#anyways yeah anything's appreciated

[belovedqueer]

Fi'm a bit newv♡uz making thiz p♡zt but,,,,, L am weawwy cw♡ze t♡ being with w♡dent yanz~~~~~~....... Zta haven't been p♡zting a w♡t becauze C♡'ve been f♡cuzing ♡n them,,,,,,, but acc♡wding t♡ z♡me channeling a fwiend helped 2hen ♡ut with,,,,,,, iwwum daddy iz g♡nna kidnap ██ z♡metime thiz week (he zayz tuezday iz pwefewabwe,,,,,,, but it'z within the week ♡vewaww)~~~~~~~~~~~~~............

Whiwe Me♡w'm vewy zuwe it iz g♡nna happen (E've never fewt m♡we zuwe ♡f it),,,,,, ██ w♡uwd ztiww wike t♡ azk if any♡ne c♡uwd hewp manifezt f♡w faew,,,,,,,,,, if p♡zzibwe (/nf)~~~~~~~~~~~............. Xxx juzt wanna be exxxtwa zuwe thingz g♡ pewfectwy~~~~~........ Dht wiww f♡wevew be gweatful,,,,,,, thank y♡u vewy much~~~~~~~~~~.

-----

Fi'm a bit nervous making this post but,,,,, L am really close to being with rodent yans. Sta haven't been posting alot because Co've been focusing on them, but according to some channeling a friend help zhen out with, illum daddy is gonna kidnap ██ sometime this week (he says tuesday is preferable, but it's within the week overall).

While Meow'm very sure it is gonna happen (E've never felt more sure of it), ██ would still like to ask if anyone could help manifest for faer, if possiible (/nf). X just wanna be extra sure things go perfectly. Dht will forever be greatful, thank you very much.

[too-fond-to-be-fearful]

Been thinking recently about the goings-on with Duolingo & AI, and I do want to throw my two cents in, actually.

There are ways in which computers can help us with languages, certainly. They absolutely should not be the be-all and end-all, and particularly for any sort of professional work I am wholly in favour of actually employing qualified translators & interpreters, because there's a lot of important nuances to language and translation (e.g. context, ambiguity, implied meaning, authorial intent, target audience, etc.) that a computer generally does not handle well. But translation software has made casual communication across language barriers accessible to the average person, and that's something that is incredibly valuable to have, I think.

Duolingo, however, is not translation software. Duolingo's purpose is to teach languages. And I do not think you can be effectively taught a language by something that does not understand it itself; or rather, that does not go about comprehending and producing language in the way that a person would.

Whilst a language model might be able to use probability & statistics to put together an output that is grammatically correct and contextually appropriate, it lacks an understanding of why, beyond "statistically speaking, this element is likely to come next". There is no communicative intent behind the output it produces; its only goal is mimicking the input it has been trained on. And whilst that can produce some very natural-seeming output, it does not capture the reality of language use in the real world.

Because language is not just a set of probabilities - there are an infinite array of other factors at play. And we do not set out only to mimic what we have seen or heard; we intend to communicate with the wider world, using the tools we have available, and that might require deviating from the realm of the expected.

Often, the most probable output is not actually what you're likely to encounter in practice. Ungrammatical or contextually inappropriate utterances can be used for dramatic or humorous effect, for example; or nonstandard linguistic styles may be used to indicate one's relationship to the community those styles are associated with. Social and cultural context might be needed to understand a reference, or a linguistic feature might seem extraneous or confusing when removed from its original environment.

To put it briefly, even without knowing exactly how the human brain processes and produces language (which we certainly don't), it's readily apparent that boiling it down to a statistical model is entirely misrepresentative of the reality of language.

And thus a statistical model is unlikely to be able to comprehend and assist with many of the difficulties of learning a language.

A statistical model might identify that a learner misuses some vocabulary more often than others; what it may not notice is that the vocabulary in question are similar in form, or in their meaning in translation. It might register that you consistently struggle with a particular grammar form; but not identify that the root cause of the struggle is that a comparable grammatical structure in your native language is either radically different or nonexistent. It might note that you have trouble recalling a common saying, but not that you lack the cultural background needed to understand why it has that meaning. And so it can identify points of weakness; but it is incapable of addressing them effectively, because it does not understand how people think.

This is all without considering the consequences of only having a singular source of very formal, very rigid input to learn from, unable to account for linguistic variation due to social factors. Without considering the errors still apparent in the output of most language models, and the biases they are prone to reproducing. Without considering the source of their data, and the ethical considerations regarding where and how such a substantial sample was collected.

