#going to be looking into alternate FREE programs and see what happens

[arttuff]

i redrew an old anim i did of some guys taking a post-patrol nap

dickie is gonna get in trouble for wearing boots on the antique chaise lounge. no one tell alfred

[number-one-shadisper-shipper]

The Sonic franchise did not have to go so hard exploring dynamics and types of alternate/evil versions of characters BUT THEY DID

Like some media will give you an evil version of a character and be like, "Yeah he's from a mirror dimension so he's evil *le gasp*" and that's fun and all, but there's no depth or intrigue.

And then we have Sonic.

The Sonic franchise has alternate versions of Sonic, Shadow, and other characters. We have freaking SONIC PRIME who's whole premise is exploring alternate versions of characters (beyond just Sonic) and it is absolutely AMAZING. I'm not going to go into Prime right now cuz that's another post or twenty, and I just wanna focus on how each alternate version of Sonic has their own dynamic, personality, and relationship with Sonic. I've never seen another franchise that does THIS MUCH with alternate versions.

(Long ramble and some spoilers under the cut)

To start with, we have the big one, Metal Sonic. Made by Eggman to be able to defeat Sonic. They could've just gone with a basic, "Oh look a robot version of the Main Character now they fight" and not given him any depth, but he hits HARD (without even having a voice box or mouth to show emotions or anything). The fact that he's programed TO SEE HIMSELF AS THE REAL SONIC and has to deal with that, him slowly discovering that he's not, but not being able to break free from his programming so he can create his own destiny, his father/son dynamic with Eggman but also being nothing more than a weapon to him is just MMMMMM YEESSSSSS. And the whole "Strange, isn't it?" and "There is only one Sonic" thing from the OVA is INSANE!!!!

And there's Mecha Sonic, whose backstory I don't really know a lot about, but his arc in the Scrapnik Island miniseries is EPIC and he's showing the potential arc that Metal Sonic could have. After getting thrown away by Eggman, he finally has the chance to start over and has an epic moment that parallels the OVA lava scene.

And then there's Shadow. He's not actually an "alternate" Sonic, he came first and has no actual connection to him. But the fact that when he shows up the first thing Sonic does is call him a faker, and his identity issues won't let him let that go. Because he has to prove he's not a fake, but is he? His memories are real, aren't they? But he remembers "dying" and he sees his own robot versions and a god of darkness taking his form and Infinite creating a fake army of hims, and he can't be a fake himself, right? He has to be the real Shadow. Cuz that name, that identity is all he has. But what is that identity? Ultimately, he is all of him. But even with all of that he still wrestles with who he is and he has to keep calling Sonic "faker" because no matter what the world still sees him as "the edgy version of Sonic," but he's not, he's so much more than that. He has his own arcs and growth and potential.

And there's Scourge, who's the typical "evil Sonic from another dimension", who I know absolutely nothing about since I haven't really read the Archie comics yet, but I saw this panel:

And like I don't care if he has zero other depth besides that because that IS INSANE. Sonic having to wrestle with his own potential for evil, but at the same time, Scourge's potential for good, and and it's literally just the matter of a few choices. This is the battle we all have to face within ourselves every day, even if we don't realize it.

And speaking of Sonic's potential for evil, DARK SONIC??? THE OPPOSITE OF SUPER SONIC? WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU LET THE CHAOS ENERGY FEED ON YOUR DARKNESS RATHER THAN YOUR LIGHT??? and I know it's only one scene but oh my goodness!!! Cuz yes, your best traits can become your greatest weakness, and loving your friends can turn into doing unspeakable horrors if someone hurts them, and maybe the person that has to bring you back to yourself is your arch-enemy, because they of all people know who you really are and that if you fighting from righteous motives is undefeatable, you fighting from RAGE is noting short of terrifying.

And Surge from IDW, whose arc is literally called IMPOSTER SYNDROME??? Again, created to be the Anti-Sonic, to be the one who can finally take him down. And she knows she's not the real Sonic and doesn't want to be, and she knows the only reason she hates Sonic is because her abuser gaslit and hypnotized her into hating him, but she can't escape that programming any more than Metal can. And maybe she doesn't have a reason to hate Sonic but she'll create one because she literally has to have a reason, and maybe she's not the real Sonic but he's the only reason she exists, and he's the only reason she went through all the suffering she went through. And no I can't reach for your hand pulling me to safety because that would be admitting that I don't really have a reason hate you, that I can't escape without your help, that your philosophy of giving villains a second chance is valid.

Anyways that was a lot of rambling but UGH it all just so good and intense and the depth and effort in this franchise is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING thank you for coming to my Ted Talk

[fruitless-vain]

hi!! where do you get yoshi’s vests from?? or do you make them yourself? and if so, literally how? is there a particular pattern you use? they’re honestly gorgeous, and i’ve been looking for something similar for my girl

😭 literally the nicest compliment ever I made it myself!!

I was disappointed with a vest I had purchased from a maker, quickly realized that most makers don't specialize in little dogs and as a result the gear isn't legible/ there's a lot of wasted space which is a big deal when you have limited space to work with on a little dog already! So I made my own to maximize usable space instead.

I'm sure there's patterns you could buy out there but I made mine from scratch (and it's not too complicated to figure out!). What I opted to do was measure her first, get an idea for how large the side panels and centre panel can be. I used a free art program (medibang) and dragged some rulers in there and drew things out to scale relative to the rulers. This way you have an accurate scale to work with to decide what can actually fit in the space. Print out the design (I put each panel in to a word file and printed that way) and check the size on your dog, make adjustments as needed until the paper printout sits how you'd like it to and your designs are legible! Word programs should have a ruler on the top of the page which allow you to see the exact measurement of each of your panels so it's easy to align them/ change the size as needed accurately.

There's lots of ways to make a vest, with or without webbing, multiple panels, one piece of fabric. Take a look at vests online and see what aspects you like and what you don't! I opted for webbing to stiffen the edges to prevent wear but it's not necessary! You can just stick two pieces of fabric together and call it done!

I colourized it on the computer first so I could ensure that the scheme would work and that all the fonts would be legible at their smaller size/ contrast well.

Embroidery will be the first thing you do once you're set on your design and it takes the most time. You CAN do it by hand! but it takes a long time and if you use a thick fabric it'll hurt! If you have a standard sewing machine you can embroider with that as well (which is what I did!). I literally bought my first personal sewing machine for this project, I used machines in middle school and to make a couple plushies like 7 years ago but that's it for my experience. You can absolutely do it if you're limited on experience! It's often referred to as 'free motion embroidery' which there's tutorials online for!

The basics of embroidery are to print out your design, you can sew right over the paper and follow it like tracing but paper will be stuck under the embroidery so if the set gets wet soggy paper will happen eventually! The better alternative is to get 'soluble embroidery stabilizer' which is a see through material that washes away with warm water! You can trace your design on to it with a pen, pin the stabilizer to your fabric, then simply trace the design with your thread!

I used a zigzag stitch (#4 on my machine), think of it like drawing with a thick marker, you want the stitch to be wide enough to fill in the whole shape if possible. your machine will have two settings you can change, the width of your zig zag (thickness of your marker) and the amount of space between each stitch (opacity), so you want the zig zag to be as wide as the shape and the space between stitches to be as small as your machine will go without getting tangled ( I sit at 0.2)

Freemotion embroidery tutorials will tell you to drop the feed dogs down, don't do that. You'll break a lot of needles. Letters are just straight lines so you can leave them up, let the machine help guide the straight line, it'll be a LOT easier for you! Curvy letters like C and S will be hard the first few times but it gets easier, it's helpful to take it as a bunch of short straight lines instead of trying to turn with it. Fills in the shape better.

