#these palates are a challenge to work with and also fun

[thoughtsroamguy]

A character sheet for Xivo and her counterpart Marix! This pair of Goddesses were there first, so it’s only right that they share a sheet.

Right off the bat we can see a stark contrast between their designs. Xivo, a being of Chaos has multiple colors and an asymmetrical pattern to her ‘clothing’. I wanted her to have that feel of letting a tornado dress you on a Goddess level. Marix, a being of Order has a much more restrained palate but is no less intricate than Xivo’s. Order doesn’t mean boring in this case. Originally, I only wanted just black and white in her design, but some other colors made their way in there. And, considering what happens in the game, that actually works in her favor. I never noticed that she’s taller than Xivo. There’s some symbolism there maybe.

These two gave me very different challenges in their designs. Xivo originally had a lot more makeup but she already has a lot of layers in her design that takes a long time to render, a full body shot of her takes an hour and a half whereas Marix takes 20 minutes. And close ups like this take 2 hours. So if I had a more powerful computer, she’d be even more colorful, but I still love how she looks. I especially love her headdress, the pendulums (to me) represent the potential to move in any direction: infinite possibilities. For Marix, I didn’t think she’d end up with many accessories or makeup, but they all accentuate her focus on Order and symmetry so I like them. Their halos were fun to pick out. Marix’s halo is purple cuz it’s the closest to black one can get. The tombstone shape is self explanatory. Her eyes are black and white while Xivo has rainbow eyes.

I wanted them to have opposite hair lengths; Xivo to have long wild hair, and Marix short and neat. But the hairstyles I tried for Xivo took away from her design and blocked her other features, and didn’t really work with the rainbow coloring I needed her to have. I wanted her hair to definitively be Afro with a tight curl pattern 4A-4C. And while it was hard to find a shader that looks good with such a curl pattern, I’m very happy with how this came out. For Marix, her halo kept overpowering any short hair I put on her. So I picked this hairstyle we see on her but I didn’t love at first, and cycled through a LOT of others to see how a black and white pattern would look on them. Then I came to this one and came to love them, now I can’t imagine her without them. The alternating colors looks great here.

Xivo is very expressive despite her hair and headdress covering a lot of her face. There’s an almost maniac energy about her. Marix has more subtle expressions but no less powerful. She also has a naturally melancholic aura to me, she looks really good sad.

When I first conceptualized Xivo, I knew I wanted a starry, ethereal look to her and I feel like I nailed it with this. This constellation pattern all over her body really eats up the render time but so worth it. I feel like this isn’t “clothing” or “accessories” to Xivo, as a Goddess of Chaos and Creation, they’re simply extensions of her own thoughts. But Marix feels like she’s wearing clothes, these are things she added to herself. The torso chains give her a softness with their flowy quality.

Overall I love how they came out and I can’t wait for y’all to see them in Tears of Xivo.

[georgevilliers]

Mary & George thots

I watched all 7 episodes this morning starting at 4:30am on about 4 hours of sleep so here are all of my very sleep deprived but professional opinions. Also, I read the book The King's Assassin by Benjamin Woolley so i have Extra Opinions

(spoilers and lengthy thots beneath the cut)

These are not going to be in any specific order because I can not be bothered (see: me being up since 4am on 4 hours of sleep) and as a blanket statement I loved the show!!!!! Most of the things I will say are going to be neutral statements relating to differences I saw between what I read in the book and what was in the show. These are not good or bad things, just observations! I think it's fun and interesting to look at the things they changed to make it more interesting and palatable for a tv viewing audience, and I don't think it changes the quality of the product at all! With that out of the way, let's get on to the content:

we'll start with the things I loved

NICHOLAS GALITZINE. Like. HELLO??? I am very familiar with his work (watched everything he's been in and recorded a podcast about it) and I know he's been criminally undervalued in almost every project he's ever done but this really, really tested his limits and I mean that in a very good way. You can tell this whole project was a test of his abilities as an actor both physically and mentally and he really rose to the challenge in such an impressive way. I'm not really sure if this is ever going to be Emmy/awards fodder (if they meant it to be they released it at a very poor time but thats a different discussion for another time) but I do think this is going to lead to some very interesting places for him. People (important decision making ones) are going to see this and realise what his abilities are and this is a very good thing.

The costumes are so incredible. The details, the colours, the cuts, the CAMP. I'm not a costuming expert so I have no way of knowing how accurate any of the costuming was but damn did it look good.

On that note the CAMP. Oh my god. This really had that je ne sais quoi that makes something camp in the way only queer people can make something camp, so really hats off to everyone involved in the production value.

I should mention all of the actors here, including Julianne Moore and Tony Curran. I am biased, being that I now seem to only exist to consume Nicky G media, but everyone did such a great job.

The script is so complex and rich, I really don't envy the actors having to memorize some of the tongue twisters that were part of the dialogue.

I think they did a really good job of crafting George as a character. As someone who is predisposed to love Nick's face (lol) I really did feel a bit of hatred towards him sometimes. I found him embarrassing, hot headed, full of himself, and pitiable, sometimes all within a few scenes!

Let's talk about some of the big changes I noticed

they really REALLY made up about 95% of Mary's storyline, I would say. This is just going off the King's Assassin, mind you, but from what I learned about Mary from that book is that essentially her only role in the course George's life took was the initial bit: sending him to France to become a learned gentleman, and sending him to London to try to catch the king's attention. If anyone has any recommendations for sources about Mary's life I could read about I would be very interested in it in order to piece together more fact and fiction! In general, I would just assume the vast majority of Mary's storyline did not happen, but it was fun though! One thing that is mentioned in the book is that her and the king did become good friends.

