#PLEASE FEEL FREE TO RECOMMEND THEM TO ME!!!)

[candlelightisland]

what's this? a challenge? why, yes! I hereby present to you . . .

Candlelightisland’s Make A House A Home Challenge!

Let's get straight into it, shall we? Details, rules, suggestions and general chatter under the cut. If you end up playing with this challenge, please feel free to tag me or use the #makeahouseahomechallenge, I would love to see your gameplay! <333

Hello there!

Congratulations! Or perhaps, sorry about that! You’ve inherited your late great-aunt Elspeth’s farmhouse - a creaky, dusty, overgrown old place that kind of smells weird. Once a vibrant homestead, this place is now barely habitable: broken plumbing, cracked paint, spiders in the cupboards and rotting fruitcake is all you find there.

With §0 to your name and no job to rely on, you must work the land, master your skills, and slowly restore the house - room by room - as you rebuild the family legacy and bring life to the empty rooms. I hope you brought a mop - you’re going to need it.

Rules:

Move into an abandoned, completely unfurnished farmhouse. This farmhouse can be any style, size and price, so long as it has at least one space each for a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room and attic/study, as well as outdoor space for an animal shed/chicken coop and crop garden. Apart from that, you have free reign here.

After moving in, set household funds to §0 (use console commands or UI Cheats mod for this).

No careers. You may not join full-time or part-time jobs. Income must come from: Odd jobs (Island Living)/Selling crafted/grown items/Market stalls/Foraging, fishing, dumpster diving, etc

Start out in the garden. Before setting funds to §0, purchase a tent, cooler, fire pit/cheap barbeque, and a bush (or off-the-grid toilet). Alternatively, use the Natural Living system from Enchanted by Nature to live completely wild. 

Renovate parts of the house only when the relevant level is completed.

You must live on the same lot for the whole challenge. Great-Aunt Elspeth worked hard for this dusty piece of garbage, you better stay there.

Aging optional (I always play with aging off, but it’s up to you!)

Marriage/children optional. If you do choose to marry, that Sim cannot bring any funds with them when they join the household and cannot have a conventional job either. You can work together to complete the goals!

Suggested Traits:

For Your Sim:

Loves Outdoors

Loner (because who are you going to be speaking to, exactly?)

Creative or Maker

Green Fiend (Eco Lifestyle)

Animal Enthusiast (Cottage Living)

Frugal (trust me bro)

For the Lot:

Simple Living (Cottage Living – required after Level 2)

Off the Grid (for the early levels)

Great Soil (City Living)

Homey

Grody (City Living, optional for a bit of added early difficulty)

Suggested Aspirations:

Country Caretaker (Cottage Living)

Freelance Botanist

Master Maker (Eco Lifestyle)

Curator

Outdoor Enthusiast (Outdoor Retreat, for rags-to-riches/forest survival vibes)

Note: these aspirations can be completed alongside the challenge goals, or ignored completely! That’s up to you.

Suggested Mods:

Mods are not required for this challenge at all, however, there are a couple that I recommend to make your experience a little smoother/more engaging!

Lumpinou’s Personal Lists

Lumpinou’s Talents and Weaknesses

Midnitetech’s Odd Jobs Megapack

Kuttoe’s Home Regions and Townie Demographics

Level 1: Rootbound Beginnings

  You arrive at the crumbling farmhouse with a will in your pocket, a backpack on your shoulder, and the creak of rotting floorboards behind every gust of wind. The garden is wild, there’s no furniture, and you haven’t got so much as a simoleon to your name. It’s not a home, but it will be! Until then, you must live in the yard, survive off the land, and find your first source of income.

Goals:

Earn §1,000 via any allowed methods

Reach Gardening Level 3

Reach Natural Living level 3 (Enchanted by Nature)

Complete 3 Odd Jobs (Island Living)

Plant and grow at least 3 garden plants

Forage or fish successfully at least 5 times

Unlock: The Bedroom! Go you, now you don’t have to sleep on the floor! So proud of you. You can now furnish and sleep inside one room of the house - you can do whatever your simoleons allow in this room. Walls, floors, furniture, clutter - it’s all fair-game.

