#i hope using a read more is adequate as well but just !!! i am very fond of this brand of angst

[toushindai]

totk spoilers but are we ACTUALLY meant to think it’s poetic or flattering or triumphant that Rauru was like “oh YEAH? Well in thousands of years this guy called Link is gonna kick your ass”

How much has he even heard about Link? He must have had at least one more conversation about him with Zelda because the Master Sword doesn’t come up in the Zelda and Sonia tear, and by the King’s Duty tear Rauru’s just like oh don’t worry, if we don’t finish Ganondorf off I’m sure your bf can handle him. As I’ve said before, his “We rely on your knight” line rubbed me the wrong way starting with its appearance in the trailer, and it really does not feel less entitled after watching said knight (and that legendary sword he carries) very very VERY nearly get one-shotted by Ganondorf at the beginning of the game. And Zelda knows this! What does she feel watching her Better Dad Substitute sacrifice himself and simultaneously sic the evil bad guy on Link—a siccing which explicitly shapes Ganondorf’s attitude towards Link at the beginning of the game? At what point did she have the emotion of “welp. I know why Ganondorf knew Link’s name now.” The musical blending of the LOZ theme/hero’s theme with Rauru’s theme seems to suggest that it’s not an emotion meant to be had at exactly that moment, but I cannot watch Rauru sneer “remember that name” without yelling HE DOESN’T NEED THAT INFORMATION at the screen.

I played through the GSI in Japanese recently and Rauru did seem a touch less entitled to Link than I’ve been reading him—mostly because of the formal, polite, outgroup-equal language he used with him—but I still can’t get over the extent to which Rauru heard about Link a few times and decided, sight unseen, that he was going to clean up Rauru’s mess. My man what made you think that. What gave you the right to decide that. And how frightening to be Zelda and watch Rauru pin all the world’s hope on her beloved knight who Ganondorf absolutely fucking wiped the floor with. We see this worry in her in the Master Sword in Time cutscene! To what extent can Zelda’s transformation and before that her petition to the other tribes of Hyrule for Link’s sake be understood as a forced action due to Rauru’s conviction that Link could do this no sweat? Almost entirely, I feel—but does the game know that?

I just. Isn't it intentional? Doesn't it have to be? The fact that Rauru already needs the correction, once, that he cannot and should not face the Demon King alone. Then his melodramatic claim that Link has got this on lock. Then Zelda being like 😬 not sure about this actually and going through the whole process of talking to the ancient sages + draconifying for the sake of the Master Sword. Because Rauru absolutely set Link up to fail and Zelda is the one making sure Link has the resources, including the support of others, he needs to succeed. And the game is so much about community, about not doing things on your own.

And yet the way the scene is scored and animated and the way all the other characters talk about Rauru's sacrifice seems to treat this as a a moment of culmination, of triumph. I am getting such mixed messages here.

Understand, I’m saying all of this with an aching fondness for this poor self-deluded hypocrite. And also teeth-grinding frustration. I think he deserves to feel suffocatingly humiliated when Link almost didn’t survive Ganondorf’s attack and I also have tremendous sympathy for the shame and terror that it might be far too late to correct his mistake that he must have felt as he waited for Link to wake up. Both of those things. Hopelessly lonely man who found people to love him and built himself into a role he was never adequate for. I wish the game looked at this a little more. I wish I could tell if the game intended this at all.

(This is not the most intelligently written post but I assure you I mean every word of it.)

[ofduskanddreams]

I hope y’all all had a lovely new years! It’s time for another little personal update below the cut :)

I know many of you won’t care to read and that’s fine, I’m just putting this here because it’s the easiest way for me to communicate with everyone who might want to know. Here is the previous personal update for context.

With the holidays happening, things have been moving slowly on the medical front.

The bad news: I have another sinus infection, but what’s new 🙃 it feels like I’ve had one for half a year.

The good news: the ENT got back to me about my CT results and I’m just waiting on a call from their scheduler to book the surgery! Unfortunately, my CT results also indicate the need for the more intense of the two surgical options we were considering.

(I have to have a hard cast on my nose? For like a week? And can’t get it wet? RIP to my religious skincare routine ig 🥲)

Fortunately, once I have the operation the recovery is fairly quick. The first week I’ll feel like an out of commission, sad and blob-like imitation of a human. Then I get the cast off my face and 2-3 weeks later should be starting to notice an improvement in my quality of life compared to how things were before the surgery.

I’m hoping I’ll be able to have the procedure as soon as possible, realistically meaning I’ll be happy if I can get it before the end of February because that’s how things tend to go in my experience. I’ll update you guys once I know.

I can’t adequately describe just how much I’m looking forward to having energy for fandom again. I miss you all so much and I miss writing as frequently as I used to.

I miss being able to get through every day without basic things (sleep, cooking, working, existing) feeling like an uphill battle. Which, honestly, is really saying something because I’ve lived with Ehlers-Danlos my whole life—I am no stranger to battling through hard days (and sometimes waving the white flag because I can’t win them all.) When every day is a “hard” day though it’s not a very good time.

TL;DR I’m excited to have my sinuses surgically altered and get back to you all. I hope you all are well and that this new year brings you joy and peace 💕

[bluespring864]

Hello :)

I've noticed that you've been showing a bit of an interest in Discworld lately.

So naturally, being very much into Discworld right now, I can't just ignore this. :D I don't know how interested you actually are of course, but I'd still like to try and nudge you towards starting it rather sooner than later. Obviously no pressure - I know how it is, sometimes you just don't want to get into something new, let alone a 42-volume book series. :D (Although you don't have to commit to reading all of it right away; most books can stand pretty well on their own.)

It's just that I'm quite certain – no, actually I'm even inclined to say I know – that you would love Discworld. This might come across a bit presumptuous, especially since I don't actually know you. But judging by your interests and generally what I see of you on my dash, I would be very surprised if Discworld wasn't right up your alley.

Because even leaving aside characters and storylines, the writing alone should be a major draw. I regularly marvel at the masterful way in which Terry Pratchett uses language: as a means of characterisation, to convey an idea or even just to describe someone's facial expression - and of course to make us laugh.

And the puns, oh the puns! They're probably what made me fall in love with his writing in the first place. Can't resist a good pun. I could provide examples if you want. :D

I won't get into characters, themes or what have you right now because this ask is long enough as it is. One thing I want to say, though, is that I feel like a lot of the messages conveyed in those books would resonate with you, because you strike me as a very compassionate and caring person.

So, to come to an end: If you need any more information or incentives to get into Discworld or are still on the fence about how or where to start, feel free to ask me anything. And in case you will actually start reading the books, I'd be more than happy to exchange thoughts or just gush about stuff. :D

PS: I hope you had a lovely christmas and wish you all the best for the new year*. :)

*Isn't it somewhat annoying that English doesn't have an adequate translation for "Guten Rutsch"?

