#just wanted to draw my nate design today :)

[evie-sturns]

𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙥 - 𝘾𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨 𝙎𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙡𝙤

summary: you, the sturniolos, madi and nate are all going on a roadtrip down to new jersey. execpt theres one problem, there's not enough space in the car. you're forced to sit on chris's lap for the 5 hour car ride, you just can't seem to get comfortable though.

contains: smut, teasing, dom!chris, swearing, fluff.

-----------------------°°••....••°°--------------———

the sturniolos have been my closest friends for a while, especially chris, with who ive have grown closer then ever to over the past few years. today is the day that my friend group travel down to new jersey for the summer break.

12:36pm

"y/n get your ass down here!" chris calls out from the driveway, i stumble over, clutching my baby pink suitcase with one hand as i swing open the door of chris's bedroom, which i've slept in last night.

i sprint downstairs, my suitcase smashing into walls behind me while i lock eyes with madi. i run up to her and a loud laugh escapes her mouth "oh my god your suitcase is basically bursting at the seams."

"shut up, im a chronic over-packer." i joke, walking downstairs into the driveway. matt, nick and nathan are watching chris strategically stack suitcases in the trunk. chris's tounge is slightly peaking out of his mouth as he concentrates.

"can we fit one more?" i say chirpily, walking over to the group of boys while dragging my suitcase behind me. chris takes it off me, sliding into its designated spot between the various bags.

"okay tetris king" nick scoffs, jumping in the passenger seat of the car.

before i know it, everyones piled into the car. matt in the drivers seat, nick in the passenger, madi in the far-right backseat, nathan in the middle and chris on the left backseat.

i open the door to the car, theres no more seats.

"oh fuck me." i mumble, folding my arms and waiting for someone to speak up.

"she could go ontop of the car, grip onto the windshield." matt suggests with a smirk on his face, earning a elbow to the bicep from nathan, who leans foward.

after a few more seconds of silence, i break it. "i could try fit in the trunk, theres a little room ontop of the suitcases.."

"y/n no. thats not safe, i dont care you can sit on my lap." chris says nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.

i nod, pursing my lips as i crawl in the car, planting myself down on chris's lap. my cheeks instantly flush.

i've never thought about chris romantically, hes always been a platonic best friend. i know he doesn't like me, he doesn't really like many girls in general.

"chris.. im gonna be too heavy." i mumble, purposley putting a small amount of my weight on his lap.

"don't be an idiot." chris chuckles, grabbing my hips and pressing me down, forcing all my weight on his lap. i clear my throat, "are you sure i don't want to squash you."

"hey, i said don't be an idiot." chris says, sitting back in the seat comfortably.

-

3:21pm

we've been driving for almost three hours, i've been just laying back on chris's chest, resting my head back on his shoulder with my eyes shut. nate, madi and nick have been in a debate for an hour if hot or cold pizza is better.

its been entertaining to say the least.

after nick and nate draw the debate to a close a new conversation sparks up from madi.

"have you guys ever fell off the waterslide platform?" she says, a silence fills the car.

"you know how you have to climb up stairs to get up to the waterslide, and you wait on the little platform to wait your turn to go down?" madi questions, we all nod slowly.

"yeah have you guys fell off?" madi continues.

"madi..." matt says from the front in a low voice, i can hear the smile on his face.

i errupt into giggles, my body vibrates on chris's lap as i lean foward, taking my back off of chris's chest.

everyone else in the car laughs, including chris. his lap lightly bounces up and down with each noise that comes out of his mouth, causing me to shift out of place.

i shimmy my ass back into a comfortable position on chris, an audible groan escapes his mouth, my eyebrows furrow and my head snaps back to look at chris, his cheeks are flushed, as soon as we lock eyes he looks out the window, squeezing his eyes shut out of sheer embarrassment.

"chris," i whisper, looking over my shoulder at him. "whats wrong am i too heavy.."

just then i feel something poke my upper thigh. my eyes pratically bulge out of my head as i stare at chris. everyone else in the car is too engulfed in their own conversation to notice me and him.

"im really sorry." chris squeezes out, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"its just your shifting on my lap, i can ask matt to pull into a gas station and ill fix it in the bathrooms-" he rambles quietly into my ear.

"don't worry about it chris!" i say smiling, shifting side to side on his crotch while maintaining eye contact with him.

"stop that." chris mumbles, the tent in his sweatpants growing by the second.

"you like it christopher."

chris's breathing picks up, "fuck."

i press more of my weight down onto chris's bulge with a smirk, i turn back around to face the back of matt's seat, continuously grinding into chris.

i suddenly hear chris’s voice from behind me

“how much longer do you guys reckon we have left?” he asks, his voice wobbling slightly.

“honestly like 20 seconds, we’re pulling into the street now” matt awnsers from the front, him and nicks eyes still concentrated on the road ahead as madi and nate cackle with each other

i continue rubbing chris with my ass, i feel two large hands grip my hips, holding me still harshly.

i pout as i look over my shoulder at chris, his response sends chills down my back.

“i will take away your ability to walk as soon as we’re alone.” he whispers into my hair from behind me.

we swing a left into the long driveway of the beach house we’re staying at, it’s two stories and looks modern to say the least.

as soon as the car stops chris throws me off him out of the door of the vehicle, speed walking up to the front door and unlocking with the key he just retrieved from the mailbox.

i watch as he disappears inside “where the fuck is chris?” i hear nick say while pushing up the trunk door. “he had to pee really bad.” i lie, knowing he ran to the bathroom to help himself out instead.

matt hands me my suitcase with a smile, and i walk up to the front door, which is already half open from chris. i walk upstairs to the room chris and i already decided we would share, long before the road trip ever started.

im met with a double bed, along with a window with a clear view of the beach. i get changed into the sluttiest skirt i can find and a long tank top before walking downstairs, i pull my phone out of my bag to check the time.

6:13

all of my friends are playing cards around the wooden dining table, but chris is sitting on the couch alone, scrolling on his phone. a loud cheer comes from nick as he slams down his card onto the table.

i flop down next to chris, my skirt flapping up slightly. “whatcha up to?” i ask innocently, acting like i wasn’t dry humping him a hour ago.

“nothing just instagram.” he replies placing his phone down on the armrest before looking over at me, locking eyes with chris sends butterflies through my body.

chris quickly stands up, taking my hand and pulling me upstairs, he slams the door to the bedroom shut behind us

“what were you doing in the car hm?” chris taunts, grabbing my wrists and pushing me down onto the bed.

“grinding up on me, giving me a painful erection around all my friends?”

“mmhm..” i groan backwards as chris grabs my chin, forcing me to look up at him as my back lays steadily on the bed.

“did i ask you to do that.” he says, staring into my eyes “or did you just wanna be fucked so badly that you couldn’t wait.”

i was in a state of shock, the good kind of shock though. my bestfriend of mutiple years has me pinned to the bed.

“gonna act like a slut, gonna be treated like one. got it?” chris mumbles, practically tearing my skirt off of my body. he yanks my panties down to my ankles in one motion.

chris pulls my body to the edge of the bed, my legs are wrapped around his waist as my heat presses lightly against his crotch. suddenly he bends down between my legs and blows cool air directly onto my sensitive clit, earning a groan of pleasure and desperation from me.

"more.." i manage to squeeze out, "you're gonna get more." chris says, standing up from between my legs and yanking down his sweatpants to his knees. "be quiet for me yeah?" he groans, rubbing his throbbing tip through my folds.

"i will stop if you get too loud okay?"

i nod frantically, spreading my legs open as far as they can go, revealing myself to chris.

his breathing picks up "ready..?" he stammers, his words incoherent.

"please.." i sigh out shakily, gripping the bedsheets in my fists so tight my knuckles grow white.

with full force chris slams inside of me, bruising my cervix. a loud yelp escapes my mouth as chris looks down at me, some-what checking if i'm okay.

i feel myself stretch around his length, the burning sensation still present. chris grips my hand, intertwining our fingers before thrusting in and out.

i feel each vein of his cock press against my insides. his thrusts grow sloppy and unhinged. strings of moans escape my mouth, chris slams his free hand over my mouth, shoving a finger inside in the process.

i clench around chris, before the knot in my stomach snaps he pulls out, "chris!" i yell in frustration, feeling empty. "shh sh." he shushes me, flipping me over onto all fours,

"quit making noises gorgeous, or none of this will happen again."

he pushes back inside of me, a familiar feeling. i let out a hum of pleasure as chris pushes on my mid back, arching my back. the sound of skin slapping fills the room as i bury my head in the pillow to muffle my sounds.

"good girl.." chris's voice his croaky, his dick twitches inside of me, signalling he's close.

i clench around him for the second time this evening, the pit in my stomach releases with a scream of his name.

chris pulls out, painting my back white "fuuckk..."

he collapses down beside me, pulling me onto his chest with a long hug. "you okay?" he whispers into my hair, his voice breathy.

i nod against his neck, he taps my hip "should we get you changed?"

i hum in response, chris sits up, holding me in a bridal position and walking over to the heaped pile of clothes on the floor, he sets me down on my feet my legs are numb and weak causing me to stumble over.

"careful there." chris laughs, holding me up. "okay, just step through.." he says, pulling my panties up my legs. the rest of my clothes follow, he steps back proudly before pulling up his sweatpants and throwing a shirt on.

"you look cute" chris smiles stupidly, nudging my elbow.

we both walk back downstairs, the rest of the group are scattered in a circle on the floor, playing monopoly. we go sit down and join our friends, the whole time chris is staring at me like he wasnt inside of me 4 minutes ago.

(2 weeks later)

it's the last day of our holiday, me and chris have had a few makeout sessions on the beach, alone. we haven't hooked up again, both realising it's too risky to do in a beach house with 4 other people in the small house.

I'm sat on the grass next to the driveway, observing as chris loads up the car strategically. before i can open my mouth to make a snarky comment about chris's concentration, matt, nick, madi and nate swing open the front door, all their bags in hand.

they all pile into the car again, chris follows, slamming the trunk door shut and jumping in, a small smirk tugs at my lips as chris pats his lap for me to sit down.

i sit down on his lap, nostalgia washes over me, remembering the outcome of last time i sat on his lap in this exact spot.

matt pulls out of the driveway,

its not even been 5 minutes and i'm already grinding on chris through his shorts.

-----------------------°°••....••°°--------------———

omfg i really hope yall liked this, i think one of my best so far, also dont come for me if new jersey isnt a beachy type state, i have NO idea about states my bad, js pretend it is.

@lovingchrissposts @lolasturniolo @ilovedasturniolos

[fredfilmsblog]

BTS w/B&PC Part 4

Click here for the other posts of 'Behind the Scenes with Bee and PuppyCat'

Frederator Postcard Series 26.1

Now that Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space is scheduled to drop on Netflix, September 6, 2022, I thought I would share some of my recollections as to how this special series of Natasha Allegri’s came to be. –Fred Seibert

Was our Kickstarter going to work? Could we make a Bee and PuppyCat series?

It was hard for some people to believe. Frederator had been very successful, with several series over the years, most recently the well regarded hit series of “Adventure Time.” Why would we need to ask the Kickstarter community to fund the Bee and PuppyCat series?

At least, that was one of the issues we were dealing with as we contemplated how we could make the show. Over the years, I’ve been asked almost as many questions about the PuppyCat Kickstarter as about anything else, so I’ll try and answer as many here as I can.

Here are a few key things to think about... My production companies have always had three key elements, and Bee and PuppyCat hit all three.

Creators first. It’s all about Natasha Allegri. Everything about Bee and PuppyCat is because of her unique vision, and her dedication and hard work that she puts into it every minute to make it special. Everything else follows.

Original, always. As I recently said to an idiot when he made a suggestion about other networks that might like PuppyCat, “Did you even watch the show?!” Aargh.

“Original” only begins to scratch the surface (no pun intended) of the exceptional qualities of the show. The characters, the stories, the drawing and design, the voice actors, the music.

Why would ever make a show that wasn’t original?

Your next favorite cartoon. We’re fans, just like our audiences. We want to be involved with creators and show that we just have to make. We’re looking for our next faves too.

All of my companies have been up-from-the-bootstraps, indie companies. Self funded, with an occasional small investment here and there. Generally, if we wanted to get a series going, especially one that required a “full” production (rather than what I call a “garage band” style, one person does everything, film), we needed a partner. And because the expense of an animated cartoon was in many millions of dollars for a 13 or 20 episode season, we always went to TV networks (or today, streamers too) who 1) needed cartoons, and 2) sold enough advertising or subscriptions to afford them. As I said in Part 3 of this series of posts, there was really no one who would take a chance on a unique show with Bee and PuppyCat.

As we were thinking about Kickstarter, we started jamming on the positives –and negatives– that our community would ask, and coming up with what we thought we reasonable responses to all of them.

Leading the charge was Nate Olson, a longtime friend who’d joined Frederator as Vice President, Marketing, but expanded his role over the years into pretty much everything outside of production. It’s fair to say that without Nate, the Bee and PuppyCat series wouldn’t have had a chance.

A quick diversion, and maybe a lesson, about Kickstarter. Among people I know, it seems easy. You put up your creative project –a comic, a video game, a film– and voila! people give you free money! If only it was so. Putting together a crowd funding project is a full time occupation, often for several months, and requires smarts, diligence, and just a lot of 24 hour, flop-sweat filled days.

Nate is the hero of the B&PC Kickstarter, the person who made it happen for Bee and PuppyCat. He even directed me beautifully in the KS video (I’m a BTS guy, not really one for the camera).

Here’s Nate’s recollections of the project...

We reached out to our friend, crowdfunding expert George Rohac. George worked with Frederator to outline the kinds of tiers, rewards, and milestones a 30 day Kickstarter needed. Frederator had modest goals at the outset and high hopes. We spent 60 days planning, creating assets, and getting collaborators on board. Then 30 days doing the Kickstarter.

