#also — I think my blog is my personal form of collage

[terrainofheartfelt]

A list of things about my dad for Father’s Day

- wanted a daughter so badly that when I was born he burst into tears.

- saved me from a collapsing swingset when I was toddler. I don’t remember it but he will never forget it.

- his name in my contacts is Grande Chevo after the nickname the indigenous locals gave him during a charity trip to Chihuahua, Mexico where he helped vaccinate the livestock

- we have a running list of Non Sequiturs. the most recent addition is “No, that was a completely different gorilla.”

- he keeps an ongoing collage in his home office that started when I was a baby. (He gave up the one he had in college when he joined the ministry/got married/became a father because it was nsfw, so I’m told)

- the collage of now has a photo of him in front of the original collage, cigarette in his mouth and cowboy hat on his head, likely the most cool he’s ever looked

- calls his home office The Batcave

- every time I mention an opera title that’s new to him he asks, “Is that the one with the Barber in it?”

- he saves up his quarters to give me for my coin-operated laundry, and hands them off in recycled pill bottles

- prepandemic he had a career as an amateur Santa for several Christmases. So much that he owns his own suit

- had an enemies to best friends arc with my cat (they’re besties now)

- had an enemies to best friends arc with me*

*I was a Momma’s Girl as an infant and a bit of a misandrist but now my dad is one of my favorite people.

[maryrouille]

Toxic romanticization of studying

In a word of introduction, my profile partly shows that studying and exploring is wonderful. But as a person involved in science*, I would like to show healthy and true patterns of this beautiful adventure in acquiring knowledge.

The inspiration for writing this post this time was not the phenomenon from Tumblr (although you can also observe it here), but from Pinterest. There you can come across cycles composed of quotes and photos whose aim is to motivate young girls to learn, succeed and get good grades. These images often also show examples of characters from movies, TV series or real life that you can aspire to be like. Overall, I have to agree that it really works! But I would like to draw attention to certain elements that need to be verified.

1. You shouldn't get up at 5am

First of all, the correct amount of sleep is one of the most important factors affecting the proper and effective functioning of our brain. During sleep, nerve cells regenerate, organize information acquired during the day and consolidate memory traces, which is directly related to learning. Lack of sleep increases impulsivity, deepens negative thinking and slows down the body's reaction time!

2. You can be a genius without good grades

Of course, good grades are a pleasant confirmation of our knowledge and praise for hard work. However, sometimes it is worth considering whether the structure of exams themselves, especially those with closed questions, affects the results. We often study for one specific exam, the knowledge of which may be very… limited and sometimes not useful, so it is worth prioritizing the topics that we study hard.

3. It's not cool to think you're better than others

We are different and have different priorities in life. It is also worth considering how many people escape from the rat race and start a slow, stress-free life. So we have to agree that judging people based on grades or responses under stress (sic!) is not cool.

The good thing about romanticizing studying

As I have already said, these types of collages are really motivating. So let's talk about what's great about them and what's worth highlighting and saving for later.

1. Knowledge is beautiful, but your outfit and surroundings can also be

We know that we should never judge a book by its cover, but… the issue of social perception painfully confirms that we do and will continue to do so because this is how our brains work. And isn't it nice when someone looks at us and thinks this girl is so classy?

Moreover, a nice outfit that makes us feel good gives us a lot of self-confidence. There are also many studies confirming the positive impact on motivation and concentration of a neat and aesthetic workplace.

2. Not just cramming, but also discovering

Broadening your horizons is easier with passion and real commitment. And to achieve this, the topics must really interest us. Not everyone has yet found something that they are extremely passionate about in science, so that is why you have to dig deeper and discover different areas.

3. Don't be afraid to use your knowledge in practice

Schools and universities, unfortunately, have their own rules and they do not always allow you to show your 100% potential. Thus, share your knowledge with others externally, write essays, blog and social media. This form of activity also makes you learn things faster and easier. In addition, contacts with others will expand your knowledge.

Therefore, I must say that it is worth choosing your inspirations carefully. Nothing helps you enjoy studying better than a clear head and lack of prejudices.

*This post was inspired by my own experience with studying. If anyone is interested, I think I can share my mistakes that did not help me in an academic adventure :)

[trafficblrpositivityproject]

The queue is empty right now! After several hundred asks, I am all out! (✨0✨)

I would like to send out a thank you from me to all of you. Thank you all for helping me out with this project and uplifting other members of the fan base. Thank you for sharing this blog’s introductory post and helping me on my mission. Thanks to everyone who has sent in asks about me and this project. This blog literally cannot function without the help and love from all of you, so I thank you for helping me keep it running so far!

This project will continue for as long as you are willing to send in asks to it! If you have been thinking of submitting an ask, now is the time!

If you want some ideas, here are things you can send asks about.

• Your favorite artists and writers, of course! You are all very good at this so far. If you want to specifically highlight certain pieces or art or writing, go ahead! I will not take links or imbedded images—I do not want to be reposting or accidentally open the door for people to send me spam links—but if you want to describe them, that would be fine.

• Creators of less “popular” types of media like cosplay, songs, collages and web weaves, textiles, and anything else I’m missing! These art forms do not always get as much attention, so all the more reason to send them love!

• Your favorite theorists and analysts! Share about your favorite theories as well, and why you like them!

• Your friends! “My friend [URL] is really cool” is a very good ask! Not everyone submitted here needs to be a creator, or be here because they’re a creator. I do not want people to think that this blog is just for people who are “famous,” anyone can submit asks about anyone for any reason.

• Similar, people who have supported you. Friends who brought you into the series, people who regularly leave nice tags and engage with your work. Send some love back to the people who have been cheering you on!

