#AOL: first full moon

[xawkward-ariesx]

Klaus could still vividly recall the tantrum Kol had thrown at four years old that had caused a violent storm to appear, his magic manipulating the weather to reflect his mood. That storm had been the first to terrify little Rebekah who'd previously paid the thunder no mind until it was her brother conjuring it from the sky as though sensing the distress in it.

First Full Moon, All Our Lives.

[highladyluck]

AU thought: Nynaeve is born in Seanchan and raised from childhood as a damane

Immediate first thought (besides ‘why did you choose violence’) is that she’d probably be the best, still. She’s making it onto Tuon’s entourage. I am in pain thinking about it.

This is my AU, so I’m going to solve a personal mystery and say that her dad is Ajimbura & she’s from the Kaensada Hills. Let’s say her mom still died early from illness & dad still taught her how to hunt & track before she was tested. In fact, Ajimbura treated Nyneave as his son because he had seen her channeling at an unusually early age & was hoping declaring her his son could protect her from being made damane.

The Kaensada Hills are rural and unassimilated enough that this was not quite as useless an idea as it might seem, and let’s say they also had very functional ideas of gender roles- if someone does Man Things, they are A Man for all intents and purposes, or vice versa.

Spoiler: It doesn’t work, the sul’dam do eventually get around to testing even there and if there’s a saidar channeler, they’re gonna grab her. Nyneave becomes damane around 13. She still has that Talent for Healing, but because most Seanchan don’t want a damane working on them in that way, she’s only allowed to practice on other damane. It’s a Talent and not something that can be taught very well, which also dampens people’s enthusiasm about it since it’s not super replicable.

She’s still ridiculously powerful even with this somewhat problematic skill, though, and so she sees a lot of use in combat situations. Nyneave comes to Tuon’s attention when Nyneave’s sul’dam makes a judgement call & lets her bring one of Tuon’s favorite damane back from the brink of death after a combat injury. Tuon’s like ‘mine now’ and Nyneave joins the favorites squad.

Nyneave’s been with Tuon for ~6 years by the WH timeline. Once Ajimbura finds out where she is (since she’s higher-profile now that she’s with Tuon), he’s like ‘I must kill the Daughter of the Nine Moons’s father to avenge the loss of my son’ but her father is dead already (of ‘a bad wager’ in this timeline too) so he decides that as male captain of her bodyguard, Furyk Karede stands in loco parentis to Tuon, and therefore he must be killed.

After 3 failed revenge murder attempts, by the custom of his people, the debt rebounds upon Ajimbura and now he must become like Furyk Karede’s son and follow his trade.

This is the mechanism that Ajimbura’s people, distant descendants of the AoL Aiel, devised to stop blood feuds. If you try to revenge murder the same person three times & you can’t hack it, you have to join your enemy’s family instead and act in their interests. Most people don’t want to take that risk, or pick easier-to-kill enemies, so there’s a lot of trophy-hunting instead, kind of like how the Aiel have implemented complex prisoner of war rules so less people die.

So that’s why Ajimbura is Karede’s unhinged manservant in THIS universe. Still wish I knew why he’s there in canon!

Because I do not want Nyneave to suffer unduly, let’s say she comes with Tuon instead of Mylen (whose battlefield-medicine-descended-Healing is less impressive when compared to Nyneave’s Talent). Nyneave also represents Seanchan supremacy in a homegrown ‘we’re better than you’ way rather than a ‘we’ll brainwash you all’ way. Slightly different message, similar outcome.

She gets captured by our heroes at some point & basically has some of Alivia’s arc after that, but because she worked with Tuon and has insider info on her, she’s got more to do in Rand’s inner circle than just make people uncomfortable & lay out his outfit for the rest of his life. Actually, you know what, let’s full-circle this, the former Wisdom of Emond’s Field is Alivia Al’Meara & she’s the one who makes the call to uncollar Nyneave when she asks for it.

Also, Nyneave becomes friends with Aviendha because Avi meets her once and is like ‘forgive me but you’re the spitting image of my second-sister’s first-daughter’ (or whatever) and then they figure out that the Kaensada Hills tribes are also descended from AoL Aiel, and this connection becomes very important later on when the Kaensada Hills tribes strike out for independence in the aftermath of the entire Imperial family being murdered & the civil wars in mainland Seanchan.

[icantbelieveiusedtobereal]

Hi Absolutely (probably) no one ever.

My name is MasterTuxedo, well it was 20 years ago. Yes, it was a reference to Sailor Moon and no, I had never watched a full episode of the show at the time, it just seemed like a good idea. If it didn’t I guess I thought it sent the right signals? I don’t know. You’re probably already getting the right idea about past, present, and future me. Maybe. Like the anime profile picture? I have no idea what that is and I’m fairly confident I didn’t know then either. I probably heard the name of an anime while my brother was watching adult swim and just typed it into the AOL search bar. Cool. I do know the tagline, its from SoundGardens song rusted chain. It feels like it means something, and maybe is does now, but then it felt vague enough to be similar to the non-sequitor emo lyrics adorning my friend’s profiles.

Coming of age in the early 2000’s nothing strikes fear in the heart of my generation quite like the idea that someone you might know may have gotten a glimpse into who you used to be. Fortunately most of us had our Myspace nuked, but we’re going on a journey one step back. A journey to a time where we thought it was a good idea to utilize a platform where we could make our most private thoughts and feelings public. I’m talking about internet journaling, and if you didn’t delete it long ago it seemingly will exist in perpetuity, so I’ll own it.

I’ll spare you any form of personal introduction, maybe we will get to it as time goes on, but for now I leave you with the basics.

Here it is: August 31, 2004. I was 14 years old, my first week as a sophomore in Catholic School. I had probably heard my brothers friends at school talk about each-others livejournals. Back then I didn’t really know how to have friends, but I wanted them badly. Having spent approximately 90% of the prior 4 years of my life grounded for what I can only describe as “underperforming parental expectations” I didn’t know what people did when they weren’t at school. I guess I didn’t think about it, and as it turns out most kids don’t just stare at their bedroom ceilings making up alternate realities where they’re doing literally anything more exciting than nothing.

Lets see; in my head there was me from Canada, me who knew how to skate board, but only in work boots so I could not demonstrate my skills in front of my friends, me who had a girlfriend back in my old town, and me who knew how to play almost every Metallica song on Bass. None of these version were real, unless you think any of them are cool.

So here it is, this was my first chance to impose myself upon anyone I had access to, and this was my first best attempt. It’s really difficult to go back and read some of these, but ultimately it’s a little funny, sad, strange, and beautiful.

[metaphysakilbuild]

This is the second #FullMoon of the year and I’m now fasting from all social media until the next full moon. The full moon is the universes time to release things and I have quite a list of things in my life that need to be released as well. First and foremost being timidity, lack of self worth, and not commanding the attention and necessities that I deserve from both society and myself, it’s all out!

I’m realizing now that I’m ready to set the #AOA down and start on the Alchemy of the beloved 🦋! It’s funny how the Sheikh is talking to me through my connection through Allah. It’s time to pick up the Sufi Alchemy of Love or #S-AOL!

[prurientpuddlejumper]

Rehabilitation

Travis Hackett x Laura Kearney

Summary: Laura feels guilty that, out of all the scars Travis has, the biggest, ugliest one is from her bite. 

Post canon. Fluff. This was supposed to be a drabble but it got out of hand. (Definitely more than a little inspired by this fanart + ty @norrington-hell​​ for the title!)

960 words

Before lifting the next wooden beam, Travis mopped his forehead with a flannel sleeve, then rolled the fabric up over lean but well-muscled forearms. Laura couldn’t help but glance over—under the guise of surveying construction, of course.

Her ogling turned into—not a gasp, but the playful comment she was preparing died on her lips.

Travis’s tanned arm is spiderwebbed with pale scars, but the biggest, ugliest one is right in the middle, in the meatiest part just below the elbow. While the others are pale and flat, this one healed red, and raised in places, while dipping hollow in others, as if something had tried to tear a chunk out of him with jagged teeth.

Because something had.

Laura.

“Don’t,” Travis said gravely.

She realized she was staring, and not being subtle about it, either.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“Sorry,” she said, quickly finding somewhere else to put her eyes.

They landed on the organized piles of lumber, wire mesh, and tools that would become the newest aviary for the North Kill Wildlife Rescue and Sanctuary. Max had wanted to call it the Rescue Association for Wildlife Rehabilitation for the funny acronym, but Laura said calling it RAWR made it sound like an AOL Instant Messenger anime chatroom. Then Max said she was insane for going back to Hackett’s Quarry and he wasn’t going to help her get killed. She said she didn’t want him there anyway. And that was that.

Going back wasn’t as strange as it sounded.

Travis and Laura were a team. Maybe he had stolen a summer of her life and left her with scars the werewolf infection couldn’t heal as easily as a missing eye. Maybe she had killed his niece, mother, brother, and gotten his only surviving family thrown in prison. But for that one night, they had been an unstoppable team.

They stood together under the full moon and ended a curse.

So when Travis invited her to use his family’s land to open the wildlife rescue she had always dreamed about, it felt right for them to partner up again. After the bloodbath of that summer, and with no one left to run it, the camp closed its doors. But Hackett’s Quarry still had so much space—acres and acres of pristine forested landscape, with unused buildings in various states of repair.

When she saw him again for the first time in four years, SUV tires crunching on gravel as she parked in front of the run-down lodge, he waved, and his smile lit up so brightly Laura hardly recognized him.

Travis must have been so alone with all that space to himself. It’s too much for one person. And the taxes didn’t pay for themselves… unless it became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

The wildlife rescue was a mutually beneficial arrangement.

“Really,” Travis said. “It’s fine. Six years hunting werewolves, I’ve got plenty of scars. You know how it is working with dangerous critters.”

“Still…” She placed her palm over his scar without even thinking, and sighed.

Goosebumps ran up his arms at her touch, and didn’t stop until they were zipping up and down his spine.

He said it was fine, but that wasn’t what he meant.

The truth was, of all the scars he carried, the deep, red, mangled one on his forearm was his favorite.

