#assorted images from google

[53v3nfrn5]

Hideaki Kawashima Artworks

[unforth]

I've debated multiple times doing something like cataloging racist microaggressions I see in the danmei tags and making a post about it. I generally see at least one a day, and I block the worst offenders. But in the end I'm a white USAdian and it's really not my place. I'm sure I don't even catch them all.

It's a real issue and I've seen a lot of anecdotal evidence that it drives Chinese and Chinese diaspora fans out of participating in Westernized Tumblr danmei fandom, and that's utterly unacceptable.

One of the most common ones I see is how people talk about the character names. For example:

[Image ID: screen cap of a text post. It reads: "This all came about when I was looking at SVSSS memes on Ao3 and went like "My friends nor coworkers would get heads or tails of what in the world these alphabet smash assortment mean let alone know that they're referencing Soecific individuals or novels." End ID]

THIS IS A MICROAGGRESSION. For fuck's sake, people, acting like the names are ridiculous, incomprehensible, outside of what "friends and colleagues" could comprehend, is RACIST AS FUCK. And I see people say stuff like this constantly.

"But I only meant I was struggling--" THEN WHY DID YOU ASSUME OTHER PEOPLE WOULD STRUGGLE THE SAME WAY? STILL RACIST

"But I could say that about the abbreviations in any--" BUT YOU SAID IT ABOUT THIS FANDOM SPECIFICALLY AND CONTEXT FUCKING MATTERS AND IN THIS CONTEXT IT'S RACIST.

"But it was on my personal blo--" LOOK IF YOU WANT TO BE RACIST ON YOUR PERSONAL BLOG I CAN'T STOP YOU BUT IF YOU TAG ORIGINAL POSTS INTO MAIN FANDOM TAGS THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WILL SEE YOU AND KNOW YOU ARE RACIST.

The person who posted the above, when I said it was a microaggression, demanded to know how. So, for them and everyone else in this fucking fandoms, I present what any of them could have learned by googling the term. The definition of microaggression:

(Source)

[Image ID: a dictionary entry for the term "microaggression." It reads: "noun. A comment or action that subtle and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member if a marginalized group (such as a racial minority)." End ID]

What that screen cap says about names is literally the textbook definition of a microaggression.

Chinese names are just names. The way Chinese sounds is just the way a language sounds. Cultivation is inherently based in Eastern culture and cannot be completely divorced from that context even for a cute AU. I'm so tired of seeing posts saying things like "MXTX just stole the plot of (insert Western myth/folktale/fable here)". Do yall realize how fucking racist you're being? Do yall realize how fucking racist even I've probably been by accident because I'm also a dumb white USAdian?

I've been holding this post in for like a year, but the person who posted that screen cap, who doubled-down by posting a non-apology to all the MXTX main tags, and who acted like I'd said something insane when I told them it was a microaggression...they're apparently my last fucking straw.

DO BETTER, WHITE WESTERN DANMEI FANDOM. We all need to learn and listen and knock it the fuck off already. Me included.

Please, please listen when people say "check yourself." Seeing this stuff everyday is exhausting even for ME and I'm not even in the marginalized group. Chinese people (including diaspora) who stay in the fandom here despite the constant deluge are strong as fuck and they do not deserve this and, as a white person, I'm so so sorry white people are like this.

[noideabutsims]

Donut Co. Rugtastic Reset - Squishy Friends Edition Has 33 Swatches All of our CC can be found by typing " Donut " into the search bar! Images in game -  You can find bonus images on our tumblr > HERE Most of my images have my reshade on - it changes the color minimally, so white may look a little off in photos, but in game it will look white/normal!! <3! You can size them up and down using the bracket keys. [ ] <- these ones.  I personally, use the tool mod to size my items up and down, and specifically with these if you are wanting them to be "perfectly sized" i would recommend you grab the tool mod by twistedmexi! If you would like to use it in build-buy mode, you'll need BBB! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Donut Co. Rugtastic Reset - Squishy Friends Edition

Buy Mode Description: Transform your floors into a haven of softness with the Squishy Friends Edition! This collection of rugs celebrates all things adorable, featuring a delightful assortment of squishy companions. Imagine sinking your toes into a field of butterfly squishes, cuddling up with a giant cow squish, or being greeted by a playful axolotl friend. With a variety of colors, shapes, and smiles to choose from, there's a perfect "squish friend" rug to add a touch of whimsy (and extra cushion!) to any space. Because who says floors can't be just as soft and huggable as your favorite plushies?

(Works best if you use the bracket keys "[" + "]" to size up and down, or my personal preference of the tool mod!)

Will be releasing more content soon! stay tuned! ❤️ (NOT affiliated with EA or Maxis in any way! We just make CC! )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DOWNLOAD: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102633525?pr=true Curseforge: https://legacy.curseforge.com/sims4/build-buy/donut-co-rugtastic-reset-squishy-friends-edition Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1er9w-9ms8aZeAiX5p78Q-kcfjW4wrJqC/view?usp=sharing @alwaysfreecc

[telomeke-bbs]

BAD BUDDY – THE BASEBALL MOM T-SHIRT HAS BEEN FOUND!!!

Breaking news – I've just found the maker of the Baseball Mom t-shirt, and best of all you can buy it from them on Amazon! 😍

Tagging @miscellar, @dribs-and-drabbles and @jammy-boy because I know you'll be interested. 😊💖

Pat's Baseball Mom t-shirt is made by a brand called Sports Mom T-Shirts and you can find them on Amazon at this link here. You can also Google "Baseball Mom Shirt for Women Sports Mother's Day Gift" + "Amazon", which should take you to a page with the Baseball Mom t-shirt.

