#(To be fully transparent I am also an Extremely White Person)

[kitabasis]

God I wish I could call people out on cultural appropriation without needing to specify repeatedly that I don’t think they’re a bad person so it doesn’t have have more negative than positive effects.

[nethartic]

EMERGENCY COMMISSIONS

[ID: writing reading: Emergency commissions - $45USD. In the background there is an example chibi. To the right is an example icon. In the bottom left corner of the image is my dragon/dog hybrid fursona pointing toward the image and saying "I need to go in the MRI tube and it's expensive :(" /end ID]

Hello funny furries in my phone!!

I am in a bit of a sticky situation where I currently can't work because of acquired spinal injury and chronic illness - however need money for doctors appointments and imaging that I can't afford on government benefits. I am unable to take large amounts of work at the moment so will only be offering limited slots of the following, but may take more on if I am handling the workload okay.

The first 2 options are $45 as they take about the same amount of time to complete. I have just added 2 more options that are more expensive (as of 26/6).Can be either artistic freedom or give me some prompts. They won't come with a wip unless you explicitly request one as I aim to get these out as quick as I can. Please share - Info below the cut!

[ID: A fox/wolf hybrid showing a big toothy happy smile toward the viewer. He is coloured using shades of yellow, green, blue, purple, and pink. /end ID]

GRADIENT MAP ICON

Will use more than 3 colours, but pick 3 you want to see in the icon

You can give me an expression, or I can choose one at random

See complex characters image below for complex character additional fees

Can also make pride colour ones :>

[ID: Heading title: Chibi style. Style examples from left to right: A red, grey and white Maine coon cat. A dark blue unicorn with black and purple hair, and a white and purple fox. /end ID]

CHIBI FULLBODIES

Sketchier lines and more minimal shading than the icon

Transparent png

Any body type

See complex characters image below for complex character additional fees

[ID: Digital painting of Neo (dog/dragon hybrid) with liquid leaking from their eyes and mouth. The painting uses saturated shades of pink, puple, blue and orange. /end ID]

EXPERIMENTAL PORTRAIT

I can also do a loose bust portrait like this for 68 of your United States Dollars. The style is quite experimental but you can give some prompts or just give me your character + their personality and I will do the art thing!

[ID: A digital painting of Neo flying through the air coloured with highly saturated colours /end ID]

FULL PAINTING

Putting this one out there just in case (if anyone buys this I will close for any more slots) but I can do a painting like this for $900USD (20hrs work) or a less refined painting for $450USD (10hrs work). This might take a while though with my pain/fatigue and will include wips.

Wondering if your character is too complex? Check out this little guide I made:

[ID: A chart with increasingly complex designs and their additional costs. Extra limbs/complex markings are + $10, and wings/very complex markings are + $20. /end ID]

Note: Charge will be more on a full painting, the above is based on icon/chibi/bust style. To be discussed before the payment invoice is sent.

WILL/WON'T Draw:

WILL:

furries, mlp, feral

queer characters (pls give)

Mobility aids (free)

Any body type

NSFW/fetish/gore/adult content*

mechs at $20 extra charge

*(if you are wanting more extreme/niche adult content please discuss first. Won't do any illegal content, if it's fully legal but a bit questionable please run it by me first). Probably won't be posted to tumblr but won't charge private fee.

WON'T:

NSFW feral

Police/military

Accept commissions from minors

TOS and Payment

Terms of service:

Payment through PayPal, but can do bank transfer if you live in Australia.

If you just want to throw me a couple of support dollars (I would love you forever), I have a Ko-Fi.

Please send me a DM if you are interested in a commission, I would love to work with you :D

Thank you so much for looking! Please share this around.

More about my situation

I have a family history of spinal issues (my dad had major spine surgery when I was 6, with his side of the family having consistent acquired spine injuries going back generations) and unfortunately my turn on the family spine came a good 10 years before 'normal'. I seem to have 2 separate issues co-occurring in the T and S sections of my spine which are causing gradual motor function loss and a LOT of pain. I have also had a mystery fatigue/pain condition which we are now about to confirm as fibromyalgia since about age 15.

After my legs nearly gave out at work last November during a particularly bad pain episode at work, I went and got an intial MRI that showed irregularities in my spine in the areas my pain comes from. I have gotten much worse since then so need new MRI's with added contrast dye which brings the price up quite a bit (it will be $4-500+). I quit my job in February under the impression that I just needed to rest for a bit and could go to a less intense job after 3 weeks. I honestly don't think I would have lasted much longer if I didn't quit anyway because I was taking close to or the 24 hr limit of panedeine forte at work just for the 8 hour shift (needed to drive so couldn't take stronger opioids + opioids make me feel HORRIBLE). I think my body was holding out until I had a period of rest because I began declining quite rapidly between February and now.

I have been using crutches to help walk/stand for about a month and a half now and I can't stand for more than an hour max (30+ mins is starting to push it tho), which is a HUGE contrast to 6 months ago where I was standing 32+ hours a week and moving around constantly. I've also gone from being able to comfortably lift 25-30kg to struggling with less than 10. These limitations knock out a LOT of jobs I'm qualified for (read: non-skilled, physical labour) - so trying to find answers for what's happening to me is very difficult and slow because I can't afford to just throw myself at specialists; and with the unofficial and slow death of bulk billing in Australia even my GP is getting too expensive. My partner is also disabled and receives DSP from the government so is not in a position to help finance my medical care because he is barely affording his own.

You're of course under absolutely no obligation to support me (and this isn't a sympathy post), but sharing this around would mean the world to me because I REALLY need to get some money together for medical care.

[chibi-pix]

Chibi Doodles!

$15 chibi commissions!

Heyo, lovelies!

So, I think I'm gonna try and finally get past my anxiety and open up to do commissions. Mama was helping me gauge prices and as a chibi can typically take one to two hours to draw, she feels $15 is reasonable.

As a note, though, while it can take me that long, it may look like it's taking longer due to other projects I have going for me or other things in life.

But, let's get going with some information, right?

To start, while you may have seen previous posts of mine, but these are examples of my chibis.

Examples!

Now, I don't know if I can legally do fan art for commissions. I don't know all the rules and conditions and whatnot for that. But I am more than happy to do OCs and even try to chibify you or a loved one.

In fact, the chibi with the bandana and pink and purple outfit is based on my sister. The green and black haired one next to her is an OC of mine. The bottom two are fan arts I've done.

Though, I possibly can do fan art. I think some commission artists do, too. Hmm.

Payment!

Payment is important. Due to a mutual hate between Paypal and myself, I am not (and kinda can not) use that. However, I am able to work with Venmo for payment.

If there are questions about other potential payment methods such as Zelle, feel free to ask me.

The price also covers ONE (1) chibi, fully coloured and lightly shaded (I think that's what people call cell shading?). If you are wanting two chibis together, we will need to talk about that to figure out pricing.

The Process!

It starts out simple. You contact me in messages. Easy. And you inquire about a character/person and send references. Picture references are preferable for me to work from.

From there, I can work on the base of it. Now, this is equivalent, to me, to what people call a sketch. For my works, it's like these examples.

And I will show you the base.

If you request specifically for me to not show you the base so you can be surprised by the end result, I will try to remember to oblige. Otherwise, by default, I will show you the base.

From there, I will line, colour, and shade the chibi.

You can choose to have a solid background (white or coloured) or transparent background.

You can also choose to have a "scenery" circle (seen in the completed examples) behind them or not.

If the scenery circle is chosen, please specify or give an idea of what you'd like and I can talk with you to see if that is within my ability.

All chibis are saved as a PNG file.

When I am done, I will inform you. It is then that I would accept payment; after the payment is received, I will send you your chibi.

You can choose to have your chibi sent here or to your email. If sent to email, please be sure to provide it.

Will and Will Not Draw!

Like many artists, there are things I will and will not draw.

This section is subject to change as needed.

Will draw:

Original characters

chibis based from photos (within reason)

Minimal nudity (butts and breasts; if you request this, for safety reasons, I will prefer to email you the results)

Minimal blood

Will NOT draw:

Full gore

Explicit nudity (genitals)

Overly detailed things.

These chibis are small and simple. Extremely tiny details are not easy; I will consider, if asked, to simplify, though.

May consider drawing:

These are things I may consider; please talk to me about them first.

Animals

Furries (I am not skilled, but I can attempt)

Some mech and armour (again, not skilled, but I can attempt depending on what is asked of me)

If you have any further questions about what I can and cannot/will not draw, please feel free to message me about them. And again, I do not know of the legalities of drawing fan art of existing fandom characters for profit. So, I don't know how to go about that.

The Recap!

So! Let's recap and summarize.

Payments are through Venmo.

Chibis cost $15 each.

A base WIP will be sent before continuing.

Payment is needed before I send the final product.

Refer to the list and ask any questions needed as to what I will and won't draw.

If you're unsure of something or curious, feel free to ask. It never hurts to ask.

This post and all guidelines and such are subject to change as needed.

As a final note. I am NOT obligated to accept every person who commissions me. I do not have to justify myself as to why I am declining the commission request.

Added note!

Due to existence outside of the computer, I do apologize if I do not respond right away. I may sometimes not be responsive due to being away with errands or sleeping. These things may also affect art timing. So, please be patient with me if I do not respond instantaneously.

Feel free to directly message me here on Tumblr. Or on discord, username " chibipixmama " about chibis, whether you're ordering or have questions.

If needed, you can contact me at chibipix@gmail.com, too.

With all that said and done, hopefully this is good enough and goes well.

Thank you for checking this post out and maybe I'll see y'all!

Until then!

[joshfmpyeartwo]

UI design

There's going to be a lot of UI design involved in this project as that is what the majority of the gameplay is going to be. Because my job in the project is everything to do with the art, I am also going to have to design the art for the UI.

To start off, I'm going to be making the text box. In most visual novels, this text box is going to be pretty important, it has to fit the theme while not being to distracting or boring as the players going to have to see them a lot.

In doki doki literature club, they're design opts to add a pattern in the background, as well as it being slightly transparent. It's a really good balance. I really like the idea of making it slightly transparent but I don't like the pattern in the background as much, mainly because the difference in colour can cause issues with picking a text colour, as you can see by the fact they've used a border round theirs.

The top box containing the characters name is solid in opacity as it doesn't take up as much space as the text box.

In dream daddy, the UI design is a lot more efficient with it's space as it scales depending on how much text is being shown. It also looks a lot more styalised and rough. I love the uneven sharp design. It feels a lot more care free, it makes the whole game feel more cozy, which fits the tone perfectly.

The name box is in same style but also completely opaque, and a different colour background to help it stand out. It also changes colour depending on which character you're talking to which I think is a really nice touch and adds some distinction between each character.

I don't think the style would suit our game, but I'm going to have to look into changing the name box background because I think it really adds something more personal to each character.

Hunie pop is slightly more interesting as it has a large focus on branching narrative and it includes voice acting, so the only text boxes that appear consistently are from the player themselves. This means it has to bee even more effeicent with it's space as the player usually has up to 3 choices for dialogue, as well as having to fit in the character, the rest of the UI, and make sure the backgrounds not being wasted by just being covered up by everything, so I am a massive fan of how they've managed to lay this out so well. They've opted for a light blue, transparent box with only a subtle border to try not to make it too distracting, and I really like how it works.

I would love to lay out the branching narrative options like this for our game.

