rithmatistkalyna - Tumblr blog

[rithmatistkalyna]

So i was bitten by the zine bug this semester and i keep thinking that a collaborative zine would be really fun to organize, especially one i could open up to my little corner of the internet. Not the shiny polished fandom zines that are really cool but also more of an anthology than a zine. I'm talking DIY photocopier and scissors zines--or as close as you can get over the internet, as the case may be.

The most fun and low stakes idea i have at the moment is a doodle zine. Like, what kinds of scribbles or shapes or little creatures do you draw in the margins of your notebooks? Fill a zine-sized page with them and send me a photo! Zero expectation of artistic skill or effort, just fill a page with marks and have fun.

And then i could stitch them together into both a digital zine file and a printable version you could use to make a paper copy. I think that would be a cool way to get as close to the physical collage vibes of a traditional zine as you can in a project that would obviously have to be conducted over the internet, where we can't just hand each other pieces of paper.

Anyway, i finally have both the motivation and the energy to potentially dive in to making this happen, but only if other people are actually interested. And this would look very different if 8 people want to participate vs. if 40 do. So:

Please feel free to reblog/spread this if you know others who might be interested! Right now this is just an idea i'm playing around with, but it might become a Real Thing very quickly if other people are also excited about it.

[rithmatistkalyna]

So I just saw a post by a random personal blog that said “don’t follow me if we never even had a conversation before” and?????? Not to be rude but literally what the fuck??????????

I’ve had people (non-pornbots) try to strike conversation out of nowhere in my DMs recently, and now I’m wondering if they were doing that because they wanted to follow me and thought they needed to interact first. I feel compelled to say, just in case, that it’s totally okay to follow this blog (or my side blog, for that matter) even if we’ve never talked before.

Also, I’m legit confused. Is this how follow culture works right now? It was worded like it’s common sense but is that really a thing?

[rithmatistkalyna]

what's the first movie you remember seeing in theaters? don't try and be all edgy and cool and say like tetsuo: the iron man. be honest.

Go!!

[rithmatistkalyna]

I'm going to preface this by saying OP is completely right. When Yuri on Ice came out in 2016 the skating was incredibly over the top and sounded impossible. It is still incredibly high level skating that would have them solidly competing for the podium. However. Let's talk about the 2024 world championships and the real life anime boys there.

First, Adam Siao Him Fa. Adam is a 23 year old skater from France. He won Europeans this year by a solid margin despite adding in a crowd pleasing back flip that gets him an automatic -2 deduction to his score (the back flip is a banned element, arguably for safety reasons). Adam gets to the world championship as someone expected to be in the top 10 with a decent chance at a podium placement and then he bombs his short program. He barely manages to avoid falling on his first two jumps and does fall on his combo jump. He ends up placing 19th. Only the top 20 skaters make it to the free skate. He was less than 3 points from not even making it to the free skate. Everyone is talking about how sad it is that he is completely out of the running.

But he did make it, so he comes out in the first skating group (they do their free skate in reverse of their ranking order from the short program) and has the absolute skate of his life.

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Quad lutz, followed by a quad toe triple toe, followed by a triple axel double axel combo, followed by a quad salchow, a quad toe, another triple axel, and a triple lutz euler triple salchow sequence. 4 quads and two triple axels. All of the jumps performed beautifully. His step sequence and choreography are lovely and well matched to the music. He also does a fun butterfly element that doesn't count for points at all but that is very pretty and because this is absolutely a YOLO skate and he came in at 19th so what does it matter anyway he finishes off his program with a backflip. The crowd goes absolutely wild. He changes out of his costume and goes to hang out in the backstage area for the top 3 current skaters. He will stay there all the way through to the last group when he realizes that maybe he better go put his costume back on because he has, somehow, pulled off the ultimate comeback and gone from 19th in the short program to winning the bronze.

And you would think that this would make him the main anime protagonist of the world championships, but you would be wrong, because that is Ilia Malinin, 19 year old American.