I have no way of knowing if this is the original, but it certainly looks like it, and the seller also looks legit. This is because they also sell other t-shirts that are designed in much the same vein (e.g., Basketball Mom, Team Mom, Lacrosse Mom, Baseball Grammy and Softball Mom). So it looks like part of an ongoing collection, and not a one-time knockoff of Pat's iconic tee. 😍

The t-shirts aren't sleeveless though, so it looks like the sleeves were cut-off before use in Bad Buddy.

So here's how I tracked down Baseball Mom. I'm currently on holiday in Kyoto, and found out from @jammy-boy's post (ரொம்ப நன்றி நண்பரே!) that GMMTV was holding an exhibition in Osaka (I wasn't aware of it before). As Osaka is less than 30 minutes away from Kyoto by train, a little re-jiggling of the travel schedule allowed for a day-trip to Osaka and yes the Baseball Mom t-shirt was there in all her glory. 👀 I'll write up a bit more about the exhibition (and Bad Buddy's corner) in a separate post – for now I'll say that it was a modest affair, yet quite overwhelming for me. 💖

So here is my photo of the Baseball Mom t-shirt:

It's displayed in a glass case together with Pran's coloring set, one of Ink's friendship wristbands, Pran's smiley/frowny notepaper and assorted photos (the glass cover is reflecting the string of spherical lights hung on Pat's Ep.12 memory board just alongside at the right, which explains the orange blotches on the image).

Remembering @miscellar's comment about the shirt tag, I took a photo of it:

The brand is Anvil, and this lightweight t-shirt was made in Nicaragua 👀, suggesting an American origin.

On the train ride back to Kyoto I was all smiles, hoping the manufacturer's website would be where the BM t-shirt lives. But I was wrong.

It turns out that Anvil is one of several brands made by the company Gildan, and they are mostly plain t-shirts (like Hanes). Baseball Mom was nowhere to be seen on their website.

But what this did suggest was that the t-shirt could simply be a plain base that a company (or entrepreneur) was using as a canvas for their artwork. So I checked out Etsy, and there were a ton of similar t-shirts, but not the same one.

And then I checked Amazon. Hello Baseball Mom!

The Baseball Mom t-shirt has been found! 😍

‌

P.S. For an explanation as to why Pat was wearing Baseball Mom for the Ep.5 Kiss (a truly strange choice of attire for such a momentous scene) see this write-up linked here. 🤩

‌

[claude-frollo-archives]

Anglaigus collectibles!

Collection of assorted Anglaigus related merchandise items.

Disclaimer: these pictures are not mine, they were found via Google image search, the pictures belong to their respective owners, only posted them here for informative purposes.

The pictured items -in date order- are copyright of:

Asterix and related characters © René Goscinny & Albert Uderzo.

- Card from Leaf, la bataille de Asterix "Le Roi de Bubble Gum" (1972).

- Figure by Plastoy Atlas (2002).

- Chess game figure N°12 by Plastoy (2006).

- Pin by Editions Atlas (2008).

- Asterix collection Hachette " La Grande Collection des Personnages" N°18 (2012).

- Figure from les Archives Asterix Figurines Métal N°19 by Atlas (2013).

- Porcelain figurine by Les Editions Albert René and Studio M6 from La Collection de Fèves du Film (2014).

- Porcelain figure by Arguydal and Les Editions Albert René for a "Le Domaine des Dieux le film" collection (2015).

- From inside the box of the Asterix: Le Domaine des Dieux Edition Prestige Combo Blu-ray (2015), it contains a picture of certain mosaic as if it were preserved and found during our modern times.

- Card from the collection Le Village en fête chez U by Système U (2017).

- Card by La Mie Câline, Cartamundi (2019).

- Last but not least, a French Happy Meal McDonald’s figure (2019).

[paandaan]

is there a meaning behind your username? it's unique!

yess it does!! so in south asia (and i think southeast asia too if im not remembering wrong) we have these treats (truly not sure what to categorize them into because saying they're treats sounds off, but if im putting it into context we usually have them after meals, usually after dinner but ive seen people eat them after other meals too) that are basically betel leaves wrapped with an assortment of ingredients; the fillings depend on the person having it really and they vary from coconut to betel nut to gulkand and sometimes even tobacco.

anyways getting to the real point - paandans are containers (very beautiful you should google their pictures the work done on them is so intricate) usually coated with silver, with little compartments inside of them (they're either built in or have tiny boxes arranged inside) and you just put inside the fillings which you like in each compartment, along with the betel leaves and carry it with you. i used this as my username because of two stories -- my mom's grandfather used to have one when my mom was a kid and he used to love chewing on paan throughout the day; i also had a friend tell me about her aunt who carried around her paandan and she used to be fascinated looking at her aunt preparing the paan with such agility and precision -- both these stories put such a lovely image in head that i had to keep this as my username

[pokemonbiologyirlthetabletop]

Umbreon (#197)

Umbreon (#197)

Mutabellus umbra

General Information: Umbreon are nocturnal creatures with excellent night vision. When angered, they are known to secrete toxins from their sweat glands into the eyes of their offenders. Their jet-black fur camouflages them in the night, and when they’re about to lunge, their rings are known to glow a faint ominous glow– right before they go for their prey’s throat! Umbreons gain energy from moonlight.

Habitat: It can appear in most any habitat, except the extreme heat or the extreme cold. But it is especially prominent in and around urban environments, especially under the care of humans. They especially like dark places, such as forests or even caves.

Diet: Omnivores who will eat most things that they’re fed. In the wild, they eat fruit, rodents, bugs, and birds.

Conservation Status: Least Concern

Relationship with Humans: Umbreons are immensely popular with humans the world over. While cultural perceptions around dark types may differ, in general Umbreons are seen as loveable and loyal nocturnal companions. Though they do not have many particular characteristics that allow them to specialize in specific fields, they can be found on any workforce team, especially in the Western world. Interestingly, Umbreons are one of the few dark-type Pokémon considered suitable for new trainers, and (by proxy of evolution from Eevee) the one of a handful that features any real prominence amongst starter Pokémon– seeing as how dark-type Pokémon are typically too rowdy or dangerous for beginner trainers to handle.

