#sophisticated script

[dailyfont-com]

Leonel is inspired by an architect's handwritten script, featuring bold all-caps letters crafted with a calligraphic pen for a unique and sophisticated look.

Link: https://l.dailyfont.com/zixgS

[arosebyan0thername]

Wanted to start watching Superstore (partly in hopes of retail humor but largely because I'm low on options for disability representation that isn't depressing) but I'm finding it very hard to want to continue past season 1 episode 1 because of, and I'm sorry to be this guy, the absolutely nauseating amount of focus given to heterosexual romance

[zapperrr]

Securing Your Website: Best Practices for Web Developers

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, website security has become a paramount concern for businesses and individuals alike. With cyber threats becoming increasingly sophisticated, it is crucial for web developers to adopt robust security measures to safeguard their websites and the sensitive data they handle. In this article, we'll delve into the best practices that web developers can implement to enhance the security of their websites and protect against potential threats.

Introduction

In today's interconnected world, websites serve as the digital storefront for businesses, making them vulnerable targets for cyber attacks. From data breaches to malware infections, the consequences of a security breach can be severe, ranging from financial loss to damage to reputation. Therefore, prioritizing website security is essential for maintaining the trust and confidence of users.

Understanding Website Security

Before diving into best practices, it's crucial to understand the importance of website security and the common threats faced by websites. Website security encompasses measures taken to protect websites from cyber threats and unauthorized access. Common threats include malware infections, phishing attacks, SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and brute force attacks.

Best Practices for Web Developers

Keeping Software Updated

One of the most fundamental steps in website security is keeping all software, including the content management system (CMS), plugins, and server software, updated with the latest security patches and fixes. Outdated software is often targeted by attackers due to known vulnerabilities that can be exploited.

Implementing HTTPS

Implementing HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) encrypts the data transmitted between the website and its users, ensuring confidentiality and integrity. HTTPS not only protects sensitive information but also boosts trust among visitors, as indicated by the padlock icon in the browser's address bar.

Using Strong Authentication Methods

Implementing strong authentication methods, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) and CAPTCHA, adds an extra layer of security to user accounts. MFA requires users to provide multiple forms of verification, such as a password and a one-time code sent to their mobile device, reducing the risk of unauthorized access.

Securing Against SQL Injection Attacks

SQL injection attacks occur when malicious actors exploit vulnerabilities in web applications to execute arbitrary SQL commands. Web developers can prevent SQL injection attacks by using parameterized queries and input validation to sanitize user inputs effectively.

Protecting Sensitive Data

It's essential to employ encryption techniques to protect sensitive data, such as passwords, credit card information, and personal details, stored on the website's servers. Encrypting data at rest and in transit mitigates the risk of data breaches and unauthorized access.

Regular Security Audits

Conducting regular security audits helps identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the website's infrastructure and codebase. Penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, and code reviews enable web developers to proactively address security issues before they are exploited by attackers.

Choosing a Secure Hosting Provider

Selecting a reputable and secure hosting provider is critical for ensuring the overall security of your website. When evaluating hosting providers, consider factors such as security features, reliability, scalability, and customer support.

Evaluating Security Features

Choose a hosting provider that offers robust security features, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), malware scanning, and DDoS protection. These features help protect your website from various cyber threats and ensure continuous uptime.

Ensuring Regular Backups

Regularly backing up your website's data is essential for mitigating the impact of security incidents, such as data breaches or website compromises. Choose a hosting provider that offers automated backup solutions and store backups securely offsite.

Customer Support and Response to Security Incidents

Opt for a hosting provider that provides responsive customer support and has established protocols for handling security incidents. In the event of a security breach or downtime, prompt assistance from the hosting provider can minimize the impact on your website and business operations.

Implementing Firewall Protection

Firewalls act as a barrier between your website and external threats, filtering incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predefined security rules. There are several types of firewalls, including network firewalls, web application firewalls (WAF), and host-based firewalls.

Configuring and Maintaining Firewalls

Properly configuring and maintaining firewalls is crucial for effective security. Define firewall rules based on the principle of least privilege, regularly update firewall configurations to reflect changes in the website's infrastructure, and monitor firewall logs for suspicious activity.

Educating Users about Security

In addition to implementing technical measures, educating users about security best practices is essential for enhancing overall website security. Provide users with resources, such as security guidelines, tips for creating strong passwords, and information about common phishing scams.

Importance of User Awareness

Users play a significant role in maintaining website security, as they are often the targets of social engineering attacks. By raising awareness about potential threats and providing guidance on how to recognize and respond to them, web developers can empower users to stay vigilant online.

Providing Training and Resources

Offer training sessions and educational materials to help users understand the importance of security and how to protect themselves while using the website. Regularly communicate updates and reminders about security practices to reinforce good habits.

Monitoring and Responding to Security Incidents

Despite taking preventive measures, security incidents may still occur. Establishing robust monitoring systems and incident response protocols enables web developers to detect and respond to security threats in a timely manner.

Setting Up Monitoring Tools

Utilize monitoring tools, such as intrusion detection systems (IDS), security information and event management (SIEM) systems, and website monitoring services, to detect abnormal behavior and potential security breaches. Configure alerts to notify you of suspicious activity promptly.

Establishing Incident Response Protocols

Develop comprehensive incident response plans that outline roles, responsibilities, and procedures for responding to security incidents. Establish clear communication channels and escalation paths to coordinate responses effectively and minimize the impact of security breaches.

Securing your website requires a proactive approach that involves implementing a combination of technical measures, choosing a secure hosting provider, educating users about security best practices, and establishing robust monitoring and incident response protocols. By following these best practices, web developers can mitigate the risk of security breaches and safeguard their websites and the sensitive data they handle.

[homunculus-argument]

Huh. I figured out a way to solve a language issue that I had in The Book I'm Not Writing, that clears out some tangles that I hadn't really even thought of solving. Language barriers and different writing systems.

The first draft of the book featured two languages: The language spoken by the imperialist 'elite classes', and the common tongue spoken by the common people. It was a plot point that the protagonist - who was shipped to the Empire when he was 10 years old - learns to speak both of them fluently, but speaks Imperial like a finely educated nobleman and common like the lowest ranks of street thugs, and distinctly in the dialect of the slums of one specific city. But having a story with two clearly defined languages with no overlap between them started a lot of problems that distratcted from the plot, so I decided to discard that, and decided to just go with them being different dialects.

And just now it occurred to me that almost all the "lost in translation" sort of plot points that I did need the bilingual setting for were about writing, and that I could just resolve this by having two different writing systems for the (different dialects of) the same language. Like perhaps Imperial script is much like written chinese, featuring elegant, sophisticated, elaborate characters that can depict a number of different things, and the Common script is more like finnish, written phonetically with consistent sound for each letter - inelegant but practical, so one always knows how to spell a word they've only heard in speech, or how to pronounce a word they've only seen in writing.

The protagonist - being a baron - can read and write Imperial fluently, but having learnt the common dialect only from the stray boys he would sneak out to play with as a kid, cannot read Common script at all. So while he can fluently code-switch between speaking, standing and conducting himself like a baron, and moving and talking exactly like a Brethage slum stray, there is literally no way that he could fake being perfectly fluent in Imperial.

So to people who are on the upper end of the "lower caste" he does seem to be exactly as he seems - a stray lunatic who talks mad shit, occasionally claims to be a baron, but demonstrably could not read or write to save his life. But for someone who is familiar with the ways and etiquette of the nobility, seeing the Famously Batshit Foxtrap-Todd just casually code-switch and suddenly know exactly how to wear a rains banquet coat, properly pour tea, and be able to fluently read and recite poetry written in classic formal Imperial, would be as wtf-worthy as hearing a horse suddenly spontaneously start to speak.

[choochooboss]

Sketch dump! Vol. 5

September 2022 (Part 1/2)

The first piece on top summarised my cosplay rush for Tracon 2022! The second is an old idea for a charm.

"SURPRISE!!"

Back in 2022 I hosted an art raffle for reaching 777 followers on Twitter! The winner would get their submas themed idea realised (which was their friends throwing a surprise party for the twins!). I wanted to make a little comic and have the bosses walk in their office where depot agents, Elesa, Drayden, Skyla, Clay etc. would be waiting with decorations and treats and games.

Emmet is all smiles of course while Ingo gets so emotional he could only whisper a "super bravo".

Not really headcanons anymore but still funny ideas.

1. Emmet gets clumsy when off-rhythm! He starts walking in curves if there is nobody else around to match his rhythm with.

2. Emmet spaces out/forgets to say things aloud when someone speaks too long or when things go off-script! His thinking gets interrupted easily.

3. Ingo sometimes bumps into doors because he is too used to automatic doors!

4. When things go off-script Ingo speaks too much and rushes in straight lines"

Also my little inexpensive sketchbook & my trusty tools! Mechanical pencil and eraser pen are life when scribbling my skrimblos smaller than a postage stamp!

