#I wanna add dialogue to these but I don't feel like editing it in via photoshop

[shadow3142]

Reviving the ancient art of homestuck panel edits

[meg-noel-art]

hi!! i wanna preface by saying i agree with you, i just want to add one thing bc i don't want to make my own post or be perceived in any meaningful way

i feel like the nature of specifically horizon's dlcs is a direct continuation of aloy's story. frozen wilds was how we got truly introduced to the heph storyline and why we know we need to go after it, also introduction/context behind apex machines etc. when i first played forbidden west i was surprised that it took the DLC so strongly into account, which led me to believe it was meant to be a necessary step in aloy's story bc it didn't felt like exposition - it felt like assumed, already known information (which it would not be if you didn't play frozen wilds).

i also think that's what they were going for with burning shores. unfortunately, GG alienated a large portion of their playership by making it ps5 exclusive (whatever their reasoning may be, likely technological) - also the points you brought up about other reasons players can't get a dlc. I'm not saying it's a good model to base a franchise on, but that is the sense i got.

i have nothing to say about the shipping aspect bc it truly does not matter to the overarching narrative outside of hooray!! representation that is important for a lot of people!! shipping wars are stupid as hell. you're playing barbie with other people's characters, everyone, calm down

Yes I've gotten multiple asks bringing up the Frozen Wilds, but it only proves my point. So in that sense I still disagree with you and others. FWs is still not necessary to play. It adds dramatic context. But all of it's lore is still re-explained, admittedly to a lesser degree, in HFW.

Heph running wild is still reiterated via exposition during the plot of Forbidden West. Characters that were important to implementing the lore never make a return - CYAN is mentioned once in a dialogue wheel with GAIA. Aratak is a battle easter egg. Ourea is dead. Even Gildun is not an exception. His reappearance was EASTER EGGED in HFW and then he ONLY showed up in -- another DLC, which is again, optional.

I'm not making up rules here folks. This is how DLC works for any franchise. They can absolutely expand lore, tack on characters and important plot points but at the end of the day they are NOT necessary to play the main story. And will always be rehashed/reexplained for players who did not play the DLC. Or who couldn't.

That's one of the reasons they made up another Zenith that somehow escaped the final battle. Londra is entirely expendable as a villian. One off monster of the week special episode villain.

Look how hard Guerrilla pushed the Sunhawk comic, going so far as to include it digitally in an edition of HFW -- and still Talanah's entire quest retells the events of the comic via dialogue wheels.

Because ---- Guerrilla HAS to account for the fact that s o m e fans may not have read it and won't know what's going on. And every fan must be allowed to be clued in.

Mass Effect DLCs are another great example - and ME is even MORE open choice than Horizon is.

I completely agree with you that Guerrilla narrowed what it can do with Burning Shores moving forward bc of the ps5 exclusivity as well. For whatever reason they did it doesn't really matter the point is it restricts it's audience from playing.

I ALSO had an issue with the writing in HFW because it was written very very obviously to allow NEW players into the series. To START with HFW, not HZD, and not be totally lost. Even past the first cutscene, Aloy spends a ton of time rehashing events with old characters. I think 3 will play out much the same way. Because they have to develop it like that. Their goal as a company is to appeal to a large crowd of gamers, for money. Capitalism, they do not want their games to fail. Especially after queer clapback. So three will rehash undoubtedly the events of HFW, HZD AND BS. And that's a lot to cram in without forcing players to have played or make assumptions.

I have nothing to say about the shipping aspect either. Despite the many asks today for some reason interpreting my objective take on the nature of a DLC is an attack on representation OR the ship in general - i have zero issue with it. I will say yet AGAIN, i thought it was cute and enioyed the story.

That does not change the fact that a DLC is skippable, choices with Seyka were in a flashpoint aka optional, THIS IS NOT DENYING THE ROMANCE - but Aloy's reaction to it is different and would effect a player's game -- and at most I assume she'll be reintergrated in a fashion similar to Gildun. Because again, Guerrilla MUST account for the fact that THEY chose to introduce her in a DLC and thus people/new players will not know her or the story.

