#How can I improve buffering?

[itphobia]

Effective Ways: How to Increase Streaming Quality

Effective Ways: How to Increase Streaming Quality

How to increase streaming quality? If you stream content for your business, you may have found that quality is a significant factor. There are multiple reasons why streaming content can be poor quality, and it is important to take steps to change it. Poor streaming quality can cause you to miss out on potential business deals, and it could also lead people to stop watching your content…

[lunex-the-cat]

It took 20 million years but I finally gave this bastard the update he deserves.

[omegalomania]

july 2020 // october 2022

[myflagmeansace]

Samba's OFMD BTS Cat Improv video with transcript with dialogue tags

Scene begins in the middle of an ongoing discussion of Zheng's fighting skills being similar to that of a cat

Stede: ...cat

Ed: Just a cat. She looked just like a cat.

Stede: Feline.

Ed: But not a lazy cat. (dramatic pause)

Stede: An attacker cat.

Ed (says sagely): A motivated cat.

Stede (repeats himself because he likes how it sounds): An attacker cat!

Ed (eager to spin the story to incorporate Stede's idea): Uh, eh, it was...it was a cat attack!

Stede: Ooh yeah! And we were there, too.

Ed (adamantly agreeing): And we saw it.

Stede: We were part of it.

Ed: I was part of it. We were-

Stede: We were like...

Ed: -we were also like cats!

Stede (whispers in awe imagining them as cats): Yeah!

Ed: It was like three stealthy cats.

Stede (nods in agreement with his smart bf): That's right!

Ed (loving his bf's hype): Like three humans who had skinned some cats.

Ed (ADHD mode activated): You know there are many ways to skin a cat. You can start at the head and you just peel from the nose all the way down. Or start at the ass and (gestures as if he were skinning a cat) whip it back like that!

Spanish Jackie/Leslie: Jesus wept.

Ed: It was like three cats had been skinned and we just leapt into their bodies, zipped it up...(train of thought switching tracks)...uhhhm-

Stede (trying to figure out what track they're on): It was cat skins.

Ed: -It was actually the other way around. It was like three cats killed some humans and then-

Stede (loyally agreeing with his bf): That's true. It was the opposite.

Ed: -skinned them. So like three cats had sk...caught some humans, skinned them, and then wore their skins-

Stede (quietly pushing his imagination to the limits): Yeah.

Ed: -as little suits.

Stede (proudly agreeing with his bf): Take that humans! Cats are back!

Ed (needing to emphasize the size of said cats): But they're in the big cats!

Stede (happily reiterating Ed's added detail): Yeah, big cats are back!

Ed (switching tracks again into unknown territory): Or it was like a bunch of...it was way bigger than a normal cat. It was like all of us and we are full...are filled with cats! (abruptly ends his brainstorm and silently rests his hand on his hip)

Stede (proudly standing by his bf, nodding, though he's not sure how he feels about being filled with cats): *buffering silence*

*random meow*

Swede (unsure if he's in the gravy basket because of all the poison he drank): Are you sure I'm not dead?

Spanish Jackie (tired): Yeah. Yeah.

[wowbright]

I never want to discourage anyone from commenting on fanfics that they enjoy when they want to share their appreciation with fanfic authors.

At the same time, I cannot convey how discouraging it is to me, as an author, to get comments on years-old fanfic that basically do nothing but tell me that I'm doing storytelling wrong. I have one story in particular where the character has a limited point of view and interprets a common phenomenon differently than many people who live in our real world interpret it. But this is intentional! It's an illustration of the character's thinking and point of view. But instead of people trusting that I might know what I'm doing, I *to this day* get comments from people who have never left a nice word on my fanfic about "well, apparently you don't know this, but actually, that's not the way the world works." And like, if they kept reading the story, maybe they would realize that the decision was intentional? But no, they feel the need to make the comment right off the bat. I mean, just *asking* me if the decision was intentional instead of telling me that I'm wrong would be an improvement. It would give me a chance to clarify, and if there is actually something in my writing I could change to make it clear that this is the character's point of view and not intended to be a representation of the real world, we could have that discussion and maybe I would improve as a writer in the future. But instead I get these discouraging "corrections" that really don't leave a lot of room for dialogue--because at this point I've gotten so tired of them that I just don't approve the comments. And a thing that could have become a dialogue and perhaps even a fandom friendship gets aborted right off the bat, because (even if it wasn't meant that way) it comes across as an intentionally bad-faith reading and, honestly, I don't want to form community with people who read things in bad faith.

(Now, if I already know you and you say something like this, I might find it discouraging but I will also know you're not acting in bad faith, so we can recover from it. But if you just randomly alight on people's fanfic to tell them they're doing it wrong, you're not going to get any sense of community out of fandom.)

On another note, this might be a good reason for well intentioned commenters to keep commenting on old fanfic! Because at this point I would say the majority of comments I get on that old fanfic are "correction" ones. Since the fanfic still gets kudos, I assume there are people still reading it and enjoying it, but I hear less from them. So if nothing else, leaving a kind comment, even something as little as a ❤️, on an old fanfic can help buffer authors against the negative comments they may continue to receive on that fic.

(And just because you don't see any negative comments in the comment section doesn't mean they aren't receiving them. On AO3 and many other platforms, authors can delete or screen out comments--so they could have received them but aren't letting them show up in their comments section.)

[writingquestionsanswered]

hey, i love your blog, you’re so kind for doing all of this. kudos.

i was wondering if you have advice on how to not be terrified of sharing your work with the world? i write a lot of fanfiction (and someday hopefully some original stories) but i get so so anxious about ANYONE reading them so they usually end up rotting in my google docs, and eventually i stop writing them because i don’t get the motivation that comes from reader responses

but the issue is i’m not sure how to tackle this anxiety. as someone who has published works, do you have advice for this?

Tackling the Anxiety of Sharing Your Work

For my answer, I'm going to cobble together some bits from previous posts and add some new stuff. ♥

Sharing our fiction with others is one of the biggest steps we take as writers, and it can be scary no matter what you write. But, if you want to be published, it’s a necessary step. As with so many things in life, doing something that requires courage is often just a matter of taking a deep breath and doing it. "Ripping off the band-aid," as they say.