If his arms had shocked Laura to silence, he trembled to think what her reaction to the rest of him might be. There were twelve full moons per year, times six years, times three cursed family members. Do the math.

He didn’t have to mess up often. Just once too slow with the needle, too gentle with the restraints. Add to that his appendix scar, the time he’d hit himself in the leg with an ax when he and Chris were kids running around the camp collecting firewood… Normal life stuff. It all added up. Live as long as he had, you end up with scars. Live with werewolves for six of them, and…

His family had always lashed out at him with their claws. At the time, he’d felt lucky—he never got infected, so he could always remain the one to take care of them. Protect them during the full moon. That was his job as the big brother.

But the scar Laura gave him was different than all the others.

He thought it was luck, until he felt Laura’s fangs sink into his flesh. Then a small voice in the back of his head, one he’d almost forgotten, sighed: “Finally.”

Finally, a wolf wasn’t trying to rend him with claws meant to eviscerate and kill. She wasn’t trying to kill him.

Finally, someone wanted him to join their pack.

No matter how far away she traveled, he could look at his arm and think of her. Part of her was always with him, her bite indelibly etched into his body as deeply as the mark she left on his soul.

He covered his teammate’s hand with his own and squeezed. Her eyes widened, as if suddenly becoming aware that she had been touching him now that he was mirroring her intimacy. An adorable tint colored her cheeks. She didn’t pull away.

“Quit yer dawdling and grab the nail gun. Haven’t got all day.” He gave her a light shove.

She snorted with surprise then marched off toward the power tools bench, twisting as she went to throw him a mocking salute. “Aye aye, officer dickwhippet!” She grinned.

The nickname made his lips want to curl into a scowl, but he’d learned that sometimes when Laura insulted people in that way, it wasn’t actually to insult them, but to indicate they were close friends. 

He let her.

[fur-claws-and-eyeballs]

2021 Teen Wolf ReWatch - S1E2

My Take from the episode Including: Info-Dump, and Questions & Concerns

Info-Dump:

Lacrosse: (”la crosse” = "the stick", French) is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins in a tribal game played by the indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands and by various other indigenous peoples of North America. The game was extensively modified by European colonizers to create its current collegiate and professional form. The modern sport is governed by World Lacrosse and is the only international sport organization to recognize First Nations bands and Native American tribes as sovereign nations.

Lacrosse Jersey Numbers (so far):

> Scott McCall - 11 > Stiles Stilinski - 24 > Jackson Whittemore - 37 > Danny Mahealani - 6 (Background)

First Mention of Greenberg: COACH: “Greenberg, take a lap! Let's go! Faster, Greenberg! Let's go.” (Could be #31)

Fire Extinguisher: Black Label = CO2 or Carbon Dioxide. Typically used for Class B (flammable liquids and gases) and Class C (energized electrical) fires. Carbon dioxide can be used to extinguish flames by flooding the environment around the flame with the gas, thus starving the flame by displacing the oxygen.

Class Roster (so far): 

> English: Stiles, Scott, Allison > Biology: Stiles, Lydia > Algebra: Lydia, Scott > French: Allison

Quadratic Formula: (-b±√(b²-4ac))/(2a) 

AOL(?): The chat icon during Stiles and Scott’s video chat resembles the yellow AOL guy. Fun Fact: AOL shut down on February 24, 2017.

Morgue Drawer #1: 4486[11] - 201026738 | Semret Fesseha | 1568 879 4H876: aka, art department Coordinator/Director Semret Fesseha for Teen Wolf Season 1.

Morgue Drawer #2: 5775[53] - 201020192 | JANE DOE - PARTIAL | POLICE EVIDENCE | DO NOT TAMPER | 5678 107 54987: Toe Tag: Office of the Medical Examiner | Age: Unknown | Race: W | Sex: F | Case No: 376-098726 | Name: Jane Doe | Tagged: Partial | Tagged By: Dr. James B. Brothers

Cortisone Shot:  Cortisone shots are injections that can help relieve pain and inflammation in a specific area of your body. They're most commonly injected into joints. The injections usually contain a corticosteroid medication and a local anesthetic. Often, you can receive one at your doctor's office. Because of potential side effects, the number of shots you can get in a year generally is limited.

“The Wolf Man”: is a 1941 (Same year that BHHS was founded) American horror film. The film stars Lon Chaney Jr. in the title role. Claude Rains, Warren William, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles, Bela Lugosi, Evelyn Ankers, and Maria Ouspenskaya star in supporting roles. The title character has had a great deal of influence on Hollywood's depictions of the legend of the werewolf. 

Relevant/Parallel (Wolf Man) Plot Points:  

> Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) returns to his ancestral home in Llanwelly, Wales to bury his recently deceased brother and reconcile with his estranged father, Sir John Talbot (Claude Rains). Fun Fact: We’re gonna see the Surname Talbot again in TW S4E5 in Brett Talbot.

> “Even a man who is pure in heart, and says his prayers by night; May become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.” in later films the final line is changed to "And the moon is full and bright"

> The night of the next full moon, he begs his father to restrain him to prevent him from hurting anyone else.

> The movie ends with Sir John and Gwen watching in horror as the dead werewolf transforms into Larry's human corpse.

Questions & Concerns:

Let’s Keep track of how many times someone hides in the locker room rafters: 2 (because I bet it’s gonna happen again)

Gotta wonder if being sprayed with a CO2 extinguisher feels like being choked...maybe like having an asthma attack?

I’m most offended that when Derek came in through the window, he probably stepped on Scott’s bed with his shoes on like a complete psychopath. (Alternately, what kinda psycho has the head of their bed beneath their open blindless/curtainless window???)

Allison is is French class...does she already know French? Or that her family knows French? Is that a part of her family identity at all yet? 

Allison made a point to tell Scott to invite Stiles after the game. +10 good girlfriend points to Allison...for now...

Does Derek know that Allison is an Argent? Like surely he does, but does he??? He’d warn our boy about the hunter’s right?

It’s pretty easy to see how Scott correlates being a werewolf with being unable to have the things that he wants. You have Lydia tying Allison to his Lacrosse performance, and Coach telling him that if he doesn’t play now, he doesn’t play at all, then you have Stiles tying Scott’s increased heartrate to both Lacrosse and Allison, warning him away from both, and then ultimately Derek telling him not to play Lacrosse at all, and further inciting Scott via Allison and her jacket. (Not to mention Allison’s dad is a Hunter, so he’s got the dual motivation of not MY daughter, and not a damn werewolf for SURE.)  Not that Scott would actually BE on first line without the bite, but he previously made it clear that he had fully intended on making the first line that season regardless.

Christ, Derek, that is a well buried, but TERRIBLY hidden dead body, ffs. Throw a couple of leaves on it or SOMETHING.

Totally just assumes that Derek is going to be at the burned out husk of his family home...I mean he was RIGHT, but that wouldn’t have been MY first thought.

WHY ARE THERE NO LOCKS OR KEYCARD ACCESS FOR THE MORGUE/POLICE EVIDENCE?

Is the Hale ability to full shift only tied to the Alpha Spark? Or being a Hale? Or having at some point been an Alpha Hale? Because Laura being in her full shift while dead (and therefore Alpha Spark-less) makes it seem more of a Hale thing?

Why does the Wolfsbane put/keep Laura in her full shit? She was human when Scott first came across her...

This is the first indication that even being NEAR wolfsbane can cause a werewolf physical harm...Which begs the question, how did Derek A) weave wolfsbane into a rope and then carefully bury it in a spiral around Laura’s body. or B) get ahold of both wolfsbane rope and an entire wolfsbane flower...

If I stand by the observation that Scott was nearly hit by a red SUV *cough* Victoria *cough* at the beginning of the first episode, I find even greater joy in Chris Argent actually hitting him with it in the second episode. 

Stiles’ dad being at the game even though he’s a bench warmer makes me soft like marshmallow.

[stuckonvenus]

𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 » Ellie & Becca

 Ｊｕｌｙ ３１ｓｔ， １９９８

The saying goes as such: the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb... or whatever. Honestly I have only ever applied this proverb to my relationship with my sister whenever we weren’t in mortal peril. While I have plenty of friends and acquaintances who I’ve shared battlefields with (i.e. the morning after a party), that never made me any closer to them in a real crisis. I would say about seventy-five percent of the time that the blood is thicker than the water, and the remaining twenty-five percent is when the water isn’t necessarily thicker, but more pressurized. That’s the only time in our lives when we’ve ever come together as sisters.

Well, this is the twenty five percent, and never has the feeling of being sucked and trapped against a fissure at the bottom of the Challenger Deep been more realized than now. It doesn’t help that my bladder is about to implode and leak the citrus-flavored toxic waste I’ve consumed in rapid succession over the past half hour into my visceral fat and contaminate all my vital organs. 

I waddle awkwardly through the narrow doorway of Page One and slam my tiny palm onto the countertop. A bookkeeper who I can recognize as my lab partner from sophomore year chemistry pokes his nose out from the novel he’s immersed in. Moby Dick. Jesus, who reads school assigned books after graduation?

“Hey, Drew-Drew,” I greet him, a lopsided grin fitted on my lips as he brushes his hair out of his eyes and offers me a smile in return. He has a lot more charisma than I remember. I think his eyes have gotten bigger and bluer, too. It reminds me of the water’s surface I’m staring up at from the very bottom of the ocean. “Where’s Becky at?”

Drew dog-ears his page — which is kind of disgusting to me, do they not sell bookmarks in this busted ass joint? — and he points toward the graphic novel section. “Over there, we just got Spider-Man #76, she’s stocking up.”

“... Didn’t #76 come out in January? Of last year?” I ask him. He opens his mouth so he can answer but I stop him with a raised hand. “No time. You’re lookin’ good, Drew-Drew, considerably less like a delicious pepperoni pizza. Keep it up with the Oxy Pads.” I say before pushing away from the counter and venturing off to my destination.

Indeed, my older sister is crouched down and rustling with a display, slightly disgruntled by the symmetry of the copies of Spider-Man she’s stocking. I don’t really have any witty remarks as a smooth enough introduction, so I settle with, “Need help?”

