#Center City PCS

[paulpingminho]

[battle-of-alberta]

Hi and welcome to this thing that's sort of a prequel to the timeline I'm working on. The working title is Alberta Story, but as you can see I kind of changed directions midway through as I thought about it more, I figured if I was getting frustrated then surely Ed was also getting frustrated with it so I turned it over to him to express that, haha. I wrote the first half of this last fall and stewed on it for about a year and decided, screw it, I don't know where I'm going with this but I will slap on a few more panels and figure it out as I go.

This might be the closest thing to a reboot of the BoAB main storyline for a while. I wanted to do something that gave a cursory outline of Canadian / Albertan history for people who are new to it, but of course it runs the risk of repeating every narrative Canada / Alberta have about themselves and that's quite frustrating, to be honest! Particularly when you are trying to write characters who lived through a great chunk of it.

I was trying to think about where to "start" the story of Alberta, particularly after reading Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta. A lot of the tongue in cheek ahistorical assigning of Albertan-ness to even protozoic life rubbed me the wrong way even though I found it an interesting narrative, so I wanted to illustrate the difficulty of "beginning".

Additionally: I really find it frustrating in the Hetalia fandom when people kind of take Himaruya's approach and suggest the colonized personifications almost predate colonization somehow, like they were "always there", or the approach that they are direct descendants of some ambiguous ancestral "Native America" that mysteriously no longer exists. At the same time, I sort of understand how it also happens with the narratives we construct ourselves, in textbooks and museums, that have long illustrated "pre-history" (Indigenous history) as opposed to "history" (the "Real" history of Euro-Canadians). It's a cultural underpinning that needs to be undone.

I don't make any ambitious claims to produce real, decolonizing work, I realize there's this big gap in this universe I'm building that acknowledges municipal personifications and only vaguely gestures at the idea of others and there's a myriad of issues with that, but it's a place that I as a euro-canadian myself am starting with and I hope to continue learning and growing from here.

"Here" is summed up as: isn't it crazy that a company that was just gifted 1/12th of the surface of the Earth not only predates the idea of this country and its cities but also still exists and is just a place you end up in at the mall now?

More detailed explanation of each panel follows.

Diver's Claw: Several stories in different First Nations cosmologies reference the Creator or another figure making a flood that covered the whole earth, where a survivor (Wisakedjek in Cree/Ojibwe stories, Na'pi in Blackfoot, etc) sends down a succession of animals to the bottom of the waters to retrieve a piece of the old earth, which they can then use to create anew.

Mounds of Earth: When the Northwest Mounted Police were sent out west from Canada after purchasing the territories (including Alberta) from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1870, they marked the border along what would become the 49th parallel between Canada and the United States with piles of dirt.

Descent from the Stars: This is supposed to be a depiction of Manitou Asiniy, also known as the Manitou Stone or Creator's Stone, a meteorite that has spiritual significance to many Indigenous peoples. As I write this, he (as a sacred being, he is referred to with these pronouns) is currently in the custody of the Royal Alberta Museum which has recently agreed to return him to the site where he was originally taken from near Hardisty in 1866. Currently, the gallery is open for worship and ceremony until it is time to repatriate him.

Bodies liquified in coral: this is NOT a scientific illustration, haha. The idea is that a lot of Albertan identity comes from about 400 million years ago in the Devonian period. At the time, a big chunk of "Alberta" was covered by ocean. The organisms lived, died, and over time became crushed by sediment layered over them. Coral has a lot of holes perfect for holding this sludge and fossilizes nicely here, and it is this layer of Earth's long history that speculators are looking for when drilling for oil.

Lips to a book: Alberta joined Confederation on September 1st, 1905, which our last premier tried to commemorate with a holiday that no one showed up to. Back at the turn of the century however, it was a massive party attended by Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier and the Governor General, a position in Canadian parliament that represents the King or Queen of England. Govenor General Grey (his grandpa was the Earl Grey the tea was named for, I believe) was the one who kissed the bible at this inauguration.

Prince: The prince here is Prince Rupert, who Rupert's Land was named for, and the king in question is Charles II of England (yes, the Restoration and Great Fire of London party guy from the Stuart era). Rupert's Land centred on Hudson's Bay and made up over 40% of what is now considered Canada. The Hudson's Bay Company was granted the charter to all this territory - if they found the Northwest Passage while they were at the business of acquiring beaver or otter pelts, it was certainly a bonus.

The rest is fairly self explanatory, I hope. Like I said, I felt like I was falling into the trap of the same old story of pioneers and exploration that has been absolutely done to death in Canadian history, and I didn't have anything particularly new to say about it that would maintain this storybook level of accessibility so I just. Stopped! Shifted gears! haha. Still, I think the fur trade is a very important piece to the puzzle that often gets either a bit overhyped or glossed over in favour of railroads in Canadian history and almost entirely ignored and forgotten in American history, and it makes sense to start there, particularly for Ed who has a lot of Complicated Feelings about it.

Enjoy! Maybe one day I will figure out part two.

[wildflowercryptid]

the two biggest things i want from plza are the kalos starters to finally get the mega evos they deserve and, assuming that the game doesn't take place in the past or far future, for emma to be a major character in the plot. it'd also be nice if we got a new eeveelution, but that's a little less important to me personally.

[deaderpoolmc]

MC Command Center 2024.5.1 is out!

The latest public release, MCCC/MC Woohoo 2024.5.1, is out! This is the first hotfix for the Sims 4 update today. Other hotfixes may follow if any critical issues are found. This fixes them all that I found in my testing.

Full change log for 2024.5.0 is here.

Installation instructions can be found here.

Troubleshooting can be found here.

For support, you should always go to the Discord support channels:

General Support - Support for other mods or just general Q&A. General Support (Sims After Dark) - Alternate support for other mods or general Q&A MCCC Support - MCCC errors and questions Error Support- Last Exception questions

Compatibility:

This has been tested to be working with (but does not require) GTW, OR,  Get Together, Dine Out, City Life, Vampires, Parenthood, Cats & Dogs, Jungle Adventures, Seasons, Get Famous, Strangeville, Island  Living, Realm of Magic, Discover University, Eco Living, Journey to Batuu, Snowy Escape, Cottage Living, Werewolves, High School Years, Growing Together, Horse Ranch, For Rent, Lovestruck, and the patch released September 18, 2024 - PC: 1.109.185.1030 / Mac: 1.109.185.1230. It will also work with anything after that Sims 4 update unless otherwise specified on Tumblr/Patreon posts I make after the update. Earlier Sims 4 versions may not be compatible, so we often do not support anything below the specified version here!