Level 2: Fruits of Your Labour

Well done! You’ve carved a small space inside the ruins. Now it’s time to nourish yourself properly. The garden begins to respond to your care. You dream of hot soup, baking pies, and finally using an actual stove!

Goals:

Reach Gardening Level 5

Reach Level 3 in any crafting skill (and sell the crafts)!

Have at least §3,000 in your household funds

Complete 5 more Odd Jobs

Participate in 1 Finchwick Fair (Cottage Living)

Purchase and maintain 1 animal shed or chicken coop (Cottage Living)

Unlock: The Kitchen! You may now fully renovate and furnish the kitchen, including a fridge, stove, counters, and dining space.

Additionally:

Must use Simple Living lot trait going forward

Only cook with ingredients you’ve grown, caught, or foraged

Level 3: Running Water, Rising Hope

Okay then! You’re living inside now, but showers are still a luxury and the smell of compost lingers. You dream of soap. Warm water. Privacy. Let’s make that dream real, shall we?

Goals:

Reach Handiness Level 3

Bathe in a lake or hot spring 5 times

Complete 7 more Odd Jobs

Have at least §5,000 in your household funds

Unlock: The Bathroom! One full bathroom can now be renovated - bath, shower, sink, toilet, whatever! You may also upgrade it as your skills allow.

Level 4: The Homemaker’s Handiwork

You finally feel stable enough to decorate, to stitch, to craft. This is your space now - not just a shelter, but a reflection of your hard work and dedication. Time to make it beautiful.

Goals:

Reach Level 5 in any two of the following skills: Painting, Knitting, Flower Arranging, Fabrication, Cross-Stitch, or any other crafting skill that I’ve forgotten about

Have at least §7,000 in your household funds

Unlock: The Living Room/Sitting Area! Make it cozy. Add comfort, beauty, and clutter! Also unlocks the Homey Lot Trait!

Optional Add-ons:

Set up a stall at the Eco Lifestyle Marketplace or San Myshuno Flea Market

Win a Crafting Contest at Finchwick Fair

Level 5: The Working Farm

  The fields are green again. The animals trust you. You’ve restored life to the land, and it rewards you in eggs, wool, and the steady rhythm of rural days.

Goals:

Reach Gardening Level 7

Own at least 4 farm animals

Participate in 2 more Finchwick Fairs

Enter and win 1 ribbon at a Fair

Have at least §10,000 in your household funds

Unlock: The Garden + Exterior Upgrades - fences, landscaping, porches, animal shelters, planters, bee boxes, etc.

Optional Add-ons:

Grow and harvest a Perfect quality crop

Try out growing some oversized crops! (Cottage Living)

Level 6: Fix-Her-Up

Your great-aunt’s tools are rusting in the shed - but not for long. The time has come to restore functionality, not just aesthetics. This house should work as hard as you do.

Goals:

Reach Handiness Level 7

Upgrade 6 household objects (appliances, plumbing, electronics)

Install and use eco-upgrades (Eco Lifestyle: water collector, solar panel, dew collector)

Have at least §15,000 in your household funds

Unlock: Utility upgrades! You may now modernise your home: add laundry, solar panels, appliances, storage sheds, greenhouses, etc.

Optional Add-ons:

Switch from Off-the-Grid to Eco-Friendly Tech

Participate in a Neighborhood Action Plan or Eco Inspector Visit

Level 7: The Attic & The Archive

The attic groans with secrets. You uncover trunks, journals, family portraits - forgotten bits of Elspeth’s life. Her story is tangled with yours. It's time to preserve the legacy.

Goals:

Reach Logic OR Research & Debate Level 5

Write a biography

Create a shrine/memory area (photos, urns, heirlooms)

Unlock: The Attic, Office, or Study! Reflect your Sim’s family journey. Make space for the past.

Optional Add-ons:

Host a Holiday Gathering or Dinner Party

Begin a legacy scrapbook or photo collection

Level 8: Legacy Restored

Well, you’ve done it! The farmhouse is no longer just a shell - it’s a home. And now it’s time to perfect it, hone it and share it with those you love. 

