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jenroses · 1 year ago

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Hey! Please feel free to ignore but you did say to ask you about masks :P the ones I've found that are multiple layers for max protection are really stiff, which squishes my face and leads to gaps. Do you have recommendations? Thanks!

I know that there's a lot of noise about elastomeric masks but for me they're a nonstarter because of the stiffness you talk about. I think it's important to understand that most of the 94-95 standard masks that actually meet that standard are going to be plenty good enough where most people are concerned. Is it possible to catch Covid with a mask on? Yes. I've done it.

Is it likely? No. I'm immune compromised. This isn't data, but our experience has been that a combination of masks, reasonable common sense and good filtration are enough that despite having a school-aged child, a husband who travels for conventions, and me, immune suppressed, with a college student living in our house, I have only had covid twice, the first time was an unfortunate collision of me going to a store at the wrong time where a clerk had both covid and the flu and gave them to me, and the other one involved a family member not using a mask at a public event while eating. Even then, when I caught covid and the flu at the same time and isolated immediately with filtration and everyone coming into my space being masked... not one other person in our house caught it, and when someone else caught it a year later, the only people who caught it were sharing sleeping spaces. Our roommates did not catch it, and everyone was masking from the moment of the first positive test. When my kid got half-assed about masking at school, he immediately got flu and strep at the same time. I pointed out that his lack of care about it could mean a lot of missed school for him and serious health impacts for both of us, and he started wearing a mask again, and did not get sick for the rest of the school year. He HATES the masks that go behind the head and wears Armbrust kn95 masks exclusively (dark blue, lol) And it's pretty clear that without the masks he was getting sick a lot and with he just...doesn't. He is wearing them all day except for lunch through full school days, so that says something. Armbrust will send little behind the head doohickies to keep them off the ears but he never uses them. At $2ish per mask they're not the cheapest but he uses one mask for multiple days so it's not too bad overall cost wise. They have kid sizing, but he's in the regular adult size now at 11. Now, I'll talk about Armbrust for a minute because I really like the company. On pretty much every mask they sell you'll see a video of one of their people reviewing the mask and going over testing data... but they ALSO have reviews of almost every other mask on the market, bad, good and in between, and if you find a mask on Amazon or something and want to know more about it, search the mask name and "armbrust" and the youtube video and product data page will pop up. I've found several special masks for very particular needs by looking through their database for combinations of breathability and shape that weren't even masks they sold. So if you are struggling, take a look at the database, eliminate "failed" masks, look for the ones that meet your needs and then watch the video to see what he says about them first. There are some VERY inexpensive masks out there that work very well, and some masks that are incredibly breathable or incredibly high filtration and a few unicorns that are both.

Now Hubby is okay with the same KN95 masks that our son likes but he exercises and his lungs get a little touchy sometimes so he needs maximum ease in breathing, so using that database I found Dr. Puri masks. Here's the Armbrust review. Here's the listing I found them on. Hubby LOVES them. He also prefers behind the ear. About $1.50 each.

I *hate* behind the ear with a hot hate, they bug me. But I can't just use one type of mask all the time because I have EDS and neck issues so pressure there can be awkward, plus I get short of breath sometimes anyway (history of pulmonary embolism that long predates covid) and I have sensory skin issues.

Bar none the most breathable mask I've ever tried, which also does not fog my glasses, is the Drager mask. These are soft, extraordinarily easy to breathe through, and have a unique strap that makes on/off very easy, and lets you pull the top strap and let it hang around your neck if needed. Unfortunately it has a VERY snug fit across the nose and leaves marks on my cheeks, or it would be perfect, but it's a good option, and possibly someone with a smaller face would have an easier time. These are possibly the best filtering and most breathable masks on the market, so for high risk situations this is the mask I would use. They filter 99.7% in testing. They're a little more expensive at about $1.25 per when I checked today. For a good intersection of fit and comfort, but a little less breathable, are the ACI N95 surgical respirator duckbills. These do not leave marks, don't fog much, good seal around the face, and the single most comfortable head strap I've ever seen. The fabric is very smooth, it is sensory good, but the breathability is not as high. It's not hard to breathe through, it's just not as easy as Drager or Dr. Puri. But... They could probably pass an N99 standard by Armbrust's testing, as they filter >99.4% of particulate, where the standard is 95%. These are also incredibly cheap. If you get their subscribe and save discount (you can do every 6 months) you can get 50 for $25, so 50 cents apiece.

All of these masks are pretty soft, easy to wear, and very good at what they do.

The TL:DR though.... The important thing is to find a mask that you will wear consistently and correctly every time you need it. A mask that hangs on your face and slips is not a good mask for you. A mask you hate so much you make excuses not to wear it is not a good mask for you. A mask that breaks easily or makes it hard to breathe so you end up taking it off is not a good mask. If what you have isn't working, there are LOTS of things that might.

Last Armbrust plug: THEY HAVE A SAMPLER PACK. You can buy a pack of a zillion different types and styles of mask and try a bunch! And order the one you like best! If you aren't sick, one sampler pack can be tried by the people in your household so everyone can figure out what works for them!

Also, I used to get sick very very often and now I just...don't. Not from contagious viruses, anyway. I don't understand why people are so cavalier about it. I've been sick less since 2020 than in any given six month period in my entire life. Despite being on immune suppressants.

