savvysquidling

[savvysquidling]

The beast is gonna have to have chronic rage then.

Your enjoyment of single-player games on easier difficulties infuriates the beast.

[savvysquidling]

Go into any small enough town, and it's never clearer that everyone is their own variety of weird as fuck. The townsfolk know this, and that it would be hypocritical to point that out.

One thing I cant get over about Stardew Valley is how, in many of the heart events, the farmer is just outright spying on the other townsfolk, rooting throught their belongings, walking into their houses unannounced, or hiding in the bushes, and the townsfolk seem… fine with this.

At least, it doesn’t make them like you less.

[savvysquidling]

Just some of B. Dylan Hollis’ funniest moments, because we could all use a bit of a laugh.

[savvysquidling]

B Dylan Hollis: my fav clips part 1 of ?

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I can agree with all of this, I truely enjoyed reading it, and agree with a numbero of points, plus I just really, really, hate that fucking wamasu.

Oh I wish so badly that the plot of Sanity's Edge made any sense.

It's first big failure is that we have no real reason to have any sympathy for Vanton as a person outside of his current torment by Ansuul. Twelvane describes him as like an isolated mean mage that for some reason has a Telvanni tower (he is not a dunmer, or Telvanni. He's an altmer in the mages guild). He's a character we know nothing about until this moment. He's not even a lore character book author. Not even going to get into the fact it was a wasted opportunity to have it center around the Mages Guild in the Telvanni Peninsula dlc.

It's second failure is that you cannot address anything that happened in the dream trial with either Vanton or Twelvane. Like hey man is this Yaseyla person even real? Or is this like your theoretical fear of being persecuted as a mage, with way too much backstory about Twelvane failing to save some woman's daughter from a wasting sickness? Why is one of your fears Twelvane, the one person who would mourn your death, becoming a tyrant? Are you afraid of her? Should we be concerned after this is over? Or are you afraid of her exceeding your own power? I at least understand Vanton during the Ansuul fight - being tempted by her offering power and manipulating him against us until he snaps out of it.

The trash sections between bosses don't add anything either. We get maybe 1-3 cutscenes that don't give a lot of context because they're scenes in a nightmare meant to torment and manipulate. They happen in perfectly replicas of two cities (Alinor and Orsinium) that don't make sense for the given fights (why is Yaseyla attacking Alinor, why is Twelvane taking over the guild in Orsinium). We can't talk to Twelvane or Vanton between fights like in Any Other Trial, nor is there anything after the boss fights. It's so... Barren. There's not even a post trial encounter with them like Cloudrest with Olorime in Shimmerene, or any manner of closure that clarifies what Vanton's fears really mean.

Also I just don't like the trial mechanically but now that I'm there 6 times a week I have to actually think about the plot.

[savvysquidling]

You have been visited by the Badger of Executive Function!

May this tenacious beastie grant you the strength to break through whatever is holding you back from completing that important task you've been meaning to get to, and the energy and motivation to

Do The Fucking Thing.

[savvysquidling]

if you're subscribed to Microsoft word, you probably received an email recently saying they're upping their prices. Like, a lot. ($9.99/month instead of $6.99)

guess what though? you can log into your account, click Cancel Subscription, and get the option to continue your subscription at the same price WITHOUT their bullshit AI.

That's right, the new, higher price is actually a different subscription that includes AI that everyone is being opted into by force! What a cool and fun product that clearly everyone wants.

you can also choose to buy Word 2024 without AI for a single lump sum that will be yours in perpetuity, with no updates, for one computer.

Check your subscription if you need Word for work! Don't get duped into paying for something you might not even want

[savvysquidling]

I needed some good news today. Maybe this will be a speck of hope for someone else too.

We have already averted truly apocalyptic levels of global warming.

Yes, read that again. Let it sink in. This is what the science now says. We have already averted truly apocalyptic global warming.

To quote David Wallace-Wells, author of The Uninhabitable Earth, from his huge feature in the New York Times:

"Thanks to astonishing declines in the price of renewables, a truly global political mobilization, a clearer picture of the energy future and serious policy focus from world leaders, we have cut expected warming almost in half in just five years... The window of possible climate futures is narrowing, and as a result, we are getting a clearer sense of what’s to come: a new world, full of disruption but also billions of people, well past climate normal and yet mercifully short of true climate apocalypse." (New York Times, October 22, 2022. Unpaywalled here. Emphasis mine. And yes, this vision of the future is backed up by the current science on the issue, as he explains at length in the article.)