This is definitely the nicest thing I've had in my inbox all year, you lovely person <3

I am still to this day confused as to why I never read any Terry when I was a teenager. I assume the local library didn't have a lot of his books or put them so far in the boy's section that I never really noticed them (and why tf were the teenage books gendered, I hope that's not the case anymore... hm, now I'm wondering whether I'm remembering this right, but I really think there were boy's and girl's sections). I picked one of his books at random a few years back and read it on holiday, jetlagged (it was a bit confusing, because of the jetlag and because I think I picked something that belonged somewhere in the Discworld universe without me ever having had a real introduction to it) but I still liked it, and have been meaning to read more Discworld ever since.

Unfortunately, when I read that book I had just started a demanding job that often requires me to speedread through hundreds of pages in a few hours, which has left me with much less capacity to read for pleasure. The books are literally piling up around me. But I will get round to Discworld one day, I'm sure of it, not least because of your glowing recommendation! And as soon as I do, I will most definitely let you know so we can be language and literature nerds about it together ;-)

[2sleepy4dis]

╰┈➤ ❝ Persona & Velvet Room ❞

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° One-Shot

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° Linked Universe x Wildcard!Reader

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° Note: Long! First part is introduction on Velvet Room then the second part there's a bit of the chain. This part mostly concentrate about the Reader and some info!

»»-----------►

A blue wake drifts in the darkness. You open your eyes and see a butterfly, uncannily blue, it posed itself on a lamp.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room."

A voice echoed along with laughter in the room from nowhere made you flinch and search for it.

"My name is Igor… I am delighted to make your acquaintance." The voice introduced itself… It was a very familiar name and a familiar line too.

"You already know that this place exists between dreams and reality, mind and matter… And you who signed the contract can enter this place… Welcome to your velvet room."

You know it very well but you let the voice continue not being able to understand the whole situation... But why is that you're only able to hear a voice...?

"Even if you're still unable to see what lies in front of you, the longing in your heart remains…

"…What longing you ask…? Hmmm...

A little light shall mark the beginning of the answer of your doubts."

…light? Your gaze fell on the butterfly on the lamp. Slowly and carefully you approach it. The butterfly gently burns off blue and with a touch of your fingertips it dematerializes, scattering its flame around and then uniting inside the lamp. Its velvet blue color now illuminates the room. In the middle there's a sofa. a desk on the opposite side. Against the wall the room is partially surrounded by shelves while further there's a black screen. The lamp is the source of light while on the ground and walls you can see patterns where blue lights run through toward the black screen and the desk.

Are you transported to another world? Or game..? But Link… You haven't even said goodbye and—! It didn't took much when you sunk. You were just someone who got lost in the dimension and had no particular relation with them. Separation was bound to happen. What difference would it make if you suddenly poofed out of their world? …What's the point…?

"My my, this is quite a room."

You flinched and turned around at the owner of the voice right next to you. Which you swear wasn't there before. The person was tall, fair-skinned with hair white as snow and eyes of marigold colors. Their outfit recalls a butler and the color matches the velvet blue with hints of black, white and gold.

They bowed at you, a hand on the back and another in the chest. They lifted their heads up with a distant smile and introduced themselves as a resident of the velvet room and to be your attendant, your butler to be specific.

The butler turned on the desk and so did you. Approaching it closer, you notice it has some buttons on the right side. Familiar arrows and four letters and two buttons next to each other and lastly a white circle. On your left a black screen.

"Allow me to demonstrate," the butler moved behind it and tapped the white button and it turned to gold which light started running through the gaps of the blue desk. "Magnificent," they whispered. "We attendants most likely rely on books. But I do have experience on this so I hope to be helpful nonetheless."

Understanding what they meant, you nodded. The black screen on the desk lightened and showed a hologram of a dagger. Silver, s-curved with light-ivory hilt and engraved patterns on the blade.

Your eyes widened at a sudden memory recollection. You read it out and held it in your hand remembering that… Stunned, you put the same hand on your chest.

"An interesting way of a persona manifestation. A dagger." The butler said and you looked at them to catch their eyes. An amused smile draws on their lips. "Not exactly adequate to fight… but it's all on the holder's hand what it's used for." They paused.

"So, what will you use it for, I wonder." Their smile became more clearer yet it was unattached to any emotions. They turned around and walked then turned to you.

"A vile entity was able to take hold of incomprehensible knowledge to mankind! And you…" They held out their hand to you with open palm "...aware of your role as stand here yet still lost and with a soul like wavering flame!"

"...Thou shall not ask for answers that time will give.

"Strengthen your heart along the path, be brave to form bonds and wise shall you be…

"…And I shall be at your service to guide you in this colliding worlds."

Their words and their figure faded in the darkness as you woke up. The unnatural velvet blue is now replaced with the color of the morning sky. It was as if you hadn't slept at all, chest rising up and down after the dream… but it was not as you know it was true.

The Velvet Room… This means the events have to do with the subconscious and consciousness of mankind but you have no further information to conclude the wholeness of it… is this Hyrule real or a figment of mankind…?

"They woke up!" An enthusiastic voice notified, making your head turn. It was Link. Wind to be specific. The youngest ran toward you and the others followed him.

The chain gathered around you. The others just stayed quiet waiting for you to speak while Hyrule and Time kneeled at your height as the former asked how you were feeling.

"I'm fine… I… umm…" you lower your gaze, lips pursing and debating if to tell them about your dream. The chain looked at each other with concern.

"H-Hey, now. Let's take it easy." Wild spoke relieving the tension "How about we eat something first? You can't think clearly with an empty tummy!"

The suggestion was favorable as everyone nodded. Time looked at you and pointed to a wooden basin filled with water.

"C'mon, get yourself ready. The water should still be warm." He said with a gentle tone. You nodded and stood up with his help and get prepared for the day.

You looked at the group and concluded to not tell anything for now…

»»———-　　———-«

That's it! That's All! For Now!

A/N: Thanks for reading until here! I'm actually hoping no one would read this...? ahah;;; I feel like going back in 2013 l, oh dear. Sorry if my content is... off-topic...? >_< )... a fanfic crossover of a fanmade... what in the world??

[pechebeche]

Peach!! As a creative writing expert and dear friend of mine, do you have any tips for writing original fiction??? I’ve been entertaining the idea of starting my own story but I can’t be assed to finish anything longer than 5,000 words on a good day. Also, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve taken a creative writing class so… help a fella out? If you can! Love ya and hope you’re doing well

jude this is So sweet thank you for your accolades, they are well appreciated <33

so there's a couple of pieces of advice i have to give about motivation. disclaimer, writing is ultimately a very individualized process and if you find something else that works better than you - absolutely go for it!

the unfortunate reality that everyone loves to avoid about how to make yourself write is that it is the exact same process as how to do absolutely anything at all: task management. trying to do consistent writing requires determining what motivates you, what timeframe you want to complete a project in (barring special circumstances), and how to set realistic short-term and long-term goals. and that sucks, and nobody wants to do it.

the real key to figuring out how to work with these things is what you want from this project, because that'll affect how strictly you'll need to hold yourself to account. people have an idea that you Need to fulfill a certain writing quota per day for your writing to make Adequate Progress TM, but that's not...really the case. there are circumstances where you want to hold yourself to a schedule, in which case deadlines are a very important part of the process! But if you're just writing for fun? There is literally no reason to try to push yourself. imposing unnecessary deadlines makes it difficult to meet them, since there's no real enforcement; and that makes it harder to write, because of the guilt hanging overhead.

in general, i put any project i make on a scale from 1-5:

I am literally just imagining/writing this to pass time/have fun and will never show it to anyone

this is an idea i want to show people, but i dont want it to be a consistent thing

i want to create for this on a regular schedule so that i can make consistent progress so that others can read it

this is a gift, part of a collaboration, or is something i want to eventually publish, and i need to finish it before the deadline

i am literally being paid to write this in a timeframe/am required to submit this for a class.