However, there are some things that might help ease the associated anxiety a bit:

1 - Try to Pin Down Your Specific Fears - One of the first things you may want to do is try to figure out what you're specifically afraid of or what's making you the most anxious about the prospect of sharing your work. If you can find the root cause, it might be easier to tackle the associated anxiety. Are you worried people:

will think your writing is bad?

won’t like your writing style?

won’t get your story/characters?

will judge you for what you write about?

will think less of you for writing at all or what you write about?

will blab about your writing to others?

will steal your ideas?

will see similarities between your story and others?

will make you feel tied to a project you might not complete?

I tackle some of these in the writing-related-fears portion of my Motivation master list.

2 - Don't Rush It - If you take the time to properly revise and edit your story, you can be confident in knowing you've put in the time and effort to make your story the best it possibly can be.

3 - Start Small - If you can, try sharing your story first with an "alpha reader," or in other words a trusted friend, family member, or community member who can appreciate your story. In this case, you might say you're not looking for specific feedback but just a general impression of what they liked about the story. This way, it's not about getting constructive criticism so much as getting over the hump of sharing it and getting the little boost of what they like about the story.

4 - Gradually Go Bigger - From there, you might try sending to a couple of beta readers and opening up to a bit more feedback. The great thing about this is not only are you conditioning yourself to sharing and getting the opinions of others, you can potentially use the feedback to iron out kinks in the story if there are any.

5 - Use a Pen Name - You might want to consider using a pen name for anonymity. Pen names have many different purposes, but much like wearing a mask at a party, they can decrease your inhibition a bit because it creates a bit of a buffer between the real you and your writing.

6 - Post and Let It Go - Many writers get around the issue by simply not engaging with reader feedback, and if you're someone who cares what other people think or are likely to be daunted by the prospect of criticism, this may be the best route for you to go. Now, I know that with fan-fiction in particular, reader feedback is often used for improvement. But the truth of the matter is, you shouldn't rely on reader feedback for improvement anyway. Alpha readers, beta readers, critique partners, and editors are a much better metric for where to improve. When you get your feedback elsewhere, you can post your story and let it fly on its own without worrying about what others are saying.

I hope that helps!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[genericpuff]

The Extended Mishandling of LO's S3 Midseason Finale Premiere

Alright, so I had mentioned leading up to the release of the newest LO episode that my feelings regarding LO returning were pretty "meh". Not hyped, but not completely back of mind either. Just sort of a weird calm before the storm type feeling that could go either way.

I'm glad I got to have that moment of calmness because good god, this episode was an absolute shitshow. And honestly, I'm not surprised, for several reasons:

Rachel has never been good at maintaining a buffer, even back at the start of the series she only ever had 2-3 episodes ready ahead of her schedule which is NOT an ideal buffer for an originals series.

Rachel has never been good at writing, she's very "draw first write later" and has stated as such in interviews that when she gets 'stuck' on what she's writing, she'll just start drawing and fit the pieces in later.

Four months is NOT enough time to both rest, attend massive conventions, and work on improving a project while also getting buffer episodes ready.

Because of the FP episodes remaining locked over the hiatus, technically Rachel only needed to have ONE episode ready upon return for the newest FP release, not multiple like she'd usually need like in the past during the S2 midseason hiatus or the season finale episodes which would unlock those FP releases like normal - so for all we know, she could have drawn this episode literally last week, especially when the promo material was so last minute. Frankly I think it was REALLY stupid for whoever it was who decided to keep these FP episodes locked (whether it was her or WT, it was more likely WT) but you can read all I have to say about that in my review of the midseason finale episodes.

All that's to say, no, there was never any guarantee Rachel was going to somehow "turn around" the ride we're currently on. I know that many of the critics were hoping for that to happen, but with the circumstances of the hiatus mixed with Rachel's bad habits of putting her best efforts into the procrastination projects that aren't her actual comic (ex. the few original pieces and LO sketches she put out during the hiatus) it just wasn't in the cards. This is where the comic is at and this is where it will remain until it's over.

I want to also point something out about this episode that was... really glaring to me.

As with all of these hiatus returns, LO got priority advertising in the first two banner slots and push notifications AND a popup ad within the app. This is unsurprising, Webtoons is still trying to milk this thing for what it's worth.

I know a lot of people are gonna focus on the art, or the fact that WT is continuing to shill LO, but I wanna point out the part that WT implemented specifically - "NEW SEASON".

This is literally just false. At best I'd like to think some intern just messed up and thought this was a new season, but it's literally not, the episode designation still says "S3". Note that the creators only design the banner art, the actual labels on top are put there by Webtoons.

But at worst, this feels like blatant lying to continue to hide the fact that LO is ending. Mind you, Rachel and Webtoons have still not put out official posts stating that this is the final arc. There is NOTHING from either of them to communicate to the audience that the comic is ending next year. It feels like they're trying to avoid the topic altogether out of fear of losing the fanbase they still have, rather than hyping up the comic's end for those who have stuck around to see how it all wraps up. And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case, considering they're now trying to funnel the fanbase into Penguin/Inklore with new marketing deals and the whole Rachel Smythe Presents thing. They're trying to make this seem like the beginning of something "new" when it's really just a quiet shifting of management (Penguin House).

But all that aside, let's actually get into the episode. It's one episode after 4 months, which is not standard for LO's hiatuses, typically FP episodes release on schedule (meaning free readers start hiatuses 3 weeks after FP readers do), the only time this has been an exception has been with the 2 week breaks because the whole point of those was to build a buffer (which you can't do if you're going ahead and releasing the FP episodes anyways). For extended hiatuses like these, usually free readers still get their FP episodes, but that wasn't the case here. That means Rachel technically only needed one episode ready for the comic's return, and it shows. It really fucking shows.

FROM HERE ON OUT THERE WILL BE FASTPASS SPOILERS REGARDING EPISODE 254. DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED !!!

As per tradition, we get a title that means nothing at all. It just says what we already know.

Our collective husband Zeus is dying, no thanks to the poison cupcake fed to him by Apollo. For those who don't remember, Apollo had tricked Zeus into eating the cupcake by making him believe it was from Hebe. We are fully aware that it was Apollo who poisoned him. Remember that for later in this review.

