#expect this meme format from me a whole lot

[bumblingbee1]

If Dutch Van Der Linde has 0 haters, I'm deceased

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 13/03/2024

Nuclear Pomeranian

Season 8 Featured on: Now That's What I Call Quality! 3

Ripped by Half Pixel

Requested by Oetam! (Discord)

I've covered a number of rips featured in Now That's What I Call Quality! 3 already on here, and I maintain that it's likely the best album the channel has yet put out in terms of raw concise quality on offer. Beautiful Dreamer, Initial Deluxe (I've Just Raced on this Course Before) and Owner of a Mahjong Board are all absolute highlights of Season 7, and it feels like the entire SiIvaGunner team came together to truly show the best of the best on the album. Yet beyond featuring classics from the Season that was then wrapping up, Now That's What I Call Quality! 3 also featured a good few rips that had yet to be uploaded to the YouTube channel - that is to say, some of the first-ever rips that you could consider to be part of Season 8. Its in this category that Nuclear Pomeranian finds itself in: the seventh rip of Rhythm Doctor makes an incredible first impression on what to expect from Season 8 in the months to come.

Honestly, it wasn't as if Half Pixel had to prove his prowess in creating these sorts of dense meme medleys: Since way back when I first heard Everybody's Special Course in Season 1, I'd known the guy had an undeniable knack for these sorts of rips. It may be coincidence, but it, Nuclear Pomeranian and Siiva Lining all just have this immense energy and adrenaline to them, a celebratory party atmosphere that never fails to bring a smile to my face. So then, I suppose Nuclear Pomeranian mainly shows just how much Half Pixel has grown as a ripper in those years, how many creative flourishes are added and implemented with complete confidence. The lyrical silliness in the opening is one of my favorite examples: transitioning Infinite's lyrics of "I am the last one that's standing, don't try and stand in my way" into a simple "okay" sound, followed by a response of "and now you're in my way" from Call Me Maybe. That's so fun! That has nothing to do with Rhythm Doctor, or SiIva's own memes, or Season 8 or anything, it's just a little bit of flavor added to the rip by Half Pixel to make it a funnier listen.

It goes through so many phases, yet compared to something like Memey Hell, it feels as if each part featured is allowed room to breathe in isolation from one another. Some of the sources. such as PSY's music, feel like they're subtly in the background almost throughout the whole rip, but segments focusing on just one source at a time feel like they strike such a perfect balance in terms of how long they're featured. The rip will for instance use Bo Burnham's Bezos I for a six second segment to give you just enough time to register the song as both funny and catchy in its context, before using a snappy Among Us sound effect break to transition into an equally-as-long segment using Boulevard of Broken Dreams, repeating the cycle. Much of that is of course owed to the structure of the original Bomb-Sniffing Pomeranian itself, but it's incredibly commendable just how well Half Pixel adapted that frantic, back-and-fourth pacing of the Rhythm Doctor song into such a different format. Very few of the sources, even when focused on as the sole joke for seconds at a time, are left completely unedited: small little quips from other sources, little interjections and pieces will play alongside or over the joke in focus, althewhile remaining completely harmonious.

I realize that a lot of what I'm describing is just the standard procedure on what to think of when creating a meme mashup medley like this in general, but what I'm aiming to say is that Nuclear Pomeranian is one of the best examples of how to do things right across the board. The amount of sources featured span across the channel's entire life, from the aforementioned PSY to appearances from Smooth of 【＝３】e-MUNO Disco (vs. 音MAD AGENT) fame in Season 2, the Season 1 classic Chip the Ripper closing the rip off, the Big Chungus-posting of Season 4 Episode 2 and AIN'T NOTHIN' LIKE A CHUNKY BEAT, the Among Us posting of Season 5 and Among Drip Drop Galaxy, and oh so many more. Yet compared to something like, say, the Season premiere collabs such as Joke-Explainer™ 7000 Fusion Collab and Bramble Blast Collab, the rip doesn't place more emphasis on these nostalgic, well-remembered sources than anything else featured in its vast list of sources. SiIvaGunner classics or not, Half Pixel uses what sounds best and what's funniest at every possible moment to create a rip that works incredibly well even outside the context of the SiIvaGunner channel, as a huge tribute to Rhythm Doctor and the art of ripping itself.

Put concisely - Nuclear Pomeranian is a banger, and was a fantastic showcase of the level of quality that we've now seen many examples of in the last month and a half. The SiIvaGunner team is truly firing on all cylinders, and I'm all here for it.

[wild-at-mind]

Listened to the podcast series 'Eight years hard Labour' which is about the Corbyn years of Labour, and they talk a lot about the Labour party internal divide- there was the internal right wing, who were more like centrists, and the internal left wing, which was the Corbyn side. To tell you where I stand on this man: I voted for Labour, and therefore Corbyn, in both the 2017 and 2019 elections but was absolutely not part of his cult of personality, and I found it disturbing how devoted people got so quickly. Mainly the leftist queer people section of my social circle were doing a LOT of facebook meme posting in the run up to particularly the 2019 election. I could literally look down my feed and see a very long, very detailed defense of how Corbyn could not possibly be even the teeniest bit antisemitic, and below that a different Corbyn devotee would be proclaiming that the only reason Jewish Brits would not vote for Corbyn was because they were all too wealthy. I mean....what more conclusion could I possibly draw from that?? I do not care to get caught in the weeds of whether Corbyn knew what was in the fucking mural or not before saying it shouldn't have been removed, and I know the tabloids really did do plenty of smear jobs on him, but the fact that I could see his devoted supporters becoming antisemitic before my eyes was incredibly damning and was all I needed really. Anyway, obviously Corbyn lost the 2019 election by a massive amount and it was a surprise to literally no one except Corbyn's fans who had been in social media meme echo chambers the whole time. Corbyn left the Labour party and now we have Starmer who leaves a lot to be desired, but is still the head of the most left wing mainstream party. But it made me think- what hope is there for left wing politics in the UK? Can we ever hope for a hard left of the left leaning party that doesn't go off in these weird antisemitic, Putin defending directions? (Oh god...imagine Corbyn being PM during the Ukraine war. :S) Do we always have to settle for centrism just to be on the left of the Tories? We have had leftist governments in our history that brought in genuine social change, the formation of the NHS being the biggest example, so it is possible, but why are things so right wing now, and for so long, especially while things are so objectively shitty for so many people? I don't expect anyone has any answers but I want to hope for better. There are massive limitations to party politics, but I'm not an anarchist and I do think running the country is a job someone has to do. I don't know how to make things better, I just know that genuine compassion for all people is needed in order to do it, not just some people, and I don't know if hard left conspiracy types can ever feel that for people they consider their enemy.

[decadenceandrot]

Pinterest is a special kind of site that will probably exist past the death of our universe.

I’ve been on Pinterest (and tumblr) for a WHILE. Probably about a decade give or take, regardless of the account I use or if I’m lurking and just viewing things or posting myself. On one hand, Pinterest has all the expected “arts and crafts”, “interior design” inspiration, varying “aesthetics”, fashion, food inspo, and the usual inspirational quotes. But if you stay a while and start looking, you’ll see that almost every form of artistic form (or Fanart) has been uploaded there. I’ve known some artists say that they know they’ve “made it” when they see their art on Pinterest. Unless it’s 18+ cuz that site is fairy stingy with even HINTS of adult fun times What’s funny about this brings me to another aspect of the site: the COMMENTS. Now, comment sections aren’t new, and there’s nothing particularly amazing about Pinterest comments either. On art posts, a lot of people will who the artist was in the comments. What’s funny about comments on Pinterest is the time in between comments and ESPECIALLY responses. There are comments on pins from almost a decade ago with questions that got answered A MONTH AGO. No one says anything about it, and no one really cares either. It’s a liminal space of things just EXISTING, all simultaneously easy and hard to find. I also want to add that the translation feature in the comment section has been better than Twitter, Instagram, or any google translate I’ve used thus far and I find that HILLARIOUS

If you see the art, you’re one hop and a skip away from the full fledged Pinterest experience. This is where you see the memes, snippets of reddit posts, and ESPECIALLY tumblr posts. A lot of the tumblr posts are also in the original tumblr format too, which makes for a WILD viewing experience on a site that so clearly compresses the images so that some of these are too blurry to even read, yet people pin them anyways. There are the obvious biggest-gaudiest-patronuses, i-am-a-fish, the whole CATEGORY of superwholock, and so on, but ultimately there’s kind of EVERYTHING. I’ve found some of my best memes and most cursed images there, along with finding tumblr posts that aren’t even ON tumblr anymore.

This is where I get to my point: Pinterest is the catch-all. EVERYTHING ends up on there, one way or another. Pinterest acts as both a blank slate that can offer ANYTHING you seek, but at the same time is an archive that is void of any sense of time or space. Pinterest is the archive where things go to perish. If something is gone from the main web or social media or the like, so long as it can be an image or short video, it will somehow be on Pinterest in one way or another. FINDING it is the only struggle you will face. It serves as both a place to keep that which is archived there alive, but also as the digital tombstone of what was. Pinterest is where all things end up, and it is the place where all things die.

