#currently trying to stick to stuff I can find all of on streaming

[rubenesque-as-fuck]

I've decided to just start watching through a bunch of corny horror franchises. First was all of the Candyman series, now Children of the Corn, then next I'm thinking From Dusk Til Dawn.

[ash-says]

Hush Hush Honey:

A guide on how to regulate oversharing and balancing the conversation flow.

Each one of us has at least been in a situation where we accidentally ended up spilling more than we should. We do recognise the patterns but are unable to control ourselves. That's why your girl Ash-says is here to say a lot about it.

1) Find the why

What are you trying to achieve by sharing that piece of information? Drama? Attention? Get it off your chest? Is it important to inform them? Is it valuable to them?etc.

First tackle the why. Before you go in to reveal something ask yourself if it goes with the conversation flow and if yes is it really important to share it.

2) Are you a celebrity?

No like why? Who is interested in your life so much? Are those people paparazzi to broadcast your current events and bring you fame? No right. So shut up.

3) Who puts their dirty laundry on display?

When you overshare you are basically putting all your secrets, stuff that you do or did on blatant exposure. People are going to judge you. That's the very nature. So breathe and keep it inside.

4) Try to listen more

Train yourself into listening more than speaking especially in group settings or around people that you don't know much about. Gossip is real. You don't want to be the next tea time sensation.

5) Alternatives for talkative people:

Now I know you might be thinking can't say this can't say that then how the hell am I going to bond with people or what should I converse about?

I have developed a solution for you. It's Ash verified because I myself have been using it unknowingly for around 7 years of my life.

Never open your mouth for passing judgements, expressing your opinions on things that do not relate to you, your dirty laundry, secrets, family issues, relationship issues, your sex life, your goals and aspirations, your daily routine, your political standpoint,etc you get where I am going right?

Instead speak about the experiences you had while travelling somewhere, some goofy stuff that happened to you, your harmless vice for example: I am clumsy so I have a lot of incidents that occur due to it which can be told in a funny way. It adds a nuance to my perfectionist image plus helps people warm up to me. Movie shows, songs, etc here also there's a catch if you relate to a show/song/ piece of literature strongly never reveal it. The smart ones will understand the inner workings of your mind.

Never let them know your next move.

If nothing of this then goof around being nonsense. Do little hand gestures, funny faces if you are bored but never overshare.

6) Be mindful of interruption

Practise practise practise. Literally that's the only way. Try not to interrupt people while speaking. There's no roundabout way. It is what it is.

7) Be comfortable in silence

You have to be okay with the conversation dying down. Running your mouth dry will only result in one sided convo. It's more useless and harmful than the one mentioned before.

8) Know your limits

Fix in your brain what you can share and what you can't. Stick to it. Even over your dead body.

9) Be genuinely interested in people

Ask yourself are you asking questions to really get to know the other person or just looking for a chance to talk about yourself? Dethrone yourself first and then interact with others.

10) Put out stuff that you are over with

Always remember what you say can and will be used against you. Drill it and from next time when you speak be mindful that every word can stand against you. Do you have the capacity to handle the consequences? Yes then go ahead. No, then stop live streaming.

Bonus point: Be as private as possible on social media. People don't need to know what you are doing nowadays. Privacy is power. What they don't know they can't ruin.

Strategically put things out. I am not saying be inactive. In Rome you live like the Romans. Do it smartly.

That's all for today's show on ash-says. Stay tuned for more illegal tricks and explosive opinions.

[witchygirlgray333]

Some journal prompts I like (writing and creative) :

I’m going to do a separate list for some chronic illness journal ideas bc I’ve found it’s so helpful!

Write out the lyrics to your favourite song and/or do a drawing / painting / collage of your interpretation of the song

Books you want to read

Films you want to watch

Diary entry about your day

Bujo style - plan out your week or month

Pressed flowers

Scripting (manifestation)

Vision board (manifestation)

Notes on a topic you’re learning about (for example I like to watch lots of nature or history documentaries and sometimes I make notes on them in my journal or if it’s witchy stuff I write it in my grimoire)

Letter to past you / future you / someone in your life (remember they don’t have to read it, this has helped me so much in certain situations so I can get out whatever I want to say without upsetting people) / someone you love who has passed on / the god or deity you worship if you worship one / to your future children / future partner

Wishlist

Ideas for things (like stories you want to write, photo shoots, fashion, films, art etc)

Poetry (either that you’ve written or that someone else has written that you like)

Get to know me page so if you want to look back on your journal in the future you can see what you were like then

Films you’ve watched / books you’ve read / favourite songs from the past month

Positive affirmations

Shadow work

Sticker / photo dump

Recipes

Go sit in nature and draw or write about what you see or feel when you’re there

Draw out your alter ego

Stick in scraps from throughout your day (such as receipts, labels from things, stickers, pictures etc)

Book reviews

To do lists

Design your dream room

Your childhood (draw or write about childhood memories, hobbies, things you used to collect, stick in childhood photos, the toys you used to play with etc)

Travel bucket list

Life bucket list

Family tree

Write a list of things that make you happy

Stream of consciousness

Write about your dreams and what you think they might mean

Brain dump (I sometimes do this before I go to sleep if somethings going on)

Doodle page

Stick in notes your loved ones have written to you

List of favourite quotes

Self care ideas

List of songs / playlist

Goals in life / 5 year plan

Plan a day out or a holiday

Plan content you want to make for social media

Tattoos you want to get

Things that make you happy

Outfit ideas

Hobbies you currently have

Hobbies you want to try

List of things you collect

Yoga / exercise routine

Seasonal bucket lists

Things you want to learn or research

Mood tracker

Stick in any colouring pages you’ve done

Daily skincare routine

List of Studio Ghibli films and tick off the ones you’ve watched

List of your favourite things

List of things to do when you’re bored

If you normally write about your day, draw pictures of all the things you did instead of writing (a bit like in a comic book)

Advice people have given you that has been really helpful

Ideal morning / night routine

Notes from therapy / hospital appointments

Page of all your cinema tickets

List of people that inspire you

Angel numbers

Crystals and their meanings

Your favourite artists

Worry tree

Favourite memories

Write your dream wardrobe

Reasons to stay alive

Stick in photos and write a bit about them

Names you like

Favourite words

Write about an event (a description of what happened, how it left you feeling, who was there and what they said and did, what you wish had happened instead, the reasons why you find it hard to let go, steps you could take to start to move on)

Notes on a language you’re learning

Collage about a film you’ve recently watched

Glow up check list

Write about a tarot reading you did

What does heaven and hell mean to you

Flip through a magazine and do a collage of pictures from it

[amyunshader]

Warren x Sally

Okay, here’s a prompts/headcanon since me + writing = procrastination.