Goals:

Have at least §20,000 in household funds

Host 3 home events (dinner party, wedding, fair, et cetera)

Reach Level 10 in any two skills

Unlock: Full House Access! You may now renovate any remaining spaces, build a greenhouse, add a second floor, convert a barn, etc. You have free reign of the whole property. You are now the steward of a fully restored family homestead, and have completed the Make A House A Home Challenge!

[zethings]

!! STOLEN WORK !!

Hi everyone, I am posting to these tags as I have found that there is an 'author' on here who has been using google translated works from other authors- here is the proof.

This account started off by publishing a luna fic that I realised after reading just a few chapters, was most definetly stolen, and I ended up finding the original author.

Their fic 'Camp Wiegman' is a google translated version of a french Clexa fanfiction on AO3. This original fanfiction is 'Camp Jaha' by Dreamybeliza on AO3, and whilst I do not know French, and therefore cannot contact them about this theft, I knew it was the right thing to do by telling others about this.

For proof, here is the first two paragraphs (ish) of both of the fanfictions. I have translated 'Camp Jaha' to English for these examples.

Camp Jaha:

Camp Wiegman:

Now, whilst I have not looked into their other 'works' on here, I would expect that you'd be able to find a pattern of them doing this. And thus I would also expect them to be stolen works.

With the rise of AI writing, and the influx of these fanfictions taking over the community, I also believe that it is important that we look for authors who may be using translated works. If you simply look at the writing, you can tell that the english translation wouldnt use such symbols of quotation marks around speech. You will also find within the fics that they have translated that at some points they get so lazy that they forget to change the name of characters to the desired ones.

As a final note, fanfiction writers take such great care when writing their fics, and for someone to come into the community and do this is actually appauling. I hope that after you've read this you will be able to tell more distinctively what is stolen work.

Also, here is the original fic 'Camp Jaha' if you would like to read it, you can just automatically translate it on most laptops- and I would recommend it as I found it really good.

p.s. if they say anything about this post on their account i wont know as i have them blocked, but please feel free to let me know.

[thelonelyshore-if]

the absolutely disgusting creepy scene when youre forced to buy a house is fantastic. Made my skin crawl. Also made me realize perhaps I should read more horror.

On another note: have you put any thought into what the ROs/their lives would be like if they weren't trapped in a nightmare? My guess is it would be very different for some and very not different for others, but please share!!

Thank youuuuuu I love that scene so much <333 It's legitimately one of my favorites (which is probably why it took so many tries to write lol. I had to get it right!!) And absolutely--I always recommend reading more horror!!!

Also omg tysm I've always wanted to answer this ask!! I already know I'll ramble about this, so answers below the cut <3

Beck- as much as she wants to escape Easthaven, I don't actually think her life would be all that different. She'd have more of a tangible connection to her tribe and her extended family, which is something she lacks and feels A Way about in-canon, but even with those deeper roots I still thing she'd be listless. Beck really isn't somebody who'd ever be comfortable staying in one place. I think she'd drive around the country on her bike, taking odd jobs and visiting home every so often to see her folks and her nephew. Maybe she and Perri would get up to some shenanigans tbh.

Croft- lol their life would be exactly as it was before they got trapped in Easthaven: writing novels, being rich, practicing magic. Their goal when they moved was to hide away in semi-isolation to work on their next novel, so they'd probably be doing that. Except they'd get to call their mama every day and that's Very Important To Them <3 Croft misses their mom so badly. They'd probably be living in a little (but extremely expensive) cottage beside the ocean and terrorizing the local coffee shops.