As most of the box has to be blank, I thought it would be best to keep it simple and just have a Greek looking border around a white box.

I started trying to create a spiral looking pattern but couldn't achieve what I wanted in this resolution so I adopted a square shaped wave pattern instead. Both seem to appear on a lot of ancient greek pottery so I don't think the change that matters that much and the square shaped waves look a lot better. Other than that, and having to add an extra pixel in canvas size due to it not fitting properly, this worked extremely well.

The first iteration is one I tried with full opacity

I do think the lower opacity one looks better but I will have to get Guy to put it in the game to check if it works as well with the name boxes and the text.

Creating the top box that holds the names of each character was a lot easier as I just had to create a solid line outline around it. The box was too small for any more detail than that and I think it looks better anyway.

I made it solid in opacity, inspired by the UI design in most visual novels, and I think it works really well.

And this is what it looks like fully imported into the game. I really like it, I think the lowered opacity works really well to not take up too much space. The little arrow I made to show the sentence has ended it makes it feel a lot more polished and smooth.

I then started to design the phone

I took the majority of my inspiration from things like the phone from GTA or HuniePop again. I think Phones are underused in games UI's. They provide a way for the player to interact with people without breaking immersion.

The general idea is that they be simplified version of preexisting phone OS's. I was only creating the phone frame as part of this post so I don't need to look to deep into the design of the phones software, but I do really like that each of them give off completely different vibes to suit the game they're from.

I created the phone with relative ease, the only issue I encountered was it scaled weird and didn't import very well, so I made a newer version of the phone, also with some alterations to the frame.

I think it came out pretty well. It also fits in perfectly with the general look of the game and the UI I had already created

[writingwithcolor]

I'm writing an AU of a movie that takes place in the 1880s USA, where a travelling white character and a Jewish character are waylaid by Native Americans, who they befriend. Probably because it was written by and about PoC (Jews) the scene actually avoids the stuff on your Native American Masterpost, but I'd still like to do better than a movie made in the 1980's, and I feel weird cutting them from the plot entirely. I have a Jewish woman reading it for that, but are there any things you (1/1)

2/2 1880s western movie ask--are there things you'd LIKE to see in a movie where a white man and a Jewish man run into Native Americans in the 1880s? I do plan to base them on a real tribe (Ute, probably) and have proper housing/clothes and so forth, but right now I'm just trying to avoid or subvert awful cowboy movie tropes. Any ideas?

White and Jewish Men, Native American interactions in 1880s

I am vaguely concerned with how you only cite one of our posts about Native Americans, that was not written by a Native person, and do not cite any of the posts relating to this time period, or any posts relating to representation in media. 

Sidenote: if you want us to give accurate reflections of the media you’re discussing, please tell us the NAME. I cannot go look up this movie based off this description to give you an idea of what my issues are with this scene, and must instead trust that the representation is good based off your judgement. I cannot make my own judgement. This is a problem. Especially since your whole question boils down to “this scene is good but not great and I want it to be great. How can I do that?”

Your baseline for “good” could very well be my baseline for “terrible hack job”. I can’t give you the proper education required for you to be able to accurately evaluate the media you’re watching for racist stereotypes if you don’t tell me what you’re even working with.

When you’re writing fanfic where the media is directly relevant to the question, please tell us the name of the media. We will not judge your tastes. We need this information in order to properly help you.

Moving on.

I bring up my concern for you citing that one—exceptionally old—post because it is lacking in many of the tropes that don’t exist in the media critique field but exist in the real world. This is an issue I have run into countless times on WWC (hence further concern you did not cite any other posts) and have spoken about at length. 

People look at the media critique world exclusively, assume it is a complete evaluation of how Native Americans are seen in society, and as a result end up ignoring some really toxic stereotypes and then come to the inbox with “these characters aren’t abc trope, so they’re fine, but I want to rubber stamp them anyway. Anything wrong here?”. The answer is pretty much always yes. 

Issue one: “Waylaid” by Native Americans

This wording is extremely loaded for one reason: Native American people are seen as tricksters, liars, and predators. This is the #1 trope that shows up in the real world that does not show up in media critique. It’s also the trope I have talked about the most when it comes to media representation, so you not knowing the trope is a sign you haven’t read the entirety of the Native tag—which is in the FAQ as something we would really prefer you did before coming at us to answer questions. It avoids us having to re-explain ourselves.

Now, hostility is honestly to be expected for the time period the movie is set in. This is in the beginnings (or ramping up) of residential schools in America* and Canada, we have generations upon generations of stolen or killed children, reserves being allocated perhaps hundreds of miles from sacred sites, and various wars with Plains and Southwest peoples are in full force (Wounded Knee would have happened in 1890, in December, and the Dakoa’s mass execution would have been in 1862. Those are just the big-name wars. There absolutely were others). 

*America covers up its residential schools abuse extremely thoroughly, so if you try to research them in the American context you will come up empty. Please research Canada’s schools and apply the same abuse to America, as Canada has had a Truth and Reconciliation Commission about residential schools and therefore is more (but not completely) transparent about the abuse that happened. Please note that America’s history with residential schools is longer than Canada’s history. There is an extremely large trigger warning for mass child death when you do this research.

But just because the hostility is expected does not mean that this hostility would be treated well in the movie. Especially when you consider the sheer amount of tension between any Native actors and white actors, for how Sacheen Littlefeather had just been nearly beaten up by white actors at the 1973 Academy Awards for mentioning Wounded Knee, and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act had only been passed two years prior in 1978. 

These Native actors would not have had the ability to truly consent to how they were shown, and this power dynamic has to be in your mind when you watch this scene over. I don’t care that the writers were from a discriminated-against background. This does not always result in being respectful, and I’ve also spoken about this power imbalance at length (primarily in the cowboy tag).

Documentaries and history specials made in the 2010s (with some degree of academic muster) will still fall into wording that harkens Indigenous people to wolves and settlers as frightened prey animals getting picked off by the mean animalistic Natives. This is not neutral, or good. This is perpetuating the myth that the settlers were helpless, just doing their own thing completely unobtrusively, and then the evil territorial Native Americans didn’t want to share.

To paraphrase Batman: if I had a week I couldn’t explain all the reasons that’s wrong.

How were these characters waylaid by the Native population? Because that answer—which I cannot get because you did not name the media—will determine how good the framing is. But based on the time period this movie was made alone, I do not trust it was done respectfully.

Issue 2: “Befriending”

I mentioned this was in an intense period of residential schools and land wars all in that area. The Ute themselves had just been massacred by Mormons in the Grass Valley Massacre in 1865, with ten men and an unknown number of women and children killed thanks to a case of assumed association with a war chief (Antonga Black Hawk) currently at war with Utah. The Paiute had been massacred in 1866. Over 100 Timpanogo men had been killed, with an unknown number of women and children enslaved by Brigham Young in Salt Lake City in 1850, with many of the enslaved people dying in captivity (those numbers were not tracked, but I would assume at least two hundred were enslaved— that’s simply assuming one woman/wife and one child for every man, and the numbers could have very well been higher if any war-widows and their children were in the group, not to mention families with multiple children). This is after an unknown group of Indigenous people had been killed by Governor Brigham Young the year prior, to “permanently stop cattle theft” from settlers. 

The number of Native Americans killed in Utah in the 1800s—just the number of dead counted (since women and children weren’t counted)—in massacres not tied to war (because there was at least one war) is over 130. The actual number of random murders is much higher; between the uncounted deaths and how the Governor had issued orders to “deal with” the problem of cattle theft permanently. I doubt you would have been tried or convicted if you murdered Indigenous peoples on “your” land. This is why it’s called state sanctioned genocide.

This is not counting the Black Hawk War in Utah (1865-1872), which the Ute were absolutely a part of (the wiki articles I read were contradictory if Antonga Black Hawk was Ute or Timpanogo, but the Ute were part of it). The first official massacre tied to the war—the Bear River Massacre, ordered by the US Military—places the death count of just that singular massacre at over five hundred Shoshone, including elders, women, and children. It would not be unreasonable to assume that the number of Indigenous people killed in Utah from 1850, onward, is over a thousand, perhaps two or three.

Pardon me for not reading beyond that point to list more massacres and simply ballparking a number; the source will be linked for you to get an accurate number of dead.

So how did they befriend the Native population? Let alone see them as fully human considering the racism of the time period? Natives were absolutely not seen as fully human so long as they were tied to their culture, and assimilation equalling some sliver of respect was already a stick being waved around as a threat. This lack of humanity continues to the present day.

I’m not saying friendship is impossible. I am saying the sheer levels of mistrust that would exist between random wandering groups of white/pale men and Indigenous communities wouldn’t exactly make that friendship easy. Having the scene end be a genuine friendship feels ignorant and hollow and flattening of ongoing genocide, because settlers lied about their intentions and then lined you up for slauther (that’s how the Timpanogo were killed and enslaved).

Utah had already done most of its mass killing by this point. The era of trusting them was over. There was an active open hunting season, and the acceptable targets were the Indigenous populations of Utah.

(sources for the numbers: 

List of Indian Massacres in North America Black Hawk War (1865-1872))

Issue 3: “Proper housing/clothes and so forth”

Do you mean Western style settlements and jeans? If yes, congratulations you have written a reservation which means the land-ripped-away wounds are going to be fresh, painful, and sore.

You do not codify what you mean by “proper”, and proper is another one of those deeply loaded colonial words that can mean “like a white man” or “appropriate for their tribe.” For the time period, it would be the former. Without specifying which direction you’re going for, I have no idea what you’re imagining. And without the name of the media, I don’t know what the basis of this is.

The reservation history of this time period seems to maybe have some wiggle room; there were two reservations allocated for the Ute at this time, one made in 1861 and another made in 1882 (they were combined into the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation in 1886). This is all at the surface level of a google and wikipedia search, so I have no idea how many lived in the bush and how many lived on the reserve. 

There were certainly land defenders trying to tell Utah the land did not belong to them, so holdouts that avoided getting rounded up were certainly possible. But these holdouts would be far, far more hostile to anyone non-Native.

The Ute seemed to be some degree of lucky in that the reserve is on some of their ancestral territory, but any loss of land that large is going to leave huge scars. 

It should be noted that reserves would mean the traditional clothing and housing would likely be forbidden, because assimilation logic was in full force and absolutely vicious at this time. 

It’s a large reserve, so the possibility exists they could have accidentally ended up within the borders of it. I’m not sure how hostile the state government was for rounding up all the Ute, so I don’t know if there would have been pockets of them hiding out. In present day, half of the Ute tribe lives on the reserve, but this wasn’t necessarily true historically—it could have been a much higher percentage in either direction.

It’s up to you if you want to make them be reservation-bound or not. Regardless, the above mentioned genocide would have been pretty fresh, the land theft in negotiations or already having happened, and generally, the Ute would be well on their way to every assimilation attempt made from either residential schools, missionaries, and/or the forced settlement and pre-fab homes.

To Answer Your Question

I don’t want another flattened, sanitized portrayal of genocide.

Look at the number of dead above, the amount of land lost above, the amount of executive orders above. And try to tell me that these people would be anything less than completely and totally devastated. Beyond traumatized. Beyond broken hearted. Absolutely grief stricken with almost no soul left.

Their religion would have been illegal. Their children would have been stolen. Their land was taken away. A saying about post-apocalyptic fiction is how settler-based it is, because Indigenous people have already lived through their own apocalypse.

