#and look i did take some creative licensing from the generator

[patrickblancos]

BBC GHOSTS +  “certainly not a bot” tumblr description generator (insp.)

[sizzleissues]

Its May.

Okay so this is in the same AU I had last year its just changed and evolved while also being the exact same. Except now I have 15,000 words of it written, like 7,000 words of planning and lore and hours upon hours of research that I will be pointedly ignoring. Will be posting more stuff this month about the AU and my hopes and dreams for it

Also slight art improvement check? I’ll put their original mermaid designs below the cut.

It’s Marinette as a mermaid and … its not Adrien or Chat Noir but a third worse thing (Catwalker but in the purest manifestation of it being a curse and not who he wants to be) I will be making designs for mer!Ladybug, and mer!Adrien as its own thing later on.

Okay if you want to indulge me look below the cut

Old mermaid designs first. I am going to be talking about my design thoughts, thoughts and ramblings about this AU and what I’ve been up to. You have been warned

As you can see, some things have changed but neither design I hated, I just wanted to go further with it.

My brain is quite specific about mermaids and how I want them to generally look. I wanted to distinguish biological merfolk from transformed humans by having them being anatomically different. So Adrien has a vertical tail instead which is also way faster underwater. His transformation is quite distressing for him and very chaotic. Of course when he accepts it he’s not so raggedy.

Marinette similarly avoids her life as a mermaid by becoming human and I wanted her mermaid design to hint toward her fascination with humans. She wears a top she fashioned from human fabric she found in a sunken merchant vessel. In general all other merfolk either forgo clothes or wear things fashioned from materials available to them. There’s deep fear of humans and human things so even though human clothes are available to them (off dead bodies but…. Whatever) they choose to difference themselves as much as possible. The same taboos don’t exist for them and their bodies are already adapted from the temperature of their environment. Adrien has stray bits of netting and seaweed on him because he’s not exactly the best at controlling his speed and often crash’s through fishing nets and patches of seaweed resulting in stuff being caught on him.

A lot of their designs are still being worked but I’ve definitely pushed them the right direction!

On to the AU. You might have seem me cryptically talk about something I’m writing the past few weeks. This is because it’s been in my brain since last May and been on and off writing it since then. I decided I’d talk about it once May came back around but and then when I finished writing it, start posting sneak peaks and more spoilery art until it was fully edited and I felt confident in it to post with an aim for it to finish posting once May rolled around again. Oh god.

It’s set in the late 1700s in a fictional version of France that’s actually fragmented over a bunch of islands. I have done more fashion research than I ever thought I’d do and in the end we will still be taking creative license but know I do know what they actually wore! I ALSO did a butt tonne of research about sailing ships and turns out they are super complicated and now I know too much and yet too little still about them. It should be super fun and action packed if I can manage. Have some really good scenes already in my head I know you’ll love. We’re already three ships battle deep and I’ve only written four chapters. (It chills out for a bit after that)

This is entirely self-indulgent by the way. I’m writing this for me, you guys are just a bonus. I literally don’t care as long as it satiates my rabid need for the fic that only lives in my brain at the moment. Saying that, I do want to put my best foot forward.

The next thing I will be posting for this is their human forms and more blabblerings about that. For I am insane and all.

[yinyuedijun]

kitsune!suo x fem reader | feudal japan au

→ notes for an au set in feudal japan, featuring supernatural creatures and spirits (e.g., youkai). suo is a kitsune, sakura is a nekomata, and nirei is an onmyouji. → see this post for backstory on the bofurin trio (recommended background reading)

note: most information on kitsune-mochi were sourced from folkorist lafcadio hearn's accounts of traveling in japan (c.1901). I did, of course, also take creative license with some of the lore.

reader | kitsune-mochi (fox-employing witch)

→ as a kitsune-mochi, you are a human who has entered a contract with a fox spirit to care for it in exchange for having it lend you its power and carry out your requests. → in your case, your familiar is suo, a nine-tailed kitsune that lost his hoshi no tama. → most witches employ kitsune for the purpose of carrying out malicious acts, like having the fox spirit possess their enemies, steal the wealth of other people, etc. you, however, rely on suo and his power in order to perform exorcisms and exterminate demons—something that you cannot do on your own because you have no innate spiritual talents yourself.

→ although a convenient source of power, these deals are typically risky for the contract holder. you are expected to care for suo for the rest of your life, and any descendants you might have would be cursed to serve him as well. kitsune-mochi are heavily ostracized by human society as well, so if this relationship of yours were to be discovered, then your entire bloodline would suffer. → additionally, these contracts typically favour the kitsune, as they are the ones who define what it means to be "cared for", and may request dangerous or unreasonable tasks. → fortunately for you, suo is not a very demanding familiar! the most basic act of caring for a fox spirit is feeding it, and he's more or less happy with anything you make, though he especially likes tea, wagashi, or dishes with aburaage. this is more or less all he asks of you! → suo's disposition is generally so patient and gentle that you nearly disbelieved that he was a youkai. you were convinced for a while that he was actually a messenger of god who was lying to you about his identity for some reason. (at the very least, you'd noticed that he had a habit of lying to people generally, though this was an unsurprising trait for a fox and it was usually harmless fun.) → this perception of him was shattered when you saw him fight a youkai that seriously injured you. he spent an uncomfortable amount of time toying with it in a distinctly humiliating fashion before finally putting it out of its misery. it was only in that moment that you realised that you'd signed yourself and all of your descendants up for serving a literal demon 👍

→ warning: immortal/human relationship, immortal deity meets reader as a child but doesn't get to know or grow close to them until they're an adult

your backstory with suo

→ at a very young age, you were adopted and raised by a priestess of an inari shrine belonging to a small mountain village. consequently, you developed a deep respect for the kami and affection for foxes. → as a child, you once found a one-eyed, wild fox in a near-death state. this was suo after he lost his hoshi no tama in a battle with a demon—but to you, he just looked like a regular animal. most people would have let this creature die peacefully, but you were adamant on nursing it back to health. while caring for him, you named him mr. adzuki because of the colour of his fur, which suo finds incredibly funny to this day. → suo disappeared after recovering, never making his true identity known. however, out of gratitude toward you and the priestesses for allowing him refuge, he decided to act as the guardian spirit of the village, protecting it until the end of your life. → conveniently, this meant that suo got to eat all the offerings given to inari's messengers at your shrine, as well as allowing him to gain power from the prayers directed toward him. (inari himself seemed not to mind, as no actual fox messengers showed up to throw hands with suo.)

image: gashadokuro, a youkai made from the skulls of humans who died in battle.

→ although your village was peaceful throughout your childhood due to suo's protection, in your adult years, a violent conflict between humans and demons broke out in your mountain range. this resulted in the destruction of nearly all its towns and the brutal deaths of your fellow villagers. suo, not at full power, was unable to stop this, but made it his goal to save you from the carnage. → after allowing you time to grieve your loved ones, suo—still considering himself indebted to you—asked what you would like to do next. he offered you wealth, status, and other material things, but none of these appealed to you. → recognising that the mountains you grew up in would be plagued by malevolent spirits and demons for centuries after all the bloodshed that just occurred, you asked suo to teach you jujutsu. your goal was to exorcise all the vengeful spirits, exterminate the demons, and purify the mountain range so that its villages could peacefully rebuild. → given your lack of innate spiritual abilities, suo suggested that you make a pact with him and become a kitsune-mochi to acquire powers. not wanting to deceive you, however, he fully explained how dangerous it might be to enter such a relationship, and warned you not to trust fox youkai like himself.

