#Angle Brackets

[punctuation-bracket]

Round 1 - Side A - Set 1 - Match 4

Information on the contestants:

Exclamation Point !

Angle Brackets ⟨⟩

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vote on Match 1 here!

Vote on Match 2 here!

Vote on Match 3 here!

[sheetmetalwork]

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https://www.vandf.co.uk/tooling/what-is-cnc-bending/

In conclusion, CNC folding is a game-changer in the production of stainless steel brackets, providing unmatched precision, versatility, and efficiency. This technology paves the way for the creation of brackets that not only serve their intended purpose but also exhibit exceptional craftsmanship.

[fixdex-fastening-technology]

FIXDEX & GOODFIX technical department explains new energy technology

[kangaroositesupplies]

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[aroaceleovaldez]

okay last one for the night but. honestly i really hate how the franchise has been using loyalty to Rick as a shield for so long. If Rick was involved in a project or not doesn't matter, especially not anymore.

ReadRiordan and the publishing for the franchise has been using this tactic for ages - they obscure if any writing related to the series wasn't written by Rick unless it's special circumstances. It's near impossible to find out who the ghostwriters are (Stephanie True Peters and Mary-Jane Knight). TSATS was promoted as the first time we got a non-Riordan (Rick or Haley) author working on one of the companion novels despite having seven already existing ghostwritten books in the series. The only reason Mark Oshiro was emphasized so heavily for TSATS was because they also work as a sensitivity reader for topics such as queer identity, and Rick had received backlash in the past for being a Straight Cis Old White Guy repeatedly falling into bad habits (that he hasn't broken out of) with certain characterizations that he kept doubling-down on or retconning into oblivion. The show emphasizes that Rick was involved, but the LA Times article brings into question exactly how much he was involved, and it doesn't even really matter either way. The ReadRiordan site actively avoids putting any writing credits on their articles (or art credits...) or anywhere on their site.

Practically the entire fandom unanimously agrees the musical - which had zero involvement from Rick - is the best adaptation of the series so far, including the TV show. Some of the best writing to come out of the series recently was the stuff ghostwritten by Stephanie True Peters (Camp Half-Blood Confidential, Camp Jupiter Classified, Nine from the Nine Worlds, etc). And yet when promotional stuff is posted about CHB:C, there's clearly coded language used to hide the fact that Rick himself didn't write it. Yes, that's how ghostwriters work, but at this point we should really stop pretending "Rick Riordan" isn't just a pen name for a group of authors like "Erin Hunter" and that Rick is actually writing everything in the series. I can easily look up and see which Animorphs books were ghostwritten, and who those authors were. I can find every "Erin Hunter" easily listed on official sites. And yet most people don't even know the Riordanverse franchise has ghostwriters at all.

And the franchise is still trying to use the "Tio/Uncle Rick" stuff. Author loyalty and marketing parasocial relationships isn't going to save the franchise when the author himself can't hold up his own original themes or even keep basic series bible details straight, and especially not if the editors are barely if at all doing their job. And please at least get a goddamn series bible by this point.

[melannen]

How To Make Your Own Fanfiction Archive, In Just Ten Easy Steps

As the go-to "person who knows about AO3" for quite a few people who read fanfic but aren't really linked-in to wider fandom culture, I've fielded a lot of questions about how to do certain things on AO3 to which my best answer is "you should really start your own archive!" I think, in general, more fans starting their own small archives would be a net good for fandom. AO3 was never meant to be the only archive for all fandom, or even the main archive, and the more spread out and backed up we are the more resilient we are.

But of course I have to be reminded that a lot of fans these days don't really have any idea how little "you should start your own archive!" really involves. (Also, that I should practice what I preach.) So I am now making my own fanfiction archive, and writing up this post as I do it to tell people how to make theirs!

Go to https://neocities.org/ and sign up for an account. It only needs a username (which will also be your website address), password, and email. Pick a username that will be related to your archive's title!

Choose the free account option (if you ever need more than what the free account offers for a text-only archive, you should probably look into graduating from neocities.) This should take you to a menu of "how to make a website" tutorials. You should do them! They're useful skills. But let's get your archive running first.

Hit the big red Edit Site button, or open the menu under your username and select "Edit Site".

