#b. i wanted to experiment with overlays so this happened

[rocicrew]

mitski - a burning hill

[kihakugato-art]

The Harriet Pinup Art Project

Session 1- 3Dification & Sketchification

I initially got a little stressed when using the 3D posing in CSP so to give myself a breather I did some traditional art sketches of Harriet! I played around with a few expressions as well as experimented with her having a ponytail (another hat tip towards Mordred Fate, plus I think Harriet just looks good in a ponytail!) which I think I’ll have for her for the planned bigger art piece.

But to answer question from session 0- “how well can I mess with the 3D model to the pose(s) I need”? Doable, but a lil rough; It’s very easy to misclick during the process and mess things up.

[WEEEEEE- those are some broken-ass limbs there!]

It’s also a bit of a learning curve to try to remember which controls affect the 3D model in certain ways. Not to mention controlling/posing the limbs to how you wish can be quite fickle depending on the limb;

Say you want to turn the leg calf horizontally cause its turned a lil weird, it will only let you move it up-down from the calf direction controls, so you’ll need to control the thigh as well as the foot/ankle, which can be a bit unintuitive.

The fact you can save poses (both for fullbody and just hands) was quite handy though to ensure I could reuse or fall back onto a pose or reuse a pose if I needed to.

In the end I tried two different sitting variants; one with one of the legs up, and another where both legs are hanging down. While the latter could give a powerful image if used by a clever enough artist, I couldn’t really nail it, so in the end I chose the former.

["It looks identical"- it's because the changes are pretty subtle without overlaying the two versions over each other. There's a difference between them I assure you!]

Not sure if the Manga toggle is quite the best choice for this piece either since the change isn’t hugely dramatic for this specific piece (it’d probably be better for a piece that’s more action-packed), but I chose it anyways. Now let’s get to sketching!

Not Bad, but it felt off. Some of it is because at the end of the day I did just trace/follow over the 3D image which feels a little unsettling for me in this context- but I gotta remember I posed/positioned the 3D model myself It's not from default poses available in the CSP library. I may redraw over the sketch later without the 3D model to try to maybe try to break any stiffness that may have bled through from tracing which could contribute tot he oddness. Even with that though, something still felt off.

“Where do the wings connect to the back?” was the question one friend gave to me once I showed this WIP with my concerns. She was right; the wings were placed too high, they look like they are directly to the shoulders, which just feels *wrong*.

A little fiddling and the wings were shifted so that they are implied be connecting *below* the shoulder blades. Much better. Now to the setting/background!

[Image source 1, Image source 2]

Among my background inspo folder the retaining coastal wall seemed the most doable. Not to mention my brain was craving it a little bit from back when I got to visit near one of the Great Lakes this year.

Not bad! If I kept the background relatively simple/plain and did contrast between Harriet and the wall it could look pretty good. However- as my one friend pointed out- the pitch for this project I more or less said/implied she’d be on her ship. Which I unfortunately I have to agree.

I’m not super keen on figuring out the deck layout for Harriet’s ship though, since I’m far from done designing her ship. It’d also be different if I had a 3D asset of a schooner ship, but with the work it took to get the posed 3D model in place as well as the fact I’d likely have to pay for such a 3D asset, that route ain’t happening, that ship has sailed (lol punny).

Maybe we can avoid those details by having her sit high up on one of the masts? People go up on masts right??? Alright then- Time to update the inspo/reference folder for backgrounds/settings!

[Image source 1, image source 2- uhhh hoping the licenses for some of these ref images doesn't apply here for the first image or I'm gonna have to remove these images from here- which fair enough, my bad to only realize this now]

The first ref I depended on for a little bit- but then for whatever reason my brain began to REALLY struggle. The beams were easy to set up with the ref but nothing else. I think the image ref just had too much going on in such ways that I couldn’t make a “shape” out of it in my brain, I can’t even tell what some of the parts are on the mast! So after a lotta artist malding I decided to grab the second ref to make things simpler and more clear to visually understand.

[There were far more breaks when drawing this background/setting than I'd like to admit]

And boom! Although I like the retaining wall version, I think the mast is definitely the way to go for the final piece. Some of the rope placement was vaguely bullshitted but it’ll suffice. The cooked fish on a skewer in Harriet’s hand kind of blends in a bit through the background mess though, so I’ll probably resize the fish to be MUCH bigger to make it pop out a little better.

From here I’ll be turning the sketch lines all into one colour (I did different colours to help my brain keep track of the different components in the setting), and we’ll see where I go from there!

[Session 0]

[lushslug]

oh yeah uhm, same anon from before but i was meaning to ask, like; how do you colour? Its okay if you don't want to answer that! The style is so nice, i only colour in flat colours but i've been meaning to change my style a bit but idk how ^^;;

Hope you don't mind me asking you question! Have a nice day!

Hello again! I don't mind at all, I'm happy to share - I love talking about this stuff! It'll probably get long and rambly so sorry in advance.

I don't always have the most consistent style or coloring method but the one I use the most is closer to how I like to paint with oil, I guess. I tend to put a real messy sketch down, maybe cleaning it up some without doing lines. Then I do some base colors underneath to get a general idea of how I want it to look before painting more details on top of everything (in a new layer or after flattening all the layers). During the first stage I like to throw colors I want to incorporate underneath like you would to "underpaint" in oil painting - just separate layers that I color drop from like this:

Which is what I used for this:

You can kind of see the base color stage w/ the underpainting on this one (it was just a sketch so I never got to detailing):

And I'm not always happy with the colors so sometimes I play with gradient layers to make adjustments to the palette retroactively.

Other times I do just paint in black and white and then use overlay layers to color after, which is another painting technique called glazing, I like it when I want something to have strong values (or when I'm feeling like painting in b&w):

Anyway, that's the gist! Feel free to ask more if you have questions or I didn't make sense lol. I happened to have some progress gifs and videos hanging around so it was a fun excuse to post them!

More than anything I think it's fun to just experiment throwing things down and seeing what you think looks cool! Breaking away from what you're used to doing can be hard but it's rewarding when you make something new!

[bstu]

Mod Log - September

Howdy! I thought this might be a fun little thing to do, both for my own desire to document, and for anyone who wants to tune in.

I’m counting on this to be a lax “series”(?) which serves as a catalog of minor experiments, mod progress, and bloopers that occured during a set period of recreational modding.

And maybe it is also a little bit self-indulgent - but gosh darnit, I will be enthusiastic about my dorky hobby! :p

Item 1: Tests and Tribulations

Question: What happens when a Sim dies on a lot on which there is no physical place for a tombstone to spawn?

Answer: A tombstone... is not spawned! Verified by forcing an error and scouring the lot dump. This may lead to a Sim being in a “dead, linked, but no tombstone” state, without any mods (although the set up is a bit tedious - fill every tile with a diagonal wall or impassable object). Kinda neat!

Also, I made a statue out of Grim Reapers, pictured above.

Question: hey build/buy thumbnails are tiny can we like enlarge those

Answer: Yes!...ish.

Unfortunately I was unable to find the parameter (singular? 🤞) that influence/s the grid layout within the UIScripts, meaning that (a) I just can’t see (b) It’s multiple variables making it more difficult to narrow down [c] This behaviour (that is, the automatic management of the geometry and populating of the grid) is exclusively executable-based so because of this all items overlap. :/

Pretty cool though how the actual thumbnails themselves adjust automagically to increased... ‘thumbnail... holder’... size. Also, I think the black transparency issue could be resolved with a properly sized UI images of the border to match. don’t mind the blue tearing that’s just me being silly

Item 2: Modunkles Spelunkles

This mod... is actually almost fully functional! Here is a video of it in action. Permitting your one-household Sims have a pool, they should no longer be doomed to a Death By Fire if noone extinguishes them... assuming they get there in time, and they’re happy with the risk of spreading the fire as they go :p

It’s not released yet, though, as I would like to add showers to the mix also, but that’s... tricky and likely to conflict with other mods out there. I also need to add compatibility for custom pool portals, and I still haven’t figured out the non-Destination version of this mod.

By the way - it seems to be impossible to add new functioning destination objects - I had to override a Maxis one! >:( (though this also seems like an excellent candidate for a plug-in framework to allow for multiple user mods. along with maybe showers).

Check out these bloopers though lol.

And dang, look at this Actual Flowchart I Made to try and figure out the code beforehand. It looks better than my thumbnails fafasfafsa

Speaking of a Plug-In Framework - I am working on one, at least for the mailbox, to make it easier for modders to do cool cross-compatible stuff with it. Planning to make something pretty in-depth with it!...eventually. Sims getting actually paid by the hour was a good start, but before I knew it I was rewriting half of CareerGlobals

so uh that’s on the backburner ._.;;

Did you know that there is a lot of redunancy concerning road textures in the game? It seems as though Maxis had more ambitious plans than what we received, likely due to being rushed [speculation]. With this we have quackery such as separate road textures/overlays being possible for different weather conditions, such as snow and hail, but in the full game this only being applied on road corners, but also almost none of the special textures are used.

With some tweaking of the shader, though, I manage to make it possible to have separate road textures for light snow/heavy snow weather [pictured heavy snow overlay below]:

This is not a road texture default - well, actually, for private testing purposes, I used textures from this creator’s defaults - but I have Voille’s True Neighbourhood Grass installed in the above screenshots, which comes with a road default. I also increased the fidelity of the appearance of the snow on the roads because it looks blurry af (no idea who thought 4 was a good value for number of passes over a cumulative <200 tiles in the unmodded game).

It is not yet released, though, because I want to (a) ensure compatibility with other popular shader mods and (b) create my own textures to redistribute. (although if anybody wants to create textures, feel free?? 😳) and [c] ‘c’ what can I do to make the neighbourhood coordinated with this system.

Really cool how this stub of a feature was just... there, though!

Oh, and a blooper from this set of tests.

Nothing more Christmassy than a blood-red sky. Then again, I suppose it is October :p

Item 3: Fin

At the end of this draft now, and dang, this was really fun to put together actually! Even if this documentation is largely insignificant in the grand scheme of things I might do more of these in the future. Would be fun if other creators tried it too, I think! If you want to filter this tag, I will be using ‘bstu mod log’ for these sorts of post. Maybe I’ll make a dedicated page to these and post future ones privately? 🤔 Happy Simming! <>

[flower-slut004]

Song loved the Nick Goode Alphabet You should do one for Ashley Who play Nick.Please?💗

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

At your hand and feet. He's super cuddly and wants you as close as possible. You bet your ass there’s a bubble bath after.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Ashley is 100% an ass man. He loves to see them in leggings. Squeezing and slapping is always on his mind.

