thenightetc

[thenightetc]

This part gets me everytime.

[thenightetc]

Just made myself so so sad thinking about Aang's marble trick because from a physics perspective, keeping dense spherical objects afloat on an airstream is not trivial, and he's doing it in a tiny little space without moving his hands. Bending is usually very gestural. So. Everyone in the era of the show is, at best, impressed THAT it is airbending. But Aang's an incredibly young master airbender. He wouldn't be acting like this was the bestest trick ever if it didn't take at least some skill; he's a goofy kid but he's also a prodigy. I bet other airbenders were absolutely blown away (pun fully intended) at the level of precision and force and minimalism of movement on display and now there's no one who understands at all why he expects accolades.

[thenightetc]

My giant mechanical tarantula with BPD and empty nest syndrome.

[thenightetc]

For all the MTG fans, if you know, then you know.

[thenightetc]

05.10 - Morningstar

[thenightetc]

gadzooks! my game? It be'eth changed!

[thenightetc]

Would you rather have a Phineas and Ferb summer or a Gravity Falls summer?

would you rather have endless fun forever or have satan attack you every day

[thenightetc]

Precision puzzle platformer which initially appears to have a cliché "it was all a dream" ending involving the protagonist being found unconscious by the side of the road, except it's actually everything after your first "death" that was a coma hallucination, with different endings depending on how far you got before dying for the first time. You can tell whether you're still on the deathless route because certain of the game's more fantastical movement gimmicks do not appear in the "real world", obliging the player to devise alternative solutions for many puzzles.

[thenightetc]

[thenightetc]

sharing a very sage bit of advice from The Simpsons' own John Swartzwelder that i've been trying to hamper down in my writing and drawing alike. let your inner crappy little elf do his worst

[thenightetc]

Art Block - arcipello

[thenightetc]

The summons is always violent and impossible to anticipate. One moment I am running standup or drinking in the loo, and the next I am torn across the diaphanous, scalding hot fabric of reality, plunked unceremoniously before a mechanical horse, quarter in hand. The precondition is always the same: the presence of some snot-nosed kiddie, too small to dismount, has been left unattended.

Throughout the rest of Creation, the song is arrested mid-beat; but here, we continue doggedly on. There are only four things left: a Fool (child), a Devil (me), a Pentacle (the quarter), and a Chariot (horsie). There is only one way forward and it is through. If I attempt to disobey the Divine Order, my spine undergoes a tremendous pressure and my body accords itself with the plan and not my will. I pluck the child from the ground that loves it so, place them on the horse (or narwhal or whatever), insert the coin, and let the damn thing unwind. It is crucial that the child cannot dismount on their own, and that I am gone by the time they realize this. I believe I am intended to provide the first intimation most receive that the world is not averse to putting you into trouble you cannot get out of. It's a grim but probably necessary job, and it beats being a psychopomp.

[thenightetc]

wet beast wednesday

[thenightetc]

wake up babe the holy father is posting white sox fan cope on x, the everything app

[thenightetc]

lets get sorted with ma- wait. where is mama

[thenightetc]

woah I’m actually done????

there’s a good lesson here notorious procrastinators should never volunteer to hand-draw 52 unique playing cards 

also they’re animated gifs right now because that’s how they’re formatted on the photoshop files and I’m not in the mood to separate them yet. 

[thenightetc]

Okay, another little lesson for fic writers since I see it come up sometimes in fics: wine in restaurants.

When you buy a bottle of wine in a (nicer) restaurant, generally (please note my emphasis there, this is a generalization for most restaurants, but not all restaurants, especially non-US ones) you may see a waiter do a few things when they bring you the bottle.

The waiter presents the bottle to the person who ordered it

The waiter uncorks the bottle in order to serve it

The waiter hands the cork to the person who ordered the bottle

The waiter pours a small portion of the wine (barely a splash) and waits for the person who ordered it to taste it

The waiter then pours glasses for everyone else at the table, and then returns to fill up the initial taster's glass

Now, you might be thinking -- that's all pretty obvious, right? They're bringing you what you ordered, making sure you liked it, and then pouring it for the group. Wrong. It's actually a little bit more complicated than that.

The waiter presents the bottle to the person who ordered it so that they can inspect the label and vintage and make sure it's the bottle they actually ordered off the menu

The waiter uncorks the bottle so that the table can see it was unopened before this moment (i.e., not another wine they poured into an empty bottle) and well-sealed

The waiter hands the cork to the person who ordered the bottle so that they can inspect the label on the cork and determine if it matches up; they can also smell/feel the cork to see if there is any dergradation or mold that might impact the wine itself

The waiter pours a small portion for the person who ordered to taste NOT to see if they liked it -- that's a common misconception. Yes, sometimes when house wine is served by the glass, waiters will pour a portion for people to taste and agree to. But when you order a bottle, the taste isn't for approval -- you've already bought the bottle at this point! You don't get to refuse it if you don't like it. Rather, the tasting is to determine if the wine is "corked", a term that refers to when a wine is contaminated by TCA, a chemical compound that causes a specific taste/flavor. TCA can be caused by mold in corks, and is one of the only reasons you can (generally) refuse a bottle of wine you have already purchased. Most people can taste or smell TCA if they are trained for it; other people might drink the wine for a few minutes before noticing a damp, basement-like smell on the aftertaste. Once you've tasted it, you'll remember it. That first sip is your opportunity to take one for the table and save them from a possibly corked bottle of wine, which is absolutely no fun.

If you've sipped the wine (I generally smell it, I've found it's easier to smell than taste) and determined that it is safe, you then nod to your waiter. The waiter will then pour glasses for everyone else at the table. If the wine is corked, you would refuse the bottle and ask the waiter for a new bottle. If there is no new bottle, you'll either get a refund or they'll ask you to choose another option on their wine list. A good restaurant will understand that corked bottles happen randomly, and will leap at the opportunity to replace it; a bad restaurant or a restaurant with poor training will sometimes try to argue with you about whether or not it's corked. Again, it can be a subtle, subjective taste, so proceed carefully.

In restaurants, this process can happen very quickly! It's elegant and practiced. The waiter will generally uncork the bottle without setting the bottle down or bracing it against themselves. They will remove the cork without breaking it, and they will pour the wine without dripping it down the label or on the table.