Select the "Index.html" file to edit. You're now in an HTML Editor. Congrats, you're a web developer c. 1999!

Find where it has text between the < title> tags. Delete the filler text, and put in the title of your new archive. This text will be what shows on the tab when people go to your archive.

Find where it has text between the < h1 > tags. This will be big header text at the top of your page. Put the title of your archive here again. If you have no experience with HTML, you should read over the other sample text. It covers the basic basics very well! Once you've done that, you can delete everything else between the < /h1> tag and the < /body> tag. Save your index.html file.

Get an HTML file for a fanfic you would like to add to your archive. If it's on AO3, you can use the html download option built into AO3. If you have it as a word processor/google docs file, you should have the option to save as an html file. Save that html file to your computer.

Go back to Edit Site on Neocities and go to "upload". Find the html file you saved and upload it. (You can also drag and drop files to upload.)

The file you uploaded should now be showing with your other neocities files. Right-click on the title and select "copy link".

Go in to edit index.html again. Under where you put your header text, type < br> < a href=" . Then paste in the link you copied. Then type "> Then put in the title of the fic. Then type < /a> . Then save the index page again when you're done. You can do this for every fanfic you have.

Congratulations! You now have your very own personal private fanfiction archive that you are 100% in charge of and make all the rules for. It's at least as good as half the ones I was reading on when I started reading fanfiction and will serve its function well as a way to let people read your fic. You can link to it from anywhere you want! (Including your AO3 profile.)

Blogpost version, with FAQs and discussion

Anyway, here's my beautiful new fanfiction archive made using this tutorial:

Melannen's Fanfiction Archive

(I am honestly way more disproportionately proud of finally making that than I expected to be. It's nice to have your own archive.)

If you make one, share it here ! I want to see!

[softgrungeprophet]

Radiant Black Rundown

(aka: Nadia is going to make a rec post for something that isn't Spider-Man or Spider-Man adjacent for once)

(aka "Please read Radiant Black")

(Radiant Black #10)

This is all subjective, obviously, but for me...

Positives:

All the characters are adults, ranging from their 20s (Eva), to 30s (Nathan, Marshall, Satomi), to 50s or 60s (Wendell)

The characters are specific. They have specific personalities, backgrounds, priorities and expertise. They are people with emotions and flaws and lives.

The main characters (Nathan and Marshall) are codependent vaguely homoerotic best friends with a slightly imbalanced dedication to one another (unrequited love?), plus some jealousy (drama!)

Despite occasional clunkiness, does a decent job at mixing humor and seriousness, angst, drama, etc. "Are you an angel?" "No, ma'am, I'm a millennial" did make me laugh.

Diverse characters and creators: Some co-writers include (but are not limited to) Cherish Chen, Melissa Flores, streamer Meghan Camarena, and Chicago local Laurence Holmes, and they're all very skilled at collaborating with each other and with Kyle to breathe life into the characters and their motivations.

And all of the Radiants are brunettes! (lol)

Not a lot of crossovers (basically none) despite being part of a larger universe (the Massive-verse), and not a ton of issue hopscotch (still some).

The stakes are often very personal (most of the time). These characters may have to save the world but they're also all kind of fuck-ups in some way, and are still mostly dealing with their personal and private lives and loved ones, which grounds it.

"Officially," only Eva is queer (afaik) but to me, Marshall also reads as pretty strongly gay or bi-coded, and Satomi gives off some kind of gender thing (to me). With a mix of actual queer WLW/lesbian romance in Radiant Pink and some interesting subtext in the main Radiant Black comics, plus whatever Radiant Red's got going on, I think there's a lot to sink your teeth into in that regard, or at least to go "AUGH" about LOL

Also there's real cool art—

(Radiant Black #17)

(Radiant Black #10)

(RB #10 again — issue 10 whips ass, okay? I have the UV-reactive fluorescent ink printing of this issue... and I don't own a blacklight, unfortunately 😂)

(Costa is the main artist for all of the above panels, with colors by Triona Farrell (#17) and Igor Monti (#10), but I'm a big fan of Ferigato's pencils on the Marshall-focused issues too, plus Lafuente and Muerto's work in Radiant Red is killerrrrrr)

Neutrals:

All the Radiants' eye markings are animated/emotive (except Yellow). Personally, I'm mixed on expressive masks and helmets. (Big shock, I know 😂) I don't dislike the animated eyes, and I get why they're useful, but I prefer the less animated helmet "faces" so far.