More Ingo~ I utilise a wide range of sources for references, including CSP's poseable 3D models, they can come really handy with perspectives and proportions!

The second piece is my very first attempt at cosplay in Tracon 2022: Blingo! I walked in with a sequin hat, leather jacket, leather pants and high heel patent leather boots.

The hardest part of cosplaying Ingo is remembering NOT to smile ahaha!

Some hairstyle tests

I drew these for a huge submas art collaboration over Twitter hosted by @/mimizukeii!! It was technically my first art collab before I started arranging them myself with Aggie/Magma.

While looking for train related songs I found this cute nursery rhyme to go with the marching:

"Over the mountains,

Over the plains,

Over the rivers,

Here come the trains.

Carrying passengers,

Carrying mail,

Bringing their precious loads In without fail"

I wanted to compare these silly twins, planning to do something more silly with them later. Also a sketch of @/fukurow's butler designs I never finished.. The capes compliment them so well, I love them!!

Prequel to this piece! Emmet is so confident in himself he thinks Pierce wants to learn from him but is invited for a duet on the stage instead!!

Emmet has really great voice actors in Pokemas! I especially love how his english VA gives him that bri'ish/posh/sophisticated vibe while also soft and melodic! I know for SURE this VA/Emmet can sing, I can show you later!

One of my favourite sketches!! I wanted to add a bunch of characters in the BG reacting to this sonic blast of emotion over a performance!

Heyyy it's the smile buddies comic!! I really hope Ingo gets to interact with Marnie in Pokemas one day!!

I feel Ingo's eyes in the mirror panel is a little off in the final comic, I meant to keep it softer like in the sketch!

It's Nimbasa trio!! Idea inspired by submas EX uniform colors. Might continue this later!

Some BG tests for this piece! Compositing is hard but absolutely worth the effort, it can make a huge difference in the appeal of your piece!!

Practise piece drawing over a photo I thought was cool! I want to get more experimental with lighting and perspective!

'How's it hanging bro?' Who hung him up there anyway??

Sketch for this arguing scene! Something REALLY BAD needs to happen for them to end up that tense! Even if I want to present them close to the canon material I still want to put them in really challenging situations to see how far I can push their emotions!

Thank you so much for coming all the way down here!! This set was pretty loaded, I hope you enjoyed scrolling through all this ahah!

Previous posts:

Sketch dump Vol. 1: April-June 2022

Sketch dump Vol. 2: July 2022

Sketch dump Vol. 3: August 2022

Sketch dump Vol. 4: July 2022 Part 2

[tacowacco]

deceit's new favorite

shadow milk cookied x gender neutral reader

cw: mentions of mind breaking, heavy posessive behavior, implied forced relationship, and potential ooc.

my request is open, therefore requests are heavily appreciated and encouraged!

As you entered the Spire of Shadows, an eerie sensation coursed through your body. Inside, there were endless halls that seemed to stretch on forever, and stairs that appeared to have no beginning or end. Chaos awaited you in this unsettling place. Some might even argue that it felt like a never-ending nightmare—akin to one meant for cookies instead.

The outcome of your arrival at the beast-yeast became far worse than you'd ever imagined. Just within hours of stepping into the domain of the Beast of Deceit, you managed to find yourself lost in the unfamiliar terrain. You hurriedly searched for an exit, desperate to reunite with your friends.

You were certain that you had found an escape, but to your surprise was another pair of endless halls filled with trickery and lies. You took a moment to sit down and catch your breath after what felt like hours of searching. 

“Oh, my! Well, isn’t this just a lovely surprise?~ One of little Silly Vanilly’s pals all lost, and alone?” the jester cooed, as he stepped forward and his mismatched eyes met with yours. 

Shadow Milk yearned to shatter Pure Vanilla and witness his slow descent into madness and despair. He wanted to see the truth and hope he cherished so much deeply crumble. He'd ensure to sever the delicate thin thread that Pure Vanilla was holding so dearly to by toying with you. By immersing yourself completely in his world, you find yourself captivated, consumed by an overwhelming admiration that borders on obsession. Only focusing on him, the main character. He’d make sure to make you forget about these pesky side characters. 

You were now in his possession, his pawn to use for his advantage. 

“Now what’s with the looooooong face? Not thrilled to see me?” he purred.

“Hmph! This isn’t a part of the script, looks like I’ll have to make some adjustments and alterations. Alas, that’s what improv is for!” he exclaimed while flipping through his script— schemes, filled with theatrical mischief. 

"You'll be the most exciting addition to my prized collection! It's been so long since I've had a new puppet to cherish. Even better, I'll make you the star of my new show!" Your eyes widen as you feel your muscles tense up. 'Prized collection? Most exciting addition? New puppet?' What did he mean by that?

“C’mon, we’ve got a show to prepare for, and an audience to amuse!” Shadow Milk said excitedly in a singsongy voice.

-----

You sat in the front row of the audience and watched as the red velvet curtains opened, revealing the first act of Shadow Milk's puppet show. The stage lights dimmed before focusing on the center of the stage, casting a spotlight over the cutout puppets.

“Once upon a time, long long ago there was a very beautiful cookie called ‘Y/n cookie’! Unfortunately, they were focused too on that stupid soul jam-thief pure vanilla.” Shadow Milk said, irritated once mentioning Pure Vanilla.

"Fortunately for dear Y/n, a cookie so dignified, very sophisticated, and—not to mention extremely handsome appeared...

ME! The one and only, shadow milk cookie appeared to save Y/n!" Shadow Milk exclaimed. 

The brainwashed audience began to erupt into applause and enthusiastic clapping, creating a wave of energy that enveloped you. You started blinking rapidly in an attempt to adjust to the bright, scorching spotlight that blinded you. 

"Since dear Y/n was SOOO grateful that I, Shadow Milk cookie, saved them from Pure Vanilla..they decided to become my newest puppet!” Shadow Milk enthusiastically said, as his glowing mismatched eyes met with yours.

a/n: first post! currently writing instead sleeping.. (it's 11:51PM on a school night)

likes, reblogs, etc. are highly appreciated :))! thank you lovelies

[cece693]

EVEN MONSTERS HAVE A SOFT SPOT

pairing: hannibal lecter x gender neutral reader synopsis: When one thinks of Hannibal Lecter—sophisticated, has a refined taste, intelligent—are merely some words that come to mind, so it surprises even him when he becomes bespoken by an individual who's the complete opposite.

The relationship begins, as so many of Hannibal’s fascinations do, with an aroma: fresh-cut thyme carried in on a January draft as you push through the frosted doors of the Johns Hopkins atrium. You are there to drop off hand-bound sketchbooks for a pediatric art-therapy fundraiser; he has been asked to consult on a delicate cranial reconstruction.

Hannibal hears the shuffle of paper, the careful thank-yous whispered to each nurse you pass, and turns on an instinct older than speech. The halls smell of antiseptic and fear, yet the sprig of thyme tucked behind your ear—careless, uncurated—rises above it all. Mischa once wound the same herb into her braids to disguise the smell of campfire smoke. It stops him mid-stride.

You notice the tall man in the immaculate three-piece suit studying you like a still life, and instead of shrinking away you smile—open, guileless, inviting him to share the moment rather than conquer it. “Does it look ridiculous?” you ask, touching the herb.

"It looks honest,” he says, and means it.

That is the first crack in the marble.

It had been easy to catalogue you— an act of clinical triage Hannibal performed on everyone he met. Most novelties dimmed under the fluorescent glare of his scrutiny; even the rare ones, the ones he kept, were arranged on mental shelves like curiosities: a pocket watch of precise conversation here, a porcelain mask of manners there. But you would not stay still. Your sweetness tasted of movement—of sap running in thaw, impossible to pin beneath glass.

The second crack came a fortnight later, when he found himself altering his schedule—voluntarily lingering in the pediatric wing to “review charts” he had already memorized, just in case you appeared again with arms full of art supplies. He would claim afterward that he needed the walk to clear his thoughts, but the truth hissed at the edge of self-deception: he wanted to hear your gentle “excuse me” as you navigated the hallway, wanted to watch nurses straighten their posture under the lift of your smile.

Crack three: the wine-red sketchbook he couriered to your door. He wrote and rewrote the invitation card four times, adjusting the slope of a y, sanding away the faintest curl of a d, until the script looked as measured and effortless as his pulse seldom felt anymore.

Your yes arrived by phone—soft static laced with gratitude—and something inside him slipped an inch toward hunger. Not the crude appetite he sated with curated flesh, but a subtler craving: to be worthy of the tone you used when speaking to friends. To be invited, one day, into the small, sunlit domesticities you seemed to create wherever you went.

