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literalgrill · 1 year ago

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Do NOT Support Hard Drive On Patreon

You might see friends today suggesting you support Hard Drive on Patreon today. You know, the funny video games version of The Onion? As a journalist, I will firmly tell you DO NOT GIVE THEM A DIME.

The CEO has pushed out all former staff that have built the site up to its current greatness and has been pushing the use of AI. The staff begged to have a Patreon before basically all being pushed out, but the idea was refused until now, when it will only line the pockets of a single person instead of hard working writers.

I know they might have provided laughs before, but Hard Drive is a shell of what it was once. Let it die and support the people who actually made those moments of joy possible. Don't believe me? Check out what former employees are saying below:

Kevin Podas: Okay you know what, I would feel bad saying nothing about this, so here goes:🚨SAVE YOUR MONEY🚨

We passionately advocated for a Patreon at Hard Drive & were aggressively shot down. The talent & people who built the site were pushed out. To see this now is beyond upsetting. For the past few years or so I put a lot of myself into this website. I pitched a ton of jokes, got over 120 articles published, & met a lot of great people. I'm sure if you've been following me for some time you could easily see this.

However, there is a lot of misinformation. I was eventually promoted to Managing Editor of the site & was ecstatic. Grateful for the opportunity. Felt like all of my hard work in the comedy mines was finally paying off. But things took a turn for the worst, & each day there were new surprises that affected our livelihoods. These were all very avoidable surprises, mind you.

A patreon was going to be our hail mary, but alas, for some reason, the power that be did not want it. Causing us to leave a dream job behind. "At least we did all we could," we consoled ourselves afterwards. I put a lot of myself into this project. I pitched all sorts of ideas that could have helped-- we all did. Merch collaborations, Patreon-integrated YouTube content, so much more. And most of them were shot down out of sheer stubbornness and nothing more. To see lie after lie spread, and multiple big publications and YouTubers that I am a fan of promote this Patreon under these pretenses is incredibly upsetting. There are so many receipts.

Please share this and consider pulling out if you've already put money into this. On Hard Drive using AI, also from Kevin Podas: I can't personally confirm that part aside from some of the recent header images for articles on both Hard Drive and Hard Times are being made with AI. As far as writing, it's been mentioned in the past, but I personally do not know. Maybe others do, maybe not. MORE From Kevin Podas suggesting the owner denying a Patreon being set up earlier cost an artist a job that was replaced by AI: We had a social media person who was awesome! He made the images until this AI implementation. He had to leave because ad revenue was low and a Patreon was aggressively refused.

Luca Fisher: at the risk of burning some bridges, i have to back up kevin here. i've only been part-time, in-and-out of hard drive since i got in last year, but i can corroborate that management doubled and tripled down about not hosting a patreon/crowdfunding and that many other suggestions and ideas, including mine (and ones much smarter than mine!), were shot down in really long, apocalyptic threads of everyone left on deck desperately trying to come up with ways to keep the lights on. managerially it has been messy and sad

i've written for multiple publications that have long since died, ones that were in the process of dying, and ones that, in this case, are soon to be put in the ground. it is sad and sucks every time. i don't know what could have been done differently, but i do know that a lot of great writers and content creators were left shorthanded and unhappy by the way things have gone. and it is sort of puzzling to see the sudden championing of patreon after we were all told plenty of times that it couldn't work and we should move on also, just to add my own personal two cents here, i was really disappointed by the shuttering of many different article sections on the site over the past 6-8 months. i understand cutting corners in a deficit, and i know it had to be done. that said…

all in all, i'm really sad to see this all happen. i don't fault anyone, if only because i don't really know enough about how this all can happen to make sense of it. games journalism is in a sad, sorry state, and will likely no longer be a thing in the next decade

VideoSealMan: I'm gonna say this because I think I deserve to. For months, MONTHS on end I was bugging Hard Drive management about a Patreon. Often I got ignored for a week+, but when I actually got a response I was encouraged to - of all things, write up a Google Doc pitching the concept I did it regardless. I wasn't the only one trying to sway management on a Patreon, but so fiercely was I fighting for it that last night, I was accused of making this comment directly by the CEO! With no evidence whatsoever! After I'd been gone for over a month.

I vouched so hard for Patreon because I wanted all the writers and creatives working with Hard Drive including myself to get paid better. When I actually got a response, the idea was often shut down. Eventually due to the state of my company, my pay was cut for a second time I confronted management alongside a couple other important figureheads at the org and told them that if we couldn't do a Patreon - I could no longer financially justify staying there. The answer was still no, so I left. Baffled at the decision, but whatever.

It is unendingly frustrating to know that myself and many other people who put their soul into Hard Drive LEFT because of management's absolute refusal to compromise on a Patreon, to then see them launch one anyway a month later and get over 1000 people pledging money. I'm seeing a lot of things float around about greed and people being fired. No one was fired. Everyone who left, left because they were sick of management's decision-making. And honestly, management is a lot of things but I would not call them greedy. (From my experience.) They did genuinely make an effort to pay people as much as possible. I found the pay very fair for a while. I am not disputing that I was paid what I was owed - yet management frequently feels the need to remind critics of that. Lmao, yes. I was paid what I was owed. No one is disputing payment. You did the bare minimum a business owner should do and paid everyone their due, very well done. I make no allegations of greed, cheating or foul play. I make allegations of poor management and incompetence that has fucked over other people.

Basically the only people left at Hard Drive have been there for about 2 months. They will reap the rewards of this successful Patreon I and so many others passionately fought for for so long. We will not see a dime.

I do not know the new people at Hard Drive, But I feel bad for them. They were haphazardly thrust into Hard Drive's workplace with little to no explanation on how anything works, or given any context on the state of the place. Even now managements feeds them half-truths and misinformation about other people's grievances. I am broke and have been for a while. I had to move out of my flat in Reading and back with my family because of how little money I was making. This has basically doomed my flatmate to moving back in with abusive parents, which is something I feel guilty about every day. If we had gone with the Patreon I worked myself hoarse over back then, this could have been avoided. Some of my other good pals could also not have been fucked over.

It was a bad judgment call, but it's not a crime. It's just management getting it wrong.

So should you give to the Hard Drive Patreon? I don't know! I don't think any of the new people working there to patch up the holes left by the recent mass exodus have any bad intentions. Maybe they deserve it! But it is not the same site you knew a year ago, or even a month ago. Myself and many people who were there far longer than me and did far more for it than I did are all gone now because we could not deal with management's terrible decision-making and dogass communication any longer. That's what you should know, imo

I had an agreement in place with management that I would receive the next 8 months of revenue from the Hard Drive YT channel from my leaving in November. This was a deal I appreciated, and thought was very fair on management's behalf. So far, the deal has been honoured for 2 months. However as of last night I was removed from the Hard Drive Slack without warning, and as an editor for the YouTube channel. This means I no longer have any way of verifying how much I am owed, I just have to take their word for it. I'm sure management will make their own statements full of half-truths and weird language on the many cases being brought against them - I'd take everything they say with a pinch of salt if some of the screenshots I've seen of them talking about me are any indication lol

To management; I do not want to talk to you. I want you to DM me a screenshot of how much I'm owed every month and then send me the money per our agreement until June, then we can go our separate ways. Do that and admit to your mistakes, and maybe you can recover your reputation! That's it from me, lol. If they pull out of the deal and fuck me over I'll have more to say, but most of what I know is other people's stories of incompetence and poor decision-making, lol. I genuinely get no pleasure out of doing this; I do not think management is evil - I just think they're really bad at what they do and it's cost other, more talented people, lol. You should believe the writers imo

One last thing I wanna say btw, management did often stress that no one should try to make Hard Drive a full time thing. They were transparent about that, and that is fair. I was working on it because at a few points, I was lead to believe we actually were doing a Patreon. Many other ppl have similar stories of being strung along by management changing their minds and stop-starting shit every 2 weeks. We all made the fatal mistake of overestimating our manager - who would tell you one thing one day and something totally opposite the next week lol

Hunter R. Thompson:

I'm not your dad, but speaking as a Hard Drive writer, I don't know that funding Hard Drive on Patreon is worth it

The driving talent on the back end—behind the kickass site I joined in 2019—have peaced out over the years as the site's been (in our view) increasingly mismanaged. Mismanagement like, not setting up crowdfunding before the ship sank and all its best crew failed; or publishing a screenshot of Andy Ngo pedojacketing a trans writer, complete with her deadname; or a disgruntled ex-writer getting falsely accused of shit-talk, by actual staff. I'm grateful for the writing I've gotten to produce for HD (and will forever be kicking myself for not writing even more, in the four years I've had to do it!! i'm a dumbass!!!) but it is very much no longer the site I signed up for.