The legacy version of Sims 4 will now, and forever, use MCCC version 6.6.0, which can be found on Patreon and on my website.

DOWNLOAD HERE:

MC Command Center - All Modules Version 2024.5.1

MC Woohoo - Version 2024.5.1  (optional if MC Woohoo features are wanted)

ALL TRANSLATIONS AVAILABLE FOR 2024.5.1 CURRENTLY INCLUDE:

German - Thanks, Bonxie!

French - Thanks, Holodeck and ForeverCamp!

Polish - Thanks, OnlyBroken!

Japanese - Thanks, Halapeco!

Russian - Thanks, KuriXarya!

Korean - Thanks, Smlee499!

Swedish - Thanks, Namelessperson98!

Chinese - Thanks, Rebya!

Danish - Thanks, MiaSimmer!

[artbyblastweave]

Recently a post has been doing the rounds about military propaganda in the latest COD, yea yeah, sky’s blue, fork in kitchen, et al et al. This got me thinking about the shooters I actually play, and one thing that strikes me about the multiplayer shooters I play is that a lot of them dodge that same major discourse bullet by expressly grounding themselves in amorality and Kafka-esque dysfunction- a structural fingerwag towards their own content, acting as a paradoxical green-light to enjoy the game with no sense of moral injury. And there’s a big example of one that didn’t do this that kinda winds up with egg on its face as a result. 

To start with, I’m thinking about Team Fortress 2. The original Team Fortress, inasmuch as it’s possible for a game where you shoot each other with real firearms to be apolitical, was fairly apolitical. The soldiers had no markers of identity beyond their arbitrary team affiliation; the fighting was over no discernable real-life resource or point of political tension; the environments were decontextualized labs and facilities. It was platonic violence. 

Team Fortress 2 rolls around. Now that the general novelty of a 3d multiplayer class shooter has eroded, development stalls out on the following aesthetic problem; you can’t have semi-realistic militaristic character models rocket-jumping themselves across the map in the early 2000s. The cartoonishness is too dissonant when you’ve got similar semi-realistic militaristic characters in much more “grounded” games. Eventually they resolve this by taking the other tack, leaning into the cartoonishness, crafting character models so completely bombastic and over the top that no action taken in gameplay, no matter how absurd, will ever feel dissonant. This philosophy extends into the map design; the environments are farcical. Military instillations built mere yards from each other, with paper-thin pretenses of being civilian facilities despite the constant gun battles occurring inside. It’s self parody. And when the game extends to the point of having lore and worldbuilding, the idiocy becomes diegetic. This is a conflict fought on the behalf of idiots, by idiots, over idiot-goals, in spaces designed by idiots. It’s completely amoral, but it’s also contained amorality, since the fighting doesn’t spill out of these Helleresque Designated Pointless Fight Zones- and that leaves the mercs sympathetic enough that you can play them as protagonists in stories that take place “off-the-clock” without a ton of tonal dissonance. I can’t stress enough that the TF2 protagonists are amoral PMCs who work for callous megacorps. In a vacuum, this is not a well-regarded Kind Of Guy around here. There is some implementation of this broad concept that would invite a shitload of discourse that I’ve never seen materialize!

A lot of hero-or-character-based multiplayer games do this, abandoning any pretense of player heroism or productivity in the conceit in a way that shields them from a lot of moral and logical criticisms. Apex Legends and Monday Night Combat are explicitly in-universe bloodsports. Atlas Reactor and Rogue Company are cyberpunk corp-on-corp warfare. Dirty Bomb is about loosely affiliated mercenaries picking over the remains of an evacuated city. I think that Valorant is PMCs in a resource war (Not completely sure on this one.) The never-released Battlecry was expressly tied to actual nation-states, an alternate history where great powers fight wars via singularly-powerful champions instead of via traditional warfare. And in Battleborn the PCs were a hastily-assembled coalition of smaller hastily-assembled coalitions, which means that it makes perfect sense that any combination of these people might be fighting alongside or against each other, at any given time.

Here we see commonalities. Amoral participants. Larger governing bodies delineating clear fight zones centered on specific, if deliberately silly or petty, goals. Most crucially, PCs that are very loosely affiliated with each other, such that you’d see them in different configurations, fight to fight, day to day, as they’re contracted or shuffled around by the powers that be.

You know a game that doesn’t do any of this? Overwatch. 

Overwatch gets 80% of the way to being a superhero universe; it falls short primarily because Blizzard chose not to explicitly market it as such, but it’s got everything short of the purposeful brand designation- powered heroes, super science, codenames, Faceless Hydraesque terrorist groups with shadowy, powered enforcers. There are specific allegiances implied by this; specific policy and interpersonal goals implied by this that aren’t really reflected in six-on-six grudge matches in a smattering of inexplicably depopulated civilian environments. There are roughly half-a-dozen villains associated with Talon, four or five independent villainous mercenaries, and everyone else is a would-be superhero. Why is most of the core roster of the world’s premier superhero team performing some kind of terror attack in London? Why is a woman who murdered a civil rights leader trying to stop them, with the help of two avowed anti-Omnic mercenaries and three Omnics? Why did a cryogenics researcher weaponize her tech and come along for the ride? Why are a dozen envoys from tech conglomerates, grassroots movements, and paramilitary defense forces throwing down over a Gazebo in a charming Greek resort? Fuck if I know. Fuck if the writers know!

So, to round it out, I think that there’s a structural difficulty for multiplayer shooters to stand for something, or advance a philosophy, or whatever. The smart ones embrace this by shielding themselves in ablative nihilism, preemptively deflecting criticism by painting the gameplay as hollow and barbaric, but fun! But Overwatch- Overwatch 2′s tagline is “Get back in the fight.” What Fight? Why? Against Who? Call Of Duty might be a horrific mouthpiece for militarism and imperialism, but when it valorizes the military, it’s at least picking a side! Overwatch is just so strange to me because it’s somehow got the worst of both worlds- it uses these heroic, aspirational language and visuals to hype up a gameplay loop that’s ultimately the exact same kind of cynical, aimless abattoir as the games that are smart enough to explicitly be about amoral paid killers!