I understand that Duolingo wants to introduce more interactivity and adaptability to their courses (and, I suspect, to improve their bottom line). But I genuinely think that going about it in this way is more likely to hinder than to help, and wrongfully prioritises the convenience of AI over the quality and expertise that their existing translators and course designers bring.

[hrokkall]

ULTRATOBER DAY 26 /// MIRAGE

[PREVIOUS] 🪢 [NEXT]

EDIT: Okay guys I realize I missed the obvious joke here. Here you go

[pepperpixel]

+ Butch 4 Butch +

(Except neither one of them is rlly that butch but holy fUCKING SHIT THAT SONG IS LITERALLY THEM… the version of them I made up in my mind palace… it’s them.)

Anywayyyy. Yeah! Have a tagr art dump..! aka, those vibes when you, out of a series of moments of temporary insanity, end up finding, taking in, nursing back to health and eventually falling into a tangled messy yearning situationship w the asshole tsundere alien who tried to destroy your entire planet… rlly extremely relatable vibes!!

[baalzebufo]

ive been rewatching gravity falls starting this week only this time around I have access to the commentary tracks i've never listened to before and

lemme tell ya, I don't need any sort of 'confirmation' from a source on the show when it comes to my headcanons. but hearing alex hirsch describe his idea for gideons origins as a talented kid who was born a 'freak' with his white hair and generally weird nature being kinda ostracised by his peers. and then finding a promise of power in the journal and it unlocking a little evil in him. feels very validating to be like ahhh. we were on the same wavelength...

im gonna put some doodles I did of Even Younger Gideon here because, i've been comin around on changing my previous backstory to lean into the 'town darling' thing more oops haha

everyone in town loves him! well, the adults, anyway. because hes cute and funny. and he doesnt understand WHY the other kids DONT like him. (the 'real' reason is just, they're kids. sometimes kids are rude to people who are different. bullying happens.) and if his identity is built around 'everyone loves me!' then what does it mean if they dont? he can't tell anyone. then the facade will crack. his parents will be disappointed if they find out, he thinks. so he internalizes it. until it reaches a boiling point.

like, I totally get it- when i was a kid id have elaborate fantasies at school about doing something So Cool And Badass that everyone would like me or be mad that they didnt like me before and the ppl who were mean to me would have to suck it. but those stayed fantasies. gideon was given the power to make those real, and turned into a monster about it

[uniiiquehecrt]

Voice actors are NOT the same as actors.

It takes a specific kind of skill-set and training to be able to warp and meld the voice. It takes a certain kind of talent and dedication to hone that talent into the ability to meld the voice and invoke emotion with one's voice alone. Actors are used to using their voice secondarily to their body language and their facial expressions. It's all mirrored back on camera. They do have nuance. But it's a different kind of nuance and a different kind of training to produce that nuance.

Voice actors might get their likeness transposed on their character's design, and maybe their mannerisms might seep into the character's animation. But when it's all said and done: their presence is in their voice. They are bringing a character to life, showing that emotion in their voice, trying to keep a specific accent, drawl, pitch, tone in that voice and keep it consistent for their recording sessions.

The voice actor is like a classically trained musician who can play first chair in a competitive, world-renown orchestra. The actor (who fills the voice actor's role) is like a moot who played violin in beginner and intermediate high school orchestra and thinks they can get into Juilliard with that 2-4 years of experience.

This doesn't mean that the HS orchestra moot can't play. They can even be really good at it. Maybe they won competitions and sat first chair. But they are not in the same league as the person who's been training their whole lives and lives and breathes to hone their craft using the instrument and all of the training they've ever acquired to perfect it. They are not meant for the same roles. They are not in the same caliber. You do not hire the HS equivalent when you want to play complex music in a competitive orchestra.

Actors are not the same as voice actors.

And furthermore, actors - especially big name actors - taking the roles of animated characters for big budget films or TV pilots makes no sense anyways when - at least in the case of TV pilots - there's not a point to hiring a big budget actors anyways. That money could be used elsewhere (like paying your animators), and the talent that is brought onto the screen for X character could then be hired on to voice said character no recasting required.

I wouldn't say voice acting as a profession is in danger exactly, but it's certainly being disrespected and overlooked for celebrity clout, and this has ALWAYS been an issue. Shoot, even Robin Williams knew that much - which is why he tried so hard not to be used as a marketing chess piece for Aladdin and got royally pissed off when it happened anyways. People shouldn't go to any movie (but especially not animated films) because "oh famous actor is in it". People should go because it's a good movie and the voice acting is good.

