#( I cannot find a source for this image or what it is a photo of! Would love to know if you recognize it )

[cirque-celeste]

[sirfrogsworth]

Looking at some of your work, it is stunning but it is very similar in style to AI artwork, do you have any recommendations for how to tell apart photography like yours from AI.

I've been thinking about this. And this may sound controversial at first, but I'm hoping people will hear me out.

We should stop trying so hard to detect AI art.

I think we should all lift that burden from our brains.

I have often talked about "woke goggles." Where conservatives have lost the ability to enjoy anything because they are hypervigilant about detecting anything woke. They've cursed themselves into just hating everything. All they have left is the "God's Not Dead" Cinematic Universe.

And I worry people are getting AI goggles now. They are so concerned about accidentally enjoying robot art and hurting artists that they have overcorrected to the point where they are hurting artists.

One cannot say "AI is all soulless slop that always looks bad" and then accuse a real artist of making something that looks like AI and not hurt them. By doing so, it includes the baggage of all of the "slop" comments along with it. This crusade is having collateral damage to the very artists we are trying to protect.

Yes, we need to be cautious about malicious AI images. Misinformation and deepfakes are going to be a big problem. People using AI imagery for profit is already a mess. But if you are cruising your feed and like a cool sci-fi robot gal or a photo of a waterfall and it turns out to be AI... that's fine.

It was trained by real artists and AI is going to create some cool shit because of that.

Honestly, I think a lot of the worst slop is because the dipshits creating the prompts have no artistic taste. People keep blaming the AI for how bad it looks and often don't consider it is a product of the loser who published it.

There is plenty of non-slop out there that has fooled me. And, like it or not, it is going to get harder and harder to tell what is AI. Until there are better tools or better regulations, I don't think there is much we can do to avoid enjoying AI art every once in a while. If only by accident.

Current "AI detectors" are mostly a scam. Even the best forensic-level AI image detectors struggle to stay above 70–80% accuracy across a wide range of models and image types. And that's in controlled lab conditions.

Free online tools often drop to near coin-flip accuracy (50–60%), especially with newer image generators and post-processing applied.

The best way to avoid AI imagery is to look at an artist's body of work. It's much harder to create consistent, non-obvious fake images in a large sample size. That is usually enough to have confidence in authenticity. Plus, if they have posted similar art before 2022, you can pretty much rule out any shenanigans.

Otis literally died before genAI was available.

But images you see in the wild, just let yourself enjoy them if that is what your brain wants to do. It'll be okay.

I just think we are attacking this backwards. If we want to protect artists, we need to support them.

Calling out random AI art does not support them.

It does not put money in their pockets.

It does not grow their audience.

Over a decade ago I tried to lead a fight to create better systems of attribution on websites like Reddit and Imgur. I even spoke to the Imgur team after an article was written about me.

I asked them to allow sources on their posts and to develop tech that would help people find where an image came from. They said they were "working on it" and it never manifested.

IMAGE SHARING SITES STEAL MORE FROM ARTISTS THAN AI.

But we just kind of accepted it. No one really joined me in my fight. The prevailing defeatist attitude was, "That's just the way it is."

I think now is the time to demand better attribution systems. We need to be vigilant about making sure as many posts as possible have good sourcing. If an image on Reddit goes viral, the top comment should be the source. And if it isn't, you should try to find it and add it.

Just to be clear, "credit to the original artist" is NOT proper attribution.

And perhaps we can lobby these image sharing sites to create better sourcing systems and tools. They could even use fucking AI to find the earliest posted version of an image.

And it would be nice if it didn't require people to go into the comments to find the source. It could just be in the headline. They could even create little badges "made by a human" for verified artists.

Good attribution helps artists grow their audience. It is one of the single most effective things you can do to help them.

I literally just got this message...

There are maybe 10 popular artists who I helped grow their audience early on. Just because I reblogged their work and added links to all of their social media. I even hired my best friend to add sourcing information to every post because I believed so much in good attribution.

Calling out AI art may feel good in the moment. You caught someone trying to trick people and it feels like justice. But, in most cases, the tangible benefits to real artists seem small. It impedes your ability to enjoy art without always being suspicious. And the risk of telling someone you think they make soulless slop doesn't seem worth it.

But putting that time and effort into attribution *would* be worth it. I have proven it time and time again.

I also think people should consider having a monthly art budget. I don't care if it is $5. But if we all commit to seeking out cool artists and being their collective patrons, we could really make a difference and keep real art alive. Just commit to finding a cool new artist every month and financially contributing to them in some way.

On a bigger scale I think advocating for universal basic income, art grants for education and creation, and government regulation of AI would all be helpful long term goals. Though I think our friends in Europe may have to take the lead on regulation at the moment.

So...

Stop worrying about enjoying or calling out AI art.

Demand better attribution from image sharing sites.

Make sure all art has a source listed.

Start an art budget.

Advocate for better regulations.

[noideabutsims]

Donut Co.'s Sidewalk Chalk Creations

Who's ready for a celebration of creativity and childhood wonder? Donut Co. is thrilled to be joining the Simblreen festivities for the first time ever, and we're bringing a mountain of fun with us! Simmers, get ready to unleash your inner child and turn your Sims' sidewalks into a vibrant explosion of color! Donut Co.'s Sidewalk Chalk Creations are here, bringing the joy of outdoor play right into your game.

These aren't just drawings, they're portals to a world of imagination. Watch your little Sims hop scotch through a rainbow, set sail on a pirate ship adventure, or simply giggle with glee at a friendly smiley face. Each chalk creation is a burst of pure joy, guaranteed to add a touch of whimsy and childhood charm to your Sims' neighborhoods.

So, ditch the dull concrete and let your Sims' creativity shine! Donut Co.'s Sidewalk Chalk Creations are here to transform your Sims' world into a celebration of art, play, and the simple joys of being a kid. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All images have my reshade on*** I messed up and forgot to take photos without the reshade on this time guys. Ive been on a time crunch trying to get these finished, and i simply forgot. It really doesn't change the color that much, so it is very similar in game! Really sorry again guys! If you are interested in my reshade, or want to see how much it changes the color - you can find it here: https://www.tumblr.com/noideabutsims/763209634729345024/remember-those-days-reshade-preset-guess-what?source=share ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Has 50 swatches New mesh If you cannot see all the swatches, place it down and then change the color swatch!

All of our CC can be found by typing " Donut " into the search bar! Name: Donut Co.'s Sidewalk Chalk Creations Buy Mode Description: Transform your Sims' sidewalks into a canvas for creativity with Donut Co.'s Sidewalk Chalk Creations! This collection of colorful drawings brings a touch of childhood magic to your Sims' world. From playful rainbows and whimsical swirls to bubbly masterpieces and pirate ships setting sail for adventure, these chalk creations are bursting with fun. Add a touch of joy to your Sims' neighborhoods and let their sidewalks become a testament to the power of imagination! Will be releasing more content soon! stay tuned! ❤️ (NOT affiliated with EA or Maxis in any way! We just make CC!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DOWNLOAD: Curseforge: https://legacy.curseforge.com/sims4/build-buy/donut-co-s-sidewalk-chalk-creations Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/113944702 Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vD2RbSTGbBskNtiCpNjhvdHSqIVggEVB/view?usp=sharing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Due to financial issues and our promise of never paywalling our content; We have to ask that you guys download on our curseforge if you are willing and able. Just using their site to download makes us be able to have at least a small income that helps us when things get tough - however no matter where you download; we genuinely appreciate every download regardless!! If you can, you can find our curseforge here!: https://legacy.curseforge.com/members/the_lady_gaia/projects @alwaysfreecc

[kamesama]

sukuna and yūji as siblings ( inspired by this post by @nessieartss )

they are nearly spitting images of one another, but they get gravely offended if someone gets their names mixed up. calling yūji by sukuna's name is always followed by a scowl and his brows wrinkling his skin. sukuna's reaction is the same, making them even more similar. these offences lowered in number after sukuna got his face tattoos, however, they still happen every now and then.

on that note, although they behave differently and have nearly opposite worldviews, there are a couple of gestures that seem to be a shared muscle memory; the way they twist their necks and look at some wandering source of stupidity with the same unimpressed gaze being one of them. of course, they do so in a sync. the way they run their hand through their hair and scratch their head a little when confused. the way they fix their shirt and turn to the side in front of a mirror to judge its fit.

yūji is most definitely subjected to sukuna's insults, but he takes them pretty well; he puts up a fight of his own which sukuna appreciates ( invisibly ). he is happy to know his little brother is resilient. however, there are days where yūji simply cannot stomach the proportions of sukuna's asshole-ry. why are you such a prick?

