#blease read my review

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 6/13/2023

very games-centric week

listening

this opening bit samples bowie's life on mars and sounds like a piano cover of a half-remembered but still beloved childhood anime. like the kind you had a set of two VHS clamshells for but only episodes 4-6 and 10-12. it goes on the "lofi beats to data and entry to" playlist. spotify

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reading

fallow week

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watching

the folks at waypoint games, formerly vice's leftist games vertical, BOUGHT THE BRAND FROM VICE and are rebranding as remap. i wish them all the fuckin best and i hope they succeed but i feel like we have maybe six months of this before one of them goes literally bankrupt from a doctor's visit bc healthcare is such a fuckin nightmare in this country. im simply not excited for starfield. i am not interested in corporate nasa

anyway i enjoyed their commentary, excited for compulsion games' southern gothic action/adventure spellcaster South of Midnight

neutrally optimistic about obsidian's Avowed, bc i do love obsidian but i do not love sword and sorcery rpgs

there's airships in microsoft flight simulator so i may genuinely buy one month of gamepass to try that out

capcom's path of the goddess looks fucking gorgeous but i have never played more than half an hour of a capcom game and i expect i never will. is this topdown? is this isometric? what the fuck is the gameplay mode??? who could FUCKING say

also there's a new jersey fallout 76 expansion coming at some point. in real life i hate atlantic city and i don't really how know this will look or play differently from point lookout. i don't know if i want to play a much-reviled cash cow mmorpg just to get postapoc jersey lore. if this leads up to 5 being set in nyc im going to be real pissed off. go somewhere DIFFERENT. there are DIFFERENT PLACES on the east coast!!! blease

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playing

viddy game can consistently turn my brain off enough that i forget im moving cross country in two weeks and can forcibly relax my body for twenty mintues at a time between packing boxes. so there's been a lot of pomodoro-ing, or my version which is: pack until i get so anxious i physically cannot pack anymore, go have a snack, go play twenty minutes of a video game, and then go pack until i am on the verge of a panic attack again. this is not healthy but all my books are packed. all of these were free on epic at some point btw which is why i own them

the first time i played Airborne Kingdom, i lost track of time and beat it in one sitting in eight hours. the second time i played Airship Kingdom, i replicated that exact experience. i have allied with all the kingdoms and have like two hundred souls on board but am not QUITE selfsufficient enough to take on the northern/artic sea DLC. stay tuned. soundtrack in this thing is great.

bounced VERY hard off Close to the Sun, a bioshock-lite i put about four hours/three levels into. a huge gilded age cruise ship where the science has Gone Wrong would normally be catnip to me, but the game did brutally kill the player character's sister in front of me in an unskippable cutscene so we're done with that game now THANK YOU. it is very slow, which i do like in a game that gives you this much stuff to look at, but there is no gamma control. this game is so fucking dark. i played it in a dark room with no lights and it was still too dark.

pinged off the typing exploration game Epistory despite its charming art, bc fast and accurate typing is something covid has taken from me.

rediscovered Carcassone (online) which is great bc i love Carcassone and own a physical copy of the board game but no one else in my life loves it. tile-building countryside-building game, seconds to learn, etc. thank you board game review even though there are no meeple in their natural habitat (the board) in this picture

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making

it's gonna be putting things into boxes for the forseeable future (the next week) and then living out of them for a while (the next two weeks after that)

[glimmering-brainfamily]

I posted 14,710 times in 2022

That's 13,328 more posts than 2021!

141 posts created (1%)

14,569 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@red-revival

@cat-boy-tits

@yharnamsnewslug

@haboat

@vaspider

I tagged 2,179 of my posts in 2022

#homestuck - 41 posts

#drugs - 37 posts

#psychonauts - 15 posts

#my art - 14 posts

#unreality - 13 posts

#dragon age - 12 posts

#queer - 12 posts

#antisemitism - 10 posts

#cultist simulator - 10 posts

#oh no - 9 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#no op sorry im still going to read “a hasty toilet” as “i cocked my ass and fired it like a gun into the chamber pot shattering it instantly

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

How Do you Do Fellow Cultists?

I made a uquiz to find out what your main Principle would be if you were a character in the cultsim world >> https://uquiz.com/8wxELS <<

blease enjoy

81 notes - Posted April 11, 2022

#4

tryna act normal during an enlightenment ascension

94 notes - Posted April 8, 2022

#3

So I just found out that there’s been some confusion between the Genderqueer flag, and the old UK suffragette flag that’s been co-opted by TERFs. Rather than give up our nice flag to the people who want us silenced and dead, I figured I’d offer up a temporary solution :)

See the full post

257 notes - Posted March 3, 2022

#2

Hiii ok so!!! Folks!!! When people were saying Don't Interact With Corporate Accounts because they will try to emulate tumblr culture

⬇️ This Is The Sort Of Posts They Were Telling You Not To Interact With ⬇️

This blog started posting in june of this year and 100% of their posts are totally straight-laced ads for switch games and promotions. Almost all posts are complete flops with under 10 notes with a handful getting up to maybe 200 notes. This post that mentions bowser's hot balls is the only one to break past that (for obvious reasons). Most of the notes on this one are people being reasonably incredulous "is this a parody account??" "they knew what they were doing" etc. I get it, but Don't Do That.

They are testing the waters and trying to figure out how to get ads past your adblockers. When you reblog a post like this for any reason, they succeed at doing this to every one of your followers.

Do Not Engage Means: Do Not Fucking Engage!

1,254 notes - Posted November 12, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

If I can get tooth-rottingly sincere for a second? TERFs and radfems are destined to lose in the end. A movement centered on hating others- especially a demographic that is and always has been present in every culture and group throughout history, and always will be- is utterly unsustainable. It is forced to prey on the vulnerable in order to recruit, and that kind of hatred just... weighs on you, colours your perceptions and makes you unable to engage with the world in a healthy way, drains you until you’re just an empty husk. If every trans person were wiped off the face of the earth today and every mention of us redacted from all history, there would still be kids born tomorrow who look at their assigned gender and go ‘hm. don’t like that’ and do something different. They would find people just like themselves and we would persist. I have no idea what the world is going to look like when I am long gone, but I know for certain that there will be trans people in it, just as there will be gays and lesbians, there will be bisexuals, aces, aros, nonbinary folk and EVERY infinitesimal point within the queer spectrum, because its simply not possible to expunge us from the world without eradicating all of humanity. That’s the thought that keeps me going, you know? Even leaving aside gender stuff- the urge to self-create and self-express, and the urge to love ourselves and love each other- it’s woven into our very natures! No matter what happens, that light can’t be snuffed out. Thank you for your time, and stay hydrated.