That's how it works, sorry about it.

Thank you for the courteous tone of your ask! This is, however, the last BS ask I will answer.

Take care 🫶

[the-writers-bookshelf]

This is embarrassing but I am bad at reading. I only read graphic novels sometimes but as a kid I always hated reading since my dad forced me to read those classics. I want to get into reading novels but I want to start easy. I want a book that's for an adult but the writing is for like a 12 year old. I also can't stand anything that's like 100 pages but I don't wanna read kid books since I want adult topics. Is there anything like this?

Hi lovely anon! ♥

Okay I'm THRILLED you asked this question because I get to put on my librarian thinking cap. :)

First, I want to say right off the top there is absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about.

People have different ways that they learn and absorb information and that’s perfectly fine! I really wish the publishing industry took into consideration other readers besides a generic population because so many readers are left behind and miss out on some great stories because they can’t access them for whatever reason.

Graphic novels get a bad rap for some reason, but they are FANTASTIC works of art. They connect visual storytelling with action, movement, and dialogue.

When I worked at my local library, it was so, so painful to watch parents ridicule their child for picking up a book that interested them but it didn't *fit this box* (wasn't their exact reading level, wasn't "educational" etc.)

For kids with ADHD or other learning problems, or just the way they interacted with the world...graphics novels were sometimes the ONLY thing that held their attention. They needed different stimulation - the art helped them visualize the story better than pages and pages of text ever could.

If you like something, read it. Enjoy it. That's the point of literature! ♥

Also, I really, really love illustrations with books. I like the visual aspect that adds extra punch to the story and I wish more adult literature had illustrations because I miss that so much. Graphic novels are badass so definitely don't feel bad about enjoying them! :)

I’m going to do my best to recommend some things here. I haven’t read everything on this list so take it with a grain of salt! Because most publishers require a set word count/page count, 100 pages or less might be a bit difficult to pin down. But I’ll see what I can do! :)

Anthologies/Magazines - 

Anthologies and short fiction magazines are great because the stories are short - most of the time around 40 pages or less - and you get a range of authors so you can sample their writing styles. 

Some anthologies/magazines I would recommend include:

Clarkesworld

They post their back issues online so you can read them AND listen to an audio recording of them for FREE.

Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine

I recently picked up a few of their copies and I’m really enjoying the range of author styles they include in each edition. They include poems, short stories, and novelets (longer than a short story, shorter than a novel). The whole thing is roughly 200 pages but you can always stop reading after one story and get a satisfied ending :)

Podcastle (audio)

This is an honorary mention because of the compact storytelling they aim to cultivate. Podcastle (fantasy) and it’s branching publications - EscapePod (science fiction) and Pseudopod (horror) - publish stories via podcast. It’s not quite novels, like what you’re looking for, but they do look for stories that grab your attention and can be read well aloud. If you’re looking to spark an interest in a wide range of fiction, this might be a good resource to browse! :)

Fiction - 

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

I personally haven’t read this one yet - it’s on my to-read list! - but each book is around 150 pages told through the eyes of an increasingly self-aware robot that has nicknamed itself “Murderbot.”

Wayward Children Series by Seanan McGuire

This adult series is about a home for wayward kids who regularly come and go through magic portals to other worlds. Each book is fairly short, a little under 200 pages.

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Binti is the first of the Himba people to go Oomza University - one of the best institutions in the galaxy. But learning comes at a price and her journey won’t be an easy one (96 pages, book 1 of the series)

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

This was 50-50 for me. I liked the concept, the ending was a little...too out there for me to grasp. But it’s 230 pages, a little gritty, a little grimdark, with action.