I really missed the use of nicknames from James. I guess it was hard to show most of them on screen as a lot of them appeared in letters they wrote to each other when they were apart, but James often referred to him as "Steenie" referring to St Stephen who apparently "had the face of an angel", amongst numerous other nicknames such as wife, dog, and child etc.

I also really wish they had included this famous speech of King James' to his privy council, because it is burned into my brain I can literally recite it word for word now: "You may be sure that I love the Earl of Buckingham more than anyone else, and more than you who are here assembled. I wish to speak in my own behalf and not to have it thought to be a defect, for Jesus Christ did the same, and therefore I cannot be blamed. Christ had John, and I have George."

I think they sort of removed some of George's abilities in order to make him rely on Mary more to involve her character in the storylines. In reality he made all of his own political decisions, knew how to play the king without help if he needed, and was a competent (if not terrible and easily swayed by bribery and trying to level up his own interests) member of the government

One of my favourite things to learn from the book is that when George took a wife (which, I believe in reality he was all too happy to marry in order to secure his possessions with an heir) she was welcomed by the king with open arms. King James became besties with Katie and he considered her as sort of part of their "family". In general I think they played up the "jealousies" from King James.

While it is alleged that George did kill James, it was not by asphyxiation. According to the book, he was suffering what is now known as malaria and had a violent fit, thought to be brought on by a "medication" George gave him which was provided by a doctor but actually administered by George, which is what ended up finally killing him

In general I wish the end hadn't felt so...rushed? Maybe it only felt that way because I know how it actually plays out and maybe if I rewatch while not trying to think about real life events so much, it might feel less so. But the whole issue with Spain took up such a small amount of time in the show when in real life it was like...a problem spanning multiple years. And I know they obviously can not show all of that within a 7 episode television show, it does seem like maybe they should have left it out altogether if they weren't really going to see it to its full justice?

My other small complaint is that it felt to me in some parts that the love between King James and George wasn't there. Certainly it feels to me like perhaps George did not feel the same level of love towards King James as the king felt for him, but the king certainly felt so much love for George. There were multiple instances outlined in the book in which they were "on the outs" because George started ignoring him in favour of Charles, or for other reasons, and it seemed to really tear at the king and he seemed to often be the one reaching out to George trying to keep his love close, rather than George trying to rein the king back in under his power. At that point, George had all of the power he needed and the king was so passive and loved him so much, he stayed the king's favourite until death, and George had very little to worry about in that regard.

There! That's all I can think of for now, and I think this has gone on quite long enough. I feel I need to rewatch the show and try harder to not think about real life situations and just enjoy the story. The fiction in the series is greater than the fact but I still think it's fun! And I recognise that there is a need to dramatize things greatly because the way things really played out in reality would not make good television at all. I hope no real history scholars find this post, and if you do please be gentle with me! I am not really an expert, just a history fan (even though I do find myself wanting to quit my job and become a George Villiers scholar).

If you read all of this you really deserve a medal, and you have all my thanks!

[mortalityplays]

Only tangentially related to today's ask discourse but I was thinking about this- do you have advice on pushing more out of your comfort zone ie media? I feel like its really easy to say you like or want stuff thats making you uncomfortable or is less palatable to wide audiences etc etc but I have trouble going out of my way to actually experience things like that over more popcorn you know

a good way to start if you're intimidated is to look for curated recommendations close to your cultural comfort zone (I'm focusing on US/UK lists here but you can look for recommendations from museums, libraries, and national award bodies just about anywhere in the world). e.g. the BFI Sight & Sound list or the National Film Registry (for movies), Booker Prize or National Book Award winners for literature

Don't feel like you have to watch/read everything all at once, it's fine to skim for something that sounds particularly up your street and start there. It's also fine to jump right into something intimidating and find out what all the fuss is about! the absolute worst case scenario is that you're bored or underwhelmed and can pick something else next time.

a lot of my film knowledge comes from when I was at university. I discovered that there was an A/V library and viewing room on campus that I could use for free l, so I just looked through the catalogue and started picking out things I'd never seen that sounded interesting. every day between classes I'd go, pick a title, and spend a couple of hours giving it a try. I watched Blade Runner for the first time in a darkened basement booth with headphones on, and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, and Wild Strawberries, and Persepolis, and countless other weird and wonderful things. sometimes I picked something incredibly boring or something that annoyed me, but I always came away feeling good that I'd expanded my knowledge of what was out there.

once you do start finding new things you like, a whole other path opens up to you. you can dig deeper into the work of one writer or director or actor, look up interviews and find out who inspired them. if you loved a specific book, see if the author mentioned any direct influences, or if critics compared it to something else you might enjoy. you get to start building these maps in your head and getting a sense for where different things fit, and it becomes easier and easier to hunt for hidden treasures.

finally! if you can find a group of friends (or even just one person) who is interested in taking this journey with you, start a club. take turns to pick something you want to explore, share the journey, and discuss it as you go along. keep sight of your purpose, whether that's to broaden your horizons beyond your home culture, take on more challenging works, or just be better informed. take it a step at a time, and learn to enjoy the experience of exploration even when you don't like something. figuring out why we hated Lady Chatterley's Lover is some of the most fun I've had with our book club yet. introducing friends to The Left Hand of Darkness and getting hype about it with them was just as good. love the process and you'll change your life.

[nihilisticlinguistics]

Significant progress on @batmanisagatewaydrug's 2025 book bingo since my last update a few weeks ago.

I had a...challenging time for a while, I have to admit. The next book on my list was We Do This Til We Free Us by Mariame Kaba for the Social Justice and Activism square...which came in on Libby the day of the inauguration. It took several days for me to gather the mental energy to think about resistance, but once I got into the swing of it I found that it was not so daunting as I feared. As Kaba says, hope is a discipline, and it still took a lot of discipline to center her work in my thoughts during the initial chaos of Trump Presidency #2. It's a remarkable and thoughtfully composed book, a sort of anthology of her writings over the last 10 (or more) years. I look forward to adding this one to my collection, so I can revisit its teachings again and again.