fights — both verbal and non-verbal, physical and non-physical — are nearly a religious everyday routine. some days it's just sukuna walking by and ruffling yūji's hair as he leaves home, and some days it's a ferocious battle ending with yūji in a headlock because he responded to sukuna's random insult with an exasperated and serious, what the fuck is your problem, dude?

sukuna always ends up having an upper hand.

no one gets to bully sukuna's younger brother — other than him. sure, now when they are older, yūji can handle his own ordeals, but as children, one glare from sukuna was enough to provide salvation for his little brother. sukuna also had a way with their parents to get them out of trouble. how he managed to talk things out with them is beyond yūji even today, but sukuna always saved his ass, walking into crying yūji's room with a confident grin on his face to tell him problem's been solved and he can start kissing his feet.

sukuna found a scrunchie laying around at some point and gave yūji the worst time ever because he teased him so much.

yūji — god bless his wonderful soul — is undoubtedly the more respectful one of the two, unsurprisingly so. that pudding in the fridge that he knows belongs to sukuna? he doesn't touch it. he has no interest in it whatsoever. sukuna, on the other hand, will devour anything and everything he gets his hands on with no regard for ownership. i licked it so it's mine kind of logic. yūji starts hiding his snacks. sukuna nonchalantly finds them.

sukuna busts into yūji's room with nearly no announcement and regard. yūji, on the other hand, always knocks. at some point in the early teenagehood, sukuna's room was a yūji-free zone. no brats allowed. as such, yūji has lesser knowledge of sukuna's room than sukuna has of yūji's.

blackmail. threats. vile words and promises. "brat, give that back or you will never see your vanity fair jennifer lawrence poster again." "*gasp* you wouldn't." "oh, i will."

sukuna finds ways to get certain posters, photos, stickers, merch and absolutely whatever else yūji is dying to have, only to bully the poor boy. "can i see?" "no." "you don't even like that show!" however, these things always find their way onto yūji's desk in the end, or wind up under his bed. when they do, yūji strolls over to sukuna's room with the brightest sun-kissed smile on his precious mouth and expresses his gratitude with the utmost of sincerity and child-like joy. sukuna responds with aloof indifference and a middle finger. it's the tough love.

the times they do get along is when they watch movies together. it's never explicitly admitted, but it has to be their favourite way to spend time in each other's presence. they will binge a show, discuss characters, eat an unhealthy amount of snacks along the way, completely unfazed while someone's guts get clawed out and slurped on screen. horror movies are their forte but yūji successfully got sukuna hooked onto some slice-of-life romance drama here and there. if they are not watching something on some brimming-with-viruses-and-completely-illegal website at home, then they definitely go to the cinema.

the 3 am conversations about life happen. they chew on leftovers of a cold pizza, home alone, under the kitchen light, slowly and calmly commenting on the unyielding passage of time, importance of ambition and drive, and the paradox of life's meaningful meaninglessness. they do so for nine minutes before falling into silence and commenting how stupid that cliff hanger was and how a manga chapter will be delayed again.

yūji's music taste is a spectrum far wider than sukuna's, and although he prefers pop, there are some questionable and edgy songs that seem to crawl their way into his ear because sukuna keeps listening to them on high volume while showering.

surprisingly, yūji is messier than sukuna. both are relatively clean in a way that neither of their rooms resemble a pigsty, but yūji has stray hoodies on his chair or textbooks spread and splattered over his desk ( whether he actually reads them is a separate topic ). sukuna keeps his things relatively neat and leans more towards minimalism in certain aspects.

their styles most definitely clash, but not too drastically; sukuna always seems to wear something of a darker hue to the point yūji strongly questions if he owns something that isn't red, black, white or some shade of grey. on another hand, yūji adores his vivid colours; ugly mustard yellows and pastel pinks and forest greens. sukuna likes his accessories a little edgy but tasteful; yūji finds those to be a hassle because he moves around so much. however, they both seem to show affinity towards comfortable and casual wear.

because of their contrast in terms of dressing, they rarely steal borrow one another's clothes. however, there is a very cool-looking dark blue denim jacket of sukuna's that yūji's got heart eyes for, and every now and then he wears it without having asked for permission. yūji's cheeks are stuffed with his order of burger and french fries when he gets a call from sukuna. he picks up, and all that greets him is a frigid and irritated, brat, did you steal my jacket again? yūji swallows and hangs up.

yūji's socks keep disappearing. it takes him a while to realise it's because sukuna is stealing them, solely because they are made of cotton and comfy.

yūji likes sukuna's phone cases; most of them are dark-ish, sure, but they have this visual effect of elegance that makes the phone look nice. no, sukuna does not give them to his brother. the chambers of his heart are not that vast.

sukuna is more familiar with yūji's friend group than yūji is with sukuna's. he gets along with megumi, enough to acknowledge him as a good friend of his little brother. originally, he teased yūji about nobara, but once he met her, he stopped with a claim that there is zero chemistry between the two and that they're just no fun ( nobara gave him a death glare ). he calls them brats, collectively. on another hand, yūji is not well-versed enough to have a stable opinion of uraume, who seems to be sukuna's partner in crime, but he is very familiar with how irritating his brother finds yorozu who just cannot seem to stop annoying him.

thank you for reading!

— kamesama.

[bogappreciation]

Hello. I definitely do not consider this a misunderstandings and the issue is definitely not cleared. It is not fair; making mood boards and pin boards, for a lot of writers, is part of writing and it is a WRITING community. Checking the MILLIONS of photos on Pinteres looking for the original pic is like looking for a pin in a GRASS FIELD, so saying what basically means saying 'well, just find the original' is incredibly frustrating.

I post of mood boards in communities because I want people to see my work and let other people like me comment on them, even leaving an emoji makes my day. So this suddenly becoming a new rule is crazy. I understand the ban of AI imagery --that is totally valid-- but banning a tool hundreds of writers use cannot be accepted, at least for me.

I'm sorry you feel that way. If you genuinely tried to track down the sources of your images and traced it back to sometime over 5 years ago (pre generative AI), then "unknown" with "sometime before (date)" would be acceptable, but people are not doing that. They're not even using a basic reverse image search. There's no distinction between "origin lost to time" and "active artist whose credit has been stripped due to a disrespectful amount of reposting." Just because other people are doing it doesn't mean it's alright.

This rule goes alongside the generative AI policy. When people don't know the origin and post anyway, they almost always post AI pictures. We tell them to stop posting AI images, they say "it's not AI," and then can't give us the source beyond "I found it on Pinterest." When it's obvious that it's AI we'll take it down anyway, but AI is improving and we won't always be able to tell. So you need to know where the images you're using came from.

Personally, I think this is long overdue. Normalizing art theft is disrespectful to visual artists and I don't want to be a part of a space that allows it.

[aquamarine-oceanfront]

Summary of events related to Murder Drones' apparent debut on Prime Video (and a possible merch drop?)

Not the prettiest title, but there's been a lot of odd goings-on in the past few weeks, and I felt like compiling what exactly has been happening in a single post for ease of reference. I'm not 100% sure all of it is connected (or even indicates any future events, necessarily), but I'll make sure to indicate that when I get to it.

If you're short on time, here's my hypothesis: Murder Drones will debut on Amazon Prime Video on May 16th (this upcoming Friday at the time of writing). Coinciding with this, Glitch will announce new merchandise (including a Solver Uzi plushie).

Below is my evidence & thought process, arranged chronologically:

April 25: @foggy_dragon on Twitter posts the following:

Judging from this reply, this doesn't appear to be an existing trailer - it's one that the general public hasn't seen before.

April 26: Around the time of LVL UP EXPO, Amanda Hufford (voice of Ragatha in The Amazing Digital Circus) posts two pictures of various Glitch staff members and voice actors together. Both were taken in or outside of a Hot Topic - the first is what I'm focusing on.

Look in the background (to the left of Michael Kovach, wearing N's hat) and you'll find something unusual:

What appears to be a Solver Uzi plushie! There haven't been any official ones before, so this caught a lot of fans' eyes pretty quickly.

April 28: Twitter user @Endoropolis makes the following claim:

The accompanying photos and video show the store featuring two copies of a Glitch poster on either side of the entrance, which are indeed visible in Amanda's earlier photograph.

April 30: According to this Reddit post, @primevideoit on Instagram (the official Italian account for Amazon's streaming service) uploads an image outlining new additions to the platform in the month of May. One of them quickly garners attention:

For what it's worth, I have seen at least one other screenshot of this post without the red scribbles, lending credit to its legitimacy:

(Unfortunately, I don't have the source for this iteration.)

According to the same Redditor cited before, the account deletes the post within a few hours. (There are no archives of it, unfortunately, so I cannot personally verify these claims.)

May 1: @primevideotr, the platform's official Turkish Instagram account, posts their own set of images promoting their forthcoming offerings that month - once again including Murder Drones and claiming it'll come out on the 16th. (This time I did see it myself - here's a Wayback Machine archive of the below image.)