Umbreon and Lunatone are the mascots for the global corporate conglomerate, Dark Moon. Adorably, the mascots form the company logo, a stylized image of an Umbreon sitting on a Lunatone, designed after the founder’s now deceased partner Pokémon. Dark Moon Corporation is the parent company of a lot of other companies, including: Eclipse Pharmaceuticals, Poke-Bright Food (a very popular and affordable brand, as well as its generic), Dark Moon Technologies, News at Ninetales (popular media outlet), the Full Moon web browser, assorted phone apps, and Dark Moon Cocoa & Coffee, amongst many others. Their research is broad, eclectic, deep-rooted, and spanning the past 50 years. Also known to fund political campaigns. The company’s policy on being eclectic, is that it allows them to have income sources from many aspects of the economy without monopolizing anything in particular (since monopolies receive stricter regulations in this world). They frequently give out research grants to university students and scientists. Likened to real-world corporations, Dark Moon has the same social and economic influence as mega corporations like Nestle, Alphabet/Google, and Coca-Cola. Whether those are good or bad comparisons, is subject to interpretation.

~~~~~~~~

Hey guess what, if you like my stuff, this is my website where you can find other Pokémon I've written on and more information about the game that I’m slowly making! Check it out! I write books sometimes too.

[muchamusedaboutnothing]

Heart of a Hunter Act VII - Ch. 13

Heart of a Hunter Act VII - Ch. 13

Characters: Dean x doctor!Reader, Sam Winchester

This story is Act 7 of a saga.

New to the story? Get caught up on the Heart of a Hunter Saga here.

All your favorite Winchesters are alive, in spite of the curse that nearly took them from you. After coming so close to losing the only family you have left in this world, you’re taking matters into your own hands. There’s a witch to hunt.

Series Warnings:

Character injuries/sickness - Take note that no one is excluded from this.

Canon-typical violence and language.

Lots of whump.

Lots of caring for hurt characters.

Smut (18 Only. NSFW. You were warned.)

Angst.

Fluff.

Medical talk. Is that even a warning

Image Credit: bing image search, google image search, @rainbow-motors

Wordcount: 1600

Chapter  13

You holstered your .380 and gripped the .40 caliber instead, quickly replacing the magazine for a full one with Devil's trap rounds.

There was another demon downstairs, but he’d grown quiet. He'd most likely assume whoever had killed the others would have met their end when they located the powerful Borrower Witch.

That would be his first mistake.

It would only take him a moment to reach the office you stood in. You had to act quickly.

The Borrower Witch's desk drawer had a perfectly arranged assortment of writing tools, from fountain pens to wide tip permanent markers. You had to hand it to her, she had impeccable organizational skills, and apparently an Office Max fetish.

You gripped a marker and had to bite your tongue to keep from groaning in pain as you knelt down to scrawl the design on the floorboards before pulling the rug over to cover it

Then you moved to the corner and stood as blood seeped down the side of your pants.

You held your gun at the ready, aiming for the doorway. It was less than a minute before the demon appeared in your open sights.

To your absolute shock, this new demon wore the face of a man who could have been your late brother's doppelganger.

He noticed the witch's lifeless body across the room and immediately bolted forward to reach her, not realizing you were in the corner until it was too late.

The devil's trap you'd hidden beneath the rug prevented him from going any further. He was stuck. And thank God he was. Because you still stared in frozen, horrified fascination at the uncanny resemblance.

You forced your feet to move, taking a step forward to get a better look at him. You hadn't seen this demon milling around before. You'd have noticed. That much was certain. He had to be the patient Sam and Dean couldn’t find a picture of.

But now here you were, faced with a look-alike that could have fooled even your mother. He was younger than your brother had been when he'd died, but only by a few years.

"Damn hunters,” he spat vehemently as you stared.

You pointed your gun at him, hand trembling as you lined up the sights. Maybe it was the relief coursing through your veins at having finally killed the witch. More than likely it was the fact that seeing your brother's face, or at least one eerily similar to it, had completely derailed you.

"My my…. If you're offering up your own pretty meat suit, we could definitely have fun, you know."

You knew you should, but you couldn't pull the trigger. Not with him practically wearing your brother's face like that. The eyes. The chin. God, it was unreal how much he looked like him….

You hadn't planned for this possibility when you'd blocked the only doorway out of the room by making the devil's trap right there, but you couldn't get past him without killing him.

Hadn’t Dean said the other patient had been in a medically induced coma but expected to make a recovery. His prognosis had been good before the demon had decided to wear him. If there was even the slightest chance the man was still intact - could be saved from the demon possessing him and go on with his life - shouldn't you at least try?

Logically you knew you should end it now. But your heart had been so bruised and battered with feelings of loss. Shards of hope we're the only thing that had kept you sane once Jonah had gotten sick. Your instinct now was to hold onto that hope with an iron grip.

You also couldn't put off getting yourself some first aid. You lowered your gun and the demon laughed. The sound was nothing like your brother’s laugh.

You'd have to come back for him. The demon was trapped here for now. And you could only hope he was the last of the Borrower Witch's posse of demon thugs.

You moved to the window and saw the fire escape. It got you down to the ground one ladder rung at a time, ignoring the jeers from the demon inside and bleeding as you went. Once at your truck, you were able to use some gauze and an ace bandage wrap tied around your waist to more effectively slow the bleeding there before you got behind the wheel.

You white-knuckled the steering wheel with bloody fingers in an effort to get your hands to stop shaking. You had to sit there a few seconds and let it really sink in that it was over.

The witch was dead.

She’d never come after your family again. It was over. As the reality washed over you, relief bubbled up in the form of tears, streaking your cheeks as you blinked to clear your vision and pulled out onto the road.

"Hey, I've been worried sick," Dean breathed into the phone the moment you said his name.

"It's done," you said with finality. "She’s dead.”

"Oh my god, sweetheart.... Are - are you okay?"

You stifled a humorless laugh, choosing your words carefully. "I, uh, I've been worse," you tried.