• Events and zines! The fandom could not survive without the work of event weeks/months and zines. And I definitely do not mind being free advertising for the events and zines you all are in ;)

• Former members of the fandom who are no longer active or have moved fandoms. If they used to enjoy life series and have since moved on, they still count.

And I will remind you I am perfectly happy to take submissions on people with a degree or two of separation from trafficblr. Hermitblr and Empiresblr accounts, or bloggers posting about other overlapping SMPs and series like POW and MCC. Or participants in fan made Life Series. As long as there is some sort of overlap, I will not be fact checking.

Repeating the same person who has already been submitted is also fine. If you wanted to send me the same person every single day for a month I would not stop you. Just keep your ask positive and include fewer than 5 people, and we are golden.

All I want is to make this fandom a little more positive. I thank you all again so much for helping me so far, and if this is as far as I go, I will feel very satisfied with how we have done.

Thank you again, everyone, from the ferryman! <3

[theothin]

Why do you like AI art?

The simple and biggest answer is that it lets people create and experience art that would not otherwise exist. And in particular, it lets me give life to the images in my head without needing to destroy my wrists in the process. Even without anything else, that would be enough.

For a more specific answer - the way I see it, there are two main ways of approaching AI art. The artist can aim for the expectations of other art forms, or they can lean into ones specific to AI. I think both of these approaches have significant merit, and much more flexibility than most people realize. I've seen many incredible examples of each approach, and I share them whenever I can.

As someone who tends to feel like a crude imitation of a human, I have deep investment in the idea that mimicking actions expected of a human is just as meaningful as doing them "normally". And, for that matter, the idea that not acting "normally" is not a flaw in the first place. So I wholeheartedly reject the idea that either of these things could be held against AI, and I find that idea incompatible with accepting me as a person.

Some people accuse image generators of creating collages, but that could not be further from the truth. AI models record patterns, not actual pieces of images. And I certainly can't agree with the idea that collages lack artistic merit in the first place. My blog banner is a collection of pre-existing images, my image edits are modifications to existing images, and I've been working on an AMV that combines clips of an existing show with the audio of an existing song. All of these involve using copyrighted material without permission from the copyright holders, and I reject the idea that I should need that permission, just as I reject the idea that training an AI model on copyrighted material should require permission.

I also write. Writing does not involve creating an image directly, but it involves creating text that others might depict in their mind as an image. And writing an image prompt means creating text that an AI can depict digitally as an image. Just as writing stories is an artistic action, writing prompts is also an artistic action.

But there is so much more to image generation than writing prompts. Image generators can offer countless other controls, and the quality of AI art depends on its creator's skill in using them. AI art is a skilled pursuit, and while it does not require manual drawing, making good AI art requires assessing the generator's outputs and identifying ways to iterate on them.

AI art sometimes gets characterized as being under the thumb of big tech companies, but that is also false. Stable Diffusion is an open-source image generator you can run on your own computer, and I've personally done so. It's free, it's got countless independent add-ons to change the workings or to use different models, it doesn't require using anyone else's servers. It's great. And by having it locally, I can see for myself that the models are nowhere near big enough to actually contain the images they're trained on, and that the power consumption is no more than using the internet or playing a video game.

AI art offers an ocean of possibilities, both on its own and in conjunction with other art forms, and we've barely scratched the surface. I'm excited to see how much more we can do with it and to be as much a part of that as I can, and I think everyone should take a few minutes to try it out for themselves.

That is why I like AI art.

[streetkid-named-desire]

I'm not going to apologize because I do still think pinky is a fucking dick. But I am going to explain some things.

Do you think if I have someone blocked and even reblogs turned off specific posts that that is a boundary I am setting? That regardless of whether or not he saw those posts I was expecting him to do the decent thing, and, seeing an obvious temper tantrum, move on with his goddamn day?

Instead, he takes my ranting into the void and makes a shitty post replying to it knowing I will never see it. I have never done that to him. I don't care to reply to anything he says about me. That's why I've treated this the way I have. He set a boundary as did I. He didn't respect that boundary.

He has a significantly larger platform than me giving him more power over the narrative. By making that post, by screenshotting and replying to posts I did not make rebloggable for a fucking reason, he is exposing his significant following to a one-sided narrative about personal vent posts. I never reached out to him directly. I never screenshotted his posts. Sure, I posted about him, but that's because I like to believe people are inherently good and empathetic and would recognize that I'm just venting about a popular fucking modder.

I understand many people are new to Tumblr and haven't been here as long as I have (literally since the beginning in 2007) and so may not understand Tumblr etiquette.

When you block someone it's because you're setting a fucking boundary not to interact with them and expecting that to be the end of it. Usually, if you're a normal person and not an asshole, it is the end of it.

But he had to go through specific posts after I already had him blocked, posts that were not rebloggable, and act like it was some takedown of legitimate criticism.

No. You're just a fucking asshole.

I've had a complex history and relationship with my breasts. I admit my actions were purely out of emotion because I didn't expect to feel the way I did using the flat chest body. I still haven't processed it with my therapist because I'm afraid because it requires bringing up a lot of trauma.

Pinky saw a vulnerable fucking digital collage and decided to bring up his fucking post again as "context". It's not context. It's just you being a fucking spiteful asshole. I also deleted the other post I made the next morning juxtaposing comments on Nexus from the mod with definitions of like grifter and femboy along with some screenshots of my own attempts at top surgery and shit because I realized it was actually out of line. The digital collage was the one thing I wanted to highlight because that helped me process my feelings, that meant the most to me.