It would have all just happened at the time period this story is set in. All of the grief you feel now at the environment changing so drastically that you aren’t sure how you’ll survive? Take that, magnify it by an exponential amount because it happened, and you have the mindset of these Native characters.

This is not a topic to tread lightly. This is not a topic to read one masterpost and treat it as a golden rule when there is too much history buried in unmarked, overfull graves of school grounds and cities and battlefields. I doubt the movie you’re using is good representation if it doesn’t even hint at the amount of trauma these Native characters would have been through in thirty years.

A single generation, and the life that they had spent millennia living was gone. Despite massive losses of life trying to fight to preserve their culture and land.

Learn some history. That’s all I can tell you. Learn it, process it, and look outside of checklists. Look outside of media. 

And let us have our grief.

~ Mod Lesya

On Question Framing

Please allow me the opportunity to comment on “are there things you'd LIKE to see in a movie where a white man and a Jewish man run into Native Americans in the 1880s?” That strikes me as the same type of question as asking what color food I’d like for lunch. I don’t see how the cultural backgrounds of characters I have literally no other information about is supposed to make me want anything in particular about them. I don’t know anything about their personalities or if they have anything in common.

Compare the following questions:

“Are there things you’d like to see in a movie where two American women, one from a Nordic background and one Jewish, are interacting?” I struggle to see how our backgrounds are going to yield any further inspiration. It certainly doesn’t tell you that we’re both queer and cling to each other’s support in a scary world; it doesn’t tell you that we uplift each other through mental illness; it doesn’t go into our 30 years of endless bizarre inside jokes related to everything from mustelids to bad subtitles.

Because: “white”, “Jewish”, and “Native American” aren’t personality words. You can ask me what kind of interaction I’d like to see from a high-strung overachieving woman and a happy-go-lucky Manic Pixie Dream Girl, and I’ll tell you I’d want fluffy f/f romance. Someone else might want conflict ultimately resolving in friendship. A third person might want them slowly getting on each other’s nerves more and more until one becomes a supervillain and the other must thwart her. But the same question about a cultural demographic? That told me nothing about the people involved.

Also, the first time I meet a new person from a very different culture, it might take weeks before discussion of our specific cultural differences comes up. As a consequence, my first deep conversations with a Costa Rican American gentile friend were not about Costa Rica or my Jewishness but about things we had in common: classical music and coping with breakups--which are obviously conversations I could have had if we were both Jewish, both Costa Rican gentiles, or both something else. So in other words, I’m having trouble seeing how knowing so little about these characters is supposed to give me something to want to see on the page.

Thank you for understanding.

(And yes, I agree with Lesya, what’s with this trend of people trying to explain their fandom in a roundabout way instead of mentioning it by name? It makes it harder to give meaningful help….)

--Shira

[atheistforhumanity]

Bigotry Being Sold to Black Communities

Recently I was discussing bigotry in the black community with a friend, who is a gay black man. He told me about a very popular character named Dr. Umar Johnson and how many people in the community are getting anti-LGBTQ propaganda from him. My interest was peaked, so I did a little research.

Who is Dr. Umar Johnson and What Does He Believe?

Umar Johnson is a popular speaker and figure in the black community best known for speaking out against the racist and unfair treatment that black children receive in our public schools. Specifically, this includes giving black kids more punishments, harsher punishments, over medicating black children, putting them in special education classes for behavior issues. This is a very real cause that deserves a lot of attention. However, Dr. Johnson is also extremely against homosexuality and interracial dating/marriage. As you might be able to guess, his reasonings are less than credible.

The "dr." in Johnson's name comes from his doctorate in psychology. That sounds very impressive, but there a couple things you should keep in mind if you listen to him. The first is that his degree was received from an osteopathic school of medicine. While these schools now require the same standards as an M.D., the concept of osteopathic medicine is born from 100% quack pseudoscience. Most medical universities do not offer this type of medical degree. Personally, this makes me highly skeptical of the quality of his education. Furthermore, in 2018 around the height of his popularity, the state caught him working as a school psychologist without having the state licenses to practice counseling or psychology.

Additionally, his fundraising efforts have been highly scrutinized for lacking transparency and in a case in 2014, lacking 501(c)(3) status to be a real non-profit.

Lastly, Dr. Johnson is connected to the Hotep movement. If you're not familiar with this, it is essentially a conservative black nationalist movement. So that is Dr. Johnson.

The Quackery of His Beliefs

In this video, Dr. Johnson discusses homosexuality in black communities. His primary point against homosexuality is that no past African cultures condoned the practice, therefore Africans should not practice it. He has also described homosexuality as "a cancer" on the black community and a tool to destroy the black race. He also incorrectly claims that before white people to Africa that Africans lived in a virtual paradise like Eden from the Bible. I took ancient African history in college and the continent was no different than any other. Monarchies ruled over subjects, nations warred, slaves were kept, greed ran rampant by those in power. These beliefs are connected to his Hotep political beliefs. In believing that Africa was once a egalitarian paradise that had things right, he reasons that homosexuality must be rejected.

In the video linked above, he claims that he doesn't need to pay attention to any of the many studies done that show homosexuality is a genetic trait, because his own experience tells him that it's not. For anyone who has been to college for virtually anything, one of the first things you should have learned is that our personal experience is to narrow to judge large issues of humanity. White racists make this exact claim all the time when it comes to equality between races. They reject the many studies that prove that people of races, in equal conditions, exhibit equal intelligence. They say their experience tells them different. For someone who holds a doctorate in psychology, this is a shockingly anti-clinical view. Keep in mind, I just wrote an article recently about how the Left wing went crazy in the 60's and 70's believing in magical thinking. The baby boomer hippies were highly influenced by people similar to Dr. Johnson who were in academia, but went directly against the methodology and research of their own fields. He claims that there is a huge debate in psychology around whether sexuality is innate or learned, but that's not true anymore. That debate has been over for a long time. This is the same way that quacks, including Johnson, believe that there is a debate over whether homosexuality is a mental illness. There is no debate, that's been over for a long time.

After watching several videos of Dr. Johnson, I have not heard him actually a give a reason why homosexuality is wrong. He doesn't seem to have anything to say about what harm is causes or why it's bad for black communities, besides his misguided idea that homosexuality will prevent black people from reproducing. However, you can see in this graph...

All groups except Asians have higher birth rates than white people. White racists are simultaneously claiming that POC are breeding like rabbits in a conspiracy to overthrow America and destroy white people. These same bigots have also been claiming that homosexuality is destroying our birthrate, but homosexuality exists in all of humanity and our world wide population keeps DOUBLING. Homosexuality has no negative effect on population and never has.

Dr. Johnson is also against interracial relationships. This again comes from his Hotep black nationalist politics, which mirrors white nationalists beliefs. Both groups believe that to mix genes is to weaken the bloodline (respectively). In this video, he goes off about interracial relationships. His primary concerns seem to be that 1) the African bloodline will be weakened and 2) that mixed babies will have identity issues. His big example of the danger of mixed babies is a pro tennis player who is both Hattian and Japanese, and she's representing Japan instead of Haiti, even though she clearly identifies as a black woman. He apparently thinks that someone could not love and celebrate two cultures in their identity, and seems offended at the idea that any attention would be given a part of someone instead of their blackness. This is an exact mirror of white racists.

Having been in many interracial relationships in my life, I am accustom to this attitude coming all colors of people, not just white. However, I never find it any less offensive and absurd. The belief that we should separate ourselves based on the color of our skin is literally the core idea of the Nazi eugenics programs. More importantly, any separation by skin color is a denial of the absolute FACT that we are all human beings and have no genetic difference deeper than our skin tone, and that difference is remarkably shallow. Any separation based on "race" opens the door to beliefs about superiority and inferiority, as can be seen with his claims that Africa was once a paradise before inferior white barbarians came to destroy them. This dynamic he pushes is literally the same narrative that colonial slavers used just in reverse. Any thinking that denies our common humanity, our shared assets and flaws, is an outrageous belief that is destructive to all of society.

Conclusion

To anyone who follows Dr. Johnson, I invite you to send in questions or arguments of his on these subjects that you would like to hear challenged. I am fully prepared to debunk his thoughts on homosexuality, race-relations, and nationalism in greater detail for any sincere and curious reader.

[fidespeaks]

About Fides: An Introduction

Hello, my name is Fides!  It’s very nice to meet you and, however you’ve fond your way onto this blog, I’m happy that you have.  In this post, I hope to cover a few important things before getting started with the meat and potatoes of this blog: namely I’d like to introduce myself and, in the name of transparency, give you as many details about myself and my background as possible while still maintaining relative anonymity.  Some things have been left intentionally vague (i mean. kinda LOL), this is to protect myself.  I hope you’ll understand. 

SO!  Let’s start with the basics...

My name is Fides.  I am in my late twenties and the only information I’ll give regarding my location is that I am currently in the PST timezone and I live on the American west coast.  I currently work as a retail associate, but I have experience in food service & professional animal care as well.  I am currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in forensic psychology with a minor in philosophy.  I have an avid interest in clinical psychology, criminology / behavioral analysis, social psychology, sociology, anthropology, political sciences, race relations, gender studies, and a lot of other stuff that I spend the majority of my time studying (reading books on the subjects, listening to podcasts, ect).  I have been roleplaying on this hellsite since 2010 and I have seen my share of bullshit, believe me.

As far as gender goes, I an AFAB genderfluid enby.  I prefer they/them pronouns, but I won’t be miffed over she/her or he/him or anything else that you would like to (respectfully) refer to me as.  I don’t mind gendered slang (queen, king, dude, girl, babe, boss bitch, etc) but I ask that you not refer to me as any derogatory sexual terminology typically associated with women (slut, hoe, thot, skank, etc).  I have been out as nonbinary for a little more than a year but have been actively surrounded by enby friends for over a decade.  

Sexuality / orientation wise I am demisexual, biromantic, and polyamorous.  I have been identifying as bi since my early teens and am out to everyone in my life.  I often refer to myself as a lesbian because I am in a lesbian relationship (so if you have issues with enby lesbians, you’re just gonna have to leave or get over it).  I am married & my wife is a trans woman who has been out for a little less than a year and has a masters degree in post civil war reconstruction & the race relations of the time.  We have a child who is around three and told me this morning that their gender is “zombie”.  So... do with that as you will.

I am not neurotypical.  I was professionally diagnosed with ADHD sometime in kindergarten and I have spent long periods of my life both medicated and unmedicated (I am currently medicated).  I also have been diagnosed with C-PTSD and am currently undergoing EMDR treatment with a licensed therapist.  I am a CSA survivor & I display a good number of the symptoms of BPD although I haven’t been officially diagnosed with it.  

As stated above, I am American.  My mother’s side of the family is white as fuck my father’s side of the family is latinx & native american.  I am extremely white passing and was raised by my conservative christian mother & step-father, so while I do consider myself of color, I also am hyper aware of the fact that to the outside world I always have been and always will be white as fuck.  I try to use this to the best of my abilities to fight against racism and implicit bias when I see it and am, as I said, fully aware of my privilege. I will always concede to BIPOC when it comes to matters of race, but I also do not pretend that that voice and group are a monolith and I always do my best to make sure I have collected a multitude of opinions regarding a subject before formulating my own.  Plus, I think that white saviorism is one of the worst behaviors any sort of leftist or progressive white or white passing person can engage in and part of this blog (as you will see) will def touch upon that.  