"I don't like the sound of that. How bad is it?" he demanded.

"Nothing I can't handle," you added, regretting that you'd freaked him out.

"Given your high pain tolerance, that doesn't do a whole lot to make me feel better," he stated. "Do you need to get to the hospital? It's right there, isn't it?"

"No, I'll be fine. Besides, I can't very well explain this. Given that I showed up asking about locum work, they'd definitely want answers, and the last thing I need is the police getting involved. But I can handle it. I'll patch myself up at the motel."

"Alright," Dean said. "Get yourself to the motel. I'll head your way."

You were turning a corner in the truck and pulled into a dark parking lot, needing to adjust the ace bandage around your waist.

"And sweetheart? You did great," Dean added proudly. “I love you."

You took a deep breath as you put the truck in park. "Thanks, honey. I love you. Gotta go."

You hung up the phone and dropped it on the passenger seat. Gritting your teeth against the searing pain, you pulled the knot loose which allowed you to slide another roll of gauze in between your skin and the elastic bandage before tightening it up again. You hoped it would be enough to get you back to the room this time. You couldn't really afford to keep stopping.

By the time you reached the motel you were feeling more than a little lightheaded. With some effort, you managed to grab the med kit and hold onto it while still unlocking the door to your room.

Once inside you went to the bathroom and set the kit on the sink, pulling out disinfectant and tearing open gauze rolls with your teeth.

With the large mirror you had a better view as you tried to gauge where best to begin. To your relief, the bleeding from your thigh had slowed considerably, prompting you to address the knife wound in your side first. You knew the bullet would be the worst and didn't want to start there.

With fresh blood dripping down your side now that you'd poked and prodded to examine the full extent of the damage just above your hip, you willed your hands to stop shaking.

The lightheaded feeling progressed as you cleaned the cut in your side, morphing into full-on waves of dizziness as you worked. Beads of sweat dampened your forehead, and you leaned against the countertop for support while cleaning the wound to your satisfaction.

Grabbing a needle driver and a packet of 4-O nylon suture, you managed to place several sutures before you realized your knees wouldn't hold you upright anymore. You had no choice but to lower yourself onto the linoleum floor and continue, though it was an awkward angle to be working as you sat and you couldn't see as easily with the small mirror from your kit, even after propping it up at an angle against the cabinet.

When the dizziness increased, you did your best to push through it one suture at a time.

You were tired. So. Damn. Tired.

All you wanted to do was nap. Some of that was the result of crashing after the adrenaline rush, and the rest you could chalk up to blood loss.

Mustering up your Doctor Mode while patching yourself up was almost like an out-of-body experience. Or at least the dizziness made it seem that way.

You could do this. You’d managed to kill the goddamn witch. You could handle patching yourself up. You just needed to get it over with and then you could rest.

Real rest.

The kind of rest that came when you didn’t have to spend every second of the day worrying that a witch was going to come after your infant son and the rest of your family.

You realized your focus was drifting a little too easily when you found yourself wondering what sort of campy slasher movie scene the cab of your truck must look like after your drive back to the motel.

You shook your head a little to clear it, regretting the move instantly as a wave of nausea rolled over you, bringing the dizziness to a whole new level.

You remembered thinking 'Damnit, I'm going down,' just in time to lean your head back against the wall before your vision went black and you slipped into unconsciousness.

Act VII Masterlist.

You can find the Masterlist for the Heart of a Hunter Saga here.

Please consider supporting my writing by buying me a coffee. In my case, it’s Dr. Pepper, but a little caffeine goes a long way when it comes to writing and posting this labor of love.

Tags are currently closed. Message me if you'd like to be added to the tags for when it opens again.

*HOAH Text divider by the brilliant Talesmaniac89

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[bonefall]

Probably an odd question bc its not exactly about warriors, but unfortunately ur the only one i know to ask. I really want to make my own blog for a Warriors AU but im not sure how to go about it. It's a little daunting I guess? What worked for you when making the blog, and should I focus on art, writing about the lore, or some mysterious third thing?

I actually got my initial followers by throwing in thoughts about Thistleclaw and Snowfur during a time when the fandom was buzzing about them for no particular reason. I got RB'd by a bigger blogger and got a circle of like... 50ish followers from there

I think the most important, foundational belief that will help you is to remember you are having fun. It's Tumblr; no one gets REAL clout here. Be silly, shitpost, chat publicly with people, be nice and remember that the vibe should always be, "Sleepover and we're all pitching ideas."

Uhhh assorted thoughts,

It's ok to write in any format you like best. I do a lot of bullet points because I have chronic focusing issues.

Adding a simple picture to any text post immediately boosts engagement with it. If you can draw a doodle for a character or concept you're gonna talk about, people enjoy that a lot

Describe images when you can. It's massively appreciated for screenreaders.

On that note, try to avoid google documents and offsite links, have a link and a "read more" where you post the text. Take advantage of Tumblr's lack of character limit.

Try to visually break up your textwalls. It really helps people read your stuff.

OH and remember; when it comes to followers, quality over quantity. You will be so much happier if you don't focus on follower count. Instead, focus on the Regulars who come into your replies to be like "IM CRYING WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS OH THST HURTS SO GOOD".

I get a massive spark of joy when folks I recognize come into the inbox. It's much more rewarding than watching faceless numbers go up.

[someone-always-cares]

chapter 5, page 48

first - previous - next