She whips around and I can almost hear the crack in her spinal cord from the velocity. “Lily?” she half-whispers. I forget that I haven’t seen her since late May, and also that I swore I’d never see her again.

“In the flesh,” I confirm and do a curtsey, which threatens my full bladder. I really need to piss soon or else I’ll die a terribly death in the shittiest bookstore on the eastern seaboard. “Do you have a sec? It’s 9-1-1.”

Becca’s expression shifts from awe and minor annoyance to something resembling concern as she pushes herself off her knees. “What is it?” she asks me, crossing her arms over her chest as a last resort defense mechanism. 

I don’t hesitate to hold up the plastic Walgreens bag I’ve carted with me for two blocks. She recognizes the items inside and her eyes go all moony and her jaw slacks a bit. I jerk my brows up expectantly and she assumes the position of utter bewilderment.

“Do you have a place I can empty the biohazardous contents of my bladder? It’s about to necrotize,” I hiss at her. She reaches down, digs in her pocket, unearths a bronze key and walks ahead of me at full speed. I have to waddle after her like a newly hatched penguin chick. It would be more humiliating if over half the population of Eden were literate, but alas...

Becca jams the keys into the lock and just about bodychecks the door so we can enter the rectangular bathroom. It’s cramped and the lighting resembles something out of a Hitchcock film, but who the fuck am I to be picky about where I take the most important whizz of my life?

I place the bag on the counter and take out the three empty full-sized cans of Surge I used to fuel my bladder before picking up the grossest thing I have ever held: a pregnancy test. I keep it in my grasp for a few passing beats, nearly crushing the box underneath my iron-tight grip before man-handling it open and tearing out the plastic stick that will determine my fate.

“This is by far the most unholy fortune telling experience ever,” I decide to joke as I witness my sister cower in the corner. You’d think by the looks of it she were the one whose life was about to change forever. “You think if I shake it a genie will come out and grant me three wishes?”

“... Only if it’s negative, as a gift,” Becca chimes in at last. “Otherwise not even God can save you.”

I let out an involuntary snort, because while my reflexes register this as a funny joke, I am actually scared shitless.

I stare at the porcelain toilet bowl. I feel sicker now looking at it than when I’ve genuinely been at risk for vomiting up my lunch. I could still do that, I’ve been puking like a bulimic for weeks now. The thought is almost comforting. Almost. I bite the bullet instead and yank my pants down, my boy pants, which I normally wear as a boy when I’ve got slightly wider hips and more junk to hide and taller legs to protect with denim fabric. Fuck me.

“I just... Hold it and piss, right?” I ask her, as if she’s gone through this before. I know for a fact she hasn’t, or else this wouldn’t be our first time. I’m surprised it’s our first time, actually, thinking that karma would’ve caught up with me a long time ago. 

“Just don’t get any on your hand.” Becca replies. Very helpful, I think, but rather than respond verbally I give a sigh of defeat and do what needs to be done. When my bladder is emptied an eternity later, I pull up my oversized pants and briefly grieve my dick before I place the test on the counter.

I glance over my shoulder at Becca, “It’s seasoned. Just gotta let it marinate.”

“Gross.” she says with a scrunched up nose.

I turn around and slide down the wall, an action she mimics a couple seconds later. I stare ahead, up at the light that’s screwed into a 70s pendant-shaped fixture, and pass the silence by making them flicker. I do this as a distraction from the materializing tension between us. Normally, this doesn’t happen, but then again our peril has only involved either extreme intoxication, pedos on AOL (during high school), or something about her and Gabriel’s arguments, which felt like walking through Reactor 4 in Chernobyl.

She’s the first one to say something.

“Whose is it? ... If it’s a thing,” she wonders, and as I look over at her I notice that her eyebrows are knitted together and her mouth is fixed downward. “... Please don’t tell me Topher’s.”

I chuckle at the idea. “I think if it were a thing and Topher’s, it’d have grown like a xenomorph baby and ripped itself out of my stomach by now,” I tell her. “I’d deserve that kind of karma for getting knocked up by him.”

“Xenomorph?” she says, and I open my mouth to offer an explanation before she finishes, “Alien. Right.”

“... Yeah, exactly,” I nod along. How in the hell did she remember that? We only ever sat through Alien and Aliens once, and I could’ve sworn she was too preoccupied reading a magazine to actually notice what was happening on screen. 

I also notice that she’s wearing my favorite striped turtleneck. Stone cold bitch.

Some things never change, huh?

Shit, I think I might cry.

This is why we’re siblings, I think, so I can hate her for wearing my favorite turtleneck while sitting by her side as we await Satan’s final decision on the state of my cursed uterus.

Tears prickle my vision but I blink them away. 

“Whose is it, then?” she wonders again. I visibly tense. This is probably where our unspoken, once-in-a-blue-moon loyalties end. How do you tell your sister that her ex-boyfriend is the reason you’re sitting in the dingy bathroom of her workplace with a piss-riddled stick inches away?

In the end, I don’t have to say anything at all. We look at each other simultaneously and she reads my expression with ease. Her features soften and I can see a glint of hurt in her eyes, and I expect ripples of betrayal to make themselves known across the rest of her body soon enough. But those ripples never come. The water I thought was loosening from around me doesn’t make a goddamn move. 

I’m still at the bottom of the Deep, but she’s with me now.

Her hand grips mine. Tight. I can feel our pulses match up in our paralleling wrists.

“I think it’s been enough time.” I say eventually. She doesn’t release my hand. Our shared warmth creates a comfortable friction between us. “... Will you hate me after this?”

Becca squeezes my hand. A heart beat jumps out from her touch to mine. “I think I’ve hated you enough for one summer.”

A smile flickers on the corner of my lips and I slowly depart my hand from hers. My palm is slick with sweat but I don’t mind. I stand up and feel my equilibrium struggle to steady itself before I’m ready to approach the counter. The test is still there, so I know this wasn’t an abstract fever dream I’ve had after discovering so much eerily similar history.

I’m not a fucking coward. I’m looking this shit straight on, no matter what. Do you think I’m afraid of a sign? Totally not. I lean over and stare down, my gaze idling at the base before finally fixating on the panel.

+

Holy shitstickers.

“... Becca?” I call out, my voice half gone from unknown forces. She perks up and I see her reflection in the mirror with widened eyes. “Do you have five bucks? I’m gonna need more Surge.”

[pinkpurpleblue-writes]

You’ve Got Mail (1998)

Summery:

You’ve Got Mail stars Nora Ephron and Tom Hanks as Kathleen Kelly, the owner of an independent children’s bookstore passed down from her mother, and Joe Fox, a member of the Fox family who runs “Fox Books,” a Barnes and Nobles-esque big box retailer. As Fox opens up a new store in New York's Upper West Side, it threatens Kathleen's independent "Shop Around The Corner." While they verbally spar and go head to head, their online personas (ShopGirl and NY152, respectively) are falling in love online through, of all thing, email and AOL instant messenger. About halfway through the movie, ShopGirl and NY152 agree to meet, Joe realizes her real identity, and, instead of revealing what he knows, starts to slowly build a cordial, then friendly, then romantic relationship with Kathleen in real life too. The "Shop Around The Corner" eventually closes down and, at the movie's climax, NY152 and ShopGirl agree to meet again. Joe expresses his feelings towards Kathleen in person on the day of the meeting and, at the meeting spot, they kiss, happy that the people they fell in love with online were the people they fell in love with offline too.

Review:

You've Got Mail is a delight nearly all the way through. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan have amazing chemistry together, and both actors are extremely emotive throughout, with expressions that show the full range of feelings that each character is going through. The late nineties setting is almost perfect for those seeking escapism nowadays, with the sweet spot in between the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the "Forever Wars." The film is easily broken up into three Acts with a strong structure, divided among the seasons of Autumn, Winter, and Spring.

In between scenes of conversation and action, we see Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks emailing each other, seeing their screens and hearing the content of the emails as voice-over while the recipient reads it over. It's done exceptionally well, especially when contrasted with the problems some modern films have with showing text messaging onscreen. It's much more reminiscent of something like Victorian Era letter exchanges than anything cold and electronic.

The soundtrack is woven into the movie skillfully, with "Signed Sealed Delivered I'm Yours" and "Over the Rainbow" being particularly notable. The costume design is lovely, transporting you into the time period with Meg Ryan's clothes especially. The film touches on themes of relationships, family, and identity, but doesn't delve as far deep as it could have. It also abbreviates the "enemies to friends" part of Hanks and Ryan's relationship too much in my opinion, but the movie was already a decent length.

Politics:

The time period does come with some drawbacks, as the setting and plot allow for some peak 90s neoliberalism that is reminiscent of the first two seasons of "The West Wing," with the core politics of the film muddled at best, seemingly attempting to sidestep it at all costs. The few non-white characters (most prominently Dave Chapelle playing Joe's best friend) have little personality and less screen time, and the only non-straight characters turn out to be the fiancé of Joe Fox's father and the nanny she runs off with, both of whom get about a scene of screen time and a mention of their sexuality near the end. Fox Books brings to mind the Goliath that is Amazon, which itself helped put Borders out of business and has done the same to an immeasurable amount of independent book stores.

The relationship the film has towards capitalism itself is murky, with the most left leaning character (Meg Ryan's boyfriend-turned-ex, Frank) portrayed as a wannabe intellectual, but having Kathleen shoot barbs at Joe about status which he seems to be aware about. All in all, it reads as an attempt to not offend either side too much while still appealing to apathetic nineties twenty- and thirty-somethings who felt disenchanted with all of politics.

The film itself also has some misogynistic points, with Joe Fox's girlfriend, Patricia, being a particularly good example of a double-standard. Frank and Kathleen break up amicably after becoming more distant and are shown to be friendly after. While Frank and Patricia are show in similar lights through much of the movie, the second act has Patricia shown as emotionless and ruthless, seemingly due to her being more career-focused and driven. Some parts also haven't aged well, with a bit too much focus on appearance by the male characters and a scene where Tom Hanks refers to a woman as a "bitch."