(As an aside, a lot of people took note of the "S1" appended to the title. I don't think this by itself indicates plans for a second season - it seems like that's just how these accounts refer to every TV show. I'm less certain about the "original series" branding, but I'd assume that refers to it simply not being on any other paid streaming service.)

May 2: The Italian Prime Video Instagram account reposts their May schedule, now bereft of Murder Drones. Fans flock to the comment section in response.

~May 6: The Turkish Prime Video Instagram post is edited to remove the image with Murder Drones. (Compare this archive from the day before with this one from the 6th. While you can't see the rest of the images, take note of the way the number of dots indicating how many images are in the post decreases by one between them.)

~May 8: Kevin Lerdwichagul, CEO and co-founder of Glitch Productions, posts the following image as an Instagram story:

Many take notice of the timing (after all these apparent leaks) and wonder if Luke's Murder Drones hoodie is indicative of anything. (The counter-argument I saw: maybe he just likes wearing it?)

May 12th: Glitch's official Twitter account posts an N-related meme:

Nothing very out of the ordinary in of itself, but - again - the timing gets people wondering.

May 13th: The same account retweets two different pieces of Murder Drones fanart:

This, I'd say, is rather out of the ordinary at this point - the account's been largely focused on The Gaslight District for the past month, a natural byproduct of that show's pilot finally premiering. Similarly, the account's profile picture reverted back to normal (after spending quite some time as a Gaslight District-themed variant).

So that's where we're at now. I can't imagine the announcement would take much longer, since the Prime premiere date is fast approaching - we'll see for sure soon enough.

[most-tragic-character-tournament]

So,

What a wild ride, everybody.

This tournament went live on July 13th, 3023, and concluded January 1st, 2024. For a long time before, I’d been wondering if I should try my hand at running one of these tournaments, and then I realized we hadn’t had a general tumblr-wide one for tragic characters. I knew that I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, but I decided to bite the bullet and take the URL. The rest is history.

I didn’t have a set plan, but I figured I could take 128 entries. And then in less than a week and a half, I had ~122. And honestly, I wasn’t happy continuing with just those I’d gotten so far, and thought it’d be unfair if it closed that quickly without warning, so I decided to up it to 256 with a max 2 characters per canon after preliminaries. Only after that did I go on a mad search to find brackets that were big enough for that, and I’d almost given up before I finally found these:

Those are all the characters that made it past prelims and into the competition. Some quite unexpected results came out of these matchups, round after round, and honestly I’d consider the first round to have had the most brutal competitions, because I had tried to do the best I could to match levels of popularity with each other, as far as I could tell. (Yeah, that’s why we had c!Tommy v Jon Sims and Primrose v Jinx.). But even eclipsing all of those, as the weeks went on, we were eventually met with Antigone versus Lloyd Garmadon. Ah, those crazy kids.

At some points it was stressful, in the early rounds when I had dozens of posts, each with edited images and alt text, to prepare for every round, but I never regretted starting this. As of posting, this blog has 2,020 followers and has made over 1,000 posts. This will be the last post on this blog—any future asks I receive I will answer privately back to the asker, or cannot be answered if they are anon—but it will always remain here for posterity. The link below is to the similarly-preserved google sheet compiling every word of every submission this tournament ever received.

I’d like to take this chance to say thank you to everyone who submitted characters, supplied photos, sent in propaganda, reblogged the polls, indoctrinated their teachers into greeklitsweep, and everyone who kept good sportsmanship when their blorbos proved so tragic they couldn’t even win. Thank you to the small group of URLs whom I’ve consistently recognized in my inbox from submissions all the way to finals, thank you for letting me know when a name was messed up, and thank you for your patience in-between rounds. (Shoutout to @elemom as well for having their tiktok on the original antigone/lloyd poll blow up.)

If you’ve stumbled upon this blog weeks, months, or even years after this was posted, I would direct your attention to the tag map in the pinned post to sift through the tumblr history you’ve just uncovered. And I would also be tempted to point at the big sign next to it reciting the nuclear zone warning poem. Lastly, if anyone here or there wishes to talk to me about anything regarding the tournament, you’re welcome to DM @twilight-skies.

There were times when I said to myself this was a one-and-done thing—I was NOT dealing with this again, but….keep a look on the horizon, ya never know.

But until next time, it’s been amazing.

Sayonara you weeaboo shits.

[jmdbjk]

The Drama. It's Jimin.

We don't know yet how Jimin will tie together that sheet of music La Lettra (The Letter), containing the music of The Truth Untold and the Legend of the Smeraldo flower in this album but he's named the album MUSE.

The Truth Untold lyrics

You know that I can’t Show you ME Give you ME I can’t show you my miserable self, so, yet again, I wear a mask and go to meet you But I still want you

A flower that looks like you bloomed in the garden of loneliness I wanted to give it to you after taking off this silly mask But I know that I can’t never ever do so

And the story it is based on, The legend of 'Smeraldo' about a flower created just for the girl the man couldn't reveal himself to.

Here is an excerpt from this link:

The man wanted to help the girl. He wanted to teach her every method of growing flowers he knew, he wanted to teach her how to grow beautiful flowers. But he couldn’t come forward to the girl. She would be scared of him, she wouldn’t love his grotesque appearance. In the end, the only thing he could do was to grow and take care of the flowers so she could keep coming to his garden.

The vibe of The Truth Untold is yearning, desperation, unfulfilled and unrequited love due to one's own inner turmoil holding them back.

The gist of the Legend of the Smeraldo is that you cannot remain withdrawn if you are to achieve the thing you desire most. If you wait too long it will be too late. You must overcome the negative perceptions of yourself in order to reach for the thing you desire.

"Muse" can mean what Jimin is to others and what Army is to Jimin, but Jimin's muse is most likely an element of his inner persona that he keeps to himself, that he draws on for his creativity.

It could also be the stage, the desire to visually express his creativity. I have heard music artists claim their muse or mistress is the stage, they cannot stay away from it, their passion, their obsession, their life's blood and breath to the point everything else is secondary.

The definition for the word muse is:

a person or personified force who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist.

Muse is also related to Greek mythology. From wikipedia:

The Muses are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric songs, and myths that were related orally for centuries in ancient Greek culture.

Where have we seen this inspiration before in Jimin's creativity? I wrote about his Artemis/Apollo concept for his photo folio here.

I know too often Jimin is reduced down to his visuals and his singing...he is a walking melody-maker after all. But he's much deeper than that. He is well-read, he excels at math and science, he understands the human condition better than anyone else around him.

Perhaps in this project, he will explore something that expresses these concepts more deeply.

Motifs he's using in the album's concepts:

Blooming: ME

Serenade: US

A field of flowers, not just any flower, a simple small white flower. Thousands of them. Do the flowers represent us?

I wonder what the blurred out center image of the album covers will reveal.

In his Sept. 1 live last year, among the things he spoke about (besides his Jungkookie's birthday) Jimin told us he was doing things differently, like starting from scratch.

During this live, commenters kept asking about his beat up knuckles and he said just wait and we will find out. He also showed us his workout room in his house.

He also showed us his solar system mood light casting images across the ceiling of his bedroom. He says he falls asleep with it on.

Yet he's an expert at talking to us for a great length of time without really telling us anything. Masterful in fact. He rarely reveals anything personal. We were astonished when he walked through his own home and showed us various rooms in it.

But he wasn't always like this. Whatever circumstances, whether it be outside forces or his own inner growth and maturity, he's changed over the years. He's an expert at hiding parts of himself and his life from us.

How difficult is it for any of us to be our REAL selves in front of anyone? How many of us hide the fact we are Army from our friends, family and co-workers? How many of us behave a certain way in certain situations in order to hide what we perceive are our weaknesses? How many of us are reluctant to speak out, even about frivolous things or dress a certain way or avoid wearing certain colors because what people might think or perceive about us?

Now imagine that you make your living by putting yourself on stage and in front of cameras for millions of prying eyes.

I do think Jimin loves the drama of it all, the mystique. I believe Jimin loves sensuality and provocation. And I think he loves creating visual expressions of all of it.

Many of us share the same inner muse but few of us possess the tools like Jimin does to express these inner musings outwardly. But if we did too, could we? Do we have the fortitude to put ourselves out there? Sure, it's easy to say "if I had a body like Jimin's I would walk around naked all the time." Would you really? Would you really invite the eyes to look and pry and critique? Would you welcome the amount of judgement that would take place? Because it never stops at just one thing. Offering yourself up invites judgement about everything, even things you don't have any control over, from the shape of your fingers to the tone of your voice.

Over the years, Jimin has shown how self-critical he is, constantly wanting to improve himself, always seeming determined to take it to the next level. Determined to show us another side of himself. Brave enough to keep revealing what he draws from his own muse.