The fans donated enough to hit the goal (6 x 6 minute episodes) within about 10 days. And then the stretch goals were accomplished over the remaining 20 days. At the time it was the most backed crowdfunding campaign with (almost 20K backers) and largest web series ever crowdfunded.

It took over a year to get the first group of episodes produced and up on YouTube. And then a couple of years more to get the rest of the episodes. We switched [overseas] production partners and we gave Natasha all of the time she needed to do what she wanted to do.

We had to wait until the DVD's could be made before we fulfilled most of the physical rewards so that took a few years. We understood the backers frustrations and read every comment and email about it. Frederator invested its own money to make an even 10 episodes (a total 60 minutes of content.) We had an exclusive BOOM! comic cover and exclusive signature edition Squishables [Here are some of the exclusive Kickstarter rewards. -Fred]. 17 licensees signed up to do Bee and PuppyCat merch, with dozens and dozens of amazing Bee and PuppyCat products.

The Kickstarter drop was amazing, the fans responded in droves, even the one naysayer in our joint had to eat his words.

But, it was still a nerve racking month for all of us, especially Nate. I’d watch him drag himself into the New York office looking like he hadn’t slept a bit. He hadn’t, he just kept refreshing the KS site, exhilarated when things went up, deflated when there was no action. About halfway through the month he set up a Reddit AMA with Natasha and me on the Adventure Time subReddit (Nate and programmer Matt Gielen sat with me through the whole thing, since I wasn’t familiar with the insider subReddit jargon; didn’t want to disapppoint!).

You know the end of this part of the story. We not only beat our large expectations, but became, at least for five years or so, the most backed animation project in Kickstarter’s history until that month. Yayyyyy!

Now came the hard work. Producing a series.

More to come in BTS w/B&PC Part 5. Parts 1-3 here.

[nachohypno]

Nate and Dave Ch. 1

Everything started like a normal day. But you probably already heard those lines.

When I woke up, it was raining outside. But that wasn’t going to stop me from going to class. I just had to reach the bus quickly enough.

I went to the bathroom and looked at myself at the mirror after washing my face. “Looking handsome” I said to myself. I tried to tidy my short black hair. I did the rest of the usual morning routine before heading out of the bathroom.

As I said, it was a normal day, like any other. I went to school in the bus, barely got wet by the rain so I was happy.

I quickly entered school and walked to my locker. I didn’t get wet! Maybe this day wasn’t going to be as bad as I thought!

I greeted a few of my friends as I passed by, but I won’t go into details with them. They were cool, but they aren’t as involved in this story as I would have liked.

I’ll get to them later.

My mind went from happiness to fear in just a few seconds, when I reached my locker.

I noticed a few of the football players passing beside me, but I hid using my locker. Close one, they probably didn’t notice me.

Spoke too soon.

I got approached by one of the guys that just passed by. One of the jocks.

“Do I know ya?” He asked, like it was the most normal thing to ask. Although, he seemed pretty confused. I had to be careful with my answer, it could either get me a punch on the gut or a safe escape.

“I don’t think so?” I didn’t know what to say. I’ve never been approached by one of them in a “friendly” way. He stared at me. It was a bit weird.

‘Why is he talking to me?’ Was one of the questions that came through my mind at the moment.

Suddenly, he snapped out of his staring contest and extended his hand for a shake. “Dave, nice to meet ya”

We shook hands. And he squeezed my hand a lot, I was surprised he didn’t actually break it because it hurted a lot. He mumbled a sorry after noticing my expression of pain.

Okay, that’s something weird. I was expecting one of the jocks going out of their way to harm me in some way, but not to apologize about it.

“It’s… alright. I’m Nate” I mumbled, obviously nervous.

He gave me a big smile, like trying to comfort me. I was pretty scared at this point. Everyone knew these guys were kinda shady.

“Oh, I think I’ve seen you at my biology class, right?” He said, still smiling. I nodded, and apparently that caused his smile to get bigger “Awesome, let’s sit together, bro!”

Oh, he wants me to do his homework. That explains it. Alright, I can do that.

I mean, if it’s that or being beat up, I prefer doing some extra homework. 

Survival of the smartest.

I went inside the biology lab. Sat on my usual spot, not too far but not too close to the blackboard either. The perfect distance to avoid being called to the front by the professor.

My partner usually rotated. Not that I’m not a good classmate, but they usually have a better deal or something like that. And today, my partner was Dave the jock.

The guy took off his letterman jacket and hanged it from the back of the chair, then sat down beside me. He gave me another big smile as he stared at me while I prepared my stuff on the table.

“What?” I asked when he started to make me nervous with the whole staring act. I can’t remember when we started being classmates. I barely pay attention to the jocks. It’s like, seeing a letterman jacket means trouble for me. So I try to hide ASAP.

That’s being gay in here for ya.

“What what?” He chuckled. What was so funny?

“Why are you staring at me?”

“I don’t know. I just want to, is there a problem with that?” He said, quite roughly. The smile he had until now vanished, replaced by an expression of superiority.

I took a step back, a bit scared by his change of attitude. He noticed this, and quickly returned to his friendly attitude. “Uhm, sorry. Didn’t mean to sound rude”

He shrugged, again with a big smile. He seemed happy, probably planning something? I decided to stop pushing the subject, to not make him angry.

As soon as the professor entered, everyone shifted their looks to him. He greeted us, and started explaining today’s subject. As I said, like a normal day. I just had to wait until the man gave us a few quiz questions, answer mine and give the answers to Dave, then I would be free of punches.

As expected, professor Lewis gave us some questions and asked us to draw a dick- Sorry, the male reproductive system. I’m a senior, way past the point of finding this things funny. I noticed Dave was chuckling, and a few of his fellow jocks on the back also did.

I grabbed my book from the bag, opened it on the designated page and placed it on the middle of the table.

Dave just took out a sheet of paper, a pencil and a rubber. Greaaaat, he wanted to help.

Speaking about him, he went back to staring at me without rest. It started to get on my nerves again.

So, if he wanted me to make his homework, he could help a bit. “Alright, I’ll do the quiz. Meanwhile, you draw the male reproductive system-”

“Sure!” He beamed up, grabbed his pencil and started to copy it from the book. Weird, why was he so happy to draw a reproductive system? Probably the same reason he was chuckling earlier. Jocks don’t think a lot, I guess.

I started doing my work too. I wanted good and complete answers, but not more than necessary. This professor is a dick and would probably not give me a fair grade if I tried to outsmart him.

By the end of the class, Dave gave me his drawing and I wrote down our names. I wrote down his name next to mine on the answers sheet. He was laughing a bit, for some reason. “What’s so funny?” I asked.

“You seem kinda serious, bro. It’s cool, suits you”

“What do you mean?”

He smiled, but frowned a bit “I… Sorry, can’t tell” Weirdo, but alright. I got freed of the jock and class was over. I started to put my stuff back in my bag and got up.

“Heading to the cafeteria?” Asked my apparently new friend, since he didn’t seem able to leave my ass today. “We could have lunch together if you want”

“Uh… What?” I looked at him and noticed he was staring with lovely eyes. Oh, I get it now. He’s horny and wants a blowjob from the local fag.

Not my department though. I would never do that. I prefer being beaten up than allegedly raped at school. He’s older than me, I’ve heard that last week was his 18th birthday. I could try and get him expelled if he tried to touch me at all.

It’s not every day that you can have lunch with the jocks. I didn’t want to, but Dave already grabbed me by the shoulder and started talking very excitedly. And I mean it.

He asked about weird stuff about me. Favorite color, song, food, stuff like that. I assumed now that he just wanted to be friendly. Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.

I thought about that to try and comfort myself, because I was freaking out about having this random guy follow me around like some kind of puppy.

I heard about him. Everyone knew about the local football stars. This guy is the quarterback of our team, the Rottweilers. 

He has a hot girlfriend, one of the cheerleaders if I recall correctly. He has the good looks, with blue eyes, short light brown hair, a handsome face. He seemed to be mischievously smiling at all times.

I knew he arrived at this year, transferred from another school and luckily, we barely interacted. He never tried to do anything to me which is a relief. 

I’ve had some… encounters with the other jocks, and I was thankful that I’ve never returned to my house with a black eye.

We arrived to the cafeteria and he still wasn’t going to shut up, or let me go. I usually had my food at the school’s yard. Way more relaxing and nicer than the awfully crowded cafeteria.

Don’t think of me as that weird loner guy, a lot of people also preferred to have lunch on the school’s yard.

But, awful rain outside. I would probably catch a cold or something, so I didn’t have an option.

“Alrighttt” I said. Taking his hand out of my shoulder and moving to face him. “Look, I appreciate you wanting to hang out with me but…” I looked over at the football team’s table. “I really, really don’t want to go there”

He seemed a bit disappointed, but it quickly vanished as his usual smile returned “Sure, we can sit anywhere else, bro. Wherever you’re comfortable is fine”

I think he didn’t get the message, but still, it was better than nothing. We went to grab a food plate. I loved school’s pasta day.

I went to get a plate of pasta and sat in a random table. Dave sat right next to me.

This thing was getting unnerving. I had a theory though. Dave lost a bet and had to be around the weirdo all day, waiting for me to put my guard down. Well, my friend, not going to happen.

But sadly, he stuck around to me all day as I predicted. The rain already stopped, and I decided to head to the school yard to have some air before my next class.

-----

After a while, I stopped right on my tracks and turned to him “Alright, what do you want? Why are you following me around since this morning? Did you lose a bet or something?” I was trying to keep myself quiet though. I didn’t want to start a scene mid-schoolyard.

Dave got nervous. “Uh… Uhm… ‘Cuz… I’m…” He looked around frantically, beads of sweat started forming on his forehead. Maybe he couldn’t talk about it in public? Something felt wrong about this.

“Follow me” I said. He did as I told, with a sigh of relief. Like he just got saved from the worst thing happening.

We entered the library. I knew Mrs. Wells would be on her break, so I went to a silent spot, looked around to see if anyone was near and told him “Nobody here, spill the beans”

I shouldn’t play the bad cop. What if this was a trick to take me to an empty place and beat me up there? There’s always the possibility, so I was careful and prepared to run away.

He gulped and started, looking at me like he didn't have any other choice. “This may sound crazy but… I’m a werewolf”

Yeah, he was tricking me.

I turned around and started walking away, but he grabbed me by the shoulders and looked at me with pleading eyes. “Believe me bro, I’m not joking”

I sighed and got back in place. Not because I wanted to, but because he was stronger than me and I couldn’t walk away. I decided to keep going with this charade “If you were telling me the truth, can you prove it?”

He snorted “Pfft. Easy bro. Order me to do anything” His trademarked smile returned to his face.

“Pull down your pants” It was the first thing that came to mind, and he didn’t even hesitate.

He did so remaining with his big smile, as if he was happy to do such a stupid thing. “Oh god, pull them back up!” What if someone saw us?

Bah, who am I kidding? Nobody visits the school library willingly nowadays.

“How is that supposed to prove anything? I was joking!”

But he didn’t seem embarrassed, nor mad. He just laughed at what I said “That proves it, bro! I’m a werewolf and you’re my soulmate!”

I looked at him, startled. He has a girlfriend and came up to tell me that I, a guy who never talked to him, was his soulmate. And I’m the queen of England.

But, he kept explaining. “Let me tell ya. Werewolves, and many other supernatural creatures, are real. I’m one of them, and… This may be even weirder bro.” 

He gulped “I still barely understand it. I thought it was a joke at first, but I’m realizing it wasn’t bro” He looked around again.

I did the same, nervously. I placed my face in my hands and just… tried to deal with it. Dave noticed my silence and continued with his explanation.

“Werewolves can recognize their soulmate by their smell. Apparently, it can happen after you reach adulthood” Made sense, if his birthday was a few days ago. I should ask around later to corroborate. “And when you find your soulmate, you’re… bound to them. In mind and body. I just want to be with ya bro, and do what you want. The thought of it makes me feel good, and happy”

Of course, I was speechless. It was a lot of information to process. One of the star players of my high school was saying I’m his soulmate, and that he wants to do whatever I want.

“A-are you r-really sure you’re not joking? This is a r-really big deal” I stutter when I’m nervous. And this was much more than I could handle at a normal morning.

“Look, it’s weird. But since this morning, every second I’ve been around you were the most beautiful moments of my life” He stared straight into my eyes “I love you, bro. And I’m not lying.”

I tried to calm myself down, I turned around and looked at the wall. If I kept looking at the jock I would probably panic.

“So… soulmates?” I asked, hopefully he would explain things further.

“Yeah bro. We’re bonded apparently. I won’t complain, I’m happy to have found you!” Now that I think of it, Dave being a werewolf would explain a few things. Like his smiling and laughing all day, following me around all day like some kind of domestic dog. And his outstanding school’s spirit.

“And… is there any limit to what you would do?” I wanted to make sure. Just curiosity.

He shook his head in denial. “Anything you want. No limits, bro”

I thought about something. I was excited. If everything turned out to be true, I just got myself an obedient werewolf jock. And the idea was like an instant turn on. “Kiss me”

He didn’t waste any second, he grabbed the back of my head and pulled me in for a make out session. My first kiss, with one of the football players. Who would have thought about it?

His tongue was surprisingly gentle when he entered, and his taste was unique so to say. But, for some reason, I couldn’t get enough of it. I could feel myself getting turned on as we kept going. He pulled me in closer to him and I felt something in his pants starting to grow.

I broke the kiss after some minutes, it would have been weird if someone saw us.

“Uhm… How was that? Never kissed a guy before” He asked, pretty excitedly.

“I-I don’t k-know… you were my first”

His smile grew bigger and he gave me a big bear hug. “I love you, bro” Oh, he was pretty romantic, huh.

-----

I decided to leave the library before Mrs. Wells returned from his break. Dave followed me like a happy puppy. 