(you'll note that 3 has no "i want to create on a consistent schedule just for fun." that's because that's still ultimately a 1, not a 3! this isn't about how fast you WANT to complete a project - its about how strictly you NEED to complete a project.

you'll also notice that the escalation, instead of "for fun" to "for job," is "for fun" to "for others to read" to "for job." for a lot of people, cooperative art is simply more enjoyable than art for the self! receiving validation and feedback is an important motivator and influence to being an artist. i tend to bake whether i want people to view my work directly into the process, and you should never feel like wanting that feedback is something to be ashamed of! just make sure you have at least one person around who will be happy for your work with you, so you don't get burnt out on the no-views blues.)

once ive ranked a project, i'll translate it to a numerical format. this is going to sound silly, but you can really, truly use the numbers in any way you like; the important thing is that the number is in there. if you have a 1, it could be that you want to write for at least one hour a day, or one hour a week, or one minute a week, or just work at all one day a week. or one day a month! you have to integrate it somehow, but you can go as far apart as you like, and you can change it on the fly however you feel like. it's a 1! no one is going to get mad at you for doing whatever you want with a 1. as long as you've got literally anything in there, that's good enough!

the higher a project goes, the more strict outside sources get about it, which means that the more rigidly the bounds you have to work within are. if you have a 5 that's due in a week, you can either spend five hours on it or five days - but you won't be able to do five minutes! generally, for me, i need external motivation to write anyway, so a lot of my projects fall at 2 or 3; as a result, i usually try to get a chapter/update in once every 2-3 weeks.

this is sort of a silly system, because by nature it's wildly inconsistent. but i've found that looseness works for me! within that system, you can use whatever motivators you generally get - giving yourself ice cream, taking a break day, whatever you need. the rewards, for me, usually also vary depending on the intensity, and also tends to be more external; for a 1, i'll give myself 1 hour to chill out and daydream about where the story might go, where for a 5, i usually do writing commissions in $5 increments so that there's monetary motivation.

there's a lot of other things to talk about with how to motivate yourself to write, but this is how i do it! if nothing else, i'd advise stepping back to think about how strict your deadlines need to be with whatever work you're trying to do - it's important to be honest with yourself about what your expectations are, and whether they're more/less intense than they need to be for a given work.

[azolitmin]

end of the year thoughts

Hello!

I swear I made another blog post recently but it looks like the last one I made was at the end of march phew. Anyways, I hope everyone’s been having a stress-free holiday season, enjoying themselves and hanging in there. 

I’ve included a longer version below so that I don’t take up too much space on people’s dashboards (or TL? what do we call the feed on tumblr nowadays?) but the short of it all is that my wrist pain has improved significantly since my last post, I’m going to work on opening a patreon and doing a lot of art projects in the coming future!

I figure I should make a little update related to my last post (wrist pain/pinched nerve) I’m still waiting to see a doctor for a full evaluation LOL but I did manage to buy a secondhand cintiq, shoutout to the guy on FB marketplace who didn’t scam me, it’s been amazing to draw with and has seriously helped alleviate a majority of the pain in my wrist/hand. I’m honestly having so much fun drawing with it I can’t believe I deprived myself of this for so many years LOL. I’m still working on taking adequate breaks/rest periods and strengthening my wrist which I also think played a huge part in my recovery. Anyways, I definitely feel more confident in taking on work now that I can draw for more than an hour without pain or even just the mental energy drain being in pain causes, yay!!!

Soo with that being said I am going to be working really hard on new art, I have a lot of projects I want to do in the future. Primarily a lot of OC stuff but a few fandom related things as well. I had a dream once that I spent 300$ in gachaphon trying to get every single catboy kurapika merch so I think this is a sign that I have to make a lot of catboy kurapika merch. I also want to make some batman related stuff and experiment with some new product types 🥺 definitely want to participate in some more conventions, I never made a post reflecting on my time at Sakuracon and AX but I had an amazing experience at both (as good as it can be during the panini). If you came by and said hi or bought anything from me during these times thank you so much!!!! It was really nice to talk to people who enjoy my art or chat about fandom stuff 😳

Other than merch and fandom related products I think I also want to finally get my patreon up and running, though it will be very low stakes (one tier for the foreseeable future). I’ve definitely gone back and forth on this since I have a big fear about letting people down. It’ll most likely be used for posting up sketches, WIPs, I might ask for feedback on what I should draw next or give art feedback if requested? I’m not the most skilled artist but I think I’m capable of a suggestion or two :^)!! And yes the whole twitter thing has definitely contributed towards me trying to make a serious attempt at patreon again...

The last thing I wanna say is thaaatt I am going back to art school to hopefully get my BFA, I’m halfway there, yay!! I really hope to learn new techniques/skills and improve a lot, even just typing this out is giving me a lot of excitement for the future haha.

I think that’s all I wanted to touch on without rambling on for TOO long LOL. Thank you for taking the time to read through this! 

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 8/16/22

currently unemployed so i am real goddamn fuckin chatty in this one

listening CTRL^^^ by MONOWHALES bc jack read me for filth with this rec several weeks ago and it's been in heavy rotation since then, so into the tuesday playlist it goes.

-

reading Falling Sky by Rajan Khanna (published 2014, author says the concept began in 2008).

premise: this is an interesting little bridge between the steampunk and zombie trends. the comps on the back of the book (thriller/noir/hemingway/miyazaki) are not very accurate. it's set in california, a generation after fast and smart zombies that reproduce have made the ground is too dangerous, so most people roam about in airships and zeppelins (good on the author for distinguishing them, knowing his terminology, also giving some of them vertical takeoff and landing capability). posits a world where the airship was ubiquitous before the apocalypse, which is fascinating, bc the airship our hero owns is one stolen by his grandfather as shit went down. our hero is a jaded bodyguard is trying to keep a pack of scientists researching an infection detection method safe in a secret ground-based lab. wait up go back hold up a minute where do they get the hydrogen and helium? don't worry about the hydrogen, mr khanna says, let's talk about helium, which is marketed through a floating city with a secret ground-based mining facility (???). airships meet at covert docking points on tall buildings, there's a chicago outpost of sky vikings that's taken over the local floating sky city, you know, the usual. i can only imagine the airships look something like the aeroscraft??

worldbuilding stuff: props for the mention of salted pigeon meat, an established gunpowder manufacturing chain, general thoughtfulness about what salvage components are most valuable, what kinds of food keep and how to safely preserve them, boiled water (i don't think i've ever seen boiled water as a matter of everyday course in a postapoc novel), several different types of biofuels. i never found myself asking "well how DO they get [BASIC RESOURCE]"? this is mostly well-handled without a lot of infodumping, with little throwaways like "hey i tested your new biofuel blend, it was good in x ways and bad in y ways, do you have any more of z blend?"