Ilia did a lovely job in the short program and was ranked 3rd, behind the defending champion Shoma Uno (of Japan) and Yuma Kagiyama (also of Japan, known for his gorgeous artistry, and who has spent this season in a slow but steady come back from injury).

Ilia comes out for his free skate.

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He opens with a quad axel. The jump that was too insane to even have Victor do it in Yuri on Ice. This is promptly followed by a quad lutz, a quad loop, and a quad salchow. We get a break from the jumps for a spin and his step sequence and to get to the second half of the program where he will get an extra 10% bonus for his combination jumps. He turns his planned quad lutz triple salchow into a quad lutz euler triple flip. Because of the technical requirements of the entry, doing the flip as a second jump in combination is extra tricky and rarely done. This is followed by the quad toe triple toe combo that Victor finished with for a total of 6 quads in the program. But he wasn't done. His final jumping pass was planned as a triple lutz double axel. What Ilia actually skated was a triple lutz triple axel. It was, to the best of my knowledge, the first time anyone landed a triple axel as the second jump in a sequence. He finishes the skate with a dramatic pose and then collapses to the ice clearly in amazement and disbelief that he pulled it off. He won the gold by over 24 points over Yuma Kagiyama's silver. In the interview after he talked about the fact that he was injured a couple of weeks before and wasn't sure if he was even going to be able to compete. Absolutely stunning.

If you enjoyed Yuri on Ice, go watch these real life anime boys do their skates.

As a bonus, have Donovan Carrillo of Mexico, who earned the highest ever placement by a skater from Mexico (15th) with a fun, well performed program.

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as a long-time figure skating fan, i’ve been really looking forward to yuri on ice, and i wanted to talk a little bit about the skating in episode 1. i worry that maybe people who aren’t as into skating don’t understand how RIDICULOUS that program viktor did was.

this is not in any way a complaint. the program was completely unrealistic, but not because anyone involved with the show neglected to do their research. it was clear they actually put a ton of research & work in, and then intentionally designed something that was the skating equivalent of your power level being over 9000. viktor (and yuri) went out there and threw down the skating version of a level 100 mewtwo. it was DELIGHTFUL.

so first of all:

four quads is… not technically IMPOSSIBLE, but right at the very edge of what is currently possible in men’s figure skating. a quad (jump with four revolutions) is REALLY DIFFICULT. as recently as 2010, the olympic champion in men’s skating didn’t even have ONE quad in his program; i remember as recently as five years ago scott hamilton saying TWO quads was “superhuman.” the highest score EVER received in men’s skating was yuzuru hanyu at the grand prix final in 2015, where he performed three quads. the second highest score ever received was javier fernandez at worlds last year, where he also performed three quads. skating fans can correct me if i’m wrong but the only skater i can think of who has EVER performed four quads in one program is boyang jin, who is tiny and has made jump rotation his whole life. to have a seasoned 27-year-old skater performing four quads is completely delightful nonsense.

his first jump is a quad lutz. for some context, the rough ranking of skating jumps from easiest to most difficult is something like: toe loop, salchow, loop, flip, lutz, axel. you might notice a lutz is the SECOND MOST DIFFICULT JUMP POSSIBLE, and actually more difficult than the axel for some skaters. accordingly, MOST quads are toe loops or salchows. since a quad axel has literally never been performed, a quad lutz is the SINGLE MOST DIFFICULT jump ever landed in skating competition, EVER. although people have been trying to do quad lutz since the early 2000s, you can probably count the number of skaters who have landed it successfully on one hand. this jump is nearly ALWAYS underrotated or even downgraded to a triple. in my lifetime as a skating fan i can only think of a couple times i’ve seen this jump landed as cleanly as viktor does it here.

if that wasn’t enough, the lutz usually has a very specific set-up where the skater glides backward on one foot for a couple seconds before turning their skate blade onto the outside edge. that’s how the technique for the lutz jump is TAUGHT. it’s extremely impressive for someone to be able to throw a lutz out there without this setup. viktor does it and gets four full rotations.