He likes his smile, just one smirk, and you're jumping him. He knows all he has to do is chuckle or give you that sly look

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

On your face and all over your tits is the way he loves it. Bonus points if you rub it on your nipples.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self-explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

He wants to videotape you slobbering on his cock or bouncing on it.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

He's older than you so of course, he has more experience. He'll use his knowledge on you.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Face down, ass up in the air. He loves seeing your ass face him as he’s pounding in and out of you.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Anything to get a giggle out of you, he will. It makes him melt when he hears something that’s a mix of a moan and giggle out of your lips.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

He has some hair there. But it’s not overlay hairy.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Hand holding and squeezing. Faces pressed up together as you two moan into each other’s mouths.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

He likes making you watch. Just the whole idea of you watching him gets him harder.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Food play. He loves licking whipped cream off your body and loves sucking the honey from your ass cheeks.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

In his trailer when he’s shooting a show/movie. It makes him proud knowing everyone knows.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

You in leggings. Man loves these specific pink ones with an A on the thigh.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

three ways. You’re his and only his. He leaves marks to show it.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

He loves eating you out. He enjoys seeing your face scrunch up in pleasure as you moan his name.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

He likes it. He likes the thrill of getting caught.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

He’s down if you’re down. As long as your comfortable, he’s willing to take the risk.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Ashley is down to go as long as he can. It varies between two rounds to sometimes six.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

He loves using vibrators on you. He likes seeing your squirm and whine. He even bought vibrating panties for you as an anniversary gift.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Ashley can be eating you out and stop as you’re about to cum just to ask what’s the plans for tomorrow. Unfair is this mans middle name.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Ashley is a very loud man. He has no shame in letting everyone know what’s happening.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

During a zoom meeting, Ashley was underneath your desk, kissing and teasing you during the meeting.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Ashley has a large dick. Not big, but large.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

You need a leash on him sometimes. As soon as he comes home from work, you better be on your knees.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

very quickly, he’ll plant soft kisses to your neck as you drift off to sleep.

[orionshounds]

I’ve been knee deep in dsmp lore streams and I just want to ramble about it

Dream smp lore is so good, it’s so good!!! Not only is the story itself just fascinating, but how it’s presented so uniquely through the medium of minecraft of all things is just so cool. One of my favorite parts of the lore is seeing how everyone on the smp has their own “style” they present it in, and watching them find the way they find the most enjoyment in is so cool. Literally no two streamer’s lore stream quite like each others and it’s just incredible! It just speaks to the flexibility of roleplay as an artistic medium and really shows everyone’s individual personalities. 

Wilbur was dramatic as hell and wrote eloquent speeches. He started a drug operation under the guise as a country, and it lead to a revolution in which he was able to explore the spiral of a man who loses control of everything he had built. And after his arc and he wanted a break from the server? He created ghostbur, an amnesic comic relief with just enough touch of tragedy that he is still able to make heartbreaking monologues when he wants to.

Tommy is able to run around with his friends and cause as much chaos to his heart’s extent, but there is so much more than meets the eye. He is incredibly social and isn’t afraid to start conflict with a lot of people, bringing them into the roleplay. He doesn’t back down from storytelling either. His character goes through terrible situations and he fully explores the trauma that comes from those experiences. His character goes against the “stereotypical” trauma I see alot in media; instead of being shy or scared he’s reactionary, he’s angry, he’s violent, he’s depressed. I’m actually really impressed with the heavy subject matter this 17 year old teen has managed to portray (I’ve connected with it quite personally at certain points), while still being able to keep the light hearted fun that’s so intrinsic to his personality. 

Tubbo isn’t really interested in serious lore as much. Even in dire moments he tells jokes and just has fun. So, in his recent lore, he just streams as normal while putting mysterious writing on screen that he doesn’t acknowledge or have to explain, which I think is just a genius work around for him to participate in lore. He still has his dedicated lore streams sometimes, and when he is in the acting zone he has some of the most powerful moments out of everyone on the server.

Ranboo, while having stake in the greater smp lore, is much more character focused. He presents his lore through long monologues and fucking heart-wrenching voice acting. He loves working in themes of horror and causing a specific feeling in the viewer. So he chooses specific music as a themes for events/characters and creates visual queues in his overlays to draw out that desired reaction. He also values improve a LOT, if something unexpected comes up he just runs with it and he has made huge changes to his lore as early as 30 min before a stream.

Technoblade, while arguably one of the most powerful people on the server, prefers a more light-hearted yet dramatic approach to lore. When Dream was at his house looking for Tommy, Techno had no problem joking around and making fun of him for being homeless. He tore down an entire nation on the server and had so much fun doing it! He’s more of an antagonist than a true villain in my opinion. And lets not forget how dedicated he is to the game, he’s cracked at the craft. He spends hours grinding and creating farms on the smp, for amazing pay offs (his several vault reveals, the withers, etc), most of which weren’t even on stream!

Karl Jacobs is extremely social, so he created Tales from the smp as a way to involve TONS of people in lore while exploring the past and future of the server (it was also a way for viewers who weren’t that well versed in dsmp lore to join and not have to worry about it!). And through this premise, he took the opportunity to develop his own character on the smp; making an incredibly tragic story of a time traveler trying to save his home while slowly loosing his memories. Not to mention the beautifully shot cutscenes of the Inbetween and the Other Side. He includes so many people behind the scenes as well, collabing with other members on lore, hiring building teams and people to make intros and credit scenes, and promoting fanart and fansongs from the community!

Quackity explores his lore through heavily scripted events and amazingly shot cut scenes. While the way he expresses his lore comes at the cost of improv, the payoff of the visuals and story is well worth it! The shots he makes of the smp is downright gorgeous, no to mention he’s the first person to include irl footage in his lore (not counting facecams)! He’s not afraid of thoroughly examining his own character, being one of the only people I can think of that shows us “past events” leading up to something that has already happened.

Badboyhalo, Antfrost, Ponk, Skeppy, Captain Puffy, Punz, Awesamdude, Hannahxxrose all work together on shared lore and the payoff is amazing! By introducing the Egg, a constant antagonistic force that constantly pulls on character’s relationships with each other, everyone is able to stream together to battle for or against the egg! There’s also plenty of room for people to do individual lore that's more intimate to their respective character. They spend hours changing vines, putting up posters, slowly shaping the smp in a way that makes it exciting to watch streams to see just what has changed everyday. Because there’s so many people necessary to tell the egg’s story, it does comes at the cost of time (the egg has been around FOREVER). However, they all work together super hard and I just admire their commitment to the story they’re trying to tell!

And Sam! He has several different “Modes” his character is in (and an entirely separate character, Sam Nook) that he gets to explore lore with. He’s a terrifying warden, he’s a money motivated businessman, he’s a conflicted lover, he’s a traumatized victim of the egg, and just so much more. Through having so many different “roles” in the rp he gets to explore relationships and plotlines with a whole array of people. Not to mention he’s absolutely cracked at redstone and has some of the most impressive builds on the server.

And Puffy! So much of her lore is calling into question the morality of the server and really makes you step back and think critically about the characters. Her character also has, in my opinion, one of the most interesting relationships with Dream, the main antagonist of the entire server, which is just fascinating to watch unfold. Not to mention she’s one of the first people to start exploring the backstory of her character!

George doesn’t exactly do lore. In fact he’s slept through so much of it it’s become a meme. And you know what? That mad man took that and ran with it. He explains his absence in the story by having his character literally being asleep through it, creating mystery where there used to just be an absence. He’s able to goof off with his friends and have borderline nonsensical streams, then at the end sucker punch the audience emotionally by “waking up” and have the viewers question just what was real and what wasn’t?

The smp has the freedom for people who want more independent lore to be able to explore their character’s that way as well!

Hbomb, Connereatspants, and Purpled don’t have a lot of lore on the smp, generally only coming on to have fun with everyone, but when they do have their moments it unfolds in very interesting ways!

Sapnap, Eret, and Schlatt maybe aren’t as active as some other people, but when they are on they actively participate in lore and have lasting impacts on the story (Ex: Eret’s betrayal, Sapnap’s visit to dream in the prison, Schlatt becoming president).

Philza mostly does his own thing, improving the server or making some bomb ass builds. He has incredibly devastating roles in lore (killing wilbur, blowing up L’manberg for the final time, starting the syndicate with Techno), but he also has quieter moments that speak to the depth his character has, such as fishing with fundy or reminiscing about his dead son and how it went so wrong. Like Techno, he doesn’t like to take lore completely seriously, often laughing no matter what’s happening or teasing chat after something big goes down, but his character is solid with a lot of potential for future lore.

Foolish has only started on his character and its already super interesting. The hints at his dark past as a “god of death” and his current conflict with the egg are intriguing as fuck. Not to mention the MASSIVE builds he does for everyone, helping to progress their lore as well.

Fundy has a lot of freedom with his character to participate however much he wants in lore. While generally he’s a trickster who loves to prank people he has enough tragedy build into his backstory he’s able to break the viewer’s heart with a flip of a switch. Not to mention his recent, almost surreal, stream that explored his character’s disturbing dreams that may or may not predict the future.

Niki is very character driven, exploring her character's grief of losing her best friend and her anger of being ignored in the very country she helped create. She has incredibly emotional moments, and even though she’s on her own building an underground city she still participates in other lore via teaming with jack manifold or the syndicate.

Jack Manifold’s lore is VERY character focused, and while he’s described his story as a “B plot that occasionally intersects with the main plot”, the story he tells is still fascinating. Being pushed aside not taken seriously his whole life, his character develops into a fun cartoony-esque villain who begs to be taken seriously, that has the depth of a truly conflicted person who is torn between wanting revenge on everyone who’s done him wrong and just wanting a friend.

Last but not least, the man himself, Dream. The most fascinating thing about his lore is that absolutely none of it is from his pov. All we know about his character is only from what we see from everyone else’s povs, and in his case it leads to a very intimidating villain! Not to mention, mans owns the damn server and yet has made himself the main antagonist! He is the only character I consider a “true villain” on the smp. His voice acting and writing is downright sinister. I could write a fucking essay on how his character’s obsession with power has led him to the point he thinks himself an unstoppable god

Everyone on this server is stunning and I love all of them!!!!!

[blazichu]

Actually here, have a second one.

It’s an untitled, unpolished bit of a sickfic, because, at the time, I found the concept of computer viruses in Cyber World really interesting, and wanted to explore how that could manifest. I didn’t get far.

--

As nice as the varied functionalities were, there were a number of challenges in being a mechanical darkner.

Chief among them was that, while some experiences were universal, the vast majority manifested in unique ways. [example a] for instance, faced challenges that [example b] didn’t necessarily have to worry about.

Given that they all fell firmly in the ‘audio equipment’ category, Sweet, Cap’n and K_K generally saw things in a similar light-- the latter two to a slightly [higher degree]-- but there were times where their individual models caused a difference in [experience].

A slight static overlay was an annoyance all of them dealt with from time to time, often waylaying any attempts at producing music until everyone was back to full health, whereas the spontaneous unlocking of cable was a uniquely K_K problem.

Their eyes flickered upwards, just in case Cap’n hadn’t noticed yet.

No dice.

“Aw crap.” He [?] bluntly, looking directly at the hand on the ground. Slowly, he followed the coil of stray cable up to its owner’s face, buttons quirked in consideration.

“What did you do?” Sweet called from the next room over.

Though his eyes weren’t visible, Cap’n’s posture belied the fact that he was rolling them as he mimicked the accusation. Rounding the table, he gave a short nod to K_K’s other hand, and yelled back, “Why d’you assume it’s gotta be me?”

Reluctantly, as he knelt down to collect the slack, K_K set the mixing bowl down, just in case one of their background processes decided to uncinch the other arm, too.

“Did I say ‘Cap, what did you do?’ No. But since you asked, it’s ‘cause K_K fesses up when something’s their fault.” [voice is drawing nearer, they round the corner and enter the kitchen,] “So really, that just leaves-- oh. Well... crap.”