[amalaeus]

Kylar/Robin/Sydney/Whitney HCs

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Kylar

Kylar V. Tepes

Black curly hair, the fringe is longer at the back because that boy does not maintain his damn looks for shit

Neon/Bright Green eyes

5"4

Malnourished twink-twunk (Becomes a twunk-hunk after PC rehabilitates their ass)

Excels in Science + Art, shit in everything else

Surprisingly really good at fighting, nerfed by their malnutrition

Unkempt, but does bathe everyday like a normal person

Clothing preference: Black hoodie and jeans/skirt, that's it.

Submissive, but once you get their breeding kink going they WILL top TOP you (Not exactly be a hard dom, but would get on top and try their best)

Rich RICH, could live off of his inheritance for a solid 50 years or so after his parents' incapacitance

On that note, would probably get along with Mickey (1 computer with 6 monitors? Implies that Kylar has surveillance over the city)(Definitely make a profit off of it)

V O Y E U R, breeder/bred, sub-leaning SWITCH, overstimulation kink

Older!Kylar or a Kylar with more Whitney influence would have neon green peekaboo highlight and a rattail (the Furina from Genshi impact kind)

Older Kylar, or Kylar currently would definitely get a Prince Albert if PC asked.

Robin

Robin O. Campbell

Fluffy brown hair, Blue eyes, KPOP looking ass hair (see image)

Twink

Average in school, only gets up to slightly above average at high confidence

Gaming + Anime addict (if the crossdressing isn't enough of an indicator-)

This is crack but, imagine if they were s illegitimate child of royalty- (Never gets a proper job even after going through Bailey, stays a virgin despite the brothel??)(They also has a $400 console in the early game, I doubt they'd have been able to save very much because he already starts out with $2k rent, they're definitely getting sponsored somewhere)(Would explain why they're protected but not fully)

Childhood friends with PC

Has been paying Bailey's fine longer than PC has

Older than PC by a few months-1 year

Trained in using a taser, brings a taser around

Vanilla, but a huge somniphiliac

Sydney

Sydney J. Hyde (Goes by Sydney Jekyll pure, Sydney Hyde corrupted)

Has Coloboma, hence the need for glasses

Twunk-Hunk (From cloister + all the church chores)

Great in school, honors/exempted from classes

Writer, both on people and the actual hobby

Would write sacraments, then moved to the carnality of PC's temptation

Adept in combat, like, scarily good at it (cloister)

Best/Favorite subject's English

Clothing preference: All 3 academia aesthetics: Dark, Light and Messy

Good singer, Corrupted!Sydney is very into Hozier, Faithful!Sydney only listens to church songs (The classical ones)

Corrupt!Sydney is just them letting loose all that repressed lust, or breaking out of whatever bullshit hypnosis Harper put them through

Masochist, DOMINANT, overstimulation kink, dom + top leaning SWITCH

Whitney

Last name HC TBA LMAO

Twunk-Hunk (hunk-leaning)

Lowkey gymrat (does it for looks)

Pierced lobes, upper lobes and helixes (Only wears earrings on one ear)

Dirty blonde hair, brown eyes

M!Whitney sounds like Bakugou but shouts less

Actually excels in school and academia, only held back because they missed too much class

Can fight, but unlike Kylar and Sydney, they wouldn't kill (sure being tossed into the underground brothel is as good as being dead, but I don't think they fathomed what happens in the underground brothel until they were kidnapped instead)

Their whole schtick is more or less just them letting out their frustrations with life, his connection to the underworld is shallow at best (due to the kidnapper switching it up so fast in the dismissal event)

VERY SELF CENTERED, VERY NARCISSISTIC

Honestly? The ultimate tsundere, genuinely thinks that the shit he does is how to be popular and get bitches

EXHIBITIONIST, VOYEUR, ORAL FIXATION, DOMINANT SWITCH, humiliation kink (giving), public sex enthusiast, pillow princess

[foone]

So, regarding Cartrivision and how the Red Tapes were effectively play-once, this idea of "you buy/rent a tape but you can only play it for a short while" so was enticing an idea that it keeps coming back. There's obviously ways this can be implemented on streaming services, but it was tried at least twice in the optical disc era, but amusingly in two entirely different ways.

And it was backwards from how you might think. The older one seems like it should have come later!

So first was DIVX (the disc format: it's unrelated to the Codec of the same name)

This came out in 1998, just as DVD was starting to catch on. They got a bunch of movie studios to sign on to only release their films on DIVX, not DVD, and tried to backdoor the format into acceptance: it was heavily pushed by Circuit City, then a major retailer. All DIVX players were also DVD players, so they would try to convince you to buy a DIVX player so you could play both.

How it worked is pretty simple: it is basically a DVD that's been encrypted. To decrypt it, you need a license. The DIVX player can talk to the DIVX server and let you purchase a license to watch the film, and the license would be valid for 48 hours before deleting itself. So the idea was that you'd pick up a disc for very cheap, like a rental, but when you could hang onto it for later, and re-axtivate the license by just paying the license free (a couple dollars) again. And if you didn't like the movie? No need to take the film back to blockbuster, you can just toss it in the garbage! (you could also pay a higher fee to get an unlimited license to the film, effectively converting it into a DVD)

But this was 1998, remember: very few people have always-on internet. How's it talk to the DIVX server?

Simple. It's got a modem. You plug your DIVX player into the phone line, and it dials up DVD HQ and talks to them over that connection. It's a very 1990s solution.

Anyway it died. People interested in DVD universally hated the idea, especially the part where some studios were only going to release films as DIVX. People had had VHS tapes for a while now, and they were used to buying and owning their films. Going to a time-limited rental system seems like a big step back.

And of course, movie rental companies hated the idea too, as it basically would destroy them as a business (years before streaming destroyed them anyway). So they refused to entertain the idea. So it failed, and it took down Circuit City with it. The funniest part? Remember how it talks to a server? Well, guess what happened to that server when the format was discontinued!