Right off the bat we're off to a hilarious start, both with a cryptid appearance from Apollo in the background (lmao) who is, for some reason, ALREADY returning to the scene of the crime he just committed because... who knows at this point. Apollo and Psyche know it was Apollo at this point, I might add, but I have no clue why Apollo is actually returning to the scene of the crime when he has no idea Eros and Psyche know.

Moving on from that, can we talk about this hilarious dialogue?

"We have to call a doctor! Let's call Asclepius!"

"No, we can't trust him! Gosh darn it, why are we only bothering to think of ONE doctor in this universe where we've seen more than one doctor?? Guess Zeus is just gonna die! What a horribly contrived situation this is!"

And that's literally how I can best describe most of this episode. Contrived. There is a LOT of manufactured drama in this that makes ZERO sense even on a surface level.

And what do you mean exactly, Eros? "What a terrible system!" Is this supposed to be a joke? Lampshading? We've seen Persephone go to the gynecologist. There are non-god doctors who tend to gods all the time here.

Eros just doesn't seem to be that pressed over this, he sounds like Ned Flanders and that's NOT a good way to open up a scene like this... let alone an episode people have been waiting four months for.

Anyways, after a few pointless reaction panels (again remember I have to cut a lot of what I show here for Tumblr image limitations but I promise you, I'm keeping as much important stuff as I can in this, there's just THAT MUCH filler at this point), Eros and Psyche confront Apollo and he is... good god.

There is... so much to unpack here.

First of all, remember those theories about how Rachel was clearly trying to write Apollo as this "secret twist villain" the whole time but it doesn't work because Apollo is simultaneously written as both a 'conniving villain' and a massive dumbass at the same time?

Well, I finally have a more appropriate term for him. He's your average red pill redditor - someone who thinks he's smarter than everyone else when really all he does is sit on reddit all day using big words incorrectly in arguments he gets himself into with a bunch of equally-air-headed dumbasses.

"You can't possibly understand the nuances of the Olympian political system," Apollo said proudly, a man who had, ironically and obliviously, run for president in a monarchy. The union of kettle and pot is eternal.

He's the Slappable Jerk but instead of it being a painfully hilarious impression, it's just painful and hilarious for all the wrong reasons.

this is so stupid because it's 1.) Eros pointing out how obvious Apollo's plan was, despite Apollo acting smart two seconds ago with a goddess who, mind you, has been a goddess for ten years, and 2.) patricide isn't even intrinsically linked to politics, there's nothing 'political' about a guy trying to kill his dad except in, idk, a monarchy, which again, Apollo has spent ten years trying to rise to power in as a president which is a completely different form of government.

If I wanted to be really granular with this, I'd like to think Apollo is making some kind of point about the critics who call out LO's whack as fuck political system (especially in the trial arc) - as if he's saying "well you're just a stupid reader and this is fantasy where you don't understand exactly what political system we're using, so shut the fuck up you stupid twig" - but I don't think it's meant to be that deep. I think it's just Rachel trying to write a smart character and then failing at it because she, herself, is not a smart writer. And I'm really inclined to believe that more than the theory about this being some kind of meta-narrative about the critics because this entire plotline is contrived and stupid down to its core.

I did not cut anything out here, that's the pacing. Leto literally just appears out of nowhere and uh oh spaghettio's, she has Kassandra! Remember Leto? The character we were led to believe was truly "pulling the strings" until she disappeared from the story completely after she realized that Apollo and Persephone weren't a thing, even going so far as to call out her own son for being a fucking dumbass? Well, she's back and once again she's being involved as some kind of "double agent" in this whole thing, even though we literally haven't seen her since halfway through S2.

"Mm yes, you're so stupid, falling into my trap! Even though you had no reason to remember Kassandra anyways because she's literally a mortal woman you just met and you yourself have committed acts of violence against mortals without a shred of care! I'm so smart! My plan is all coming together!"

We've never seen Apollo do anything except cry and poop his pants, the closest he got to being "powerful" was his attempts to murder Daphne (who he seems to have forgotten about in this "master plan" of his) but ultimately he's literally just a piss ant baby and there's no reason to believe that he could somehow outmatch the God of Love who can literally manipulate people's emotions and states of mind with his arrows. But yeah sure go off, you're so powerful and smart.

The worst part is, I can't even buy this as the narrative trying to be like "see how manipulative and conniving he is?" because it's just silly. We've SEEN this man cry with his victim complex, we've seen him say and do the DUMBEST things that don't lend to any amount of "intelligence" he may have, it comes across less as him being "smart the whole time" and more as him trying to sound smart but ultimately sounding incredibly stupid. And I can't even immerse myself into it and buy that maybe that's the point, because it doesn't feel like the point, it just feels like inconsistent writing, he doesn't feel like a 'threat', he's just monologuing.

Bad art and Apollo literally just repeating what Leto already implied so this is a waste of the audience's time.

This is the funniest panel in the whole episode because I can't tell if Apollo is supposed to be in the background (for some reason, despite him literally being in front of Eros and Psyche two seconds ago) or if he's in the foreground and just REALLY small for some reason. This is so off-putting. And of course, it's just Apollo explaining what we're ALREADY SEEING ONSCREEN.

You see, in addition to this episode being contrived, it also talks down to its audience a LOT by explaining exactly what we're seeing onscreen. It's like Rachel saw the criticisms about her not including enough to depict what's actually going on in her head and so she thought the solution was to spoon feed information over pictures that are already doing the job of explaining what's going on. Rachel really doesn't know how to write and even when she tries to implement changes that reflect criticisms that have been made of her writing, she somehow makes things worse because she completely misses the point of what those criticisms are trying to get across.

Anyways, without even trying to resist (for some reason) Eros and Psyche get sentenced to horny jail.

They're now trapped in a basement that Leto somehow has in her home. How do we know that?

HAHAHA FUNNY LAMPSHADING SO FUNNNYYYYYYY

Leto claims that they shouldn't try to escape because the dungeon is "enchanted", but she doesn't even bother to explain what that means. So they literally don't bother trying. They don't try to call her bluff, they don't try to teleport out of there, they literally just go "well shoot", shrug their shoulders, and accept their fate. Just like with the whole "we can't trust the only doctor we bothered to think of" situation, Eros and Psyche are turning out to be some of the stupidest, lowest-effort characters in this comic who literally can't be bothered to try because that would require too much brain power.