IF someone feels like actually writing something like that, do tell me.

I believe there will be one day, perhaps five years or shit from the current timeline, when all will be well and solved — a time of smooth sailing at last.

When we discover that Johan and Luah had been living together for quite some time

In that time, at long last, the Mighty Warren Chae will propose to Sally Park.

The thing is, Sally finds herself rather confused. She knows for certain that Warren is an orphan. So how does she have in-laws to meet? Warren... isn't too sure either.

Or,

Manager Kim invite his spiritual son and daughter-in-law to be at his home to congratulate them on their engagement.

Unfortunately? no way in the world Hansu Seong and Jincheol Park would miss out on meeting the rumored heir of their friend.

• Taehun really didn’t want to come. Unfortunately, Manager Kim is a man who can, has and will beat his ass if disrespected, so he had no choice but to be there in his most proper suit to politely greet the guests.

• Dabin heard her dad’s friends’ pupil were strong guys around her age, so she came out of curiosity, but now she feel wronged, no, in fact she feels personally offended. One is an a vicious looking ostrich, only it sticks his head in the ground whenever Mr. Kim so much as glance his way, and the other is a massive, collared dog with a freaking identification tattoo, who is always, A.L.W.A.Y.S standing at attention toward wherever his fiancee is. Ugh, so tamed it’s gross. At least the dads are raising the bar, with Mr. Sung being a Ninja Shrimp and Mr. Kim a Black Panther.

• Minji and Sally bond over being unimpressed at the whole shitshow turning into a successor competition between the three old men. Well, between Manager Kim and Hansu, while Jincheol is complaining about the wasted potential of his future? potential? son-in-law and he gets choked by his daughter who start screeching about the comparative merits of a bear and a honey badger.

• Bonus is that Taehun (bored) text a pic of the room to Hobin, who shows him to the others, and Rumi & Gaeul instantly identify Big Mama and Big Uncle from Like What & So Funny’s streaming, and pester Hobin to go meet them. Perhaps even Gaeul dad’s pursue follows them cuz he does not approve of his daughter going out so late at night ("What’s with the rat and the rooster," says Dabin)

• Chaos upgrade to another level as the old men are getting drunk — trying to get their respective successors fight, including Hobin. Meanwhile, the girls are… chatting? Appalled? Squealing over pic of Yenna? Trying to stop the stoopid guys from fighting? Watching with pop corn? Dabin at least sure is.

note on Dabin’s animals:

— Taehun is an ostrich cuz they are super aggressive, super territorial, super fast and have deadly kicks. Also there’s that thing about sticking their head into the ground facing danger, that isn’t actually true, but I found it funny to use it as a mark of Manager Kim’s dominance

— Warren is a dog. Yeah, I thought I would keep the dog for Johan, but ‘fidelity’ is Warren second name, so. Btw Johan is actually more of a lone wolf than a dog in my opinion. So dog Warren as a collar, and an ‘identification tattoo’ cuz while tattoos generally make for meany-scary, for Warren it’s more of an owner-branding. He’s a simp so dog-Warren is always turned towards Sally even (in the rare cases where) human Warren isn’t.

— Hansu Seong is a ninja shrimp. Those little things are mad. Don’t wanna make a whole essay so I’ll just say their specialty is explosive hits.

— Manager Kim is a black panther. Dark, dangerous, silent predator, king of the jungle, I don’t think I need to explain

— Hobin is a rat 🐀 — sly little thing with higher intelligence than most other animals, and a great learning capability — plus they can use tools. Also Hobin is like, a rat for money stuff.

— Gaeul’s dad (= Hobin’s master) is a rooster 🐔 yeah I know the guy in rooster mask is Samdak, but he has the rooster vibe? Idk I’m running out of ideas. My first idea was duo rooster and chicken for him and Hobin.

[hit-song-showdown]

Year-End Poll #71: 2020

[Image description: a collage of photos of the 10 musicians and musical groups featured in this poll. In order from left to right, top to bottom: The Weeknd, Post Malone, Roddy Ricch, Dua Lipa, DaBaby and Roddy Ricch, Harry Styles, Future and Drake, Maroon 5, Maren Morris, Lewis Capaldi. End description]

More information about this blog here

This is when the polls start to put me in a weird position. Because since we're currently in the current decade, it's hard for me to make assumptions about what this decade is going to sound like. But I'll try my best.

To address the elephant in the room first, this was the start of the Covid 19 pandemic (if you forgot). Are we able to see the impact of the pandemic on the charts? Maybe not in lyrical content (sadly, PlagePop didn't become a thing 😔), but we can see its influence when it comes to chart performance. With the lockdown making it impossible to (safely) tour and promote their music, many musicians had to find other methods. With social media now being the main way people listen to and discover new music and the rise of bedroom pop, this wasn't impossible. But still, many artists either postponed or shelved their releases this year. Which is odd, because the charts were moving incredibly fast in 2020. A song could make it onto the charts one week, and disappear shortly after. So not everything got to stick around, but the stuff that stuck really stuck. The Weeknd's Blinding Lights, for example, was the most-streamed song on Spotify in 2020, and to this day it still holds the record of the most-streamed song of all time. But that might seem odd to some people, since Blinding Lights was not released in 2020.

This isn't unusual. Due to how trends work and the way Billboard releases their charts in December, songs released later in the year often don't chart high until the following year. But I'm bringing this up because the chart of 2020 doesn't look like 2020. Like I said, Blinding Lights was released in November 2019, which isn't that unheard of. But then we have songs like Post Malone's Circles (2019) and Lewis Capaldi's Someone You Loved (2018). Rockstar and Life Is Good are the only songs featured on this poll that were released in 2020.