Jay- they'd probably be finishing up veterinary school and working at an animal shelter as a day job. So, like...almost exactly the same as their current life lol. Helping keep an eye on Cricket while their mom works would also be the same. The biggest difference I could see is that instead of being on a Search & Rescue team, I think Jay would be really into hiking. And would probably have much more of a social life tbh. I could see them getting really into like...a beer kickball or softball league in their free time. OH and they'd have a dog or two c:

Perri- their life would be so much better if they weren't in Easthaven oh my god. They'd be able to go no contact with some not great family, they'd be able to sleep in a way that they cannot in horror hell town, and they'd have access to the internet. Imagine Perri with access to the internet they would be so powerful. Unquestionably they'd have a youtube channel or podcast or both where they cryptid hunt and do deep-dives and share people's ghost stories with the world. I like to imagine they'd have a decent following, too! Maybe they'd travel around with Beck looking for stories <3

Ravi- ah. hm. Ravi is the hardest one. I think being Not In Easthaven would also be really good for Ravi but also it's so intrinsic to who he is. I think he'd still have taken over his dad's mortuary when he passed tbh, but he would have had a lot more of a life before then. Would have gone to college and played basketball before becoming a mortician. Probably would have more friends. Oh, and his trauma would be non-existent, so I think he'd be significantly less Like That. Still an off-putting weirdo (affectionate) though. That's who he is deep in his bones.

Yasmin- her life would be the most extremely different if she wasn't in Easthaven. For one, Seth likely wouldn't have gone missing...but their marriage would not have survived. Yasmin in the Real World has one to two kids she adores, an ex-husband she feels Complicated about, and is currently a med student. PTA mom to the extreme, very successful, totally not on the verge of burnout at all times. She'd do very well in all of her pursuits, because of who she is as a person, but it would be exhausting. Still, she'd end up a kick ass doctor at the end of it all c:

[syncogon]

Switzerland 2025 Travel Blog Except Oops It's All TKA

I need to preface this with the disclaimer that The King's Avatar was not the reason I went to Switzerland. TKA factored like 2% of my planning and overall experience. Switzerland is a beautiful country in general, 10/10 recommend a visit if you ever have the chance.

But anyway!

I saw more TKA in the wild in Switzerland than I've ever seen at any con or store or anything, despite many years of looking. TKA is pretty niche outside China, so it really brings me such joy to see such love for this story :D

waiting for you at Zurich!

The Glory Worlds Invitational. The International Esports Association partnered with together with the Glory game company, inviting sixteen teams from sixteen countries for the first international Glory tournament. The announcement had been made. Everyone was calling it the Glory World Cup, and winning it would undoubtedly be the greatest glory of all. The competition was scheduled to take place from July 17 to August 6. It would be hosted in Zurich, Switzerland.

— The King's Avatar, chapter 1728

Zurich! The site of the first Glory World Championship. Incidentally the only named city in the novel (if everything else is City H, City B, etc haha).

As it happened, on my very first day in Switzerland, I spotted this lovely trio across the street and rushed over to greet them:

(censored for privacy but they were super nice and their cosplays were excellent!)

After the photo, one of them saw the Huang Shaotian plush I had on my bag and gave me a gift 🥺

Having seen folks sharing their cards on the TKAA discord, it was exciting to finally get my hands on some, they're shiny and pretty and durable.

Honestly that day I was feeling a little bummed over the fact that I was so close but couldn't make it to the July 21 event, so seeing Zhang Jiale, Zhang Xinjie, and Su Mucheng out and about made me really happy!

~~~

I mentioned my HST doll. Here he is!

I took a number of scenery photos along these lines haha

~~~

I had the fortune of visiting Jungfraujoch on a beautiful clear day! 3454m above sea level, up there with the summit of glory :)

There's an Ice Palace there which is super cool, all ice floors and ice walls and ice sculptures. After browsing various sculptures of things like bears and eagles (and one of Scrat Ice Age lol), please imagine my surprise when I randomly stood in an unmarked line for a tiny side tunnel in the Ice Palace only to finally make my way to the front and be faced with THIS:

(free him)