[image description: an sac webcomic page. "seems like a normal kitchen. coast's clear, but it's locked." jade says, off panel. theres a view of the kitchen from the outside. no acual kitchen appliances are shown, but there is a island counter, and a few shelves in the back with various items, notably camera equipment, cleaning supplies, and assorted boxes. "we'll have to break in here, everything else is boarded. you remember what i taught you about breaking glass?" she continues. "yeah. it'll be loud though" lewis replies. "we'll just have to take whoever hears us." jade states, the panel now showing jade hiding to the side of the window, looking at it out of the corner of her eye, while lewis has wandered off and is kneeled down to pick up something off the ground. "this glass seems sturdier than the wine glasses lewis practiced with... can he do it? i've never been able to get the frequency right, but surely any glass will break with a loud enough noise?" jade thinks to herself, looking through the window, still to the side of it, while frowning contemplatingly. she seems to be unaware of lewis behind her, raising the brick he just picked up like one would when preparing to pitch a baseball, and sticking his tongue out in concentration. end id]

yall are getting a treat with me drawing actual backgrounds the past few pages! my computer fucking hates it and has tried to crash my art program many times but im not losing to a fucking machine so the page is ready to go! and yeah i didnt think to google what a broken wire fence looks like until typing this

anyway some life updates. next page may be a little late, i have a convention this weekend (if anyone is headed to animeleague london anime and gaming festival this weekend feel free to say hi! its the one with the star fairy lights and like. my art in it? yeah. also for the same con in birmingham in a couple weeks)

also ended up getting those wooden pride cat pins! or the charms, i need to glue the actual pin bits in and that tomorrow's task!! and even more importantly, i've started the process of trying to make sac into an actual printed comic!! so far it seems like im just going to start with chapter 1, because with the printer im thinking of using, anything over 76?ish pages is automatically more expensive so currently only have the funds for chapter one (50ish pages inc bonus and prologue).

also because turns out theres more work than i thought. theres some things like getting the colours cmyk ready and fixing typos and other errors, there is some size problems (the first 6 pages in particular need to be redone entirely but not much of a loss. they look.... Not Great. maybe prologue too). also some "accidentally lost some files and the backups of said files in an external drive related incident a couple years ago" but i've got my best experts on the case (asking my dad for help). i also need to change the font since the old pages are using the old version of the font. also a front cover because i never made a cover for chapter 1. anyway. its a start

anyway this was long i really needed to sleep a few hours ago lol. its only 1am but its been a day

[voyageofthenautilus]

Hooray! Hooray! It’s Devilfish Day!

AKA “the giant squid fight,” or the only thing anyone who hasn’t read the book knows about Twenty Thousand Leagues. This chapter definitely lives up to the hype in my (Mod Blue’s) humble opinion!

First off, I love how this line is translated:

“Ces bêtes-là, ça se nomme des krak...” (“The beasts there, their name is krak…”) (or “These beasts are called” according to Google Translate)

“Craque suffit,” répondit ironiquement le Canadien. (“‘Crack’ is enough,” the Canadian ironically replied.)

This translator made it a very humorous pun! (“These beasts go by the name of krake—“ “Fake is more like it.”) I guess it all depends on how you pronounce “kraken” (I, an American living in the South, always pronounced it “kra-kin,” like “crackin’ open a cold one with the boys.” Not sure how much regional accents/dialects come into play there, but I figured it’s worth mentioning since that’s a thing I’m very interested in…)

”They provided the Nautilus with an escort, and I could hear their beaks gnashing on the sheet-iron hull. We couldn’t have asked for a more devoted following.” If this chapter hadn’t turned violent, this would have been such a lovely mental image…

“An unusual assortment of devilfish,” I told him, as carefree as a collector in front of an aquarium.

“Correct, Mr. Naturalist,” he answered me, “and we’re going to fight them at close quarters.”

Jesus, that took a turn…

DUN DUN DUN! One of the crewmen was a Frenchman just like Aronnax! One can only imagine what sort of effect knowing this will have on him…

Nemo saving Ned in return for Ned saving him from the shark is just. Ahhhhhhh. They could have been such great comrades under other circumstances.

Slight spoilers, but there’s a reason why this chapter is so well-known. Not only is the fight a pretty gripping piece of writing, but it provides a real turning point in the story. I can’t wait to see the reactions when we get to what’s coming up. Five more chapters, two more months, and something like 3,000 leagues to go… Despite having spent some time being mentally checked out of this project, I now find myself distraught at the thought of the voyage coming to its inevitable end. I wonder if this is how Aronnax feels (not that he’s aware yet of what’s going to happen).

[mjmenvs3000w24]

Blog 3: Privilege in Nature

My experiences as a white, conventionally attractive female raised in midtown Toronto have most definitely influenced my understanding of nature. For me, privilege is an immunity that is placed upon people, including me, providing them with advantages and opportunities that others may not receive, even if both are equally qualified. 

Growing up in a community rich in greenery and city-maintained parks has afforded me the luxury of easy access to the natural world. I think that having parks and other recreational spaces close by has helped me develop a stronger bond with the environment. In elementary school, we would take a 3-minute walk to the park behind the school. There was an assortment of greenery, a wading pool, washrooms and a play structure. It's possible that I would have had more chances to go outside, engage in outdoor activities in a clean, safe environment, and truly come to appreciate how beautiful the natural world is.

Woburn Avenue Park from Google Images

My understanding of nature is also influenced by my identity as a white woman. Since women have historically had difficulty accessing and being educated on natural areas, acknowledging this part of my identity helps me to appreciate the special perspective that nature has given me. Similarly, I admit that, as a white person, my race has protected me from the challenges that people of colour face in outdoor, public settings. Women of colour, especially, have to unfortunately be more cautious about being in a large, vulnerable place, such as a forest. Privilege would also greatly influence someone's ability to feel safe enough to appreciate nature.  This knowledge is essential in comprehending the various perspectives that influence how we interpret nature.

