failinger-blog - Tumblr blog

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Promo for a friend

Go follow the5thcomedian

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Now that Tumblr’s video player finally works, I wanted to upload this here. (This HD player’s surprisingly good quality) This was my short film that I spent forever on. Please don’t remove my credits, thanks~! 

My dA | Instagram | Tumblr

here’s a step-by-step process of how I put this together

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Strong words to use on a Resume

If you have ever had to write a resume for work or for an application, then you know the hardest part is figuring out what type of words to use that sound professional and and intelligent.

Example: If an application asks you if you have any relevant experience for a job at a day care center and you have experience, like you have babysat children. You would look at the words in the columns to see what words you should use that will help your resume stand out. You might put down “Have supervised and attended to children on a regular basis.”

I hope this is helpful to you.

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Seeing Teachers in Public 👀 (W/ Calypso_May & taylor shrum)

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If you missed the new steven universe intro , Here it is!

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i dont understand the stereotype that women are obsessed with shoes, like have u ever met a high school boy

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Amazing

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so you’re saying I can win 5 iphones every day??? and all I have to do is give my credit card number on this website I’ve never heard about??? well slam me in my tender butthole sir you’ve just got yourself a deal

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Hey, what’s Winnie the pooh’s favorite color?

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Telling different stories

As you can probably imagine, we’ve gotten a lot of questions and comments about our female leads and efforts to include a more diverse cast in Aberford. It’s actually been very surprising to us just HOW big of a deal a diverse cast was to so many people. When we first started out on this project, we thought, “Well, this is something fun and different,” but Aberford has become something of a rallying point for people who think video game characters should be as diverse as the people who play them.

For me though (and some of you longer-time fans may know this), it’s not so much about creating diverse characters as it is about telling a different story. There is a world of difference between “making one of the characters black” and “telling a black woman’s story”. The latter is a meaningful stride towards diversification in video games, while the former is pandering. I think video games should tell stories that are as diverse (and interesting) as the people who play them.

Video games are a lot like books, in that they let you leave yourself and inhabit someone else for a little while. If that someone else is an interesting, complete character with wants, needs, and flaws, then you have something to connect with. But if that character’s personality begins and ends with “black” (or Latina or gay or whatever), you’ve done everyone a disservice. Gamers who don’t identify with the defining trait won’t enjoy the character as much, not because of the defining trait, but because that’s all there was to the character. And gamers who do identify with that trait get short changed as well, because they could have had a chance to see character development in someone they could really related to, but instead all they got were empty calories. I know some people think that any representation at all is a good thing, and I understand the argument, but don’t let someone serve you off-brand macaroni and cheese and tell you its a prime cut of steak. Get a damn steak.

Real, meaty, relatable characters have stories, so it’s important to start with story first. In Aberford’s case, we created a story about a zombie virus infecting a slice of 1950s Americana. Within that story, we found our characters, but instead of mashing preformed characters/tropes into the mold, we explored what their stories would be. What history would a 1950s housewife have? What would her story be? How would her story connect to the people around her? These are all the questions we have to ask and answer before a character can emerge.

And so we found the story of a women who gave up playing baseball to marry her high school sweetheart, but who didn’t end up being as “happily ever after” as she was told she would be. We found the story of a young, black nurse with an ambitious husband, who wants more than anything to be accepted and admired for who she is. We found the story of a woman who has always done her duty in life, without question, because she was told that’s what would make her happy. And we found the story of a genius, who made terrible sacrifices for something she believed in, and it eats at her, not that she made them, but that she couldn’t find a way around those sacrifices. 

And when our fans asked us to dig deeper, we found the story of a trans woman trying to live a fulfilling life without persecution or rejection. We found the story of Japanese-American trying to reconcile the darkness in her country’s past with the brightness of its future. We found the story of a high school girl suddenly confronted with violence and terror from the boys who were her friends. And we found the story of Mexican woman suddenly trapped and alone in a terrifying place where no one could talk with her and no one would have compassion on her.