Honorable Mentions -

I’m not sure what genre of graphic novels you’re reading (humor? dark fantasy? superheroes?) but if you want to venture into some fun fiction that’s a little longer, here are some authors that have taken me on a wild romp across the pages - 

Terry Pratchett

Neil Gaiman (I like some of his stories, others are a miss for me, but he explores a wide range of fiction so you can dabble in lots of different things! :)

Adrian Tchaikovsky (particularly Spiderlight, lots of epic high fantasy adventure)

A.J. Hartley

Jeff VanderMeer (Annihilation)

I hope some of these help a little! Good luck! :)

[pixelsareforsketchbooks]

A score for a diffractive dialogue on joy and sadness

This is a score for two people. A dialogue. A vocal and vagal experiment which hopes to lead you both forward and backwards, inwards and outwards, at the same time.

1. Sit down on the floor with your back to your partner.

Your backs should be touching.

If you cannot touch your partner then your back should be against a sturdy flat surface, like a wall.

2. Take a deep breath in together

3. Hum in a low tone as you both slowly exhale.

Breathe in whenever you need to, but also breathe in when your partner breathes in

As you exhale your bodies should fall into each other, so that the other is bearing your weight more and more.

4. Your bodies will begin to slide downwards. Lower and lower and until you are both lying down. Your heads are side by side, in the crook of the other’s shoulder, looking at the ceiling. (Or if you are not in the same physical space as your partner, maybe you are on the ground by yourself, but think and feel your partners presence.)

5. Say or sing a lyric from a song. Just the first one that comes to mind.

It doesn’t matter who goes first.

If your lyric was in the form of a question, your partner can leave it as it is.

If your lyric was not in the form of a question, your partner should re-formulate it as a question.

Examples: ‘How deep is your love?’ - Leave as is. ‘Jump out of bed and stumble in the kitchen’ - Why do you jump out of bed in the morning? ‘At first I was afraid I was petrified’ - What are you not afraid of anymore?

6. After one person says or sings a lyric, the other person asks your lyric question.

The same question is asked 7 times.

After each time you will answer the question until you run out of things to say. The partner says ‘Thank You’ and asks again.

7. Once this is done the other partner says or sings whatever lyric comes to them first, and the first person makes it into a question. Then repeat step 6.

8. You may alternate and repeat steps 5 and 6 for as long as you want. You may also alternate asking your own lyric question to your partner instead of vice-versa, or you can take tuns and ask each other the same questions

9. End the score by first sitting up and then standing and then shaking your whole body as you express anything you want from your mouth. (Humming, howling, AHHHHHH-ing)

SONGS ARE LIKE A TIME MACHINE

- Anushka Nair

I've asked friends and acquaintances who are friends to perform this score. I have yet to ask a stranger. Maybe some strangers will see this blog and perform it. Maybe they will tell me they did. Maybe they will tell one of their friends to try and it will come back to me in someway.

The initial performers of this score were Luiza and Anushka. Afterwards we spoke and this idea of the time machine came up. This diffracted from other ideas I have had about songs as vessels, portholes, or emotive non-tangible objects. Music and the voice are both elusive of and attached to time/space. "the audible is constantly in motion, disappearing as it appears." (Benjamin, 2018)I was thinking of them before as transporters of emotion, but they are also transporters of memory, similar to the way smells are. Interestingly, both smell and hearing belong to the intangible realm of the senses. After further performances which I observed through video or in person, I spoke more with each of the partners after the experience. Finally, I chose to perform the score myself, with a close collaborator and friend. It was here that this idea of the time machine became clear.

The lyric that came to me in that moment was:

Strangers

Waiting

Up and down the boulevard

When asked by my partner "What are strangers waiting for on the boulevard?" I was instantly transported to a place near where i grew up.... It was the parking lot and park at the end of a of street called Magnolia Boulevard. I have no memories of the song from my childhood, but somehow every experience I had had in this location compressed into one and then expanded and infinite storylines of what could happen in this space appeared. And it was all heavily encapsulated in the sweet warm air of a summer night. These moments were both fleeting and concrete experiences and despite the grounding comfort of my friend's warm shoulder I floated amongst them.

Here is an audio clip from this part of the score. set to a video of the original song makers. I'll call it: Journey to Diffraction

Sadly, as with the other documentation, I don't think the score works in recorded form or really outside the two participants. Therefore it feels truly like an intra-action. Happening within the space created by the participants, deflecting observation.

