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Decided to paint outside in a storm to see what would happen.

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✦ Falin ✦

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The way people demonize seagulls is actually unreal. Almost all of their natural habitat has been destroyed (almost all coastal areas have been developed, destroying natural sand dune ecosystems) and they're doing their best to adapt. They're literally just trying to survive. You're in their home. The vitriol some people have for these gorgeous sea birds just because they're not shy about snatching food if you're not cautious is insane

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Y'all I know that when so-called AI generates ridiculous results it's hilarious and I find it as funny as the next guy but I NEED y'all to remember that every single time an AI answer is generated it uses 5x as much energy as a conventional websearch and burns through 10 ml of water. FOR EVERY ANSWER. Each big llm is equal to 300,000 kiligrams of carbon dioxide emissions.

LLMs are killing the environment, and when we generate answers for the lolz we're still contributing to it.

Stop using it. Stop using it for a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. We need to kill it.

Sources:

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VIDEO ESSAYS 5 (4 / 3.2 / 3.1 / 2 / 1)

how to tell a joke (and how stephen chow does it)

the side of scorsese we don't talk about

sing makes me sick

how kingsman pulled off the craziest fight scene in history

the spongehedge theory

how phineas and ferb did the "impossible"

why shark tale is a cinematic disaster

why elsa is a terribly written character

why ralph breaks the internet is a cinematic disaster

why neo noir is important

the ideology of the first order

disney's gay cultural appropriation 1 / disney's gay cultural appropriation 2

why do good directors turn bad?

movie titles: why they matter

color films was built for white people

a love letter to pop punk

the death of melody?

the lost art of album rollouts

it's okay if you're not number 1

the club 27: mental illness and art

the power of album covers

trainwreckords: "passage" by the carpenters

p!nk's 'woman-bashing' anthem

the band everyone thought was the beatles

what is the house of the rising sun?

horror books have lost their identity

the art of sci-fi book covers

why you can't stay organized

art, fashion & the french revolution

how to understand a picasso

carravagio: master of light

when the world became a de chirico painting

why america doesn't watch formula 1

i taught an ai to solve the trolley problem

nas daily - the tale of a narcissistic scumbag

what is the purpose of true crime?

delivery apps screw over everyone

originality is dead and im dacing on it's grave

objectively bad art

we created 'that girl'

what gordon parks saw

im terrified of getting old

lgbt+ and homophobia in the k-pop industry

ben shapiro and the tragedy of political commentary

influencer talk shows aren't working

the john mulaney story got even worse somehow

the over saturation of video essays

the dollhouse of death that changed forensic science

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scenes from my animated thesis film, “THE OLYMPIANS”, which you can watch here! it’s about greek mythology, 70s disco, and being gay

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It's real.

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a d&d group who have only ever played virtually are forced to meet up and join forces when it seems their dm has gone missing. the group is comprised of beautiful popular athlete pretending to be a dork online, a dork pretending to be a beautiful popular athlete online, a stereotypical lives-in-his-mother’s-basement gamer who’s secretly rich, and the dm’s brother who doesn’t know the dm is his sister – they’ve never even exchanged real names online. halfway through their search they realize the dm sent them on a wild goose chase on purpose to give them the thrill of a real-life adventure. three quarters of the way through they realize that through the actions the dm set up for them to take, they’re actually being framed for a crime she committed. 

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"Curiosity Killed My Beia" A comic I did for The Spinoff's Comic of the Month

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Beep boop another fan animatic.

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Note: I claimed a community copy for this game, so while I did not pay money, I received it for free.

Exquisite Biome was pointed my way by one of my Discord community members as something I'd be interested in, and oh my God, they were right. As a professional ecologist and wildlife conservationist--and a fan of all things spec evo/bio--Exquisite Biome is everything I love conceptually, and it even had the audacity of being fantastically designed.

Caro Asercion on itch.io has managed to make a masterpiece of a GM-less game for one to three or four players, using only a single deck of cards. It's incredibly simple and intuitive, with much of the interaction coming from the human element. In fact, I loved the test run I gave it. Exquisite Biome (is it named after Exquisite Corpse? I'm pretty sure right?) uses drawn cards to guide player(s) through the designing of a speculative species, from the creation of the biome it lives in, to its most notable features and how it interacts with other species within the ecological web. Each designed species culminates in a scene played out, almost akin to a nature documentary, of an important part of the animal's life--giving greater insight into both its daily existence and its most important evolutionary aspects.

I can't give too much detail as to how, exactly, the game parts function, or what they are, but they are precisely balanced between detailed and loose enough to allow players the structure/random element needed for fun and guiding through the process, while leaving the vast majority of the imagination up to them. A traditional Exquisite Biome session is intended to be done with creating three unique animals, seeing how they all intersect with each other, but there are also other options for various modes of gameplay given as well!

My favorite aspect of Exquisite Biome, however, may be what isn't in the game just yet. The system itself is so perfectly intuitive and genius that it lends itself instantly to conceptualization of further deep-dives into specialization (speciation?) of different biomes and concepts--expansion packs, in short. What would a variant of EB look like in a xenobiological setting? Or perhaps an entire variant dedicated to rainforest or tropical reef biomes (or the various listed ones, even--even deserts have great biodiversity!)? Caro Asercion has managed to hit upon something here that I would really hope to see find success, because I can envision it having an incredibly dedicated and loyal fanbase for years and years to come.

I'd recommend this game to anyone who loves nature documentaries, who is passionate about life sciences, and who enjoys worldbuilding natural elements for tabletop settings! For fans of Monster Hunter, In Other Waters, Pokemon, Pikmin, and Wingspan, definitely give it a look to see if you'd be intrigued!

And, bonus round--a sketch of my own Exquisite Biome's first animal, the Shepherd Spider!

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A highly territorial species of cobweb-spiders, shepherd spiders create various 'pastures' with their webs where small insects such as beetles, flies, butterflies, and aphids can safely use as nursery habitats. By hiding within the webbed pastures, they obscure their location from predators, allowing an easier chance to reach adulthood and pass on their genes.

Additionally, the shepherd spiders tend to avoid immature specimens as much as possible: they prefer to hunt adult prey at the end of its lifespan, or sickly or otherwise 'unfit' food. In doing so, it ensures itself a steady supply of food, keeping a 'pantry', and opportunistically feeding on the young as needed when times are dry.

Shepherds mate for life, and their courtship rituals are based on the large, iridescent eyespots of the chelicerae. During rainy seasons, male spiders will gather up dew and rain and daub them on themselves, magnifying their false eyes to greater proportions and causing bright refractions in the water's reflected curves. A female will choose her mate based on the brightest display. There seems to be a growing subpopulation of males with prominent pseudopupils as well, which may affect apparent fitness during these rituals versus specimens with smaller or nonexistent pseudopupils.

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This might be harsh but I think those who equate “good character design” to “character I would fuck” and express outright disgust at designs who dared to fall outside their conventional beauty norms should be trapped in the amulet for a thousand years. minimum

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give the sailor moon dub a chance

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Please appreciate the absolute clownery that is this fight scene