MusE... blooming... ME

mUSe... serenade... US

Jimin's blooming and in this record, he will serenade us with his love. He really didn't want to leave us. Perhaps he felt he was just hitting his stride. I felt it.

[sgiandubh]

The case against 'sharenting'

Yesterday, an Anon @bat-cat-reader got made me think. Long and hard, far and wide - research included.

Here is the Anon: https://www.tumblr.com/bat-cat-reader/750859423333908480/lo-bueno-de-estar-revisando-redes-constantemente?source=share . I wanted to piggyback first, then I realized the issue was way more important than the person in question. And decided to post everything separately.

Loved this very matter of fact, calm Anon and I totally agree with what was said about overexposing a child online.

This sudden surge of completely inappropriate information about that child raised an eyebrow, and then some more. It begs, as always when dealing with minors, the question of privacy, as opposed to using their image for what obviously is self-promotion. And more generally, what is called 'sharenting', a portmanteau combining 'sharing' (info) and 'parenting' that was quite recently invented by The Wall Street Journal to describe a more and more widespread phenomenon.

That some parents would just love to have and even share digital mementoes of their child(ren) is apparently ok. Others, however, choose to monetize their kids, turning them into a sales argument. I am still floored at such disingenuous choices, that might have serious consequences for their future. And I am not the only one, mind you: a 2018 report by England's Children Commissioner, the leading government official competent for protecting and promoting children's rights, found out that parental digital oversharing is a high risk behavior for the child.

Short term, as in identity theft ...

... to long term, as in lost academic or professional opportunities - the 2018 warning made only more compelling by the recent AI craze:

[Source: England's Children Commissioner Report 'Who Knows What About Me?', 2018 - online: https://assets.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wpuploads/2018/11/cco-who-knows-what-about-me.pdf]

You'll find this very recent article from The Guardian absolutely enlightening, too. I certainly did: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/26/son-social-media-parents-children

Particularly this - I am not a mom, so Mordor bitches will certainly point this salient detail out, you see. But maybe this journalist mom's POV could give them (and maybe even other people) pause:

Pedophile. Quite chilling, right? Pedophile rings actively searching for children photos inadvertently being shared online, to feed sick obsessions worldwide (do not be parochial and think those pics must be of an ambiguous nature!). Instagram being currently in very hot water for its strange content promoting algorithm, allowing pedophiles to easily access children photos and personal data, based on exif. Digital kidnapping, as in criminals pretending to be the child's parents, for various financial or pathological reasons.

Think I am a stupid, stupid shipper with an agenda? Then so is the US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Commission. Last year, a joint statement has been released by two if its members (and before Mordor starts screeching about 'the MAGA mommies obsession for pedophilia', let it be said it is a bipartisan, Democrat and Republican initiative), about the fact that 'Instagram hosts a vast network of pedophilic content and that its algorithms are actively driving users to this content':

[Source: https://energycommerce.house.gov/posts/pallone-rodgers-demand-answers-from-instagram-after-reports-the-platform-is-driving-users-to-child-sex-abuse-material]

It followed a long report on Instagram's less than responsible practices in the matter, published by The Wall Street Journal, not your next door digital gossip rag (subscribers only, but you'll have an idea: https://www.wsj.com/articles/instagram-vast-pedophile-network-4ab7189?st=mbga8lpdddfm5dh&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink)

Mark this statement: 'It is clear these companies cannot be trusted to protect children on their platforms'. I, not even a mom (but an aunt, a friend and a godmother, too), cannot even start to express my disgust at the hypocrisy of barely hiding children's faces on a certain blog, but at the same time allowing rabid speculation about a child's whereabouts, based on what is clearly a case of sharenting. All the mothers, grandmothers and aunts commenting under that post would have to take a long, hard look at themselves in a mirror. And also ask themselves why they allowed their personal fantasy to get an upper hand on common sense?

That is a terrible, terrible shame. And then people wonder why is C not sharing anything? Would you share your kid(s) to that mob? I wouldn't and it is my strong belief no mother in her right mind would.

Last but not least, reckless digital behavior comes with risks, costs and consequences. Including legal ones, taking into account what very probably is some loose, rather informal agreement of co-parenting (as opposed to a stricter, 50/50 shared custody system), as per Scottish family law. Something I shall briefly try to explain, for context purposes only:

Unlike many other legal systems in the world, the 1995 Scottish Children Act has a slightly different approach to custody (or what they call 'residence'), in which the child's best interest, as well as the parents' own agreement (called a Parenting Plan) are paramount. By the same token, it does not matter if the parents were married or just common law partners, for example. This allows for less cumbersome living and financial arrangements, provided the two parties agree, and also for quicker procedures, as the law does not encourage parents to go to Court, if an agreement has been reached ('no-order principle'). Mediation and legal assistance services are readily available to make every particular case fit in the local Parenting Plan framework. On the other hand, because in legal matters all things are (must be, really) symmetrical, it is relatively easy to have parental rights and responsibilities enforced (example: issue an order stipulating to cease and desist from posting on Instagram), or even removed, in Court. While removal is a bit of a hassle (supporting statements are required, either from an independent witness/not a relative or Social Welfare Services), the enforcement is way easier and just requires a basic contradictory procedure in Court.

For example, a child's proven overexposure on the Internet can very well be successfully contended in Court, if things go South. Especially in an emotionally loaded local context:

[Source: https://news.sky.com/story/seven-members-of-paedophile-gang-guilty-of-running-monstrous-child-sex-abuse-ring-13008082 - you read the article if you want, it's brutal]

I am not saying this will happen. What I am trying to say is simply that nobody (and I repeat: nobody) should play with fire, like this. Neither the parent, nor the public. This is a plea for decency across the dashboard I strongly felt I should make, if others won't.

No shitshow, no fantasy, no obsession should ever put a child's life at potential risk like that. You see, children are rarely asked if they would like to be shown off as circus monkeys.

[garden-of-bah]

🌼Garden-of-BAH intro🌼

Hello lovelies, welcome to the garden!

Requests are: CLOSED!

This is a plant-themed build-a-headmate blog currently run by members of one system. We take requests for fictives, factives, songtives (usually), userboxes, and moodboards! We can attempt brainmade alters if we have something to go off of but we’re iffy on them. Radqueer, transID, para and endo friendly, there will be no discourse in our garden. /srs

We typically use we/us when referring to the group or system as a collective, and I/me when referring to ourselves specifically as alters.

Inspired by other BAH blogs, especially @slimeyblossoms @bah-circus and @unclewileys-bahblog :D

Under the cut contains our template, boundaries, tag system, and links to our intros, to-do list and source list :3

Tag system:

sprout ; 🌱 (headmate request)

bloom ; 🌸 (pre-made headmate)

lavender ; 🪻(moodboard)

maple ; 🍁 (userboxes)

fern ; 🌿 (mod specials)

rose ; 🌹 (mod post/important info)

hibiscus ; 🌺 (mod intro)

sunflower ; 🌻 (question/answer)

lotus ; 🪷 (appreciation for mods)

tulip ; 🌷 (other asks)

clover ; 🍀 (other posts)

bamboo ; 🎋 (fictive)

pine ; 🌲 (factive)

palm ; 🌴 (songtive)

birch ; 🌳 (brainmade alter)

mod rammy💐 (posted by Rammy)

mod catra🔥 (posted by Catra)

mod dee🌒 (posted by Dee)

mod kel🏀 (posted by Kel)

mod ashley💞 (posted by Ashley)

mod leyley💗 (posted by Leyley)

Boundaries:

Do not spam request. Asking once if something is in the inbox is fine, but we are VERY busy irl and cannot guarantee when requests will be filled.

Anon emoji tags are encouraged :3

Taken tags are; [-🪐⚡️] [-🦉🌙] [-🎒💌] [-🌊🐬] [-🍊] [-🦈] [-🪽🌸] [-🖤🍃] [-🍀🌐] [-🎠] [-🎀🧸] [-🧸] [-tgc anon] [-🧁] [-💥🦴][-💻🐰(😎🛹)] [-🦖🎨] [-bsd system] [-💫🎱] [-puyo anon] [-🫐💣] [-𖦹 🌱 anon] [-🎁 anon] [-🎀💀 anon] [-🌧️🎱 anon] [-🍮 anon] [-🔱 anon] [-💿🎸 anon]

Requests in DMs are fine

When we say no discourse we mean NO discourse. Any asks or comments debating the validity of someone’s existence are NOT welcome here, regardless of what it entails. This is a safe space.

We CAN make moodboards, we can NOT make stimboards. Our phone doesn’t have the capacity to upload that many GIFs, sorry. This may change in the future, but as it stands stimboard requests will be denied.

Source list:

To do list:

Request info:

Here’s the template we’ll be using for headmate requests, you can fill parts out yourself or just ask something along the lines of “can I get a South Park alter with a lot of paras?” or “could you make a fem fairy alter with roles and a bunch of transIDs!”