6,270 notes - Posted March 4, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[notafraidof]

my takes on icarus falls

probably not gonna be Super Fresh Hot takes since i’m five feet up his ass, but what’re you gonna do

“let me” - ★★★✩✩ - the melody is a bop and a half, but i can’t stop rolling my eyes at “for the rest of my life” bc………… nobody can promise that lmao. also… is he still with gigi?? who he singin to. the falsetto won me over tho

“natural” - ★★★½✩ - issa tune i can groove to, but the lyrics are a teeeeny bit lackluster (my expectations are sky-high though lmao). like why did he repeat “like the bluest ocean”…… no need for it. and could he not think of other forces of nature than a hurricane?? bruh i can think of six off the top of my head. also the “come together right now” bit makes me wanna say “over me”

“back to life” - ★★★✩✩ - not a whole lot to say about this one? i liked it but it didn’t feel Life Changing y’know? also my gay ass was sad about all the “she”s

“common” - ★★★★✩ - the melody is SO GOOD. my naïve person-lover isn’t a big fan of calling other couples gray and common, but honestly he said i’m fuckin beautiful so

“imprint” - ★★★✩✩ - a Smooth Bop, i love the line “if the planets all faded away” and the CORNY ASS “jumpin’ like mario…don’t lose a life” A CUTE NERD WHO I LOVE!! i just think most of the sentiments have been said a hundred times in other (more iconic) R&B songs. also again with the “girl” shit, i wanna insert myself into the song, zaniel !!!!!

“stand still” - ★★★★✩ - i don’t entirely understand the metaphors… but everything sounds pretty and like if elton john tried R&B and i’m into it

“tonight” - ★★✩✩✩ - i’ve heard this exact shit a million tiiiiiiimes zayn, it’s not original, dude. 1D fuckin did it with lwwy in 2012 my guy. can’t fault him for the vocal run though, he always sounds good (& i do think of him when i feel myself)

“flight of the stars” - ★★★½✩ - melody line is FRESH and i love it. kinda sad it sounds like it’s just about a relationship? bruh a song about a girl who’s literally following stars could be So Much More

“if i got you” - ★★★★½ - SPACE ZAYN #CONFIRMED -- ALSO, ZAYN’S CALLIN ME BABE I LOVE IT

“talk to me” - ★★★✩✩ - not gonna ngl i know this is Yet Another Sex Song but. my heart does the pitter pat imagining it I NEVER CLAIMED THIS WAS UNBIASED

“there you are” - ★★★½✩ - Powerful Vocals and sweet sentiments!! “i’m drunk and i need you” has been driven right into the ground, but he sounds so genuine and i love him

“i don’t mind” - ★★★★✩ - for a sec i thought this was his “i won’t mind” cover lmao oops. THE LQ PIANO IS SO NICE!!!!! more acoustic instruments please zayn!! boy said “it’s lit” which made me SNORT. he has the voice of an angel and i melt at his falsetto so 4/5

“icarus interlude” - ★★★✩✩ - boy’s good at interludes, but like. that corny-ass yves saint laurent flex. and again w “girl” and Everything Has to Be About Love

“good guy” - ★★✩✩✩ - first of all: HARDCORE rolling my eyes. baby you are fooling exactly Nobody w this hardcore bradford bad boy front. u are a giggly nerd and it’s just amusing how much you think you’re not …and also the lyrics just. don’t make sense? extinct creatures don’t work on instinct… they’re dead. wwwwhat is a “slide bleacher”? why would streetlamps try to teach you anything??

“you wish you knew” - ★★½✩✩ - this kinda bops like a rihanna song!! (that’s a good thing) idk i’m just not really vibin with this song right now, maybe it’ll grow on me. i mean… i do wish i knew him lmao

“sour diesel” - ★★★★✩ - A True Jam!!! honestly crushin on the girl he’s singing about. still don’t know what a sour diesel is though

“satisfaction” - ★★★✩✩ - kinda thought this was gonna be a rolling stone cover whoops. boy sounds so sad and lovely!!! although i’m skeptical of him not getting any satisfaction w/o an SO. if you really think that, you gotta have more fun when you masturbate dude

“scripted” - ★★★½✩ - this is so fuckin obscure but he sounds like art garfunkel circa 1980s!! and i love it!! also PIANO AGAIN PLEASE MORE OF THAT. it was neat to hear like… him talking over the phone during the song, that was fun. and zayn, honey, the men in black reference just cements my opinion that you’re a huge nerd.

“entertainer” - ★★★★✩ - I THOUGHT THIS WAS A BILLY JOEL COVER QUIT FUCKING WITH MY HEAD MALIK. amazing vocals like always, and he looks like a whole-ass MEAL in the music video. i’m just sad that someone played him like that, he deserves more than fake love

“all that” - ★★★½✩ - OPTIMUS PRIME?????? HOW CAN YOU EVEN PRETEND THAT YOU’RE EDGY AND DANGEROUS YOU ABSOLUTE DWEEB

“good years” - ★★★★½ - i’m so upset!! does he actually think like this?? honey you’re TWENTY-FIVE you don’t have to worry about that!!! and it also makes me sad bc… are you regretting your time in 1D? you said you’d never do that ;; this song makes my heart hurt in the best way his voice is 👌🏻

“fresh air” - ★★★✩✩ - uh… who is he talking to?? like holy shit dude.

“rainberry” - ★★★★½ - this 👏🏻 is 👏🏻 A 👏🏻 BOP 👏🏻 the falsetto, the word choices, the bumpin bass line, everything is dope as FUCK. only thing is… idk what he’s talking about?? i googled “rainberry” and the only thing that came up was the gatorade flavor??? my guy are you singing about someone drinking gatorade

“insomnia” - ★★★★✩ - this is some quality shit!!! not much else to say honestly, sorry

“no candle no light” - ★★★★★ - MY MOTHER AND MY SON!!!!! they sound SO GOOD TOGETHER and the song fuckin SLAPS. the literal Only Complaint i have is that i wanted nicki to fuckin spit some bars!! her four lines at the end Do Not Count. also, guys, i’d like an mv if you’re up for it

“fingers” - ★★★½✩ - i can definitely groove to this, and “my fingers ain’t workin’ but my heart is” is such a neat phrase to use in a song.

“too much” - ★★★✩✩ - is good! i don’t get the juxtaposition of “i just want love and lust” and “you just can’t love enough” but the falsetto is lovely and timbaland sounds like he’s havin a good time, and that’s all that matters

the album overall is ★★★½✩ !! i love my son and ZM2 is a fuckening bop

[caprisun-wizard]

a deltarune ch2 review

first of all, tobia fox, a kissaroo from me to you, thank you for your continued renaissance to the vija game industry 

however

please stop teasing the papyrus return, i s2g i will cry it will be ugly just let me see my boy again. why even bother with snas (also what the Fuck was he flirting with toriel???? ew) (also thanks for making me relive having divorced parents but some how worse bc at lease my parents had the dignity to both hate each other instead of making that a one way street. i mean jesus christ what the fuck ) but yeah, who gives a shit about sans undertale? where’s papyrus???? where’s my son toby fox???

the fluffy boy and mean girl rocked, i liked noel and when bird boi accepted his stupidity he became bearable.

loved the villain, though i thought it was weird that she knew lancers dad. i liked carrying lancer around but it made me really upset when he turned to stone bc my reading comprehension isn’t great (dyslexia) and when i’m freaked out it gets worse so i didn’t understand for a while that he wasn’t just going to be stone forever. not really relevant to the review, but i remember it distinctly so here you go.

in short, good soup 👌 thank you for you and your teams endless hours of work and then making the Mega Swaggy decision to make it free when i would have definatly spent all of my food money on this but uh- less asgore more papyrus, if you’re taking requests. thx💛

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

blease... review Flareon?

