#i also thought 100% i needed a b in the bio courses guess not. just a c for those and just pass chem

[oysterie]

oh my god i just checked why did i think i needed a B in chem to do the transfer program.

[thelovelyghostwriter]

How many responses have you gotten so far, if I may ask?

Hello, thank you for your question. I open the Q&A if you guys want updates on the survey or any problems I'm facing.

Currently, there's 380 responses in total. [It was actually 362 last night, don’t know where I got the boost overnight, perhaps that Kurapika post] 

tThere's actually 84 questions in total, but I coded it in such a way that certain questions don't appear when you indicated an option. For example, if you indicated that you are not up to date with the manga (indicating that you have read the post-Election arc AND read till Chapter 390), the questions regarding the Succession arc theories and predictions will not appear. This is why the manga readers' survey is actually longer.

Currently, 149 respondents indicated that they had read up to date, and therefore, they indicated

Another example is the shippings part. For example, if you indicated you don't ship anything, you won't see the list of ships. If you only indicated that you ship, let's say, het ships, you will only see the het ships. This is to make it easier for people to do the survey. The key is for others to not answer unnecessary questions.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to talk about certain issues/explanations that I need to address.

The reason why I'm always emphasising the goal of 385 responses and above (400 is a good number) because based on calculations. I checked on MAL and that there are over 1.2 million who have watched HxH. The "population" in this case is the total number of people who have watched/read the series. Since some people do not have MAL, the actual population number is higher (currently, we do not know what is this exact number).

At 5% margin of error and 95% confidence level*, the ideal sample size is 385 in populations above 100K, and it doesn't change after 100K.

*I do not really know how to explain this, but don't worry too much about it.

Alright, so I'm at 380, do I still need more than 5 people?

Yes, I need more people. Why? I have three concerns:

1) I said this before, but I need more men/boys to do the survey.

As mentioned, I did not put demographic questions because my country is strict with asking people for personal data. While this survey is casual, I do not want to encounter future complications. However, I can roughly guess the gender composition of respondents because of certain questions and the way the survey was distributed. 

Firstly, this survey blew up mostly on Tumblr and there’s a lot of mixed statistics. This says that 47% are female in 2021 and this other article says 72% of women use Tumblr in 2014. Anyway, most of my online (majority from Tumblr) are women and they had actively helped me sent it out to other women who likes the show as well. This same thing happened to my friends in real life. 

Actually, this is one of the biggest limitations of this survey - convenient sampling, which is giving the survey to only people that we know. Our friends who may have similar views/interest will get to do the survey, but people that we are not friends with who may have a different view/interest does not get to do the survey. Their thoughts/opinions are not recorded. 

Secondly, there are certain questions that makes it easy to guess for me if the respondent is a woman/man. 

For example, the “which character do you simp for” question. 

“nil” means they don’t simp for anyone by the way. Also, note that this is just the word cloud diagram. I will chart them manually in bar charts later on. 

Usually, when someone indicates a lot of male characters, they are normally women/girls. The ones who indicated Killua Zoldyck and Gon are usually young girls. Of course, I’m not saying men won’t indicate they simp for a male character or something, but yea know, common sense a bit here. The likelihood of someone placing Chrollo being a woman/girl is higher than the respondent being a man. That also same goes for the shipping questions. 

The survey is posted on Reddit that consisted of 83.1% males in the HxH area, according to the 1K survey that they had. This helped me boost more people (and possibly guys who do survey). However, I think only about 20 to 30 people did it (based on the boost I got after the Reddit thread was posted). I also had help from a large hxh IG account that had slightly more guy followers to give me a shoutout. I also went to reach out to some accounts whom I know the admin are guys. 

I still need a bit more help though, because currently the survey results... I’m sensing that there are more women/girls who did it from the way the results are turning out. 

Why is this important? 

It’s simple. I cannot just release the results that had an uneven ratio of the gender of the respondents and claim that this is the hxh fandom. It won’t be representative of the hxh fandom population as a whole when there are many cis-men who actually had watched/read the show, and absolutely loved it. I think it’s important to hear people’s opinions, be it men, women, young, old. 

Currently, I’m trying to attract more men to do the survey by designing my hxh analyses posts from Tumblr and transporting them to IG, because I realise they like these kind of posts and they get to see my bio profile (with the survey link) + post about the hxh survey. I also get to befriend some of them in the process (and also because I have long been wanting to post my hxh analyses on IG, but it’s just a hassle to make it into pretty poster designs). So win-win. 

Of course, anyone is welcomed to do the survey. I just need help with “balancing” it out, so please help me by sending it to your bros, guy friends, boyfriends, fathers etc. Or if you know any social media platforms where most guys dominate, then yeah please send them. Or if you’re a guy, then yea go ahead and try the survey. 

2) While the responses are 380 in total, the number of people who have read up to date is 149. 

Okay, I’m not saying I need to get people who had read up to date to be 385 as well. Realistically, not sure if I can do it. However, most of the questions pertaining the Succession arc are the most interesting ones and it takes a large chunk of them. 

So yes, it will be great to have more people to do the survey especially if they had read the manga so that we can have more respondents in those questions. 

3) The 385 response calculation is only assuming 5% confidence level and 5% margin of error. 

I don’t exactly know how to explain this, but I will try to quote for the margin of error: 

“Company X surveys customers and finds that 50 percent of the respondents say its customer service is “very good.” The confidence level is cited as 95 percent plus or minus 3 percent margin of error. This information means that if the survey were conducted 100 times, the percentage who say service is “very good” will range between 47 and 53 percent most (95 percent) of the time.”

So if you put it in HxH context, with 95% confidence level, and 5% margin of error, it goes like this: 

50% of respondents indicated that Bisky is their favourite HxH girl (this one is only one option). If this survey was conducted 100 times, the % of people who indicated Bisky as their favourite girl would be from 45% to 55%. 

But if I actually key in 3% margin of error, the sample size goes up to 1056. 

I’m willing to open the survey for 1.5 more weeks. Three reasons: 

A) I will wait for more responses of course!

B) I am currently busy with my part-time student research assistant job during summer break till this week, and they are rushing to finish up the research paper. Therefore, it’ll be nice to just wait while I do my work. 

C) I am planning to write up the theories that I had included in the survey. This means having a lot of time finding the links/threads to the theories and reading them, making sense of it. I plan to post it and also merge that in my report. 

I’m closing the survey in 1.5 weeks because I need time to do up the charts and report by mid-August because I’m afraid I might be busy once the semester starts and I won’t have anytime to do this mini fun project. 

Another thing I want to address: 

Most of the time, certain options I created is based on technical reasons. The other reason is by mistake. 

For mistakes, I went to fix them if someone highlights a mistake.

Now, for the technical reason. I did not appreciate this response in the NOTP section that says: 

The reason why I listed out almost all ships in Hunterpedia, including the ones with a large age gap and the incest ones is simple - because it helps me chart easier when I put them into options. It also decreases the chances of nonsense answers like this one. It also places less fatigue on people doing the survey.  Text boxes are only meant if the options aren’t clear or “others, please state” so that I can include people’s opinons. 

The reason why I didn’t do that for the NOTP section is that I was unable to do a certain specific coding. That’s why it ended up as a text box. It’s also based on the assumption that if something is really your NOTP, you’d know and remember it. 

Why do people online goes straight to trying to prove they are morally superior and whatnot, assuming that I listed the options because of my morality. You do not know me personally. It is based solely on technical reasons.

This is why I used this disclaimer: 

Which part of this is not clear. You can leave, just like what I said in the beginning. Another thing is not following instructions and being rude about it. 

I had also instructed clearly to list out the NOTP combinations. I even noted it clearly. Some people put “any incest/pedo ships”, which happened more than five times. What’s more, one response contained “don’t tell me what to do”. 

Yes, I get it, you don’t like these type. But what you’re doing is making me guess everything, which is unproductive. If you don’t like certain ships that are common but a “taboo” like “HisoGon”, “Killumi”, then say that. If you say it generally, I’m just going to assume the ones on the Hunterpedia list. 

Another thing is the “any toxic ships”. This is very vague. Often, some so-called “wholesome” common ships in hxh are toxic. Mind you, Killugon is also a toxic ship (let’s not be blind to the CA arc please, this pairing is unbalanced), yet almost everyone perceives it as wholesome. Most characters in hxh are toxic in their own ways, and for sure their canon dynamics if they are in a relationship are likely more toxic than what is often portrayed in the headcanon way. I am wondering what to do with this, I might put it as invalid or “no”. 