character stuff: congrats to the protag for being sad about a dead dad instead of being sad about a dead wife. there is a sex scene that's pretty tasteful, mostly vague concepts, and did not make me cringe. the protagonist has a terrible crush on the female lead but is pretty respectful about it, is on good terms with his ex, and the other female merc they team up with is an extremely capable person even if she is mostly used as a battering ram. this was a welcome surprise! the most interesting character work that happens to our hero is a synagogue in the floating city, where our hero ends up after a particularly bad day and sort of makes a stab at reconnecting with his faith. i don't know that i've ever seen an atheist jewish protagonist in a postapoc novel before, or much discussion of religion aside from cults?

stylistic stuff: there is a very fine line between hemingway-style terseness and choppiness, and this tends to veer choppy (as i often do with my own writing). i didn't quite jive with the style, nor do i particularly care about our hero. he's fine. he's just kind of bland? the book is mostly about the protagonist telling you what he's doing, bc it's first person present tense. this doesn't bother me a ton, bc that seems to be the current trend in english fic in the handful of fandoms i pay attention to.

the backstory and infrastructure of the world is there but not necessarily the people that live there. good bones, not enough meat, the style and focus on and-this-is-what-happened-next was somewhat irritating. h owever this was a perfectly adequate first novel, and my hope is that the second and third novels improve. they are remarkably hard to track down, i found this one on a whim in a little free library. from reading a preview of the second book it already seems more noir-ish so i am cautiously optimistic.

-

watching i was adding stuff to letterboxd (really fucking hate that letterboxd has got me watching more movies. what the fuck are they doing with all my data. what are they using my movie watching habits to sell) anyway i was adding stuff to letterboxd and was reminded of the film Pitch Black (2000, dir. Twohy), which is an extremely competent little scifi/horror thing i enjoy a lot.

this zoom in to escaped convict riddick watching people frantically look for him after a spaceship crash is, as one letterboxd reviewer put it "like some sort of deranged bugs bunny", is the funniest zoom in the trilogy. this film works very well with its budgetary limitations and is mostly filmed in the desert under the blazing sunlight or in near-pitch darkness, freeing up a lot of money for creatures that have aged in an endearingly (imo) early 2000s way. like the mad max movies, it asks the question "what if an extremely unpleasant man is unchained and treated like a person? what happens to his personality and decisions after that?" this one's quite solid and i don't have much to say to it other than give it a little "pretty good movie!" trophy. it also sticks its ending, a thing i cannot say for the other two riddick movies. which i also rewatched.

beautiful fuckin aurorae look at that shit. The Chronicles of Riddick (2004, dir. Twohy) is not very good but we must give it points for sheer visual style. they truly do not make em like this any more, and they made the plot too big and galaxy-encompassing. this movie was at its was most successful when riddick is trying to find a specific person. it was also at its most successful when it's a movie about how riddick and also a planet are trying to kill you. i do not like the attempted sexual assault in this one. the ending made me go "ohhhhh" in sudden understanding but it did not pay off the "guy loses everything he cares about but gets enormous power/riches/etc he's been striving for" bc the movie establishes that what he wants is to be left alone with the two people he sort of cares about safe. the ending would have hurt more if the movie had spent like three more beats really hammering in that he just wants to be left alone.

i like the first half of Riddick (2013, dir. Twohy), when it's just a guy and his weird dog figuring out how to survive the planet. the last half is an early stab at what the john wick movies would become, combined with the last half of pitch black. there are some very fun, very tense shots in the last half, even if it completely forgets some stuff it set up in the first half of the movie.

i don't care about this one as much bc riddick experiences no interesting character changes. the most overarching thematic element, if we can very loosely call it that, is at the beginning, when he says "time to get back in touch with my animal side" and then...doesn't do that. he talks to his dog. he teaches it tricks. he shows himself to have a better understanding of the human psyche and how to really freak people the fuck out better than any of the posturing mercs after him.

i mostly dislike this one a great deal bc i do not like how the out lesbian in this one, with big guns and a sniper rifle longer than she is tall, is there for the men to constantly make passes at. there is an attempted sexual assault in this one too, and she..sleeps with riddick at the end??? i don't fully understand what was happening there. this riddick does not feel like the same riddick as the one from the previous movies. like the daniel craig bond movies, he is at his best when he reluctantly cares about someone and is reluctantly going "uggggHHHHHH FINE I GUESS I'LL BE A GOOD GUY BUT I'M GOING TO BE MAD THE WHOLE TIME AND EXTRA SCARY >:( " like yes yes big muscle man do flip and be very smart and punch hard and look nice. what does the big muscle man FEEL. that's when these movies get interesting, when they remind you riddick is a real actual guy and these aren't just stunt movies, and this last movie had too much bleh for me to enjoy the back half. so we progress in this trilogy from "really fucking fun and interesting, extremely tight and self-contained thesis" to "bizarre but going for something, thesis unknown" to "this is two different movies and not very much fun. cool dog tho". we must hand it to these movies as a whole for going "man vs nature on other planets lets us get REAL insane with it".

-

playing honestly probably a hiatus from Gaming (TM) for a while

-

making roundup of several small things.

a list of the westerns i would let other people watch, made for my siblings who will be visiting for christmas. they get to pick which ones but i do get to inflict three westerns upon them.

a rashomon-trope fallout fic for yeehawgust, where everyone has a different story about What Actually Happened: "There was a rumored pre-War banquet hall full of uranium glass place settings, ripe for selling to the Courier for her wedding. Now there’s a giant crater and four different stories about whose fault it is."

finally rigged up plant lights two and a half months after moving in. had to heavily prune and discard some plants, which makes me feel bad, and discovered i am still battling scale, which also makes me feel bad. however, now i know it's there and i can start dealing with it again. still need to rig up something better for my poor pencil plant, which also needs to be pruned and repotted bc it got Very leggy. do not worry about the snake plants they live in my office they didn't actually go anywhere

stopped at a yard sale, met a baby, pet a very friendly and well behaved chihuahua, got a 2-foot 10 through 60 parts to the inch architect’s scale and a pair of Wiss shears for a dollar. the shears are very dull, need a new nut, significant enamel wear on the handles which is annoying, but cannot beat the price for new kitchen shears. u kids know the drill into the vinegar bath it goes. will have to have a think about how to stop the handles from rusting again. maybe a dip in the can of white enamel paint i used for the kitchen table, maybe a funky new kind of spray paint is in my future.

[back-to-louis]

I actually noticed this a lot back in the fall during the US LOT dates, both here and on Twitter - the complete insistence than Harry’s current happiness comes from his career and how supported he is by his fans. This was such a strong narrative last fall (before Harry’s House came out, or we even knew when it was coming out). When he would get up and give his speech about how happy he was and how great he felt - fans would go on and on about how they were the ones responsible for this. And I thought - well maybe he’s talking about all aspects of his life? Friendship, his family, his girlfriend, etc. To me, it seems like that’s what had become the most important thing to him (as it should!!). I thought the fan projection as them being his sole or biggest source of happiness was really odd.