The night you crossed his threshold with that Mason-jar candle, the fissures spread like roots beneath frost. You apologized for the jar’s label—hand-inked, a little smudged—and he caught himself wanting to apologize back for every silver spoon he had ever polished to razor acuity, for every dinner served immaculate yet devoid of this raw, beeswax honesty. The flame bobbed inside cloudy glass; his resolve bobbed with it.

From then on, softness became a symptom. He noticed it first in the kitchen: how his hand hovered above a cleaver, unwilling to strike until your laughter in the dining room subsided, as though the crash of steel on board might frighten you from the next breath. He noticed it at the symphony, when the woman in the fur stole behind you whispered that you were “quaint”—and the back of his throat flooded with copper and snow, the memory of rifles in pine trees. By the scherzo’s final chord he had already decided which of her organs would prove most eloquent when removed.

He told himself these protective urges were logical—defensive medicine for a fragile but necessary part of his life. Yet he knew. Every quiet kindness you extended was another brushstroke across the portrait of Mischa his mind refused to hang. You were not her, would never be; still the echo persisted: thyme woven into braids, warmth hoarded like contraband against the winter outside. It left him both soothed and flayed.

So the murders quickened, as if some internal metronome had accelerated to match the beat of your footsteps on his stairs. A barista’s sarcastic arch of eyebrow, a critic’s oily sneer, the casual cruelty of an academic who dismissed your hand-stitched notebooks—all of them sprouted in his ledger like black mold begging to be cut out. Each removal felt cleaner, swifter, almost merciful; he was pruning the world into a shape where your kindness could continue unbruised.

And with every body that fell, Hannibal’s voice with you grew gentler, his touch nearer to reverence. He learned to breathe through your hair as though inhaling penance; to accept your crookedly knitted gifts with a gratitude that shocked him into silence; to sit across from you at dawn, watching you stir honey into tea, and feel—for the length of a single heartbeat—content.

He never says the word love. He thinks it, sometimes, in Lithuanian, French, the brittle Latin of anatomy texts, but all translations seem too narrow. What he feels is not an emotion but a geology: plates grinding, landscapes upheaving, rivers rerouted to spare one emerald valley from drought.

One night, long after you have fallen asleep against his shoulder, he studies the candle stub on the mantel—glass smudged by your fingerprints, wick stooped like a priest at confession. The flame gutters once, twice, then steadies. Hannibal brushes an ember of wax from the rim, commits the gesture to memory, and understands that the marble has shattered clean through. The statue is gone; in its place stands something living, something pliant yet unbreakable, defined by the simple fact that your light is inside it.

He will feed that light. He will guard it with butcher hooks and bone saws and lullabies. And when the world asks, with trembling voice, why the Ripper’s knife swings faster these days, he will answer—in the privacy of his own mind—that every heartbeat spared from cruelty is another second you spend unspoiled.

That, to Hannibal Lecter, is the only measure of decency worth counting.

[sarahelizasims]

Clean lines, warm woods, and moody accents come together in this striking row of three contemporary townhouses. With a cohesive façade that balances symmetry and individuality, each unit offers an open-concept layout, oversized windows, and a calming neutral palette inside.

Think sun-drenched living spaces, sleek kitchens, and tranquil bedrooms, all wrapped in a design that feels equal parts sophisticated and soulful. Private courtyards add a touch of nature, making these homes the perfect blend of city edge and serene escape—tailored for Sims with taste.

40 x 30

Residential Rental Lot

Requirements:

Turn bb.moveobjects on before placing.  *optional* TwistedMexi has a script mod that does it for you automatically, so there is no reason to always have to type it in.

T.O.O.L by TwistedMexi.

Required CC - Please refer to the included PDF document for downloading items that were not included in the zip file, as some are still in early access.

The lush red hydrangeas are a recolor; download the mesh here.

FYI - For some reason, the stairs by the false bakery shop disappear whenever I mess around with the area, like changing wallpaper or adding walls. It is a weird glitch. Whenever it gets removed, just add it back again.

My game is DirectX11, so you may need to update your images to DX11 in the Sims 4 Studio.

And of course, if anything isn't right and you need help with something, please do not hesitate to message me! Feel free to comment, send a message to me on Tumblr, or utilize my community chat! I would like to use it more. ♡

Terms of Use:

Do not re-upload my lots and claim them as your own.

You're welcome to edit or modify my builds, but please remember to credit me as the original creator!

Do not put my builds behind a paywall.

I've included some of my recolors, please refer to those posts for their TOU.

Thank you to all CC Creators.

Please let me know if there's any problem with the build. Tag @sarahelizasims so I can see your gameplay and any personal touches you've made!

📥DOWNLOAD (Google Drive)

[david-talks-sw]

Dooku didn't leave because of the Jedi.

At least, if you're going by George Lucas' word.

In deleted scenes of Attack of the Clones, when we learn about Dooku's departure and his values, there's no mention of the Jedi or "the Jedi Order as an institution".

And every time Lucas refers to Dooku's disenchantment and reason for falling, he doesn't mention the Jedi.

"When you realize that Dooku is Darth Tyranus, it explains what Darth Sidious did after Darth Maul was killed: he seduced a Jedi who had become disenchanted with the Republic. He preyed on that disenchantment and converted him to the dark side, which is also a setup for what happens with Anakin." - Mythmaking: Behind the Scenes of Attack of the Clones, 2002

"[Dooku is] one of the few Jedi who became disenchanted with the Republic and left the order and he is leading a separatist movement." - Vanity Fair, 2002

"I wanted a more sophisticated kind of villain. Dooku’s disenchantment with the corruption in the Empire is actually valid. It’s all valid.  So, Chris plays it as, 'Is he really a villain or is he just someone who is disenchanted and trying to make things right?'" - Starlog Magazine #300, 2002

He probably meant the Republic/Senate in that last one, but you get the point. And you're seeing the pattern, right?

Dooku's problem isn't the Jedi, it's the Republic.

He's become disenchanted with a system that - according to Lucas' prologue in the 2004 book Shatterpoint - worked for 1,000 years...

"For a thousand years, the Old Republic prospered and grew under the wise rule of the Senate and the protection of the venerable Jedi Knights."

... but has been rendered ineffective because of 1) senators becoming corrupt and 2) corporations gaining political power.

"But as often happens when wealth and power grow beyond all reasonable proportion, an evil fueled by greed arose. The massive organs of commerce mushroomed in power, the Senate became corrupt, and an ambitious named Palpatine was voted Supreme Chancellor."

That's the message Dooku runs on, when he rallies the systems to form the Separatist Alliance.

"By promising an alternative to the corruption and greed that was rotting the Republic from within, Dooku was able to persuade thousands of star systems to secede from the Republic."

The Jedi aren't really a factor in his decision to leave.

Why would they be? Their political status isn't very high, they're virtually powerless, as illustrated by the film's narrative and stated repeatedly by Lucas.

On the contrary, as we already established in this post, Lucas full-on confirmed that Dooku actually carries the sympathies of most of the Jedi. Again:

Most Jedi agree with Dooku, ideologically.

As far as the Jedi are concerned, the politicians are effing up the Republic, and it sucks because the Jedi see this but aren't allowed to interfere in the political process. They have to resort to looking for loopholes in their mandates to actually get stuff done.

That's what that whole "she's a politician" scene is meant to hint at. In the commentary of Attack of the Clones, Lucas uses a similar turn of phrase as he does with Dooku.

"[This scene gives us] a chance to talk a little bit about politics and the Jedi’s disenchantment with the political process, due to the corruption and the ineffectiveness of the Senate." - Attack of the Clones, Director’s Commentary, 2002

Considering all this, it becomes clear that the intended narrative surrounding Dooku's decision to leave the Order is not:

"The Jedi are dogmatic and asleep at the wheel except for Dooku, who is ahead of the curb and sees the system is flawed, so he left."

It's actually:

"ALL Jedi see the system is flawed, Dooku's the only Jedi who decided to take it a step further and leave the Order so he can try to get into politics himself and change things."

That's why they hesitate to accuse him of murder.

That's why in an earlier draft of the Attack of the Clones script, by the end of the second act, Mace STILL has his doubts that Dooku would sign a treaty with the Trade Federation to attack the Republic.

As far as the Jedi are concerned, Dooku is out there fighting the good fight, making noise because whenever they try to protest it falls on deaf ears... until his betrayal on Geonosis.

After all, let's not get it twisted: the Dooku we're introduced to in the films and The Clone Wars, isn't really just Dooku anymore.

He's Darth Tyranus.

A point Lucas makes sure to highlight in his Shatterpoint prologue:

"Unbeknownst to most of his followers, Dooku was himself a Dark Lord of the Sith, acting in collusion with his master, Darth Sidious, who, over the years, had struck an unholy alliance with the greater forces of commerce and their private droid armies."

It's not about doing the selfless thing for Dooku, anymore. He's knowingly part of the problem.