Pinterest is a wild place. You should visit sometime.

[mysterypond]

Going through and choosing my favorite fics for that ask meme made me think of what I would put as my least favorite fics…

This isn’t a self depreciation thing more of a reflection, which for me is easy because 1) I haven’t written hxh in like half a year and 2) I have 69 fics to choose from. So. Would not particularly reccomend doing this if you don’t have a whole library of fics to choose from.

Anyhow, I won’t be counting any crack/shitpost fic because I want to focus on what makes a fic one of my “least favorites” in my eyes, which I would boil down to a botched execution. A lot of the fics I dislike of mine had ideas I was really passionate about, but somehow I didn’t end up writing them in a way that really pleased me. This could be for a variety of reasons, be it issues with tone and pacing, to a lack of technical skill at the time, to getting my themes and messages mixed up. Absolutely no shade to anyone if you like these fics, I don’t doubt people do as some have the stats to prove it. This is just my reflection of author intent vs what actually comes across in the fic.

So read on if you’re curious, if not, well, it can remain a mystery.

5. Ging x Gets x Cucked - honestly this one doesn’t truly deserve to be on the list it’s just a bit… dated lmao, I feel like my sense of humor has evolved from here so reading this makes me cringe at some of the jokes I put in there. But the real reason I’m adding it here is because I think it could have been an interesting concept had I not committed solely to the humor aspect of it.

4. I, Scream - This was during my experimental phase pt. 2 and this phase was significantly less appreciated than phase 1 (2021) and I think it was because I tried a lot weirder stuff with my writing in 2022, especially with the AITAs and short shitpost fics. This fic is the tail end of the surrealist era of fics I wrote, and it quite frankly is just not good. I don’t know how I would improve it, but essentially the gag is that there is green bean ice cream and Beans is nowhere to be found, prompting the reader to assume Beans is going to be eaten, which in turn it’s revealed Beans himself is eating the ice cream. Cannibalism? Not to mention, the fic itself is a poem with a bizarre line structure, making it hard to read. While everything I did with this was a very purposeful delivery I feel like it’s lacking that “so what” of “why should I care about this?” Like sure, I can write something like this with my technical skill but emotionally it really falls flat.

3. between me and you (and everyone I've spilled my heart to) - I took the idea of “what if a drunken confession didn’t lead to a love confession, but was a confession of some sort of crime” and then did absolutely nothing interesting with it, nor were the relationships portrayed here particularly done in an enticing way. I don’t have much to say about this fic because I didn’t have as high expectations for it as I did some of the others.

2. Snapdragon - fun fact I deleted chapter 3 and reposted it randomly, no idea who remembers the first version of chapter 3 because I sure don’t! What I was going for with this fic was a love tragedy of many angles. What I got was… boring. The fic was supposed to tug on the heart strings, but I find it merely grazes them. I think part of it was the format I chose, focusing on 4 different narrators to give perspective to the situation when two of them really didn’t add much to the story. I like poly!zodiacs, and I feel I didn’t lean into that enough to really justify cheadle and mizai being there. They feel… Kind of thrown in. Anyhow, I fell out of love with this fic by the time I finished my 2nd chapter, so I suspect that’s why 3 and 4 were so hard for me to write. The spark was gone.

1. Judgement x Day - In the defense of this fic, I will say that the concept is still interesting to me: If Killua had to force a choice to save Alluka or Gon, who would he pick? - Which then translates into a moral dilemma. The fic idea came to me when I was watching a Voyager episode “Tuvix”, basically a plot where 2 crew members get into a transporter episode and fuse into one person, who exists for a few weeks before Captain Janeway essentially orders the doctor to split him back into Tuvok and Neelix, thus killing him. My irl friends and I talked about this episode a lot, and I thought I could write something that took a similar concept and did it better. I was wrong. I think the fic itself would have been better with much more nuance to it, but it ends up feeling so flat and as if Killua’s decision is less of a dramatic tragedy and more of a plot point. It just doesn’t feel human enough. It’s sad without enough breathing room to really care about what’s going on, if I had to write it all again I’d change the tone to make it more bittersweet and less “sad”. Anyhow, this is actually the fic I’ve gotten the most negative comments on! I actually temporarily turned commenting off because of this, but it’s back on and all the bad ones have been purged. I’ve thought about deleting the fic, letting it fade into obscurity, but I feel like I should keep it up.

Anyhow, again don’t worry if you like any of these fics! I think if I wasn’t the writer and didn’t know what I was going for I might enjoy a few of these, however this is more my thought process for why I’m not satisfied with any of them. Hope it was interesting to read at least :3

[risu5waffles]

Not like we're TEN days late

i know, i know. Look, last night was busy. But here we are again. Together. In the soup.

This level is so nifty! i loved all the little mechanical bits and interactions. Also that you kind of criss-cross through it, being able to see some later sections from early on in the level. Me, i just eat that right up. It feels a little rude to make this one a race, just figuring out how to progress can be a bit of a timesink, tho' i can see that adding into replay value. Like, you play a couple times just to learn what the level expects from you, and then you start making real stabs at a good score. It's weird, because on one hand, that really is good level design, and indicates a certain amount of confidence in what you've made that you believe players will give it that kind of time. On the other, well, it's not really a the other hand, i just think most players won't.

This is one of those levels that's really cool in concept, but pretty rough in execution. Not really through any fault of the level itself, it's just heavily, heavily reliant on physics, and when things work, it's super nifty, and when they don't, the level just breaks. i had to play three times just to get the duck to land right in that early on bit, and that's nothing i had any real control over, just a watch and hope kind of thing. Also, if i'm being honest, the level does feel just a touch overlong, and i was pretty ready to give up all pretense of getting a good score by around the halfway mark. Still, i super appreciate the ambition, and all the work that must have gone into making it run.

Gods, i honestly kind of love these attempts to make something scary in early LBP. Maybe because this was previous to the style getting subsumed in meme/copypasta formats. i just like "this is my spoopy ghost hospital wiv guh-guh-ghosts" a lot more than "jumpscare wiv slenderman or evil Sanic." But look at me here speaking from almost 45. i lay you dimes to donuts if i'd been in my young teens around the spoopy-pasta boom in LBP(2? Was that really a big thing in 1?), i'd have been right there for all of it. i was not wivout my edgy pre-teen phase, if you can imagine (and i'm sure you can).

Exactly what it says on the tin, and a bit more or less. Still, i mean, it's not not cute, you know?

This is, no lie, an extremely impressive bit of kit for LBP1. Like, it is a solidly designed platformer, wiv a clear design and character aesthetic, that delivers on that promise in a very satisfying way. The biggest issue i had wiv it turned out to be a totally on my end thing. That midboss fight, the one that seems to go on forever? So, some of you might know that my hearing is pretty shoddy. Not, perhaps, needing hearing aids levels, but it's still pretty bad. Rewatching the footage and i finally noticed there's a "damage taken" sound effect from the paintinator kit that plays when you hit those buttons. i didn't catch that at all when playing, so, going purely off the visual cues, i thought you needed to hit the left and right side buttons once to move it to the next cycle? So, like, it pops up, you hit both the buttons, it goes down, repeat three times kind of thing. Really, i could have hit either of the buttons repeatedly to just kill the thing. That kinda sucked. Yo, that final boss, tho'? Beautiful design on that one.

We talked about Princess Tofu last week. i stand by my takeaway that it is charming and confusing in about equal measure.

The LBP1 vibes are off the chart wiv this one. It's actually a pretty decent level, all nostalgia aside, tho'. Nothing in here is really too challenging, but there is a lot of it, and it's mostly enjoyable throughout. i love the creator just randomly wrapping up the level wiv a roller coaster, 'cause that was a whole thing for a hot minute. Like tying an onion to your belt.

This one is super cute, and i definitely appreciated the bright and cheery vibe; but it just goes on for what feels like forever? Also, even tho' there's no risk beyond just losing progress, i kinda hated that bounce pad staircase thing. Just thinking i'd have to do the whole dang thing again if i screwed up, you know?

i felt salty wiv this one, not gonna lie. The title page claimed it would be a long level. That it would be challenging. It turned out to be a two minute walk through a cave. That wasn't. Even. Cardboard. That's just lying. They lied to me. Rude.

i feel kind of bad for the creator here. Up on the title page there's a note, like, "this used to be copyable, but it turns out the LBP community is a bunch of thieving shits" (paraphrased). Which, you know, is definitely a mood. It's a real shame making levels copyable so you could share and teach turned into people just repubbing the level wiv their name on it. We really are a bunch of thieving shits. This level's pretty neat tho'. It's a good collection of some relatively simple puzzles and obstacles, and i had a good time throughout. It is fairly drab, seeing as there's a complete lack of decoration, but i can understand that; if the intent was for players to copy this and see how it was put together to make their own versions), the creator wouldn't have wanted too much crufting that might hide how things fit together.