Since the floor was ice I very nearly slipped and fell over myself to get a picture 🤣 Lemme tell you the kind of euphoric shock of seeing Ye Xiu in an ice block up here was truly unparalleled. I think most of the people in that line didn't even know what this was but just thought he was neat, which, well, he is.

~~~

After the July 21 event, they launched this stamp check-in event at various locations. Zurich HB (the main train station of the city) was the most conveniently located, so after much digging I figured out where it was in the station, and then I had to look up another video to figure out how to actually get there (this is a big-ass train station with a confusing map), aaaaand...

!!... but they'd run out of the exclusive gift. :( This was supposed to be a monthlong event and it was barely a few days! The sign on the right promised an eventual restock, but I obviously didn't have infinite time there 😔

But they at least had the stamp! I had nothing to stamp it on so I lined up to buy a postcard. Then I figured I'd try asking if they had any idea when the restock would happen, and the lady said she didn't know but she could try checking with someone else, so she stepped away, and then!

She came out with this!

(what gives people feelings of power: requesting "The King's Avatar," in English, at a normie info desk in Switzerland)

Found one last one in the back, she said 🥺 I was so so grateful!! Zurich HB info desk, 5 stars.

But now that I had the booklet, and the booklet actually had more info as to the check-in locations, and we happened to have a window of like three hours that day, so I was like. What if. We took the 50 min train to Luzern (again; we'd already been once).

(sometimes I think I'm normal now about TKA and then uhhhh)

Tragically when I got to the Luzern main station, the nice lady at the desk told me they'd ALSO just run out of the exclusive gift (some kind of figure?) that morning 😭 But she gave us two giant chocolate coins, and I was still able to go around and get some stamps.

(consolation prize yay swiss chocolate. tangent: "Countdown" remains one of the favorite fic I've written, and I'm happy to report that the FR & SMC scene ended up being pretty accurate to my experience. walls of chocolate bars at your local Coop, good times)

~~~

On my last day in Switzerland, as a suitable bookend, I encountered another cosplayer! This was at the stamp check-in at Zurich HB.