Uh... what else?  I consider myself pretty far left.  I grew up christian (lutheran) and am now some weird flavor of agnostic existentialist.  I believe that capitalism is cultivating a hellish apocalyptic landscape and needs to be stopped at all costs (I’m a socialist ig lol).  I think that everyone suffers from implicit biases that cause them to act poorly and while they need to be educated the way that we do it currently in the rpc and the community at large are disgusting, counter productive, largely a waste of time, and extremely unhealthy.  I dislike both antishippers and proshippers equally and.... uh. 

That pretty much lays out most of my background and both my privileges and lack thereof.  Next time (ON DRAGON BALL Z) I will think I’m gonna talk about and discuss privilege and ladders of it and how it stacks and the like because I think that’s pretty important to why I made this post beyond just introducing myself.  Or... first I’m going to make a post about what I kind of want to do with this blog and why I’ve made it and THEN I’ll start talking about the interesting stuff to lay the groundwork for what I really want to do and talk about here so...

Thank you to everyone who basically read this really boring summary of myself and my life!  I look forward to talking more with y’all. <3

[crabbbage]

hi! how r u? i hope u r hving a good rest of ur day.

im sky i dont think we hv ever actually interacted before.

so i had a question and its completely okay if u dont wanna answer it and im sorry if its offensive in anyway thats really not my intentions.

but im working on a bunch of videos and i was planning on puting subtitles for them in the videos themselves so its always there and easier to access and ive been doing research about whats the best font, color, size, etc. for subtitles. but since you hv said before that u usually use subtitles i thought its best to ask for some firsthand advice on the matter.

could u plz if u can give me some advice o the best ways to do subtitles or direct me ithe direction of posts/articles that u agree on? its okay if u dont wanna since its not ur job to educate ppl about this or anything so no pressure.

thank u for reading!

i don’t mind, but note i’m actually hearing, i just have pretty bad processing issues, and i read very fast. so i’m pretty good at accepting all subtitles; it’s pretty hard to go wrong for me personally, therefore i might not be the best person to ask

the best things i can think of are

1) font legibility (any standard font should be legible enough, you don’t need basic ariel all the time but don’t do anything too fancy)- also, most subtitles i’ve seen are bolded

2) color legibility

subtitles will (presumably) be over a changing background so they have to contrast properly with everything.

the most commonly accepted way to do this is either white subtitles with black bubble outline, which a lot of youtubers (mark included) use, or white text on a black bar, which most professional fully captioned services use like tv (youtube and netflix the bar is slightly transparent)

3) block size- try not to chop up sentences too much. if you’re doing custom captioning, cutting the text on screen along natural pauses in the audio (i.e. ‘hello everyone | welcome to class today!’ over ‘hello everyone welcome | to class today!’) this is the main advantage of custom timed captions over stuff like auto captioning. jokes tend to be split before the punchline

4) content- the biggest thing that annoys me is content spoken not matching content captioned. that’s the whole point!

again, i am hearing, so usually i notice when this happens and i don’t exactly know why it pisses me off so much? like, they’re there to tell me what the audio says. don’t put other information in the captions. don’t take out mistakes. i don’t know if this bugs people who don’t follow audio/captions at the same time as much, but it completely throws me off. ways you can avoid this:

swearing: youtube’s being stupid and won’t let you transcribe swears exactly; i know this is a problem on tiktok too. ‘f___k’ or ‘f[__]k’ seems to be the ‘professional’ way to do this, and is fine with enough context. but on tiktok ive seen stuff like le3b1@n and on youtube people spell things phonetically like ‘phuking’ and while the situation in general isn’t great, i’m personally fine with any of those.

mistakes: you don’t always need to transcribe stutters and fillers like ‘uh’, i prefer them but it’s not a big deal when they’re not there and i know preference varies among people, but mistakes like accidentally repeating half a sentence or saying the wrong word you should include. again, it’s information about the audio, not what you would LIKE the audio to be.

extra information: i have no problem with more information on the screen, i’m one of those people that WILL scrub frames if something passes too fast to read it, just don’t put it in the subtitles, put it in the corner or middle of the screen or something. people on tiktok do this all the time it annoys me so much

in-jokes: if you’re captioning your own videos i doubt this is an issue but the little ‘(uwu theyre so cute)’ that appears in youtube captions is annoying as fuck

other: uhh if there’s something that can’t be captioned, like mumbling you cant make out or some sound that’s not speech, the professional way is [unintelligible] [motorcycle passes by] or [loud noise] but stuff like [‘speaker’ noises] [angry mumbling] [excited sounds] [horrific screeching noise] can be much more descriptive and give actual information.

brackets are used to show that what is being written isnt being said, but a description of the audio. these ARE actual information that’s important (to your discretion, if a chair speaks it doesn’t need to be captioned but if a chair squeaks extremely loudly or someone on screen reacts than it does. use your best judgement to what sounds hearing viewers are actually noticing)

that’s about it! i’m sure tv guides for captioning on their channels exist if you want professional sizing advice and things, but don’t sweat it, almost any captions are better than no captions! people will appreciate your effort regardless

[beetlemancy]

Anon again: Thank you!! I appreciate you taking the time to answer me because I am kind of active in the community but very very new. I did know your opinions but being new I just wanted to know whether those recent posts held any weight. I want to be socially responsible with my media consumption and I was worried there was something I was missing, given I have seen specific call outs for certain cast members (Travis, Laura, Sam, and Liam) recently. Thanks again!!

Anon pt2: you don’t have to post this but for context the call out posts were as follows: Travis actively supports the military, Laura voiced a black character?, Sam did brown face??, and Liam is fake woke/virtual signaling (or something along those lines). Obviously I can find out information about this for myself but I have seen more anti-CR stuff lately which prompted my ask.

As with everything, I suggest you do your own reading on those topics, and any topic that comes up in regards to the media you watch. Below is simply my opinion. Note: this gets long.

Travis does support the military - but not as an institution. He has family in the military. He supports the soldiers. He works with Operation Supply Drop and I’d encourage you to look into OSD specifically. Whether you agree with the idea that we should even have a military or not, you cannot deny that our veterans and soldiers are given the short end of the stick. We cannot just abandon them because helping them might be viewed as giving money to the military. I have so many military vets in my disability groups. The VA is awful because it has no funding (I know good people who work at the VA too, but they just cannot help everyone like they’d want to). Programs like OSD are genuinely helpful to a lot of hurting folk and the people who shit on Travis and CR for promoting and helping them out have clearly never actually sat down and talked to a vet or a soldier before. 

Laura and many many other voice actors have voiced people of color in various shows. Yes, this is a legit problem. However, obviously as with most things, the problem is nuanced. The fault mainly lies with the VO industry as a whole, in that actors actually have very little control over what they do. There was a whole strike about this very topic (though the strike covered other issues in the industry as well). In the case of Laura, for instance, she was never told what her character would look like until after the fact. And that is super common in the industry. One of the things they tried to get in the strike was more transparency so that actors could make the decisions themselves whether to voice characters or not - not just based on race or culture but also based on type of work (stressful screaming vs chill dialogue) and whether the content of the game itself was something they wanted their name attached to. 

Sam’s blackface scandal is extremely old news. That’s not to say it isn’t important to note, and in fact Sam made a point to note it again back in 2018. I know people who can’t watch CR because of it, even after his apology, and that’s fine because its not my place to judge others for how they react to that kind of thing. However I know a lot of people who read his apology and the circumstances surrounding it and decided to forgive. To some people, the fact that he was asked to do so by will.i.am changes the situation. To others, it doesn’t. To some the fact that he apologized and has clearly worked to improve his behavior matters, to others it doesn’t. You have to decide that for yourself. You can read Sam’s letter HERE. 

Now. Regarding Liam. * sigh * I think, and again this is my opinion, that you cannot proclaim someone you do not know as ‘fake woke.’ I think there are parts of this fandom that have it out for Liam because of a whole bunch of gross reasons, many of which I’ve spoken about before. He is sensitive and a man - that makes people uncomfy. He plays a lot of women characters and tends to embody them in both personality and body language - that makes people uncomfy. He fully embraces the bi energy (this is not to say whether he himself is or not) - that makes a lot of people uncomfy (and angry). He loves theatre and loves to explore the human condition, warts and all - that makes people super uncomfy. Now. There are people who thinks he’s homophobic. Do you know why? Its because his bi character ended up with a woman instead of a man. That is biphobia, no matter how they twist it. Bi people being “allowed” to be bi and not ‘pick the right side’ in the LG (not BT, lets be real) community IS revolutionary because its so very hated. 

Another reason they say he’s homophobic is because of the jokes he is often involved in - some gay men in the fandom believe that joking about sex is him ‘making fun’ of gay relationships. As a bi enby, I disagree, and I read many of the jokes he himself makes as the kind of humor I use among my own friends. I think there is a definite disconnect between bi vs LG humor and I’m not entirely sure who would be considered in the ‘right’ on that. However, when LG people in the fandom claim that he cannot talk about gay relationships because he is cishet? They cannot know that. That is an assumption they are making. When LG fans say that he alone is responsible for this issue and not -literally every single member of CR- ? I have to question whether its really the issue and not just that they still hate Liam for deigning to make a bi character bi instead of gay.

Another thing re: Liam. Aside from Marisha, he is the one I see the most hate about. People on Twitter and Tumblr both have legit uttered death threats about him if he doesn’t do exactly what they want his characters to do in the game. Usually this is about shipping. I have seen people claim that they WISH he was ‘like vic mignogna’ so they’d have a reason to hate him more. I’ve seen a certain group of people and one in particular say they have ‘dirt’ on him but refuse to say what the dirt is - and yet continually bring up that it exists, but that they just cannot say. Why would you incessantly bring up information you possess just to say that you cannot divulge such information? 

Legit issues about CR that is attached to Liam is the whitewashing issue. Some say that only Liam is responsible here because he controls all the art. I would say that we actually don’t know that for sure. He is ‘Art Dad’ and clearly has some pull. I do think that CR should address this issue, but I’m not sure they can legally do what the fandom wants them to do, which is “call-out” artists by name and denounce them. Now, this too is more nuanced than the fandom makes out because its often way more about colorism vs whitewashing. Many people do not draw Beau as white, but they do draw her as much lighter skin tones than her original art. Colorism is a real problem, but white allies tend to go about talking about it wrong or making smaller things a bigger deal when POC would really rather talk about something more important to them. It was these same white allies that tore Mica Burton apart on Twitter because she liked and enjoyed a drawing of Reani, her own character, that was a few shades lighter than the drawing she herself had brought in, even after she had said that she appreciated the variety of skin tones due to seeing herself in each of them. On the topic of whitewashing/colorism in the fandom, I personally tend to wait to hear from POC over the masses of white allies.

The CR fandom is very big for a niche thing like DnD. As such, there are many many corners of the fandom that can get really jaded, really dark, and really up their own ass in regards to the discourse. There are legitimate issues in the fandom and with CR as a whole. Nothing is perfect, nothing ever will be perfect, and people should absolutely do what they can to do better and to ask their media to do better. That being said, there are also people who think that if you don’t do something exactly like they want, then you’re Problematic by default. There are also members of this fandom who have an active vendetta against certain cast members and will use any opportunity to co-opt legit issues in order to shore up their false arguments. These people are only using the real issues and it becomes clear pretty quickly that they don’t actually give a shit about the people they say they are trying to speak up for. 

