#Personal gubbins

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

I fell victim to the cute word game

[azicrowscottage]

Here’s the thing about Crowley that I haven’t seen many people talk about that I want to address. It could be totally off the mark, but I wanted to get it off my chest because it’s how I interpret certain things.

I was watching S2E2 and E3 the other night and Aziraphale’s character growth shown within Job’s arc had got me thinking. Crowley is consistently present whenever Aziraphale questions his morality, sometimes encouraging Aziraphale to really think about it: (So, the rich can afford all this gubbins to protect their rellies from being dug up, and the poor just have to lump it? You’re okay with that, yeah?’ ‘Same God that wants me to whack the kids?’) etc, and while I’m sure this causes Aziraphale quite a bit of existential distress, Crowley is always there to offer at the very least the comfort to Aziraphale that he is not alone.

Not alone in wandering the shades of grey, not alone in not belonging to a side. It makes me wonder what this shift in perspective was like for Crowley. Because I can’t imagine they had anyone to find solitude with like Aziraphale has with them. Crowley didn’t have anybody like that. They were utterly alone at first. Utterly alone with no idea how he fit into the universe. Crowley, who was cast from heaven for being curious, for asking questions, for being someone who saw the complexity of the universe and refused to conform to the black and white thinking everybody else was stuck in.

If you asked my opinion, that must have been one of the loneliest experiences, to feel like the only person in the world that didn’t belong anywhere.

[moviemunchies]

Guy Ritchie made a shoot ‘em up movie about fighting Nazis?! Sign me the fudge up!

Wait, what do you mean it’s more of a heist movie?

The story goes like this: during World War II, Britain needs aid, but the German submarines are preventing both Americans from joining Europe and the British from full naval mobility. Brigadier Colin Gubbins, or M, decides to enact Operation Postmaster: an off-the-books mission to send a strike team to the Spanish-controlled Fernando Po, an island south of Cameroon, where the Nazis store their U-boat supplies, and sink the ship holding those supplies. Leading the mission is Major March-Phillips, known for being a bit off-the-rails, and he recruits a team of other difficult-to-handle soldiers to complete the operation. Meanwhile, agents Richard Heron and Marjorie Stewart go to Fernando Po to establish and report intelligence there.

Despite what the ads for the film would make you think, this movie is not nonstop, Nazi-shooting action. There is a lot of Nazi-shooting action, but much of this movie is about espionage and collecting information. Which is fun, it’s just not what you’re led to believe by the trailers.

The movie has a problem that pretty much plagues all team movies: the development of an entire team of characters isn’t entirely that well-done. I get it–in a limited runtime, it’s difficult to make sure that every character is memorable and has a developed backstory and personality. Still, there are a couple of guys who I kept mixing up, and I couldn’t really tell you much about most of their backstories. They’re still fun to watch blasting away Nazis, though.

Speaking of which: the Nazis in this movie are really, really bad at surviving. By all means, I’m happy to show Nazis as bad at war, but these guys are incredibly dumb. Though they’re not exactly running into oncoming fire, they still are slow to pick up when an enemy is around them, don’t use any cover, can’t hear gunshots until they’re in front of them, and have remarkably lax security protocols. It’s very easy for our heroes to mow through them. It’s not so much that our heroes are that skilled, like in a movie such as the Magnificent Seven remake, it’s that the villains are bad at staying alive. Yes, it makes for fun action scenes, but not excellent ones.

Also, isn’t there a way to intercept radio or telegraph signals? I thought it was a little convenient that the Nazis never picked up on those when the heroes sent them.

Like many Ritchie movies, the soundtrack for the film is pretty great. I don’t think it’s as memorable as Legend of the Sword or Man from UNCLE; however, it’s still quite good, and manages to be unique enough that it doesn’t sound like every other World War II movie. A good soundtrack doesn’t necessarily make a movie, but it’s a good indicator that people behind the scenes cared about the presentation.

The actors are clearly having a good time in their roles. As they should! It’s a fun movie. Henry Cavill is a standout, though–apparently some of his character’s mannerisms were improvised by him, which to me shows that he was having a blast. And that’s good! If it’s not only a good time to watch, but it was apparently a good time to act in.

