dandelion195 - Tumblr blog

[dandelion195]

The kids on TikTok think that just because he was a classic country singer, Johnny Cash was conservative??? My babies he covered a Nine Inch Nails song in his seventies.

Classic country singers (the majority of which came from poor roots) were always talking about how much The Man sucked because they were taking money from poor rural folk. You’re gonna tell me that’s conservative?? Get outta here.

[dandelion195]

hey netizens! i'm not sure how many people are aware, but youtube's been slowly rolling out a new anti-adblock policy that can't be bypassed with the usual software like uBlock Origin and Pi-Hole out of the gate

BUT, if you're a uBlock Origin user (or use an adblocker with a similar cosmetics modifier), you can add these commands in the uBlock dashboard (under My Filters) to get rid of it!

youtube.com##+js(set, yt.config_.openPopupConfig.supportedPopups.adBlockMessageViewModel, false) youtube.com##+js(set, Object.prototype.adBlocksFound, 0) youtube.com##+js(set, ytplayer.config.args.raw_player_response.adPlacements, []) youtube.com##+js(set, Object.prototype.hasAllowedInstreamAd, true)

reblog to help keep the internet less annoying and to tell corporations that try shit like this to go fuck themselves <3

[dandelion195]

I hear ya. I have more story ideas in notebooks than I can realistically finish in my lifetime. No excuse for me not to write everyday. But the fear of screwing them up by being inept at the actual writing always leads to creative paralysis for me. I managed a page today. but I'm 28 and not getting any younger and certainly not as good as Neil at that age. Rain or shine, better to just get on with it, but I always find a way to procrastinate. Like I still haven't read all of Shakespeare ffs, and I can't possibly be a great writer if I haven't read Blake etc., etc.

Hello Mr. Gaiman,

How old were you and Terry when you each first got published? Huge fan of both of your works and I’m always curious when my favorite authors first got published. As I get older I feel like any chance of finishing and publish something I’m proud of get slimmer. Thank you in advance if you answer and no worries if you don’t, I know you must get flooded with questions every day lol. ❤️

I was first published when I was 22, but didn't publish any fiction until I was 23. Terry was 15.

[dandelion195]

Do you have any recommendations on what to do when you can’t write?

I’ve been struggling to write for years, but telling stories is all I want to do. I have ideas and plots and characters all figured out! But actually getting the words onto paper? I just can’t do it. There’s a mental block or something getting in the way.

I want to write, I so badly do. I want to tell my stories! But no matter how hard I try, no matter how much I love the story, the words never work properly. I can day dream scenes up perfectly, but as soon as I’m near paper the words all vanish.

I guess what I’m actually asking is: how did you defeat the blank page?

Well, first of all, I can confidently tell you that your storytelling per se is working just fine. You just told me a perfectly cogent story right there, in writing. So that's good to know.

Now let me put your mind a little at rest by telling you something reassuring about the Writer's Brain:

It's not the sharpest knife in the block, if you take my meaning. It can be tricked. It can be fooled. It can be bamboozled into working when it doesn't want to... sometimes with embarrassing ease. (And this approach is, by and large, far preferable to sitting around over-analyzing one's interior life to figure out what went wrong with your developmental process somewhere in the dim lost past. Just hornswoggle the silly thing into working and then do the analysis later, if you can be bothered.)

Sometimes just changing something basic in the process the Writer's Brain is expecting is enough to make it lose the plot (so to speak...) and let you get on with work. And in your case I'd say, more or less immediately: Have you tried telling the story to yourself out loud, recording it, and then transcribing the recording?

Because this problem is a commonplace among storytellers. Sit them down in the pub and give them tea or a drink and start them going, and you'll get half an effortless hour of hilarious prose about What The Cat Did In The Middle Of The Night or When The Neighbors Were Fighting In The Street Again Yesterday. But show them blank paper, or an empty screen, and (now that the pressure to perform is suddenly in place) they freeze.

So try doing an end run around your writing brain. Borrow or otherwise procure a little recorder of some kind. (Or if you've got a smartphone, add a voice recording app to it.) Go get comfortable somewhere and get yourself into that daydream state, and then—making sure the recorder's on—start talking.

It doesn't have to be perfect unblemished prose. The pursuit of that comes later, after draft zero-minus-one. Just tell the story... or some of it. Or a fragment of it. Even a few paragraphs is a triumph, in a situation like this. You may, during the recording, have to talk yourself into the story stage by starting out talking about something else first. Let that happen.

Then when you're done recording, listen to it and transcribe it (typed or handwritten, as you please).

And maybe a day later, do this again. And a day or two later, once more. And so forth.

You're going to have to keep at this, because your Writer's Brain may start suspecting what you're up to, and try throwing spanners into the works. (Its favorite being "Oh, this isn't working, I may as well give up..." Pay no attention to that nagging little voice behind the curtain. Just keep doing what you're doing. Persistence is a superpower.)

The thing to keep reminding yourself, as you settle into this process, is that sooner or later the WB's resistance is going to flag, because you really do want to tell stories. It does too. What you have to teach it is that—to coin a phrase—resistance is useless. :)

Anyway: give this a try. You'll need to be doing this daily for at least a couple of months to find out whether it works or not. So let me know how it goes.

