performance were mass downvoted on YouTube. Loreen’s victory post on Eurovision currently has 0 upvotes and over 6500 comments. Social media posts by Eurovision about Loreen were spammed by people proclaiming Käärijä was the real winner. Some contestants (namely Slovenia, Estonia and Serbia) outright said Käärijä was their winner. Finland’s grand final performance views also surpassed that of Sweden’s.
There was a lot of shit slinging. Conspiracies started rearing their heads. Some were convinced Sweden had rigged the jury in order to host Eurovision on the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s victory (yes, ABBA is Swedish, yes, they won Eurovision with Waterloo, no there’s no proof of this conspiracy). A petition was started to remove the juries and it reached 60 000 signatures in two days. Loreen was accused of plagiarizing at least two different songs (not that I personally think the accusations have any merit, the melody line is just incredibly common). The Norwegian delegation outright said the juries should be overhauled (Norway got screwed over massively by the juries, being placed 17th, only to be pulled to the 5th overall position by the televote).
When detailed televote results came out, it turned out Sweden had not placed 1st in a single country. It also had less 2nd places than Finland, and its average position was 5th (which coincidentally was the lowest score Käärijä got in any country). People were pissed. Some proclaimed spending money on voting is a waste of time if the 2nd highest televote score in history isn’t enough to win because a group of 200 or so people said so.
People started going through the jury credentials, soon discovering that they were overwhelmingly pop professionals (55% to be exact) while rock pros were nowhere to be seen (they made up 3.8% of the jury to be exact). To be fair, people weren’t only pissed for Finland, they were pissed for other entries that seemingly ticked all the boxes for the juries just to get a minimal result because Sweden vacuumed all the points like it was time for spring cleaning. (I feel like I must mention that a lot of televote magnet entries also flopped hard because Finland suckled up most of the televote points leaving the rest to fight for scraps.)
With the televote results also came a peculiar detail that kicked the drama between Sweden and Finland to a whole new sphere. Turns out, every country gave Sweden televote points, except one. Yep, you guessed it. Finland blanked Sweden, while Sweden’s televote gave Finland the full 12 points. (Finnish and Swedish juries gave each other 12 points.)
This was seen as unsportsmanlike and the Swedish media latched onto it. Think pieces started coming out. One infamous Swedish Eurovision podcast episode hosted by a Swedish newspaper consisted mostly of ranting about how Finland is a "country of idiots", how it's impossible Finns could genuinely have thought 10 other songs were better than Tattoo and how it was a testament to their lack of taste that they voted for Germany and not Sweden (Germany came in last, Finland was one of the only countries to give them points. Germany sent a metal entry so I’m not sure why this was a surprise, Finns LOVE metal).
Swedish newspapers also widely reported that the Finnish Eurovision commentator had told Finns not to vote for Sweden, furthermore adding fuel to the fire. This seems to mostly be lost in translation/a cultural miscommunication, the commentator in question read a joke out loud from the stream chat that essentially said “you’re allowed to vote tactically but not for your own country”, joking about the general elections held in Finland just months prior, where a lot of people voted tactically for the largest left-wing party to prevent the large right-wing party from taking over. It didn’t work but "vote tactically" became a nation wide meme. Said commentator also simultaneously came under fire by Finns for stanning Loreen too much during his commentary. Man just can't win lmao
One Swedish newspaper article evoked strong backlash in Finland by referring to Finland as “östra rikshalvan” (“Eastern part of the Kingdom”, roughly translated) which was the term used for Finland when it still belonged to Sweden. Many Finns saw it as colonialist and like Sweden was implying they were entitled to their former vassal using their money to give them points. However, it’s difficult to deny this lack of points likely was tactical from Finland, given how they’ve given Sweden points every other year except this one. The Finnish media also did broadcast heavily that Loreen's win depends on the amount of televotes she gets compared to Käärijä, so it's not far-fetched at all that Finns were aware of it and voted for something else.
Finnish press wasn’t silent either. A widely publicized clip from a gossip radio show hosted by the teen targeted state-owned radio station Yle X3M heavily criticized Loreen’s entry, calling it “shit” and making a tasteless joke implying Loreen was on drugs the whole night thanks to her somewhat ethereal demeanour. One of the hosts also seemed convinced the results were rigged. Newspapers also eagerly reported about the plagiarism allegations against Tattoo, even if they never went as far as suggesting there’s any merit to them.
Perhaps the saddest part of this is the contestants themselves. Loreen and Käärijä both have consistently praised each other. They reportedly get along great and there are numerous clips of them hugging, laughing and joking around. Despite taking the loss heavily, Käärijä congratulated Loreen and emphasized he loves her and wishes her all the best from the very first interview he gave after his loss. (He did however say he feels like the jury system might need a reform.) Likewise, Loreen said in an interview that she wasn’t bothered by the crowd chanting Cha Cha Cha because she thinks Käärijä is awesome and authentic.
They’re still in contact and are planning to meet up for coffee when Loreen’s next in Helsinki. The abuse Loreen herself received reached downright disgusting proportions, crossing from general trashing to misogynistic and even racist territory (because of her Moroccan heritage). It got to a point where Käärijä had to address it on Finnish morning TV, emphasizing that the results are not her fault and that he feels horrible for her when people insult her because he knows her and knows she’s a lovely person. By all accounts, there’s no bad blood between them (or any contestants for that matter, this year was remarkably cordial).
So, where are we now? People have mostly calmed down (mostly) and accepted the results. Many still push for a jury reform, demanding larger juries with more diversity and knowledge of non-mainstream genres, a shift to a 60/40 voting split in favour of the televote, and many other things too numerous to list here. EBU has not addressed the controversy in any shape or form (and they likely won't), and we’ll likely have to wait until next year to find out if the jury system will be overhauled. Loreen and Käärijä fans are still bickering amongst each other but the general public seems to have moved on.
Here’s to hoping Käärijä’s invited to perform at Eurovision 2024 as an interval act and regardless of jury reform (or lack thereof) people can bury this hatched and Nordic unity can blossom once again