Random side note about Churchill! I feel as if the Winston Churchill of this movie was a bit underwhelming; I don’t know if that was a miscast, or if it was that we’ve had fantastic actors playing Churchill in the past (Gary Oldman comes to mind) so this one isn’t fair to compare? Whatever. Just a thought.

Overall then, Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a good time. It’s fun, it’s fast, and it’s straightforward. It’s not going to be anyone’s favorite World War II movie, both because it’s not that serious, and because the action, while fun, isn’t particularly clever. It’s still a fun way to spend a couple of hours, and I think if you wanted to see a cool and stylish World War II action heist movie, this film will scratch that itch.

[technologyvoid]

Gubbins is a game: part 2 (part 1 here!)

And, personal favourites

[foreverknightalways]

Back at Nick's loft. Nick tells Natalie, She didn't do it. Where I found the slugs proves that the shots had to be fired by a taller person, someone who was standing off to the side, not in front of Gubbins.

[kesbeacon]

Got prompted to do this by the Twitter meltdown, but I should put it here too: I'm starting an email newsletter for author updates, art, and other random gubbins. Signup form is on carrd.

[extracrispycolonelw]

the eleventh legion!

The eleventh legion are the "purged" in my story, compared to the second who are simply forgotten. The idea for their primarch is more defining than the legion themselves, mainly because I haven't had the time or serious interest in putting in the writing for them. The legion is pretty standard for what you'd expect: space pirates, except this time with an orky flair. And you might ask, orky?

So their primarch, his name is Grigoli Hedolite. Just hearing about him, your average person might not think much other than him. He uses chain weapons, is huge, barbaric and slightly off in appearances. That describes like, two or three other primarchs, big deal.

He was raised by Orks. Like, full on, a warboss found his pod, pulled him out, and threw this infant to the hordes and this wee thing managed to kill a whole boy and a handful of squigs and gretchens, so this git goes "Oi, dis toiny umie knows 'ow ta krump real good", throws some scrap on him and boom, digganob primarch. Over the course of his growth, he is forced to subside off orkoid fungus and squigs and it turns him into this greenish off-yellow hue made of beef and roid rage. He gets the name Toofrippa from big dad warboss and becomes his underboss, son and rival, and that status quo sticks around for a while.

Now, back to the question of orky. His legion's development following his return to them is a strange one, because this legion of otherwise pretty normal, standard background for space marines is suddenly turned into the warband of a mentally stunted, batshit crazy giant wearing scrap metal where the biggest, strongest marines are bestest. Now, most other primarchs are appalled by this behaviour. His marines, though?

A small amount of them just leave on an expedition and never come back. The rest just shrug and say fuck it, dad wants us to be propa spoice muhreens! They start bolting gubbins onto their armour, they regularly beat the shit out of each other and kill each other, and over the course of a decade, the legion goes from slightly manic, but otherwise normal marines to a bunch of transhuman digganobs obsessed with terminator armour and dreadnoughts. Before all this, the terran marines were already strange. Jaundiced-looking skin, big, even for marines and a bit crazy, the whole lot of them. They start dying off, and their primarch's fungus-diluted geneseed creates bigger, tougher, orc-looking marines. Obviously, this can't stand, but they can't just kill all these nutters, they're still loyal and their mutations still just barely fall within standard allowances!

Aaaand thats about as far as I've gotten. Too absurd?

[keiiniine]

🌐 THE ワン && ONLY iiS BACK ONLiiNE.ᐟ.ᐟ 🦴

HELLO!! My name is Kei or Dex. I’m a 17 year old aspiring PNGTuber.

I use neopronouns and xenopronouns!!; Dey/dem, he/him, it/its, ix/ixs, x/xs, paw/paws, star/stars, wan/wans, pain/pains. Click on them for a demo on how to use them!!

I’m a trans man femboy, as well as binsexual and grayromantic!!

I suffer from ASD (PDA subtype), DCD, C-PTSD, chronic GAD, and DID. I’m being assessed for EDNOS and ADHD. I use a cane and suffer from chronic pain as well!!