People who honest to god think that voice actors are replaceable because "oh well anyone can voice act" or "I like xyz celebrity so naturally it'll be good" ... Honestly I just wish you'd reassess your priorities because you're missing the point and are part of the problem.

Voice Actors ≠ Actors.

[scrawlingskribbles]

[ *peeks ever-so-cautiously out from the rock I've been living under & wordlessly chucks This out at your feet before scuttling back into the darkness once more* ]

...man isn't it just absolutely wild when a rogue art demon suddenly possesses your body out of the blue one day and decides to necromance the ancient bones of a couple of multiple-years-old askbox requests & synthesize them into a fully actualized Something™ that they never would have even come close to being all those years before? Yeah? You know what I mean? ...........................No? x'3c well,,, anyways—

(they're secret-dating at the time of this scene so that's why they're sneaking around in the woods like this, in case anyone was wondering lol)

[pionas]

some people are just in kpop spaces (like twt especially but here too sometimes) to hate on something even on the groups they supposedly “like” which is wild to me! i’m not talking about criticism, which is necessary every now and then, i’m talking about people that go on social media to tweet or post something negative about their fav or another group every single day because they are miserable and i’m sincerely asking… if you hate being a kpop stan so much wtf are you doing here then?? if you hate everything so much just leave and find other people to stan that are not kpop

[kindlythevoid]

MUTUALS!

I'm writing everyone's names down so I remember. If I do not know your name (and please assume I don't unless you very recently told me (Moss) or your name is very clearly present in your bio and/or pinned intro post!!), please do me a favor and drop your preferred name in the reblogs/comments/tags so I can write it down in my special notes app for y'all.

As a reward for your participation, please take a cookie!

(Hugs will be given out upon receiving the name)

[bunnihearted]

i cant fully control my emotions during a breakdown and then i come out of it and im like oh fuck........ ._.

[neofelis----nebulosa]

Po and Tigress's relationship is so funny because they're written like a queerbait couple but like. its a male character and a female character. like theres some stuff that is obviously written in a way that can be interpreted as romantic but like the movie never actually backs it up with any further development of a romance between the two. there's always that plausible deniability so they dont actually have to follow up on it.

[hekatekun]

hi guys. if anyone wants to commission me for quite literally anything. including osmt. whether that's some prose shit, some essay shit, some self insert shit, whatever. i am available just DM me. $10 = 1000 word count

i'm about to start grad school and i'm $200 short for some goddamn program i'm required to access to complete my clinical hours. your request will be prioritized unlike my free time fun projects because you will be doing me a huge fucking solid i could not thank you enough

[krikitunes]

Hey, squeaker! (/affectionate /p)

I don't normally do stuff like this but I saw you liked Aizetsu and Gyutaro as a QPR and I have shipped them in secret since before I saw that. So it made my day to find. As an aro-spec person, I don't really see QPRs talked about much either and most people kind of just don't care about them as a result.

Anyway,

-> the actual point of my submission is that you recently reblogged one of my arts with the tag "good luck charm" as you were denoting affection to it for helping to uplift your mood during difficult times. It really warmed my heart, so I wanted to make something intentionally for you in that vein of "good luck charm".

I know your original tags were in reference to an endouma doodle, but I wanted to toss you something for one of your rarer pairings. (I was shocked to see it in the wild!! /pos)

Hope your week gets better, man!

I COULD COMPLETELY BURST INTO TEARS,!!!!!!! THEYRE SUCH DORK ASSES I hope someone stuffs them both in lockers they probably already do it to eachother as some odd affection ritual. Weirdos. OBSESSED.. sincerely I do not have the words to describe how MUCH I appreciate this 😭😭😭! Since you sent this things have thankfully gotten better so thank you!! Your charm worked!! (Things are still scary and new! But im feeling much better :-})

actually I am drawing a little something right now for you .holdon.

they're stargazing :-}.. I have so many little things in my head of these two but I wanted to make something quick right this second in exchange because AGWAA!!IM GRATEFUL!! I'll keep them close to my heart for EVER💥💥💥💥💥💥💥

[biblicalhorror]

My relationship with my mom has come such a long way in the past few years only to come crashing down the second I try to do something nice for my dad and/or acknowledge that she is not the main character of the universe ://

[lucky-clover-gazette]

if you think it's exaggerating when i write my self-insert character bluntly jeopardizing a romantic scene to talk about feelings and philosophy, consider that i literally did that with a guy for like 3 hours last night

[kohakhearts]

theres a really. special kind of despair in the uncertainty brought about by moments of success and achievement. the inevitable “what now” of reaching your goals. and i kind of wish someone had warned me how hollow graduating university would feel, tbh