Yep, all DIVX discs are unplayable now. They announced the discontinuation in 1999, and by 2001 the servers were turned off. All DIVX discs (even the ones upgraded to forever-playable) are just paperweights. (and btw: I've looked into the feasibility of hacking the encryption. They used 3DES, which is far from the best but is still pretty secure. Give me a million dollars and a year of computation time and I'll be able to watch one film.)

So, with DIVX dying such a quick and painful death that it took out the major retailer that invented it, surely no one else would even consider this idea again, right?

Welcome to FlexPlay. A 2003 format where you buy a DVD for cheap, and you can watch it for 24-48 hours. Even better than DIVX, because you don't need a special player and you don't even depend on talking to a server!

Wow. What weird technical tricks did they do to make this work? Is there a special program on the disc? Some kind of computer code? Special encryption? Can you only play it on a PC with some DRM software installed?

Nope! While DVDs have anti-copying DRM and DIVX added limited-playback DRM, FlexPlay goes completely the other route and has Analog Rights Management: the limited playback is enforced by CHEMISTRY.

Yep. See, the way optical discs work is by shining a layer through the clear plastic and bouncing it off a mirrored layer of aluminium in the center of the disc. (Well, for pre-pressed discs. MO and CD-R/RW discs work differently)

But FlexPlay discs add a layer of dye between the aluminum and the plastic. This dye is initially transparent to the red laser used by DVD players (did you know that's why blu-rays are called that? They use blue lasers instead of the red lasers used by DVD , and the infrared lasers used by CDs), so it can be read just fine.

But they made the dye react with oxygen. As soon as the airless bag the disc is stored in is opened, the dye starts darkening, eventually becoming unreadable. So once you have opened the disc, you better watch it soon, or it will be unreadable.

This format technically lived on until 2011 before being discontinued, but it doesn't seem like it was terribly popular at any point. Part of this was probably that it couldn't live up to the dream of selling a film on a disc you made for pennies, and making tons of profit. Making the discs was tricky, as you had to make them in special inert-atmosphere conditions to keep them from prematurely darkening.

Anyway the final joke of FlexPlay is that they haven't been made since 2011, and while they were sold in air-tight packages, nothing is PERFECTLY airtight. So all the ones for sale have had the bags leak over the last 12+ years, and are prematurely unreadable. Whoops.

Anyway now that physical media is dead, movie companies finally have their time-limited rental they've always wanted. Streaming makes this trivial.

And two final notes:

1. There's not really any lost-media risk with these two formats. All DIVX-only films were later released on DVD when the format ranked. And all FlexPlay films had already gotten DVD releases, so there was never any risk.

2. My buddy Technology Connections did a video in FlexPlay a while ago, if you want to learn more about it.

[garmmy]

2024 jp trip report (sights edition)

i just returned from my week-long tokyo trip, and wanted to log them down so i can remember where i went. i split up the food and sights posts thanks to tumblr's image limit per post. also apologies for my unflattering pictures😂 i don't have a particularly good phone, i was taking pics more for the memories than the niceness

(food edition here)

Day 2 (14/5/2024)

starting with day 2 because we arrived at night on day 1.

we started the day at nakano broadway...where we spent too much time and money!! with its 10000 mandarake and other retro/anime goods stores. i forgot to take a closer picture of the entrance…anyway, just like in the hit video game Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth for the PS Vita and Nintendo Switch and PC and-

(expensive!!) twintails!! my beloved... <does not watch ultraman

and pokemon center in sunshine city ikebukuro! a very cool miraidon statue...and also a quaxly butt for some reason 😂

Day 3 (15/5/2024)

we walked around akiba and asakusa today. for a weeb in particular, i don't think you could finish walking akiba even in a week...anyway, just like in the video game Digimon Story Cyber Sl-

we walked the multi-storey donki in akiba. of particular note is the signage for the 'pokemon corner'....i'm crying 😭 love this graphic design

so we went around mandarake and a few other anime merch spots. soul hackers 2 merch spotted???? (i didn't get it since i didn't really need more acrylic stands.. :') arrow and his lil poltergeist friend tho...)

while walking, we passed by the otahimeinari shrine. it's always really nice to find these in the middle of the city..the tree's fruit were also huge!!

before we headed to asakusa, we walked by jinbocho. just like in the hit video game Persona 5 for the PS3- while i wish we had a bit more time to spend there (i would have loved to find some japanese language/linguistics-related books from prewar era), i really think most of the old books there are out of my depth 🤣 (it is a very nice place to stroll for lovers of old books and book smell though)

and after some train line switching screwups we made it to asakusa. as expected it's crowded even on a weekday! we saw the famous kaminarimon and also walked down the streets.

Day 4 (16/5/2024)

we started the day at tsukiji outer market, which was very near tsukiji hongwanji! beautiful buddhist temple. (also just like in the hit video game Shin Megami Tensei IV for the Nintendo 3DS)

we went on to ginza which was nearby, and made it to itoya, the multi-storey stationery store i spent too much time and money in 😩 they even had a paper shadowbox art exhibition below! the art pieces on showcase there are 🤯 beautiful...

before leaving ginza/hibiya area...shin godzilla spotted!!

then we went to tokyo skytree and did..even more shopping... (and even though i didn't get any reservations it was so cute to see kirby cafe in person ;w;)

and then we headed to ryogoku, the sumo town, for dinner. it's near sumida river so i couldn't resist getting a view...just like in the hit video game Paranormasight for Nintendo Switch and PC (ok i don't think this is the correct bridge 🤣 but the view was still very nice! and we DID go to the ryogoku bridge too though i didn't get a good pic of it)

Day 5 (17/5/2024)

we started at shinjuku today to walk to shibuya. this was the day that totally killed my feet T_T (not that the other days didn't already lol). apparently the other days were averaging 10k steps but this day was 30k?? i'm not a fit person to begin with..

anyway we were greeted by a giant cat overlord near shinjuku station exit!

godzilla spotted again! and we also spent a bit too much at the multi-storey tokyu hands here...

nearby takeshita street, we took a walk to meiji jingu shrine. just like in persona fiv- i especially enjoyed the walk to the shrine (now if only i didn't have foot pain from excessive walking), the scale of the pathway and trees! coupled with the wonderful 25? celsius weather...i still miss it as i'm writing this while back in singapore where i'm sweating just by existing. lol

on the way to shibuya, we dropped by this store called 'birdmore' specialising in birb merch and pet bird goods. MY JAW WAS ON THE FLOOR this is the first time i saw sooo many birb-themed items in one place 😭 from socks to bags to stationery to mugs and bags everything. though the species are a bit focused on the few species that generally get the birb merch in japan (budgies, cockatiels, tits, bunchou, shoebill, etc.).