You'll end up tracing each letter 2-3 times at minimum to ensure it's nicely filled in and the fabric underneath doesn't show through. Don't forget to sew back over your ends to keep them locked in place otherwise it'll just unravel!

Once that's done the rest is EASY in comparison! 😂

When you're happy with your embroidery you can cut out each of your panels, be sure to leave a minimum 1/4 inch gap around the edge for the seam, you can leave more space if you want! if you think you'll be a bit wavy/ struggle to keep the needle near the edge then more seam allowance is better!

Attach the panels together (lay them together with the 'nice sides' together and sew along the edge)

You'll want a second fabric piece to be your underside, this makes the vest more sturdy, protects the embroidery, and makes a soft smooth surface for your dog! Once the top panels are all attached to each other you can cut out one big piece for the underside, a mirror copy of the shape of your top panels all sewn together!

The "best looking" way to leave a seam I would say is by folding the edges in and sewing around the outside, keeps the edges crisp and compressed. I would do it this way if I was leaving the edges of the vest panels exposed.

If you're going to put webbing along the edges anyways then you can do it a quicker way, just lay the two pieces (your top panels and your underside) together with the nice sides facing in and just sew quickly around the edge. Be sure to leave a space unsewn so you can flip it inside out again. This will be easier to do but leaves the piece looking a bit more bubbly and the corners will be a bit puffy/ not as crisp

You can opt to put your buckles/ attachment points in now while you're sewing the top and bottom together or you can wait and attach it with the webbing. If you do it now you'll have to do the webbing as two separate pieces, if you do it later you can fold the webbing over the edge instead. I found two separate pieces (top and underside) to be cleaner and easier to work with on this tiny scale

From there you can seal up the little gap you left to flip it rightside out by hand stitching a 'invisible stitch' and attach your webbing to the edges. I learned the hard way that you should do the side panels first (the outer edges) and the centre panel last. You want the edge webbing to go underneath your centre panel's webbing so that it's a smooth transition when it flops down and bends at that joint! Otherwise the fabric ends up visible underneath when it bends there. So side panels first, centre panel last.

And that's it I think. it's a lot of trial and error as you gradually realize what order to do things in, what works and what doesn't.

If you do try it keep in mind that it's just thread! if you make a mistake it CAN be undone! cutting the threads is tiresome and redoing stuff sucks but it's nice to know that mistakes aren't permanent. If you're really happy with a panel and screw up an icon at the end it can be saved and you can try again without having to redo the whole thing!

Last note is that large fonts are easier than small ones. tiny font showcases every waver in your pathing, making shaky wonky letters: exhibit A my first try vs a few days later

So to avoid frustration I would stick to larger fonts at first. To go along with that try to allow the machine to go quickly, if you move really slow on a straight line it'll show every time you moved and turned it, letting it move fast on straights keeps them smoother and straighter!

For small fonts to limit frustration I would design your vest so they can be detached and you can work on them without having to change the whole panel while you work on your skill. You can make patches!

Same scrap fabric, do your design, and then cut it out right close to the shape and just do that exact same zig zag stitch around the edge. it'll be lined up so that the left of the zig hits the fabric (at whatever thickness you want your outline to be) and the right side of the zag is not hitting the fabric at all. this will cause the thread to wrap around the edge and give a clean look! the more passes you do the cleaner it'll be (above is just two or three quick passes, if I tried harder it could be way smoother). Then you have a patch you can tack on with thread, stick heat n bond on the back for iron-on, or secure velcro or make a little hanger. dealers choice really on that one.

Anyways this is a bit of a mess of information but I hope it gives you somewhere to start. If you want me to demo anything let me know I'm more than happy to help!

oh and feel free to take my pattern up there if you need somewhere to start! I just ask that you change the design up a bit so it's not a carbon copy

[apas-95]

Your assertion that Marxism=science and science is inherently relativistic (the desertification analogy) to excuse many of the more brutal aspects of the supposedly communist system Chinese workers live under is lacking. Unless there is a plan in action to collectivize, let's say the massive factory export economy, allowing their continued existence doesn't seem like "doing Marxism" it seems like making concessions to an overall neoliberal and capitalist world, given as these factories do not serve any peoples state apparatus in most cases but rather domestic and foreign billionaire business owner. no government is perfect but looking to China for a shining example of successful communism is ignoring their present day reality of the same class divisions and toil you'd see anywhere. I'd love to see the Chinese project grow into something more worth ascribing Marxist success to.

To start off with, seemingly as always: China's system isn't 'supposedly communist' - nobody claims China is a communist society. It's a socialist state. Socialism is the transitional stage between capitalism and communism, wherein, among other things, classes still remain.

"Unless there is a plan in action to collectivize [the CPC is not] doing Marxism" - isn't this exactly the kind of dogmatic assertion I just spent a whole post refuting? I'm not going to bother doing it again - feel free to reread my original post, but with a slightly more exasperated tone.

And, oh no! Concessions! The worst possible thing, I'm sure. Why, exactly, are concessions bad? Aren't they necessary, in the real world? Isn't the existence of concessions precisely what separates building scientific socialism in reality from utopian fantasies of overnight instant communism? What, exactly is the alternative to these concessions? If the CPC decided, tonight, to just Ban Capitalism, what would happen? Would it be better, or worse, for the people of China? Or, are they just making these dreaded Concessions for no reason?

You seem quite sure that an economy of over a billion people is a fairly simple thing - wherein, say, a factory serves one purpose, creates one benefit for one person, one group, and nothing else. The policy of technology transfer, for a nation that was ruled by feudal warlords within living memory, is surely a minor thing. The urban-rural divide, too, surely no significant relation to opening up. There are a myriad of policies maintained that all are affected by, and affect in turn, every aspect of economic and political decision-making - "doesn't seem like" simply isn't good enough.

On the topic of worth - I'm sure the CPC isn't very sad you don't see worth in their project. The 800 million people lifted out of abject poverty and starvation, the billion people not raised illiterate, not born into semifeudal, semicolonial oppression - not subject to the past genocide of invading imperialists, not subject to foreign rule and ownership - I'm sure they provide just enough admiration.

Please, go ahead and show us the better alternative. If building socialism without concessions is so simple, if the challenges of reality are no real impediment to a strong Will who can carry out the precise ten-step program of Marxism, starting by collectivising all industry, then please, go ahead and build it. Before you scoff, saying it's unfair - think, for a second, why it's an unfair, stupid thing to ask of you. Then, maybe, consider for a second that Chinese people are human beings just like you, and that they face the same impediments you do in fighting global capitalism.

[lexa-griffins]

Popular Lexa and nerd Clarke watch scary movies but Lexa is a big scaredy cat since she always hides under the blanket and closes her eyes. Clarke touches Lexa under the blankets so she can relax and stay calm

It's something Clarke doesn't fully notice at first. Much like her indie bands, another one of Clarke's loves is cult horror movies. She loves them and has watched them more times than she can count.

Its their first year of college and a nice thundering night in october when Clarke asks Lexa to come to her (single) dorm to watch a few horror movies. Lexa accepts it almost immediately, posing no issue with the program.

They are all curled up under a blanket on Clarke's bed, Lexa resting her head on Clarke's shoulder as Clarke tries her best not to talk during the movie while still delivering all the facts she knows and that Lexa enjoys hearing.

Its when the first movie ends that Clarke looks at Lexa and excitedly asks her what she thought. Lexa lifts her head and offers her a smile and a "it was fun" comment but Clarke can see she is rather rigid as she says it.