We went back to school and kept chatting about the soulmates subject, but not as loud as we did on the library. More like whispers between us.

“So when you said ‘no limits’, you really meant it? Like, really no limits?” I asked him.

“I would rip my heart off for you, if you want that” He put his hand over his chest, and tried to imitate a poet’s voice while closing his eyes.

“No! I would never ask you to do that, or to harm yourself! What kind of psychopath do you think I am?” I got a bit scared at what he said, thinking that I should be careful with my words, but his smile didn’t vanish. He laughed a bit and stared at me again.

“You look cute when you’re nervous” And now he’s flirty.

I sighed “Are you alright with flirting with me at school? I mean, don’t you have a girlfriend-”

“Gonna break up with her” He said, pretty fast.

“What? Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious, bro? I’ve found my soulmate!” He was really excited about this whole ordeal.

 I wondered what his parents may think about their werewolf son being so happy for being completely controlled by a random guy from his class.

“Aren’t you nervous that you have to do everything I say?” Not like I asked for it but… I’m not complaining either. The guy is a stud.

“Nervous? Why would I be? I can’t wait to do as you say, bro”

“Alright, that’s it. I need a break” I walked to the nearest bathroom and he went in behind me. Nice. “Can you give me a few minutes? Uh… Wait for me outside”

He nodded blissfully and walked out.

I just washed my face and looked at myself in the mirror.

“Okay Nate, it’s cool. He’s a good guy, he just wants to make you happy. No need to be afraid of him, or anything like that. You’re the boss around here”

My little pep talk was working, but then…

The terror pair entered through the bathroom’s door.

Butch and Lucas, two players from the football team. I’ve crossed paths with them a few times, and they’re not the nice ones.

“Faggot!” Butch said, as he noticed me. They were bigger and stronger than me, so fighting would most likely be futile.

Unless…

As Lucas grabbed my hair and tried to drag me to the toilet stall, I yelled “DAVE!”.

My knight in shining armor heard my call. He busted through the door and pushed the pair away. I fell to the ground and he helped me up. “Are you hurt, bro? Let’s get outta here”

“What the fuck? You’re friends with faggot now?!” Asked Lucas, but Dave didn’t answer. We just walked out of the bathroom and I cleaned my face with a napkin.

I had a wicked thought at that moment. I could retaliate from all those years of putting my head in the toilet or being humiliated by these guys.

But that would be wrong. I’m better than them, and I would not use dave as a... weapon of revenge.

I remained silent during the rest of the day. It was all too much to handle. I just wanted for this shitty year to end.

Dave actively asked if I was alright or if I wanted anything. He also tried to cheer me up a bit, but to no avail. 

I just felt bad.

-----

Classes were over and Dave insisted on taking me home in his car. I wanted to refuse, but he sounded very convincing.

Like, I would normally shrug him off, but he was one of the high school’s bullies and he still had some kind of power of intimidation over me, I guess.

“Are you alright, bro? Barely spoke after the bathroom thing” It’s weird. He’s trying to be a very cute and wholesome guy, but he mixes it with his… “normal” self and it brings me back to being wary of my answers.

“Yeah… Sorry, I’m alright” I said, trying to sound okay. I totally wasn’t, I was pissed. But it wasn’t his fault, so I didn’t want to involve him.

We arrived at my place and he had a sad puppy look on his face as I left the car. I didn’t have any intention of inviting him in.

I barely invited friends around (I’m not really a loner. I’m just an introvert, but as I mentioned before, I do have friends!)

“Well, call me if you need something. I love you… can’t wait to see you on Monday… Gonna count each second…” He said, dragging the words and trying to convince me with his blue puppy eyes.

Oh, for the love of god. Was he really going to be this persistent?

“Park the car and let’s go in” I said, sighing afterwards. I hope I wasn’t going to regret this choice.

“Really?! Thanks so much, bro!” He did as I told and went to my side.

We entered the house, I said out loud “I’m back mom! Brought a friend!” Dave smiled at that. I just waited for her answer to avoid being rude.

She answered with a “That’s so great, Nathan! Let me know if he stays for dinner!” that came from her bedroom. She was probably doing her daily yoga.

She would be busy for the evening, I think. Hopefully. I didn’t want her to notice the big guy and start asking questions.

I motioned Dave to follow me and we went to my room. Closed the door behind him and sat on my bed.

My house was your… normal suburban house, not too big, and not too small either. It was a nice place, a bit old, but I liked it.

“So… what do you want to do, bro?” The big guy sat on the floor, cross-legged. He was staring at me, smiling like an idiot.

I won’t lie, he’s hot as hell. And I’m all up for having a relationship with this… big wolf on campus?

I mean, I’m not so eager but… would it really be that bad? Jocks weren’t really my favorite type of person.

“Bark” I said. I wanted to test this thing out. He was apparently under my control and had to obey me. What could go wrong? He proved his loyalty after saving me from his teammates.

His eyes unfocused a bit as he gave a cute bark.

I extended my hand and said “Paw” then he put his hand on top of mine. His tongue was lolling out of his mouth at this point.

He was like possessed by a dog. And I’m sure that there’s a movie about that. And just when I thought about that, he started making that weird ‘purr’ dogs make when they feel good. Like a motor.

I moved closer to him and playfully scratched the back of his ears. “How does that feel?” I asked him.

“Hmm… Pretty good, bro…”

I smiled. Just like having a pet. A supernatural pet, yeah.

“Thanks for helping me today” I said, as I moved my hand to the back of his head. “I really appreciate it, kind of tired of those guys already”

He opened his eyes and looked at me “No problem. Nobody will ever hurt you again, bro. You have a soulmate now” He said with a wink, before going back to enjoying the scratching.

I stopped scratching and pulled him in for a kiss. I must admit, it feels good. I still wasn’t sure if this was a prank, but hell I was enjoying it.

He kissed me back, blissfully enjoying each second of it.

He seemed just as gentle as he was the first time, and I could feel his hot breath as we kept kissing. He was excited, I could tell.

-----

Chapter 2 is already available in my Patreon!  And by pledging you also get access to other stories before they go public!

[the-sheep]

ID GO ABSOLUTELY BONKERS IF U TYPED OUT HIS ENTIRE HISTORY FBFBFBFB i would like 2 see it..........

alright right right

This ended up being A HUGE POST so all info is under the cut.

Unless you’re on mobile, in which case, enjoy scrolling.

It all starts on flight rising. Well, Heart starts on FR. It REALLY starts with my webcomic/animated series.

It wasn’t well drawn or animated at first, but it steadily got better. One of the plot holes, back in 8th grade, was “who created priscilla and Jake?”

It was mostly summed up to “Penny made all the bots its all simple” but i was a middle schooler and i needed a complicated (and edgy) story. 

Thing is I had already made Fandragons of a good chunk of my ocs on flight rising.

I bred two dragons to get my main characters, so why not just use them?

Christy Suggested the name Cavet, and I liked it.

Yeah this is my first digital image of him as a human and he DOES NOT LOOK RIGHT

no necklace, no beard, orange eyes…

horrific.

So I made human designs for them both, but Chrysanthemum remains forgotten, not even canon to Mechanical Fury anymore.

Here’s old art of her and Cavet back before she got wiped out from existence.

the art is bad btu the Heart gimmick is there

Here’s him in his second image ever. The one that pretty much defined his design.He also quickly gained a husband

Anyway he quickly morphed into a villain several time more dangerous than the main villain

He’s responsible for the deaths of not ONE, not TWO, but THREE children.

Two his kids, one the younger sister of a character that one of the dead kids liked.

One of his dead kids got his own story, the other was literally a main character.

Chloride, (Charlie) in all his glory, lucky enough to get resurrected as an android but after finding out he’s not who he thinks he is, has to attempt to live a normal Human life… when his two best friends are paranormal investigators, his love interest having lost their arm and their only remaining sister to the main villain.

He originally found out he was an android by finding his own blueprints, hearing his Mom cry about it, and then cutting open his face (for his signature scar) and running off. 

Running into Cavet’s husband, Nathair Liu. He stitches him up, know all about robotic n all that but he is.

also a secondary villain….

I hate the art in this video but its not my worst.

(Video was Vendy’s debut, too. tho Vendy was more Nate(logan/mind/princi/whatever)’s kid than Cavet’s)

Okay i’ve gotten off track.

Yeah at this point I was really loving Cavet, on FR, and wrote an entire long story between him and Skittles based on the events of Mechanical Fury.

This was where I got the idea for reincarnation.

I needed an explanation for why the same character was in two different universes, and it was perfect. In fact, it lead to an amazing way to end it. 

But what is in control of all this? What does he see in the in between?

Well, Death was packaged with two other red herrings to keep people from thinking she was more important than them from the start, when in fact, she was. One of the plot points is that Cavet dies. He continues causing havoc, but nobody can figure out why or how. he doesn’t have a body.

Except he does. Death.

She was scary, but that was just her, she was a literal robot grim reaper. Nobody suspected she was spreading a virus to make robots susceptible to Augap’s control everywhere she went. Not even her. Cav liked hanging out in the AI scape, AKA the robot afterlife or virtual heaven.

What a fun way to make a real grim reaper.

I never really kept track of the transition from “cute robot char” to “cute real god char”

and i guess it never happened. Heart still thinks of her as she was, as cute little Litty. Except when she’s not. He gave form to the literal concept of DEATH. And became her friend. She still calls him Papa, sometimes.

In any case, Cavet’s doodles started being more and more revolving around his angst with the reincarnation.

in fact, i had a few character in the same boat as him, as I had made a couple dragons into MF characters as well.

I called them The Artifacts. It didn’t seem rounded out with only four, so I added a 5th. To give me more leeway in case I make a character i like enough to bring with them.

and turns out. I did.

I was sad enough about Cavet losing the love of his life, betraying him, creating a rift between them with his descent into obsession.

So he came with them.

They’re inseparable.

after a few lives of getting revenge on him for killing his sons and some adult humans and a BUNCH of robots, (not even counting his crimes in the vampire life he committed because he thought he lost Liu forever) Soul revealed to him something about Heart’s 6th life, which Mind doesn’t remember.

But he was there.

Long story short, he was Captain Shuggazoom. Yeah 10 lives of stuff he forgot before he started remembering his past lives. Messed Heart up.

ANYWAY BACK TO DEVELOPMENT!

I went around, making original characters to fill in Heart’s lives. I put him in a LOT of stories, but a notable one is My Old Ask Blog, @ask-musical-monsters

In which Heart is our lovable Tweedle, Bean.

He’s the bird. (this is also the blog where Willow was made!) (also a character i referenced when putting antauri on the baldi blog)

I still hadn’t abandoned MF so Bean has a lot of influence from Cavet. 

I REALLY liked bean. It occured to me here-ish that Heart isn’t constrained by being my oc. He can be whoever he wants and nobody will care. 

So of course I immediately declare him purple guy. No drawings of him, but I know I said he was purple guy at some point. Also at this point in time I started organizing the lives by number order, and making a simple arc for Heart and the others to follow.

1000 lives. 

I made a brief description of heart’s 1st life, but made it purposefully very superfluous so i can change it whenever i want. All i know is he had albinism, and a desire to live forever.

That summer I got an amazing idea. I would take advantage of the Baldi’s basics trend with a ASK BLOG.

It was a mathematically calculated success. I did as many things as possible to generate more audience. MAIN thing being posting as often as possible, and being REALLY funny. 

But knew I wasn’t going to like adding to the ask blog if i didn’t like the main character

I already knew he was going to be Baldi, but I wasn’t sure exactly how to characterize him either. 

Turns out making him heart solved both of those problems. He’s always been Heart.

And Princi has ALWAYS been mind.

Even if they don’t always show their artifacts, they always were the same people as all these other things ive made. They have a DEEP connection to both each other and me.

At some point, I re-re-discovered SRMTHFG. The first few seconds I saw SK I knew he was Heart. It was so perfect it scared me.

HE EVEN DOES THE POSE!!!!! RED EYES!!!! AAAH!!!

I got an idea for a storyline based on formless and regret and monkeys… so.. uh

Anyway that kinda brings us to today, where the events of the blog have happened based on Heart things, and i can play around with Heart as much as I want.

And Willie’s next life? Well, 23 is my favorite number. It’ll be cool, but I’m not sure how. All I know is 23 wears a striped shirt, and is a vamp again.

In summary, Heart is the most important character I’ve ever made, and I will never come close to anybody as wonderful and as complicated as him. He’s the greatest formless, the best villains, the heroes, and one character i want to hold out for finding irl.

 I love them even in scribbles i find on bus seats, in fanart of him, love her in songs i hear, in flowers i see in the wild.

Whoever they end up being, it’s safe to say I’ve fallen in love with Heart. 

If you want me to describe his in universe story, I’ll need a seperate post.

Other Heart Resources:

The Spreadsheet

The Playlist

[antiquatedfuture]

Zine Care Packages (Antiquated Future Spring Newsletter)

What a challenging time. Things have felt pretty bleak and I debated about whether to send this spring newsletter a lot, but friends convinced me we're all in need of good news. If nothing else, I want to say two things: 1) We'll still be shipping orders (with plenty of hand-washing and sanitizing) several times a week. 2) While we always appreciate and need your financial support, we'd also like to offer the resources we have to any of you who are having a hard time. 

In short: We're offering free zines (and tapes and books) to anyone who's currently struggling financially, mentally, or physically right now. No need to tell us details, just email and say "I'd like a package," and we'll send one your way. Let it be a surprise or make a list of what you'd like and we'll send you what we can. Feel free to spread the word to your friends and community through our Facebook or Twitter posts. It's not much, admittedly, but hopefully it's something.