After that, I rolled right into my Literary Fiction square with Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man. What a powerful, insightful story--to me, certainly on par with and reminiscent of The Grapes of Wrath in its incisive cultural critique and vivid characterization. I found it weird, hectic, and unsettling, all while rendering with great accuracy the ways that people reify, exploit, and resist America's racist society.

I definitely needed a palate cleanser after two hard-hitting books about Racism in the USA, so I was thrilled when my library hold for Nnedi Okorafor's Zahrah the Windseeker came in. This YA fantasy book was for my Published in the Aughts square, and it's super cute. Zahrah, born with a magical influence in her life, develops the power to levitate which sets off a whirlwind exploration through a forbidden jungle to save her best friend's life. It's whimsical and fun and I am in love with Okorafor's worldbuilding here. I want a computer that's also a plant that grows up with me. I want to hang out with the gorilla village. I think anyone who is into Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic series would also enjoy Zahrah the Windseeker.

And in the last two days I absolutely breezed through Traci Chee's wonderful novel A Thousand Steps Into Night, which I read for my Fantasy square. Folks, this book had my heart very early on thanks to the charms of the heroine, Otori Miuko, and her quest to remain human despite an encroaching demon curse had me locked in, start to finish. Stories of a 'long journey toward a fixed locational goal' often get repetitive, but Chee kept the story's developments feeling fresh the whole way through, with a willingness to toss in and develop new side characters and expand the story world at every turn. I'm obsessed with the choice to throw in time travel halfway through and I think more authors should do that. Highly, highly recommend!

[darwinquark]

What's the biggest differences with how you approach writing the eating series and wbbs? I'm curious to know which one is easier to write

oh man, what a thoughtful question! I could write way more self-indulgent bs than anyone would ever care to read in response to this lmao, but in short, the eating series is easier for me to write rn because I'm consciously not writing a relatable character. obviously I still want him to be compelling enough to want to read about, but I don't have to try to justify his mistakes/make his flaws feel sympathetic and palatable, you know? you're not necessarily supposed to be rooting for him and his happily ever after, and he's at baseline kind of an antagonist, so any flashes of vulnerability or empathy you feel for him are just dimensionalizing rather than the expectation. there's a fun kind of freedom in that. I can challenge myself to really go there with uncomfortable and off-putting things without having to redeem them later because that's what feels authentic to the character

wbbs, on the otherhand, is a dynamic I've built over many chapters (and years lmao) so I feel a lot more... idk, pressure's the wrong word, but maybe more determination to get it right? it's more intentionally written and feels like it has something to lose, so that just naturally takes more focus and trial/error. it's also meant to be (at it's sappiest) a genuine love story and I feel like a good love story takes so much work to earn. And I want to earn it.

ANYWAY, that was already a lot of dreck, but hopefully that answers your question!

[charliesadventuresinwonderland]

my favorites so far : learning korean

obviously, I'm still a beginner but I've studied french for 5 years and feel confident in these tips from my learning experiences as a whole

apps : I have not tried a lot yet, but recently I've been more interested in adding some more. I use duolingo and have recently started using kimchi reader for translating quickly whenever I encounter something that I can't piece together from context. also, I've heard a lot of good things about lingory, so I'm going to try it soon. anki is the standard app for every language learner to spam vocab, but when I do flashcard-style exercises it helps me to physically write it down to memorize.

tutoring : though it's not too cheap, it helps a lot across the board and stops me from accidentally developing a lot of bad habits. I take lessons on preply, but I'm sure there are other websites/apps to find tutors on that work (or you could search for local tutors to meet with in-person).

youtube : I use youtube for listening practice the most. right now, I ADORE 'study korean with sol' but 'talk to me in korean' is a reliable classic that I would recommend the most to a complete beginner (though I'm sure they have content for more advanced learners !!). even though it's above my level and I have to use subtitles (first in korean, then in english), I like watching NEXZ vlogs to get natural listening in a way that appeals and interests me. speaking of that, here is my number one tip for any language. korean with miss vicky is another channel I love who breaks down grammar well.

in case you couldn't tell by how long this section is, I have more recommendations and I use youtube a lot to help me learn. you can get videos to help teach you korean or videos already tailored towards natives if you've spent time learning already. a few more listening practice channels: comprehensible input korean, didi's korean culture podcast, now korean class, and SDBD korean podcast are some others I like. if you're a total beginner, KTS korea, immersion in korean, and koreant will make it palatable. I do recommend trying stuff a little bit above your level often because you will grow the most when challenging yourself.

the best methods for learning languages are the ones that keep you interested in it!! it helps keep you motivated and excited to learn, and personally, I just learn so much faster if I actually enjoy the content (that's why I struggle so much with learning from flashcards !! they're SO boring to me).

another tip : learn the history and culture, especially if you're learning slang and it seems confusing. there's more to learning a language than understanding the syntax, memorizing vocabulary, and translating. not only is it fun and can increase your interest in learning a language (you can find interesting cultures and histories everywhere), but having a bigger picture on what you're learning just pieces things together for me?? why certain customs, phrasing, and formalities exist in speech starts to make much more sense, and I find that it helps me understand what to do in different contexts much better.