A Diffractive Dialogue between a

Past and Present Self

One of the central items of my research box, as well as my main source for the autoethnographic research I am doing, is a journal which I kept between the ages of 13-16. The journal is first-hand documentation of the commencement of my sexual life, from my first kiss to the 'loss of my virginity' or as I would call it now, my first experience of penis-in-vagina sex. (Virginity is a social construct and thus not something one can loose. I consider it actually a gaining of experience. This view, I can confirm based on my re-reading of this journal and an interview with my sister, was precisely how I felt about it then too. ) In addition to the standard teenage turmoil and vast number of boys names, the journal is filled with song lyrics, which I found meaningful at the time.

Thinking once more about using songs as a time machine, I thought it might be interesting to performa a version of the above score, but the two people would be my present self, and my teenage self who wrote this journal, carefully listening to her favourite songs in order to write their lyrics in her journal.

I recorded the video and edited it a bit to add to the feeling of there being a dialogue taking place. The experience was very fulfilling, however it felt less like a trip to the past, and more like a springboard into the future, powered by the culmination of experience.

The lyrics I chose from my journal were:

'Prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will grow old'

'It makes me feel so good to always tell you when you're wrong'

'You and I should get away for a while, I just wanna be alone with your smile'

While writing a reflection on the workshop I participated in with the director of Via Berlin, I came to the conclusion that it was impossible for me to be vulnerable with just myself, as my vulnerabilities exist in the context of others. However, watching this video back, I do get a sense of vulnerability and surprise at myself and my answers. I am not sure how it will read to the viewer, but I am excited to reflect more on how I might enter a dialogue with different parts of myself in my future practice.

Benjamin, L. ‘Rewriting the Gaze: Hearing Sex in Cinema’ (2018) MAI: Feminism & Visual Culture, 12 September. Available at: https://maifeminism.com/rewriting-the-gaze-hearing-sex-in-cinema/ (Accessed: 25 March 2021).

[incarnateirony]

Hey dude! Do you have any recommendations for LGBTQ+ movies in the romance genre that have like a happy ending. I really don't care how old they are. I'm feeling the Gay™ hence I need the Gay™. You feel me?

HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII NONNIE

First sorry for taking so long, not only did I have to timeline this :) but :) my computer :) froze :) after writing like :) 2 pages :) and I had to do it again :)

So anyway let it be said, the LGBT dialogue is one of osmosis and shared growth and awareness. Some of these films will be very poorly dated, but as you (thankfully) mentioned that them being old wasn’t a *problem*, expect a lot of old stuff. Because one of the most important things to have under your belt when talking about the LGBT media representation battle is the actual journey from A to B – be that incrementalization, subtextual inclusion, text-breeching features, outright evocative and groundbreaking films at the time (which is what MOST of this list will be) and an improvement in our dialogue; let us never forget that while tr*nss*xual is considered a slur and transgender is proper, tr*nss*xual was at one point the politically correct way to speak it – things like that breach in our growing understanding of the spectrum of human sexuality. 

I *WILL* disclaimer these aren’t all romance, so if you explicitly want romance, google them and take a look if it sounds to appeal, but I’m taking this as a general cinema history plug considering what a confused mess fandom conversation about LGBT history in film or modern text as applicable, accepted or not.

Wonder Bar (1936) (I wouldn’t really call this queer cinema, but if you have the time to watch it too, I think it was the first explicit mention of homosexual engagement even if it was fleetingly brief. You might even call it Last Call style. A blink and you’ll miss it plug that was still decades ahead of its time)

Sylvia Scarlet (1936) (Again, I wouldn’t call this queer cinema, but a lot of the community takes it as the first potential trans representation on TV due to the lead literally swapping gender presentation, even if the presentation is… not what we would modernly call representation IMO)

Un Chant d'Amour (1950) (Worth it for the sheer fact that it pissed off fundies so bad they took it all the way to the US supreme court to get it declared obscene.)