I abuse DPH and have for two years, as well as slit for nine years. I’ve given up on recovery.

I LiKE <3 … Friday Night Funkin’ (unironically), Furbies, The Museum of Anything Goes, 携帯電獣TELEFANG, ローリーポーリーズの七転び八起き, Pokémon, психоняшки (I’m kinda new), Baldi’s Basics, Sanrio, miscellaneous lost media gubbins, and The Amazing Digital Circus (also unironically)!!

MUSiC I LiKE!! … MARETU, Femtanyl, 神聖かまってちゃん, Lauren Bousfield, horrormovies, Rory in Early 20s, crucifyapril, Renard Queenston, Kikuo, goreshit, Candye Syrup … always looking for more artists to get into btw!!

I WANT TO GET iNTO … Needy Streamer Overload, Project Sekai, Happy Sugar Life, Magical Girl Site, Madoka Magica, Doki Doki Literature Club, Higurashi When They Cry

I HATE </3 … Spiders, flies, people who switch their entire personalities and opinions to match whatever’s trending, the North Korean government

DNI!! … Basic criteria (racist, homophobic, transphobic, etc etc), “mental health matters” mfs who switch up when it’s not a “quirky” disorder, darkshippers, people who support all “good-faith” identities, “heh…yea…i watch gore…it…helps me relax…😈” mfs

NOTES … I’m pretty new to the jirai subculture so please bear with me and give me any tips or suggestions if you have them!! I’m always willing and happy to learn!! I’m severely mentally ill; most important part for this blog is I suffer from rapid and extreme mood swings and will probably be blogging about those mood swings

[storytellingbadger]

SINCE WHEN did I become mutuals with such a cool person???? I am being percieved when did this happen !! Hi ? Hello??

Hi hello! 😁 thank you so much! Be perceived get perceived all of the perceiving gubbins. And have an awesome day while you’re at it!

[reachingforthevoid]

Doctor Who: The Mark of the Rani

I rewatched this serial on 5 May 2023. It’s another one I’ve not seen often. 

We begin with coal miners in 19th century rags heading to the baths after a long day’s work. They’re gassed and once they awake they become violent. In the TARDIS, the Doctor and Peri head to Earth because of some kind of time distortion gubbins. They land in the midst of the violence and the Doctor wants to see George Stephenson — for the first time in a while we see a character who was a real historical person. The industrial revolution provides the back drop to this serial, and it is a shame there’s not more about it going on. Stephenson is fairly much in the background, too, for most of it.

Meanwhile, the Master is skulking about. It doesn’t take long before we learn that the old woman running the bath house is a Time Lord called the Rani. While the Rani and the Master aren’t working together, and aren’t alike, they are of a kind. It’s a shame that the Master is in this story, really, because he doesn’t add anything and takes away from the Rani and her plans. Her TARDIS is rather cool, too. A bit Dalek-y. Tee hee with the Tyrannosaurus Rexes — neat nonsense, that.

[limey-boy]

Efficax-Gamma-0008-EG (part 1)

+ >Data_slate_bootup.exe - + >Machine_spirit.exe - + Thought_of_the_day.exe = "Life is directed motion" - + Awaiting keyrune input... - + >Username_=_Efficax-Gamma-0008-EG + >Passrune_=_01110000_01110011_01110011_01110111_01110010_01100100 - + /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// - + >Data_slate_entry_001.exe initiate - + Date_=_0_634_423_M41 - + Magos Dominus -may his reason be an inspiration to us all- in conjunction with Commissar Castor has commanded this unit to collect the data of my interactions on a daily basis with the imperial guard regiment known as “101st offworld cadian escort”; for the purposes of improved guard/mechanicus integration. Therein, the efficiency of both our battle groups will improve, with the blessing of the data collected for the purpose of greater future knowledge of guard/mechanicus social interactions. This unit hopes to serve sufficiently in the name of the Emperor and the Machine. - + Praise the Omnissiah - + >Data_slate_entry_001.exe application saved + closed - + /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// -