---------------------------------------------------------

So that's that set of ten down. The series has been going for almost a full six months (if you include my backlog, which i absolutely am) on a daily upload schedule, and that's kinda wow? Maybe? i don't know, i have a hard time judging these things, but i'm going to go wiv "a little proud" on this one.

Had a bit of a night out wiv two of my coworkers, and that went mostly well. Honestly far better than i could have expected. Was, i think, the first time i've been to an izakaya since honeybunny and i split back in '18. Definitely since covid has been a thing. It was mostly empty, which, like, honestly, that's for the best what wiv the plague, but also very not an izakaya mood, and kinda extremely lonely. But i had a nice time talking to the two gals, and eating shitty izakaya food, and surprisingly not drinking (the surprising was the enjoying not drinking, not the not drinking itself; it helped only one of us drank, so there was none of that social pressure to have a beer or anything).

The biggest fly in the ointment was, holy shit and no joke, i was fucking exhausted. i'd been dead-tired and beat since i woke up that morning, and the workshift did not help. i ended up having to skedaddle round about 7.30p, and i felt like a bit of a shit, like they might worry i didn't enjoy their company when i actually rather did. But like, when i say tired, i mean like "i am so fucking tired i can't even focus enough to have dysphoria over my stubble" tired. i mean, that sounds nice, the not having dysphoria, but, like, also, not being able to feel my fingertips sometimes and constant yawning, and that's its own socially awkward, and also "if i pass out, people will panic, then how will i get home" legitimate concern.

[levymcgarden55]

I got tagged by @caprisun-overlord to do 10 characters, 10 fandoms, 10 tags :D

I didn’t have to do the little blurb but since the point is to get to know me, why not? Here are my blorbos, arranged in no particular order (but psst my favorite is 10)

1. Frisk (undertale, when the game was really popular I dressed up as Frisk for Halloween and was surprised to find my best friend as Chara and two acquaintances as Alphys and Sans. God that was a great Halloween.)

2. Roserade (pokemon, I love the design and the gay flair. Plus queer flower fems are very good. [holding budew, roselia, and roserade in my hand] I just think they’re neat.)

3. Fae (Fire Emblem Heroes, god I love this baby, but she gets 0 recognition bc her og game was a Japan-only release. Yes she’s a thousand year old dragon who looks and acts like a little girl but look I just want to give her a juice box and a plushie)

4. Angus McDonald (the adventure zone balance. God I love my boy!! For a good while my icon was various images of him in the “do it for them” meme format. It’s still my icon on discord bc I LOVE joining a server and having people flip their shit over My Boy. Once someone went “Angus Mcdonald?!” And I went “yes that’s my christian name.”)

5. Natsu (Fairy tail, it was the first anime I really got into. I looooved it and Natsu specially was my first fictional crush that I wrote fanfic for. I watched fairy tail up to the 190s where I kinda… drifted off of it. Years later I rewatched it and can say with a certainty that it is Not As Good, with a lot of problematic bs. But I’ll always have a soft spot for Natsu.)

6: Zelda (breath of the wild. She’s a trans icon. Also I played the game before and after I left the cult, and GOD does her story hit different. “You’ve been trained your whole life to forge your connection with the divine, just as your ancestors did before you. You’re trying and trying and trying, pouring your whole heart into it. And it’s… not working. Everyone’s expectations are crushing you. If they could just let you do what you’re good at, you might be able to thrive! But all your parent can say is try harder.” . . . Of course I love this poor doomed princess.)

7: Ralsei (Deltarune. Yes, blush when Kris is too close!! Hug the combat dummy!! Shield by wrapping yourself up completely in your scarf!! God I love them. Also even though the ch 2 sprite debunks it, my headcanon is that the heart on Ralsei’s dress is actually a chest cutout so it’s black fur, not fabric.)

8. Flayn (fire emblem three houses. She’s adorable and sweet with a cutesy design and soft mannerisms. Not great in combat so I made her my dancer. I desperately wish they had varied the body types on the girl characters so they weren’t all mannequin doll perfect— Flayn deserves better, and give my buff girls muscles, cowards! Honorary mention to Petra from the same game, who I love and is one of the aforementioned girls who deserve huge watermelon-splitting thighs, goddamnit!!)

9. Yoosung (mystic messenger, ik 707 was all the rage but Yoosung was my first route and will always have a special place in my heart.)

10. Garty O’Brien (dimension 20’s fantasy high. I adore every part of them. They’re a nonbinary aasimar half orc who runs a tavern on a moving pirate city made of lashed together ships. They have top scars and cool as hell sacred geometric & floral tattoos. They’re strong and muscular and on top of all that they’re classy & chill beyond belief.)

I am gently setting them in your hands

I have so much gender envy for them my god

[id: an image of Garty O’Brien. They’re standing at ease, one palm up and the other at their side. They’re facing forwards and looking at the viewer with a friendly expression. Besides the other features mentioned above when describing Garty, they have medium green skin, golden tattoos, and their eyes are a black sclera with a hollow gold ring for the iris. They are shirtless with gray pants that have a wraparound shawl on the torso. They are wearing plain boots, lots of dangly gold jewelry, silver makeup, and have short black hair with an undercut on both sides.]

Bonus 11th: Master Firbolg (adventure zone graduation. He’s not really a blorbo but he’s very good and I love him. After I listened to this, one of my druids (who already spoke broken common) just totally took on his speaking cadence?? Also Justin really did go “yeah there’s huge hype around my character name so I’m just Not Gonna Name Him, fuck you.” Gotta respect it.)

Hope y’all enjoyed getting to know me a little (:

Tagging @lol-who-is-this-guy @ratbastarddotfuck @quinnception @in-bituin-the-stars @photosinthesisforthewinthesis @axiomofhope @zeta999 @tallsa and anyone who sees this and wants to do it too (:

[gojo-kisser-9000]

I’m a big fan of HxH too which Gege draws inspiration from heavily. The Chimera Ant Arc is considered one of the greatest pieces of literature by fans. The kicker is…as it was coming out in a weekly format, everyone hated it. Only after it was finished and read uninterrupted did people really start loving it. I almost wonder if that’ll happen with the Sukuna fight too.

Media Literacy curse in JJK fans is really funny to me regardless. Gojo’s racism didn’t come out of nowhere. He was already kind of sus to Miguel in JJK0. This only confirmed the allegations people picked up on then. One thing I love about Gege’s writing is future information permanently changing how you view older scenes. This is one of those times. It makes me love Gojo more tbh. (I have a soft spot for racists who try to do better.)

People are too hard on Megumi for sure (even if I find the memes kind of funny). Not a lot of people realized that he spent his 16th birthday trapped inside Sukuna all by himself. Which probably made the Tsumiki death feel even worse. (I have no doubt she forced him to celebrate it.) Then he kills his adopted father and has 0 family left and is somehow supposed to tough it out. He’s just a little boy!

Yuji has always been built bigger too. His official weight is super heavy for his height. Gege explicitly stated that was done on purpose. Smh I wish people could read.

It’s funny you say that. Visiting Hawai’i radicalized me significantly. I spent a good deal of my time picking up trash and seething at the golf courses and other severe ecological damage brought on by colonization. In an ideal world [redacted]. Anyways I think you should rant about it too.

OOOOO I WILL RANT, so sorry about this in advance btw. After that I’ll get back to JJK

So I am Hawaiian-Filipino, my father is white however I was raised by my mother who held the ideals she grew up with.

Now the problem with tourism is not only does it actively mess up the environment but it also destroys the economy in Hawai’i, which I don’t need to go over I don’t think.

BUT THE WHOLE THING, IS THAT IT IS STOLEN LAND. And Native Hawaiians are STILL being kicked out of their homes, STILL struggling with everything they lost in Lahaina, STILL struggling with the water being poisoned. And yet people STILL have the audacity to take a “cute little vacation to perfect Hawai’i”.

I can NEVER go to the islands, the islands my family are from mind you, BECAUSE TOURISM FUCKED THEM UP. The amount of disrespect tourists have for the islands is insane. I can’t speak on what tourism is really like as I have never been to Hawai’i except for when I was an infant. But I do see what Native Hawaiians say, I see the damage caused by tourists when I see content by the Hawaiians.

And it’s frustrating, so very frustrating. How can people be SO disrespectful to land that they not only visit, but actively keep colonized.

I always encourage everyone to do their own research on Hawai’i and Hawaiian culture! Especially before America comes in and colonizes them. It’s hard to find accurate sources, and it’s been a while since I’ve done my own research so I don’t have any available websites on their history.

Okay I’m stopping while im ahead. Thanks for letting me get that out!