I don't want to resign as a contributor altogether, because I'm open to the idea of the site recovering and bad practices being retired as finances level out-- it would just be dishonest for potential backers to not be Aware Of The Circumstances, I think.

Jeremy Kaplowitz: i truly don't want to start shit, but feel compelled to say: i want to see Hard Drive succeed w/o resorting to throwing former writers & editors, myself included, under the bus. surely there's a way to save the site without building it over the corpses of those who left. my $0.02 i don't blame anyone who wants to sign up for the HD patreon and i support the website, but that includes those who worked on it for years, have complaints, and don't deserve to be treated like bitter assholes like this kind of stuff is just objectively true, meanwhile there's these new writers who joined the site after i left (meaning, in the last ~3 months) claiming people are liars. decide for yourself if you care, but this is what happened! [Quotes this Tweet]

Seth Finkelstein: Writing for Hard Drive has been a privilege the past few years, and it makes me so angry to see people I looked up to get jerked around behind the scenes. The amount of grenades the editors jumped on our behalf is immense, and I don't think the way they're being treated is right.

Other Bits On AI: We do know for sure however that AI art has been used by the site. Its fucking owner confirms it here:https://twitter.com/MattSaincome/status/1743040541603123622. Seems the owner pushed AI written articles as well! TayFabe: My vaguetweet is making the rounds & these made me apoplectic. - owner regularly lobbied using ai. Once he tested it & said ai was writing better satire than 25% of the HT/HD writers. - ai images were used on the site & socials w/o consulting the team or disclosing it publicly I found the ai bit relevant to include bc 1) it illuminates a stark change in HD's current direction & leadership, 2) ai images have previously been used on the site and (since deleted) ig posts, 3) ai content fucking sucks, and repeatedly pushing to use it is a telling quality The "handful of writers who chose to leave" includes 2 editors-in-chief (both cofounders who wrote a combined total of >1,000 articles & defined the voice of HD), & at least 3 other editors. These guys put in WORK since 2017, so cool to be corrected by ppl who joined in Nov 2023 [Link to mentioned vague tweet from post.] More from TayFabe: owner continuously lobbied for using ai in every possible way. No one else wanted to do it, but he kept on, saying ai was writing better satire than 25% of the HT/HD writers. Also, ai images were used on the site & socials without public disclosure or consulting the team.

The owner has responded now multiple times in a private discord... Thank you for people sharing screenshots! First Screenshot:

Kevin's Response: He banned me from the server for speaking out, so no, I didn't see it. And he gave no indication of a timeline, it was just "we'll do one when *I* say so" and gave every inclination he was totally against it. It bred an environment that pushed our hands to have to leave. Screenshot Round Two:

Kevin's Response: "Starting one in 3 months" is an absolute lie. He denied it, I have screenshots and others who can confirm. No timeline was given. Just "this is what it is now" and like, I couldn't live off of that. I wanted to do more but he was allergic to good ideas from others around him.

Matt, owner of Hard Drive, responds publicly on Twitter.

Matt: Kevin, the patreon launch was delayed because I didn't think it would work. Everyone is happy that it did work. Everyone who left the site because we didn't have money to pay for creative content which didn't revenue is welcome to return home. But unclear why the hostility.

Hard Drive paid out literally every dollar it had, then a bunch more, to creative people who worked on the site. When we ran out of money, we couldn't pay anymore. We did our best.

Kevin: Right, and my point of this thread was that it was completely and totally avoidable. This is reasonable to be upset about. How could I have been any more clear?

Matt: If we knew with 100% certainly that the community would have supported us via patreon, we would have done that. We didn't know. We had tried 4 years ago and got no support. We were wrong this time. We did our best to figure it out. We paid all the money we could.

Kevin: So you knew with 100% certainty this time? Or you took a leap of faith?

Matt: It was a last gasp panic effort after ad rates got cut in half on january 1st due to seasonal spending changes. We didn't know it would work. We were embarrassed to ask for support. We wanted to figure it out.

Kevin: Every site has a Patreon. Every YouTuber, comedy group, etc. But you insisted that nobody cared about Hard Drive. Which is wildly untrue. I know you see that now, but again, I think you can see why I and many others are pretty upset. A last ditch panic effort was long overdue. A couple more things from Matt:

It was about the size of the hole we needed plugged budget wise, the time I had left of personal resources, and the past data I had about us trying a patreon (which turned out to be a bad indicator). I didn't think the Patreon would help us fast enough. I made a bad estimation

aka "if we make $1000 more dollars a month via patreon, which would be 10x what we got last time, we will not solve any of our problems. If instead we try to plow down path B, we might make it out in time." That was the thinking. I chose the wrong path, but didn't mean to Kevin also retweeted this comment from the user Matt was responding to: So you're saying that you're bad at running the business, didn't listen to any of your employees until after they were forced to leave their jobs, and now you're going to get more of the money from the Patreon that was their idea in the first place? Matt's Response: Respectfully, I made a mistake delaying the patreon decision. But keeping a comedy site alive for 9 years is not easy, there are lots of potential ideas, and think overall we've done a good and honorable job. Will leave this thread in peace now to allow people their space.

Sorry for linking to Elon's hellsite (derogatory), but sources need links so...

#video games #patreon #hard drive #ai critical

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mariacallous · 2 months ago

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Women have two aesthetic options in Trump world, and they both center on hotness.

Noem’s aesthetic is one of two options available to women in Trump world: the first, and more well known, is the pencil skirted,“realtor-on-a-billboard” look of Lara Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Noem is performing the other available option, Sharet writes: the strong, sexy badass.

For Trump conservatives, it’s vitally important that their women are perceived as hotter than women on the left, who, in their eyes, look more like the lady in the “triggered feminist” meme than Jennifer Lawrence, who knocked on doors for Trump’s opponent Kamala Harris.

They’re convinced they have “hot” on lockdown now that Trump’s won a second time. The “America Is Hot Again” party thrown at D.C. conservative hotspot Butterworth’s that was recently covered in The Washington Post is proof of that. As one speaker at the event told the youthful crowd, conservatives have an “objectively beautiful lifestyle” and an “objectively superior worldview.”

Of course, objectively beautiful doesn’t mean plastic-surgery-free: As Sharlet writes, generous use of fillers and cosmetic surgery ― “Mar-a-Lago face,” as it’s been labeled ― is part of the strategy rather than a deficiency:

Even as it celebrates body modification — there’s no shame in plastic surgery on the fascist right — it frames itself via a topsy-turvy idea of authenticity. Trump women, goes the thinking, are “real” precisely because they try hard to perform “woman”; liberal and left women are not “real women” because, in this logic, feminism makes them rebel against their “natural” roles. The range of such roles has expanded from those of the 1950s even for fascism women, which is why Noem can comfortably show her power — just so long as she contains it within a still-just-as-narrow spectrum of femininity: “maternal” or “sexy.”

Notably, when Noem entered a town hall meeting to introduce herself to staff of the Department of Homeland Security in January, she came onstage to the Trace Adkins’ song “Hot Mama,” a 2003 country hit with lyrics as corny and sexually suggestive as the title would suggest.

But that hotness can have dark, fascist implications.

Brooks Turner, an artist and educator who studies the aesthetics of fascism, told HuffPost he isn’t surprised by what he’s seeing. Equating motherhood with the project of “real womanhood” is common in fascist regimes.

“In Nazi art and propaganda, for instance, women were usually represented either as young sex symbols, ready to populate the earth with Aryan babies, or as strong, stable mothers, maintaining and when necessary protecting family and homeland,” he said. (The Nazis also targeted trans people for failing to conform to traditional gender norms.)

In the prison video, Turner said Noem synthesizes both of those fascist female archetypes (sexy woman and good mother) while subtly evoking another more mainstream and fresh U.S. cultural archetype: the MILF.

“All of this makes her the perfect aesthetic choice for Head of DHS,” he said.