Flareon!!!!

Another one of the ever-popular Eeveelutions, Flareon is the product of giving Eevee a Fire Stone. Unlike many Fire-types, though, it’s actually a bit more subtle about its elemental motif: there’s no actual fire in its design! It’s just got fiery colours and a tail that’s occasionally fire-like. Admittedly, this relative lack of visible fire-theming does kinda bring it down in regards to it being an absolute representative of Fire, but the Eevee base is solid enough that it’s still pretty good design nonetheless.

Dex-wise, Flareo-oh my god. This is….wow. There seems to be a running gag going on with Flareon’s dex entries involving a bunch of different approximations and ways to describe how hot its breath and body temperature gets. Its fiery breath, along with the inside of its internal flame sac, can both get as hot as 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,650 degrees Celsius), though if it inhales deeply, that can be 3,100 F  (1,700 C). Its body, meanwhile, is said to range from 1,300 to 1,500 F (700 to 800 C), but when storing heat is also variously said to reach 1,600 F (900 C), 1,650 F (900 C, but with less rounding up), and 1,700 F (900 C, but rounding down this time). Those Celsius values incline me to believe this is due to different rounding approaches when localising, but I like to imagine different scientists just get different readings and decide publish it as the definitive “maximum” temperature.

Anyways, it cooks berries with its fire. Didn’t Fletchinder do something like that, too? Goodness, that review was so long ago now. It can also apparently regulate its highly variable temperature with its fluffy fur by releasing heat into the air, which is neat. That fluffiness is probably Flareon’s core appeal, actually: what it lacks in fire it makes up for in floof! I mean, unless you love temperatures and approximating them in various ways. Then that’s the core appeal.

Shiny Flareon is a golden orange-brown colour, which is some portrayals almost makes it look like a weird wild-furred off-colour Eevee. It’s a kinda underwhelming shiny, but at least it’s not radioactive green?

But yeah, Flareon’s pretty cool (but definitely not literally). As an Eeveelution, though, it feels like it maybe could’ve done more to feel more visually distinctive and less like a big superheated Eevee. For those who love Eevee, though, that’s part of what makes Flareon great: it is a big superheated Eevee. And that’s respectable, too! I get it.

1,300-1,700 degrees/10.

[whentvsfly]

Spoiler free review of mp100 s2

Animation..... Good

Ending theme slaps

Man in row e in front of us was a BI club fan, Mushashi stan, and I appreciated them

the amount of "awws" whenever mob did anything (in the ova and s2 ep1) was incredible

as well as the laughter wrt the photoshopped reigen over teru and shou in the ova

went up to chapter 57. ep2 will be ch58

someone noticed my monkey shirt before they noticed my shou jacket. they also held the door open for me n my datemates, thank u kind stranger

mob runs into things (walls, trees, etc)

training montage was Great

"Smooth"

99.9 didnt play At All. we didnt see the opening theme..... blease i need to Jam...

5 minutes of silence scene was broken by the audience first, the ep was silent for longer than we were

people laughing in anticipation of something happening. you Know who read the manga

[scoopsgf]

i am not a tasteful individual. i Will pester you to no end if u do not read and review my horrible fics. BLeASE.

[moistwithgender]

Monthly Media Roundup (April 2019)

April was a bit of a disaster month for me, and as such I didn’t get much of anything finished. Old wounds got reopened, I was sick all month, I had an unavoidably bad birthday, and a lifelong pet died. I didn’t engage with a lot of things, and mostly slept. I did play a lot of Breath of the Wild, but seeing as I didn’t finish that, I’m not including it yet. Here’s the things I did finish:

Games:

Blaster Master Zero (Switch): I actually first bought and finished this two years ago, and since the sequel has come out I decided to replay it with the Shovel Knight DLC character. While I genuinely like this game (I 100%’d it both times), I was not really in a good spot to enjoy this playthrough, and just kinda mindlessly pushed through it for nine consecutive hours, beating it in that single sitting. Playing as a DLC character removes the story, which is fine since they’re intended for replays, though I wonder if it added to my emotional disconnect. SK doesn’t receive fall damage, and so the precariousness of navigating the world outside of the highly-mobile tank doesn’t exist nearly as much, though the trade-off is that SK’s combat abilities in dungeons are hindered by an overall lack of range. The game is still rather easy, though, so I can’t say any particular level cadences or combat scenarios carved their way into my memory.

To the game’s credit, though, the things that are good about it are still good. If you have an attachment to the original NES game, or an interest in retro properties, or just want a nice, breezy platformer, it’s very good. It’s interesting in how it repurposes the altered plot of the US version of the original game (where it was its most popular), including even the plot of the little novelization that came out because Gotta Get Those Video Game Kids to Read Something. It has a fake out ending, and if you 100% the maps it unlocks a final map that is genuinely surreal enough to be the highlight of the game. Despite my sighing, it is a genuinely good time, and I’m very curious to play the new game, somewhat hilariously titled Blaster Master Zero 2.

Anime:

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: I chewed through the last four episodes of this so that I could say I finally finished the season. I didn’t watch the post-season recap episode. TenSura (the abbreviation of the Japanese title, which I will use to refer to it because satisfyingly abbreviating the english title is impossible) is not a very good show, but for about half the length of the 24-episode first season, it fascinates due to how it functions at all. TenSura is an isekai show, much like the other isekai shows, where a person dissatisfied with their life is brutally murdered (usually by a truck. USUALLY by a truck) and is reborn in a fantasy world that coincidentally gives them an absurd advantage over other people, allowing them to live out all the decadence they felt they deserved in the real world. If this sounds like the most boring kind of wish fulfillment possible to you, that’s because it is. It’s also extremely popular with consumers. Which is interesting! I think the isekai boom is indicative of how late-stage capitalism everyday people the world over, that we envision or escape to worlds where your efforts actually return appropriate reward. A bonkers concept, to be sure.

In TenSura, the formula doesn’t stray much. The main character is a man in his 30s (?) who has never fucked and gets knifed to death while HEROICALLY saving a coworker from a plot-irrelevant stabber dude who was running down the sidewalk with his knife out for no reason besides Main Character Needs an Inciting Incident Now. It’s actually pretty weirdly violent for the start to a show that is almost entirely light-hearted. Dude dies, his coworker dumps his hard drive in the bath out of respect (lol), and he wakes up in a fantasy world that works on videogame logic, including loot, skill trees, and class upgrades. He is reborn as an adorable slime a la Dragon Quest, but the personality traits he had in his previous life (and I guess his choice of dying words) scan to obscenely convenient passive abilities that ensure he’s not only invincible, but will never stop experiencing exponential power growth. Also he immediately makes friends with a final boss-level dragon and then eats him. That’s how he makes friends in this sometimes.