And as far as the sound of the 2020's goes, it's too early to say but from what I can see so far, the pop sound of the year 2020 centers more around homages to previous decades. We can see this with the synth wave influences in Blinding Lights, the nu-disco in Don't Start Now, the light funk of Adore You, and the interpolation of Pachelbel's Canon in Memories.

[gramophoneturtle]

Update/Pinned Post

Welcome to my art archive. I've posted a lot about my OCs, TWEWY, Persona 5, Xenoblade X and in other fandoms.

Unfortunately due to recent-ish changes on Tumblr I no longer feel comfortable posting here much or at all. I'll keep my blog up for the foreseeable future or maybe even forever because of how Tumblr stores data. I'd rather have the link back to the source.

Or if the other sites explode in the meantime.

This has nothing to do with the date sadly. I'm just at my limit.

Here's where you can find me:

Pillowfort: gramophoneturtle. The most artist respected place and a decent long form blogging place.

Neocities: I'm currently developing an art archive on neocities over here. This will be THE archive place, one day! With RSS, one day!

Bluesky: gramophoneturtle. Twitter replacement. I don't trust it but it's meshing with me more than mastodon. Stream announcements are here b/c I ran out of energy for crossposting.

cohost: gramophoneturtle. I don't trust it'll stay but it has both a draft system & can save alt text on draft edits. Wild stuff to praise but when porting art out of Tumblr, it's helpful to have new drafts.

Twitch & YouTube: I stream weekly on Twitch and store VODs on both. Twitch has all my VODs and YouTube has VODs from Fall 2023 and onwards.

More details, pros and cons about each site below for those who are curious. Thanks for sticking around and reading.

Pillowfort

It's user funded and transparent about the breakdown of funds

They're against generative AI. Their reinforcement came out around the time Tumblr's not-really-against-it stance came out. This is huge to me.

They're working on a PWA of the site so it will have a way to function like a smartphone app

Image post options aren't great but you aren't limited to 4 (unlike cohost - kinda, and Bluesky)

Alt text gets eaten if you edit a post currently which is awful. (Tumblr used to do this.) Alt text isn't an option for picture type posts but is for text posts with pictures. But hey at least you can include alt text!

Communities are nice for fandoms and stuff. You can search by tags but you don't follow tags, you join/watch communities.

They have funding for the next 6 months past any month that was fully funded. So as of April 1, 2024, funding should last until (the end?) of October if they were to not get any more donations/subscriptions from now on. Basically, they have a 6 month buffer and so far for 2024 they've been keeping it and maintaining their monthly funding goals

Neocities

Home page URL should not change but artwork URLs might

The artwork section is inspired by Tumblr's archive page/system. I don't think I want it to be exactly like it (might be a limitation of static pages re: tag filtering) but I want to try and partially make it

Artwork on there have been nightshaded and glazed. I would like to reglaze some pieces that are too glazed for my liking, now that I have a better computer for it (so it doesn't take forever). That's why not a lot of art is on there yet

I might go into detail about how I automated some of the web dev stuff to make my life easier on my my main blog. In summary: I'm using 11ty (eleventy), generating pages from data and templates, using github for version control and github actions for updating the site automatically

Bluesky:

Feeds are cool. I've found and made (through SkyFeed) a lot of Feeds. Feeds can look for text in posts and alt text, and/or specific tags. Can filter out reblogs or replies. Can work off of user lists. Can include/exclude specific posts - like Twitter Moments. There's a lot of flexibility and filtering.

Feeds can lookback anywhere from 25 hours to 1 week when not looking at one user. So when pulling from many users, you could just get the latest updates. For one user (say your own gallery of whatever) you're allowed to go back to the beginning, it can be your art gallery. And then people can just follow that feed so you don't have to worry about your art getting buried if people just want to follow your art

There's a setting you can turn on to warn and prevent you from posting until you add alt text. I love this. Especially since, like Twitter, you can't go back and edit a post

Forcing ALT text has the added bonus of leaving it last so I can double check tags and text in case I accidentally hit the post button before I'm ready

Twitch

There is art. And VTuber stuff. And life updates. Art/project updates. Lots of OC talk. Like I wish I could post more about Null considering how much stuff I've spoken about them on stream but freaking time! And energy.

YouTube

Used to do more Timelapses but stopped because laptop was not having fun with it. Now that I have a new computer it might be better!

Also has Twitch VODs because I want another place to back up VODs since local recordings take up a lot of space. And I can mark Chapters(/Moments?) timestamps to find stuff again.

Special thank you to those that made it all the way down here!

So what is the blog for now? Archiving, mainly, as I said at the beginning. I might link to my neocities page in maybe art updates or to pillowfort. And I might need a place to fall back to if the other sites don't last. I know bluesky and cohost are not much better/probably not better in other ways so I know that posting on them probably won't be good long term.

But that's why I'm working on the art archive site on the side. I'll always have a safe and controlled place where I can have all my art and details and stuff. It's gonna take a while and it's challenging but it's what I feel like I gotta do now.

I'm just so tired.

[artofdiana]

Happy new year! As promised, a little introductory post for all the new/old followers. My name is Diana and I'm currently located in Sweden. I've been on tumblr for quite a while but I left when the "big censorship"™ happened. Then last year I got word that this place is still alive but is smaller and friendlier, so I went back and I love it here. (Fingers crossed leadership on tumblr doesnt tank this website 😰) A little about me: I'm a former illustrator, but I was never successful/productive enough to make a decent living so I went back to school to see if I could get a more stable career. I got lucky and got into uni just as the pandemic hit (when most freelancers struggled even more). As I'm studying I find it a little bit hard to find time and energy to be as creative as I'd like, but I do try to draw as much as I can. For a while I did streaming, and I hope to get back to that someday. I also do photography as a creative outlet and I have a photography tumblr : https://loveacover.tumblr.com/ There's more art coming up soon, I'm working on some larger illustrations in a sort of tarot style look (flats and lines) as well as schoolwork and more OC stuff. Be forewarned that I love experimenting with painting styles and trying out new techniques so some of my artworks can be seen as very different from one another in mood/finish. If you came for the cute only then you might be disappointed. I hope you'll stick around though! OH! and feel free to introduce yourself in the comments! I'd love to know who you are . I guess that's it for now. see u around 💕

[queenofhellstreams]

So I was gonna try and quickly get my timezone/hours people are most likely to tune into stream poll together but looking at a list of the worlds time zones has me a bit overwhelmed for my tired brain. Also the lists and everything I find have all time zones with the daylight savings times as well as the regular times all together.