#masks #face masks #n95 masks #covid isn't over

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fuckyeahgoodomens · 1 year ago

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The Radio Times magazine from the 29 July-04 August 2023 :)

THE SECOND COMING

How did Terry Pratchett and Neil gaiman overcome the small matter of Pratchett's death to make another series of their acclaimed divine comedy?

For all the dead authors in the world,” legendary comedy producer John Lloyd once said, “Terry Pratchett is the most alive.” And he’s right. Sir Terry is having an extremely busy 2023… for someone who died in 2015.

This week sees the release of Good Omens 2, the second series of Amazon’s fantasy comedy drama based on the cult novel Pratchett co-wrote with Neil Gaiman in the late 1980s. This will be followed in the autumn by a new spin-off book from Pratchett’s Discworld series, Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being a Witch, co-written by Pratchett’s daughter Rhianna and children’s author Gabrielle Kent. The same month, we’ll also get A Stroke of the Pen, a collection of “lost” short stories written by Sir Terry for local newspapers in the 70s and 80s and recently rediscovered. Clearly, while there are no more books coming from Pratchett – a hard drive containing all drafts and unpublished work was crushed by a vintage steamroller shortly after the author’s death, as per his specific wishes – people still want to visit his vivid and addictive worlds in new ways.

Good Omens 2 will be the first test of how this can work. The original book started life as a 5,000-word short story by Gaiman, titled William the Antichrist and envisioned as a bit of a mashup of Richmal Crompton’s Just William books and the 70s horror classic The Omen. What would happen, Gaiman had mused, if the spawn of Satan had been raised, not by a powerful American diplomat, but by an extremely normal couple in an idyllic English village, far from the influence of hellish forces? He’d sent the first draft to bestselling fantasy author Pratchett, a friend of many years, and then forgotten about it as he busied himself with continuing to write his massively popular comic books, including Violent Cases, Black Orchid and The Sandman, which became a Netflix series last year.

Pratchett loved the idea, offering to either buy the concept from Gaiman or co-write it. It was, as Gaiman later said, “like Michelangelo phoning and asking if you want to paint a ceiling” The pair worked on the book together from that point on, rewriting each other as they went and communicating via long phone calls and mailed floppy discs. “The actual mechanics worked like this: I would do a bit, then Neil would take it away and do a bit more and give it back to me,” Pratchett told Locus magazine in 1991. “We’d mess about with each other’s bits and pieces.”

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch – to give it its full title –was published in 1990 to huge acclaim. It was one of, astonishingly, five Terry Pratchett novels to be published that year (he averaged two a year, including 41 Discworld novels and many other standalone works and collaborations).

It was also, clearly, extremely filmable, and studios came knocking — though getting it made took a while. rnvo decades on from its writing, four years after Pratchett's death from Alzheimer's disease aged 66, and after several doomed attempts to get a movie version off the ground, Good Omens finally made it to TV screens in 2019, scripted and show-run by Gaiman himself. "Terry was egging me on to make it into television. He knew he was dying, and he knew that I wouldn't start it without him," Gaiman revealed in a 2019 Radio Times interview. Amazon and the BBC co-produced with Pratchett's company Narrativia and Gaiman's Blank Corporation production studios, with Michael Sheen and David Tennant cast in the central roles of Aziraphale the angel and Crowley the demon. The show was a hit, not just with fans of its two creators, but with a whole new young audience, many of whom had no interest in Discworld or Sandman. Social media networks like Tumblr and TikTok were soon awash with cosplay, artwork and fan fiction. The original novel became, for the first time, a New York Times bestseller.

A follow up was, on one level, a no-brainer. The world Pratchett and Gaiman had created was vivid, funny and accessible, and Tennant and Sheen had found an intriguing romantic spark in their chemistry not present in the novel.

There was, however, a huge problem. There wasn't a second Good Omens book to base it on. But there was the ghost of an idea.

In 1989, after the book had been sold but before it had come out, the two authors had laid on fivin beds in a hotel room at a convention in Seattle and, jet-lagged and unable to sleep, plotted out, in some detail, what would happen in a sequel, provisionally titled 668, The II Neighbour of the Beast.

"It was a good one, too" Gaiman wrote in a 2021 blog. "We fully intended to write it, whenever we next had three or four months free. Only I went to live in America and Terry stayed in the UK, and after Good Omens was published, Sandman became SANDMAN and Discworld became DISCWORLD(TM) and there wasn't a good time."

Back in 1991, Pratchett elaborated, "We even know some of the main characters in it. But there's a huge difference between sitting there chatting away, saying, 'Hey, we could do this, we could do that,' and actually physically getting down and doing it all again." In 2019, Gaiman pillaged some of those ideas for Good Omens series one (for example, its final episode wasn't in the book at all), and had left enough threads dangling to give him an opening for a sequel. This is the well he's returned to for Good Omens 2, co-writing with comic John Finnemore - drafted in, presumably, to plug the gap left Pratchett's unparalleled comedic mind. No small task.

Projects like Good Omens 2 are an important proving ground for Pratchett's legacy: can the universes he conjured endure without their creator? And can they stay true to his spirit? Sir Terry was famously protective of his creations, and there have been remarkably few adaptations of his work considering how prolific he was. "What would be in it for me?" he asked in 2003. "Money? I've got money."