Back to JJK

You’re so right about EVERYTHING ‼️‼️

Honestly, the weekly format is only “annoying” because they wait, expect the story to drastically change, and then get more story the next week. And it HAS to be something different or it’s Bad Writing (so incredibly NOT happy with people saying that Gege’s writing is bad, there are some iffy moments but it’s overall AMAZING)

Tbh I think the internet has ruined people’s media literacy, so I encourage everyone to write something, but you can’t outright state what you’re trying to say in your story. Let your friends guess what your story conveys, it’s a great way to help boost media literacy (it’s like if ELA class was cool)

And I think we’ve covered everything about Megumi and Yuji.

Once again thank you for talking with me, especially about things I’m passionate about! It means a lot :))

[theskeletongames]

hiya! i'm attempting to start a comic.. thingy from a series of doodles i did in my sketchbook. I wanted to ask for some advice. More specifically; how do you decide how you want the comic panels to be layed out without initially drawing the scenes themselves? I've made comics before but admittedly the layout was never any good compared to what i've seen others do

I've answered this question a lot so here's my guide that shows a lot of my process. I don't do thumbnails like a lot of people suggest, because they don't work for me. Instead, I read my script and try and visualize the entirety of the page. Page comics usually use one page to represent a whole idea. I try and fit 4-6 panels per page and split my script into blocks of ideas that fit into something like that. Ask yourself, what is this page getting at? Is it introducing a new scene? How do I use imagery to set mood in this new scene? Are the characters talking about a specific point, is a new plot idea being revealed? How much drama should be on the page for these ideas?

Sketch out your images on a different layer than the panels so that you can easily move them around. Sometimes I quickly add some circles for where the heads and bodies will be. This way I can see if the layout is working from panel to panel, particularly for difficult to draw scenes so I don't have to put effort into something that isn't working. I often move the panels around or redraw them after reading through the pages. Expect to do that and throw out hours of work. Also work in your text bubbles and make sure not to draw so big there isn't room for text. Text is part of the page and should lead the viewers eyes through the panels and drawings as you read them. Use it as a tool.

Do not get too wordy with text. Break it up into more panels if it is getting long. Nobody want's to read a word wall. Nobody! Make sure your panels naturally read in order. If the reader gets confused about panel order, it will bring them out of the story. Use strong angles for drama, and flat easy to read angles for jokes. Paneling is something you have to try out for a while to really get the hang of it. I'd suggest reading manga that you like and really combing through the pages to see how they do things. Read to learn, not for fun, and break down those pages. If you liked an action scene, ask how they posed the characters in the panels to create the action? If it's just characters talking, but you feel enthralled, ask yourself how they used the panels to make it interesting. And jokes! Those are so much harder than you think. I always suggest learning how to write and compose your own jokes. So many artists are just out there blandly copying meme formats they've found floating around. That doesn't teach you anything. It's just copying. Learn how to write your own jokes and use panel timing to get that punchline out. When you read them, ask yourself why they are working? What panels they are using, and are they effective?

That's about all I got. I still feel like I have a lot to learn about panels, but hopefully that will give you some ideas.

[gwenresourced]

Rules are a big must have on your blog.  How you do it is up to you from using carrd,  google docs, a post that you pin, or a page but it is something that everyone is going to look for.  I’m someone that likes detailed rules with a bullet point system at top as well.   The reason I say this is because I’ve ad people that 1) don’t read rules 2) go IT”S NOT IN YOUR RULES even if it was a common thing to expect.  I will personally take a page that has three rules over no page at all.   This whole thing is very much a rough guide and you can pick and choose what you prefer to have on your rules page but hopefully this helps get your wheels turning inside of your head on what you want to add into your page.

Your penname,  age,  timezone, and pronouns.  If you feel comfortable sharing ethnicity and place that you live in (state / country ) than put that there as well.  

Triggers: How do you tag your triggering content?  remember that fancy tags with // or anything might not pick up on the blacklister.  Do you have any triggers yourself  (Please know there is a difference between a trigger and something that just makes you uncomfortable).

What content makes you uncomfortable and would prefer if you don’t be approached for plots like this.

Smutting: Do you smut?  Are there any rules about smutting that go into place when it comes to this content?  Maybe you are someone that will only rp it on discord,  with close friends, etc.  Also a good time to mention if you use the read more feature and if you tag it  (Which you should tag it in my opinion).

Banned fcs:  Any faceclaims that you won’t write with?  You aren’t required to state the reason you won’t rp with a certain face on your rules doc.

Banned characters / tv shows:  This is really helpful and for me as an example the show I would ban is 13reasonswhy for several reasons although I do believe the whole big excitement level for those has died down so having it in my rules isn’t needed for me personally.

DNI: If you’ve had a bad experience with someone in the past I’ve seen people use one of these.  Do not interact is what DNI stands for.  This means if you are friends with, write with, etc then following this blog is a no go.  I have personally never used one of these

OCS and Relationships with your character:  Are you fine with original characters? What makes you comfortable interacting with an original character?  The second part is really a good idea if you play a canon character to a tv show.  If you aren’t comfortable with something tell the document.  So say I’m playing Klaus Mikaelson and I’m uncomfortable with original character children that I have not heavily plotted with that would be there.

Formatting:  How do you format your text?  Is there a certain aesthetic that gives you a headache?  Does aesthetic matter to you?

Threads: Do you like certain thread lengths?  How about how long it takes for you to normally to write a response back?  Is there a type of thread you can’t do / don’t want to rp? For some people the idea of smutting is a turn off and won’t be written.  This can also really go in the smutting section as well if that is the case.  

What are you looking for in a partner:  Are you more into rping with people that match length?  What about the age limit of your partner? In the fandom that I’m in a lot of people are +20 meaning the comfort level is to only write with players that are 20 years old or above.  

Posting: Is there a certain time of day that you will likely be posting in?  Is your blog queue based?  Do you post your replies as soon as you finish them? Tell everyone that sort of information if you feel it is needed.

Ask memes:  Are you a reblog from the source? Are you the type of person that prefers to have a plot before someone sends in a meme? How many memes is too many for a partner to send in at a time?

Credits: Did you make your icons?  Did you make the psd? is there a base you use on something?  Did you borrow inspiration from another blog (with permission)?

Contact information:  I’m not saying that you need to put your facebook information there,  a picture of yourself, or anything for that matter.  I’m talking ims,  discord, anything like that.  I often times just put my discord information right there because I’m not overly concerned with getting requests from strange people I haven’t followed back.  I put that when I add you that you should tell me who you are so I know.

Status: Are you private? exclusive? mutuals only?  Not picky at all and will write with everyone?  Put that all here because it is helpful information to gather.

Mains and exclusives:  Who is a main for you? Who are you solely only ever going to write with this fc or character with?  How do you go about getting mains and exclusives?  Any rules on that to help someone know what is okay and what isn’t.

[delicrieux]

—MAKE YOU SAY “OH” EXTRAS: TINDER

extra meaning non-canonical occurrence; can be placed anywhere in the “make you say oh” timeline after couple (cha. 14) and before the final “oh”. 

pairing—corpse husband x f!reader warnings—tinder profiles, tw: men, swearing.  word count—2.6k. format— written. ─── ❥ req by nonnie​:  y/n makes a youtube vid/live stream where she's just swiping through her tinder acc and corpse literally blocks her lmao

author’s note—akldsljfs this was such a funny idea i could not not write it lmao

ultimate masterlist. myso masterlist

You have pulled the biggest brain move by setting up both a facecam and a screen recorder on your phone. All is beautifully displayed and visible during the stream. Your fanbase is particularly intrigued on what exactly are you planning on doing today, seeing as your tweet of “strea” had been a bit vague, if not downright ominous. No emojis. No elaboration. You couldn’t even be bothered to finish the word. Truly, a mystery. Everyone tuned in and are currently waiting with bated breath.

A few of your fans must sense upcoming doom because the overall mood in the chat turns from optimistically intrigued to...evil. It’s an entity all on it’s own now, clawing at you through the screen with various renditions of laughter and devil emojis. A few eggplants thrown in there for good measure, accompanied, naturally, by the scandalous water drops. At first the common consensus is that you’re biting the bullet and going through your camera roll on stream. Definitely an idea worth considering, though you frankly don’t know what lies at the start of the 11k photograph journey, and you are afraid to check in public. Could be a harmless meme, could be a salacious pic you had saved of an OF star. It’s really a gamble. Either way, you would definitely get banned. You might still get banned. Why do you insist on doing shit like this?

Because it’s funny. Because you’re kinda stupid. Because it’s just so absolutely laughably easy to do.

A smile quirks your lips, and while it is not explicitly smug, the look in your eyes sure is, “Greetings,” You utter lowly, dimming the lights--the budget for this stream! Ugh, you went all out, “my children.”

mother i crave violence

sensing evil energy rn!!

i do not claim the energy in this video for myself or anyone else watching this 💖💖

^with peace and love shut the fuck up

“I know y’all lowkey hoes-” Upon your words the chat splits into two: one side eagerly agrees (even shares a few OF accounts! How helpful, supporting small businesses!), whilst the other feverishly insists on innocence. You make a face stuck somewhere between offended and bewildered, “Now c'mon now-I know you. I know you all. We’re the same, don’t-what was that?”