Cosmic world-saving stuff — If you know me, you know I tend to prefer street-level superhero stuff, but I think the high-stakes action works in Radiant Black because it's still grounded in the personal and still has that street-level element, so I'm not too bothered by this. (I also like sci-fi, which helps)

Negatives:

Some people over-emphasize just how groundbreaking and different Radiant Black actually is. Like I get it, hype it up, but sometimes it is a little funny to be like "this has never been done before!" and it's like, idk about that 😂

Occasionally it does lean a little into referential humor and quips, but it's got plenty of actually funny jokes, and the dialogue flows naturally most of the time and isn't just a vessel for snappy one-liners, thank God. But if you're like me, sometimes you may roll your eyes.

It takes some time to find its feet (imo), but even then it's still generally engaging. To me, issues 9 and 10 are where it really hits its stride and not long after that is where it takes off running.

There is some issue/series hopping — While there's not a ton of issue hopping, there are some minor details that make more sense if you have read some of the auxiliary issues/miniseries. Luckily, it's not a huge amount of reading.

Prison is where you go to atone 🤡 I didn't like it in Spider-Man: Redemption and I don't like it here lol but Eva seemed unimpressed in volume 4, so I'm hoping it'll have some nuance as I catch up.

Wonky numbering. It's not too bad (and if you read the trade paperbacks, it's a non-issue) but there is a plot thing that happens that means all the issues after #24 (until #30 and #30.5, afaik) have special numbering

(Radiant Black #11)

Radiant Reading List:

Note: here is a really great, in-depth, incredibly precise Massive-verse reading list put together by a fan — It has issue-by-issue and page-by-page instructions for the real chronology sickos out there, and is just a generally fantastic resource/timeline reference.

But here is my personal (way less precise) reading list for Radiant Black plus its auxiliaries, minus all the other stuff:

Radiant Black v. 1 (#1-6)

Radiant Black v. 2 (#7-12)*

Shift #1-4 (not #5)*

Radiant Red (#1-5)*

Supermassive (2022)**

Radiant Black v. 3 (#13-18)

Radiant Black v. 4 (#19-24)

Radiant Pink (#1-5)***

Supermassive (2023)

Radiant Black v. 5 (#25-27.5)

Radiant Black v. 6 (#28-30.5) (issues #30 and #30.5 will be out in October 2024, so volume 6 tpb probably not until the holidays if I had to guess... unfortunately for me 😂)

Shift #5****

Supermassive (2024)****

Notes:

*Okay, so.... parts of Shift and Radiant Red technically occur simultaneously w/ each other and also overlap some w/ Radiant Black #9 and #10, so you probably actually want to stop at Radiant Black #9, then do Shift and Radiant Red, and then return to Radiant Black at #10, but in my opinion, all that really matters is you read Shift before Radiant Red, whether you slot them between Radiant Black issues 9 and 10, or just read whole trades at a time, whichever you find more practical or convenient. I... did both lol

That being said: don't read Shift #5 until… later, as it was a very recent addition for the Shift collected edition and takes place significantly later in the main plot.

**Supermassive 2022 is a pretty simple single issue crossover mini-event/annual with Inferno Girl Red and Rogue Sun, and doesn't really require reading the others' stories nor does it really affect any real plot, but it does offer a tiny bit of context to Radiant Black's main storyline that I found kind of crucial lol — like is it Necessary? No. Does it clarify one (1) little detail? Yes.

***Radiant Pink can probably be read at any point after Radiant Black issue #12, but I happen to be reading it in this order lol

****The in-depth Massive-verse reading guide I linked earlier says to read Shift #5 in the middle of Radiant Black #28.5 and Supermassive 2024 between Radiant Black #29.5 and #30, so ideally... during volume 6, but since 30 and 30.5 aren't even out yet... well. Good luck!

After 30.5 is out I believe the Radiant Black team will be taking a hiatus iirc, which is reasonable.