MILF talk may sound like a stretch, but fascism uses a similar erotic charm to attract and repel people. The ideology is alluring to some because it plays on two taboos: our cultural fetishization of masculinity and power, and our discomfort with authoritarianism and nationalism. As humans, we’re drawn to force and domination. As Vox noted in 2017, it’s the political forbiddenness of fascism in modern times that makes it so erotic ― something scholar Laura Catherine Frost describes in her book ��Sex Drives: Fantasies of Fascism in Literary Modernism.”

“Images of sexualized fascism derive their meaning precisely from the distance mainstream culture puts between itself and deviation,” Frost wrote. (A magazine editor quoted in a 2000 New York Times article about the rise of “fascist chic” trend at the time put it much more simply: “Fascism — I hate to say it, but it’s sexy,” he said.)

Fascist regimes fixate on visuals in a more general way, too ― their leaders care what a real man looks like, what a real woman looks like, and what a real family looks like (the family unit is the ultimate tool used to promote national unity).

The Insidious Message Behind Kristi Noem's 'ICE Barbie' Cosplay

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hotvintagepoll · 6 months ago

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Jack Lemmon (The Great Race, The Apartment, Some Like It Hot)—He's the everyman, he's clumsy, he's strange, in nearly every movie he finds himself in the oddest of circumstances because he's taken advantage of or because of... bad luck? You empathize with him, he's really a little guy. And yet... Why is he so hot? Why does he have this charm, this hidden fire, this weird kind of... elegance? You can't help but sense this magnetism he radiates. There is power in his charming eccentricity and clumsiness. He just really draws you in and you want to explore what it is that makes him so scrungly and so attractive at once.

Charles Hawtrey (The Ghost of St Michael's, Carry On Screaming, Carry On Doctor)—He started off playing geeky schoolboys and went on to play a lavatory attendant, a man who had a sympathetic pregnancy when his wife was having a baby, and the Duc De Pommfrit, an exiled French aristocrat at the time of the revolution. For good and bad, he was a generation's image of a 'confirmed bachelor'. Immortalised in the intro to Beatles song The Two Of Us, and featured on the cover of a Smiths album, and how many scrungly little guys can say that?

This is round 2 of the contest. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. If you’re confused on what a scrungle is, or any of the rules of the contest, click here.

[additional submitted propaganda + scrungly videos under the cut]

Charles Hawtrey:

youtube

Jack Lemmon:

his chemistry with judy holliday in their two movies together is ZOINKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but i couldn't find any clips of that so watch him have mad chemistry with peter falk instead in my favorite campiest film of all time instead

youtube

His character in Glengary Glen Ross is literally the archetype Pathetic Guy. Even if you haven't seen this film I PROMISE you have seen iterations of Jack Lemmon's character from it. His character in Days of Wine and Roses will break your heart and show what an amazing range he has. [editor's note: I haven't seen either of these films so don't consider them recs from me. Also please keep your propaganda within the 1910-1970 range. tw for alcoholism in the clip below.]

youtube

#charles hawtrey #jack lemmon #hotvintagepoll #scrungly 2 #Youtube

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heliphantie · 2 years ago

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Happy second anniversary of Encanto movie!

I had (then and year ago) more ambitious idea of mock poster, but again, to execute it properly, decided to put it aside until skills and tools for it gained. So I opted for the piece reflecting on my personal take from the story.

The drawing is an experiment, drawn traditionally in complementary colors and put through color inversion in an editor.

I’m not a fandom person, admittedly. What piques my interest in exploring of piece of fiction is, usually, is its origins, history of creation, cultural background and, in some cases, impact it leaves on the art coming after it, rarely anything beyond. With all things I’ve had getting into recently, it was like that, generally observatory things. When I’ve got into MLP, it was a phenomenon of its large fandom, sheer variety of art forms it produced (from the music and games to automata toys), people of different upbringing and cultures being all inspired by it – fascinating to witness such a movement in present time. With The Simpsons, it was its legacy, its large influence in modern media – seeing the roots, the blueprint of it, getting understanding of why it was such a powerful piece of storytelling and visual direction to raise the cult around it. With Encanto, it got me curious at first to see aesthetic of magical realism being translated in form of animation, and I was surprised Disney decided to dip their toes into attempt of it. Generally, I’m more enticed by potential of the story and its artistic presentation, most of it is left in concept studies rather than in finished work, as often in mainstream production, possibilities and imagination and artistic talent poured into it is much more stunning than the product released to the public. I may feel reasonably cynical about modern Disney as company, but I can’t deny the imagination and immense genius of professionals who are still at work in it. I wish we’ll see the true Renaissance of what always was its major power - traditional animation.

So, what’s the outcome of it: while any piece of fiction that wins my full attention does make my creative juices flowing, nothing of it got to see the light of day until I felt the urge to express what was brewing in my mind affected by that new and hot thing, not to a lesser extent getting inspired by other people’s concurrent creative works, it did kick off renewal of drawing practice I had abandoned years ago and continued postponing for indefinite period. It still induces me to work toward my own progress, for it provides me with backlog of ideas to make into drawings when I really need motivation. It’s going to keeping up, hopefully, until some other thing sweeps me away or something makes my enthusiasm fade. And so, the movie in question is what had the most productive impact on me so far, it helps me keep going, and I’m grateful for that.

On the different note, Bruno in this image is based on Disney Magic Kingdoms's Encanto event video:

#encanto #encanto fanart #disney fanart #bruno madrigal #julieta madrigal #agustín madrigal #isabela madrigal #luisa madrigal #mirabel madrigal #la familia madrigal #madrigal family #phantieart

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dvinaamesca · 5 months ago

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I see some speculations that I use mods for poses on Elden Ring and Lies of P. No I do not use any of those, and I do entirely by myself. I can move characters around yes and pause some scenes, but the camtool I use does not work on controlling the skeleton mesh on Lies of P characters or Elden Ring. If you guys are curious, I can do a video of all the facial expressions that are in fact in the game. :) (Slowmotion is my bestfriend.) For my background, I use Reshades and use ENVIRONMENTS with depth of fields. So facts check that it takes time for me to do screenshots most of the time because of how I want to be creative with my shots without extra modded items being added to the game. And the pose editor camtool only works well on some games, not on Lies of P character expressions or Elden Ring. And for the poses, uhm there are emotes in the game? Again, be creative and slowmo the action to capture how you want. It doesn’t hurt to ask me questions. Shall I do a whole video of how to do the shots that people have questions, I am more than happy to show you and not gatekeep, to prove I don’t fuck around with my shots.

I get asked A LOT in my dms or tumblr inboxes asking what camtool I use, mods, how I did the background and I'm fine answering them because not a lot of people really know, but don't go around making all these assumptions about my photography when you guys don't know about it. I can pull ALL those messages for you guys to see that I am not just saying this. I will only say these once because I am already getting tired of it. I just want you guys to enjoy my screenshots and the hardwork I also put. Also, no I don't have a powerful pc, I run GTX1660, I5processor, and this is my first pc that I still need to upgrade (Bought my parts already haha), It's pretty mid. What makes my screenshot look HQ is entirely Otis Camtool and upscaling. Most of the time I lag because I have to sacrifice the performance for the image quality.

You are MORE than welcome to come and ask me for help or even figure things out together with me if any of you wanted to start becoming a VP. I consider myself still a rookie, ngl, and I also learn from many great VPs out there. Yes you may think taking screenshots are easy compare to being a digital artists, but they still take time. Don't forget, people tend to use detailed in-game shots for art references.

Just to put it out there again, I do the character placements, angles, poses using IN-GAME EMOTES or cutscenes, the lightings, color corrections, and get creative with the background MYSELF. I can see every details in the games hun and I will be glad to provide you all those, including the sad face P makes when he sees Romeo. Don't go comparing me to others that these creators are better because that's just foul. I never thought of myself being above anyone if that's what you guys are thinking. I 100% am passionate of what I do and even had fun doing requests for people for free.

Thank you,

Dvinaamesca

#lies of p #eldenring #virtual photography #I know how freecam works :)#whew

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smashupmashups · 9 months ago

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The title card was finally finished at 1:19am at midnight.

I started on Timmy and Jimmy from Monday night to Tuesday morning, from tracing the bodies to adding the shading.

Next was the background, which originated and took inspiration from an old random background I made years back. The goal was to make the background reminiscent to the title card at the end of the intro when adding the shading with the use of Free Online Image Editor and LunaPic to create the shading.

