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Is It Classist To Shame People Who Shop At Shein And Temu? YES!!!

September 1, 2023 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

Some of the very cool patches and badges I have found on Temu.

Over the last few weeks I have seen online more and more talk about classism and how it heavily affects those with little to no money. Almost all fashion these days can easily be considered ‘fast fashion’ since most clothing is now made in developing countries. The only way you are going to completely avoid it is if you buy used clothing or something handmade, and that isn’t as easy as some would make you believe.

Last week I went into town and visited the three charity shops there. I found nothing because they were all majorly picked over. Resellers actively go to these shops, and one of them has even opened their own local shop selling these clothes for way more cash. I’m not even joking. This type of thing is happening everywhere, so where the heck are ‘dark alternative’ type people supposed to find affordable clothing or accessories? On Poshmark and other related used product websites? Again many of the used products on those type of sites are very overpriced and not affordable for a whole chunk of people.

As you know I do a whole lot of DIY type projects and I frequently upcycle clothes that I find on clearance at my local New Look store. In the past I also bought a whole lot of clearance items off of Killstar for projects. Within the last year I have completely stopped buying anything from them because the quality of their items has jumped off of a cliff. In fact the quality of most ‘dark alternative’ type clothing is in the gutter right now; charging lots of money for items that you can find on Shein or Temu for a fraction of the price. Unfortunately this happens so frequently on Etsy that you have to do constant reverse image searches so that you don’t get ripped off.

Since all of this is the case why the hell should ‘dark alternative’ type people be shamed for buying what they can afford? It is often said that you can dress any way you want to if you are goth, but this is often paired with a wagging finger telling you where you should or should not shop. In a perfect world it would be great if fast fashion didn’t exist, but the world isn’t perfect and people have to buy clothing and accessories from somewhere. Yes, it is easy to do certain DIY type projects but you need supplies to do so and it can get very expensive gathering them together. The only people who shop on Shein and Temu who deserve any sort of derision are those who constantly make huge orders of things that they will more than likely almost never use. That is their business and they can do what they like, but it really comes across as being extremely wasteful.

My advice? Only buy things that you know you will either wear or turn into DIY type projects. Recently I browsed Temu for the first time and I actually found some very cool patches and badges. To my surprise I was also able to find and buy different Halloween themed ribbons and fabrics for fairly cheap. Where I live Halloween isn’t celebrated as heavily as in the US so I can’t find the same items in a store near me.

If any goth or ‘dark alternative’, uber goober gives you crap for shopping on Shein and Temu tell them to mind their own business; if you are happy that is all that really counts.

Silicon Valley Venture Capitalists Want To Build A New Dystopian City In The SF Bay Area

August 27, 2023 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

I first heard about this a few days ago but this article really lays it all out, and I must say that I find this disturbing. As a huge fan of dystopian and post-apocalyptic media I automatically know that this type of ‘city’ never works out and always ends in tears. For whatever reason these Silicon Valley uber wealthy nerds think their idea is original. The above photo is from the film Logan’s Run which was made almost 50 years ago if that tells you anything.

This has been done by the Flannery Group who have quietly purchased 55,000 acres of farmland in Solano County in the San Francisco Bay Area. They are funded by various Silicon Valley wealthy investors, because of course they are. The American government has to know all about this because the land surrounds Travis Air Force Base. Since that government is run by the wealthy for the wealthy this doesn’t come as too much of a shock.

They say that this city will have thousands of new homes, clean transportation and orchards with millions of new trees. There will also be thousands of acres of open spaces and parks for the wealthy to enjoy. There is no way in hell that this is intended for people such as you and I. Make no mistake, this is intended as a ‘safe’ place for the wealthy as the environmental collapse worsens in the coming decades.

One of the things that really, really disturbs me about all of this is that where the hell are all of the workers serving these wealthy assholes going to live? Will they have to live in one room tenements in huge apartment blocks inside the walls or outside the walls? Will they have to wait in line twice a day to be bussed in and out? It just feels gross and classist as hell because you know that they will not have the same living standards as the wealthy.

This whole situation reminds me of the film The Land Of The Dead, in which the wealthy have their own walled off area away from the zombies. They have their own stores and they eat the best food as people outside the walls struggle just to survive. Eventually the walls are breached and their social experiment fails. Historically this always happens when the rich try to isolate themselves from everybody else. People living outside the walls will always breach them when they are hungry and don’t have food to feed their children. Maybe this is why they bought the land around the base; they expect the US military to protect them and their way of life.

