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Man's really committed to the branding, huh?

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It's taken me ages but I finally finished A Lonely Place of Dying!

Gonna finally man up and read Death In The Family

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fuckin based and also really fuckin funny, thank you FBG

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On a long bus ride to visit home for a week and finally giving Fallen London a try out of sheer boredom

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For one's I've written, zero. But I never ended up posting it anywhere because the lack of fic for the fandom made me a bit self conscious.

Not putting an option for non-writers because they're not the target audience of this poll. If you haven't written before and still want to vote, then write a fanfic, post it to the platform of your choice, and then vote.

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[Image Description: A sketch of Kaz and Inej from Six of Crows. Kaz it sating something and pointing at Inej with a gloved hand. Inej is looking up at him with a slightly suspiscious/set expression on her face. They are standing just outside a doorway. Within the room behind them is a shelf with several items including a crow-like figurine. End ID.]

Working on the last pages of the chapter :’)

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Relistening to the Magnus Archives and ohhhhhhh boy I forgot how much I love this-

Since I've started writing professionally, it's rare that I can still enjoy something without nitpicking at their word choice/pacing/etc. I think TMA is one of the few things that I actually enjoy MORE now.

In fact, the only real criticism I have of it is when they try to force a blatant supernatural/paranormal element into an episode instead of just trusting that their audience will get it. Like that one episode -- The Man Upstairs. I think it's one of my favourites and it could have ended so well with the guy finding the meat room with the guy's body rotting away with it. I think the sentient meat pile thing was a bit much and seemed kind of clunky/shoved in just to make the point that it was supernatural. I think it's enough for some statements to just stand on their own in terms of creepiness/unsettlingness with some hints of the supernatural.

Tbh, this isn't a huge thing and most writers I've encountered have the same problem (of not trusting their audience to make connections). It's also a problem I struggle with a lot too.

But yeah- I love this so much. The dialogue is so natural and it really balances the creepiness/immersiveness of the statements with the way people write/talk. There are a few times when it verges too far in one direction but they still work.

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Duke: If you got arrested what would be the charges?

Tim: Theft.

Dick: Disturbing the peace.

Cassandra: Aggravated assault.

Damian: Arson.

Jason: All of the above. In that order, probably.

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I'm calling bullshit on Ziva's "death". No way my girl is going down that easy. Also: never believe a death until you have a body. Should be a Gibbs rule.

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if house md were running in 2024 there would be an episode with a patient who identifies as an ‘online content creator’ (cagily) where house agrees to take the case primarily because when he offhandedly refers to her as an onlyfans model both cameron and cuddy get really offended and say it’s a sexist assumption so he doubles down and becomes committed to finding the patient’s onlyfans and proving it. at some point it would be revealed that chase actually is an onlyfans model and started doing it as a stopgap after his dad died and he suddenly got disinherited but he makes so much money off it that now medicine is basically just a hobby. cameron and foreman both disagree with the concept online sex work but it turns out they disagree for different reasons (cameron thinks it’s exploitative and not-feminist, foreman finds it distasteful and thinks people should get ‘real jobs’) and spend most of their scenes together arguing about this while chase gets continually more shifty. they break into the patient’s house and there’s a full ringlight and camera setup which seems to confirm house’s suspicions. while trying to find the patient’s onlyfans house accidentally finds chase’s onlyfans instead and considers publicly embarrassing him about it like he did with wilson’s sex tape but soon realises that most of the staff at the hospital are already subscribed to chase’s onlyfans so makes fun of him for that instead. it then transpires that the reason why the patient is so cagey about being a content creator is that she’s an ASMR artist and all the soap she’s been shaving on camera has irritated her lungs. cuddy is about to make house give her 20 extra hours of clinic duty as recompense but at last minute it’s revealed that the website the patient uses for some of her bonus commissions is, drumroll…onlyfans, because she’s been banned from patreon. how does house know this? wilson is subscribed to her because the soap videos sometimes soothe him to sleep. something by cigarettes after sex plays. roll end credits.