i had a little talk with the shopkeeper and i mentioned we were from singapore, and she said she was envious as she wanted to visit our birdpark ;w; i told her that the birdpark moved to mandai and how the birds are flying around outside of cages and are not scared of people so you can get reallyy close to them, and she seemed so excited..aa i really hope she gets to go one day..!!

we reached shibuya parco, and...DIGIMON CORNER... i think i could cry seeing a bunch of digimon merch lined up like that in person 😭😭😭 i wanted to buy up all of these otedama SO BAD but unfortunately money and space are an issue lol. i ended up settling for an imperialdramon DM otedama ;w;

there was also a capcom store at shibuya parco! of particular interest to me were the monhun and ace attorney otedama, they didn't have otedama of susato nor my boi yian kut-ku tho...😭 it was a tough choice between nargacuga and maya ace attorney but i settled for narga ;v; (crying at otedama edgey's face though)

some other iconic locations in shibuya! just like in the video game The World Ends With You for Nintendo DS and various other-

also before we return to the hotel..the ike-fukuro statue at ikebukuro station! (TL note: fukurou is japanese for the ural owl)

Day 6 (18/5/2024)

we took a day trip to miura peninsula today (it's about an hour train ride from tokyo), using the misaki maguro ticket! i gotta get some fresh tuna sashimi while i'm in japan 😤 this might be my fave day among the days...idk, i just really enjoyed the walk and sights and food and overall experience on this day soo much ;v;;

just like everywhere in japan they have to have their own cute mascot characters....miura tunanosuke the daikon-wielding tuna samurai and miuran the sakura fairy(??)

miura beach! a very short walk from miurakaigan station and a wonderful view. also, it's just like in the hit video game Persona 5 for- (i swear i'm not specifically hunting for videogame spots lol but if i come across them why not🤭 i still find it a bit surreal how persona 1-4 were all in fictional japanese cities and suddenly..persona 5 in tokyo!)

after that we took the train to misakiguchi station and about a 20?min bus ride to misaki port. we went to the urari marche (a seafood and veg market); other than market stuffs, they had a bunch of crane machines filled with just fish and tuna merch...i respect the dedication to the theme lol! there were also other fish-related merch like this eyemask that looked like an ikura platter i wanted it so bad :')

after misaki port, we took a bus to jogashima. CATS!!!!!!! while it's not particularly a 'cat island' like some of the more famous cat islands in japan, it's still a pleasant surprise to see these cats roaming around.

and some pictures of jogashima. we walked along the uneven coast where there was no clear marked path; having stayed in the city all my life (even the nature trails here are usually cleared for easier walking) and rarely venturing overseas lol, i've never really had this sort of experience before? i didn't prepare myself for this and so my shoes meant for normal walking and not hiking kinda split halfway through the trek on uneven ground 😂 it was really beautiful, but i think because of my fitness (lack thereof) i caused extra worry...i would like to experience something like this alone sometime so i can go at my own pace without feeling pressured like i am worrying others who could've gone much faster if only i weren't there.

Day 7 (19/5/2024)

we had a morning walk at ueno park, which is HUGE and really nice to walk in, and also houses museums such as the national museum of western art, national museum of nature and science (nature museums my beloved), and tokyo national museum. sadly we didn't have time to check out the museums this time, but i'd love to visit them if i do make another trip here... my mother said before that a tour guide once told her 'singaporeans don't seem to like museums much, they prefer shopping' and sadly i am not proving that uncultured singaporean stereotype wrong with all my weeb shopping 😂😭

ueno toshogu shrine, which was built in dedication to tokugawa ieyasu. i wasn't aware till now but apparently toshogu (東照宮) refers to any shinto shrine in which ieyasu is enshrined with his deified name, and ueno toshogu is just one of the toshogu.

shinobazu pond! it was really a sight to behold in person.

ok i hit the post photo limit skdfjdkgh well the rest of the day was walking around akiba with my friend 😆 we tried to look for 13 sentinels merch (we checked out radio kaikan, suruga-ya and other places) but there was none to be found /_\ i did pass by the square enix cafe though! i was tempted to get the 16-bit arrange albums of octopath and then realised i do not have a CD player anymore..and also managed to see the one (1) bravely default merch!!

just gotta slowly save up for that next trip...someday... .w.

[daitranscripts]

Solas Conversation: Investigate

Tell Me About Your Journeys

Solas Masterpost

Positive approval, Skyhold only

PC: I’d like to hear more about what you saw in your exploration of the Fade.

Solas: I would be happy to share it with you.

1 - Dialogue options:

General: Tell me about spirits. [2] +Solas slightly approves

General: Tell me about old ruins. [3] +Solas slightly approves

General: Tell me about old memories. [4] +Solas slightly approves

General: Goodbye.

2 - General: Tell me about spirits. PC: Tell me about a spirit you encountered.

Solas: I met a friendly spirit who observed the dreams of village girls as love first blossomed in their adolescence. With subtlety, she steered them all to village boys with gentle hearts who would return their love with gentle kindness. The Matchmaker, so I called her. That small village never knew its luck. [back to 1] ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Solas: The Alamarri crossed the Frostback Mountains to escape a beast they called the shadow goddess in their stories. I met the spirit that they fled. She walks the Fade along the southern tundra, weeping, lonely, and forgotten. Great Ferelden formed because a lonely spirit drove her prey away. [back to 1] ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Solas: I found an ancient spirit who had once been undisputed king of almost every land I had discovered. Like pride or rage, it was the Fade’s reflection of a feeling. When I asked which one it was, the spirit faltered. “They’ve forgotten,” said the spirit. “There remains no word for what I was.” [back to 1]

3 - General: Tell me about old ruins. PC: Tell me about the old ruins you explored.