There is also some fandom drama that has occurred ONLY in fandom and has absolutely nothing to do with CR other than the fact that the people involved happen to be CR fans. Certain people in the fandom think that CR should arbitrate this issue and involve themselves, call out the individuals responsible, etc. This is, I believe, a GROSS misconception of what CR’s role is and asking way too much of a source of entertainment. The fact that CR has not involved themselves in this issue has led certain members of this fandom to claim that CR is homophobic. I would caution that most callouts of CR as homophobic are directly linked to this first issue, and also a callback to the Vaxleth drama from campaign one, and is incontrovertibly tied to bi and enby-phobia and a seriously sick misunderstanding of the responsibilities a show has versus the responsibility individuals have as viewers of said show. 

That’s it for now. I could go way more in depth on this problems, but I’m tired of typing. Suffice it to say, its easy to make a list of things Problematic with CR, but once you actually delve into each topic hopefully you’ll realize how complicated and filled with nuance and Different Opinions going on back from the first episode of Campaign One... Listing problems without actually addressing them head-on isn’t a good way to deal with the problems that are true anyway, let alone tell them from the false ones. 

[wisdomrays]

TAFAKKUR: Part 404

SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES: A NOVEL PERSPECTIVE: Part 2

TEFLON

From non-stick frying pans to space suits to artificial heart valves, Teflon has found several areas of application. Its discovery resulted from an apparently ‘accidental’ observation by a young chemist, R. Plunket, working in Du Pont laboratories. On April 6, 1938, Plunket opened a tank of gaseous tetrafluoerothylene in the hope of preparing a non-toxic refrigerant from it, but no gas came out, to the surprise of Plunkett and his assistant. Plunkett could not understand this because the weight of the tank indicated that it should be full of the gaseous fluorocarbon.

Instead of discarding the tank and getting another in order to get on with his refrigerant research, Plunkett decided to satisfy his curiosity about the ‘empty tank’. Having determined that the valve was not faulty by running a wire through its opening, he sawed the tank open and looked inside. There he found a waxy white powder and, being a chemist, he realized what it must mean.

The molecules of the gaseous tetrafluoroethylene had combined with one another ‘polymerized’ to such an extent that they now formed a solid material. The waxy white powder did indeed have remarkable properties: it was more inert than sand - not affected by strong acids, bases or heat and no solvent could dissolve it - but, in contrast to sand, it was extremely slippery.

X (ROENTGEN) RAYS

Physicist W. Roentgen discovered the rays which were later to be named after him, in an unexpected and unplanned manner. Roentgen was repeating experiments by other physicists in which electricity at high voltage was discharged through air or other gases in a partially evacuated glass tube. We now know that cathode rays are actually streams of electrons being emitted from the cathode, and the impact of these electrons on the walls of the glass tubes produces the phosphorescence.

In 1892, it was demonstrated that cathode rays could penetrate thin metallic foils. Discharge tubes having thin aluminium windows allowed the cathode rays to pass out of the tube where they could be detected by the light they produced on a screen of phosphorescent material (such screens were also used to detect ultraviolet light), but they were found to travel only two or three centimetres in the air at ordinary pressure outside the evacuated tube.

Roentgen repeated some of these experiments to familiarize himself with the techniques. He then decided to see whether he could detect cathode rays issuing from an evacuated all-glass tube, that is, one with no thin aliminium window. Na one had observed cathode rays under these conditions. Roentgen thought the reason for the failure might be that strong phosphorescence of the cathode tube obscured the weak fluorescence of the detecting screen. To test this theory, he devised a black cardboard cover for the cathode tube. To determine the effectiveness of the shield, he then darkened the room and turned on the high voltage coil to energize the tube. Satisfied that his black shield did indeed cover the tube and allowed no phosphorescent light to escape, he was about to shut off the coil and turn on the room lights so that he could position the phosphorescent screen at varying short distances from the vacuum tube:

Just at that moment, he noticed a weak light shimmering from a point in the dark room more than a yard from the vacuum tube. At first, he thought there must be, after all, a light leak from the black mask around the tube, which was being reflected from a mirror in the room. However, there was no mirror. When he passed another series of charges through the cathode tube, he saw the light appear in the same location again, looking like faint green clouds moving in synchronism with the fluctuating discharges of the cathode tube. Hurriedly lighting a match, Roentgen found to his amazement that the source of the mysterious light was the little fluorescent screen that he had planned to use as a detector near the blinded cathode tube, but it was lying on the bench more than a yard from the tube.

Roentgen realized immediately that he had encountered an entirely new phenomenon. These were not cathode rays that lit up the fluorescent screen more than a yard from the tube! With feverish activity, he devoted himself single-mindedly in the next several weeks to exploring this new form of radiation. He reported his findings in a paper published in Wunburg, dated December 28, 1895, and entitled ‘A New Kind of Ray, a Preliminary Communication’. Although he described accurately most of the basic qualitative properties of the new rays in this paper, his acknowledgement that he did not yet fully understand them was indicated by the name he chose for them, X-rays. (They have also often been called Roentgen rays.)

He reported that the new rays were not affected by a magnet, as cathode rays were known to be. Not only would they penetrate more than a yard of air, in contrast to the two or three inch limit of cathode rays, but also (to quote his paper):

‘All bodies are transparent to this agent, though in very different degrees. Paper is very transparent; behind a bound book of about one thousand pages I saw the fluorescent screen light up brightly. In the same way the fluorescence appeared behind a double pack of cards. Thick blocks of wood are also transparent, pine boards two or three centimetres thick absorbing only slightly. A plate of aluminium about fifteen millimetres thick, though it enfeebled the action seriously, did not cause the fluorescence to disappear entirely. If the hand be held between the discharge tube and the screen, the darker shadow of the bones is seen within the slightly dark shadow image of the hand itself.’

He found that he could even record such skeletal images on photographic film. This property of X-rays captured the attention of the medical world immediately. In an incredibly short time X-rays were used routinely for diagnosis in hospitals throughout the world.

INSULIN

If a relative or a friend of yours has diabetes, you will probably know how important insulin is for them. As a partial remedy for most diabetics today, insulin was discovered as an answer to the prayers of hundreds of thousands of diabetics by the Most Merciful One. Perhaps, even better relief and remedy are awaiting discovery in some unexpected time or place.

In 1889, while studying the function of the pancreas in digestion, two researchers removed the pancreas from a dog. The very next day a laboratory assistant called their attention to a swarm of flies around the urine from this dog. Curious about why the flies were attracted to the urine, they analysed it and found it was loaded with sugar. Sugar in urine is a common sign of diabetes.

The researchers realized that they were seeing for the first time evidence of the experimental production of diabetes in an animal. The fact that this animal had no pancreas suggested a relationship between that organ and diabetes. The researchers subsequently proved that the pancreas produces a secretion that controls the use of sugar, and that lack of this secretion causes defects in sugar metabolism then exhibited as symptoms of diabetes.

Many attempts were made to isolate the secretion, with little success until 1921. A young Canadian medical student extracted the secretion from the pancreas of dogs. When they injected the extracts into dogs rendered diabetic by removal of their pancreases, the blood sugar levels of these dogs returned to normal or below, and the urine became sugar-free. The general condition of the dogs also improved.

Until recently, all insulin used for the treatment of human diabetes came from the pancreases of some animals. As a result of genetic engineering, based on knowing how DNA controls protein synthesis, a major pharmaceutical firm has begun to produce human insulin by using bacteria. The fact that a microscopic creature, like the bacterium can be made to work for the wellbeing of human beings is a subject worthy of study on its own.

Of course, these are by no means the only examples worth mentioning of ‘happy, chance discoveries’. Here are some more to add to the list: the discovery of molecular structure of organic compounds, saccharin and nutra-sweet (sugar substitutes, again for diabetics), ‘safety glass used in automobiles and planes, oxygen and several other chemical elements, radioactivity, astronomical discoveries like pulsars and background Big Bang radiation, many mathematical theorems, high temperature superconductors, synthetic dyes, etc., etc.

Can one really call all of these marvellous discoveries simply ‘happy, chance accidents’? I believe human conscience and reason must resist such a misconception. Surely, any person of common sense would say: ‘I am thankful to the Merciful One, who has bestowed upon us the favour of these discoveries, enabled us to benefit from them, among His innumerable other bounties’.

[blueskittlesart]

Can you walk us through the prossess you go through when drawing backgrounds?

yes but i talk too much all the time so click the readmore if u want bad advice :)

hmm im not entirely sure that im the best person to go to for advice on this lol. i consider myself a character artist first and foremost, hence why a lot of my art doesn’t have real backgrounds. 

when i draw backgrounds, i’m always thinking mostly about how they affect the character, who is usually the focal point of the drawing in my case. how am i planning to light the character? would this lighting make sense with my background, or do i have to adjust it to allow for the affect i’m going for? I also try to think about composition, which usually involves arranging the background so it leads the viewer’s eye to the focal point of the drawing. a lot of this comes naturally to me now, but if you’re having trouble with background composition i would recommend reading up on the elements of composition. i had them drilled into me in 8th grade and my art is definitely better because of it!

when i sketch out backgrounds, they are usually only gestural lines to give me the idea of the space. where the character needs to be fully rendered to be recognizable, i can easily fill in details that aren’t in my sketch with color later, and since the background is usually secondary to the character anyway I don’t need to go into as much detail with it. i don’t have any examples at the moment because i usually delete my sai files to save space once theyre finished, but hopefully you get the idea. after that it’s just a matter of defining the space with color. I work very sequentially which every art teacher in the world will tell you is Wrong And Bad, so don’t take this as the best way to do things in any way, but i usually fully color my backgrounds before moving on to the character on top of them. this tends to help me because with the background fully rendered i can see how light and shadows would fall on the characters more easily, but some people find it easier to block in flat colors and then shadows for the whole drawing at once. 

like i said, i rely on color a lot to make my backgrounds look less like messes. I usually use a LOT of references for both color and light, because coming up with pleasing color schemes is not really something i can do on my own yet lol. I also abuse the hell out of sai’s filter tools to adjust the color until it meets my qualifications. once i have the whole drawing colored, I adjust the colors of the lines with clipping groups so that they seem more seamless with the background. at this stage, i usually merge all my layers, which is a bad habit i picked up when i was first doing digital art and my shitty pc couldn’t run with a sai file open that had more than 5 layers. you really don’t need to merge all your layers. then i choose what i call the Extreme Highlight Color, usually white or a very light yellow or blue, and, using the same brush i used to sketch, I add a few especially bright hard highlight lines over my soft shading. if there’s anything I want to highlight in the drawing at this point that isn’t standing out the way I want it to, I can use these highlights to draw the eye to it, because they’re the lightest color in the drawing so they’re what the viewer will be inclined to focus on. the extreme highlights can also be used to seperate background elements that are blurring together, etc. 

the final step for me is to overlay! i choose my light color, almost always yellow but occasionally a blue or pink. always very light and not super saturated. on a new layer, I create a gradient from whichever direction the light is coming from in the drawing and fade the light color out to transparency. then i go to the layer’s mode and change it to overlay, and adjust the color and opacity until i get the desired effect. I do the same from the shadowed edge of the drawing, but with a dark color, usually a blue or purple. That explanation barely made any sense so here’s my best image reenactment:

and that’s pretty much it! i realize this probably wasn’t super helpful but that’s how i do it lol

[thorcat]

LF-RP - Lyara Hagane

ᛃ THE BASICS ––– –– –

Occupation: Bow/Arrowmaker | Huntress

Hobbies: Reading, Cooking, People/Animal Watching, Drawing

Race: Au ra | Mixed (Raen/Xaela)

Sexuality: Straight

Relationship Status: Single

Languages: Common, Hingan, Xaelic

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Color-Wheel: Red - Orange - Black

ᛃ PERSONAL ––– –– –

Residence: Lavender Beds

Place of Work: Mostly in the shrouds, but also accepting missions further away from it

Birthplace: Othard

Fears: Violent Tribes aka. Buduga/Dotharl, Crowded places

ᛃ APPEARANCE ––– –– –

Height: 4′9ft.