→ nevertheless, you accepted his offer and became a witch.

image: sakura irl

meeting sakura & nirei

→ you and suo thus embark on this crazy mission to purify the entire mountain range. while you are more than capable of exorcisms and exterminations, your spiritual abilities (one of a youkai) do not allow you to purify the land. → but that's okay, because nirei and sakura have been traversing these same mountains to exorcise and hunt demons! being an onmyouji, nirei can perform all kinds of purification rituals. when you inevitably run into the two of them, and suo suggests that you all work together. → nirei is more than happy to help you purify the mountain range (because he is a good-hearted person, and also because he usually gets assignments there anyway). he improves his jujutsu under suo's tutelage, and he gets insights on kitsune that he'd otherwise never learn (it's rare for an onmyouji to meet a kitsune-mochi unless it's to prosecute them for some kind of crime, and it's just plain hard to meet and talk with a nine-tailed fox spirit). → sakura is a harder sell. he doesn't trust suo at all at the start, and he trusts him even less when he finds out that he's a kitsune and has been lying egregiously to him. (sakura and nirei spent an entire month thinking that suo was a traveling tea merchant from china and being fed severe misinformation about the entire country.) → however, sakura is very curious about you, because you're the first human he's ever met who has a mutual and trusting relationship with a demon, which he didn't think was possible beyond weirdos like nirei. → you also aren't afraid of him at all even after seeing his nekomata form, which gives him complicated feelings. he reasons that this is because you've fought too many demons to be afraid of any of them, but the actual truth is just that you find suo incredibly scary, and sakura feels harmless and adorable in comparison </3 → sakura deeply enjoys the act of helping the mountain towns and being accepted by their communities, though he's very shy about admitting it! eventually, he does "resign" to joining you in a long-term arrangement, and the four of you take on the endless mission of exorcising and cleansing the mountain range together. it's a very "monster of the week" type of set-up hehe

→ although the work of purifying the mountain range will likely take the rest of your life (and probably will require generations after you), suo often asks you what you would like to do after the work is complete—so that he can think of ways to grant your request. → you decide not to tell him this, but your wish would be to return to your old village grounds and rebuild the shrine that you grew up in. rather than just inari, you would also dedicate it to the worship of the one-eyed fox spirit that once protected your village.

[soracities]

Hey i hope your day is peaceful 💗

I have been thinking about writing and poetry lately and i wonder if all poetry out there or most of the writings are from the writer's personal experience and suffering/pain/joy i mean do u think some writers just write (aside from fiction stories ofc) about a thing they don't truly feel it resembles them or they haven't gone through (or not going through) but they heard about it or liked the idea of it so they write about it?

In general, I do, but I also think it really depends on the poet, the subject and the poem itself. A lot of the time though, I think it's probably a mix of both. Keats had this thing he called "negative capability" which, if I remember correctly, is about a poet's ability to be receptive to the world and objects around them & express an emotional landscape or reality separate from the poet's own identity & life as an individual person. It's what allows you, as a writer, to put yourself in an alternate experience and imagine the world from a completely different point of view.

I don't think everything a poet writes about pertains directly, or literally, to events in their actual lives--I do believe, though, that a lot of poets have particular themes, questions, ideas and images that move them and that they often come back to or examine in different ways, from different perspectives. But not all of those perspectives relate to something happening to them specifically (do you have to go to war to write an anti-war poem, for example?). Some poets are more personal & intimate in their poems; some aren't. Some poets weave the personal and non-personal in so tightly the question of literal biography is a pointless venture. It really depends on the writer and what the poem, as a space, as an act of engagement, means to them.

I think the whole "sit at a typewriter and bleed" mantra has made autobiography seem like something that is inherent to every poem, but I don't believe that's true; I think the only way you can address the question of "was this real?" is on a poet by poet basis, by looking through their work and their recurring preoccupations, their life and what they themselves have said or explained. But as a default, I don't think it's a fair reading because so much can be happening in an individual poem (emotionally, structurally, linguistically) and it runs the risk of obscuring the larger questions we could be asking about the poem or missing where it's trying to take us. At the end of the day I think framing it as "what is this poet curious about" rather than "did this actually happen to them?" is a far better way of getting acquainted with the world of a particular poem, if that makes sense?

We look at poetry as this deeply intimate form of writing, and it can be, but, again, every poet is different and every poet has a completely different relationship to that writing. It's intimacy is not the same as a diary entry. A poem is also, ultimately, not a piece of reportage: it's a work of art and the work part often gets missed: it has just as much intention, construction, rewriting and reworking and creative license as a novel or a painting. Sometimes a particular event will have inspired something and sometimes that event is front and centre ("Mid-Term Break" by Seamus Heaney, for instance). Other times the event is nowhere near as important as the questions it poses and those questions, in turn, lead somewhere completely different. That's my view on it, at least x

[minecraftbookshelf]

Traffic Life Scars: Grian

All updates will be made to this post specifically as we get new seasons and new final deaths.

Welcome to my series of MS Paint diagrams following the headcanon/concept that every minecraft death leaves a scar, and while most of those do not continue past the end of the server, the final deaths leave permanent marks on the cubito. (And also some other deaths that have significant impact on the story, the cubito, or both, these are extremely rare.) I did take some creative license with the deaths, mostly in the sense of figuring out how to handle Fall Damage in a slightly more realistic context, as well as figuring out approximately where final blows would land based on the respective positioning of the cubitos in question. This project has also shown some interesting patterns in how some of them tend to die. On with the show!

Third Life: In my mind's eye Grian has always turned to look at the sky after his leap from the cactus ring, so the death blow was to the back of his head.

Last Life: Scott killed him when the late-game reds banded together to hunt down Grian and Joel. The other members of the alliance dealt damage, but Scott got the final hit in. Grian was fleeing at the time, so the scar is on his back, above his wings.

Double Life: Because sonic booms don't leave external evidence so much as they remove your insides from anything vaguely approaching a solid state, the scar is less of exact representation and instead takes the form of a skulky starburst on the torso.

Limited Life: Fall damage again, based off the "camera angle" the general vibe I got was that Grian could have tried to catch himself on his hands as he fell. From that height, it was futile and there are faint marks on his wrists where the bone poked through as well as the actual death blow to the side of his forehead. Bird Man needs to stop falling off things fr.

Secret Life: Grian took on the entirety of Gem & The Scotts and dealt a terrifying amount of damage before Gem cornered him on a hillside as he was trying to flee. He was significantly higher up on the hill than she was so the final blow was a stab upwards that slipped under the edge of his netherite chestplate.

Real Life: Grian died first, struck down by Skizzleman who came from the side while he was fighting Ren. It was a bit of a messy blow, because they were all kind of flailing around.

-

[Bdoubleo100] [Bigbst4tz2] [Ethoslab] [Geminitay] [GoodTimesWithScar] [ImpulseSV] [InTheLittleWood] [LDShadowlady] [Mumbo Jumbo] [PearlescentMoon] [Rendog] [Skizzleman] [Smajor1995] [Smallishbeans] [SolidarityGaming] [TangoTek] [ZombieCleo]

SERIES TAG

[doomed-era]

..gaffen and zeldas horses pre and post cal (including hylia brainworms)? names + personalities perhabs

hehe oh this might be long. because I . uh

drew all of them.

gaffen has five horses so. full slots in-game yea. non-"special" horses are sneaky, cheese, and epona! the giant horse is named pumpkin, and the white horse is named cloud, however he does not really consider cloud his horse. he also did the epona thing </3 i am taking a little artistic license with the horses because I want there to be different heights + builds for them uh yea. i used to be really into horses growing up so its my right. horse isle 2 babeeyyyy

sneaky -- mare, skewbald, 14.5 hh. I would say she's probably descended from horses that were already running wild around hyrule from before the calamity. I'd say her build is similar to that of an american mustang for that reason (short, very hardy. tho tbf I really dont think a lot of feral horses WOULDNT be like this. im just. messing around) she's gaffen's first horse, and his favorite one.

she's about seven years old now? gaffen caught her when she was fairly young and very soon after he left the great plateau so she took to him very well. shes very gentle and intelligent, generally speaking doesn't know what to do around monsters. gaffen had to train her to not shy around them because she is not a fan and is kind of a coward </3 she knows a bunch of tricks like shaking hands and standing up on her hind legs, retrieving objects, and other stuff. she's very treat-oriented and will listen to anyone who gives her food. this actually led to a yiga kidnapping? once? yeah the yiga tried to steal her oops. her name is sneaky bc gaffen had to sneak up on her to catch her. very creative

epona -- mare, flaxen chestnut, 13.9 hh, about six years old. also descended from already-feral horses, though she may have a little farm horse that got free in there. she's the second horse gaffen registered!

epona started just. following gaffen one day. this is presumably because she was bored and smelled food on him. she's a very bold horse, and not afraid of a fight. she also gets bored really easily, so gaffen has taught her several tricks as well. she really likes people, and is the most vocal of gaffen's horses. gaffen named her after a story he heard about chosen heroes naming their horses epona, as he didn't know the story when he found sneaky.