(BTW: once you've broken through the barrier, you may well find that dictation is a good routine way for you to generate your first draft. At that point—should you feel inclined to go a little higher-tech than recording and hand transcription—let me recommend Dragon Anywhere. This is a month-to-month subscription version of Dragon's flagship text to speech program—the one @petermorwood and I got Terry Pratchett to use when he started having difficulty typing. I use Anywhere a lot, on days when it's easier to write stretched out or lying down than it is sitting up. It transcribes what you say, and then you can just email it to yourself and cut-and-paste it into your writing document. Very handy.)

Hope this helps!

[dandelion195]

Sherlock Holmes having a universal ace experience -- expressing disinterest and immediately getting called an inhuman robot.

[dandelion195]

“We know that people are anxious for information about the status of the negotiation – and how difficult it can be to stay strong during periods of silence – which is only exacerbated by the companies’ recent attempts to make an end run around the Negotiating Committee and confuse the narrative. What follows is an update on where we are and how we got here. We share things we have not shared up until now, including conversations with individual executives that illustrate how some of the companies can already see a path toward making a deal, while other members of the AMPTP are not there yet.

“In the 130 days since the WGA strike began, the AMPTP has only offered one proposal to the WGA, on August 11th. Since then, the companies have not moved off that proposal, even though the WGA in turn presented our own counterproposal to the AMPTP on August 15th. The current standstill is not a sign of the companies’ power, but of AMPTP paralysis.

“The studios and streamers bargaining together through the AMPTP have disparate business models and interests, as well as different histories and relationships with unions. They are competitors in all respects, except when they band together to deal with Hollywood labor. Through the AMPTP, these legacy studios and streamers negotiate as a united front which allows hard liners to dictate the course of action for all the companies. The AMPTP purports to represent all of these disparate corporate interests, but in practice administers a system that favors inflexibility over compromise, and sacrifices the interests of individual companies in reaching a deal. That regression to the hardest line has produced the first simultaneous strikes since 1960.

“In contrast, during individual conversations with legacy studio executives in the weeks since SAG-AFTRA went on strike, we have heard both the desire and willingness to negotiate an agreement that adequately addresses writers’ issues. One executive said they had reviewed our proposals, and though they did not commit to a specific deal, said our proposals would not affect their company’s bottom line and that they recognized they must give more than usual to settle this negotiation. Another said they needed a deal badly. Those same executives – and others – have said they are willing to negotiate on proposals that the AMPTP has presented to the public as deal breakers. On every single issue we are asking for we have had at least one legacy studio executive tell us they could accommodate us.

“So, while the intransigence of the AMPTP structure is impeding progress, these behind-the-scenes conversations demonstrate there is a fair deal to be made that addresses our issues. Given the outsized economic impact of the strikes on the legacy companies, their individual studio interest in making a deal isn’t surprising. Warner Bros. confirmed this in a public financial filing just this week.

“We have made it clear that we will negotiate with one or more of the major studios, outside the confines of the AMPTP, to establish the new WGA deal. There is no requirement that the companies negotiate through the AMPTP. So, if the economic destabilization of their own companies isn’t enough to cause a studio or two or three to either assert their own self-interest inside the AMPTP, or to break away from the broken AMPTP model, perhaps Wall Street will finally make them do it.

“Until there is a breakthrough, the companies and AMPTP will try to sow doubt and internal guild dissension. Keep your radar up. When the companies send messages through surrogates or the press about the unreasonableness of your guild leadership, take those messages as part of a bad-faith effort to influence negotiations and not as the objective truth.

“The companies know the truth: they must negotiate if they want to end the strike. They may not like it – they may try to obscure it – but they know it. While they wrestle with that fact and with each other, they will continue attempting to get writers to settle for less than what we need and deserve, and encourage us to negotiate with ourselves. But we are not going to do that.

“Instead, the companies inside the AMPTP who want a fair deal with writers must take control of the AMPTP process itself, or decide to make a deal separately. At that point, a resolution to the strike will be in reach.

“We understand how painful this time is for everyone. We are all tired and hurting and scared. There is nothing wrong with saying so. The optimism for a return to negotiation has been met with a harsh reminder of how fraught this process can be. We share the frustration with how long the companies are prolonging the strike, and remain committed to negotiating a fair resolution as fast as possible.

“In the meantime, as always, you can find your Negotiating Committee and Board and Council members out on the picket lines. When there is anything of significance to report, we will write again.

IN SOLIDARITY, WGA NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE

- The latest communique from the WGA to members.

[dandelion195]

Hello Mr. Gaiman, To what extent do you think Hollywood studios are committed to their mission statements, particularly Disney? The Disney mission is to entertain, inform and inspire people around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling. I take their word for it. I don't think they killed Bambi's mom hoping it would be good for profits. The studio is undeniably big. Its projects are complex. As with any big organization, there are enough parts for a motivated person to cherry pick examples and paint it as a purely greedy aimless behemoth. I don't think that is fair. I hope most people will dismiss the cynics and instead look for an overall trend.