Maybe I'm old but Tumblr is a microblogging website and blogging is, in its original form, personal. It started as a place where people went to publicly journal about their thoughts and feelings and experiences. That's what I was doing. I was venting about someone with a significantly larger following, with more power in the modding community, with more sway over people in fandom and what I thought was bullshit.

The posts were not rebloggable.

Pinky was already blocked.

This wasn't some fucking callout post about him trying to get people to hate him. It was because I was frustrated and in emotional distress.

Unfortunately, I didn't realize it was all pure emotion until it was too late. This is a common pattern and this is why I am trying to move on with my life. There is nothing I can do except learn from my actions and move on.

I'm hurt that I lost friends because they didn't seem to understand or care or be able to recognize that it was all out of emotion and not really any fucking logic.

But that's fine. I don't need people in my life that aren't going to give me the benefit of the doubt and go "hey, are you good? You're kinda getting a little crazy about this shit." And instead just shittalk me behind my back.

I have a whole bunch of people that liked or replied to that post blocked now and I'd appreciate if that boundary was fucking respected. I'm also not allowing this post to be reblogged because, again, I set a boundary. But I'm sure people will screenshot and send this to him anyway because you can't help yourself.

I saw so many people posting about how they hate drama in the community. If you hate it so much, why are you participating? Why are you adding fuel to the fire? You don't hate it, you just don't want to be wrong. You don't want to feel the discomfort of recognizing your own cognitive dissonance and figuring out what your actual values are and if you're really living your life in a way that makes you happy.

Don't even get me started on what he said about a fucking trans person venting "smells terfy" or accused me of using the community I'm a part of. Why do you think I was so emotionally charged about it??? Because I hate my fucking tits dude!

CHRIST this is childish ass bullshit.

This is, once and for all, the actual last post I'm EVER making on this. Please feel free to DM me, my ask box is open including anon. I am happy to talk about it one on one. But I'm tired of this and want to move on. I want to go to therapy and figure out what to do about my tits. I want to make refits. I want to write fanfic. I want to live my fucking life without worrying some hypocritical asshole is going to try to turn people against me for some fucking vent posts.

[fraternum-momentum]

Hi! Just came to your blog recently for the DOL but stayed for your art and just you, because you’re so fun to watch (not creepy at all :>)

Anyways, as a fellow artist, I feel you because I’m almost never satisfied with my art, but I found a way to kind of overcome it? This is just a suggestion, I can’t guarantee it works, but it works for me :>

If you don’t feel good about your illustrations, you can take a break from drawing, but taking a break from drawing doesn’t mean you have to take a break from art. Art comes in many forms, For me it’s collage digitally, and taking pictures of random stuff, if I feel old I even crochet dolls of my OCs and make ugly little shirts for them. The idea is that the joy of making things isn’t hung by a string but many strings into a net to catch our fall? if that makes sense lol.

Usually after doing this, I go back to drawing, and I’d find that I forgot how to draw, but after a little while it comes back, and I usually find my art a bit different from what it was.

I’m sorry for such a long ask, or if I come off as weird. I love your art and your humor vv much, the way you draw bodies is so appealing I feel the need to practice more anatomy so I can one day achieve the beauty of yours. I even started my own dol art blog because of you lol. I look forward to what you have in the future, but take all the time you want off to feel better and drink lots of water<3

I like to think I'm some kind of bacteria on a petri dish when you mentioned that you like to watch me LMAODAOD i didn't think i would be someone interesting to observe AWJHFA

But thank you for the suggestion !! I'm trying to look into more hobbies that aren't necesarily art ! I'm getting back into writing again and I've been planning out the story for the witch gf + killer gf idea because I eventually want to make it like a test trial webcomic? thing? So i can get a grasp on what it's like working on one, since I have a bigger personal project in the works. I'm also getting back into studying tarot again, which is p cool :]

Crocheting seems super cute tho 🥺 I really want to try it out ! The same goes for knitting as well !! I wanna be that one granny in the corner knitting little sweaters and scarves on my rocking chair (retirement goals fr)

I don't know when I'll get back into drawing again though, which is something that's been worrying me for a bit but it's probably just paranoia causing me to unecessarily worry abt things.

And don't apologize for sending a long ask ! It's not weird !! I like to imagine it as something akin to replying to a pen pal AHFBJ it's nice to learn abt you as well even if it's in anon :D And thank you for the compliment !!!! Anatomy is super fun to learn and i hope you grow to love it as much as i do :]] And I'm super glad I got you into making your own blog as well WAAAAAAAAAAA i hope you're having fun so far :DDDDD Also don't overwork and stress yourself out too much and stay hydrated as well 🫶

[rikkitikkisavvi]

Ohmysweetgoodness I actually wrote another blog post!

Blog about Journaling

How can you really explain journaling? There is no right and wrong when it comes to the art of personal words on private paper.

Journaling can be shared and it can be kept between the page and the writer. It can be exercise, it can document, it can be a time of reflection, it can just be a list. Journaling takes many forms, not even just writing. So how can you generalize journaling? You just can’t! That’s why I decided to create the post about how broad the world of journaling is. Think outside the box, because journaling certainly doesn’t fit in just one.

Journaling can take on many forms. You can write in a classic journal, documenting your day, maybe a to-do list, writing out self care and affirmations. In fact, I do this almost daily in a kind of stream of consciousness way! But there’s so much more you can do with journaling too. Junk journals and art journals I’ve seen are becoming more popular online. Using scrapbooking materials and collage art, you are able to make creative fantastic junk/art journals that have personality and story. I have my own kind of junk journal/scrapbook in which I document any kind of trip I consider an adventure.