Notice how much time we've spent on this and we haven't gotten back to where the cliffhanger of the last episode left off? Well buckle up because there's still more to cover.

So it turns out Hebe was still inside with her dad, in FULL VIEW of what was going on through glass which is somehow COMPLETELY soundproof, and when Apollo steps inside, she just has no idea what happened. She never bothered to even look outside to see what was going on with Eros and Psyche, she's just been sitting on the floor staring at Zeus' dead face for what was likely several minutes, unless Rachel is seriously trying to convince us that conversation and hostage negotiation from earlier only took 2 seconds. The timeline is such a mess at this point that characters basically freeze in place as soon as they're not the focus of the scene.

Apollo rushes inside, acting shocked over the situation, and when Hebe asks where Eros and Psyche are (again, she could have just looked out the window at any time), he's just like "dur idk they just left lol" which Hebe just... buys, I guess.

That's just Persephone but yellow. She's even missing her beauty mark.

See how Apollo put his hand on Zeus' chest/shoulder by the way?

Apparently, despite Mr. Smarter Than Everyone Else trying to pretend it wasn't him, he's able to discern that Zeus is dying from a toxic and rare poison just from touching him. He doesn't even really seem to use his powers, he just touches him and goes "welp he's dead i guess lol don't bother asking me how I know that".

But oh nooo remember that note from before? Well gasp Apollo's gonna use it to frame Hebe! In front of no one else at all!

Hebe of course says she didn't write it, but Apollo continues to try and frame her anyways, even though, again, there's no one else present here, and so it effectively just becomes the most absurd form of gaslighting I've ever seen.

Again, THERE IS NO ONE ELSE HERE IN THE SCENE. He's just trying to claim she did it to absolutely no one at all, in the hopes of... what exactly? That she'll just take the fall for something she knows she didn't do? That she'll somehow be convinced? It's not like Hebe has the same thing going on as Persephone where she has a 'wrathful dark side' he could pin it on, this is just a criminal who just robbed a building pointing at the first person they see and yelling "YOU DID IT!"

All I'm saying is that Apollo would be really bad at Among Us. He'd be the type of player to kill someone, hit the report button, then claim yellow did it which, even if he DID convince the rest of the team, would still get kicked anyways as soon as yellow was proven through the eject to not be the imp and everyone would go "okay cool so yellow wasn't the imp, that means obviously it's purple self-reporting." It's a trick that doesn't even work anymore because of how old it is. Hebe isn't a child here, she's an 18 year old woman who should be fully capable of raising an eyebrow and wondering why Apollo is this quick to accuse her - almost like he's trying to hide the fact that he did it.

But Hebe can't catch onto this, just like Eros and Psyche, she has to act stupid for the sake of the plot.

At first I thought maybe Rachel was trying to do some "whodunit" scenario, but that doesn't work here because we already know who did it. And while there are stories that exist like that that pull it off (ex. Knives Out) the problem with trying to do this the way Rachel did is that the person being framed has to have this thing called motive. The reason why Knives Out and Glass Onion work so well is because the person who was murdered (or conspired against) is someone who is being targeted by multiple people who could all be the murderer. It's quite literally called out in Glass Onion as a form of smart lampshading. "It's like putting a loaded gun on the table, and turning off the lights."

But it doesn't work here because Hebe does not have motive. If you're going to attempt to frame a murder on someone, it has to be someone who would have reasonable motive to commit that murder, even if they didn't actually commit it.

And who among Zeus' children has motive?

What about the war-mongering bloodthirsty god of war who has been regularly sentenced to time in the Mortal Realm to fight in wars in which he's been regularly injured?

What about the chaos-seeking wrathful goddess who would do it to get revenge on the parental figure who cast her aside, or even just for the fun of saying she did it?

Why try and pin it on Hebe, the doting daughter of Zeus who's only had a collective of maybe 20 panels in the entire comic?

But then I realized... it's not Knives Out, it's the fucking Lion King.

Which is just as contrived - if not more - than the assumption this was gonna be some attempt to frame Hebe. It's not. He's literally just trying to keep her from assuming it was him. He could have just as easily played dumb without calling attention to the note but he intentionally went out of his way to try and be Scar from The Lion King , while completely missing the point of why that scene worked in the original movie.

Scar wasn't trying to 'frame' Simba for Mufasa's murder. He was trying to hide the murder, while also attempting to get the only heir to the throne out of the picture, so he passed the guilt of the death onto Simba - a child who, unlike Hebe, wouldn't have the ability to rationalize or realize his uncle his a scumbag - who then ran away from home because he was too terrified to face his family for what happened, assuming that it was all his fault when it wasn't.

That's not how this is panning out here. Hebe is the now 18 year old daughter of Zeus, and not one of his only children. She doesn't even fit into the whole "sons overthrowing their fathers" prophecy like Aries would. Apollo is literally just being a big idiot here by saying "well I'm gonna give you a headstart to run away, because if you stay, I might hurt you" (which btw, should be MORE of a smoking gun that Apollo did it??)

And again, it's all so contrived so that the plot can move forward. "Well I'm going to frame you for this murder, but y'know, you should just leave, I'm not gonna try and press it further lmao"

Again, Apollo is a fucking idiot here, because he just attempted to frame someone who has NO MOTIVE to harm Zeus, to absolutely NO ONE at all who would side with him, only to let her go which would leave her to question why Apollo would try to accuse and harm her in the first place before considering other options. And through ALL this he claims he's the smart one, which I can't even be bothered to "love to hate" because it's written so poorly.

And really it all comes down to how everyone else behaves in relation to Apollo that makes it so stupid and unbelievable. Apollo, you're not smart just because all the characters around you are intentionally being written to be as stupid and non-confrontation as possible. If you can only write a smart villain by making everyone else stupid, you haven't written a smart villain, you've written a dumbass whose victory only happens due to contrived plot convenience. It's not even done well like in Glass Onion, it's just bad writing, full stop.

And who does he call to report this emergency? The satyr police? His son the doctor?

No.

The media. Literally just "hello, the media?? I need your best journalist here stat!"