So we've already averted truly apocalyptic warming, and we've already cut expected warming IN HALF in just the past five years.

The pace of technology, of innovation, of prices, of feasibility, of discovery, of organizing, of grassroots movements, of movements in other countries around the world, have all picked up the pace so fast in the last five years.

Renewable technology and capacity are both increasing at an exponential rate. It's all S-curves, ones that look like this:

-via The Economist, June 20, 2024.

How much more will we manage in another five years? Another ten? Another twenty?

I know the US is about to fucking suck about the environment for the next four years. But the momentum of renewable energy is far too much to stop - both in the US (x) and around the world.

(Huge shoutouts to India, China, and Brazil for massive gains for the environment in renewables, and Brazil for massive progress against Amazon deforestation.)

We're going to get there.

Say it with me. We're going to get there.

[savvysquidling]

I think a huge factor in people not being able to understand this game is that the game as a whole relies on understanding Solas’ character as written, and people are refusing to understand it

Solas is, and has been since his first appearance, an egotistical, hubristic, racist, manipulative, abusive and condescending asshole who regularly commits atrocities and pretends that being sad about them is enough penance. He is a terrible person who insists he’s actually the hero of the story. He is a liar and a manipulator, and he lies to himself as well. He uses other people like chess pieces and sacrifices them for his cause without much of a thought, and without them even knowing they are being used.

This is who he is. This is who he was always written to be. And veilguard is almost entirely about deconstructing that. Every member of the veilguard is a foil to solas. They are all who he pretends he is, and his false hero fantasy falls apart when you put them next to him.

Every single companion storyline is about that character successfully doing something that Solas is incapable of, but would be capable of if he wasn’t such a terrible person. And they all face a dark reflection of themselves and come out the other side mostly unscathed by that, aware that this dark reflection is not them because they are not actually like that.

Solas faces many of the same challenges the companions do, and fails each and every one of them, because, unlike them, he is not actually a hero. He is not a good person. He does not learn to accept that just because something is broken doesn’t mean there aren’t parts of it worth saving. He does not learn to accept the harsh truths and move forward. He does not accept that he is responsible for his own actions, even if someone else orders them. He fails every time.

Solas faces not one but two dark reflections of himself, Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain, the prideful god who always thinks he’s right no matter the consequences, and the servant and lover of another god whose atrocities are not justified by having been pushed by their lover and mistress, but does not come out the other side unscathed because it turns out he IS actually like them. His reflections are accurate, they’re real parts of himself that he pretends don’t exist, not just twisted versions of their fears like they are for the companions. At the end of the game he even admits that yes, he is very similar to Elgar’nan.

Pretty much the entirety of veilguard is a very careful and deliberate deconstruction of Solas’ character and self image. We go through, in elaborate detail, all of his crimes, all of his mistakes, all of the reasons why he is wrong, why his actions are unjustifiable, why his regret doesn’t absolve him of responsibility, how he thinks it does anyway.

We completely tear down every single aspect of the image he has constructed for himself. We destroy every single excuse with clear examples showing that that was not how things had to go. Every justification. Every insistence it’s okay because he’s sorry. Every time he insists he knows best and we should leave him to it. Every single illusion that he is a good person is shattered. By the end of it there is absolutely nothing left, and his repeated attempts to keep up the facade come off as pathetic and ridiculous. In all his banters with companions he tries to use his usual tricks, pretty excuses, belittling comments, fake niceties and every time he’s completely shut down.

He tries to imply Davrin has a biased view of him from stories about the dread wolf, Davrin responds with evidence the truth is even worse. He tries to apologise to Harding, she comes back with a list of all the terrible things he’s done that an apology can’t cover. He tries to appeal to spite, spite points out he hurt Rook so why should he trust him. He comes up with excuses for killing Varric and Neve points out that there’s no pretty excuse for using blood magic on Rook in such a cruel way afterwards. The illusion is shattered. That’s what the entire game has been building up to. And it makes his last attempt at betrayal seem embarrassing, because we now see through the facade and know that he was too obsessed with himself to even consider we’d see it coming.