Another way people use journaling is for writing practice. Having a compilation of short writing exercises, stories, poems, character designs, dialogue practice, and much more is a great way for writers to enhance their writing skill. These exercises and experiments don’t need to be shared with anyone, unless the writers wants to, and allows the writer to freely write without judgement or worry. This form of journaling, I believe, is essential for writers who want to advance their abilities.

Journaling can be for everyone, whether you’re a writer or not, and another form of journaling that I’ve used frequently is dream journaling. Dream journaling is the practice of recording dreams almost immediately after you wake up or any time you remember a dream. Writing down as many details of the dream that you can lead to more vivid dreams in the future. Keep this journal close to you while you sleep, so you can easily access it when you wake up.

Letter writing is also a form of journaling, in my opinion. Writing personal letters back and forth between a friend is a form of joint journaling or journal sharing. Letter writing is a kind of conversation documentation. Of course, texting can also be considered conversation documentation, but letter writing usually involves longer messages that update the receiver on the writer’s life, especially if the two are long distance. Much like letter writing, sharing and passing back and forth a physical journal is also joint journaling. When I was younger, my best friend and I shared a journal in which we would document our favorite moments together. Every week we would trade the journal and add to it for the other to see later on.

Journaling can also be experimental in a scientific way. Many people use journals to make notes about all kinds of things they want to study. Nature journals, adventure journals, and language learning journals are just a few that come to mind. Many more kinds of journaling exists and you can continuously find more ways to journal and more things to journal about.

Personally, I have one journal that fits all of these ideas. It’s a mess, and I have to put tabs in it anywhere there’s information I want to revisit. But I absolutely love my journal. It goes with me everywhere. If I have a quick thought or list I need to write down, it’s always right there. Journaling can be healing, it can be freeing, it can even be rewarding. Overall, journaling should be fun, and anyway you can make journaling enjoyable for you and fit your needs is the way to do it.

-Rikki Vinyard 10/27/23 (via @rikkitikkisavvi)

[salemoleander]

VERY interested in creator commentary for the 3rd life webweave (seriously one of the coolest things ive seen made in this fandom, its gorgeously edited AND very funny AND the quotes themselves are all knock-your-socks off material. That Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Line Holy Shit)

Okay so first off THANK YOU that's super kind! It's nerve-wracking posting graphic design that is reconstituted from other sources, bc I've seen it perceived as a 'lazy' or unskilled format, so this is really really encouraging to hear.

I am not a concise person, which is why this has taken so long! I realized as I was initially responding that I was trying to dive into three separate topics:

The actual process I follow, my tips + tricks on making web weaves

Analysis of my 3rd Life web weave

My philosophy towards web weaves and collage as an art form

Only one of those is the question you actually asked, so #2 is what I'll be talking about in this post! However, I am working on a video overview of the other topics, because I think they're worth exploring - I will obviously post that on this blog once it's done.

To avoid jumpscaring anyone with a wall of text, I've thrown my commentary under a readmore.

The one takeaway I'll mention before we dive in is if anyone has a character/narrative web weave request, please hit me up! I have so many I'm working on, having a next topic suggestion is super helpful to narrow things down.

General Creation Comments

I am At All Times collecting images, so it's only a matter of time until I make a webweave for a group/ concept/ person:

(My phone storage is Certainly being utilized. Also I will never be free of making these.)

It just so happened that my Third Life folder filled up fastest/ felt like it was in a good balance to work with, so that's what I started with!

I try to use a mix of text and images, and both serious and funny stuff. Even at its most serious the Life Series is also funny, and it's important to reflect that!

That said, if you compare the jokes I've picked in this piece vs the void falling web weave, you'll notice the jokes on this one trend sharper. The 'How to Detect Misery' and 'How to Tell if it's Over' memes (both from @thatsbelievable, who is a GREAT source of web weave content) are morbidly funny. Surviving horrific circumstances, preparing to suffer, unimaginable violence, eroticism and death, covered in blood - all of the jokes are violent.

As I go, I weed out posts that don't fit, or (mostly) prune text posts out. Too much text ruins the flow, and I LOVE words so I tend to have too much writing and not enough art.

3rd life had only a few things that didn't make the cut, bc I was fairly judicious as I added to that folder, but these were scrapped:

As I added the posts I knew I wanted and split them between panels, I naturally started seeing a 'flow' from early game biomes/bases and the more tender pairings, into violence + devotion, and then ending in.. something. I wasn't sure what I wanted the end to be yet.

I ran out of posts, and knew I needed Wayyy more images to offset the text, so I went looking through the Smithsonian's excellent collection of CC0-licensed art!

That's where I found the Perfect Image - that last picture of the red angel laid low. I knew immediately that it needed to be most of the final scene, with very little obscuring or distracting from it.

Okay, diving into specific panel analysis!

Panel One

It's the beginning, so everything is still fairly light - lots of brown and green tones.

The summary (imo) is that every faction in 3rd Life is in different stories!

Grian and Scar are playing cowboys, an old Western style narrative where they're beholden to each other, out to get the Bad Guys (even if objectively they're the ones being violent little instigators).

Flower Husbands are a greek fucking tragedy, Jimmy's sudden loss and Scott in mourning, trying to cause as much destruction as possible before the gods knock him down too.

Dogwarts are a middle English story of fealty and homosocial bonds and dying for honor.

And the Crastle is like. Shakespeare or Arthur Miller or Stoppard. They are in a theater, they are playing with all of the narratives. Too aware of the trajectory they're on, and entirely unable to stop it.

The images on the first page are the four primary pairings in 3rd Life - top left, in the background of the 'How to Detect Misery' meme, is the desert. The sudden punchline of that meme felt like a good starting point - a creeper-blast of a joke.