+ >Data_slate_entry_002.exe initiate - + Date_=_0_635_423_M41 - + The experiment has begun, as Enginseer Dominus proclaimed. Every skitarii ranger has been paired with a suitable guardsman for the purpose of social/physical interaction and data collection. The fleshy infantryman this unit has been paired with is known to the databank as “IG_28827-62947-2390_Cadia" but prefers to be known as "Pollux Pecan". - + This unit had come across this in the data downloaded the night cycle previously from the command ship in orbit: individual naming without the use of numerals for efficient parsing and identification. This unit voiced its concern about the lack of efficiency to unit "Pollux" due to the difficulty in locating the proper body after battle for paperwork, especially if the corpse has been defiled or destroyed in a manner that makes identification needlessly difficult visually. The lack of proper blood flow to pollux's face and erroneous vocalisation indicated sudden onset anxiety, this unit assumes the lack of sense and efficiency concerns him as much as it does this unit. Our socialisation is off to a good start, this unit predicts. - + During the half-day-cycle nutrition & hydration hour, this unit and "Pollux" shared rations (as this was stated in the mechanicum/imperium socialisation guide data-script to engage relations kinesthetically) This unit had hoped that the recycled protein cuboid would provide adequate nourishment for the high calorie intake of unit “Pollux” leading to both high energy, regular bowel movements and enhanced mental function. Pollux displayed dismay during consumption, citing reasons thereof due to “lack of flavor”, “unpleasant texture” and “what was it recycled from anyway?” - + In the spirit of the experiment, this unit shared the chemical composition, production methods and source of recycled protein. After the sharing of the last piece of information, unit “Pollux” moved at speed to the guardsman barracks prefab waste depository known colloquially as “latrines” whereupon he ejected the contents of his stomach. - + This action was most unpleasant for this unit, as the wastage of any resource is a sin unto the Omnissiah -may they bless this unit- and a perfectly good resource it was indeed. Human remains are a plentiful material, and have much better use than ritual burial. This unit assured the unit “Pollux” that the process to render the corpse into a consumable matter removes it from enough stages of identification as to not constitute as cannibalism, which is not only an abomination unto the emperor and omnissiah, but risks prion infection.   - + Regardless, after unit “Pollux” had finished his sinful waste of perfectly good nutrients, this unit in an attempt at social reconciliation consumed part of unit “Pollux’s” meal. It was disgustingly flavourful, a mixture of starches, proteins, vitamins and fats. Completely inefficient, and to make matters worse, not in a basic shape for ease of handling. Archaic culinary utensils had to be used in its consumption. However, to put unit “Pollux’s” social anxieties at ease, this unit informed unit “Pollux” that the ratio of fats to starches was acceptable, and that the heavy application of sweetened red fruit paste to the salted vegetable brown paste was considered by my data-script on social strata to be “tasty”. This unit prays to the great Omnissiah that unit “Pollux” does not wish to exchange nutrients again. - + Praise the Omnissiah - + >Data_slate_entry_002.exe application saved + closed - + /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 

This was an experiment in writing for me, trying to write from a very alien first person perspective. The mind of a Skitarii, vat-grown and trained from artificial birth to en-mass deployment to consider itself a unit within a group with a number, not an individual in a squad with a name. Also, warhammer 40k needs more stories that aren't just about killing. Comments and Critique welcome!

[luxraydyne]

Just finished 999 and my main epiphany was just,,,aoilight. wow. truly an s tier otp

Oh the angst! The anguish! The slow burn! The potential for tooth-rooting domestic nonsense! Oh!

[wastingyourgum]

A senseless update...

Sense of smell still AWOL.

No enjoyment to be derived from food whatsoever - eating purely to refuel at this point. I can still taste sweet/sour/bitter etc. and have found that there’s a slightly sour taste that seems to be a base component of the flavour of a surprising number of things - e.g. coffee, bananas, chicken, beef. Without the other parts of the smell however all I get is the sour taste - not appetising.

Doc first tried me on a nasal steroid spray which I took for 4 weeks with no change (though hubby says he thinks I was breathing a little easier at night).

Went back to the doc yesterday. She gave me a week long course of antibiotics and a different lot of nasal steroid drops and sent me for blood tests which I had taken this morning.