He's all about ambition, now. His personal goals are things like overthrowing Sidious and becoming the most powerful Jedi.

"[Anakin's] ambition and his dialogue here is the same as Dooku’s. He says “I will become more powerful than every Jedi.” And you’ll hear later on Dooku will say “I have become more powerful than any Jedi.” [...] It is possible for a Jedi to want to become more powerful, and control things." - Attack of the Clones, Director’s Commentary, 2002

"If you put two Sith together, they try to get others to join them to get rid of the other Sith. [When revealing the truth to Obi-Wan], Dooku's ambition is really to get rid of Darth Sidious. He's trying to get Obi-Wan's assistance in that and help in that, so that he and Obi-Wan could overthrow Sidious and take over." - Attack of the Clones, Commentary Track 2, 2002

Y'know? Selfish things.

Dooku - like all other Sith, and like the very corporations and Senators he had sworn to destroy - is consumed by his own greed.

[dailyfont-com]

Elegant script font Biderson combines classic style with modern calligraphy, perfect for adding sophistication to designs.

Link: https://l.dailyfont.com/pIp7k

[asp1diske-art]

'her highness' in the second page refers to hornet, in regards to this doodle i drew 3 years ago where lurien, upon meeting herrah and baby hornet, pointedly bows to hornet, and only hornet in a passive-aggressive gesture showing that he is paying his respect to the pale king’s child, not the beast’s daughter.

i think pre-dreamer lurien and herrah would have regarded each other with contempt. mostly because lurien was a fucking bastard.

after they spent an eternity in the dream realm and watched the world fall apart together they managed to achieve mutual grudging respect.

meanwhile, my monomon & herrah interactions go something like this:

(script for all comics under cut)

comic 1

1.

2. Herrah: Too lofty to bow to the likes of me now, Watcher? Lurien: To her highness, certainly. But I see no reason to bow to you.

3. Herrah: The Pale King and his sorry followers. You are all the same - arrogant cowards, the lot of you.

4. Lurien: And your first reaction to it is violence? Ha! How very sophisticated. Fitting for an unenlightened beast. Herrah: Unenlightened, you say?

5. Herrah: No, it is you who have forgotten. That those base instincts are what drives life.

comic 2

1. Herrah: I'll admit, I didn't think you had it in you. Lurien: ... Herrah: To remain loyal to a kingdom when its own ruler fled... Lurien: ... Herrah: ...Well. You are better than that self-proclaimed god.

2. Lurien: So the child has chosen to give her life to a husk of a kingdom. Herrah: ... Lurien: I am sorry. It is not a fate I would have wished on another.

comic 3

Monomon: Oh, you must be Herrah the Beast! Herrah: Ah, the other Dreamer. Monomon: I've always wanted to know more about Deepnest...

Herrah: This one is treating me like some kind of exotic specimen.

Herrah: (I seriously need to spend the rest of eternity with these two?)

Pompous little fanatic (Lurien)

Arrogant mad scientist (Monomon)

Herrah: (Maybe I should have asked for more than one child...)

[scriptedinkbyxim]

The Maid of Honor

Part four: The Dress.

The one where there are four and a half weeks to the Wedding and Theo is on the hunt for Y/N's dream dress. Or the one were Pansy Parkinson's sixth sense never fails.

Pairings: Theodore Nott x Reader, Charlie Weasley x reader.

Warnings: Slight Angst.

A/N: English is not my first language so I'm really sorry if there is any mistake. I love Pansy, I love Theo and I love Y/N. Theo I'm cheering for you!!

<< Previous Chapter | Next Chapter >>

Y/N's owl arrived at half past seven in the morning, its sharp tapping against Theo's bedroom window dragging him from the first decent sleep he'd managed in days. He'd spent most of his nights staring at the ceiling, replaying every moment of his meeting with Charlie Weasley and trying to figure out how he was going to survive the next four and a half weeks without completely losing his mind.

The letter was from Y/N, written in her familiar neat script across expensive parchment that still smelled faintly of her perfume.

Theo Emergency dress shopping expedition today! Meet me at Madam Malkin's at ten. I need moral support and your honest opinion. Also, Pansy will be there, so prepare yourself for a long day. Love you! - Y/N P.S. - Charlie loved you, by the way. He said you're exactly what he expected my best friend to be like. Whatever that means.

Theo stared at the postscript for a long moment, trying to decode what Charlie had meant. Exactly what he'd expected? Safe? Unthreatening? The kind of man who could be trusted not to steal his fiancée?

If only Charlie knew.

Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions was bustling with activity when Theo arrived, slightly out of breath from having to dodge through the crowded Diagon Alley streets. Through the shop's front window, he could see Y/N standing on a raised platform in the center of the fitting area, wearing what appeared to be a mountain of white silk and lace. Pansy was circling her like a predator, her dark eyes critical as she examined every seam and fold.

"You're late," Pansy announced as Theo entered, not bothering to look away from her inspection of Y/N's hem. "And you look terrible. Rough night?"

"Something like that," Theo muttered, settling into one of the chairs arranged around the fitting area. "How long have you been here?"

"Two hours," Y/N said, her voice slightly muffled by the seamstress who was pinning something near her shoulder. "We've tried on seventeen dresses so far, and Pansy has rejected all of them."

"They were all wrong," Pansy said firmly. "Too simple, too gaudy, too... pedestrian. Y/N Black is not getting married in some off-the-rack disaster that makes her look like every other witch who's ever walked down an aisle."

Theo looked at Y/N properly for the first time since entering the shop, and his breath caught in his throat. Even in a dress that was clearly not right for her – too much lace, too many ruffles, cut for someone with a completely different figure – she was breathtaking. Her dark hair was pinned up loosely, with a few strands escaping to frame her face, and her skin had that luminous quality it always got when she was excited about something.

She looked like a bride. She looked like someone else's bride.

"What do you think, Theo?" Y/N asked, turning carefully on the platform to face him. "Honest opinion."

Theo forced himself to actually look at the dress rather than the woman wearing it. It was expensive, clearly well-made, but it wasn't... her. The style was too fussy, too ornate for someone with Y/N's natural elegance. She looked like she was wearing a costume rather than a wedding dress.

"It's beautiful," he said carefully, "but it's not you."

"Thank you!" Pansy exclaimed, throwing her hands up dramatically. "That's exactly what I've been trying to tell her. Y/N, darling, you're not a ruffles and bows sort of person. You need something sleek, sophisticated, something that complements your natural grace rather than competing with it."

Y/N's reflection caught Theo's eye in one of the full-length mirrors, and he saw something flicker across her face – disappointment, maybe, or resignation.

"Actually," Y/N said slowly, "I was thinking maybe something simpler might be better anyway. For a garden wedding, I mean. All this..." she gestured vaguely at the elaborate dress, "might be too much for the Burrow."

There it was again – that careful adjustment of her expectations, the way she was slowly editing herself to fit into Charlie's vision of what their wedding should be.

"The venue should accommodate the bride, not the other way around," Pansy said sharply, clearly thinking the same thing Theo was. "If you want elegance, darling, you should have elegance. Period."

"But Charlie said—"

"I don't care what Charlie said," Pansy interrupted, her voice unusually fierce. "This is your wedding dress, Y/N. The dress you'll wear when you promise yourself to someone for the rest of your life. It should be everything you've ever dreamed of, not some compromise to make other people comfortable."

Theo watched Y/N's face in the mirror, seeing the internal struggle playing out in her expression. She wanted the fairy tale wedding she'd dreamed about since childhood, but she also wanted to be the perfect bride for Charlie – uncomplicated, down-to-earth, grateful for whatever he offered.

"Maybe we should look at something less... formal," Y/N said finally, her voice small. "Something more appropriate."

"No." The word came out sharper than Theo had intended, and both women turned to look at him in surprise. He stood up from his chair, crossing to the platform where Y/N stood. "No, Y/N. Don't do this."

"Do what?" she asked, but her eyes were already defensive.

"Edit yourself to fit into someone else's idea of who you should be." Theo's voice was gentle but firm. "I've watched you do it before, and I won't watch you do it again. Not for something this important."

"I'm not editing myself," Y/N protested. "I'm being practical. The Burrow is a beautiful venue, and I want to choose something that fits—"

"The Burrow will be beautiful because you'll be there," Theo interrupted. "But that doesn't mean you have to diminish yourself to match the surroundings. Y/N, I've listened to you talk about your dream wedding since we were thirteen years old. I know what you want."

Φ

Five Years earlier - New York City

"It was perfect," Y/N had said, sprawled across Theo's bed looking at her parents' wedding pictures. "Look at this one – my mom looked like a princess."

Theo glanced over from the book he was reading to see her pointing at a photograph of a witch in an elaborate gown that seemed to float around her like liquid moonlight. The dress was simple in its basic design but exquisite in its execution – silk that caught the light like water, delicate beadwork that looked like stars scattered across fabric, a train that flowed behind the bride like magic made manifest.