writing : honestly, starting this account has been a way for me to get more writing practice in and challenge myself. I also have an opportunity to document my growth !! so, I would recommend posting small blurbs on a langblr account in your target language, and posting as often as you want (my goal is everyday, and I'll notify you all if something changes and I go on hiatus for a week or more). I also have a language journal where I have a formatted entry to do every day. if I want, I can write more than that, but I try to set that as a standard for me to do and I usually complete it soon after finishing school (and recuperating via staring out into space on the couch). you can do as little or as much as you want. also, setting goals and saying that I'm going to do something every day for the foreseeable future really makes tasks seem even more daunting and it becomes harder to me to start at all. here comes my next tip for this -

don't read this and say, "oh, I'm going to do this, this, this, and this daily from now on". start small and do things in amounts that you realistically think you can motivate yourself to complete, and then you can start to build on those to a (still feasible !!) amount.

speaking : I know it's really tough for a lot of people, but for some reason I'm blessed and can pick up on proper intonation and pronunciation pretty quickly, even if it's not formally introduced and explain to me. still, it's important for everyone to improve their skills in this. every day, I write a paragraph about anything. then, I go into voice notes and record me saying it. after the first time, I go through it and give myself feedback, then I re-record enough times until I feel okay with it. also, do random tries where you try to say a whole thing as fast as possible. this will not only keep you from going through your sentences super slowly, but it helps with your listening because it's hard to understand other people speaking something faster than you can speak that. basically, raising the bar on how fast you can speak raises the bar on how fast you can understand others.

textbooks : personally, I don't have any textbooks yet ㅠ ㅠ but I have some ordered as a gift to myself for my upcoming birthday!! I'll let you all know what I think once I try them.

music and shows : I know that many korean learners were inspired to start learning by their love for k-dramas or k-pop, so honestly just listen/watch whatever makes you happy. I'm not any expert on what songs, movies, and shows will teach you korean best at different levels, but all immersion is good immersion. I listen to the k-pop artists I like (ateez, xdinary heroes, and nexz) but it's more of a getting the vibe than paying attention to the lyrics, so it's not super helpful for me. lots of people do learn from disney movie translations, if that's something you're interested in trying.

all in all, have fun with it, be realistic, and don't push yourself too hard! I hope I gave you some resources and tips that weren't completely generic, but I'm going to end on advice that everyone (including me) should listen to.

IF YOU ARE CONSTANTLY READING ADVICE ABOUT LEARNING LANGUAGES, YOU PROBABLY KNOW MUCH MORE ABOUT HOW TO LEARN A LANGUAGE THAN THE LANGUAGE YOU'RE ACTUALLY LEARNING.

spend less time scrolling through tips and magic formulas for learning quickly and easily and try your best to actually put that time to use.

[sky-walkerem]

I’m so close to having a row for book bingo for @batmanisagatewaydrug lol. (Pls don’t be intimidated I don’t have a job and I can’t do much in general so…) some of the prompts I’ve met a few times already, but I know I’m going to struggle with some, like romance (Noah fence anyone I just don’t read it super often), the recommendation one (I just don’t get out much, given that I’m not allowed to drive anymore), and the zines (mostly I’m just not sure what I personally have to say. I used to work with zines in an archive so I’m quite familiar with them).

Anyway! Here’s what we’ve got so far:

Literary fiction: The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton - I fear I’m the target audience for this book. Dark academia + religious trauma/guilt + queer guilt wrapped into the religious trauma? Sold! Welcome to a super toxic relationship set within academia and flooded with religious discussion, all told by the most naive character you’ll ever meet!

Fantasy: the Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson - the stormlight archives is on my goals list this year so it was great to get this one off my tbr! Can’t wait to read the rest!

Set in a country you’ve never lived in: Vita Nostra by Marina dyachenko - set in an unknown small town in Ukraine, this is such a confusing book but so worth it! I also read the sequel, and was no less confused. If you wanna read this book you have to be okay with not knowing what the fuck is going on.

Horror: woodworm by Layla Martinez - this is also set in a country I’ve never lived in (Spain), but I’m a big fan of fucked up houses. Also an indie lol.

Published in the aughts: parable of the sower by Octavia butler - (and its sequel) this one surprised me bc I thought they were published before 2000. Octavia butler is a fantastic writer but I never want to read these again, they were SO stressful bc they were so realistic!

Sequel: The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu - sequel to the three body problem. This series has some fascinating ideas, with some flaws when it comes to character work. Will be reading book 3.

Indie: Ling Hun by Ai Jiang - fucked up houses are just so good! This one really gets into grief as a subject and weaves it in to predatory real estate communities. I really seem to be nailing the eternal goal of reading translated fiction/international authors.

Nonfiction: American Scary: A History of Horror, from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond by Jeremy Dauber - this one reframes a lot of history that I already knew, within the context of influencing horror and being influenced by horror, which was nice. I’ve also read two other nonfiction books this year, both about French history. This year I’m trying to read more of the nonfiction books on my physical shelf.

Animal on the cover: Shadow Crosser by J. C. Cervantes - making another goal to read some of the Riordan Reads books this year too, as a palate cleanser and in support of that publishing imprint.

Anyways super fun challenge! I’ll probably just reblog this post again for updates!

(If anyone has a rec for debut author let me know! I’m not as up to date on book news anymore, but I especially like horror, sci fi, fantasy, p much anything speculative or weird)

[primewritessmut]

For the ask game! 2, 3(the very last one you worked on), 22(sorry if this is a loaded question), 30

2. a character whose POV you’re currently exploring

in fandom, i've spent the last little bit tying up a cagey tigers chapter which has quite a bit more lokitty pov than it usually does. writing loki as an asshole cat is surprisingly cathartic.

outside of fandom, i'm working through a few different povs but they're all apathetic nb assholes so... there's that.

3. how you feel about your current WIP

ugh. this week i've worked on both Midori Sour and cagey tigers plus started a new original work. i'm honestly feeling very over Midori Sour, which i know that no one wants to hear, but i am dragging myself through it like crawling across razor wire. cagey tigers is always fun. i don't pay very much attention to that fic but it's very... cozy whenever i sit down and actually write which is nice in these trying times. and, as with all new things, i'm very excited about the original work.