If you want specific faceclaims, feel free to send a photo! Be as specific as you’d like to be in general, we love direction :3

If no specification is given on the type of request, we will assume it’s a headmate pack.

Name/s:

Age:

Pronouns:

Source:

Genders:

Sexuality:

CisIDs:

Mental/physical conditions:

Other labels:

Faceclaim:

“Detailed” requests will include any/all of the following, as we see fit and/or as requested

Alter roles:

Front triggers:

Signoffs:

TransIDs:

Paras:

Personality:

Quirks:

Moodboard requests can be vague (“can I get a Zim moodboard”) moderate (“could you make a bisexual Dipper Pines moodboard?”) or specific (“would you do a bisexual lesbian Amity Blight moodboard with themes of space and loneliness?”)

We prefer moderate requests because they leave some room for interpretation, but we’ll try to work with whatever you give us!

Userbox requests can be accompanied by specific images, but it’s not necessary. The only thing we require is colour direction if it’s not a character we’re familiar with, but feel free to request fonts or brushes/effects for the border! We use IBIS paint X, so keep that in mind, but we’ll fulfill requests as best we can!!

Mod intros:

[houseofbrat]

As someone who works in PR I am ASTONISHED at how bad Kensington Palace is at all of this. It’s the most interesting part of the whole thing for me. Well that, and how much it seemingly vindicates H&M and Harry in particular in what he’s said about the firm and the media’s role in protecting the Heir at all costs.

Yeah I work in PR for a public company and anytime we want to put something out we have to run it up the chain - we need legal and Investor relations and executive approvals.

Even if KP and BP had their individual PR teams, which makes sense, there should still be one main central PR office that everyone answers to that manages the entire royal families PR, makes sure schedules and press opportunities and STRATEGY AND MESSAGING all aligns, before running up the chain for final approvals. There’d be a social team and a crisis team and government relations team and a branding team and a general “talent rep” kind of team, all working in tandem to serve the overall strategy for the royal family.

The fact that there are so many cooks in so many different kitchens is why the royal family has had so many PR disasters honestly for decades now. They’re truly doing it all wrong. So many Worst Practices here, not Best Practices.

It really doesn't seem like there is an overall PR team. Just the separate entities

Yeah and that’s the problem IMO. They are a business that should be run like a business. They should have the individual departments I suggested, and even more, working in tandem.

The fact that there are so many separate entities with different agendas and priorities is a huge part of their problem IMO.

But Charles has been transparent for the most part!! And photographed repeatedly. It’s so bizarre when compared to KP, and feels passive aggressive to me to be honest lolol.

They’re really so so so bad at this 😭😭😭😭 but the British public and the media lets them get away with it 🙃🙃🙃

For heaven’s sake. If she’s recovering nicely, why resort to recycling old photos?

Other sources are making a pretty good case for the fact that it’s a November photo, taken after Catherine and the children visited the baby bank.

Does nobody, and I mean nobody, know how to do PR in that place anymore? Now it's pin all of this on just-recovering-from-abdominal-surgery Kate? Why not on William since they were so proud about how he was the one that took the photo? Somehow they keep making everything ten times worse.

I’m sorry, but I don’t believe for a second that Kate personally edited that photo together in such a way that it had to be killed as inauthentic. The pulling of the photo is likely more about the refusal to provide metadata or the raw image for proof rather than silly Photoshop choices. That isn’t an issue of “mummy going wild on the computer,” it’s a larger organizational issue about trust, transparency, and KP’s overall poor approach to news orgs and the press lately.

Why is Kate taking the fall? Why is William such a lout to let an ill Kate put this on her own shoulders rather than admit KP made an error or say KP is going to reevaluate their practices and make a change?

Are college interns running Palace p.r.? Because I cannot understand how they're botching this so badly. If Kate couldn't/wouldn't pose for a legit photo, then just don't release anything. The Royals are basically dumping tankers of gas on the inferno by playing all these games. 

Sorry, am I going insane? After saying they wouldn’t respond to these conspiracy theories, they

a) responded by putting out a doctored image,

b) responded to the backlash of doctored image by claiming the woman recovering from a medical issue was playing around in Photoshop, and

c) responded to the backlash of editing claims by putting out an image where the person in the photo is supposed to be Kate but could LITERALLY BE ANYBODY.

NONE OF YOU ARE FINDING THIS WEIRD? NONE?!

"Kate's Back"

Well, it is indeed a picture of Kate's back

Apparently the main symptom of her mysterious medical condition is that any photo with her in it immediately becomes grainy, blurry, or with people's wrists trying to escape into a fifth dimension.

Good Lord, I haven't followed a disaster story this closely since Oceangate Titan and this one may be even worse. The narrative is out of control and the rules have gone out the window.

They already lost control of the narrative at this point. No matter what they do now, they will be scrutinized more than they've ever been before. And they seem grossly unprepared for it.

She’s not even facing camera, how is this supposed to help? This just feeds the conspiracy theorists! headdesk

It's becoming a PR nightmare that only Olivia Pope can rescue.

Maybe the better question is that people are concerned about Kate's welfare, and most WERE okay with waiting under the timeline KP initially offered that is she will likely return by or after Easter.

However KP has mismanaged the messaging, and with that concern grows over how weird some of the updates are. The article explains why this medical time out is turning into an absolute PR crisis. It isn't so much about Kates right to medical privacy (she definitely deserves that )

It now is about institutional reliability, the heir William's arguably erratic or unusual behavior or his courtiers' comments, the mess with the all kill photoshopped/Frankensteined photo (which has never happened before with a palace released photo), the very different approaches from BP vs KP, etc etc. It's become bigger than Kate sad to say.

And ultimately now people are worried for her, in a way they wouldn't have been, because things have become so irregular and bungled. So the urgency to make sure she is safe and okay has become louder and more insistent.

“CNN is now reviewing all handout photos previously provided by Kensington Palace.”

“In editorial photography, photojournalists and editors commonly adjust a photograph’s exposure or color balance in order to more accurately reflect the scene. Most news organizations, including CNN, regard it as unacceptable to move, change or manipulate the pixels of an image. To do so would alter the reality of the situation the image is intended to document.”

“In the past, the family’s amateur photographs have been well received when posted on social media. But on this occasion, this photo was also released to media organizations as a handout and the palace wasn’t transparent about the fact it had been adjusted.

That will have damaged the trust between the palace and media organizations – many of which, like CNN, will likely be assessing all royal handouts. The editing storm has undermined the existing relationship and when public interest over any possible cover up escalates, as it has done recently, many news outlets will now have take that speculation more seriously.”

[canopies-of-gold-and-evergreen]

These Ancient Canopies Ch.1- A fantasy AU

The Beginning; The First

Source photo edited by me to alter colours. Colour etc is all that was changed.

Summary: the creation of a magical, eternal forest and the invitation of its first guest.

Warnings: none.

Word count: 650

ao3

Taglist 🍃 Description 🍂 Next

🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃🍂🍃

In the beginning, there is only The One and the endless cosmic void. For eons, He drifts in silence with nothing to cushion the quiet but the cacophony of His own thoughts. In this time, He creates in His mind a place that He feels He could call home: an ancient forest which possessed in itself an intelligence. The ability to defend itself, the trees, vines and animals working together to block the paths of all who intended to harm it. This forest is limitless, uninhibited by any one region, its magic permeating all edges of the land. It is ancient, timeless, eternal.

The One spends an eternity with nothing but thoughts of this forest, the wind gusting through the leaves and the creaking of the trunks. The thrum of the never ending magic pulsing through the ground. Then one day He hears a voice cry out from the edges of the void, begging for help. A bellow to be seen, heard, valued. To have a purpose. To have a home. Somewhere to belong. Within this voice, The One finds so much of Himself that at first He cannot decipher if the voice is His or that of another.

So He follows the voice, staying shrouded in the darkness of the void. Upon reaching the source of the sound, He finds the huddled form of a man. He can sense that the man is filled with turbulent emotions—not only pain and fear—but a jarring emptiness that mirrors His own. He conjures a mask to cover His face, to protect the man from the sight of His true form. With His mind The One reaches out to that of the man in front of Him, taking care to soften His thoughts so as not to frighten him. When He feels the fringes of the other man’s mind, the other’s head rises in panic, and his eyes scan his surroundings. The One steps out of the inky blackness of the shadows, crouching down to match the posture of the other.

I am not a threat to you. I am not a danger to you. You are safe. He sends these thoughts to the mind of the other, monitoring the man’s reaction to His presence in his mind. He finds wonderment, awe, and fear. I have heard your pleas for purpose, for belonging, to be seen, heard, and valued. I have heard your pleas, and if you take my hand, I will give you all that which you seek. He extends His hand to the man in front of Him, and patiently waits for the other to make his decision.