But the thing is a lot of people refuse to see this. This is where his characters been heading since the beginning. This is who he’s always been. But a lot of people ignore any and every negative thing about him, and then complain the game doesn’t make sense. Of course it doesn’t make sense. You’ve ignored every single theme, plot point, and piece of characterisation to make up a version of Solas in your head and that’s not the Solas the game is about. It makes complete sense when you see Solas as he truly is, as he was written to be. It’s such a good bit of writing when you actually let yourself experience it as it is and allow yourself to be open to the idea that the guy who is trying to commit his second genocide might be a bad person.

[savvysquidling]

♥️

Breath in my lungs. Blood in my heart. Flesh on my bones.

Pairing: Kaidan x Reader

Reader type: Gender neutral 

Warnings: none

Type: Smut but like… Not descriptive.

Song: Work Song- Hozier

An: Something short and quick. I'll honestly probably expand on this later. It's just one of those things I needed to get out of my head lol. Any feedback is appreciated!

The taste of them lingers on his tongue. The warmth of their skin nearly burns his lips. Trailed up their stomach and over the soft swell of their chest. Littered with small bruises and marks. Laying his devotion there. His mouth settled against their pulse. His nose in the crook of their neck. Breathing them in as he felt the rapid beat of their heart. Reminding him of the iridescent hummingbird wings outside their home.

They sing like one too. Breathless as their lips part. Praising his name like he was something worth crying out to.

They touch him as if he is valuable. Pressing their lips to his with fevered heat. Putting breath into his lungs and breathing new life into him. His own mouth parting to let them in. To taste the sweetness he has pulled from them. 

Kaidan is turning. Now on his back and looking up at them. The sight of them nearly pulls his heart from his chest. Squeezing something painful into him. 

You seem to glow. Face flushed and chest heaving. Skin damp with sweat. Glowing in the low redlight of the setting sun filtering through the window of your bedroom.

His palms settle against your hips instinctively. Slowing sliding up your ribs until one broad palm settled against your chest. It nearly scalds him. The heat you throw off. If he could he would lay his praise there. Speak his devotion upon you until it raises the words against your skin for the world to see. Something worth worship. And he would speak your name like the hallowed thing it is for the world to hear until they to. See you as you are.

He swore to no more gods. No more deities. Bad or good. After her after them. He…

He never thought he would find something with worship. Worth devotion. Not until now. Now he was willing to pull his heart forth as a sacrifice. To put his faith into your palms. Into the hands of someone that both scares him and brings so much light into his life.

He never thought someone could see past the darkness, grab ahold of him, and draw him from the fires he knew he was destined for.

Call him selfish. Foolish even. For daring to even bask in the gentle sun-like warmth you so freely gave him.

He chokes back a sound as you settle against him. The length of him buried somewhere deep inside. He does shudder out a breathless moan as you rock your hips.

It's his turn to sing. His own hips bouncing up to meet yours.

Kaidan praises. He sings. Speaks out his devotional hymns.

“My bright little Starlight.”

“Sweet and pretty. Just like that. Just like- fuck.”

“Take me. Take what you need Starlight.”

He cries out your name. Swallowed when you lean over and kiss him. Hips rocking. Your hands slowly sliding up his chest. Past every old wound and scar. Up until his jaw is cradled in your hands. Stubble poking and scratching against soft flesh.

And then you speak his name. “Kaidan” soft and sweet against his lips. Sugary and thick. It traps him.

His ears ring and the heat builds up. “Kaidan”. Again. The sound of his name falling from your lips. Drawing him out of whatever darkness he was falling back into. “Kaidan.” Again. The push and pull of each other. Like the moon to the tides. 

Like the sea to the moon, how could he ever hope to touch you? To touch and taint that golden light with his bloodied hands.

He will settle with this. Your warmth settles around him. The scent of you filling his lungs. The taste of you in his mouth. Your touch burning his skin.

You pull away. Back arching and head thrown back as you reach your peak. His name on your lips. And like any faithful hound. He follows. Red gaze burn like coals upon you.

You were no God. But he would worship you all the same.

He was brought to ruin by one already. But whatever pain you inflicted upon him was far sweeter than any he had faced before.