The pair to the right represent Scott and Jimmy. I liked the Impressionist and classic myth-inspired stylization. Also, the toga blended near-seamlessly into the desert hill so it looked almost like a wing, implying a tie to angels as well as foreshadowing Jimmy's death AND Scott's partnership with Grian/Scar.

Up in the top right-hand corner is a little Crastle, and the pair embracing on the right side of the page are Bdubs and Cleo. The red hair fit, but it was the old-fashioned clothing and sense of finality that I really liked.

On the left is Dogwarts - Ren and Martyn. I wanted an image that had a very different style, as they were opposed to desert duo + everyone else. I felt the sketchy ink stood out and elicited ideas of worn vellum paper. It felt like a sketch you'd discover sitting in a chest of a long-worn-down enchanting room.

There's a forest and a mostly-occluded castle in the background art on page one, also meant to represent Dogwarts. That forest bleeds into the next page, where the violence really begins.

Panel Two

We've started with a forest, but it's darker than the last one, and wilder.

Bursts of red stand out violently on the page.

'Fallen Angel' is a classic for emotionally fraught blorboposting! There are many, Many Mountain Goats songs that fit, but the way a-doctor-not-a-fangirl paired this line with this painting was striking to me. In particular, I like how 'getting revenge' was something that drove most of 3rd Life, even though Red Lives (come unhinged) were meant to be the driving force of violence. They weren't supposed to have bonds, they weren't supposed to have allies! But it's the bonds that drove the violence.

The 'I heart eroticism and death' cut-out plopped onto the collage was intended to feel like a kind of cheesy tourist stamp - 'I killed my friends in horrible death games and all I got was this lousy t-shirt' vibes.

The 'First off' comment feels like the illogical thought proces all of the doomed players (so, all of the players) were following - "if I just do well enough at murder, this will all be over."

The 'moments of grace' image is probably my most indulgent addition. I wanted a softer, quiet nod to the good parts, to the fun and the joy in between the violence. In particular, the dawn breaking on waves reminded me of the short span Grian and Scar spent tensely placing TNT under sand in the desert. I imagine silent cooperation and the sussuration of sand on sand, and quiet for just a few minutes.

'It's better to know how to let others unmask you and to endure the rule of the game' means: if you are too good, if you survive long enough, you will end up alone. This is about Bdubs and Cleo - kings of roleplay, of being a little overeager and dying for it and getting a mercifully quick ending. It is also about the cactus ring.

Panel Three

The centerpiece of this page is 'G-d's Idea', the beautiful abstract painting of a blood-soaked angel. It makes me insane every time I see it. Grim reaper in mourning kinda guy

I wanted to do something to tie more directly to the end, but didn't want to pull a disembodied-face-in-90s-grad-photo approach to add Scar. So I found a drawing that looked like the Monopoly Mountain build, and carefully added it onto one wing. I really really like this as an addition, it is probably my favorite combination in this post.

The Anne Carson quote is obvs in Minecraft font - I also split up the lines, so that the left and right side loosely create their own sentences/ideas. "There is a theory that watching other people is good for you" and "Unbearable stories may cleanse you of your darkness." I wish I had been more careful with the contrast on 'yourself all', but oh well, we can just call it being difficult to read an experiential facet of the poem.

"Do you want to go down to the pits of yourself all alone?" is a good fucking line, and manages to mirror both the commentary on us the viewers AND the experience of the creators AND the experience of the characters. We get to experience violence vicariously, the creators get to experience it with friends + in safety, and the characters (or character, I should say, just Grian left by the time you're reading this) are experiencing that low point totally alone.

Aside from the obvious fit, the Rosencrantz + Guildenstern lines stand in as a conversation between the viewers and the characters. The appraising description of kiling and dying beautifully makes way for a mournful interruption that no, fuck that, this isn't a game for us (with some obvious irony there).

Finally, I needed it to end funny; the whole thing is already more serious than it probably should've been. I like this joke because it's short, and it implies the aftermath in a comedic way. Picturing everyone spawning back into Hermitcraft, covered in blood, upset, but mostly with a profoundly awkward sense of 'well I fucked that one up. That got a bit more homoerotic than intended, and now every other shopping trip I have to make awkward eye contact with the person I mcMurdered."

Again, thank you so much for your ask and kind words! I'm looking forward to making a general guide video on web weaves one of these days :D

[rubadubdub3nunsinatub]

I posted 1,384 times in 2022

That's 240 more posts than 2021!

146 posts created (11%)

1,238 posts reblogged (89%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@mistresspandorawritesthings

@narastories

@ohmyoverland

@queer-crusader

@mossy-scaled-dragon

I tagged 252 of my posts in 2022

#outlander - 50 posts

#sga - 33 posts

#lord john grey - 31 posts

#stargate atlantis - 25 posts

#stargate - 24 posts

#jamie fraser - 20 posts

#esc 2022 - 19 posts

#william ransom - 14 posts

#claire beauchamp - 13 posts

#brianna fraser - 12 posts

Longest Tag: 89 characters

#there is something v special about seeing how mutuals represent themselves through picrew

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I'm getting back into Stargate but seems lots of the old blogs I followed are inactive so if you're actively posting Stargate content especially SGA please interact!!

92 notes - Posted April 29, 2022

#4

Outlander Fandom Survey 2022!

It's here people!! The second annual Outlander Fandom survey is running from the 9th of July to the 16th of July. This year's questions are new and improved and hope to gain a snapshot of who is in our fandom and what our favourite things in fandom are! A special thank you to the wonderful @mistresspandorawritesthings for your assistance.