“Told you.” Cap’n said, just shy of smug, as he got up to his feet, cable looped over his shoulder several times. [back to K_K] “Think your spine’s ‘bout to go?”

It wasn’t really a question they had an answer to; there was little rhyme or reason to what happened and in what order when their systems went haywire. For lack of a better answer, they shook their head and turned their palms upward.

The hand dangling at Cap’n’s side pivoted, but lacked the structural integrity to actually perform the gesture.

“Thought you sounded a little rough yesterday, but I just figured it was ‘cause you’ve been playing so loud,” Sweet said, boosting themselves up high enough to peer into the [abandoned] mixing bowl; they nodded brusquely and shoved it into the refrigerator.

K_K gave a small whine. Letting it rest was one thing, but chilling the batter would alter the cook time.

Pointedly turning the oven off, Sweet looked to them-- challenging, but not unsympathetic. “It’ll keep.”

[...]

They understood that Sweet and Cap’n were just looking out for them, but they really did feel okay. If they could just get the oven up to temperature again, transfer the batter into the pan they’d prepped and get it cooking, then that task would be filled and it wouldn’t go to waste.

They sat up, and their spine immediately gave way.

Flat on their back, staring up at the ceiling, they huffed a defeated sigh and reached down, blindly trying to feed the cable back into its reel. It wouldn’t stay put if they moved, but they were only trying to get the slack out of the way to prevent any tangling.

[...]

[they’ve twisted themselves around to lay on their front/tangled up in a blanket]

Footsteps sounded at the threshold, but K_K stubbornly stayed [buried in a blanket].

There was a beat of silence as Cap’n took the scene in, and then: “Chalk up another win for gravity, eh?”

K_K [made] a muffled, displeased noise, and he leaned into the bean bag next to them, making a token attempt to unravel the fabric they’d cocooned themselves in. He found an eye, decided that was good enough and, with his free hand, held up a disk for them to inspect. They heaved a sigh and shrugged their [?] off, then tilted their head to allow him better access.

In several practiced movements, he popped their disk drive open, swapped out the CD, and gave it a gentle push shut. While they booted the antivirus up, he took a second to [look at] the CD’s title before stowing it in the [remaining/empty] jewel case and pocketing it.

[posttexasstressdisorder]

It looks like we’re living in The Time When Legends Walk The Earth Again, at least as a metaphor or a coded overlay to intelligence agents who post on twitter, doing their “work” of twisting  (their word) the narrative.

They take the identity of being The “sun” as actual Sentient Entity, using a human “vessel” and controlling and “aiming” solar flares at extremely specific places, two notably being the Mariana Trench region, and the South Sandwich Islands area, which is also being pounded with massive numbers of earthquakes.

So...piecing together as much of this as I can, from when I found this account forward to now, (I have literally thousands of screenshots) they’ve talked about some of the other names they have been given, and a “Titan” is one. 

Of course, the Titans from Greek Mythology were the parents of the Olympians.  They have also alluded to being a “redeemed” Lucifer, and an Arch Angel, with a number of 6.

Aliens are evidently living in the Mariana and South Sandwich trenches, and the “sun as entity” is driving them out.  They also say the aliens there are stupid and dumb...oh, they’re way more advanced techwise, but stupid.

They also allude to there being a “7″ that they want “freed”. They have talked about being a “Cosmic being”, but there are also references to being imprisoned, with their mind erased. 

Oh, and they talk about demons, and the fact that MTG is actually one, as is Moscow Mitch.  Reference is also made to “Why do you think all the intelligence agencies kept close tabs on Crowley?”  Think about it.  Occult knowledge.  The true knowledge that’s been hidden.  That artists can only allude to in their works.

Another thing they’ve also mentioned is that the life-long squealing tone of what I’ve always called tinitus, is actually a frequency (963hz), corresponding to a tone just shy of the ‘b’ above middle c on a piano. They refer to it as a “call”.

They will evidently also move themselves and us (whom they refer to as “meatbags”) to the Orion region. They refer to bad guys The Centauri (Babylon 5, anyone?), and Sirius as an entity.  They also refer to the solar system as their “gravity well”.  They allude to the pyramids being far older than Egypt says, and they were not tombs.  They’ve made references to other incarnations they’ve had, and how us “meatbags” just never really “got it”..

So...meanwhile, back at the ranch, the sun is, indeed, doing strange things.  The people who monitor what’s going on in spaceweather are amazed at what’s happening.

Several other accounts that I have been reading since before 2016 are now talking about a big reveal of some sort.  There are some articles being published about huge technology advances all of a sudden....more BIG things that will help us stop petro-dependence as a lifestyle.

While I am more interested in the “Legends of old walking the earth” aspect for the sheer fun of it, I am also aware that this whole thing is being shoe-horned into a psyop.  These people are either CIA or former CIA, or they are the “Victims” of the MKUltra/SuperSoldier mind control experiments.  They talk of “you never separate a matched pair” when referring to “7″. 

Other accounts which answer this one in solidarity may also be part of a group of mind-experiment psychic-soldier victims/subjects.  The actual situational examples are both intriguing and weirdly affirming.

[mercurytrinemoon]

On synastry and how to approach it

If you follow me you may have noticed few of my posts where I'm fixating on the fact that I don't know a certain person's birth date. And I said I'm sensing a nice Venus-Mars connection and honestly now that I think about it, I feel like Jupiter is heavily underlined in here as well. So that made me think of synastry a lot (not that I don't think about it on daily basis) and it made me want to elaborate a bit. Also because I see this weird approach where people single out certain aspects and turn them into "make it or break it" kind of deal and that is just wrong.

Actually it's similar with natal charts. The difference here is obvious - you have two individuals which means double the options in which way the energy may go and more potential for aspects to cancel each other out. So while natal interpretations of, for example, planets in the houses will resonate with you, all the black and white interpretations of synastry house overlays belong in the dumpster imho. And I knooow, I knoooow, one of my first posts was about house overlays. It was very generalized one and I did disclaim to take the entire chart into consideration. But sometimes I see these descriptions where people say "oh my god Venus in the 8th house! This is highly sexual aspect!" But what if none of the people have their Mars nor Venus activated, maybe except for a Venus-Saturn square that puts a big dump on the whole thing. Also, this may as well indicate taking care of shared resources (because that's one of the main themes of the 8th). Besides - and that's my personal take - overlays are less important than aspects between planets unless a) you’re putting a stellium in someone’s house b) it's about angles, because having the same planet as someone's ascendant is a big thing and I can guarantee you that most of the people you create bonds with will have that configuration with you.

Speaking of which, the type of people you attract is highly dependant on your chart. Angles are important but so are aspects and planet placements. I'll give you an example based on my own natal chart, because, obviously, I know myself well and I pay attention to charts of the people I come in contact with. As an Aquarius rising, I attract a lot of Aqua personal planets, Leo risings and people with personal planets in Leo - surprisingly not a single Leo Sun. As a Sagittarius dominant person, most of my friends are Gemini Moons or Sag Moons. Surprisingly I only befriended one Gemini Sun in my life + my belowed dog who was a Gemini. My Aries Moon makes me weak for Aries Suns. Sun is opposite Mars (5th house) - it, again, points to Aries (and Scorpios as well). Dominant fire element and Aries in the 3rd (easy communication) helps here a lot. Having Sagittarius in the 11th (house of friends) and Jupiter in the 7th (house of partnerships), I tend to be friends with other Sadges BUT that Jupiter in the 7th makes me very attracted to Pisces as well. So DO take classic rulership into consideration!

That leads me to another point - modalities. I have a lot of mutable energy so I love other mutable energies. SQUARES omg, especially in romantic/sexual relationships. They do bring tension but hear me out. You need trines and sextiles but squares bring spice. I can guarantee you that having a flowing Mars-Venus contact will give you a pleasant feelings for one another, easiness in communication and a natural synchronicity, but it's the square that will make you wanna rip each other's clothes off. Soooo... I mean, whichever you prefer I guess. Squares are also stimulating, with trines the energy flows nicely, squares bring interest... it's a different element, but the same modality... a perfect mix to make you drawn to the other person. It's similar yet intriguing. Another example, as a Sag Venus my tastes concerning arts and music should clash with a Pisces Venus - that’s what a textbook definition will tell you - but surprise, surprise, half of my favourite artists have Venus in Pisces.

Now with oppositions it's a completely different thing. I think they work wonderful when there are yin-yang planets involved. As I mentioned earlier, as a Sagittarius Sun I love Gemini Moons. They compliment each other. The thing is, with opposites you either get each other or you just pass each other. So it fluctuates. I've noticed that especially when there's the same planet involved. Two people having Mercury opposition will get each other so well they will finish each other's sentences one day and then completely miss the mark the next. Like two vehicles driving in opposite directions.

Trines aren't 100% amaaaazing. I know many people who, like me, have inner planets in fire signs and our values, ways of thinking and approach to certain issues are completely different. We do express them in the same manner though, which is by being loud lol. Trines also bring laziness so if you have too many of them the relationship may just fizzle out. Sextiles on the other hand are so underappreciated. Air fuels fire and water nourishes the earth - it’s way more interesting than a trine where both signs are in the same element, imho. Some astrologers will tell you sextiles are "weaker" but that's just stupid. They’re just as important, okay?  

Sometimes you don't even have to have an actual aspect. Whoa, I know, mind-blown. But I see that constantly. Obviously having planets in a tight aspects is very important but let's say you have Aquarius Venus at 5° and the other person has Sun in Aqua at 20°. They don't make an aspect but it's the same sign, therefore you're going to express these energies in the same manner - which makes you compatible (tho I don't like that word). Now the smaller the orb, the more significant the aspect is. I've read somewhere that the aspect with the tightest orb kind of represents the theme of the relationship - I haven't been able to really analyze this theory tho. When it comes to orbs overall, Alexander Von Pronay is suggesting to use aspects up to 7°. I'd do that and then look at aspects under 2° to really see which energies are stronger. Liz Greene said that if you're feeling an aspect, even if the orb is wider, well, you're feeling it and it's there. I suspect it may depend on what energies you're sensitive to. If, for example, your chart ruler is Venus, you may feel Venus aspects more. And then with Uranus, Neptune and Pluto I'd say up to 2°.  

What's actually awesome are so called double whammies. It's when the same two planets are aspected both ways. So A person's Sun is trining B's Venus and B's Venus is sextile A's Sun. Or A's Moon is conjunct B's Sun and B's Sun is opposite A's Moon. I like double whammies cause they provide mutuality. People often ask "wHo FeeLs iT mORe????". First of all, there's no clear answer to that because everyone's different and their charts are different and some respond to the energy one way and some, other. That's why I like to ask people: well, how do YOU feel about that aspect (if you, of course, know astrology well enough to pinpoint the energy). But with double whammies you basically exchange the same aspect so, hopefully, in 99%, it will be mutual.

What I also love is having the same aspect natally. Let's say you have a Mars-Mercury trine natally and the other person has it conjoined. That is awesome. It's like going through the same experiences in life and going "yeah! I went through that too! I understand!" Better yet if then those planets also make an aspect in the synastry chart. It's great. You're going to vibe so much.