[savvysquidling]

if it's good enough for you, then it deserves to be made. don't let anyone else decide if your story is worth it or not.

[savvysquidling]

Will Taliesin get interactions with Kaidan in the Revoiced mod :o I really wanna see those two act

After we get Taliesin 2.0 up and running our next focus will be interactions between Taliesin and modded followers. This is long overdue and needs to be rectified!

Would love to have Taliesin interact with the revoiced Kaidan! 😁

[savvysquidling]

I get they probably polled for well known places but...I'm sorry, there is a fifty foot statue of Sam Houston off the side of the highway as an attraction over in Huntsville (and that's it, that's all there is to it, and yet there's still a frikin gift shop for it near its parking lot if my memory from fourth grade serves correctly) and people think the Alamo is the worst attraction in Texas? Unbelievable.

[savvysquidling]

so. as you may know it’s christmas eve. as you probably don’t know i am eastern european. and probably the only real tradition anyone holds onto is christmas eve. normally my great aunt does all the food and very begrudgingly sometimes lets everyone help make like. one thing.

well.

this year. the year of our lord two thousand and twenty four. she decided she was done cooking and it was up to everyone else.

so i got a phone call from my mom a few weeks ago being like hey so. you’re making the cake. got it? good.

the cake in question is a walnut cake. i was entrusted with my great aunts recipe about seven years ago. i’ve made it twice. the first time i fucked up the frosting quantity. the second time i fucked up the eggs. both times were passable at best and notably! my great aunt did not taste either of them.

and i have to make this cake. on christmas eve. it is dessert. for everyone. my extended family will all be eating the cake. the walnut cake. on christmas eve. even my great aunt.

so yesterday, december 23 if you are counting, i went on the annual Last Minute Christmas Food Shopping Trip with my father, watched him climb into the case to get his half and half like he does every year, and stressed about my cake as i made sure i had all of the ingredients.

then. we went to my great aunts house. where i was met with Trial Number 1: The Cognac

this cake has cognac in the frosting. not a big deal really. except for the fact that my mom hates that there is cognac in the frosting. (my mom is hell bent on making christmas eve dinner vaguely healthier. no one else agrees.) and i was to be making the cake in my moms house.

also important to note: we (as in my parents) do not own cognac. mostly because none of us drink.

so my great aunt is like oh i have to give you the cognac. cause she knows. i am baking the cake. the walnut cake. (my dad told her. he is a traitor). and i say okay. sure. this won’t be a problem at all.

so she gives me. a shot of cognac. and when i say a shot. i mean an Entirely Full Shot Glass of Three Hundred Dollar Cognac. in a jar. for the cake. the walnut cake. that i have to make.

upon bringing the cognac home my mom says no we’re not putting that in. the cognac sits on the counter in its jar. no one touches it.

then i was met with Trial Number 2: The Frosting.

this recipe requires a pound of chopped walnuts. first. i couldn’t even find the walnuts. my sister and i searched high and low and in every cabinet we could find but no nuts. i called my mom. and said mom where are the walnuts? and she said. “they’re in the nut bag behind the basement door.”

oh of course. how could i have missed the nut bag? a holiday bag full of bags of nuts that was half hidden by wrapping paper and also behind a door?

in any case. could i have used a food processor? absolutely. did i? no. half because i forgot and half because i didn’t want to accidentally grind the walnuts into a paste. so i enlisted the help of my younger sister to chop the walnuts By Hand while i embarked on the real devil: the frosting.

which remember. is supposed to have cognac.

so i cream my butter. i add my sugar. i’m careful not to over sugar. i taste it a million times. i add my coffee and my vanilla extract (instead of cognac. which is still sitting on the counter) and it was all going so well until. the butter rebelled.

now remember. one time when i made this. seven years ago. i made too little frosting. so i made more this time. and i thought i had all my conversions right but evidently i did not because suddenly there was too much liquid in my frosting and it split.

the frosting for the walnut cake that everyone was going to eat. on christmas eve. the very next day.

i felt like a contestant on great british bake-off getting smited by the tent.

so i did the logical thing and shoved the whole mess into the fridge hoping that it would sort itself out overnight.

then it was time to face Trial Number Three: The Cake Itself.