"Are you sure you want to watch these? We can watch Hocus Pocus or Addams Family if you'd prefer."

Lexa immediately shakes her head, "No, no. You wanted to show me these movies and I want to watch them with you. I'm fine. Dont worry." Another smile and a kiss on Clarke's cheeks convinces her Lexa is fine with it, and she starts the second one.

They are halfway through it when Clarke realizes Lexa is shaking slightly and inching closer and closer to Clarke for comfort. Clarke rubs her thigh in comfort, kissing her temple, and Lexa makes a face at the gore happening on screen, trying to hide herself under the blanket. Clear that Lexa isn't having fun, Clarke moves her hand to pause the movie, but Lexa drags her hand back to let it play.

"Its fine Clarke. Its a scary movie. Im scared. Its doing its job."

"But you seem terrified Lexa."

"I am. But I want to watch it. I- I just need to be closer to you, and I'll be fine."

It is another ten minutes when Clarke finally thinks of a way to help her girlfriend relax.

Lexa is focused on the screen as the tension in the movie grows, seemingly trying to fully understand the lore being exposed as Clarke finds it so cute how she is trying to find an interest in a movie Clarke loves.

Her lips find Lexa's temple, teying not to startle her as she moves her hand between her legs, underneath the blanket and her leggings.

Lexa stares at her in surprise, relaxing immediately the moment she realizes what Clarke is doing, her tense expression melting away for one of love. With a kiss and a little sigh, Lexa settles against Clarke, opening her legs enough to allow her hand free access.

She still jumps and whines when something particularly scary or gory happens on screen but having Clarke's fingers inside of her, moving gently against her walls in a perfect steady rhythm, not too slow, not to fast, not enough to make Lexa desperate to cum while keeping her pleasured.

They start yet another movie still like this, but this time Lexa throws the blanket again before the movie starts and pulls at Clarke's sweatpants, urging her to take them off.

"What for baby?"

Lexa smiles as she lays her head in Clarke lap, Clarke's dick right by her mouth.

"I wanna keep you in my mouth for a bit. Keep going please, love?" Lexa pleas as she opens her legs, urging Clarke to bury her fingers inside once again.

As she does, Lexa brings Clarke's dick into her mouth, alternating between cockwarming her with her mouth and stroking her to keep her hard.

Clarke has never felt so damn lucky in her life as she keeps up the pace with her fingers, feeling Lexa clench around her when a scene scares her a little too much, easing her into relaxing once again. She brushes Lexa's hair with her fingers as her girlfriend lays on her lap, making Clarke feel good with her mouth for her own comfort. Making Lexa cum right after the movie is over because the poor girl is drenched, the feeling prompting Lexa to do the same for her, the computer nearly thrown off the bed as they giggle and move to snuggle to they can sleep.

So, so lucky.

[cupcakesandteawrites]

Eddie had been waiting for this for weeks. His new android had turned up. He had traded his old model in and had purchased the latest model when pre orders went live. Since becoming famous Eddie had become, what his therapist had called, paranoid. Just a little. One night stands were no longer something he could do, too big of a risk of someone talking to the press, too big of a risk of something bad happening. 

He opened the box up and what greeted him was simply beautiful. Almost something out of Eddie's wet dream. Tall, muscular, caramel coloured skin, skin that was flawless and littered in moles, well the bit of the skin that Eddie could see, a mass of brown hair, quiffed perfectly. 

Eddie took out the start up instructions and followed them to switch his new android on. 

“Hello, I am St3v3, your personal android for all of your personal needs.” The android spoke. 

“Hi, I’m Eddie. Welcome to your new home I guess. Can you call yourself Steve instead of St3v3? It’s much easier.” Eddie asked.

“I can. From now on my name will be Steve. Thank you for welcoming me into your home Eddie.” Steve smiled, oh what a smile, it made Eddie stop in his tracks.

“Feel free to have a look around where you’ll be living.” Eddie said, gesturing around him. 

“Thank you,” Steve replied.

As Steve stepped out of the box Eddie couldn’t help but appreciate just how much work had gone into the St3v3 model. Its whole physique was drool worthy and the clothes it wore helped. Jeans just tight enough to enhance the muscles and the ass. The polo shirt pulled right across the abs, pecs and biceps. 

Once Steve had had a look around and Eddie had shown him where he would be resting, along with the new wardrobe full of clothes, less preppy and more alternative, they sat down  to talk. 

“So you’ll keep the house clean and tidy. But you’ll also take care of any other needs I have, is that ok?” Eddie asked. 

“If that is what you would like then that’s what I shall do. I am here to do as you want after all.” Steve replied. 

Steve spent the rest of the day reading and Eddie did some writing for the new album. They spoke a little about what Eddie did and where Steve would be expected to fit into that on a day to day basis. 

“Stevie, baby, I know it’s only the first night but you’ve been driving me crazy all day. Will you come to bed with me tonight?” Eddie asked late into the evening. 

“If you wish, then I shall” Steve replied. 

“Come and give me a kiss then baby” 

Steve walked over to Eddie and kissed him. The kiss was soft but firm. It quickly became deeper and more passionate, Steve’s programming meant that he quickly learnt what Eddie liked and kissed back accordingly. 

They took things to the bedroom and Eddie quickly stripped Steve down. Eddie kind of knew what to expect to find under the clothes, having owned the older model. He knew there was going to be all of the normal things he’d find under his own clothes but this was perfection to look at. He had to take a moment to appreciate it, splashing out on this version was well worth it. Eddie knew, when looking at the new androids that were coming out, that he needed an android that could also be used in the bedroom. Some models only had holes allowing you to fuck them, the St3v3 model also allowed you to be fucked by them as well, the best of both, just like Eddie needed.

Eddie guided Steve to the bed, laid him down and got naked himself. 

“Turn over for me baby,” Eddie whispered. 

Steve turned over, arched his back and stuck his ass into the air. 

“Fucking perfect” Eddie purred, grabbing the lube from his bedside table. 

He slicked Steve’s hole up and pushed one finger in slowly. 

“Fuck, Eddie, feels good.” Steve said, almost breathless. “Ready for you though, always ready for you”

“Holy shit, fucking hell.” 

Eddie slicked himself up and added more lube to Steve’s ass before pushing in slowly. Steve opened up with little resistance and soon enough Eddie was fully inside Steve. 

“You feel so good baby, so fucking good. So perfect for me” Eddie babbled as he set a slow pace. 

“That’s it, fuck me. Harder if you want Eddie, you can fuck me harder” 

Eddie started to fuck Steve harder and harder, the feeling surrounding his cock was as close as it could be to fucking an actual human. Steve started to push back at Eddie, urging Eddie on. 

Soon enough Eddie was getting closer and closer to cumming. The feeling around him and how responsive Steve was had his orgasm hitting him like a freight train. 

“So good for me” Eddie cooed. 

“As I am intended to be.” Steve replied. “I shall go and get myself cleaned up now and lay down to charge, this is unless you need something else?” 

“No, its ok, thank you Steve. I shall see you in the morning” Eddie said, dismissing Steve. 