22. do you ever worry about public reaction to what you’re writing? how do you get past that?

when i first started in fandom, i worried a lot. like obsessively. i think most writers want to write things that people want to read but it got to the point where i was crafting new chapters around what commenters/the public said they wanted. it honestly ruined some of my fics for me bc there's a lot of anger and resentment and shame (like i should know better, right!?) wrapped up in them.

i also wrote from a very palatable place, basing a lot of what i wrote on what i'd read and what's mainstream. honestly, if @periodically-puzzled had never invited me into the spideypool discord and i hadn't crossed paths with @punch-love for the three minutes i stayed in the group, i'd probably still be there.

so how did/do i get past it? i didn't. for a long fucking time. until i met people that encouraged me to just write for myself and see what happens. i also left most of the places that were triggering my people-pleasing. and i stopped censoring myself. (like listen, there's a big difference between the first fic i wrote and the last one, even when you're talking basic romance)

sometimes, you just have to write knife kink (or whatever your version of knife kink is) to free yourself and fuck what other people want. it works about 76% of the time. the other 24% you just bitch about it in your dms.

(also this was a loaded question but i don't mind talking about it. i think it's part of the writing journey.)

30. share a fic you’re especially proud of

once i hit publish on a fic, it's dead to me. that girl? i don't know her. but i'm probably most proud of He Speaks Daggers. it's one of the most tightly contained fics i've ever written and it's connected (more or less) directly to canon which was a huge challenge. it's the one fic that i can look at and think "yes, i nailed the characterization on that one." which isn't always what i'm going for but is nice to get right.

x

[lady-potato-ninja]

Hello friend! I just came back after a little hibernation, as is my wont haha, and I was really curious about the beautiful formation; the behind the scenes process of your Inktober! Please give us the juicy details about which one is your favorite, what particular child was unruly and difficult, what food did you have before you did X piece? The public must know! (Feel free to add in random observations which I haven't addressed that you'd love to talk about <3)

ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

Welcome back ! 🙈 Thank you for Taking interest in my inktober process 🙂‍↕️☺️!

It's actually the first year I did my inktober digitally and I really liked it! I used to think it would be cheating since there's technically no ink in digital art but now I don't really give a fuck ? Inktober is such a difficult challenge anyway so why add to it with a medium I always get frustrated with? I really enjoyed the switch and I'll most likely do the same thing next year ;9

It's also the first year that I tumbnailed all of my drawings in advance which made inktober much more enjoyable because I didn't have to fumble for ideas whilst inktober was already happening!

I think my favorite drawing was the one with the big fish; it's so silly really but in a mobile game I was playing there was kind of a monster fish (more one the side of a pufferfish really) and it really inspired me 🤣 plus I really enjoy seeing artist whose main focus in art is food? I feel like there's so much knowledge I could find in their art like how they draw the tiniest details in the simplest ways while making it look so tasty 🤤.

My unruly child as you said was definitely the cloud study 😩😩 it was nice to do it but so difficult!! I did just watch an art livestream by Marco Bucci on colors and studies and I 'm already changing the way I'll do studies from now on... If you haven't seen his videos, I strongly recommend it: he is very good at making concepts more palatable while keeping his lessons short and fun! Definitely One of the best I've seen this far!!

I know I had a food theme this inktober but I didn't really do much new recipes in October :000 ! I wish I had drawn Luo Binghe and Mobei Jun eating ramen as well but sadly I didn't think about it 😩! Recently tho I've been trying new things in the kitchen but mostly new prepping methods? I'm craving kimchi tho I haven't had some in weeks 😭( I almost got some at Costco but there weren't any :'/)

If I had to give any tips for going through inktober it would be to use your down time wisely. Whenever you feel tired or unable to work on finishing pieces you should start thumbnailing for others. Also from the Bucci video, turns out maybe using a tinier canva could actually prove to be useful in preserving a lower stroke count and thus a better efficiency! Last, draw what you want and stop whenever you want; I've never finished inktober but I always enjoyed it and what it did for my art progress but I know if I had pushed myself to finish it I would have faced a gigantic art block !

I hope December will be kind and festive for you!❄️🧤

[kaurwreck]

SORRY FOR SENDING AN ASK AGAIN BUT U MENTIOND ABSURDIST FICTION DO U HAVE OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS HEHEHE <333

I can't think of any other recommendations as fun or lighthearted as bsd that I can speak to personally, although, from what I've heard, Terry Pratchett's Discworld may be similarly absurdist-but-heartfelt.

If I read absurdism, it's usually not wholly absurdist, but grotesque or surrealist fiction with absurdist elements (including several of my favorite modern Japanese lit short stories). The works I have really loved that are inarguably absurdist are works like Slaughterhouse Five and Catch-22, which I wouldn't necessarily recommend alongside bsd since bsd is lighthearted, non-graphic, and magical realist in ways those titles are not.

If you're interested in Japanese absurdism, then you may enjoy Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore and Kobo Abe's The Box Man.

Also, while I mentioned absurdism before, I think really it's just important to read a lot of weird, batshit, challenging, discomfiting, nonlinear, bombastic fiction generally. That's absurdist fiction, sometimes, but it's also fiction that's surrealist, grotesque, gothic, magical realist, bizarro, sci-fi, horror, psychological, satirical, allegorical, etc; usually some combination thereof.

Literally, whatever expands your palate and challenges your perception of reality.

[dreamtigress]

Several Sentence Sunday...

I'm going to do something a little different today, since I am currently working on a story where Kaz takes Inej out for their first real date in public.

