I have a conspiracy theory against spotify

It’s about their shitty playlists, and not wanting us to make our own.

THE THEORY:
I believe spotify doesn’t want its users to make their own playlists, and instead wants them to use the ones spotify pre-makes. I’m almost positive they sell slots on their pre-made playlists, that’s not the conspiracy–I think they’re actively changing their user interface to make it more difficult for people to curate their own listening experience on spotify, instead pushing them towards the pre-made playlists. more listeners means they can sell those spots for more money. CHA-CHING!

Data point 1: the like button being removed.

I know they say, “ohhh the new add to playlist is more intuitive!” but it doesn’t help if you’re someone like me who rarely listens to Spotify’s curated playlist. My listening pattern is curating new stuff from artists I follow or want to check out in a “check out X month” list–which I KNOW is not a unique habit. It renders the “add to playlist button” completely useless because everything I’m listening to is already on at least one.

like… no shit!

This like button being removed absolutely makes it more difficult to navigate spotify as someone who listens pretty much exclusively to playlists I’ve created.

Data point 2: their algorithm masquerading as customized.

They’re always pushing this, “Custom made for you playlist!” I’ve never really paid much attention to them but recently they tried out a “daylist” feature, which were playlists based on your listening habits throughout the week. “Cool, that’s interesting!” I thought!

checked today’s daylist out of curiosity–did not disappoint LOL

NOPE! no matter the subgenre listed as the inspiration for the playlist it was always the exact same 3 artists, same like 15 songs with no diversity.

Part of this is also because spotify has divided their library into so many subgenres that it’s just gotten repetitive and unhelpful. Which, is another great way to try and get people to listen to a pre-made playlist. “What is Glunklecore? I guess I’ll give it a click.”

You can argue that the point of this playlist isn’t to introduce me to new music, it’s to compile stuff i already like. but… i ALREADY HAVE MY OWN PLAYLISTS FOR THAT! I don’t need a new one with the same old same old i already listen to!

Data point 3: they said something about me making a lot of playlists in my spotify wrapped.

Like ok yeah maybe I’m a bit of a fiend and made like 10 playlists in june but THATS MY BUSINESS! I thought it was odd that they are tracking how many users make playlists vs just listen to radio features.

TL;DR

I am not an academic but this is the feeling i’ve been getting from the service in the past few months. i honestly was never big on streaming until my housemates and I all went in on splitting a premium membership. I enjoyed being able to easily check out new artists, but that’s becoming harder and harder; it’s so much easier to keep up with my favs on youtube. i buy all the music i like as mp3s anyway, maybe i’ll delete my account and rebuild my beloved playlists in windows media player.

intrusive thoughts

they’re so funny to me these days. i’m just so aware that i’m in control of my own actions now that i’m older, they don’t even bum me out like they used to. It’s just like having an edgy 11 year old who lives in your head saying random fucked up stuff and going, “isn’t that messed up??? wouldn’t that be so awful and sad?? welcome to my dark mind“.

“Ok, thanks for sharing with the class, Edgy Katie, now sit back down.”

ive been on a hair journey

join me on my multi color adventure of finally using bleach

a few things of note

1. i shower daily with hot water. i know thats bad xD im just a greasy gal and im too wimpy for cold water.
2. idk why i felt the need to censor my face since its plastered all over the site already. but i did so thats what you get.
3. for bleach/permanent color i use 30 vol developer.
4. i have relatively thin/fine hair and only left the bleach on for 20 minutes for this level of lift. i did always use foils!
5. i use 0 aftercare products LOL so other than the dye/bleach listed with the photos there have been no othet products.

i wanted to do somethin bright and CRAAAAZY, but am new to bleach so figured an underlayer would be a good place to start. if i fuck it up theres a lot of hair above it!

immediately after:

this is what it looked like 2 months grown out:

after 2 months i decided the yellow didnt show enough so chopped off my upper layer of hair to show it off more, and i also had been kinda patchy w the bleach application so just bleached the whole underlayer again.

w/yellow:

for all of these looks i had a routine of refreshing the yellow every 3 weeks. i used Arctic Fox Cosmic Sunshine for the yellow, Ion Bright White Powder Lightener for the bleach, & Ion Color Brilliance Intense Red for the red

so then i said fuck it bleach is so easy!!! and decided to dye my whole head blue. which, predictably…

left pigment from my previous adventures. LOL! but the blue was dark enough/a contrasting color so it balanced out well imo. i didnt let it process for very long tho (30 min) because i was looking for a specific bright turquoise/cyan color within the next week. i used Arctic Fox Aquamarine for the blue!

immediately after:

after 1 week:

after 2 weeks it had faded significantly so i used Ion Brights Cyan. it was also very patchy tho cuz i was worried about preserving dye for future touch ups over fully coating my hair.