The privilege of attending university emphasizes the significant impact of financial advantages on the goal of learning. For those who are less fortunate, without a scholarship or financial support, the dream of attending university may pose a great challenge. Especially on the topic of nature, to be given a shot at a career opportunity, a degree is the bare minimum. The link between a university degree and career opportunities creates a classist barrier, continuing the cycle where financial constraints limit access to quality education and well-paying jobs. In my case, the privilege of attending Guelph allows me to explore my passion for learning science without the burden of overwhelming debt, affording me the freedom to fully engage in my future academic pursuits that will enhance my understanding of the natural world. 

But it's crucial to understand that luxury can sometimes result in blind spots. It's possible that because I'm used to certain benefits, I'm less conscious of the difficulties that those without such advantages deal with. It is important to acknowledge my ignorance in order to guarantee a more inclusive view of nature.

I want to navigate my interactions with nature with the awareness of my privilege and as a chance to promote diversity. Acknowledging the benefits I have received enables me to actively seek out different points of view, making sure that my perception of the environment stays open and inviting to people with various experiences and backgrounds. I aim to contribute to a more inclusive perspective of our natural world, one that celebrates diversity and its richness as I continue to interact with it.

Image of Mallorca, Spain taken by me

[kinocomix]

Untitled project Devlog #3: The crab effect

Today we’re going to talk about how art and politics are inherently inseparable on a conceptual level, but first: let’s talk about boots.

If you google Doc Martens you’ll be taken to their website where you have the option of buying an assortment of very overpriced shoes that a lesbian on tiktok assured me are made less good than classic ones from the 90’s and 80’s. When I was in class one day our professor mentioned how nowadays a lot of companies adopt an ideology put forth by Ford (the car manufacturer) where if you have a very sturdy part of a machine that’s expensive to make but the rest of the machine isn’t, the “smarter” idea is to make this part cheaper and less sturdy than to spend a bunch of money to make the whole machine better- supposedly this is better for the consumer somehow but that’s not the point. Setting aside how that raises the question of planned obsolescence and potential consumer exploitation, part of the reason that people say old Doc Marten shoes are better… is probably because they actually are. 

from how to geek: https://www.howtogeek.com/731791/what-is-planned-obsolescence-and-how-does-it-affect-my-devices/

This sentiment, the idea that companies aren’t worth your respect because they optimize their products to make more money and not to actually sell you a good product is part of what a lot of punk subcultures are about. Those same boots were likely part of the original fashion focused subculture, skinheads, that assisted in the creation of the punk genre. 

The original meaning of “skinhead” referred to some working class young people who had some extra cash to spend on clothing. Because history is always very messy, some racists saw that and thought “oh wow young people who can vote” and then neo nazis happened. in reaction to that you had people still calling themselves skinheads now taking an anti racist anti fascist approach. to note: it’s not clear cut, you still had people in the middle not caring.

This is how the ideology of punk was born. It’s this whole messy history lesson spanning continents, politics, fashion, a distaste for what was then the way too polished mirror sheen of rock. they wanted something tangible, something of the people by the people. so take the urban fashion of the original reggae/soul/ska influenced skinhead movement born in the UK, combine it with the now beginning to be unique sound of american punk just trying to sound different, the image of the working class “bastard” that deconstructed and challenged the idea of what a musician was and you get a socio-politically motivated genre of music that wants the best for the people.

sidenote: in case you’re wondering- yes there were neonazi punk musicians, but it’s not called punk, it’s called hatecore, which is… a fitting name. Genres are not only defined by sound, but themes as well.

Remember when I mentioned that music changes based off of the social fabric it’s built on? there you go. Punk as we know it would not exist the way it does today had it not been for that messy history. Now with that in mind, you can hopefully see why there’s an overlap with metal. If I were to vaguely state “loud music that actually wants to say something very important” you might have a hard time telling me which genre I’m talking about. This overlap is vaguely similar to how nature keeps evolving crabs independently from each other:

“Carcinization is of interest to carcinologists and evolutionary biologists for several reasons and at different levels. First of all it is an instance of astonishing convergence, concerning a whole set of structures.”

Scholtz, G. (2014). Evolution of crabs – history and deconstruction of a prime example of convergence, Contributions to Zoology, 83 (2) 87-105. https://brill.com/view/journals/ctoz/83/2/article-p87_1.xml

And… it’s weird right? how these people trying to do different things ended up in the same place. to note, I’m aware that both of these genres are not exclusively worried about social and political issues, no genre is. Metal is first and foremost fun, and punk music is first and foremost that: MUSIC. But it’s hard to deny that both genres are intense in their messaging. 

Remember the time System of a Down set aside years of creative differences to talk about the war happening in Armenia?

Literally any Russ Russel song will be talking about some variation of politics/the man/religion

Napalm Death, Metaphorically screw you

Here’s a fun fact, Rage against the machine got the N-word pass (I would presume) to sing their cover of Fuck the police

You know the meme of Gojira being all like “come here bb girl” and then it’s just like a tree? I mean that’s not based on nothing either…

On the lesser known end of the spectrum, you have artists like 3teeth which raise an interesting question:

3teeth, president X

“It’s all kind of… tongue in cheek?” you might say. There’s the song “God hates us all” by Slayer, when the lead singer Tom Araya was asked if he actually believes that he simply said the following:

Tom Araya in in Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, directed by Sam Dunn

Metal Musicians aren’t dumb. They know what they’re doing. Sometimes they’re Genuinely convinced of what they’re talking about. Other times They’re just trying to be outrageous. 

Dee Snider, Lead singer of twisted Sister