I've had a lot of fun researching various foods that I think would occur within a Suli and Ravkan restaurant. I've pulled from eastern European, Russian, Romani, and Middle Eastern foods, figuring the Suli have picked up a variety of cuisines in their travels, and perhaps each caravan has family recipes and specialties. So here's what I've worked up for Pelegrini's menu:

Suli & Ravkan cuisine as seen at Pelegrini: 

Skillet bread: A variety of unleavened bread is available, similar to naan, including plain, garlic stuffed, and almond and raisin.

Spiced tea: Somewhere along the lines of chai. (Inej’s favorite tea; Kaz declines, ordering Ravkan black tea instead.)

Djuveci: a curry-like fish stew. (Inej offers it up, but Kaz decides on the cabbage rolls instead.)

Sarma: stuffed cabbage leaves, filled with a mixture of ground meat and rice, mildly spiced. (Inej recommends these for Kaz as they will be milder.)

Tzatziki: thick yogurt sauce with garlic, chives, and dill. (Inej shows Kaz to dip the sarma and bread into it.)

Ajvar: red pepper sauce. (Also for dipping various foods into. Way too spicy for Kaz.)

Paprikas Csirke: chicken, onions,and potatoes in a medium spicy paprika curry sauce. (Inej orders this for herself, but lets Kaz sample some.)

Pirogo: a sweet noodle casserole dessert, with eggs, raisins, walnuts, cream and cottage cheese. (They share this for dessert.)

Pomdrakon: dragonbowl, a Ravkan dish created by lighting raisins on fire. (Kaz opts out of this one, says he’ll try it next time!)

Here's a few sentences from the story. (I love that we all seem to agree Kaz has a Kerch palate when it comes to spicy food...)

They munched mostly in silence for a while, until Inej insisted he at least try a bite of the garlic stuffed skillet bread with ajvar. There was just enough challenge in her tone that he felt obligated to rise to the occasion. Besides, Inej had described it as milder than her father’s version of the sauce. She dipped the bread, and held it up for him with a grin. The moment the sauce hit his tongue, three thoughts occurred in quick succession.

Oh fuck, that’s spicy!

How hot does her father make this?

I’m going to need more tea.

He didn’t cough, sputter, or spit out the bite. He did note his eyes start to water. His glass of iced tea was in hand before he’d even swallowed. Inej tried valiantly to stifle her giggle, but failed. “Okay, no more ajvar for you. Sorry about that.”

“I think…” He cleared his throat. “I think I’d believe that apology if you weren’t still laughing.”

“Have some more tzatziki, it will help more than the tea.”

I've added the info about Pelegrini to my Wiki, sampled here:

And in full here:

[allurared]

trying to pinpoint why justified is so much more palatable to me than most cop shows and i don't think it's because it's progressive or even that it doesn't make a political statement, but that it doesn't let overt proselytizing (haha) get in the way of the story. something like b99 is often cringe and tasteless because it tries to impose very superficial liberal politics into an overtly corrupt institution, while the run of the mill procedurals only allow complexity with its antagonists to the point where it doesn't interfere with the cops being ultimately the good guys, leaving that bad copaganda aftertaste. but i think what they have in common is that the criminals are always only either disposable plot fodder or vehicles for the protagonists (cops) personal growth. jake peralta will still go back to work after having a moral crisis about not wanting to send someone to jail.

meanwhile the villains on justified are allowed to be fun, complex, challenging, actually sympathetic. they get to be whip smart and deeply stupid, funny, tragic, engaging. they are, yes, often one-off characters, but the structure of both villain of the week and of the season lets them connect back to the plot in more intricate, unexpected ways. it helps that the most engaging scenes are actually the cops figuring out how not to shoot someone. it doesn't keep it from falling into some tropes and stereotypes, but the watching experience reminds you much more of a dramedy like a sopranos than a capital letters Cop Show like chicago p. d.

also helps that they know how to shoot a gun action scene that doesn't bore me to death

[cartograffiti]

January '24 reading diary

I finished a whopping 17 books in January, thanks to picking up a lot of quicker reads (novellas! poetry! manga!), and a bunch of them were really exciting!

At Christmas, my mother bought a copy of Taskmaster: 220 Extraordinary Tasks for Ordinary People for the assembled family to pass among ourselves. It's fun and funny, but there's very little in it I'm likely to try. It's also worth noting that the book was published in 2018 and Alex Horne ran a contest alongside it, which means that there are some prompts with a 2019 deadline, and some that require going to specific places in the United Kingdom.

Some cookbooks! Pieometry: Modern Tart Art and Pie Design for the Eye and the Palate was another Christmas gift to me, by the amazing Instagram sensation Lauren Ko. I've always found her very precise decorations intimidating, and I doubt I'll attempt more than the simplest of the ones she gives instructions for here, but they're inspiring to look at, and I very much want to try some of the recipes for interesting fillings and naturally colored crusts.

I picked up Snacking Bakes by Yossy Arefi after seeing someone claim that an earlier Arefi book, Snacking Cakes, had changed the landscape of home baking in the US. I found the recipes in Bakes really basic, but I hopped into the much longer hold line for Cakes, so maybe in a couple of months I can tell you how much that's hype.

I probably won't make anything from Tasting History by Max Miller, but I like him on YouTube, and expected that. This is a book for reading about historical cooking, and the recipes are a bonus if one really intrigues you. Nice details, well laid out.

It fit in nicely with a couple of reading challenges to read a Pablo Neruda collection--I chose The Essential Neruda on the basis that Hoopla had it--and I enjoyed it hugely. I'd read Neruda poems from time to time as a child and student, mostly ones about nature and love, but this collection has a nice breadth to it, introducing me to examples of his work that deal with labor exploitation and political events. I can't speak to the quality of translation, but even only knowing his work in English, I find the rhythm and imagery really special and memorable. I'm especially fond of "Drunk as Drunk on Turpentine." He's one of the most famous Chilean writers, and I'm glad to be more familiar now with the reasons why.