He wanted his work treated reverently and not butchered for the screen. It's why Good Omens and projects like Tiffany Aching's Guide to Being a Witch are made with trusted members of the inner circle like Neil Gaiman and Rhianna Pratchett at the helm. It's also why the author's estate, run by Pratchett's former assistant and business manager Rob Wilkins, keeps a tight rein on any licensed Pratchett material — it's a multi-million dollar media empire still run like a cottage industry.

And that's heartening. Anyone who saw BBC America's panned 2021 Pratchett adaptation The Watch will know how badly these things can go when a studio is allowed to run amok with the material without oversight. These stories deserve to be told, and these worlds deserve to be explored — properly. And there are, apparently, many plans afoot for more Pratchett on the screen. You can only hope that, somewhere, he'll be proud of the results.

After all, as he wrote himself, "No one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away, until the clock wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone's life is only the core of their actual existence."

While those ripples continue to spread, Sir Terry Pratchett remains very much alive. MARC BURROWS

DIVINE DUO

An angel and a demon walk into a pub... Michael Sheen and David Tennant on family, friendship and Morecambe & Wise

Outside it's cold winter's day and we're in a Scottish studio, somewhere between Edinburgh and Glasgow. But inside it's lunchtime in The Dirty Donkey pub in the heart of London, with both Michael Sheen and David Tennant surveying the scene appreciatively. "This is a great pub," says Sheen eagerly, while Tennant calls it "the best Soho there can be. A slightly heightened, immaculate, perfect, dreamy Soho."

Here, a painting of the absent landlord — the late Terry Pratchett, co-creator, with Neil Gaiman, of the series' source novel — looms over punters. Around the corner is AZ Fell and Co Antiquarian and Unusual Books. It's the bookshop owned by Sheen's character, the angel Aziraphale, and the place to where Tennant's demon Crowley is inevitably drawn.

It's day 74 of an 80-day shoot for a series that no one, least of all the leading actors, ever thought would happen, due to the fact that Pratchett and Gaiman hadn't ever published any sequel to their 1990 fantasy satire. Tennant explains, "What we didn't know was that Neil and Terry had had plots and plans..."

Still, lots of good things are in Good Omens 2, which expands on the millennia-spanning multiverse of the first series. These include a surprisingly naked side of John Hamm, and roles for both Tennant's father-in-law (Peter Davison) and 21-year-old son Ty. At its heart, though, remains the brilliant banter between the two leading men — as Sheen puts it, "very Eric and Ernie !" — whose chemistry on the first series led to one of the more surprising saviours of lockdown telly.

Good Omens is back — but you've worked together a lot in the meantime. Was there a connective tissue between series one of Good Omens and Staged, your lockdown sitcom?

David: Only in as much as the first series went out, then a few months later, we were all locked in our houses. And because of the work we'd done on Good Omens, it occurred that we might do something else. I mean, Neil Gaiman takes full responsibility for Staged. Which, to some extent, he's probably right to do!

Michael: We've got to know each other through doing this. Our lives have gotten more entwined in all kinds of ways — we have children who've now become friends, and our families know each other.

There have been hints of a romantic storyline between the two characters. How much of an undercurrent is that in this series.

David: Nothing's explicit.

Michael: I felt from the very beginning that part of what would be interesting to explore is that Aziraphale is a character, a being, who just loves. How does that manifest itself in a very specific relationship with another being? Inevitably, as there is with everything in this story, there's a grey area. The fact that people see potentially a "romantic relationship", I thought that was interesting and something to explore.

There was a petition to have the first series banned because of its irreverent take on Christian tropes. Series two digs even more deeply into the Bible with the story of Job. How much of a badge of honour is it that the show riles the people who like to ban things?

David: It's not an irreligious show at all. It's actually very respectful of the structure of that sort of religious belief. The idea that it promotes Satanism [is nonsense]. None of the characters from hell are to be aspired to at all! They're a dreadful bunch of non-entities. People are very keen to be offended, aren't they? They're often looking for something to glom on to without possibly really examining what they think they're complaining about.

Michael, you're known as an activist, and you're in the middle of Making BBC drama The Way, which "taps into the social and political chaos of today's world". Is it important for you to use your plaform to discuss causes you believe in?

Michael: The Way is not a political tract, it's just set in the area that I come from. But it has to matter to you, doesn't it? More and more as I get older, [I find] it can be a real slog doing this stuff. You've got to enjoy it. And if it doesn't matter to you, then it's just going to be depressing.

David, Michael has declared himself a "not-for-profit" actor. Has he tried to persuade you to give up all your money too?

David: What an extraordinary question! One is always aware that one has a certain responsibility if one is fortunate and gets to do a job that often doesn't feel like a job. You want to do your bit whenever you can. But at the same time, I'm an actor. I'm not about to give that up to go into politics or anything. But I'll do what I can from where I live.

Well, your son and your father-in-law are also starring in this series. How about that, jobs for the boys!

David: I know! It was a delight to get to be on set with them. And certainly an unexpected one for me. Neil, on two occasions, got to bowl up to me and say, "Guess who we've cast?!"

How do you feel about your US peers going on strike?

David: It's happening because there are issues that need to be addressed. Nobody's doing this lightly. These are important issues, and they've got to be sorted out for the future of our industry. There's this idea that writers and actors are all living high on the hog. For huge swathes of our industry, that's just not the case. These people have got to be protected.