I need you to understand, even if he were calling a tabloid magazine like The Weekly Nark, you don't just... call a journalist to report a murder. These are not the actions of someone who's trying to absolve himself of guilt, these are the actions of a complete dumbass trying to get news coverage of his trophy kill who would be better off just playing dumb instead of trying to play smart. Even Walter White wasn't this fucking stupid despite all the times he fell on his own sword, Apollo is literally just instigating suspicion towards himself for no reason at all. He's self-reporting so hard and worst of all, you can't even take any of this seriously because of how corny it is. There's no dramatic tension, no stakes, it's just a bunch of characters performing in a really bad stage play and reducing every conflict to "well I guess Zeus is just dead now because no one's bothering to make an effort to stop Apollo or ask questions lmao"

It's truly the epitome of "this plot wouldn't exist if characters would just talk to each other."

But finally, FINALLY we mention the thing this episode is named after, the transition point to Persephone.

Just like with the midseason finale episode, there's a lot to cover here, so I'm gonna get more into it in a part two post.

That said, you can see already this is the messiest, most contrived bullshit to ever wind up in LO. It's trying so hard to be smart and it just comes across as a bunch of toddlers in the world's worst stage play rendition of Clue. None of what was done here was in any way dramatic or tense, it's just a bunch of characters infodumping shit we already know, trying to set up new plot threads that don't make any sense, and allowing one another to get away with what they're doing because they don't bother to even try.

It's completely manufactured, contrived nonsense. It's not "smart", it's not "so dumb it's brilliant", it's just dumb.

[thesoftgirlguide]

A Guide to Setting Achievable Goals 🦋💗

How to set realistic and meaningful goals to enhance personal growth.

Setting goals is a deeply meaningful exercise. It motivates us, gives us a sense of purpose, and helps us feel accomplished. In the past week, I struggled a lot with setting goals and I know many of us also struggle to achieve the goals we set out for ourselves. In this guide, we’ll explore practical steps to set realistic and meaningful goals that contribute to personal growth.

╰┈➤ Connect Your Goals to a “Why”

Understanding the underlying motivation behind your goals is crucial. Spend time reflecting on why you want to achieve a particular goal. When you connect your actions to a meaningful purpose, it becomes easier to avoid distractions and stay focused.

╰┈➤ Break Down Your Goals

Rather than setting one big, overwhelming goal, break it down into smaller, manageable steps. These smaller goals can be accomplished daily or weekly. Breaking down your goals helps maintain momentum and prevents feelings of being overwhelmed.

╰┈➤ Schedule “Buffer Time”

Allow room for flexibility in your goal-setting process. Increase your estimated deadline by 25% to account for unexpected delays or challenges. This buffer time ensures that you’re not overly stressed and allows for adjustments along the way.

╰┈➤ Focus on Continuation

Acknowledge and embrace the progress you’ve already made. Consider what you’ve started and would like to continue or build upon over time. Sometimes, improvement comes from consistent continuation rather than drastic changes.

╰┈➤ Don’t Dwell on Past Failures

Remember that setbacks are normal. Everyone experiences ups and downs. Instead of dwelling on past failures, learn from them and use them as stepping stones toward future success.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

The S.M.A.R.T Goal Framework

You can’t talk about setting goals without talking about SMART goal framework. It was first proposed by George T. Doran in the November 1981 issue of Management Review and is a powerful tool for setting objectives that are clear, achievable, and motivating. It uses criteria to help individuals focus their efforts, increase their chances of achieving their goals and remain focused to attain their goals.

Let’s break down what each letter represents:

: ̗̀➛ Specific (S): Define your goal precisely. Avoid vague statements. For example:

Vague Goal: “Get healthier.”

SMART Goal: “Lose 10 pounds by exercising three times a week and eating balanced meals.”

: ̗̀➛ Measurable (M): Set criteria to track progress. Make your goal quantifiable. For instance:

Vague Goal: “Improve my writing skills.”

SMART Goal: “Write one blog post per week for the next three months.”

: ̗̀➛ Achievable (A): Ensure your goal is realistic and attainable. Consider your resources and constraints:

Unrealistic Goal: “Become a concert pianist in a month.”

SMART Goal: “Practice piano for 30 minutes daily to play a simple song within three months.”

: ̗̀➛ Relevant (R): Align your goal with your values, priorities, and long-term vision:

Irrelevant Goal: “Learn to juggle while studying for exams.”

SMART Goal: “Allocate 15 minutes daily to study for upcoming exams.”

: ̗̀➛ Time-Bound (T): Set a deadline for achieving your goal:

Open-Ended Goal: “Learn a new language.”

SMART Goal: “Converse confidently in Spanish within six months.”

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌Remember, setting achievable goals is about balance—challenging yourself while maintaining perspective. I would also like to thank you all for 100 followers!💗 I hope this guide is helpful to you!

[firubii]

the outlines in kirby's return to dream land deluxe are very interesting, theyre definitely the cleanest 3d outlines i have ever seen anyone do

visually theyre just the model but darkened and expanded out a bit, and instead of clipping into any geometry they simply fade out and seem aware of the other outlines and models in the scene, merging together perfectly

im VERY surprised no one else has done this, because the way they pulled it off is actually EXTREMELY simple

(this will go into kinda technical graphics rendering talk)

the first clue is that looking into the code used for rendering reveals that the game draws the outlines after the rest of the scene has been drawn

specifically, the order that objects are drawn from this function is:

opaque models (deferred rendering)

decals (deferred)

opaque models (forward rendering, essentially just fully rendering every single model)

outline models (forward)

transparent models (forward)

interestingly, outline models count as transparent, disabling transparency rendering will also disable outlines

the next hint about how it works comes directly from this enum listing all of the passes the game draws

the most important part of this is "OutlineDepth" and "Outline", which reveals that the outlines render their own depth buffer!! this contains essentially how far away each pixel is from the camera, in ingame/world space units

looking into the models themselves, all of the models for characters have duplicated meshes that use a material specifically for outlines

using this information alone, its very easy to recreate the outlines in blender!!

this is achieved in the same way, by rendering the raw scene and the outlines in two separate images using blender's render layers feature, with the outlines being significantly darkened, using only the diffuse texture, and the meshes themselves expanded slightly using geometry nodes

the rest of the models are rendered normally with PBR

determining where the outlines are drawn is just the result of some extremely simple math using the depth buffer of each layer

if you would like to see the result of this math, this is the "outline mask buffer":

as a bonus, if we gaussian blur the outline we can achieve a similar look to the game's promo art as well!! however, this doesnt look super good, improving on how this looks specifically most likely requires more tinkering in image editing software like photoshop

[dross-the-fish]

I found myself thinking of Jekyll today and wondering if it causes him physical pain to have to fake a smile. To what extent is Henry Jekyll, pleasant doctor and sophisticated upperclass gentleman a painful mask he has to wear and does the discomfort ever feel physical?