Do I think that they will actually build it? I can’t imagine that the locals are happy about this, so I can’t see this being easily done. I think the only way that they are going to be able to build this is if they have direct deals with the U. S. federal government. Maybe they will promise homes for politicians in exchange for help in passing laws? Whatever the outcome this is just another case of the wealthy throwing money at an issue; building an environmentally sound city instead of actually trying to stop climate change from happening.

Finished The Back Of The Spooky Jacket!

August 21, 2023 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

I have finally conquered the back of the spooky jacket and it is now done. I could fit another patch below Vampira but I like it as is for now. Next I have the front of the jacket to figure out, and that is always the most difficult side to deal with when it comes to these kind of DIY projects. Per usual I found all of these patches on Etsy.

My Thoughts Are With The People Of Lahaina Right Now

August 13, 2023 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

Most people do not know this, but I was supposed to move to the Lahaina area back in the summer of 1985. My father went over to get job and a place to live before my mother and I would arrive. Unfortunately he was killed by a drunk driver a few weeks before we were to join him. My mom, grandpa and I went to Maui and we had his funeral there. It was in a church in Lahaina and the pews were packed with locals who knew and loved my dad. The support we got from the people there will always mean a lot to me so this fire just breaks my heart. A lot of people there are poor and work multiple jobs just to scrape by, so many will not be able to rebuild.

If you want to help the people of Maui here are some charities that are on the ground helping them.

Maui Food Bank https://mauifoodbank.org/donate/

Hawaii Community Foundation Maui Strong Fund https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/maui-strong

Maui Humane Society https://www.mauihumanesociety.org/

Metalheads Used To Beat The Shit Out Of Punks And Anybody Who Looked Alternative In The 80’s

August 8, 2023 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

Do you know why whole lot of older goths dislike metal music and aren’t open minded about listening to it? Because metalheads used to threaten and beat the shit out of punks, goths and anybody who looked different back in the 80’s.

I graduated high school in 1989 so I witnessed this shit first hand. I wore skull buckle boots and a bunch of black eyeliner back then so I was targeted. However, it was only the male metalheads who would give me shit. I actually hung out sometimes with those of the female variety so I didn’t get the level of shit that some others got. There was a pecking order at my school. Jocks fucked with the metalheads and the metalheads fucked with anybody else who dressed strange. They were basically punching down.

Things were so bad in the late 80’s that I knew of somebody, who dressed very ‘goth’, whose leg was broken after they were pushed by a metalhead off of a high walkway. Thankfully the dude didn’t die, but the fact that an asshole thought it was okay to treat another person like that speaks volumes about just how bad things were.

I personally didn’t hate metal music during that time, but all of this bullying behaviour made me not want to listen to it. I only started getting into Danzig, Metallica and Slayer after high school partially because of this. The people who used to tease and threaten people who looked like me now want to be like me and that is a total mindfuck. It still trips me out just how many metalheads are also into goth music these days, because if they had liked both back in the 80’s they would have been called ‘faggots’ by those who only listened to metal.

Things are different these days in some aspects, but in some ways things have stayed the same; lately there has been a steep increase of some metalheads bringing their racist bullshit into other alternative subcultures. Not all metalheads are racist but for whatever reason the racist variety really love to jump on the goth train. I swear almost every single racist that I have run into online in goth communities has also been heavily into metal. It is such a real life trope that it has become very predictable at this point.

By the way, all of this happened in the San Francisco Bay Area which was a more liberal area of the United States. If it happened there it sure as hell happened in other areas of the country. I am sharing all of this because I think it is important for people to learn the true history of what happened back then; some male metalheads would physically take their insecurities out on anybody who looked different.

The Truth Behind The Film Oppenheimer And Nuclear Bomb Testing

July 31, 2023 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

I am seeing all of this hype about the film Oppenheimer, but you know what I am not seeing? An honest discussion about all of the people in the Marshall Islands and in the US states of Nevada and Utah who got sick and died from radiation poisoning due to all of the nuclear bomb testing done by the US Government.