Conclusion:

Overall, the letter is a love letter to the mid-to-late nineties, with all the good and bad that brings. I enjoyed it immensely and I still do, but it might vary depending on the level of escapism you're willing to withstand and how much you're willing to excuse due to when it was made.

Selected Quotes:

“Is it infidelity if you're involved with someone on email?”

“Keep those West Side liberal nut pseudo-intellectual bleeding heart-” “Dad...”

“Do I do it because I like it? Or because I haven't been brave?”

“Matt is my father's son, Annabel is my grandfather's daughter. We are… an American family."

“Oh the joys of rent control…”

“Do you ever feel you become the worst version of yourself? That a Pandora's box of all the secret hateful parts -- your arrogance, your spite, your condescension -- has sprung open”

"What is it with Men and the Godfather?"

"I said we were a goddamn Piazza"

"Pride and Prejudice? I bet you read that book every year, I bet you just love that.. Mr. Darcy and your sentimental heart just beats widely at the though that he and um… well, uh, whatever her name is, are truly honestly going to end up together?"

"Oh, you poor sad multimillionaire, I feel so sorry for you" and "You are nothing but a suit"

"Remember when you though Frank might be the Unabomber?"

"I am in… Vancouver"

"He ran Spain"

"Why don't we bomb Fox books"

"…and in a week it will be something really depressing, like a Baby Gap"

“...the astrologer, whose moon turned to be in someone else's house, as I recall."

"I am so sick of that. All that means is it wasn't personal to you. […] What is so wrong with being personal anyway?"

[doux-amer]

I FINALLY SAW CAPTAIN MARVEL AND I GOT EMOTIONAL WATCHING IT. Okay, calming down now. As a lot of you know, my expectations were low as the marketing was lackluster, I was nervous about certain choices that were made, etc., and even though I avoided any CM chatter, I heard murmurs of mixed reactions...so my expectations were pretty much on the floor when I went to see it. I just hoped it would be fun even if it was okay, but uh...I REALLY ENJOYED IT. It’s not perfect and when I was talking to Alanna, she said people said it reminded them of CA:TFA (it really does in certain ways and I get why they said it, but TFA, for all its cheese and its weaknesses, is one of my favorite MCU movies lol). BUT! I! LOVED! IT! I don’t care about the unevenness because all that fell to the wayside by the sheer, all-encompassing joy I felt watching it. 

This is how I wanted to feel watching Wonder Woman because I adored Diana as a little girl and it didn’t happen although I kept quiet about my disappointment because I wanted people to go support it anyway as it was super important that it did well. THIS THOUGH. I wanted to punch my fist in the air so many times and laugh and hug and hang out with Carol. I JUST. GOD. 

I’ve experienced unfettered happiness and fun before with Marvel—that’s how I felt with The Avengers and with Spider-man: Homecoming. But this? This was the first time I was a fan of someone from the comics before seeing a movie and seeing it come to life the way I so hoped she would. It was extremely special because of that particular element and I got emotional because of it which I didn’t expect. I really felt disconnected to Carol from what I saw in the trailers and was afraid the movie wouldn’t resonate because it would be very white feminist-y. It wasn’t. And that hero on the screen? THAT WAS MY GIRL CAROL. I’m kind of getting slightly misty-eyed writing this. But GOD, I waited years for this and it’s just overwhelming wth!

I’m going to do my usual bullet points. If you want to avoid spoilers, scroll past this long post:

I was turned off by the silliness of the trailers and Carol’s more serious moments came off as unconvincing in them, so I expected not to connect with her. I WAS WRONG. I GOT MY GIRL. I’M WEEPING! She’s emotional! She’s feisty and bullheaded. She can be serious and fueled by anger. She can be fun even when she’s a fierce warrior, but not to the point that it’s distracting! Her humor is very much her own and very much Carol. It’s not witty. It’s goofy. She clearly finds herself hilarious which I LOVED. SHE’S SO DORKY, SMILING AT HER OWN JOKES. 

The movie stayed away from what could have been a cringeworthy white savior undercurrent by making Carol culpable in the suffering of the oppressed. I know the Skrulls are aliens and look like them unlike the other aliens we’ve seen who you can’t exactly forget are played by POC characters, but lbr that narrative is about refugees and...look at current events lmao. As a Kree warrior, even if she unknowingly participated in the Kree-Skrull war ignorant of the truth, she hurt a lot of innocent people. And that’s great! It’s not that she was this pure person swooping in to save the weak or whatever. This is something she had to grapple with once her memories came back and her eyes were opened and she knew she had to make amends.

It reminded me strongly of Tony in IM1 with Obie dealing under the table to terrorists and becoming a part of a corrupt machine without meaning to. It didn’t matter that that was the case; he still felt responsible and accountability became a huge part of his story.

This origin story reminded me of Cap’s, not because of the whole military aspect to it lol but because of how she’s “just human.” Carol never gives up and Steve doesn’t either. They get knocked down? They’ll shake it off and stand back up. I might’ve gotten a little emotional here too which I didn’t expect. Plus she wanted to prove to herself that she could do whatever the hell she set her heart on. The other parallel was the whole fighting for the government/military who end up not being so great and going rogue thing.

It made me sad because we won’t get the Steve-Tony-Carol friendship we so deserve, but lol while the credits were rolling, my sister was like “Yeah, Tony’s going to die” because she’s the obvious successor. Originally she said it was because of his powers when I asked why and then she agreed when I pointed out that it’s not just because of his powers, but in terms of personality and a whole slew of things that reminded me of him AND Steve (it’s like Peter in CA:CW and SM:H). She feels like the linchpin holding the MCU together like them too. 

Like the fact that Carol was the reason for the Avengers’ existence! That was obvious, but that scene where Fury’s typing on the computer and he looks at that photo of her before changing the name of the initiative? HM....I WAS VERKLEMPT.

Also, I loved how they made her get her powers. It wasn’t an accident. No one sacrificed their life for her. She got her powers because of her own actions. She got her powers because she was being a HERO. SHE IS WHO SHE IS BECAUSE OF HERSELF. LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!

Speaking of that, I was surprised by the Mar-Vell plot twist because we all thought that would be Jude Law and I expected Annette Bening to be someone else (who she sort of ended up being anyway) lol. I didn’t mind that they did that. Love that she was Carol’s mentor.

I loved the female relationships. CAROL AND MARIA’S SCENES. MARIA BELIEVING IN HER. MARIA TALKING ABOUT HOW HARD IT WAS FOR HER AS A SINGLE MOM AND A WOMAN IN THE AIR FORCE, BUT CAROL DIDN’T CARE ABOUT THAT. THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF THEIR LIFE TOGETHER...BINCH...I MAY HAVE BLINKED OUT A TEAR!!!!! Carol being cute with Monica! Monica urging her mom to be a hero while Maria wanted to watch out for her because she has Monica to think of now, not just herself. Monica being responsible for Carol’s Captain Marvel getup! Carol and Maria getting involved with Lawson because she was their ticket to proving themselves and moving up! 

And yet the movie didn’t get too hammy and heavy-handed with feminism (I hate it when some people write stuff that way because I find it extremely sloppy and ineffective)! We didn’t have to have a female villain just because we had a female lead superhero. We didn’t have to have moments where Carol says preachy lines. That moment where she just raised her eyebrow at the motorcycle dude? Fantastic. She didn’t have to deal with that scumbag. That moment where Yon-Rogg tried to pull a typical Man Move TM by trying to make her prove herself to him (and trying to take ownership of her development and strength)? She didn’t have to be all cocky and say some quip or cheesy af line. She wasn’t even that angry because he’s not worth it. He’s an ant beneath her foot. He’s irrelevant. She just says it straight up that she doesn’t have to prove anything to him, and that was what made that so powerful for me. It resonated because she said it like it was the truth, plain and simple, and it WAS. 

No romance shoved in not because Carol didn’t need no man as a Strong Woman but because there are more important things at stake and honestly, the romance was with her wife Maria her relationships with other humans and the Skrulls were the emotional crux. They’re an important part of who she is and of rediscovering her identity. God...like her relationship with Fury? So well done. It was the buddy cop movie that I so wanted. I loved their jokes and their mutual respect for each other. I love how they became so important to each other and we saw Fury deeply care about someone and showing that. One of my favorite scenes is the one where they’re washing dishes together. 

They also didn’t shove Coulson in too much which I was afraid of. We got to see where Fury started off, a greener one but one who was as compelling because he was so human. We got to see Fury deeply caring about someone and so openly (this is the guy who said, “I'm just an old man who cares very much about you“ to Tony in AoU). It was nice seeing how the whole belief in superheroes thing truly started with the both of them (Coulson had his whole Cap thing, but I feel like this was the moment where he imagined having a hero like that in his own time was possible).

Uh let’s see. I love Goose. I don’t particularly care for animals in movies even though I know people obsess about them, but they didn’t overdo Goose’s part. 

All the little callbacks to the comics! KSD showing up! 

The period part of the period piece wasn’t overdone which I appreciated. Carol typing made me laugh, the slow download and AOL shoutout made me laugh, and damn, the fashion and music? I was over the moon. You didn’t have to go over the top to make us immersed in the 90s. Also, my heart sang when we got Carol on a bike on the open road in a leather jacket. The bliss I felt is indescribable tbh.

Ooh the special effects were good for the most part! Loved seeing her fly and loved seeing her gut ships and destroy missiles. It felt real. Space didn’t feel cheesy af to me which was a problem I had with GotG 1. 

Speaking of flying and punching things, it was so viscerally satisfying to see her do that. One of the things that really did it for me was how she enjoyed her powers. It was exhilarating seeing her fly for the first time (similar to seeing Tony taking out the suit for a test flight in IM1). Her little laugh/whoop of excitement? That’s what it would be like to discover you can fly! That grin when she breaks free of the Kree dampening her powers and she can feel her powers at full force running through her? That’s what it would be like to be at 100% and have all that. I wanted to jump out of my seat and feel what she felt. It made her powers not feel very OTT-overpowered? Carol has....too many powers and is super strong to the point that she’s overpowered, but uh...idk I didn’t have a problem with it here, mainly because of this. 