And then when the new album came out and Harry started giving all these interviews about realizing his career wasn’t the most important and that he’s connected in with his family and friends and all the other aspects of his life, I realized I was correct. I’m not saying Harry doesn’t love his fans and love performing and touring - he most definitely does. But it’s not the most important thing to him anymore, which is a huge change from his past, especially 1D days, and I’m actually so happy he seems to have found that balance.

But I think a lot of the fandom either doesn’t want to see this, or blatantly ignores it because then they have to recognize they aren’t the most important part of his life. And that’s why they continue to stalk him, ask for pics when he clearly doesn’t want to draw attention to himself and then get mad at him when he declines. Because that’s visual proof that he has a life and people in it that he values more than fans.

He has stated multiple times recently that he enjoys his work, but when he’s not working, he wants to just live his life and spend time with the people in it who matter to him. Fans hear this but I am not sure if they truly understand it - then when they see him during a time he’s not working and he’s clearly carved time out to spend with his girlfriend, they are furious. I’m not sure if this is just an age thing (he has gotten a lot new very young fans recently) or just a product of social media rotting everyone’s brains. I’m not sure when/if it will get better for him but I really hope it does. He was stalked a ton when he was in 1D and then it seemed to have gotten a bit better when he first went solo but I feel like it’s gotten so much worse in the past 2ish years in terms of stalking and the entitlement people feel over demanding things from him in public.

Having seen larries recently try to reassure themselves and one another to feel welcome at Harry's shows over Louis's just illustrates what you're saying: they are experiencing anxiety over not (or no longer) being perceived as the most important entity in Harry's life.

The rainbows are a red herring - - read how they now wear green and blue or "subtle" bluegreen pins/ribbons to indicate their status in the "in-group" as their actual reason for fear of exposure in public. *The rainbows are no longer adequate to signal their stance to one another.*

And again (because I must repeat myself), note that they take Harry's words to heart, as honest reflections of his feelings, and the evolution of his position hurts them, whereas they *expect* Louis to be lying to them when he calls Eleanor (not them) his "rock."

But onstage, where he does not drape himself in pride flags, Louis tells them he couldn't do any of this without them, and it turns out that's the content they came for.

[theinsanecrayonbox]

well, since i've seen the page in the tags, i guess i can talk about the reveal of who "GC" is in Sabretooth/Exiles #4 (i’ll throw it under a cut though for spoilers cause i wanna try to be nice; i know not everyone doesn’t care about spoilers like i do)

who was it?

Graydon Creed

am i upset by this because it was sort of obvious? am i upset by this because the last time we saw Graydon, Victor had pulled him out of hell, sacrificing his own life and willpower to do so?

no...no idts. at the time of reading i wasn’t sure, and after sitting on it a few days, i’m still “meh *noncommittal shrug*” but i think i’m not. on the one hand, it’s very clear that Lavalle read Death Hunt as homework for this, what with all the references and Birdy in the first half (which is not surprising since it is the best solo Sabretooth mini series); and since this series has kinda been pointing out Victor’s greatest failures that do haunt him/contrasting what makes the man and the beast, bringing up his son does actually make sense. i was kinda hoping that maybe being pulled from hell would’ve kicked Graydon in the butt enough to be less terrible than he used to be...and eh, i guess kinda? he’s now in league with genetic manipulation, when before he was just all “rah rah purity of humanity” so, slight change?? and Graydon has always been terrible, so since we reset Victor’s character growth by ignoring the second half of Weapon X-Force, it’s par for the course to ignore him rescuing Graydon too i guess. though one would question how a previously long standing dead man had the funds to contract out Orchis....also one wonders where’s Birdy since she was supposedly respawned at the end of the first half

ANYWHOS! it’s revealed as Graydon, and that he’s been hunting multiverse versions of his father. Graydon, the one consistent thing in all incarnations is his daddy issues lol. one wonders how or why really...probably won’t be adequately explained considering there’s only 1 issue left for this story.

but onto the more fun part that i alluded to in my other post; lets play “Who’s that Sabretooth”. here’s a numbered version for easier reference;

even with the wiki up, i’m not really recognizing any of these. 

#7 looks like the good guy/blind and one handed clone from X-Men Forever (it’s the triangle face). 

#9 does resemble Liev Schreiber i admit...but it’s also clearly a black man and the only black Sabretooth i know is Miles’ dad from “What if Miles was Wolverine” and he was not a Victor Creed.

#13 looks to be a child version

#3 also looks child/teen to me, but the pale skin would suggest vampiric?

#14 looks like it might have the usual head guard (or maybe that’s heavy shadowing on the cheek)

i’m no all knowing expert, so feel free to weigh in. but again, the fact that none of them are easily or readily recognizable makes me wonder if they were just made up for this. that’s not necessarily a bad thing, since you know dead and all, but then again it’s eth multiverse just because you killed one alternate version doesn’t mean that was the only one of that specific kind. without the reader recognizing and connecting, it’s just a random display of heads for shock value...which yeah ok, that was the goal i give, but still.

[lalazeewrites]

Fic Writer Interview

Wow, thank you @energievie & @vintagelacerosette & @thisdivorce for tagging me in this!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 

160 fics!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 

1,727,092 words!

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Quiet Rapture : 28,800 

Blood Moon : 15,920

Crybaby : 14,535

Helloooo, Nurse! : 12,228

Let’s Be Alone Together : 11,526

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I used to respond a lot more, but over the years, it’s harder to find time to sit and respond to them all. For example, one of my fics has over 7,000 comments. The average amount of comments I’ll get on a one-shot fic for a certain fandom can be 100-200 and it can take me literal hours to reply to them all in a thoughtful way. As a single parent with a lot of serious daily health battles (kidney failure, immunocompromised, regular migraines, PTSD, etc), it’s unfortunately really difficult to carve out hours of time to reply. I treasure my comments and they keep me writing, so I hope my continued writing is an adequate thanks. 

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

LOL Meat Grinder and The Most Human Color. Both are horror based. They were some of my most fun to write, personally, but only the brave ever seems to read them once in a while hehe.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

99% of my fics have happy endings. I love a happy ending. 

7. Do you write crossovers?

A few, but it’s not my specialty or anything. 

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

ALL THE TIME LOL. It’s just the territory when you become a well-known writer for ‘ship that people don’t approve of. It’s a normal thing for me to receive hate comments on a monthly basis since 2017. Anime fandoms suck in terms of how hateful they’re willing to get. 

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I’d say I’m known for writing smut. Like, that is my jam. I have 88 Explicit fics, so whatever it is, I’ve probably explored it on some level, minus extremely hard kinks.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yeah. Semi-regularly. Very frustrating. 

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, several!

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Uhhh. Started to. The rest of the people got bitchy about how they wanted the fic to go and I dipped. 

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Impossible to say. My first fandom ship was Kirk/Spock, which is how I became known for my fanfic. But my readers are primarily BakuDeku and that was my hyperfixation from 2017-2020. However, my comfort ship that I read to chill out when life is rough is good ol’ Arthur/Eames and Merthur and Hannigram, and recently I have 77 bookmarked Gallavich fav fics which is the most bookmarks for a specific ship that I have. I dunno, I really don’t think I have an all-time fav!