In more general distro news: we have a few more calendars & planners in stock (and very very on sale), we’ve been restocking things as much as we can, and we accidentally left up our temporary store-wide cassette sale (that also includes a decent handful of LPs and CDs) as well as our zine sale on select titles. We also just posted a newsletter from the record label side of Antiquated Future. We're currently lending some small financial assistance to Portland writer Martha Grover as she recovers from a brain surgery by selling a fundraiser pack of her Somnambulist zine. And if you're in the Portland area, we're helping do porch deliveries of food, baby supplies, and various resources. Please reach out if you'd like one or you know someone in need.

NEW ZINES Antonia- A rare, almost-sublime zine about place, memory, and lost history. About the ways things change and stay the same. About how the place you're from shapes who you become. About growing up in a small Midwestern town without a zip code, a place not on most maps. ($5) Behind the Zines #9: A Zine About Zines- The latest issue of newest best zine about zines around. Within: the evolution of DIY comics culture, zine-fest history, imagined zines, One Punk's Guide to collaborative zines, a history of that one Crimethinc poster, The Most Unwanted Zine, confessions of a sex-zine zinester. Contributions from our own Gina Sarti, as well as John Porcellino and so many others. ($3) Brainscan #34: A Dabbler's Week of DIY Witchery- In the wake of the controversy surrounding a recent viral article about spending a week "becoming a witch," Alex considers what her guide to a witchcraft practice would look like. The results are a day-by-day guide to trying out her particular variety of secular witchcraft (that she lovingly refers to as "DIY witchery"). ($4)

Caboose #12: Jury Duty- A personal story of serving as a juror on a medical malpractice suit. As usual, Liz Mason's playful, endlessly curious take on the world makes this a ride worth taking. A peek into the court system through the eyes of this long-running zine-star. ($4) Clock Tower Nine #15- One of our favorite Seattle zines is back with tales from the record store counter, long walks in various locales, dangerous doppelgängers, and 8-track tapes. As Clock Tower Nine ringleader Danny Noonan describes it in the introduction: "This fanzine is like a bunch of people sitting around a fire in late fall, all taking turns telling a story." ($3) Cometbus #59: Post-Mortem- How does Cometbus, after 38 years as a zine, just get better and better? It's a mystery, but it does. Issue 59 is a deep dive into both death and longevity in the underground. In short: what does sustainability look like in counterculture? This question takes Aaron on a journey from the Epitaph Records and Thrasher magazine offices to hanging out at a punk-owned vegan donut shop and a tamale stand at the farmer's market with Allison Wolfe (of Bratmobile). ($5)

Doris #23- A back-issue fave from one of the best zines ever. Long personal stories that look both outward and inward in surprising ways. ($2) Doris #26- Shy-punk-girl comics, social ecology, the cynical hour, a grandpa who built malls, hammer and nail history, and more. ($2) Eulalia #3- Two issues of the art zine Eulalia in one. Grief and romance, hand-in-hand. Gorgeously designed! Letterpress-printed covers. Each issue is bound with a special do-si-do binding, so each half can be read separately. ($10) Fluke Fanzine #17- Since 1991, Fluke has been creating great variety zines covering all realms of punk and underground culture. Graphic novelist Nate Powell, skateboard magazine historians, Maximum Rocknroll, R.E.M., '90s women-led punk, the Soophie Nun Squad family tree, more. ($3)

Forever & Everything #5- Comics on parenting, depression, coffee, therapy, alcohol, Willie Nelson, Charlie Brown, and living in New Orleans. ($5) Good Days Gone Cold Days- A photography zine/art zine made while living and working in "a house without heat, without doorknobs, and without much insulation or electricity to speak of" for a late fall in western Pennsylvania. Comes with homemade bookmark, building permit, and banjo tab. ($12) Keep Loving, Keep Fighting #8- A reprint of this 2008 issue of Keep Loving, Keep Fighting. Forty pages of feeling at home in New Orleans, communication between friends, death, visiting Montreal, and moving away. ($5)

Learning Good Consent- An essential compilation zine about consent. From personal stories to worksheets, approaches, definitions, resources, and beyond, Learning Good Consent is here to help us all feel more comfortable and be more respectful. ($4)

Little Leagues #1- The companion comics scrapbook to Simon Moreton's epic Minor Leagues series. Prose, comics and photos about being in Japan, making chutney, experiencing autumn. ($3) Little Leagues #2- Comics about being in the snow. Drawings and photos of spring. A fold-out cover with facts about lesser-spotted dogfish. ($3) Our Lady of Near Death Experiences- Jodi Darby writes about becoming a cross-country truck driver as a 23-year-old woman in the mid 1990s. A mini-memoir told in vignettes, Our Lady is a twisted love song to the road in all its complexities. A gorgeous reprint of this zine classic from 1998. (And we have the last few copies before it goes out of print!) ($10)

The Paruretic #1: The Story of a Guy Who's Pee Shy- The first issue of one of our favorite new zine series. The Paruretic tells what the intricacies and complexities of life with parusesis, the social phobia of being pee shy. Illuminating, accessible, and worth reading every issue. ($2)

The Paruretic #2: The Story of a Guy Who's Pee Shy (College)- In this issue, Mark recalls figuring out the debilitating effects of his bladder issues when he goes to college and, for the first time, navigates living in dorms, drinking at college-town bars, and hooking-up. ($3)

The Paruretic #3: The Story of a Guy Who's Pee Shy (Vacation)- In this issue: searching out acceptable bathrooms while on the road, not urinating for ten hours while in the air, and a bathroom-by-bathroom diary of experiences. ($3) The Paruretic #4: The Story of a Guy Who's Pee Shy (The Search for Help)- In this issue, Mark reaches out, looking for help, and is met with a less-than-sympathetic medical system. Within: clueless medical professionals, almost losing a job over a urinalysis, and finally finding someone who understands. ($3) The Paruretic #5: The Story of a Guy Who's Pee Shy (Dating)- The dating issue covers how Mark handled (or avoided handling) dating in high school and college. It's a chronicle of, as Mark says, "how my shy bladder has driven every part of my love life." ($3)

Somnambulist Zine Pack Fundraiser- For the past 17 years, Portland memoirist and illustrator Martha Grover has been publishing Somnambulist zine, an expansive and playful look at the world at large (and easily one of the best zines running today). This pack includes all nine in-print issues of Somnambulist (a $40 value for $25!). All proceeds go straight to Martha's brain surgery recovery fund. Help a great writer, get nine amazing zines. ($25) Somnambulist #33: How to Survive the Portland Winter- A fun how-to guide from Portland-born writer Martha Grover. Within: dealing with all the rain, taking care of your mental health, venturing out, staying in, eating soup (with recipes!), and the truth about umbrellas. Illustrated by Liz Yerby. ($5)

Somnambulist #34: The Starfish- A single, long-form essay about Martha's journey through Cushing's disease and Addison's disease, and the lingering tumor she's chosen to not demonize or see as something separate. The Starfish is a surprising and exciting meditation on what it means to be in a body. ($3) Surely, They'll Tear it Down- A short zine letter about gender, race, identity, and not-knowing from the author of Fixer Eraser and We, the Drowned. ($2) Tattoo Punk Fanzine, Issue 3- A jam-packed new issue of Tattoo Punk, the fanzine about tattoos, punks, and tattooed punks. Edited by Ben Trogdon of everyone's favorite artsy punk paper, Nuts! ($15) Valentines Every Day- Weirdo anytime-valentines from zine-seller extraordinaire, Julie Wade. Funny, bizarre, off-kilter, occasionally unsettling. The perfect gift for that especially-odd someone. ($6) What Happened- A dreamy comic from UK artist Simon Moreton. Set in a '90s boyhood of meadows, sci-fi VHS tapes, MTV, crushes, first kisses. ($5) 

NEW BOOKS & MISCELLANY The Collected Plays by Portland Preschoolers- In short: One of our favorite little books around! A modern classic, even. Five years of collected plays written by Portland, Oregon preschoolers. Hilarious, invariably bizarre, oddly brilliant, sometimes surprisingly profound. Perfect for putting out on the coffee table, reading aloud to friends, impromptu group performances. ($10) Four-Year Depression- A book about figuring out how to love your family in the Trump era. From Billy McCall of Proof I Exist and Behind the Zines. ($10) Zine Game- A long-time favorite in the zine community, now in a fancy, professionally-made version accessible to all game lovers. Playing like a cross between canasta and Magic: The Gathering, Zine Game is all about building your own zines. A really fun time with tons of possibilities. ($16)

NEW MUSIC & SPOKEN WORD Alice Notley "Live in Seattle"- An LP of one of the most adored living poets. Alice Notley pushes boundaries, and it's an absolute joy to hear her reading her work. (LP + digital download) ($16.95) Annelyse Gelman & Jason Grier "About Repulsion"- A collaboration between poet Annelyse Gelman and sound artist Jason Grier. About Repulsion mixes songs, sampled poems, textural walls, beats, noise, to create this EP of one-of-a-kind soundscapes. (LP + digital download) ($16.95) Eileen Myles "Aloha / Irish Trees"- The legendary poet Eileen Myles, on vinyl for the first time. Aloha/Irish Trees features nearly an hour of Myles live in the studio, reading past and present poems. Intimate, playful, raw. (LP + digital download) ($16.95)

Harmony Holiday "The Black Saint and the Sinnerman"- Harmony Holiday's record of poems and sound collage. Adventurous and accessible, twisting cultural images into something surprising, political, socially aware. In conversation with Charles Mingus’ classic 1963 album The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady. (LP + digital download) ($16.95) Rae Armantrout "Conflation"- Fifty-four surprising and gloriously unique poems from Rae Armantrout, a Pulitzer-winning poet of great gifts. (LP + digital download) ($16.95) Susan Howe & Nathaniel Mackey  "Stray: A Graphic Tone"- Made in collaboration with Shannon Ebner, Stray: A Graphic Tone juxtaposes historic and recent material from poets Susan Howe and Nathaniel Mackey. An adventurous LP of spoken word delights. (LP + digital download) ($16.95)

Stay well, take care of each other as much as possible. Xo, Antiquated Future

[mobius-prime]

161. Sonic the Hedgehog #93

Crime 'N Punishment

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: FRY Colors: Frank Gagliardo

Sonic races back to Knothole after his fight with Ken, wracked with guilt both over the king's injuries from the previous day, and from losing the sword today. That said, he's still not ready to face the consequences of his actions, as he's completely outraged when he exits the Great Oak Slide straight into a net waiting to catch him.

That's one hell of a way to try to put someone under arrest, Geoffrey. Imagine if real life cops just slung a net over anyone they wanted to arrest. Sonic angrily insists he doesn't have to answer to Geoffrey, but then Elias shows up, saying he does have to answer to someone after all…

Within Robotropolis, Eggman welcomes the crowd of Overlanders into his city, though the little girl, Hope, finds herself feeling uneasy. As Eggman invites the members of his immediate family into the palace to offer them a "luxury suite," beneath the city streets, Kodos continues to celebrate his acquisition of the Sword of Acorns.

Might wanna be careful of what you say when you've got a sneaky ninja spider hanging around you, buddy boy. In Knothole, Sonic tries to insist to Elias that he wants to speak to Sally before anyone else, but Elias says that whatever he has to say to her can be said to him instead, since he's the acting ruler. Sonic thus imagines himself apologizing tenderly to Sally while holding her close, and, deciding that that is definitely not something he wants to do with Elias, races off, which angers Geoffrey, though Elias says to let him go for now. Sonic is caught up in his depressed thoughts as he runs, until Mina happily races toward him, shouting that she's glad he's not in jail. However, she finds herself unable to control her speed as she runs, and crashes straight into Sonic.

IS THIS A LOVE TRIANGLE I SMELL? Man, I'm sorry Mina, I love you, but I cannot stand love triangles. Y'all already know this. Apparently Mina was actually originally introduced to the comic with the intent to make her a romantic rival for Sonic's affections against Sally, and so for a little while, we're gonna be dealing with that, until Mina is able to get her own characterization apart from being a love interest. Anyway, at that moment Antoine and Bunnie show up, having just returned from their trip to Mercia with the High Sheriff in tow, bound in ropes, because damn, if high quality mechanical restraints designed by the most advanced race on the planet aren't enough to keep a violent and powerful Robian in check, surely some plain old cordage from Home Depot will do! They say they have to speak to the king at once concerning their new prisoner, but Nate arrives as well, explaining to them that the king is paralyzed and Elias is acting ruler for now. Sonic becomes guilt-ridden once again, and to his everlasting credit, Antoine immediately, without first finding out the story behind Sonic's mood, says that he doesn't believe any of this can be Sonic's fault. With the strong, almost hateful-at-times rivalry that these two were depicted having in the original SatAM cartoon, I absolutely love the respect and friendship between Sonic and Antoine in the comics. Antoine in particular is just a much more well-treated character by the writers, who give him proper character development and depth every chance they get, instead of just having him be the Cowardly Frenchman. (Don't get me wrong, Antoine in the show was hilarious, but he really gets the proper love he deserves in the comics.) Anyway, Sonic explains both the king's injuries and the loss of the sword to everyone present, and when Nate tries to reassure him that the king shouldn't have even gone into battle anyway, Sonic suddenly stands and races off, saying he's going to do what he should have done from the start. Meanwhile, back underneath Robotropolis…

You may have messed up big time, Kodos. Elias and Geoffrey approach the queen and Sally to inform them of what Sonic has done, and Sally is shocked to hear the news. She starts to ask what she should do to rectify the situation before catching herself and asking instead what Elias plans to do. Her mother tells her not to worry, and leads her away, while Geoffrey gets his chance to address Elias alone.

I've never agreed so much with such an asshole before. He's basically said exactly what I've been saying this entire time - Sally is the one who has the necessary leadership experience. She ran a whole freakin' rebellion on her own when she was a kid, for crying out loud. However, I draw the line at Geoffrey's plan to basically install himself as a shadow ruler from behind the scenes. Geoffrey is known to be far too harsh in situations which don't call for harshness, and though he has leadership experience of his own, leading the Rebel Underground during Robotnik's reign, he's far less qualified to handle the running of an entire kingdom than he is at leading a small squad of covert operatives.