I guess my point/question is does anyone have a good list/resource that lists current running time zones that I can use? I want to make a poll to see what ya'll time zones are so I can figure out when would be best to stream for you guys.

Also I thought best way was to put a poll with all time zones so people can vote and I'll see it

and then have a second poll with like cst (my time) or universal time and see when would be the best time to do my streams so you all have a better chance of seeing it.

With two polls I also get an insight that I haven't seen on twitch and get to see what times zones my viewers are in and I feel like it could help influence a lot with how I make updates to stream and my streaming time. But I fell like it can be a bit clunky if I don't put the post together right.

With both I get to see what times work for people and what time zones everyone is in. I can use it to get a better idea of when people are up and can see my updates for streams. But the downside is it could be messy.

With one poll its easier to manage and I still get to see what times people are able to tune in but I won't be able to do much in the way of making it influence stream updates to make sure everyone will have a better chance at seeing stuff and be more up to date of whats going on.

One poll is better to manage but loses a lot in terms of how I can keep everyone updated on whats happening with streams.

[mareastrorum]

This past two weeks has been really fascinating to observe. I've only been on Tumblr for about a year and a half, and only following stream liveblogs for about half that time. I don't usually tag dive because it really can be a slog, but I did for the discourse regarding FCG's death, Otohan generally, and the sudden shift to the Crownkeepers.

This isn't directed at anyone specifically, and I'm saying that for a reason: this website is really well designed for people who disagree to talk past each other. It's considered rude to reply to someone's take directly if you disagree, and often same for sending an ask to that person -- and I'm not saying it shouldn't be, that is simply the culture. In turn, when people write out their own takes on their own blogs, a significant amount of those semi- or fully-responsive posts are written to a strawman. Then when people read those posts, they recognize the general flow (though perhaps not the exact posts the author saw), and the pattern continues until everyone's burnt out on their arguments to a wall instead of to each other. Worse, even the most well-written and comprehensive discourse post is going to miss some small point or nuance, and that of course will be the subject of an offshoot set of posts.

Compare to reddit, which (on well-moderated subs, anyway) funnels discussion to specific threads, and the only way you can effectively respond to a currently-popular take is to take the risk of downvotes by actually replying to that take or to another reply under it. Attempts to address an issue separately are more likely to be lost in the shuffle, and honestly, most people who respond indirectly (citing someone else's arguments but not replying in their thread or to their comment) often earn a hearty amount of downvotes for cowardice even if the mods do nothing. The only way to bitch about some other redditor's take "safely" is to flee to another subreddit, but only if someone doesn't point out what Bitchpants McGee hoped no one would notice. (Are witch hunts against TOS? Yeah. They've been against TOS for a while; what's your point?) The culture is much more confrontational, though the level of politeness and civility is sub-dependent. I was on Reddit for about 13 years before Tumblr, so I've been in subreddits of all kinds, and I find all that to be incredibly entertaining, even if the mobile experience is rather annoying these days.

I don't mean this as a criticism of Tumblr or people who prefer to discuss or read about CR on Tumblr. It is definitely not an endorsement of critical role subs on Reddit either -- I came to Tumblr, too, after all. My point is that, on Tumblr, you can't be sure who someone is responding to, what takes they have read, whether they tag dive, what's on their dash, etc. There's no common thread that everyone is reading and reacting to except for the show itself.

Most CR discourse hasn't been all that bad, but there's some really patronizing and insulting takes in the tags that are effectively shotgun blasts at anyone who disagrees with them. If you want to foster good dialogue about a topic, don't do that, and more importantly, don't take others seriously if those are the tactics they employ. Let those threads die. Don't feed the trolls.

Lastly, this isn't a plea for people to act a certain way on their own blog. Do as you please. But it's a reminder that you're going to talk past people, and they're going to talk past you. If you want that conversation to be worthwhile, then keep focused on what the point of your own post is. Are you trying to defend something? Defend it. Are you trying to deconstruct a misunderstanding? Stick to that. Bitching and venting? Go ahead. But if you've tacked on other stuff to that same post, don't be surprised when you're used as fodder for the people who are intentionally having that side conversation.

[kelmcdonald]

Failure to Launch Crowdfund is Launching!

This is crossposted with my newsletter. Sign up for it here! 

Hi everyone. Hope you all had a good January. Lots of things coming up this month!

Firstly, as the title says Failure to Launch's crowdfunding has gone live. Failure to Launch is a light-hearted, educational tour of (so far!) unrealized technological and societal advances promised in years past, but which never came to be. What could have been, but wasn't. It tells the tales of planned utopias in space, wild inventions, attempts to improve society, robot pets, and predictions of armageddon! History is often written by the winners, but this time join us in spotlighting those who didn't let failure stop their dreams. I edited it and drew a story. My story is titled Paradise Within the Reach of All Men. It's written by Ryan North and io9 posted a sample!

Later toward the end of the month, I'm doing a live reading of Fame and Misfortune. It will be Saturday February 25th at noon PST on my twitch. Some friends will be playing different roles. Then I'll answer some reader questions after the reading. Post any questions you got to this public patreon post. 

Also while not in February, it's early enough in March that I wanted to mention it now. March 2nd-5th I'll be at Emerald City Comic Con. They haven't sent a map yet, but I'll try to post it in March's newsletter. 

The full moon was yesterday, so I didn't get this out in time. But we watched Wolf Children. The next few moon is March 6/7. I'll probably do the movie on March 7th since I'll be driving back from ECCC on the 6th. Either way please join the discord so you don't miss the next full moon movie night.