This is why my instructions are to list them. I had already edited the question twice to make it even clearer yet there’s people who defy them. I’m not just doing the instructions out of fun or make people’s life harder. Those are instructions. 

I do not understand why certain people have to feel offended/be rude at an anonymous survey. 

I can understand if people don’t follow instructions because you might missed it out and I can help to chart it for you. It’s totally okay, everyone makes mistakes, but I do not appreciate the extra unsolicited comments about me because it implies that you have read them, you just chose not to follow it. 

If you think there’s a better way to do it, then DM me. I will explain to you why I had done it so, or I might even change it based on your suggestion. For example, someone actually told me to add certain options and I did it. Another person suggested to add the non-romantic dynamics and I love that, though I think it’s a little too late to add that. Maybe in the next survey.  

If you do not like the instructions, kindly exit the survey. Nobody is forcing you to do it. It won’t record your response if the survey is incomplete for one hour. 

[aforgottenballad]

Feelings on Sally Face Episode 5

Under a read more for obvious reasons, includes heavy spoilers and potentially triggering subjects. 

Disclaimer: I might miss-remember some parts of the story or have missed a piece of lore that would settle minor complaints. I am however disappointed in the ending as a whole and in some of the very harmful tropes included in it. But I’m also just some dude online with an opinion, and you can stop reading at any time. 

Rant under cut. 

Alright ya’ll. I’ve had a couple days to digest the ending to Sally Face.  While playing, I genuinely enjoyed some elements of the game. The chapter started on a dark but nearly hopeful note. Neil and Ash were still working to bring the cult down. It seemed likely Sal would be resurrected. Todd had apparently escaped the hospital, and that had potential to be either a very very good or very very bad thing. Maple was possessed by whatever fucked up the souls of the other apartment tenants, but hey! At least her and Neil weren’t in on the cult like so many fans predicted. Unfortunately, this series has a way of getting darker and darker as it progresses.  First thing that bugged me was the lore drop about how the cult was founded.  A Native American tribe. Right. Because why wouldn’t Indigenous peoples be in a story without being part of some mystical occult backstory, portrayed as mysterious historical props who worshiped something dark and evil instead of being portrayed as human beings. 

But I continued. I really enjoyed playing as Ashley and getting some insight into her character. I enjoyed the task of planting the C4 in the temple... catacomb... thing. We get to see Travis again! I was excited that a lot of us were right about him being indoctrinated but also working to fight the cult from the inside. We knew he had some good in him after all. 

When Ash tries to resurrect Sal, we get even more insight into her character, and unfortunately a lot of it is “Grieving, distraught, and full of self-blame”. I want to hug her.  Sal’s spirit is apparently revived by those pyramids, and he can dimension warp. We meet Jim, or what’s left of him, and he doesn’t give a fuck about anything anymore but agrees to help Sal anyway. This is, narratively speaking, weird as hell. His entire character arc for four episodes was “Loved his family so much he sacrificed himself to save them”, and suddenly he’s just some glowy dude attached to Magic Spirit Tubes who doesn’t give half a shit. I guess it makes sense as a way to wrap up why he’s been able to drift between worlds but... if he doesn’t care about any of that anymore why help Sal? And what about Rosenberg? Is she like Jim, or do we just have to assume she’s magical because her family helped found the cult? (Explained in an easter egg later on, because this game doesn’t just drop its lore. Not even the CRUCIAL lore. You have to achievement hunt for it.) Sal can enter various doors in the House In The Void to step into alternate realities, and this was my favorite aspect of the game. Each door has a different art style, and I really liked seeing these alternate realities. Steve probably worked the hardest and longest on drawing out and coding these scenes. I genuinely applaud the man for the work put into this endeavor I’m assuming all by himself. 

Meanwhile, Ash tries to unbind Larry’s soul from the tree house he died in, which doesn’t work. Did we ever find out why his body was never found? No? Ok that seems important.

After each puzzle, Sal’s body is restored a little bit at a time, but even after turning on all the pyramids and solving the mysteries behind all three doors, he can’t make it back to the “real” world. So Ashley kills herself. Or tries to. Because apparently that’s the only way to complete the ritual, and also because she feels really bad about not unbinding Larry’s soul and about not fixing Sal. Again, I want to hug her, but I have to watch her hurt herself instead, cause Steve doesn’t let us have nice things.

Okay, so this is a gorey game. We know. But one of the BIGGEST no-nos suicide prevention networks will tell you when consulting them about mental illness and suicide in media is NOT to show a graphic suicide in progress. Steve is aware a lot of his fans are A) Young teens to young adults B) Struggling with mental illness. 

His main character suffers from depression and anxiety and this fact has resonated with hundreds of fans. It’s irresponsible to purposefully include a graphic suicide attempt, but he did it last chapter, showing a gunshot suicide’s aftermath, then he did it again with Ashley. Call me a wiener if you like, point out the graphic scenes from earlier in the game and call me a hypocrite for not being upset by that, but you have to admit the Spongebob-close-up-shot look to those scenes have a totally different feel. Speaking as someone who actually has a pretty thick skin, but is concerned about the fans who might be in a worse place or who could be as young as 12, that was fucked up. 

Anyway, Ash’s attempt doesn’t take, because she’s struck by magic lightning, which infuses Sal’s soul into her. Now her arm is one of those stretchy sticky hands, but with bio luminescence and the ability to kick cultist ass. I actually thought this part was really cool, and was super ready to go on a cultist smacking spree. But again, we can’t have nice things and before we get to do anything badass we have to look at gruesome imagery again. 

You get to see Void Larry, who is now old and a wizard or something, but first...

Surprise! Maple and Neil are dead! Not just dead, but hung up from hooks covered in blood! And naked! 

Hey?? Hey Steve????? You know how they’re both POC?? And that lynching imagery is EXTREMELY NOT GOOD?!!????

“Two white people are hung up with them” YEAH? WELL WE’VE NEVER SEEN THOSE CHARACTERS BEFORE. THEY’RE JUST RANDOM PEOPLE.

I’ve seen people arguing “The white characters go through terrible things too” but it’s still really fucked up that by the end of the game, every. Single. Person of color. In the game. Has died. Gruesomely. It’s a gorey, dark, bleak game, and white characters die as well, gruesomely; but not all of them. None of them that are named are shown strung up, naked. That’s fucked up. That isn’t okay. 

There are also a total of three gay characters in this game. One is Todd, who goes through the standard “bad bad stuff” the game is used to, is the white one, and he survives. One is Neil, one of the aforementioned people of color who died horribly and who only really existed to be Todd’s boyfriend and therefore a source of angst for Todd when he dies. The third is Travis, another man of color, and an abuse victim, who dies to fulfill his character arc as an abuse victim, which is also really shitty to see over and over again as an abuse survivor. 

Look, I know Steve pulled a lot of inspiration from old TV shows and horror series that probably weren’t all “politically correct”. I know it’s always been kind of an edgy and dark game. I know Steve probably didn’t think about the repercussions of all his narrative choices. But I also know he actively ignored some people offering to educate him on issues he has no experience with. I know he worked hard on this game, by himself, but we as fans have paid him and waited for years and it isn’t selfish or ungrateful to be hurt and disappointed. He knows his audience is diverse, he knows a lot of us were attracted to the game because of a gender nonconforming main character, a main character who struggles with mental illness, a cast that isn’t 100% white and conventionally attractive. Of course he didn’t need to change the plot for us! It’s his game, his vision, but the least he could have done is research how to not actively hurt and alienate a good portion of us.  I don’t think anyone is bad or racist for still finding solace in the characters and in what the story was before this, I’m not attacking you personally, whoever is reading this. I, personally, still have loads of Sally Face art in my queue, I still have active role plays going on, my Sal wig is sitting like 8 feet away waiting for the next time my friends want to take cosplay pictures. I still enjoyed playing the game for the most part. Without this game I wouldn’t even know most of my current friends. It’s just really shitty how it ended like this, and a lot of people I talk to daily either feel too sick to even talk about the game anymore after seeing people like them treated like trash by the narrative or try to focus on the good things they got out of just being part of the fandom but don’t feel comfortable supporting the developer anymore. 