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I’m very good at finishing WIPs. I am currently haunted by Crybaby, which I am working on. So, one that I don’t think I’ll ever finish is Keep Calm and Conceal Vulcans from way back in my KirkSpock days. I still get comments of old readers asking to finish it.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. Sex. Keeping pace without dragging ass.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Pausing to describe settings for more than two sentences. 

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Keep it brief, keep it intuitive so the reader can generally understand what’s happening anyway. 

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Star Trek! A Valentine’s Day exchange in Feb 2010.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

The Witcher. I have several WIPs that sit around for that. Knowing me, I’ll wait ‘til the fandom has full crashed and burned, then roll up with three back to back fics that five people will read. And that’s fine, it’s all about the joy of writing!

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Out of 160 fics?! Impossible. Uhhh. . .I’ll say Quiet Rapture because it has brought me an immense form of healing. But a lot of my one-shots brought me immense joy to write.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I'm tagging my lovelies @tierfal & @diemarysues so I can spy all their answers! The quiz is under the Read More!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

7. Do you write crossovers?

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

15. What are your writing strengths?

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

[uefunderneatharchive]

Greetings and Salutations from the UEF

This archive serves to catalogue the discoveries made in and about the Underneath as we know it and will come to know it.

It is, for some reason, also a blog. I (Recordkeeper Mal) am not entirely sure why Tristan set this up as a blog, but I suppose it will serve adequately for the purposes of what we plan to use it for. I will leave the "asks" button on for inquiries into The Underneath; as far as I have been told, the Underneath archives are open to the public, so public query will be open as well.

I will endeavor to update this archive as frequently as I can, but my work in the physical archives may keep me from updating this as frequently as I would like. While MAJ Tristan will also have access to this archive for such occasions, they are also quite busy with UEF business, and may not be able to post in my absence either.

And hi! Tristan here. Any time you see this color on the blog, you can safely assume that it's me making a post, whether it's me making a quick insert into a post or making the title yellow. I'll probably have stories and other things to say from my time in the Underneath and UEF. I may also share information about our own world, since from what I can tell, we're broadcasting to another world with this blog. Good ol' Underneath paracausal tech.

I and my sheepy friend sincerely hope that the knowledge we provide will be useful, interesting, and dare I say… entertaining?

Oh, and ignore the weird ramblings below this "Keep reading" text. A bit... deterministic for my liking and I'm just gonna ignore being "written" by someone. Must be a side effect of Underneath tech.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Hey everyone! This blog is going to be my in-character, in-universe "lorebook" for my setting, The Underneath and its connected world. To give you a quick rundown, I started making The Underneath as a way to satisfy my desire to explore worlds beyond our own, springing from the aftermath of the Backrooms going mainstream, overexplained and overpopulated. Instead, this setting is supposed to be explored!)

(The setting is not set in stone, and it's currently one that's very easy to add to. If anyone happens to want to submit characters, level ideas, and such setting ideas, the ask button is active; regular asks to Mal and Tristan will be answered, while lore-adding asks will likely be expounded on in their own posts and unanswered. Hope that's alright, this is my first time doing something like this! I'm more than happy to have this be a communal soup pot of a setting, but I've gotta screen the ingredients before they get added, y'know?)

(But yeah! Hope those who want to watch this blog have fun!)

(Also, yes, Tristan breaking the fourth wall is entirely in character due to the setting. The Underneath is weird. And always watching.)

[maryray765432]

Original Story trailer. "Cause I am the one inside you". Part 2

-Why can’t I see you…almost? - Victoria asked with narrowed eyes, frantically trying to figure out what could have gone wrong.

-And this is all because someone cast the spell stuttering, so I couldn’t materialize normally. - The demoness said with even more mockery. - First try ever?

-Yes. - the girl honestly admitted, feeling how her body was getting colder from the inside.

-Clear. Okay, don't freak out like that. Good for the first try. - The tone of the demon changed dramatically, and now expressed genuine interest in the poor caller. She did not see the eyes of the spirit, but she could swear with all certainty that these eyes were studying her very carefully. - Really … for the first time in a long time, an adequate soul calls me, and not a rapist or a maniac, eager to save his sinful ass. Interesting. Very interesting… I can feel your excitement. I feel like you want more than just a little wish… you want a contract. I'm right?

-R-right. - now interest has played already in the eyes of a mortal. -But… wait. Can an ordinary wish demon make a contract with a human?

-Did you think that only the Lord could? You have rather meager knowledge, young lady. - The demoness snorted in displeasure, but then decided to explain everything to her. - Of course, all contracts are managed by the Lord. We can simply take a contract from a person and, returning to Hell, pass it on to him.

-It's clear…

— Nothing is clear. The spirit giggled slightly, looking at her mockingly, but quickly turned serious. - Okay, stop talking about the empty. What do you want?

-See the basket? - after the demon, Victoria also became serious.

-I see. When the mother lifted this same basket in her arms, the baby began to cry softly again, instantly giving himself away. But the woman did not particularly react to this, for her attention was riveted to the demon.

-My child has an incurable disease. she said.

-Why is he sick? - the spirit asked thoughtfully, looking with interest at the face of the baby, which was peeking out from under the blanket with which the basket was covered.

-Doesn't matter. - the girl knew that it was worth being honest with the called power, but it was too hard for her to talk about the baby's illness. - The important thing is that no doctor will help him. Only a month left. And you are our last hope!

-So you want me to heal your child? - The demoness chuckled. - OK. The desire of the client is the law for us during the call … but keep in mind: not a single demon, unless, of course, it is a youngster with the remnants of humanity, will not let such a contract last for a long time. Therefore, you will be given seven years, and no bidding!

-Seven years? - Victoria asked, turning noticeably pale.

-Yes. - the spirit nodded. - Only seven years. I understand your shock, but, alas, this is how it should be. Does the child have a father?

-No. - the girl hissed through her teeth, averting her gaze slightly. - Gone before he was born.

-Badly. - The demon chuckled, thinking for a moment. - Do you have any other relatives?

-Just my sister and her husband. But I’m not sure about them…” After a few seconds of silence, the mother suddenly continued. - Can i ask you?

-Certainly.

-I heard that in very rare cases, a demon can become a human guardian. This is true? - The woman narrowed her eyes slightly.

-Yes. Displeasure sounded sharply in the voice of the spirit. - But only if the person himself asks the guardian angel to leave. Then a demon will come in his place, because you cannot remain completely without protection.

-Can I ask for my son?

-Well… you can. But why? - in the voice of the demoness, sincere bewilderment and even condemnation were read. - Have you decided to lead not only yourself, but also your child into the darkness? Even if your son lives a long life, because his soul is not subject to the contract, but it will still be stained with this sin and go to Hell. What is this for?

-Where he goes after death, pure evil reigns. - Victoria replied coldly. - And if he does not respond to him in the same way, he simply will not survive. I know you can teach him how to defend himself.

-Okay… - The demon chuckled once again. The bewilderment did not disappear from his voice, but he could understand the motive of the client. - Are these all your requests? Can we sign a contract?

-Yes.