I’m being very cynical here, but the core narrative loop (and it IS a loop) of the series kept my interest for longer than I expected. Rimuru (the name of the reborn protagonist) goes somewhere he hasn’t been, astonishes the nearby (sometimes violent) inhabitants with his overpowered abilities, makes friends with them, and then improves their lives with community. Goblins, direwolves, orcs, demon lords. It stacks and builds upon itself to absurd degrees but it’s interesting that in a genre loaded with very problematic stories of disenchanted dudes finally getting the underage harem they’ve always wanted (aaaaAAAAAAAAA) that the main concept of this series is improving the lives of others and giving them closure for the ways life has hurt them. Even if. Sometimes that hurt was the main character’s doing? Like Rimuru absolutely decapitates a direwolf leader and then adopts the pack who from then on absolutely LOVE the dude. Also one of Rimuru’s abilities is that if he gives a monster a name, it class upgrades, which is generally and reasonably seen as a life improvement. Though, these class upgrades are almost always decidedly “less-tribal” or outright human, which smacks of some imperialist thinking. It’s also something I’m sure I never questioned in old videogames growing up. Meanwhile, there’s also a bit with a woman who came from Japan during that one really bad war, you know the one, and the closure she’s given as she’s dying is handled with actual delicacy. It’s a weird series! It’s only a shame to me that after most of the first season, there was less to talk about. Sometime after the halfway mark, you realize the show is never going to maintain tension for more than half an episode, that all problems are solvable (yes, even terminally ill children), and that the show isn’t going anywhere you can’t predict. It’s a checklist show, and the plot points are a list of achievements being checked off one episode at a time.

I don’t think I would actually recommend the show to most people, despite how popular it is. It’s not a great show, but it does weird enough things for a while that it generates conversations. Which is honestly pretty okay. It’s a pretty okay show. Also, Rimuru is effectively nonbinary (with he pronouns), and that’s… somethin’! (24 episodes, finished 4/17/19, Crunchyroll (Funimation also now has the dub I think? Clips I saw were pretty weird, Rimuru seemed to be characterized differently.))

Manga:

Nejimaki Kagyu Vol 1: You would think a manga that immediately starts with a reference to Phantom Blood would be, well, at least interesting.

Okay maybe invoking a beloved work doesn’t actually mean anything. I just wanted to share this blatant callback. Nejimaki Kagyu is a seinen manga about a highschool teacher whose tragically cursed to, uh, have all teenage girls fall in love with him. And the highschool-age childhood friend of his who has spent her whole life obsessed with him and learning super martial arts to defend his chastity. Her supers make her clothes explode.

…

I take no joy in this travesty.

Anyway, uh. The biggest tragedy here is that the art is actually really good, though the paneling is regularly squished around to hilarious degree. Let’s look at some pages and then forget this manga exists forever.

That horror face is how I feel the entire series should be portraying itself. The manga has a distinct lack of self-awareness.

The fan translation for this series appears to have dropped off halfway through and hasn’t been picked up for years, and based on reviews I saw on MAL talking about the directionlessness of the later volumes, I wonder if the translator got fed up with the series. Oh well!

Kyou no Asuka Show Vol 1: Oh god damn it I just got done with talking about a series about ogling the youth.

BLEASE STOP

Okay so. Kyou no Asuka Show, or “Today’s Asuka Show” is an older slice of life manga by the same author I mentioned previously who is doing an edutainment series about people working in a condom factory. Innocently-minded women in comedically lewdish situations appears to be his whole bag. I think Asuka is pretty charming, but I also know she’s designed to appeal to my monkey male gaze. Obliviously sexy is very much a mood, and in a more adult context I would be all for it. There have been a few chapters where I find myself at odds with the wisdom the author is attempting to impart, sometimes through Asuka’s father, who works as an adult photographer, and doesn’t want his daughter involved in anything that could cause her to be ogled. Like, that’s already something that requires a lot of unpacking in the modern day. Aforementioned wisdom sometimes takes the form of Asuka doing something stupid and innocent and ripe for objectifying, like wearing a school swimsuit in a rainstorm. Or she’ll work a job as a cute girl courier and inadvertently turn a shut-ins life around. Situations where, if it were in real life, I’d think “wow that’s weird and charming,” but by being a work of intentional authorship, it inherently loses some of that innocence, and becomes something well-meaning but problematic. Is that the second time I’ve used the word “problematic” in this post? Is this 2014?

I may continue reading this, but I really can’t recommend it to most people I know in 2019 without several disclaimers and also without probably getting some side eye. I think it’s worth a couple chapters to feel out what its doing before you decide whether you can siphon the charm from it, or would rather move on to something else.

Me enjoying myself when this manga tries to suddenly get up to some shit.

Blue Period Vol 1: This is the last thing on my list, because I don’t want to expand this list beyond the three mediums I’ve already assigned to it. Also, I actually finished this May 1st, but I wanted to talk about it now.

If I had the power to actually get people to engage with a specific work once per month, Blue Period would easily be the one I pick. That doesn’t mean as much when all the other things I finished this month were conflicted experiences, but I really think everyone would benefit from this series. Or at least anyone with even a passing interest in visual arts.

Blue Period (named for Picasso’s Blue Period) is about a highschool delinquent who has a knack for studying, a safe social life, and no interests in pretty much anything. He’s on the road to do fine in his life, and he doesn’t question it much, but that’s it, until he discovers art and realizes it’s the only way he’s ever been able to truly communicate his feelings. It changes everything about him, for more emotionally satisfying reasons, but also riskier ones. He only has one year of highschool to go to decide what he’s doing with his life, and Japan has a very strict education system. You’re not really allowed to just “get around” to things.

Apologies in advance if you’re tired of me spamming full pages but I really do wanna show this off. This is another series with an educational angle to it, though the emphasis is definitely more rooted in a personal narrative of growth. The explanations of art practice and the functionality of exercises and tools are both very informative and relevant to the characters, never feeling like the story is taking a backseat to explain. The characters are, hilariously, everyone I’ve ever met in an art class. There’s the kid who would rather exclusively draw the things they like, there’s the kid who likes art as a hobby but haaaates being given a project, etc etc. There are students who have an innate grasp on how to draw but haven’t internalized the Why of the exercises, and students who are receptive to the lessons but don’t have the ability to match. The narrative is extremely even-handed towards all of these different levels of skills, and places a lot more importance on why, emotionally, you should totally care about drawing apples and water pitchers for five hours at a time. It’s GREAT and I want to force it on every creative I’ve ever known.

Another thing I appreciate about this series so far is that while there has been something resembling sexual/romantic tension, it’s kind of not like that at all? In the first volume I haven’t been able to pinpoint where a potential relationship subplot would go, if at all. Two possibilities are this girl:

...who is a very likable character but surprisingly doesn’t fit into that box of “standard love interest”. The protag’s interactions with her have been exclusively respectful and admiring, which doesn’t even necessarily imply a romantic subplot, but would be pretty cool if it did? And the other girl:

...who is featured in decidedly more sexual tension-y contexts, is actually TRANS. The manga actually portrays them so uncompromisingly feminine that I didn’t realize they were crossdressing (the term used in the text) until the author’s notes at the end of the volume. I will partially blame this on me being out of it this month, since I just went back to their introduction and yep, they got misgendered and contested it. Given how the character is regularly framed (confident, attractive, skilled, nonstereotypical), I’m… pretty okay with this! If a romance blooms between a delinquent boy and a trans girl, that’s amazing.