cheese-- stallion, 15hh blue roan. he's descended from horses used by the hyrulean military. he's got a very long, pretty mane and is very well-built, similar to an andalusian.

cheese was named after his coat color and markings. he's around seven, and is gaffen's fourth horse. gaffen thought he looked like mold but the stable owner he tried to register him at (it was tasseren) said he wouldnt let gaffen name a horse mold. so he settled on cheese. cheese is generally a very sweet horse who loves attacking monsters. he's kind of annoying around people he doesn't know and will nibble on your clothes. but! he is a great jumper and people have asked gaffen if they could breed cheese with their mares once or twice. his favorite treat is apple horse treats that some stables will sell

pumpkin -- 23 hh mare, technically this coloration I dont THINK exists irl but the closest is probably a liver chestnut. she has the build of a shire more or less, and her bloodline is believed to be the result of an abandoned breeding project in the gerudo highlands.

pumpkin is AGGRESSIVE. towards horses, people, what have you. the problem is she's very attached to gaffen and gaffen as far as hes concerned thinks pumpkin can do no wrong. she runs over things with no remorse. its not like she wants to she just doesnt care. gaffen thinks she was the matriarch of her old herd. she's a very proud horse and refuses to do tricks but she is very affectionate towards gaffen and generally listens to him. her favorite treat is endura carrots. she is the fourth horse gaffen has registered and is around fourteen years old.

cloud-- 14.2 hh white stallion, around nine years old. my god I did not want to make him white I wanted to make him a grey or ivory or perlino but nooo. canonical pink nose which means he's probably white ew ew ew. anyway he is based on an arabian horse, however I gave him feathering, he's kinda fuzzier than an arabian and he probably has a mane more like an andalusian. i love andalusians. but he descended from a special breed of horses called the hyrulean imperial breed! they're a hotblooded breed known for their intelligence and grace.

cloud is the last horse gaffen registered, probably because it was so frustrating to catch him. unfortunately toffa was a LITTLE bit more picky in this au lets say. and didnt just look for a white horse but something with the breed characteristics of a a hyrulean imperial. so gaffen ended up catching several horses either sired by cloud or part of his herd that were a similar color. cloud, uh, well he hates everyone. he is wild as they come, very difficult to train, even for someone who likes training horses and had quite a bit of experience like gaffen did at the time. this was only exacerbated by hylia having recently popped into gaffen's head and insisting he give the horse to widget and train him properly, which only made him more angry at the horse. gaffen just. didnt really treat him well. to him, that is not his horse. cloud is a big fan of apples but he also likes sugar cubes-- basically anything sweet.

ok pre-calamity horses now

chestnut-- 15 hh mahogany bay gelding, 15 at the time of the calamity.

chestnut is a horse that gaffen got from his parents when he was thirteen. it took him a bit to get used to riding but once he understood it and began to bond with chestnut he fell in love with horses. they're better than dogs, obviously. chestnut was basically the perfect companion-- he was trained very well for his job before gaffen got him and had a gentle disposition. chestnut, unlike gaffen, seemed to enjoy the company of just about everyone, and most stables gaffen went to complimented him on how well-kept and good-natured chestnut was. when the calamity hit gaffen ordered the boy under him who was responsible for the horses to set chestnut and the other horses free. it's unknown if the horse survived.

lily -- 14.2 hh white mare, around 5 years old at the time of the calamity. I DO NOT KNOW WHY WE CAME UP WITH THE SAME NAME </3 she is a hyrulean imperial

widget did not like lily at first, and lily did not like her. though she was trained to be ridden without complaint by the royal family specifically the horse had a way of being annoying without technically going outside of the rules she was trained to follow. though some stablehands suggested she take some time to learn better riding habits widget didn't really care to do it as she had made up her mind that she didn't like horses and didn't want to put any effort into learning how to bond with hers. eventually, with some help from gaffen the Horse Obsessed Freak, widget does learn to like and work with lily and they get along fairly well.

[filmmarvel]

PJO Series Overall Thoughts + Pros and Cons

Disclaimer! First of all, there are a lot more cons than pros here, and if you loved the show and don’t want to hear my criticism just keep scrolling. Second, I’m not someone to complain just because it isn’t exactly how it was in the book! I have quite a range of feelings about story changes. In regard to the ones I’ve listed as cons, i’m just irritated that they haven’t been able to match the book in frankly any capacity. I believe that if you’re making changes, it should be a) out of necessity, b) to improve upon the material, or c) taking positive creative license to try a new spin on an element from the source material. But the changes I’m complaining about, for the most part, haven’t met any of those requirements.

Pros:

Sets and Visuals

It was so magical seeing camp come to life!

The Underworld looks fantastic, the visuals are super cool, especially the Fields of Asphodel. That was a really cool spin on the books- the CGI was pretty good, and the concept there was really interesting.

Olympus was very cool looking too! It reminded me of Asgard.

Overall I Just Think There’s Lots of Potential!

Since the leads are fairly inexperienced (and kids), you can’t expect them to be incredible. They’re doing just fine, but I think they have a lot of potential, and I’m excited to see them grow over the course of the series!

Generally I still really like the casting and have high hopes for these actors, I just wish (for our sake and theirs) that they had better material to work with.

Plot Changes

This ones kind of a pro AND a con: Generally, I really like the flashbacks! They add a lot more depth to Sally, and her relationships with Percy and Poseidon. That being said, the episodes typically feel far too short to be adding material that wasn’t in the books. I thought it was fantastic in episode 7, but in other episodes it didn’t quite work when so much else was cut, or there were opportunities left untaken as a result.

I also liked that they included a few flashbacks with Luke in the finale- there was so much training and time at camp that didn’t fit into the first two episodes.

They got rid of the “names have power” stuff which is great (never made sense in the books).

They did a really nice job humanizing Medusa, but still creating conflict with her, and simultaneously setting up further issues with the gods.

I also agreed with their decision to move the fight from Santa Monica to Montauk, to save time.

Cons:

Dialogue and Writing

The dialogue is definitely less charming than in the books. It’s a huge part of what makes them fun, and the dialogue here is honestly pretty bland. The characters don’t totally feel like themselves, but it isn’t only the acting. Forcing the characters to be explaining stuff to each other nearly every time they have a conversation makes them a lot less personable.

Honestly, this series feels kind of elementary in comparison to the middle grade books. I’d imagine that, like the books, they were aiming to create something that could be enjoyed by young kids and adults alike. But I didn’t find it as successful as the book in this regard.

And the dialogue is consistently so surface level! Stiff, boring, and above all, CONSTANTLY telling over showing. This affects the likability of the characters, and the ability of the actors. Both parties are deterred by the info dumping, as they aren’t really given as many genuine lines or interactions as they should have.

Honestly, it kind of feels a bit like they gave some of Percy’s personality to Annabeth in parts of the show? I saw someone else point out that they’re kind of giving Annabeth the Hermione treatment (ie giving her some of the other characters good moments), which I kind of agree with. However, a lot of that was towards the beginning and middle of the season and has somewhat improved since.

I posted a whole rant earlier about the Lotus Casino episode, which I’ll just summarize: theres a consistent pattern in the show of having the characters figure out what’s going on immediately, removing the danger, and more importantly, not allowing the characters to make mistakes, which weakens both them and the plot. In addition, I didn’t like that they brought up May Castellan already, primarily because it was just another info dump, which (in my mind) gets lost amongst all the other info dumps and removes the poignancy from the reveal. Now, there’s absolutely time to fix the May Castellan situation and ensure that it still packs a punch later on, but for this season it wasn’t great. Go check out my last post if you’d like to hear the rest of my argument on that episode!

Some additional examples of the ‘not letting the characters experience danger’ thing: Procrustes (obviously), and Kronos- forget whether or not Percy should know who Kronos is, the biggest issue is that there’s very little evidence or buildup, so (again) there’s no tension or shock at the reveal. And finally, with Luke. I was so annoyed when Percy figured it out! I could’ve believe that they were doing it AGAIN. I still enjoyed that scene because Walker and Charlie were great, but that was disappointing for sure.

The thing with the pearls honestly amounted to nothing, and there was no reason for Annabeth to not be present in the underworld: that was just a tearjerker for the sake of being a tearjerker (manufactured drama).