[uh-e-rinnie]

wanna talk about my feelings in regards to tss, thomas as a creator and stuff, so feel free to ignore whats under if you'd rather not read

sanders sides is taking a while.

and im not entirely surprised about that, as much as i give thomas the benefit of the doubt I do get what everyone is feeling in regards to the delay. The hiatus has taken a hit to thomas's growth as a creator, and outside of the eyes of a fan and more in the eyes of a business, it's a shame that such a thriving fanbase of what's honestly a really great piece of media had to go this way.

Aside from my feelings as a fan of the show, I genuinely feel bad that the circumstances are how it is now. There's a lot that could have been done with TSS in the time its been gone that would have been great for Thomas' business. Risk doesn't only arise from doing things, it also arises from choosing not to, and that's definitely the case here; the risk has evolved into the consequences.

That being said.

Under the eyes of skepticism I do think that Thomas has room to rebuild on the foundation of his business. Yes people who feel torn apart and deeply hurt as fans may never want to return to engaging with the T-man's content, and that's completely valid. Not only with TSS but also with actions Thomas has done that they don't agree with, some I don't agree with too.

Though my opinion on Thomas and his content wasn't as positive as it used to be (not saying its completely negative), I do leave room for the possibility of improvement. I am not clinging too much on the hope that Thomas may apologize openly about things that I believe shouldn't have been done, but have; It's so easy for people to say that we should apologize we should show people we're sorry, but its a lot harder to do. Realistically, my expectations of it aren't much. Just as how I'd expect it from any other person. The toughest thing to do is admit fault, the toughest thing to accept is most people won't.

But maybe that's just me.

I think if Thomas does things right, and keeps his word on what he's saying in the video (a possibility which I cannot adequately measure right now). Then yeah, I think he definitely can build back from his foundation.

At the same time, I still wish him all the best. He's made mistakes in his business practices and made decisions I don't necessarily agree with, but he's not evil. I don't want this potential to fall apart nor do I wish for it. I hope he remains well, especially with the condition he's got going on.

On a lighter note.

Though we haven't seen it yet; It's nice to hear what he has planned with the season finale. Especially on the part of original music; If there's a lot of it, It would work well in his favor to release the season finale original music as a compiled soundtrack. Ofc I don't have much knowledge on music so I can't say much.

It's nice to hear him doing song writing, he's a wonderful singer and I'd be happy to hear more original songs from him.

I'm glad to hear a possibility on cartoon therapy's return. I won't comment much on it cause I don't know what to expect, it's been years. But It's a very comforting series for younger me, and I'm sure it will be for a lot of people.

Short paced content featuring some of the characters may seem a little bait-y and I understand if people feel that way. To me this is just business, and it's fun to see these characters out of the usual setting or plot they're stuck in. I think It'll be fun.

I also understand Thomas wants to mature somewhat in his content, whether he verbalizes this thoroughly or not.

Anyway, I'll be dropping a bit more opinions here and there but It's nice to hear from Thomas again. I hope he keeps his word and we get the content weve been waiting for, as well as enjoy the new content we may get. Wish him all the best health-wise.

[kermtalkscomics]

Just read: Superman Secret Origin

Hi! First time doing this, sort of just my review and thoughts on a piece of media I just consumed. Disclaimer: I'm no expert, just a guy who likes comics.

So, last night I ticked Superman: Secret Origin by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank off my 2023 reading list. For years it's been a book that I've wanted to read, I just never had a large enough desire to buy it outright or ask for it for Christmas. After seeing a few panels shared on Twitter I decided since it's so short I might as well finally get through it via DC Universe Infinite and here I am!

Wanted to immediately share that I absolutely ADORED the first three issues. Clark's relationship with his family and his introduction to Metropolis are such great moments that had me grinning the entire time. The book takes a more simplistic approach to Clark's early life drama with his parents by sort of just... not doing it. Aside from learning he's from Krypton, Clark fully embraces the Kents, and the Kents do the very same and it's all so wonderfully written.

I particularly LOVED Clark's relationship with his Father, having grown up in a rural part of the United States myself it's really heartwarming to see how they interact and how much Pa Kent reminds me of people in my family.

Another great element of the book is the art. Since reading Doomsday Clock back in high school, I've felt that Gary Frank illustrates my ideal version of Clark Kent and he absolutely delivers here. The timid and shy-farmboy-turned-confident-protector is evolved so smoothly through Frank's art and I'd argue that the book is worth checking out for the art alone.

Clark's relationships with the people around him are really great too. This book perfectly, albeit simplistically, introduces us to all of the important players in Clark's life along with his role in theirs. The staff of the Daily Planet makes up such a fun and close-knit cast of workers that perfectly bounces off of Clark.

So yes, as far as the good of the book goes there's a lot to love! The art is incredible and Clark's relationship with the cast around him comes naturally and is written with care the entire way through. For me, this book feels like the perfect modernization of the Christopher Reeve Superman origin. Also, for somebody like me who struggles to stay optimistic, I really appreciate the optimism and hope that a good Superman book can bring to me and this book adequately meets that bar too.

Now, onto the not-so-great stuff. I wouldn't say there are necessarily bad qualities in this book, but there are parts that seem underbaked or lackluster compared to other modern Superman origin stories. I feel like it's important to view a piece of media through the lens of what we received rather than what wasn't there, but with Superman's 80-year-history and the role he plays in the world that he's a part of, there are some missing elements that I really wish were explored here.

For the record, many of these comparisons I'm making come from my appreciation for Superman: Birthright, which is another book that I really enjoy.

An element of the story that I don't necessarily love is Lex Luthor. In this story Lex is absolutely rotten from day 1 with no humanity or real redeeming qualities, he's sort of a jerk the entire way through. That's fine of course if we're referring to adult Lex, but since a decent amount of the early chapters covered Lex's origin I really wish we got some more humanity like we did in Birthright.

Is Lex Luthor being a tragic villain necessary to Clark Kent's development? Not really, but that layer adds so much to their relationship.

Another issue is an apparent lack of Clark interacting with the world outside of the United States. What I feel is a great part of Superman is the fact that he's committed to the protection of the world entirely, not just the United States. Birthright and even Man of Steel extensively showed us Clark traveling the world and learning more about life in general. Superman should be just as capable of saving somebody in the middle east as he is of saving somebody in Metropolis. This isn't to say that Clark's good morals can't be founded exclusively in his upbringing in Smallville, but there's a great deal of appreciation when you think about how Superman actively learned about everybody in the entire world and how he could best suit their needs.

Along with that, I honestly sort of missed Clark's relationship with Krypton in this book. This is a weird sentiment coming from me, in Birthright, Man of Steel, and All-Star I honestly lose a little bit of interest when there is a lot of time committed to Krypton, I personally have just never been super in tune with that part of his lore. All this to say that the bare minimum that this book does to establish that Clark is Kryptonian honestly left me wishing for more. And though the idea of Superman being an alien is explored in this story, I would have liked to have seen him be more in touch with his heritage.

To conclude, this is a book that I absolutely enjoyed, I especially loved the earlier chapters. That said, I believe it has shortcomings in the way that it doesn't give other elements of Clark's life proper depth and attention. If I were to teach a non-comic reader Superman's origin story I'd probably refer them to this, it's a simplistic but heartfelt take on the Man of Steel's origin story. Though, I feel like if somebody was interested in the more nuanced ideas that Superman represents I'd definitely suggest Birthright or even All-Star as a starting read for the character.