You try to scroll back to the comment but it’s loss in the sea of incoming messages, “I swear to God I just saw-”

Corpse_Husband: i love late night streams it’s not like i have anything better to do.

“COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORPSE!!!!” 

rip headphone users

i cant feel my face when im with you by the weeknd but instead of face its my fucking ears

yall think full vol on pc is better?my parents woke up 😭😭😭😭

To think he’s spending his last waking moments for today with watching you (he probably still would have anyway, because you do not posses an ounce of shame or self-control and pester him relentlessly)! It makes your heart sing, and suddenly, a traitorous, fun hating idea barges it’s way through the crowd of incoherent buzzing and states: don’t do this. For some reason it also has the voice of Rae. As if that would work in guilt-tripping you- Rae never succeed, and her fictitious rendition in mind won’t fare much better either.

Still, you thought about it. That must count for something. Corpse will understand, won’t he? Why don’t you want to upset it in the first place? Men look so funny when they lose their shit, like hello, don’t you have anything better to do? But the image of Corpse just sitting there, hurt, distraught, leaving you on seen because he’s in his sad boy hours leaves a sour taste in your mouth. 

queen rly went from  🥺😊 to 😕 u ok bbgirl?

Corpse_Husband: no pouts cutie

akjdjoeijdfse cUTIE??? deadass boutta r.i.p.

Well that succeeded in eliminating everything from mind, doubts included. If this was an anime, the scenery would shift into something roseate, with flowers and bubbles and sparkles all around you along with a halo or two. Alas, not an anime, rather reality. The led-lights, however, seemingly possessing a will of their own, slowly turn from deep violet to pink. You smile brightly, like the absolute dumbass you are, and you are met with a ray of heart and blushing emojis. You are just so cute, a real cutie! Still in your disguise adorable state, you swipe your finger on your phone screen, the grin never leaving your lips.

There, among the plethora of apps, nestled sits a red square with a white fire plastered on it. The delicate calligraphy on the bottom reads: TINDER.

The mood changes once again- you’re giving the roaches emotional instability by how quickly everything flips over- and the chat spams eggplants vigorously; some, of course, bravely fight against the thirst.

nooooooo i thought y/n is gonna stream in a god honoring way!!!

^pack it up girl defined

“So, Charlie and I-” You note a few awfully curious comments and squint, “-yes, we talk a lot. Charlie is a really good friend of mine. We’re best friends. Brothers. Sisters. Cousins. The whole fucking family tree-no, that sounds weird. Delete. Anyway, Charlie, being the absolute fucker he is, said, hey, you know what would be funny? And I was like, nooo, what would be funny, Charlie? And he says to me, he says, says, making fun of men on Tinder. And if y’all need any more proof that Charlie and I are platonic soulmates, then dunno, my children, my roaches, I dunno-I dunno what more to give you.”

You can’t be bothered reading the comments, there’s too damn many. You also need to save your reading comprehension for the actual bios. It has a time limit, that darn thing. 

“Okay, so I made a profile earlier, but I hadn’t swiped on anyone yet-” Despite the fact, Tinder helpfully informs you that already 99+ people have swiped right on you, “So, this is me,” You show the pictures you have of yourself, and damn, not to be a conceited narcissist, but you look really good. Like if you saw yourself on Tinder, you’d super like instantly. “Uhm, so, my bio-my bio says: let’s sauce in the tub together, ya dig? splishy splashy, giggle giggle.” 

i cant believe we are witnessing y/n trying to form a coherent sentence live 

shes trying give her time

ya dig??? y not capeesh

what scene from the godfather is this lol?

“My anthem, is,” You laugh, covering your lips with your hand, “Corpsie, this is form you-” Proudly, you show that indeed, Corpse’s E-GIRLS ARE RUINING MY FUCKING LIFE is listed as your anthem on Spotify, “Hehe.” Yes, you say that aloud.

Corpse_Husband: you’re killing me Corpse_Husband: thanks baby Corpse_Husband: now delete tinder ❤︎

You ignore his last quip, deciding it’s finally time to get this show on the road, “Right, let’s do this shit. I’m not actually going to swipe on any guys that look, uh, decent? Yuck, can’t believe I just said that, uhm, because I-because I feel like some actually deserve a chance with someone? I don’t wanna get anyone’s hopes up, as I am currently in a long distance relationship with Chrollo. So I’m just gonna swipe on, like, frat boy assholes. Because I don’t care if I hurt their feelings. Quite frankly I don’t think they possess them in the first place.”

The chat voices their agreements. With the ground rules set, you, giddy, click on the first profile.

Does Tinder know what you’re doing, your plan? The FBI agent watching you through your phone must be working overtime, bless his heart. They must, because the the first guy to meet you is named Jason, and there he is, blond hair and blue eyes, holding up a fish the size of his torso. Marginally adequate in looks, pretty good muscles. A solid 7 bordering on 8. He’s the same age as you, 15 miles away, and he studies at some college you don’t care enough to look up. Bio reads:

I like to drive fast. Fishing is my passion, but if you can’t catch me by the ocean, you’ll catch me catching waves, bro! Love a good gym date. You do squats, and I’ll keep a close eye to make sure you’re doing it correctly ;) You probably saw me at a party. Leader of the The Phi Kappa Psi. I’m a Gemini, if that matters lol.

You, of course, read it aloud, dramatically; provide some constructive criticism-he seems nice, but he’s a Gemini, so naturally, you can’t trust him at all! Also, that gym date session leaves little to be desired. With your rant done, you swipe right, and shocker! (not), it’s an instant match.

“Okie, I still wanna swipe of some profiles, so I’ll see what he’ll text later-” For a second you wonder the legalities of this stream, but you’re having too much fun to think of it further, “guys, I won't get sued, right?”

NOW she considers it

well....

if you do, we’ll kickstart your lawyer dw <3

Onto the next profile. Kevin, 25, is seen fixing his car- or, you assume he’s mid-fixing it, you don’t really know why else he’d hold a wrench and be covered in oil. He’s shirtless, and the caveman part of your brain echoes something closely resembling AWOOOGA!, but...but!...blonde hair, blue eyes. You pout again, “I don’t...I don’t really like blond boys, ya know? With the blue eyes and all, it’s just not my thing, uhm, unless it’s like-like...Armin from Attack on Titan. Else I don’t care.”

Onto the bio:

You have to treat a car like you treat a woman: go on long rides, take the lead, but most importantly, keep her oiled up 😜 

“What the fuck did I just read?”

The chat is equally confused. You swipe right anyway- another match. Too easy.

The stream continues without incident for a solid thirty minutes- all of your matches, expect a few that genuinely looked like normal dudes that really couldn’t write a decent bio to save their lives, had been blond hair blue eyed gym rats with ranging forms of misogyny. Some opened with asking for nudes out right, some asked about your day first before asking for nudes. You prefer the former. Straight to the point! You admire the gall. 

But then, down the forty-five minute mark a profile popped up that made you still by your phone, your smile dying as your eyes bulged. Dear God. Lord in heaven. Who is this demonspiit lookalike and why is he so fucking hot? The neck tats, the skateboard, the clothes- holy shit, you gotta close your mouth before some drool dribbles out.

No bio, just his name, Tyler, and that he’s 23.

“He boutta be 23 in me.” You mutter, swiping right with lightning speed.

WHAT DID SHE SAYYYYY?????????

tyler is y/ns karma for relentlessly mocking that one guy that had a whole ass list on what his “female” partner should be

^he deserved it and also tyler seems like a typical fuckboi y/n grow a braincell

look at mom 🥺 her eyes are sparkling

It wasn’t a match right away. You somehow expected as much, but it still upset you. Simp behavior, pathetic. The stream continued bravely, and when Tyler messaged you a simple “yo” you totally didn’t sequel. You didn’t manage to text him back on stream: texting all those guys that you didn’t really find all that attractive was easy, but this...You’re a sucker for a man who radiates red flag energy. His whole profile is a red flag. He might just be a red flag himself.

What can you do? Suddenly becoming color blind is not easy. Once the stream ends, you unmatch with everyone expect Tyler. He you chat with for a bit, but a sudden craving for different company makes you abandon him, too. You don’t feel too heartbroken for him- you’re certain there’s already too many girls in his dms. You wish them luck.

Happily, you delete Tinder. You go to Twitter, notice you’re trending again- look at you go! Queen shit- and as you compose a thank you tweet, something strange happens. You go to text Corpse, but when you click on his profile you grow cold.

YOU’RE BLOCKED. You can’t follow or see @/Corpse_Husband ‘s Tweets. 

...Pardon? You hop onto Instragram and-also blocked. Seriously? And you thought you’re one petty bitch. Corpse is seriously prissy about everything. Damn, if he didn’t like your stream, he could’ve just said so. Didn’t need to, like, block you from his internet existence. So not cool.