There is not yet a Radiant Yellow mini, and idk when one will be released. There have been a couple of delays in the Massive-verse over the past year or so, for a variety of reasons (it's massive!), and I'm guessing Yellow's solo got pushed back. Hopefully it will be out sooner rather than later but we'll see! Obviously the teams creating all of this have been working their asses off so, you know, it happens LOL

Personally I'm subscribed to Kyle's newsletter, which is probably one of the best ways to get updates. It can and often does contain spoilers, but you can do what I do and just scroll really fast past them lol

In practice you can just mainline Radiant Black and ignore everything else and be fine, but I think the other Radiants, Shift and Supermassive offer useful context as far as character motivation and juicy stuff like that goes— Especially since Shift deals with the origins of multiple antagonists, and Radiant Red has some main plot implications for Satomi. Useful to know, etc.

Anyway. That got long, but hopefully not too long to be useful.

Stay Radiant ⦵

(Radiant Red #3)

[punctuation-completionist]

okay, so i'm absolutely dealing with a problem here that bothered no one but it did bother ME so... basically, here's the thing. for a while i've been counting the bullet and interpunct as the same mark based on the philosophy that they're close enough

• ·

these are the bullet and interpunct next to each other. they're nowhere near "close enough" so, i think, the best solution is to put the bullet on the list and then that can be cleared up.

the question becomes whether you want the bullet on the normal list (and the interpunct would be moved to the bonus list) or do we just put the bullet on the bonus list? here's a link to my explanation of what the interpunct does just for context ☞ link

. ? ! , : ; ' " – — - · ... [ ] { } ( ) / < >

22/22

bonus:

⁂ * † ‡ ⁓ ~ & @ ^ ⸺ ⸻ ¶ § ¡ ¿ ⸘ ❦ ⸮ ‽

manicule bonus (☞) +1

[jerichogender]

thinking about the time they actually gave joey dialogue in the new teen titans: games…

“He could be role-playing with us. Art represents civilization. Maybe he’s showing us his end game?”

this says sooo much about him: his deductive reasoning skills, his appreciation for art, his understanding of other people’s psychology. i need more stories where joey gets to play detective, especially in an art or music history context, and i NEED him to have proper dialogue

[sydmarch]

literally dropped everything & started drawing this at midnight after seeing @motifbf's tags on the sexyman poll:

[thepersonperson]

I don’t think you can isolate the kanji 夫 the way you can with 厨 in mizushi. In English, it would be as if we were to interpret the word “salesman” to carry a secondary meaning of “sales husband” or “sales lover” because the word “man” in English can also mean husband or lover in isolation, per Merriam Webster. Like that’s just not how a native speaker would interpret those words or construct a pun. I think Gege uses bonpu because it’s a specific Buddhist term, like Sukuna’s not only calling Gojo mid in a general sense, but also specifically a person who has not achieved spiritual awakening.

Prev Related Ask

Oho! But why not anon? Why shouldn’t I isolate the 夫 in 凡夫? Wordplay is a very flexible thing across all languages.

In English you give me the example of “salesman” -> “salelover”. And I don’t think that’s quite right. What’s going on here is much more like “red rum”=“murder” from The Shining.

(Spoilers below the cut.)

A native English speaker coming across "red rum" in isolation would not think to combine the two words and read it backwards. The context of The Shining is what makes us realize there’s more to it than “red” and “rum”. Upon reflection (in the mirror) the “red rum” becomes “murder”.

This doesn’t mean the “red rum” is only “murder”. The clever thing about this wordplay is that both readings represent something in the story.

The Shining is about an alcoholic man, Jack, losing his mind while isolated at a decaying hotel for work and trying to kill his family. It's his son that starts saying "red rum" early on in the story. (The hotel is also haunted because it’s built over the graves of murdered indigenous people and there's other supernatural stuff going on. I think that’s important to know too.)

Rum, a type of alcoholic drink, is a nod to the root cause of Jack’s problem, the alcoholism. Red is a recourring color in both the book and the movie that seems to represent a lot of things within the narrative. The red on cheeks flushed in drunkness or anger, the blood of those spilled within the hotel’s grounds, a warning sign of danger… “Being in the red” is also a problem for both Jack and the hotel’s finacial state. (And Jack’s mental state too.)

Murder is the danger Jack poses and the reason the hotel exists in the first place.