The Children’s Hour (1961) (also known as the 1961 lesson to “don’t be a gossipy, outting bitch”)

Victim (1961) (The first english film to use the word “homosexual” and to focus explicitly on gay sexuality. People might look on it disdainfully from modern lenses, but it really helped progress british understanding of homosexuality)

Scorpio Rising (1964) (Lmao this one deadass got taken to court when it pissed people off and California had to rule that it didn’t count as obscene bc it had social value, worth it for the history if nothing else)

Theorem (1968) (Because who doesn’t wanna watch a 60s flick about a bisexual angel, modern issues and associations be damned)

The Killing of Sister George (1968) (by the makers of What Ever Happened To Baby Jane)

Midnight Cowboy (1969) (…have I had sassy contagonists in RP make a Dean joke off of this more than once, maybe)

Fellini-Satyricon (1969) (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THIS)

The Boys in the Band (1970) (This… this… this made a lot of fuss. Just remember leather)

Pink Narcissus (1971) (a labor of love shot on someone’s personal camera)

Death in Venice (1971) (This is basically a T&S prequel but whatever, based on a much older book)

Cabaret (1972) 

Pink Flamingos (1972) (SHIT’S WILD)

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) (The title doesn’t lie, be warned)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) [god I hope you’ve at least seen this]

Fox and His Friends (1975) (some really hard lessons that are still viable today, that just because someone acknowledges your sexuality doesn’t mean they give a shit about you as a person, and that some will even abuse the knowledge for gain)

The Terence Davies Trilogy (1983) (REALLY interesting history look it up, it’s sort of one of those “drawn from own experience” story short sets)

The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) (Documentary)

Desert Hearts (1985) (Pretty much the first film to put lesbianism into a good light as a true focus based on a novel from the sixties)

Parting Glances (1986) (the only film its creator got out before his death from the aids epidemic)

Law of Desire (1987) (two men and a trans woman in a love triangle, kinda ahead of its time)

Maurice (1987) (This one’s really interesting, cuz it was based on a book made about 15 years before it, but the book itself had been written half a century earlier and wasn’t published until after the guy died, he just thought it’d never get published Cuz Gay, so basically it’s based on a story written in like, the 20s finally getting screen time. It has a bittersweet but positive-leaning-ish ending without disregarding the cost that can come with it and even addresses class issues at the same time 100% DO RECOMMEND)

Tongues Untied (1989) (a documentary to give voices to LGBT black men) 

Longtime Companion (1990) (This one’s title alone is history, based on a NYT phrasing for how they talked about people’s partners dying, eg longtime companion, during the AIDS epidemic)

Paris Is Burning (1990) (Drag culture and related sexual and gender identity exploration as it intersected with class issues and other privileges explored in a documentary)

The Crying Game (1992)( I should correct this that I guess it’s more, 1992 considered, “SURPRISE, DIL HAS A DILL!” – I guess I really didn’t do that summary justice by modern language and dialogue as much as how people in the 90s were talking about that and that’s a my bad. LIKE. SEE, EVEN I CAN FUCK UP MY LANGUAGE I’M SORRY CAN I BLAME THE STRAIGHTS T_T) #90skidproblems – I guess I should call it a trans film. And this alone tells me I should go watch it again to recode it in my brain modernly rather than like circa de la 2000 understanding.

The Bird Cage (1996) (So you mix drag culture, otherwise heterosexually connected lovebirds, and then realize the girl comes from an alt-rightish house and the guy comes from a Two Dads Home and does cabaret, how to deal with the issues OF this conflict when it’s between you and your happiness, even if the fight isn’t even your own as much as it is that of the person you love. The answer is PROBABLY NOT to dress in drag and pretend to be straight, but what are you going to do? – while played for laughs we’d consider modernly crude, the fact that they even dared to approach this narrative was pretty loud)

The Celluloid Closet (1996) (Ever heard of the Vito Russo test for LGBT representation? This is based on a book by Vito Russo.)