Back in Robotropolis, Eggman welcomes Colin, Lady Agnes (the woman Sonic saved last issue), and Hope into his palace. Colin explains who the other two are, but it's a bit confusing so I'll give my own spin on things. Colin is Snively's father. We don’t yet know who the mother was, but she isn't in the picture as of now. While in space, he remarried to another woman which made Hope his step-daughter, but that wife died before they reached their home planet once more. Lady Agnes, Hope's grandmother, is his mother-in-law as a result of the marriage. And in all of this, remember that Eggman/Robotnik is Colin's brother, which would essentially make Hope his step-niece. Enough about their weird-ass family history, though - in Knothole, Sonic races back to Elias and admits his guilt in stealing the sword, presenting himself for arrest. Elias, however, instead of arresting him, strips him of his knighthood and tells him that from now on he's confined to Knothole as a minor, all while Geoffrey smirks in the background. Come on, Geoffrey, you were actually acting chill there for a while back when Sonic was actually knighted, why are you going back to your old asshole ways? Sigh…

Bagging the Big One

Writer/Pencils/Colors: Ken Penders

I think this is the first time we've ever had a story where all the work was done by one individual. Unfortunately, that individual happens to be Penders, who has decided to take the laziest approach to his work possible. Seriously - the backgrounds for the majority of the panels are photos of real world landscapes, onto which the comic characters are awkwardly superimposed, making them look incredibly out of place. It's all just… really, really bad. I went ahead and chose some choice panels that demonstrate just how bad it is so y'all can see for yourselves!

Anyway, remember Charmy the Bee? You might not, since he's been ignored by the comic for so long by now, but he still exists, I can assure you! You might also not remember that he's a freaking prince engaged to another bee called Saffron, because Ken Penders is insane. Charmy and Saffron are lounging in a photograph of a field talking about their future children (YES, REALLY) when a flash of light interrupts them and Green Knuckles approaches them. They're surprised at his color swap, and as Charmy introduces him to Saffron, we see the three of them through a set of crosshairs from afar. Yes, that's right, Nack and Nic have tracked Knuckles to this spot with the information the Albion council provided them. Nic wants to take Knuckles down immediately, but Nack admonishes her for not playing dirty enough, and leaves her to her sniper's perch as he approaches the trio. Knuckles, meanwhile, is explaining his new look, as well as the disappearance of the Floating Island.

This next part drives me nuts, because Nack concocts some story about his aircraft breaking down and needing help repairing it, and Knuckles does not suspect a thing, even though he first saw (and punched) him all the way back during the Sonic Triple Trouble special! Granted, it's not like he ever exchanged direct words with him, and I guess you could say it's been years and he's forgotten or something, but you'd think someone who's supposedly as smart as Knuckles would recognize the face of someone he punched off his island previously. Anyway, Knuckles tries to brush Nack off, saying he doesn't have time to help, and in response Nack makes the very smart decision to throw a knife into the grass at Knuckles' feet where he could easily grab it if he wants to. Knuckles does just that, but then listens as Nack informs him that his partner has Charmy and Saffron in her sights and that Knuckles will come with him if he wants his friends to live. Knuckles reluctantly does so, and as they walk over to Nic, Nack reveals that he knows that Knuckles is the Guardian. This shocks Knuckles, who wonders how he even knows about that in the first place, and then we come to perhaps one of my least favorite pages in the entire comic, for a variety of reasons.

First of all - stop with the photo backgrounds, Penders, they look horribly out of place and incredibly ugly. Second of all, the actual art is awkward-looking as hell - for one, Knuckles just looks like he's amiably offering up his wrists for the handcuffs instead of seeming shocked. Third of all, Gala-Na, instead of being reasonable about the whole thing, has again shown herself to be a horrible person. Again, if she just took the time to try to reason with Knuckles, talk to him, offer him advice and help him with his newfound powers, he would probably listen, because he's confused and scared and in want of guidance from people who know more about this stuff than he does! But no, instead she's decided to lock him into a Chaos Syphon against his will, acting like it's some difficult decision for her to make when she's not the one who has to deal with the consequences on her very life and being.

And finally, we come to Yanar. To the image of Yanar, whom Athair once considered so close as to be his own son, whom Knuckles trusted and helped to reach his final destination after generations of wandering without a purpose, who has acted as an ally and even a friend before this moment - Yanar, handing over payment to Nic and Nack the Weasels, in exchange for helping them capture Knuckles to drain him of his power for Gala-Na's own peace of mind. Handing over the payment and ignoring the shocked and betrayed Knuckles behind him, turning his back quite literally on the one person who helped him and all of his people find their home after so long. He's decided that he likes his new home so much that he'll even betray the one who helped him get there. This was the exact moment I realized I hated Yanar. Even more than Gala-Na, I hate him. At least Gala-Na has the excuse of not being attached to Knuckles personally. If you ask me, Knuckles doesn’t show nearly enough anger, hurt, and betrayal from this event. Way to follow in the footsteps of your adoptive father Athair, asshole. You know, the one who actually cares about his family even though so many of them have turned their backs on him? What a complete piece of garbage. Sorry, I know this isn't actually even commentary on the quality of the comic and it's just me personally being all salty at the actions of one character, but I feel really strongly about this one. Just… screw you, Yanar.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WORK ETHIC AND SORT

But like many fouls, this one was unintentional. Einstein was when he looked at Maxwell's equations and said, what the hell is going on here? What does it take to make a lot more independent than others, or would everyone be this way if they were obviously good ideas, someone would have done them already. The overlooked problem was to generate web sites automatically; in 1995, online stores were all made by hand by human designers, but we should not suppose that if unions have declined, it's because present union leaders are any less courageous. Now you could make a great city anywhere, if you stop to think about it, because it implies something innate. This doesn't mean they have fewer losers. They're the ones in a position of independence, they develop the qualities they need. And though there's going to be one investor who gives them the first check, and his or her help in recruiting other investors will certainly be welcome, this initial investor will no longer be the lead in the old sense of managing the round. They seem to work just as well without, however, prefer to fund startups within an hour's drive. Like good athletes, they don't work hard because the coach yells at them, but so far universities seem to be on 12 boards at once, then a VC fund can do 2 series A deals per partner per year. This is a good instinct; investors dislike unbalanced teams.

I just gave up. And although the first may be weakening because it's now so cheap to start some startups, the second seems as strong as ever. He said their business model was wrong and would probably change three times before they got it right. However, that doesn't mean you should talk like some kind of purpose, rather than the topic, it's a mistake to conclude that because a question tends to provoke religious wars, it must have no answer. You're better off starting with a blank slate in the form of a small town. If investors get too involved, they smother one of the inventors of the transistor. The pattern here seems the same one we see when startups and established companies enter a new market. Among other things, incubators usually make you work in their office—that's where the word incubator comes from. People who like New York, where people walk around smiling. This a helps them pick the right startups, and b explain why users will want it. And if you release a crude version 1 means your initial effort is always small and incomplete. You have to add some sort of padding to protect their turf than to do great things.

Tranched deals are an abuse. Within the US, towns have become startup hubs if and only if they have both rich people and nerds. It's bureaucratic. Exception: If one of the founders discovered that the hardest part of arranging a meeting with executives at a big cell phone carrier was getting a rental company to rent him a car, because he expected it to be? I'm just a minor, you may not have to be over some threshold of expertise for expressing an opinion. Is anyone able to develop software faster than you? Most people like to be good enough to act as a magnet, drawing the best people will beat one with funding from famous VCs, and we make a point of exerting less. But investing later should also mean they have fewer losers. But adults ask this mainly as a conversation starter. Com of their name.

And when I was running YC and did more office hours with startups, I would often help them find new names. What exactly is personality? It's because liberal cities tolerate odd ideas, and smart people by definition have odd ideas. If investors can no longer rely on their herd instincts, they'll have to. Most will self-destruct before you can destroy them. Investors may end up with less stock per startup, but startups will probably die eventually; it would be a mistake to conclude that because a question tends to provoke religious wars, it must have no answer. I'm not writing here about Java which I have thought about a lot. These problems aren't intrinsically difficult, just unfamiliar. This doesn't mean they have to. Investors don't like trying to predict which startups will succeed, but if I had to show for myself were a few thousand lines of code. In grad school I was still wasting time imitating the wrong things.

What makes politics and religion yield such uniquely useless discussions. My stories didn't have a lot of faking going on. The reason: today's teenage hacker is tomorrow's CTO. If you wanted to start a new company, Fairchild Semiconductor. Com of your name is that it worked. We're counting on it being 5-7% of a much larger number. And in fact I found my stories pretty boring; what excited me was the idea of the selfish gene. The mere existence of prep schools is proof of that.

And of course there were the usual nightmares associated with servers. Too much money seems to be as bad for startups as too much time, so we hope these will be useful to a wider audience. The important thing is to talk about how you plan to make money, but mainly because it shows you care about that and have thought about a lot. This may sound like bullshit. You don't give up. But high school students? For competitors, list the top 3 and explain in one sentence each what they lack that you have. So I think it would be a better place if people only wrote books because they had something to say about programming languages.

Thanks to Geoff Ralston, Eric Raymond, Nate Blecharczyk, Sam Altman, Peter Norvig, and Robert Morris for the lulz.

[caustic-synishade]

Sorry if i am bothering you again :/ but there are some anons on my art blog saying I stole your bird design in reference to my Harpy boi, and I just wanted to pop in and say if I did so unintentionally I am extremely sorry and I will either change his design or simply discontinue drawing him. Again, I am so sorry

That is 100% uncalled for. I went to your art blog and you’re referring to  Harpy Nate, right? I don’t see how in the hell adding wings/just making a character a harpy is in any way ripping me off??? I don’t own harpies!! I don’t even own the concept of slapping feathers onto someone. I mean, sure I’d be a little annoyed if you copied one of my designs, even tho birb Mark constantly changes, but you have done no such thing???  Your Nate looks pretty neat! His design’s pretty sweet!

Do not feel bad. Please, I am not mad. You haven’t done anything wrong. Those anons do NOT speak for me. Thank you for coming to me about this, though. I am so sorry you had to deal with that bullshit :c

Please, keep drawing. Don’t let anons speak for anyone here. Seriously, thank you for coming to me and not taking their word. I am sorry people are doing that to you. You do NOT deserve this shit. 

I’m wishing you the best of days today. Of weeks, of years, forever. Just good vibes

edit: also, you are not bothering me. it’s okay

[eloiseduval]

us and only us

a/n: WEDDING. LOVE. ROMANCE. here it is, in all of its subpar glory. seriously, I struggled so much writing this fic??? idk if it shows, but I hope you enjoy reading either way. @nathaniel-schreave thanks for this last rp!!! this is it!!! the end!!!! @camille-marshall thanks for the rp (CAMERIC) and I’m sorry I couldn’t put it in (EVEN THOUGH CAMERIC IS THE CUTEST. seriously guys. marshall’s ending is,,,, perfection. I may have assisted with it a little yeet) also, reading on, you will see an unexpected development in the neloise story, but good for the ~drama.~ more thanks to g&c for coming up with it hehe. IT’S BEEN FUN GUYS, thanks for letting me share eloise’s story <3 word count: 2171

No longer being a Selected was… strange.

It was, at least, at first. I kept expecting Marshall to pop up in the Women’s Room just to say hi, or Clove to rope me into another one of her elaborate plans, probably tossing a pillow at me from across the room.

But I adjusted, albeit with some minor bumps. Collette and Nate’s mother were  a huge help, both with lessons and planning a wedding.

A wedding, I laughed to myself, scrolling through my phone in the princess suite. It was still strange to think of myself as “getting married,” but whenever I pictured Nate standing at the end of aisle with one of his dopey grins, all of my anxiousness seemed to fade away. Getting cheesier every day, Duval.

I didn’t notice when the said prince walked into the suite. I was sprawled across the bed and too focused on the news of all of the past Selected to notice his worried expression, at first.

“Um, sweetie.”

My gaze was still on my screen when I asked, “What’s up?” Glancing up, I immediately noticed his tense expression, my brows drawing together in worry and sitting up fully. “What’s wrong?”

He stepped over, sitting next to me on the edge of the bed. “I-I have to become king.”

I reared back, shocked. “You— what? Now?”

“You know how my father is still recovering from his… accident.”

Even now, the topic was still difficult for Nate to discuss. A few months after the end of the Selection, Nate’s parents were in a car accident. Queen Au— No, Aubrey, sustained only minor injuries. As for the king… After being diagnosed with a compressed spine, he had lost practically any ability to walk. It was a tense time around the palace, and while he slowly began to recover, he still had a long road ahead of him.

“Well he has decided that he shouldn’t work anymore and is resigning as king,” Nate continued, “And he...he thinks I’m ready.” He glanced over at me, tears brimming his eyes and looking utterly terrified. “Honey, I’m not ready, I can’t do this.”

I moved closer and put one gentle hand on the side of his face. I felt like my world had been shifted off its axis but I knew in this moment, Nate needed reassurance more than I did. All of his fears were suddenly coming true.

“Oh Nate.” I looked into his eyes for a moment, searching for the right words to comfort him. “I know this isn’t what you expected, but you can do it, I have every faith in you.”

His eyes shifted to his lap. “I can’t, I can’t.” He shook his head, glancing back up at me and biting his lip. “I’m scared.”

I brought my other hand up to cup his face. “It’s okay to be scared, alright? But you have me and so many others to help you. You’ve been preparing for this all your life, there’s no one better suited for the job. I promise you’ll be able to do this and you know I never break my promises.”

At my words, a bit of the tension seemed to leave his shoulders, nodding in agreement. “I know. I love you so much. I love you more than anything that’s ever existed. I hope you know that.”

A smile tugged at my lips. “You’re a little cheesy you know.”