Honestly idk if the yellows and stuff already in my hair made an optical illusion but the cyan felt too blue/not enough green for me. so i stuck with Arctic Fox Aquamarine moving forward.

after 3 weeks:

after 4:

at this point i knew i needed a refresh. but i had a silly little idea… i put my Cosmic Sunshine over my faded Aquamarine to make GREEN!

i let this process for 4 hours this time around.

i didnt do root touch ups this time around b/c they honestly arent long enough yet for me to do em right, i think.

im new to using brights (esp on bleached hair) so im not sure if my first attempt at blue washed out so fast bc i didnt let it deposit a lot at first, or if thats just how this stuff goes. so im sure i will learn a lot more after this round!

and just as an FYI, started doing my own hair after highschool because i dont like when it looks good xD when i say i want chunky layers i MEAN IT! i like a more diy look and am chill walking around looking like a mess so if you are reading this for advice definitely get a second opinion.

growing up, imagination, and you

Ahh, yes: it’s the cold, desperate time of year that still sends me into a panicky tailspin for no reason other than i’ve been conditioned to fear Exam Season, even 3 years out of college.

anyone who’s known me since i was young knows that, to me, growing up was a HUGE deal. i was terrified of growing up and becoming an adult, and losing my belief in magic–shopping in the “womens” instead of the “kids” section and suddenly loving boring ass neutral colors. THE HORROR!!!

i can’t help but reminisce, as i sit in my own apartment, LEGALLY drink a cold beer, and procrastinate sewing & wrapping xmas gifts for my family

nothing has really changed about me since i was a kid, TBH. there are elements of my personality that i’ve grown into more, and i’m sure i’ve matured more than i even realized, but i still feel like the same person. i look back at 14 year old me and feel like she’d be pretty stoked about where i’ve gotten myself.

the only thing that HAS changed is my freedom. i’m financially independent enough to live on my own, make my own rules, EAT GUMMY WORMS FOR LUNCH IF I WANT !!! i can be lonely AND watch shitty youtube videos on the living room TV and have no one bother me! i can paint my walls bright colors (as long as i paint it back before i move, lol, YAY RENTING)!! (it’s 3 different colors right now!) my mom tried to lecture me once because i “didnt dress like the rest of the people at work”–but jokes on her, the execs there still remember who i am because i always wore sparkly shoes and puppy-patterned overalls.

growing up is definitely a good thing, and i dont miss being a kid like… at all. there are times when i grow nostalgic because i know some things will never be the same as they were 10-15 years ago, but i think a lot of the times thats for the better. there are some things i can’t be ignorant about any more that have made life more challenging, but i’d much rather be aware of problems and actively try to fix them than to stick my head in a hole and hope they go away. even kids don’t do that–they just dont know about life yet, if they’re lucky.

tl/dr; like what you like, and don’t let people around you tell you to “grow up” on their terms–growing up is good, you get more freedom that’s well worth the responsibility that comes along with it.

social media user vs. influencer

i think a lot of the time we forget that not everybody wants to be an influencer, or some kind of mogul with loads of views and followers!

i have an instagram account i started basically cuz i wanted a quick and easy way to update my professional website with my latest work. i had someone comment a while ago, “OMG you deserve more followers!” I’m at like 1.5k right now i think?

and to be honest, even that many makes me a little uncomfortable! i miss when it was just my close friends, and some industry folks–i’ve always looked at it as a professional venture, basically portfolio site 2.0.

not everybody wants to be famous, some people just wanna do their own thing and be left in their corner. sometimes going on campaigns trying to get people “famous” does more harm than good. i’m so happy to have this blog as just a little journal that probably no one will ever read–it’s more fun to go back thru and see old posts than it is to moderate a comment section, LOL!!