Even if there wasn’t all these hurtful tropes packed into the game, and yes, even after unlocking the epilogue, the game just feels cold. It feels rushed, probably because of how much time went into the alternate dimension gimmick. I wish Steve had at least consulted people over the script. It felt like not only did he pour all his work into experimenting with the mixed media, he also just took whatever expectations the fans had and went somewhere completely different just to have his story be “unpredictable”. That isn’t always a good thing. Plot twists, downer endings, dark and scary imagery, all of these things can be done beautifully, but in this case it felt like he just wanted the series to end. The game didn’t subvert expectations, it fed into the harmful stereotypes and tropes all the fans were so hopeful it wouldn’t. 

...On top of not making any sense unless you’re able to 100% all the puzzles. And even when you do, it feels like all the bad stuff happened for no reason. The ending doesn’t conclude anything. Even when you unlock the epilogue, all it tells you is that a third of the world has died and that the main cast haven’t accomplished much besides “Trying to help”. Sal and Todd have powers now, but that isn’t elaborated on much. Larry’s spirit is missing, if he even exists in any plane at all anymore. It doesn’t even mention what’s going on with Ash.  It just feels like nothing mattered. 

[dcarhcarts]

This.....is the 1000th post on this blog, and I definitely waited until that could be true to post it, and that’s honestly? Very fitting. Seriously, you guys are a m a z i n g and I have literally never done a milestone before so I can’t tell you what it’s supposed to look like?? But we’ve somehow Miraculously (tm) managed to reach 100 followers and - anyway, this is going to be me very unprofessionally gushing about everyone because....I love you all and you’re all amazing aaaaaa. I’m??? Literally so blessed to have made friends and write with all of you. Y’all with multiple blogs, I’m only tagging once so I don’t spam your feed ok? And - as usual, this is going to get Long, because everything I do gets Long apparently. I tried to do it chronologically but IDK how well it worked oops.

THE LOVES OF MY LIFE, THE SUN IN MY EYES, MY MOON AND STARS

@ccrrupticn  / D!!!! you are?? literally the reason I made this blog?? Without you, this thing would n o t mcfreaking exist omg!! You’re such an amazing writer (seriously, you manage so many muses and you give them all such distinct voices??? witchcraft???) and also so ???ridiculously kind! I love gushing to you about our Kids and you’re honestly A Saint (tm) for dealing with all of my blog construction/life related breakdowns, my crazy crossover headcanons and crashing into your inbox rambling about musicals <3 I miss talking to you so hmu whenever you come back if you want!!

@personnages /  Lynna!! You’re like an Actual Angel. I think you were the first person!! who talked to me??  And You were So Nice and Welcoming that you literally soothed half of my fears coming into rpc like immediately?? You basically helped me figure out how diminutives work and you’re responsible for me adding at least 3 of my muses and I cannot tell you how much I love you and every time you pop onto my dash/feed/discord/etc, it just makes me happy inside <3 Definitely 100000% will follow you to every blog (if you’ll have me lmao) regardless of fandom!! i’m super excited about all of our ship/friendship roulettes and you’re just an absolute joy to talk to.

@nikolacvnas / LYDIA goodness you are a W O N D E R. Probably the best? Historically based blog I’ve ever encountered, and definitely one of my favorite parts of the Anastasia rpc!! The care and research and attention to detail that goes into your portrayals are a s t o n i s h i n g? Your Tatya is divine, your Maria is So Lovely and I Cry For Joy that you write Dima honestly. I’d been eyeing your blog for a little bit before I made my own - and I was honestly a little scared of you when we started cause you are a GODDESS and I am a potato, but then we talked??? and you’re hilarious and a ridiculously kind person and I love you? And of course, I love your dog (the cutest in the universe).

@mythostold / LESLIE~  Different blog, same story~ Man, I’ve been following you since maybe day two of this blog being active? No matter which fandom you end up in and which muse you write, you have such!! good!!! takes!!! For one, I love reading your meta posts??? Like you’re just so incredibly passionate about your muses?? And your writing style is so good aaaaaaa it’s so atmospheric. And on top of all of that - you’re??? such a sweet and incredible??? person??? And I love talking to you boo <3 

@lifeawoke  /  NAT BBYSWEET <3 <3 <3  I have told the story of how I did a victory dance when you followed me to d e a t h probably but it’s t r u e your writing is amazing and your blog is amazing and y o u are amazing! You are the Natasha to my Sonya, and literally every time you send me a musing I’m like immediate-goofy-grin-heart-eyes???? It’s honestly a crime we don’t have more threads but like you’re an absolute joy to talk to and meme with and I adore you/your portrayal of beautiful bratty Natasha even if she drives my Sonya up the wall <3 You are Definitely the Funny Mutual lololol I crack up so much talking to you <3

@valianceearned / CARP you’re an amazing person/writer and holy h e c k am I impressed by your OCs!! They’re all so well thought out and developed? Your bios are so detailed and so much love and care is put into all of your characters. And your writing is so Lovely and it’s also very aesthetically lovely like holy heck the amount of work you put into both the content and the formatting? I am agog, I am aghast!! 

@gearsandlevers / Callie!!!!! YOU ROUND ALL THE CORNERS I STRAIGHTEN THE CURVES!! love your kids so much. Your Violet is a delightfully clever and likeable kid, your Evan might have literally walked off the stage two seconds ago, and you’ve put so much thought into your cinnabon stoner Henry. Your dialogue is amazing and I love our headcanon sessions lobbing ideas back and forth with you!! 

@spareisms / HEY MAGGIE GUESS WHAT YOU’RE WORTH MELTING FOR!!  You’re like the sweetest person alive??? How are you an Actual Real Life Disney Princess?? Your Anna is so well characterized and multi layered and I love how she an be so flawed but so brave and just how human she is. I’m very excited for your Anne Shirley too!! You’re a great writer (and a super sweet person aaaa) and I love you!! 

@gcneralvaganov /  Deanna, I have just one question: How? Have we only known each other for like 2 months???? It feels like my dash would literally be incomplete without you??  You play such deeply complex and incredibly flawed muses with such a great depth of respect and humanity. I love all of our AUs (we.....probably have a dozen by now), our long fix-canon tangents, and....look the inevitable conclusion to this whole thing is that we should....basically just write Anastasia tbh???  You’re incredibly funny and kind and talented and I’m so glad I yeeted myself into your IMs that first time 2 months ago! I love you, I love your muses, (Dima and Anya love their Dumb Boyfriend), and I love writing with you! 

@ncvaflows / ALEXA YOU ABSOLUTE LEGEND YOU. You??? Unlocked Ultimate AU Mode Ro and it’s like I c a n ‘ t stop?? First off, I cannot believe we literally own the same books and like the same barbie movies. How are we not literally the same person??  (Maybe w e ’ r e Anneliese and Erika lmao). Honestly from day 1 you’ve been so welcoming and lovely and I’m so glad we crashed into each other’s IMs yelling at top volume about random ya lit/movies/aus!! I adore literally all of your OCs (is everyone a b s o l u t e l y sure they’re not canon??? hmmmmm a Mystery)???? In the words of Li Shang, “You WRITE GOOD????” Anyway you’re amazing and I love you <3

WHILE IT’S DEFINITELY MY FAULT FOR BEING AN ANXIOUS BEAN WE REALLY NEED TO TALK MORE OFTEN CAUSE I LOVE YOU

@curtainrisen / Rebekah, dude, you’re a wonder. Your muses??? So diverse, and your voices for them? Super on the nose and amazing. I love your Helene and how human she is, and I really gotta toss more of my kids at you (Super excited for Duke!!). You’re real chill to meme with and I love talking/writing with you!!

@heartlosttravelers / Tor!! I love that you stan Raoul de Chagny So Hard ( the pure cinnamon roll boy deserves it honestly) and you’re super cool and great to talk to! All your muses are a m a z i n g and I always love the read when you pop up on my dash! 

@damerusse / Marie!! You’re hella chill. Your memes???? 10000000% actually legendary. Meming with you cracks me The Heck Up. Lily is forever the puppy dealer, that is all, thank you, gnight. Ok for real though - your Lily is pretty Legendary too and you really got all that Spark and Fire right down. You’re amazing, and I love stalking your threads on my dash!  

@lionhvrted / Fortune, my buddy my pal, we really be Out Here making Jane Austen plots even m o r e rom-com. Like. How did we manage that??? We might be literally magical lmao. We don’t have a ton of stuff going on at the moment but I love our dumb pining kids and I love the justice and humanity you give to your Caroline, and Fitzy loves his (future) wife.