Michael: We have to be really careful that things don't slide back to the way they were pre the 1950s, when the stories that we told were all coming from one point of view and the stories of certain people, or communities within our society, weren't represented. There's a sense that now that's changed for ever and it'll never go back. But you worry when people can't afford to have the opportunities that other people have. We don't want the story that we tell about ourselves to be myopic. You want it to be as inclusive as possible

Staged series 3 recently broadcast. It felt like the show's last hurrah — or is there more mileage? Sheen and Tennant go on holiday?

David: That's the Christmas special! One Foot in the Algarve! On the Buses Go to Spain!

Michael: I don't think we were thinking beyond three, were we?

So is it time for a conscious uncoupling for you two — Eric and Ernie say goodbye?

David: Oh, never say never, will we?

Michael: And it's more Hinge and Bracket.

David: Maybe that's what we do next — The Hinge and Bracket Story. CRAIG McLEAN

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rainforestakiie · 1 month ago

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okay everyone, please bear with me on this silly thought. i'm in the hospital, filled with drugs, and my brain is making me giggle.

adam loves pokémon. he is one of the most popular pokémon card youtubers. lucifer finds it extremely endearing and adorable. charlie is a huge fan of adam, and that's how lucifer finds out about him.

oh....my hand slipped....

...

Lucifer stood at the counter, a cloud of flour settling in the air as he worked the dough for a batch of cookies. The kitchen smelled of melted chocolate and vanilla, warmth filling the space despite the winter chill outside.

Seated at the table was his eight-year-old daughter, Charlie, her legs swinging under her chair as she sipped from a brightly colored mug and watched some YouTuber enthusiastically discuss Pokémon cards. Her giggles occasionally bubbled up, making Lucifer smile as he shaped the dough.

"This guy's been going on about fake Pokémon cards for ten minutes," Lucifer muttered under his breath, finding himself half-listening to the cheerful commentary.

As he slid the tray into the oven, his brow furrowed. Fake cards? He'd spent a small fortune on Charlie's collection. Making a mental note to check her cards later, he wiped his hands on a dish towel and turned to her.

He walked over to the table, placing her hot chocolate down with a gentle thud. "Who are you watching, sweetheart?"

Charlie looked up, her face lighting up with excitement.

"It's EdenCreatures!" she exclaimed, bouncing in her seat. "He does a lot of Pokémon videos! I love his videos, Daddy. He's so funny!"

Lucifer chuckled softly, his curiosity piqued. "EdenCreatures, huh?"

He leaned over, peering at the screen as Charlie clicked on a new video titled "Testing 1-Star Pokémon Products from Amazon!"

On the screen appeared a man with a boyish grin, brown hair slightly mussed, green eyes sparkling with mischief as he introduced the dubious products. Lucifer froze. His heart skipped a beat.

It was Adam.

Lucifer stared, his throat tightening. The man on the screen, effortlessly charismatic and charming, was unmistakably his childhood best friend. Memories came rushing back—summers spent laughing until their sides ached, hours playing video games in Adam's basement, late-night talks about their dreams for the future.

And then, the fallout.

Lucifer’s stomach churned as the old wound reopened. Adam had been his everything—his confidant, his partner-in-crime, his better half. But Lucifer had ruined it all with one reckless, selfish mistake: sleeping with Adam's girlfriend, Lilith.

He swallowed hard, his gaze dropping to Charlie, who was oblivious to the storm brewing in his chest. Lilith’s name still felt bitter on his tongue, but Charlie—Charlie was the light that had come out of all the darkness. When Lilith left, signing away her parental rights, Lucifer had sworn to be the best father he could be.

But Adam... He’d never forgiven Lucifer. And Lucifer couldn’t blame him.

"Daddy?" Charlie’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Do you like him?"

She pointed at the screen, where Adam was laughing at a poorly printed Pikachu card.

Lucifer blinked, forcing a smile.

"He’s... he seems nice," he said carefully.

Charlie grinned. "He’s the best! You should watch his videos with me! Maybe we can even go to one of his meet-and-greets one day!"

Lucifer’s chest tightened at the thought. Could he face Adam again after all these years? After everything he’d done?

For now, he just reached over and ruffled Charlie’s hair.

"Maybe," he said softly, his eyes drifting back to the screen.

The man he'd lost so long ago was right there, larger than life, and Lucifer felt the weight of his loneliness pressing down on him. Maybe fate wasn’t done with him and Adam just yet.

~#~

Lucifer sat cross-legged on his bed, an iPad balanced on his lap. He was nestled beneath rich purple and black quilts, the soft fabric a comforting weight against the chill of the night. The clock on his bedside table glared 1:00 a.m., but sleep was the furthest thing from his mind. He couldn't stop watching Adam's videos.

Even if every single one was about Pokémon.

Lucifer's chest tightened as he watched Adam's face light up on the screen. His green eyes sparkled with excitement, his smile so genuine it sent a flutter through Lucifer’s heart. Adam’s cheerful voice rambled on about rare cards, Pokémon plushies, toys, clothing—anything and everything Pokémon. In one video, Adam was walking through the bustling streets of Tokyo, marveling at the Pokémon Center and stepping into Nintendo headquarters.

It was captivating.