As always I'll be streaming art on Twitch. My schedule is currently the following:

Tuesday 8pm-10pm PST

Wednesday 8pm-10pm PST

Thursday 6pm-9pm PST (during the Iron Circus Geekshow)

As for last month, what you might have missed is You are the Chosen One is back to updating on Patreon. I posted a PDF catch up for folks, because I know Patreon isn't great for catching up on reading comics.  Also, The City Between has a new storyline starting. It's up early on my Patreon, but will start posting on my website this month.

This past month I did my best to work on Meredith McClarren and I's graphic novel Blue Moon. I'm behind on writing it because I've been a little buried with editorial work for Iron Circus and Seven Seas. A lot of my free time this month will go to trying to finish that one up. 

On the editorial front, I'm putting the finishing touches on Failure to Launch. I'm also getting the ball rolling on a new anthology about committing crimes. It's called Perfect Crime Party. That will be fun to get the ball rolling on. At Seven Seas I'm editing the manga for one of my favorite recent animes, Life of an Ordinary Guy reincarnated as a Fantasy Knockout. It's a very funny parody of fantasy books and romantic comedies. I recommend checking it out the anime or the manga once it's out. 

Staying on top of all that and exercising every morning has been pretty rough. But it's getting easier. I had trouble sticking with it after SDCC and ECCC being so close together last year. So doing Emerald City Comic Con will be the test on if I can stick with it. I've mostly been watching stuff while on the treadmill.  Here's stuff I watched and read this month

My Love Mix Up vol 6 by Wataru Hinekure and Aruko - I mentioned this in my newsletter a year ago. But My Love Mix Up is one of my favorite regular reads. It's very cute. The bisexual main character starts the series with trying to figure out his feelings for two crushes (one guy and one girl). Now that it's been going on awhile the series has moved on to the main character navigating dating another guy. I like it because the character conflicts are mostly about them figuring out their own feelings rather than miscommunication. I find people needing that time and space to sort out their feelings and thoughts really appealing. Like the love interest is dating the main character and hasn't had a crush or feelings for anyone before. He sometimes comes off as detached or disinterested in they relationship. So compared to the heart on his sleeve main character, the conflict doesn't need miscommunication. Because if someone needs time and space, that's a conflict that can only be resolved with said space and time.

The Night Eaters by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda -  I picked this up because I like Monstress by the same creative team. The art is beautiful just like Monstress. Currently, I think I prefer Monstress because that hit the ground running. But The Night Eaters was mostly setting things up for the series. The main characters are twins that don't understand their immigrant mother. They have a good dynamic and I like their back and forth as they learn their family's supernatural secrets. I'm gonna grab volume 2 and maybe now that groundwork is laid it will really knock volume 2 out of the park.

Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire - This is the newest volume of The Wayward Children Series. If you don't know it, the series follows kids that had a portal fantasy adventure and came back. Mostly the kids are called to their respective fantasy worlds because those worlds fix the kid better. I always like this series and end up grabbing the book the day it comes out. This one follows a girl who ends up in an in-between world which is where lost things magically end up. It is better for her because her home life has gone to hell and it's a sanctuary for her. She doesn't realize what she is giving up to stay though. It has some good thoughts and observations about how people treat children. All the Wayward Children protagonists have rough home life, but this one starts especially rough.

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio - I loved this version of Pinocchio. I always like Del Toro's designs and the stop motion animation was lovely. I especially liked the design for Death.

Watership Down Mini Series - I also watched the Watership Down Mini Series that came out a few years ago. While the acting was good, I think it feel for the trap that happens a lot with cg animation. They rabbits look too realistic and that kinda robs them of personality. The visuals didn't really sell the horror of the book or the old 2nd movie.

First Kill - This and the next thing on this list made me think about how quickly netflix cancels stuff extremely quickly. If you aren't familiar with it, First Kill is the teen lesbain vampire romance series they put out last summer and quickly canceled. It follows a vampire and a vampire hunter who fall for each other while their families are fighting one another. It is EXTREMELY bad and not in a fun way. The whole show is very poorly thought out and seems slapped together. While it wants you to think Romeo and Juliet with the two leads, it is established that after being bit a human becomes devoted to a vampire. So one member of those pair has their freewill compromised. It is then brushed aside. And the vampire girl doesn't want to kill, but is told she has to. Why? Well, she just has to. We see other vampires feed from willing donors and not kill them, but it's never established why she can't just do that. The vampire also has to keep keep the fact that she is a vampire secret but then it turns out the whole world already knows about vampires. I could go on, but all the examples of what's wrong can be summed up as a lack of thought being put in to anything. And at the end of the day it's also boring. I can only imagine how frustrating it would be to think you were getting gay version of Buffy or True Blood and instead getting this.

That 90s Show - I watched a lot of That 70s Show as a teen. And I've been watching a youtuber named Jose do retrospectives of different sitcoms. After watching the That 70s Show one, I decided to check out That 90s Show. Overall, That 90s Show is just okay. I think the new teen actors have a decent chemistry, are unique, and their jokes are funny. But they don't really have time to explore/find their feet. Way too much time is spent on cameos for the cast of That 70s Show. The set up for the show is that Donna and Eric's daughter Leia is spending the summer with her grandparents Red and Kitty. So Donna and Eric being in the first episode as well as Red and Kitty all fit in the show fine. But the problem comes up when it turns out the single mom next door is dating Fez and her landlord is the guy Fez had a rivalry with. So now instead of sticking with the teen main characters, we are spending all this time rehashing Fez's joke from That 70s Show. And when Leia likes a boy with the last name Kelso, both Jackie and Micheal invade Kitty and Red's kitchen to repeat their usual fight. Something like this happens once per episode. And it's a shame because I think the teen characters holding their own would have better served the show. It left me wondering what season 2 would be like, but since it's on Netflix it will most likely never get that chance.