It’s also noteworthy that a child (Jack's son), who is probably too young to fully grasp concepts like death at the hands of a caretaker, is trying to communicate this danger in 3-letter words that aren’t understood by the adults around him. He’s also copying or mirroring what something else is telling him.

It’s a warning of what’s to come and why it is happening while reiterating narrative themes, but that requires both readings. There’s not one reading or the other, both are happening at the same time. And the only way we can conclude this is by considering the rest of the story.

And if you want to see really abominable wordplay that just breaks all the rules in Japanese, please read Umineko. It’s spoilers to discuss how insane and niche it is, but it make sense for the story because the characters are unhinged weirdos that enjoy screwing with people in esoteric ways that drive you and the people they’re tormenting crazy. (Those who have read know Exactly what I’m talking about.)

(Very mild Umineko spoilers.) Being able to solve the ridiculous wordplay riddle in Umineko requires that you understand the particular neurosis of the character that created it. This character loves both Japanese and English word games and literature. Even though the riddle is written in Japanese, you use that knowledge of this character’s westaboo tendencies to recognize that some of the kanji are secretly representing English letters. And those kanji have to be isolated and read a different way using hints contained within the riddle. (Aka no native speaker would think this way normally. There’s a good reason this thing didn’t get solved for YEARS. Massive Spoilers for proof of this. Shout out to the one person who managed to do it before the solution was released, well sort of.)

I’m using all these weird examples because this is the particular kind of freak Sukuna is. If it were any other character, it would be reaching. But because he is a literature nerd that bends and breaks the rules as he wants, his Dismantle and its kanji doubling as cutting to understand/solve, and the fight being framed as a date, there is a very real chance he meant the mid husband on top of the ordinary/unenlightened readings (religious connotations too). All these readings are to be taken at the same time because Sukuna truly is [redacted] Umineko.

[westvocap-ocbracket]

ROUND TWO! SIDE B-1

Splitter Girl Vs. Misha

[sheetmetalwork]

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[fixdex-fastening-technology]

❤️FIXDEX produce hardware such as wedge anchorthrough bolt, threaded rod...

[rabbiteclair]

getting a keyboard with no symbols on the caps has made me aware that there's a small category of keys, like F1-F12, best described as 'keys whose location I know, but can't touch type'

I like to think that I look patently ridiculous when I look down at 104 blank black keys and confidently push one

[petericksongpoll]

i totally misunderstood the intent of the poll sorry, thank you for the update

what counts as composition? the pure sound part or the whole songwriting process like 'this is the first song we wrote with the p2 dynamic' and 'the post this got lines from has extra peterick implications' is also something that weighs on this? (i assume the process doesn't since that type of context surrounding the song is far removed from the lyricism for this and more in line with the 'it's the song they end all shows with' extras that you just clarified is not the point of this poll)

too late to change what's already been voted on ofc but to have an idea of what was intended and vote according to that instead

Hi! It's no problem no need to apologise aha, at the end of the day this is just for fun. I just know I personally like to come into things with clear understanding and wanted to give that to anyone who felt more unsure.

As for what counts as composition I'd say both the sound and the process; I don't think it's reasonable to really divorce the 'lore' or the way they write from these songs, I think personally they imply a lot about it, so things like 'Baby was the first thing written in their current style', 'sometimes it was Patrick confirming that Disloyal is about them', 'What a Catch, Donnie was written from Patricks POV', 'Where Did The Party Go is the first song written post hiatus', or, and I know it's contentious, but the fact that 'Miss Missing You was written by Patrick during hiatus' (whether you take that as pure sound or the lyrics too is up to you)... I think all of these things are fair game; I think they all influence the meaning and understanding we have of these songs and so personally I think it's fine to have those weigh on your choices. If you (general you not just you anon) disagree that's okay, just vote however you like :)

Also just an extra thought to add on, when I say the sound I do mean less 'I like how this sounds so I'll vote it' and more about the composition choices and how they impact and accentuate meaning to the overall song, especially if we're talking smaller details like the church bells in Church (or Headfirst Slide/Disloyal), or that part in Twin Skeleton's where it gets quiet after the jet black crow line. Again, it's your choice how you vote but this is what I was intending.