Last month, I said that my mother and I had started working through a hard Nick Bantock puzzle book, and we were very impressed with it. It's called The Egyptian Jukebox, and it's a succession of interesting puzzles about interpreting the contents of photographed shadowbox "drawers." Mom, who is an excellent codebreaker, worked out a core mechanic pretty swiftly, while I floundered with wrong approaches for a bit and then asked her to confirm whether I was finally on the right track; that made the first few pages the hardest part, and the rest relied more heavily on my strengths of observation and lateral thinking. We both found the final solution extra fun because of a personal connection, but I think the journey will be satisfying enough for most puzzlers.

I've been trying to read literally any Becky Chambers book for multiple years without getting around to it, but this month I listened to the audiobooks of A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy and just adored them. This is a duology about Sibling Dex, a monk whose role is to serve tea and listen to people's problems, and Mosscap, the first robot anyone has seen since robots became sapient and withdrew from human society, generations ago. They travel together, with beautiful writing about nature, spirituality, and various kinds of social responsibility. Every bit as good as I'd heard.

Dumb Witness is a solid mid-range Agatha Christie mystery (which is to say better than most people's), an inheritance murder plot involving a letter sent months after it was dated, interesting poison facts, and key evidence from a dog. It's a bit dated, because it relies on subverting some ideas about mental health and xenophobia that have changed since 1937. I can appreciate what she did, but at a remove.

More than one of the reading challenges I'm doing this year call for reading a manga. I like manga, but I probably haven't read any in about 10 years, since I read all sorts of Clamp and shoujo and shounen with high school friends. I fell off as my tastes moved to series aimed at young adults, which were at the time harder to find in my area. Anyway, I'm excited to have gotten sucked into a manga again! I'd seen some of Shirahama Kamome's beautiful art from Witch Hat Atelier and I quickly fell in love with the story, which surrounds Coco, a young witch being taught to work magic using art supplies. The interpersonal relationships are strong, the apprentices are real people with distinct outlooks, and the larger plot about what kinds of magic are banned, and whether they should be, is fascinating. I tore through volumes 1-5, and I have two more checked out and another on hold. Both cheerful and serious, original, and not set in a school environment. Lovely, and one of several things motivating me to try drawing again lately.

The Emelan group read has gone into the Circle Reforged novels, and we're reading in chronological order. Battle Magic was...fine? Not the most interesting Pierce major arc, but lots of interesting things woven through it. It was written in her period of slower pacing, which I don't like as much.

I know several big fans of Dorothy Dunnett's 16th century historical fiction drama the Lymond Chronicles, and oh man am I on the boat now too. The Game of Kings is so confusing (complimentary), full of emotion and grabby characters, and I fell in love. She expects a lot of her readers. I sent in the chat where I'm live blogging that, "Here's an obscure Ancient Roman. Now understand an allusion to how a particular beetle moves. Jokes in five languages. And there's even a plot." Sometimes it's overwhelming, but it's also exactly my kind of thing, every chapter has at least one perfect scene, and Dunnett does some incredible literary magic tricks. One night I felt like I felt like I was being crushed in a vise. I'm already reading the next one, which has a reveal that made me stop reading for fully 40 minutes while I unpicked what I'd missed. I want to write fanfiction. God.

And yesterday I put on a sim game and listened in one sitting to all of Malka Older's The Mimicking of Known Successes, a wonderful sci-fi novella about a detective (Mossa) on Jupiter collaborating with her former college girlfriend (Pleiti) to investigate a case that touches on Pleiti's research, the study of ecological history with the hope of repairing Earth's ecosystem enough for humanity to return to it. Their chemistry is great, the plot is clever, and the dialogue in particular is shiny and tender. I found a couple of world-building beats underdeveloped--there's a thing about "conservative" being a slur in this future that I don't think stuck the landing of indicating the threat being conservative posed to people who had to change or die--but I look forward to reading the next.

[oldmanmuffins]

Moriarty the Patriot.

Recommended for anyone who wants to eat the rich with very pretty boys. Be gay, do crimes.

Content warnings: In the first few episodes there is violence against children. It is mostly off screen but worth mentioning. The show is not brutal, but there is violence throughout that isn't bloodless/fantasy.

What it is: Fall 2020 crime drama following professor Moriarty of Sherlock Holmes fame as he takes on the british aristocracy. You will see there are two seasons, but it's one continuous piece with the big finale being at the end of the second season and a seamless transition from one to the next. In the way of a lot of anime it mostly stops shy of being explicitly gay, but that's clearly how its meant to be read.

What is it trying to do? Eating the rich is the spirit of the show. The British Aristocracy are our main villains and we're not interested in a nuanced take on the matter. Moriarty is our antihero protagonist and stays true to form as a criminal mastermind with no compunctions about using violence. Our other interest is a cast of mostly pretty male characters. Its mostly for eye candy rather than romance, though we do have a Moriarty x Holmes fated canon ship growing throughout. Mystery solving takes a back seat. The mood here is more raucous, a bit like the Robert Downey Sherlock with a bit more camp.

How ambitious is it? Not very, we're mostly here for a good time. The show is very visually dependent so the art needs to be above average to work. Since we're borrowing Doyle's characters, there's some effort at making them seem smart and the crimes be mysterious, but its brazenly perfunctory. Theree is a challenge in managing the tone and keeping things entertaining. We will be killing people so the tone is going to be a bit dark. At the same time, we want some of the killing to be fun and satisfying. If its too dark, we're going to feel miserable. If its not dark enough, we're not going to be on for the ride.