I hope y’all understand where I’m coming from in expecting a shoehorned romantic subplot. I’m not hoping for one, I just know the product by now. And if it happens, the options are considerably more interesting than usual.

These are pretty good kids.

Manga licensing is a lot better nowadays than it ever was before, with lots of obscure series being picked up, old series getting re-localized, and translations being better than ever. I really really want this series to get licensed so someone can be compensated for it, and so more people might read it. Until then, I think you should look up the fan work.

---

So that’s all for April. If these posts included live-action movies, I’d have talked about Endgame, but I also don’t want to go spoiling anything for someone who still wants to go see that (it’s probably one of my favorite MCU movies, though). I read most of 1970-71 in Marvel comics, or at least most of the issues on my reading list, but I semi-liveblog about those, so you can just search my “curry reads comics” tag for that. Here’s hoping I have more interesting, more positive things to say about May in a month. I expect to finish Breath of the Wild by then, so I’ll finally talk about that. Thanks for reading, if you made it this far! Go check out Blue Period.

[verycharismaticdragon]

the essay about venom being a romcom? first of all, i adored it! but then I read your tags and you should,,,, let us in on that salt,,,, blease *prayer hands*

xxanimeliaxx replied to your post “Venom (2018) is a Romcom, and here’s why (or ”in this essay I will”…”

OP you freaking Royal! Thanks for bringing up receipts and facts honestly this is such a great post! I’m curious though could you share the salt as well because that sounds FUN

I cannot believe you wonderful people are choosing to enable me… but I’m real grateful for the opportunity to vent.

So, I’ve got a bone to pick with like… 90% of people who wrote reviews about Venom. I read quite a few of those in the first days after seeing the movie; by now I honestly gave up, because let me tell you: I didn’t find a single take that was both critical and at the same time didn’t ignore something big about the movie.

That something? Why, only the movie’s romantic storyline! Which, for a second, literally informs the biggest change of heart Venom symbiote (one of the two leads and pretty much the title character*) has in the span of the movie.

Like, the level of mental acrobatics people are willing to go through just to not admit Venom fell in love with Eddie is mindboggling. The amount of times the words “buddy cop dynamic” crop up is staggering; the number of people going “it doesn’t make sense for Venom to get friendly this fast” is… downright distressing. It’s like they would prefer it to be a plothole, instead of considering the simplest explaination. Venom literally kisses Eddie and says it was him who changed their mind, how does one misunderstand that?

Oh right, by being straight™ **. Because let’s be honest, that’s what it comes down to. I have not seen a single non-heterosexual who “missed” (deliberately ignored) the romantic tones in Venom and Eddie’s relationship. At this point I’m like, if you’re cishet and have a take about Venom movie? Just write “im straight” on top of your review and save us all time.

What’s even the point of writing a review if you’re gonna ignore half the movie? Like imagine if someone wrote about The Shape of Water, completely ignored the romance, and then complained it didn’t make sense for the main character to want to help the fishman. How is this different?

Rhetorical question, we know how. Venom has masculine voice and appearance for most of the movie***, and that’s the hang up. Who wants to bet that were Venom an archetypal “green-skinned space babe” there wouldn’t be a need to convince anyone this relationship is meant as romantic?

—

* it’s my understanding that in the comics symbiotes don’t have given names and our symbiote is only called Venom when together with the host, but in the movie they introduce themself with that name

** not to be confused with just being straight, plenty of straight people who don’t have their heads up their asses saw the same things we did

*** and by that I mean voice and appearance considered masculine by the specific brand of people we’re talking about. Venom is an alien slime who takes on the traits of their host, and if they are anything at all, they are genderqueer.

[qserasera]

2k19 Year End Fic Review

Total number of completed stories: 4 fics 

Total word count: 9,963 Fandoms written in: natsume yuujinchou, stardust

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted? less fic than last year, but more words than i thought there would be, especially the yuletide fic which kept going and going and woosh 

What’s your own favorite story of the year? shadow players, ie that one vaguely exorcist politicking fic for a natsume week prompt. i think there’s more of an ease? comfortableness? with fading in and out from one scene to the next and some of the descriptions seemed to land pretty well in that one 

Did you take any writing risks this year? the small tastes of those CLAMP au ficlets that were just scribbled out without much prior planning...i like how the cinematography stuff in it was expressed and now im badly missing reading CLAMP even as i know i don’t have the emotional fortitude to go through all their heartbreak doomed otp nonsense aGAIn  Do you have any fanfic or ofic goals for the New Year? original fic, and whatever sekrit original projects i could be working on also 

My best story of this year: wow, how can i ever choose *spins wheel* uh...i think that one tokyo-babylon based chapter turned out pretty well, all things considered  

My most popular story of this year: hmm going by hits/kudos/bookmarks, shadow players seems to have the clearest lead Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: idk bird goes here 

Most fun story to write: i did like the chance to jump into a lot of english folktale lore research for my stardust fic, but i also vastly vastly enjoyed the indulgent CLAMP au for their birthdays sometimes you just gotta write seiji bleeding and natori freaking out about it amirite Story with the single sexiest moment: oneday somedayy there will be making out in my fics but this year is not that year 

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: look not to go all wild-eyed conspiracy theorist.jpg here but im still waiting for those exorcist breakup chapters that Will One Day exist midorikawa-sense pls otherwise can’t say the perceptions have changed that muchhh, other than that matoba seiji is a secret romantic (eyes emoji at canon) Hardest story to write:  Longer Than the Way  because there were nearly too many ideas for cool travel destinations the characters could have gone to and ended up cutting a lot of them out on later drafts    Biggest Disappointment: none at all, my writing is clearly the Best  i need sleep and im just amazed some things got put up at all!! and were readable!!!  Biggest Surprise: fic-related and not fic-related im going to keep yelling about the TINY EXORCISTS and LOQUAT FRUITPICKING DATE until the end of this year...matoba seiji MADE AN ATTEMPT....i love this canon blease just let them hang out more  /sobsob

[ldoesanartthing]

Turnabout Ra Moon

Word count: 1,448

Mega man Archie comic spoilers

I've been reading the Megaman archie comics lately and I,,, went ham,,, anyways, its ace attourney and megaman bleh, enjoy ig

(I can't put a read more on mobile blease forgive me)

Tuesday, 8:15 AM, Wright & co. office

  Phoenix sighed, pacing in his office. Money’s tight again, and that blackout definitely didn't help matters. Now that electricity’s back, it’s all over the news.

The phone rang. Followed by the door slamming open. “Phoenix!! A call!!” Maya squealed. Phoenix smiled, and picked up the phone.

  “Hello, is this Phoenix Wright?” Phoenix stopped smiling.