Lucifer’s thumb absentmindedly swiped to the next video. Time blurred as he devoured them all, and before he realized it, the clock read 5:00 a.m. He had lost hours watching Adam, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop.

In many of the videos, Adam wasn’t alone. There was Lute, a quirky woman obsessed with Shadow Pokémon, who seemed to have a habit of battling Adam over cards. Then there was Eve, who adored Fairy Pokémon and dazzled in intricate cosplays that looked straight out of a fantasy world. A couple of videos even featured Adam visiting his mother, Sera, where the two would bake Pokémon-themed treats in a sunny kitchen.

Lucifer understood now why Charlie was so enamored with the channel. Adam’s charisma, his connections, his knack for storytelling—it all made for an irresistible combination. Lucifer had to admit he was hooked.

He leaned back against the headboard, debating whether he should finally put the iPad down and get some sleep. He was about to close the app when a notification popped up in the corner of the screen.

A new video has been uploaded to the EdenCreatures channel.

Lucifer’s exhaustion was instantly forgotten. His pulse quickened as he tapped the notification. The iPad screen dimmed slightly, warning of low battery, but he ignored it. He scrambled to retrieve the charger from his bedside drawer, his fingers fumbling as he plugged it in.

Finally, the screen brightened again, and the video began to play.

Lucifer’s heart nearly stopped.

The video opened with Adam seated in a cozy, brightly lit room, his familiar grin warming the screen. But what caught Lucifer's attention wasn’t Adam—it was the little girl on his lap.

She had long soft whiteish hair, and bright green eyes that mirrored Adam’s. She was giggling as Adam introduced her to the audience.

“This is my little star, Emily,” Adam said, his voice filled with pride and warmth. “She’s been begging to do a video with me, so today we’re opening some special Pokémon cards together. Right, Em?”

“Yeah!” Emily chirped, holding up a shiny pack of cards, her tiny hands trembling with excitement.

Lucifer stared at the screen, his chest tightening painfully. Adam had a daughter.

Adam had a daughter.

Lucifer’s mind raced, piecing together this revelation. Emily looked about five or six years old. That would mean... Adam must have had her a few years after their fallout. But who was her mother?

The question gnawed at him. Lucifer leaned closer to the screen, studying Emily’s features. She was undeniably Adam’s, but there were no hints of who the other parent might be. Was it someone new? Someone Adam had fallen in love with after everything that happened between them?

Lucifer’s stomach churned. The thought of Adam building a life, a family, without him was bittersweet. He was happy for Adam, of course, but it also made the loneliness in his own heart ache that much more.

On the screen, Adam and Emily were laughing as they opened their first pack of cards, their joy contagious. Lucifer couldn’t tear his eyes away.

But deep down, questions swirled in his mind, unanswered and relentless. Who is she? What happened in Adam’s life after I left it?

Lucifer’s heart ached as he watched them together, and for the first time in years, he felt a pang of longing—not just for Adam, but for the chance to make things right.

Maybe it was too late.

Or maybe... fate wasn’t done with him and Adam after all.

"I need to find out a way to contact him."

#hazbin hotel #adamsapple #lucifer x adam #fanfic #guitarduck #au #fanficiton #adam x lucifer #pokemon

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free-amazon-products · 1 year ago

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nonightingalesinberkelysquare · 22 hours ago

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WARNING FOR GOOD OMENS SPOILERS!!!!

FURTHER SLIGHT SPOILER WARNING FOR THE FOLLOWING BOOKS: The Bone Clock by David Mitchell, You Only Call When You're In Trouble by Stephen Mcauley, and Bibliomaniac by Robin Ince.

So I'm sure a lot of the fandom have seen the pictures posted by a very lucky fan who saw the production of good omens happening out in Scotland today!!

However what I'm not seeing people talk about is a hidden gem in the reblogs.

SOMEONE HAD MANAGED TO GET A PICTURE OF THE BOOKS IN THE WINDOW!!!

Naturally, I had to go and do my research to see if these books give us any clues or serve any other purposes other than decorative purposes

AND LET ME TELL YOU

These are the the books visible in the window:

I'll go through them one by one

(Please bear in mind, I haven't read any of these books personally!! The only information I have on them are the little bits I found online in a very rushed attempt at research!!!)

Okay firstly

"The Bone Clocks" by David Mitchell

Now, this is the one that I struggled to make sense of the most out of the three.

The story appears to follow a runaway teenage girl who is a "lightning rod for psychic phenomena." These visions are said to reorder reality and send her into a real life nightmare.

However,

It also states that there is a boy who eventually crosses paths with her and who's story "comes together in moments of grace and extraordinary wonder"

As I said, I've never read these books and the only link I could begin to make with this is the idea of a "supernatural being meets another supernatural being and what they can do when they're together defies anyone's wildest dreams" story, similar to what we have seen and could see in GO3.

The next book is where it gets FARRRR more interesting (in my opinion)

NOW

THE TITLE? INTERESTING ASF.

IS AZIRAPHALE IN TROUBLE? OR EVEN CROWLEY?

The quotes are literally taken from the amazon listing itself, but I'll just point out the bits that stuck out to me personally.

☆ "is it ever okay to stop caring for others and start living for yourself?"

And I'm skipping a HUUUUGE chunk of the story here so apologies

☆ "Tom does what he's always done - answers the call."

