#vm-punk

[volatilemask]

hobieeeeee

[postpunkindustrial]

 0161 Compilation CD

0161 is a Compilations CD featuring artists from Manchester England. The tracks range from leftfield noise experimental IDM with The Fall remixing their track Powderkeg into Powderkex for good measure because Mark E. Smith is an assholish, dubiously dressed, goblin of chaos.

Some more notable artists on this comp are V/VM, Bola and Gescom. I should post more V/VM in the future.

Anyway if you want it get it from my Google Drive HERE

[burr-ell]

#no literally like. why not just have it take place somewhere else. if you’re going to take all the steam out of the anger #and the desperation and the settling grief like #vex hunched over percy’s body . scanlan asking her to join the rest of them and she refuses to leave percy’s side (now. when it’s too late) #scanlan fucking. carving a crest into her forehead. keyleth weeping . #and like obviously they can’t do everything. i don’t expect them to #but even if they do have a group kill ‘this is for percy’ moment with ripley later it’s like. the energy is gone #part of what is so like. horrible and compelling about that moment is like. their grief is still being processed in its immediacy #and it is complete Vengeance that they are wreaking on ripley in percy’s name #not retribution because that would just be a shot between the eyes. #but like percy wanted for his family. every member of vm wants their pound of flesh #and that simply Cannot hit the same or similarly if they’ve buried him and sat by his coffin and slayed a dragon while saying ‘for percy’

Part of what makes that moment so compelling and enduring is that Vox Machina is enacting the very vengeance Percy explicitly let go of during that fight by forgiving her. They're turning all of Ripley's cruelty back on her and just straight up torturing her to death and Vex in particular gets two final quietly vicious shots, and then the battlefield goes quiet...and none of it mattered. Percy's still dead, he didn't make it through the fight when they know he should have. It's an incredibly bittersweet moment of hollow victory and it's a feeling shared among the entire team, because they're now realizing what Percy did—vengeance and catharsis don't bring back what you lost or make anything right.

And now? Even if they go chase her down, it won't hit the same. There isn't a quiet battlefield where two shadow archetypes met and neither made it out but one is grieved and loved and that makes all the difference. Instead Ripley gets to sail off and, I dunno, feel bad about herself? Get more unhinged? Ask herself how she managed to get punked by a 23-year-old twice? Why is it so damn important to keep her alive at this point, other than "well we blew our load on Thordak in episode 9 and the last three episodes have to have some tension (and we haven't really put in the work to make Raishan vs Keyleth compelling enough to carry the end of the season)"?

[oldschool-lolita-archive]

Happy (late) summer ILD to all.

Thank you for over 1k followers. I am blessed.

I used a free teacher resource pie chart generator to get some stats for this blog and its posts so far. The numbers may be slightly off because I counted manually and it is 2am, but whatever. Enjoy the pixels :p

First chart shows the substyles of lolita that I have posted so far. I narrowed it down to the traditional sweet-classic-gothic + room for error on the ‘other’ coords that might be unclassifiable as lolita.

Sweet lolita was the most popular. Unsurprising! It has always been the most popular and I have no difficulty finding sweet lolitas to share.

2nd was gothic, which was shocking to me as it’s rare to come across gothic lolita pics. I think the reason for this is that gothic lolitas might not have hung out in regular lolita spaces as much- physical and virtual- and could be found more in club and livehouse spaces. I’m sure that I have made up for this in my own efforts because of my personal positive bias towards gothic. Classic was 3rd but not far off gothic. Sweet easily won.

The 2nd chart shows brands of the lolita pieces that I have matched to photos. I managed to put what I consider to be the key major brands on individually, but it’s not a massive selection. I put brands like JetJ and Heart E under ‘indie brands’ otherwise it would just get too complicated and have too many slices.

Metamorphose is the most prominently featured brand on this blog!