I was at the local aquarium today (this is the perfect time of year to go because it's open but there are no tourists so it's never crowded and admission is cheap) hanging out and doodling on one of the benches while I watched the fish. I had on headphones to listen to an audio book and to provide a buffer between myself and anyone who might try to talk to me and I had been looking forward to relaxing for a couple of hours when a family walked up and the father waved his hand in front of my face to get my attention. The minute they started asking me questions about what I was drawing I was filled with what I can only describe as intense dismay.

Obviously the family being present isn't in of itself an issue, it's a public aquarium, it's aimed at families and parts of the aquarium are geared specifically at children, but the family noticed me drawing and stopped to talk to me.

I reiterate that this was not something they did wrong, they were just being friendly, but I was really not prepared to have a conversation and I found the whole ordeal to be...well an ordeal. They were interested in what I was drawing (a sketch of Henry Jekyll because he's been on my mind off and on) and just the thought of having to explain who this character was, hoping they got it, and having to potentially explain why I was drawing him felt overwhelming.

And it was, they did not know who Henry Jekyll was, they were vaguely aware of Jekyll and Hyde but weren't the type of people to read classic literature and had never heard of the musical or actually seen for themselves any movies featuring the character. The mom commented that he looks like "a Disney villain from back in the 90s" which...fair assessment, I can't pretend I don't see why she would have thought that. The older kid was probably the most interested and wanted to see more of my drawings which made me really uncomfortable but I let him look through my sketchbook anyway because his parents kept saying he was interested in drawing and he loves art and I felt too anxious to say no.

I made small talk with the parents for a while, all the usual, "what's your name, where you from, what's your job?" (I hate those questions, they are usually the least interesting things about any people, myself included) and I wondered if this is what Henry does on a regular day. Has ordinary conversations with reasonably nice people and feel completely like a fish out of water the whole time. I felt pretty terrible about it too, I didn't have any hard feelings or resentment but the whole time I was thinking "Stop touching my things, go away, please fucking leave so I can get back to my audio book and my drawing. I just wanted to sit with the fish for a few hours because it's supposed to be quiet here this time of year."

No one ever seems to catch on that physically talking to people is an effort for me. I've gone my whole life and no one has ever noticed that I'm anxious or uncomfortable in situations where I have to speak out loud because I've gotten good at faking small talk and I know how to make my voice sound pleasant.

It's strange because I express myself easily enough in writing and I like messaging with people over text but the minute I have to be verbal with people I don't know I feel like I'm putting on an immense effort. I have to consciously choose a tone, figure out what words I want to say, be ready with an explanation in case I'm asked questions and I have to do all of it in real time on the spot. It feels like improve, like I'm constantly doing an improve routine and I know most people would say "Just be yourself!" But myself doesn't want to be doing this at all. Myself wants to be drawing and looking at fish. Even as a child I was never very social, I liked to doodle or daydream or build with my lego sets. I got reprimanded a lot for being too quiet. So I made myself more talkative and learned how to hold conversations. I learned to blend in but it's so tiring at times and I can swear when it's at its worst it feels almost physical. The discomfort becomes a suffocating "texture" on my skin and in my brain and I have to keep pretending like I don't notice it because every time I try to articulate how I feel people don't understand it. It's just not a thing they experience.

So I just keep "acting normal," and wonder if there's something wrong with me, like I'm operating on a different frequency from the people around me and I'm the only one on that frequency so other people don't even know it exists. It's...incredibly isolating at times. Even my partner doesn't seem to hear the world as loud as I do or experience the "texture" it's just a strange THING that I'm stuck with by myself. I wonder if it was the same for Henry Jekyll? Except instead being of too quiet he was too loud, too boisterous, threw tantrums, didn't know when to stop rambling about anatomy and weird gross medical facts. So he learned how to cover it and move through life pretending to be interested in everyone else but keenly aware they could never share his interests because his favorite subjects were too grisly and if he started talking about diseases he'd put everyone off. I head-canon Jekyll loves what he does, but he doesn't love it for reasons a doctor should, he doesn't care that much about healing the sick, he cares about conquering illnesses, he likes to learn about symptoms, he enjoys the disgusting viscera of his work. But he can't let on that this is what he enjoys about his work because that's not noble or heroic, it's something most people would find creepy of him. So he buries it and pretends he cares about curing the sick. He pretends he enjoys talking to people who don't know anything about who he is or what he does but they think they do because they are aware of doctors and understand that medicine exists. All the time he loathes it, it exhausts him and he can't even indulge in activities he enjoys to blow of steam because he enjoys things like brawling, doing drugs, and fucking. All things a man of his status shouldn't be seen doing. There's an image people associate with Henry Jekyll and it's an image he can't afford to tarnish...

but it's not really HIS image, it's just a buffer he keeps up to make himself more palatable. I wonder if that ever hurts him physically, if the mask ever feels like a "texture" muffling him.

there are times when I feel like it's no wonder he wasn't repulsed by Hyde when he first saw his reflection. Because I can only imagine by the time Hyde showed up he was already completely burnt out on being Jekyll.

[theradicalscrivener]

I'm gonna get new ears installed.

It's getting close to 5 am and I can't sleep yet. Part of it is because I just finished work, but part of it is because I'm... Excited? ... Anxious? I'm both happy and sad and a little hopeful but also very fearful.

So, for those not in the know. I'm deaf and have been my whole life. It's not one of those things like I can't hear anything. But a lot of frequencies and sound ranges just don't work well for me. I tried wearing heading aids when I was a kid, but they made things worse. All they did was amplify everything. That made it harder to hear the pieces I had to struggle to hear since it was getting further buried under even more background noise.