Lowering the Stakes

I just wish they’d made it SLIGHTLY more mature- don’t get me wrong, it’s a kids show! I’m very well aware of that! But this feels a lot tamer than a lot of kids (PG) movies involving monsters and stuff.

Gabe was a real piece of shit in the books, but in the show they just kinda made him look lazy and turned him into comic relief. And I don’t believe in the argument that they had to make this change to benefit a younger audience- they didn’t really need to change anything there.

Throughout the majority of the season, I felt like they weren’t allowing the gods to be truly intimidating, or powerful. First with Ares, who wasn’t BAD but generally didn’t have that kind of dramatic presence that he had in the books. Again with Hades, who wasn’t shown as being REMOTELY intimidating, and perhaps the biggest offense of all- Zeus. Having the deadline pass with seemingly zero consequence or threat of consequence does absolutely nothing (and certainly doesn’t increase tension like I’m pretty sure Rick Riordan said was their reason for changing it). Up until the finale, viewers had very few reasons to fear the Gods. Even Dionysus and Hephaestus! In the books there’s a clear line- you can interact with them, but you DONT want to offend them. There’s a clear threat of power, and that just wasn’t remotely present for a while.

And again, I just want to clarify- this is an overall writing problem! It’s not that Ares, or any other one of the gods I just mentioned has a different personality than in the books, it’s that a show like this (KIDS OR NOT) should still be compelling, and part of that includes having real danger and clear stakes.

I would add that they did a much better job with this in the finale! Lance Reddick gave such an amazing performance, and truly made Zeus an intimidating figure. The fight on the beach with Ares was great as well. So I’m optimistic about this criticism moving into season 2, but I stand by the idea that this was an issue for the majority of the series.

Overall, it felt like they weren’t taking the serious parts seriously, AND they didn’t take the comedy as seriously either? So it isn’t as lighthearted OR as impactful as the books. It feels so much more bland and watered down by comparison.

Episodes Were Too Short

Everything just flowed really well in the books, here the pacing is off and the dialogue isn’t as natural (again, they’re forced to rely on a lot of telling instead of showing which takes away from genuine moments). Many character details and personality traits were cut for the sake of additional verbal explanation

As many others have pointed out, the fight scenes also feel pretty rushed, and haven’t quite conveyed the sense of urgency that they should. It all just lowers the stakes.

This Ones Kind of a Joke, but the Casting for Hephaestus

It’s mostly my book bias. This guy was NOT giving Hephaestus. Mainly because Hephaestus is the god of the forge, and I can’t picture this guy anywhere near one of those. He kind of looked like one of Santa’s elves, he’s giving tinkerer not GOD of the FORGE. This is also something they can absolutely fix/win me over in time lmao

Changes

I already mentioned most of the changes (good and bad) already, but there’s one more. I kind of wish they had kept Percy’s dream about Tartarus, especially given that they decided to have Percy figure out Kronos is behind it all earlier- it just would’ve clicked a little easier.

Finishing Thoughts

I don’t want to totally sound like a hater! I’m still enjoying the series, and I really hope it gets renewed for season 2! I was just disappointed in the weak writing. I hope that the writers will be able to recognize these flaws and improve for season 2.

Alright, I don’t really expect anyone to read this whole thing, but if you made it: thanks for reading! I’m curious to hear your thoughts, so I’d really appreciate comments, just keep it civil!

[horizon-verizon]

What era is Fire and Blood set in? Do you think the costumes of the show are appropriate?

@97black-storm

Yes and No. In general, I think HotD did not deliver in costume and hair. Only a number of looks both look good and make sense for the society/person.

To be clear, HotD and GoT come from a fantasy-fiction universe. It does not have to 100% match real-life medieval and Renaissance clothes and that already would be difficult because there seems to be a mix of English mid-late medieval, English Tudor, and early-late Renaissance clothing with some creative license to stray in select details. What it does have to do is use said eras to create new but recognizable attire that reflects what resources, cultural ideals, and regional climates Westeros has/has had as well as the trends that develop from some event/person's actions. The attire must reflect gender, roles, status, class, wealth, and profession. AS WELL AS the character's core personality & values and goals for a situation where they are wearing said clothes, accessories, etc. (if they are in the position to choose their own clothing and if that clothes/situation shows how much choice they had).

And because this is a fantasy universe with lots of eras and societies existing all at the same time, we could really be imaginative with the design of the clothing while considering the sociopolitical contexts that shaped the clothes medieval-Renaissance men and women dressed.

Doug Wheatly--with the assumed approval of GRRM--F&B illustrates what looks like a progress of clothing:

Aenys I - Jaehaerys & Alysanne's Early Years

The Dance of the Dragons

So far, 15-lizards has suggested incredible real-world inspirations for not only Westeros but most of the ASoIaF world with very involved considerations for climate, history, hierarchal structures, etc. (the following are my own reblogs bc it'd take longer to get each and every post form them, but look through the stuff I didn't include on their own site!)

Hair & Headwear : Lys, Other Free Cities; Various Westeros & Essosi Styles

Clothes: Various Westerosi and Essosi; More from Free Cities; King's Landing; Tarth #1 & #2; Pentos; Asshai; More Dornish; Iron Islands; The North

Septas and Septons

The Lhazareen; Skaagos & Wildlings (Additions); Cragnnomen; the Dothraki #1 & #2; Kayakayanaya, Samyriana, and Bayasabhad;

[homestuck-archive]

HOMESTUCK NEWS UPDATE!

"Hi, James here. Hope you had a good holiday! New year, new me! New you! Whatever, man! We got the usual patreon updates for you. Wahoo! Did you know that's a kind of fish? I watch a lot of fishing videos. If everything goes right and nothing goes wrong we should have something very exciting very soon: a new website! What does this mean for you? Stick around and find out!

Thanks for coming to our AMA, I hope we were able to answer some questions. I especially liked the one where Haven said he was going to fill Dirk full of Milk and slap him against a wall. Great job team. In other community news, the folks over at SAHcon are having their New Year's showcase around 5 pm PST today. Wow! I'm excited to see what the community is cooking.

We got another great comic update coming mid month, and in the next few we're letting some of the new writers shine. I'm excited for you to read them!

Speaking of updates on things… some of you sleuths may have noticed some changes. I'd like to go into a little more detail about them to the extent that I am able. I also wanted to do this in an official newspost, and not on socials etc, so that there is no question about it.

The contract with VIZ media has been restructured. What does this mean? Well, let's start a little further back. We have gotten a lot of questions about Andrew's involvement with HS:BC and Homestuck as a whole. I mentioned before that Andrew approached me to finish HS:BC. As many of you know a few years ago Andrew stepped back from having a creative role. This has allowed him to focus on oversight, and some behind-the-scenes stuff. A large part of that was regaining a sort of legal control of the brand as a whole.

So who "Owns Homestuck?" Well Andrew still does. Who has the publishing rights? We're working on that! The HICU has a license to do what we want with the property, which is what has allowed us to do some of the more creative things we are trying to do. Is the Website going to be fixed? They're working on that! I have very little to do with that, personally, but once there is something solid to announce there and the concerned parties are comfortable with it I'll let you know. What does this mean for the commentaries? Behind the scenes, some ideas about how to handle the issues with the way Homestuck is going to be published are being discussed. Some of these ideas may include a new way to release the future book commentary in absence of the books themselves. Wow!

With regards to VIZ, as some of you have correctly surmised this is good news for us. It has allowed things like HS:BC and HICU licensing etc to happen, as well as the SAHcon license. Hopefully, this can also include some additional fan-friendly licenses Andrew is considering. This all will take time to fully unfold so more details will be forthcoming about what this means for Homestuck as a whole. All in all, I think we are in for an exciting year.

Man what else is goin on? Some good news on the Vinyl is that I talked to the printer and with such an overwhelming response from you guys, instead of a simple Best Of EP, we actually want to try and do a print of Vol. 1-4. This makes all my very scientific and organized data gathering completely useless. I am humbled by something new and mundane every day. Anyway, this represents a completely different beast logistically, but as a fan of those tracks I am very very excited about that. I will Literally buy a Record Player for this. "James, you don't own a record player?" No! What do I look like, an old man? Please don't answer that. (Yes James, you do. -Homestuck Archive, 2024.)