 He knew that voice, the very same that screamed about all that Ra moon mind control business while being escorted by the authorities. He sighed, loudly.

  “Yes, this is. Can we help you?” “It's a terrible desperate circumstance, you see! I'm innocent! I'm inno-” Phoenix cut him off. “Yes, I've heard. Dr. Wily, was it?” Maya’s face fell. “A-ah, yes! That would be me. Can you help me?”

 Phoenix Winced. He didn't trust Wily as far as he could throw him, but…

 Phoenix covered the phone’s speaker. “You can't take this case, Phoenix!” Maya whispered. “Do you have any other solutions?!” He shot back.

 “I may be able to… I can drop by and review your case in a bit, and then we'll discuss further.” “Thank heavens!”

 Phoenix hung up the phone, and promptly jumped at his partner’s reaction. Maya groaned, falling to her knees. “Phoenix, you bonehead, how are we gonna get out of this one?!”

 Phoenix slumped over. “I don't know… But it can't hurt to try.” “Can't hurt?! Can't hurt?! Phoenix, that man’s put the whole world in jeopardy! Has everyone forgotten about the time he hijacked the robot masters?!” Maya stood back up, her arms folded.

  “I don't like it either! But it's either this or ramen for a month!” Maya calmed down a bit. Phoenix had a point, why was being involved with law so difficult?!

 “Are you coming to the detention center with me?” Maya paused. “Yeah…” She pulled Phoenix into a hug. “I hope this works out for everyone.” “I hope so too.”

Tuesday, 8:47 AM, Detention Cell, Visiting room

  Phoenix pulled up a chair to desk, his reflection showing faintly in the glass. Maya borrowed a chair from the next window over and sat beside him. Dr. Wily approached the window, escorted by some guards. He smiled nervously.

  “Good day, Mr. Wright!” “Likewise, Dr.” Dr. Wily laughed uncomfortably before continuing. “I suppose you need the full story now?” “That would be nice.” Phoenix returned. “Right, right. Well…”

  “It all started when Thomas Light revealed the Robot Masters. I had helped him design, refine, and perfect, and yet…” Dr. Wily's face shifted to a scowl, one that made Maya shift uneasily.

   “Did I get credit? No! Thomas got all the glory,all the recognition, and I got nothing!” He slammed his fist on the table in anger. “So I thought I'd try to find my glory elsewhere, by discovering the temple!”

  “What about when you stole the Robot Masters the first time? Seems to me Ra Moon had no hand in that.” Phoenix had an eyebrow raised, whatever answer he got back ought to be very interesting…

  “I-I was just about to say!! Little did I know, Ra Moon had influenced me from the start! How would I have known about the temple or Ra Moon? He placed all these ideas in my head, you see!” Dr. Wily grinned, trying to hide the fact that Phoenix was onto him like a spotlight.

  “Uh huh…” Phoenix leaned back, this was one of the most unpleasant visits he'd ever taken to the detention center.

  “B-but!!! I have someone to back me up! The Blue Bomber, Megaman!” Phoenix and Maya were shocked, could this be true?

  “If you don't mind, we'd like to have a word with him before we accept your case.” Dr. Wily nodded, that sounded fair. “Thank you so much for coming to see me!! Every other attorney I've called never even gave me a shot…” He looked down, this was a sorry state he's gotten in, truth be told.

  “Don't thank me yet…” Phoenix replied, getting out of the chair and moving towards the door, Maya following him.

  “Are we really going to visit Megaman?!” Maya started bouncing as soon as the exited the door. “Oh my god, I wish I had brought something to autograph!” Phoenix couldn't help but laugh. “Maya, come on, I'm sure you can ask for one later, maybe after the trial?” Maya hopped aboard her bike. “So you're going to accept?” “I'm not 100% certain yet, but if Megaman can vouch for this guy, it seems like a pretty strong case.”

Tuesday, 9:38 AM, Light Labs

  Phoenix and Maya parked their bikes beside the building, which a bright green, very large robot was blowing leaves off of the walkway.

  “Are you one of the residents of Light Labs?” Phoenix asked. “Me?” The robot responded, turning off the leaf-blower. “I'm Auto! I'm helping Dr. Light tidy up after all mayhem!” Auto replied cheerfully.

 “Right… Is he in at the moment?” “Inside the Lab? Yeah! Who's asking?” Phoenix straightened a little, trying to look dignified. “Phoenix Wright, defense attorney. And my partner, Maya Fey.” Maya waved a bit, and Auto returned the gesture.

  “So you'll be defending Dr. Wily?” Auto asked. “Possibly, we'd like to ask Megaman a few questions, first.” “Oh! Go ahead! Ain't he the coolest? So brave and strong!” Maya perked up. “Yeah, he is!!! Saving the world from the clutches of evil, but still so humble!” “Yeah!!!” Auto responded.     

 Phoenix was already approaching the door, and gave it a firm knock, Maya rushed to catch up.

  The door was opened by a small blonde girl. “Hello?” Phoenix recalled her often beside Megaman on the news, perhaps his sister. “Er, hello- Phoenix Wright, defence attorney, may I speak to Megaman?” “Are you defending Dr. Wily?” She asked. “Maybe.” Phoenix answered.

 Roll sighed, and turned around. “Rock! You have a visitor!” She turned to face Phoenix and Maya again. “He'll be here in a second.” Maya couldn't help but ask “What do you think about this Ra Moon business.”

  The girl pondered for a bit. “I don't know, I was deactivated for repairs at the time, Rock seems to trust him though, but I just don't know if I can feel the same.” “Deactivated?” Maya pressed further. “Yeah, I had… A rather unfortunate accident.” The girl smiled pleasantly, a strange contrast from her words.

  “I'm Roll, by the way, nice to meet you!” She held out her hand, Phoenix and Maya each took it and shook.

  “Hello?” Rock approached the door. “Megaman! It's so nice to meet you!!” Maya bounced, her hands loosely flapping from side to side. “Please, call me Rock.” He smiled pleasantly. “Would you come in?”

  The lab was a pristine and bright location, but still very welcoming. Rock sat on a cozy armchair, and motioned for Phoenix and Maya to follow.

 Roll hurried into a room off of the main room, and a red, robotic dog climbed into Rock’s lap. “So, how can I help you?”

  “We're considering defending Dr. Albert Wily, and he said you could vouch for him and his Ra Moon story, is that true?” Rock smiled, petting the dog between it’s ears. “I can! Ra Moon seems to have a very strong power over a lot of things. I'm sure you were aware of the blackout, Mister?”    

  Phoenix nodded. “I've seen it's power up close and personally. It was.. Terrifying. Wily had even tried to build a robot to match it’s power, but Ra Moon took it over. It wouldn't be a stretch to say it could control humans, too, don't you think?”

  “I don't know what to think, truthfully…” Phoenix responded. “Would it help to know we’re gathering a team to go back to the temple and research?” “Yes, actually.” Phoenix smiled. “Who's going to be on the team?” Rock thought for a moment. “Me, Roll, dad, Dr. Cossack, Pharoah Man, Dr. Astil, Plant Man, and I think that's it.”