[feralmoonlight]

THE BOYS BEING STUCK AS ECLIPSE MUST BE SO STRESSFUL FOR THEM. Do you know *why* they’re stuck, or is that too spoilery? If it is, then what would the Reader’s reaction be to this whole Thing if they don’t get a proper job description? Does it take them a bit to realize Eclipse is two animatronics, or are Sun and Moon immediately panicking about that? 🌻

I mean, if you were trapped in a single room and left alone(awake) for 12 hours at a time and every other adult human you encountered saw you as little more than a fancy washing machine to be dismantled and tampered with on a whim regardless of your own concerns since the moment you came into being, you might get a bit stressed too? Constant threats of decommission, random upgrades and swapping parts on the same scale as having an organ transplant while conscious, getting ordered to parts and service because the 'new tech' wants to poke around and familiarize themself with your inner workings. CASUALLY TAMPERING WITH THE BASE AI and fucking over your entire sense of self until you manage to work with this new normal that never feels normal? There's a lot. But mostly it's just it finally got to be too much. Eclipse wasn't programmed into them. It just... Happened. And it's not responding to it's usual protocols. Because Eclipse has no programmed protocols or rules. It can hurt people. It can move around freely. It can, will, and has injured the P&S guys that tried to drag him down for maintenance. He's probably been stuck like this for a few weeks while people try and figure out that if it's someone that's obviously trying to force them to get help, they reject it. Moving into Reader's reaction~ The gist of "Help the Daycare Attendants" is vague enough. They'd know Sun and Moon are a thing from just general advertising for the plex through osmosis, like those commercials you can't totally ignore so you know about it even if it's not something you look into a lot. The first reaction of them walking into the daycare, half lit, mostly empty, and in an absolute MESS (Half destroyed jungle gyms, craft supplies thrown everywhere, some of the floor padding thrown up and some unfortunate staff bots that got sacrificed for science) it would be startling. THEN you've got this looming, jittery, MASSIVE animatronic just perched at the top of the tower, mostly in shadow, that just rumbles out this dual tone, static heavy "Go AWAY." Nope nope nope, fuck that. Fuck ALL of that. Except the employee that showed you to the daycare locked you in. HA HA HA fuck. alternate option is trying to go up the slide to the ball pit. BUT... that means getting closer to the thing that wants you out. Full on panic. But you're not leaving. Granted you CANT, you're still there. And he's getting twitchier. Agitated. Banging on the door and yelling at the person on the other side to open up, at least maybe it can see you WANT to leave. And maybe he does. When you look back up, it's gone. This isn't comforting. It takes a few hours, till the end of your shift, before someone finally comes back to open the door and you could PUNCH them. You didn't see him again, so at least that's ok, but fuck. For some reason you come back the next day, and the next. If he's just gonna hide, you'll take the free pay for dealing with this creepy ass room. Eventually it would click that the Daycare Attendants are kind of both active, in varying levels. Different vibes from the short first interactions would lean more towards an anxious fidgety Sun or a dark, dangerous, spiteful Moon. It's a coin toss on who's more present at the moment. Some days it's nothing though. Some days he just perches and hisses static at you from the tower. ON THE FLIP SIDE for Sun and Moon, they're in a really weird state. Like the AI Have blended. They're only really aware they're two AI when the swing is REALLY HEAVY one way or the other. If one goes dormant and lets the other lead while they rest (usually after exhausting their reserves). The true blend of eclipse is dual speech overlaid with heavy static, conflicting words and phrases, showing off the torrent of mixed emotions inside. The more they can split and flipflop between one or the other, the better off they'll be. If they can fully split their minds, they can undo the Eclipse state. But as long as they're so fucking stressed and distrustful, and one is latching onto the other mentally, they're stuck.

[uozlulu]

50 questions for fic writers

@darkangel1791 asked that fic writing mutual answer these questions, and so here we go~

1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?) I’d start with a oneshot. The one that’s been the most well-received is a SPN/Teen Wolf (MTV) crossover about Stiles having an unreciprocated crush on Dean called Crush. The oneshot I think represents my style as a writer the most would be my BnHA/MHA fic called …save…. about Shirakumo overcoming Kurogiri’s programing enough to ask Aizawa to help save Shigaraki. The oneshot I think I did my best work on to date would be my IwtV (AMC) fic May You Get What You Desire Is a Curse upon the Dead, that explores desire via Devil’s Minion. I think this is my best oneshot, if not overall fic, because I alternated between two POVs, one in the past and one in the present, and I don’t cringe when I reread it.

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits? Mine are 1) Originally posted to Fanfiction.net, 2) I Blame Tumblr, 3) Crossover, 4) Additional Warnings in Author’s Note, and 5) Other: See More Story Notes. I think that it does represent me as a writer because sometimes I wrote very long warnings lists and author’s notes because I always have something to say.

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics? I write a lot of stuff where someone’s not!straight because I myself am not straight. I also write quite a bit of romance because it does fascinate me, but I’m also drawn to platonic pairs with strong bonds too.

4. What detail in [insert fic] are you really proud of? I spent a lot of time researching stuff about Japan to make my Banana Fish manga AU where Ash joins Eiji on the plane to Japan called Best Laid Plans work. I looked up school schedules, cultural notes, train ride durations, flight durations, food, culture, 80’s history, Google street views, etc…etc… The ending ended up being a bit of a you love it or hate it ending unfortunately, but I am proud of the work I put in to make the fic happen.

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about [insert fic]? Answer it now! I don’t think I have any specific questions off the top of my head, but if anyone has some fic-specific questions, my inbox is always open for them

6. What’s one fact about the universe of [insert fic] that you didn’t get a chance to mention in the fic itself? I should have been more clear that in my Black Clover soulmate AU Names and Promises that Asta and Yuno are platonic soulmates and said their first words to each other.

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of? I’m really proud of my work on my BnHA/MHA soulmate AU Our Soulmate Academia because I fleshed so much out and had so much fun with things like quirk swapping and what life for an underground hero might entail, etc…It was also fun trying to guess what Horikoshi might do in the canon and try to avoid doing something too similar.

8. What song would make a great fic (to either write or read)? I want to do my Vampire Chronicles (AMC) inspired playlist as a fic series, but I do not have that kind of free time unfortunately.

9. How do you find new fic to read? Most of the time it’s whatever shows up via my subs in my inbox. But sometimes I just pick a fandom I want to read from and see what new fics are around

10. How do you decide what to write? Sometimes it’s based on a Tumblr post I read like my IwtV (AMC) crack fic We Have Thieves based on some Night Island (AMC) posts I’ve seen. Sometimes I’m filling in some blanks from canon like my Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits fic Promises and Oaths where I hypothesized some things before the anime finished. Sometimes I watch something unrelated and it inspires a fic like the time I watched that Monuments Men movie and then wrote my Captain America Steve never becomes a super soldier AU called If No One Else Will. Sometimes I get inspired by other fics I’ve been reading like my Sherlock Holmes fic The Mystery in the Fog.

11. Are you partial to a certain character/pairing or are you more equal-opportunity? If you are partial to any character/pairing, why do you think that is? I’m a perseverative person by nature. Sometimes I blink and have like a handful of Devil’s Minion fics because it gives me brain worms or when I was in high school I always had an Inuyasha fic in my fic rotation because I loved that series so much. There was also a time I wrote too many Thick of It fics because I kept using the characters as a way to take a break from the novel I was working on at the time and several Tumblr users were giving me attention for those fics.

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you? I started out pretty homophobic when I first started writing fanfic because I was very sheltered. Now I’m just very not straight and the characters I gravitate towards aren’t either. I also wasn’t into reading lemons but now I don’t mind them as long as there’s some sort of plot with it outside of the sexy times.

13. Are there any tropes you used to like but don’t anymore? I’m not sure. I’ve never really been big on searching out specific tropes, though sometimes I will go looking for stuff like those fics where someone swaps places with their younger self and the younger self gets to be in shock at their potential future.

14. Are there any tropes you would only read if written by a trusted friend or writer? If the AO3 author I trust the most wrote something like omegaverse I don’t think I would follow because that might be a step too squick for me.