After the characters and background were done, I then tackled the title and made it like the Jimmy Timmy Power Hour title logo, with using the Will Robinson, Fairly OddFont, and House-A-Rama fonts as baselines to make the letters while looking at the title card to Jakeneutron's Friday Night Funkin' mod video. The title was finished at 1:12am, while shading was added afterwards for more detail.

Originally, I had no intention in making this title card, but revisiting the Fairly OddParents Fanon Wiki was what got me to make it.

#nicktoons #jimmy timmy power hour #the fairly oddparents #timmy turner #jimmy neutron: boy genius #jimmy neutron #title card #crossover art

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beyourselfchulanmaria · 3 months ago

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2025.4.8 Daily life /我發現一家料理不賴-NU Pasta yum 😋 Italy pasta nice. :))) 我成天低頭並一直專注在細微的皮革雕刻工作，我感覺我的頸椎就快要斷掉似的； XD 哈哈哈! 於是我想到最好的緩解方式就是出去走走並且吃吃喝喝的，也可排除壓力。I found a restaurant with pretty good food - NU Pasta yum 😋 Italy pasta nice. :))) I keep my head down all day and focus on the subtle leather carving work. I feel like my cervical vertebrae are about to break; XD Hahaha! So I thought the best way to relieve stress is to go out for a walk and eat and drink, which can also relieve stress.

✾ Lan~*

youtube

Oli Moon - If you knew my love for you

Oli Moon - If You Knew My Love For You is a heartwarming and emotional AI-generated song, blending the magic of AI with the charm of indie pop and indie music. Crafted using cutting-edge Suno technology, this track showcases a deep, soulful love story with heartfelt lyrics that speak to the core of true devotion. The song’s verses explore vulnerability, while the chorus reinforces the strength of unconditional love.

Through melodic lyrics, the song’s powerful narrative tells of love that transcends time, struggles, and imperfections, making it an ideal choice for fans of emotional indie music. The track captures moments of vulnerability, personal growth, and the reassurance of a love that will never fade.

Lyrics - Written (not AI generated) Music - Generated on Suno Singer - Oli Moon (AKA Suno) Image - Generated on Midjourney Video Editor - CapCut

Please feel free to cover, mime, remix or use as a background track in your video. (The only thing I would ask is to leave a link to my channel or to give it a shout out in your video.)

AI songs written by people | Hybrid Hits @HybridHits channel on YouTube Thanks xoxo

#daily life #chu lan #朱蘭皮藝 #fine craft artist #leather art artist #beautiful life #taiwan artist city life #eat live love #oli moon #ai music #ai song

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kaija-rayne-author · 1 year ago

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Reaction to Dragon Age Veilguard Gameplay Preview. Editorial Critique.

Heads up... this isn't the most positive of reviews. And I'm a die hard (bleeding into the dirt) solavellan so if that's not your cup of tea you can stop reading here. Images and videos are all copyright of Bioware/EA. (Updated after the Q&A on June 14th)

Spoilers for all previous games, books, comics etc.

Content warnings for extremely colourful language.

I've worked really high powered corporate jobs, so I can play the part of cool, calm, perfect professional. But this is my gaming blog. I don't censor myself here. I grew up around truckers and it shows 😂.

I'm also neurodivergent so please know my emotions about this are confusion, sadness, a bit of horror, and depression. I've been told the way I use words can be read as confrontational. It's unintentional. (And again, it's my blog, I don't particularly feel it's right or necessary that I mask my AuDHD traits here, too.) I'm honestly not angry, or pissed off, or anything like that. Shrugs. I'm just sad. I don't bother to critique things I don't love. (Unless I'm being paid for it.) Much less to this extent. How much I've written here is in direct relation to how much I love Dragon Age.

Well.

youtube

I've watched it. Twice. Once on slow mode so I could get a better glimpse at the details.

I re-watched the trailer that I hated twice more. Again once on slowmo.

youtube

What. The. Actual. Fuck. Is. That?

It sure isn't Dragon Age. If it didn't have Bioware copyrighted material, I really wouldn't have been able to tell that it was supposed to be Dragon Age. If Rook had whipped out a light-sabre, it wouldn't have seemed out of setting. I want to play Dragon Age, not some weird Star Wars knock-off.

And yes, I know most of the fandom is going gaga at this point, but I don't understand why people can't see the issues amidst the excitement. Being the odd enby out in this situation is depressing as hell. I want to love it as much as everyone else seems to. But my editor brain won't shut up.

I'm used to having unpopular opinions. Just don't bloody crucify me for these. Editing media is my actual job. It's what I do. It's a highly developed, niche skill set I've been practising for over a decade.

Some people are extremely good with cars, I'm extremely good with editing. I only started doing it professionally because my writing critique partners told me my suggestions and the things I noticed were worth their weight in gold.

TBH, it wouldn't surprise me if I have some savantism when it comes to editing and writing. When I look at a piece of fiction in an editorial perspective, it's a lot like looking at a 4d puzzle for me. I can instinctively see what works, what doesn't, and how things that don't work can be tweaked so they do. I don't meet many others in my profession who do that.

And I have multiple NYT bestselling clients. I'm truly not talking out of my ass here. I'm not perfect, no human being is, but like many middle aged AuDHD/neurodivergent people, I know where my strengths and weaknesses lie. It comes off as arrogance for some reason to many people.

So, back to the preview.

It's got the right voice actors. It's got the copyrighted characters. It's got an absolutely terrible art style that is far too reminiscent of the comics for my taste. Because those comics were a travesty of both writing and art style.

And again, why the fuck does Varric have black hair? He's a strawberry blond! He looks like Varric and Blackwall DAI had a kid together. Or like they shrunk Blackwall DAI down. I don't want Varric to look like Blackwall. I didn't like him that much.

What? Did Varric have some sort of end of life crisis and dye his head, beard, and even his chest hair black? (Much reduced chest hair, fuck Bioware, why did you reduce his chest hair!) Did it all caterpillar its way up to his face? There were story significant reasons Varric was a dwarf without a beard. Did you forget that?

(Update from live stream Q&A. One of the devs said it's because Varric has been adventuring for a time and is mostly grey. That he's shown in dark light so it looks black.) Uhuh.

Reality bites sometimes, cause my dad is a strawberry blond gone grey and he never looks like he has black hair. Not even in the dark. But whatever. They've got an excuse for it. I don't buy it because it doesn't track with y'know, how hair usually works.

I could maybe get used to the steampunk vibe? Big maybe. That's still within the realm of Dark Fantasy.

Also... I've seen some reaction videos and y'all... Dark Fantasy is a genre. It has absolutely nothing to do with the colour palette! It means it's fantasy with dark/horror elements FFS!

I swear the reading comprehension of people has suffered since I was a kid.

But, but, but... if you've been reading me for a while you had to know that was coming.

What. The. Fuck. Is. This?

Walmart Sans? Bad Halloween decor they couldn't sell until it was 99% off at a home goods store?

Is that... is that supposed to be a Darkspawn? SERIOUSLY!?! Given a Warden was fighting it, I have to assume someone at Bioware has ergot poisoning.

It looks like a modern cartoon version of Skeletor. Which is definitely insulting to Skeletor. This dude looks like he's got on his tights, speedo, boots, a bitchin' mohawk, and orange lights on his garb for the Halloween party at the club. He might win best costume, but he fails at being a Darkspawn.

They didn't just swing and miss with going to the club dude, they couldn't even find the bat and glove.

And yes, I've heard the 'lore' excuse that it's the red lyrium warping them that way. I could buy that if they were A) red lights, not orange. B) Kinda spiky, crystal-like in structure. Y'know, like the red lyrium infected creatures in DAI? (That's called continuity.)

The lines are too smooth, bone doesn't warp like that, and he (the ogre version too) seriously just look like really bad Halloween decorations.

Also, whoever drew that needs to study human anatomy a bit more. That skull shape is so wrong. In so many ways. Former forensic anthropologist and artist. I've held more human skulls than people can probably guess. I've literally pieced them back together. I'm not awful at drawing either. That image is just bad.

I'm not a player who lusts to have DAO back as the only kind of Dragon Age. I've loved them all for different reasons. Games change over the years as new ideas, new creators, and new technology comes out. That's honestly a good thing. Innovation is awesome. Most of the time.