I love Kato-san. This is not surprising to me either. Meta has always been popular, and their designs are easily identifiable which suits this blog perfectly. Lolibrary has a decent catalogue of Meta pieces with recorded official names and release years. For the pieces that aren’t on lolibrary I am usually able to locate photos from Meta-obsessed friend’s wardrobes.

Baby the Stars Shine Bright is in second place. Very popular. I have much more btssb to share with you, but I forget what pieces I’ve already shown because I get confused with how similar Baby’s releases are! Stunned that i’ve only shown 1 btssb red tartan jsk photo. Angelic Pretty is the 3rd most featured brand, excluding the miscellaneous ‘Indie Brands’ section which covers 25+ brands. The early AP entries on lolibrary are few and threadbare unfortunately.

The ‘Not strictly Lolita’ section includes accessory brands, punk-type brands like H.Naoto and BPN that do have some lolita lines and are featured in the GLBs but are not exclusively made for this fashion.

If you can make out the tiny writing, you can check out the other labelled brands- IW, VM, Moitie, Boz, JM and Emily Temple (which includes Shirley Temple). The relatively high MmM number is the result of another personal bias.

[vigilante-apologist]

Ive been grieving for the last couple days and I rewatched a couple highlight comps from the VM vs M9 oneshot to cheer myself up last night and I’ve been thinking about Them™️

I have ideas for everyone except Kiki and Grog- I do have an idea for Tary but armor is my nemesis and- anyways, enjoy these very basic concept sketches of Yasha (glamrock and punk inspired) and Caleb (WWDitS and Crowley Good Omens inspired)

[aritamargarita]

WILL CM PUNK BE IN solitude🙂 PLS I LOVE VM PCJEJF I LOVE CM PONK PISS PUNK POOKIE PUNK *explodes*

Sista. Sista I need you to calm down.

Yes PUNK WILL BE IN SOLITUDE TOO IDC LOVE ME SOME CM PUNK🤭AM I AN APOLOGIST? MAYBE!

[catgirl--butch]

the punk station i was listening too on my ubuntu VM isnt on the windows version of the app. crying about it

[maximuswolf]

Talking Heads - Burning Down The House [Post-Punk]

Talking Heads - Burning Down The House [Post-Punk] https://youtu.be/_3eC35LoF4U?si=SRW2CbzBm4pz--vm Submitted August 22, 2024 at 01:16PM by ghostofcaseyjones https://ift.tt/dgzV7ey via /r/Music

[dilucbrainrot]

[themightynein]

this guitar in the pre-stream for the vox machina vs mighty nein battle royale is KILLER

[chosenrule]

I’m debating whether or not to plop this in my rules or not, so in the meantime, I’ll say it here: I’m not overly interested in fully antagonistic threads. Yes, I’m completely aware that most of the characters are going to respond to Seph like that post Nibelheim, and I’m not trying to take that away bc it’s valid, real, and important. However. Please consider it from my perspective here; there’s nothing really anyone can do to actual Sephiroth ( Jenova, yes, Sephiroth, no. ) so it just turns into a bunch of repetitive yelling that does.... Nothing. Goes nowhere. Can go nowhere except badly for your muse -- bc do keep in mind, Sephiroth is massively OP per his own canon, and I’m not watering it down. ( I don’t care if you’re one of the Clouds who believes your muse capable -- I’ll tell you here and now: he’s not. He only got lucky enough that Jenova so happens to be unredeemingly arrogant and cruel to where she won’t take anyone seriously and will play with her prey for fun without recognizing when she needs to stop playing and take things seriously. ) Frankly, it’s why I have yet to actually write in my FFVII timeline, and why, barring getting something actually interesting out of it, I’m not liable to. Generally speaking, it’s fucking boring as shit for me.

[politicalprocrastinator]

... I'm just gonna say it ...

The remixed theme song is the reason Veronica Mars got cancelled

[c-is-for-circinate]

post-ep reaction time! 3.10

Well that episode was a delight.