You try texting him but no text go through. Well how will you let him know you deleted Tinder just like he asked? You relieve your frustrations by punching your pillow a few times. Later, you apologize to her, you didn’t mean to hurt her, it’s not her, it’s you. Fuck, 5 minutes of exile and you’re already loosing your mind.

“Raeeeeeeeeeeee!” You whine loudly. It’s roughly 2am now, but you don’t care. You’re too heartbroken to care. There’s a thump from her room, but nothing else, “Raeeeeeeeee!!!” You wail, wallowing in self-pity on your bed. You hear a very loud, very annoyed sigh from her room, followed by angry marching. Your door is abruptly thrown open, and in the dim, colorful light you see her scowl.

“What?” She grits.

“Can you please tell Corpse to unblock me from everything?”

“What did you do now?”

“I made fun of men on Tinder.”

She pauses, “...That doesn’t sound so bad.” She surmises, voice laced with suspicion, “What else?”

“...There was one really hot guy that I kinda sorta talked to after--”

“Y/n.”

“-But I totally deleted Tinder and honestly he was pretty boring, so, like, uhm, please?”

She sighs, the servery of which implies she is holding the weight of the world on her shoulders, and instantly you know that you won. She taps away at her phone, “You owe me one.” She states, and before you can reply, she exits your room and slams the door behind her.

Grinning, you text his phone again. The message goes through, oh gosh, you’re so relieved you feel like crying. This has been, officially, the worst five minutes of your life.

You Y DID U BLOCK ME LOSER!!! MAJOR LOSER ALERT!! I DELETED EVERYTHING IT WAS A JOKE r u still mad at me? y u always mad at me i never do anything:(

my husband You’re my baby, how do you think I’ll react when I see you publicly simping for some asshole on Tinder?

Oh no, he used the words, he delivered the killing blow. You’re finished. Your heart can’t take such a workout. 

Not that you would ever admit it to him, though!

You hehe ur jellyyyy u always dis jealous hehe?

my husband Not jealous.

Yeah, you might not be the brightest tool in the shed, but even you know that’s a lie. You send him an array of kissy emojis that he doesn’t have the decency to reply to. Then, completely unprompted and dead serious, you send him a simple voice memo, saying: “You really have nothing to worry about, you know? You’re my favorite, Corpsie.”

He responds via text, reiterating that he’s not fucking jealous and that he just doesn’t like when you show such outward interest in anyone but it’s not like he cares or anything. It’s just really, like, weeeeird to see his baby simping for another man like that totally ruins the whole dynamic!!! It was only natural that he should block you on every social media platform, including his personal number (which, like, was completely necessary! Doesn’t matter that his viewers can’t see it, it’s gotta be super believable!), and inform his followers of that, because it’s all a joke, like, for the dynamic, that Youtube grind, you know? Ya dig? No personal feelings were involved at all. He totally wasn’t upset that you found someone else cute, no way!

my husband I’m not jealous. Lol.

You ik u repeated tht like 50 times  u trynna convince me or??? lmao

my husband No comment. ...You don’t actually talk to anyone else like we’re talking, right?

You no one else calls me their baby if thts wat ur wondering at least not to my knowledge lol im all urs

my husband That makes me very happy to hear:)

Yeah, it makes you very happy, too.

hope you liked it!! xx

[thechekhov]

Ur a native Russian speaker, ye?

I’ve heard it said that when resting (Like, not talking or eating), native English speakers keep their tongue on the bottom of their mouth, while native Russian speakers keep their tongue at the top of their mouth. Confirm/deny?

Okay, so this is fascinating, and doubly so, because you actually took this commonly spread tidbit and flipped it around. Usually, when this gets passed around the internet it takes the opposite format:

[TEXT: A reddit post that reads “TIL that native German and Russian speaker’s tongues naturally rest on the bottom of their mouths while English speakers tongues rest on the top.”]

Which makes me wonder if YOUR personal experience is that of being an English speaker who rests their tongue on the bottom.

So, as we may already guess, everything is a little bit more complex than this calorie-free tidbit is making it out to be. Let’s delve deeper into why this sort of thing is so popular in pop linguistics and spreads so quickly.

There are two parts to this:

1) Like most pop-linguistics things, there IS some truth to this fun fact, but it’s not that simple.

2) By and large, this statement kind of assumes a lot about tongue position and secondly, it makes the speakers conscious enough of their own position to immediately try to jump to conclusions. 

First thing I want to say is - many people reading this may assume that ‘tongue position’ can vary wildly, and there’s a TON of variation between ‘resting flat’ and ‘touching the roof of your mouth.’ You may feel like there’s TONS of room in there!

Actually, your tongue is HUGE. It takes up tons of space inside your mouth as a general rule. This is actually closer to the truth:

[Image Description: A realistic cross-section of a person’s jaw to nose area. The tongue muscle is shown on the diagram, taking up 90% of the empty space inside the mouth.]

What I mean is, it’s entirely possible that at any given point in time, your tongue position may depend on OTHER factors - like whether you’re breathing through your mouth or your nose, whether you keep your teeth partially opened even when your mouth is closed or whether you naturally clench your jaw. (Unclench that jaw, friend. Breathe.)

Also, you may not know this but regardless of what language they speak, most humans will touch a part of their tongue to the inside of their mouth to create an airtight seal - to prevent air from going into the mouth area when they’re breathing through their nose. This is because human evolution has not yet given us the patch update that separates our food holes and air holes completely. 

(By the way, many other animals don’t suffer from this, which makes funny memes like this pointless.)

(Dolphins don’t breathe through their mouth!)

THAT BEING SAID - there IS some truth to this.

Tongue position is important in languages, and not every language has the same type of sound inventory! Which means that if ___ sound is more common in one language, and it requires one specific tongue position, it may be advantageous to have your tongue ‘at the ready’ so to speak.

Here’s a fun try-it-for-yourself science you can do:

Get ready to say the word ‘soup’. Now say it - but stop at ‘s’, don’t do the vowels. What shape are your lips in?

Now get ready to say the word ‘seed’. Again - say the ‘s’ sound and go no further. What shape are your lips in now? 

Chances are, when you planned to say soup, your S came out through rounded lips, because you planned to say the ‘oo’ sound in soup next. But when you planned to say seed, your mouth is already making preparations for the ‘ee’ and stretching out sideways. 

In the same way, when you are thinking about saying something and are getting ready to say it, your tongue and lips naturally move into position to prepare for that. 

Now... CAN there be a default resting position for speakers of the same language? 

I suppose there could be a GENERAL trend, yes. But I’m skeptical of any research that claims to know exactly what it is, because you’d need a HUGE sample size, controlled studies and etc. Plus this may depend on age, genetics, and a whole bunch of other stuff that will effect outcome. 

I cannot give you any reliable answer to this question because as soon as I read your ask, my tongue moves and I can no longer say where it is NORMALLY. I think it’s probably at the top of my mouth. 

I speak a lot of English in everyday life. Would it change if I went to Russia and was expected to speak Russian on the daily? Who knows.

Anyway, point of it all is - we need bigger sample sizes and more precise data!

[selene-tarot]

Doja Cat Current Energy/Personality Reading

DISCLAIMER: This is all ALLEGED, please take this reading with a grain of salt, the reading may not be a 100% correct and just know this is tarot, don’t take it super seriously.

Current Energy: For Doja I see a sense of feeling secure but unsecure at the same time when it comes to her money? She may feel that even though she’s accomplished a lot now, she may be running out of time when it comes to her career. Either she’s scared her fame will start to dwindle or in just in general scared of losing money. She also needs to watch over how she’s spending her finances as it could be easier at this time for her suffer a big financial loss. I see something here about love. Someone who’s been keeping an eye on her currently(or just recently) will try to reach out to her, but she will decline. Truth be told she’s hung up over a past breakup(I actually kinda suspect she’s still in contact with this person somehow). She won’t be in the mood to commit in a relationship with anyone new anytime soon. She should focus on what’s coming towards her now, which is more success and abundance in her future. 

Side note: HELP, the request said a personality reading for doja cat, so I’ll be adding that part later on today. At least y’all have something to keep entertained 

Personality

Card's: Envy, Scorpio, Temptations, Pioneer, Detective rx, Poet, Goddess, Servant, Mystic, Midas

Side note: I'm gonna list each card(like in a grocery list format💀)and describe how it correlates to doja.

Doja's song streets is song I get that matches her personality the most. She's the type to get jealous and very possesive easily, and has more scorpionic traits such as being emotionally intense.....OK, I'm finally back🤣🤣🤣 so a lot of these cards I pulled correlates to what she incorporates in her brand and music because she channels it very WELL(Pioneer, Poet, Goddess, Midas).

Pioneer- She's innovative and creative, in her music you're gonna see a lot of originality that she's mainly constructed and created. I feel like this year she might unintentionally start a trend on social media such as tik tok or instagram whether it be for dance, music or meme.