Sometimes it's a complete miss. Like with going to the club dude up there. I love a lot about the art in these games. It's a large part of why I play them. And that thing up there? That's not a Darkspawn.

THIS is a Darkspawn.

This is a Darkspawn.

This is a Darkspawn

They're supposed to be kinda gut wrenchingly horrific. The graphics are older yeah, but maybe you get my point? If you know the Lore of Dragon Age... I've marinated myself in it... the Darkspawn are blight corrupted humans, dwarves, qunari, and elves.

It's supposed to be the whole concept of 'what used to be, but no longer is' that's often used in horror. You know... the thing that looks like it was at one time a deer but is walking on its hind legs with a broken neck and glowy eyes that sends atavistic shivers down your spine?

They aren't... modern cartoon Skeletors or the Halloween deco you hide in the back of the garage 'cause you're embarrassed you ever bought it.

WTAF were they thinking? I honestly can't get past my utterly confused shock on this whole thing.

I've been saying for quite a while now that Bioware needs better developmental and diversity editors. (Or maybe even any? Do they have any? 'Cause that preview really makes me doubt it.) And uh... well. Yeah. That. (I'm an editor, yes. I do both kinds, yes. I'm very good at it, yes. No, this is not me hoping for a job at Bioware/EA.)

I suppose me writing all this down is mostly just to get it out of my head. And to maybe let other disappointed Dragon Age fans know they aren't alone. Given some of the things I've seen on the 'net. I'm far and away from being alone in these opinions. You're not wrong. They've absolutely changed it so much it doesn't even remotely feel like Dragon Age.

And no, before you take that and run with it in an anti-diversity direction, I utterly love that they depicted Rook as Black. I love that Davrin is a Black elf. I love that Neve has a prosthetic leg. It's not the diversity changes I have an issue with. I adore those.

Snorts. Would I accept a job if a Bioware fairy dropped into my life and offered me a good living to look critically at that game for problems that could maybe be fixed?

Probably. They'd likely pay better than my current job. And I really do love Dragon Age so much that if I could contribute to it in a way that made us middle-aged gamers happy too? It would be pleasing.

The likelyhood of that is probably akin to winning the lotto though, so no, it's not the point of my post.

But I'm going to slide this monstrosity of a post toward the devs. Maybe they'll listen to the free editorial critique and make this game make a wee bit more sense? Or at least feel like Dragon Age, sheesh.

Because who the actual fuck wrote most of that dialogue?

I want to point my finger at the ground and scold them like a puppy who peed on the carpet.

Then give them a really basic 101 lesson on dialogue.

It was either boring for the player characters (I absolutely assume it will get better there, it was just the beginning of the game, to be fair). And I definitely trust Patrick Weekes to have done an amazing job as lead writer for most things.

But I really would've figured that Bioware would know by now that fans want to know what the character is going to say exactly before picking an option. Not just a yes, no, mediocre choice. Players have been pretty loud about that. BG3 gave us (mostly) what we wanted and it swept GOTY.

The rest of the dialogue was such freaking factory canned bullshit that I almost rolled my eyes out of my head. Which would've been awkward. Fishing them out from under the dresser and all.

A Venatori shouting 'avenge our fallen brethren' (or whatever, I'm not watching it again to get the exact dialogue) has so much stanky cheese on it I can't even. People don't talk like that. Apparently, a few Bioware writers could stand to take a few writing classes. That's basic.

Patrick Weekes is an amazingly skilled writer. But obviously, not all Bioware writers are. (Snorts, which I know very well and it's why I'm so disappointed they chose Lucanis.)

Although, since Mary Kirby did the writing for him for the game (glares at Bioware) there may be hope for him.

Music? There was music? Hans Zimmer was a bloody mistake. Everything he's made in the past decade has sounded the same. Such a shame, because the soundtrack of DAI was epic.

The demons are fine-ish? I guess? If you utterly ignore how similar they look to Fortnite demons. They look a bit weird, but demons are just emotional emanations from the fade so could conceivably look like anything they wanted. (Lolz, the rather skilled artists I know are kinda pissed off at the lack of artistic skill used for their development. Even the under 30 years old ones. Especially them.)

But also... they had really cool demons already designed from DAI (from what I understand they used the same engine, Frostbite). Why didn't they just give them a glow up and use them?

This dude would've been way better for the pride demon. Plus, there would've been some continuity between DA:I and DA:V. In series work, some continuity is important. Or the thing doesn't feel like the thing. Just like based on those previews this doesn't feel even remotely like Dragon Age.

While I don't have epilepsy, I can guarantee those demons as pictured/audio in the preview are going to give me and probably many other gamers massive headaches. Gods know what they'll do to people who actually do have epilepsy. I mean... there are epileptic gamers. Gaming is supposed to be inclusive.

And I don't really want to fight Fortnite demons. I want to fight Dragon Age demons. I don't like Fortnite. (Or, y'know, I'd spend my money and time playing Fortnite?)

Why are there so many freaking Venatori? I mean... I'm flattered to have been right when I called it that we'd be fighting them again. But in Tevinter Nights they're depicted as being on their last legs as an organization.

They're freaking everywhere in the gameplay preview? You fight so many of them! They're like toadstools after a rainstorm. Popping up like daisies! Whatever. Guess the major amount of bad guys in the Tevinter cities is likely to be Venatori. Which is just weird considering their god, Coryphyfish, is dead.

And dear gods he had better stay dead. He was such a lackluster villain in DAI to start with. And bringing back a previous defeated-supposed-to-be-dead villain is an overused fantasy trope that needs to die the miserable death it deserves already.

Again with the Venatori. A little uninspired to be completely frank.

I bet they have huge spiders in this game somewhere, too. Sigh. Why is it always spiders? Or wolves? Or big cats? It's fantasy! Where is the creativity? (Also, you know that's kinda ableist against people with arachnaphobia, right? Which is a lot of people.)

But I've gone on at length before about Bioware and their ableism issues. (Which is why they need diversity editors.) I personally like spiders, but they could at least stop having them everywhere. Or give arachnophobic gamers the option to turn them off or replace them with a different image.

Moving on from their complete loss of the horror element with the Darkspawn; I wouldn't be scared of that thing even if it surprised me in the dark. I'd laugh at it. (And I'm a jumpy person. A lot of things can scare me if they come at me in the dark.)

And I'll ignore the absolutely uninspired bad guys in Minrathous, and the Fortnite clone demons.

What is that thing Bellara is holding?

It sure as fuck isn't a bow. Someone has been playing Final Fantasy a little too much. Don't get me wrong, I've got a lot of hours in FF. I like it a lot. But one of my major complaints about it? Is the completely, utterly, ridiculous weapons. Someone is compensating. Not sure what exactly they're compensating for but it's for something. Sheesh.

I've always loved the somewhat realistic-ish weapons in the Dragon Age universe. I mean, yeah. Still heavy on fantasy... but they at least looked like they'd work. I loved Neve's reduced staff, that was awesome! Whatever Bellara is holding does not look like it would work.

I remember grinding for days in FF to get a special bow. Bows are my thing in a lot of games. When I got it made, it looked like someone had glued two surfboards together and tried to call it a bow. Bows have to be, y'know, functional? All weapons do? That's rather the point?

So... I'm not an archer and if you are, do feel free to weigh in, but would that thing even work?

A bow is a precision instrument. Our species has had bows for a long damned time and their form hasn't really changed all that much. Because they, y'know, work the way they are, and don't if you change them too much?

You've got the curved wood/horn/other material with a string kind (I'm being deliberately simple in terminology, I do actually know what a bunch of bow types are called) and you have the cross bow type.

What we do not have is front heavy monstrosities like that thing. Okay, okay, she's a veil jumper. Maybe she got it from some ancient Arlathan temple or something. But the ancient Elvhenan were supposed to be technologically advanced. Not Final Fantasy obsessed gamers.

Oh, but what about Bianca, gods rest her beautifully crafted soul. They excused that as a one of a kind thing never to be replicated. It's handwavium, but fine, rule of cool works for her. It doesn't work for whatever Bellara is holding unless they come up with a damned good story reason for it. (And it had better be damned good 'cause that thing might be pretty, but it's just severely uneducated about weaponry, at best.)

Also, why couldn't it have been the less useful Bianca Solas blew to bits? (Can't stand the dwarf version in the slightest.)