I also saw her again later in the Swiss National Museum! I'd like to think that Su Mucheng and the others would squeeze some time to check it out, it was a nifty museum and I enjoyed the exhibits and the incorporation of technology. Would've been cool if I got a picture of her with the historical guns hehe

~~~

If you're curious, this Weibo post mostly covers the contents of the travel booklet.

On the final page, there's a message from Butterfly Blue:

After The King's Avatar finished in 2014, when I saw "2025, see you in Zurich", I only thought of it as a beautiful joke, something to carry hope. Now in 2025, I look at this sentence again, I feel a little lost, a little dazed. These ten or so years, I have always thanked everyone from the bottom of my heart. This time. Thank you, you who came to Zurich; thank you, you watching the Glory World Cup from all around the world; thank you, you who like The King's Avatar in the past, present, and future. I can't help but think of another sentence: Our glory will never fade!

The King's Avatar is a story that will have a special place in my heart and history forever, and I feel very fortunate that I was able to visit Switzerland during this special time—all in all I had a fantastic time.

Thank you to Butterfly Blue for leaving us with such a wonderful story, and thank you to my fellow TKA fans for the community!

[s-aint-elmo]

*twirling my hair* do you have some good yuri manga recs?

(lying on my stomach and kicking my feet) i'm SO glad you asked!

to preface this i'll be excluding better-known yuri or yuri that's recently gotten its flowers (whether thru virality or adaptations) (e.g. in love with the villainess, love bullet, bloom into you, etc. etc.) and will instead be recc'ing works i don't often encounter in the wild. some will be more well-known than others, but all of these i've enjoyed and would encourage others to check out! under the cut because. this got. so long. i heart yuri <3

multi-chapter

the princess of sylph (ongoing; self-publishing): plot-heavy fantasy yuri between a bereaved princess with the aura of a thousand sad hamsters and a persistent nun whose silliness conceals a deep well of trauma. gushed about it plenty here. i recommend starting with the serialized version, the proceeding to the twitter version + extras. cw: blood, violence, dismemberment (nothing too graphic, more standard monster-fighting fare).

i love amy (completed): school loner strikes an unlikely friendship with the girl known (and feared) for her violent tendencies and single-minded obsession with the school prince. cute but striking and skilled art with a surprisingly nuanced handling of trauma and neurodivergence. cw: attempted child murder, animal death (non-graphic). there are also depictions of standard yandere fare (kidnapping, torture basements) but they're always presented comedically.

i see you, aizawa-san! (ongoing): girl who steadfastly pretends not to see ghosts meets one she just can't seem to ignore: a deceased classmate and former j-pop idol, who has taken to haunting their classroom. ft. art that harkens back to classic shoujo and a supernatural mystery centred on the relationship between the two leads--that one of them can't seem to remember. cw: blood, body horror.

school zone girls (on hiatus): slice of life yuri comedy ft. a massive interconnected web of girls spanning at least three schools. it juggles gut-busting comedy with genuine heartfelt moments of character growth and connection and expresses it all through a solid, dynamic art style. the sprawling cast also makes for incredible outsider pov moments that lets us really appreciate how far some characters have gotten. this genuinely motivated me to revamp how i approached ensemble casts for my ocs.

brides of iberis (completed): wedding planner unenthusiastic about her engagement falls in love with a bride she's taken as a client. bittersweet but deeply loving; and so compassionate to each and every character, even the men the female leads have relationships with. cw: infidelity.

destroy it all and love me in hell! (ongoing): model student finds her miserable, tightly controlled life unraveling after being blackmailed by the class truant into indulging her ugliest impulses. toxic yuri extravaganza eleganza between two girls desperate for escape and the catharsis of fucking! shit! up!!! also hits that sweet sweet "love triangle as a conflict of ideals" beat. cw: blackmail, coercion, bullying, violence, emotional abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse, adult/minor relationship.

yuri is forbidden for the yuri otaku (completed): passionate himejoshi enrolls in an all-girls private school to observe class s yuri in action, but never to engage in it herself--at least, until a misunderstanding wins her the resident gyaru's heart. a surprisingly poignant exploration of being queer in a repressive society and experiencing your queerness through the safety of unobtainable fantasy.

the superstar idol crushes on me today too (ongoing): failed idol-slash-middling radio personality finds an unwanted superfan in the country's biggest superstar. explores the merit of pursuing your artistic passions in the face of repeated failure, and what makes an emotional anchor in the fraught seas of showbiz. they are also just so so funny. what if i emphatically declare you my rival in show business but you've been in love with me since you saw me in a cooking show as a child actor and you take any excuse to spend time with me and have my attention with blinding enthusiasm

normality and monsters (ongoing): outcast weirdo witnesses the class idol devour their homeroom teacher in one bite and begs to be trained in the art of appearing normal. the art is snappy and charismatic, the monster design is properly grotesque, and the friendship of convenience between the two leads teeters between overcoming the monster's nature and just being a prelude to the monster acquiring a new meatsuit. cw: blood, gore, death, body horror.