Detective rx: I feel with this card it's a mix. On one hand this shows doja overthinks A LOT and it gets to the point where she might accuse others of things that has never happened so she has to be careful with this because she can really go off the deep end. I feel this do stem from high expectations of others though. So she may feel very hurt when she goes out of her way for others but when that same energy needs to be given back, it's crickets. This caused her to develop a very defensive attitude especially when a promise wasn't fulfilled. For example let's say you and her was supposed to go out for ice cream and you have something come up to where you have to postpone it. She's gonna get pissed off and say you blew her off to go with someone else when that's not really the case.

Poet- Is really talented songwriter and puts that in her music. She's very witty though.

Goddess: She's a really sensual person and channels her sexuality makes it into her own. It can seem really ethereal at times. It may not look as explicit when you're watching, like y'know a music video, but then you search up them lyrics or for breakdown of her videos it's like👀👀👀ok gurl.

Servant: I stated this before, she's very giving/selfless and willing to help when she can. Although she takes favors and stuff very seriously so don't play her💀

Mystic: Now this actually interests me because this leads me to believe that she's either very much spiritually intuned whether she knows it or not. She follows her intuition very often, so she may be called to make a certain song, or have a feeling to add a artist on a feature here, or she may get downloads from spirit to change some lyrics, or even scrap a whole project. I feel this ability helps her make a lot of hits.

Midas/Miser: Self-explanatory. Anything she decides to be on automatically becomes successful. This also kinda feels like this ties fo what I mentioned above with holding her funds really close to her because she's afraid of poverty/going broke. She may try to bag more sponsorship deals/commercial ship deals as a result. She has a weird relationship with money.

[runawaymun]

For And the Stars Shine the Same please: 16+17+21 if you'd like &#127800;

Yesss! Thank you!

And the Stars Shine the Same For this fic ask meme

16. What was the easiest scene to write?

The whole opening chapter, hands down. I just sat down, had the vision, and started writing. It came out with pretty much zero resistance, fully formed in my head and then directly onto the page. 

17. What was the hardest scene to write?

The big battle in Convergence II (Chapter 19). I struggle so much with anything that’s action-related. It always feels like pulling teeth. I had to do a lot of structuring and research for it (in terms of battle formations + strategy, how shield walls worked --- I ended up using the shield wall technique that medieval European armies used, rather than the Roman tortoise), and names of the different pieces of armor, etc. I really struggle with making battle scenes feel interesting and rhythmic and visceral, as usually when I’m hammering them out I just kind of sit there going “and then he hit this guy, and then he hit this guy, and then he dodged that and then this guy hit him back” and it just gets so boring. 

And I did pick up both GRRM + Brandon Sanderson’s work from my bookshelf so I could dissect how they construct battle scenes and why they work, so that I could attempt to imitate it. GRRM has a knack for putting you on the ground and is great for learning how describe repetitive movements (as one gets in battles, of okay whack, slash, dodge, parry) with colorful, varied language so that it doesn’t feel repetitive to read. Brandon Sanderson’s battle scenes are just *chef’s kiss* so full of emotion and he describes strategies and battlefield movements in such a natural way where you don’t lose any of the scene’s momentum, but rather it just enhances it. 

In the end it turned out exactly how I wanted it to, so I don’t regret the amount of time I spent on it at all. 

21. What is something you didn't expect people to notice or gravitate towards in this fic?

I think what really surprised me the most is seeing how many people seem to connect with Beetle. Both just from a standpoint of “Wow I really love your OC” (which makes me so happy because I love her too!!), but also from a “I normally don’t read fics with OCs but I love this one!” which was so surprising, really. I wasn’t expecting that kind of traffic-- i was just expecting to snag people looking for OC fics. 

And then on top of that it’s been really encouraging/surprising to see the amount of people who connect with Beetle and her journey on a personal level and saying like ‘hey this is what this trauma feels like and this is what it feels like to heal from it and it’s giving me a lot of catharsis’ and that makes me SO happy. Like I can’t even begin to describe how happy that makes me--- that this is a comfort fic for people and is helping them in some way. It helped me. I’m glad it’s helping others. 

[wangxianficrecs]

Follower Recs

Stories I haven’t read yet, but clearly need to put on my ever-expanding List.

~*~

Welcome back queen [Thank you, it’s so lovely to be back!] if ur still doing follower recs I gotta recommend I would wait for a thousand years by bleuett it’s soooooooo good

[This one was actually recced to me by two different people, the other of whom said, “ Maybe I'm crying a little so I feel like a should recommend ‘I would wait for a thousand years’ by bleuett on ao3.”]... it’s def. on my List!

I would wait for a thousand years

by bleuett (T, 10k, wangxian)

Summary:  During the worst of winter, a traveler comes to stay at Lan Wangji's inn. He wears a red ribbon in his hair.

“Do you see the rabbit?” Wei Ying asks and points at the moon. “That’s the moon rabbit, he helps make Chang’e more immortality elixir. He keeps Chang’e company.”

“I do not wish the rabbit for company,” Lan Wangji says tightly. “You are the one I want by my side.”

“And I’m here, Lan Zhan. If you go to the moon, I’ll follow you, I’ll always be here now.”

~*~

I just read a great fic by aisthuu "every love story is a ghost story", didn't see it in your recs so wanted to recommend it! LWJ is a guqin composer and teacher, buys a cheap guqin off eBay which ends up being attached to WWX's spirit from canon era. It's bittersweet, LWJ deals with Lan's homophobia (implicit in a Lan way) and his feelings towards the ghost. This is author's only ao3 fic and honestly I don't remember how I stumbled upon it, but I'm happy I did and hope you will enjoy it too!  [I’ve recently read this one, and loved it!]

every love story is a ghost story

by aisthuu (M, 59k, wangxian, my bookmark)

Summary:  The man is in Lan Zhan’s bed. Did they—he begins to wonder, eyes trailing to where the man’s body lies under the blanket. Had Lan Zhan—?

Then the sleep-fog clears and Lan Zhan realizes that the young man isn’t quite opaque around the edges.

“You’re a spirit.”

The spirit narrows its eyes. “I’m so much more than that.”

(Lan Zhan buys a guqin off eBay for a suspiciously low price, only to find that it’s haunted. And now there’s a ghost in his bed.)

~*~

Ok so I absolutely have to rec "see you yesterday" by glyphic. It's a wip, but it's currently at 101k so there's a whole lot there, and it's terrible and wonderful and beautiful all at once. The way the backstory of canon events is adapted to the modern-with-cultivation setting is brilliant, and then there's the amnesia, and then there's the time loop. This fic lives permanently rent-free in my brain.

see you yesterday

by glyphic (M, 101k, wangxian, WIP)

Summary:  

Wei Ying 21:09 hey lan zhan what’s the weirdest way youve died

Lan Zhan 21:11 Falling encyclopedias.

Wei Ying 21:12 omg no way that’s so rude turning books against you???

Lan Zhan 21:13 A betrayal I will never forget.

On Halloween night, an exiled demonic cultivator and a Lan disciple get stuck in a time-loop, find each other, and try to figure it all out.

~*~

If you are looking for recs for yourself I absolutely love (the complete!) story Just as the Snow Melts by draechali on AO3. It's a canon divergence where everyone lives, even WWX! ~ @airmidcelt

Just as the Snow Melts

by draechaeli (T, 67k, wangxian)

Summary:  Like a snowy mountain top in spring the residents of the Burial Mounds trickled down the mountain and joined the flow of society.

“I went to the Burial Mounds,” Lan WangJi said.

“Ah, yeah… I’m sorry Lan Zhan,” replied Wei WuXian, “I hadn’t thought anyone would come to visit. I am still not sure how it happened; I brought A-Yuan to Yiling to play by the river and then ended up somehow teaching a bunch of children swimming and writing along with him.”

~*~

Hello! It's come to my attention that you have not as yet read Grandmaster of Meme-onic Cultivation! Please do! It's the only thing that gave me joy during 2020 😆 like proper belly laughs and disney villain style cackling. It is a wip, and it is long but so so worth it!! The author has reworked the entire canon through these message crystals and still conveys complex characters despite the tricky format. It's just so good!! Highly highly recommend it! ❤ ~ @theladypeartree  [Oh!  I’ve been subscribed to this one, and know that @swaglexander-the-great is a reliable provider of Hilarity, so I’m excited for it to be finished!]

Grandmaster of Meme-onic Cultivation 

by Hades_the_Blingking (T, 49k, wangxian, WIP)

Summary:  The Untamed universe is exactly the same, except everybody has magical crystals that have a suspiciously familiar messaging system. The story is pretty much the same as the show, except everyone lives!! (so minor changes).

or in which Wei WuXian tries his darndest to date Lan Zhan, Jiang Cheng possibly has a aneurysm, Jin ZiXuan is still the most awkward human alive, and Xue Yang makes me write some VERY cursed things. Written in chatfic format! :3

~*~

Chomrafy on AO3 deserves love and encouragement; she’s written a body of compact, poetic, and eloquent shortfics each of which can stand alone, but that comprise an intricately cross-referential and mostly internally-consistent universe. They’re grouped as chapters in works according to theme; for example, “in cupped hands” focuses upon Jin Ling and his second-generation baggage; “Departure in Autumn” portrays the last years of WWX’s first life. Follow the tag “Chomrafy’s MDZS shortfics.” [I don’t see this tag?]

in cupped hands

by chomrafy (G, 2k, wangxian)

Summary:  Of secrets, of futures, of love. A Jin Ling-centric collection of 200-word fics.