Netflix “cancelling” shows doesn’t work how you think it does

just a quickie that ties into a bigger post i’m working on.

Your favorite show on Netflix wasn’t “CANCELLED” to make room for another show. your favorite show on Netflix was cancelled because Netflix’s business plan is quantity of NEW over longevity.

First: we need to discuss Cancelled vs. Not Renewed.

I know it seems like the same thing but… whenever a studio orders a show, they usually order 1 or MAYBE 2 seasons at a time. they don’t just say “Yeah i’ll buy your show, make as many seasons as you want until we say ‘STOP’!” If season 1 does well, they’ll order season 2. If season 2 does well, maybe they’ll order 3 & 4 at the same time–but it’s never just ASSUMED that a show will continue.

If something isn’t renewed, it can mean lots of things. It can mean there was executive turnover and it just isn’t something any of the new executives are interested in. It can mean the production pipeline was bumpy and cost the studio more money, time, or heartache than they thought. It doesn’t always have to do directly with a poor reception or not making enough money.

Shows ARE cancelled sometimes. this happens when the studio cuts funding mid-production or after the episodes have already been ordered. now THIS is pretty uncommon and usually has to do with money, reception, or public image BUT again it rarely happens.

Now we can specifically get into Netflix.

Netflix only makes more money when new subscribers join, or when they have a mega hit they can merchandise (see: stranger things). So they are constantly putting money into greenlighting NEW projects that they think will bring in new viewers and not investing money in properties past the 2nd or 3rd season*.

This becomes a problem for them because most studios don’t merchandise shows until after the 2nd season: the merch pipeline is really expensive to get started, ESPECIALLY for toys and figurines cuz you gotta develop that stuff!

So because they don’t order a lot of seasons of a show… they rarely get a chance to merchandise stuff. So they’re not making a bunch of money that way.

Their business model does not support long form content, and all of the creators on the platform are victims of this.

so STOP POOPING ON PARADISE PD BECAUSE YOU THINK THEY “cancelled your favorite show” TO MAKE MORE OF IT.

THATS NOT TRUE AND ITS NOT HOW IT WORKS!!! sure there are a limited number of slots that Neflix can be paying for but, honestly for the stuff these angry people want to see? Paradise PD is a totally different category. It’s adult comedy so isn’t even in the same category as 6-11 shows like Arlo, Centaurworld, Kid Cosmic. Even shows like Bojack Horseman and Tuca and Bertie are seen within Netflix as “adult arthouse”, and they build their slates around having BOTH types of shows. They want BOTH a “Paradise PD type” and a “Bojack Horseman Type” in production concurrently, not one or the other.

especially in animation we are ALL fighting for respect in a Live Action dominated world, where “it’s for kids!” unless it’s ugly, and it HAS to be ugly if it’s for adults. I’m not kidding, i’ve had friends who were told their designs were too appealing for adult animation so there you go.

It’s not Paradise PD’s fault that they make more money and have more viewers, and are cheaper. If you really want to support your show and see more like it, it’s MUCH more constructive to be really publically supportive of what you DO like instead of getting mad about what you don’t.

wow this was meant to be short but it got way out of hand OOPS guess I had a lot to say about this

*PLEASE note that animation seasons on netflix are SUPER whacky and that netflix tends to drop season orders in 2 parts. So for example, On Netflix season 1 & 2 of Home: Adventures of Tip & Oh were ordered as just 1 season, and produced & referred to as one season within DreamWorks TV. Seasons 3 & 4 are season 2, etc. This happens a lot, with pretty much all the DreamWorks shows they ordered and even their original series. If you see an 8-13 episode season it’s probably a season that was split in half.

procrastination and nostalgia sandwich

oh my god im at the start of a new assignment for work and am having SO much trouble getting my inspiration ball rolling!

so today…. i went down just a MAJOR rabbit hole, absolutely insane, reading up on my/my friends’ old posts on a forum we were on together. OMG! it was so crazy to go back and read our RP’s and inside jokes and stuff… also just how open we were with what we were going through? it’s so fun to go back in time and find those digital breadcrumbs of somebody you used to be!