About mutuality... A few weeks ago I was watching a livestream from Nina and Shaina from Party Trick Astrology (love those girls) and they were talking about synastry so I asked them a question related to these things cause, you know, I bet they've seen hundreds of charts and I'm always curious about other people's observations. So I asked about mutuality and one of them gave an example of a girl whose Venus was beautifully aspected by a guy and the guy's Venus not being aspected at all. And how this, for example, pointed to the guy being into the girl but not vice versa. And I thought that's interesting because I'd assume it would be the other way around. Her planets didn't activate his Venus so he shouldn't be into her romantically. And I actually experienced that myself one time. I had this Aqua friend and had literally zero aspects to my Venus. Not even a semi-sextile, not even a quincunx, not even a wide generational planet connection. And I didn't see him through these romantic lens. So I guess there are no rules to this. OR it’s all about projection (which btw happens a lot in astrology). That's why I like to look at synastry charts and just get the overall vibe. 

Now with that being said, the shocker. YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE ASPECTS WITH THE OTHER PERSON AT ALL. I know, a bummer. Here we, astrology junkies, are in the lookout for the perfect synastry chart but as I look at charts of celebrity couples I often see them having no Sun connections, no Venus or Mars connections, lame Moon aspects etc. That is indeed disappointing. That's why I was so stoked about that Britney-Justin synastry. Because I don't see connections like that one between all the "it” couples of today.

So I guess... astrology is bullshit... Nah, just kidding. But it is complex. Sometimes it’s quality over quantity. And you should approach synastry as a whole, just feel it out, you know? And I’ll leave you with that for today because it’s getting long.

[neojeno]

I really wouldn't mind you aiding me with some tutorials love

giffing tutorial/resources

hi anon! sorry it took me so long to answer. i figured this might be helpful for others out there who have asked me similar questions, so i’ve compiled a pretty comprehensive list of tutorials/resources. idk about others but when i was new to giffing, it took me a lot of painful effort to go around and look for resources, so i’m putting it all here to make it a little easier!

i download videos using 4k video downloader. it will download very good quality 1080p videos in .mp4 format. if you’re downloading a 4k video, make sure to change the setting option to .mkv so that you get 4k and not 1080p—for obvious reasons since you want the highest quality.

i rely on kpopexciting to get .ts files — which are basically raw, very high quality video files for live performances. they are much less grainy than .mp4 versions of live performances—which are the ones you’ll see uploaded to youtube. i’ve found that 4k videos (in .mkv) are just as good quality as .ts, but obviously you will rarely see live performances in 4k, so get .ts when you can!! you can also try to find .ts files on twitter, but you may have to do a lot of digging. i wish i could recommend you twitter accounts, but the ones i used to go to have been very inactive/taken down all their drives :( but this website is really nice and updated frequently so i would recommend it!

vapoursynth links + download. the reason you would use vapoursynth is to resize your gif, while maintaining the optimal quality of the gif. if you gif without vapoursynth (.ie only using photoshop), it will still be fine, but the image quality may be grainier. also, you will definitely need vapoursynth to gif .ts files —more will be explained in the tutorial i’ve linked below. i would recommend that you have a high processing/lots of ram/newer desktop or laptop to use vapoursynth so that 1, your computer isn’t fried and 2, your vapoursynth process will go a lot faster. i am using a 2017 macbook pro for all my work, and it runs pretty well, but my laptop still gets pretty hot so just make sure you’re not running a million things in the background while using adobe products and vapoursynth lol. i used a pretty old and beat up 2011 model macbook air back then, and i will say that yes vapoursynth worked and ran on it, but it took much longer, and basically fried the laptop’s battery (aka i had to get the battery changed twice and the laptop would die randomly) but issok it was a school borrowed laptop so i didn’t feel too bad lol. im just saying this as a precaution, to preserve the health of your electronic devices!! but don’t be afraid to use vapoursynth! you should still try it at least once.

thank you to @realstraykids for this super detailed, really nice tutorial! it includes how and where to download videos, how to gif using vapoursynth, using photoshop, comparisons, coloring, and pretty much all you need to know. 10/10 would recommend

thank you to @dreamcolouring for this lifesaver!!! the best and easiest way to blur out unwanted captions/objects in your gifs. i recommend doing this step after converting your frames to video timeline and before you do sharpening and coloring. another tip i’ll add is to feather the selection you’ve made right before you click on “add vector mask” —this will make sense once you’ve read through the tutorial. feathering it will make the blurred spot less noticeable and more subtle.

i use this generator to create gradient colored captions! copy and paste your text, then select the colors you want. generate the code, and copy it. change the settings of the text editor on your post to HTML. paste the code, preview, and voila! add elements <blockquote>,<b>,<i>, etc as needed. see more on colored captions in this tutorial by @kylos​ --i believe op mentioned a different and better color generator but for some reason it won’t work for me :( hopefully it works for u! basically same idea as the previous generator i mentioned.

my own mini tutorial/workflow process of making gifs. this includes working with a .ts file, vapoursynth, photoshop, coloring, watermarking, etc. and a few of my own tips below:

if you are working with an .mp4, you do not have to make any changes to the preprocessor/denoise filters/sharpening in the resizing part of vapoursynth—it doesn’t make that big of a difference if you do. but if you are working with a .ts file, definitely do make those changes,, that’s the whole reason you have vapoursynth. with an .mp4, i like to use vapoursynth to just resize, but i don’t add any additional settings. i use smart sharpen in photoshop to sharpen it, which is pretty good on it’s own (at least in photoshop 2020!).

my rule of thumb is to do add .02 seconds when i am setting frame delay. so if when you first import the frames, they are at 0.04 seconds, i usually change them to 0.06. of course, this is my personal taste—you can make all your gifs faster or slower depending on how you want em to look.

if you are on a mac, you can screen record by pressing Command+Shift+5 (it’s a shortcut to quicktime screen recording). I only screen record for things like the beyond live concert or other live streamed events. the image quality of the screen recording, in my experience, is actually pretty good. when you gif the screen recording however, you may notice that it adds extra frames that you don’t need. by that i mean duplicate frames. you could keep the duplicate frames but that just means the size of your gif is going to be much bigger (keep in mind the limit is 8mb). in order to remove those duplicates, my only solution has been to remove them manually (by holding Command while selecting), or when you are importing the video to frames, select the option to “limit to every 2 frames”—but this method will be less precise and still not as good as manually removing frames. if you remove the duplicate frames, this means you will need to set the frame delay even slower, to make up for lost frames. in my experience, fps(frames per second) and frame delay work in conjunction. so for example, if i delete every other frame because they are duplicates,  but the starting frame delay is 0.02, i am now going to change it to something like 0.05 (so i added 0.03 seconds rather than my usual 0.02). if the duration length and the image dimensions of the gif are short/small, feel free to keep the duplicate frames in—i only delete duplicate frames in order to keep my gif under the 8mb limit. then, if you keep the duplicate frames in, continue with your standard frame delay preferences.  now that i’m writing this im realizing this might not make a lot of sense lol.. but don’t worry about it for now and if you run into trouble w screen recorded gifs then you can come back to this for reference. again, this is only my experience recording on a mac—it may be a lot different if you use a screen recording program or are on a pc.

i don’t really use .psd templates because i like to give every gif/gifset it’s own unique coloring—so i remake the coloring every time, but if you get into a rhythm it’s pretty easy. there are a lot of nice coloring tutorials out there, too! my personal coloring adjustments in order: levels, exposure, color balance, selective color (if needed), vibrance, photo filter (if needed), color lookup (i use 2strip most often and i put it on ‘color’ blending mode). don’t forget to adjust the opacities and fills of the ‘color lookup’ adjustment layer in case it’s too strong. go back to correct each adjustment layer as needed. then, when you’re done and satisfied, group all those layers, copy the group (you can do an easy command+c), and paste it onto the next gif you’re working on for easy workflow.

if for some reason you can’t see the frames when you import your layers/video, it’s likely because your ‘timeline’ window isn’t showing up. just go to the window menu on photoshop, go to the bottom and you’ll see ‘timeline.’ make sure it has a check next to it.

i recommend watermarking your gifs because a lot of people like to repost tings these days 😠 - so make sure u got your brand on it! i keep my watermark saved to my ‘libraries’ in photoshop so it’s ready when i need it. i use the blending mode ‘overlay’ and adjust the opacity, but if you don’t want to do that you can also add a stroke/shadow to your watermark/do all sorts.

tag #nctinc for your nct creations and #jenonet for your jeno creations!!

here’s my own mini tutorial (well not much of a tutorial ig more like a work process vid?): took about ten minutes including the time to search and download the video (but i didn’t record that part i trust yall know how to do that), vapoursynth, and exporting. i hope this helps somewhat! feel free to ask more questions whenever :)

keep in mind that giffing takes a lot of patience, energy, and experience—so don’t worry if it takes you a bit to figure things out or if your gifs don’t turn out the way you want them to the first time around. we all start at the same place and all run into problems. i know giffing can sound intimidating and seem like a lot of work, but i promise, once you get into a routine, giffing is going to happen in minutes—and you’ll get beautiful gifs. have fun! 😊

[chiseler]

Ballard’s Abandoned Landscapes

If you set reality at noon on an analog clock, most science fiction would range from about 4:30 to 6. Philip K. Dick might ring in at 7:30. J.G. Ballard? 9 pm or your personal bedtime.

I’m talking about early, ‘60s Ballard, simply because that’s what hit me first and still hits me hardest. I recently bought (downloaded to my Kindle – interesting to think where that might fit into the Ballard world) his complete stories, but I’ve stopped dead, for now, at “Terminal Beach,” one of the finest short stories in the English language. So that’s the era I’m going to talk about. I’m an old fart and entitled.

It’s hard to pin down what defines any writer, what sets him apart from any other writer. In Ballard’s case, beyond the bizarre settings and sprung mental framework, I think it’s the unique uniting of personal isolation and claustrophobia with a sense of unbordered physical and internal space.

Many of the stories are set in deserts or uninhabited/disinhabited, windswept nowheres. He seldom introduces more than two or three characters, who often interact like cyborgs hurling dogturds at a target close to each others’ heads. Things happen without explanation and often without resolution.

Several of the stories deal with Vermillion Sands, an artistic community of the future where the world of art has run aesthetically and conceptually amok. Statues move and crawl, poetry drifts on the winds, ideas (and ideals) that were set up to evolve across the landscape peter out like grandpa in his dotage. But if you look at the impetus behind the individual elements, most of them have been realized, in one form or another, in the half century since Ballard wrote these stories.

At the uber-level, he knew. He saw. He envisioned. Many writers of SF’s “Golden Age” pictured isolated developments surprisingly well. They understood how technology would (or might) unfold. What Ballard saw was the human drive and how, in a technological society, it could be revealed. He was like Bradbury that way, and it may be the universe’s quiet salute that they died so temporally near each other.

I might have made it sound like Ballard was dreary or empty, a drum beaten in a deserted warehouse. Sometimes he was. Not every story is a resonant gem. But at his (often) best, he brought together characters, or a character and an environment, with such understated intensity that they caught fire without oxygen. People you would never want to know, never want to meet, never want to think about sizzle and sparkle in their own personal skies. I don’t know if that gives any kind of useful image, but it’s as close as I can come to pinning them against Ballard’s backdrop.

So let’s look at a few of those stories from the late '50s, early '60s.