Build: Curvy

Age: 24

Gender: Female

Skin tone: Tanned

Eye color: Deep red (left) , Soft pink (Right)

Hair color: Jet Black with Stained Copper Streaks

Distinguishing Marks: Black scales growing along her white ones at arm, leg and tail area

Common Accessories: A Bow, handful self made arrows, dagger, some snacks like dried meat

ᛃ BODY LANGUAGE ––– –– –

Walk: Slow, clumsy, unsure | Stable, fast and steady during fights/Hunts

Voice: Soft, gentle, stuttering | Clear, Sharp and loud in fight/hunting

Tics or Mannerisms: She tends to grab her own tail alot to gentle knead it while having conversation. Holding onto anything gives her some sort of safety. When a chat gets embarrassing for her, she will avoid eye contact and try to distract with random objects

Smell: Fresh craved wood, Tea, sometimes ink

Posture: Tensed, rarely relaxed

Disabilities: None

ᛃ PERSONALITY TRAITS ––– –– –

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between / Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured

Loyal / In Between / Disloyal

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

Addictive / In Between / Nonaddictive

ᛃ RP HOOKS ––– –– –

Hunting Partners: As shy as she is, she always seeks out a partner to go together on a job. It makes everything easier and she gladly shares the prey

Drawing: She is drawing ICly alot. Animals/People/Scales..she tends to seek out people with special sort of fur pattern or scales to draw them down and find some sort of connection like a wannabe detective

Cooking: One of the things she loves to do. Since she rarely left her apartment in the past, she learned a wide variation of meals and tea to prepare them for people.

Tribal Xaela: Since she is half one, it’s interesting to learn more about them. She never fully understood her own tribe and tries to simply write down everything while, again, drawing scales

ᛃ About the Woman ––– –– –

Lyara was born in the dotharl tribe out in the steppes. Her mother was a raen and the reason why the woman was allowed near that rather heavy religious type is unknown. At some point, said woman had some more deeper interactions and the mixed girl was soon born. The girl got taught the xaelic and hingan language and left the, for her, strange place, to find a home in the shrouds. Rumors said that she was not font of the the way her scales grew. That the colors made her feel out of place and she rather have interactions with some who didn’t had scales at all then her own -tribe-. Thankfully some of the wildwood elezen took the woman to their place and taught her a more professional handling of bow and arrow. She still takes jobs from the Archer’s guild to keep the shrouds save. Today she own a small little place in a teashop and makes bows and arrows on request. Of course any sort of hunting job is welcome, as long as she can keep some parts of fur, claws and/or fangs.

ᛃ LOOKING FOR ––– –– –

Hunting RP/Partners: Hunting alone is dangerous and boring. Why not asking to join and share. Or even better..bring a mission and she will follow to simply help out.

Clients: She gladly will make your own personal bow or ammunition to make your hunting go smooth

Conflict: Poachers are interesting with stepping up and trying to yank away the prey she got.

People with different weapons: As much as she loves the traditional way of going out and seeking out her target, she is extremely curious in nature. She is always willed to give a try in different weapons or even magic.

ᛃ ABOUT THE MUN ––– –– –

Who I am: A Transparent Gecko, to licks microphones and eats coffee beans (34 years old mun, who shitposts alot and makes memes, to try making some ppl smile :p)

Server: Balmung, Crystal Datacenter

Time Zone: CEST European time Zone (Germany)

Availability: When i am online, since i work in shifts | Discord

Writing Style: Varies. I am trying to adapt to people and overwhelm them with too much text

Platforms: In Game and In Discord. On tumblr it’s more -what if- situations

ᛃ Restrictions ––– –– –

Generally not up to gore/maiming/killing (people), especially so when not brought up beforehand.

As much as i love writing smut, i want to know the muse a little more, before engaging in any nsfw content

No Erotic or Romantic themes if you or your character are under-age or just SEEM immature.

Even less Erotic themes if you are a lalafell. It’s a no.

Contact: Direct Messages on Tumblr or discord Thorcatte#6253

@mooglemeet , @ffxiv-crystal-rp​ , @crystalxivrp​

[novantinuum]

Who got offended over your post? It was just about actually analyzing the show? I swear nearly everyone on this website is dumb and has a mental breakdown over anyone having a slightly different opinion than themself (and over animated characters too?)

Oh yeah sorry for the mental breakdown on my part lmao

Jerk reactions and all. It seems I am just as unhealthily impulsive as Steven and could stand to learn a few things about myself while going “noooo Steven don’t do that” all the time ahahah.

Honestly. I’m going to be blunt and transparent here. I can’t help anything if people are upset about opinions I write, and I have to live with that now. *shrugs.* This show is now extremely divisive with fans and that’s just how things are. Can’t make everyone happy, I suppose.

I will try my best to like. Have a brain cell when I discuss things about Steven Universe. But in the future, I hope people can understand… that no one is perfect? There’s no perfect meta. There’s no perfect opinion, or phrasing. There’s no way to be 100% “unproblematic at all sides” in fandom. I often feel like it’s my duty to be, but that is impossible. For anyone. Fiction is complicated. It’s messy, and makes us feel all these strong emotions, and I understand that when people online discuss viewpoints that differ from one’s own that things can easily seem like personal attacks. But I gently ask that people please ask OP to clarify what they mean if they’re unsure about the meaning of something they’ve spoken on? It’s very, very possible that a lot of these things are outright just misunderstandings, or poor phrasing on the part of OP. We’re all human. We all make mistakes.

When I was answering the anon question asking my opinion on the fandom discourse about whether or not the episode Fragments destroyed Steven as a character altogether, please realize that I was not intending to make a statement about people who are simply… unhappy with this episode as a plot direction. This post was not aimed at you. I understand your reasons for not liking it, while I may not personally agree with them myself. 

This post was instead my response to comments I’ve seen on Tumblr and Twitter about how people think this episode was OOC for Steven entirely and makes him wholly irredeemable as a character. In my view, I think that sort of take is not respecting the complexity of what brought Steven to that point, and making it out to seem as if Steven actually INTENDED to shatter Jasper. From how I read the episode, it’s clear to me that what happened was 100% an accident. He was too caught up in the heat of the moment, and made a grave mistake. That is what I meant when I said that I considered this line of thinking black and white mentality, and not taking the time to appreciate the nuance. I was specifically thinking about the idea of how this sorta mentality can often bleed into “cancel culture” when I wrote this, and how I’ve seen people also ignore all of Rose/Pink’s fascinating character motivations in lieu of solely focusing on her mistakes. I just… god. I really don’t want to see people doing that with Steven too.

However, despite all of these things informing me as I mused over this ask, I was just a few minutes from leaving for work and as such I was cuttingly short in my response when I should’ve taken the time to fully explain my frame of thinking instead of leaving it vague. That’s 100% my mistake. Believe me, I’ll be over explaining myself from now on just to be careful.

And with that stated, I’m going to stick to reblogging other people’s content for a while. This has really shaken me to the core, this whole situation. I honestly don’t feel safe to speak my mind much anymore because of it. I’m genuinely sorry that things I said earlier made people feel betrayed or hurt. I’m sorry for the jerk-instinct way I reacted to all of this, to the people involved, and that I’m too much of a coward to say this face to face. But if you see this I also ask that you consider what I said here, and understand this wasn’t an attack on y’all whatsoever.

Thank you.

[viktcrr]

「maxence danet-fauvel & nonbinary」⇾ samuels, viktor, the senior radcliffe student’s records show that he/they are a capricorn and 24 years old. he/they are studying visual arts, living in noland and can be observant, ingenious, reticent & dependent. when i see him/them i am reminded of a sculptor’s hands clay-ridden, the insistent hum of tv static, and a crying preacher inside a dusty funeral home.  ⇽「james & 21 & est & they/them.」

hllo !!! i’m james n here’s one of my big idiot muses <3 he’s not actually dumb he’s :/ a bit evil. bt thts okay hes still <3 beloved <3 LKDSFHLSADLKGFSHLKD anyways!

TW DEATH, HEAVY GRIEF, OVERDOSE / DRUG ADDICTION, HOSPITALIZATION, HYPERSEXUALITY, RELIGION MENTIONS, MENTAL ILLNESS

aesthetic.

old tvs and their static, worn tapes, horror movie screams, spilled ink, a sculptor’s hands, clay-stained, chicken scratch handwriting, messy notes, messy hair, scoffs and eye-rolls, bruised knuckles, sore throats, funeral homes and a crying preacher, shattered ceramics, knife fights, high ledges, vertically-striped pants, red lights, the moon shrouded in clouds, cigarette butts, graveyards and half-empty wine bottles, sitting there for hours and talking to nothing, about nothing, a god complex, gold rings adorning both hands, barbwire baseball bats, having never played baseball in your life, deep eyebags and broken mirrors, a permanent chip on one’s shoulder, yearning, longing, wishing.

basic info.

full name: viktor phillip samuels

nickname(s): icky vicky :/

b.o.d. - jan 2nd

label(s): the black hole, the crepehanger, the impious, the opaque, the tempest, etc.

height: 6′1″

hometown: rochester, new york

sexuality: pansexual uwu

pinterest

stats

inspired by: beetlejuice (beetlejuice), sid (toy story), jack sparrow (pirates of the caribbean), francis wilkerson (malcolm in the middle), azula (avatar: the last airbender), vicky (the fairly oddparents), stu macher / billy loomis (scream), marshall lee (adventure time), bojack horseman (bojack horseman), any it’s always sunny character :/

biography.

born to mama and papa (preacher) samuels in rochester, new york - fifteen minutes after his twin sister, tatiana samuels. years later, rosa samuels joined the gang.

was an awkward, quiet kid growing up, he didn’t interact well with others and preferred being left alone to dig up worms and draw on the walls of their childhood home. the only exception was his twin, really.

as he got older he grew out of this, but instead became like … sort of an asshole? maybe to compensate for years of childhood awkwardness. he’s the sort of person who will bite the hand that feeds him & developed into a full time nuisance by middle school, unlike tatiana who was much more subtle about her conniving manners.

always has been a fan of ‘darker’ materials. grim & creepy morbid shit. probably the biggest tim burton fan, ever since he was a kid … not a good look for a preacher’s son, but he never really felt ‘in’ with the rest of his family to begin with. classic black sheep syndrome.

drew disturbing pictures as a kid that probably prompted one or two or five phone calls home to assure everything was fine.

just really had a knack for art at a young age, from drawing to painting to playing with clay. it’s always been his Thing and probably is the only thing he’s good at.

being twins with tatiana was hard. they were near opposite besides both being quite mean-spirited. tatiana handled being in public better, left a better image behind - but viktor had talent, more than she did. they loved each other deeply - y’know, those unbreakable twin bonds as cliche as it sounds - but found each other as competition for their parents’ attention. a rivalry for affection.

in high school is when viktor really started to act out. it started extreme, like losing his virginity in their church and vandalism around the neighborhoods. faked being possessed in the middle of sunday service & almost had an exorcism performed on him.

his only redeemable trait was like … just his sheer talent in the arts. was in a 3D art AP course and specialized in sculptures. he could pretty much create anything he wanted with enough dedication.

because he was the problem child, the one who deserved to be disciplined for all his antics, tatiana could sneak away and get away with whatever she wanted much easier. on the bright-side, for her, i guess.

not a very motivated person - wasn’t planning on going to college, much less going to radcliffe but his parents literally wrote & sent his college application for him because they weren’t going to house a deadbeat but had too much heart to kick him out onto the streets. cool!

he’s actually pretty smart but he just doesn’t apply himself. has a minor in english because he didn’t care for an extra course-load, but he’s good at writing & analyzing literature. is going to use it to write and illustrate his own series of children books with a style similar to tim burton’s. not for the kids, but because he likes to leave a trail of terror in whatever he does.

has been experimenting with himself since high school but college is where he really had started to crack down on himself. was out as pansexual & nonbinary by his sophomore year of college just … not to his parents, who don’t really need to know.

if you asked him if he believed in twins having a psychic connection with each other - he’d tell you he wouldn’t know. it felt believable at times, but sometimes he had no idea what was going on inside of tatiana’as head. on the other hand - viktor had always felt oddly transparent to her, like she knew all of his moves before he did. the only person who could predict him accurately.