☆ "Thus begins a journey that will change everyone's life and demonstrate the beauty or dysfunction (or both?) of the ties that bind families together and sometimes strangle them."

THAT LAST QUOTE REALLY STICKS OUT TO ME. Personally, I'd say that could possibly relate to the heaven and hell divides?

But furthermore, we were told prior to the whole NG situation that Aziraphale and Crowley aren't talking.. so could that mean that as soon as they begin speaking once again, they have the power to leave heaven and hell behind? Perhaps stop the divides?

And last, but certainly not least

Now, keep in mind that this particular book is nonfiction and appears to be written from the authors own point of view as he aims to visit 100 bookshops in 100 days.

This has a relatively short description from what I can see right now so I'll put it in here

"Bibliomaniac takes the reader on a journey across Britain as Robin explores his lifelong love of bookshops and books - and also tries to find out just why he can never have enough of them.

It is the story of an addiction and a romance, and also of an occasional points failure."

This one interested me SO much because it SCREAMS Aziraphale character development sort of thing? You know?

I really struggled to find any spoilers for this one whatsoever but one website did mention the author's love for vintage books, which he only ever reads as and when, as opposed to focusing on just one book.

I just thought this was SO SO SOOOOO interesting, and if anybody has any differing thoughts/interpretations or has even read the books, the comment section is a safe space to do so!!! All theories/suggestions are welcomed (any hate WILL be blocked, don't test me).

OR MAYBE THIS ALL MEANS NOTHING AND IM JUST CLOWNING FAR TOO HARD?!??!??!

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knitmeapony · 7 months ago

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You should donate or subscribe to Consumer Reports

So this was one of those things I thought everyone knew about, and I was very wrong about that.

If you are looking to buy something expensive and don't trust the ratings on Amazon or random websites that make you wonder if they're sponsored by a company, Consumer Reports is your answer.

You can get a one month subscription for $10, and if you're going to be buying a $1000 TV, that's absolutely worth it.

CR is a not-for-profit. They buy everything they test, and are only sponsored by donations and subscriptions to their magazine.

Here's what you get for that $10:

articles on how to decide what kind of thing to buy -- don't know the difference between OLED and LCD and other kinds of TVs? They'll tell you the difference. How big a TV is worthwhile in a space the size of your living room? What is HDR? Is it better to get a streaming box separate, or stream directly through the TV? They have guides for everything.

Price guides -- they will tell you, for instance, that new TV models tend to get released in the spring, so late spring/early summer is when you get slightly discounted rates on the last year's models

How to take care of your thing -- what should you use to clean a flat-screen TV? Does it matter if it's antistatic or antidust? Should you shade it from the sun? What features are worth turning off if you don't use live TV?

And then the big one: their rating guides

They rate hundreds of products in dozens of categories. You can then filter down. Say you live in an apartment and you can only afford $500 for a TV, and you really care about data privacy.

Those are your top 3 options for a 52 inch or smaller TV in your price range with better than average privacy. Click that Shop button and it'll show you where to buy it. Want to know how those ratings were created?

You can then add up to 5 products to a 'compare' grid.

Want to know how many products they've tested and have guides for?

Pet GPS collars. Countertop icemakers. Streaming services. Air travel. Seriously, this should be your first stop before making any big purchase, and if you subscribe it can be your first stop for ANY purchase.

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sosuigeneris · 10 months ago

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Socialite Series: Cherry’s Master Post

Things that have helped me, that could help you. Here is a master list of my softmaxxing journey!

Body:

J*hn Bent*n’s workouts: Yes he’s an asshole but his workouts really do work. He used to train models and his workouts are life changing.

2. B-12 Lipo salines: These you can consume in a shot (like an injection) or in a saline (go to a GOOD DOCTOR for this). I prefer the saline, and my doctor recommended the 6 week course for me (one saline every week). It burns subQ fat and that was the main reason why I began using those. There is zero side effect to these, acc to my doc. edit: don’t really recommend these anymore. I’ll update this list when I finish my Emsculpt.

3. Diet: More protein, more vegetables, more water and lesser intake of carbs. Carbs are important but i used to over-consume them. Cutting down has helped me a lot. I also did a gut bacteria test (you basically sent a piece of your shit to a lab and they analyse it) to understand what foods worked for me and what didnt.

4. Probiotics for metabolism management

5. Measuring: I stopped tracking weight and began tracking body fat % instead. I feel that this works better for me.

6. Wood therapy: I KNOW. You lot will think its bogus but it helped me and im sticking to it, so there. There’s no wood therapy spa near me, so i ordered the wood therapy tools from amazon, plastic wrap, a waist trainer, almond oil. I looked up videos on wood therapy and lymphatic drainage, and i do it for about 5 mins on my tummy and thighs before my work outs, wrap my torso with plastic wrap, throw the waist trainer on top.

✨

Skin:

Accutane: this helped me tremendously with my acne and my skin is 95% blemish free now. If you are taking this, remember to be disciplined and regular.

Zero alcohol: I stopped drinking completely and its done my skin and health wonders.

Products: Sunscreen + Vitamin C combo in the AM. Retinol + moisturiser at night. Recommended by my dermat.

Hair removal: I refuse to shave because its so uncomfortable so i prefer to wax once in 2 months. Personally, when I began exfoliating my body twice a week - I use a scrub by the Body Shop - I noticed that the hair was growing back slower than it used to. I use a loofah for everyday too. I don’t believe in laser because it’s never just 6 sessions; you do have to have “maintenance” sessions as well post the 6.