@guvernantka / P R U E I already love our Exasperated Big Sis / Annoying Lil Sis / LITERALLY WHO EVEN ARE YOU YOU SMELLY DUMBASS LIL BRO IN LAW dynamic. You have the Best Sense of Humor (tm) and I’m always catching you when it’s like 12 in the morning here so I’m always cracking up silently in bed trying not to wake my roommies up. 

@anastcsie / I LOVE OUR ANGRY SMOL AND DIRTY TOL YOUNG-BUT-OLD MARRIED COUPLE AND THEIR OLDEST DAUGHTER NAMED MARIA ALREADY.  I love your Anya and how feisty and fiery she is (Dima, needless to say, loves his wife) and I love how chill (and hilarious!!) you are as a person. We do have a tendency to turn into angst monsters 24/7 but honestly that’s half the fun!! 

@asundrop / Polly!!!! ok so I know we haven’t really done anything w/ Raps (yet muahaha) BUT b o y was I hella excited when I found someone willing to yell about CDrama with me??? Thank you for being the Eternally Stoic/Always Annoyed Ancient God to my Tiny Dumb Fox Princess?? I love them and I love you (you’re hella cool) so there! 

@moretreasurewithin / KAAAATE goodness it’s only been a couple of days but I’m So Comfortable talking to you already? You’re just honestly really amazingly kind and I love screaming about Anastasia with you. We gotta get more going but I love your Dima and Maria Already (tm) and I love your sense of humor (here’s to torturing Dima with ties!!) and I can’t wait to get to know you better!

@annastrxng / AAAA somehow I managed to chat with you and then?? We never got anything going and it’s definitely mostly my fault cause of that High Anxiety (and also the fact that I got Immediately Busy) but you are literally So Nice and The Most Understanding and super great to talk to!! I hope we get something going in the future!! 

@soulcrossed / ROSE we have the same name I keep forgetting this lmao BUT ANYWAY. All your muses?? Amazing. You gotta throw more of them at me. Your Sophie?? Are you Actually Diana Wynn Jones in disguise?? I love our crazy au/headcanon sessions and I love/hate that you’re The Worst Enabler and I’m inevitably going to end up with the other two Hatter sisters on this blog lmao. 

I HAVEN’T TALKED TO YOU TON YET BUT HI!!! YOU SEEM CHILL!!

@alonecour / @steeledstark / @professor-of-predators / @sclskinn / @dulcettc / @volaticoux / @frxncaise / @argelfrasterr / @i-wrote-myway / @zharptiitsa / @villainsfall / @anyaromanovarp / @agoodandloyalrussian / @aliquisinter 

AND EVERY ONE OF Y’ALL AMAZING PEOPLE OUT THERE I’M ADMIRING SILENTLY FROM AFAR EVEN NOW BECAUSE I CHICKENED OUT OF TAGGING YOU LAST MINUTE CAUSE WHAT IF YOU’RE LIKE “LMAO WHO IS THIS WEIRDO TAGGING ME??” (p.s. this is 100000% permission to slide into my IMs/like a plotting call/etc. I honestly think y’all are hella cool and probably love you already)

[chlorofilla]

maybe if i even explained to you how i thought it was being sold to me you wouldn’t still be so mad at me.

i mean i do however take full responsibility for the way i just replied to you. no excuses and it was really just me not accepting that someone could get mad at me. people say things they don’t mean and didn’t really want to say when they’re mad. it’s a common thing.

but in reality, i just let the whole thing go over my head at first. when i arrived to the lab you told me it was 50 and not for everything like i thought but only for that heavy ass book. then in my head i was... well that isn’t too fair given that i could literally buy a brand new and updated one at that same price at B&N and you said you just wanted to get rid of it so that’s why i asked you to reduce it to 40... although of course that i should’ve thought more about you had paid over 100 dollars for that thing. that’s where it isn’t fair. i really should’ve just told you i didn’t want it. i just seriously didn’t want you to carry that whole thing back man. i struggled only lifting itup. can u believe it? ugh i really hate myself for not saying what really is in my head. cause you’re right! with you having paid over 100 dollars for if the most you could reduce it to was 50. i mean and that was still too nice. i just couldn’t see it but now i do. i was really only looking at it from the B&N price perspective which to me didn’t make sense.

i don’t know why, but then i just didn’t really think “oh hey, if that’s only for this book how much will it be for the rest?” my stupid self just let it go over my head and forgot to ask, something. IDK

i ended up assuming it was 40 for all of the (4) books then. i also guess i wrongly distributed that as 10 per book.

once arriving at your home and you only being able to give me that one chem recitation guide and not the three remaining bio and chem books bc the bio lab guide was supposedly not the one i needed and you telling me you would find the bio recitation one and give it to me on monday, i was in my head all “oh okay, then i’ve just paid her the bio book, the chem recitation guide and in “advance” that one bio recitation guide”

and after you saying you couldn’t find the bio recitation guide, and me still wrongly thinking about 10 a piece, (or 20 for the bio book) i was like, oh i paid for this guide too but i didn’t get it so she owes me $10, not big deal. i wasn’t even gonna ask for them AT ALL until i remembered the files thing u talked to me about and me thinking i was all “fair” not asking for them for free i was like :)))) let’s exchange those 10 she owes me for those damn files.

and that’s how our stupid argument started. you called me out on it and i wasn’t having it, and i’m really sorry about that. like i said... i was just angry at you getting angry at me because i at first couldn’t see the reason for it. i was in my head being partial and fair when it was the entire contrary due to a misunderstanding from my part and not asking you properly what you wanted the price to be for those other 3 books. sorry. really. and hope you’re doing really well. you’re a wonderful person:) and miss you.

have a nice life.

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

ok so first off. I’m white so anyone who wants to come tell me to Delete This Post or just get angry @ me in my notes or dms I 100% understand and will take any and all criticism bc this is NOT my space to speak.

....I’ve seen a lot of VERY VALID TAKES around tumblr abt the Massive Juggernaut Of Violent Racist Culture that is ao3 and white fandom (esp Old White Fans) at large. I hade some thoughts, from the white side of things.

first off:

THESE TAKES ARE 1000000% CORRECT.

I, again, as a white person, dont need to stamp my validation on it, but im stating this loudly up front so that hopefully a few ppl might read further:

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-

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I’ve been aware for a long time of phrases like “cancel culture”, “censorship”, “puritanism”, “Fandom Is Free!!!” etc etc etc used by, to be honest, 90% or more of white fans to justify VIOLENTLY RACIST WORK and gaslight, and more often than not threaten, fans of color who speak up. White Women Tears, it’s an old ass trick.

-

HOWEVER

and here’s the However:

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The fans who do this, while absolutely racist scum.... had this “argument” handed to them on a silver platter.

by who???

by younger white fans.

because none of these Older White Fan fuckbags or their opinions could have kept the amount of respect, credibility, and loyal puppy-dog followers they have without the new growth of Younger White Fan fuckbags who don’t just go out of their way to equate their NOTP being canon with Actual Racism/ Homphobia/Pedophilia/ ACTUAL HATE CRIMES ON THE LEVEL OF KILLING REAL HUMAN PEOPLE, but ALSO

1) ignoring the role of the CREATORS of bigoted/harmful work and going after fans, who, while absolutely complacent in a fandom by participating in it... did not MAKE it

2) deliberately refuse all attempts by others outside their cults to find common ground

and 3) actively campaign for censorship of huuuuuge swaths of fan content that centers queer themes, kink, or is made by older fans, EXPLICITLY BY EQUATING THIS CONTENT TO ACTUAL PHYSICAL ACTS OF VIOLENCE

....all while having blm banners, ACAB in their bios, rt-ing fundraisers and absolutely not donating to them, donating to joke kickstarters to kill random fans, and not so jokingly calling the cops, fbi and swat teams, and sending death threats, doxxing, attempting (laughable dumb) acts of terror, and arguing for vigilante and STATE BACKED VIOLENCE against those same fans.... who, guess what, are ALSO VERY LIKEY TO BE BIPOC.