If you would like to see the results of last year's survey click below

2021 OUTLANDER FANDOM SURVEY RESULTS

105 notes - Posted July 9, 2022

#3

Headcanon that Percy Weasley secretly has the wildest sex life

This is all discovered one night while he, Bill, Charlie and George are playing never have I ever with some Veritaserum laced fire whisky

George boldly proclaims "Never have I ever slept with a man!"

Percy and Charlie drink

Their was no surprise about Charlie but ummm excuse me Percy but umm care to share with the group?

Drunk Percy is uncharacteristically chill "yeah I lost my virginity to Oliver Wood in 5th year in the Quidditch locker rooms"

"Was its just that one time?!"

George is shook

"Nah we occasionally hook up now and again. Audrey and I had a threesome with him the other week..."

153 notes - Posted June 27, 2022

#2

So with the whole Ned Cheater scandle there's been big talk about the parasocial relationships viewers form with YouTubers. Fair enough. But I also think there is a conversation to be had about how the Try Guys whole enterprise is structured. It started with 4 friends and expanded to include their partners and other collages who have probably worked with them since their Buzzfeed days, all having public personas and sharing lots of personal stuff online for content. Creating a workplace environment where there is very little space between the work and their personal lives. They are the nightmare that is a workplace where "we are all friends here so it's ok". That's why it's so hard to take seriously the "internal review" because who was doing it? You are all friends? I hope they outsourced it. In hindsight honestly, I'm not surprised something like this happened and that the knock-on effect to the whole company was this severe.

159 notes - Posted October 3, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

S1 Young Justice: it's just a fun and goofy sidekick show

S4 Young Justice: you know turning children into crime fighters will affect their cognitive development and this will develop into problems well into adulthood

1,548 notes - Posted April 7, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[softspacecat]

i think the way i use this blog is less as a way of directly interacting with people (though that's a bonus) and more of a way of self-expression. but while the usual art projects would each focus on specific things that i want to express, this blog is more trying to do everything at once. it's a collage of everything that speaks to me that, together, forms a surprisingly complete picture of me as a person

obviously there's things that matter to me that i don't post about, because either a) i'd be doxxing myself, b) it's just too much of a downer (this random internet blog is not a political call to action) or c) there isn't much of it on tumblr either because it's not allowed or simply no one posts about it and i don't feel like doing it myself

but it's just interesting to look at it like... i spend most of my time doing computer science stuff for my degree, but then my blog every day is filled with splatoon related posts instead. which is because there isn't exactly a computer science fandom, but also, i don't really have as much of an emotional connection to programming as i do to funny squid game. if i did, i'd probably make more random text posts about it (and i have nerded out about maths on here before so it's not like that kind of thing never happens either, just less often)

anyway that's why i don't make side blogs

[bones4uuu]

Physical media for the win today, but they will succumb to being chopped up for my vision board in the next couple days.

For some reason I have a constant need to change something about myself or my life every couple months. It's not like I'm not satisfied with myself. I very much like who I am but it just feels like every couple months or so I have to drastically change something or I will go insane. It's all on impulse. Once I get an idea I must act on it or else it will nag in the back of my brain till it gets addressed.

I think it stems from my adhd. From what I read online and see from other who also have it. I don't feel like delving too much into it. I used to do that all the time, try and figure why I am the way I am and why this illness (I guess?) makes me act the way I do. But I've just come to accept that I will be like this the rest of my life.

Anyways, so I got an idea today, I've always collected magazines when my favorite celebrity is on the cover. I have a very extensive Harry Styles and Timothee Chalamet collection if I'm being honest. But I decided why the fuck am I not buying and collecting more magazines for shit I'm into. I love anything and everything fashion along with interior design. I have since I was a small child and could form a coherent thought and interest. So today I went to Barnes and Nobles and picked up a couple magazines and a new book that looked very interesting from what I read on the back. ANYWAYS, back to the magazines. I grabbed these 3 because I gravitated to them the most and were the least expensive from the ones I wanted. I want them to make collages with in my journal but now I'm not sure if I will got through with that, I can't decide at this current moment.

I also have this urge to collect physical media any chance I get if it is something I love and enjoy so that years from now. So that if I ever have kids, that they will have physical evidence of shit their cool Mother/Grandmother loved and enjoyed enough to collect and keep for many years so that they could inherit it and hopefully cherish it like it did. Or maybe if it is worth a shit ton of money they can sell it and buy something they love with it. I have a vinyl collection currently at I think 120 maybe 125, idk I'm not sure.

I don't know what I am saying anymore but this whole blog is my personal public diary of shit that is too much for me to write down because my handwriting is actually terrible, so terrible I can't even read it half time and my brain works faster than I can write. I also need a hobby that isn't spending money because I cannot keep up with that even though I love it. I also have been out of high school 3 years now and am now just going to school this fall and my major is English so I really need to use my brain and freshen up my writing and research skills lol. I honestly didn't know I would type up this much work vomit when I went to make this post but I think that is a good thing. If anyone sees this for some reason please ignore it, it is just a bunch of nonsense and only needs to make sense to me but if it makes sense to you then hell yeah.

ANYWAYS, peace and love xxx

[umichenginabroad]

Week 0: Before Czeching out Prague

Hey everyone!!

My name is Matt and I am a rising junior studying aerospace engineering with an international engineering minor here at UMich! In about two weeks, I will be taking you all with me as I embark on my second study abroad experience to Prague! Before I jump into how I’m feeling about this program and some of my goals, I wanted to give you guys a little bit more background on myself. I am originally from New York and went to Europe for the first time last summer for a study abroad program in Paris (it was absolutely amazing), feel free to check out my other blogs if you are interested! I am an IPE peer advisor, a senior alumni ambassador for CEA, and a part of the Engineering Global Leadership (EGL) Honors Program. So it's definitely safe to say that I love traveling and looking at engineering from an international perspective!