Face sculpting: Gua sha on alternative nights. I dont know if this works or is placebo, but I felt like it did.

Body lotion every day. Twice a day sometimes. I swear, it makes you smell good and feel so soft.

Expensive make up: specially, foundation. I’m sorry, i know this could be controversial. But idk what cow semen Charlotte Tilbury puts in her make up, it seriously makes me glow. I’m yet to find a good drug store alternative. A while back, I stopped wearing concealer, and I began using a lighter shade of CT’s foundation as concealer over my normal shade. I feel that because the products are chemically the same, they blend better and don’t react and “peel.” Highly recommend that too. For the rest of my face like powder, blush, eyeliner, I do use normal drug store make up.

✨

Oral hygiene:

I used to have braces. After taking them off, I noticed a difference in my jaw.

Brush, floss, Listrine, tongue cleaner

Mild whitening. I think Hollywood level teeth whitening looks crazy and I want to look as “naturally” beautiful as possible.

✨

Hair care:

For hair growth: as recommended by my doc: minoxidil hair foam 5% w/w Tugain Foam.

High frequency wand before wash days on my scalp.

Moroccan hair oil. I use a tiny amount everyday on my ends after I finish my make up for the day and I swear it makes my hair shine like crazy.

I also got hair Botox done because i used to have curly but absolutely unmanageable hair. I tried to make it work for years but i gave up and caved in to having permanent straight hair and I love it.

I only shampoo twice a day so on days when i workout but don’t shampoo, i use hair perfume. I spray some of it on my brush and run it through my hair. I swear it works.

✨

Overall:

The colour palette theory seriously works. I didn’t realise that wearing the right colours can impact you so much.

Confidence is absolutely key. I seriously recommend going to a group class of some sort if you have the time and just mingling with random people. Social situations are important to gauge your “standing.”

Random but if you have a big nose: grow out your eyebrows / fill them in slightly thicker. I noticed that when I had thin eyebrows, my nose would stand out more but when I made them thicker, it balanced my face out better.

Steam iron your clothes before you wear them. You will look 100% put together.

*IF* you’re aesthetically challenged when it comes to picking clothes, use my rule of thumb: never wear any more than 3 colours at once (remember: IF you can’t put outfits together).

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perfectlystrangeangel · 2 years ago

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#amazon #amazon deals #amazon products #amazon shopping #amazon affiliate #Physicians Formula Mineral Wear Diamond Lip Plumper Gloss #Dermatologist Tested

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gauzestarr · 14 days ago

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Trans people I love you & hope you stay safe

DIY HRT by Lily Alexandre (video) - a good primer/ opinion piece

r/transdiy - DIY transition support & resources

HRT Wiki - Info on both masculinising & feminising hormones

Guide to blood testing

Guide to feminising HRT

Guide to masculinising HRT

HRT Source Testing by Trans Harm Reduction - technically UK-based, but HRT is ordered internationally anyway. Includes testosterone testing

Injectable Estradiol Levels Simulator

Subcutaneous Self-Injection Walkthrough (PDF)

Intramuscular Self-Injection Walkthrough (PDF) - language used refers to testosterone

Safe hormone injection guide (PDF)

Another safe hormone injection guide (video)

Yet another safe hormone injection guide (Google Doc)

Abscess Signs & Symptoms for people self-injecting (poster) - aimed at drug users but applies to all injections

Safe medication storage info

Links to buying injection supplies - For USA, UK, Canada, Sweden & France. However you can use the listings to compare to similar local products outside these regions. Avoid Amazon if you can help it and look for local needle exchanges.

Please vet sources carefully

#txt #harm reduction #trans #trans resources

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plor-bindery · 4 months ago

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Bound: Everybody Hates a Tourist by wolfpants

As previously flailed about, my book parcel for wolf finally arrived! So I can start rambling about the things I bound for this amazing author!

First up: the sublime Everybody Hates a Tourist by @wolfpants

This fic is a delicious post-war exploration of identity, finding your place and your people, and what it can mean to break with your past. Harry’s POV is tight, flawed, and so pitch perfect. Through his eyes, Draco is someone who’s found his footing — or so Harry believes for a while. Featuring Draco doing nude modeling (a trope I too have enjoyed as a writer) and Harry trying to discover who he is beyond what he’s always been told. Amazing fic.

So of course I had to bind it!

More materials and process blathering behind the cut.

Materials: Bookcloth is wooqu from Amazon. I love this colour so much. End papers are from a pack of summer-themed scrapbook papers. The cover decoration is HTV, layered.

Process: Hoo boy, this one was so fun. Probably the first case bind I did where I felt like I was more in control of the end product! I made this back in June; I’ve done a few more since then.

Artwork is all from rawpixel’s public domain sources with the exception of the Brighton Pier lights. I couldn’t find a good public domain line drawing so…I made one? Using Procreate. I am probably too proud of it. But I loved finding little images inspired by each chapter. The sausage dog is my fave.

I also couldn’t help but put the text exchanges in era-appropriate horrid fonts. I know the text bubbles are anachronistic but I wanted to be sure it was clear who was saying what.

I leaned into the vintage seaside Brighton vibes with the drop caps.