"It's nice," Theo said, though 'nice' seemed inadequate for something so beautiful.

"Nice?" Y/N sat up, clutching the picture to her chest. "Theo, it's gorgeous. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Look at the way it moves when she walks, like she's floating. And the beadwork – it must have taken months to do by hand."

"You sound like you're already planning your wedding," Theo teased.

"Maybe I am," Y/N said, her cheeks turning pink. "Is that silly? Planning something that might never happen?"

"It's not silly," Theo said quietly. "And it will happen. Someday, you'll have exactly the wedding you want."

Y/N smiled at him, bright and trusting. "I know you don't believe in marriage but…"

At that Theo could only think of how wrong she was. He had been picturing his marriage ever since he was thirteen years old and Y/N started to become obsessed with weddings. It was always the same dream. Him at the altar and Y/N as his bride.

Φ

"You showed me that dress your mother wore at her wedding while we were unpacking when we first  arrived in New York," Theo said now, his voice soft with memory. "The one with the silk that looked like moonlight and the beadwork like stars. You said it was the most beautiful thing you'd ever seen."

Y/N's eyes widened, clearly surprised that he remembered such a specific detail from so long ago.

"You said you wanted to feel like a princess on your wedding day," Theo continued. "You wanted something elegant and sophisticated and magical. Don't give that up because someone else thinks it's too much."

"But Theo—"

"No buts." He reached up to take her hands, his thumbs brushing over her knuckles. "Y/N, Charlie loves you. If he really loves you, he'll want you to have the wedding of your dreams, even if it's not what he originally envisioned. And if he doesn't..." Theo trailed off, not trusting himself to finish that sentence.

Y/N stared at him for a long moment, her dark eyes searching his face. "You really think I should have the dress I want? Even if it doesn't fit with the whole 'rustic garden party' theme?"

"I think you should have everything you want," Theo said, meaning it with every fiber of his being. "Starting with the dress."

Pansy, who had been uncharacteristically quiet during this exchange, cleared her throat. "Well," she said, her voice suspiciously thick, "now that we've established that Y/N is going to have the wedding dress she deserves, perhaps we should actually find it."

She turned to Madam Malkin, who had been watching the scene with interest. "Do you have anything in the style of that Celestina Warbeck wedding spread from five years ago? The one with the silk charmeuse and the hand-beaded bodice?"

Madam Malkin's eyes lit up. "As a matter of fact, I do have something. It's in the back – a custom piece that was never collected. The bride called off the wedding at the last minute, poor dear. But it might be perfect..."

She bustled away, leaving Theo and Y/N alone on the platform while Pansy examined a display of veils nearby.

"Theo," Y/N said softly, "why do you remember that dress? it was a long time ago"

Because I remember everything about you, Theo thought. Because I've been cataloging every dream you've ever shared with me, every wish you've ever made, every detail that makes you happy. Because I love you so much it physically hurts sometimes.

"Because it was important to you," he said instead. "I pay attention when something matters to you."

Y/N's expression grew soft, almost wondering. "You do, don't you? Even when I don't realize it myself. Like yesterday, when Charlie suggested the Burrow – you could tell I wasn't really happy about it, couldn't you?"

"You get this look," Theo said carefully, "when you're trying to convince yourself you're okay with something that you're not actually okay with. Your smile gets a little too bright, and your voice gets a little too cheerful. You did it after Cedric died, when you were trying to pretend you were healing faster than you actually were."

"And I'm doing it now," Y/N said, not really a question.

"A little bit," Theo admitted. "Y/N, there's nothing wrong with wanting your wedding to be beautiful. There's nothing wrong with wanting things to be special and elegant and perfect. That doesn't make you shallow or superficial – it makes you someone who believes that important moments deserve to be celebrated properly."

Before Y/N could respond, Madam Malkin returned carrying a dress bag that seemed to shimmer with its own light. She hung it carefully on a hook and unzipped it with reverent hands.

The dress that emerged was everything Y/N had ever dreamed of and more. It was made of silk so fine it seemed to be woven from moonbeams, with an embroidered bodice that would showcase her figure perfectly and a skirt that flowed like water. The neckline was elegant but not revealing, the bodice was long and fitted with tiny pearl buttons framing her figure, and scattered across the entire dress were thousands of tiny crystals that caught the light like stars.

It was sophisticated and timeless and absolutely, perfectly magical.

Y/N's breath caught in her throat. "Oh," she whispered. "Oh, it's..."

"Perfect," Pansy finished, her voice awed. "Y/N, it's absolutely perfect."

"Would you like to try it on?" Madam Malkin asked gently.

Y/N nodded, not trusting her voice. Theo stepped down from the platform to give her privacy while Madam Malkin and her assistants helped her into the dress, though he could hear Y/N's soft gasps of delight from behind the curtain.

"She's going to look incredible," Pansy said quietly, settling into the chair beside him. "That dress was made for her."

"It was," Theo agreed, his chest tight with anticipation and dread. Y/N in her perfect dress, walking down the aisle toward someone else.

"You know," Pansy continued, her voice carefully casual, "there's still time."

Theo turned to look at her. "Time for what?"

"To tell her how you feel."

The words hung in the air between them like a curse. Theo felt all the blood drain from his face.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said automatically.

Pansy gave him a look that could have melted steel. "Theodore Nott, I have known you since we were five years old. Do you honestly think I haven't noticed the way you look at her? The way you've always looked at her?"

"Pansy—"

"The way you remember every little detail about her dreams, the way you drop everything when she needs you, the way you're breaking your heart trying to make sure she gets the perfect wedding to someone else?" Pansy's voice was gentle but relentless. "Theo, darling, you're not as subtle as you think you are."

Theo stared at his hands, unable to meet her eyes. "It doesn't matter," he said quietly. "She's happy. She's in love with Charlie, and she's happy. That's what matters."

"Is she, though?" Pansy asked. "Because from where I'm sitting, it looks like she's trying very hard to convince herself she's happy. There's a difference."

Before Theo could respond, the curtain around the fitting area was pulled back, and Y/N stepped out in the dress.

Every coherent thought in Theo's head evaporated.

She was radiant. The dress fit her like it had been made specifically for her body, the silk flowing over her curves like liquid light. The crystals scattered across the fabric caught the shop's lighting and threw tiny rainbows across the walls. Her dark hair contrasted beautifully with the pale silk, and her skin seemed to glow.

She looked like a fairy tale princess. She looked like everything she'd ever dreamed of being.

She looked like the most beautiful thing Theo had ever seen in his life.

"Well?" Y/N asked, her voice nervous as she turned slowly in front of the mirror. "What do you think?"

Theo opened his mouth to speak and found that no words would come. He was drowning in the sight of her, in the way the dress made her look ethereal and perfect and so achingly beautiful that it physically hurt to look at her.

"You look..." he started, then had to clear his throat and try again. "Y/N, you look absolutely stunning."

The smile that spread across her face was like sunrise after the longest night. "Really?"

"Really," Theo managed, though his voice came out rougher than he'd intended. "Charlie's going to forget how to breathe when he sees you in that dress."

Y/N's smile faltered slightly at the mention of her fiancé, and Theo caught the flicker of something – uncertainty? doubt? – that crossed her face before she smiled again.

"I hope so," she said, but there was something hollow in her voice.

Pansy, who had been uncharacteristically quiet during this exchange, stepped forward to examine the dress more closely. "It's perfect," she declared. "Absolutely perfect. Y/N, this is the dress. This is the one."

"But is it too much?" Y/N asked, her old uncertainty creeping back in. "For a garden wedding, I mean. Maybe I should find something more... appropriate."

"Y/N," Theo said firmly, standing up so he was closer to her. "Look at yourself. Really look."

She turned to face the full-length mirror, and Theo moved to stand behind her, his hands coming to rest lightly on her shoulders.

"What do you see?" he asked softly.

Y/N stared at her reflection for a long moment. "I see... me," she said quietly. "But the best version of me. Like I'm everything I always wanted to be."

"Exactly," Theo said, his thumbs brushing along her shoulder blades through the silk. "You see yourself as you're meant to be. Don't let anyone take that away from you."

In the mirror, Y/N's eyes met his, and for a moment, Theo forgot how to breathe. There was something in her gaze – gratitude, affection, and something else, something deeper that he didn't dare name.

"Thank you," she whispered. "For remembering. For caring. For always knowing exactly what I need to hear."

"Always," Theo replied, meaning it with every fiber of his being.

The moment stretched between them, fragile and perfect and completely impossible. Then Y/N's attention was caught by something in the mirror, and the spell broke.

"Oh no," she said, her face going pale. "What time is it?"

Theo checked his watch. "Nearly two o'clock. Why?"

"I'm supposed to meet Charlie and his mother at three to discuss catering," Y/N said, already moving toward the changing area. "I lost track of time completely."