a monster wants to eat me (ongoing): suicidal girl meets carnivore mermaid who promises to eat her if she develops a desire to live. it's been a while since i read this one, but the monster designs are once again sick as fuck and the drama of being cared for by a creature that finds you tantalizing is sooo juicy. cw: suicidal ideation, blood, gore, violence, body horror.

liar satsuki can see death (completed): high schooler who can see corpses before the death occurs strives to save as many lives as possible despite being branded a liar by the entire student body. this and ryouko's other manga, a walk to death, are pretty banging declarations on the value of living ironically (or maybe aptly) wrapped in so much death. blanket cw for blood, gore and death bc i tell you every mini-arc somebody dies in a fun new way and we'd be here all day if we listed them out.

anthology:

i'm the villainess but i'm being captured by the heroine?!: an anthology featuring heroines of otome games swerving hard and sweeping the villainess off her feet. i am such a sucker for villainess yuri. mean women forever. my favourite chapters are vol. 1 ch.1 and vol. 2 chs. 1 and 4.

honourable mentions:

my idol sits the next desk over! (completed): loner idol otaku ends up deskmates with her oshi and between jealous sabotage from a rival stan and the herculean task of acting normal around your fave, lands herself in the first and closest friend group of her life. one girl does explicitly have romantic feelings for another girl, but i bumped it down here because it isn't explored to the extent it could have been. it felt like it was setting up a slow burn only to end abruptly. do not recommend if you want a love story, do recommend if you want lonely people forging deep and enduring bonds of friendship.

the one within the villainess (ongoing): the villainess of an otome game reawakens for her condemnation and sets off on a path of vengeance for the sake of the beloved transmigrator who's occupied her body for years. it's ostensibly het, but to hear the way that the villainess speaks of her transmigrator, the first person to love her wholeheartedly and wish for her happiness and so inadvertently prevent her from becoming the hollow bitter woman she originally grew into...... like. that is yuri. like what if i knew your life in its entirety and loved you for it and i found myself in the position to give you the happiness i always wished for you to have. what if we wrote fix-it fic for each other on the fabric of the universe. what if we never even had a conversation but we knew each other the best and loved each other most. and we were both girls. do you understand why i'm insane about them. cw: blood, gore, violence.

[thatfriendlyanon]

looking for book recs!

current favorites / general tastes / similar vibes of:

Gilead by Marylinne Robinson

Mistborn (the first trilogy) by Brandon Sanderson

Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri

Piranesi by Susanna Clark

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

currently reading/about to read:

The Borrowers by Mary Norton

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

i'd love for you to either comment or reblog & put in the tags any recs you might have!

[looking mostly for: fiction or creative nonfiction / experimental and/or older-than-middle-grade / more magical realism]

[sosadraws]

SOSA I’ve got a fun question but who/what are your muses and/or inspirations when it comes to your style? Like are there any specific artists or pieces of media that you can say heavily influenced your arts/you want to take influence from?

HI Lynx, I LOVE this question! Sorry for the wait, but first I had to gather enough visual references and gather my thoughts so I wouldn't be fangirling all the way around, sorry 😅 (btw sorry if some of the images look like shit, I made these collages on paint 😅)

Some nudity and gore/body horror under the read more

I think my most obvious/recent inspiration is Haruko Ichikawa. No long ago someone (hi Jay) mentioned that my characters are quite elongated and have very long necks, AND I BLAME THIS MANGAKA FOR THAT! (what drawing gems for two years does to a mf). She has such nice panel composition and has this trope going on in most of her stuff where a character looks like a normal human, but it's actually some sort of inhuman being, which leads to really interesting (and almost surreal) body horror that it's oddly beautiful in it's own way (ngl all the artwork of the gems characters being shattered to pieces has such a morbid quality to them, a but it's so pleasing to see and draw...). Very good stuff.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE creatures? I have a weak spot for monster design, SPECIALLY the animal types with human/humanoid faces and weird taurs. My fav artists on this domain are @silicon65, with his creatures that transmit such a melancholic feel to them (and lots of critters with human faces!); @bwubwuart, with VERY unique creatures that still feel grounded in reality thanks to her knowledge in anatomy.

There are also manga artists such as Ryo Sumiyoshi, who has such an appealing way to design creatures and furries (and has written peak human/monster relationshipscofcof), and Ryoko Kui, who doesn't really need introduction, but I feel it's still worth mentioning that I love the diversity in design when it comes to her most humanoid characters.

There are two aspects of @ccasino's art that I really enjoy, one being THIS particular shading/rendering style that gives an uncanny feeling to some of her pieces, and the other being how transformative she can get, even if it's the same muse in some of her art. That's really inspiring, I need to step up my game.