--This is the team's fourth b&e in ONE DAY. One day!!!!!

--SUCH tasty Ashton backstory, oh man. It makes so much sense? And oooh there's so much space for feelings in there. Catch me having thoughts about how Taliesin is constitutionally incapable of building a character who doesn't live and breathe setting, who isn't part of a place and a family -- except that joining a D&D party generally means leaving your setting behind, and so we have yet one more different character who's lost a family, in a new and different way, with new and different emotions about it. (It's what you do for family, Ashton as the guy whose morals begin and end with loyalty, who was left behind and is glad of it, oh yes there's some tasty tasty nuance to dig into there.)

--Also, as an aside, I really want to know more about Milo Krook, who is apparently an artificer with no real medical training who was willing to roll up their sleeves and try brain surgery on someone who probably would've been dead without them anyway, and then somehow managed to pull it off, who patched up a sentient automaton and tosses jobs at local gangs and owns/manages/in some way oversees a queer punk group home in the slums. I want their story. (Also Pumat Sol's. I still want Pumat Sol's backstory, damnit.)

--I am so into the way this team is becoming Team Mindfuck. So absolutely into it.

VM and the M9 were very straightforward, in their own respective ways. We saw the M9 lie, certainly, but it was generally very much 'okay we're going to attempt to adopt these personas of respectability/allegiance to this stronger force, and bide our time until it's safe to play both sides against the middle'. Thinking about it now, when the M9 tried to read/predict/manipulate people, they did it almost the way an adult survivor of childhood abuse might find themselves hypersensitive to the emotions and reactions of those around them, trying to anticipate and defend. (Which: yeah, that tracks.)

This crew, and they really need a name damnit, are a very different kind of mindfuck. There are at least two people within the group who can, with magic, see into your thoughts and read your intentions; there are multiple people who can speak into your head; they are excellent liars and illusionists and ghosts; they throw around Charm Person and Calm Emotions as a first line of defense. The M9 were never built for that kind of work (Jester could have, did exactly once and never again, but then all of their heads had been fucked with enough times by enough people not to want to try), and VM definitely weren't (Scanlan did a bit, tried a bit, fucked around with Modify Memory, but it broke the group and broke him to do it, and the rest of them never even tried). But this team, still slinking around in the shadows, still nervous about full confrontation, they're built different. And I love it.

They have, almost by accident over the course of two or three minor interactions (except they are going to grab it and run with it), managed to convince a major government official and several guards that the place is legitimately haunted. They are going to gaslight so many people. They are going to fuck around with the insides of so many people's brains. I love it.

--It's interesting, actually, because I'm thinking about the b&e and the brain-bending, the mindreading and the eerie whispers and the fae charm and the therapist robot and all, and I do think it's a little bit related to the setting (in a completely different way than all the CLASS WARFARE CAMPAIGN stuff I keep screeching about over here). Jrusar is a city, is the most city, and hungry walls aside, there's a lot less to kill in highly urbanized cities than out in the wilderlands where monsters live. There's a lot more opportunity to get caught when you're in an area of high population density. There's a lot more needing to lie, to sneak, to hide, to break in and find things, when you can't just murder-hobo your way through. And some of this is Matt building challenges appropriate to the kind of party with the kind of skills the team's put together, but some of it is simply the kind of scenarios that are likely to come up in a city like Jrusar, and some of it is the way the party chooses to handle those scenarios when they appear.

Anyway I need to think on it more, and I really want to see more of this party to go on about it at all, but I think there's something there, how being integrated into a highly urbanized setting might affect the choices that players and characters see open to them, impact what they tend to do in the end.

--It was a short and early episode this week and as much as I really want to see what they do with the Nightmare King (that man in the dungeon is deeply, deeply fae, and if he's not the Nightmare King then I don't want to know who is), I'm very grateful, because I slept for shit last night and I have a work meeting at 9 tomorrow. Bed for now and thoughts later and fuck no it's not Thursday yet but I sure can't wait until it is.