Happy Together (1997) (Ain’t this shit an ironic name; a mutual narrative, via chinese flick, of hong kong ceding to china and an irrevocably tangled MLM pairing as a giant mirrored metaphor)

Boys Don’t Cry (1999) (one of the most groundbreaking films about trans identity at the time)

Stranger Inside (2001) (As easy as it is to recoil to the idea of “black gays in jail”, the film makers actually went and consulted prisoners and put a great deal of focus into intersectional african american issues that really weren’t around even in straight films at the time)

Transamerica (2005) (While it made a bit of a fuss for not casting an actual trans actor, it was one of the first times a big budget studio really tried to tackle it which really pushed us forward)

Call Me by Your Name (2017) (since I’ve apparently leaned really heavy old cinema throw in a modern one lmaooooo)

Also honorable The Kids Are All Right (2010) mention for the sake of the fucking title alone. 

And to any incarnation of “On the Road” by Kerouac, which

Was originally a book

Released a sanitized de-gayed edition because of the times

Later released the full homo manuscript

had a few film adaptations

Was one of Kripke’s founding inspirations for Supernatural once he left behind “Some reporter guy chases stories” and took the formula of Sal and Dean (and tbh later, Carlo) in a beat generation vibe gone modern as we know it today.

Reading both versions of this can actually help some folks currently understand that when you get confused over some shit (WHY IS CARLO SO UPSET? WHY IS HE ACTING LIKE AN UPSET GIRLFRIEND??? WHY IS HE SO JEALOUS AND SAD WHEN DEAN IS AROUND GIRLS???? WE JUST DONT KNOWWWWWWWWWWWWW) it’s because some big money asshat bleached the content, and sometimes, it takes a while for the full script to come out and again, surprise, it’s been GAY, they just didn’t want to OFFEND anybody. *jazz hands*

Now if you wanna go WAY WAY BACK, during 191X years, a bunch of gender role flicks came out like Charley’s Aunt, Mabel’s Blunder and the Florida Enchantment.

Also where is @thecoffeebrain-blog to yell about the necessity of watching Oz, for the next few hours? But no, seriously, just look into the entire LGBT *HISTORY* of Oz.

Beyond that though I’m gonna stop here cuz hi that’s a lot. I really don’t know how much counts as “happy ending” but if I had to give an LGBT cinema rec list, that’s it as a sum. I don’t really have like, a big portfolio of UWU HAPPY ENDING GAYS because 1. there aren’t a lot of those but 2. to me, it’s not about the ending, it’s about the journey. Be that in flick or through culture and history itself.

If you want more happy ending stuff, you definitely have to look at 2010+, but it’s not like we’re in a rich and fertile landscape yet so honestly just googling that would probably serve you better since I don’t explicitly explore romance genre or happy endings to really have a collection. LGBT life is hard and film often reflects that if we’re making genuine statements about it and really representing it, and we’re just now getting to a point of reliably having the chance at a happy ending. That or maybe someone can add like “Explicit happy endings” lists after this that has more experience in that subgenre.

Also, I can’t emphasize ENOUGH to remember what was progressive then is not what is progressive now, and frankly, what some people think is progressive now they’ll probably look back on what they said and feel really fuckin’ embarrassed. See: “It’s not text because by alt right homophobic dialogue, M/M sex isn’t gay if you do the secret handshake” MGTOW kinda crazy ass dialogue or parallel narratives they inspire that encourage self-closeting and denial based on the pure idea that being gay makes you somehow lesser, so It’s Not That. Like. I am. 99% sure. At least half of the people talking in this fandom. Are going to regret that the internet is forever. And maybe hope hosting servers end in the inevitable nuclear war that will annihilate this planet.

Also, edit: Speaking of mistaken dialogues and words aging poorly, I’d like to apologize from the poor description I rendered “The Crying Game” with, but that really goes to show how deep-seated the issue is we can so casually fuck up identifying a trans narrative as SURPRISE DICK IS GAY when we were all absorbing the content like 20+ years ago and HOW HARD it can be to de-code yourself from that kind of programming because here I am, writing a giant assed rep post and fucking it up because my brain hadn’t soaked that movie since Y2K. Guess what, time for me to go watch the Crying Game again.