These are stories we found in Aberford, and from them our characters emerged. Are there other stories and other characters? Certainly. There are men who try and save people during the zombie outbreak, and there are men who try to stop the spread of the disease. There are men (and women) who just try to save themselves. There are stories where people survived by hiding and not fighting anything. And you’ll see them throughout the narrative, because stories are webs and not lines, but those aren’t the stories we’ve chosen to focus on in this game.

There was a dust-up last month because Michelle Rodriquez said something like “Stop stealing all the white people’s superheroes. Make up your own.” People flipped out and she had to walk it back, but I understood what she meant. If you want different characters, tell different stories. Don’t be mad that “Bioshock Infinite” had an angry white man as the protagonist. (It was a story about an angry white man who made terrible choices across multiple realities.) Enjoy that story for what it is, and then tell a story about a woman who starts a colony on the moon. Or a story about a gay man who battles dragons. Or a story about time-hopping Armenian lesbians who accidentally bring down the Han dynasty a century early (Actually, don’t. I’m putting that one on reserve because it sounds fantastic).

Often, I think the outcry against diversity in gaming comes from the perception that white, straight male characters have to be arbitrarily replaced with minority characters just for the sake of diversity. So to the old guard, it feels like they are being punished, and the new guard can’t figure out why they’re being such dicks about it. To me, it feels like we’re looking at it the wrong way. There’s room for everyone in gaming. If people want to play the same story over and over again, let them. If people want to try something new, let them. Who cares? Games are awesome, and people should be able to play what they like. And with the strides being made in independent gaming, there is literally no end to the stories that can be told and the games that can be made. 

The point I think I’m trying to make is that we’re focused on telling you a really great story (with several smaller stories threading through it) and combining it with some really fun gameplay. We’re trying to tell stories you haven’t heard before, about characters you haven’t played as before. If you’re completely opposed to playing a game as anyone other than angry white man, then we wish you the best of luck with no hard feelings. Aberford won’t be the game for you. If you’re not sure about playing something new, I promise we are doing our best to make the story worth your time and encourage you to give us a try. (There are a lot more ways to relate to a character than mutual penises). And if something new is your thing, welcome aboard. It’s great to have you along for the ride.

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someone: so how was your weekend?

me: the animals, the animals. trapped, trapped, trapped 'till the cage is full. the cage is full, the day is new, and everyone is waiting, waiting on you. and you've got time. think of all the roads, think of all their crossings. taking steps is easy, standing still is hard. remember all their faces, remember all their voices. everything is different, the second time around.

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“I want a Disney Princess who doesn’t focus solely on falling in love!”

You mean Tiana?

“I want a Disney Princess who actually works because she wants to!”

Yeah, Tiana! 

“I want a Disney Princess who has an actual tangible goal!”

You mean Miss “I want to own my own restaurant before the age of 25″ aka Tiana?

“I want a Disney Princess who is relateable!” 

Yeah. Tiana aka “I work so much I need to be reminded by a 100-year old blind lady that having a balance of family and work is key”. 

“I want a Disney Princess who is well-written and doesn’t rely on the ‘quirky traits’ trope as an explanation for her personality.”

YES. TIANA. 

“I want a Disney Princess who-”

TIANA. TIANA IS WHAT YOU WANT. AND SHE’S BEEN HERE SINCE 2009. BUT Y’ALL SEEM TO WANT TO FORGET THAT AND TRY TO MAKE OUT FROZEN TO BE THE MOST FEMINIST DISNEY FILM EVER. 

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Failed panoramic.

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(photos by ilikegear)

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jokes that will never be funny

holocaust jokes

fat jokes

racist jokes

rape jokes

transphobic jokes

homophobic jokes

sexist jokes

jokes that will always be funny

“that’s a weird looking dog”

mmm whatcha say

the audition meme

doge 

trolling beetles fans

dad jokes 

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realistically the space under my bed is very small so if a monster did in fact live there it would have to also be very small

it would be some kind of baby monster

i would have to look after it