I have this blog but i’ve always been pretty guarded about being TOO open about what’s going on in my head. even in private posts i never name dropped anybody i was mad at or happy with or had a crush on. i kinda wish i had more pieces to trace back to myself and get a better vibe of kid me!

its PROBABLY for the best but man, now i cant help but wonder if i’m gonna be mad at current me for not keeping a diary or something! 😛 i dont really feel the need to share personal stuff so i dont think i will (and i’ve always been bad at consistently journaling) but i do THINK about thinking about it… LOL!

missing anonymity :(

lol so this is 100% my fault for being just the absolute worst chronic oversharer

but i kinda miss back when i was like 13 and wrote on a big ol blog with a bunch of other authors! we were all hyper paranoid and didn’t tell anyone our names or where we were from, or what we did.

i don’t think i could really return to that type of relationship with my fellow online users, even if i wanted to, just cuz you know… as an adult i now have more going on in my life than a new evanescence or nightwish album xD and also have found that i just wanna be open with people so we can talk about life and our experiences! i definitely value my friendships with these same people way more now that we’re adults and like… understand the human experience?

but it was fun to be “nireth”, so mysterious and just a faceless fanart machine. LOL! especially since art is now my job, it’s definitely changed my idea of what i’m willing to publicly post or share since a lot of my social media only exists to keep up with friends, link up with recruiters, and share projects i’m really proud of.

maybe i’ll start sharing more casual work here! (but i know myself better than to promise anything–LOL!)

the year is 2002

i’m 5 years old and the bucs won the superbowl.

my kindergarten teacher wore a big jersey to school and hung a big pennent up on her wall, and my friend’s running around on the playground telling everyone her mom is Britney Spears.

the year is 2021

i’m 24 and the bucs are playing in the superbowl.

i put on a pirate t-shirt and drive to ralphs to get some chips. Britney Spears plays on the radio and i call my mom from LA to talk about it.

time is a spiral.

Americans and… accent entitlement?

Recently I’ve been (VIRTUALLY) hanging a lot with a friend of mine who’s very proud of her Scottish acenstry–her great grandparents were Scottish. It is worth pointing out that she’s never lived in Scotland, nor met her Scottish ancestors. We’ve been watching a lot of TV together because… what else you gonna do right now? LOL! Thank you, teleparty!

We’ve watched 2 shows so far that feature characters with Scottish or Irish accents and her first response is, “UGH! that accent! soooo bad!” … and maybe I would have agreed with her a few years ago! A quick google search showed me the actors were actually FROM Scotland and Ireland, respectively, and a few things came to mind:

In the “Art of Wolfwalkers” book (which… btw yall should watch Wolfwalkers! I LOVED it!) they mention the Kilkenny-based studio scouts relatively unknown talent for their Irish characters; they want actors who haven’t been coached out of their accent yet.

I got to see this firsthand while working on Dragons: Homecoming, the 2019 holiday special. Craig Ferguson’s son, Liam, play’s Hiccup’s son Nuffink. They wanted a little Scottish kid to capture the brogue of the more “macho” vikings, like Stoick or Ferguson’s own character, Gobber. Liam first came into the recording studio, he started off reading in an American accent! His father explained he’d been working on it extra hard for his first big American acting gig, which just goes to show it’s EXPECTED of foreign actors to have American accents just in their back pocket.

I also remember years ago watching an interview with Kelly MacDonald after her performance as Merida in Brave, and she mentioned she had an affected Scottish accent she used for American media because Americans had a certain expectation of what a Scottish person should sound like.

Which, circling back to my friend–she could be right, these accents could be total garbage. I just don’t know, cuz i’m not Irish or Scottish! There’s a larger commentary to be made about how Americans treat cultures all across the globe; picking and chosing what we want for our movies until American audiences wouldn’t recognize authenticity if it was smacking them in the face. But I’m not smart enough to tackle that QUITE yet.

All I know for SURE is that this is why we should be supporting independent studios outside of America to tell their own stories, and letting people from other cultures tell their stories in America without being squashed by the all-too-familiar executive battle cry of “but the audience won’t GET that!” And also, as the audience, if something looks weird or off to us from a culture or field we don’t know or understand, maybe we should just google it first before casting judgement.