“Oh, shut up. I know you love it.” He leaned in and pressed his lips against my own, only to lean back after a moment and mumble, “This means you have to become queen.”

I sucked in a shaky breath, taking my hands back and clasping them firmly in my lap. “I know.” I tried to smile with confidence, but he saw right through it. We weren’t supposed to ascend for years, after countless more lessons and experience to help guide us. How was I supposed to be queen in the next few months?

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want it to be this early. I thought we still had years.” He let out an anxious breath. “This is going to be tough.” That’s an understatement.

“I knew what this life meant when it came to being with you. But you're right it... it won't be easy.” I ran a hand through for my hair only for him to reach out and catch it, squeezing it comfortingly. In that one action I felt the steady reassurance he was always able to bring. Together, we would manage.

“I’m sorry.” His apology help so much depth, and I could see in his eyes the burden this would bring for the both of us. It somehow softened the impact of the news.

“You don't have to apologize. I'm always here for you, no matter what that comes with.” He merely curled his lips in and nodded in response. “We'll be alright,” I reassured, squeezing his hand. He returned the gesture, the fear in his eyes at bay for now.

“Yes we will.”

“I’m going to cry.”

“Alex.”

“I am! It’s happening, you can’t stop it.”

I rolled my eyes in response to my brother’s dramatic “crying,” which involved him dabbing the sleeve of his suit against his eyes, wiping away invisible tears.

“You look beautiful, Elle,” my dad interrupted, stepping in front of me and taking both of my hands to look me up and down. I could hear the photographer clicking away, trying to capture these candid moments before the ceremony.

I smiled, glancing down at the white lace. “You like it?” The dress had been a nightmare to choose, none of them exactly right until the very last option, an off the shoulder, long sleeve gown that fit like a glove.

He could only nod, actual tears filling his own eyes. I bit my lip, trying to push down the swell of emotion. “Dad,” I whispered, pulling him into a hug.

“He’s the only one,” he said into my ear.

My brows knit together. “What?”

Pulling away, he wiped a stray tear from his cheek and regained his composure. “The only one I could have let you go to.” My expression softened, touched at his approval. Nate and I already knew my dad liked him, but my soon to be husband would be over the moon when I told him about this moment.

“Thank you,” was all I could manage to say, hugging him one last time before we were ushered off to the entrance of The Great Room by the ever prompt Lady Collette. There was some shuffling as we lined up in our designated pairs, the first being Mal and Charlie. When the grand doors opened, my dad and I stepped off to the side to be out of sight from the guests until it was our turn. Once the first stepped through, they were followed by Jace and Quinn, Giselle and Max, Katrina and Alex, and finally Brooks and Clove.

It was then I felt the first real flutter of nerves.

Preparations had all been so hectic for both the coronation and wedding I barely had a chance to realize that this was my wedding day. Suddenly my dad was tugging my arm, guiding me to the entrance of the room, the ring bearer and flower girl long gone. In a flash I was walking down the aisle, recognizing that I was smiling far too widely and focused on Nate who had begun to tear up at the sight of me.

The ceremony passed by in a joyful blur, only the most important bits sticking out in my memory. Our vows to each other were one of those moments.

One of Nate’s hands was gripping mine, the other holding a piece of paper as he began. “I, Nathaniel, do pledge you, Eloise, my love, for as long as I live. What I possess in this world, I give to you. I will keep you and hold you, comfort and tend you, protect you and shelter you, for all the days of my life.

The tears returned to his eyes as he continued. “I love you unconditionally and without hesitation. I vow to love you, encourage you, trust you, and respect you. As a family, we will create a home filled with learning, laughter, and compassion. I promise to work with you to foster and cherish a relationship of equality knowing that together we will build a life far better than either of us could imagine alone. We are not only going to grow old together, but to grow together.

Before moving on, he curled his lips in to look from the paper at me, wiping away the tears that had fallen. “Today, I choose you to be my wife. I accept you as you are, and I offer myself in return. I will care for you, stand beside you, and share with you all of life’s adversities and all of its joys from this day forward, and all the days of my life.”

I brushed away my own tears at his promises, so overcome with love for this man who I couldn’t believe I’d get to spend the rest of my life with. We smiled at each other, and when I was handed my own vows I realized that I didn’t need the speech I wrote ahead of time. Gazing into his eyes, I spoke from my heart.

“You know, I had a whole speech planned out but,” I shook my head, “I think I'm going to make just one promise, the one that truly matters. I vow to love you. I vow to love you through our life together, with our future family and until we're both old and grey. I vow to love you more than any obstacle or fight that comes our way and to be your equal partner in both marriage and royalty. I vow to love you so much that I'll never force you to go to the beach again because I know how much you hate it.” I let out a small, teary chuckle that earned a laugh from the audience. “But most of all, I vow to love you every day, every minute, and every moment we share for the rest of our lives.”

The priest moved on afterwards, the rings exchanged with even more heartfelt vows. It was another blur during his words until he said the words that /finally/ pronounced us husband and wife, Nate reaching out to cup my face and give me the first of a lifetime of kisses.

I was sure the crowd was cheering—I could almost hear it—but as I wrapped my arms around his waist, nothing else mattered except him and I in this blissful, wonderful moment. Once he pulled away, he whispered endearingly, “We’re married now.”

I could only laugh softly in a voice just as quiet, “That we are.”

The priest cleared his throat at our lengthy embrace, indicating we move onto the coronation ceremony. Nate had been crowned king a couple of months ago and now that we were officially married, I would be crowned as well.

Queen Eloise Camila Du—

No. Schreave. The correction I needed to get used to made me so inexplicably happy that I could barely contain my smile during the coronation, Nate himself performing it. I recited the vows I practiced for hours on end, knowing this was a moment that would go down in history. I was handed the traditional orb and staff, the heavy crown following not long after.

Once it was over, Nate and I stood side by side before the crowd as the country’s newest monarchs, our twin grins infectious. Husband and wife. King and queen. Two sentences I never imagined for my life just over a year ago. Yet here we were.

The rest of our wedding day passed by in another busy blur, filled with far too many photographs, first dances, and smudged cake as we fed each other our first pieces during the reception. Speaking with almost every guest was a feat I never thought I could accomplish, including past Selected and a certain new boyfriend of a former second lieutenant.

But even through my throbbing feet, exhaustion, and aching cheeks from far too many smiles, I don’t think I had ever felt more happy than I did walking hand in hand with Nate to our limo, waving at the crowd who had gathered to see us off on our honeymoon.

Slumping into the seat, car door shutting behind us, I looked over at him with a tired, relieved grin. “Finally.”

“Finally,” he repeated, a similar expression on his face before leaning in to press another familiar kiss against my lips. Here and now, it would be us and only us.

Because no longer being a Selected wasn’t strange anymore.

It was natural. Natural and right to be kissing Nate, my husband, in the back of the limo and anywhere else we would be for the rest of our lives.

Together.

The End.

[jemimaboultonmessagesmultiverse]

15/09

Today we learned how to use Photoshop to manipulate our art and enhance it to create a new composition which looks completely different. For this work we took inspiration from David Carson and used many techniques seen commonly in his work.

David Carson

David Carson is a graphic designer who is best known for his work in Ray Gun magazine. The main features that reoccur in his work are a prominent use of type and lots of overlapping. There isn't much blank space and that is something I really like about Carson’s work as personally I think the overall “business” of all his art is very eye-catching and appealing to look at. We used him as our inspiration this lesson because we were experimenting with type and tools on Photoshop and his work contains a lot of the techniques we were experimenting with.

This piece contains black and white type on a colourful collage of photos in the background. By doing this, the message in the type stands out due to the contrast created. All of the type is very clear to understand and the font isn't abstract or chopped up to make it difficult to understand, which is another contrast to the background, due to its blurring nature making it difficult to understand what the photographs are of. Carson may have done this because the words he is using in the foreground are the most important part of the composition, as they may be advertising something or displaying an important message. While clear to read font is common within Carson’s work he does also like to overlap and cut the type up to make it almost abstract, as shown below.

This piece contains another blurry image in the back which would make the viewer believe that the type contains the message, which is correct, but this type is also like a selection of small irregular shapes that vaguely make words than easy to read words like the previous poster. There is a very small amount of colour within this piece but it is on the type to draw the audience’s attention to it. This also contains smaller but more regularly shaped font underneath the abstract font, to provide further information about the message and project he is promoting. This variation in type is very interesting and is a unique way to have more information in type without it drawing away from the main image.

This piece differs from the previous two as the imagery shown seems to have come from some sort of stencilling technique. The limited colour palette and solid shapes in this reminds me of Nate Kitch’s work. I really like how the only colours are the primary colours as it serves the purpose of being eye-catching, which is presumably something Carson would’ve had in mind when making this due to it being a magazine cover. This piece moves in a certain direction, with everything pointing towards the top right hand corner, which may have been done to make the overall composition of the cover cohesive and not have certain elements of it contradicting eachother and working against one another, being unappealing to the consumer. He plays around lot with the tracking of the letters within this piece and includes some very big spacing, especially on the word  “on”. It appears to have been done to make all the type fit into a rectangular shape and therefore it fits the geometric theme of the piece.

The main focus of this piece is a famous celebrity, Damon Albarn, which will have been made the focal point of the magazine cover to attract fans of him or his bands to the magazine when they see it on the shelves. However, Carson’s graphic design and typography makes this much more visually interesting, as this cover is an example of him really being creative with scaling and tracking. The type at the top is large and close together compared to the rest, and the tracking is regular. By having different size spaces between the repeating words Carson has created an effect which is similar to a glitching electronic. This could be foreshadowing the contents of the magazine as it states on the cover that it contains a conflict and a glitch in a computer is also an issue which needs resolve. He also has turned some of the type 90 degrees and displayed a list that way, which may have been done so that overall the type on the cover frames the central image of the face.

While the other pieces appear to be made digitally, this seems to be a collage made with real paper. Many of the colours are very muted and don’t seem to stand out too much, which makes the red type on it’s white background very striking. The tracking of this type is split up with gaps in the paper where the colour behind shows through, so the overall image doesn’t appear too crowded. 

After looking at David Carson’s work I thought about ways I can digitally add type to my art to portray the message and narrative of my chosen articles. Adding type that faces in a different direction to the norm is a staple within his work and is definitely something I want to experiment with more, as it could fit with many of my articles themes of “all is not as it seems”, such as the CIA dragonfly and brain implant articles. Different scaling is also something I want to use as the size of something on the page can be used to indicate it’s importance to the message and therefore I could include some sort of context to parts of the image which aren’t as easy to interpret.

Using Photoshop to manipulate my collage

In my lesson I took the collage that i made the previous day and used elements from it, and some new type, to create a new composition, taking inspiration from David Carson and his use of graphic techniques and typography.

To begin with, I chose to make my work A5 as that is the size of a postcard and the final product of this project is meant to be 6 postcards and A5 is postcard size. I also set the colour mode to CMYK, as this will mean that my colours will be tailored to be printed since these are meant to be postcards and therefore will need to be printed. 

I then went online to find a more diverse range of fonts and I downloaded some which I thought fit the idea of robotics and CIA, the one I used most is called “Distortion dos Analogue” and I picked this one as it was cut up in a similar way to some of David Carson's work, but it was still readable and it’s clear block letter roots make it feel very futuristic, just like a robot spy fly.

When adding the type to my canvas I thought about the tracking and arrangement of the individual letters. I really liked the way David Carson would flip letters and arrange them in an unconventional way, so to begin with I made the top of the page reflected at the bottom by reversing the text. I then made each letter of the word “robot” it’s own layer an played around with flipping them and having them diagonally across the centre of the canvas

By having individual layers for them i could really experiment with their placement on the canvas and how they looked layered and flipped individually. They worked well in this placement at the time but after I added some elements from the collage I scanned in I removed these letters as they made the overall page look too cluttered for my liking and they made some things difficult to distinguish.

When I scanned in my work from the previous day I adjusted some of the levels to make the colours vibrant and increase contrast, as some of the quality of the colour and the contrast was lost in the scan.

After I did this, I lassoed some elements of my collage so I could add them to my typography. I chose to take the letters and the bug from my collage as then I am sticking with the overall theme and appearance of mainly typography whilst also include an image to be the centre. With the pieces I took I experimented with the threshold, creating a high contrast black and white, almost silhouette effect . I then layered the same images over the thresholded images but in a lesser opacity so the thresholded elements could be seen through them.

At this point I removed the word “robot” from the centre of the canvas and replaced it with the bug extremely large, taking up a majority of the space. I also moved the type saying “robot dragonfly” to the side of the image and rotated it 90 degrees so it would fit down the side of the page. I think this made everything fit much more cohesively together as it filled a space where there wasn't any type with some type. The outcome of this was a piece which heavily differs from the collage I started with and also shows my inspiration from David Carson’s work.

I am very happy with my outcome although I believe it is unfinished and I would like to add some smaller scaled type which contains some extracts from the news articles in the white space which is left, and experiment with more tools on Photoshop to see what various effects I can achieve. I particularly enjoy the effect that changing the threshold has as it looks very futuristic and fits the theme of robotics and technology. I also really like how changing the opacity can almost make two images join together instead of overlapping on top of one another. 

[camwenwassady-blog]

My Rights as an Apartment Renter When My Landlord Wont Fix My Air Conditioner Home Guides SF Gate

So if you have recovery and charge equipment than yes. Repair a Geothermal Heating or Cooling System. Cloud MO - Columbia MO - Kansas City MO - Springfield MO - St. Thermal Expansion Valve — Provides flexibilit... Then you should contact a professional AC repair person for help. In dry regions, most homes originally had "swamp-coolers" installed. We have used The Air Conditioning Company for some years and find them honest, efficient and professional.