The post-credits scenes were good too like....WOW, HUH. I watched this in Dolby (my first Dolby experience!) and I GOT EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY THIRSTY OVER STEVE IN A BEARD AND OUT OF HIS SUIT AND A TIGHT WHITE SHIRT!!! I DON’T KNOW HOW I KEPT IT TOGETHER BECAUSE I ALMOST DIDN’T WHICH WOULD’VE BEEN EMBARRASSING. BUT PHEW!!!!!! STEVE? WHAT A *****!!! Thought the scene was nice too even though I wish Carol got better hair. I assume she flew and that’s why she looks so bedraggled, but uhfhghdaoifhas I hated her hair in this and want Carol to get the nice hair she deserves (preferably a short butch cut...thanks. C’mon, Brie wants it too). OH, ALMOST COMPLETELY FORGOT TO MENTION THAT IT BROKE MY HEART TO HEAR HER SAY, “YOU CAN’T TELL ME WHO I AM. I DON’T KNOW WHO I AM” AND TO NOT KNOW WHERE SHE BELONGS. SHE’S NOT KREE, BUT SHE’S NO LONGER FULLY HUMAN NOT ONLY BECAUSE OF HER POWERS BUT BECAUSE OF HER LIFE ON HALA AS WELL. I loved how we saw her journey to accepting that and who she is now and how that was all tied up nicely with her wearing her old leather jacket the Rambeaus kept for her and her new suit as she goes into space. What a great moment and a nice visual cue to a comics cover I really like of Carol wearing her jacket over her suit and staring up at the stars. I feel like trying to find her place and her identity are important to her so I loved that we got that here and we’ll hopefully see more of that.

There are a bunch of negatives here (a bunch of stuff about the Tesseract that go against canon, the Skrulls (makeup, personalities, nerfed powers and threat level imo, etc.), subpar writing and acting at moments, etc.), but I seriously don’t care at all because I enjoyed the ride. My happiness dwarfs every little thing I could have nitpicked. I don’t care!!! I had so much fun! I liked the movie a lot!

[aiweirdness]

Slashdot headlines written by neural network

The news site Slashdot (“news for nerds, stuff that matters”) is celebrating its 20 year anniversary this October. What could be geekier than celebrating with the help of an open-source neural network?

Neural networks are a type of machine learning program that learn by example, rather than by a human programmer feeding them rules. Whatever the headlines contain, whatever common words and rhythms, a neural network will do its best to imitate. I’ve trained an open-source neural network called char-rnn to imitate all kinds of human things, like paint colors, guinea pig names, and craft beer names.

Slashdot sent me a list of all the headlines they’ve ever run, over 162,000 in all, and asked me to train a neural network to try to generate more.

I used a neural network called char-rnn, an open-source neural network by Andrej Karpathy, and trained it separately on the first and second decades of Slashdot headlines. Let’s see what it learned!

Decade 1: 1998 – 2007

Alternuting Your Computer The Internet Spectrum Violated Microsoft To Develop Programming Law Star Trek Creates Free Memory Launching the Linux Group Socially Microsoft Releases New Months More Pong Users for Kernel Project Nintendo Goes Canadian Edition to Customers New State of Second Life Sexual Security To Allow Australia Programming Supercomputer Library In Star Wars What are The Final Fantasy Review of the Wireless Monster? Portable Mail With Spidey Law New 5400 GPL Formed into An Internet Dvorak on Mario Games? Half-Life 2X Speed Released Ban Manhunt 2 Better than Linux? Vista Releases Denial of the Mumble New Company Revises Super-Things For Problems The Dead of Managing Moneys? Judge Releases Sony Practices in Death Doom's On Worldwire Networks Sun Releases Enterprise in Smackware I Wants To Control of the Net Nintendo Can Start in the Wild Button? Secondors Talk Open Source For Super-Bork? AOL On Beam Doubt

Some familiar personalities of the tech industry make an appearance:

Microsoft Releases Bill Gates Service Start Steve Jobs To Be Good Shatner Awards Up Towards A Game Car Challenge

Cell phones appear to be have been weird in the early days:

Stem Cell Phone Standards in Space Why Are Blow Systems Taking Your Phone? New Unreal Tournament Phone Reviews Doubts Forget To Support Flat Spam Phone

And you find companies doing rather unexpected things: 

Microsoft Announces Mac OS X Released Intel Releasing Linux In A Networks Sun Upgrades Apple Devices Corel Launches $100 Laptop Microsoft Announces Firefox Portal Mozilla's Audio Caroffice Apple Finally Launches Microsoft

I produced the above headlines by allowing the neural network a high creativity setting, so it could range over many different headline topics that it’s seen over and over. But it’s also fun to turn the creativity down near zero, so the neural network can try to generate the most quintessential headlines:

All The Company Programming Software Software? Some Computer Computer Solution of the New Company Computer More Anti-Spam For Software Computer Mac OS X Interview with Linux Computer Mac OS X Accused of the Business Sony Plans To Start Patent System For All Time Security Hole For Security Hole Security Hole in the Star Trek Computer Computer Computer Computer Software?

Decade 2: 2007 – 2017

The neural network had a tougher time with decade 2 – it seems the headlines became longer and more complex, as Slashdot experimented with new formats and new topics.  The neural network struggled to create grammatical headlines as a result. But it still did its best to reflect the new topics of the last decade. Compared to the late 1990s and early 2000s, some companies and topics disappeared, while the coverage of Apple in particular exploded. Star Trek and Star Wars, however, remain perennial Slashdot favorites. Here are some neural network-generated headlines for 2007-2017:

Twitter Discovered In the Pirate Bay Google Bacon Medal To Contract Computational Lab Scientists Discover Free Wi-Fi Store In the US Steve Jobs Sues Death of the Future Apple Seeks To Be Become Windows 10 Has Been Control the Desktops Stanford Computer Scientists Develop Super Man Sales For Computer Science Star Wars Hacked In Life On the iPhone Computer Finds Court Broke Math For Secret Company How Do You Design To Stay Them Bomb Ask Slashdot: How Clinton Uses Display For Android Chips On Netflix Court From the Jobs People 'Fork" At a Flaw Refused The Pirate Bay Tracking Storage Security For Windows 10 German Porn Update To Compete At CNSR Healthy Court Says Supreme Court Can Be Lingeries Apple Says the Moon Project To Pay $1.7 Billion For Free Software Steve Jobs Allowed To Deal With Solar Power Apple Sues Apple To Get Flash Mathematics Microsoft Slashdot: How To Build a Bad Privacy For Windows 10 Twitter That We Use Facebook To Receive The Life Linux Kernel 3.1.0 Launches In Late, Facebook To Sue Star Trek The One-Department For Alleged For Connectivity: 3-D Printed Baby Black Hole Proposed

My favorite part, though? The Slashdot headlines that appeared to come from an alternate, much more advanced, somewhat terrifying timeline:

Google Returns To the Space Station Mac OS X Project Announces Space Station Sony Announces Mars Rover Release Google Patents Intelligent Space Telescope Officials Release Android Apps For New Space Telescope Star Trek Control of the Wild Start Up Scientists Army Interviewed Company Computer Releases Cloning Crime Building A Nano-Tech Back Full Life On The Linux Chernobyl Announces Company And Educators SGI Launches Space Station FreeBSD Base Scientific Hits the Moon Red Hat Releases Linux Games And Moon Apple's Moon Review About New Moons of a Company Looking For Mars Landers to Linux Mars Rover Set for Alien China Congress To Buy Mars Mister Building a Top 100 Company For Mars Apple Considering Debut in People Processors Apple vs. Biology Details An Android Bans Secret Project For Console Devices Your Own Portals U.S. Considering Death of the Solar System Black Holes from Digital Dell Black Hole Sension of the Linux Microsoft's Lab Changes "Space" IBM Moves to The Matrix Super Planet Wars Solved

The quintessential headline, though? When I trained the neural network with all 20 years of Slashdot headlines, then turned down the creativity level to near zero, I reveal the following essential Slashdot headlines, distilled from 20 years of technology news:

Sun Sues Open Source Project Content Sun Sues Anti-Spam Computers Sun Sues Security Flaw Contest Sun Sues New Star Trek To Stop The Math Sun Sues Anti-Spam Standards And The Star Wars To Stop Computers Star Wars Companies Are Streaming the Star Wars Star Wars To Support Linux Development Apple Settles The Future of Star Wars Apple Releases Secure State of the World Apple Sues Apple To Start The Solar Power Project Sony Sues Apple Server For Seconds Off From SpaceX Project Ask Slashdot: Do We Want To Be the Computers? The Desist of the Planet

[xylianna]

Now I gotta throw you a question back! *\0w0/* How'd you get into fanfic writing and what made you stick around? (and how are you so nice?? unreal!)

Hello lovely!  So back in the day… like *does math*… 21 years ago O_o   I played in an X-Men RP chat room on AOL.  My online friends and I started writing stories about our RP and our OC’s.  I graduated from that to Sailor Moon fanfic and RP.   Then I got older and Real Life got busy and didn’t write anything for over 10 years except a couple short stories.

This past November I decided (on Oct 30th) I was going to do NaNoWriMo, and I was going to write a FFVI fanfic, so I did!  I’m still working on that story - its only got 4 chapters left!  

I was reading FFXV fics by this time but was nervous about writing them since I was afraid I’d be seen as a ‘fake fan’ since I’d never played the game - I watched a full walkthru “Lets Play” series online, since I don’t own a PS4 and couldn’t justify buying one. (I do have PC Edition and I’m still in Lestallum okay?? If I don’t leave Lestallum, FUCKING ALTISSIA doesn’t have to happen)

But then I heard of Gladnis Week and was like… okay, I’m going in.  So I wrote short ficlets for Gladnis Week, and the fandom was so nice and welcoming that I made a Tumblr, then IgnisFluffWeek happened, and then I started my own un-prompted stuff!

What made me stick around?  Mainly the people.  You all are so unfailing kind to me even when I’m a total depressed crazy cake.   I cannot emphasize how much I appreciate that.  Truly.