Watching all those sitcom retrospectives and listening to the Always Sunny Podcast (the crew of always sunny are rewatching their old episodes). It made me think about how sitcoms usually don't find their feet until season 2. Nearly all the shows we think of as changing the landscape of television had poor ratings the first season. Sitcoms rarely have complicated premises and live or die on the chemistry of their cast. And you don't know what does and doesn't work until you actually make a couple of episodes. While dramas/dramadies are also in a rough place in a landscape where things either take off immediately or get canceled, seems like sitcoms are getting get the worst of this cancel happy time period we are currently in.  That's just something that's been on my mind lately, especially when shows I really like such as Inside Job have ended up on the chopping block.  Thanks everyone! Have a good month and thanks again for your support. I'm gonna start doing an art round up after each newsletter. So enjoy and have a good one.

[godesssiri]

Change of seasons is here and with it the coughs and colds that come with your body going: Is it hot? Is it cold? What the fuck?!?!?!?!?! That is my current reality and I feel the need to share helpful advice.

If you have even the slightest of coughs, build up your damn pillows. I hate despise and revile this advice. As soon as my mother hears someone cough she asks how many pillows they've got. I am a stomach sleeper and there is NO comfortable position that you can sleep on your stomach with more than 1 pillow, but the last few nights I have been sleeping with a pile of pillows at basically a 45 degree angle and hating every moment of it but it actually bloody works - damnit. There's a reason hospital beds are able to be raised and pillow fluffing was such an important part of looking after an invalid in ye olden days. You cough less and breath better sleeping basically upright.

Broth. You know you need to stay hydrated, you've probably got sports drinks and juice and tea etc. But there's a good reason humans have been feeding other sick humans broth ever since we figured out how to boil stuff in water. It does triple duty hydrating you, providing the nutrients you're missing out on cause you can't stomach food, and also replacing the salts you're loosing because you have gross stuff streaming from every orifice. Throw some fat in there, I guarantee you need it, that 'buhhh can't think thoughts' feeling you have will clear up significantly if you give your brain some fat to fuel it. I like to drop a lump of butter in my chicken stock because it tastes good but you could use vege stock and coconut oil, olive oil, whatever. Your brain needs fat and fatty food probably makes you turn green right now but somehow it's palatable when you add a bit to some broth. While you're at it add some shredded chicken or tofu and get in some protein and add noodles or have it with bread to get in some carbs.

If you have a runny nose BLOW YOUR DAMN NOSE. If you are coughing up gunge from your chest spit it out. I don't care how many boxes of tissues you go through. I don't care how gross it it. Your body is trying to rid itself of that crap so help it out. Whenever I hear someone sniffling I want to smack them around the ears because they are just making themselves sicker for longer - and it's gross to listen to.

You know how the skin around your nose goes all raw and red and peeling when you have a runny nose? That doesn't have to happen. My nose has been streaming for days but I only have the slightest bit of raw skin that I predict will have cleared up by tomorrow. I've been applying lip balm like crazy because mouth-breathing dries your lips and I've also been slathering that balm around my nose. It's provided a barrier to the burning salts and prevented the skin from drying out. You can also use nappy rash cream, seriously it's great stuff for any minor skin complaint.

Wash. I know you don't want to. I know you have no energy and you feel gross anyway and it's easier to just marinate in your own juices. But you will feel better if you're clean.

And if you can find an extra shred of energy after cleaning yourself try to clean up your sickbed area even slightly, the laundry and trash building up is going to make you feel mentally worse so if you can even grab a bag and stick all the trash in it, even if the bag stays in your room rather than wherever the trash is supposed to go.

Don't feel bad about sitting in bed or huddling on the couch for days on end. Don't feel like you should be doing something and it's so stupid that you're tired because you're not doing anything. You are doing something. You are waging war against micro organisms that are trying to conquer your body. That takes a lot of energy, you have a right and reason to be tired so don't beat yourself up about it.

[rosedavid]

10, 30, 45 & 49 ^_^

thank you so much!

10. How do you decide what to write?

Very good question, as I have so many ideas rotating in my head like a rotisserie chicken right now. Usually, it's just what I have inspiration/motivation for in the moment which is why I find it difficult to stick with a single fic or two.

30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?

Yes! I think the fic I wrote that was most out of my comfort zone was my no dialogue Schitt's Creek fic: The Sound of Silence. I am very much a dialogue person. It feel it's where I thrive as a writer, and description/emotions can be a struggle. So I'm proud of writing that one, and I definitely think it reaffirmed that description and dialogue both have power in their own ways.

45. What’s something you’ve improved on since you started writing fic?

Everything, I think? I know lots of people who don't write fic shit on it, but honestly, without it I wouldn't be NEARLY as good of a writer as I am today. I truly believe reading and writing fic is an invaluable tool for improving your writing in general. Sometimes, I go back and read stuff I wrote way back when, and I'm so amazed with how far I have come.

If you need an ego boost with your writing, please do yourself a favor and read just a few lines from something you wrote a long time ago.

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

As I mentioned above, I have like 8 different AU ideas, and unfortunately, I don't think it would be wise to try to write them all at once lol. I have a few in particular I've been trying to work on, but I struggle plotting out AUs.

Actually, if anyone has experience with writing AUs and is interested in chatting with me about them, please do!!

That all being said, I wrote this line on my phone last night, but this is from a bakery au I started working on a bit ago :)

TK needs a break from this unending stream of superfoods.

send me some questions for fic writers!