How well does it succeed? I had a blast. The show sets the hurdles low so it can sashay over them. I've not historically been a bishonen connoiseur but the characters are ridiculously pretty. Moriarty looks like the blonde reincarnation of Sebastian from Black Butler. Sherlock makes people want to do crimes just so they can be caught. I also enjoyed a lot of what was done with the background art and remember pausing a few times to look at details.

The villains are comically evil and them being brought down is satisfying every time. Hating on aristocrats is a perfect mood for the 2020's so its good catharsis. The violence is made palatable by a pervasive over the top edgy asthetic and by how blunt the show is about what its doing; if the show tried to be smarter or more reserved, the illusion would shatter.

The pacing is good. We start with a few serial-style mini arcs, but quickly start working our way into a larger continuous story with ever-increasing stakes. Things also get progressively more fantastic. The early episodes feel more grounded in reality and in Doyle's literary world, but by the end anything could happen and you're ready to gleefully accept it.

Its just a romp. It manages to be dumb fun without making you feel dumb for having fun watching it.

[roguedeck]

One of the things I love about board games is their ability for emergent narratives.

It's a magic trick to take bits of cardboard, plastic, and wood and come out the other side with stories -- to take fundamentally mechanical rule sets and transform them into memories and in-jokes as if you we actually part of an intergalactic struggle or siege of the wizard's castle.

While many games do this well, for my money, Root is the best.

In Root, you take on the role of an adorable woodland dynasty and hack, slash, cajole, and strongarm your way to domination. Don't let the meeples fool you - this is a ruthless war game.

But it is also SO much more.

In addition to the normal rules of movement and combat, Root is a completely asymmetric game. When you choose your faction, you get a unique player board that defines your personal goals and mechanics throughout the game. Out of the box, you have four completely different factions.

Marquise de Cat: The current lords of the forest, the Cats start with the most pieces on the table. They score by building up their supply lines and industrializing the forest.

Eyrie Dynasty: The Birds are an explosive factions that works by programming actions turn after turn. But watch out - if you ever can't complete your program, your subjects revolt and depose you as a ruler.

Woodland Alliance: Everyone's favorite angry toast meeples represent the subversive movement in the forest. They spread sympathy/propaganda through whisper campaigns until they violently overthrow the invading forces.

The Vagabond: While the other players are in the middle of a war game, the Vagabond is playing his own RPG. He travels around the forest leveling up and raiding items from ruins.

While you can get hundreds of hours of great gameplay from the core box alone, there are a myriad of expansions that unlock the games true potential.

The Riverfolk is a big box expansion that brings along two new factions: The Lizard Cult who have limited, but extremely powerful actions and the war profiteering Otters who sell their services to any other faction needing mercenaries.

The Underworld is the second big box that introduces new maps along with more factions: The murderous Crows who sneak around the board setting traps, and the Moles who can spring up from their tunnels to jump-start their colonization.

The newest big box expansion, The Marauders, introduces Hirelings that give more options for smaller player counts. It also brought us the Lord of the Hundreds who commands his Rats to raze as much of the forest as possible, and the Badger templars who use their military prowess to delve for ancient relics.

And that's just the beginning. There are more hireling packs, an additional deck of cards, landmarks, and plenty of aesthetic upgrades you can buy.

Root is a full-on, five-star game for me. It is significantly different than the other euro and card battler games my group favors, but that palate cleanser is an incredibly fun challenge. Root also requires more direct interaction and table talk than anything else on the shelf.

While it can seem untenable from the outside, the rules system is logical and cleanly laid out. It isn't particularly hard to get up and running in a game.

And even if it was, it is worth the effort to be able to play with these little fellas...

[owlbearwrites]

gonna take my own advice for a sec

I made a post recently titled "if you wrote something and you think you hate it," and while I don't hate anything I've written recently and generally object to hating one's own work (see blog title), my brain is going through an insecurity phase re: Dr. Cupcake WIP, so let's try and give it the Tell Me Why You Wrote It treatment.

I came up with it because of a prompt in a self-invented game in which I asked to be challenged to come up with plausible reasons why my comfort bastard would hold various implausible jobs

I started writing this prompt of all others because it was the one my bae enjoyed the most

...and also because this was the first time I got to deviate from the deeply tragic relationship the main character has with his daughter, and explore a happier and healthier dynamic

I also chose to write it because I wanted to work on something other than my main WIP when hosting a writing stream in honor of said main WIP's third anniversary

...and it proved an excellent palate cleanser from said WIP, which has been in a heavy and angsty place recently

it was going to be a one-shot, but it grew into a four- (or maybe five-) chaptered story because I was having too much fun writing it

the "rom-com montage" section grew longer than planned because I was having too much fun pitching the two romantic leads against each other and let them get on each other nerves

the smut scene grew from the intended "500 words max" to around 2k words because - yes, once again, I was having too much fun with it

also, after writing the same pairing have sex in various contexts of many, MANY feels and emotional baggage, this was my first opportunity to write a low-stakes, fun casual sex scene between them - and boy, was it a treat to do!

in an upcoming chapter, I'm going to have an action sequence, and there's a good chance it will be longer than I planned, and that's fine, as long as I enjoy writing it

I also have something very special planned for the last chapter/epilogue, and had I stuck with the plan to keep this story short, I probably would never have even come up with that bit

In summary, I started writing this story because it was a fun idea, and it got longer than planned because I was having too much fun writing it. Both super valid reasons, as far as I'm concerned.

Is this going to be the best story I've ever written? No. Is it going to be the best story *of this pairing* I've ever written? No, probably not even that. Thing is, it doesn't need to be. What it is, is a fun summertime project, the outcome of which will be a fun, short-to-medium read for people who enjoy this pairing (I expect it to end up under 30k, so basically a novella). And guess what... I am one of those people.