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[Image Description: A screenshot of a Reddit post in r/FanFiction. It is flared as venting and titled "a reader has been putting all my writing into ChatGPT..." The post reads: "got an ask on tumblr about my longfic (~300k words) expressing how much they love it. how they’ve been following it since the beginning (JULY 2023) and every chapter inputting it into ChatGPT to WRITE A NEW CHAPTER while they wait. telling me how my whole fic is stored in its memory, too. it hurt my chest. honestly flabbergasted that anyone thought this was flattering, and it hurts because I can tell how much they love my story and how excited they are, and I adore how long they’ve been following and invested in my story, but the AI feels so insulting and violating. btw… I’ve legit updated the fic every two weeks for the past almost 2 years. 5-15k words every two weeks. yeah." End ID.]

This is the worst timeline. (x)

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identity shenanigans ft. clark's supersniffer 😤

superbat (every)week winter exchange gift for @gravygranola - your prompts were so delightful and i wish i was able to incorporate more of them but i hope you like it regardless!!

also thank you so much to the @superbateveryweek mods for organizing this event 💕💕

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I'm going to sound old as hell here but as streaming services continue to devolve into shittier and shittier services, I'm reminded of my love for DVDs.

They're not as convenient as just logging into a website/app and pressing play but they are:

Physical media that, once you buy it, is yours forever and ever unless you choose to get rid of it. And even then, you choose what happens with it. You can sell it, give it away online, gift it to a friend, give it to a thrift store, donate it to a hospital (side note: many hospitals take donations of DVDs for use in some of their longer-term wards), whatever you want. You also don't have to worry about losing access to it if you don't pay a monthly fee or if the service you use gets cancelled or if they remove the show/film. You just have it.

Easy to store. Get one of those big DVD cases and it takes up a tiny bit of space on a bookshelf. Simple as that.

Available to borrow/rent for free/super cheap. Most libraries have DVDs you can borrow like you would books. There's no cost. You get the DVD, you watch it, and you return it. That's it.

Super cheap when you buy them used. Especially now that most people are almost exclusively using streaming services, you can find DVDs for a couple dollars at most thrift stores or yard sales.

(Mostly) accessible. All films/TV shows made after a certain year are required to have closed captioning/subtitles available and many also have audio description options as well. While a lot of streaming services have captioning/subtitles, they're not always accurate or helpful and very few services have good audio description.

Widely available. The vast majority of films/shows that exist are available in DVD format. Yes, even the new ones. I've got a hold at the library for the 2023(?) Barbie movie. While it may take a bit to find a copy of a very obscure film, you never have to worry about whether or not the film/show is available on your specific streaming services and in your country in general.

Unique to your choices. There's probably a better way to word this but what I'm getting at is that you only buy what you want. You don't have to pay for an entire new streaming service only to watch like one or two shows from it. You just buy the shows/films you want to watch.

Look, I know DVDs aren't for everyone but seeing people complain about having to pay for another streaming service because it's the only one that has their show, I want to say like... you know there are other options, right?

Even if you don't have the space for a TV and regular DVD player, you can get a portable DVD player. I got mine for maybe 30$ at the Salvation Army store near me and I use it at least twice a week.

I don't have a single streaming service, both because I don't have the money for that and also because the whole idea of it is kind of wild to me. I've got my DVD hoard and my piracy sites.

But yeah anyways: DVDs are your friends.

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Adding onto this as I also dabble in visual art:

I hearby swear on everything I hold dear that I have not and will NEVER use generative AI in ANY of my art. Everything I post will be organically and creatively my own.

NOTICE: As more and more fanfic writers are using generative AI for their works (you uncreative dweebs), I hereby swear on everything I hold dear that I have not and will NEVER use generative AI in ANY of my written work. Everything I post will be organically and creatively my own.

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I love love LOVE my public libraries.

Not only do they provide incredible services at the library itself (you can take out books, DVDs, CDs, accessibility technology, etc.) but they also:

- Have a free digital movie/TV/etc. site where you can borrow movies/TV shows online. I watched Persepolis the other day. It was great!

- Sell used books. The reference library has a small bookstore in it where most books are like 1-2$ (at the max) and the proceeds all go towards abolishing late fees. They had a spring sale a few weeks ago and I bought 29 books for under 5$. It was probably a bad decision but it was WORTH IT.