Solas: I found the ruin of Barindur, a lost Tevinter city buried deep beneath a dead and barren wasteland. Volcanic ash had sealed it tight. In one dark moment, every living creature in the city seared and smothered. They were statues in the ashes, like a mold made to recall the lost. [back to 1] ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Solas: I found an ancient dwarven thaig no longer sheltered by the stone. An earthquake had exposed it all to daylight. A thousand dwarven corpses lay, the victims of a darkspawn horde, their last stand marked by one great ring of armor. In the middle, one small body, clutching tightly to a small stuffed toy. [back to 1] ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Solas: I found in the Korcari Wilds a humble cottage far removed from any of the simple Chasind tribesmen. The trees and weeds had not reclaimed the home nor did the Chasind dare to come and steal the trinkets still remaining. It was empty, long abandoned, but the world feared that she might return. [back to 1]

4 - General: Tell me about old memories. PC: Tell me about the old memories you found in the Fade.

Solas: I saw a savage human horde go marching toward the battlefront. They sang a soldier’s hymn to keep formation. The primal music shook the ground. These savage unwashed warriors carried harmonies no Chantry choir has mastered. Though their cause was all but hopeless, they sang songs that made the spirits weep. [back to 1] ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Solas: I saw a dwarf emerge into the light of day and shield his eyes against the sun, the first time he had seen it. The tears were streaming from his eyes. I thought them from the blazing light until I saw the rock he held so tightly. Then he laid the rock down gently, and he left it as he walked away. [back to 1] ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Solas: I saw a young Qunari working in a simple kitchen, baking bread as she was ordered every morning. In every loaf she broke the rules. She’d take a pinch of sugar and would fold it to the center, like a secret. And this act of small rebellion brought a shining smile across her face. [back to 1]

General: Goodbye. PC: We’ll talk later. Solas: Goodbye.

After exhausting all of Solas’s stories Solas: I think I have shared everything of note. I should spend some time encountering more stories.

[o0oooooo0o]

uttara bhadrapada is all about honing that cool crystal center within. ppl will find that in association with these natives “most” is the word you will often see next to their name and not always in a socially acceptable way. These natives leave behind gifts to humanity transcending the boundaries of good and evil.

‧₊˚✩彡 🙀

-losing people close to you

-inhumanism

-aliens

-synth

-being non pc

-extreme wealth and 💸💸💸💸💸

-reptilian beings (dragons, snakes,…)

-aquatic beings (mermaids)

-cold, frigid, aloofness, indifference, apathy

-loneliness, disconnect

-underworld

-fantasy

-collateral damage

-humanity

-secret societies

-control & restriction

-evolution

-mysticism

-combat

-reluctant leader

-burden

-deep space, the unknown

-two faced

-blue/iridescent/chromatic/purple

-eccentricity

-cyberpunk

-conspiracy

-high technology

-destiny & fate

-neptune

-pluto

-funeral

-inertia

-legacy

-skeletons in the closet

-in plain sight

-contradiction

-transformation

-war

-cosmic rain

-drugs/psychedelics

-stoners

-plastic surgery

-victimhood

-delusion

-manipulation

-the end

-transcendence

-the chosen one

-apex saturnino

-being ahead of your time/creating something timeless

-aristocracy

-anger

-doomsday

-out of touch

-dreams

-dissolution

-destruction

-innocence

-cunning

-isolation

-apotheosis

-ascension

-kundalini awakening

-Pegasus

-Andromeda

-evil

-genius

-tamasic

-cold blooded

-ethereal essence

-uncanny valley

-alienation

-abandoning humanity

-fixed

-void

-darkness

-time

-being the brain/face of capitalism ngl

-prophecy

-elongation

-escapism

-the ocean

-for the greater good

-tying together future/present/past

-being afforded a greater, more terrible purpose

Grimes (confirmed*-ish) sun & moon in uttara bhadrapada

other notable natives (moon)

-rihanna

-hillary clinton

-kim kardashian

-anya taylor joy

-antonio banderas

-rose

-taeyeon

-rooney mara

-gemma ward

-rick owens

-jin

-felix

-tyra banks

-salma hayek

-daniel radcliffe

-joaquin phoenix

-rebecca ferguson

-lil kim

-Luca Guadagnino

-sujan stevens

-janet jackson

-steve jobs

-bill gates

-catherine zeta-jones

-andré leon talley

-anna wintour(*)

-eugenia cooney

-ash stymest

-blac chyna

-travis barker

-jane lynch

-IU

-tupac

-jason statham

-riley keough

-wiz khalfia

- jay park

-timothee chalamet

-samantha morton

-Josh McDermitt

-anton riize

-belle kiss of life

-muammar al gaddafi

-ni-ki

-sullyoon

-king krule

-aidan gillen

-josh o’connor

-salvador dalí

-sophie turner

-hayao miyazaki

-john galliano

-ed sheeran

-kendall jenner

-jessica white

-choi woo-shik

-tom brady

-isabella huppert

-russel brand

-Satoru Gojo

-Shri Ramanujan

-novak djokovic

-alek wek

-nick offerman

-steve-o

-song kang-ho

-cheng xiao

-enya umanzor

-jenny slate

-nicholas hoult

-isabelle huppert

-soobin

-bladee

-dev patel

-james cameron

-city of los angeles

-harry potter

-wanda maximoff

❌

-jeffrey e*stein

////(disclaimer, lowkey i’m pretty good at guessing between naks but i can’t say for sure that they r ubp moon some of these r just my own intuition/pattern recognition/symbolism unless their birth time is confirmed and i can flat out get their placements wrong but also ppl lie even about their birthday so it is what it is)

///*I will keep updating this list

others:

billie eilish ubp asc (like ??? the rating is aa too but still ??)

yuji itadori(ubp sun)

irene

alexander mcqueen (ubp sun+rahu)

lisa (ubp sun+venus+ketu) +saturn*mercury in revati

quentin tarantino (sun+mercury+jupiter)! …

shakira (ubp asc and venus)

brie larson (ubp asc)

cha eunwoo (sun+venus+ketu+saturn)

lady gaga ubp sun

celine dion ubp sun

diana ross ubp sun

yasmeen ghauri ubp sun c mercury revati

mariah carey ubp sun c rahu *mercury pisces pbp

eren yeager ubp sun

keira knightly

steven tyler ubp sun

karina (revati sun c ubp mercury+venus gemini moon ruler ubp mercury)

ketu in ubp-

zoe saldana

bella hadid +ubp saturn

jaehyun +ubp saturn lagnesh saturn in ubp

fernanda ly

rahu in ubp-

abbey lee kershaw

[paulpingminho]

[sofia-in-nc]

WIP WHENEVER

Tagged by @olath124 and @ouroboros-hideout

Modding:

Making my own mods is a very new thing for me. I usually just download from Nexus and install various mods to the game, but to actually tweak the game through my own effort is a different experience. Sure, I can design, animate and strategize a plan that could potentially annex a whole country, but to be honest, my brain just goes brrr when it comes down to technical stuff. It’s a weakness, I must say.