( TW DEATH, GRIEF, OVERDOSE / HOSPITALIZATION BEYOND THIS POINT )

when tatiana disappeared, viktor knew something was up. it was a twist in his gut, pure instinct that something wasn’t right. and it wasn’t right - and when she was proclaimed missing, they couldn’t find her.

and when tatiana died - viktor knew. it felt wrong, something cut so severely in him he could pinpoint her death to the second. he didn’t know how, or why, but he knew it. knew it before anybody else had.

afterwards he went on a sort of bender. he’d begun to struggle with a mild drug addiction late senior year of high school / early college, but he was managing it up until this point.

his mental health had also sunk to an all-time low, when it’d never been great to begin with. (manic & depressive episodes. once fixated on a sculpting project for six months and then knocked it off the table and destroyed it as soon as he finished it for no apparent reason.)

tatiana’s body wasn’t found immediately, and when it was … viktor went off the rails. ended up overdosing & being hospitalized. spent six months in & out of psychiatric care after that.

came back to radcliffe to finish his senior year because … for the reasons above, he hadn’t been able to complete it. just wants to get his credits and get out of here.

is still dealing with a lot of trauma & grief, especially since the one year anniversary of tatiana’s death was this month (january) - causes him to spiral and be unpredictable in regards of his mental health. he stopped taking his medication, so. :/ some days are alright, other days are pretty bad.

UPDATE: now that summer’s come n go ... viktor hs been thru <3 a lot <3 recently. switched therapists (his :/ last one got her license revoked) & started new medications, went to a treatment center briefly ‘cos .. he wasn’t doing too well :/ bt now he’s back baybey! trying to be better n trying to be sober but ... :/

personality.

the human embodiment of a gremlin that was fed after midnight. a goblin, if you will. one of those cats with a narrow head and really big ears … that’s them!

a big horror & halloween enthusiast. loves the old campy horror movies & probably has an abundance of masks from different movies. dresses like a grimy millennial beetlejuice more than they should because they just … love those black & white vertical-striped pants.

can appreciate the lore & cryptids at radcliffe and likes to feed into the fear that surrounds them. is probably the cause of a few ‘anomalies’ and ‘paranormal sightings’ because they’re just … a jerk.

fashion alternates between e-boy (they would be tiktok famous if they were 17 & didn’t think that a majorly minor based app was weird.), millennial beetlejuice, and goth in a crop top & sweatpants. big fan of crop tops and a big fan of sweatpants.

they can be really fucking mean? petty, aggressive, a major instigator. will literally spit in your face for little to no reason, you could just look at them the wrong way. the kind of person who will stick their gum into someone else’s hair. other than that? they’re like … sort of okay. they’re not always mean, just a dick about 90% of the time lmao

like okay yeah they’ll call someone a stinky bitch for no reason except they feel like it and believes it. it’s fine, they’re fine, we’re fine.

despite the fact that they’re probably getting into a fight whenever, considers themself to be a lover and not a fighter but that’a primarily because they fuck a lot. uses it as a coping mechanism, like they’re this big fancy carnival show that’s like ‘come one, come all! fuck the dead girl’s twin brother!’ and it’s … a Lot. might have a problem with hypsersexuality but they’re not fully aware of it.

the preacher’s whore son, basically :)

pansexual & nonbinary, switches between he & they pronouns often and without a pattern, but they have such a fragile grip on their identity that you could call them ‘dog-faced bitch’ and they’d turn around like. sup.

vastly impulsive … like i said, they destroy their own creations for the fun of it. spends all teir money on useless shit, will cheat on someone because they feel like it & likes the thrill, screams into the night sky frequently like a cat in heat.

will also spend months creating useless shit for no reason too. spent six of them sculpting a hollowed out tree the size of them & then took a sledgehammer to it.

they’re very super dramatic. would play the organ at church when nobody was looking after them and service was about to start. would just churn out these super haunting, creepy melodies like they were phantom of the opera. would do the same exact thing at home on their keyboard with the pipe organ setting whenever they got grounded until their parents took it away HBDSJFNGKH

will absolutely not talk about their ‘time away’ because it’s not anyone’s business, not even their own younger sister. still refuses to talk about tatiana’s death, or their mental health, or their addiction (fallen back into it but it hasn’t gotten severe … yet :/), or anything involving their own emotions.

will just change the topic abruptly, no warning. asks about the jonas brothers instead and they fucking hate the jonas brothers.

that being said they’re absolutely not over tatiana’s death & it’s to the point of obsession over it. like there’s some kind of secret that needs to be uncovered, even though there just. isn’t. tatiana was their rock and they were pretty much dependent on her. kept them grounded. could control them when nobody else could, got into their head easier than others. it’s sort of like rosa lost two siblings that day because viktor hasn’t been the same since.

emotionally unavailable while also crying twice a day. cries during their brawls but still wins. is stony-faced when they tell you they cheated on you with your much hotter best friend.

will tell you straight up what they want from you, no bullshit & no beating around the bush. just blunt. if they want to fuck, nothing else, then that’s it. if they feel deviation or developing feelings then they’ll ghost in less than a second. is awful like that but feels no shame.

but also emotional as shit and it’s confusing. will cry on a whim and then flip you off if you try to console them or ask them what’s up. will bite you.

they go to therapy but they just fuck around and wastes their therapists’ time … also is fucking their therapist, but that’s neither here nor there. so they’re not really getting the help they need.

likes to be intimidating but not … with their body or anything because they’re a TWIG but uses their love & knowledge of horror and creepy shit to their advantage. has an abundance of fake blood. has channeled the energy of jack nicholson and used it on tatiana’s boyfriends before (also is a big fan of sfx makeup & has dabbled in it)

probably chases kids around with a chainsaw without the chain on halloween every year.

generally never doing good, both mental health wise & morally. would probably steal candy from a baby for funsies.

i don’t know if there’s a good to them somewhere deep down, but they don’t see any issues with themself either. nothing really breaks through to them anymore because the only person who ever made them stop and think about their actions was tatiana, and well, y’know. :/

an introverted reclusive type who doesn’t like most people or going out, but does so anyway if it means a quick high & a cheap thrill.

pretty observant and likes to analyze people even though they’re often like … partially wrong. judgmental because they like to make people feel bad, not because they’re a righteous mighty person. because they’re not. so like, a hypocrite!

wanted connections.

a roommate… but it’s an absolute nightmare to live with him.

enemies… because viktor would have a lot of them…

familiar faces… people who knew tatiana or of her / were her friends. maybe even those who dated her, and who viktor would’ve tried to intimidate / scare at any given chance :/

pitiful glances… people who take pity on viktor and he hates it sooo much.

hooligan gremlin kids… just a friend group of grown ass adults who do drugs and fuck shit up around town like they’re edgy teenagers.

high school girlfriend… probably the one he lost his virginity to inside his family church :/

childhood acquaintances… people who knew him from his youth.

exes… good & bad terms, but mostly bad terms because viktor is an actual demon. probably cheated on them.

soft… i don’t know if he’s soft towards anyone and/or is capable of it but we can try. we can try.

unrequited… either viktor just doesn’t like them or he’s holding back because he’s :/ got issues with relationships & is self-sabotaging as one does

enemies with Tension… of the … spicy kind if you know what i mean. wink.

friends… old friends, new friends, bad friends, good friends, close friends, frenemies, etc. i don’t know how many he had but if your muse likes to cause a ruckus and fuck shit up then viktor’s your man.

hook-ups… current or old. friends with benefits, one night stands, anything and everything because he fucks around a lot.

ride or die… friendship but make it extreme.

bad influence… he’s just toxic to be around and brings out the worst in people :/

bad egg… he’s gotten into a few fights :/ maybe you witnessed it. maybe you were in it.

literally anything i wld love all sorts of plots.

[lastsonlost]

This is what it looks like when you can't see past your own bias.

Aka: what happens when your lived experience is inconvenient to the narrative.

By Andrea Thompson

Watching the movie “Brian Banks” is...awkward. To some extent, it's a classic sports underdog movie, but the struggles Brian Banks had to overcome are anything but conventional. As the movie continually points out, he's exceptional. And he is, in more ways that this movie is aware of.

Based on a true story, which the movie is quick to point out with dramatic music (uh oh), the title character, played by Aldis Hodge, muses on his great love for football, which he was on track to play professionally until he was stopped in his tracks at 16 years old. It's how he was stopped that would make anyone pause; Banks was falsely accused of rape by a classmate.

After some bad legal advice leads to jail time and some years struggling to navigate the conditions of his parole (and having to register as a sex offender), Banks struggles to simply find a job while simultaneously fighting to clear his name and reclaim his life. He also repeatedly writes the Innocence Project and asks them to take his case. Refusing to give up even after they reject him, Banks goes to meet with the lawyers on the project in person, first convincing them to give him advice, then take him on, and finally, actively fight for him.

It's impossible not to get invested in just how much Banks had to overcome, from his poverty-stricken childhood and the various legal road blocks that threaten to end his fight before it even begins. Banks wasn't imprisoned, so he was not a priority for the Innocence Project, and since he took a plea rather than going to trial, he needs completely new evidence rather than simply using what was already discovered. He also has to stay sane in jail, especially when he's put in solitary. Banks even took the initiative and managed to record his accuser recanting her confession.

Except. Except. Well, there was going to be misgivings about this film being released during the #MeToo Era, wasn't there? That the film would fully embrace Brian's perspective and his struggles is natural, even admirable. However, this type of story demands more, and what the movie doesn't say is far more noteworthy than what it does. It doesn't mention that the percentage of false rape accusations are not only incredibly low, the conviction rate for them is even lower. It limits its empathy for what many women have gone through to one scene, where Banks's love interest Karina (Melanie Liburd) reveals she was raped in college, and how devastating the aftermath was for her.