I can NOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. saying “white fans, as a whole, and ESPECIALLY the ao3-supportive community, are active in maintaining a racist community and defend themselves by crying ‘Censorship Puritans & Death Threats Oh My’” is true. but it ignores the growing community of Im-Not-Racist-I-Have-ACAB-In-My-Bio YOUNGER white fans who are more than happy to hand that argument to the “Olds” ready to use by lumping Deeply Set Systemic Racism in with “My Fav Is OOC In This One Fic :(...”

because two groups of white people who claim to hate each other, are actually, consciously or not, working in perfect tandem to prevent any change to fandom’s racial bigotry.

-

Look:

you want to call out the “Olds” for their shit? they all say “Oh LOOK AN ANTI DEATH THREAT CULTIST PURITAN 1984 BIG BROTHER SPOILED BABY!!! ohhhh gonna tell me to Do My Taxes???” and send death threats after u.

want to call out younger whites for Not Exactly Helping? if you’re younger than * insert current Maximum Age Of Being A Good Person here * your post will b co opted by dingbats who argue that the masses of fic killing off bipoc characters in horrific ways is morally and practically the same as a 3 yr age gap between fictional adults...

...and if you’re older it’s “wowwww lmaooo look at this Crusty Old Hag I bet they * do whatever the Bad Thing of the week is * go do ur taaaaxessss arent your 3+ kids hungryyyy while you neglect them to HARASS ME, a MINOR..... oh no mODS HELP HELP IM A POOR WITTLE KID THIS BIG SCAWY ADULT IS ATTACKING MEEEEE”

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TO SUMMARIZE-

OLDER WHITE CREATORS AND COMMUNITIES LIKE AO3 NEED TO BE HELD FULLY ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE RACISM THEY BLATANTLY CHAMPION. BUT THE SAME IS TRUE FOR THE YOUNGER WHITE-DOMINATED FAN SPACES THAT HAPPILY THROW MINORITIES, ESPECIALLY BIPOC, TO THE WOLVES FOR THE SAKE OF ESCALATING A FAKE WAR, OVER FAKE PROBLEMS, WITH THE WHITE FANS FOUR YEARS OLDER THAN THEM.

-

I am not going to pretend I know how to solve this. All I can say is that anyone saying “well of COURSE The Olds are Racist they support The Bad Ships(tm)”.... shut the fuck up you’re doing the same shit from a different blog theme.

...And, in my opinion??? Outside of some VERY specific scenarios that make themselves VERY obvious, the combination of Shipping and Race into a singular “Fandom Discourse” is an obviously white supremacist idea that equates real human suffering with cartoons having sex. so like. if I have any advice?

Keep Actual Racial Issues out of shipping wars, and keep shipping wars out of Race Based Criticism. YES this also includes the anti/proship BS too. If you consider a ship so tied to race/bigotry/racial caricature that the two cant be mentioned separately? mayyyybe thats not the best ship to use as ammo for P3d0 accusations and death threats agains That One Community You Dont Like.... unless.

you know.

you never cared about BIPOC fans in the first place and just wanted to sound like a Cool And Right Good Person while you sent gore pics to ppl u think Ship Wrong.

...yeeeesh that was a longer rant than I expected to write...

god, remember when Supernatural AND Voltron killed off their single WOC in the final 3 episodes but it was only ever brought up as, like, SuPpOrTiNg EvIdEnCe in the 4+ yrs of fandom outrage over 1-2 gay couples???? but yeah sure “only The Olds (cough-proshipperpedonastykinkyadultwomen-cough) are nasty stinky uglee racists” 🙃🙃🙃

[imogenbennettblogsdp]

Transmedia storytelling - session 6

again as said in previous blog (week 5) I am virtual learning from my home, which as in that blog I felt not as productive as I would have in a class room but under the circumstances I find I accomplished and learnt quite a bit. Also the working in Pjs is a plus...

Web 2.0 is something we have touched on before, in the first sessions which is important as Web 2.0 has become something everyone is very familiar with (even if they don't know what the word means) and that Social Media, with social media its very much broadened to a active audience, we are contanstly looking, creating and thinking about what we are seeing which can be pretty much anything. take my edit instagram account for example, I am constantly seeking new techniques by others (almost collaborating by sharing editing styles with people and I am making ‘User Generated Content’. Also Web 2.0 offers audience participation ‘Participatory culture’, for example the Comment section. this allows the viewer to give feedback, praise and even abuse (even though that's not what its particularly meant for) This gives the viewer a feel of incorporation towards the creator (or photo, video, information- if on wiki).

*Referring to the voice over presentation video* the way marketing use ‘User Generated Content’ is very interesting and it has changed the ways we receive ads and how marketers approach sponsoring etc, I wanted to look more into it/ provide evidence to this and with two popular examples being - Youtube and Game ads.  when you watch a video on youtube by a content creator what do you usually get:

Ads. 

Youtube (a popular Web 2.0 website) is a Queen Bee hive for Ads... swarming. compared to old visual Ads being Ads on tv in the commercial break or flyers, these ads can be incorporated in the video, being at the beginning of the ad like the 1st picture above, or in collaboration with the creator of the video. I found this very intriguing and interesting, Im quite fascinated by idea of marketing and this little investigation (even tho I'm pretty familiar by being a YouTube veteran) so perhaps in future I can explore it more.

As I am watching the ‘Harry Jenkins film’ I now feel more supported in what I have said previously in the Blog, Mostly where I mention my instagram account, he says “what were seeing in the digital age people are taking media into their hands... and innovating and experimenting” with that media which Is exactly what I am doing, I am taking content and mixing it up making it into my own.

‘Conversion Culture” Having different platforms to see it (say youtube, insta and TikTok) which is shaped by us rather than corporations, we have control. we can all collaborate and mix information together (on say wiki) which leads to much more complex ‘than what someone in a board room can come up with on their own’. I also found this interesting and very off topic to the video but I realised that a very Recent and Popular example can  be how the Convid-19 information is spread out, TikTok a very content creator based app which mostly is used by younger generations and if you go on it now you'll see a lot of information on how to stay safe and social distance during this pandemic which is very interesting... Could it be argued that kids are paying more attention because they see this entering ‘their world’? not just seeing it on the news (which they might not watch as heavily as the app). 

interesting as It creates more of a world for the viewer

Talking on the Transmedia topic of having multiple platforms I was shown the Blair witch project website. This fascinated me and reminded me of my personal experience With this, ‘Ingrid goes west’ a film near and dear to my heart, which is mostly based on instagram (and how it effects us) #LIFE. I was reminded of this film as the creators also made Ingrid's and Taylor’s (the influencer in the film) instagram account real which is quite fun and I enjoyed looking into it and felt like she semi excited in a way, provided more of a world outside of the film.

Taylors instagram* I found this so clever and funny, with the captions down to the T. also something to note that loads of fans are allowed to interact with Taylor like Ingrid did, Commenting quotes (especially “Damn girl that looks yummy as fuck!” which is a popular comment you'll see). Its clever if you ask me. I myself have to admit to commenting that quote as- well. (but I'm being involved!) 

Watching the ‘Transmedia storytelling’ video with a cinderella adaptation. watching this had made me think. about A- what story I want to create/adapt. and B- how it links so well to todays generation. And yet again watching this reminded me of something I have seen that is off similar structure. An Ad for the social media app ‘Own it” created by BBC. showing how little connections through sharing can lead to bigger things. (this made helped me understand the Transmedia storytelling video more as I know its all about the connections between things and seeing it visually really helped.)Im not looking forward to doing this task though, storyboarding and mind maps are not my friend and I don't enjoy them, (I may have mentioned this before) but I like to freestyle it and see where it takes me instead of planing and expecting etc. Also Im not a fan of Lucid Charts, I find it hard to use and complicated to what it is which I know is unproductive as I should be using a variety of sites to improve my skills but you can't help but hating something... Lucid chart is my kryptonite.  

For my Transmedia story I decided to do it based off of Joker (2019), I chose this as it has a major event in it which I felt I could use events for, also I really like the film so why not.

I started to think about what I would focus the story around and it was hard to pin-point a certain one, I did pick joker killing the 3 men on the subway (Spoiler!) as that is essentially in my opinion what cracked him into becoming the ‘Joker’. *Refer to the story map in google docs*. Being honest I didn't enjoy it as much as I though I did, I found it quite confusing for what I had to do for a while (so like what directions do I go in? what characters do I use?). Something I also didn't like which is strange is that I didn't like making all the social media accounts... strange because I usually make tons in my own time (I have 6+ personal instagram accounts :/) 

I did start using the software ‘Zeebob’ but I found it quite (this will make me sound snobbish but,) cheap. I just felt it limited me and to what I could create and just didn't seem realistic, 

so I made two on here but ditched it and went for the real thing... making actual accounts for the posts. Guess which is which... the 1st one is zee bob and second is an actual account I made. The upside of making the actual accounts is having the freedom and more ability to do more things (like on twitter I can retweet stuff that I feel the character would and who they follow which adds personality to the account. 