Arbitrary grading scale: 7/10

[gracehosborn]

Don’t you just love attempting to work on your outline for your historical fiction novel and you find yourself hours later with too many tabs of your main character’s papers open?

Yeah that was me for the last two days. But wow did I find and re-read some fun stuff.

Every now and then as I draft Volume I of this Hamilton trilogy, The American Icarus (whose title has a fun story that I might go into if anyone’s interested), I like to review my current outline in making sure plotlines are solid both for this book, and for Volume II and III, as some of them bleed into the rest of the trilogy (Alexander’s economic studies, his relationship with Elizabeth Schuyler, such with John Laurens, and his feelings towards the Continental Congress for instance).

Upon reviewing TAIVI’s outline again, I realized a few of these weren’t fleshed out (given time to grow and develop) very well. Really, it felt like they were crammed there. Originally I had planned to just add one new chapter, but no I added ten 😂

Nonetheless, I set to work digging through Hamilton’s papers again 😂 Here’s some of the gems I found or got to re-read for your enjoyment:

Indeed, my Dear friend, to drop allegory, you can hardly conceive in how dreadful a situation we are. The army, in the course of the present month, has received only four or five days rations of meal, and we really know not of any adequate relief in future. This distress at such a stage of the campaign sours the soldiery. "Tis in vain you make apologies to them. The officers are out of humour, and the worst of evils seems to be coming upon us-a loss of our virtue. "Tis in vain you attempt to appease; you are almost detested as an accomplice with the administration. I am losing character my friend, because I am not over complaisant to the spirit of clamour, so that I am in a fair way to be out with every body. With one set, I am considered as a friend to military pretensions however exorbitant, with another as a man, who secured by my situation from sharing the distress of the army, am inclined to treat it lightly. The truth is I am an unlucky honest man, that speak my sentiments to all and with emphasis. I say this to you because you know it and will not charge me with vanity. I hate Congress-I hate the army-I hate the world-I hate myself.The whole is a mass of fools and knaves; I could almost except you and Meade.

From Hamilton To John Laurens, Sept 12, 1780

This letter always makes me want to give Hamilton a hug.

Adieu, be happy, and let friendship between us be more than a name.

From Hamilton to John Laurens, Sept 16, 1780

Aww.

It is now a week my Betsey since I have heard from you. In that time I have written you twice. I think it will be adviseable in future to number our letters, for I have reason to suspect they do not all meet with fair play. This is number one.

From Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, August 1780

This always makes me laugh out loud every time I come across it. He essentially told her “hey here’s my new filing system!”

I have received a letter from my Laurens solicitg an interview on the Pensylvania Boundary. The General has half consented to its taking place. I hope to be permitted to meet him; if so, I will go to Philadelphia and then you may depend, I shall not forget the picture you requested.

From Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, [2-4, July, 1780]

This grabbed my attention for a couple reasons, but the biggest one is, did he ever get permission to meet Laurens? We don’t know.

Despite the fact that I ended up making this book longer than I’d planned, I did have fun re-reading and finding some of this for the first time. How does your outline process work? Anything exciting? The effort here wouldn’t tell you that my outline is literally just a bunch of bullet points 😂

[dearestones]

Death Note Matchup: Matt/Mail Jeevas

Warnings: Fluff.

@ll4wliet Request: may i request a death note matchup? i prefer something platonic :D any gender is fine

i have short, black hair, very messy, im 150 cm, i guess thats it. My hobbies are playing games, doodling (and drawing, etc), window shopping (is that a hobby? i dont know but i just like to look at stuff.). My interests are death note, bee and puppycat, random toys, pokemon, plushies, vocaloid, collecting (i dont really collect stuff but i'd like to sometime.). I'm a bit awkward with new people and I'll usually mind my business, but I'm fine with talking with people I'm okay with and can hold a conversation with. I have trouble with talking to people most times, it ends up awkward. For people I'm close with I'd love to talk with for hours, especially when it's something I'm interested in. I get distracted alot, i sometimes zone out and not pay attention to something (especially during some games i play), I'm a picky eater sometimes. I can get fascinated by random images and waste my time scrolling on tumblr (honestly thats the only social media i have other then tt), especially when its something of my interest. I am very forgetful, i tend to do some things last minute. And thats it i guess? i hope i didnt go over the word limit but i am very sorry if i did!

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After reading through your description, I believe that you match well with Matt or Mail Jeevas!

What a coincidence, Matt also happens to like some of your hobbies; gaming is what really catches his eyes, though. He’ll gladly take you window shopping, but you have to be patient whenever he visits video game stores once you’re done with your own shopping experience. And if something in particular catches your eye, Matt will definitely give you some of his money to buy it. Don’t be shy! He’s got way more in several offshore accounts and from escapades that are from legal. 

Matt usually keeps to himself, often deferring to others when it comes to socialization, but he finds himself drawn to you. He’s had his fair share of dealing with awkward people, especially when he was growing up in an orphanage, so he knows how to navigate your personality and help you to open up. 

When you do finally warm up to him and start holding conversations, he will definitely enjoy what you have to say. He wants to know all your thoughts, your feelings, your hobbies, and your interests. It doesn’t matter if you sound awkward or he doesn’t know what you’re talking about, he just wants to be there with you experiencing the nuances and flavors of your voice. 

He’ll definitely tease you when he realizes that you get distracted a lot. He might pinch your cheek or wave his gloves in front of your face to get your attention back. If the both of you are comfortable with it, he’ll definitely try to kiss you on any parts of your face just so that he can see the lovely look in your eyes when you realize that you’ve been drifting off again. He might get a little irritated if you’re playing a game that requires more than one player, but he won’t hold it against you for too long. 

Ooohh, he would like to know what sorts of foods that you like to eat and what you don’t eat. Certain textures and smells don’t always agree with him as well, so he has a certain diet that he sticks to just so he has enough nutrition throughout the day. (Yes, he is including junk food as adequate nutrition because he is still a gamer and needs to maintain his reputation, thank you very much). 

Please don’t show this man your tumblr account. He’ll tease you for using this website for a few minutes before checking out your blog. If you have the standard theme and profile picture that comes with the website, he’s definitely going into your code and updating it. You have an idea for a new theme? A certain aesthetic that you ascribe to? Never fear, Matt will either find you a new theme with an adaptable source code or he’ll make it from scratch. Depending on what route he takes, you’ll find that your theme is both pretty modern and user friendly once he gives you your tumblr back. 

Forgetful and procrastinating? Now you’re speaking Matt’s language! He also tends to put things off until the last minute. It’s not that he is trying to forget things on purpose, it’s just that the world is far more exciting than some of his priorities, you know? If you are worried about forgetting important things, Matt will try to help you out, but he won’t always be successful. He’ll tease you from time to time, but encourage you to write down tasks so that you remember better next time. 

Overall, you’re a pretty low maintenance couple. There might be times when Matt may have to pull away for some time alone, but that’s because of his laidback and introverted disposition. 

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DEATH NOTE MASTERLIST