Even if there's little to no doubt of Brian's innocence, it's hard not to wince as his accuser is subjected to the kinds of questions which are used to discredit actual victims, as the men questioning her ask just what she expected to happen when she went off alone with Brian, why she didn't shout, etc. It also doesn't help that Brian and the people assisting him are all easily identifiable as various levels of middle class while his accuser and his family are...not so much, let's just say.

Yes, Brian Banks suffered a terrible injustice, and he proved himself to be exceptional not just for his athletic prowess, but the strength of character it took to fight for the truth over a period of years. The performances are also incredible, and help to elevate this movie above the simplistic melodrama it would otherwise be, although it also depicts faith and how it can be a bedrock for those in pain more respectfully than most mainstream films are typically capable of. It's all in service of someone who deserves to be vindicated, but it shouldn't have to come at the expense of so many other victims.

Rating: C-

Fortunately I wasn't the only one who took issue with this "review".

Cassandra3

This is a disgusting review of a great film. I can not believe that I read what I just read. And also why did you put "(duh duh)" after saying it was a true story. You give Feminism a bad name and I am embarrassed to even have someone like you even pretend to fight for women's rights. SMH

Andree4

This is a wretched review, that quite possibly reveals deep-seated implicit biases, on your part. You didn't review the movie, you made a political statement, rooted in radical feminist, and male-hating rhetoric. This man, along with other men of similar misfortunes, is the victim-not the woman who accused him. He is a human being, that has every right to have his story told, unmolested by contrived issues that would shift the focus off of him, onto a non-victim. And so what if his economic status is above his false accusers status: does it then justify her lies against this man, that resulted in his imprisonment? Nice attempt at a fake out, but I'm sorry-you miserably failed. At the core it appears as if you feel more sorry for false accusers of men, than the men who are falsely accused by these liars. It appears that way, in light of you inserting that jab. This pitiful analysis betrays your binary agenda: all women are truthful and good, in spite of potential liars and deceivers amongst them, whereas all men are just BAD-because they're men. And God help the men if they are assertive, confident and forthright, for then they'll be accused of having TOXIC MASCULINITY, whereas a woman with those same qualities will be labeled a BOSS. Look at the woman in the mirror...

Crystal4

This is a horrible review of the movie. It doesn’t even review the movie. It more about your perspective in the Brian Banks case. I have never seen so much bias. You make it sound like the movie forces you to see Brian Banks as a victim. When in all reality he IS the victim. He was accused of raping his girlfriend and it was completely false. It was prisoned and register as a sex offender. His whole life changed on a lie from a girl who’s family wanted money. What other victims did it come at the cost of ? He just telling his story. SHOULD HE LIE OR WATER IT DOWN, BECAUSE IT HURTS YOUR SENSITIVE IDEALS ? Should he not get justice? Please explain to me what you are trying to say.

Jesse4

Even in the face of a story that proves there are two sides to this extremely challenging issue, you demonstrate that you have no regard for men who can see their lives completely destroyed when false allegations happen. This review is equivalent to me watching The Accused then writing about how it was important to shine a light on violent gang rape, but not if the movie didn’t properly explore situations where men were jailed over false allegations. I also love how you threw in the problem with WHITE MEN when the movie is about a BLACK WOMAN FALSELY ACCUSING A BLACK MAN OF RAPE. Your ideology clouds your vision to where the hierarchy of victimhood drives all understanding of right/wrong and how any narrative should be interpreted. It’s transparent to 90% of us, but your kind lives in an echo chamber. You aren’t more educated...you’re more indoctrinated and I’m looking forward to the cultural shift that sees your viewpoints thrown in the dustpan of history.

Gordon Shumway4

At no point in this cinematic review did you review the movie on its story-telling, 'watchability', acting, or general movie presentation. You took your biased, personal opinion about the story, and decided that it does not fit your false narrative that the female is always the victim.

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Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert: Official Event Report

KyoAni&Do Fan Days 2019

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On Saturday, November 9, 2019, the “Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2019: Kyoto Performance” was held at the main hall of Rohm Theater in Kyoto.

There was a single typewriter on the stage. Once the opening bell rang, Ishikawa Yui-san, who plays Violet Evergarden, revealed herself. Hiting the typewriter’s keys gently, she said, “Pleased to make your acquaintace. I rush wherever my clients might desire. I am from the Auto-Memories Doll service, Violet Evergarden”, and along with Violet’s greetings, the curtains of the concert opened.

What was performed was the “Theme of Violet Evergarden”. The screen reflected the cityscapes of Leidenscaftlich, where Violet and the others spend their days, dyeing the venue into a “Violet Evergarden” world.

Next was the opening theme song “Sincerely”. The strong singing voice of TRUE-san, who had come on-stage, reverberated throughout the hall. As Ishikawa Yui-san and Gilbert Bougainvillea’s voice actor, Namikawa Daisuke-san reappeared on-stage, the audience sent them a loud applause.

This time, the one delivering the Orchestra Concert was the orchestra that represents the Kansai region, the Kansai Phillarmonic Orchestra and the conductor was Kurita Hirofumi-san. Having said the performance was so wonderful that he sat open-mouthed and his mouth ended up doing dry, Namikawa-san was showered with warm laughter. TRUE-san said, “I came here thinking of conveying all the love there is, so I hope this will be a day filled with love”, and Ishikawa-san spoke about her enthusiasm for the concert, “Please enter the world of ‘Violet’ to your hearts’ contentment”.

“Major’s eyes are here. They are the same color as Major’s eyes. This thing... from when I looked at it... I wonder what it is called.”

As if informing the beginning of the story, together with the words from the young Violet, “A Doll’s Beginning” was played. A video of the first episode was displayed in the screen. Namikawa-san said passionately, “Even just a clip of blooming flowers can make you emotional”. “One Last Message”, “The Voice in My Heart”, “Ink to Paper” and others painted with the colors of the “Violet” world, and the music that nestled with the audience was played sensibly, sometimes dynamically.

Then came “The Birth of a Legend”, which left an impressive echo during the scene where Violet writes Iris’s letter. And so, compositions that leave different impressions, such as “Those Words You Spoke to Me” and “The Long Night”, were performed next.

Thus began “Letter”, in which Violet bloomed as an Auto-Memories Doll. Along with a video of the opera singer Ilma Felice, TRUE-san came on stage. As if she were singing with Ilma, a dramatic air was created. Generosu applause was sent from the audience seats to TRUE-san’s powerfully appealing song.

In the talk corner with Ishikawa-san and Namikawa-san, impressions about the performance they had heard until that point and episodes about Evan Call-san’s music production were discussed.

“Listening to the music makes me remember the scenes and it is very moving,” said Ishikawa-san. Namikawa-san commented that he was touched by the strength of the condutor, who united shapeless “sounds” into one.

In a talk with Evan-san, there was also a moment where Ishikawa-san asked about inside stories of the musical compositions. He commented the music of “Violet” took the means of having its course decided through arrangements with the music producer, Saitou Shigeru-san, then he composed song demos and later adding elements that he had come up with. Evan-san spoke about how he received hints of the series’ world-building and developments through the original light novel’s commercial, thus creating the music little by little. He added a joke, “I also thought of making it funk or R&B-like music. But I stopped upon thinking about the world-building, and I’m glad I didn’t make it funk or R&B in the end”, and so, the talk corner became lively.

With the orchestra being ushered in once again, “Across the Violet Sky” started. The screen displayed episode seven, the story of the playwright Oscar Webster and his only daughter, Olivia. And then, it went back to Violet and Gilbert’s first meeting and parting along with the performance of “Inconsolable” and “Fractured Heart”. Guided by the orcherstra’s performance, the days the two spent together, their feelings that missed one another and words that went unconveyed were revived.

Violet reminisced to Gilbert’s words as if they were a treasure. As Namikawa-san recited Gilbert’s words, “Violet... You’re Violet. When you grow up, you’ll definitely become a woman fitting of that name. You’ll be not a tool but a person who suits that name”, it was as if Gilbert himself were present. The song “Believe in...” nestled close to Violet as if to guide her, and Yuuki Aira appeared on the stage. “That’s why you should face tomorrow without forgetting,” she sang gently, almost as if talking.

Yuuki-san wrote the lyrics of “Believe in...” herself. “The ninth episode (the one in which the song plays) is a story about Violet facing her past and growing up, so I wrote the lyrics with the thought that she should move forward, no matter how many painful things had happened,” she said, and while touching upon the fact that Evan-san had composed it so that it would fit an orchestra and recorded it in a way that it would be a richly expressive song, Yuuki-san added, “We have a full orchestra, so I sang while keeping that in mind”.

A scene where Ann Magnolia, who makes an appearance on episode 10, cries and screams in front of Violet was displayed in the screen, and from violin tune that seemed transparent, “Letters from Heaven” began. The sounds overlapped with the scene of Ann growing up, earning sobs from the audience.

And, as the concert ended, Evan-san appeared. He conducted two tracks, “What It Means to Love” and “Violet’s Letter”, himself. A loud applause was delivered to these two tracks, which were particularly representative even amongst the many songs that had continuously depicted “Violet Evergarden”.

At the end of the concert, Chihara-san sang the ending theme song “Michishirube”. The venue was enveloped in emotion by her comfortable singing voice, the delicate piano tunes, and the warm orchestra performance.

While the applause for an encore did not stop, Kurita-san suddenly reappeared from the stage wing, and just when people thought he was going to head to the podium, he went back to the stage wing... Loud laughter ensued in the venue. As Kurita-san appeared on stage for real thist time, the venue was engulfed in heat with even louder applause.

What had started was “Waltz” from “Violet Evergarden Gaiden: Eternity and the Auto-Memories Doll”. And then “Amy”. Violet danced with Amy Bartlett clad in pure white dancewear. Having come up on stage at the same time as Taylor Bartlett reached a hand out to the sky, Chihara-san gently sang “Amy” with tears in her eyes.

The song after the encore was the beginning song of “Violet Evergarden”, “Violet Snow”. The beautiful melody and Yuuki-san’s singing voice enveloped the venue. The countless ribbons and stars raining from the ceiling were almost like the Flying Letters of episode 13. The sight that was as if people were watching the Flying Letters together with Violet and the others became one with the orchestra’s perfomance, gracing the last of the concert. As Chihara-san said, “I will sing ‘Michishirube’ and ‘Amy’ while cherishing them from now on too”, she received warm applause.

With the ending approaching, as all the performers came on stage, Ishikawa-san looked across the fully occupied venue with wet eyes, saying, “I am filled to the brim with extreme happiness when I think that so many people have attended, and that the series titled ‘Violet Evergarden’ has grown and become a work that you all can love.” Moreover, when touching upon the “Violet Evergarden Movie”, as she said, “I think of doing my best to be able to perform a wonderful act that will not lose to the animation. Please look forward to it, everyone”, a powerful applause was delivered to her. And so, being left alone on the stage, Ishikawa-san ended the concert with “that greeting”.

Displayed on the dimmed screen was a special video of the “Violet Evergarden Movie”. The words “2020 4.24 (Fri) ROADSHOW” written at the end of the video shook the hall with surprise and joy. Amidst relentless applause, “Violet Evergarden” started walking on once again.

“I will rush anywhere my clients might desire. I am from the Auto-Memories Doll service, Violet Evergarden.”