Moving on.

The settings look interesting. The teams doing the backgrounds and settings have always blown it out of the park, so I imagine they'll be suitably gorgeous when we actually do see the game.

Though I had sorta expected Arlathan to look a little more... jungley forest like, rather than paved shopping mall. But whatever, I'm hopeful there'll be better parts of it later in the game.

Rook looks like they'll be fun to play. And I really hope we're not class locked as a rogue. Rogues are my usual choice but I'd still like to have the choice. (Edit. Reports say we have complete flexibility in our character creation. I just want to know if I can make a fat adventurer.)

The steampunky science-fantasy vibe. Enh. It's not my favourite. I feel it was a mistake to try to horseshoe the depicted kinds of science into the fantasy of Dragon Age that way. Because it really feels shoved in whether it fit or not.

And I write science-fantasy, so it's not like I don't love it. I adore it. It's just something that sort of has to be designed that way from the start. Which Dragon Age most certainly was not. Don't they ever get sick of retconning stuff? I sure get sick of seeing the retconned stuff.

I could see how Minrathous might use magic in a way that we use neon lighting. Or for any number of cool fantasy type magical uses. I just don't get why it had to look like a Star-Wars knock off. If I wanted to play Star Wars, I'd, y'know, play Star Wars?

I think they did capture the grunge and dirtiness and personality of an ancient city pretty well. Like it almost has a consciousness of its own. But as I've said many places, the settings artists are freaking amazing at what they do.

Although, if they have floaty spaceship like things why exactly are the Qunari even a worry? I don't have strong feelings one way or the other on the Qunari, but I know a lot of gamers were hoping to see a Tevinter/Qunari war. If Tevinter has space shippy things, what threat could the Qunari possibly be? Or even the teased Minrathous monsters?

Last I checked (which was a couple of days ago, re-reading those awful comics) the Qunari were still using bows, swords, spears, and knife type war implements. Some bombs, too, because gatlock. And enslaved, lyrium addicted mages.

Big floaty space-shippy thing means small floaty space-shippy things because that's how invention works. Where are the small ones? That thing is just a plot hole the size of Canada. (And a skilled developmental editor could've told them that before they put it in the sky. Sheesh.)

The fighting and conversation options look very similar to DA2. I liked the fighting in DA2 so after the usual adjustment to a new game it would probably be fine. Not sure how I feel about only having the ability to have two companions.

That art style though? I just cannot imagine having romantic scenes with characters done in that art style. And the Romances in Dragon Age are a large part of why I play them. Cartoon sexy times aren't my thing.

You do you, I'm not judging. But for me cartoony sexy times are just weird. Not sexy.

And no matter what they said after that disastrous character reveal the other day, the gameplay reveal doesn't look different enough for me to not call it cartoony. Especially for those Halloween decorations.

Now, I need to get to the end where we see some weird looking mage who I think is supposed to be Solas.

Really? That's supposed to be Solas?

This is the Solas my solavellan heart fell for so hard I've been simping over him for the entire time since I started playing these games.

Regardless. THIS is Solas.

Beautiful, nerdy, a little stylized, but with an art style that really worked for me (and probably most other solavellans given how much we love him).

So who in the living fuck is this?

I guess he's Solas shaped. But he doesn't make my heart squeeze in that OMG he's finally back!! way. He doesn't do anything for me. All I feel is numbness for that version of Solas. Which is disappointing as hell.

I didn't really have high hopes for him given his early looks for this game, but dang. Just dang. He's like a plastic ken doll. Very much like a too shiny plastic ken doll. And while I know Gareth David-Lloyd did the voice acting for him, he somehow doesn't even sound like Solas?

I've also been sadly informed by someone who would know that that is the absolute best they could do with him. We're not getting him fixed no matter how much we scream. He doesn't even have freckles! (And your eyes are fooling you if you think you're seeing them. Our brains often do that. Fill in things that should be there when they really aren't. There was some sort of design issue snafu which is why he doesn't have and cannot have freckles. This is confirmed insider information.) Freaking Lace Harding is peppered with them. Why can't my Solas have freckles?

Edit from Q&A (I think? It's second hand). Someone said they wanted to make everything look more 'painterly'.

Listen. I paint. Digitally and traditionally. You really have to work at it to get something that texture free. That's not 'painterly' its like... glossy modern playing cards. I hate it. Especially given the kind of fresco style paintings that Solas did in DAI. There is ALL sorts of texture with those.

Sigh. Maybe he'll grow on me. Like virulent mould. (Edit. He honestly hasn't. Every picture I see of him kills Dragon Age a little more for me. Which is bloody heartbreaking.)

IDEK man. I keep asking myself what Bioware was thinking. This game feels like it was made for a much different type of gamer than those of us who have loved the previous games for so very long.

It feels like they were trying to draw in a younger crowd while almost keeping the appeal that held us older gamers. That 'almost' is important there. (Edit. Confirmed by John Epler during live Q&A. This is exactly what they did. I feel incredibly betrayed.)

We older gamers are the ones who've kept hope for this game alive. Who have kept Dragon Age alive. The company made it, but without us hoping for it, talking about it, making mods for it, repeatedly replaying it? Would it ever have gotten there?

And we get Fortnite demons, Ken doll Solas, Halloween decoration 'darkspawn', and space shippy nonsense that kills about 50% of their foreshadowing.

I know I'm not the only older Dragon Age player feeling a little (lot) betrayed right now.

Based on these two trailers (and I'm absolutely praying I'm wrong) I think they failed project Dragon Age. Miserably.

I am pleased to learn that there are confirmed non-binary options for character creation and decent hair. So that's a plus. (Looks at the drops in the bottom of the almost empty bucket and sighs.)

I'd still like to play the game. I'd honestly LOVE to be wrong in my opinions on this. I'd really, really love to be wrong as much as I love Dragon Age.

I will happily sit down to a meal of crow if I'm wrong. I want to be wrong, because I love Dragon Age.

Though, I'm pretty good at prediction. I have stereotypical autistic pattern matching, which is a lot of what prediction is.

But I'm sadly coming to an end of what I'll be able to write about Dragon Age, no matter how much I love it.

My computer, which is literally duct taped together, isn't going to be able to handle DA4. It can barely run BG3 without overheating. As much as I love my computer, (and I really do, I get attached like a lot of AuDHD people do) it has broken or missing keys, and several of the more important keys just don't work. The screen is also starting to go.

I have lived and breathed the art and lore on these games since I started playing them. They're one of my most prominent AuDHD special interests. It's killing part of my soul to know I won't get to play it.

I'm a disabled, neurodivergent editor/author with a family to support. There's absolutely no extra for me to save up for a new rig. I'm ineligible for disability aid because I'm an immigrant. (Not that you can actually survive on disability here, anyway.) And I live in Canada, which is having a rather obscene cost of living crisis right now.

Even with my issues with the... er... everything, I still want to know what happens. I want to see it for myself.

Being an editor makes reading/tv fraught for me. If a piece of media makes me feel like I'm at work I can't really enjoy it. And 99% of books/shows do. (Don't become an editor if you love to read.)

Games tend to have fewer things to trip up my editorial brain. (Not this particular game, obviously 😂.)

That's all to say that gaming is basically my only form of accessible entertainment. I do it a lot in whatever spare time I have.

Even with my misgivings on the previews. I really would like to both play it and be utterly, completely wrong about it. I'd love to be able to keep writing about Dragon Age. But without being able to play the next one, all I can really do is rehash old stuff.

My work of words is my only income. And most writers really don't make all that much. Editors can, but I'm currently working a job that pays less than minimum wage doing editing. I'm under NDA, so I can't even tell people which huge corporation a lot of people use every day pays their editors so poorly.

Doing freelance work, I make between $50 and $70 an hour. Because editing is skilled, niche work. Experienced editing even more so.

That's why someone can be an amazing writer and a shit editor. You really do have to dedicate yourself if you're going to be good at editing anything. Most people don't put in the time or effort. I'm a better editor than I am a writer. (I'm not an awful writer, I just know where my strengths lie 😂.)

But there isn't a whole lot of freelance work available since COVID.

My partner has a broken back from his last job so can't work (and they denied his disability because that makes complete sense) so we barely scrape together enough to pay the bills each month (and lately have been failing even on that).