Along with the sense of abandonment, there is often a dissolution of personal experience. In “The Last World of Mr. Goddard,” an unexceptional man living in a closely locked house keeps a miniature world alive in crate. How real is this tiny world and how connected to his? We find out to his and our chagrin. (It might make you think of Theodore Sturgeon’s “Microcosmic God,” but it goes in an entirely different direction.)

“The Watch-Towers” presents the landscape overseen by an evenly-spaced grid of floating towers, obviously peopled, but no one knows by whom, from where or why. Nor, like the inhabitants below, are we allowed to find out. The towers simply are. But there are repercussions for ignoring or disdaining them.

The completely isolated characters of “Manhole 69” are subjects of an experiment that has removed the need for sleep. They live and interact without mental pause 24 hours a day. What happens to their unrelieved minds? And can they tell how much of the crushing claustrophobia is outside, how much in?

“Mr. F. is Mr. F.” merges two of Ballard’s obsessions: isolation/dissolution, and time as an inexorable enemy. Mr. F., confined to his bed and managed by his overbearing wife, is becoming younger by the day but not internally stronger. The cycle he goes through is especially terrifying for being, in that confined bedroom, absurdly mundane.

The battle with time in “The Garden of Time” is even more isolated, as a couple keep the depredations of an advancing war rabble at bay by picking a time flower each evening – while the flowers, which refuse to bud anew, ever dwindle in number: Time can be held at bay, but it will be the victor at ages’ end.

“Chronopolis” is a deserted city, the result of an edict which forbid clocks, watches and all observance of time’s passage. We follow the underground progress of renegade isolates driven by the need to know when.

Again, from these descriptions it may seem that Ballard ignores character for theme and textured absurdity. Actually, almost all of Ballard’s early stories are driven by character, fully realized human beings set in skewed or inverted situations and let go to wend their way, accepting the impossible even while battling against it.

Mangon, “The Sound-Sweep,” operates a sonovac. Like your Hoover or Electrolux, it ingests the unwanted and untidy, but in this case the refuse is sound, suctioned with exquisite care. Mangon can remove the harsh overlays of a cathedral’s yattering tourists while leaving intact the chant-soak of the stones. But what most defines him is his love for the over-the-hill opera singer, Madame Gioconda, and his sad, resigned response to her gift of derision.

Ballard for the most part ignores humor. It simply doesn’t fit into his dense, choking worlds. But he lets loose a volley of exuberant howlers in “Passport to Eternity.” A couple with all the solar system at their disposal for a vacation attempt to plan the perfect getaway. This leads them to investigate a scattering of underground firms offering … what they outline in half a dozen pages would fill an entire Philip K. Dick novel. Ballard slaps one bizarre and tortured idea after another onto the page, held in place by Laurel and Hardy glue.

And, of course, there’s “The Terminal Beach.” Wandering alone among the concrete ruins of Eniwetok, the island staging grounds for atomic and hydrogen bomb tests, Traven (B. Traven?) loses himself inside the maze of pseudo-buildings erected to examine the effects of mankind’s most unrestrained energy on its most vulnerable structures.

He talks with his lost family and to the skeletal remains of a Japanese flier tied to a porch chair. He is visited by a scientific team who cannot coax him to leave his vigil, because he is trying to find – what? Justification? The past? A sense of why he has no future? Afterwards, you might think Borges, or in some sense Nabokov. But while you’re reading it, you won’t think of anything else.

by Derek Davis

[readingsbylibramc]

synastry chart reading for @nabicat

hello! welcome to your reading. I'm going to give you a quick overview of what I'm going to analyze about your synastry chart: in-depth analysis of house overlays with major aspects, potential of the relationship, soulmates indicators, possible marriage indicators, possible issues and struggles of the relationship, intimacy and physical attraction, what they feel when they see / think about you, in-depth analysis of fate, love and marriage asteroids. of course, if you have any questions, feel free to ask! my dms are always open. now let's get into the reading!

PARTNER A: she/her | pisces sun, leo moon, capricorn rising.

PARTNER B: he/him | pisces sun, leo moon, cancer rising.

PARTNER A

🌞 partner a's pisces sun in his 9th house

this placement indicates that you two may learn a lot from this relationship. you two may come from different cultural backgrounds, or if you don't you still have a fresh vibe to you that brings something new to the other, a fresh perception of things. you may share the same ideas regarding politics, economy, or even about things as simple as music taste or movies. you see eye to eye on almost everything, and if you don't, you're still able to understand the other's view. you two are able to broaden each other's horizons, this relationship could introduce you to a new way of seeing and reacting to things, it's very beneficial as it opens the mind of both of you. this sense of knowledge and constant learning makes both of you achieve more security, and as a result you may feel more confident when you interact and just spend time together in general. you could also travel a lot, or perhaps you may attend the same school. if this relationship lasts, then you'll most likely explore the world together, you're going to be very adventurous, even if you normally don't really step out of your comfort-zone, as your partner gives you strenght and vice versa. this placement alone isn't extremely romantic, but combined with the rest of your synastry it surely is a great addition. in fact, this relationship is very mature, but not the capricorn type of maturity which can be quite boring at times. it's a type of maturity that is born from making experiences together, and hence you'll probably make loads of pleasant memories with this person.

🌙 partner a's leo moon in his 1st house

this is a very cute placement! the ascendant represents the centre, the purpose and basis of one's life. therefore, with your moon falling in your crush's first house, you most likely have an important space in his life. he sees you as someone very caring and nurturing, someone he can trust and that is always there for him for help. you two most likely got each other at first sigh, you instantly got along, and as a result there's a strong emotional bond between you two that makes it totally possible for you two to have a stable and healthy relationship. you feel at home when you're together, you feel comfortable and accepted. even if you're introverts, you probably don't feel tired after spending time with the other or vice versa. this placement also indicates that your feelings may be contagious; that is, if for instance one of you is sad, the other may feel down too as a result. you're both very empathetic when you're in each other's company. last but not least, this overlay also indicates that you see your crush as someone very powerful and assertive, someone ambitious that knows how to live his life. your crush, on the other hand, sees you as a very nurturing and emotional individual. that doesn't mean that he sees you as weak of course, but rather as someone soft, wise and sensitive.

partner a's leo moon conjunct partner b's leo moon: this aspect indicates a mutual understanding that goes beyond standards, it most likely feels like a soulmate connection. both of you are aware of the moods and the emotional changes and needs of the other person, you're very empathetic when it comes to understanding each other. you two feel familiar, you feel as if you've known each other for your whole life. it's almost a magical bond, you don't need words to communicate, it's like you already know everything about each other. you two are extremely similar, you react to situations in the same way and hence it makes it easier for you two to get along, especially in a romantic sense. it's a mostly positive aspect, but like all the aspects, it also has some negative sides to it. in fact, while this relationship may feel extremely chill and relaxing, being too similar isn't the best thing either. during fights, you may both be too proud, especially since your moons are placed in the sign of leo, and hence you could struggle with apologizing and recognizing your mistakes. in the worst case, you two could even get physically violent, but I don't think it's necessarily your case.

partner a's leo moon trine partner b's aries venus: this placement is absolutely lovely! you two are probably very romantic individuals, and if you're not, you're at least able to bring the romance out of each other. you are very affectionate, you may enjoy physical contact and cuddling, you probably express your love for each other through gestures. comfort and ease just flow easily between you two, it's a very powerful aspect that makes you two love each other's company. you could be the type of couple to spoil each other, maybe in gifts, or even in compliments. it's that type of relationship that boosts each other's self-esteem. you could also be the type or couple to call each other sweet names, such as 'baby', 'honey', and so on, this kind of things. this is also another placement that indicates that you two could be quite devoted to each other, you're always there when needed and vice versa.

🗣 partner a's pisces mercury in his 8th house

this one is a very complex aspect. first of all, combined with your positively-aspected moons, you probably feel extremely comfortable and intimate together. because of that, you feel safe sharing your deepest desires and secrets. you can talk freely about anything you have in your head with your crush, and as a result he seems to listen and understand you deeply, making you feel accepted, he doesn't answer your deep questions with superficial sentences. with your partner you feel free to talk about topics that are considered to be taboo like sex, spirituality, etc., you feel strangely comfortable discussing about these things. you could possibly even be into dirty talks. yet, this placement also has some bad sides to it, as the 8th house is a malefic house after all. your crush could feel particularly sensitive when he's with you, he cares a lot about what you think of him, and hence make sure that you're not too blunt when talking to him or you may hurt his feelings deeply. you could find yourself having a very sharp tongue in this relationship, especially while you two are arguing. you may end up saying very unpleasant things that could significantly ruin your connection, and that would obviously be a shame.

partner a's pisces mercury conjunct partner b's pisces sun: sun - mercury aspects generally aren't the most romantic or passionate of placements, and because of that, they're usually underestimated. yet, I honestly consider them extremely significant in a synastry reading, as communication is key for every couple. therefore, thanks to this aspect, communication between you two flows extremely easily. there are hardly embarassing silences between you two, somehow you always manage to find something to talk about, and since this conjunction happens in the 8th house you most likely get immersed in your discussions. you feel as if time stopped when you two talk. you two have similar ideals and beliefs, lots of interests in common... you love sharing your points of view to hear the other's opinion about your thought, but make sure to be diplomatic and open to any sort of disagreement, as it's something that I see happening in this particular relationship. overall, you two make a couple that values communucation seriously, you're probably always texting or chatting together.

❤️ partner a's pisces venus in his 8th house

this is for sure the most intense placement of the chart. after all, the 8th house rules scorpio, the sign of rebirth and transformation. therefore, this relationship may awaken something in you that has always been there, but that you never seemed to notice. you're both going to learn a lot from this connection, growing mature as time goes by. the house person, aka your crush, sees you as a safe place, a security; he sees you as a passionate and loyal lover, someone who would never betray his trust, and hence he feels a deep affection for you. these feelings are mutual, and you may find yourself being completely mesmerized by your partner, maybe even obsessed (in a positive sense, of course). your crush could literally feel like a drug to you, you can't get enough of him, it's a very deep connection that you can't seem able to get rid of even if you wanted to. that's because this is certainly a karmic connection, you have already met each other in a past life. because of that, you didn't fall for this person's looks, personality or charisma, but for this person in general. to make it simple, you don't want someone with the same traits as him, you want only him. you are also a very private couple, you may not like showing your relationship to the world, you prefer keeping it to yourself. this placement also indicates strong sexual compatibility, you two are very considerate of each other's wants and needs.

partner a's pisces venus conjunct partner b's pisces sun: this placement is extremely positive in a synastry chart! in fact you, the venus person, most likely see your partner as a very attractive individual, he fits your ideals of beauty, he's your ideal type. the sun person, your crush, sees that, he can perceive your admiration, and hence he feels very secure when he's around you. he feels your warmth, and this appreciation certainly boosts his self-esteem, he feels handsome thanks to you. combined with your sun conjunct mercury aspect you have together, you two most likely appreciate literally everything about each other, from looks, to personality, intelligence, etc. you see each other as a dream come true, something extremely rare, and hence you're both very careful with your approach to the other. you hate conflicts, and hence you try to avoid them as much as possible. venus also symbolizes money in astrology, and hence I definitely don't see you two struggling with finances in the long-run, and you may actually help each other when it comes to wealth.