Of course the downside of making actual accounts is that I couldn't fake the likes or followers which takes away the realism to the accounts. 

Out of all the accounts and social media’s I created, surprisingly the @GothamNews was my favourite, probably because i spent the most thought on this; creating the logo (on Canva) .. and finding the cool retweets like the van which I thought was like striking gold to add to the realism.

I did make a mistake that i knew occur from using the same account and changing it (E,G, I made a twitter account and kept changing the name,pictures, retweets etc)... Notice that Arthur’s and GothamNews background photo is the same... well I just noticed that too and its why I need to pay attention to it. so tiny lesson to myself for future and if I was going to do this for real I would create separate accounts and spend more time to trying to find the fitting photos for each character and why? it makes more sense for the news account to have trash as (in the film) Trash was the relevant topic, but joker not so much - he doesn't strike me and the recycling type.

While making the accounts I tried to add as much passive detail as I could... adding the subtle detail, like (as I mentioned) who they follow, retweet, like, what's in their bio, what's their background photo etc. referring a little to one of the earlier sessions in visual design (semiotics 'Denotation and Connotation'). 

(especially Jokers) I paid attention to the way joker writes, to my knowledge he isn't very educated so his writing is very childlike and he writes how he hears (eg  when we see him write ‘hope my life makes more cents etc) it so that was a nice detail I added. 

here are some notes I made for when I was thinking about the map:

- plan event - riot

- bruce Waynes dad saying “stop trash/ campaign

- joker “maybe my life would make more cents if I was dead” 

- Marty “tonights show will be interesting “ 

- jokers video going on air

overall I think I will take the idea of broadening the ‘World’ I create (with film) by creating different platforms. I found this lesson a lot harder than I would of found it in class due to my focus being lost and feeling like im not putting 100% into it unfortunately. 

And who knows maybe ill get loads of followers on one of the accounts and become famous.

[glopratchet]

cldstrm000

You can't see anything on it, but you guess that it's probably a little more advanced than what your computer was capable of back in grade school What we have is a screen of buttons and a list of plot lines and a bunch or characters who are either important to the story or just there for you to kill You're not really sure how much you want to play with this thing though since all of these games seem pretty cut and dry, like they're going to be exactly the same no matter which one you choose Throw it up there let us see it Plot -Bunny's right, it's better if you choose since A: You're the mastermind behind all this and B: You'll enjoy it more that way Press the button with a flourish, we have work to do Plot-Bunny's right, Unseen story Try to incorpate in to mechanics but descriptions are nice too You can pay others to use their creations, or even make your own a separate items with a single coin ; (much smaller than the gold coins) A "Creations for Coin" topic will be started, but it is not necessary to use it First impression of character -creation What can you character do with what abilities they have? How does the begining of the story effect the outcome of it all? So many factors come into play, that this is going to be unbelievable hard Very few people can say they got an A in Writing Class ; (Or any other Subject), but you're going to TRY for one of those few Who are the characters you'll be controlling in this giant game of marbles? What kind of relationships will you make with them? That's all down to choice my friend, choice Your grade for This is going to be decided by a poll on "What was your favorite questline? " along with other things, ex: "What was your Favorite Line? or "Did the ending meet expectations? " so make it count! Delivering lore is about consistent details Collecting 5 of the same rune creates a stack of that rune that some may argue that you don't need in a game, but you'll need them to understand your bios - From backstory to in-game details Everyone starts with 3 Inventory Slots, each lasting 3 Posts ; (Coins are included in this), get more by investing in "Backpack Creation" Head cannon ideas can range from silly to creative Bad ones get deleted, good ones' get used (Starting Gold: Briar ; (Thyme? A dash of herbs and a sprig of flowers Power: Healing Touch ; (3 Use) - Sacrifice Thyme's herbs and flowers for Health Packs Ability1: Harmful Smell ; (1 Use) - Release a scentless gas that knock's enemies back and confuses them momentarily So do you control a character or do you watch a character Tell me about it: Why are you resigned to telling a story instead of playing one? Why would someone willingly do this to themselves? You could watch the character manage the story or manage it for them, makes no difference to me Rejoice! To become a Narration Pixie! For that is what you are now (Also who reads this stuff? ) Your Friends, your Classmates, your Family ; (Surly they're reading this) nobody will ever look at you the same way again ; (Except for Sophie who just asks "What now? Don't believe me? Move from hex to hex and let the story unfold from there, don't just watch some scrub do it for you Also there isn't just survival on the line ; (Although there is that), but your grade in my class, of course Then the ui is like dashboard for witnessing plots / ui plot select Select a plot to start the game To skip the prologue and go to credits, choose 1 To jump into the action, choose 2 For more info about each section and the credits, choose 3 There's not much but A, and C so that narrows it down at least How do you interact with the plot By lightly to heavily imagining what the plot is and actually feeling the emotions, this plays out like a choose your own adventure This gives you shares in game, but losses shares for your choosing Make all the choices and you have nothing to represent the fact that you ever existed The 1% of people who finish get 1% shared in being a winner Are you roman During the market stampede? By creating alligator snapping turltes and dropping them down into the world they slowly grow over time, eventually turning into a deadly underwaterbeast that can crush and burn anything your grade in my class, The events tab would write out stories In the past you thumbed through them like a college radio enthusiast, but with this set of incomprehensible inputs you decide that it might be better if you personally arranged them about the nonplayer characters and their life events--what they felt, saw, thought, and how they were died You didn't read too much into it then, but maybe somebody was trying to tell you something Rant: Ultimately written with NaNoRe write your user story So what you are creating is one giant story that quite frankly nobody will ever read mainly because they aren't instructed too Also many sections are so long that nobody, even you have the persistence to read it all through But that doesn't matter, in fact you probably don't even care if anybody reads it But how is interactive when you enter text it plays out in real time based on how you set up the characters and events Your main character is a veteran that served 20 years? Have him reminiscence about the past, but don't go overboard Got a bully? change what they say based on your input Have mother nature herself be a female Goddess of destruction? Have mechanics come up that support the theory after you get passed the religious fanaticism of it all I mean little bubbles could pop up that tell you that the plot as been advanced to a new page It needs tweaking so that's going to take time So what do you do until then? Bold: The unending sun accosts your skin with only the mercy of lukewarm breezes to cool you down "Not bad, not bad, A full head of gray hair onto your Violet scalp thanks to your orc heritage, dark circles surround your eyes and a white beard reflects how many worries have plagued you in the past few days Perhaps even re watch the drama unfold on the hex map You killed forty of the young men in the ensuing battle and now have them at your beck and call to take out to the battlegrounds as you decide on what to do with your Nation, So your resourceful half-dragon master makes first contact with a nearby orc village--it went better than anyone could have anticipated That would fade into video during certain segments that really need a high definiton render His elaborate map shows what could only be the western front of an on going war It's quite frankly more high tech than anything he's shown you before You peer closer at the twenty foot hexagonal tiled ground and watch as the war drones fly overhead and bombard a nearby rocky outcrop They cut through it like butter, then continue on The why from his perfect memory and ingenious implementation You fondle your many options You see a screen of all the characters names and on the row exists options that can be choosen for them to say or do when 'active Something about alligator snapping turtles dropping from the sky (he said dropping not falling Well that's interesting) Must be an event He had many connections to companies out side of the village so that might be lucrative Someone is spying on the village, via a drone maybe? You can try and track it down and disable it Or leave it alone thinking nobody noticed Nah He had only four re-inforcements waiting to aid him in his journey as commander of the war-band Or are you the turtle roaming about The screen pulls back and now you are shown to have your pointer finger on a yellow giant star at the center Also other planets exist out side of your vision Maybe the moon of this planet contains resources You can only control events that YOU personally have been a part of If someone else where to take command no doubt you would be demoted Where did he come from? Why is he here? Could he have destroyed the village in the first place? But if it lands in certain places it opens up new characters for you to play The universal storyteller could have ideas for you for a price presumably The thing is all of this story is really happening in the background or to make your own Hitting select pulls up a prompt to continue the story Turning the three terminal into one large hexagon would allow you to use it as a visual mapping tech for re-creations of battles or wildlife etc Combining functions eh? Removing enemies from the story could increase the rate of survival for people such as your character There is a fourth column that exists with the why, how and what columns In the simulation this displayed 'life' and was at 100% Pressing it changes the column heading to a screen ending of continue or create The hallway now exists with walls on each side displaying blue swirly patterns that seem to form words, sentences thoughts Everything feels very Matrix like right now Now you start to panic, wonder if you had something to drink before heading into the lab best get out of here quick And i need to program it out so others cant use this stupid machine! Now you try to exit, but the terminal wont let you Only one option remains no no that won't work! horrors This ending is nonsensical under most circumstances! The question is how do you program out the simulation It was designed to be a visual storyteller Your sacrifices or their sacrifices were used in the formulas to allow my abilities to program and design video games! Even a light switch is knowledge of electrons and protons in our Universe! o I hear opening music usually reserved for grand space battles the sensations of flying through space are filling your mind I wonder if something I ate disagreed with me You need to create the alligator turtle drop for others to use without them being participators in my whole scheme argh music is mathematical structure but what will I choose as the columns? To have your music relived via hologram at your funeral or not This seems almost backwards i was about to try something out and now I am on a decision screen! The story was about someone dying from snakebite now music? This doesn't seem right The idea of a single page decision does not sound like a good one I have been having trouble of late and cant be sure that there are not things broken in the narrative The world is a loop that resets itself over and over We can only hope to change the tiniest portion of it But what choice do we have but to try? NOTE: This story was previously titled "The Storyteller: A Music Tale" Think more about the company that creates this experience in movies and games Wish I could list all my sources and influences or this note would be far too long Thank you for your time, patience and support How does the alligator turtle drop game work It is the closing drop of a magic act A bowl is place on a table and a ball is placed on the floor beneath it The magician slowly puts each finger into the bowl one at a time and then makes a horrifying discovery a small alligator turtle has been secretly placed underneath the bowl! You must play through the choices in chronological order Each choice represents one of the fingers But yes dropping more and more turtle reviels more and more of the game If you get desperate one can use the other website link ; (or copy and paste) to try and figure out the elaborate set of circumstances needed to create this tale Please do not post these answers online anywhere as it is likely to ruin the fun for others in the future Let the adventure and discovery begin! The protector robot has safeguards to prevent itself from being hacked and summarily destroyed by evil types It can tell when these types are trying to gain access to the place It would be very rare for someone to be of this unusually interested in this tale It is easy enough to get a hold of me through the contact information at the front of this website The idea to creat a simlation was developed through talking to a number of high school and college students who were heading into these fields It really stemmed from my desire ot get the programming language Python ; (used in the creation of this tale) into classroom CS101 curriculum's After I retired it seamed natural to revisit the idea of switching my focus to online teaching This venture was much longer and more successful than my 74seconds org venture because it seemed to tap into an underserved market! Remember the idea is to create a simulation of a physical space so that you the reader can learn logic gates So keep interaction in mind when you are moving through each page! Maybe the reader does not focus on the details difference with each new reading but the programmer watching you will see if there is any pattern or repeatable strategy There needs to be a bit of adventure for flavor but mechanically the entire story is built with interaction in mind Finally the idea is to create a computer simulation of a physical space so that you the reader can learn logic gates without all the tedious work I believe this idea could be applied to other in-demand career fields as well; from medical technicians to kindergarten teaching Where a robot design to protect a snapping turtle baby malfunctions and does not disappear when dead and effects the swamp opera around them The snapping turtle baby also metamorphisizes as it grows up The interaction between the swamp creatures and the robot as well as their mannerisms are used to represent bits and bytes of information That second paragraph was for you programmers trying to solve out the sim Just think binary if it helps! One day I would love to try this as an app or some other kind of video game form but sadly I do not have the knowledge to accomplish this But you still have not figured out how the players of the game can add something unpredictable to the mix so that each play through is different Feel free to email me your ; (sensible) solution! I would also like comment on the image of R2-D2 above the robot design I am a big time star wars nerd and carrying that over into the design was a no-brainer for me But what you may not know is that this robot design was made by one C-3PO! The players make the game unpredictable by selecting which wires to cut If the wrong wire is cut then the robot may misread a command and turn hostile! Thanks again for visiting my site and good luck with the puzzles! - modified on Tuesday, October 3, 2013 9: 26: 04 PM Labels: All , Software Break those chains - for freedom! I think that this is brilliant because it really ties into my theory of only education certain types of schooling can really prepare you The most unpredictable method of changing the game by the players is Something even more unpredictable than the roll of a dice and that's the chaos in human behavior which these gladiators will find out today Some lessons in life can only be taught through pain and loss and maybe even death Something even more unpredictable than the roll of a dice and that's the chaos in human behavior The most unpredictable method of changing the game by the players is actually very simple It is the one thing every 'person' has that separates us from other creatures: Choice My challenge to you, readers, is to find a way to introduce choice-based actions for the gladiators to do within the narratives I lay out Specifics on how this will happen will be in each post Doesn't have to be complex and it doesn't have rewrite the entire post