I am NOT OP. Original post from /AmItheAsshole by u/DanWantsDeath
Trigger Warnings -emotional manipulation/lying
Mood Spoiler -positive
Original post 3/1/23
So my friend 20f and I 19m have been friends for a few years and she recently got engaged.
A week ago I got a dm from her for a small costume party she was hosting as a celebration for her getting engaged. I asked if there was a theme and she said there wasn’t. I’m a cosplayer so I had a lot of choices.
I didn’t want to rock up in an anime cosplay, so I thought it would be funny to go to an engagement party as the Corpse Bride. I arrived at her house yesterday and everything seemed normal. A few people complemented my costume and I was having a lot of fun.
After ten minutes my friend’s fiancé walked out in a black tuxedo and announced this was actually their wedding. Apparently my friend saw a video of someone doing this and wanted to do the same.
He asked us all to go to the back yard for the ceremony to begin. I went straight to him. I asked him if I should quickly go home and change my outfit and that I would get back before it started. He told me it was fine since I didn’t know this was the wedding.
I trusted him and followed everyone outside. They got married and everything seemed good. The reception was just in their house again so everyone just walked back inside and picked up where they left off. I tried talking to my friend and celebrating with her but she kept making excuses to not talk to me.
I assumed it was just because she was tried from the big day and wanted some alone time. I didn’t bother her after that and the party soon ended.
I got home and half an hour passed when my phone started getting notifications. I checked and it was my friend texting me. She was cussing me out and telling me how I ruined her wedding. I was really confused and asked what I did.
That only made her more angry. She told me it was basic knowledge not to wear a wedding dress to a wedding. I reminded her I had no idea it was a wedding and that I asked her now husband if I should change and he said it was fine.
She didn’t respond, but I got a text from her husband. He asked why I would tell her he said it was fine. I told him he said it was fine. Then he said how I should have changed anyways and it’s my fault that the two are now fighting over this.
I’ve tried texting her that I wad sorry and if I had known I wouldn’t have done it. I woke up today and saw her and her husband have blocked me on everything.
So, AITA for not changing out of the wedding dress when I found out it was actually a wedding?
Edit: I am a guy. I cosplayed the character Emily from The Corpse Bride and had blue paint all over. I’m also Australian and I’ve never heard a costume party meaning fancy. Everyone was dressed up in funny costumes
1st update 3/7/23
I honestly didn’t think this would get as much attention as it did and I’ve tried reading through all the comments but damn there were a lot. I do appreciate everyone’s feedback.
Also I’m not sharing photos sorry. Just for privacy reasons. I’m sorry.
Now the update-
Since they blocked me on everything I didn’t try to reach out since it would be a waste of effort, but I didn’t block them back. If they wanted to talk I was fine with it. Two days ago I was unblocked by my friend. She asked if we could call and talk about what happened and I agreed.
She apologised for blowing up at me like she did, but also told me she was still upset. I was only made aware because of the comments and now her, that wearing wedding attire to anything wedding related is common sense. All I knew was the no white on the wedding day. Honestly after people informed me, I felt awful and downright stupid. So I apologised back for not running it through her like I should have since I didn’t know.
I know lots of people were telling me to cut her off, but I’ve known her since I was 14 so I’m glad we can stay friends. Her husband on the other hand…