And since we're talking about creepy stuff, I love deadlymelodic's (Molly Brown), art for two reasons: in one part, there's the terrifying creature designs she paints or sculpts, but there's also the characterization. You see, along with those very scary renders, there are also the cutesy doodles that (if I'm not mistaken) include their canon personalities (I love when a creature is also a character, if you get what I mean). So, while pretty much all of them look very creepy, very few of them are actually evil, and that's beautiful.

In a similar vein and to finalize, there's Q Hayashida, whose love for masked characters (as well as buff/creepy characters) I 100% support. But there's also how she writes relationships/bonds?? One of the things I really enjoyed about Dorohedoro is that despite all the gore and weird fucked up shit going on, there was still this level of silliness an the different depictions of familial/platonical bonds. I would call it quite wholesome if not because those characters are quite messed up on their own way, and will later kill brutally some guy, but you get the idea. I really enjoy that kind of stuff.

So yeah! there's that! Special mentions as well to transformers/mecha art, Felix Colgrave, Junji Ito, weirdcore, low-poly 3D models and that type of vintage art that has that grainy (airbrushed?) texture to it. Thanks for asking, and now you know!!~ ✨

[beesorcery]

hello it's part 3 of 3 for my cool fun graphic design adventure!! part 1 and part 2 got too long. to recap i am recreating this t-shirt design but with the magic 8 ball songs instead of city names:

here is the current draft, updated through 3/27 (pittsburgh) (!!!!)

[pompomdevochka]

I wish films about the War Against American Imperialism from a Vietnamese perspective were more popular, i wish there films portraying the NVA in a positive light, but no, nearly all films that portray that era are Yankee-made propaganda slop about the "Vietnam War", and those films are obviously the director trying to make empathize with the gang of rapist-bandit-murderers called the US Army for going through such "hell". Hell?! US soldiers deserved even worse in Vietnam!! US soldiers and veterans deserve to worst everyday!! Such a shame the Vietcong didn't kill more of them

[actuallykyogai]

More doujin from one of my favourite Hazenoki artists!! I love these so muchh (*´ω｀*)

[willelmikes]

watched the empire strikes back for the first time last night and i fear it was an absolute fucking masterpiece. goddammit

[trinityysantos]

2025 goals

as i get older, i like the idea of making goals for the year. they're not hard deadlines and i don't worry about not hitting them but always fun to think about!

continue tracking all of my reading and watching habits on storygraph, letterboxd, monthly spotify playlists and my personal spreadsheets

for my own spreadsheets – i’m going to split each one into three so i will now have one for new to me, one for rewatches and one for rewatches within the year. this is to help make it easier to separate my data at the end of the year

each month, i’m going to pick some favourite songs, albums, books, movies, episodes and tv shows (i’m thinking a top three for each maybe but this will be quite tricky). at least one from each category needs to be new to me

speaking of, i want to try one new to me tv show every month. i’m defining new to me as a series where I have watched no more than half of the available episodes. this is because there are many shows that i have half watched and i don't wanna cheat this rule

for movies, i want to watch one new to me movie each week. i think this will be the hardest goal to hit but i'm happy if it works out that i watch 52 new to me movies even if it doesn’t actually happen in different weeks

i also want to go to the movies once a month so I can be more aware of 2025 releases and just broaden my horizons with movies

speaking of broadening my horizons – i hope to try one new recipe a week! living outside of home actually has me enjoying cooking and i want to keep trying new things

read 30 books (25 novels/5 nonfic)! i really struggled with my reading in 2024 so hoping to get back into the groove this year

finish one creative project a month – this is purposefully vague and can include things like writing, crochet, embroidery, baking and anything else i think of lmao

leave the house more days than not. i am a real homebody and i want to get out more

donate to a different charity every month! i have a regular donation to VALS but want to pick something else every month to go along with it

stop using Instagram reels and don’t replace it with tiktok or facebook or youtube shorts or some other dumb thing

[paranormalglass]

i need more music recommendations guys i cant keep listening to these same two songs by the outline on loop pls

[mossy-bush]

Shuffle your 'on repeat' playlist and post the first ten tracks, then tag ten people!

I was tagged by @hexgh0ul and I’m tagging:

@7-oaks @deermouth @towniebymitski @weeping-angel-on-the-moon @pazkat @swampyouth @fiyrlox @catsi @unknownpeople24 @thequeerestdad

1) Francesca - Unreal Unearth (Hozier)

2) Came Out of a Lady - Omega La La (Rubblebucket)

3) If It All Goes South - Single by Sammy Rae and the Friends

4) Denim Jacket - Single by Sammy Rae and the Friends

5) Sour Candy - Single by Melt

6) This Will Be Our Year - Odessey and Oracle (The Zombies)

7) Jackie Onassis - Single by Sammy Rae and the Friends

8) Grilled Cheese - Single by Peach Face

9) Lent - Punch (Autoheart)

10) Sexy Villain - Juno (Remi Wolf)

[collgeruledzebra]

i want to get back into fiction podcasts (been a year and a half since I really got into a new one) but I've gotten so picky...

[apricotdeer]

just found out one of my favourite songs is ai and i'm absolutely devasted