☄️ partner a's aries mars in his 10th house

this placement isn’t exactly romantic, I would say it’s more suitable for a working relationship, but there are still some notes that could resonate. in first place, you may inspire your partner to be successful, you may be his strenght to pursue a certain career or even just to lead in general. your support boosts his self-esteem, allowing him to succeed and achieve his goals. in addition, you may actually work in the same field, or perhaps you aspire to follow his steps and work in the same environment as him. you may also literally help each other with your job, for example if he works in an office you may help him getting some documents done, if he’s a teacher you may help him with his students, etc. one thing for sure, you would support him in anything he does, you would become his numer #1 fan. the house person, aka your partner, also sees potential in you, and he may help you being more successful in your finances and career as well. he probably appreciates your skills and talents, as well as your strategies. the problem with this overlay is that, at first, this relationship could be quite boring or even cold at first. there’s a lot of seriousness and respect from both of you, which could make this relationship too heavy, especially for your free-spirited leo energy. this placement could also be interpreted in a more family-related way: you may inspire him to become a father, he may be very present for his children, and he would do anything to provide wealth and security for his family. 

partner a's aries mars conjunct partner b's aries saturn: this placement is probably the worst you two have in this synastry chart, the hardest to deal with. mars is all about passion, energy and sex, while saturn is the planet of limitations and restrictions. put these two together, and you get unpleasant situation in you day-to-day life. this probably won't escalate to aggression or violence of any sort, as the rest of your planets are still positively aspected, but at a certain point there could be a few misunderstandings between the two of you. it could be that your crush may turn out to be a bit too childish and impulsive, not in a likeable way. he could say things that could hurt you deeply without thinking, or maybe he could even lose his temper and be more aggressive when you two are arguing. your crush has a hot temper and you feel like you always need to control him, as if he was a baby who needs a parent to control him. it could even be the opposite. you could also not feel very attracted to him at first, or perhaps this attraction you feel now may fade with time. possibly, you may even start being a bit critical of your partner, you may judge him quite often for his reckless behaviour.

PARTNER B

🌞 partner b's pisces sun in her 3rd house

with his sun in your 3rd house, I can see that your crush most likely fell for the way you think, for your manners, your ideals. you may be someone very smart, witty and / or talkative, maybe even outgoing, and his intelligence makes you feel attracted to him. he most likely feels comfortable talking to you; you may have many things in common like hobbies, dreams, studies, etc., or in general words just flow naturally when you two get to speak. your crush could feel motivated by your presence, you could inspire him to work hard and harder to achieve the best of himself. he feels very stimulated, and he can’t help but feel curious about you, you probably catch his attention, and you will most likely get along and see eye to eye on a bunch of things, there won’t be many disagreements between the two of you. this is generally a good aspect for a friendship, but for a love relationships, a few issues may arise. in fact, the 3rd house is a superficial house; your relationship may be very happy and pleasant to live, with tons of fun and amusement. yet, there could be a certain lack of emotional depth between you two. you may have fun, but you could sometimes struggle to understand each other’s feelings and emotions. I don’t think you will be completely unsensitive with each other, you still share the same moon sign, but still beware of the fact that this relationship may not provide you much emotional growth and possibly comfort.

🌙 partner b's leo moon in her 7th house

with his moon in your seventh house, your crush most likely feels secure and accepted when he's with you. he feels free and comfortable, he doesn't fear being judged because he knows he can trust you, and that you wouldn't hurt him on purpose. yet, even though you two most likely see eye to eye, your crush could find himself being a bit accommodating with you. he may try to avoid conflicts with you at all costs, he could give up on his ideals just to agree with you, and this is obviously an unhealthy habit for him. if you have the occasion, you could try reassuring him a bit. you, on the other hand, you feel extremely comfortable with your partner, you feel as if you've found your other half, someone who loves you for who you are without questioning your choices. he's very supportive of you and of your ideas, he's all about loyalty, romance and commitment, making you feel extra loved. you find him very attractive, not just on a physical level but also in an emotional sense. you like the way he expresses his emotions, he handles and reacts to situations.

partner b's leo moon square partner a's saturn: this placement is often found in synastry charts of married couples, as it is an indicator of a long-lasting relationship in astrology. yet, since in your case it's a square aspect, a few unpleasant challenges may arise. in fact, while on one side there is a strong sense of commitment and loyalty between you two, the relationship could start to feel a bit too heavy. perhaps, your crush may prefer having a more light-hearted connection than you, and hence he could sometimes get overwhelmed. you, on the other hand, you dream of a stable relationship, and because of that your needs and wants clash. aside from this though, I don't think you're going to experience many negative sides of this aspect thanks to your moon conjunct moon aspect. in fact, while this placement can make it hard for the saturn person being warm and expressing their emotions, your moons being both in the same sign, leo, mitigate this.

🗣 partner b's pisces mercury in her 3rd house

with his mercury in your 3rd house, you’re probably a very chatty couple! you find it easy to keep a conversation with this person, or at least you’ll find it easy to find something to talk about once you get to know him, words just flow out naturally. for instance, you’re probably the type of couple that stays up late at night just to talk with your significant other, I see this being that kind of relationship. you could have similiar interests, hobbies, maybe even studies, and you could often end up talking about this type of things. I also find this placement a great match with your moon conjunct moon aspect I’ve mentioned above; in fact, this aspect makes communication so easy between you two that sorting out your issues and misunderstandings is not a big deal at all, or at least it’s not as serious as it usually is. you may argue like any couple of course, but I don’t think these arguments will be too dangerous for the relationship.

❤️ partner b's aries venus in her 3rd house

the influence of venus in the 3rd house makes both of you very considerate with your words. I don’t really see you two screaming during arguments, not at all. you always try to be as calm and caring as possible, you care about your words as you don’t want to hurt the other. I find this placement very beneficial, considering that your venus is in aries; generally, I assume he is quite an impulsive speaker, he says things before thinking, and hence he could often end up in troubles because of his sharp tongue. still, when he's with you, he manages to control himself, and maybe he could learn how to control his impulsiveness thanks to you in this relationship, who knows. on the other hand, you have a soft spot for him, you may avoid sarcasm and stuff like that when you're around him, as you want to express your feelings and love for him through your words. venus is also the planet of art, so I feel like you may have similiar interests; for example, you could listen to the same genre of music, read the same authors, watch the same genre of movies, etc. you see eye to eye on your hobbies, and this obviously makes your life together way easier. in fact, since you two both have strong aries energy in you, you need to find someone that kind of matches your energy, as you both struggle to change for someone else.

☄️ partner b's scorpio mars in her 10th house

I won't be going too deep into this section as it basically confirms what I've said above, the feeling is mutual. that is, you two both drive each other to be successful and resolute, you find each other both motivated to be at your best state whenever you're in each other's company. you care about having a good impression on him and vice versa.

partner b's scorpio mars square partner a's leo moon: this placement may cause some troubles, as you may often be blind to your partner’s attitude. especially since his moon is placed in your 7th house, you may sometimes idealize your partner way too much when he’s not actually who he seems to be. at first you may be okay with his behaviour, after all you have lots of similar signs and positive aspects that make you two get along. yet, as time goes by, you may start feeling constantly contradicted, arguments could be more frequent as you may misunderstand each other. more specifically, you start realizing that your partner’s nature is slightly different from yours, and while there are many other aspects that could mitigate this effect, you may still feel as if it’s impossible for you to have a long-lasting, healthy relationship in these occasions. especially your partner, he may often hurt your feelings with his words. on the other hand, this placement also has a positive side! you are strongly attracted to each other, you both feel attached to the other with glue, and that’s exactly why this relationship could become unhealthy, because you may struggle to let go of the other if necessary. your bond is so strong that you can’t manage to separate, even when there are so many hardships and conflicts. 

partner b's scorpio mars trine partner a's pisces venus: in astrology, this is considered to be the ultimate physical attraction aspect! in fact, you two probably find each other very attractive and magnetic. I don't think this connection started off as a friendship, and if it did then it was probably unbearable, as the attraction and chemistry between you two is just way too much to handle. you two most likely are a very touchy couple, not necessarily in a sexual way but you find it hard not to stare, touch each other; physical contact is key in this connection. this placement makes me think that your crush coule be the dominant figure in your relationship, he could be the one to approach you first for instance. in general, he tends to be the one who takes the initiative in any context. your partner appreciates you, and he may feel romantically attracted to you, you probably fit his ideals when it comes to looks, personality, etc. this placement probably makes this relationship so intense and magnetic that it will be hard to forget, even if you two don't end up together. this is certainly a soulmate / twinflame connection, especially with your neptunian energy. I'm sure you're both going to learn a lot from this connection.

ASTEROIDS & CO

partner b's leo north node conjunct partner a's leo vertex: again, this is another placement that indicates that there's a soulmate or even twinflame connection going on here. you two were meant to be, your meeting in this lifetime was fated. that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to end up together, but this relationship surely has loads of potential. even if there wasn't an happy ending, you two would still get out of it with a lot of wisdom and maturity on your back. we're talking about a karmic relationship that will surely prepare both of you to future challenges, events or even a future partner. you could have met each other in an unusual situation for example, you didn't expect to be meeting at first. more specifically, you, the vertex person, perceive your crush as your ideal type, as the perfect match for you. this is also another strong marriage placement as well! I can definitely see this relationship being long-lasting if you two manage to sort out your conflicts I've mentioned above.

and this is it! thank you again for booking a reading, let me know if you have any questions :) - libramc xx

- not corrected yet -

[tisfan]

I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently; between the @bannedtogetherbingo2020 kerfluffle and the BLM protests 

(one thing that I’ve been doing recently that seems to annoy the living SHIT out of my fellow White People is correcting “riots” to “protests.” 

“Were you near the riots --” “I did not attend the protests, but I did donate to the medical fund for the man who was injured by removal of the statue on High Street.”

This seems to drive people absolutely batshit, and I will continue to do it. These are not riots and if they have similar characteristics with riots it’s because cops are treating everyone not even like criminals, but like hostile enemy forces.)

Mostly what I’ve been reading about is the difficulty that POC fans have in getting their voices heard in fandom. That the history of fandom is primarily the history of White Fandom. 

(this is long, so there’s more under the cut - I also tell stories A LOT so brace for personal experience asides)

I’ve been thinking about comments I’ve seen by black and brown fans about trying to get away from racist stories on A03. And trying to figure out if there’s a way to give people what they want -- a way to tag posts/topics/writers/ships on a permanent block list. I know I’ve spoken with several fans who have extensive filter scripts when they go looking for a new read and that shit is EXHAUSTING and doesn’t work necessarily on mobile devices.

I, for instance, have QUITE A LOT of stuff blacklisted on tumblr because I find P*nnyW*se the Creepy Teeth Demon to be horrific and I do not want him on my screen. And the movie’s name is IT for fuck’s sake. I can’t blacklist the word “It” and still expect to see any content at all. So, thinking about how much trouble I had keeping PWCTD off my screen gives me some sympathy to how hard it’s got to be to filter out something that people aren’t even tagging! 

I mean, honestly, most of the time that people tag a fic TW: racist, they already KNOW the character is acting in a racist manner and they’re condemning it. When people don’t realize the character is racist, or a word, or a trope is racist (mystical black character, for instance) they don’t tag it as racist because they either don’t know, are unconscious of their own bias, of they don’t care that it’s racist. 