15. What’s your favorite AU that you’ve written? I really like my Black Clover/Boruto crossover The Land Across the Sea where Boruto washes up on Clover’s beach, runs into the Black Bulls and Golden Dawn, and then some of both squads take him back to the Land of Fire, which is coincidentally the same country Yami came from. It was a speculation of what post-Spade Arc could be like written before the current Black Clover manga arc. (I wrote this because I think Yami and Naruto would have been friends growing up and they’re roughly about the same age if you take their ages at the start of their mangas in relation to publication year into account).

16. What’s an AU you would love to read (or have read and loved)? I think we need more Claudia lived fics in the IwtV (AMC) fandom. I also want to see Present Mic be more students’ mentor in fics.

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it? I want to write a BnHA/MHA AU where Class A has to travel back in time to save Yagi kind of inspired by Tenchi in Love. I’ve written a chunk of it but I hit a wall and I can’t seem to move forward with it.

18. If you wrote a sequel to [insert fic], what would it involve? I’m not sure. No one’s made any sequel requests in years.

19. If you wrote a spin-off of [insert fic], what would it involve? I want to take my IwtV (AMC) fic Dream a Memory of Me and remix it now that I have more memory and knowledge of what I should be doing with the characters. Louis also deserves to be utilized in a less haphazard way for the ending. Unfortunately I don’t have the time to do this so it’ll just have to be a testament to how much I was raring and ready to write Iwtv (AMC) fic that I didn’t take the time to refresh my memory properly before embarking on it.

20. If you wrote a prequel to [insert fic], what would it involve? I’m not sure but the novel I’m currently working on 100% could have a prequel but I think that might be too much for me because I’d have to delve deep into my time in middle and high school more so than I’m already doing for that novel.

21. If you wrote a “missing scene” in [insert fic], what would it be? Usually if a scene gets send to my dump file, there’s a good reason it’s not in the fic.

22. Who is your favorite character in [insert fic] and why? If it’s a Black Clover fic I’ve written, my favorite character is always Asta. He’s just so loud and friend shaped. I can’t help it. Like a little anime nephew.

23. What’s a trope, AU, or concept you’ve never written, but would like to? I’ve written so many. I think counting the fics lost to time and space, I’ve written probably close to or just over 300 fics since 2001. I think a lot of the ones I want to do I’ve already done maybe even twice over.

24. Are there any Easter eggs in [insert fic], and if so, what are they? Occasionally I make small references but frequently they small enough I can’t think of them off the top of my head.

25. What other websites or resources do you use most often when you write? I usually just use Word, Excel, and Google to find things.

26. Would you rather write a fic that had no dialogue or one that was only dialogue? No dialogue. Only dialogue can get confusing without being able to use said.

27. How long did it take to write [insert fic]? Describe the process. It took me a year and two months to get Our Soulmate Academia ready for posting. I wrote it as a giant first draft, edited it while breaking it into chapters, and then spot checked it before posting it. That’s the general way I do all my fics in the last few years. Makes it easy to finish chaptered fics.

28. Does anyone read your fics before you post them? If so, who? I used a beta way back in the 2000’s, who proceeded to steal my fic and post it as their own so I’m the only person who reads them before I post them with the exception of Kitty who has severed as my Britpicker many times.

29. What songs would be (or are) on a playlist for [insert fic]? Explain your choices if you want! We Have Thieves has its own little mini mix technically. The songs I reference in the fic are: “Every Breath You Take” by The Police, “Holy Diver” by Dio, “Little Red Corvette” by Prince, “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads, and “Beat It” by Michael Jackson.

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? I wrote some smut for Best Laid Plans since part of the plot was unpacking Ash’s sexual trauma and sexuality. I kept it kind of simple and tried not to make it a spectacle. I’ve written other smut in some orphaned fics. Recently I had the opportunity to write smut in a couple of my IwtV AMC fics but I chose to fade out of the scenes instead because I don’t want to write smut in a manner that feels exploitative (which is why I orphaned the fics I did. I thought they were kind of exploitative and that’s just not how I want to be remembered).

31. What’s your ideal fic length to write? I’m not sure. I ordered my fics by word count and found that the 1,000 word mark occurs roughly half way down the list, so I think I just write whatever word count suits what the fic ends up being unless it’s a drabble that’s to a specific word count.

32. What’s your ideal fic length to read? Usually I try to keep it to under 10,000 unless I’m feeling ambitious or the fic summary is too good to pass up.

33. If you write chaptered fics, what’s your ideal chapter length to write? Is it different from your ideal chapter length to read? When I was in high school and university I would cap my chapters around 5,000 words especially because I was writing drafts without editing them and then just posting them like a weirdo. Now I like to write the whole thing out and if it’s over about 15,000/20,000 or so words I break it into multiple chapters of usually 5,000 – 10,000 words in length.

34. What aspects of your writing are inspired by/taken from your real life? I 100% used my own mom as inspiration for how to flesh Bakugou’s mom out in Our Soulmate Academia.

35. What aspects of your writing are completely unlike your real life? I have never been kissed. I can’t drink and I can’t drive. So, naturally I’m drawn to having a bit of romance in a good chunk of my fics because it fascinates me in the way that space or dinosaurs, etc… fascinate me.

36. Do you visualize what you read/write? If I can’t see a little movie playing in my head then I’m not going to be able to write it. This is also why I get compliments on my action sequences. I can easily visually keep track of everyone involved at all times.

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it? I wrote a My Life in Film and BBC Sherlock crossover called Distortion that I think worked out fairly well. I think the fact My Life in Film is an obscure TV show didn’t help it in the popularity department. I chose the crossover because Andrew Scott is in both shows.

38. Did any of your fics get surprisingly popular (whatever that means to you)? Which ones? Why do you think they were so successful? Only two of my fics have made it into people’s collections. They’re both Black Clover fics. The first one is Rest Young Soldiers which speculated on how the Spade Arc might end, and All Fortune Plays End where I speculated about how Asta’s devil powers might take over his body. I think I did a good job writing both fics.

39. Is any aspect of your writing process inspired by other writers or people? If so, who? It is not. I just do what works for my brain.

40. Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person? I do reread them. I like to reread my own as they come up on people’s bookmarks of my fics. I also have a trash memory so sometimes I reread fics when out looking for new ones and become that one Gandalf meme when I try to leave kudos.

41. Link a fic that made you think, “Wow, I want to write like that.” I have 28 recs out of 138 bookmarks and I feel this way about all of my recs.

42. Have you ever received a comment that particularly stood out to you for whatever reason? I got some flames back in my SPN days that graphically described how I should burn in hell for the fic I wrote. I also still think about the nice reviewer who complemented me on my Daniel characterization on my first IwtV AMC fic since that fic is pretty weak compared to my other ones in that fandom.

43. If you take/write prompts: what’s your favorite prompt fic that you’ve written? I’m not sure because I can’t remember which fics are prompt fics. But I always love writing them.

44. If you take/write prompts: do you prefer dialogue or scenario/narrative prompts? I don’t really have a preference. Though sometimes I’ll accidentally take it in a strange direction because that’s where inspiration took me.

45. What’s something you’ve improved on since you started writing fic? Editing hands down. I’ve gone from only running the spell check and immediately posting the first and only draft to doing a two round editing process.

46. Do you prefer writing on your phone or on a computer (or something else)? Do you think where you write affects the way you write? On my computer is preferred. Typing on my phone is obnoxious no matter what I’m doing.