Do not get this system even if it is free.. While NATE does not directly supervise or work with technicians once they are certified, certified NATE technicians have been properly trained and tested on HVAC systems. Select your appointment type and time:. But here are a few simple things you might try before scheduling a dealer visit to your home:. Each installation is different, and usually what you are paying for is the level of expertise, and quality of the installation, the company who will actual give you the warranty, and the comfort that you will receive. Thank you : Our ac fan was not spinning so we had capacitor professionally replaced. Free and cheap baby stuff What to expect when you are expecting - in the way of freebies and cheap baby-themed goodies. Call Us Today For A Free Estimate! And we all know what he wanted — to eat somebody up! LOST COOLING CAPACITY : what to do when not enough cool air comes out of the system. Like aksarben ARS on Facebook. The fan rotation is all good. Terms of Use Your use of this site constitutes acceptance of the Terms of Use.. Heat pumps are a solid alternative for milder climates, though. Find Money-Saving Utility Rebates. IBM Kenexa Best Workplaces. Covering Your Air Conditioner Condenser Unit. Ole gremmy may not have a leak at all LOL. Senior citizens Senior citizens are at higher risk for heat stroke and other heat-related illnesses, making it necessary for them to have quick and easy access to an air conditioner. At one time, just about all air conditioning had some type of water cooled condensing scheme. Be leery of a contractor who bases estimates merely on house size or vague rules of thumb. AC units draw a lot of power and this surge is enough to mess up electronic gear. I discovered that there was no way to completely remove the front coil cover plate completely due to the design of copper piping in the way! It normally takes longer to replace the compressor than an installation of a new condenser. Perhaps you have a malfunctioning chilled water control valve on your fan coil unit? I chose a reputable vendor with sensational references. Air conditioning can also be provided by a process called free cooling which uses pumps to circulate a coolant typically water or a glycol mix from a cold source, which in turn acts as a heat sink for the energy that is removed from the cooled space. Take that temperature he tells you and look up Google your average winter month outdoor temperature. The copper lines are then brazed to the inlet and outlet as dry nitrogen is purged through the system. And what would an AC Repair Fern Park 32730 unit cost now? This type of job is as complex and difficult to price as original duct and vent installation because factors such as home size, number of vents, temperature zones, and accessibility all affect the time and effort required to complete this type of project. I am an expert in my field of work and is on a mission to meet your appliance repair needs and insure that your appliance works.. We highly recommend them. I could not see the coils as there is a triangular shaped piece that covers the front of the A frame. Commerce Services Sell on Sears Advertise on Sears About Marketplace Seller Portal Login. For a square room, multiple length by width. Cool air blows across the heat exchanger and absorbs the heat. Those include: an efficient, maintenance-free motor; variable-speed control to adjust air flow based on the season and manage humidity; an easy-to-replace filter; a pre-filter that captures airborne particles; and greater heat return to the home in winter for efficient air filtering. Central Air Conditioners : Ratings of Sources. And I may add they are unfavourable.

[rodrigohyde]

How to Beat the Heat Wherever the Street

AskMen Style Defined: Cool Style for the Warm Weather

Here at AskMen, we strive to bring you new and interesting content to help answer any questions you may have from sex and dating to health and fitness and food and booze. And this latest installment of our new weekly series AskMen Style Defined is all about taking the tropics — or at least tropical style — with you wherever you go.

RELATED: AskMen Style Defined Last Week: Tech Fabrics Make for a More Comfortable Spring

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Eric Wertz now resides in upstate New York, about an hour north of the city he once called home. As an electrician, avid traveler, and men’s lifestyle blogger, there is no shortage of inspiration for his site Blue Collar Prep. Focusing on fashion, food, and family, Wertz has a distinct style and bold visual presence on his blog as well as his Instagram page by the same name.

“Behind the fashionable IG posts, I’m a true family man who loves exploring and enduring any new adventure with my family,” Wertz says of his life we see in his photoshoots. “We are all avid skiers and love the Caribbean. From local road trips to aspirations of seeing as much of this world as we can together, any new experience I have I honestly always want it to me with my wife and son.”

To see Wertz’s stylish feed is to see someone who has a clear vision about who he is: “I’m a blue collar guy who happens to love fashion. It’s this passion that triggered my wife [Sarina] and I to start our own brand, BLUE #NotTheColorBlue.”

He and Sarina, a photographer in her own right started the brand with a simple, staple accessory of his — the beanie. “We started out with the one accessory I use in a lot of my looks and are currently working on some shirt designs,” he explains. “With such a full schedule it’s hard to devote 100 percent to anything right now, but I honestly love the balance of my life — from being a homeowner, a dad, a devoted hubby, a lifestyle blogger, a brand owner, I’m definitely never bored and love the versatility of everything we have going on right now.”

His wife isn’t just his partner in life and business, she, along with his late father, serve as constant inspiration every day. “My wife has just an effortlessly cool style and my father was able to pull off just about anything in terms of outfit selections,” he tells us. “I feel like a lot of the pieces I choose today, I could easily have seen him rocking back in the day!”

But like many of the creatives we speak with for our weekly series, Wertz doesn’t just draw inspiration from a single source. “My inspiration also comes from just about anywhere … from the many stylish guys on the ‘gram, to pieces my wife rocks, to someone on the street, to even the casually cool pieces my son [Nate] wears. I get my inspo from everything around me!” 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Eric Wertz (@bluecollarprep) on Mar 27, 2019 at 7:24pm PDT

“For this look featured I was actually on my way to a derby party for J. Peterman and chose these specific pieces from them to rock at the event,” he says about sophisticatedly styled spring ensemble. “I love this outfit and can’t wait to take that blue cargo jacket and re-work it into an entirely different look.”

It’s fitting that Wertz is a fan of travel to island destinations such as the Caribbean, since this outfit — from the Panama hat to the cropped summer-weight trousers — evokes feelings of tropical life even in an urban setting of New York City.

He continues on explaining that he likes blending different styles. “I’m definitely not just married to one. I like versatile pieces that can be used in any look, whether it’s street style, grunge, or more dapper vibes.” Judging from the variety of outfits in his feed, we can guess he will be bringing a lot more stylish ideas as the weather continues to warm up.

Items to shop inspired by Wertz’s look:

Budget:

Jack & Jones Premium Field Jacket, $116 at Asos.com Topman Stripe T-Shirt, $20 at Topman.com Alex Mill Standard Pleated Chino, $115 at AlexMill.com Ultrafino Barrington Panama Hat, from $47.99 at Amazon.com Vans OG Classic LX Brushed-Nubuck Slip-On Sneakers, $60 at MrPorter.com

Baller:

Tod’s Suede Safari Jacket, $5,625 at Tods.com Sunspel Classic Cotton Breton Stripe T-Shirt, $90 at Sunspel.com The Workers Club Tapered Pleated Cotton-Twill Chinos, $250 at MrPorter.com Frescobol Carioca Grosgrain-Trimmed Straw Panama Hat, $260 at MrPorter.com Brunello Cucinelli Slip-On Sneakers, $695 at BrunelloCucinelli.com

We’re big fans of this cool style as the weather warms up, but what do you think? What do you want to see? Do you have a look you like? Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and friend us on Facebook to share your best looks or tell us about someone we should check out. Tag us and use the hashtag #AskMenStyleDefined to get our attention. Or email us directly at Editorial@AskMen.com with “AskMen Style Defined” in the subject line. Maybe next week, we’ll pick you!

You Might Also Dig:

Decoding Summer Trends Men's Fashion Must-Haves Top 10 Summer Fashion Tips from AskMen Style https://www.askmen.com/style/fashion_advice/askmen-style-defined-cool-style-for-the-warm-weather.html

[recentanimenews]

ALITA Creator Yukito Kishiro on Adaptation and Living in the Future

  The lead-up to Alita: Battle Angel's launch was concerning and maybe a little confusing (I mean, if I had a nickel for every time someone says "eyes"), but it all ended up being for naught as the movie ended up being pretty dang cool. Last year at Crunchyroll Expo, I had the privilege of getting to talk to Alita director Robert Rodriguez about his influences and creative process, which further convinced me that the movie was in good hands (as if me being a massive Rodriguez fanboy wasn't enough).

  We sat down with Alita: Battle Angel director Robert Rodriguez (SIN CITY) to talk about the film’s roots in manga. Alita opens everywhere February 14th - get your tickets NOW: https://t.co/6Lmdz8n73I #alita pic.twitter.com/BvbBaEXv1y

— Crunchyroll hoping to reincarnate as a slime ???? (@Crunchyroll) January 31, 2019

  But there was one other voice, one other creator who I wanted to hear from about Alita: Battle Angel, and that was original manga author Yukito Kishiro! This story of cyborgs, humanity, ultraviolence, and self-determination was originally published as Gunnm (銃夢 "ganmu," or "gun dream") in 1990, later released stateside as Battle Angel Alita by Viz.

  Now we have these beautiful unflipped hardcovers--thank you, Kodansha

  While Kishiro-sensei has returned to Alita's world several times, he's also known for the ongoing (and currently on-hiatus) Aqua Knight fantasy adventure, and several pre-Alita manga starting from when he was 17 with Space Oddity.

  NATE: First off, thank you for taking the time to answer these questions, Kishiro-sensei. To start, Battle Angel Alita was made quite a while ago, first publishing in 1990. Now in 2019, we have all sorts of amazing technology that would have felt like science fiction back when the series first published, and technology is a much greater part of everyone's lives. How do you think today's audiences will relate to the science-fiction themes presented in Alita as a manga, and as a movie?

    KISHIRO-SENSEI: Fashion and technology will always change as time goes on, but human nature doesn't change. I think that works with the manga's themes of human nature and humanity--it's a timeless concept.

There have been a number of manga that have received both animated and live-action adaptations, but did you ever expect Alita to be one of those?

    I had never considered there would be a live-action movie--when I was originally drawing the manga, I didn't even realize it had fans! I'm very fortunate to see this live-action adaptation, and would like to express my utmost appreciation for this wonderful movie made by such talented creators.

You've mentioned in interviews that you've enjoyed Robert Rodriguez's films, like Desperado and Machete. Your manga sets a high standard for action, just like his films. In the film, were you hoping to see Rodriguez's interpretation of your manga panels like a storyboard, or were you hoping to see him do something completely fresh with your characters?

    Compared to fans, I'm not as nostalgic for things I've already seen or made, so I love bold, interesting changes. I was looking forward to (director) Robert Rodriguez's unique vision of Alita!

I'm a huge action fan, and Panzer Kunst is one of the coolest concepts I've seen for a fictional martial art--a fighting style designed for machine bodies. What was your reference or inspiration for this?

      Originally, Panzer Kunst didn't appear in the manga when the series started. An editor advised me to put Alita in more dangerous situations and have her fight more, so from there I came up with the concept of Panzerkunst. Around 1985, I had come up with an idea for battling cyborgs, and how they would fight in low or zero gravity, and so I reused this concept for Battle Angel Alita.

Initially, the true experience of living in the Scrapyard only existed in your mind--but now, with the Passport to Iron City event, fans can take a tour of the movie's "Iron City." How does it feel getting to walk through a neighborhood you created?

    It was a lot of fun! If Alita: Battle Angel becomes a huge hit, maybe an even bigger Iron City could be made!

Are you currently reading or watching anything cool you'd like to share?

    S.S. Rajamouli's Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. They're Indian action epics, and very fun!

Do you have any special message for fans discovering Alita for the first time through the movie?

    First of all, please enjoy the movie! Although various difficulties, adversity, and hardships may show up in your lives, walk ahead with courage and pride just like Alita!

What about for longtime fans of the manga going to see the movie?

    This movie has truly inherited the soul of the manga, with a new skin on top of it--almost like Alita being reborn in the Berserker body! I truly think longtime fans will enjoy Alita: Battle Angel!

Thank you very much for your time, Kishiro-sensei!

  What about you? Have you seen Alita: Battle Angel yet? How do you think it stacks up to Yukito Kishiro's original vision? Let us know what you think in the comments! Also, if you're interested in checking out the Passport to Iron City event, head on over to AlitaExperience.com and use the coupon code Crunchyroll20 for 20% off!

-----

Nate Ming is the Features Editor for Crunchyroll News and creator of the long-running Fanart Friday column. You can follow him on Twitter at @NateMing. Check out his comic, Shaw City Strikers!

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[projectshakespearia]

Two Gentlemen of Verona: The World of the Play Part I

Sedona Garcia, Forest Gilpin, Kyle Stockdall, and Stuart Ashenbrenner rehearsing in the Quad.

Introduction And just like THAT another year has passed and we’re diving in head-long for Bard in the Quad 2017. We face a new set of challenges, and as always, an energetic cast is at the ready to bring to life a story of lovers, clowns, and many misunderstandings.

The selection process for this summer’s title began with one of our first faculty meetings in the Fall of 2016. There were several new faces around the table including our new Technical Director, Chad Rodgers, acting instructor, Nate Bush, and Don Naggiar, now in the role of Scenic/Lighting Designer and instructor. While Bard is not a part of our regular season, it is consistently one of OSU Theatre’s most popular productions. Chalk it up to the unique atmosphere or the a general “Shakespeare obsession” among Corvallis audiences, but Bard remains a beloved fixture on campus twelve years on.

As what has perhaps become part of our tradition, I seem to kick off the selection process by floating the idea of staging a tragedy. The last one we did was Julius Caesar in 2012, and while I have a vision of some day presenting a lush and sexy version of Antony and Cleopatra on the steps of the Memorial Union, I ultimately decided that 2017 wasn’t yet the right time. The other tempting title was The Tempest. I have a grand and magical vision for that production, but didn’t feel I had the right available actor to take on the meaty role of Prospero, and therefore, went back to the drawing board of a crowd-pleasing romantic comedy. Our production history includes Much Ado About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Comedy of Errors, and two productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. There are only so many comedies in Shakespeare’s canon, and even fewer “great” comedies. Quite frankly, we’re running out of viable titles. Although titles such as The Merchant of Venice or Measure for Measure are technically “comedies,” they are problematic in our venue due to a lack of overt physical action and other thematic issues that are difficult to work out while maintaining the breezy and fun experience we want to offer our audiences.