then he follows it up with:

the first quad flip IN HISTORY was landed for the first time LAST APRIL. APRIL 2016. i also remember people trying this one back in 2010-2011, but it wasn’t successfully landed until THIS YEAR. and it’s viktor’s SIGNATURE MOVE!!! and he does it immediately after landing the other most difficult jump in skating!!!!!! he just pulled out two jumps most skaters can only dream of ever landing maybe once in their entire careers, BACK TO BACK.

again, the HIGHEST SCORE EVER AWARDED IN MEN’S FIGURE SKATING, EVER, was given to a program with one quad salchow and two quad toe loops. jumps SIGNIFICANTLY easier (but still extremely difficult) than viktor’s two opening jumps. and he’s just fucking getting started.

he does a flawless triple axel and then some footwork and spins. then he throws out something maybe a touch less superhuman:

for any real life skater, this would already be one of the greatest performances of their career. but viktor isn’t done yet.

he does a long (gorgeous) footwork sequence, triple lutz, triple flip, and:

i already mentioned how ridiculous four quads is, but this is even better. skaters will typically put their most difficult jumps near the beginning of the program, because they’re easier to land before your legs get tired. recognizing this, the scoring system gives you an extra 10% bonus on the jump’s value if it’s in the second half of the program. viktor pulls out a quad-triple combo, still one of the most difficult jumps in figure skating, as his LAST JUMP. HIS LAST JUMP. a free skate program lasts four and a half minutes. after four and a half minutes of grueling, exhausting activity, viktor soars into a quad-triple so beautiful it could be used to teach the combination to other skaters.

AND YURI KEEPS UP WITH ALL OF THIS. YURI, WHO CAME IN LAST AT THE GPF. YURI CAN DO THIS TOO. this program is significantly more difficult than anything that has ever been competed irl, and this show has TWO SKATERS DOING IT SIMULTANEOUSLY. WHAT A GREAT SHOW???

for any skating nerds out there, here is my breakdown of the jumps in viktor’s program:

4Lz - 13.60 4F - 12.30 3A - 8.50 4S - 10.50 3A+3Lo+2Lo - 15.40 3Lz x - 6.60 3F x - 5.83 4T+3T x - 16.06

to explain what this means. the world record score in men’s figure skating was given to yuzuru hanyu in 2015. for that program, the base value for the jumps alone (so not even taking execution into consideration, just the sheer value yuzuru got for completing the jumps he did) was 79.87 points. 

the total base value of the jumps viktor (and yuri) performed in this program was 88.79.

this program would have handily crushed the world record. and yuri throws it out there in his home rink when he’s out of shape during the off-season.

[rithmatistkalyna]

This is part of my ongoing Discworld jacket embroidery project. Of course Great A'Tuin has to be on there. And of course it has to be the biggest one of them all.

I'm going to put the finished product in my masterpost, but I'm so proud of the thing that I have to put it in an extra post beforehand. Enjoy!

[rithmatistkalyna]

A boop cat to live on your blog!!!!!

[rithmatistkalyna]

Rb for larger data set yadda yadda

[rithmatistkalyna]

boop!! :3

[rithmatistkalyna]

I made a magnolia tea latte so good I'm having a religious experience at my desk

this is a PSA to go steal some magnolia flowers from your neighbor's yard TODAY

[rithmatistkalyna]

did you actually dissect a frog in school?

yes (usamerican)

yes (non-usamerican)

no (usamerican)

no (non-usamerican)

[rithmatistkalyna]

I finally got around to playing with this concept! I ended up using a cream wool felt as the foundation, so all of the color is felted on on top. The felted succulents are from a kit I got a couple years ago.

Made a prototype for the needle felted moths program I'm planning for spring. Only gave myself 90 minutes to work on it because that's how long the class is. I'll definitely encourage the students to work smaller than I did, though, since this one is large even compared to real luna moths. Now I want to make a whole flock of these.