He had told her that he came up to me and asked me to change. And apparently I told him it didn’t matter because I was already there (or something along those lines. She was crying a lot while telling me). After she blew up at me and I told her the real story, she got pissed at her husband.
The husband suggested both of them block me so the fight would stop. She agreed to it but was still upset by it all. Eventually she started asking people who were at the wedding to see what happened. Three people saw me walk up to him and heard me ask. This is where she learnt her husband lied to her.
Again, a huge fight between the two. Turns out he’s hated me since I met them 5 years ago. They had already been dating for a year before hand. I became good friends with her but not him. He felt as though I was trying to take his girlfriend. I don’t know what I did to make him feel this way. (She’s beautiful but I’d never do that shit to anyone)
I don’t know why he’d wait 5 years but he decided the day of his wedding was the best time to ‘get rid of me’. I’m not really sure what’s going to happen to them in the future. She’s staying at another friends house until her and her husband are able to talk about it. I doubt I’ll update anymore like “Update! They’re getting divorced!” Because that feels insensitive.
Again, thanks to everyone for all the advice and point of views. It helped me so much. Have a good day or night.
Edit: My friend doing a lot better and plans to talk to her husband soon. I’ve also shown her my post since I felt like she had a right to know. While some comments made her quite upset, but she knows she overreacted. (My friend’s emotions are always intense but she tries her best to keep them under control).
She’s seen people talk about the red flags in her husband but isn’t sure what to do. She told me she’ll decide based on what he does when they talk about it. I’ll support her no matter what she decides.
Even if he rubs me the wrong way and I have my own opinion on what she would do, it’s up to her. She’s an amazing person and I just want her to be happy.
2nd update 5/1/23
My friend has told me I can post this if I wanted to and I thought why not.
My friend did try to work things out with her Husband, but she started getting fed up of how he treated her. They had gone to a restaurant for a date, had an argument and he told her she had to walk home at 8pm. It was a half an hour walk. Instead of going back to hers, she called up a friend. It was her final straw.
She decided to apply for annulment and they’ve broken up. Her ex tried to convince her to think about it more. He’s once again blaming me and her friends for putting crazy ideas in her brain. Safe to say we’ve all blocked him.
She has been upset over it all, but she’s also excited to experience single life. She’s been dating him since they were 14 so she’s never had certain experiences. She told us she wasn’t even sure if she ever loved him like she thought she did. It’s all been quite a lot.
I feel like we’ve become better friends because of all of this. She’s been able to go clubbing with us and has gone home with some people (The legal age for drinking here is 18). I feel like she’s actually getting to live out her young adult life without feeling tied down.
We have been looking out for her since she doesn’t know certain things and making sure she isn’t reckless. If she gets really drunk, we make sure we don’t take our eyes off of her.
She looks way more alive figuring out who she really is and I couldn’t be more proud of her. She’s also been planning another party as a celebration to her new future. She’s asked me to help make her into Emily from the corpse bride so we can both go as it for this party. This time I’ll definitely be getting loads of photos. I won’t post them though for privacy reasons again.
I’ll probably just go back to being a reddit lurker. Thank you to everyone who has given me advice and helped me out when I first posted about all of this.