[pixelpunked]

i think that taliesin took the crust punk fight club aesthetic from the vm x m9 battle royale oneshot and fucking sprinted with it with ashton

[ofteasandherbs]

I simply am waiting for the day we get VM vs M9 part two and we get to see cad go a bit feral and see that Keyleth has Melora’s vestige… also I want punk caddy so badly

[seepunkrun]

Notes from the March 26 OTW Quarterly Public Board Meeting

Today's Agenda:

Decisions taken since the previous meeting

Dissolution of Content Policy subcommittee

Update on OTW's Diversity Work

AOB (Any Other Business - this is where we'll take and answer questions)

Decisions taken since last meeting:

approved minutes of last meeting

approved filing fee for a UDRP (Uniform Domain Resolution Procedure) for a page impersonating the Archive for phishing purposes

approved signing letter to US Senate re Section 230

approved filing fees for various states

approved audit fees

approved purchase of new database servers

approved purchase of replacement storage for VMs

approved purchase of software for current and future VMs

approved increased bandwidth allotment cost

approved ticketing software for Open Doors

approved purchase of training software for Policy & Abuse

approved purchase of additional domain name

approved purchase of additional licenses for volunteer management software

approved Kristina Busse as co-chair for Transformative Works and Cultures

approved Amy2 as co-chair for Development and Membership

ongoing communications/answering questions from press, users, members, and volunteers

Decisions taken since last meeting: I (punk) asked what domain they purchased, and the answer was otw.org. Satsuma asked if there was a public copy of the Section 230 letter, and after some confusion the answer turned out to be yes.

There was no finance update as they'll be publishing the 2023 budget in a few weeks.

Dissolution of Content Policy subcommittee:

kcdayton: 'Content Policy' was a subcommittee inside of Legal, mainly responsible for AO3 content policies and Terms of Service. However, for many years now, all members of Content Policy have also been members of the Legal committee, and in practice, all of Legal gets consulted on any policy decisions, as well as the Board of Directors and any other OTW committees that might be affected (such as the Policy & Abuse committee). That multi-committee approach has shown to be helpful in making sure we have more points of view and a more pluralistic perspective on policy matters, and Content has agreed that's also their preferred way to work. To formalize this situation, we have discussed with Legal and Content Policy leaders, and we think the best way forward is to dissolve the Content subcommittee, and officially fold their responsibilities into Legal. Should this motion be approved, all responsibilities of Content Policy will be transferred to the full Legal committee, with no impact expected to any ongoing or future policy work. The only current member of Content Policy, Rebecca Tushnet, is also a current Legal committee member, and will continue to serve in that capacity.

With a majority of votes in favor, the motion to dissolve the Content Policy subcommittee was approved by the Board.

Update on OTW's Diversity Work:

kcdayton: Today, we would like to share an update about the OTW's work on anti-racism and diversity in our organization. This section will be a permanent addition to all Board of Directors public meetings going forward, as we realize the OTW needs to be more transparent and proactive with regards to keeping fans in the loop with regards to what we have been able to do so far to make our organization and projects safer and more welcoming to fans of color. We know we have not historically been efficient enough when sharing updates - we hope this will be a step in the right direction, and are committed to continue sharing as much as we can on a regular basis. We are also studying whether any other communications paths could be feasible for our organization. We appreciate the feedback and suggestions fans continue to share with us, and we consider every idea carefully. In our first update, we'd like to talk a bit about the work our Diversity Consultant Research Officer has been doing. As a reminder, the role of this officer is to liaise with the organization in order to assess our specific needs for an external diversity consultant, and also to look into available consultants who could work within our organization and our specific challenges, such as a fully online environment, international workforce, the full anonymity of most of our volunteers, and so on. In the first quarter of 2023, Zoë has presented the Board with a plan to contact different stakeholders in our organization, so she can get a clearer picture of what OTW leadership and volunteers expect from a consultant, what concerns they have, and what they see as priorities for this work. She will be reaching out to the organization gradually, to make sure she can dedicate proper time and attention to each person who wishes to communicate with her. Additionally, she has begun some preliminary research into potential hires, and while it is still too soon for us to determine whether specific companies would be suitable and able to work with us, we are hopeful that we will find a company to that can contribute in a meaningful manner towards making the OTW a more diverse and anti-racist space. Board has also met with the Strategic Planning committee this month in order to discuss, among other things, the Diversity section of the upcoming plan. We know that many people are anxious for updates on this area since the OTW's Vision Statement got published last year, and we would like to reassure you that discussions and feedback are ongoing, in order to help us create a plan that is helpful, efficient, and has achievable steps for our organization.