This month (January 2024) we are also going to start seeing some of the bonus content go public. I ran a poll for the Patrons, and the general consensus is that after 2 months, they're ok with the bonus content going public. This includes Bonus strips, the Illustrations, and the commentary. They're really fun to do, so I hope you guys are into it. If you want to see these as soon as they go up, they are available to subscribers. Thank you for that, btw. It means the world to be able to pay some of my team's bills. Look at me, getting all sappy on New Year's Day. Maybe it really is a new year and a new me..."

SUMMARY -

New HS:BC Website in the works, with some new features.

Update mid-month as usual. Some of the newer Team Writers.

VIZ deal has been "restructured." (that's good for us)

Andrew still "Owns Homestuck."

Working on a solution to homestuck dot com debacle.

There are plans for commentary.

Homestuck Vinyl will be Vol. 1-4, pending some light Logistical Upkeep.

Patreon Bonuses from November will be going public this month.

[gefionne]

Hi Gefionne!

Have you been reading any good books lately? I recently read “A River Endless” because I saw you mention it, and I enjoyed it a lot.

I noticed you have written quite a few fanfics set in a historical AU. I can only imagine the amount of research this takes and as a fellow fanfic writer I would love to hear a bit about your process when you write these.

Do you enjoy reading historical fiction in general, do you have any favorites that you would recommend?

Hello, friend!

I'm glad you enjoyed A River Endless! I also enjoyed those books, since I've been on a fantasy kick in the past 6 months. I loved fantasy most as a kid, and while I moved away from it for a while, I reread the Shades of Magic series by V.E. Schwab and got yanked back into wanting to read fantasy.

Shades of Magic is a favorite, though iirc Schwab's first move from YA to adult fiction. It still has a very YA flavor because of that, but it's such an engaging world that I got sucked in. Totally wrote an OT3 fic based on the series when I finished it again this time lol.

Other stuff I've really liked lately:

Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries and Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawlett - I really like her prose style and the books overall are whimsical and endearing.

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas - Dark academia with a supernatural twist; reread it recently.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess and Heart of the Sun Warrior by Sue Lynn Tan - Also YA-flavored adult fantasy inspired by Chinese mythology.

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo - I love this book. I will never stop gushing about this book. I reread it this summer because it's a creepy, humid Southern gothic that's queer af and has delicious prose.

In terms of historical fiction, I've had a lot of trouble connecting with it for quite a while now, despite having written a couple of meaty historical fics. There are some quirks of historicals that will bug me enough from the start that I can't get into them: mostly that they info dump the setting within the first paragraph with a laundry list of historical details that's like "Hey, look, I did my research!" but it actually makes the story sound like a freshman HIS101 paper, not a novel.

One of the toughest things about writing historicals is doing all that research and then judiciously weaving it into the story, not putting your whole-ass knowledge of details into every page. While of course I want to make the setting come alive with historical detail, in the end, the story is about the characters and their arc, so you have to walk this line of putting in enough detail to make it believable while not getting bogged down in the details. If a historical novel leans too hard on establishing the setting at the very start and less on introducing the characters, I tend to put it down because it seems like a book about the period, not a book about these people I'm supposed to care for. I might as well read non-fiction for that. All the historicals I've picked up lately--which, admittedly, isn't that many--have been like that, so I noped out.

My research for fics is not anywhere what would need to be done for a novel I'd be willing to query. I read 3 books about the Eagle Squadrons, watched a movie or two, and always had the internet's legion of aviation nerds at hand when I was writing my WWII Royal Air Force AU, but I still fudged enough that I'd be reluctant to do more than fanfiction with it. All historicals require some fudging, extrapolation, and creative license, but if I wrote an RAF novel, I'd have a far larger reading list.

For Limerence, the 70s English public school AU, I read a book of accounts of queer men and their experiences in public school, with some history of public school in general. Again, not half enough to float a novel, but perfectly adequate for my purposes of writing a fic for fun. The Good Omens fic that spans several historical eras is a product of internet research, and I believe one commenter found an historical misstep with tea, when it wouldn't've been available in the place Zira and Crowley currently were. I nodded to them for noticing the error, but didn't go back and fix it because while I put a lot of work into my fics and take them seriously as an art form, I'm comfortable with some anachronisms or imperfections in historical accuracy because I do, in fact, write these fics for fun around a full-time job, house, partner, and pet, and people can read them for free.

My advice for writing historical fics: pick up at least one non-fiction book about the period you're writing about, then see if you want to read more books or just chill on the internet. Decide how much you're comfortable fudging and what you need to be super accurate. Then focus on your characters and plot, using the setting to prop them up and make them come alive. The setting/time isn't the main focus, but you have to know enough about it to let your story unfold within its confines.

Anyway, this is so long and if you've made it all the way to the bottom, anon, that's lovely. I was just taking a break from my workday to reply, so it's back to the grind. ;-)

Love, Gef

[biggrump]

Video Games I played in 2023 (and maybe even enjoyed)

A completely unorganized list of games I played this year that I wanted to talk about because they were great.

1. Ultrakill - My biggest time sink of the year. Found out about this game about a year ago due to FUNKe talking about it a lot. Was hooked from the first level, and after beating it I replayed several levels until I mastered the mechanics, then looked for all the secret levels, then P-ranked all of Act 1 and then the P-1 boss fight several times over (Act 2 is hard to P-rank). However enjoyment did kinda dry up for a bit after I actually got good at the game but then Hakita dropped the first part of act 3 a while ago and it started all over again. Here's hoping the last 2 chapters stick the landing and keep scratching that itch (which they probably will let's be honest)

2. Metal Gear Solid series - Played all of the games aside from 4 which couldn't run on my PC (had to watch a long play for it) and Peace Walker just cause I got distracted by other stuff. The first game didn't really resonate with me on a deeper level but its storytelling, gameplay mechanics, and 4th wall breaks are amazing, especially for the time. 2 and 3 hit far harder and are some of the best games I've ever played. I could talk for hours about every facet of 2's creativity with its meta narrative and constant questioning of reality but then I wouldn't have time to talk about other games here. Just know that it is now my favorite game ever made. 3, while not quite as crazy and predictive with its plot, is just a really good story about a small group of characters that is incredibly written and told. I also really enjoyed 5's gameplay and a lot of the more subtle storytelling, and while 4 has an utterly incomprehensible plot with tons of holes, the character writing, voice acting, and graphics are phenomenal. I want whatever Kojima smokes when he comes up with these.

3. Red Dead Online - I played this with my brother and encountered a modder on my first day. Think that really informed my take on this game because he gave me a shit ton of money and I was able to use it to get a bounty license which took up most of my time in that game. We'd just queue up a bounty mission and play some Oingo Boingo and Talking Heads while we ride, do the bounty, then watch random videos while we waited till the last minute to drop off the bounty bc of how Rockstar decided to set up the system. We also met a couple people online and overall just had a great experience bein a rootin tootin shootin cowboy. Also my guy looks doofy as fuck.

4. The Artful Escape - Impulse bought this game after I watched a vid by Jexonite where he played every game published by Annapurna because the premise seemed fun and I thought it looked cool. Turns out the game does look cool, incredible even. But the art style is kind of all this game has going for it, aside from some solid voice actors (Jason Schwartzman and Lena Headey were cool and Mark Strong was completely unrecognizable). Gameplay is basically just a walking sim that occasionally tells you to press buttons to play notes on your guitar and the story took a pretty generic turn. Has absolutely zero replay value but I did enjoy playing it.

5. BPM - The first roguelike I've ever gotten into, probably because it has a guns in it. I got all the way up to the last level then died to a low level enemy and have not gotten that far in the game since. The OST goes insanely hard though and is part of the reason why I keep coming back to it. It's also insanely addicting so be warned.

6. Hotline Miami - Probably holds the record for the game that pissed me off the most this year. An insanely fun and fast paced shooter game where your reaction timing is everything and that every nerd with a YouTube channel has already picked apart. Even though some of the AI is complete jank it is so satisfying clearing rooms in this game. The art style is also quite good and the soundtrack introduced me to a ton of new artists. Also is a strong case for environmental storytelling needing to be more prevalent in games. I can figure out what's going on I'm a smart guy.

