#aster liveblogs

[asterdeer]

the possession thing is a horror story but mostly from john’s perspective. you’re some kind of horrifying undead spirit demon thing summoned by a book with a body count but you’re stuck in the body of a guy whose vision you stole so now he can’t see The Horrors but insists on sticking around them or even running towards them. “lets touch the dead body john” “lets light the lighthouse john” “lets help the creepy old lady who’s just staring us down john” no let’s get the fuck out!!!! but john can’t get out. he’s stuck in here. with arthur.

[asteroidaceae]

So I figured out what was still bugging me about the Sisters of Dorley series

Which, to be clear, I have been reading and enjoying slowly over the last month and more, often with my breakfast tea or at cafes. I'd fully expected to try them and bounce off them quickly, but they've been a very positive presence in my life over the past little while and have helped me unearth a few things. I've reccomended them to loved ones, but always with hedging and qualifications that I couldn't quite fully articulate. Recently, friends who adore the series have been warning me about chapter 24. "It's a dark chapter." "Brace yourself, read it through in one sitting and then read chapter 25 for emotional closure." I took their advice, braced myself and sat down to read it. A few paragraphs in, a voice in my internal peanut gallery spoke up: "finally, meat." I took my time with chapter 24, spent most of a week slowly savouring it, was sad that this storytelling would be "over with" like my friends had said when the chapter finished. I hadn't realised until I started on this chapter how missed I'd felt by so many trans coming of age stories in books and comics. For the first time in years, maybe even a decade, I felt seen. It was a spotlight on pains that consumed years of my life, that I barely talk about with my friends and loved ones of today. It was proper catharsis. I was recently reminded of that line about good fiction comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable, and this chapter certainly did the job for me. I can understand how such a story would be too much for a lot of people. I can understand how hard it must have been for Alyson Greaves to write it, and I commend her for doing so. But now that I've read it, and since that little voice spoke up in my head early on in the chapter, I've understood why I'd felt a little emotionally wrong-footed by Dorley up to this point. To paraphrase a homestuck thing I haven't read, the meat to candy ratio of this story is pure fucked. This is the first time in a while that I feel like the story has fully delivered on the emotional stakes of the premise promised, where I've felt previous chapters pulled their punches or softened their blows at the last instant. I really hope to come across more of these moments as I keep reading, even though I doubt many of them are going to be as personal.

[bloodydeanwinchester]

ouuughh early deancas vs late seasons deancas

asterism of an f-series ford pick up

[lunareiitic]

Everyone pray for me I've reached the Dark Signers arc

[daisyachain]

fake fires

[astralcurses]

god. usopp is Such a character

[fruitsclipper]

MISSILE ‼️

[daz4i]

yo this guy keeps following me does anyone know who that is?

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

wow the dsmp finale really did suck that bad huh

[snowflop]

having a normal one tonight lads

[an-aura-about-you]

wait. why are you sexy gengar

Oh, so this is some kinda story! And I guess now y'all are gonna hear it.

The truth is I've been holding out on most of you because back on my birthday @zerozeroren gifted me with an incredible piece of art that is going to require a bit of explanation.

So here we go.

Being a lover of So Bad It's Good Media and a watcher of Booktube videos, it was inevitable that I would hear about the supposedly spicy, supposedly deadly fantasy trainwreck that is Lightlark by Alex Aster. For anyone who might not have seen the liveblogging I did of that, I thoroughly enjoyed the book for a bunch of reasons Aster never intended and had to pause listening to the audiobook several times because I had to stop and laugh at the ridiculously poorly thought out shit going on. For anyone who's the sort to indulge in So Bad It's Good media, it gets my recommendation. (The sequel Nightbane does not; that was both utterly stupid AND horrifying in its unintentional implications. But I digress.)

Anyway, this piece of art came about from talking to Ren about some of the characters, particularly our main character Isla Crown and her love interest Oro.

There's been a lot of confusion on how to say Isla's given name. Before I listened to the audiobook, I would have assumed it would have had a pronunciation similar to island with a silent s. But no, according to the audiobook narration, her name is pronounced Ice-la. Upon hearing this, Ren declared that a "Pokemon-ass sounding name." And that's when I realized that Isla is implied to be humanoid but it's never actually specified. The people of Lightlark are divided into six different types of beings, and Isla is a Wildling. But the only actual descriptions we get of her are that she's got brown hair and she looks like her mother. So in defiance of the obvious setup to picture her looking like an ice-type Pokemon, I chose to picture her looking like my favorite purple ghosty boy Gengar.