 “Are you nervous?” Maya asked suddenly. Rock looked down. “A little bit.” Maya nodded. “Something that helps me is to take something that reminds me of home, and look at it when I'm scared!” Rock thought for a moment. “I should try that! Thank you, ms… Oh, I don't think I learned either of your names.” He laughed.

  They told him their names, to which he responded “Those are really nice!” Maya giggled, her foot bouncing. “It was nice to meet you Rock, we'd better get going though.” Phoenix said, standing up. Maya followed suit.

  “Will you take his case?” Rock asked. Phoenix paused for a moment. “I think so.” He smiled, fluffing Rock’s hair. Rock smiled. “Thank you so much, Mr. Wright.”

[phtholo]

@gorwen-fr first review of the day babey!! Five Dragons for this round ok hand emoji

ok so first babe to catch my eye is Salvador bc i ? love red/brown bogs, AND any time the flowering gladeboughs is used SO,

Outfit + Accent wise I adore him So Much, ESP the layering with the bird and the gladeboughs. I love the mix of a Soft AestheticTM and kinda sorta warrior aesthetic bc it blends Super Good here. i Would say i wish staff stuck to one shade of black and made the black linen wraps darker, but they match his claws so he’s saved there LMAO. Otherwise everything fits him really well, esp just the small traits in his bio-- it fits.

I actually like characters like his!! I’ve tried making some myself but they always end up being too sweet :,) but again I rlly love this man so far skjhkdh

first i want to say my mood is how you did his bio, second YES this is another gladeboughs dragon ive chosen and i legitimately didn’t realize it until I read his bio im.

ANYWAYS, I already like his lore even if it’s just a one sentence more shit-posty thing. It gets the job done so like hell yeah tbh-- also I Really love how you do outfits bc I was torn between like three other dragons while just choosing the first two. I Love the gold and red on him, I like how the flame color actually ties in his cutlass, and how the locket matches with those two things as well. I also just really love plant related dragons LMAO

and God honestly I could choose five favorites just on your front page alone :,)

holy FUCK my dude. oh my god. so like first off i REALLY love this accent and I wish I could get a copy??? It gives her so much character at just one glance and Wow.

I also ADORE when Crackle is used so well, because it actually fits surprisingly well and just............im in Awe. Your lair is so good I’m Crying. but YEAH I love this woman and would die for her, and just on top of that there’s a good use of basic so it’s not too crowded, the shimmer looks good, & the minimal clothes (”minimal.” it SEEMS like it since I drown my dergs in clothes) is done well too. I also rlly like the lantern.

BLEASE let me know when you fill out her bio bc I want to know as much about her as possible.

I See Those New Genes!!!!!! GOD does she look good in them-- it’s prolly the first thing I noticed and there’s even phthalo on her Hell Yeah.

Things I love abt spirals is how the Leaves in Autumn’s Breath goes around them, And I love how mantles are wrapped around em, so seeing them both makes me happy LMAO. I also really like the use of the sword, and considering her look I’m curious about her lore too. 

im CRYING seeing this gal. Her accent is so lovely (I wish i had like 2 copies so badly the accents you have for your dergs are so good im JEALOUS) and just her?? in general?? GOOD.

I love the gene combination, I love the use of the heraldic stuff since it ties in the blue in her butterfly, even if they’re different blues, i love All of it Light is so good man. ALSO the matching antlers + roundhorn looks like the roundhorn is apart of the antlers which i LOVE doing on lady imps bc I love giving them an absurd amount of antlers + horns. This is another girl I want to learn more about because she’s already so lovely and just ...............wowwie............. i LOVE her

Other dergs I REALLY wanted to choose: literally all of your bogs and guardians, ALL of them; Shinari, Cherry (I AM SHAKEN BY HER OH MY GOD), Myrtle (i love her what the fuck.........), honestly all of your dergs are so good I am so glad I got to look at your lair man.

OVERALL. This is SUCH a good lair and I hope to be at this level eventually because all of the accents, the outfits, all of it is so good and i had a lot of trouble deciding only five dragons. I’m super curious about all of the lore your dragons have and the simple bio template actually goes pretty well with your kiddos even if they’ve got an intense outfit. 

Thank you for letting me review your lair!!

[eorumverba]

i rlly love ur writing... i even have ur post notifications on..... i get nervous leaving comments on ao3 but ill try to leave some in the future.. i rlly love pet au and ive read it so many times... thank u for writing i kno its hard but i appreciate u!! ill try to b a better reviewer from now on i lov u ❤❤

♡♡♡ blease….i dont Deserve…post notifications;;;;i can;; definitely understand the commenting thing though;; nd dont feel Pressured to do it just;; it should come from your heart

nd also @ pet au a Good au if only it had……….a plot lmao although there are A Few Kinks i kinda wanna try with pet au…………………………….but Thank u overall ilysm

And also !!! pls @ everyone don’t just review on my fics, review and comment reblog all of your favorite writer’s fics;;; we all spend so much time and energy doing this;; it really does make that big of a difference;;

[holomoriarty]

dude i want to gif Dirty Filthy Love so fucking bad, but it’s Not Possible

[randomconnections]

Ghost Towns of the Pee Dee – Part 4, Jordanville to Dalcho

I was out and about exploring the Pee Dee region of the state, searching for ghost towns. I’d already found a couple of potentials – Ella’s Grove, Centenary, and Eulonia – and I’d stopped by the Marion County Museum and had lunch on Main Street in Marion. Now it was on to a couple more remote locations, and eventually find my way back home.

Myrtle Beach is a cancer. As its popularity has increased, the traffic and tackiness has metastasized onto the major arteries leading to the coast. OK, so that is a bit harsh. I’ve had some fun times there. But that’s the way it seemed to as I drove through the communities of Rains and Aynor. First up is Sparky’s, a truly tacky gift shop and the last place (or first) to snag a souvenir from the beach. There are no less than three “official” Myrtle Beach visitors centers along this stretch, and the entirety of Highway 501 is plastered with billboards advertising the latest Dolly Parton production, Pirates.

I crossed the Little Pee Dee and entered the the historic community of Gallivants Ferry. Normally I’d stop here and look longingly at the landing, wishing I could put a kayak in the water. This time I didn’t stop, but took the next right southward onto Pee Dee Road. I drove through many miles of farmland. Mostly there were peas, but there was still the occasional field of tobacco with a forlorn tobacco barn.

Jordanville

I found out about Jordanville through a historic survey of Horry County. The study indicated several buildings in Jordanville that might qualify for listing. I figured that if there were that many, the area bore checking out.

Carolana.com shows that there was a post office here starting in 1937. The website doesn’t list an ending date, but I certainly didn’t see a post office when I arrived. What I did find was an old warehouse/store, another store across the street, a Masonic hall, and a collapsed building at an intersection. The more modern of the two stores looked like it was now home to some religious organization.