A lot of the gender norm defying things the metal scene did in the 70’s was because they were just trying to look cool and outrageous. But let’s forget about that for a moment. I can hear someone giving the arguments “What about Nu metal?”, “What about Rob zombie?”, “what about Ghost”, “what about [insert commenter’s band here]?”. Are those political? no, neither is most music in general. No one listens to Feiruz and thinks “ah yes, you can clearly hear the Palestinian struggle represented through the lyrics” but you might just look up Feiruz, learn she’s from Lebanon and then learn about the part of the world glued to Lebanon called Palestine. This is called tangential learning, so in that same sense, maybe you’ll be listening to Bodies by Drowning pool–which is about moshing by the way– and for a moment you’ll think of something else more serious for example. Again, you might not, and that’s fine… but you can’t deny that the path is there. 

Setting that aside for a moment, let’s consider the argument that music is a form of escapism. Leaning on this as your sole argument is very narrow minded and forgets the idea that escapist fiction is inherently anti-escapist. When you read Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (which is great by the way go read Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson) sure you’re immersed in the world of the book and the intricacies of this nigh-impossible magical bank heist. But once you put down the book, you’re always reminded of the world you’re escaping from. Escapist fiction offers a temporary relief from reality, there is always a thread that tethers that fiction to the real world it pushes against. 

Craig Thompson, Blankets

If you're still reading at this point you’re probably wondering how any of this is relevant to a comic book, let alone one that I'm making. The project I'm working on is going to feature a band that we’re going to be eventually making characters for. but in order to do that and do it properly, it’s important to understand the motivations behind the music. If I don’t then you end up with cliche characters like “angry rebellious metalhead” and “overly verbose activist punk” which no one wants and that would make the whole thing a shit fest at worst, and a boring comic at best. It’s important for me that i don’t rely on the events taking place in the story to hold it up, the world and people in it need to be just as interesting and complex as the contrivances of my narrative, otherwise I’m just writing a less good bandslam or a very uninspired rip off of inception that completely misses the point.

Anyways!I would be remiss to not specifically point out that I actually have a goal I’m working towards, I have a plot outline that’s been figured out for a while. All the work I’m doing fits into that skeleton in one way or another, but that’s it for now.

Devlog updates on tuesdays

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: M. Sage

Colorado musician, artist and educator Matthew Sage produces a unique form of ambient music, one that focuses on personal experience rather than obscure intellectual objectives or new age mysticism. Through both his own sounds and those he curates via his Cached Media imprint his goal is to unearth the beauty within the seemingly mundane. With Paradise Crick, his latest and most fully formed release, he casts his gaze on the great outdoors, envisaging a camping excursion. In his review, Bryon Hayes found that the record was “his most visceral work, as he ornaments his typically ambient palette with an assortment of palpable shapes, colors, and textures.” In addition to making music, Sage also enjoys seeking it out, often from non-traditional sources. For this edition of Listed, he runs down some of the more interesting records that he picked up on recent thrift store diving excursions.

10 recent thrift store finds in no particular order — I hit the flea markets and thrift stores once or twice a month and get weird CDs and cassettes. I like buying stuff that I would otherwise listen to on streaming… or never listen to from these local companies. We have CD players in our vehicles and I listen to CDs a lot driving. Cassettes mainly happen in my office when I am writing or drawing. So… a lot of what I look for is sort of “functional music” that I can do stuff to. I also snag up favorites from bands I love… I found 3 Wilco CDs at one shop last week!

Anyway, here are some recent favs.

Bonnie “Prince” Billy — Master and Everyone

Found in Longmont at the thrift store with the curated CD selection. Long time BPB fan, and I especially like how subdued this one is. Maybe not my all-time fav Oldham out there, but it’s great and the CD is in great shape.

The New American Orchestra — Blade Runner Soundtrack

Found at one of the flea markets in Fort Collins. Maybe the one with the lavender? This is an orchestral adaptation of the original Vangelis score, and it is about as smooth jazz as it gets. Incredible sweeping melodies. This version of “Blade Runner Blues” feels like something hiding on “In a Silent Way.” Ambient jazz for sure.

Chet Baker — Let’s Get Lost

Another one from the Longmont spot. Been obsessed with Chet Baker for a while now in that when I don’t know what I want to listen to, I just throw on any Chet’s greatest hits album and feel content. I love the arrangement on “My Ideal” with the toy piano and Chet’s voice and trumpet.

John Coltrane — The Gentle Side of John Coltrane

Also from the Longmont spot. I, of course, love wailing Coltrane. But I also think his sweet songs are some of his best. “After the Rain” is especially informing some of the arrangement choices I’ve been making on some new Fuubutsushi songs.

Shanghai Film Symphony Orchestra — An Dun (Calming the Emotions)

I buy a lot of random CDs like this, and I can’t remember where exactly this one came from. But yeah, foreign/new age/private press, etc. weird CDs… and most of the time they aren’t great… but this one is very good. When I find something like this that I like I google it later. When I did that with this CD, I found it on YouTube and this is my favorite comment about it: “Whenever I play this on a construction site, at first the guys complain. Then later they thank me for playing it. Saying they've never felt better.” My toddler seems to enjoy it in the car… I do too.

Claude Debussy — Images pour Orchestre. Preludes: La Fille aux Cheveaux de Lin

70 minutes of Debussy from Longmont ARC. Lots of solo piano from Peter Schmalfuss. I like that these recordings feel soft. Sometimes classical piano feels really hard, lots of attack, almost like microscopic. These recordings are more spacious. Chris from Fuubutsushi swears by Ravel, but I am team-Debussy.

Georgia Kelly — Seapeace: Music for Harp

Can’t remember where but found this in Colorado in a stash of pretty heady new age tapes. Later found out it’s a cult classic. It is a self-released one — the album was later reissued on other formats by new age labels — so I love knowing Ms. Kelly herself released this copy into the world and it has since ended up in my possession. The whole thing is on YouTube!

English Meadow: Environments — Environments 1, 4, 12: Slow Ocean, English Meadow, Intonation