For example, if you've ever been to a movie where the sound mixing was off. The dialogue is incomprehensible because the ambient noise is so frickin loud. If you try to turn the volume up, all you hear is more jets and explosions.

Anyway, I've had some issues in class where some professors are very hard to understand but the college wouldn't help me until I had a current diagnosis from an audiologist saying that yeah. I really am just that deaf. In the process of seeing the audiologist though, she was telling me that they have new stuff that can work for people like me. Unlike old hearing aids that amplify all sound, these things have like adaptive sound controls and can amplify specific frequencies on the fly. So in theory it will bring my hearing to similar levels as other people's.

The thing costs $10k... I have decent insurance which drops it down to $6k but it's still a massive expense. I'm going to do it though.

I'm both excited and anxious. If the audiologist is to be believed, I spend a lot of my energy on listening to people speak, then replay it back in my head and soft through the possible similar sounding words and recreate the sentences on my head.

I've always said I do this. I jokingly refer to it as "buffering" because I'm running on a few second delay in conversation. Like imagine those interviews on the news where there's this awkward pause of four to five seconds where the signal gets sent across the world from the asker to the answerer before the other person can respond to it. The doc says this is probably the source of a lot of my frequent migraines and exhaustion and is exacerbating my tinnitus. Basically I'm in like hyper vigilant mode 24/7 constantly trying to pick out the faintest sounds so I can be functional in normal life leading to constant mental fatigue.

Anyway. I don't know how long it will take to actually get the device, and once I get it, the doc said it'll take a while to get adjusted. They're not just going to throw me into the deep end and let me figure it out. The plan is to slowly increase the deadened frequencies until they balance out with the others.

I don't know what this will actually do for me. I've never been able to hear normally so I don't know what it will feel like. I don't know if I will ever get to a normal hearing level. I wonder if this will make it easier out in public. I get overwhelmed in busy places since there are so many sounds which makes it impossible to hear the things I want.

I'm worried that I'll spend all this money and it won't improve anything.

I'm worried that I will get these and it will be everything I wanted.

How long has this tech existed? Could I have had this years ago? How much have I missed by not being able to understand people talking to me.

If I get this will it make a noticable difference in the migraines? In the chronic fatigue? I don't know. I want to be optimistic, but it's hard to even know what to expect.

Anyway. If you want a bit of a glimpse into what it's like being me, give this a listen

[spanieltower]

TOUHOU TIME: YUUGI BEING ALL STRONG AND STUFF

This was finished a while back, I think towards the end of March (which now that I write it I have emotions about!) and I'm really proud of how it turned out! I think the initial inspiration back in February or January was just drawing a buffer woman. I think I can improve with that to some extent, but I wasn't trying to go for ripped, more swole, and I think I brought a nice energy to her.

I was initially just trying to draw Yuugi herself but I ended up finding a pic of the wrestler Rhea Ripley which I liked the pose of, and she was stepping on another woman in the photo so I decided to draw Marisa here too!

I also realised that since Yuugi had two major costumes this would be a great opportunity to flex my alt skills! I definitely think Yuugi looks better both in terms of her base looks and her alts, and it was really wonderful getting to design new alts for her. Some of the alts for her T-Shirt costume were based on her sprites in a MUGEN character pack, but all of the Robe alts were mine, I really like what I managed to do. I even had one alt representing Kasen Ibaraki! This was fun to do, and I hope to do more pieces with alts in future. The Umineko stuffs, I haven't really done that much, although I am gonna be posting a new piece based on that tomorrow so look alive!

I think after my uni course it was a little difficult to muster up any desire to draw, so it's nice looking back and seeing myself be able to draw at a pretty fast clip again! Part of that is cos that Umineko readthrough is motivating me to get pieces done faster but also it wouldn't work if I didn't already have the beans to do it. It's nice to remember why I'm doing this, why I love art.

Anywho! Upcoming is that Umineko piece I alluded to and I've also applied for that Seasons of Gensokyo zine so I'll hopefully have something in association with them soon! Comms open as usual, and I hope you have a wonderful day! <3

[yanverse]

Physically I am just chilling in bed, but in my mind I am peppering Kaito’s face with little kisses while holding his face in my hands. He is my little meow meow.

"Meow, meow!" You paw at the arm in your lap, the pink-haired boy it's attached to having been snuggled up beside you on the couch for a good while now.

Your neighbors probably think there's a few especially noisy cats living here. But they'd be wrong, because the only animals living in this apartment are you, and-

"Mrrow?" A crisp, perfect purr rumbles from Kaito's throat, his eyes still glued to the screen of his handheld. The console's been buzzing with flashy lights and the tinny sounds of explosions for the past half an hour, your boyfriend's game keeping his focus as he's working on beating his friend's high score. This whole meowing thing started as a joke, but now it's become a genuine mode of communication--when you're too lazy to even form words, your slowly-improving cat impressions say all that needs to be said.

"Maow!" Another pawing motion, and your fingers wrapped up in his hoodie strings to drag him closer, and Kaito's snort of laughter puts a sour scowl on your face. It's not destined to last, though, because it's merely a precursor for his game to settle in his lap and his head to turn to accept a well-deserved kiss on the mouth. For once he's remembered to put on chapstick, thank goodness. His lips feel so nice, so soft, and it feels like such a waste for them not to be taken care of--but at the very least, he's started doing it just for you.

"How many kisses?" He murmurs low under his breath, eyes half-lidded as he just barely manages to keep your lips at bay to answer. "You know I'm busy, babe. Name your price."

"Four hundred thousand." If he weren't so distracted, you know your answer would assuredly earn you a bout of laughter. He's got such a pretty laugh. He does smile at you, though, for better or for worse.

"That's a little unrealistic. Why not four, to start?"

"Four thousand? Meow?" Tacking on that pretty plea is a low blow, but the hiccup you can feel in Kaito's stomach as you rub your hand over it is exactly the reaction you wanted. He can just be so easy to work over. Hence why his fingers are coming up to clasp around yours, halting your gentle strokes with a hitch of breath in his throat. His legs shift position, moving about with uncomfortable weight before he settles one over the other--for once, sitting his console on his lap seems to benefit him this time, especially with those soft cheeks growing dark.