So what attracted the attention of the NRHP? This is a description of the proposed historic district from the survey:

Located near the western edge of the county by the swamps fed by Little Pee Dee River, at the junction of Secondary Roads 99 and 24, Jordanville (Sites 0148) is a former crossroads community. Richard Jordan began a store at the site in 1869, which George Holliday (1875-1941) purchased in 1910. Holliday was a wealthy landowner, tobacco farmer and businessman, with property in Galivants Ferry and in Floral Beach, later named Surfside Beach. Some of the buildings he owned now form a National Register district in Galivants Ferry, which is several miles north of Jordanville (Utterback and Utterback 1988:site form; Lewis 1998:82; Bartos and Jaeger 2000). Thirteen buildings comprise the proposed Jordanville Historic District, including two homes, one store, and ten agricultural buildings, which vary from sheds to barns and warehouses, most of which likely date to the 1940s. While one of the two residences and its surrounding barns are likely still occupied, and the former store now houses a church, Jordanville is essentially an abandoned site. The largest conglomeration of agricultural, commercial, and residential buildings found in rural parts of the survey area, Jordanville is a relatively intact example of a crossroads community dating back to the nineteenth century. One home and three small outbuildings at the northern edge of the district were destroyed or removed sometime between 1988 and 2006, but their absence does not diminish the integrity of the complex.

So it wasn’t really a town, per se. Like Ella’s Grove, there was no municipal structure. Apart from the store cum church, there is a Jordanville Church and at one time there was a school here. A 1960 issue of the Florence News features an interview with a former teacher and principal from the school. However, the school shows up in neither the GNIS database nor the SC School Insurance Collection.

Spring Branch

I had a couple of choices for my return route. I could take a southern route through Lake City and cover some unknown territory, or I could backtrack a bit and hit a couple of spots north of Marion, then return a more quicker way on I-20. I decided on the quicker route.

I bypassed Marion on US 501 north of town. This turns out to be a large four-lane divided highway that connects with I-20. My GPS led me just off of the highway into the Spring Branch community. I spotted an old brick church to my left and an older wood frame Greek Revival structure across the street. This was the old building for Spring Branch Baptist. A newer version of the church was just down the road.

I knew there was an old school around here somewhere. I circled the block and found that if I had turned left instead of right I would have spotted it immediately. The brick two-story structure was sitting on the other side of the brick church.

I was able to find a photo of the school in the School Insurance Photos.

Back on 501 and just around the corner from Spring Branch I found another old school. There had been a Rosenwald School in the community. This was replaced with an Equalization school.

Not too far from Spring Branch is the old Ebenezer Church. This was yet another wood frame Greek Revival structure. There were two entrances, both with red doors. Lutheran? There was a cemetery, but I did not get out to explore. After all, it was one of the hottest days of the year.

I drove from Ebenezer straight on into the town of Latta. As with Marion, it would have been easy to get distracted by the history of the area. Road construction forced a detour away from the downtown area, otherwise I might have had to explore a bit more. The Dillon County Museum also would have been an interesting stop, but didn’t seem to be open.

The last two targets I decided to pursue were northwest of Latta.

Dalcho

These two targets were across the street from each other just before reaching the I-20 overpass. Catfish Baptist Church is…you guessed it, a wood frame Greek Revival structure. This places the building in the late 1800’s, specifically 1883. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

After reading the entry on the SC NRHP website I wish I had taken a bit more time to explore. The portico was added in 1970, but the arched entryway sounds quite interesting.

The façade consists of a centrally placed, stilted arch entrance with two, four-panel sliding doors which become recessed into the wall when opened.

Across the street was the true prize (for me, at least.) GNIS data had this listed Dalcho High School. It certainly looked like an old school. The two-story brick structure looked very ornate, and also looked like it had been converted into a private residence.

When I first saw the school it looked like there probably had been more windows on the front.

I did finally find a photo of the school in the School Insurance Photos. This one clearly shows the building as it is now, so there were no more windows on the front of the building.

There was a Rosenwald School to serve the segregated black students of the community. I also found the “Dalcho Colored School” in the archives.

Both of the Dalcho schools were involved in some controversy. The case of Tucker v Blease went to the South Carolina Supreme Court in 1914 and dealt with the question of what percentage of “Negro” blood must be present to require a student to attend a segregated school. I was able to find a summary of the case…

Being identified as a “negro” or as being in any way “colored” had drastic practical consequences back then, as yet another South Carolina Supreme Court decision reveals.

Tucker v. Blease was an action brought directly to the Supreme Court in its original jurisdiction — that is, without having to go before a lower court first. It sought review of a decision of the State Board of Education expelling several children from a whites-only public school in Marion County because of their race.

John Kirby was the son of Big John Godbolt. Godbolt was one-eighth African and seven-eighths European. That meant Big John was “colored” as a matter of law, as the law was written in those days. Like racial purity laws of Nazi Germany not many years later, one-eighth of the unwanted blood was the cutoff.

John Kirby’s mother was white. That meant that John Kirby and his siblings had less than one-eighth African blood and, as a consequence, these children were not “colored” under then existing law. Instead, having only one thirty-second (1/32) African blood, they were legally “white.”

One thirty-second (1/32) John Kirby grew up and married to a white woman. They had some children, all of whom were 1/64th African and of 63/64th European extraction.

The Kirby family all attended Catfish Church, an all-white congregation of mostly Baptists. They all had reputations of being decent people. The children were all well behaved in church and school. John Kirby owned more than 300 acres of land in Dillon County, making him eligible to vote without having to pass a literacy test.

Kirby’s family, economic and community status notwithstanding, John Kirby was guilty of a serious social faux pas. From time to time, he associated with “colored” people and allowed his children to do so too.

For reasons left unknown in the South Carolina Supreme Court’s opinion, John Kirby has been killed by a man named Edwards. The killer had a brother named Sam. After Kirby’s slaying, Sam Edwards carried a petition around the neighborhood saying that the Kirby children were not “clear blooded” and should be expelled from the white school they had otherwise peacefully attended for several years. Based on that petition, the Kirby children were kicked out of the school….

… the decision concluded that if the local white community wanted to kick the Kirby kids out of their school, it was all right with the court, albeit with a suggestion that other accommodations be made for the children’s education. As it turned out, those were “colored” schools funded at seven cents to the dollar compared to the school they had been attending.

Not a good day for South Carolina jurisprudence, helping cement the “One Drop Rule” for Jim Crow laws. The summary above says that the schools were in Marion County, but this is incorrect. They were in Dillon, which had only just formed as a county from part of Marion in 1910.

Apart from the schools and Catfish Creek Church there were several other references to the Dalcho Community in local news articles. Most of these were in reference to the Dalcho Masonic Lodge, which was one of the most active in the county. That lodge eventually moved to Latta. I could find no reference to a post office or any other commercial endeavor in the community, so Dalcho won’t make it onto my list of ghost towns.

Further exploration was tempting. It wasn’t that late in the afternoon. However, I had a long drive back that I had to take into consideration. I’d visited some interesting places in the Pee Dee region and gathered more information on South Carolina Ghost Towns. However, all this trip did was whet my appetite to delve deeper into the region. It may have to wait until our return from the west coast, but I will be back, next time not only with cameras but with paddling gear as well.

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