7. Katana Zero - A very Hotline Miami inspired game aka a game with a pixelated art style and a synthwave soundtrack where the goal is to clear rooms and you die in one hit. I feel a bit more mixed about this game compared to Hotline honestly. I really liked the time slowing mechanic, the mobility, and the way you can reflect bullets with your sword. I also like how the enemy AI actually stays consistent through each run of the level, whereas with Hotline there were some enemies who could move erratically and fuck everything up even if you plan a solid route. However, I think because of how the story was told I don't think it had as much of an impact on me. I can't really remember a lot of the important details but I can remember that a lot of plot threads were left unresolved. Also, while I do like the combat a lot, I feel like it's missing the sandbox approach that Hotline had. Honestly not a game I would necessarily come back to, but if the dev made a sequel I would buy it (especially if we get to play as Dragon more he was cool as fuck). I'll also give the game props for actually having an OST unlike Hotline.

8. Undertale - What could I say about this game that hasn't already been said by the entire population of South Dakota? It is very fun and I am glad I finally took the plunge and played it. Now I just have to finish the other routes at some point lol

9. Lethal Company - I played this game with multiple friend groups and it was incredibly fun but also terrifying. If you haven't played yet, the best advice I can give is to just go in completely blind and figure shit out on your own. Also, try to actually go into the buildings instead of staying in the ship like a goo goo ga ga dingus.

Other stuff I played worth mentioning (Smaller stuff or games I revisited/haven't finished a full playthrough of):

1. A Hat in Time DLC - Played the original game late last year and loved it, but didn't get the DLC so I didn't play it for some time. Played it this year and had a blast. The Nyakuza Metro level is so detailed, you can really tell the devs poured their heart and soul into making this game look as great as it does. Made me rediscover my love for the base game.

2. Titanfall 2 - Not my first time playing it but replayed the single player on PC for the first time (played on Xbox before) and realized the characters and level design were way better than I remembered. I then started pestering everyone I knew to play it and the ones who did seem to like it too. I also popped off multiple times in the multiplayer so it was nice to have a multiplayer game that I'm good at.

3. The Magic Circle - Played for a few hours and then stopped, but the premise is quite fun and I am eager to revisit at some point in the future.

4. The Looker - This one was just funny idrk what else to say. (I have not played The Witness)

[cassiaslair]

please, please, please, please, please, do not copy the designs of other creators. do not lift from them. do not purchase their products just to steal whatever elements they’re using (because often times, you don’t know where they’re sourced from and you could be taking licensed assets that you could get in SO much trouble for commercially using).

once again: something you think is cool or trendy in a creator’s borders, especially, is something very special and unique to them. a lot of the times, we’re forced to make changes and do something new because people keep lifting from us and we are desperately trying to stand out, and because of how often it happens, it is so creatively draining to our process and we burn out.

if you see someone doing something you would also like to do, ask for permission first. the worst someone can say is no. if they say no, at least you asked! do not just copy or mimic without asking. do not take inspiration from them without asking. do not use their designs as a reference to make your own. that is not okay.

i’ve had an issue with someone referencing my work for six months, almost seven now, ever since they first followed me. not only that, they escalated to referencing the work of several other creators in the community. this is not okay. this is so disrespectful. they were already confronted once before for making nearly an exact replica of someone’s border, and i confronted them yesterday about copying me to such a degree that people were assuming some of the borders they created were designed by me, as well as once again heavily lifting from other designers. i did not receive a response and have been ignored instead, so i am making this post as a warning. if in the future i continue to see any icon border design, or anything at all, released that looks heavily like anyone else in the community, i will be making a PSA about them with the evidence. because this isn’t cool. it’s not okay. it’s not difficult to be original, or at the very least ask someone if you’re allowed to take inspiration and then credit them for a concept. it’s so simple.

please do not take inspiration from others without their permission. it’s one thing for several people to create similar designs of something that’s super generic, but it’s another when you’re blatantly and purposefully using something specific that you know a specific creator is using in a specific way. a lot of creators who make premium products, we do it because we are trying to support ourselves, be it for bills, pets, family, medications, college, etc. so please, ask before you act. do not just take.

also, if you get caught stealing or referencing other people’s work, please just own up to it. please take responsibility and hold yourself accountable for what you did. just ADMIT it. say you’re sorry. you owe us that much.

[denimbex1986]

'Decades before Christopher Nolan set his sights on a movie about J. Robert Oppenheimer, a science-obsessed BBC executive ventured to America in 1979 to make a $1.5 million TV show about the father of the atom bomb.

Peter Goodchild began his career at the BBC in radio drama, but eventually migrated to the storied “Horizon” science unit to put his chemistry degree to some use. The division began experimenting with factual dramas in the 1970s, and after delivering a hit series on French-Polish physicist Marie Curie, Goodchild set his sights on the New York-born Oppenheimer.

“I’d seen a play on J. Robert Oppenheimer at the Hampstead Theatre Club way back in 1966,” the 83-year-old tells Variety from his home in Exeter, southwest England, where his Zoom background reveals a room teeming with books on heaving shelves.

“It was an amazing story, and I’d always wanted to do it,” Goodchild continues. “Someone suddenly presented me with a book about Oppenheimer and his relationship with one of his other scientific colleagues, which was an excellent story. I said, ‘I’d love to take it further.’ And we did.”

Goodchild’s seven-part 1980 BBC series “Oppenheimer” — with the physicist played by 40-year-old Sam Waterston, just years away from his Oscar-nominated performance for “The Killing Fields” — received seven BAFTA nominations and took home three golden masks, including best drama series. The show, which was co-produced with WGBH Boston (which contributed just $100,000), also picked up a Golden Globe nod for Waterston along with two Primetime Emmy nominations.

Viewed through a contemporary lens, “Oppenheimer” is astonishing. A BBC-produced series telling an American story, featuring a predominantly American cast? It simply would never happen now. The broadcaster’s ongoing fight to justify its license fee-based funding model — in which every BBC-watching household in the U.K. pays £159 ($204) a year to fund its content — means that most original dramas on the Beeb have a distinctly British flavor.

But back then, “the sheer volume of drama that was happening was extraordinary,” explains Ruth Caleb, then a plucky line producer on “Oppenheimer.” “It went beyond the insular; it was much more outward-looking.” BBC drama still is, in some ways, she hastens to add. “But for different reasons that are often commercial reasons. Back then, they were creative reasons.”

“When Peter put up ‘Oppenheimer’ as an idea, it was clearly an important subject matter, because it’s not just about the country we live in, but about the world that we live in,” says Caleb, who is still producing films and scripted series under her own banner. “I think they trusted that Peter would come up with something pretty special.”

“Oppenheimer” introduces the nuclear physicist during his time with the University of Berkeley physics department — a halcyon period for the listless scientist, who surrounded himself with card-carrying Communists (though never fully subscribed himself) and carried on with the troubled Jean Tatlock while falling for Kitty Puening, a married woman.

The bulk of its seven hours focused on the formation of the Manhattan Project and the Los Alamos settlement in New Mexico, with special attention paid to Oppenheimer’s tumultuous relationship with General Leslie Groves and other scientists such as Edward Teller (played by “Poirot” star David Suchet). A masterful depiction of the Trinity test in Episode 5 used archival material to convey the actual blast, but also relied on a huge, arid Colorado Springs set. The final two episodes focused on Oppenheimer’s post-war troubles, and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission hearing that stripped him of his security clearance, effectively severing his ties to U.S. government.

While much had been written by the late 1970s about Oppenheimer, who died of throat cancer in 1967, Goodchild and screenwriter Peter Prince spent a month in America researching the scientist. In addition to meeting a number of his academic peers — “They were happy to talk and talk!” says Goodchild — the duo also located Oppenheimer’s son Peter, his brother Frank and sister-in-law. (Kitty had died a few years prior, in 1972, while his daughter Toni died by suicide in 1977.)

“We got very, very strong images from his brother,” says Goodchild. “And then we went one Sunday morning to meet Peter. But when we arrived, he wasn’t there. Someone said he’s gone, but that he has these moods and may feel differently in an hour.”

So, Goodchild and Prince “hung out and wandered about” until he returned. “And he turned up,” the producer exclaims. “He wouldn’t let us in the house. He talked in a very—” Goodchild falters. “It was obvious life has not been straightforward for him.”

When the team began casting, they hired U.K.-based American actors, which helped to save money. A lead, however, proved elusive. All sorts of ideas were thrown at the wall — at one point, even “Psycho” star Anthony Perkins was in the mix — until Caleb suggested Waterston, who would need to be flown in from the U.S. where he’d been shooting a movie in Wisconsin.