Couple of properties around me that have been up for 100+ days, both seem fairly nice as far as pictures go, haven't really pushed or looked too hard, just idly thinking. One has been mixed use for ages for a variety of things, the other has been a salon and apartment it looks like.
My partner does craft and do costuming, so we could technically use it as a workspace too? But...what are the rules/pros and cons for having a mixed use property and only wanting to use it as a sfh residence and not rent or anything?

This is admittedly very stream of conscious, but I think this is how things in "Curse of Dreadbear" connect to William.
There's a lot of clear connections to fnaf 4. The main pointer is the Fallfest 83 banner, the bullies masks are on display, and the fnaf 4 hallway is one of the locations that can be seen. Dreadbear and Grimm Foxy can also be seen as parallels to Crying Child and Mike.
However, I think it goes much deeper than that.
First, I think that the minigames don't showcase what happened to Crying Child, but rather, William's motives and what they became.
Grimm Foxy is a Mike parallel, but he's also a representation of the Grim Reaper. Now, in traditional fnaf fashion, if you get near Grim Foxy, it's game over. So you want to make sure you want to get as far away from him as possible. I see this as William's desire to escape death, by any means necessary. Since the game never shows you getting caught by Grimm Foxy if you do things successfully, I see this as a parallel that William was successful. He was ultimately able to escape death, even if for a bit of time, by possessing the Springbonnie costume and becoming Springtrap.
Dreadbear represents William's initial motives and experimentation. As HandUnit says

Welcome back to Research and Development. Today, we are using science to pervert the mysteries of life and reanimate the inanimate.

According to wordlink the definition of pervert is

To cause to turn away from what is right, proper, or good; debase.To corrupt (someone) morally. synonym: corrupt.To interpret incorrectly; misconstrue or distort.

I think that the first definition matches what the motives were for William. Even though he is aware what he is doing is wrong, he wants to do it anyways.
Dreadbear is modeled after Frankenstein's Monster, which I think represents how William's experiments were already monstrous before they began.
However, the story of Frankenstien itself can be looked at as a parallel or perhaps inspiration of William's character and motives. A man who after tragedy, looks into creating life, only to create a vengeful monster.
Dreadbear has an easter egg of him rising from a lake. At the end of both old man consequence minigames from World and UCN, the bear sprite lowers into the lake, causing the game to end. The wooded area is heavily implied to be the afterlife, or at least a section of it.
If being lowered into a lake ends things, perhaps rising from a lake would be the opposite, with the spirit being brought back and returning in a form that's terribly wrong.
In the story "Drowning", a black haired girl rises from a lake to kill Kara. Perhaps the story shows what happens when Afton brings back a spirit by making them haunt an animatronic with remnant. The spirit rises from the afterlife and ends up killing innocent people. Much like how the animatronics end up killing innocent security guards in the main games, or how the Funtimes are programmed to kill children.
I wish I had a good conclusion for all of this, but there's so much to wrap my mind around I can't even begin. Curse of Dreadbear needs more eyes on it, I think, because I think it might be one of the most important parallels in FNAF.

I have always wanted to get involved in theater behind the scenes, mostly as a hobby (not looking for work). I'm handy and creative but don't have any space to do much at home, so I am hoping to find either a group to join, a place to volunteer, or even a part time internship-type situation where I can help out with and learn about prop making, building, costuming, etc., even just building up and tearing down, honestly. Is there any community theater or group in town I might try?