- Have events. The reference library had a tea event the last time I went. I don't like tea so I didn't go but there were so many people having a blast there! The tickets were very cheap and everyone had these sample bags and looked like they were having a grand old time.

- Will help you with research. I went into the reference library to go some preliminary research/literature review for the composting study I'm running and the librarian helped me so so much. I just asked her where to find the environmental science section and she asked what I was looking for specifically and was able to take me to three different sections FULL of helpful books. And she was able to recommend me several titles that weren't in the library but were available elsewhere. She also did all this without even looking anything up. Absolutely incredible. I both fear and love this woman.

- Are a sanctuary for people that are homeless, disabled, and elderly. They don't kick anyone out unless they absolutely have to (and by this I mean "actively threatening staff with a knife" and not "smells kinda bad") so everyone is welcome. It's a warm/cool/otherwise temperature controlled and relatively safe place for homeless people to take a nap or hang out for the day and it's also a great place for people that are elderly/disabled and don't have work/school/etc. to socialize. When I was homeless in another city, the library was my sanctuary. I actually became homeless when I had a library book with me (I still remember the book too) and only came in to return it but they welcomed me with open arms and I kept coming back. They were able to connect me with people to get me a warm bed for the night and food for the next day and helped me out so much.

- Provide rentals for everything from musical instruments to CO2 monitors to light therapy lamps and everything in between.

- Give out free tickets to local attractions like museums, aquariums, zoos, etc. As a separate service, they also give out a day pass to provincial parks.

- Provide workshops for everyone. And I mean EVERYONE. They have digital skills workshops for seniors, English workshops for new immigrants (they're the ones in mind with the development and advertisement of them but as far as I'm aware, everyone is welcome), reading workshops (and one on one support) for young children who are struggling, financial literacy workshops, seminars for people starting/running small businesses, etc.

- Provide job search help including resume/cover letter-writing workshops, rooms for virtual interviews, etc.

- Have very specialized and incredible programs. One of my favorites is called Storybook Parents which works with incarcerated people to make a recording of them reading a book for their children (or other children in their lives like grandkids, nieces/nephews, god kids, cousins, siblings, etc.). Another one is Dial-a-Story, which is a number that kids and families can call to listen to a story. They also have a Home Library Service for people who are homebound due to age, disability, etc.

This isn't even half of the services they offer and not even including all the ones that OP mentioned like free computer access, supports for low-income families, etc.

So what I'm saying is:

Go to your public library.

[Plain Text: Go to your public library]

“Public libraries are such important, lovely places!” Yes but do you GO there. Do you STUDY there. Do you meet friends and get coffee there. Do you borrow the FREE, ZERO SUBSCRIPTION, ZERO TRACKING books, audiobooks, ebooks, and films. Have you checked out their events and schemes. Do you sign up for the low cost courses in ASL or knitting or programming or writing your CV that they probably run. Do you know they probably have myriad of schemes to help low income families. Do you hire their low cost rooms if you need them. Have you joined their social groups. Do you use the FREE COMPUTERS. Do you even know what your library is trying to offer you. Listen, the library shouldn’t just exist for you as a nice idea. That’s why more libraries shut every year

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“If you wake them up, we’re fucked.”

“Shut up, then.”

“I’m just saying--”

“Shh.”

The camera inches closer to a hotel bed. Three out of the four people on it are asleep. Riley’s wedged himself under Jimmy’s arm-one wrong move will result in knees to the balls-and Antoine and Jason are mostly still on thanks to clinging to each other’s t-shirts. Nobody looks comfortable.

“They’re gonna kill us,” Jimmy breathes. Trent nods. Mark just goes closer, zooms in on Riley. “Okay, do it.”

Frank gives him a thumbs up and murmurs, “And here we see the favored method of the Riley for keeping his pillows from getting away. As you can see, one unapproved move of the Jimmy will result in instant incapacitation--shit--”

The camera reels back. Antoine is semi-awake. Jason is not. They stare at each other in awkward silence. In the background, Jimmy visibly makes his peace.

“This is a dream,” Frank says gently. Antoine nods.

“Why m’I squished?”

“Dreams are weird.”

“Okay.”