“He was a dreamboat,” says Caleb. “Just the loveliest guy.”

Adds Goodchild: “I think we were paying him £1,200 a program. He liked the scripts, and said, ‘Yes, I’ll do it’ … We put him up in a house in Chelsea, which was around £1,200 a month, which seemed astronomical to us.” (Calculating for inflation, that’s roughly £6,500 per month.)

Waterston was worth the eye-watering Chelsea rent. His casting was considered to be a masterstroke due to his complex, unsentimental portrayal of Oppenheimer. One Manhattan Project scientist even remarked at the time that Waterston was “more Oppenheimer than Oppenheimer ever was.”

“My abiding memory of the production is how nice Sam Waterston was to work with,” screenwriter Peter Prince tells Variety over an email. “I re-watched a couple of episodes to refresh my memory and was reminded again how good Sam was as the actor: he was the complex Oppenheimer — charming, conflicted and driven.”

The show filmed between a studio in the U.K. for interior shots, and in Colorado Springs, where the Los Alamos project was constructed along with the vast tower that housed the atom bomb (pictured). “Everyone [tried] to be as authentic and near the actuality as possible,” says Caleb, who always had one eye on the $1.5 million budget — the equivalent of around $5.5 million today.

“When we were setting up Trinity, we hired this guy to make the bomb. And I knew that when we film, what you see in it is not the detail. But he did that bomb, which was hugely expensive, and every single detail of it was accurate — not that you ever saw it,” says Caleb. “I wasn’t pleased, yet he was so delighted that he managed to make this bomb exactly as it was. And all he got from me was a rather sour face saying ‘Yes, but you’ve gone over your budget!’”

Trinity was shot in three parts, with the American shoot completed over four weeks, followed by the studio work — which encompassed several control room scenes — and then other extraneous shots. Goodchild and Caleb detail a “pretty smooth” production that was primarily the work of the show’s gifted late director, Barry Davis, whom they describe as “fearsome” but someone who “knew what he wanted.” They also credit their editor Tariq Anwar, “who was brilliant,” adds Caleb.

Despite the show’s heavy subject matter, the team managed to eke out some fun on set. Toward the end of the shoot, when Suchet wrapped his final scenes as Teller and stepped out of the studio, “they delivered a cream pie into his face,” laughs Caleb. “I can’t remember whether it was Sam or someone else. But that demonstrates the good nature on the production. It was a happy production.”

Yet as one of Hollywood’s most visionary directors returns the A-bomb’s formidable creator to the cultural consciousness, the BBC’s “Oppenheimer” has become a largely forgotten production.

Goodchild — who used his research to write a book on Oppenheimer that published alongside the series in 1980 — had some interaction with Kai Bird, co-author of the 2005 Oppenheimer biography “American Prometheus” that Nolan’s film is based on. However, neither he nor Caleb were contacted by the “Tenet” director or Universal Studios as the new film came together. In fact, the pair are full of questions about how the movie turned out, and how it compares to the series. “I wonder what attracted [Nolan] to Oppenheimer,” Caleb says.

Goodchild, meanwhile, is shocked to hear the film will open on the same day as Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.” “Wow,” he mutters. “I’m going to be very interested to see how well it goes down.”

Though there are 43 years between the TV show and the movie, the similarities in approach to scenes between Oppenheimer and the main players in his orbit are striking, particularly certain conversations between the scientist and Groves and Teller. The BBC series may be of its time — devoid of Ludwig Göransson’s feverish score, Nolan’s propulsive direction and a massive IMAX canvas — and made for around 5% of the movie’s budget in real terms, but in many ways, its narrative structure and use of sub-plots that delve deeper into Oppenheimer’s inner circle make it a more holistic portrait of an unpredictable character.

Caleb at one point asks whether the BBC will bring “Oppenheimer” out of the archives to air alongside the movie hitting cinemas. With an estimated opening of $50 million this weekend and clear public interest, it’s a good question.

But for all its critical success, “Oppenheimer” appears to have been all but lost in the annals of TV history. In the U.K., it’s not even on the BBC’s streaming service iPlayer; instead, it’s available for purchase on Prime Video for around £10. BBC Studios owns the rights to the series, but Variety understands a “complicated” rights situation means the show may not be rerun anytime soon.

Those who do uncover the series, of course, don’t tend to regret it. When Goodchild’s neighbors visited New Mexico several years back, he suggested they visit the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History.

“Not only did they do that, but they bought a DVD [of ‘Oppenheimer’] and took it home and watched it,” says Goodchild. “They came back and quite seriously said, ‘That was wonderful.’ After 42 years, it wasn’t something that got thrown at you very often.”'

[blazehedgehog]

If you didn't have to worry about money for the rest of your life, what would you change/ try to acomplish?

I'd just like to make games. I learned how to draw and that was my passion for a long time, but whenever people would ask me about "growing up to become an artist" it was never, like, the primary thing I wanted to do. But I never knew what else I wanted to do.

Until in middle school or whatever and I started asking questions like "How are video games made?" I roped some friends in and we brainstormed some ideas, but even after they fell off, I kept at it. I taught myself how to make games. I reverse engineered other people's programming. I wanted to make games so badly that I basically brute forced my way in to it.

I would love to make a finished version of OverBite, sure. Submitting a pitch to Devolver and getting rejected for that really made me take a hard look at OverBite and it shook me out of seeing it as this precious project of mine. OverBite kind of sucks (no pun intended). But it sucks because of the limitations of a game jam. A lot of game jams are teams of 2-5 people and I did most of OverBite by myself. All the coding, all the art, even down to the sounds -- I voice Dracula and a lot of his audio (the slashes, whooshes, etc.) is me making mouth sounds. I also wasn't super clear on my design of OverBite and it changed a lot at the last second (the original plan was more of a Metroidvania with a level up system).

It's okay to say that OverBite is kind of boring, I think. Too many traversal options that are all too similar (but also difficult to execute), not enough environmental variety (I built all of its levels in the last few hours of the jam), and some of the later levels get too big and too complex. There's a lot of room for refinement. And I've been slowly accumulating ideas to help diversify the game over the last seven years.

I'd also just like to make more fan games. I know some people out there are like "No, you should make original games" but honestly that seems ridiculous to me. I realize there's a whole legal quagmire about being "paid to make fan games" and my opinion on it is that you should not accept money for fan game development. Fan games should not be funded on Patreon, and they should not be funded on Kickstarter, which obviously makes large-scale fan game development difficult. But unfortunately that's the law and you're inviting a lot of trouble if you go against that. Not just trouble for your own project, but trouble for everyone around you.

Do not put rights holders into a situation where they HAVE to enforce that law. Do not be the martyr that spoils everything for your community just because you're too selfish to scale your project properly (or worse, be the sort of asshole that thinks you deserve to pocket a couple bucks for making a fangame).

But if the money solved itself for me, separate from all that? Like if people donated to my Patreon to support me having food and housing just because they liked who I am and the general concept of "whatever I'm doing next"?

I would love to be able to fully dedicate myself to finishing that Bubsy project. Or doing that remake of MarioWeen I've been mulling over for 11+ years. Or actually finishing a Sonic fan game for once. Or that Ghostbusters RPG. Not to make money from them, or fill out a portfolio, but just to be able to express that creativity. Doing them because I want to play in that playground. A person is allowed to have these thoughts and desires, even if they do not have legal ownership of the license.

(I have also, if you cannot tell, had a video brewing in my head about the legality of fan games, why people make them, and crowd funding them. There are definitely Things To Say about the topic.)

More than drawing, more than writing, more than video production, that is probably the number one thing I'd like to do if I didn't have to worry about putting food in my fridge.

But game development feels like such an uncertainty nowadays. The floodgates have burst, there's an endless fire hose of new games that never stops, and great stuff gets buried all the time. I realize Youtube is also a monstrous content stream, but comparatively, there's "less risk" insofar as videos take less effort to produce.

Like, yes, I went through hellish anguish for 4 and a half months on that Sonic Adventure 2 video, but it resulted in a tightly edited end product that's 46 minutes long. If you gave me that much time for game development, I could not give you a finished product that lasted 45 minutes, and I could not give you a game that would even earn a measly $100 in sales.