[leovoid]

Keroro Gunso (SGT Frog) is MUCH BETTER THAN I REMEMBERED

Also REGAINING MY WEEB TITLE #4 .3. Hello guys, its been a while ^^;; I’ve been stuck in a rut writing my video on Naoki Urasawa’s Monster so I distract myself by watching more anime ;3; Now typically, I am a big enjoyer of anime filled with angst, philosophy, well structured narratives with a theme to explore. You know, the typical, I wanna be in my feels anime stuff. However this time around I recalled that SGT Frog was reuploaded onto Crunchyroll, and seeing as this was a show I watched ALOT as a child, and finding a high quality upload online was hard to come by until now, I wanted to show this to my fiancé. My mother had first introduced me to this show when I was around 10 - 12 years old, I am currently 29 so we’re looking at roughly 17 - 19 years later to today! Now when I say that this show is alot better than I remembered, I don’t wish to possibly misconstrue you, I’ve always loved this show, I remember (as a child mind you *blushes*) dancing in front of the TV to each of the openings and Endings [This one specifically], collecting all the plushies of the platoon, toys, Gundam models, etc... My entire family genuinely enjoyed this show, so much so that we played it every single day for my little brothers who were infants at the time after buying the first 3 seasons on DVD. I was so into it that even after we passed the DVDs and watching anime online just started becoming a thing, I was watching new episodes every week until around episode 250+ or so (This was around the same time Death Note first started airing, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!) So anyway, fast forward to the present, my fiancé and I have watched A TON of anime together, Hunter x Hunter, Monster, Serial Experiment Lain, etc... So I wanted to take a break from the angst and show her an anime I hold near and dear to me, Sgt Frog. Currently we’re at episode 57, and the last thing I expected out of this show was to cry. Thats right.... THIS SHOW MADE ME F*CKING CRY MAN! And not just a little choke and getting watery eyes, I mean I FULL ON CRIED, had a hard time talking/breathing, tears streaming down my face, I was a full on MESS! If I was someone to wear makeup, I’m sure my face would’ve been a site to see XD

I’m quite embarrassed to be honest, but I have to admit, I realized that despite the show that is engulfed in slap stick comedy, filled with tropes and childish antics, this show has incredible writing sometimes, and I often feel that most of the comedy is what makes the viewers feel so connected to the 5 Keronian troops.

So what exactly made me cry in this show? Well it was episode 51 -  The Keroro Platoon Retreats! Farewell, Pekopon, Sir!

The episode starts off just as a lot of episodes would start off, Keroro sleeping around his Gundam models, even holding a model piece in his hand. However Keroro is met by his commanding officer, commanding him and the squad to return to their home planet WITHIN 24 HOURS. Upon relaying the news to the rest of the platoon, everyone but the SGT. truly understands the severity of the situation. Keroro, whos only thought is the punishment he’ll receive for not properly invading Earth, (Pekopon) like a child who has an essay due tomorrow at school crams last minute the information needed to properly invade the planet, while the rest of his squad prepares for their final good byes to the friends and family they have made while on Earth.

The next few minutes of the show follows its usual comedic antics, Keroro arguing with Natsumi about getting his invasion manual back, rushing his chores to study quicker, even accidentally destroying his manual in the process, all the while we as viewers wonders when Keroro will put two and two together and realize what is more important, the fact that he did nothing towards the invasion or the fact that he’ll have to say good bye to the friends and family he has made along the way.

7 minutes into the episode, After wasting half of the day trying to find a way to invade Earth, Kululu comes in with a huge reality check for Keroro, telling him that per protocol all traces of their existence has to be wiped from the face of the Earth, not just physical evidence, but also the memories within the inhabitants of the planet too will be gone.

This is the moment when the entire tone of the episode changes, as Keroro finally realizes what is actually happening around him, never noticing for a second how he will have to say good bye to the Fuyuki house hold forever and the memories they made along with it. I normally would like to criticize the show at this point, because a lot of what happens here is just barely unnatural for some of the characters, Natsumi being abnormally nice to Keroro, making his favorite food, the mother being home in time for dinner, helping Keroro with his chores, etc... But I’ll let it slide because the emotional impact it had was probably slightly more significant because of it, and well.... this show is mostly a comedy anyway so I don’t wanna be too harsh haha From here on out, the invasion or lack there of, has completely left Keroro’s mind, the forefront on his mind is that this will be the last moment he spends with them, all the while keeping the fact that him and his squad will leave a secret.

Giroro leaving his unrequited love Tamama leaving the Nishizawas Kululu surprisingly leaving a sarcastic but friendly message to Saburo Dororo and Koyuki saying their final good byes The standard stuff, but this is where the scene and how its presented really takes off

Keroro is presented with the unimaginable task of giving the order to push the button that will completely wipe any traces of their existence on Earth. The rest of the squad follow, and ask Keroro what he wants to do. While it may not have been explicitly shown, but I believe that in the back of everyones mind they wouldn’t have been able to without Keroros order. The loyal and steadfast Giroro, the righteous Dororo and the menacing Kululu all relied on Keroro for the first time in the entire show to make the decision, none of them had it in their hearts to do it, not without the order. Keroro eventually makes the decision to erase everyones memories and all traces of them being on Earth.

Probably because I'm older, But it was less about the fact that they had to leave and more so of the fact that the 2 years they spent on Earth, all the friends they made, the memories they shared was all for nothing as we witness it all go up in the air in sparkly fashion. It was a pretty damning moment, the thought of it made me choke up pretty hard as the scene was presented magnificently, the voice acting, the music, everything set the tone perfectly. However, it wasn’t at this point where I cried, I came pretty damn close though lol Not even 3 minutes passes and the show hits you with another incredibly emotional scene as Fuyuki stares at his globe and remembers the first time he met SGT Keroro

Fuyuki dashes to the basement where Keroros room was, but of course it is now just a normal basement, Fuyuki stares at the fridge which would be a portal to the Keronian Base, but instead finds a lone, unbuilt Gundam Model in the fridge.

Now for those who may not have watched the show, this was the nail in the coffin for me. Keroro as a character is mainly a giant goof ball, where alot of his comedic shtick falls under his unhealthy obsession for Gundam Models, and for his “schtick” to be used in such an affective way, and after holding back my tears REALLY HARD in the scene prior, I couldn’t handle it, the show took the knife out of the wound they already gave me and stabbed me again in the same place. I CRIED, Poured my eyes out crying, I never felt such shame HAHA Now some might be wondering, well what happened next, do they come back?! Well seeing as there is literally 300+ more episodes later, I think we know exactly how this is gonna wrap up, which plays an even bigger part as to me wondering WHY THE HELL DID I CRY OVER THIS! But I digress...