How am I so nice?  I think this was meant as a rhetorical question but I want to answer it and this is important.  I try to be as friendly and nice as possible because I know first hand how much the smallest kindness can help when you’re in a bad place.   I’ve had suicidal thoughts derailed by someone taking the time to smile and say hello to me.   Kindness costs us nothing and can mean everything.

Thanks for asking, darling!

[zenjestrr]

(Zelda ask) 1-7

1. What was your first Zelda game?technically, Ocarina of Time but I rented it and didn’t even manage to get into the Deku Tree (plus it was one of those 2 day rentals that Blockbuster had)the first Zelda game that I owned was Majora’s Mask

2. Which game is your favorite?Breath of the Wild 

3. Which one was the hardest for you to beat?Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.....it’s.....archaic and the fact that it has a Lives mechanic really makes a difficult game unfair since if you run out of lives, you have to start back aaaaaaaall the way from the beginning. you keep your progress but you still need to trek back to where you were and this game’s overworld is relatively huge (for an early days NES game)

4. How old were you when you started playing video games? (Or Zelda specifically)video games: 5Zelda: 8? I think?

5. What is your favorite Zelda moment?hmmmm......I think it’s easier to list the moments by game:LoZ - there aren’t any real “moments” here but I guess figuring out that the Ladder item lets you walk over one tile that you normally couldn’t walk on (water tile, “empty” tile, lava tile, etc.)AoL - the Temples are kinda cool. I like the music (it’s the song that the Hyrule Temple theme from Super Smash Bros. Melee is based on)ALttP - killing Ganon and getting the full TriforceLA - finding out that the entire island of Koholint is a construct of the Wind Fish’s dream and that waking him up by saving him from the Nightmares will delete the island and everyone living on it from existence OoT - the entire Gerudo portion of the game and the final fight with GanonMM - honestly the whole game. there are so many touching emotional moments as well as some amusing ones. the emotional Song of Healing cutscenes with Darmani and Mikau, the moments when you speak with the Giants, the entire Kafei & Anju quest (especially the climax of that sidequest), omg Pamela and her dad after you save him from being turned into a Gibdo. but if I had to pin it down to one section it’d be the part of the endgame where you’re inside the Moon and it’s just you, this vast open field with a single tree, and the kids running around. OoA/S - the moment in the beginning of Ages, I think, where this kid is playing at his grandma’s house and then suddenly the tampering of the past by the villain affects the present and he turns to stone and then his grandma gets all worries with the sad music playing in the background always hit me some type of way when I was a kid, I guess. WW - the finale with Ganon. finding out Hyrule is buried beneath the sea. finding out that your boat, the King of Red Lions, is actually the last King of HyruletMC - the fight with the Gyorgs in the sky. finding out Vaati is actually a MinishFS - at least in the Anniversary version, finding out that there were sections that called back to some of the older titlesFSA - seeing the Gerudo (my favorite race in the series)TP - seeing Midna’s true formPH - eh.....I guess the fight with Bellum. or the moment in the game when you can finally damage the PhantomsST - the finale’s pretty cool, that whole portion. I also really liked the Ocean Realm, driving the train underwater was pretty cool.SS - that final moment where you go on some proto-Hyrule Warriors-esque one-man-army run to save Zelda where it’s literally you and a hundred Bokoblins that Ghirahim summoned to keep you busy while he does his ritual on Zelda to revive Demise and then the subsequent boss fight with Ghirahim and then the boss fight with Demise. Demise didn’t live p to the literal demon god everyone was making him out to be but he gets an A+ for presentation.ALBW - the entirety of Lorule Castle. I like how the music builds up as you get closer to the final bossBotW - everything tbh. the cutscenes with Urbosa. the moment when you leave the Shrine of Resurrection for the first time and you see the vastness and beauty of the world, the moment when you fight Ganon, the fights against the Divine Beasts (especially Vah Ruta and Vah Naboris). the small moments out in the world where you kinda mess with the physics and systems of the game. seeing the remnants of places from past games. this game is truly a masterpiece. I love everything about it.

6. If you could own any weapon or item from any of the games, which one would it be?the Triforceummm....probably the Sheikah Slate from Breath of the Wild or the Ocarina of Time from.........Ocarina of Time

7. Which dungeon would you say you enjoyed the most?hmmmmmmmmmmmm..................either Stone Tower Temple from Majora’s Mask or the Ancient Cistern from Skyward Sword

[tessatechaitea]

Scarab #2

This looks like the original cover to a Philip K. Dick book where you just knew the editor and publisher had no idea what was happening so they commissioned some artist to just paint some "crazy fantasy shit."

Boredom warning: the protagonist of this comic book is still a super old guy.

Eleanor isn't dead like everybody who read the first issue believed by the end of it. That means about ten people were surprised when they picked up Issue #2 of this series. Logically, I know more than ten people purchased Scarab #2. But if we lived in a world where comic book readers didn't just constantly shrug their shoulders and keep buying every issue of a series simply because they picked up the first issue and actually limited their purchases to comic books that had an entertaining previous issue, my estimate would probably be pretty close to the mark. Louis has brought Eleanor back into the Labyrinth of Doors to keep her alive because time doesn't work there. I mean, it does work there because people can move around there and movement is a symptom of time. Symptom might be the wrong word but when have I ever cared about my word choices? You either have time or you have stasis. You can't have both! Unless you live in the Phantom Zone and then I don't know what the fuck is going on. Sometimes kids grow up there and other times dogs roam billions of miles unchanged to find their stupid boy. If Louis wanted to be more accurate, he'd point out that life functions seem to slow down to imperceptibility inside the Labyrinth of Doors. If Eleanor seems like she didn't age for fifty years while living there previously, she probably won't bleed out until he can figure out how to work Scarab's super life saving powers on Eleanor, the way he used them after he was thrown out of a second floor window and became an undulating sack of blood and broken bones that somehow wormed his way up two flights of stairs and opened the bottom drawer of a dresser (which is the biggest impossibility. Go lie on your stomach on the floor right now and try to open your dresser drawer. If you were successful, now go belly flop off the roof of the house and try again, smart ass). Louis admits that Eleanor's soul has left her body so he's really just taking care of a naked empty vessel. The naked part is the most important part of Eleanor's current description. Why else would he want to prolong his grief when he knows she's dead? Now this pervert just gets his kicks off bathing her every twenty minutes.

See? He admits it.

The Phantom Stranger arrives because why not. A writer has to throw something into this thing to attract buyers. Fans of The Phantom Stranger would have been all over this comic book when they saw him on the cover, probably doubling the amount of people who purchased it. Yes, I'm saying there are only ten Phantom Stranger fans. The Phantom Stranger really is a genius idea for a comic book character. If you call your character a stranger that means you can't divulge too much about that character lest they stop being a stranger. Which means you don't actually have to do any real work building the character, or giving the character motivation, or making any kind of sense at all! You can just have him poke his nose into other people's business every now and...um...help? Maybe not help? Maybe just judge. I don't really know what he does because he's been written so well over the years! I wish I could write a character this popular without ever giving it any defining characteristics or motivation. Oh, excuse me, I suppose The Phantom Stranger does have some defining characteristics. I forgot about the fedora and the trench coat. Meanwhile, a beam of light that used to be somebody (Eleanor? The Sicari?) flies through God's eye, circles Hell, and winds up coming its brains out in the Internet. I don't know how sexually exciting the Internet was in 1993. It was mostly just AOL chat rooms, bank account draining Neverwinter Nights, and Star Trek bulletin boards. Okay fine. I admit it. Just typing that gave me a boner. Once DC's Vertigo line was fully up and running with a few major titles leading the way and proclaiming, "This is what Vertigo is!", other titles with newer writers came along and all produced exactly the kind of shit that Vertigo apparently was. I don't know if I can fully articulate what that was, sort of a mash-up of Milligan's weirdness and sensitivity from Shade the Changing Man combined with the stark, metaphysical horrors of Moore's Swamp Thing and the shitty, grim reality and politics of Delano's Hellblazer with a sprinkling of the intellectual topsy-turvy re-tellings of mythic unreality of Gaiman's Sandman. But even unable to really describe it, I fucking know when I read something written to be a Vertigo title rather than written to be a story worthy of being a Vertigo title.

This might as well be a Polaroid of writer John Smith wanking himself off.

The early nineties were full of these kinds of Vertigo titles that just strung together words and phrases trying to invoke some kind of profound weirdness. Even the previous series I discussed, Milligan's The Extremist, came off as one of these books that was just putting on the clothing of Vertigo to make it seem more important. But at least The Extremist used the weird and outlandishly adult story to portray flawed humans considering their lives and how they got to where they were and what the fuck do they do now? There were some really bleak and gut-wrenching moments in The Extremist that I truly loved even if the plot didn't matter much to me. But it was the plot that pulled and pushed the characters to those moments, so who am I to complain? Also there were plenty of titties. I know, I know! All you high-falutin' comic book nerds don't read comic books to get boners like I do! Well la dee da! Just remember that I'm not judging you for getting your kicks by sticking your genitals in Blue Bonnet ice cream and putting it back in the display case. Um, anyway, this comic book still has a lot of space so I'm not giving up on it providing me with great moments. And since my tone in this commentary says I'm casually beating the shit out of Smith's writing," I should probably show something I sort of liked. The Phantom Stranger has touched Louis's head to make him relive some of his memories as Scarab. And while it's an easy way to present a bunch of "weird" story fragments that John Smith doesn't have to expound on, I still like this one:

The Non-Certified Spouse tells me "Weltschmerz" means, literally translated, "world pain."