I think Rook and company fucked up badly by interrupting Solas' ritual. Lolz, I rather hope Solas 'greatly disapproves' in Rook's head or something. That would be bleeding hilarious.

I suppose if Solas had... I dunno... talked to people and told them why he felt he needed to take down the veil it would've helped. But his arrogance always does get in the way. In the writing trade that's termed his fatal flaw.

I think what Rook did at the end there is probably going to get Varric and a whole lot of other people killed.

Solas killing Bianca was awful, yes (and the merciful option, btw, Bianca can be fixed, Varric can't). But I think it's just the prequel. I don't think our beloved Varric is gonna be around long enough to miss her.

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sunnydaleherald · 5 months ago

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The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Wednesday, February 5th

WILLOW: Really, it wasn't your fault. You were under the influence of powerful magicks. BUFFY: We were like zombies. I had no control over myself at all. WILLOW: Must have been horrible. (Buffy looks sidelong at Riley. Riley looks at her, looks down.) BUFFY: Yeah. Horrible. (They both nod firmly.) RILEY: Uh-huh. BUFFY: Mm-hmm. RILEY: It was bad.

~~Where the Wild Things Are~~

The Sunnydale Herald is looking for at least one new editor. Contributing to the Herald is a great way to get your Buffy on! Find out more here.

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

BtVS Quadruple Drabble: By Daylight by badly_knitted (Buffy, PG)

Only bought this dress so you could take it off by Cumultus9 (Buffy/Faith, M)

Where is Thy Sting by CitizenMocha (Buffy, G)

put ’em in your mouth (pull ’em all down south) by lesbianvampire (Buffy/Spike, E)

Pictures of the Floating World by vampbrat (Angelus/Darla/Drusilla/Spike, M)

Eyes Wide Open by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

Once Upon a Dream by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

[Chaptered Fiction]

Make Me What I Was - ch. 1 by desicat (Buffy/Spike, M)

The Defendant - ch. 1 by storiwr (Buffy/Faith, M)

Vampires and Other Myths - ch. 1 by LolaRD (Buffy/Spike, Angel/Cordelia, Ghosts TV xover, T)

She Is - ch.1 by xaeyrnofnbe (Angel, Cordelia, T)

A Stroke of Bad Loop- ch. 1 by Tikiriaaa (Buffy/Spike, R)

Ghost - ch. 2 by Maxine Eden (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Ripples - ch. 27 by violettathepiratequeen (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

Stories of True Love in Capeside - ch. 15 by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Carol of a missing lipstick - ch. 11 by rossshin (Buffy/Spike, G)

Make It Stop - ch. 7 by Sigyn (Buffy/Spike, R)

Animal I Have Become - ch. 7 by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Masquerade - ch. 14 by Holly (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

The Watcher - ch. 39 by In Mortal (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Lessons: An UnExpected Sequel - ch. 7 by amerie (Buffy, HP xover, FR13)

Stories of True Love in Capeside - ch. 1-15 by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Ghost - ch. 2 by Maxine Eden (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Animal I Have Become - ch. 7 by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Happily Ever After - ch. 4 by Dusty (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

The Watcher - ch. 39 by In Mortal (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Ripples - ch. 27 by violettathepiratequeen (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

[Images, Audio & Video]

Quiet Night (Fanart) by Arizona_Coffee (Angel/Spike, NSFW ish)

Artwork: here’s more btvs fanart from that sketchbook! [click for full pictures] by loseremzo (Anya, Buffy/Spike, Cordelia, Willow, Drusilla, worksafe)

Artwork: here’s my two cents! by ihavefrogfear (Willow, worksafe)

Artwork: [the myth of 'consensual' sex] by sideartblog999 (Buffy/Tara, Willow, NSFW)

Moodboard: autistic bi aroflux anya jenkins by courtillyy (worksafe)

Moodboard: demi nonbinary buffy summers by courtillyy (worksafe)

Fanvid: [I don't want another pretty face] by bocadelinfierno (Buffy/Faith)

Gifset: BEST OF BTVS: Rupert Giles — Season One by clarkgriffon (Giles, Scoobies, worksafe)

Gifset: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (1997-2003) "School hard" S2 E3 by stormcided (Spike/Drusilla, worksafe)

Gifset: interview with the vampire s1 + buffy the vampire slayer by redcheekdays (ensemble, Spike, canon violence)

Gifset: Angel the Series | 5x18 "Origin" (insp) by mycatismyfriend (Connor, Wesley, Angel, worksafe)

Gifset: BTVS x BUFFERING THE VAMPIRE SLAYER | S05E13: "Blood Ties" by dogmetaphors (Buffy, Dawn, worksafe)

Gifset: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER ➤ Timestamp Roulette 7x14 | First Date by clarkgriffon (Buffy, Spike, Robin, Scoobies, worksafe)

Gifset: [S3 vs S7] by bocadelinfierno (Buffy/Faith, worksafe)

Gifset: [Riley and Spike parallels] by detectivedawnsummers (Buffy, Riley, Spike, worksafe)

Gifset: Buffy The Vampire Slayer ↪ Season 1 Episode 12 | "Prophecy Girl" // Season 7 Episode 10 | "Bring on the Night" by flarky (Jenny, Buffy, worksafe)

Gifset: [Fire Meet Gasoline] by theveryunlikelywonderland (Buffy/Spike, NSFW ish)

Video: PO-28 Robot: "Angel" Main Theme #pocketoperator by Esteban (worksafe)

[Reviews & Recaps]

Buffy the Last Slayer - - What the hell was that? [comic review] by Brodes87

I finished it 😭 [entire BTVS series] by Ijustliketodraww

[Recs & In Search Of]

ISO: jukeboxjulia wants to understand what Spoilers [are in the] Chaos Bleeds game?

[Community Announcements]

fic_promptly: Wednesday, February 5 - Theme: One-Word-Prompts

Buffy Reddit: Regarding The New Series [new flair is "sequel"]

Sunnydale Digest: Call for volunteers - looking for another Digest reblogger (preferably Thursday)

[Fandom Discussions]

POLL: best ship name for buffy/willow/xander by camellcat

Ask answered: thoughts on faith x buffy 🎤🎤🎤 and also thoughts on the idea of willow being polyam and dating both oz and tara 🎤🎤🎤 by xaeyrnofnbe

[Prompt] THE WHOLE GANG'S HERE -> [buffy/darla/angel/dru/spike au] by tenderjock

"Relationship debris is piling up on the buffy highway." Says Xander [but he...] by iknewshedmakeagreatpilot

Ask answered: [how the show handled various character deaths, Dawn's kleptomania, and post S5 Dawn] by coraniaid

[headcanons for an OC] When thinking about my Vision for a self indulgent Trans Masc Potential btvs au [give Faith a Dawn character] by canary-prince

SEQUEL: Hot take, but could we as a fandom try to avoid calling the potential Buffy sequel a "reboot"? by thenewbuzwuzz

SEQUEL | POLL: What do you think the main overarching allegory of the new Buffy series should be? by firebird-nonnette

SEQUEL: Knowing that Spuffy is never going to happen in the reboot, I’m gonna have to be team Fuffy for this one by fluffyspuffy

SEQUEL: I love Buffy so much but the reboot rumours make me nervous. [character return thoughts] by duchessofostergotlands

SEQUEL: Things I want to see in the new Buffy series by dorksidefiker

SEQUEL: Y’know what reboot I would take, actually… one that brings back Cordelia. by cornflowershade

SEQUEL: prediction for the Buffy sequel: Angel and Spike [live like in an Odd Couple arrangement] by aphony-cree

SEQUEL: Buffy Reboot- Wishes & Concerns by FallenAngel00

Why you people hate comics so much? Season 10 is great by Ordinary-Gal

Is empty places/touched supposed to be a learning moment for the Scoobies or Buffy or both? by FaveStore_Citadel

Pun of the year goes to... Dolly Parton [tons of puns] by Own_Description3928

Why the bathroom scene was actually necessary [Seeing Red] by Fantastic_Exit_6868

Any Pokémon fans here? I imagined Buffy characters as Pokémon trainers... [Buffy, Angel, Spike, Scoobies, etc] by heartandhorns

What is something from the Buffyverse you think has a confusing or even contradictory message? [and plot holes] by SafiraAshai

Not enough respect is given to this casting choice [Principal Snyder] by janebaddall