"Four, baby. I'll just be a little longer." Your ears twitch at the hint of strain in his voice, a sigh passing from your lips to his as you claim the first one. No tongue this time. He deserves to suffer a little bit for making you wait. But the other three make a perfect triforce over his face; left cheek, right cheek, and between the brows where he's got the faintest little freckle on the side. Kaito's eyes have shut while you work, only to flutter open once you're finished, the nibbling on his lower lip a clear tell that he wishes it wouldn't end so soon. But he's got a thing about finishing whatever he's focused on and he can't divert from it for long. That gleam in his eyes is a warning that he'll make it up to you once this task is finished, though.....which could be good or bad, considering you can still feel an ache from the other morning. Even with his lap as a buffer, that gaming chair of his is so uncomfortable.

In a flash, Kaito's tuned back in to the game like nothing ever happened. Yet, when you move your hand from his belly to go find something to entertain yourself with, his unusually strong grip tugs you back to settle against his shoulder. He presses it down firmly, fiddling about with only one hand--the other arm then circles around your shoulders, and he covertly slides you further into his lap for you to entwine yourselves together. From this angle you can watch him play, he can rest his weight on you, have a prop for his arm to sit up and quit getting sore....and Kai's desire to snuggle into you is returned tenfold, the two of you practically inseparable as you settle in for a long afternoon.

[pigeonceo]

Been seeing a lot of “lore Olympus improvement” and “lore Olympus edit” art on insta and I just wanted to say something:

I get that hating on Lore Olympus is popular right now, I really do. But have you ever thought about the fact that these comics artists have to push out a chapter every single week? Can you even imagine how stressful that would become?

The art style isn’t perfect. The story certainly isn’t perfect. But the artist has had to take multiple mental health breaks to build her buffer back up. When you only give an artist a week to make art, it’s not going to be perfect. Show some grace and be kind and understanding for gods sake.

[windvexer]

Hi there chicken 🤠

Yesterday the wind was slow and steady so I decided I'd attempt to stir it up. I noticed a slight change in the direction and strength of the gusts then I suddenly felt silly and discouraged. How can I know that it was me who affected the weather and not just coincidence or whatever?

P.S. I've had great success in summoning up storms in the past but it's been a long while since I've done weather witching so i thought I'd refresh my power with a simple wind raising.

Thanks 🤠🐓

Hi thank you for waiting so long.

I have so little actual experience with weather magic that I can't say.

Here is the beacon in my harbor, if it also helps you:

It doesn't matter if you did jack pancakes.

What matters is if you did the thing, and then change occurred. On a reliable basis to where you can do the thing to improve or effect your daily life on a predictable basis*.

You did the thing and the weather coincidentally changed 7 times in a row, totally explainable by natural phenomena? I do not care one whit the explanation. Do it an 8th time and get 8 predictable results, that is your answer.

Predictably, when you do the summoning storm, according to any various rules of your system, is a storm summoned? Yes?

Ohh by such coincidence such-and-such you only end up summoning storms under various exact conditions? I care not and neither do storms. Tell me a storm is inevitable without you. Prove a storm is inevitable without you.

(You cannot)

I often feel silly when I work magic. I feel 90% silly any time I work magic I am not 100% sure is guaranteed to work. Also, I like to feel at least 10-15% silly any time I work magic I think is guaranteed to work, as a buffer. A clown buffer. To make it easier to argue with the shitty voices in my head telling me my faith is a circus situation.

No coincidences, my friend. That is the wrong angle to attack the situation. Please, ponder: Why a storm? Does the farm pond need refilled? Municipality water supply low? Enemy to be flooded out? What does a storm matter without purpose? What is YOUR purpose?

Do the magic. Is your need filled? Yes? Then who cares.

Who cares. Who cares what did it.

You have a need and the magic fills it 70, 80, 90% of the time. Good. Do the magic. The need is filled better than average.

Does it not fill your need better than average? Then, don't discard the ritual if it brings you joy or satisfaction; but keep looking for various sorcerous solutions. Does the ritual not bring you joy or satisfaction? Set it aside and search for something new.

Keep in mind, dear friend, that sometimes a witch must discover new techniques to keep up with the same skills. A horrid process, but it happens to some of us. Perhaps this isn't the case for you; but don't be discouraged if it is.

(*"Predictable basis" doesn't mean doing the spell at any time under any conditions and finding success. I suspect, Anon [although there's no reason for me to know] that you get the concept that a certain spell works under certain conditions; when the wights are favorable, when the wind turns from some certain directions, or... variables, you know. Predictable basis means when you understand the set of rules under which a spell can manifest, and follow those rules.)

Do your storm magic. Does it fit your needs? Does it fit your joy? Who cares (positive). Who cares even if it doesn't. The storms like you regardless.

[zoeythebee]

Horror game idea I have.

So Fnaf Security Breach fucking sucks right?

But I thought it could be vastly improved by

- Making the animatronics way more threatening

- Make your visibility / ability to navigate limited shit so you have to use the cameras to navigate

- Remove all your defenses

So here is my idea. You are a repair dude called into some building to do repairs.

Uh oh it's full of monsters.

So your repairs and get out.

Game play takes place in a top down view. Single consistantly sized rooms similar to Legend of Zelda.

Your character has a flashlight that eliminates a cone of light, everything outside of that besides vague outlines are pitch black.

Use security cameras to check for threats in neighboring rooms. Different monsters require different strategies.

No weapons, and no hiding. Your only options are to evade or avoid.

I have some ideas for monsters that require unique strategies. And I have a design concept in mind for the monsters to.

So in fnaf one there is a pretty unique dynamic in night four and five where Freddy is the most threatening but the most predictable. You have to keep watching him otherwise he will move. Now bonnie and chica are more predictable since you can literally just check your lights, but juggling all of them at once creates a unique tension that I want to try to mimic.

I'm shooting for either black and white pixel art or maybe a slightly surreal rpg-maker visual style.

This is also going to be made completely from scratch without a graphics library. Because in my brain all this game really needs for graphics is tile rendering, Sprite rendering, and basic buffer writing. Which I think wont be too hard. Especially with Sokol taking care of the boring stuff.

From scratch is also good because I cant actually think of a way to impliment some of the visuals with SDL or even Raylib.

But I can think of how to do it with shaders.

Anyway that's kinda what I'm working on, well see how it turns out.