I have to take the drops 4 times a day insead of the once daily I had to do the spray and I absolutely hate the feeling of tipping my head back and dripping something into my nose. Plus I have rubbish aim so I keep dripping it on my upper lip! Hopefully that will get better as I get more used to it...

Drops for 2 weeks and then if still no change I’ll get a referral to the ENT specialist. (Ear/Nose/Throat)

Only bright side? Doctor’s visits, tests and medicines have cost me the grand total of £0.00 - I really feel for everyone in the US who is getting the sharp end of the healthcare debate over there and I’m more determined than ever to stop the bloody Tories ruining the amazing gif that is the NHS.

Oh and it doesn’t bother me any more when I get in the lift at the office with the people who’ve been outside smoking... that’s a plus.

But I really miss coffee...

[papistark]

Hispanic people come in white too 🤷🏻‍♀️. I’m just saying I was shocked that was supposed to be Marta because the actress does not have brown skin at all. It’s obvious that she is white hispanic.

As someone who's filipino i'm aware POC come in all shades. Yes, Marta's skin is warmer and a bit darker in comparison to Ransom's but the values aren't that different at all.

sorry that giving her more olive undertones (which she has) shocked you. Yes, she's darker than Ransom, who's more red/peach undertone caucasian. I don't consider the color I used for her to be anywhere near "brown".

[dyad-of-fate]

Joeri Steele

A soft spoken charismatic young man to outsiders, Joeri is likely the last person anyone would expect to be a member of the military, let alone a director. That being said after about five minutes of talking to him it makes more sense. He is a level headed, highly organized person with a particular skill in diffusing situations. Those skills do take their toll, unfortunately as he has always had a problem with anxiety. It’s difficult for him to wind down and relax, though he does surround himself with people who help him with that. Mostly his two husbands, Ore Danzig and Fenn Rider, but also his sisters and brother in law, Nivera Steele, Yirk Gubbins and Kazuma Holt. Less obviously, he also loves to chat with Velir about the current books they are reading.

[troutfur]

Okay, as I procrastinate, I’m having ideas of how to rework the vulpine language of TFoFd for the fox Po3 AU. So, to get them out of my brain I'll post what I have so far. I’m mostly going to be focusing on the words that denote concepts of vulpine culture as opposed to names as those are not given any translations and are wonky anyway because of the seemingly random vowel substitutions that result from the use of the A- or O- prefixes. So far I’ve got:

Words that can stay as-is:

hav - uncultivated land

havnot - farmland

rangfar - wandering fox

ord - sedentary fox

sowander - holy place

gerflan - human land not in use

ransheen - winter winds

scresheen - early spring winds

Words to keep with a clarification on spelling:

switter - spring breezes

gubbin - roadkill

(For both of these I'm making explicit note of the fact that double consonants serve to disambiguate syllable boundaries. Thus switter is swit + er and not swi + ter nor swit + ter and gubbin is gub + in and not gu + bin nor gub + bin. This is already a fairly intuitive way to read these words for English speakers, but I felt it may be appreciated for non-natives if I explicitly pointed out what it means.)

Words to keep with a spelling change:

ranszan -> ransan - suicide by tearing one's own stomach open (when saying it out loud, I tend to simplify the sz cluster into just s, were it not for the existence of ord simplifying it into ran + san rather than what I assume to be the intention of rans + zan it'd cut down on the allowed number of consonants in the coda position)

stoad -> stowd - elderly fox (I'm assuming this is meant to be pronounced like toad with an initial s, in which case for my personal intuitions ow works better to spell that particular diphthong, something which has precedent in the spelling of English words like flow)

Words to change to make a pattern more regular:

frashoon -> frasheen - summer winds (it's simpler if the vowels don't alternate based on which words are part of the compound, I don't have to think about sound changes that way)

melloon -> melsheen - autumn winds (same as above, plus I don't have to explain where the sh sound went)

Words to replace entirely:

face -> flan - paved-over land (I can't read face as anything other than just the English word face, which introduces lots of complications to the spelling which none of the other words do, besides it makes sense to connect this word to gerflan as they both denote areas of human occupation)