In the same manner, Person A who’s writing fic they know is dub-con will tag it, and Person B who thinks stalking someone and climbing in their window at night is romantic will NOT tag the same scenes as dub-con.

Which doesn’t make it any less jarring when I suddenly run into a fic that I would absolutely count as noncon/dubcon that’s not tagged for it. The intentions of the author don’t matter TO ME at that moment, what matters to me is that I’m trying to breathe while the romantic interest on my eReader is saying “aw, that’s so sweet.”

So, there’s multiple questions that come up for me -- I’m not a computer person, so while the A03 code is available for use, I wouldn’t know what to do with it if I tried. 

Is there a way to tag something from the outside? An overlay or side program (like an Xkit for A03) that would allow people to permanently blacklist certain tags or authors, tropes, etc? I know there are some hosting sites (unfortunately with ads) that basically funnel stuff from A03 to a reader. There was a big kerfluffle about it at the beginning of the year because OMG, someone is making money off my fanfic! protip, no, they weren’t. they were making money off someone else’s desire for a custom skin. The material itself was never leaving A03, it wasn’t stored anywhere else. A03 does not currently have a phone app and they don’t plan to have a phone app.

So, would it be possible for someone to write a phone-app that did a custom filter for the material. Blacklists are certainly possible, right?

Because here’s the thing; a lot of people who are racist don’t know that they are. Or they don’t care that they are. I have personally had a couple of hard conversations about racism (I’m not even going to call it “unconscious racism” because I am a grown-ass adult capable of reading, so if I act in a racist manner, I’m going to fucking own it. And apologize for it. And try to do better.) in my own work -- whitewashing a character at one point, using a quote from a black woman as a title for a story about Wanda. I’m still not entirely convinced that a Jewish/Romani woman is “white” in any sort of traditional sense. That said, I’m not a POC and I’m going to listen to the person who’s upset because of my usage and not my own feeling of “I don’t really think Wanda counts as white.” This may be partially because WANDA is whitewashed as shit in the MCU and a lot of people in the fandom do not read comics.

That further said, I made the changes as requested and apologized for it in the work/notes. And felt very uncomfortable when some of my white friends said “I’m sorry you had to deal with that.” I’m not sorry I had to deal with it. I wish I hadn’t DONE it, but I am glad that people felt comfortable enough with me to call my on my bullshit and I was able to make corrections and amends.

Still-- All of this boils down to: People are not going to, in good faith, tag their own fic as “don’t read this, I am racist.”  

Everything that gets done on A03 -- which is an Archive -- is voluntary by the author. A03′s policies are pretty much “tag to warn” or “tag that you’re NOT tagging to warn.” The only action A03 takes for inappropriate tagging is to ask the author to update the Warning to match, or choose not to warn. If there’s no compliance, A03 will assign the fic “choose not to warn.” But that’s the extend of their policies.

We all know this history; no censorship. Censorship is a slope that leads to fanwork disappearing. Because here’s another fact: it doesn’t matter what the intention is of censoring a story; that censorship is going to be applied badly. 

So, if A03 was going to ban racist fic, how long do you think it would take before the reporting system was flooded? Even legit reports of racism are going to take a while to read through, judge, contact the author, wait for possibly updates or retractions, and then removal.

A03′s staff are volunteers, and I understand there aren’t very many of them. There are six MILLION works on A03. No one could hope to read them all with a careful enough eye to catch all instances of harmful texts.

And we all know what’s going to happen: it’s easier to delete all stories that get complaints, rather than read them.

So, Fan A gets Fan C’s fic taken down for racial stereotyping and Fan C tells all of her friends, who go on a crusade to report every single one of Fan Q’s fics in retaliation (not because Fan Q did anything “wrong” but because they happened to post a blog about racial stereotyping in fandom) And we’re right back to strikethru.

Yet, censorship is one of those things that makes me very, very nervous. Do I think a white boy who writes a self-insert rape fantasy novella about violating and murdering Zoe Quinn should be allowed a platform? No, I don’t. (And neither did Amazon, who took it down fairly quickly once it was brought to their attention. But that’s only one case, where there are probably thousands of books that are personal attacks and are left merrily alone.)

There are a lot of books on the banned book list. If people thought they could get away with it, those books would be unpublished, unpersoned, black bagged. 

We all know that the rules get applied badly, by the people with the biggest mouths and the loudest complaints. So banning content on A03 does not seem to be the solution.

(Personal story time again, just skip this if you want.)

I came into fandom backward; I was a traditionally published erotica / romance writer first and moved into fandom after the collapse of several small publishing houses for various scandals that I won’t bore you with but you can look here if you want more information. 

Several years ago, I was in an anthology that i was Very Proud of, and I really like the editor I worked with, wanted to work with her again. She sent me a premise for submission that left me cold. Which is to say, she wanted to publish cuckolding stories. 

[x] <-- warning, that link is REALLY harsh and filled with some real WTF moments, from someone who’s pointing out the racism inherent in the system.

Especially when you consider the Mandingo aspects of the fantasy, it’s easy to see why just the existence of it is repulsive.

I declined the invitation to participate because I was deeply uncomfortable with the subject matter. 

I’m not saying that to get praise for my behavior. 

Because when the subject came up again about two or three years ago in some fandom discourse, I sided with my friends who were defending “no censorship, no matter what.”

(End of personal aside.)

Despite my personal feelings about the issue (ew, this is icky and racist and horrible and I would never write it) I still believe that I don’t have the right to say what someone else can write, read, or enjoy.

I’m trying to find the path between “this sort of reading material is harmful and I don’t think it should have a platform,” “this should be heavily tagged to avoid upsetting people,” and “there are people who feel that way about gay, non-christian stories as well.” And what’s more, I’m trying to find it in a way that doesn’t stifle authors’ voices.

Even with my idea of an overlay, that’s putting the burden on the people most affected-- someone would have to rate stories as “racist” or “not racist” (and even then, it’s seldom that clear cut. Microaggressions abound.) and the people best capable of doing that would be readers of color. Which hardly seems productive. Or fair. 

“Don’t like; don’t read” is often the calling card of fandom writers. I’ve said it myself. That’s what the fucking back button is for. But when I say it, I mean “I don’t want to hear your wank about Tony Stark in my inbox” not “I don’t want to be called out for racism when I wrote a story.”

https://ggmadeit.com/blog/why-i-cant-just-knit-the-story-of-a-black-knitter-during-civil-unrest/ -- I’m including this link because this piece really made me think. I can’t ever put down being a woman. I can’t read or watch horribly misogynistic work without being upset, and I have trouble sitting in the room with my male friends who insist on watching it and want to say “it’s only a movie.”

Being black is part of someone’s life. It can’t be erased just because it’s not convenient. Just because it interrupts your good time. It shouldn’t be put aside because “it’s just a story.”

As fans, we have to do better.

We all know what it’s like to be pushed out, to be made second best, to be asked when we’re going to get a real hobby, when are you going to grow up, why did you spend money on that merch? So we need to reach further. 

I don’t have answers. And even if I did, I’m not the one who needs to give them. What I need to do is listen to the people who have answers and HELP THEM get what they need.

We need to do better. We need to BE better.

[rhiminee]

Therapy Sessions: Track by track feels

So ok I’ve had time to listen to David’s new album *mumble hundred* times since it came out earlier this week and I think I finally am ready to share my thoughts and feelings as I listen to each song. Sorry this took a few days. I’ve had some personal things going on and I wanted to be in a clearer state of mind before I wrote all this down. :) Here we go!!!

Track 1 - Paralyzed

This song. This song is like a whole different side of David. I honestly don’t usually have favorites of any album but this song is such a favorite of mine. I almost don’t think it’s fair because this is the only song off the album that I’ve seen him perform in concert and that’s a huge factor for me. He SLAYS this live. It’s been out since last August and it’s so next level. It’s almost like it comes from another universe??? Not that there’s a single thing wrong with the rest of the album it’s just that this song is WOW. Its like its own entity. It’s a banger and an anthem and I could listen to it 24/7. David wails on it and you feel every second with a sense of urgency. Honestly one of my favorite things he’s ever done. Wait. Change that. It’s my favorite song he’s ever done. Period. 

Track 2 - You Worry

This title is such a false lead! lol. I thought ok this is gonna be about trying to control your worries and how to be positive, etc. But spoiler alert: David Archuleta is a sneaky cupcake. DON’T YOU WORRY BOUT ME. icu what you did there David. This song is just such a mood. It starts off kinda slow but then it kicks up after the first verse and you know David is messing with you. It’s almost got a reggae type chill vibe to it with the ya-da-da-da-da and the melody. Or maybe that’s just me. “I’ve got my reasons why I am the way I am, so don’t you worry me”. “Living life in a bubble still comes with it’s troubles, I’ve still got a lot to learn about me but that’s ok.” This reminds me of a more mature version of Other Things In Sight from his last album. Like he was a bit bothered in OTIS but now he’s just like whatev. lol. I love it!! One of my faves from this album.

Track 3 - Ok, All Right

This is the 2nd of 3 songs on this album that we had already heard when the album was released. This song is fun and a good mantra for 2020 to try to keep ourselves sane. We need it. I like the sassiness of this and the unexpected changes in melody! David did an acoustic version of it during his launch party that I’m fully 100% in deep love with. Check it out if you get a chance.

Track 4 - Patient

Oh hi, song that I love! I don’t know why I love this so much but I would put it in my top songs on the album. Maybe it’s the stutter singing (is that what you call it??? Le-le-le-le-le-let me know) it makes my heart feel joyful. “I tell myself remember, remember to breathe, I’m trying to be patient, so won’t you please be patient, be patient with me” “Jump the gun, tend to run off at the mouth, I see that it’s in your eyes” “Find the beauty in the letting go, hurry up and learn to take it slow”. It’s almost got a bit of an R&B feel to it. Is that just me?? Maybe it’s just me. I have a pure love for this song. It just makes me so happy listening to it.

Track 5 - Need

This one of only two slower tempo songs on the album (Just Breathe is the other). David uses his lower register, especially in the first verse. Honestly when this song started I was like...is this a duet? Who is singing? Lmao. It was David. In addition to it being a lower register there’s almost a bit of a slurry quality to his pronunciation when he sings here. Or maybe it’s an overlay for the song? Idk. His voice just sounds different to me here. I’m gonna be honest and say this is my least favorite track on the album. Maybe I need to listen more. It’s not a bad song, just not my vibe and the vocals throw me off a bit. Listen and let me know what y’all think!

Track 6 - Brave

This song is such a change of pace from the previous one! It’s got an intriguing percussive cadence in the beginning, fast singing with short phrases and then bursts out into long soaring notes in the chorus, braaaaaaaaaaave!! It’s also has the honor of containing the lyric “bit me in the butt” and I laughed so hard I had had to start the song over. I really like this one!