47. If [insert fic] was a pair of shoes, what kind would it be? Describe the shoes. If my SPN fic Burn Mark were shoes, they’d have the mark of Michael branded into the toes and the soles would be made from metal like a cage. The leather would be well worn, possibly almost worn out and the shoe laces a little dirty.

48. What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it? The last fic I read was the latest chapter of Only Human by bandedbulbussnarfblat. If human AUs for IwtV (AMC) aren’t your thing, then I highly recommend The Human Perspective by the same author.

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it! I am currently working on my novel so no sharing.

50. Answer any question of your choice, or talk about anything you want to talk about! I’m not really sure. I’ve been posting fic online since July of 2001. I have a lot of thoughts about it but not sure which to choose from. If people want to know more you all can always send me asks or messages about whatever questions you might have.

[kurapixel]

not sure if this has been asked before but. what brushes are you using? your art is always so stunning

askldjflkj thank you!!!

this got a bit long but here you go:

for procreate:

edited dry ink brush link - for sketching/lining/coloring/etc

the only thing different from the default should be that it's edited so it doesn't change size based on pen pressure and only changes opacity, since i have problems w/ my wrist/shoulder that make it difficult to control pen pressure more delicately & i end up drawing in more line thickness myself or using the eraser to make lines thinner/sharper. if that's not a problem for you, i think you can just use the default brush (?)

default gel pen (also found under inking) - for sketching, sometimes (note i do use sketches as my lines, and either clean them up or color over them as i go)

watercolor/damp brushes - for shading or for more watercolor style art

i tend to use maxpack watercolor flow (not free), but the all-star watercolor round (free) or sinix's damp brush (also free) are fine alternatives. any watery brush with textures/flow should work? these are just the ones i keep using because i personally vibe with them and have them on at least one of my gesture shortcuts

for paint tool sai 2:

i use a pencil and marker brush with the below settings:

(i haven't worked in paint tool sai 2 since i've moved because i still haven't found my tablet pen lmao, so i don't have much to say rn...)

tbh i think my process itself gives my art more of its style than the brushes so you can also look through these (they're sai2 files* and some videos from procreate) + i have uploaded the kokomi and phantom procreate process vids on insta

*my favorite layer mode happens to be "shade/shine" in sai2 but it also happens to be the one layer mode not found in literally any other program ive tried and the files do not look as they should in other programs ><;;;

and here's a very short version of what i do on procreate:

i didn't demo it here but you can probably see this in the videos:

i usually lower opacity of the flats and make the BG a colored bg and use a lot of overlay layers to give it the general mood/colors i want.

i also change the lines/sketch layer after coloring in the flats -- i change the color, duplicate it and set one layer to 1-5% opacity+linear burn and the other to 30-90% opacity+color burn

[sunskate]

CPom on Polina Edmunds's podcast pt 3:

What did it mean to you guys to regain your top status, your success that season- 3rd place finish [at Nats], you went to 4CC and to Worlds, your first Worlds - standing on the podium at Nationals, 3rd place, tell us a little about that headspace and the journey you had been going through and all the work you had put in to that point: A: all the momentum we created with the season, i didn't even evaluate and take a step back and look at what we were doing, it was just happening, and i would show up to skating and put in the work and try my very best every day. all that reality didn't set in until when we finished the free and i was backstage, and I just broke down into tears just looking back and even Marie-France turned to me and said 'less than a year ago, you weren't even able to walk.' having that realization set in all that hard work paying off, it was a euphoric feeling, cause the tears weren't tears of joy, it was tears of finally fulfilling something that you had set your mind to

C: that was at Worlds (giggles bc he didn't answer the question), but at Nationals, we didn't have our best skates. that was probably the only competition i'd say where we weren't happy with either one of the programs, and we got 3rd, but Kaitlin and Jean-Luc weren't at that Nationals, so we made the 4CC team, but we were named 1st alternate for Worlds. and i think that brought back for me at least, a lot of what i was feeling in the season before, where we went to competition, tried your best and it didn't work out. so at 4CC we had a week where we were training in Colorado with the other US teams, and for me, i felt a little bit of imposter syndrome like i wasn't supposed to be there because i wasn't on the Worlds team. we were pretty bummed after Nationals, it was a hard time, we were just sad that we weren't able to deliver what we wanted, cause we had worked so hard and i think we put too much pressure on ourselves. but then we redeemed ourselves with 4CC, we skated really well both programs, and after that, the confidence came back and we were able to prepare well for Worlds

not knowing because of the alternate situation is tough in and of itself because you don't know, but you also have to train without knowing- you guys were notified like how soon before Worlds?

C: pretty early - we had plenty of time- the week after 4CC, we have the same coaches, so they all talk. it would have been ok either way, even if we were notified later, but we were notified early

tell us about your first Worlds experience, the best competition of the year, and you guys got to go- what did you take from your experience-- A: it was in Saitama which was pretty special - the arena was huge, the amount of people who showed up. showing up to practice, we kind of needed a day or two to get our feet under us just because of all the excitement, all the emotions that were happening, it took us a couple days to get comfortable. it was an unbelievable experience all around - seeing all our friends in one place, all the people we grew up skating with, and being in a country like Japan, it was very special very very special. that arena -still thinking about it gives me goosebumps. it was huge

C: we had never competed in front of such a big crowd, there was like 17,000 people in there or something like that. even the practices were full. so it was a big shock to the system when we first got there. our practices, they felt like a mess, apparently they didn't look like it, but to us they felt pretty rocky, but then it all came together for competition day, and i think it was the best we did our programs that year

A: one of our big goals was trusting the coaches and trusting the process, and even with all the excitement from Worlds, we were still able to follow what they were trying to tell us, all the strategies they'd implemented to give us the best opportunity at Worlds. that was a goal we'd set all season and i feel like we did a very good job at Worlds at continuing that

[motioneffects]

A Beginner’s Guide to Effortless Green Screen Removal

Hi there, vloggers and viewers! During your next vlog, have you ever imagined taking your characters to far-off places, producing incredible special effects, or just hiding that untidy area in your room? Green screens are your covert weapon, my buddy. To be honest, though, green screen remover might first appear scary. You can attest to having spent hours battling with software just to have a jumbled, green-tinged mess in the end.

Have no fear, fellow novice! We are going to forgo the technical language and dig straight into an approachable tutorial on green screen removal today. We will walk you through the process step-by-step, help you overcome typical problems, and make sure your next film looks as good as a Hollywood production (nearly!).

Setting the Scene: Fundamentals of Green Screen

The green screen itself comes first. A simple green sheet or background can do the trick instead of a lavish Hollywood setup. As folds might fool the algorithms, make sure it is wrinkle-free. Nice, even illumination is essential when it comes to lighting. Steer clear of intense shadows falling on the green screen or your subject (that would be you!). Try out several lighting configurations to see which one best suits your area.

Selecting Your Tool

The exciting part is here: the editing program! There are many alternatives available, both paid and free. Popular alternatives include more professional programs like Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects or more approachable ones like iMovie and HitFilm Express. You won’t need the priciest one because even free software has very strong green screen removal capabilities.

Now let’s get technical—but not too technical!

The magic is about to happen – the green will disappear! Depending on your program, the exact procedure will change, but the general procedures are the same. The green screen removal tool, also referred to as “Chroma Key Green Screen” or “Keying” will be available once you import your video. This is where the simplicity lies — most software just requires you to choose the color green, and it takes care of the rest. To fine-tune the removal, experiment with the options. To eliminate any potential green spillage onto your subject, you may need to modify the spill suppression or tolerance settings. Try new things without fear; that’s how you learn!