[rithmatistkalyna]

If you don't know, take your best guess

Immediate family is your parents and siblings, and that's it. No grandparents, cousins, aunts, nephews, etc. No in-laws, either. I'm also not counting the immediate family you may have made as an adult (children and spouses).

Adoptive and step family count.

I want to see how common it is to have multiple queer people in the same family.

[rithmatistkalyna]

Yo, I just saw your painted light switch(looks so pretty btw), and I think it'd be mad cool if you paint it (or over it) with glow in the dark paint so when you switch it off there's still some light

That's just me though, thought it wouldn't hurt to share since it popped up on my feed :]

Thank you! That would be cool, but didn't have any glow in the dark paint when I made it and I gave it away already. 🙃

But! I'm planning on making more! Here's one I made for my own house:

[rithmatistkalyna]

Tell me about your general region (continent or country) and living density (rural enough that your nearest neighbor is eight miles away, suburban where there's nothing but single-family housing as far as the eye can see, a city with tens of thousands of people per square mile, etc) in the tags!

Metric measurements rounded to the nearest half meter, then nearest tenth of a kilometer.

According to the USDA, a food desert is:

A tract with at least 500 people, or 33 percent of the population, living more than one-half mile (urban areas) or 10 miles (rural areas) from the nearest supermarket, supercenter, or large grocery store.

[rithmatistkalyna]

Look. Look. I think the hardest thing about your twenties is the shift from getting shoved towards new frontiers of maturity by, like, puberty and education and the logistics of gaining independence, to you having to shove yourself. It’s a mental recalibration from “you grow up whether you like it or not” to “you can and should keep evolving, but now you have to choose it. And you have to choose it a half-dozen times a day in increasingly annoying ways. And this sucks but the reward is that you get to be a person in the world.”

[rithmatistkalyna]

Retelling The Hobbit Chapter 16: The Song of the Lonely Mountain First chapter / Previous / Next (coming TBD!)

To view full comic: Webtoon/A03 / Tumblr post with links to all chapters

Other blogs: TikTok/Instagram/Tumblr Sideblog

*crumbles into dust after finishing this* Thank you for reading! This The Hobbit webcomic adaptation thing takes a lot of effort to put together and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate every comment. I also really appreciate the people who’ve spread the word of this comic to their friends! <3

And finally, we’re at the Song of the Lonely Mountain! Within Tolkien’s canon, The Hobbit is an in-universe book that was “written” by Bilbo Baggins, who occasionally lies/embellishes/exaggerates things. The tonal differences between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are explained by Bilbo and Frodo/Sam being different kinds of storytellers, with different relationships to “the truth.” This idea is the core of how I’m adapting the novel!  Bilbo is an unreliable narrator who is literally ‘drawing’ from his own limited experiences;  the different art styles reflect the different perspectives of other characters.   The “dwarf art style” in this chapter is inspired by stonework/metalwork in general— but especially by a mix of art deco, Celtic art, and European folk art. 

The central tension of the comic is between Bilbo and Thorin, who each have wildly different ideas about what kind of  story they’re in. Thorin is in a grand fantasy epic, while Bilbo is in a lighthearted children’s book adventure.  The tragedy is, obviously, that only one side of the story ever gets to be fully told.

On a sillier note, a few years ago I had my first gay crush on a lesbian who sang while playing the piano. This chapter is dedicated to the piano lesbian. I hope they’re doing well, wherever they are. XD

I think I might need a bit of a break but I’m hoping for the next chapter, titled “Dawn,” to arrive on January 13th. And your comments/support really do help motivate me to get more done! ^_^

[rithmatistkalyna]

Made a prototype for the needle felted moths program I'm planning for spring. Only gave myself 90 minutes to work on it because that's how long the class is. I'll definitely encourage the students to work smaller than I did, though, since this one is large even compared to real luna moths. Now I want to make a whole flock of these.