Track 7 - Good in the Bad

THIS SONG. I wasn’t sure what to think the first time I listened. My brain was like, do I like this? Then the second time I was like, ok yeah. Then the third time and the next 500 times I was like, hi you are my true love. Seriously my level of obsession with this song now. If Paralyzed wasn’t on this album this would be my favorite song. I don’t think Paralyzed should count because yeah it’s a phenomenon and should not be compared to anything else. So. This is my favorite song on the album. I love love love love it. I can’t stop listening. “When it all goes wrong and you’re having a moment, you got to go all out, go bring back the sun out. And if it all goes wrong and you’re living in darkness, well that’s the only way the stars can shine” YES SIR “Fear is like a magnet that keeps pulling you down, so take another look because yeah it won’t take you long, give a break to your mind”. I don’t know why this song speaks so much to me but it does. Maybe because I tend to get stuck worrying about worst case and bad things that could happen and have happened. I know you can’t just ignore that stuff but idk this song just hit me different. Also the cadence and beat really drives the message. I just love everything about it.

Track 8 - Switch

Omg yep. #2 fav song after Good in the Bad. This is such an earworm! Honestly very radio friendly song. “why do i do that why do i do that” that hook. I always hit the switch and the tables start to flip, then the walls come up again, the beginning starts to end. why do i do that. Y’all. I feel that on every level. You need this song in your life. Along with Paralyzed it’s one of only two songs on this album that’s just plainly stating here’s my problem without offering a solution or “hey it’s ok we’re all like that”. I appreciate that David offers these songs too. I know and completely understand that for him music is about offering a message and hope and help to others. That’s one thing I love so much about him. But I also like that sometimes he just says here’s my issues. The humanity jumped out, that sometimes we’re just critical of ourselves without positive thoughts. Sometimes you just wanna be sad or mad at yourself. There’s time later to re-focus. It’s ok to just claim that personal honesty for a bit. If that even makes sense. But yeah. Love love this song. It’s a true jam.

Track 9 - Just Breathe

This song is like a bath in warm silk after you’ve been cold and lonely. It’s an experience. It’s like meditation in song form. Refreshing and hypnotizing. ‘I am not weak I am strong, there is still more I can offer. Someday you’ll see the better version of me. When it all stops spinning, when it all slows down. I was swimming deeper but I didn’t drown. Just breathe. So I open up to the flow and learn to love you as we go, until I don’t think I just know.’ It’s like a midsummer night’s dream in song form. <3

Track 10 - Future Self

So true and surprisingly funny! This is such a quirky song. Any song that references reddit and smash bros gets an A+ in my book lol. I was surprised because a lot of times the last track is kind of a throw way imho but this one had me smiling and bopping! It’s a love letter to finding yourself and being kind to yourself. 

Final thoughts:

You guys are gonna laugh because I feel like I say this anytime a new album comes out but I honestly think this is my favorite album that David has ever done. It’s cohesive and fun to listen to and says a lot without being too heavy. It’s so awesome to see the progression in David’s music but even more so to know it’s a reflection of the progression in his life. He’s not afraid to say he’s got issues but he has been working hard on facing those and making strides. It shows in his music. I feel a sense of joy I haven’t heard before. This album is so good. The production quality, the vocals are on point, the beats are stellar. Please check it out if you haven’t already!

http://lnkfi.re/TherapySessions

[morethanmeetstheass]

i love your scp au but im confused af, the only character/scp i remember is blitzy/6969, and Dr.B******* could we maybe get a list of who is who?

absolutely!

so we got the scps first, some of which im just giving numbers to now (lol):

scp-6969 (blitzwing), a three-faced mass of smoke overlaying what appears to be mechanical parts and seems to have the capability of fully controlling those he talks to after 23 minutes of exposure

scp-3819-X4 (wasp), a former researcher at the foundation whose dna was fused with that of a wasp during a failed teleportation experiment 

scp-383316465 (wheeljack), another former researcher at the foundation who has a bad habit of making random object around him explode

scp-5122 (lockdown), someone that appears to be super normal but actually steals organs and body parts and is slowly getting more and more disgusting-looking

scp-5555 (swindle), a cash register that summons whatever object someone wants most and tries to sell it to them. what happens to successful sales is unknown

scp-9999 (unicron), a huge mass of energy that sucks the life out of everything around it, currently contained nine miles underground

scp-6284 (megatron), a large ball of shadow that absorbs anything that comes near it and spits them out as shells of their former selves. currently growing and no one knows why

scp-8001 (blackarachnia), a regular spider who keeps carving formulas and equations into the walls of her terrarium. no one knows what she’s calculating or why

scp-6012 (lugnut), an arm that can punch huge craters into the ground if allowed to touch the ground

scp-6285 (starscream), seemingly useless person with a randomly changing appearance who clones himself all the time and then feeds the clones to 6284

scp-8827 (shockwave), a laptop that you can’t plug usb drives into because they always fit the wrong way

then the employees of the foundation:

dr. b█████ (bumblebee), level 3 researcher, class c, seemingly immune to scp-6969s effects

dr. m███ (ultra magnus), level 4 site director, class a, oversees site 86, assigned dr b████ to work with 6969

s███ (sari), class b field agent, currently in possession of a key necklace that really should be an scp but she’s not willing to tell anyone about it yet

dr. ██████████ (bulkhead), level 3 researcher, class c, specializes in teleportation technology and was present for 3819-x4′s unfortunate transformation

dr. p████ (prowl), level 4 containment specialist, class b, works on capturing and temporarily containing anomalies 

dr. o████████ (optimus), level 4 containment specialist, class b, works on permanent containment for anomalies

dr. r█████ (ratchet), level 4 researcher, class a, studies the effects of the anomalies and spends a lot of time curing missing limbs and stuff

sentinel, jazz, jetfire, jetstorm: code names for the tactical response officers currently working at site 86

[yuumi0035]

Yuumi’s art process (with pics!)

This is how I go about doing the art palettes, and generally how I do art (specially on lose, not so long pieces such as these). I’ll breakdown the process under the cut so I don’t spam people’s timelines (´･ω･`)

I was going to put these final advises at the very end but someone else might make use of these instead of going through the whole thing so here:

Important things to keep in mind in case you’re learning and actually think I’m worth being listened:

References are GOOD. No one is perfect and no one knows how to draw stuff from their memory so go google weird things, Google-sensei won’t judge. Hopefully. (else set your navigation on private).

Brushes and whatnot don’t make the artist, but it sure as hell help you feel like you’re doing what you like or not. I can’t stress enough how many times I’ve just not finished works because my brushes felt “off”.

Posemaniacs is very good for both anatomy and speed practise (I’m aware I’m really fast compared to my fellow artist friends but by no means it’s a standard, I just got used to work fast uwu)

Be careful with your wrist!!! use your whole arm when drawing!! and also T a k e · b r e a k s.

Art block is a bitch and strikes anyone. I’m usually artblocked but if you find something you’re passionate about go draw that, whatever it is. (I hadn’t consistently drawn in p much 5 years after college and thanks to MLB season 3 here I am LOL)

And now for the actual breakdown:

Step 1: Sketch

My first step is the sketch, which some of you might think “but it’s SO CLEAN!!”, yes, sometimes I leave my sketches as lines and polish them a bit. Anyways, these is what my sketch looks like and next an important thing:

...which is the 2/3 rule! Photoshop blabbery ahead, tl:dr how i made the grid

I’ve been doing this small trick by filling a layer of any color, lowering the opacity to 50% and transforming it to 33,33% it’s height duplicate and place on each side of the canvas and then merge, and then another layer doing the same but doing 33,33% width instead of height. Then I merge both layers, set the opacity to 30% and the result is that perfect 2/3 rule. 

If you don’t really know what the rule is, I kindly suggest this instead of my explanation bc words are not my forte. 

Step 2: Lineart! 

Nothing to say here other than cleaning the lines from earlier with a different (or the same in this case) brush as the sketch one. Opacity varies from day to day.

I have several styles of lineart and they all come with the mood I feel on that day, so don’t be afraid of experimenting and finding what you like most! I personally like thin lines a lot but also thick lines too! i’m constantly looking for the perfect line™ and to give an idea this is what my brushes look like:

in summary, practise with as many tools you can find around and see which ones you like most uwu

Step 3: Base Color

This is probably the part where I give up the most bc it boooooores me LOL. I try to spend as little time as possible in order to overcome this step. These are usually colors I use in 99% of my pics, since... idk years. If you look in my old arts in twitter you’ll see them haha.

Something important I’d like to mention here is ✨LAYERS✨:

This is how my layers look like in the base color part. I tend to do 1 for skin color, 2 for hair / eyes, 3+ for clothes and stuff. I tend to separate them in colors so they don’t merge! I go with numbers because... I think it’s faster to type and I’ve been using this way of naming for years so it works for me, what matters is that you group your layers and keep them organized uwu (specially if someone else has to look at your psd files >>)

Step 4: Shading!

Normally, I shade every single layer with a proper shade but on the case of the palette challenge I’m doing just the skin because I want to stress the light mood. Liiiike if I want to go with a softer light I’d use lighter shades or a stronger light = stronger shades. To pick colors, I usually go with that brown from Chat Noir and Marinette’s jacket as my universal black (I don’t like working with black, I’m weird), and most of the colors I just eye pick from the Color Picker on Photoshop. In the right you can see my swatches:

To choose the shade tone (in this example we’ll use Chat Noir’s hair), I picked a Yellow -Adrien’s hair is specially hard to color ugh- And then with that same tone I’d choose its shade going diagonally looking for a darker tone. This way you can find interesting colors! On this pic I did that for Adrien’s hair and... the rest I did the following:

I did my lazy shading™ : which consists in a layer set to Multiply with 50% opacity (this varies depending on the light, again), and I shade everything with the same tone (my to go is purple, but sometimes I use other colors too). This gives a sense of uniformity and the resulting shades are way nicer in my opinion.

Step 5: But Yuumi... where are the palettes???

I take that people straight handpick the palettes and use them to shade all the way and I respect them for that. I instead decided to do whatever floats my boat so I color regularly but add the palettes over the whole thing to change the overall mood and colors of the illustration. I randomly use the Gradient Tool and use the palettes’ colors around and then set that layer to Screen, Multiply, Focal Light, Overlay... etc etc, whatever I feel like doing in that moment, and so the magic happens! :’D 

I don’t usually do this on my works but this is a new way to experiment for me and I’m having fun with it!

Step 6: Finishing Touches

Here is where I use the palettes the most, adding random highlights in whatever way I feel like. Yep, I pretty much Ladybug my whole coloring process: Wing it and go with the flow™. I’m still learning about lighting and whatnots but I really don’t care at this point LOL

To which you’ll say: But Yuumi?? In art school they told me that---

To which I say: shhhhhhhhhhhhh assigntments are over for me. go watch some Bob Ross (I am serious). Do whatever you feel like. Be happy. No one is going to judge you, and if they wanna judge they better be paying for your work first. so. whatever you do: BE HAPPY. or don’t do it. unless it’s a school assignment, in that case go do it or i’ll kick your ass.

✦ Finishing Notes ✦

So yea, that’s my art process in how I’ve been doing these Miraculous Color Palettes and generally how I go about my illustrations most of the time. For more complex illustrations, I need to remember how I did those (oops). And actually, do them. These illustrations usually take up 2 or 3 hours to make, on other pieces i’ve been working on them for up to 8 hours, it really varies from piece to piece, but I hope this was helpful! 

Please let me know if you have any questions, commenting in this very post will help me -and others?- keep track of things and learn together! My asks are also open and I’ll reply as fast as I can uwu (my requests are still waiting there, don’t worry).

aaaaand that’s all, folks. Stay Peachy!