@silaxsila
Creative everything person (photographer, writer, filmmaker, film festival multitasker, artist, burlesque performer and poet) Nigerian-born, Kenyan-raised, Toronto-settled. https://msha.ke/gesilayefa.azorbo
-Marc Glassman & Peter Mettler get philosophical about greener grass
- Nidhil Vohra considers the art of student protest
- @silaxsila.bsky.social on Vietnam War photo docs
- Alxander Mooney tackles Spike Lee's doc oeuvre
povmagazine.com/issue-124-fa...
WHY? On July 2025, Steam, a popular storefront to purchase games on PC, and itch.io, a storefront that sells games, comics, tools, resources and much more, have recently delisted several NSFW games, after the group Collective Shout published an open letter to payment processors such as Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, and more. As a result of this letter, payment processors have strongarmed Valve and itch.io into enforcing restrictive new TOS policies on what kind of content their platforms can host and sell. Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and Paypal have been censoring free speech and legal business on the internet for TOO LONG. Their most recent targets are Steam and Itch.io, but they have also been pressuring websites like Pixiv, Patreon, Fansly, Onlyfans and MORE for years, applying draconian standards for what kind of adult/pornographic content platiorms and their users can host and sell. If we as consumers and creators want to regain ground on this issue, we have to make our voice heard. HOW? BOMBARD THEM WITH PHONE CALLS Collective Shout, the organization that lobbied to have Steam and Itch.io change their TOS, did so with only around 1000 phone calls. Visa and MC have backed down from pressuring Onlyians to remove adult content entirely due to public backlash. Clogging their phone lines for an extended perlou, over a mont at the absolute least, will almost gudrantee that these compantes will at least have to pay attention to the backlash. this list is not exhaustive. but some contact points for the 4 targets are: 1. VISA: (US + Can): +1 [8001-847-2911 US option selection for operator: 1-1-2 or 1-1-3 2. MASTERCARD: (US): +1 (8001-307-7309 US option selection for operator: 1-1-2-2-2-1 Phone (outside US): 1-636-722-7111 3. STRIPE: (Headquarters): +118881 963-8955 (France): +33 805-11-19-67 Stripe: complaints@stripe.com 4. PAYPAL: (US): +1 (888)-221-1161 (outside US): 1-402-935-2050 Customer Service: +1 (877)-569-1116
Cheat Sheet v.2
nothing from the prior version is incorrect, but ive made it a little easier to read, plus included a bit more helpful information
imgur link: imgur.com/a/wWaLY2i
more comprehensive info can be found here:
stop-paypros.neocities.org
yellat.money
MAKE YOUR CALLS!!!
Cartoon monster lady, Sue, in a "Don't Stop Calling T-shirt, pointing at a personification of "puritan activist groups" looming over a personification of "payment processor" Sue's Dialogue: YOOHOO! These motherfuckers think they can pick and choose what you do with your own money. You wouldn't let them do that, would you?
Hey if you hate censorship and want to do more than just doompost online, you can actually do something: Being annoying!
Hoards of people have been blowing up the phones of payment processing companies to pressure them not to bend to the whims of puritan groups.
stop-paypros.neocities.org
Back to back?? Mannnn🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥
Btw your show photos were 🔥🔥🔥😍😍😍
What is the new reality for documentary in the age of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and the ability to produce in online spaces? @silaxsila.bsky.social explores the question by looking at docs like GRAND THEFT HAMLET, THE REALITY OF HOPE & IBELIN povmagazine.com/virtual-real...
A screenshot of a page from a blog. Text reads: "It’s blowing my mind. If Hamilton made me look at history a little differently (and I love history), then Splendor & Misery is throwing me into the far-flung future of heavy sci fi (and I luuuuuurve sci fi, especially the mind-bending, break your brain kind of stuff. Like Poseidon’s Wake by Alastair Reynolds, which I am on a mini-break from audio-booking but which is fantastic and to which I will return soon). If I wanted to be extremely succinct, I suppose I could describe it as a hip hop space opera. But it feels like so much more than that. Simply put, Splendor & Misery is everything I love about rap, about the musicality of raw sound in the experimental noise of the beats, about the inciting power of ideas as transmitted through songs and stories, about the sheer power of storytelling in general — and sci fi in particular, being one of the earliest forms I latched onto — to build worlds, to teleport you from your current reality, and to make you feel as someone else, all worked into deceptively standard-size album. Listening to it reminds me of why oppressors often ban music and censor art, but also why, as Alan Moore reminds us, ideas are bulletproof."
Man. I remember when I gave myself permission to write for myself, for the joy of it.
And by permission, I mean I forced myself to write and post something every day for a set period of time 🤣🤣🤣
I think it's about time to bring back Taskmaster Sila, lmaooo 💀💀💀
In honour of getting to see @clppng.bsky.social perform this Monday night (my 3rd concert, but first show since pre-panini) here's a recently unearthed review/love letter from 2016 to clipping, 'Splendor & Misery', rap, sci-fi, Daveed Diggs, Hamilton, & Afrofuturist art 💖
medium.com/@Gesilayefa/...