On the left hand, this is just more of that "here's some weird stuff to stick into this magazine to make it Vertigo!" But on the right hand, I'd love for this to actually be a story that Smith thought out and formed into a coherent, deep, and touching two to four issue arc. Maybe Smith jotted it down and thought, "That's really all that needs to be said about that." But isn't that also how pitches start? This is a pitch. The story that could grow from this could be tragic and heartbreaking with all the nihilistic elements to ultimately provide evidence of the uplifting and hopeful nature of mankind. I think maybe this one panel should have been the pitch for Scarab. Some more of Louis's memories ("Frozen in ice on the dark side of the moon, summoning the Breathing Trees for help" and "Teaming up with Sargon the Sorcerer against the dreaded double menace of Doktor Vortex and The Quote") help establish that the Scarab had weird adventures that, while extruding the essence of Vertigo phrases, also helps ground the Scarab in the Golden Age. Because that's weird shit that you can absolutely see on the cover of comics with huge price tags hanging on the wall behind the counter of any local comic book shop. No difference exists between the two scenarios I just quoted and Batman and Robin battling "The man who saw with his fingers!" Smith is definitely evoking the Golden Age here. And, of course, Vertigo because that Auschwitz thing.

Look at me! Reading into and explicating the evidence of the text when I could have just kept reading ahead and had John Smith say it to me plainly.

The Phantom Stranger tells Louis he needs to become the Scarab again because "the world skin is diseased" and "the wheels of chance are turning too fast" and "disorder corrupts the physical plane." But then when Louis is all, "So that's why all this shit is happening!", The Phantom Stranger says, "Well, I mean, it's hard to tell for sure. But, you know, maybe somebody sent the Sicari. It's a possibility. But then, maybe not. Who knows? But just do what I say, just in case! I'm sure if Madame Xanadu were here, she'd totally agree with me." Meanwhile, the light that actually is Eleanor isn't in the Internet at all. When it said it had entered "the Net" while orgasming harder than it's ever orgasmed before (take that, Louis!), I simply assumed Smith was being all cutting edge in 1993. But he just meant the "net of life" or whatever. She's just connected to everything now. That's probably a better path for this story since the Internet wouldn't get interesting for another year when Geocities came along and The X-Files fan pages started to proliferate like cancer cells. Louis's only desire is to find Eleanor again so if becoming Scarab can help do that, he'll take it back and maybe he'll get around to saving the world too. The Phantom Stranger just remains silent because that's what he does best. As if he knows anything! He's totally acting like he knows stuff by not saying stuff but really looking like he knows that stuff while he really don't know any of that stuff. Like knows like, my man, and I see you! The Phantom Stranger leaves and Louis asks the scarabaeus (that's the thing that turns him into the Scarab which I also probably spelled incorrectly) to make him young again and it works! Issue #3 is going to be more exciting simply because the protagonist isn't an old man anymore! Me and six other people can't wait for it! Scarab #3 Rating: B. Enh, it wasn't so bad! Sure, I had plenty to criticize. But in the end, it's a story about mortality and longing for the expansive freedom and possibility that fall further and further into a person's past until all they have left is the end of fatigue promised by death! I can totally relate to this shit.

[steenpaal]

ComiXology - Wikipedia

Iconology Inc.,[1]d/b/a ComiXology (styled comiXology), is a cloud-based digital distribution platform for comics, with over 200 million comic downloads as of September 2013.[2] It offers a selection of more than 100,000[3]comic books, graphic novels, and manga across Android, iOS, Kindle Fire, Windows 8,[4] and the Internet.[5][6] In April 2014, ComiXology became a subsidiary of Amazon.com.[7]

ComiXology's digital platform with Guided View reading technology is used in the company's own branded applications, and is the engine used by most major comic book publishers in the United States, including Marvel Comics and DC Comics for their privately branded digital services.[8] With the release of the third generation iPad and its Retina Display, ComiXology released a high-definition comic format dubbed CMX-HD.[9] The company also provides tools for brick-and-mortar comic book retailers to participate in digital comic sales.[10]

Products

ComiXology.com was launched July 2007 as an online community for comic book fans; the website allows readers to identify upcoming releases and develop pull lists (individual pre-orders) from local brick-and-mortar comic shops. The website displays weekly listings of new titles that can be viewed by issue: displaying cover art, credits, description, price, page count, and other information; the site also includes weekly columns, blogs, news, and podcasts. Users can rate and comment on individual comic books. As of July 24, 2014, ComiXology offers DRM-free downloads (in PDF and CBZ formats) for the comics available from selected publishers on its online store.[11]

Pull List (launched December 2008), a mobile comic book store locater providing readers with a digital Pull List tool, allowing fans to pre-order comics for pick up from local stores through the app. This app has been replaced by the Comics by comiXology app and the web app has the retail store locator included.

Retailer Tools (launched February 2009), a suite of out-of-the-box web solutions for brick-and-mortar comic book retailers to optimize their presence online. Numerous retailers worldwide have integrated comiXology's Retailer Tools into their operations, representing about 2% of all pre-orders in the market.[citation needed]

Comics by ComiXology (launched July 2009), a digital comic book reader and store for mobile devices, including iOS (launched April 2010), Android, Windows 8 (via the Windows Store), and the Internet (web reader launched June 2010), that allows users to access their digital comic collection across multiple devices.

History

The company was founded in 2007 by CEO David Steinberger, CTO John D. Roberts, and Peter Jaffe. Subsequent to winning the business plan competition at New York University, the company received seed financing from Kit McQuiston, New York Angels and Rose Tech Ventures.[12]

In May 2016, the company launched "comiXology Unlimited," a subscription service that gives access thousands of comics to read from most major publishers for a monthly fee of $5.99, however Marvel and DC are not included.[13][14] ComiXology Unlimited, is an online subscription service by ComiXology, a cloud-based platform for digital comics The service offers more than four thousand issues to its subscribers and launched on May 24, 2016.[15] ComiXology Unlimited contains a selection of titles from Image Comics, Dark Horse, IDW Publishing, BOOM! Studios, Dynamite Entertainment, Kodansha Comics, Oni Press, Valiant Entertainment, Archie Comics, Fantagraphics Books, Humanoids, Action Lab Entertainment, Aspen Comics, Magnetic Press, Zenescope Entertainment and more.[14] According to the company, ComiXology Unlimited offers the widest subscription selection of digital comics in the world. ComiXology Unlimited is currently available in the U.S.[16] and ComiXology plans to expand to other regions in the future.[17] ComiXology updates the content included in the program on a monthly basis.[18]

ComiXology's patent-pending Guided View technology allows readers to read through comics in full screen or from panel-to-panel, mimicking the natural movement of the eye as though readers were experiencing reading a print comic book.[19]

In June 2018, the company announced ComiXology Originals, an initiative to publish creator-owned titles.[20]

Content relationships

ComiXology currently holds exclusive distribution rights on iOS to DC Comics digital content through branded apps and comics by comiXology.[citation needed]

ComiXology holds exclusive digital distribution rights to:

ComiXology’s first original digital title, Box 13, has been acquired by Red 5 Comics for print distribution. ComiXology also commissioned a sequel to the comic, titled The Pandora Project. Both Box 13 titles were created by the Harvey Award-winning team behind the Zuda Comics title High Moon - David Gallaher and Steve Ellis[23]

Moon Girl is an original comic published by ComiXology, based on a public domain comics character. The creative team on Moon Girl is Tony Trov, Johnny Zito, and Rahzzah.[24]

In 2018, ComiXology, under the ComiXology Originals banner, announced four new projects, namely: Savage Game, Superfreaks, Elephantmen, and Ask For Mercy.[25]

Controversies

In March 2013 during SXSW, an issue arose when Marvel Comics attempted to distribute over 700 comics for free via ComiXology for the Marvel #1 promotion.[26] The ComiXology servers were unable to keep up with user demand, preventing users from obtaining the promotional comics, as well as from reading comics they had purchased. This led to a formal apology and the promotions being delayed.[27] Soon afterward, the promotion was offered again and was reported to have "worked flawlessly".[28] In the aftermath of the ensuing difficulties some users have raised concerns regarding access to their files should the platform ever shut down.[29] To respond to this concern, in July 2014 selected publishers allow for DRM-free downloads of their comics.

On April 9, 2013, writer Brian K. Vaughan issued a statement[30] on Fiona Staples's blog that Apple Inc. had prohibited the sale of Saga #12 through iOS. This statement was quickly reported by the media, the impetus for the "ban" was speculated to be in response to two panels that depicted oral sex between men in a small, inset image violated Apple's restrictions on sexual content. The issue was available through the ComiXology and Image Comics digital comics website stores. The ban was criticized by artists and writers, who pointed to similarly explicit content in previous issues and in other works sold through iTunes. William Gibson and others suggested that the restriction could have occurred specifically because the drawings at issue involved gay sex.[31] A day later, Comixology announced that it had been they, not Apple, who had chosen not to make the issue available, based on their interpretation of Apple's rules, and that after receiving clarification from Apple, the issue would be sold on iOS devices.[32] Brian K. Vaughan then issued a statement apologizing for the miscommunication.[33]

After Amazon's controversial purchase of ComiXology, the company removed the option of purchasing comics inside the iOS app. This change resulted in immediate internet backlash from the comic book reader community, criticizing Amazon's acquisition of the distributor.[34] This change to ComiXology's structure has made readers concerned about the future of digital comic distribution.[35]

Reception

In September 2011, ComiXology's Comics application was the highest-grossing application in the App Store, and together with the branded applications for other comics publishers, accounted for a majority of the five top-grossing iPhone apps.

Having consistently ranked as one of the top-grossing iPad apps in iTunes, ComiXology was called the "iTunes of comics" by The New York Times in May 2012.[36] In 2011, comiXology ranked as number 10 in the top 20 grossing iPad apps for year and also powered two other apps in the top 20 — Marvel and DC.[37] In 2012, comiXology was ranked as the number 3 top grossing iPad app — the only app from 2011 to stay on the top ten list.[38]

Press reception for the launch of ComiXology Unlimited was mostly positive, with journalists and bloggers focusing on the low price point, the 30-day free trial and the diverse collection of independent comics, graphic novels, and manga available at launch.[39] Some critics pointed out, however, that only some trades in the series are available in the program,[40] undermining the “unlimited” aspect of the subscription.

References

^ "Privacy Policy - Comics by comiXology". comixology.com. Retrieved April 15, 2018.

^ "'iTunes of comics' passes 200M downloads". crainsnewyork. September 25, 2013.