Funny story about the colour scheme for the cover — I’d cut a test piece out of bright orange HTV because I thought I would never use that colour so it wasn’t a waste. And then I loved it? (My personal copy was the first one I made with that brighter HTV. I do like wolf’s copy better for this! My copy isn’t pictured here but it’s similar, just with brighter orange and less exciting end papers.)

Some struggles weeding the text bubbles on the back of the cover. Oh well. I figured it’s still legible.

The end bands are machine made but match the HTV perfectly, which pleases me.

Overall, this was such a delight to typeset and bind. I really adored the process of wallowing in wolf’s great words. In fact, I loved it so much I did it three more times with other binds for them. Stay tuned…

#bookbinding #fanbinding #case binding #wolfpants #everybody hates a tourist #drarry #drarry fic

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sirfrogsworth · 4 months ago

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Stephen Shore is a famous photographer most noted for his work in the 1970s.

He is now an old man.

And sadly, he just yelled at a cloud.

As he was giving his lecture to a Chinese audience, he noticed many people on their phones. And he paused his lecture and said the following...

"Just before you ask that question – I’m gonna say something, and I apologize in advance because it’s gonna be rude. But it’s something [that’s been] on my mind as I experience the modern world. Since we’re talking about attention, I think we understand each other. And I think you understand the value of attending to daily life. I saw at least a dozen of you who spent the entire lecture looking at your phones. You’ve come here. You come here to hear a talk and you can’t even pay attention to who you’ve come to listen to. How can you pay attention to the food you eat, or the feel of the sun on your skin?"

He then walked off before finishing the lecture he agreed to.

But his audience wasn't actually distracted by their phones...

They were taking notes.

And I guess he wasn't used to having such a studious audience. He didn't even consider cultural differences or even people needing to translate things.

Personally, I'd see note-taking as a sign of respect, but I suppose he had no way of knowing what they were using their phones for.

Eventually he was told the audience was taking notes. He said he "felt better" about the situation. And that is where I feel he lost me. He didn't apologize. He didn't agree to redo the lecture. He just attended to his own feelings about the situation and didn't consider the audience that clearly wanted to learn from him.

Personally, I have a hard time connecting with Stephen's work.

And his portraits are all very... deer in headlights.

He just kinda blasts people in the face with a flash.

I think the only thing that saves these photos is the unfamiliar era and being shot on film.

I think the idea is to find beauty and art in the mundane. But I just see the mundane.

Though, plenty of people have trouble with my product photography for similar reasons. I love sculpting with light. I like seeing if I can take a jar of hair gel or nail clippers and make them beautiful and interesting just with fancy lighting. But so many people say it looks fake or like soulless CGI.

So maybe I don't have any room to speak about these mundane photos.

I guess it is the "craft vs art" spectrum.

There are people that only do technical photography. Like those Amazon product shots on white backgrounds. There is archival photography, archeological photography, and forensic photography. Private investigators use some very advanced telephoto techniques usually reserved for artistic bird photography to capture cheating partners.

There is no limit to how advanced and technical photography can get and often artistic intent is not involved.

But there are also purely artistic photographers that only learn the bare minimum to accomplish their aesthetic goals and just lean into the artistic message over the technical quality of the actual photos.

Like a guitarist only learning power chords.

Some photographers will even brag about how non-technical they are and wear it as a badge of honor—as if that makes them more authentic. They act like they are above learning that techie mumbo jumbo. Or they will claim they are too old to learn it.

Annie Leibovitz barely knows how modern cameras work. All of the lights are set for her. She has another photographer take test photos and once he has dialed in all of the settings, he hands her the camera and she presses the button. She knew her shit back in the days of film but she is more of an art director nowadays. I don't know if I could do what she does. I think she is still quite artistically skilled and often gets good results. But I just don't care for her attitude that she can't learn new things. As I get older I try very hard to make sure I don't fall into that mentality.

On the flip side, Ansel Adams built custom dark rooms with special equipment that he basically invented to help him develop or "photoshop" his film photography. He learned every technical detail that could fit in his brain so he could use it to elevate his photography.

But he also realized that you could be both technical and artistic. He blended art and craft so brilliantly and I think that is my sweet spot. When people take the time to figure out both aspects and don't lean too far one way or the other on that spectrum.

I just have trouble connecting with photography that is all art and no craft. I like seeing the effort and skill along with the beauty and vision. I like when someone does something I cannot yet do and gives me something to strive for in my own art. I like when photographers push their tools to do more interesting and creative things.

Richard Avedon was a famous photographer during the same era as Stephen Shore. And when I see his photos it tickles the "I love this" part of my brain.

[ See image descriptions and more of his work here ]

Not all of his work was very technical. He did a mix of studio work and candid portraiture. One of those photos is blurry and I still love it. But you can see the skill in every photo. The effort and experience and technical knowledge blended with the artistic intuition. He took photos of celebrities and just folks in the street. He also did photojournalism in mental hospitals.

I just find that a lot more compelling than a plant in the corner.

However, intellectually, I understand the plant in the corner is important. We cannot gatekeep art and put requirements on how it is created. My brain just has trouble appreciating that type of photography. Though I can imagine why someone would find it appealing.

That said, I'd definitely attend one of Stephen's lectures. And I guess I'd be sure to bring a notepad instead of a phone.

#long post #photography

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