Here is my progress at modding for which I am happy with how it is turning out. A friend of mine from college asked if I could come up with a different take on the CP2077 campaign, but instead of doing that, I decided to start a Myers election campaign.

Despite having no clue with where to start, I posed a challenge to myself by digging through the game file on Wolvenkit to obtain the materials I wanted to change. The Palladia Center billboard was the most amusing thing to edit so far, while the ads that are scattered around the city were quite a surprise, so to speak. Especially the ones that look static from afar but animate in close proximity as the workaround for these is different from the other texture files I’ve edited. The Milfgaard atlas file came in handy for this project! 😂

I just love how modding this game taps on both sides of my brain, although admittedly, I lack on the technical side.

Virtual Photography

Yesterday, I decided to try Frans Bouma’s Reshade. I am strict with the medium I use for editing– avoiding to subject myself to numerous tools simultaneously since I want to master things one at a time. For virtual photography, I approach this department the most basic way: vanilla shots > Adobe Lightroom > ✨cinematics✨ However, I realized that this is not enough, so now I am trying to learn Reshade to amp my shots. Also, I am considering upgrading my pc as it is a potato for the time being.

Writing/VP Storytelling

If you’ve been following my posts, by now, you’d sense my evident obsession with Kusie and visualizing them in the most romantically tragic way possible.

I don’t write– well not anymore, but one of my plans is to connect all of my shots and weave a tragic plot for this troglocouple. The goal: to punch viewers in the gut (jk… or not) No, really, my goal with this is to approach virtual photography with an all too familiar method, which is film making, but technically different because the final outputs are just static images. I want viewers to feel as if they’re watching a movie, being present at the scene, to be at the center of tension between Rosalind and Kurt.

Welp, that’s it for now!

Tagging without pressure @cybervesna @cyberholic77 @awwwokay @dustymagpie @reilleclan-blog @barghestapologist @streetkid-named-desire @wanderingaldecaldo

[bestfictionalnewenglander]

Hello! I’m starting a third tumblr tournament before my first one even officially starts because I cannot be stopped. This one is to find tumblr’s favorite New Englander! People from those six states in the United States northeast now have their time to shine.

So you all have them front and center, the six New England states are Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont

They can be raised in new england but moved away long ago, moved to new england from somewhere else, never left their hometown, anything as long as it’s part of their story! I’ll be accepting submissions for one week, until 3pm est on May 29th

Rules and submission form under the cut:

- As the title suggests, fictional characters only!! That means no real people (because I KNOW tumblr: Jerma counts as a real person), but also no historical figures or characters based on historical figures, or self-insert ocs like the pcs of MCYTs. (So no Hamilton characters, but for example Clone High or Fate Zero characters are fine because they’re not literally the historical figure)

- Submit as many characters as you like as long as you don’t submit the same one twice! Pls don’t spam as I’m gonna try to include as many as I can no matter how many submissions they get. Also please use the submission form, don’t send your submissions to my inbox!! If you do I’m just deleting it because it shows you didn’t read the rules

- If the state they’re from isn’t listed on the submission form it’s not a New England state. Most prominently, please don’t try to submit any characters from New York

- They can be from a fictional city as long as it’s at least implied to be in a new england state! For example, Star City (where Green Arrow lives) was stated once to be in Connecticut, and Derry, Maine is the fictional town from It

[deaderpoolmc]

MC Command Center 2024.4.1 is out!

The latest public release, MCCC/MC Woohoo 2024.4.1, is out! MCCC 2024.4.1 contains a small fix for MCCC 2024.4.0. If a player had a Sim living in an apartment and clicked the mailbox to view billing information, they'd get an error if they were using MCCC Money settings to change billing. That's the only change between 2024.4.0 and 2024.4.1.

Full change log for 2024.4.1 is here.

Installation instructions can be found here.

Troubleshooting can be found here.

For support, you should always go to the Discord support channels:

General Support - Support for other mods or just general Q&A. General Support (Sims After Dark) - Alternate support for other mods or general Q&A MCCC Support - MCCC errors and questions Error Support- Last Exception questions

Compatibility:

This has been tested to be working with (but does not require) GTW, OR,  Get Together, Dine Out, City Life, Vampires, Parenthood, Cats & Dogs, Jungle Adventures, Seasons, Get Famous, Strangeville, Island  Living, Realm of Magic, Discover University, Eco Living, Journey to Batuu, Snowy Escape, Cottage Living, Werewolves, High School Years, Growing Together, Horse Ranch, For Rent, and the patch released June 6, 2024 - PC: 1.107.151.1020 / Mac: 1.107.151.1230. It will also work with anything after that Sims 4 update unless otherwise specified on Tumblr/Patreon posts I make after the update. Earlier Sims 4 versions may not be compatible, so we often do not support anything below the specified version here!

The legacy version of Sims 4 will now, and forever, use MCCC version 6.6.0, which can be found on Patreon and on my website.

DOWNLOAD HERE:

MC Command Center - All Modules Version 2024.4.1

MC Woohoo - Version 2024.4.1  (optional if MC Woohoo features are wanted)

ALL TRANSLATIONS AVAILABLE FOR 2024.4.1 CURRENTLY INCLUDE:

German - Thanks, Bonxie & SimNes!

Japanese - Thanks, Halapeco!

Russian - Thanks, KuriXarya!

Korean - Thanks, Smlee499!

Chinese - Thanks, Rebya!

Polish - Thanks, OnlyBroken!

French - Thanks, Holodeck!

Swedish - Thanks, Namelessperson98!

Portuguese - Thanks, Bishon2057!