The other man scans his eyes over The One’s mask, his gaze lingering on that of The One. “Who are you? Where do you come from? What are you?” The man’s voice is hoarse, raw from his screams. There is no more fear in the other’s voice, only careful hesitation. The man builds walls in his mind to keep The One at a distance, and The One heeds this wish, and pulls back. He keeps only a single thread of connection between their minds, through which He sends His answers.

I know myself as The One. I have dwelt within what I know only as the cosmic void, I do not know for how long. I do not yet know the purpose for my existence, though there is a place that could help find the answer to that. The One sends images of His forest, the magic that swells through the roots and soil. The faintest music heard in the wind as it blows through the leaves. The peace that is found wandering among the twisting paths of moss, over the rocks, and alongside the creeks. Come, child. It’s time you came home. At this, tears stream down the other’s face, and he places his hand in the upturned palm of The One.

[steamboatdreamy]

Early Outline For "A Smurf For Denisa"

An early outline for the Season 8 episode "A Smurf for Denisa" was sold on eBay this year. Only three photos were included in the listing. I cannot find the listing on WorthPoint, so I apologize for the lack of a source link.

The sole writing credit on the outline goes to Evelyn A/B Gabai, who was one of five writers credited in the final version of the episode. The original plot appeared to be Sassette annoying the Smurfs (including Greedy and Papa, which can be seen when the second photo is edited, see: third image) by asking too many questions and later bonding with Denisa over it. Greedy appeared and spoke in this outline, but he was excluded from the final.

Transcription for second image:

"A Smurf For Denisa"

. EXT/INT. GREEDY'S KITCHEN - MORNING

It's the crack of dawn when groggy GREEDY spoons his first batch of popovers onto a griddle. "I sure have to rise with the sun to fix popovers!" Greedy says. As the pastry begins to puff up, Greedy takes a popover from the griddle and stuffs it in his mouth: "Mmmm! But watching THESE mouthwatering morsels RISE, is worth it!" The stillness of Greedy's morning is interrupted when SASSETTE bursts through the door. "Poppin' pelicans!" she exclaims. "I could smell those popovers cooking all the way from the bunkhousel" Sassette takes a closer look at one of the popovers. "Why do you have to get up so early to bake 'em, Greedy?" she asks.

"Let me see..." (Thinking comes hard for Greedy at this time ofthe morning). "Well-- that's the way I've always done it."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to rush this recipe...."

"Why?" Sassette continues. Greedy starts to get impatient.

"Because-- if I'm not CAREFUL, my popovers WON'T just pop over..."

Sure enough, now that he is caught up answering Sassette's questions, Greedy doesn't notice the popovers expanding like bubbling, doughy balloons, on the griddle! "Jumpin' jaguars, what'll happen then?" wonders Sassette. As if to answer the Smurfling's question, the popovers explode like gooey fire crackers around Greedy, covering the Smurf with their sticky filling! "I'm going to pop my lid if you ask any more questions!" an irate Greedy snaps. Without further ado, he ushers the nosey Sassette out the door.

CUT TO:"

Under the cut is what I can make out of the Papa page and the final:

"[Repeated last sentence from first page.]

INT. PAPA'S HOUSE-- CONT.

Papa Smurf has just risen from bed. He sits in a rocker and opens a book. "How I love my still, quiet time in the morning..." he says. But Papa's quiet is interrupted by a uplifting wail. "Pappy Smuuurrrrffff!" It's Sassette, who bounds into the room. "Great Smurfs-- keep your voice down Sassette!" the startled Papa [??]. "It's too early in the morning to be so....so....smurfy."

"Greedy got angry with me, just 'cause I asked a few teeny weeny questions about his cooking."

"That's odd." Papa replies. "If there's one thing you can't get Greedy to STOP talking about— it's food."

"Why?" asks Sassette.

"Heh. Heh. He's one Smurf who'd eat his own words, if he could!"

"Why?" Sassette wonders and on and on it goes! Papa rolls his eyes and sighs resignedly. This is going to be one very long, very UN-quiet morning....

SHORT[?] DISSOLVE TO:

BALTHAZAR'S CASTLE - A [???] WHILE LATER

Balthazar is awakened from a sound sleep by the wheels of a carriage rumbling to a stop outside his castle. He throws on a"

Final page:

"[...]en?" Denisa wonders.

"[... if?] those two trade any more questions betwixt [...] [we'll be he]re all day!" Nanny declares.

"[...] one thing's certain," Papa chuckles. "Sassette [...]e ASKED for a better friend." Off of the Smurfs [...]owing laughter, we:

FADE OUT

THE END"

[noideabutsims]

Donut Co.'s Curious Spills & Stains

Who's ready for a celebration of creativity and childhood wonder? Donut Co. is thrilled to be joining the Simblreen festivities for the first time ever, and we're bringing a mountain of fun with us! Simmers, are you ready to embrace the unexpected? Donut Co.'s Curious Spills & Stains are here to add a touch of playful chaos to your Sims' homes. These aren't just random messes, they're opportunities for storytelling and imaginative play.

Was it a juice box explosion? A pet's artistic expression? Or maybe a mischievous ghost with a penchant for slime? Let your Sims investigate the source of these curious spills and stains, uncovering hidden stories and adding a touch of realism to their everyday lives.

So, ditch the pristine floors and embrace the unpredictable! Donut Co.'s Curious Spills & Stains are here to transform your Sims' homes into a world of mystery, laughter, and endless possibilities. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All images have my reshade on*** I messed up and forgot to take photos without the reshade on this time guys. Ive been on a time crunch trying to get these finished, and i simply forgot. It really doesn't change the color that much, so it is very similar in game! Really sorry again guys! If you are interested in my reshade, or want to see how much it changes the color - you can find it here: https://www.tumblr.com/noideabutsims/763209634729345024/remember-those-days-reshade-preset-guess-what?source=share ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Has 95 swatches New mesh If you cannot see all the swatches, place it down and then change the color swatch!

All of our CC can be found by typing " Donut " into the search bar! Name: Donut Co.'s Curious Spills & Stains Buy Mode Description: Unleash your inner detective with Donut Co.'s Curious Spills & Stains! This collection of mysterious messes adds a touch of playful realism to your Sims' homes. From unidentified green goo to perplexing orange splatters and a rainbow of paint spills, these stains are sure to spark curiosity and imaginative storytelling. Was it a science experiment gone wrong? A mischievous pet? Or maybe just a creative toddler with a penchant for paint? Let your Sims investigate the source of these curious spills and stains! Will be releasing more content soon! stay tuned! ❤️ (NOT affiliated with EA or Maxis in any way! We just make CC!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DOWNLOAD: Curseforge: https://legacy.curseforge.com/sims4/build-buy/donut-co-s-curious-spills-stains Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/113946552 Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AyYW9J1FqHBu_8Vv6TwQJxl6i-TRaL35/view?usp=sharing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Due to financial issues and our promise of never paywalling our content; We have to ask that you guys download on our curseforge if you are willing and able. Just using their site to download makes us be able to have at least a small income that helps us when things get tough - however no matter where you download; we genuinely appreciate every download regardless!! If you can, you can find our curseforge here!: https://legacy.curseforge.com/members/the_lady_gaia/projects @alwaysfreecc

[taranida]

What's in the box?! Or contents of Samantha's shoebox and who wrote what

Many of my theories use evidence from This House of Dreams — how two sets of poems in the shoebox were written by two different authors. I never explained, why I use it as a fact, but I have an excuse! To this day I cannot with confidence say which font is used on the first set. Not like I didn’t try to find out, but I’m at a loss: everything authentic to the time has at least one thing that doesn’t fit. But at this point I also believe that it doesn’t really matter much. There is already enough to talk about as is, and, finally I can touch up on the topic of the Light Switch vs the Clicker.

So, let’s look at the contents of the shoebox and do some comparisons.

First time when Samantha finds it, she makes this photo:

This is where the first set of poems comes from, together with the photos of the Diver, who wrote those poems, and his girlfriend as confirmed by the Bright Presence in the dream:

“The diver from the photos appeared to me. He looked nothing like in the photos, but it was the same man. He was the poet who had written the poems as well. In the dream he floated in the air above me in the bedroom as if we were underwater. He was wearing a strange, heavy diving suit, almost like a spacesuit, and he was shining with a bright light.” “The diver told me that a dark presence had taken over his girlfriend (the woman in the photos).”

What poems he wrote from the two sets is not specified, but it’s not really needed. Let’s take a look at the photos:

Honestly, with such a blatant “the girlfriend — the woman in the photos”, I have questions. Barbara as the Dark Presence in-game is rocking black hair even at her respectable body-age of 65, the woman in the photos seems to be blond or at least light-haired.