[leighleighpresents-blog]

Frisky (& Mannish) Interview

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival brings a lot of fresh talent to Australia, and, being one of the biggest comedy festivals in the world, it helps to showcase some of the biggest talent also.  One of the newest drawcards to this years MICF is Frisky & Mannish, who are well loved in the UK for their Cabaret-style mash-ups.  Be sure to check out their website (link at the bottom of the page) and read the hilarious bio of these characters.

I had a chat with Laura Concoran (aka Frisky) about their show, and their time in Australia … as well as a bit of GaGa!

GQ:  Hi Laura, how are you?  How are you enjoying your time on tour so far?

LC:  We’re having an absolute ball.  It’s the first time we’ve been to Australia and New Zealand, where we’ve just come from, and we’ve just been blown away by the warmth and loveliness of the Aussies and Kiwis, we’ve had the best time that we could ask for, and the audience has been great as well!

GQ:  While you’ve been here, have you been up to anything interesting at all in your time off?

LC:  It’s funny, we were in Sydney just before we went to Wellington, and were playing in the studio at the Opera House as part of Mardi Gras, so we did go out and have a bit of fun with all the parties.  Normally they have the parade, then the parties, but this time they were a week apart, so we had twice the partying happening in Sydney, and an enormous parade, it was just brilliant, and we were having an amazing time with it, then the party was a week later, and that was one of the messiest things I’ve ever witnessed.  It was like a music festival crossed with a rave, it was just huge and sweaty and brilliant.  Seeing George Michael desperately miming to his own material was just so heart-warming, and getting the audience to sing all the hard bits, it was just a master-class celebration.  So we had an awesome time partying in Sydney, and have just been trying to get out and see as much as we can, cos it’s our first time here, so we’re just kind of hungry for the whole area.  We went up to the Blue Mountains, had a bit of an impromptu swim up there, which was just gorgeous.  I mean, as kids growing up in England, you just see all these people leaping into mountain pools, and you’re like “yeah, I’m never ever gonna get to do that”, and then you find yourself on a baking hot day leaping into a pool in the mountains, it’s just amazing.

GQ:  Yeah, the swimming holes we have here are pretty awesome.

LC:  I don’t think I’ve ever swam in a natural pool before, it would be far too cold in England for that sort of shenanigan.  I’m so jealous that you guys get to grow up with that sort of thing.   I managed to climb a little waterfall as well, and just stand under it, pretending I was in a music video.  In my mind, I was Peter Andre’s Mysterious Girl just for a minute …

GQ:  Oh no, not Mysterious Girl … I remember when that song was released!

LC:  Hahahaha!  So do I!  Great song!  It may feature in our show, as a matter of fact …

GQ:  Have you ever had any feedback from any of the people you’ve sent up in your shows?

LC:  Only once.  We were in Edinburgh, about halfway through our run, Kate Nash came along to see it, which was kind of cool.  With her, we do a mash-up of her and Kate Bush, and she was unbelievably cool about it.  I guess she was at the festival cos she had lots of friends putting on shows, and she’s a lot more open-minded and gets a lot more of the Fringe humour, and that any sort of parody and reference is an enormous compliment.  When we’re putting together our show, we abandon a lot of stuff because they’re not popular enough, people wouldn’t know it well enough, so if you make it into the show, already it’s an indication of the ladder of success that makes you worth doing.  So yeah, she was really cool about it, she was really chuffed about being compared to Kate Bush.  So, so far, the one that’s seen it loved it, so let’s hope we continue that 100% success rate.  I’m hoping no one else sees it, haha!