[chubby-aphrodite]

i love that pikasprey is still out here finding ways to create tedium in pokemon games for no reason

the situation is laid out thusly:

you are stuck behind the snorlax blocking cycling road, as you have done a glitch to get all the way to the other side of it (the cycling road side) despite not having a bike

all trainers are battled, and all items are either stored in the PC or thrown away, and your money is 0

the last pokemon center you saved at is cinnabar island.

your only pokemon is a poisoned exeggutor on 1 HP that only knows explosion.

so what will you do?

walk back to town back down cycling road? exeggutor will die of poison in 4 steps and you will be sent to the jail known as cinnabar island.

battle the snorlax? what, with explosion? and then get sent to cinnabar island jail?

no.

what you will do is walk three steps, save, and then quit. and then walk three steps, save, and quit. walk three steps, save, and quit. walk three steps, save, and quit.

see, the overworld effect where poisoned pokemon take damage outside of battle (which was removed after gen 4) takes effect every 4 steps (5 in FRLG). if you take THREE steps, save, quit, and then reload, the step counter resets. so you are free to walk all the way down cycling road from the snorlax roadblock, taking three steps at a time, and saving and quitting each time, until you get to fuschia city's pokemon center at the other end.

but the question is. will you?

[slasherhoe87]

🕹The Slashers' Favourite Video Games🖥

So you've introduced your murderous partners to the wonderful world of video gaming... what is their favourite game??

MICHAEL MYERS

THE SIMS 4

He enjoys recreating Midwest-like towns in the worlds of Newcrest, Willow Creek, Brindleton Bay & Copperdale

He uses/downloads both mods and cc (cc is cosmetic stuff for the game like clothing, decor, hair, furniture etc) for the game

Has has decorated his worlds as Halloween wonderlands - spooky decor and lighting is everywhere

He built Laurie's home right next to his own childhood home

Downloaded the 'Extreme Violence' mod so he could terrorise and murder the poor sims

Downloaded his navy coveralls and his mask cc

Controls Laurie's household and makes her life miserable

She hasn't showered in weeks and is forced to use a toilet on full display out on the front lawn

You have to drag him away from the PC otherwise he'll sit there causing misery and bringing chaos to the lives of the sims forever

JASON VOORHEES

DEAD BY DAYLIGHT

A killer stalking the woods for victims trespassers?

Can actually play as himself?

Gets to play with you as well?

Can enjoy the forested scenery that he so loves?

All of the above are a recipe for a great time to Jason

Likes to play at night as it helps him unwind after long days of setting up/securing traps and patrolling his woods

You and 3 of your friends would play as the victims for Jason to hunt down

More often than not you and your friends die by his hands but on the rare occasions that you survive, Jason rewards you with hours of fun in the bedroom

BO SINCLAIR

GRAND THEFT AUTO V

Play as criminals causing murder and mayhem in a big, sprawling city? Yes please

The cars! Bo is obsessed with the variety of vehicles on offer in the game

Spends hours customizing all the cars he "procured legitimately"

Likes to park his vehicle at a pretty spot somewhere on the map and enjoy the sunset while listening to the in-game radio station music

Trevor is his favourite "protagonist"

Punches every npc that pisses him off

Knocks down and reverses over every cyclist he encounters on the road

Really likes the desert and the free spirit atmosphere of southern cali... sometimes makes him wanna pack-up and move himself and his brothers out to a town around the Salton Sea area

VINCENT SINCLAIR

LAYERS OF FEAR

A psychological horror centered around an artist whose one and only goal is to complete his Magnum Opus? Vincent immediately bought this game

Vincent takes his time traversing through the paintings (trippy doorways) trying to uncover every clue and unearth every bit of lore

The imagery and artistry of the game has inspired some of his own recent works

Is fascinated by the psychedelic horror and is not often affected by the jump scares or disturbing imagery though sometimes he'll jump especially when his character turns around to find a painting had crept up right behind him

Plays as often as he can, though not at the expense of the "family business"

CARRIE

THE SIMS 4

Like Michael, she can spend hours in front of the PC screen playing the Sims 4

Unlike Michael though, she is not murdering and terrorising the sims (unless they really cross her)

She loves the world of Henford-on-Bagley

She downloaded (because she can't build for shit) a little yellow and stone country cottage from the gallery where you, her, your pets and livestock live

A quiet, happy life filled with love - that's all she wants. And while the two of you still live in the noisy city, the Sims can provide her dream life until the two of you are able to move one day

In the game she is a housewife who makes money off of her knitting, baking, small scale farming and other crafts while you own and work at the local vet clinic

Decorates your shared cottage and your sims with the cottagecore aesthetic

JENNIFER CHECK

VAMPIRE THE MASQUERADE BLOODLINES

Plays this game during the week nights

Has downloaded a ton of cosmetic mods to update the graphics of this older game

She chose her vampiress to be of the Toreador clan as they were the closest vampires that resembled Succubi/Incubi

Has fun using the seduction dialogue options in the game to get her way

Has heard some great songs in the game to add to her Spotify playlist

The game makes her wonder if vampires actually exist... is she, a Succubus exists then why not vampires? If they do exist she hopes they don't sparkle

WILL GRAHAM

DETROIT: BECOME HUMAN

Plays this when he can't sleep - which is almost every single night

Enjoys getting to play as a detective and the crime scene investigations

Playing as androids with artificial intelligence adds an interesting sci-fi element for him

There are a lot of moral choices that need to be made in the game and he's not so sure a lot of his fbi colleagues would agree with many of his choices - especially Jack and Alana

He doesn't think Jack would appreciate some of the similarities he finds with Hank and him

Also wonders if Hannibal isn't an android himself as his eerie calm and levelheadedness and barely-there facial expressions would certainly allude to it

BILLY & STU

MARIO KART

They love playing with you

After watching movies on the weekend you all settle down with snacks and play the Mario Kart games

Billy and Stu are of course Mario and Luigi

You and Stu never get angry if you lose but Billy just about loses his shit

Billy will sulk and give whoever won the race the stink-eye

Because of Billy's attitude, Stu makes it his mission to get Billy to lose. His favourite method is throwing banana peels in front of Billy's kart. Even Mario (Billy's character) gives Stu the side-eye

Regardless, you all have great fun despite Billy being a sore loser - but you and Stu sure do make it up to him later in the night in your shared bed

I don't know why I wrote this. Damn you, spontaneous thoughts 🙄🤣