as i have said this cake is a walnut cake. the christmas eve walnut cake that has been at christmas eve longer than i have been alive. and it requires no less than ten egg whites. which i whipped and i added to my walnuts and shoved the whole thing into the oven in my two baking dishes.

only to discover no less than 40 minutes later that the batter in the pans was Not Even (despite my best efforts). so i cooked one longer than the other and hoped that i hadn’t monumentally fucked up the walnut cake. like i had the frosting. which was in the fridge. and i was ignoring.

which leads to Trial Number Four: The Egg Yolk Cake

see i had ten egg yolks. i didn’t know what to do with them. my mom said flush them. my dad said make a custard. i proposed making egg nog. my mom said she didn’t want it in the house cause it was too fattening (a blatantly incorrect statement. please, if you are reading this, go drink a glass of eggnog. or some other fun festive drink. food is for the soul.) so i produced a recipe for an egg yolk pound cake. i made it. i still don’t know if it came out good cause i haven’t tasted it. i hope it did. but that was not the point. the point is the walnut cake. the christmas eve walnut cake.

and the following morning i was met with Trial Number Five: The Frosting Part 2

first i threw my failed frosting back in the mixer and it immediately secreted a brackish combination of vanilla extract and coffee so i did the only thing i could. facetimed my dad and said “father there are problems abound.” and he gave me the fatherly advice of “make it again.”

and so i did.

with more correct measurements. still scared it would split at any second.

though it didn’t.

and i didn’t add the cognac.

maybe no one will be able to tell???

my mom said that if anyone asks the first batch of frosting failed and i had to toss it. this is technically true.

but i had frosting. i had two uneven cakes. and it was time for Trial Number Six: Decorating

decorating cakes is easily in my top ten least favorite activities. decorating the christmas eve walnut cake is easily in my top three least favorite activities. because i am terrible at decorating cakes. and also because it has a filling.

the filling is jam. and i once again made the wrong choice because i put the jam on first before the frosting. which to be fair is what the directions say. but as everyone knows, the directions in recipes you get from your eastern european great aunt are not the real directions. so now i had to smear butter cream. on top of jam. for the filling of the walnut cake. for christmas eve. that we would be eating in a few hours.

and we didn’t have a cake plate. we had a large dish.

i had to use my fingers. i had to use three spatulas. i got jam everywhere. but i did it. and as soon as i set the top cake on top of the filling i realized my monumental mistake: i was supposed to trim down the cakes.

so now they were uneven. and lopsided. and there was nothing i, a mere mortal tasked with the impossible task of making christmas eve walnut cake, could do about it.

so i continued to spread my frosting. which i had enough of. and tried and failed to not get jam everywhere.

in the end it was almost presentable. not great. slightly lopsided. and definitely not as nice as any of my great aunts cakes.

which left me with Trial Number 7: Chilling It

our fridge was being taken up by other important christmas eve things (though not as important as my cake. the walnut cake) so i had to put it in the car. which was fine because there is snow on the ground.

i covered my cake. the walnut cake. in tin foil and hoped i wouldn’t accidentally squish it. and then i went outside. i tried to steal my moms shoes to walk outside. she was not impressed.

“you know, saph,” she said. “some of the time you’re pretty great. the other half of the time you’re really weird.”

i could not agree more.

i put my cake on the trunk. prayed to the cake gods and went inside.

on the one hand if the cake is good, i will be stuck making walnut cake for christmas eve for the rest of my life. on the other hand, if it sucks i will never have to make another one.

Trial Number Eight: The Tasting still waits.

[savvysquidling]

OK THIS IS NOT A FUCKING DRILL EVERYONE FUCKING REPEAT AFTER ME. THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL DO WHEN YOU WATCH MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL THIS YEAR:

You will navigate to the page on disney plus (and it has to be here. Unless someone has actually uploaded the REAL movie anywhere else you cannot get it elsewhere)

BUT YOU WILL NOT HIT PLAY. You won’t do it. Because it’s NOT THE REAL VERSION OF THE FILM AND DISNEY IS FUCKING LYING TO YOU AS IT ALWAYS DOES

You will scroll down HERE. To EXTRAS instead. You MUST GO HERE. This is non -negotiable

THEN YOU WILL SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE EXTRAS AND YOU WILL THEN HIT PLAY ON THIS BAD BOY: THE FULL LENGTH VERSION

And you will watch it. And you will thank me for having been so blind and led astray by that stupid fucking mouse. You’re welcome.