As Y/N disappeared behind the curtain to change, Pansy moved to stand beside Theo.

"Four and a half weeks," she said quietly.

"What?"

"You have four and a half weeks to figure out what you're going to do," Pansy said, her voice gentle but firm. "Because watching you two just now... Theo, that wasn't the look of a woman who's completely sure about her choice."

"You're imagining things," Theo said, but his voice lacked conviction.

"Am I?" Pansy asked. "Then tell me, when Y/N was looking at herself in that dress, what did you see in her face?"

Theo was quiet for a long moment, remembering the way Y/N had looked at her reflection – the wonder, the happiness, the way she'd seemed to glow from within.

"She looked like herself," he said finally. "Like the person she's always been inside."

"And when you mentioned Charlie's reaction to the dress?"

Theo closed his eyes, remembering the way Y/N's smile had faltered, the uncertainty that had flickered across her face.

"She looked... scared," he admitted. "Like she wasn't sure he'd understand."

"Exactly," Pansy said softly. "Y/N is trying very hard to be the woman Charlie wants her to be. But what if that woman isn't who she really is? What if she's giving up pieces of herself to fit into his vision of their life together?"

"It doesn't matter," Theo said desperately. "She made her choice. She's engaged to him, she's planning a wedding with him, she's moving to Romania with him. Even if she's having doubts—"

"Doubts that you could help her work through," Pansy interrupted. "Theo, you know her better than anyone. You've loved her longer than anyone. If there's even a chance that she's making a mistake—"

"I won't do that to her," Theo said firmly. "I won't sabotage her happiness because of my own feelings. If she wants Charlie, if she thinks he'll make her happy, then I'll help her have the best wedding possible and I'll smile while I do it."

Pansy studied his face for a long moment. "You're an idiot," she said finally, but her voice was fond.

"Probably," Theo agreed.

Y/N emerged from the changing area in her regular robes, the wedding dress carefully draped over her arm. Her hair was slightly mussed from changing, and her cheeks were still pink with excitement.

"Madam Malkin," she called, "I'll take it. The dress, I mean. How much do I owe you?"

As Y/N handled the business side of the purchase, Theo found himself staring at the dress bag, thinking about how she'd looked in it. Like a princess from a fairy tale. Like everything she'd ever dreamed of being.

Like the most beautiful bride who would ever walk down an aisle toward someone who wasn't him.

"All finished," Y/N announced, looking slightly breathless. "The dress will be ready for a final fitting next week, and then..." She trailed off, her expression growing uncertain again.

"And then you'll have the perfect dress for your perfect wedding," Theo said, forcing enthusiasm into his voice.

"Right," Y/N said, but she didn't sound entirely convinced. "Perfect."

They walked out of Madam Malkin's together, Y/N chattering nervously about her upcoming meeting with Mrs. Weasley and all the decisions that still needed to be made. Theo listened with half an ear, most of his attention focused on the way the afternoon sunlight caught in her hair, the way she gestured when she was excited, the way she unconsciously moved closer to him when the street got crowded.

Four and a half weeks. Four and a half weeks until she walked down the aisle in that incredible dress, toward a man who wanted her to be someone other than who she really was.

Four and a half weeks to let her go.

Or, as Pansy had suggested, four and a half weeks to figure out if he should fight for her instead.

Theo pushed that thought away as soon as it formed. Y/N had made her choice. She loved Charlie, was planning a life with him, was excited about their future together. Her momentary doubts about the dress and the venue were just normal pre-wedding nerves, nothing more.

But as they reached the Apparition point and Y/N hugged him goodbye, Theo couldn't shake the feeling that something fundamental had shifted today. The way she'd looked at herself in that dress, the way she'd looked at him in the mirror, the way she'd seemed to glow when he'd told her she deserved everything she wanted...

"Theo," Y/N said softly, interrupting his thoughts. "Thank you. For today, for the dress, for... for always believing I deserve good things."

"You deserve everything," Theo said, meaning it completely. "Don't ever let anyone convince you otherwise.”

Y/N smiled at him, soft and grateful and heartbreakingly beautiful. "I love you, Theo. You know that, right?"

"I know," Theo said, the words like knives in his chest. "I love you too."

She Disapparated with a soft pop, leaving Theo alone on the busy street with the memory of her in that dress burned into his mind forever.

Four and a half weeks.

He wasn't sure he was going to survive it.

[reimenaashelyee]

TCM 10th Anniversary

I haven't been very online and posting much art as of late, due to a surprising number of OBLIGATIONS (teaching gigs, job-hunting and catching up with lots of other comics work, which includes what I am gonna talk about in this post) and some disillusionment about posting art on platforms.

Some of you are gonna be shocked by this but 2026 is going to mark 10 years since I posted the first page of The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya on my webcomic's website. This is a pretty big meaningful event to me -- TCM is my first ever completed graphic novel and the reason why I am able to have a comics career now. So obviously I want to celebrate it big and wrap my journey with TCM with a nice fancy extravagant bow.

I've been wanting to do a full FINAL remaster of all of 600 pages of the comic. Not so much revamping the art because I already did a lot of art fixes for the hardcover print editions, and I am still pretty chill about how everything looks! More like updating the lettering (again), correcting colours, fixing the dialogue and strengthening the themes between books, and presenting the entire two-book series at the best it could be. I learned a lot about the realities/logistics of publishing and making comics since I finished TCM, so I'm excited to be redeeming the webcomic sins of my naive past self and update TCM to the current standard of the rest of my author catalogue.

Right now I'm about 3/4 of the way of remastering the 600 pages. So close!! But I want to talk about the stuff I've already done for it!

Everything's under the cut if you are keen to hear me yap.

First thing I did for the remaster is a complete revamp of the title design. I designed the original in late 2015 - early 2016 when the webcomic began to form and never changed it. But the 10th anniversary means I can pull all the stops and go wild, especially now that I have improved in terms of design and all the skills needed to make a historical comic.

The old title was meant to evoke Ottoman calligraphic brushscript without being too cheesy. I carried this over in the new one - I still don't want it to be cheesy and I'd prefer to evoke the feel rather than the look of Ottoman/Arabic calligraphy, since the Eastern calligraphic arts (by this I mean non-Latin script. i.e China and Japan are also equally sophisticated) is no joke and I'd prefer not to attempt replicating linguistic brushstokes and patterns for Aesthetique. Not to mention Latin letters don't lend themselves to Eastern calligraphy very well.

Luckily, Latin calligraphy already exists. I wanted to include more of the 18th century English stylings of the comic into the title, and for this I looked at English Roundhand/Copperplate and the French Ronde. Lots of curlicues and flourish. The outcome is this more condensed almost stamp-like design.

The second thing I did is the book cover. I am not really sure what the final cover will look like as it's dependent on whether I get a publisher for this edition of TCM - but I've made a mockup for now!

The 10th anniversary cover has more of the Ottoman carpet influence compared to the previous covers for TCM. I'm thinking of weaving in the Rococo S-and-C leaf scrolls and other motifs into the cover too. We will see!

The third thing I did is update as many of the Turkish marbled pages as possible.

So Volume I has a fair number of marbled backgrounds - but I didn't have a lot of resources back then, so I drew all of those pages digitally. It's not authentic, per se, but it worked.

As part of the remastering, I want to emphasise the imperfect, hand-drawn, there's-a-person-behind-this feel of TCM. Not to say the personnage wasn't there before, but I wanted MORE of that, especially given the AI nonsense that's happening for the past 2 years.

So this time I went to a Turkish marbled pages workshop, taught by an ebru master (shoutout to Eslem at Anatolia Art Studio), to make my own pages ... the traditional way!

I made 6 prints, and they will be appearing in some shape or form in the final remaster. The first image at the top of this post - which is the title page - is one of those prints! The marbled pages aren't perfect - there is so much technical skill involved in transferring the prints from plastic container to paper, and I bunged that part up too much lol - but that fits the point of TCM as a project? It's all me, it's all the artist's handiwork, and it's imperfect, but that's what allows the love to show.

The fourth and final thing I will be yapping about is the actual remastering work.

Top is the 10th anniversary 2025 remaster. Bottom is 2016 version.

The differences are not that extravagant - any tweaks I am doing, including the relettering, is for consistency and clarity.

Mainly I just wanted to fix the colour sins I committed in the past. In 2016 I didn't have any idea what printing a comic entails and would require - so I naively coloured everything in RGB... and failed to consider how dark colours will print in a CMYK space and on paper... and there are a lot of DARK COLOUR SCENES!!!

Top is the 2025 fix. Bottom is the original.

You can imagine how poorly the original printed on paper. :)

It took me a month and a half to work on Volume I, as I had to reletter everything and implement so many colour fixes. Luckily Volume II has been easy, and with any luck I will be done with this project in March.