Personally I believe in Disney magic. I'm glad it is in the world and I hope everyone will consider enjoying it from time to time. Do you think Disney has major goals other than making money? Could you discourage people on the internet from painting it as an aimless behemoth? Thanks.

I'm afraid Disney gets judged on its actions, not on its stated mission.

[dandelion195]

A cruel prank by your bullies leaves you separated from the rest of the class. Instead of finding your way back, you decide to “go missing” and let the consequences catch up to them.

[dandelion195]

We need art that tugs on our heart strings. Not everything should exist to make us "happy". Imagine a world where we don't get the scene where Buffy learns she will die. Or a world where Laura palmer wasn't killed. Or where Rose didn't jump from her life boat back onto the Titanic to be with Jack. It doesn't bear thinking about. If everything is light-hearted fun then there are no stakes and TV is becoming much too much like that nowadays. I loved the ending to GO2!

Mr Gaiman,

i think you owe us an apology dance, good omens has changed me.

That sounds like cause for a victory dance, not an apology dance.

[dandelion195]

Mr Gaiman,

i think you owe us an apology dance, good omens has changed me.

That sounds like cause for a victory dance, not an apology dance.

[dandelion195]

As a writer do you find your self making the facial expressions or gestures that your saying the characters are sometimes? Just to kind of test them out vaguely and see if they fit? It's something I find myself doing a lot and am wondering if real legit writers do this to, which is kinda awkward right now bc I'm sitting on a greyhound well writing lmao

Yes. Always. It's sort of embarrassing if people notice you doing it when you are writing in coffee shops.

[dandelion195]

Why?

Love.

[dandelion195]

Painting.

Hi everyone, I'm behind schedule and my inbox looks like this:

I'm clearing my asks, turning them off, and doing nothing but work and will post nothing except direct posts about my work. I'm under a lot of pressure and need to focus.

One more final comment answer.

Someone seemed to be upset about my method of painting the Good Omens art. I thought it was a strange comment, so looked at their feed. All the cartoons they displayed were made in flat color or with the common digital color style that looks like a slick metallic airbrush finish. Which is fine.

But obviously, I chose not to do that on Good Omens.

The painting on Good Omens is more rendered and uses more color variance because I like painterly effects.

I could make everything look slick or flat, and it would take less time. But I want my art to look painterly.

I like paintings like this.

By Johan Kindborg

And this.

By Mary Cassett.

And this.

By Cecilia Beaux.

Lest anyone conclude the use of texture and brushwork is limited to fine art, here is an illustration by Elizabeth Shippen Green.

And Violet Oakley, who was not only a noted illustrator, but one of America's premiere muralists.

So there it is.

I hope you will check out some of the other works by these painters. I think you will be especially impressed by the life of Violet Oakley, who is one of my great idols.

[dandelion195]

• An Oxford comma walks into a bar, where it spends the evening watching the television, getting drunk, and smoking cigars.

• A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly.

• A bar was walked into by the passive voice.

• An oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening.

• Two quotation marks walk into a “bar.”

• A malapropism walks into a bar, looking for all intensive purposes like a wolf in cheap clothing, muttering epitaphs and casting dispersions on his magnificent other, who takes him for granite.

• Hyperbole totally rips into this insane bar and absolutely destroys everything.

• A question mark walks into a bar?

• A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly.

• Papyrus and Comic Sans walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Get out -- we don't serve your type."

• A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud.

• A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.

• Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They converse. They depart.

• A synonym strolls into a tavern.

• At the end of the day, a cliché walks into a bar -- fresh as a daisy, cute as a button, and sharp as a tack.

• A run-on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment.

• Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses to the bar floor.

• A figure of speech literally walks into a bar and ends up getting figuratively hammered.

• An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel.

• The subjunctive would have walked into a bar, had it only known.

• A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned by a man with a glass eye named Ralph.

• The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense.

• A dyslexic walks into a bra.

• A verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. The noun declines.

• A simile walks into a bar, as parched as a desert.

• A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to forget.

• A hyphenated word and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar and the bartender nearly chokes on the irony

- Jill Thomas Doyle

[dandelion195]

Actors on Strike

I don't think a lot of people have given much consideration to the issues that people have with their images being scanned and then used later in AI without further permission or compensation.

Consider that anyone anywhere in any film at any time could be reused without notice in the most disturbing porn imaginable. Do you honestly think these images won't be licensed and sublicensed and used to train AI engines? And because you signed a contract, that would be legal?

Think about how you'd feel if you were an extra on some film set, you made $100, and the next thing you know a studio sells a set of image contracts the way people sell kitbashing image packs.

Because that's what's coming.

If companies can license creator's works and figure out ways not to pay them, and the works can end up completely bastardized in ways the original creator would never predict or want, imagine what these studios are going to do to your face and body.

[dandelion195]

[dandelion195]

EFF: Congress Amended KOSA, But It’s Still A Censorship Bill. Despite small changes, the Kids Online Safety Act “is a censorship bill that will harm the rights of both adult and minor users. We oppose it, and urge you to contact your congressperson about it today.”