^ "ComiXology Joining the Original Programming Party With Exclusive Comics". Gigaom. Retrieved December 6, 2016.

^ "New Comixology app a high point for digital comics". suntimes.com. Retrieved July 11, 2012.

^ "Comixology Celebrates 100M Downloads with FREE comics". Comic Book Daily. Retrieved June 1, 2015.

^ "COMIXOLOGY CELEBRATES MEGA ANNIVERSARY AT SAN DIEGO COMIC CON 2012". disneydigest.com. Archived from the original on January 13, 2018. Retrieved July 2, 2012.

^ Greg Kumparak. "Amazon Acquires Digital Comic Book Store Comixology". TechCrunch. AOL. Retrieved June 1, 2015.

^ "Marvel Comixology iPad App Revealed". Ifanboy.com. April 1, 2010. Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved August 7, 2011.

^ "ComiXology Reveals New Hi-Res CMX-HD Digital Comics Format!". cmtvgeek.com. Retrieved March 20, 2012.

^ "So... Who IS COMIXOLOGY, The Digital Comics Leader?". Newsarama.com. Retrieved August 7, 2011.

^ Tom Cheredar, Venture Beat. “ComiXology starts offering DRM-free downloads on (some) digital comic book purchases.” July 24, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2014.

^ "CITIA Angel Investing - ComiXology, excerpt from David S. Rose's book Angel Investing: The Gust Guide to Making Money & Having Fun Investing in Startups". Wiley. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved November 2, 2015.

^ ComiXology CEO Answers the Big Questions About New "Unlimited" Subscription Service CBR, May 24, 2016

^ a b "ComiXology Launches Its "All-You-Can-Eat" Service with Image, Dark Horse, IDW, Boom And More". Bleeding Cool Comic Book, Movie, TV News. May 24, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2016.

^ "Comixology Unlimited: Amazon Launches Digital Comic Subscription Service". Slashfilm. May 24, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2016.

^ Salkowitz, Rob. "Amazon's ComiXology Aims To Rekindle Digital Comics Market With 'Unlimited' Plan". Forbes. Retrieved December 5, 2016.

^ "Introducing comiXology Unlimited: Endless Access to Digital Comics, Graphic Novels & Manga for just $5.99 a Month". The Fanboy Factor. May 24, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2016.

^ "ComiXology Unlimited Announces Comings and Goings for September". pastemagazine.com. Retrieved December 5, 2016.

^ "Digital Comics Pioneer comiXology Discusses Its Past and Future at Comic Book News, Reviews, and Previews – The Blog From Another World". Tfaw.com. January 24, 2011. Retrieved August 7, 2011.

^ McMillan, Graeme (June 1, 2018). "Amazon Unveils New Comic Line Through Digital ComiXology Platform". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 3, 2018.

^ "ComiXology Adding Web Viewer & Store to Expanding Digital Comic Presence". Newsarama.com. Retrieved August 7, 2011.

^ "ComiXology Gets ROB LIEFELD Creator-Owned Work Exclusively". Newsarama.com. Retrieved August 7, 2011.

^ "Comixology Announces Highly Anticipated Sequel to 'Box 13' | Hypergeek". Hypergeek.ca. Retrieved August 7, 2011.

^ Parkin, JK (January 19, 2010). ""Moon Girl" Exclusive to comiXology". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved June 23, 2010.

^ "Amazon Unveils New Comic Line Through Digital ComiXology Platform". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 27, 2018.

^ "SXSW 2013: Marvel #1". March 10, 2013. Archived from the original on March 13, 2013. Retrieved March 11, 2013.

^ "A Message From The CEO". March 11, 2013. Retrieved March 11, 2013.

^ Comixology's Marvel #1s Promotion works like a charm.

^ The lesson of the comiXology blackout. Retrieved July 16, 2014.

^ APPLE vs. SAGA #12: ComiXology blocks sale of Image comic over ‘images of gay sex’; artist Staples reacts. Retrieved July 16, 2014.

^ Robertson, Adi (April 9, 2013). "Apple bans 'Y: The Last Man' creator's new comic from Comixology over sexual content: The distinction between app and art breaks down". The Verge. Retrieved April 10, 2013.

^ Kovach, Steve (April 10, 2013). "Comic Book App Comixology Holds Off On Publishing Comic Depicting Graphic Gay Sex Fearing Apple Would Ban It (AAPL)". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved April 10, 2013.

^ Brian K. Vaughan apologizes for saying Apple banned 'Saga' after ComiXology confusion. Retrieved July 16, 2014.

^ Upbin, Bruce (April 30, 2014). "The ComiXology Outrage". Forbes. Retrieved May 1, 2014.

^ Amazon's ComiXology Acquisition Has Some Readers Concerned.

^ "In New Digital Comics, Each Tap Holds a Surprise". The New York Times. May 30, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2012.

^ "GET "THE WALKING DEAD" VOL. 1 FREE AT THE COMIXOLOGY BOOTH DURING WONDERCON 2012". comicbookresources.com. Retrieved March 12, 2012.

^ "More on Comixology". comicsbeat.com. Retrieved December 17, 2012.

^ "ComiXology's New Service is "Netflix for Comics"". Archived from the original on August 29, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2016.

^ Terror, Jude. "comiXology Launches Digital Comics Unlimited Service, Forgets to Actually Make it Unlimited". The Outhouse - The Journalism the Comics Industry Deserves. Retrieved December 5, 2016.

External links

[samurai-esquire]

From the Munday meme (but I'm on mobile and can't copy/paste): do you play any instruments, and are there any other fandoms you would like to approach?

♪ - Do you play any instruments?

lol nah. I tried to learn how to read music a few times, but it never really stuck. I was in chorus for most elementary and middle school though, and I was apparently pretty good at it–but I dropped off after starting high school. 

✵ - Are there any other fandoms you’d like to approach?

Part of me kind of wants to dip my toe into the Sailor Moon fandom! I did toy with creating like, a Neo Queen Serenity blog, because I feel like Usagi adjusting to life as a political figure and ruler would be super interesting to write. I doubt I’d ever do it, but it’s still something I’ve thought about from time to time.

(Also it’d be kind of me coming full circle in my RP life tbh. Fun fact, my first foray ever into RPing was about 21 years ago, when I’d create Sailor Moon OCs that were based on my 4th grade classmates and putz around in AOL roleplay chatrooms. It was reaaaaal bad.)

[psychic-readingonline]

Astrology Matches

Contents

Compatibility celebrity oct

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Motivation monday segments

Compatibility of Sun signs helps you learn how to approach the person standing in front of you, pointing to differences and similarities between your natures.

Astrology Tomorrow Moon Sign astrology compatibility celebrity oct 2, 2018 … celebrity couples are both intriguing and baffling; while their love stories … astrological compatibility, however, can offer some basic insight. This compatibility report assesses whether or not a relationship is likely to be marriage material i.e. whether or not two people are likely to be successful in forming

A s the first sign of the zodiac, Aries is also the sign with the strongest need to take the lead and be out front calling the shots. Governed by energetic Mars, Aries natives are natural extroverts, as well as highly determined people who are constantly full of fiery energy.

Horoscopes. AOL Horoscopes – "Get your free daily horoscope at AOL Horoscopes. Discover what’s in store for your astrology sign for the day, your week in romance and more." Ask the Astrologers – "Astrological Insights to Inspire and Enlighten You!"; Astro.com – "Free Astrology and Horoscopes from Astrodienst! Get your free horoscope – and much more!

Aries Compatibility. As the first sign of the zodiac, Aries is also the sign with the strongest need to take the lead and be out front calling the shots.

Do I give personal astrology readings? Although I love to, I’m not doing them these days. In addition to writing "Free Will Astrology" and my expanded audio horoscopes, I’m also working on new books and attending to that high art referred to as "having a life."

Jessica Adams writes her Astrology for many well known magazines. Get your free astrology columns, horoscopes and astrology podcasts at jessicaadams.com

Is Astrology Answers Safe Jan 30, 2018 … Is Victoria fake from astrology answers.com? She just gave me a free reading and I can't find information on her anywhere. But it was pretty … Mar 12, 2018 … They are real astrologers, and what they say is not fake, adding to the aura … If you are receiving an answer

Mar 13, 2017 … When it comes to a successful relationship, compatibility is a must. … And for those who follow astrology, zodiac signs mean everything.

Astrology Jupiter Pluto Aspects Thanks Jamie! I have Pluto in Libra sextile my sun, venus, jupiter, neptune, and trine my midheaven and ASC. I can relate to this post and “creating a continual desire for positive transformation of the ego” as overcoming massive personal/life barriers has been my whole existence and I know that this is true for many

Learn the compatibility between signs, and more about the astrology signs in love with The AstroTwins' love matcher horoscopes.

I’ve gathered together all of the Long-Range, Big-Picture Horoscopes I wrote for you in the past few weeks, and bundled them in one place. Go here to read a compendium of your forecasts for 2019. In addition to these, I’ve created EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES that go even further in Exploring Your Long-Term Destiny in 2019. What will be the story of your life in the coming months?

Find out if you and your love interest or partner are soul mates, best friends, or a recipe for disaster. But no fear – even opposites can attract. Find out how you …

Is Astrology Answers Legit Astrology answers have good interactive…. Astrology answers have good interactive post which makes it fun to watch through out the.day.. the motivation monday segments are also good to watch. Overall astrology answer is by far the best page I’ve signed up for. Jan 30, 2018 … Is cedric grant bouchard legit or fake? …. I Astrology Compatibility Celebrity Oct 2, 2018 … celebrity couples are both intriguing and baffling; while their love stories … astrological compatibility, however, can offer some basic insight. This compatibility report assesses whether or not a relationship is likely to be marriage material i.e. whether or not two people are likely to be successful in forming a lasting union. Indian Astrology Moon Sign Or Sun Sign Astrology Compatibility Celebrity Oct 2, 2018 … celebrity couples are both intriguing and baffling; while their love stories … astrological compatibility, however, can offer some basic insight. This compatibility report assesses whether or not a relationship is likely to be marriage material i.e. whether or not two people are likely to be successful in forming