GQ:  So how would you describe your show to those who haven’t heard about it?

LC:  I’d put it under the bracket of a name we came up with, which is Twisted Pop Cabaret.  It’s cabaret in the sense that it’s music, and kind of looks fabulous and sounds fabulous hopefully, as well as being funny and entertaining, so I get the whole experience in there, and it’s a fast-moving show, the songs kind of come at you at 90 miles an hour, and every single song in it is a famous pop song, and we kind of contextualise them, so we’ll either put it in a different time period, or a different genre, get somebody else to sing it, or just make a big medley of all the songs, and what we try to do is show what is going on with the lyrics, cos we don’t change the lyrics that often, so we kind of imply, perhaps, a meaning you might have missed, within those songs.

GQ:  there’s so many songs out there that people don’t even realise what they’re about …

LC:  Totally, totally.  I love, as well, hearing what people think a song is about, or get the lyrics wrong, and they’re happily singing along and you’re like “well, that’s not quite the right words …” but anyway.  One of our favourite ones is, we do what we call the Horror Medley, where we do a bunch of songs, and show just how weird they are, and how they could be something straight out of a B-Grade horror movie.

GQ:  Such as?

LC:  Well, we start off with … without wanting to give too much away … we start with Total Eclipse Of The Heart.  You know how you have those little “Turn Around” things happening by the backing vocalist, so we have someone on stage sort of singing it and constantly turning around to see who’s behind them, and there’s no one there, but they keep telling her to turn around, until she works herself into being a little bit terrified.

GQ:  That reminds me of a Candi Stratton performance … she did that song, and it started as a normal performance, not really funny, but then she started getting paranoid from the “turn around” voices, and, by the end, she’s cringing in the corner pulling all her hair out.

LC:  Haha, awesome!   Well, we only touch upon it briefly before moving on to I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight, which is obviously a bit weird … I mean, pop music is just rich ground for absurd humour, there’s so much about pop music that’s just ridiculous.

GQ:  But then again, some of the weirdest song lyrics are the best though, cos they MAKE you think …

LC:  Totally.  I mean, the ones that are more abstract are sometimes a lot harder to parody, and they’re the ones that are quite thought-provoking and engaging, and it’s really fun to have ones that are really literal.  That’s sort of what characterises Kate Nash and Lily Allen, they’re so prosaic and so banal, that in itself is just brilliant playwork, and, I mean, there’s a Kate Nash song that starts with “this is my face”, and it’s like “ … good …  “ and then it goes on to describe her face, how it’s got freckles, a few spots, and how her eyebrows are brown, and you just go “what?  You’re beating me around the head here with your banality …”

GQ:  Is anyone safe from your parodies?

LC:  Anyone obscure, that’s about it, haha!

GQ:  Have you ever tackled Mariah Carey?

LC:  Mariah Carey is coming … she’s not in this show, she’s in the one we’re writing.  We do a big enormous “lecture”, if you like, on the art of the duet, and, of course, Mariah is just a fearsome duetter.  In our version, she’s the one that contractually has the money notes.  I don’t know if you remember, she did a duet with Westlife, the Phil Collins song (Against All Odds), and Westlife were essentially her back-up singers, which is so ludicrous.  It’s like Westlife went “We’ll be your backing vocalists, Mariah”, and then they billed it as a duet.  I was like “Are you mental?  This woman is basically wailing all over your vocals … “

GQ:  You haven’t touched “our Kylie” have you?

LC:  You know what?  In all honesty, we haven’t, because there are a few artists, Spice Girls included, who are just too perfect a pop creation.  They’re just so self-aware and so shamelessly kitsch and wonderful that, if we were to do a Kylie or Spice Girls song, we’d basically just be singing their songs and dancing around pretending to be them, because secretly inside, we want to be them.  That’s the problem, particularly with Kylie.  You know, she did the whole Stock, Aitken and Waterman period, then totally bounced back from it, so you can’t even take the piss out of her for I Should Be So Lucky, cos she’s already worked it herself!  The woman’s done a duet with Nick Cave, you just can’t argue!  She might feature in the next show, we’re thinking about doing a section on “Good Girls Gone Bad”, so she might come under scrutiny then, but she’s safe so far.

GQ:  So tell me about the current show …

LC:  Well, it’s done in a school format.  It’s all pop parody, and it’s based on all the most famous, wonderful pop that we know, but it’s a very strict, school timetable, and we’re absolutely and totally serious, and 100% committed to the education of our audience, which is very important to us.

GQ:  Sounds … interesting, haha!  Now, one thing that I wondered, and some of our readers might want to know … is Matt gay?

LC:  Hahaha, yes, haha!  Oh, and FYI, it’s always Matthew, not Matt.  He hates being called Matt.  But yeah, we both love the gay community, love to have “the gays” in, sort of part of our humour.

GQ:  Talking about “loving the gays”, I’m guessing Lady GaGa is a part of your show?

LC:  Of course Lady GaGa features in our show, haha!  She gets her own dedicated little section.  We love GaGa.  I love GaGa so much.

GQ:  I hated GaGa so much, but Bad Romance got to me …

LC:  Bad Romance is the turning point for everyone, I think.  A lot of people hear it and go “actually, it’s a bit good …”  The thing is, I have a total obsession with her, and it’s not based on whether I approve of everything she does, it’s just an obsession, it’s like I need to know, I need to hear and see constantly.  She’s one of my favourite people to Youtube.  I spend hours on Youtube watching GaGa performances, oh my god, she’s a mentalist, I love it.

GQ:  What did you think about the video of her Bad Romance performance in New Zealand, when she lay down during the performance?

LC:  I have not seen that!  Oh my god, I’m going to go and Youtube that right now!  I think, with her, it’s such a great skill and persona to have adopted, is that anything could happen.  You never know on stage whether it’s meant to happen or not.  There was a performance on, I think it was the MTV Awards or something, and she was gauging out her insides and covered in blood, and when she was finished, she was kind of just hanging from the ceiling all doused in blood, so you just have no idea whether it was intended to shock or cause talk or whatever.  I love how she shows that fragility and everything.

GQ:  what do you think of the Telephone video?

LC:  Mental.  Absolutely crackers.  I loved that song when I heard it.  I had The Fame, then I was listening to The Fame Monster tracks, and that was the only one I heard where I was like “Yep!  I’m having that one straight away!”  I listened to it on repeat, cos we had a really annoying journey from a gig once, cos it’s just the two of us and a piano.  That’s all we work with, and we have a sort of big keyboard piano that we use in the UK, and we had to get it on a train, and you can imagine trying to get a piano on and off a train, it was just horrible, so that song just got me through, and I was bouncing around from it, and I love how it’s kind of about nothing, and the video’s got nothing to do with the song, and sometimes that annoys me a little bit, but it’s just such a brilliant video, I just love the image and the aesthetic and everything they’ve done with it, and good old Beyonce gamely trying to do a bit of GaGa moves.  She’s a game ol’ bird, is Beyonce.  Do you know what it is with GaGa though?  I can imagine it’s a bit like what seeing Glam Rock for the first time must have been like.  Can you imagine, coming out of the late 60’s and there’s all these grimey rock bands like The Rolling Stones who look like they just need a wash, they’re all on smack, and then suddenly you get like Marc Bolan and David Bowie in full make-up and astonishing costumes, and giving these characters this entire show, and it must have been like something from another planet landing, and cos we’ve all grown up in the wake of that, we kind of take that as read a little bit, but GaGa seems to capture the spirit of that.  It’s like, no one else is doing it.  No one else is taking live performance, the fashion, the image and everything that far, pushing the boundaries, and everyone’s having to push the boundaries as a result of it, and no one’s getting away with it.  You can see she’s inspired by Bowie, and she’s kind of upped it a bit too, she’s moving it forward a bit, it’s a beautiful thing.  It’s exciting, it’s reinvigorating pop a little bit.  Gotta love her.

GQ:  Haha, true.  Well, to finish, is there any messages you have for our readers?

LC:  God bless you, and see you all at the show!