I have all the Environments titles on LP and have since started collecting cassettes when I see them in the wild. These 3 are specifically my favorite Environments, so finding them all in one go felt like a thrifting triumph. I feel like English Meadow specifically sounds nice on cassette.

[hereisthehouse]

hi if you're new here or returning;

i'm mars, or deimos. either or. take ur pick.

i post a lot of mcr and will reblog frerard stuff from time to time in a post-ironic way. it's part of mcr culture. i just think it's funny and so is the lore. google prorev kiss.

you'll probably also see a lot of depeche mode and assorted images of cemeteries. thanks. have fun here.

[56kilobits]

Anti-Booba

I don’t normally write screeds now-a-days (I used to, ages ago), but there is a very anxiety-inducing server migration coming up and it’s got me stressing, so this is essentially a distraction, or a procrastination, or some combination of the two. --- When people talk about AI (which they do a lot, lately), it’s often not just about AI. AI becomes a symbolic representation of either what is very wrong or very right in the world, the messianic or apocalyptic technology that will either usher in a golden age of economic freedom via Pure Unfettered Capitalism Baby, or a nightmare cyberpunk (in the 80s manner, not where it got retconned into a cool thing) dystopia where all creative work is done by high-performance clusters in a server farm in Argentina, also via Pure Unfettered Capitalism Baby.  When in reality it’s a computer doing a Google image search for your assorted prompts and cobbling them together into a picture that vaguely resembles something a human would willingly look at. GPT2 is, due to the relative linearity of language, much better at composing something human, occasionally spitting out something pretty damn funny, but ultimately there is no human spark here. It’s all just a computer making guesswork as to how best to fulfill your request.  Which brings me to this fuckin’ guy (said in a thick Chicago accent).

Where to start with this shit. Let’s go with the first two words. “AI has [...]” is doing a lot of work here. This particular phrasing leads a more uninformed reader to assume this man sat down in front of a computer and asked it, simply, to produce a “beautiful woman”, much in the same way you’d ask it to give you Tane. When in reality, what happens is he spent maybe 2-3 hours (depending on the capabilities of his hardware) punching in keywords into an increasingly massive Stable Diffusion prompt to get the specific kind of “beautiful woman” he wanted it to generate for him. 

So, AI by itself didn’t do much here. You told the AI you wanted Z cup breasts, and by golly it gave them to you.  The second part is best explained given the context of the following tweets in his thread. 

Can you pick up what’s being implied here? 

If it’s going over your head, I’ll make it explicit: this man has confused his porn addiction with reality.

Let me explain. 

As soon as humans were able to create art, the first thing they did was create boobs. For going on thousands of years without ceasing, every culture has been passionate about depicting hot women with their tits out. Mostly for religious purposes, but keep in mind that “secularism” is a modern concept. 

You’ll notice in all these cultures, from Western European painting, to Greco-Roman statuary, to Indus Valley temple freizes, nowhere do the boobs hit past a C cup. I thought men loved enormous knockers? No, for most of human history having F cups or above was like, inconceivable. F cups are a direct, like, straight-line consequence of chemical fertilizer. Modern science, specifically in the form of agronomy and nutrition science, is the reason we have big boobs at all.

Basically what I’m saying is, if you showed a Hindu manuscript painter some hentai with logic-defying gazongas, he would look at you dead in the eye and say, “Are you high? That’s not what women look like. That’s not beautiful.” 

That’s the weeds we’re getting into: is beauty subjective? And to find the answer, we can look in the historical record and see, yeah, it is subjective. 

The elephant in the room here, though, is the actual point of these images. Women with large breasts, the OP claims, are the ideal of beauty. Sure. But these aren’t just large breasts. 

Obviously the first thing here is OP totally denying he had any hand at all in the creation of these images, again making the assertion he told the computer to give him a beautiful woman. And of course all the replies asking him to post the prompt are going ignored, because he would have to admit to his role, and we can’t have the audience looking behind the curtain, can we. 

(I would post more quotes but this dipshit’s wielding of reductive logic and “I am right, because you’re mad” is going to give me a brain bleed. Truly one of Western Civilization’s finest defenders)

These aren’t real women. They are “beautiful” to you, but they’re not real breasts on a real human female. They can’t be real, either, because it’s biologically impossible for breasts to look that way. Real human female breasts are heavy, from fat and mammary tissue and (sometimes) sacs of saline, and the way gravity affects them will lead to something markedly less perky and supple and dough-like, they way they’re depicted here.

To get boobs like that they’d have to be filled with - and I am not being absurd here - literal marshmallow fluff. 

They’re calling you a porn addict, dude, because the only other place you can see boobs like this is in hentai. 

Post the prompt. 

---

There’s one last thing to touch on, one point you see come up time and time again when 3DPD vs 2D comes up. It’s the idea that the topic of the day, the new “thing”, is going to somehow “disrupt female sex hegemony”. Women will no longer control access to sex, they say. Men will be freed from the nagging bitches who make them take out the trash instead of just being the subservient blowjob dispensers they were designed to be.

Finally, freedom for men from the tyranny of the fairer sex!

You can say a lot of words in response to this, and in fact many people already have, which I will not repeat for brevity’s sake, but ultimately, who really gives a shit? You’re excited to not have to date anymore and just use AI sex dolls? That’s great man. Happy for you. 

The relative percentage of men who have no interest in being tied down to some cunty bitch wife and would rather have their needs fulfilled by a computer with a moist hole, vs the percentage of men who want a real woman to build a life with, will not change. Maybe single digit percentage points, but not meaningfully. Even with petabytes of internet porn available, men still seek out real women for the tangible and intangible qualities they have. If this “disruption” was going to happen, it... already has. 

You’re allowed to have your preference for 2D women, but you have to admit, it’s pretty liberal and modernist (yuck!) to eschew forming a family unit and continuing your bloodline to live in decadence, just you and the women your tensor GPU spits out for your pleasure.