Since the semester at UMich wrapped up I’ve been taking some time to prepare for the next two months in Europe which I am so excited about! To give y’all a little bit of a timeline, I am actually first returning to Paris on May 23rd for my older sister’s graduation and then I’m heading straight to Prague for the start of the program on the 30th! (that's why this week 0 blog is coming out a little bit early!) With that being said, I jumped ahead on packing and am currently all ready to go as I wait in New York for a few more days before my flight. From last summer, I learned a bit about what I actually needed to pack for a summer in Europe so hopefully this time around I am not too overpacked lol. Here’s the majority of my clothes, toiletries, and everything else packed up!

As I’ve been researching Prague, making lists of things to do, and planning out some trips I want to take, I definitely have a decent amount of goals for this summer. 

travel travel travel! Currently, I’m planning on visiting Rome, Vienna, Berlin, Budapest, Croatia, and maybe a few others? We will see how many I can make it to during the program!

Get to know my peers on this program and form some great relationships. Similar to last summer, I barely know anyone going on this program but I know I’ll be able to make some amazing friends and create some memories that we will never forget.

Do well and learn a lot in my classes. This one is kind of self-explanatory, but it sometimes slips my mind that I am also doing classes and not just traveling the entire time while abroad ahaha

Improve my photography skills, journal my thoughts, and take more videos. I love taking photos so I am very excited to capture one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Journaling is something that I think will be really helpful for me to reflect on my experiences and thoughts with the hectic nature of studying abroad. I think it will be really helpful for me mentally and to keep track of my interactions and exploration! With taking more videos, I really want to get more into editing and creating some really cool video collages to capture some of the moments from this adventure! 

Here’s an example of a video I made about my travels during last summer, so I can’t wait to make another one for this summer and make a bunch of other personalized content!

One thing that I am definitely a bit nervous about has to be the language barrier because I have no idea how to speak any Czech at all, lol. My thought process is that I will do my best to try to speak Czech, but I am really banking on the fact that most of the locals will speak English, so I guess we’ll see?? If I could survive speaking French to local Parisians, I’m sure I can handle this (the Parisians totally switched to English on me sometimes, but we move). 

Overall, I am super excited to get going to Prague and can’t wait to travel to some amazing places, meet some amazing people, and even meet with some of my friends who I convinced to study abroad in Europe too! Anyways, thank you so much for reading and I can’t wait to take you all on this adventure with me! 

Brzy se uvidíme! (I think this means see you soon??) 

Matt Sinanis :)

[squirrelpudding]

January 7th, 2024

When I was a little kid I used to ridicule my parents for needing to use a headlamp to see their keyboard when using their computer at night, but now, as I write this in bed, I find myself needing the handy little button that makes my keyboard light up. Anyway, I haven't blogged in a few days because all I have done is go to work and watch tv. I haven't taken any pictures with my digital camera recently, and I told myself when I started this blog that I would use the photos from that camera and not photos from my phone. But here we are. Using photos from my phone. Today started a new art project and I went to dinner with my dad. The art is a collage that is supposed to be Jeremy Allen White in his Calvin Klein ad, but you cant really tell that it looks like him unless you see the reference picture. But I am having a lot of fun making it! It is very stress-free because usually I am worried that I will ruin my art if I do something new. Like when I paint I usually worry that any new stroke I add will mess it up, but for this it is all just scraps of paper and I can see how things look without committing to it. As with all of my other artwork I make, it looks a lot better in person than in the photo. In person the placement of the paper kind of looks like it is there on purpose, like I meant to put it there, but in the photo it doesn't really. Sometimes I wonder if I got good enough at art I could sell my work. I wouldn't want to do it as my main job, but it would be nice to earn money from doing things I enjoy.

For dinner my dad (does "Dad" have to be capitalized? I think only when I am speaking to him and saying it in place of where a name would go, but as a title it doesn't need to be capitalized? Like I wouldn't capitalize "cousin" unless I was Ricky from "The Bear" and I was saying cousin as a nickname.) and I went to a nice restaurant that had signs in the front advertising that they were considered good by Michelin. They didn't have any stars, but just that they were considered good. I thought they were good, but my dad said that to earn a Michelin star they would need to have much smaller portions (i thought that was funny). My dad is a funny fella. I think the idea that the tire company "Michelin", with the Michelin Man as their mascot, is in charge of the most snooty restaurant rating system in the US (or the world ?) is just silly. I always used to think that the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters was the same guy as the Michelin man. I now know they are different. At this restaurant we went to, we got pizza (it was a pizza place) and brussels sprouts. I just found out that brussels sprouts has an "s" on the end of "brussels". I've been pronouncing it "brussel sprouts" my entire life. While we were walking to a bookstore down the street from the restaurant (side note: I have never spelled restaurant correctly I always have to use autocorrect), there was a store with maps in the window, so of course my dad wanted to look at it. I feel like all dads like looking at maps. Its funny how similar people are. Anyway, there was a sign in the window that said "No Loitering" (see last picture), which is so funny because that was exactly what we were doing.

One thing I forgot to say about the restaurant is they gave us bread with olive oil/balsamic vinegar dip. Its funny how something so simple can bring so much joy. Also, earlier today I had Naan and Hummus as a snack. That is also something that is so straightforward, but so delicious. I love that in every culture there is some form of bread and dip/sauce, and they are all the same but all very different.

