They should invent a being a writer that doesn’t come with being isolated and diminishing returns on what you are given back compared to how much you give
So there’s this story I love about Paul Williams, right? Famous musician who has done a ton of super popular work over a very long career. Well one thing he really poured his heart and soul into was the movie Phantom of the Paradise which fucking BOMBED. Like, mere words cannot describe how bad this reimagining of Phantom of the Opera But At A Disco went. It absolutely crushed Paul Williams. Broke his heart. His biggest failure.
Except during a tour of his he met who described as a young, nerdy Mexican kid who brought him a copy of the Phantom of the Paradise for him to sign. The kid wouldn’t stop talking about how much he loved the soundtrack, and how much it inspired him. This kid was literally one of the few people in the world that loved the movie
It wasn’t until Paul Williams ran into the kid all grown up did he realize it was Guillermo del Toro.
And it happened again, too! He also met a pair of young French men who wouldn’t stop raving about how much they loved Phantom of the Paradise and how much it inspired them and their own band, Daft Punk. The three of them ended up doing an album together. An album that I would listen to on repeat while writing the early drafts of my book.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that sometimes the creative process seems cruel, unforgiving, and thankless. You can pour your heart and soul into something only to make zero waves. But even a so-called-failure can inspire and lift up someone that needs it. So you gotta keep creating, if only to be the next link in the chain of creativity and art.
Also I don’t know about you but I haven’t seriously written in months and I honestly feel like I’m going to explode from too many words so like, you also gotta keep relating or else you might explode.
guys i need you to be less comfortable making super negative comments abt a character in the tags of a random post abt that character. like i support haterism but make your own post. please stop and think about whether op, a person who is interested in this character enough to make posts abt them, wants to hear all that. i see this too much from people reblogging from me and it makes me embarrassed that you’re reblogging from me. you are being rude
Okay I already put something in the tags but upon reflection I have something important enough for a comment, too.
Pennsylvania is currently working on its budget, and one of if not THE main sticking point is funding for public transit—all transit in the state, but mainly for SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which serves Philadelphia and its surrounding counties and is facing a $213 million budget deficit. The PRT, which serves Pittsburgh, is also in danger.
As of this morning, SEPTA has to start the process of cutting services by 45%—canceling some train and bus lines entirely, implementing a 9pm curfew on subway lines, reducing frequency, and canceling sporting event services (all of our professional league stadiums are accessible by one subway line and a significant number of fans take it)—all because politicians in rural counties have been demonizing SEPTA as a “chauffeur service for city residents” that doesn’t benefit the rest of the commonwealth. I am not joking. A state rep literally sent a letter to constituents describing buses that way.
But what is so fucking infuriating to me is that at one of the rallies, I learned ONE SIMPLE FACT that, in my mind, should have ended the entire debate: Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties are the only revenue-positive counties in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The money to fix roads and bridges in every other county comes from Philadelphia’s economy, which is supported by the fact that people take the train in from collar counties to work here, and people go to sporting events here and spend money, and residents who are paying significantly higher rents than anywhere else in the state but still living in poverty can get to their jobs without having a car. (Not to mention the fact that our cash-strapped education department saves money by having kids take SEPTA instead of school buses.)
If no agreement is reached and these cuts fully go into effect—some of them are starting by the end of the month and a second round in January—it very well may cost thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue, which will have reverberating effects on every county in the commonwealth, including the poorest who are most reliant on state funding.
But, you know. Fuck cities.
It’s one of the most ridiculous myths that cities spend tax dollars and rural areas pay them. There may be exceptions, but in the US, the rule everywhere I’ve lived and everywhere I’ve checked has been the exact opposite, despite SO MANY people believing it.
Seattle and Tacoma pay far more taxes than the rest of Washington State; likewise Portland and Eugene to the rest of Oregon. In both cases, the far less dense, more rural areas, especially east of the mountains, swear up and down that their tax dollars are going to Portland’s social services, or Seattle’s transit. But in both cases, the infrastructure those places rely on - irrigation, grazing land, roads, fire departments, etc. - are funded mostly by taxes from the cities.
Same for the US overall. “Real America,” from Nebraska to North Dakota to Arkansas, takes in far more money than they pay in taxes. Blue states put in more than they take out, as a general rule.
Overall, I think that’s fine. More sparsely-populated areas do often need more help.
But it is deeply frustrating that the lie means services get cut from the people who are paying for them, while the people who vote for those cuts, and whose services are far less likely to get cut, remain convinced that those services were stolen from their paychecks.
I think where to find federal spending might be harder, at the moment, but I know it’s out there.
I mean I think there’s a fairly obvious and blatant reason that rural politicians lean into demonizing urban areas. I think there are obvious reasons why americans who are really invested in their “rural” “real american” identities are scared of big cities. A reason why they feel like urban populations don’t deserve the benefit of tax dollars and public services
When I moved back to rural Minnesota I started hearing this bullshit from people who claim up and down that they’re not racists, these ridiculous stories about how all the poor black people are moving here to take advantage of all our social programs and “free stuff.” Fucker this town treats white poor unemployed and addicts and unhoused people like garbage you really think this is some kind of utopia? “They should make their own places better and not come here and wreck our beautiful areas” oh rly how are they “wrecking” things?
I’m a cis het guy who is absolute man candy and I didn’t know how much I needed to see this. I feel down right pretty.
It’s super affirming, isn’t it? Just seeing men with any body fat being specifically celebrated for their attractiveness.
I have a real hard time working up the courage to act attractive to my girlfriend who finds me wildly attractive and like it causes problems because I just do NOT believe in myself and I feel like I’m eternally not attractive despite a woman whom I love telling me otherwise… and this really helps
I read a lot of the replies to my posts and this is legit one of my favs.
The duck print speedo is my favorite part. The whole video is great, and the joy and humor is part of the sexiness. But man. That duck print. I love.
ALT