Ch.1: Jin Ling repays a debt (JL, JC, & WWX). Ch.2: Jin Ling and a ghost in the mirror. (JL & JYL) Ch.3: A matter of friends (JL & the other kids) Ch.4: In this house we don't keep dogs (JC & WWX) Ch.5: In the end, he remains silent (JL & uncles) Ch.6: A first night hunt, of sorts (JL & the other kids) Ch.7: Jin Ling, forgiving, forgetting (JL & LXC & JGY) Ch.8: Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling argue (JL, JC, & WWX) Ch.9: Jin Ling and his father (JL & JC) Ch.10: Jin Ling speaks up (JL, JC, & WWX) Ch.11: Jin Ling and a piece of home (JL, JC, & WWX)

Departure in Autumn

by chomrafy (not rated, 6k)

Summary:  Four perspectives. A steady march to the end.

Ch.1: Because if anything happens to them, Wen Qing would never be able to heal with these hands again. Ch.2: As long as this is still home, Jiang Yanli will wait as long as she needs to. Ch.3: Five times Jiang Cheng reaches for Wei Wuxian, one time he turns away. Ch.4: Whether the road is broad or narrow, bright or dark, they would have to keep walking. Wei Wuxian digs Wen Qing's grave.

~*~

Hello, hope all is going well. I don't have an ask, by I do have a recommendation. I read this fic a while ago and found it again. I just wanted to recommend this for everyone. Let me know what you think please. Thank you. [Oh!  This one’s in my To Read list, but  I’d forgotten about it.  Mmmm, fox!wwx and dragon!lwj.]

Ten miles of Lotus Flowers

by Yukirin_Snow

M, 274k, wangxian

Summary:  He was a mischievous fox spirit, wreaking havoc where he went, about to depart on a journey that would span centuries.

He was a heavenly prince, a proud dragon destined to ascend the throne to become emperor.

Neither expected their paths to collide over the span of three lives.

~*~

I forgot if it was your blog 😥 that recommended “Bestseller” (when Wei Wuxian writes the Xianxia cut-sleeve equivalent of Fifty Shades of Grey, based entirely on his experiences with Lan Wangji, he doesn’t expect it to become the next big hit) (https://archiveofourown.org/works/21528316/chapters/51318766)

But OMG IT WAS HILARIOUS!!! I LOVED IT!! And if it wasn’t your blog, I’m so sorry for how weird this sounds 😭😭😭😭 I just loved this fic so much that I have to tell it to someone 😢 [It’s on my List, but I haven’t read it yet!]

Bestseller

by pupeez4eva

M, 8k, wangxian

Summary:  He had written the book to prove a point. It was never supposed to be a big thing, and he certainly never intended for everyone — Jiang Cheng, Zewu-Jun, the Juniors, literally everyone— to be reading about his sex life.

Oh God, he definitely needed to make sure Lan Zhan didn’t find out about this.

(Or, when Wei Wuxian writes the Xianxia cut-sleeve equivalent of Fifty Shades of Grey, based entirely on his experiences with Lan Wangji, he doesn’t expect it to become the next big hit).

~*~

I’d like to rec On Your Marks, Get Set, Bake! by @blackwiresgrowonherhead

It’s one of my absolute favorites and I laughed out loud so many times when reading it

on your marks, get set, bake!

by BlackWiresOnHerHead

G, 41k, wei wuxian & juniors

Summary:  Jin Ling resumes thumping on the door to room 721, and the small collection of freshmen starts chanting “Senior Wei! Senior Wei! Senior Wei!” with increasing volume until finally Wei Wuxian opens the door.

“Yes?” he says with his widest, most innocent eyes.

“Senior Wei!” demands Lan Jingyi, shoving himself to the front of the group. “Why didn’t you tell us you’re a contestant on this year’s season of The Great Gusu Bake Off?!?”

--

Several months ago, college student Wei Wuxian secretly competed in the most popular reality show in the country. The show starts airing in the fall. The freshmen in his dorm collectively lose their minds.

~*~

If you're in the mood for v. short ridiculous fun fic, may I suggest My chain hits my chest/When I'm bangin' on the radio by x_los It's 2k modern cultivators AU, featuring WWX calling LWJ's sword Bitchin' [omg I’m laughing so hard] and I think it's more fun going in blind?

My chain hits my chest/When I'm bangin' on the radio

by x_los

T, 2k, wangxian

Summary:  Lan Wangji finds he doesn't even need to call for help for Wei Wuxian to come running.

[jariten]

that ask you got about ai yazawa reminded me how there's only one work by Mitsuru Adachi available in english, it's astonishing to be quite honest. I love Cross Game but it's weird how Touch is not even licensed.

I didn’t have anything to say when you first sent this so sorry that I’m only responding now. I didn’t have anything to say because yeah i think it sucks that his most famous title never even got a chance in the english market, but I don’t find it weird at all that it didn’t. I’ve been thinking more about the conditions that lead to certain titles being chosen over others when it comes to American distribution. I specify American distribution because all the main gatekeepers and actors in the English language distribution of Japanese manga, anime, and video games are based there so the rest of the anglophone world is for the most part at the mercy to what is expected to do well in the American market.

When considering the American market its that when the import of Japanese media started in earnest it was still the huge concern that Americans would never touch anything obviously foreign with a ten foot pole. America is very similar to Japan in how their pop culture media landscapes are super self sustained but the American market has been more hostile to anything not-American, or worse: not in english for a long time. Manga was flipped and released in a format more similar to American comics, and like video games + anime received extremely heavy handed localization processes that erase the Japanese names of characters and locations to make it more palatable to Americans. But some things are harder to localize than others. Fantasy is free game like think back at the first manga and anime series that made it in America: Dragon Ball, Ranma, Battle Angel Alita, Sailor Moon, Pokemon etc all have heavy fantasy or sci-fi elements so its easy to remove or make the clearly Japanese elements less distracting. Anything too overtly Japanese be it because its down to earth and undeniably depicting life in modern day Japan or heavily referencing Japanese culture were not favored candidates. Not excluded just not favored, and I will argue they kinda still aren’t to this day.

So when considering these things in relation to Touch it makes sense that no English publishers really gave it a shot. Adachi is one manga artist i will claim as very distinctly Japanese. He loves puns and wordplay, breaking the 4th wall, referencing pop culture, you can’t really make his manga look like it takes place anywhere but Japan, even his love for baseball just kinda enforces it. Also considering the timing of it: it ran from 1981-86, the successful anime adaption aired from ‘85-87. Fan distribution of anime in America is taking off during this time but again despite none of the above things because being an issue to passionate anime fans who were producing fansubs because that’s why they like anime + they didn’t need to make money beyond covering costs of distribution because they were just that passionate, i don’t think it’s outlandish to say that fantasy/sci-fi was generally favored as a lot of anime without any of these elements from this time period is just not really present in the anglophone awareness in discussions of 80’s anime. By the time big name publishers like Viz (a subsidiary of Shogakukan, whom Adachi has almost exclusively worked for his whole career) have established themselves in the market, Touch is kinda old.

But several 80’s titles are making a comeback in english, like Urusei Yatsura, Meison Ikkoku, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Fist of the North star. But “comeback” is the key word they already had a shot in the english market and their releases were unfinished or chopped so new “complete” revival releases are appealing to new or nostalgic fans. But I think the key factor for the latter two is this: anime and memes. JJBA was i think starting the Part 3 anime when the manga got an english release starting with Part 1, and FotNS has been memed to death for YEARS its an extremely viral series, plus consistent adaptations in the form of anime and video games has maintained and tested out public interest. Viral successes have a HUGE!! sway in what does or doesn’t make it to the English language market because its a good, but still risky, way to gauge interest and it has really paid off in recent years. Touch and Adachi’s body of work just hasn’t had that. When Cross Game was licensed and released it was one of his most recently completed series and had an anime to boost it too. I don’t know how successful it was overall but clearly not earth shattering enough to quite cement Adachi as the industry veteran icon he is in Japan to English speaking fans.

Well these are just my observations and theories. I really want to hear everyone’s thoughts and insights or if I happen to get something completely wrong please tell me lol. But its well documented that English publishers hate hate taking big risks because bad returns on an investment is just not good for anyone involved. And just because it makes sense that something didn’t make it, and probably won’t, it still suckssss, and the reason why scanlation should never die, i think I want that to be the main takeaway