[kissaarts246-01]

ARTS 345: Blog 4

This week's reading was about how to use icons and rhetorical forms in design, as well as how to collaborate. The first section talked about ways to approach the design process. The first example was to think about rhetorical structures when illustrating or designing. One of the examples they gave was a chair with one leg missing to represent an ellipsis. I think this is an interesting idea because we're more familiar with how these forms work in language, so if we can practice incorporating them in design, it'll probably elicit a similar reaction in the viewer. It also talked about using collections of icons to develop logos. Coming up with every icon that could be related to the prompt can help merge ideas and create a unique logo.

Another thing they mentioned was collaboration which I found interesting. Obviously, it's the expectation that you'll have to work with others on projects in the workforce, but I haven't seen a lot of that in school. I've had to do it recently within the GD+I Club, but not on class projects, so it was interesting to see how that might work.

This week we wrote and rewrote our magazine proposal papers. The issue with the old ones were that there wasn't enough audience information, so I thought the best way to do that was to create three personas representing the type of person that would read my magazine. We were also given some requirements including: an illustration based spread, a photograph based spread, a found object, front and back cover, and end pages. We also have to have one of those spreads be an interview style article. I think my photograph spreads will be the 'interview' articles. I want to do several style spotlights, so I'll take a few pictures of the model and have short little Q&As to accompany them. I want to do like three or four. I also intend on having several other articles in the magazine, so that won't be the only form of writing. I also decided that my found object was going to double as my end pages. I want to collage scrap fabric and have the collage be the actual end pages. I'll scan them in for one of the copies, but for the original, I'm going to bind it in.

[myvillainera]

Introducing Me

I've just started this blog and I figured the best way to explain why I'm here and what this blog will be is to just introduce myself and my story.

My name is Tori and I've just graduated secondary school in Ireland. I just lost almost my entire friend group of about four years at the end of May, but being without them has made me realize just how much they were dragging me down.

After I realized this, I made the decision to use this time without them and this transitionary period before collage in September to find myself again and set myself on the right track for who I want to be.

When I was with my friends, I struggled to find ways to fit in with them and what they liked. Don't get me wrong I had my own personality with them, it was just very limited because of judgmental comments or looks passed of as nothing.

The only people I kept form that group is my partner, who couldn't care less what I love or don't love as long as I'm a good person, and a friend who I don't see as much as I would like, but is always there when I need her.

I discovered when I left my group that I had severely neglected a lot of my old friends subconsciously, just because my group didn't like them. I also neglected my school work and my grades took a huge decline. All of my money was spent on materialistic things like new clothes and alcohol for nights out, even thought I don't even like to drink that much. They never peer pressured me or anything, but if I wasn't drinking then I was just bored out of my mind with them, and every gathering or hangout always had drink involved, I don't think we've had a non alcoholic meetup in almost two years now.

Anyways, if you made it this far, your my new favorite person, and now you know why I am here and why I need to take this journey to find my true personality and just try and fix the mess that I became during that friendship. If you choose to tag along with me I'll be very grateful, and If you have any advice about anything please share your wisdom cause man do I need it.

[lapaixducorbeau]

Blog Post #6

So the personal history collage was something I finished but I still wanted to talk about it here. It feels important to the general topic that I'm going to be writing about, I mean it's entirely part of the reason I write. For each photo, I added a poetry piece, either mine or from someone that I found incredibly profound or fitting. The pictures each held meaning and I think I wanted to dissect that here, in a way it helps explain why I write the topic I do, and why I do it the way I do. The first picture was an artwork by Vincent Van Gogh; a skeleton smoking a cigarette. Whatever meaning one might attribute from context or without it, it felt to me like it resonated with my feeling of dread; hence the Sylvia Plath quote I tied to it. The next came from my favorite story, Cyberpunk 2077. A story in which individual fights to stay alive despite the ever-increasing odds against their hopeless health condition. The main character, V, never truly falters, they continue to fight for it was better to burn out than to fade away. To that, the story often alludes to For Whom The Bell Tolls, so a quote from it felt fitting. Next came my actual dog, Estrella. The quote assigned to her screaming portrait was one of rage, which felt fitting because of her often grumpy demeanor. But more than anything, the picture encapsulated how rage will exist in every form. The next was the one without any text. It felt fitting as the picture was of the puppies my dog had. Their expression says enough I feel. In the middle, with the words I love you, was my favorite picture of my grandparents. It is joyful and it reminds me how little time we have and how much we must appreciate what is. It helps me connect to what I write both for this class because of the topic also because they are the reason I continue to write despite the discouragement I've received. Next came an altar, the Mexican tributes given during the day of the dead. With it, is a writing I liked from myself; it resonates with the fact that regardless of what happens to an individual, they will always exist, regardless of where they are. The next picture might seem a bit self-centered until you read the poetry. It is of me holding my guitar with my others in the background. Attached to it is an excerpt of a poem I wrote detailing that I will be remembered for my bad decisions. Something I felt really reminds me to continue to try, to never allow the view of another to deter me from pursuing my writing.

The penultimate picture is one of the East Side Gallery, a place I owe my first poetry award to. I won an award based on a poem of this place and a person that I cared about deeply, this is not that picture but another I took. Yet, a response to my previous poem stands. It reminds me that some things will last only a moment but will leave marks forever.

The final picture is a bittersweet one of my mother and her brother. My uncle passed away a long time ago and his passage has largely impacted my life without me knowing it. He was always a wonderful individual, and without him, many bad things happened. Yet, I am comforted in knowing that my mother and grandparents loved him, and he loved them. The final poem refers to the dreams we hold, where we see those we miss for only a moment, but it is comfort nonetheless. I wished to add the collage but I felt some of the pictures were a bit personal, so I apologize for the lack of the visual.