Fulfilling video games take years to make and are a much larger gamble overall.

Plus, I already "have my foot in the door" on Youtube -- I'm making real, tangible money, and I have over 27,000 subscribers. That's more than 90% of Youtube. It needs to be more, a lot more, but they'll come. I've been doing Youtube for more than a decade and a half, and most of that 27,000 didn't show up until the last 4-6 years.

The simple fact is I'd need a lot more time and a lot more money to establish myself as an indie developer in the same way I'm already established on Youtube, even if I'd rather be making games. To some people I am BlazeHedgehog, the founder of SAGE, the creator of Sonic TFH, the person who massively shook up MFGG and caused a flood of newbies to dominate the forums in 2005, etc. But the mainstream at large doesn't know that. There are a lot of places -- most places, actually, I'd argue -- where I'm a nobody. The mainstream at large only sort of knows me as "that guy who made that one Sonic 06 video" and "the dude with the modding tutorial videos."

Don't take that to mean that video editing does not make me happy. I've been editing video almost as long as I've been making games! I was teaching myself to cut together AMVs in 1998 at the same time I was learning the ropes of Corel Click & Create. They go hand in hand. I am a shotgun of creativity and it goes in all directions.

But at least for right this second, deep in my heart of hearts, I would make more games right now if I could afford to.

(And I say that fully implying that my heart is like the wind and I've flip-flopped back and forth between gamedev and video production based on fleeting whims before. The grass is always greener on the other side of the creative outlet.)

[gotjacobian]

Minnie Bruce Pratt died last week, so I wanted to write about a book of hers that affected me - her memoir S/he, which I read while I was recovering from top surgery last year. I’m kind of surprised I read it, because the title turned me off, but I’m glad I did. It really helped with the complicated feelings I had around that time beyond anything I’d expected. It’s a fascinating and informative story of Pratt’s own life, of lesbian feminist and leftist movements in the 70s-90s, and a defiant and specific celebration of loving revolutionary communist and butch trans lesbian activist Leslie Feinberg as her partner. 

I don’t want to discount those first parts, at all, but the last is what affected me. I struggle to think positively about myself when it comes to gender identity and expression, especially in the context of my relationships with other people. Every time I try to write out why, it becomes this painfully discourse-poisoned ouroboros of an essay that makes me wish I could write like the aliens from Arrival, in a circle, with no place to begin and no conclusion to end on, and make myself understood. I struggle with the precision of my words, and the personal-ness of my evidence, so I’m gonna be blunt and loose and generalizing to give you the abbreviated version instead: 

A lot of masculine people who aren’t cis men struggle to feel valuable or desirable. We have no cultural models for how they could be those things, even in progressive spaces, that aren’t painful and reductive in one way or another. Gendered expression and association are held up to cis-ness as a ruler. (With or without conscious intent - I had a massive reckoning when I started T, and suddenly people around me were casually recognizing me in ways I’d wanted and asked for for years, even though nothing about me had changed besides how ‘cis’ I looked and sounded.) In my experience: if you can’t make yourself sufficiently cis-adjacent, your masculinity won’t be recognized, even by those who care about you. If you CAN manage it, then their recognition feels conditional on upholding that adjacency. You might even be accused of seeking undeserved privilege and comfort, the crime of replicating some limited conditions of cis-ness without the license of being cis yourself.

But being loved for your trans-ness isn’t better. Often it means others reading femininity or gender-nonconformity into your existence based solely on the fact you are not a cis man - traits you may not want assumed of you, that may not even exist inside you, but that people invent because they want a way to see you without having to reckon with the ways in which your body misaligns with what they’ve been taught to expect. In our rites of passage, in our families, in romance, in sex, we have no scripts for loving a person who does not relate to their embodiment as prescribed. Inventing new ones takes effort and creativity and care that many people are not willing to expend, and to exist as a trans or GNC person is to see people decline to expend it over and over and over again. (As in: if you don’t want pearls for graduation, and your family doesn’t want to give you a watch, you get nothing. But for everything.) You can get closer to cis-ness, any kind of cis-ness, in an attempt to mitigate it. That’s a process with painful stakes and a painful limit. 

Sorry for the “abbreviated” wall of text - but it lets me say what I wanted to: Pratt writes about gender, and about Feinberg, with no script to work off. And she does it with certainty, with love, with reverence, with poetry, in the face of what often seems like an entire world that wishes she wouldn’t. She builds it into the very structure of the memoir. I teared up halfway through, when the “You” used to refer to Feinberg throughout the rest of the book appears. It read to me as a statement of recognition and intimacy. That the story of their relationship wasn’t being told to prove anything to an audience, but for Feinberg hirself. Seeing that use of “you” felt honoring, in a way I can barely communicate.*

*(To try: Growing up, I frequently felt like I was only ‘real’ to one person, a partner, and would disappear completely if she stopped seeing me. In those times, arguably, there was no correct third-person pronoun she could use for me. No reference that could have made me visible or interpretable to an outside party.  And no way for me to be heard speaking for myself, because “I” to an audience is a trap, opaque and unreliable. A tree falling in the forest. “You” hears.)

There’s a lot in the book, both theoretical and concrete, about loving people and their bodies, about loving their relationships to their bodies, about loving their relationship to the world those bodies live in, in ways that honor those people without reduction or misrepresentation. All as told through autobiographical vignettes about love stories, sex, political rallying, intimate conversations. It’s messy and holistic and unflinching. I love Stone Butch Blues, and it deserves every accolade it gets - but honestly, of the two books, this one hit me harder.

I have a deep respect for Pratt. She was outspoken and tireless, and refused to tolerate anything less than complete intersectionality in her activism. There were many points in the book that I was forced to realize (sheepishly, then joyously) that what I thought were nascent radical causes had been alive in activism, hers and others, for years. She was optimistic without being uncritical, and was unafraid to live in complexity. She was also, obviously, an incredible writer. I hope her legacy gets the recognition it deserves.

[minecraftbookshelf]

Traffic Life Scars: SolidarityGaming

Welcome to my series of MS Paint diagrams following the headcanon/concept that every minecraft death leaves a scar, and while most of those do not continue past the end of the server, the final deaths leave permanent marks on the cubito. (And also some other deaths that have significant impact on the story, the cubito, or both.) I did take some creative license with the deaths, mostly in the sense of figuring out ways to handle Fall Damage in a slightly more RL context, as well as figuring out approximately where final blows would fall based on the respective positioning of the cubitos in question. Content Warning for general blunt but vague descriptions of varying injuries and ways to die, including but not limited to shattered bones, impaling, and disintegration. This project has also shown some interesting patterns in how some of them tend to die. On with the show!

I will be posting the updated versions of these as the players of Secret Life die, on the Sunday after the episodes go out. So there will be spoilers. If that wasn't immediately obvious.

Third Life: Skizz shot him while he was trying to flee the desert bunker and my headcanon for that has always been that it caught him in the throat.

Last Life: He died to fall damage trying to escape from Grian (after accidentally initiating combat by jokingly hitting him with a baked potato) He fell from the roof of Mumbo's house down into a space by some wooden stairs, and with the angle it looked like he would have hit the side of his head on the edge of the stairs. So that's what he did :)

Double Life: He has a faded and slightly smaller version of Tango's creeper scars from their first death. This one stuck around for its combined significance of being the first deaths on the server and also how they found each other. For their final death he was killed by an enderman. According to Mr. Gaming himself he visualized that as being strangled by the enderman so, there we go.

Limited Life: Fall damage again, on the other side of his head this time, he landed on rock after falling/being pushed off of/whichever version you prefer Skynet.

Secret Life: He is free! The curse is broken and he died second! Baby steps. He was blasted to kingdom come by Etho's Dishwasher, who happens to be a warden. Since posting the original versions of these I've decided that Warden deaths leave a skulk mark as a scar, and for the sonic blasts those look kind of like a starburst on the torso.

RIP Jimmy Solidarity, forever a canary in our hearts.

-

[BdoubleO100] [Bigbst4tz2] [Ethoslab] [Geminitay] [GoodTimesWithScar] [Grian] [ImpulseSV] [InTheLittleWood] [LDShadowLady] [Mumbo Jumbo] [PearlescentMoon] [Renthedog] [Skizzleman] [Smajor1995] [Smallishbeans] [TangoTek] [ZombieCleo]