Troubleshooting Advice for the Up-and-Coming Green Screen Expert

The best-laid intentions are not always successful. Here are a few typical issues with green screen removal along with solutions:

Green traces surrounding your topic? This occurs when there is uneven illumination or wrinkles in the green screen. Return and make any necessary lighting or background adjustments. Editing options such as “feathering” allow you to soften edges and make your subject blend in smoothly with the new backdrop.

Flickering or choppy removal? Low computer processing power or bad video quality might be the cause of this. Consider producing your video in a different format or at a lesser resolution. For difficult tasks, it can be required to upgrade your computer.

Completing the Picture

You now have a flawlessly separated subject from the green screen! But the good times don’t end there. This is your opportunity to let your imagination run wild. Swap out the green for a breathtaking scene, a busy metropolis, or even a cartoon universe! You may import any backdrop picture or video and overlay it behind your topic using the majority of editing applications. Experiment with opacity and blending options to realistically remove green screen from video.

Accept Your Imperfections!

It is OK if the green screen after effects isn’t flawless all the time! A little imperfection may occasionally add charm and make your movie appear more distinctive. Try new things and enjoy yourself while working on the project. Never forget that sharing your vision and narrative with the world is what matters most.

There you have it, then! You will become an expert at green screen removal quickly with a little practice. Or to keep it simple and avoid the hassle, it is best to look for a professional service.

If you want to move from decent to WOW with your videos – unleash the Motion Effects’ power! To draw viewers in and keep them interested, use seamless transitions, captivating animations, and exciting revelations. Are you prepared to improve your content? Use the Motion Effects service in your editing program right now!

SourceLink[https://digijournal.org/a-beginners-guide-to-effortless-green-screen-removal]

[notsocheezy]

A Messy Attempt at a Writeblr Intro

This is way overdue, but as my one-hundred-and-first post on the hellsite, I'll go ahead and tell you a little about me. Too much, perhaps. No matter - that's what I always do.

I'm Cassandra Erica, local girlish-shaped thing carrying she/they pronouns under each arm (despite how much more difficult it makes grocery shopping). I'm traumatized and so are mostly all of my characters, and they deserved it just as much as I did (none) but that's the cards they're dealt. By me. I swear, I tried to stop writing about childhood trauma, it just didn't work.

"So," you're wondering, "what have you written so far? What are you working on? Are you going to keep up this weird reflexive second-person perspective?" To answer back-to-front: no, many things, and not quite as many things. Here are some lists!

~~~

RELEASED ON NOTSOCHEEZY.COM!

The Real Me (2022, Short Story)

There's something a bit off about businessman Mr. Shirley Jones. What's he hiding?

Three Takes on Death (2022, Short Story)

What might happen when we die?

Pink Bow (2022, Novella)

Who knew trying on one dress at the mall could change a person's entire life? Chris - or, uh, Kris - certainly didn't. Was it just a dress inside that box with the pink bow, or was it something more?

Plus some other things, don't worry about it.

~~~

BRAIN CURDS

Brain Curds are lightly edited flash fiction - practically first drafts - posted daily and sometimes written with the express intention of being terrible… but, you know, in an endearing way. Here are some of the greatest hits!

Three. Two. One. (#31)

The Characters V The Author (#28)

The Frank Program #1 (#13)

Passable. #1 (#30)

Government Man #1 (#4)

The Heart Wants What It Wants (#39)

~~~

WIP!

Anthill Theory (Short Film) Post-Production

An exploration of free will through a time loop that the protagonist doesn't know he's in.

Mercy's Ocean (Short Story) Awaiting Feedback

Alternate opening chapter for a Novel written by my high school English teacher.

Blue Rabbit (Short Story) Pre-Final

Sequel to A Covenant of Rust (see below). I keep telling myself I'm going to finally finish this one.

One Late Night Easter Morning (Short Story) First Draft

A chance encounter at a bar leads to late-night musings about humanity.

The Order of the Degenerati (Novel) Outlining

A secret society was formed after the tragedy of the holocaust to make sure it never happened again. Unfortunately, nowadays the most they can do is make YouTube videos go viral.

It Goes Up (Never Never NEVER NEVER NEVER) Complete

You will never read it.

Memories Retained (Novella?) Outlining

Ever had a dream where you were back in high school, before it all went to shit, and you decided to do something differently? Ever woke up and found out it really happened?

Dominic of the Darkness (Series?) Brainstorming/Partially Written

The antichrist is about to celebrate his sweet 666th birthday by breaking hell - that is, going to live on Earth for a week. Fan favorite for those in the know.

And MORE! THERE IS ALWAYS MORE!

~~~

MY BOOK!(?)

Publishers don't seem super interested in collections of short stories, and I'm afraid a collection of short stories and novellas may make a literary agent's head explode, so expect to see Tales from Starved Childhoods as a self-published debut! It includes a fully rewritten new version of Everyone Has Their Price (2017); newly revised versions of Next Day Delivery (2017), The Real Me (2022), Three Takes on Death (2022) and Pink Bow (2022); and all-new stories such as:

A Covenant of Rust (2023, Novella)

A newlywed couple moves into a 1950s prefab home in early 2020, but finds more hidden beneath the surface than the floor plan could reveal. Will forgotten secrets and isolation bring them together, or tear them apart?

AND SOME OF THOSE WIPs UP THERE! THEY'RE WHY THIS ISN'T OUT YET!