Just finished and here’s my analysis on Buffy’s love life by Fantastic_Exit_6868

Do you feel it's a very thin line between Angel and Angelus, especially as the seasons go? by foreseethefuture

What are Buffy/Angel fans called? [fans of the shows BTVS and ATS, ex. Trekkies for Star Trek] by WerdNerd88

Crazy to think this will no longer be the last scene in the Buffyverse [ATS ending praise] by GabrielTorres674

vampire faith scenario by voldy1989

SEQUEL: Buffy would recur but not be the central focus. by jospangel

SEQUEL: Do you guys think they'll give Buffy (and/or Faith if she returns) a daughter who is a slayer? by LightBlueSky55

SEQUEL: Do yall think some of the original Scooby members will have children in the sequel series? by SamTheMarioMaster2

SEQUEL: I was just thinking about Sunnydale for the new series by DrewSB89

SEQUEL: Ok. Your turn: how would YOU make the Buffy revival AMAZING? by redditwatcher11

SEQUEL: I don't know how [the new sequel will] explain focusing only on BTVS chars & completely ignoring Angel's ending [and have no ATS characters] by BabyBlueN7

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

News: Bruce Seth Green, director for several Buffy and Angel episodes, has passed away via redditor AMA_requester

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

#btvs #buffy the vampire slayer #fan fiction #meta #fan art #ats #angel the series

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valarioncy · 6 months ago

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Sigh. Heeeey. So, I'm not sure how common this knowledge is so I'm gonna state it as if some of you don't know it. But I'm the one who made that "My Demons" AMV for the Hollow years ago. Video edits and AMVs are my #1 favorite creative expression. I love it more than I love writing, genuinely.

I miss making AMVs and video edits SO MUCH, you have NO idea. Since 2020 I have lost my beautiful and wonderful PC (it had CPU issues but I loved it) and my only computer since then has been my laptop I got for school back in 2019. Never minding the fact that it is getting old AND has been used on a near-daily basis since 2019, it's just not built to handle things like games and powerful software.

In short, video editors do not work well on my laptop. I found a program I like, but it really only works with images and PNGs on my laptop. Even one video clip can get it lagging and freezing up quicker than nitroglicerine. Oh, and the program crashes after a while too. Start using effects of any kind and the video becomes unplayable.

Basically, my laptop is a piece of shit. And because it is a piece of shit that is incapable of properly running even a simple and uncluttered video editor that allows me to make video edits the way I love to make them (fast-paced, precise timing, with heavy effects), AND because it is getting old, I've set my mind that I'm gonna replace it.

So, to any tech-savvy Kais out there. What is an affordable laptop computer that can run video editing software smooth as butter? How powerful does it need to be and how much is it gonna cost me? I'm really not willing to pay more than $800 for a laptop and if I do, it better be a damn good one. (My current laptop cost around $500 btw.)

I also don't have $800 available to me right now, but I'm gonna be saving up now that I've got a stable income. :0 I love making videos and I'm super stoked to be able to start making them again.

#the hollow netflix #the hollow #the hollow cartoon #laptop #computer #electronics #please #please i haven't made a good edit in 4 years because of this #i'm suffering #fun fact the adam animation i made a few years ago #it was for an edit #but the video software doesn't work on my laptop #so i never made the edit proper

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 15 days ago

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By: Naomi Epps Best

Published: Jun 6, 2025

To become a therapist, I’m expected to watch bondage videos and submit a ‘sexual autobiography.’

Santa Clara, Calif.

I’m a graduate student in marriage and family therapy at Santa Clara University, a Jesuit institution. Recently, I walked out of class. Prof. Chongzheng Wei had just played a video of a female “influencer” engaging in sexual bondage activity. When the lights came up, the professor smiled and asked if we wanted to try it ourselves. Maybe it was a crass joke to break the tension, but I didn’t want to find out if a live demonstration was next.

What began as a simple accommodation request in a required course called Human Sexuality turned into a case study in the reshaping of therapy training—not by science but by critical theory, a worldview that filters human experience through left-wing assumptions about power, oppression and identity, particularly regarding race, “gender” and sexuality.

The first time I enrolled in the course, students were assigned to read sadomasochistic erotica and a book called “The Guide to Getting It On,” featuring sexually explicit illustrations. We were told to write an eight- to 10-page “comprehensive sexual autobiography,” which could include early sexual memories, masturbation, current experiences, and future goals with an action plan—all uploaded to a third-party platform for grading. The syllabus allowed that students “are not required to disclose anything that causes extreme discomfort,” but that disclaimer rang hollow attached to an assignment requiring us to discuss such personal matters.

On ethical and religious grounds, I requested an alternative assignment. Cary Watson, the department chairman, denied my request, suggesting I change my plans and pursue a different type of license. In an email, she described the course as “an ‘inoculation’ of sorts . . . exposing you to content you *might* come across” as a licensed therapist. She told me that if I did encounter such things in a professional setting, I could “assuredly communicate that discomfort” to clients and decline to work with them. So why did it have to be part of my training?

I appealed to the dean, the provost, the Title IX office, the university president and even Campus Ministry. I’m not sure who was more shocked, the priest reading the syllabus or me, screen-sharing sexually explicit videos and images with him.

The course is a graduation requirement, so I re-enrolled with Mr. Wei, who is new to the school. I requested the same accommodation that Ms. Watson said “Muslim women students” had received: to complete the course remotely. Mr. Wei instead scheduled a Zoom meeting with me. He promised a professional tone and said sexual disclosure wouldn’t be required.

But in the classroom, among other things, he showed a how-to bondage video featuring a submissive wearing a “gimp suit” (a full-body garment designed to restrict movement) and played songs like “WAP” and “I Beat My Meat”—racial slurs included. A guest speaker, a male transgender psychologist, told us “only trans women have p—s that can blow up the world” and described being sexually aroused while looking in the mirror. One exercise included anonymously writing down something we disliked about our genitals or breasts, to be read aloud in class by another student.

I again requested to complete the course remotely. I was told no—I could drop the course or be dropped. Ms. Watson granted a “one-time exception”: take the W (for withdrawal, not win), pay out of pocket for a continuing-education course to fulfill licensure requirements, and enroll in an extra three units at Santa Clara to be eligible to graduate. When I asked for a tuition refund, she called my request “astonishing.” My objections weren’t treated as signs of a systemic issue but as a personal grievance to be managed quietly. (Ms. Watson didn’t respond to a request for comment from my editor at the Journal. Mr. Wei referred the editor’s inquiry to a university spokeswoman, who offered no comment on the record.)

When I went public anonymously on Substack, I realized I had stumbled onto something larger. The entire field of educating therapy has been hollowed out and filled in with critical theory. Therapists are no longer trained to be neutral; they’re trained to be agents of political change. Concepts like modesty and marital privacy aren’t merely treated as optional or even dismissed. They’re seen as oppressive norms to be actively combated.

In Multicultural Counseling, we were told that “objective, rational, linear thinking,” “delayed gratification,” and making a “plan for the future” are traits of “white culture.” I was required to preface mock therapy sessions by “naming my whiteness” and warning that I might misread clients because of my race. In Human Sexuality, we were taught that children with six months of “gender distress” should be “affirmed” in their belief that they are of the opposite sex—without deeper assessment, even when trauma or autism was present.

These ideas are being promoted by the field’s top bodies. The American Psychological Association, American Counseling Association and Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs have adopted standards grounded in critical theory.

Therapists influence decisions about “gender transition,” family custody, school discipline and even criminal sentencing. When clinicians are trained to see everything through an ideological lens, rather than with ethical neutrality, the consequences extend far beyond the therapy room.

I’m 26, newly married, mother of a 1-year-old girl and a few credits from graduating. I pursued every institutional channel available. I even sought short-term therapy through campus mental-health services, which I was denied. A staff psychologist told me that my department has a history of demanding intimate self-disclosure from students—a practice he regards as unethical.

Speaking up comes with risk. But in a field where dissent is discouraged and students are coerced, I’ve chosen to say: No more.

Considering what happened to James Esses, Leslie Elliott, Amy Gallagher and many others, there's no reason to doubt the veracity of this report.

Like teaching and HR, activists see therapists agents of societal transformation, not merely neutral guides to resolving personal issues.

#Naomi Epps Best #ideological capture #ideological corruption #critical theory #queer theory #therapy #psychology #corruption of education #higher education #religion is a mental illness

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