I am considering rerunning the webcomic at some point! Sound off if you want to reread TCM again. :3c

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Google reneged on the monopolistic bargain

I'm on tour with my new novel The Bezzle! Catch me TONIGHT in SALT LAKE CITY (Feb 21, Weller Book Works) and TOMORROW in SAN DIEGO (Feb 22, Mysterious Galaxy). After that, it's LA, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix and more!

A funny thing happened on the way to the enshittocene: Google – which astonished the world when it reinvented search, blowing Altavista and Yahoo out of the water with a search tool that seemed magic – suddenly turned into a pile of shit.

Google's search results are terrible. The top of the page is dominated by spam, scams, and ads. A surprising number of those ads are scams. Sometimes, these are high-stakes scams played out by well-resourced adversaries who stand to make a fortune by tricking Google:

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/phone-numbers-airlines-listed-google-directed-scammers-rcna94766

But often these scams are perpetrated by petty grifters who are making a couple bucks at this. These aren't hyper-resourced, sophisticated attackers. They're the SEO equivalent of script kiddies, and they're running circles around Google:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/24/passive-income/#swiss-cheese-security

Google search is empirically worsening. The SEO industry spends every hour that god sends trying to figure out how to sleaze their way to the top of the search results, and even if Google defeats 99% of these attempts, the 1% that squeak through end up dominating the results page for any consequential query:

https://downloads.webis.de/publications/papers/bevendorff_2024a.pdf

Google insists that this isn't true, and if it is true, it's not their fault because the bad guys out there are so numerous, dedicated and inventive that Google can't help but be overwhelmed by them:

https://searchengineland.com/is-google-search-getting-worse-389658

It wasn't supposed to be this way. Google has long maintained that its scale is the only thing that keeps us safe from the scammers and spammers who would otherwise overwhelm any lesser-resourced defender. That's why it was so imperative that they pursue such aggressive growth, buying up hundreds of companies and integrating their products with search so that every mobile device, every ad, every video, every website, had one of Google's tendrils in it.

This is the argument that Google's defenders have put forward in their messaging on the long-overdue antitrust case against Google, where we learned that Google is spending $26b/year to make sure you never try another search engine:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-27/google-paid-26-3-billion-to-be-default-search-engine-in-2021

Google, we were told, had achieved such intense scale that the normal laws of commercial and technological physics no longer applied. Take security: it's an iron law that "there is no security in obscurity." A system that is only secure when its adversaries don't understand how it works is not a secure system. As Bruce Schneier says, "anyone can design a security system that they themselves can't break. That doesn't mean it works – just that it works for people stupider than them."

And yet, Google operates one of the world's most consequential security system – The Algorithm (TM) – in total secrecy. We're not allowed to know how Google's ranking system works, what its criteria are, or even when it changes: "If we told you that, the spammers would win."

Well, they kept it a secret, and the spammers won anyway.

A viral post by Housefresh – who review air purifiers – describes how Google's algorithmic failures, which send the worst sites to the top of the heap, have made it impossible for high-quality review sites to compete:

https://housefresh.com/david-vs-digital-goliaths/

You've doubtless encountered these bad review sites. Search for "Best ______ 2024" and the results are a series of near-identical lists, strewn with Amazon affiliate links. Google has endlessly tinkered with its guidelines and algorithmic weights for review sites, and none of it has made a difference. For example, when Google instituted a policy that reviewers should "discuss the benefits and drawbacks of something, based on your own original research," sites that had previously regurgitated the same lists of the same top ten Amazon bestsellers "peppered their pages with references to a ‘rigorous testing process,’ their ‘lab team,’ subject matter experts ‘they collaborated with,’ and complicated methodologies that seem impressive at a cursory look."

But these grandiose claims – like the 67 air purifiers supposedly tested in Better Homes and Gardens's Des Moines lab – result in zero in-depth reviews and no published data. Moreover, these claims to rigorous testing materialized within a few days of Google changing its search ranking and said that high rankings would be reserved for sites that did testing.

Most damning of all is how the Better Homes and Gardens top air purifiers perform in comparison to the – extensively documented – tests performed by Housefresh: "plagued by high-priced and underperforming units, Amazon bestsellers with dubious origins (that also underperform), and even subpar devices from companies that market their products with phrases like ‘the Tesla of air purifiers.’"

One of the top ranked items on BH&G comes from Molekule, a company that filed for bankruptcy after being sued for false advertising. The model BH&G chose was ranked "the worst air purifier tested" by Wirecutter and "not living up to the hype" by Consumer Reports. Either BH&G's rigorous testing process is a fiction that they infused their site with in response to a Google policy change, or BH&G absolutely sucks at rigorous testing.

BH&G's competitors commit the same sins – literally, the exact same sins. Real Simple's reviews list the same photographer and the photos seem to have been taken in the same place. They also list the same person as their "expert." Real Simple has the same corporate parent as BH&G: Dotdash Meredith. As Housefresh shows, there's a lot of Dotdash Meredith review photos that seem to have been taken in the same place, by the same person.

But the competitors of these magazines are no better. Buzzfeed lists 22 air purifiers, including that crapgadget from Molekule. Their "methodology" is to include screenshots of Amazon reviews.

A lot of the top ranked sites for air purifiers are once-great magazines that have been bought and enshittified by private equity giants, like Popular Science, which began as a magazine in 1872 and became a shambling zombie in 2023, after its PE owners North Equity LLC decided its googlejuice was worth more than its integrity and turned it into a metastatic chumbox of shitty affiliate-link SEO-bait. As Housefresh points out, the marketing team that runs PopSci makes a lot of hay out of the 150 years of trust that went into the magazine, but the actual reviews are thin anaecdotes, unbacked by even the pretense of empiricism (oh, and they loooove Molekule).

Some of the biggest, most powerful, most trusted publications in the world have a side-hustle in quietly producing SEO-friendly "10 Best ___________ of 2024" lists: Rolling Stone, Forbes, US News and Report, CNN, New York Magazine, CNN, CNET, Tom's Guide, and more.

Google literally has one job: to detect this kind of thing and crush it. The deal we made with Google was, "You monopolize search and use your monopoly rents to ensure that we never, ever try another search engine. In return, you will somehow distinguish between low-effort, useless nonsense and good information. You promised us that if you got to be the unelected, permanent overlord of all information access, you would 'organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.'"

They broke the deal.

Companies like CNET used to do real, rigorous product reviews. As Housefresh points out, CNET once bought an entire smart home and used it to test products. Then Red Ventures bought CNET and bet that they could sell the house, switch to vibes-based reviewing, and that Google wouldn't even notice. They were right.

https://www.cnet.com/home/smart-home/welcome-to-the-cnet-smart-home/

Google downranks sites that spend money and time on reviews like Housefresh and GearLab, and crams botshittened content mills like BH&G into our eyeballs instead.

In 1558, Thomas Gresham coined (ahem) Gresham's Law: "Bad money drives out good." When counterfeit money circulates in the economy, anyone who gets a dodgy coin spends it as quickly as they can, because the longer you hold it, the greater the likelihood that someone will detect the fraud and the coin will become worthless. Run this system long enough and all the money in circulation is funny money.

An internet run by Google has its own Gresham's Law: bad sites drive out good. It's not just that BH&G can "test" products at a fraction of the cost of Housefresh – through the simple expedient of doing inadequate tests or no tests at all – so they can put a lot more content up that Housefresh. But that alone wouldn't let them drive Housefresh off the front page of Google's search results. For that, BH&G has to mobilize some of their savings from the no test/bad test lab to do real rigorous science: science in defeating Google's security-through-obscurity system, which lets them command the front page despite publishing worse-than-useless nonsense.

Google has lost the spam wars. In response to the plague of botshit clogging Google search results, the company has invested in…making more botshit:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/16/tweedledumber/#easily-spooked

Last year, Google did a $70b stock buyback. They also laid off 12,000 staffers (whose salaries could have been funded for 27 years by that stock buyback). They just laid off thousands more employees.

That wasn't the deal. The deal was that Google would get a monopoly, and they would spend their monopoly rents to be so good that you could just click "I'm feeling lucky" and be teleported to the very best response to your query. A company that can't figure out the difference between a scam like Better Homes and Gardens and a rigorous review site like Housefresh should be pouring every spare dime it brings in into fixing this problem. Not buying default search status on every platform so that we never try another search engine: they should be fixing their shit.

When Google admits that it's losing the war to these kack-handed spam-farmers, that's frustrating. When they light $26b/year on fire making sure you don't ever get to try anything else, that's very frustrating. When they vaporize seventy billion dollars on financial engineering and shoot one in ten engineers, that's outrageous.