In typical Sgt Frog (Keroro Gunsou) fashion, it turns out that all the Keronians wanted was to provide the platoon a physical check up and nothing more, so all of what they did was for naught, they came back, and everyone somehow, has their memories back, as Kululu resets everything, putting everything back to the way its supposed to be. So all’s well that ends well LOL I’m COMPLETELY aware that I cried for nothing, but DAMN MAN was that scene crafted so well (For a childrens anime) I barely remember what the next remaining seasons are like, honestly I’m kinda afraid of the quality of writing changes after this season, the next few episodes feels a bit different ( I can’t put my finger on it exactly) But I do recall that there will be more episodes like this of such serious nature, so I’m looking forward to watching it again with my fiancé <3 All in all, can’t believe a show like this made me cry, for those who have not watched it, WATCH IT, YOU WON’T REGRET IT.....maybe....probably....hopefully. Till next time, であります! (Dearimasu!)

Me too man....me too..... </3

[praublem-child]

I know this isn't my fandom blog, but it is my main blog and I've been talking about Bubble for a paper I'm writing in my abnormal psych class, so I'm just gonna post this here.

Normally I don't like to hype Netflix movies because I think Netflix is a fairly predatory streaming service (they all are really, but still), and their movies and shows often get cut off before they can really get going, but holy shit this one was good.

I don't normally watch movies and stuff because I like to stick with my current hyperfixations, but because I'm writing this paper I ended up picking it after finding myself in a reddit hole after searching for "animated autism movies". I'm not entire convinced that the characters are autistic, but I certainly related to them more than I do most characters.

Hibiki has confirmed sound hypersensitivity. He was taken to a lot of doctors as a child to figure out why, we even got an MRI scene where he was visibly flinching from the noises. He got overwhelmed easily by the sounds of the city, and we have a few scenes where we see his mother progressively lose hope and eventually she drops him in what looks to be a special education class. Throughout the movie we see him being very protective over his headphones and wincing at multiple sounds, showing an obvious disinterest in socialization, and he has a grand total of two interests that we see, both of which he seems incredibly good at. Hibiki is also awkward around socialization, hyperaware of his surroundings, and I noticed a general lack of emotions and empathy compared to his teammates. It wasn't completely gone, but it was noticeable if you were looking (I was looking bc of this paper).

The other main character is named Uta, who isn't actually a human at all. I never actually figured out what she is? She's like,, literally a bubble. But also not? Anyway, aside from the movie's main problem not making almost any sense, Uta is nonspeaking for the first part of the film, and only speaks in simple words and references to the little mermaid which she read early on. Both her and Hibiki seem to connect in ways that neither could with any of the other members on the team. I'm not gonna give spoilers that I don't think are relevant to this autism thing, but there's probably several reasons outside of that. Regardless, it made sense to me that if they were both autistic they'd be closer to each other despite barely knowing each other. I know I've always found it easier to connect and communicate with other autistic individuals in my life.

Uta also has some fairly weird mannerisms and very clearly doesn't understand social cues. This makes sense given the fact that she's literally not human, but I couldn't help but draw parallels between her behaviors and how I acted as a kid (re: like a feral cat).

Now I know I didn't talk about everything in the movie, I'm like three hours past when I should have gone to bed and I need to save some of this brain power for the actual paper, but if anyone actually reads this post please go watch Bubble on Netflix. It makes no sense, I still barely understand what was going on in the movie, but it was so pretty to look at and the main characters are autistic coded at the very least. The music is also going to be stuck in my head for weeks.

Anyway. (not so) Mini rant over, time to sleep and try not to hyperfixate for the next week on this movie. It's already like two years old and had barely anything about it online, so I seriously doubt I'd be able to find a solid amount of fanfiction to fuel me if that happened. /hj

Trailer (the english dub is rlly good btw): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pbWblLkHHk

[ilovespringrain]

So I think I might be stretching myself too thin.

I’ve realized lately that I’ve done (and have been doing) a LOT of stuff. Lately, I’ve been juggling a part-time job, drawing, writing, and streaming. And recently I just added making an artistic bullet journal to the list.

It’s odd, I can never settle for doing one thing. But I’m going to have to pare it down to at least two, because I can tell that I’m trying too hard to find something that will sustain me for a job. I only got this part-time job as a seasonal position, and there’s no guarantee that they’ll keep me past the given date.

I keep acting like art and writing are a second part-time job, which is what I want at least one of them to be. But in order to do that, I need to make myself known as an artist or writer, and that’s incredibly difficult for me. Firstly because I’m not very good at social media promotion, and secondly because the idea of becoming a well-known person isn’t all that appealing to me. It sets up expectations and pressures that will only make my current situation worse.

It’s frustrating because I don’t know what else to do. I’m still not entirely sure what I want, even though I’ve thought I’ve been sure multiple times. I thought I was sure with writing, then streaming, then art, then both streaming and art. Now I’m back to square one again.

I don’t understand what’s causing this cycle, but I’d love it if I could be able to just stick with something.

[bonesandthebees]

/rp

I will say after all the lore streams today... I'm a little concerned about the future of bench trio's dynamic

because I can see a possible path being laid in front of us. a possible route where we see conflict popping up between las nevadas vs ranboo and tubbo vs wilbur and tommy

because wilbur has his own plans to directly go against las nevadas. meanwhile, tubbo doesn't necessarily want to go against las nevadas, but he will defend himself if need be. I think we saw that conflict play out on a small scale today, where tommy wanted tubbo and ranboo to help him with his railroad to piss off quackity, but both ranboo and tubbo didn't want to get involved as they had already had a confrontation with las nevadas that day and didn't want to antagonize quackity further

not to mention, as soon as wilbur finds out about tubbo's outpost, I'm positive he's going to try and weasel his way in there. It's a much better set up than his current setup with tommy, and provides a much stronger threat to las nevadas. but considering tubbo has already stood his ground against quackity regarding his outpost, I don't think he's going to roll over and let wilbur take over his outpost either.

and tommy has already promised to stick by wilbur's side, because of their bond, even though he knows that wilbur isn't exactly doing the best stuff right now. so what's going to happen when he inevitably gets dragged into a position where he's directly in conflict with tubbo and ranboo?

tommy might be put in a position where he has to make a choice between tubbo and ranboo, or wilbur. and if we get there, i'm going to be really interested to see what choice he ends up making