But that's only the part of the picture I've been using for my icon. I haven't shown most of you the other part of the picture that has Oro. Oro is a Sunling. (I swear these names are killing me.) The big conflict of Lightlark is that all of these fantasy races have been cursed and they're trying to complete a ritual according to a prophecy in order to undo them. Sunlings in particular are cursed by being harmed by the sun, the very thing that would normally give them power. Oro is also something called an Origin, meaning he has powers from the other fantasy races, though the primary one we see him use besides his own power is the Skyling ability to fly. Between being harmed by sunlight, the implied nocturnal existence that comes with that, and his ability to fly, Ren and I decided he was basically a vampire. And I was like, "We need to pick a dorky vampire to represent him. I know! He should look like Alucard! Not sexy new Castlevania animation Alucard but like what Alucard looks like in Captain N: The Game Master!" (For the record, they are technically the same character. Alucard in Captain N is the same Alucard from the Castlevania series. But the character designs in Captain N: The Game Master are...questionable.)

And that led to this:

Take it in. It is a thing of cracktastic beauty. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present. What else can I say but Ren has done it again.

[asterdeer]

like imagine being better than lestat on nearly every level imaginable and your beautiful boyfriend who could have been over the ex (that HE KILLED) decades ago but actually he’s still hung up on the bastard and he’s so dramapoisoned that he thinks you’re boring and only sticks around because you’re accommodating for him. kill death murder betrayal. eating a reporter and being a cunt time

[nitewrighter]

I'm gonna liveblog the new Ari Aster film.

[bloodydeanwinchester]

destiel thesis statement

asterism of an f-series ford pick up

[anachronistic-falsehood]

OK NOW THAT YOUVE OFFICIALLY FINISHED HANNIBAL I CAN TELL YOU MY MASON VERGER STORY. OH MY GOD. so . back when i first watched hannibal i was liveblogging my experience over discord chats with aster since shes the one who recommended it to me . ok. and this was myyyy senior year of college so i was ENTRENCHED in marine biology type courses ok. i specifically had a class on aquarium exhibit design and i was going a little bit insane abt it because my professor sucked. anyway. i an rambling. so i see mason vergers motherfucking eel tank and i go NUTS about it.

THAT THING IS SO GODDAMN EMPTY. EELS NEED SHIT TO HIDE IN AND HE IS KEEPING THEM IN THE AQUARIUM EQUIVALENT OF A CEMENT BRICK. oh it made me so mad. notice the timestamp too this was like. near-midnight sleep deprived madness. theres like a whole rant about enrichment along with this that im not including bc it spanned the course of like 3 hours.

AND THEN . HE FUCKING GOT EATEN BY THE EELS. AND I FELT THE STRONGEST DAMN SENSE OF RETRIBUTION EVER SPECIFICALLT BECAUSE ONE OF THE EELS GOES INTO HIS MOUTH. I WAS LIKE . THATS WHAT YOU GET BITCH. you become the hide hole for them now.

now you think this would be the end of my insanity. you underestimate my power. that goddamn eel tank lived in my head RENT FREE and it makes me SO MAD every single time i rewatch hannibal. and aster has to suffer because i bring it up so much bc i think its hilarious

<< these are from my second hannibal rewatch which i think is hilarious because its almost exactly a year after i finished watching it yhr first time. i swear i didnt do that on purpose but its REALLY funny

also at my last job we had a moray eel and we would regularly dive in the tank with her so i got a lot of Real Actual Eel Welfare experience so every once in a while id just say shit like this

anyway. thats the eel saga . every day i am thinking about mason vergers eel tank and the fact that his death is so fucking perfect to me specifically for this insane reason . eel retribution forever

OH MY GOD. MAC THAT IS HILARIOUS. OF COURSE U WOULD GO INSANE OVER AN EEL TANK THIS IS SO MAC CORE!!! i may not be a marine biologist but i knew those little guys were not being kept in a proper tank and it was killing me and i also felt sooooo fucking happy over his death like FUCK YES. FUCK YES. KILL HIM. GET FUCKED BOY!!!!!! i was so happy 2 see him dead. holding ur hand rn mac we both hate mason verger and loved seeing him get murdered by his sad mistreated eels <3 EEL RETRIBUTION FOREVER!!!!!!

[nbmudkip]

i finished the isat demo + am on my first loop of the main game! i’m loving it so much rn for many many reasons i’ll get into later on but i’m sooo glad i saw you posting abt it i’ve already recommended it to multiple friend groups

(also i made my discord icon siffrin’s battle pic and it made me laugh because online i go by astro but irl i use aster, so in an irl friend server that’s my nickname with the pfp and i’m like. woah just like aster nbmudkip…)

WAAAHHHH YES IM SO HAPPY TO HEAR YOURE ENJOYING IT!! please feel free to spontaneously Appear in my ask box if something big happens and you feel like liveblogging your reaction lol.

ALSO HELP THATS SO FUNNY?? HELP…..JUST LIKE ASTER NBMUDKIP……..