The above PBS documentary is excellent and discusses what happened far better than I ever could. Needless to say the US government knew that radiation was dangerous and tested those bombs near population centers anyway. Hollywood has sanitized all of this and I find it disgusting that they are hyping this like Oppenheimer was some sort of hero, when he in fact was responsible for killing and maiming hundreds of thousands of people in Japan, the U.S. and the Marshall Islands . Fuck Oppenheimer, both the film and the man.

I Have Finally Started Work On The Spooky Jacket!!!

July 22, 2023 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

This week I have been on a bit of a DIY binge. I finally gathered my courage and started sewing patches onto this jacket. Why was I scared? The fabric of the jacket stretches; it is more difficult to sew cloth patches onto it for this reason. With some help from a box of safety pins I came out of the other side very happy with how it has turned out so far.

This is going to be purely a spooky themed jacket. Because of the black and white striped nature of the jacket I will not allow the colour green anywhere near it; the whole Beetlejuice shtick is very played out and I am not a huge fan of Tim Burton. Most of the patches will be black and white, with maybe a few other colours included. I plan to sew all of the patches on with purple thread because I love the colour and the contrast.

I buy everything myself and all of these patches came from stores on Etsy. It is the best website to find whatever kind of patches you want.

Review: King Of The Dead/The Dark Path EP – Dawnrazer (2023)

July 19, 2023 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

Currently listening to this and Dawnrazer has gone in a bit of a darkwave direction with this release. They are known for making exceptional synthwave music so this isn’t really a surprise. It still sounds largely synthwave, but the spooky lyrics and some of the synths sometimes pull it into darkwave territory. I like both darkwave and synthwave so this isn’t an issue for me at all.

My favourite song on this is The Dark Path and I could well imagine a good DJ mixing this song into a set of darkwave. If you have never heard of this band before this would be an excellent release to start out on, because it will ease you into synthwave. It is available here on Bandcamp.

Review: Burn It Down – Maureen Ryan (2023)

July 17, 2023 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

Wondering why actors, writers and other Hollywood workers are on strike right now? Then you need to read this book. In it Maureen Ryan, an entertainment reporter, lays out what is wrong with Hollywood and how things need to change in order to move forward.

What is wrong in Hollywood? Rampant abuse of all kinds is rewarded, while those who complain about it are blacklisted and unable to find work in the industry. There is so much abuse detailed in this book that it was emotionally a tough read for me. I had heard about some of the abuse before but I had no idea that it was this bad. She devotes a whole chapter to the production side of the series Lost and what happened on set and behind the scenes will make your toes curl. A black actor complained that they didn’t have enough lines and that their character’s arc didn’t make sense and what happened to them? They were fired from the show.

The studio execs are a huge part of why this keeps happening and they refuse to change their ways. They are almost exclusively older white men, who see nothing wrong with the way things are. As long as their pockets are full of money who cares about people being verbally abused by directors or fondled by staff writers. They will give known abusers jobs because they make them a lot of cash. Remember folks, making money is more important than the basic human rights of others.

What I really love about this book is that she puts forward ideas that could make things change in a meaningfully way. Did you know that there isn’t a centralized place for people to report abuse going on in the industry? That really blew my mind. An industry that literally makes billions of dollars can’t bother to do this simple thing? That speaks volumes as to what kind of people are in charge.

This is a great book that gives you the truth as to what is really going on behind the scenes and it is a must read. With all of that being said, people in the industry deserve to be treated with respect. I stand behind all of the industry people on strike right now and I hope something good comes out of it.

Thoughts On Living With Chucky (2022)

July 9, 2023 / dystopiagal / 0 Comments

I love the Chucky films. Why? Because they are fun as hell and always a good time. Last night my husband and I watched this and it is definitely one of the better horror franchise documentaries that I have seen. The makers of it very obviously love the film franchise. Sometimes in film documentaries everything is presented too perfectly; meaning that you actually don’t get the real story. Horror film productions don’t go to plan quite frequently and it was cool to see that side of the filming process brought forward up and center. You get to see just how much work it takes to bring Chucky to life.

They speak a lot to Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif and to various people who have been a part of the franchise in one way or another. The one thing that very much impressed me was all of the work that went into creating the Chucky doll and how they refused to use CGI effects. Practical effects make Chucky who he is, and I think if they had chosen the easy route with CGI that it would have killed the franchise. I am not totally against CGI type effects, but they shouldn’t be allowed to take over a film. Looking at you Peter Jackson.

If you are a fan of horror films this really is a must watch; it’s beyond peachy-keen.

My Dystopian Life