Ultimately it came down to wanting to do a show that hadn’t yet been staged in the Quad and one that offered a variety of comic possibilities. Two Gentlemen of Verona is by no means a “perfect” play, but while out on one of my runs in the middle of winter, it clicked: Two Gents = Wild West Melodrama. The play and characters are ridiculous and the broadly physical style is well-suited to the cartoonish personalities that populate Verona and Milan. It didn’t all come in one moment, but over the weeks/months between devising Upward-Beating Heart and casting Two Gents my concept solidified into a cohesive vision.

In this first post about The World of the Play, I’m going to discuss the concept and some of the reasoning behind the choices. In next week’s blog, I will delve into the text and the play a little more deeply and write about some of the choices I made in adapting the script for the concept.

Shakespeare’s “Worst” Play When I began my dramaturgical research for Two Gents I ran into a frequent statement from high-minded Shakespeare critics that this was one of the Bard’s earliest plays (likely his first) and, therefore, one of his “worst” plays. Keep in mind, we’re talking about the greatest English language dramatist . . . so “worst” is a relative term. This is the work of a developing writer and while the plot lines and characters are not all entirely developed, there are moments of charm and hints of comic genius to come in the boldness of cross-dressing Julia, the clownish antics of Launce, or the besotted foolishness of the scheming and inept Proteus.

Thematically, Two Gents gets at one of Shakespeare’s most enduing themes: love makes fools of us all. From Romeo to Orlando to Benedict to Orsino, Shakespeare frequently pokes fun at the conventions of courtship, the inconstancy of men, and the power of love. While the love stories between the pairs of lovers in Two Gents are problematic, they are inherently funny and do dig into deeper truths about the lengths to which some go in the name of romantic pursuits.

Proteus (Kyle Stockdall) meets his best friend’s love interest, Sylvia (Sedona Garcia) for the first time.

The plot of Two Gents begins with the relationship between Proteus and Valentine. While Valentine is ready to leave small-town Verona to seek his fortune in Milan, serving in the court of the Duke, Proteus is resolved to stay behind for the sake of his relationship with Julia. Valentine chides Proteus for his foolishness:

Love is your master, for he masters you: And he that is so yoked by a fool, Methinks should not be chronicled for wise.

Proteus admits that Julia has “metamorphosed” him into one that will leave his friends, neglect his studies, and mope around “heart sick in thought.” And thus, Valentine leaves his friend behind to better opportunities.

The tables quickly turn, however, when several scenes later we see Valentine, now consumed with his own love for Sylvia, the witty and sophisticated daughter of the Duke. Valentine, too, has been transformed, as is pointed out by his servant Speed, into one frequently exhibiting the behaviors he so chided Proteus for having. The relationship between Valentine and Sylvia is complicated by the fact that her father wishes her to marry a foolish fop named Thurio. This is even further complicated when Proteus arrives in Milan and finds himself immediately drawn to Sylvia. (Got that?)

Even in our early rehearsals, it’s hard not to completely write Proteus off as a cad, more than that later. But implausibly brash behavior is one of the key factors that led me to this conceptual approach in the first place.

Melodrama in the Theatre There are two major classifications of theatre. It is either presentational or representational. Representational theatre attempts to represent “real life” in some way. This requires a naturalistic acting style and characters that are somehow psychologically motivated to grow or change. Consider plays such as Death of a Salesmen or A Doll’s House. These chestnuts of the modern stage want audiences to feel as if they are peeking into the living room windows of ordinary families simply behaving.

Presentational plays, on the other hand, have a more distinct style and are in no way attempting to show “real life” on stage. Consider the conventions of musical theatre or Japanese Noh theatre which embrace the theatrical, the symbolic, and the suggestive. Melodrama falls into this presentational category and is well-suited to our outdoor venue.

Melodrama lives in a world of comic archetypes or stock characters. Villains wear black hats and twist their mustaches while reveling in their wicked plots that are unmotivated by any internal psychological impulse. Villains do evil things because that’s what they do. Heroes are similarly reactive and jump from one emotional high point to the next. In many ways, this is the world that Shakespeare presents in Two Gentlemen of Verona, one where Proteus can be deeply in love with Julia one moment and Sylvia the next. A world where he can be completely dedicated to his dearest friend until the very moment he hatches an overly-complicated plot to have Valentine banished so that he can steal away his girlfriend. For the most part, when directing Shakespeare, I try to embrace the madness rather than attempt to “fix” it. Melodrama in this case is an appropriate playground to poke fun at love and lovers.

In addition, I found a lot of inspiration in imagery of the Wild West, in particular, cartoons from my childhood depicting comic exaggerations of Western icons. I grew up on a steady diet of Disney and Loony Tunes and probably my first introduction to the “Wild West” was the image of Yosemite Sam,

I mean . . . right?

The hot-tempered, tiny-footed gunslinger is all bark and no bite, terrorizing the Wild West in his attempt to . . . defeat Bugs Bunny? I’m not entirely sure of his motivations, but he does parody the swaggering cowboy character in a way that seemed fitting for this production. Other iconic characters such as Pecos Bill and Slue-Foot Sue come quickly to mind when I think of the Wild West.

I don’t think cartoons can get away with characters smoking anymore.

I remember these characters as bright, optimistic, and easily identifiable - all in line with the tone I wanted to take in developing this show. I see this production as casual and family-friendly. Perhaps a little reminiscent of the madcap melodramas we would see at the Golden Horse Shoe Revue at Disneyland.

Another reason we chose this concept with this production was a necessity of one of our physical limitations this year. The Memorial Union is getting a face-lift this summer and the facades of the plinths are being repaired making them inaccessible for our performers. Rather that have elements of the architecture that we couldn’t use, I decided to stage the production at the center of the Quad with the MU as a grand back-drop. The center is a little smaller and much closer to the audience. I wouldn’t exactly call the center an “intimate space,” but without the steps to use for dramatic entrances, the world is a little closer and more casual. Melodrama lends itself to direct audience address (maybe even interaction) and stylistically will help us tell a fast-paced and physical story in a way that makes sense in the space.

The statement I made to the designers in approaching the concept was, “Imagine that this is a group of actors putting on a place in a barn.” This way we can get away with goofy low-budget special effects, rustic music, and a lighthearted atmosphere.

We are beginning our fourth week of rehearsal today (hard to believe) and things are coming along. I’ll give a rehearsal update and some background about the script itself in my next entry.

For now . . . it’s time to head to the Quad!

[maljones]

undefined

I love lettering comics. It combines my design skill set with emotional storytelling, is detailed oriented and really satisfying. The tediousness of it that feels so good.

My first book had some god awful lettering in it - tails are all straight and not merged with the balloons for example. It still bugs me that no one talked to Marc or I about that aspect of it or showed use better ways to do it. It bugs me even more when I see books on shelves today with bad lettering.

Here are some very handy resources on lettering:

BETTER LETTERER: Comic Lettering Tips (from Blambot’s Nate Piekos)

Balloon Tales: Comicraft’s guide to comic book lettering and production (from Comicraft)

Two additional bits of advice I have to add are:

Buy a font that fits your story. They aren’t extra expensive and just like your art, you want to be sure it fits the story you want. It’ll help your story stand apart.

Just because you know how to use InDesign or Illustrator, it does not meant you can letter. Take the time to look at the resources above and to look at the work of letterers like Todd Klein, Saida Temofonte, and other professionals. 

Lettering is awesome!

(The video is showing work from a short story I’ll have in the upcoming Cartoonists Draw Blood anthology. The font is Maladroit from Comicraft. I think it balances my heavier strokes really well and it’s called Maladroit.)

[simikaurblog]

Visual scrapbook - mediums, techniques, styles

Practical skills and mediums: screen printing, risograph, painting, drawing, letterpress. The risograph and letterpress is something that I am not familiar with so if I was use this in my work I need to attend a workshop. I feel that the texture and appearance will work well with my message and audience. 

Practical skills and techniques: line drawing, motion video, animation, colour, hand rendered and digital techniques, scanning, softwares like Indesign and After effects. Experimental and practicality skills - typefaces, lettering, kerning, type, space, size etc. 

Practical skills and styles: glitch, distortion, rule breaking, contemporary art, digital art, abstract, patterns, collage, South American, Mexican, mix media, image and text

Subjects: mental health, stigma, young people, opinions, design and concepts, visual communication, book binding, zine, awareness, social issue, speaking up, video

Improve and develop: I want to improve my skills in Indesign and feel much more confident when I use the software. I want to develop in using new techniques and just exploring this through my brief.

Hendrik Werkman - is an experimental Dutch artist, typographer and printer. The artist set up a clandestine printing house during the Nazi occupation and this period of time influenced the work he created. The techniques used are seen by contemporary letterpress printers today. For example, masking type, printing pictures, printing the back of wood types etc.  

The whole design turns into a image. Werkman uses ink as if it was paint. I really like how this creates texture within the design, especially when the ink goes lighter. It is playful, bold, experimental and can be used to voice out the voices of mental health. I added this example because I like the movement in the design; it navigates you around the page creating tension and excitement. 

Linking this back to my work I can use typography to create tension and communicate how mental health can feel when there is a build of feelings. 

Ruben Montero - is an Spanish graphic designer who has created these glitchy posters. The technique the designer used was to scanning them and the digitally manipulating it. I really like how these distorted photocopies suggest a story to me or a idea. The monochrome colour scheme means that there is no distraction and the viewer can focus on the type. By stretching, moving, blurring and adding ripple across the pages it is fascinating and a style that never gets boring. 

Linking this back to my work I want to revisit the technique of scanning type and just to see what I can create. 

Craig Ward - I have looked at the work of Craig Ward in the mini tasks that was given to me. I used his inspiration of NYC bacteria typography to create type that was distorted. Here is an another example of this work ‘error’. 

Other - this is another piece of worked I found on Behance. This was created using hand rendered techniques.  

Nevan Doyle - is an designer who creates a lot of digital art. Doyle pays attention to detail and efficiency and create pieces of work that are bold, powerful and different. I really like this approach from the designer who is constantly challenging himself by pushing skill further. This is similar to my design approach as I am always experimenting and coming up with something that I do not expect. 

Ran Park - is an designer who has a wide perspective that allows her to balance concept with aesthetics. I believe this is very important to balance as work needs meaning and a purpose otherwise it can be useless to us. The designers relies on her life experience and observations of the world to create fresh, original work. 

In this piece of work, the designer explores the chaos of Konglish.

Konglish is Korean and English words that derived from the English language, but the meaning or pronunciation has been altered.

The artist is lost In konglish and has experience this around her.

This zine shows the words that are pronounced the same alongside the Korean and English letterforms. I like how the layouts are chaotic and abstract, however the publication is aimed at foreign people. I feel that the artist needs to create another publication aimed for non foreigners.

Cristiana Couceiro - is an illustrator and graphic designer. The designer focuses her work on making collages using newspaper, tiles, vintage photos and pieces of paper in a simplistic way and retro way. The style of this motivates me to add shape, line and images together as another way of communication. 

Neal C Gallagher - is an art director and designer. I like how this designer brings together elements of design by exploring printed matter, prints, drawings, paintings, and images.  I decided to put this into the scrapbook because I feel that I need some visual references that are express the issues and messages. 

Éliot B.Lafrenière - this can be achieved digitally, paint, screen printing and inks. 

Other - I like the black and white cut ups because it creates contrast and will attract my target audience. 

Isabel Reitemeyer - is well known for the collages she makes. I like how there isn’t a lot going on. I feel that if I found images that relate to my topic I can then make it my own by adding shapes, movement and colour. The artist states: ‘’Less is (almost) always more’’. The reason why Reitemeyer keeps her work simple is because using less material tells you something or create a mood. 

Leslie David - is a French designer, illustrator and art director. Her work focuses on visual thinking and design in the fields - fashion, beauty, art, music and culture.  I added Leslie David to my scrapbook because this reminds me of the work I have created and used in the magazine. Looking at this for inspiration I want to add depth and mix materials together to make my digital art visually stronger. 

MY WORK

Other - inspiration of bright colours. This effect could be created by using paint, inks and using a screen print, brushes or squeegee. 

Zine ideas Risograph machine can be used to create some graphical outcomes. 

Tractorbeam - is a studio that creates designs that powerful. Their mottos is to get brands to connect, inspire, and drive real results.

Phoebe Lovatt - the working woman’s handbook that offers advice by addressing the importance of maintaining physical and mental health.

This book is very handy to look at to see what is currently on the market. It seems to be targeted at women and who are in there 20-30s. 

I like the idea behind it, but wish there was more visual references. This is how I am going to make my zine different. 

Swirl project put together by Andy Walton ( mental health nurse), website, book and logo designed by Studio Moross and illustrations created by Nate Kitch - I think the masthead for this project is smart. Swirl is a good word to describe mental health. The imagery reflects what the project is all about and offers some simple tips to stop overthinking. 

Aims - Creating a ‘’offline project’’ that is explored through a booklet. It’s aims is to practise positive ways of managing worry. It is a guide that is accessible, straightforward, but gives people comfort and power. This is similar to my project as I wanted to create a relaxed situation where my user can look through the book in their own time. My idea differs from this as my aim is to stop the stigma of mental health and to get people to understand how many young people. 

Other - what if I can use actual texture to create movement? 

Outcomes - the parameters of my project tell me that I won’t really have time to print and put my outcome together to present. If there was more time for my project, I would create several mini booklets, leaflets that share information about mental health; like a kit. 

I started to look at what other materials I could print onto - plastic, tracing paper, different types of textured paper etc. 

I found a website where you can order sheets of materials.

Here is the free samples I received:

https://www.studiomoross.com/projects/dj-tour-visuals-2016/ - visual video that I really like. I think that this looks cool and I love to learn more about this technique and apply it to graphic design.