Did the Dark Presence make some changes to Barbara’s body to match the gothic vibe more? Did the public perception of The Scratching Hag and Baba Yaga make her black-haired? Sadly, we have no other images of Barbara Jagger to confirm any of that (no, the photo from the second game with Tom the Filmmaker Seine and Baba Jakala is not a source I’m willing to accept), but the detail is quite curious. It is entirely possible that the Dark Presence having the body would be able to make some changes; after all the Bright Presence made Tom’s body so shiny, he’s a floating lamppost. The Poet and The Muse also point that some changes are possible:

In the dead of night she came to him With darkness in her eyes Wearing a mourning gown Sweet words as her disguise

I have doubts that Barbara went to swim in a mourning gown, and the Dark Presence throughout the game is still dressed for funerals, even if her body changed and aged — the clothes adapted to it, fitting perfectly.

Okay, let us move on to the poems. We have few things to establish the author of each set. Firstly, the font. From the first game we know that Alan’s typewriter accompanies him in the Dark Place:

This is the shot from the moment when Alan finds Alice’s “surprise”, that starts the argument.

This is from the very end of the game. We also can see that the font on the page is Courier; same font that is stressed in the guide:

“Wake was hard at work, adding the final edits to his manuscript. He loved the Courier font.”

Twice!

“But then other, less savory ideas began to formulate, encased in the disgusting, black Courier font.”

Second set of poems also has a page that’s pretty in-your-face:

The Courier font; the title page of the AWAN’s Return; revelation about Campbell’s Monomyth, that plays huge role in AWII (In the whole AW franchise to be fair). All of this points to Alan, of course.

Now the first set uses a different font for starters. I will put them side-by-side:

The first one is Tom’s and the second is Alan’s.

The differences do not end here. We also have handwriting on some pages. Since the title-page is the one surely marked by Alan’s hand, let’s take it as an example and put all other notes near:

I’m by all means nowhere near to be a handwriting expert, but those “T”, “N”, “K”, “U, “E” — they kinda look alike. Yes, the writing changes a bit from one page to another, giving a feeling that something was written passionately or even frantically, something — calmly, with care, something dismissively. But some letters just stay the same for the most part. I would bet it’s the same hand. And yes, I see the elephant of E. in the room, I will talk about it.

Now let’s take a look on the notes from the first set of poems:

I know it’s an abomination of a picture, but we can see, that the way of writing is different.

I’ll also put them side-by-side:

It is another abomination, but easier to compare.

Finally, we can talk about the contents.

The first set of poems has 12 of them. And since Tumblr doesn't allow more than 30 pictures per post, I will drop the images while I can and others I'll leave as text and a link. The most famous are, of course:

The “follow my light”.

From the memorial at the Cauldron Lake Lodge:

And:

Used in OGoA’s Balance Slays the Demon (along with the memorial’s lines and the part of “follow my light”).

And those two from the second game, that are recited by Tom the Filmmaker:

In this temple of shadow and mist There's a window In the floor and A door in the ceiling There is no knowing Am I standing still Or running or kneeling

I wish it would shatter Like glass under my heels Just like a sheet of ice When I close my eyes That’s how the mirror feels Oh mercy Thousands have gone missing Beyond the labyrinth of me When you’re lost You’re lost in your own company

I will also draw attention to a bit of unreliable information, since the site of OGoA was taken down, but I find it curious. So, their albums’ names go like that:

And four of them are lines from Tom’s poems:

Until that time comes around again The shadow falls on this town again It’s barely evening But the shadow falls on me again No one will miss us Our faces inked black They’ll sell our things at the flea market They’ll never call us back So she left with them They’ll wine her and dine her We huddle naked in this alley Nothing’s for sure Fir needles tickle We bathe in rain water All the way to the ocean The memory of the slaughter Until that time comes around again The shadow falls on this town again It’s barely evening But the shadow falls on me again When I’m awake I’m barely alive When I sleep I have two hearts Your heart and mine Your two hearts and mine

The memory of the Slaughter, 1971

I go underground Follow me underground Everyone else has gone there Down to the ground I’ll take you underground They chased a mystery They are a mystery to me And you’ll think that of me When I tell you my tale What we bring with us Sorry secrets and awkward lies Wet matches A yarning for overcast skies Everything else down here Has been stolen so many times Everyone who walks down these steps dies I go underground Follow me underground Everyone else has gone there Down to the ground I’ll take you underground

Follow Me Underground, 1972

Divorce me from all that’s sane Screaming, mute darkness Descend on this frail frame I drown in fathomless black space Light never scratched The depths of this domain I see not; yet nothing could be worse Than the shades My mind calls herein Alone at my own wake The unraveling of reason’s skein

Alone at My Own Wake, 1973; The Unraveling of Reason’s Skein, 1975

Now, for completion’s sake I would drop all the poems that are left, but because I managed to get an error every time I've tried to save draft, it will be a link: here's the post of the blog with all 12 poems of the first set.

Aside from the one that starts with "We pillage and whore" (although it can be connected to the Taken), many of those poems point to Barbara being taken by the Dark Presence already. It’s up to interpretation, of course, but I see it there. I, honestly think that those poems were among others that Alan found in the shoebox in the cabin in the first game:

“Anything outside of writing is a struggle. I feel ill. I managed to make my way downstairs. There’s a shoebox filled with books and papers by Thomas Zane. It’s very hard to focus but I managed to read some of it. He’s a poet and a good one. He writes of muses and creators, summoning fabulous things from a magic lake, using its power to shape the world, of a realm of gods and dreams, and demons, dark things that wait for a chance to slip through, wearing the flesh of men as disguise. Zane writes about himself, his girlfriend being taken over by a Dark Presence, about growing scared of the lake. Zane believes it’s a mirror to the gaping void of darkness above, where some Lovecraftian presence lurks. I crawled back upstairs. I’ll borrow these things for my story. They ring true. They fit.”

Also, can’t help but wonder, why would Barbara be so happy about this poem to even draw a heart?

I mean it reads as “love is no more”. But, again, what do I know about Tom’s unique way of expressing his thoughts through art? Or the Dark Presence’s kinks.

Moving to Alan’s poems. By the way, pay attention on the poor condition of the pages; the first set is not pristine, but at least not this horribly damaged.

This one heavily hints on Alan’s journey. Now I will drop all the other poems as well (and hope I won't hit a wall with the ammount of pictures):

I’ll just leave some of my thoughts about the poems and tie them to events of Alan’s journey a bit. You can treat it all as a wild speculation, really.

Spider time! Oh, sorry, I meant: wild speculations time!

The poem about the princess: Mr. Scratch and the Dark Presence? I’m of the opinion that Alan consumed the Dark Presence after “filling it’s heart with light” and I will eventually talk about it; but it fits. To both Mr. Scratch and Scratch in the second game. The rope-walking feels like Alan’s “I’m drowning”, his always-changing mind-state in the Dark Place and also sends back to the AW1 DLCs. Well, the king poem is obviously the desire to leave the Dark Place and the inability to do it. I have no clue what the dinning poem is about, to be honest, is it somehow connected to deer? Deer-fest? Or the Dark Place populace that might or might not feed on Alan himself? After all, in AWAN he claims he became highly knowledgeable of the inhabitants and the fauna of the Dark Place.

The end of wild speculations.

Now let’s talk about E. And I kept the last poem with no wild speculations just for that. So, we have E. and B. in the notes of the second set of poems as well; I would assume that this is the moment in Alan’s stay in the Dark Place when he goes mad enough to try to impersonate Tom or summon him this way, or even create yet another Barry from DLCs, but this time — Tom (might be with Alan’s face?). B., obviously is as dead as she can be for Alan, he probably has no idea about the private island (or forgot about it), so we have only one mention of her, one that is plausible in Alan’s opinion. E., on the other hand was in the Dark Place with Alan at the time or before.

Allow me to explain. Emil “That Arsehole” Hartman is reported missing in AWE-35 up to 2011:

The “notable individuals still missing after the Bright Falls event” here assumes that Hartman still wasn’t located by FBC after the events of AW1, but they already know about the book published in 2011. Sometime after he was arrested:

And released:

Only after that he makes his leap of faith into the Dark Place. By rough calculations year is 2011-2012, so before being spat out from the lake he might’ve been there with Alan and those notes about E. not understanding:

"E can't see it. He's view is too narrow, limited. It's not a lake, it's an ocean, darkness before the act of creation, before the Big Bang, darkness upon the face of the deep, upon the face of the waters, before light, before the primeval atom, before the word, before THE POEM. I can be a creator, the creator. It has happened before, and it will happen again, many times."

Might be genuine. Hartman jumped into the lake having no idea about its nature, tunnel-visioning only the opportunities, profits. His understanding in the recording before the plunge is narrow and limited, his overconfidence blinds him, he has no clue what he’s dealing with, he was shown glimpses of the power of the Dark Place, but was never able to comprehend it.