[savvysquidling]

Workshop Update: Kaidan Revoiced - Community Expansion 1.0 Launch!

After two years of development, the Kaidan Workshop Staff is proud to present Kaidan Revoiced - Community Expansion (KRCE)!

First and foremost, none of this would be possible without livtempleton graciously giving us permission for our project! Throughout the years, the assets she's allowed the Skyrim modding community to build upon has kept Kaidan alive in thousands of modlists, providing the opportunity for even more players to enjoy her original creations; we're very honored to be added to the list of modders whose creations are inspired by her work. When we started the Workshop, we had no idea if anyone would even notice our project; a new voice actor, a new iteration of an already established character, and no product to show for it in advance. The only thing we could offer the general public at the time was the promise of transparency and community cooperation throughout the process. So we created a budget for revoicing Kaidan, a plan for community involvement, and hit the ground running. We added new staff, taught ourselves new skills as the scope of the project evolved, and leaned on the advice, ideas, and encouragement from our community. Alongside the (mostly) monthly updates on our Tumblr and taking suggestions from our 'I Had An Idea!' Discord channel, our methods for ensuring transparency during development evolved; our Community Team began hosting public meetings via our Discord to discuss our current workflow, answer questions, and conduct live script readings of our original scripts, to ensure that our Writing Team was matching the original tone set by livtempleton. We also streamed our beta footage on Twitch, trying our best to stress test the new framework built by our Creation Kit Team while also taking more suggestions from our audience for future content. Finally, we were incredibly pleased to be able to host an Open Beta for KRCE this past October & November for our Discord community, as a special thank you for their support. We were able to get some excellent feedback on some of our new follower features, as well as hunt down any missed audio or errors our internal testing missed. All in all, it took many, many people to bring this mod to life, and our Staff is incredibly humbled and grateful for the support of everyone involved. While this 1.0 version will be available indefinitely for those who prefer it, the Workshop Staff is very excited to begin creating more original content moving forward into 2025! One of our original scripts for the Daedric quest "Pieces of the Past" is in the 1.0, so you can check it out to get a sense of the tone our writers are going for! You can read about what content is present in our mod, as well as find the answers to commonly asked questions in the KRCE Mod FAQ. Keep up with the project via our updates on Tumblr, or join our Discord server!

The Kaidan Workshop is a community-led, non-profit project that aims to build upon the original LivTempleton Kaidan 2 mod. Our project is strictly non-profit; all funds raised are to commission Mr. Warren for his services. You can read more about what the Kaidan Workshop is here.

[savvysquidling]

Oh, so THAT'S why prices seemed much better than I remembered when I came back last month from a near eight year absence. Sweet.

god i wish i wouldn't have to explain the intricacies of the neopets economy to you guys to give the full context for this but. the new neopets team that took over from jumpstart pledged that they were going to curb the inflation of rare items, which is great because a lot of rare items are worth literally hundreds of millions of neopoints, they are unbuyable unless you've been playing actively for 20 years. they did this earlier with a site festival that included random loot boxes, some of which had Unbelievably Fucking Rare And Precious items worth 200 million neopoints apiece.

well.

today they have gone a step further. by releasing this year's trick-or-treat bags. and having the trick-or-treat bags be stuffed to the brim with unbelievably fucking rare stamps, weapons, paint brushes, defense magic, and other unbuyables. (all prohibitively expensive and in-high-demand types of items.)

jellyneo, the premier neopets website, has recorded prices of some items plummeting from 2,000,000 neopoints to 4,000 neopoints IN THE LAST THREE HOURS. this is when most people haven't even heard about the event or OPENED THEIR BAGS YET.

and of course. cherry on top. 20-year-old account holders are crytyping on the site events neoboard about how mean and cruel it is to make rare stamps part of the prize pool, because their entire identity hinges on being part of the neopian bourgeoisie, and they are having MELTDOWNS over their assets being devalued until they're part of the lowly proletariat.

this is a children's game for children btw.

none of the money is real.

i'm having such a good time.