When two people asked if there was a timeline for this work, kcdayton replied:

Zoë expects the first round of interviews, focusing on OTW leadership, should last about two months, in between asynchronous and live chats. Once that part of the work is reaching conclusion, she'll begin planning for a wider round of feedback and discussion with OTW volunteers, which will likely take a few months, depending on how much response there is.

Because there was some speculation after the last meeting, I asked what Natalia meant when, during discussion of the diversity consultant research officer's work, she'd said "our goal is definitely to conclude this project in the next 5 years." What did that specifically refer to? Just the process of hiring a diversity consultant or hiring one and putting their recommendations into practice?

Natalia responded: I would hope to have hired a consultant in that timeframe, and ideally for them to have already concluded or made great progress in their work, so that we're able to implement changes on the OTW.

Satsuma asked: What is the approximate timeline for hiring someone then?

Approximately ten minutes later (and I only point this out because the meeting itself is just 60 minutes long) Natalia's response was:

I'm afraid we aren't able at this time to provide an estimate for specific steps on the project. We understand that this project is as important to you as it is for us, and that asking for your patience is unfair when people have already been waiting for so long. Unfortunately, there are many aspects that make it hard for us to have detailed timelines for large projects in the OTW. For one thing, while we can occasionally rely on the work of contractors, the vast majority of OTW work is done by volunteers who need to balance their responsibilities to our organization with their own professional and personal responsibilities. Our volunteers are spread all over the world, and it can be difficult to have the necessary discussions to carry projects forward. We also want to make sure we fully consider every possible aspect of any changes we make, to make sure we're not causing unintended difficulties and problems for our users, volunteers, and organization. That all means that we often need to change our plans as we go along, and be flexible with timelines. We also don't know at this time, once we managed to find a Consultant, how long they will need to get familiar with the OTW and its problems, whether they will be able to start working with us right away or need to finalize other contracts, and whether we'll managed to get our first option, or have to move through more than one company.

Satsuma: Last meeting someone suggested paying for the research work, to ensure it can be completed relatively promptly—has the board discussed the idea at all since?

kibigo! seconded this question: yes i was just going to say—can it be done by not-volunteers?

Natalia:

We have discussed having this work be done by non-volunteers. Parts of it can be, we definitely want the consultant to be external to us, to make sure they have a clearer, less biased view. But the decision making process, and the liaising with OTW leadership and volunteers is something we feel would be better done by someone already familiar with our processes and our org. Zoë has been a volunteer for many years, and was chosen due to her excellent project management skills and her passion for the OTW and making it better. While there are many skilled people in fandom who might be interested in helping, the process for selecting and training such a person might delay this research further, which was never the goal, as a volunteer could start immediately. However, we haven't discarded the possibility entirely, and should there be a need, we would of course find a way to find such a contractor.

They weren't taking further questions because the meeting ran long, or I would have asked if there was a possibility they could hire people from inside the org. I guess that's a question for next time.

The minutes from this meeting won't be up for a while yet, but if you're logged in and have agreed to the rules, you can read back through the meeting in the Discord channel.