Google's scale has transcended the laws of business physics: they can sell an ever-degrading product and command an ever-greater share of our economy, even as their incompetence dooms any decent, honest venture to obscurity while providing fertile ground – and endless temptation – for scammers.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/21/im-feeling-unlucky/#not-up-to-the-task

[star-anise]

Everyone's got a take, and I've got a take too, about the current Internet Villain: James Somerton, a gay Youtuber who just got exposed (in the back half of a 4-hour video) as massively plagiarizing the work of LGBTQ+ media critics, historians, and memoirists, and then exposed in another 2-hour video as just making up the wildest nonsense about the topics he demonstrably had access to accurate information on.

He achieved a six-figure income on his work by squeezing money out of his audience with claims...

That only he was creating content that preserved queer history and elevated the voices and experiences of the LGBTQ+ community (a lie)

He was in serious financial distress and would have to go out of business if people didn't give him tons of money (a lie)

That he was going to use some of that cash to make definitely good and not-at-all-plagiarized independent movies, a thing he was definitely skilled and experienced enough to do (a lie), and

That those plagiarism allegations were incorrect,, and frankly,,,, hurtful and homophobic. (a GIANT lie)

Like, here's a visualization of the script of one of his videos, "Society and Queer Horror". The highlighted bits were lifted nearly verbatim from the works of others—the 18 authors identified at the time the exposé was posted—and presented as Somerton's own work.

So here's what drives me absolutely up the wall about this:

If he had just ADMITTED that it was the work of other people, THAT WOULD STILL BE COOL. If he had just said, up front, "We are going on a survey of thoughts and insights people have had about this topic", that would still be a good video with a real audience!

Like yes, he studied business in university, he might not have gotten the kinds of research skills and knowledge someone like Kaz Rowe uses to not just report on the history and analysis of others, but evaluate their relative validity and trustworthiness.

But honestly, since watching my niblings (oldest is 13) watch Youtube, I think you honestly can't underestimate the number of viewers who are really hungry for someone saying, "I don't understand this topic! Let's explore it together!"

But NOOOOOOO, Somerton didn't want to be just some schmuck waxing enthusiastic about homoeroticism on film and acknowledging the smartness of other people. He wanted to be HIM, MR. SMARTYBOY, very sophisticated and alluring and thoughtful and deep. Definitely an intellectual heavyweight who just happened to spout off his own personal ideas and analysis that put him at the forefront of all the scholarship on the topic he's come across.

I hate being wrong. Hate being wrong. But blogging for most of my life has forced me to confront constant textual evidence that two or ten or twenty years ago, I said some dumb-ass shit. Honestly, it'd probably keep me up at night sometimes even if I didn't have a written record. I absolutely understand the desire to scan the field, find the coolest people around, and quickly clothe yourself in as perfect an imitation of them as you can manage.

But if you want to be an artist or a scholar who produces something lasting, you can't prioritize coolness over truth all the time. To develop your true, independent voice, you need to find a time and place where it is just you and just the work you're doing, and you have pick up your tools and say, I don't know if I'm doing this right, but this is what feels right to me.

There are a lot of things in life to which we can only truly contribute our presence and our perspectives. Things we can only witness or hold space for. We cannot go back and bleed the pain out of history, or erase the complexity of another person's life. Not honestly, at least.

But those are the times that need our presence, our perspectives, our witness, and our space. When we gather round and tell sad tales about the death of kings, honesty can be the only thing you give that's worth a damn in the large scale of things.

If this dude had owned up to the truth and honestly showed the work of trying to piece together a queer understanding of the world, trying to draw the threads of culture together until he found a place he fit inside them, it would have been so much more valuable to our culture as a whole.

He probably made more money this way, though. While it lasted.

[selfieignite]

Selfie (2014) - Easter eggs & trivia

Selfie (2014), starring Karen Gillan and John Cho, is a modern adaptation of My Fair Lady (musical film) / Pygmalion (play).

Eliza Dooley = Eliza Doolittle

Henry Higgs = Henry Higgins

Freddy = Freddy Eynsford-Hill

Doctor Who connections

Karen Gillan was in Doctor Who with two different roles. In 2008, she played Mira the Soothsayer in the episode, "The Fires of Pompeii" and in 2013-2015, she was Amy Pond, a companion to the 11th Doctor, Matt Smith.

David Harewood also appeared in Doctor Who as Joshua Naismith in 2009.

Karen is Scottish and David is English, but both use American accents in Selfie.

Two Prues

There are two actresses for Prue. The first image is from the pilot, which was shot separately from the rest of the series. Prue #1 was played by Genevieve Geoghan who was also a production assistant.

In the following episodes, Prue #2 was played by Kelsey Ford/Ledgin (second image) who became a permanent part of the book club.

Fan shout-out

During the broadcast, fans were entered in a drawing if they live tweeted about the show. Some lucky winners were featured in episode 7: “Here’s This Guy.” (not all pictured) The cast was live tweeting too!

Also, if you see a Doctor Who reference, it’s most likely a fan’s screen name. I also recognized the costume designer’s handle towards the end of the episode, so there might be more crew members listed.

Real life details

Charmonique's actress, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, also went to Yale University in real life and that detail was mentioned in episode 4, "Nugget of Wisdom."

[x]

Episode: Nugget of Wisdom

A Red Dalek toy was featured in the background, which is a villain character on Doctor Who. 

Episode: Never Block Cookies

John Cho's real life wife, Kerri Higuchi, was featured in this episode. She played Michelle, the fill-in barista who was flirting with Henry Higgs.

In the same episode, co-workers assume Henry has trouble with intimacy or dating. He reads The Counterlife by Philip Roth, which has a character also named Henry who is impotent because of his heart medication. Both have the same name and intimacy issues.

Episode: Perestroika

There is a reference to Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). Eliza Dooley mirrors Holly Golightly as she opens the door. Audrey Hepburn plays Holly and also Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. The book club in the next scene shows that they were having a Breakfast at Tiffany's birthday theme party for Bryn.

Karen Gillan wore a wig on Selfie. Since she had to shave her head for the role of Nebula on Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Marvel had the Star Wars costume department make a wig for Karen using her real hair.

In the Selfie pilot, she wore two wigs: one wig before the makeunder scene and another wig with her real hair after the makeunder. Karen used her personal wig for the rest of the show.

[x] [x]

Chinese fandom

The show got more popular on Chinese social media around 2021. Better known as 再造淑女 (Remaking a Lady or Reinvented Lady). Fans created video edits, fan art, and even English study guides using episode scripts. Selfie is somewhat similar to Korean and Chinese dramas, where the romance is more of a slow burn.

There's a Chinese meme (山猪吃不了细糠) that literally translates to "A wild boar can't eat fine bran." It means that someone who is rough or unrefined (like a wild boar) doesn't appreciate or can't handle something delicate or refined (like fine bran). This suggests that a person is not suited for something subtle or sophisticated, or that they can’t appreciate finer things.

A similar English phrase would be "Don't cast your pearls before swine." It's more or less implying that we should not waste good things on people who will not appreciate them or that people who didn't appreciate the show did not have good taste. Many Chinese fans are still sad that there isn't a second season or real ending to Selfie.

Representation matters

Keli Lee was the executive vice president of Talent and Casting at ABC who helped cast John Cho in Flashforward (2009) and Selfie (2014). She also helped find projects for Sofia Vergara (Modern Family), Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy), and more actors.

She also found David Harewood for the character Sam Saperstein, which was originally written as a white Jewish man, but Harewood gave a brilliant and funny performance.

[x]

John Cho is the first romantic Asian male lead in a U.S. romcom series.

Selfie executive producer/director Julie Anne Robinson also had to fight to cast John Cho. She also worked on Bridgerton and Doctor Who.

Julie Anne Robinson: I cast John Cho in Selfie. So that role was imagined as a white upper class Englishman like Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady. And it took a really long time to persuade top to bottom of everybody in that chain that John Cho is a perfect choice. And I still love that show and John Cho was the perfect choice, but it’s, you know, it’s sometimes, it’s hard to- If you have a very clear idea of how something should be, it’s hard to kind of get past that.

[x]

@the_doolio jewelry

Different necklace designs of Eliza's username were featured in the show.

Social media

The character Eliza Dooley was on Twitter and Instagram while interacting with fans. Cast members were also active and live-tweeted during episodes. Sometimes either the official show's Twitter account SelfieABC or Karen Gillan would hold contests and give away prizes. At one point, I think they also had a Vine account.

Two pilots

There are two alternate pilot endings as well as openings. The original version was on ABC and the alternate version was on Hulu. Before the show aired, they posted the full pilot episode of the alternate version (if I remember correctly) on Twitter, which was rare at the time.

New skills

It was John Cho's first time riding a horse.

[x]

Set design drafts

There were plans to have a gym at KinderKare Pharmaceuticals and a Chili's restaurant scene.

[x]

From the writers

26 episodes were originally planned. Also, eps were slightly out of order.

Ending for the fans

Karen Gillan created her own ending to Selfie at conventions.

That's all I could find. If you notice any other interesting info, let me know!