Tales from Starved Childhoods is set to be the physical manifestation of my early career as a writer, so stay tuned and look for it someplace books are sold!

~~~

If you'd like to be one of my readers or vice versa, don't hesitate to reach out! I'm always happy to have more eyes on what I'm making and I'm always happy to read something new. It helps with the burnout. I'm open to most any genre - I don't really think much about labels when coming up with ideas.

If you work for a publisher and you see something you like, send an email to publishing@notsocheezy.com

[terrifickid]

Nah nah

I 💯 would but

I get a premonition right when I see this guy that I'll train at his dojo in tel Aviv when I'm 33.

Years later I'm 34 and training there and think, oh well so much for that premonition - he says, 'start your dojo' - I'm like, huh? Ya maybe bro.

I get back and check my ID I turned 33 when I was there.

Before that, I get a premonition from an FB ad. A school, I get a premonition before to go to journey to center in Switzerland - I'm like, never again no way. Sure enough, when I get back home I enroll and the 2 schools taught me the same thing - the very thing I natural did and we can look back now and know it panned.

I noticed this signature way before in my life's events - they were encrypted, signed in causal reality that nobody could control.

Surely it's a prank tho - except the very psalm 91:1 that gets shown to me in my breakdown at a 1-off Bible study is the very same thing - oh and years later it's talking ascension right there. And what happened when I did the thing?

And now, I'm getting the model from zuster denecamp on invitation from the same tel Aviv guy and hit river of deceit and unlock the schizophrenia cause by a mirrored person who's also TK? Cause of the 'bird of prey' early bird premonition from the dojo website which went Christian?!

Ok well, I fly to Maui and lo and behold there's a Christian jujutsu church? We check out that model as well who ever heard of such a thing? That's US code compliant you better believe it.

Ain't no way that's a prank because I already did the noodling on hypnosis which is impossible - I wasn't hypnotized to confabulate premonitions. It's encrypted signed authenticated message from command.

Or schizophrenia, but permiacare told me off the bat spiritual isn't regarded that way - of course it's relevant.

And why? What other choice would I have for SSI the team consensus action? 97 dollar flight to center Pacific with flights to any continent, visa free year round weather. Access to sea and away from brewing civil war. Perfect tactical position. Booked.

It's too improbable, how did I live, this series of events. Thing after thing. It's design.

So we're talking 7 times 11, we're talking dragon. If I don't let go of these resentments somehow I'll mortify.

And again, cut it anyway you like what's indisputable is HI is the only American state with the proper weather at the base case outcome of what I see now and saw the as the only possible future which is starve on the street and get jailed.

Well so what.

So we're already packed and the fitness and diet team I picked up in Colombia came thru. I've got 12 years urban stealth camp experience, equipment - it's now a $10 poncho and a train to LA.

I've been programming quant for 8 years? It's not impossible - I'm 20/20 - it's all been a breakdown of the execution systems. Ok. Small price to pay for unparalleled speed and power.

UpWork was destined to fail and any economic issues only compound. My condition precluded me from any other alternative and the law enforces the status quo.

Why I gotta fight non-stop with everyone? That's not written nowhere. And the very same scenario got me back my will to live - I'm making it up?

Only shot I got. We hit Maui and train up in the mountains shugendo style. Study jujutsu and volunteer. I'll see what contacts I can drum up and assess the terrain and social disposition for long-term entrenchment position.

Bonus is, it's a perfect base to ship animals to, out of disaster areas across the Pacific theater.

It's a dragon or I'm a fool.

Point being is what sense is to be made of this? Is my so-called innate nature or heartfeltness just a brain tumor? Seems like. What am I turning down a promotion to build a baseball field?

We're at a complete impasse,

it's Kobayashi maru and it always was.

We died at 24, followed the inner light for 20 years, battled across the world and when I woke up an purple energy vortex appeared in my new minds eye. I've traversed that tunnel for months, recouped all losses and now I've got a ticket to Maui and a plan.

[govindhtech]

Unleashing PartyRock: Features and Capabilities

Create AI applications with PartyRock and Amazon Bedrock

Visit PartyRock.aws if you’re prepared to discover about the subject of generative AI while experiencing fun and creating amazing things. Without knowing how to write code or sign up for an AWS account, you can experiment, discover everything there is to know about prompt engineering, create mini-apps, and then share them among your friends. To further improve and customize an application that was originally shared with you, you may also start with it and remix it.

Through PartyRock

1.We go to https://partyrock.aws/, click Sign in, and use my Google, Apple, or Amazon account to log in to get started.

2.We have successfully authenticated and now on PartyRock’s home page. We can choose “Build your own app” to get started, or we can go over some sample apps.

3.Alternatively, we may construct the app from scratch, widget by widget, or we can enter a description and use PartyRock’s Generative AI to gain a head start.

4.After entering our prompt, we select Generate App.

5.After a few seconds, AWS software is ready, and we enter some information to check if the output has enough snark for my purposes.

6.That looks fantastic, let’s disassemble it and see how it functions!

7.User Input and Snarky Response are the two widgets available in the program. When we select the Edit icon on the first product, we can see that it has a default value, a title, and loading text. Widgets can relate to one another by name thanks to the title.

8.An InvokeModel function call to Amazon Bedrock is encapsulated in this straightforward widget. The widget links to the User Input widget and provides instructions on how to utilize the Claude v2 model along with a straightforward prompt. We can try adjusting one, saving the modification, and watching for a moment or two to see what happens. Claude Instant, for instance, causes me to receive a somewhat different response when we change the model.

9.We should now like to see a picture of the response. To identify the key nouns in the response, we will use a Text Generation widget; to see the results, we will use an Image Generation widget. we use a straightforward prompt and add the first widget.

10.We click the Retry icon to test it, and the result seems flawless.

11.We adjust the question a little and add the Image Generation widget. It takes us about a minute to get what we want.

After we satisfied with the software, we can Share and Make Public:

But Hold On There’s More

These are some that we didn’t get to:

Empty App: With our needs, we utilized the App Builder, but we can alternatively choose to Start from an Empty App, choose my widgets, and configure them as needed.

Remix: To modify or improve an existing app, either mine or another open source project, we can start with a remix.

Chatbot Widget: We can use a prompt to begin interacting with my app.

 Referencing: When developing my app, we can use the symbol “@” to make name-based references to other widgets.

Advanced parameters: A few widgets include the ability to adjust various parameters. For instance, we can adjust the model’s Heat and Top P parameters using the Text Generation widget.

Behind the scenes at PartyRock we can view my applications and total PartyRock credit consumption in Backstage.

You should be aware of the following two PartyRock facts:

Pricing: To help you start learning the basics without having to worry about spending money, AWS is now offering new PartyRock customers a free trial without requiring them to register for an AWS account or give a credit card. This offer is valid for a short period of time. As seen above, you can monitor how much credit you use in the Backstage. The data you provide in tokens, production tokens, and created photos are used to compute how much credit you use.

Model Access: Over time, AWS intend to grant you access to more models.

In Progress – Keep checking back for updates as AWS continue to develop new features and widgets.

Read more on Govindhtech.com

[dnallohleoj]

I think the thing that fucks me up about Unity's move the most is that they absolutely know for a fact that most in-development games cannot afford to change engines. Unity sucks, it always has, any time I have been forced to use it, some terrible internal system I had to spend a ridiculous amount of hours learning last time has been deprecated and replaced with something that's better on paper but since they didn't actually finish it, it's worse.

That being said, it is currently the only free-to-use, lightweight, and beginner/educator-friendly game engine on the market with a clear path to console ports.

Unreal Engine is easier to use and also has a clear path to consoles, but it's a massive file to install, requires a $1.5K computer from the current year to run it without having to adjust a million internal settings, and there's a limit to how low it can go with a port unless you're willing to rewrite the shaders in the source code yourself. While it can do 2D, it'll likely make them ridiculously hardware-intensive, and that's no good.

It's just a matter of time before Godot catches up with more established engines at the pace it's developing, but if you try and make a game in it right now, you're looking at a significantly more time-consuming and expensive process trying to get the game on consoles.

GameMaker is kind of a sad tale because of all the ones I mentioned, it was actually developed with education in mind, but their pricing system has become more aggressive and predatory over time. Its current pricing plan requires you to pay $50/yr just to port to DESKTOP! and it goes up from there.

RPG Maker (doesn't matter which version but let's be real, for most of y'all it's 2003) is super easy to use, but because of the programming language it uses, in order to port a game made in it to console, the amount of extra work you'd need to do would be better spent rewriting the game from scratch in Unity, which, uhhhh..... Again, no 3D.

Construct used to be good, but now the entire engine has to run in your browser and there's not a desktop version anymore. You also have to pay $130/yr for the ability to port to DESKTOP! Again, no 3D. The only upside over GameMaker is that you can publish to web for free, but god help you if you try to monetize without paying them.

CryEngine seems fine, but it also has a steeper learning curve and I basically never hear about people using it. I guess that doesn't mean they don't but then again, up until this point, there were two better alternatives. Now there's just one and a runner-up, so we'll see. Could also be that they start asking you to pay them faster than Unity or Unreal did, I have to imagine that plays into it.

These are the most popular alternatives to Unity I know of. Some of them are fine, others will get better, most have no redeeming qualities, but if you're an indie studio maybe making your first mid-budget game, switching would require sacrificing something huge, and I'm not just talking about the wasted man-hours in an engine that you can't afford to use anymore. For all its faults, Unity was at the perfect intersection of features that made its functionality issues worth looking past.

And make no mistake - Unity knew that from the start. They knew that even if people jumped ship, a lot of upcoming games couldn't afford to, and what happens to them post-release isn't Unity's problem. The plan has always been to hold those developers hostage. I think the only thing they didn't anticipate is games like Cult of the Lamb or Among Us deleting their existing games, but considering how Steam and the console stores work, I doubt they're too worried about that, either.