Jennie Baptiste, Portrait of two girls from a series for Fashion Designer Wale Adeyemi MBE, 1995, from Shining Lights by Joy Gregory (ed.) (MACK, 2024) Two young Black women standing closely and smiling. One on left wearing a bun with scrunchie, dark sweater and has on black backpack. One on right has a 90s updo hairstyle with black long sleeved shirt and light coloured shirt underneath, and is wearing sunglasses
Mitra Tabrizian, Correct Distance, 1987-88, from Shining Lights by Joy Gregory (ed.) (MACK, 2024) Black and white photograph of a woman with back facing camera; she’s wearing a black fur with white gloves and white head covering. Her fists are balled.
Eileen Perrier, Ghana, 1995-96, from Shining Lights by Joy Gregory (ed.) (MACK, 2024) Children in a room painted a bright teal, holding up a sepia film photograph that’s aged.
Cristina Piza, Salón de Belleza, 1995, from Shining Lights by Joy Gregory (ed.) (MACK, 2024) Black and white photograph of four women in a smaller older house; two at a table, one sitting and one laying down with arm on head. All four have pleasant demeanor.
“Shining Lights: Black Women Photographers in 1980s–90s UK” www.anothermag.com/art-photogra...
A lot of people are going to die from this
A screenshot of a blog post called, "Mean Girls". A photo of the author, Noella Eze, is followed by the following text: "Every mean girl I know is a caricature of someone they know who bullied them or worse, a poor imitation of an onscreen mean girl whom they adored in their formative years. If it’s a fashion girl, she’s trying to be Miranda Priestly and failing woefully (please, you do not have the credentials) or she’s trying to be the fashion police armed with nothing but sass and vibes (again, your credentials are missing). If it’s a corporate girlie she’s trying to be Jessica Pearson from Suits, or whatever TikTok corporate baddie personality she’s adopted. The men in suits (also referred to as mean girls because that is a gender neutral term) have choked on all the rewatches of Glengarry Glen Ross and/or Mad Men, the tech bros can quote the Social Network and Succession by heart, the finance bros snort every scene from Industry like the coke in their veins, and so on and so forth."
A screenshot of a blog post called, "Mean Girls", with the following text: Everyone is imitating someone, the girls are tussling hard trying to be the meanest girl on the block, struggling to be Elektra Abundance with zero electricity, no one is being themselves and I’m over here wondering when being a decent person went out of style. Who the graceful fuck is fighting with you people? I get letting a bitch have it when your patience has been tested beyond its limits but honey, all the time? You’re locked and loaded with nastiness all the time? Ho, you is mad at breakfast??? Come on now. And yes yes yes, I get it. The *gestures at everything in general* is hell, I’m with you on that but girl, do you have to be hell 24/7? No, you don’t. That much cortisol cannot be good for you and I’m telling you this as someone who was mad ALL. THE. TIME. People are blindingly stupid, wilfully ignorant and incorrigibly obtuse. Especially people on the internet. Especially people in the comment sections on social media. On that we absolutely agree, you will get no objections from me. However, as a newly reformed girlie who chooses to laugh at the behaviour rather than feed the rage monster, I implore you to choose your peace and deploy your nukes wisely."
This is a READ. 👏🏾 👏🏾 👏🏾
noeknows.ca/blogs/news/m...
Oh hey, I started writing again, and forgot to post here, lmao.
Check out my review of "Captain America: Brave New World" for @nextmagazine.bsky.social here: nextmag.ca/review-new-c...
Senator Andy Kim just went to the USAID building, talked to the security guard there to confirm employees are being barred entry, and then did a press gaggle right there in front to call it out.
This is doing something. This is making an effort on messaging. Other Democratic lawmakers: take notes.
RIP Jonathan Swift, you would have loved Hozier 💀💀💀😂😂😂
There is still beauty in this world
Ayyyyyy!!! 🥰💃🏾💕🙏🏾✨
This song makes me feel mellow and happy. Sending you all the same vibes 🥰🥰🥰
open.spotify.com/track/3Xg2ZC...
Slowly finding my friends again on here feels so gratifying. 💖
Tank Girl is sitting on a rock, pulling up her butts. She is smoking a cigarette. Text reads: "I can't let things be this way. We can be wonderful. We can be magnificent. We can turn this shit around."
Forever thinking about this Tank Girl panel. I really do want to turn this shit around. I want to be part of a kinder, more community-care centered world.
Bugs Bunny relaxes under a palm tree and beach umbrella with arms folded and his legs pulled up onto the chair. He is wearing a large yellow hat, white-rimmed sunglasses, and comfy orange robe and slippers.
hello woyld.