And it costed him greatly. Alan, assuming the role of Tom, even wrote him a warm farewell; far warmer than Alan without any splitting personalities or creating imaginary friends would have (the grin after closing the office door on Hartman in the Lodge during the attack of the Dark Presence is golden):

I would bet that E., indeed, didn’t find this funny.

And a bit more clues about the contents of the shoebox. Following the story of Samantha, we know that she found it the first time just to give it to FBC:

“In the dream, I heard the doorbell ring and went to open the door. There was a man there. He said he was a federal agent. He showed me his badge and all, just like the FBI agents do in the movies. Here comes the scary part: there was something wrong with his face; it was leaking inky smoke so that I couldn’t see what he looked like. When I woke up I realized that this image totally came from the ink-covered faces in the photos, of course (see the previous post). The man asked me about the shoebox. He said that it contains top-secret information and that I need to give it to him. I got scared that he’ll put me in jail and went to get the shoebox, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I searched the whole house but it was nowhere. Then I went to the bathroom to look for it, and saw myself in the mirror: my face was covered with inky smoke as well! And that’s when I woke up. When I think back about the dream, it didn’t say “FBI” on his badge; it said “AWE”. This is the weirdest thing of all: Now I can’t find the shoebox anywhere. I have looked everywhere I can think of. I’m sure that it will turn up somewhere, there is so much junk lying around in the house at the moment, but kind of creepy in any case.”

She writes about it as a dream, but it did happen, here’s the whiteboard from Control:

Then there was yet another dream:

“In the dream I was visiting the previous owner of my house at the nursing home, only in the dream the owner wasn’t a sweet old lady, he was a man, and he wasn’t old, he was a young man with a dark hair – very good looking in fact. I remember that he was wearing a funny jacket with old-fashioned elbow patches. I was there to find out about the shoebox, but he was very agitated and didn’t listen to me. The place was brightly lit, it was sunny outside, but he was still very anxious and wanted me to turn all the lights on. He kept going on about the place being too dark. I remember being certain that all the lights were on already, but that didn’t calm him down. In the end he was screaming for me to turn the lights on. I was also starting to freak out, starting to think that something horrible was coming to take us away, and that’s when I woke up.”

Hard to miss those give-away elbow patches, so Samantha had a dream about Alan a week before she got the shoebox back. Here are the contents:

“When I found the shoebox again, there were more poems inside, and a battered, old device: a switch of some kind. I actually had to go and ask about it in the local hardware store to be sure what it was. It’s an old light switch. When you flick it, there’s a solid, satisfying click. When I flicked it the first time after finding it, all the lights in the house went out.”

What in the Dark Place is this Light Switch? I’m still trying to figure it out. We know that the Clicker washed ashore after 2013; if Alan wanted the Clicker in our world, he could arrange it: it was there, in his possession in 2012; why was this sent in the shoebox? It might be explained in the future or it might not. But I will still refer to it as Zane’s Light Switch and call the Clicker Alan’s. Because as much as Odin says that the Light Switch (meaning the Clicker) was cut of “Tom’s lamp”, he also calls Alan “Tom”, so which “Tom” are we talking about there?

The only theory about the Light Switch I have: it’s an OoP that’s bound by the real Thomas Zane and has no use for Alan or anyone else, since Thomas is partially alive and can maintain the connection with the item. Or the Bright Presence might be its new wielder. In any case, this at least somewhat explains why Samantha, of all the people, was shown the story about the Last Dive. I don’t think she bound the item, but she did use it, causing the power outage for the whole neighbourhood, might be enough to summon the Bright Presence. Otherwise I can’t stop wondering why Samantha, being so important as to learn the story of the Last Dive, never showed up again.

But, who knows, after all, her blogging time ends with:

“I know that something amazing is coming, that something wonderful is going to happen, and at the same time I know that when it does, it will be something totally different from what I’m expecting, something I could never have imagined. And I know it might take a long time before it does happen, but no matter how long it takes, I’ll be here, waiting.”

[good-old-gossip]

‘It would be easier to die in an airstrike than die of hunger’: Gazans face famine as UN runs out of food

The UN's World Food Programme, a lifeline for millions of people in Gaza who rely on it for food aid, has run out of its food stores. Palestinians in Gaza say that famine isn't imminent — it's already here.

By Tareq S. HajjajApril 29, 2025

Palestinians clamor in line to receive a portion of food from a charity kitchen in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, April 27, 2025. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images)

Aside from the intermittent bombardment and shelling, something more constant preoccupies Muhammad al-Hajj Ahmad, 54. A resident of the Zeitoun neighborhood east of Gaza City, Hajj Ahmad cannot stop thinking about how he is going to feed his seven children, the eldest of whom is 16. Since the beginning of the war, he and his family have relied on food distribution points run by relief organizations, as well as individual and collective initiatives. The last satisfying meal he and his family ate was two weeks ago.

“Since the beginning of the war, we’ve gotten used to eating one meal a day,” Hajj Ahmad says in video testimony for Mondoweiss. “If we’re lucky, we sometimes get dinner. We get our main daily meal from food distribution points, but they’re dwindling, and most have closed, so we don’t have a main meal anymore. It means death for us and our children.”

As a result of the stifling blockade imposed by Israel, which has been ongoing for close to two months since Israel blew up the short-lived ceasefire with Hamas, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has now announced that it has run out of its food stores in Gaza. 

“All food stocks at the WFP for families in Gaza have been running out,” Abeer Etefa, a spokesperson for the WFP, told Mondoweiss. “On Friday, the program distributed the last remaining stocks to hot-food kitchens in the Gaza Strip, and it is expected that these kitchens will run out of food within a day or two at most.”

Etefa says the hot-food kitchens, spread across various areas of the Gaza Strip, provide 25% of the daily food needs of the population, which has been a lifeline for millions.

Even before the war, about 80% of Gaza’s population relied on foreign aid and grants, especially for food, and during the war, UN programs have been the largest source of food supplies for the population.

“This comes after the program stopped supporting bakeries that were distributing bread,” Etefa indicated. “On March 31, all 25 bakeries supported by the World Food Programme closed due to a shortage of flour and cooking fuel, leading to their closure.” 

Even before that date, many of those bakeries were gradually shutting down due to the fuel and flour shortage. At the time, food prices began to soar, making what little food was available inaccessible to Gazans and rendering them entirely dependent on UN agencies.

“In addition, the food rations the Programme was distributing to families, which were sufficient for two weeks, have now been exhausted,” Etefa added, expressing “grave concerns” about the food situation in the Gaza Strip, which has been “exacerbated by the state of markets and food systems.”

“Food prices have increased by approximately 1,400% compared to the ceasefire period, if such commodities were available,” Etefa explained. “And there is a severe shortage of foodstuffs, which raises serious concerns about the nutrition of the most vulnerable groups, especially children under five, pregnant and lactating women, and the elderly.”

This has made it impossible for people like Muhammad al-Hajj Ahmad to find adequate sources of nutrition for his family. “Even if I had money, there’s nothing to buy with it,” Hajj Ahmad explained. “And if there are, they are too costly. If I wanted to buy two potatoes, tomatoes, and cucumbers, it would cost me more than 500 Israeli shekels [$137].” 

“Even the water, we know, is undrinkable, but we have no other choice,” he said. “We live in famine, but the world has come to see it as normal, because it’s happened before; once, twice, and this is the third time.” 

“It would be easier for my children to die in an Israeli strike than to die of hunger before my eyes, and unable to feed them,” he said. 

Famine ‘already here’

Stockpiling during the recent 42-day truce between January and March allowed the World Food Programme to operate until last Friday. Whatever was stored by organizations and individuals during the ceasefire will not be sufficient for much longer. 

Meanwhile, the WFP has been amassing new stockpiles of food, but not inside Gaza. “The WFP has over 116,000 tons of food aid, enough to feed one million people for four months, already waiting at aid corridors and border crossings,” Etifa explains. “It is ready to be brought into Gaza by the WFP and its partners as soon as the crossings reopen.”

But the images of long queues of thousands of trucks loaded with food and supplies on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing have continued.

Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza, says that while international organizations in the Gaza Strip are warning of the possibility of famine, Palestinians in Gaza are already experiencing it.

“Famine is not imminent. Famine is already here. We are now living within its framework,” al-Shawa told Mondoweiss. “The indicators that prove this are the closure of dozens of food distribution centers, the closure of bakeries, the widespread cases of malnutrition, and the results of anemia among women that appear in various tests.”

Al-Shawa confirmed that what is happening in the Gaza Strip is part of Israel’s plan to destroy its social fabric, which has rendered civilians “completely dependent on aid alone.” 

“And now, the occupation is halting the aid,” he added.