#Fuck that noise

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

He is the Prince of Hell with knowledge of astronomy, herbs, plants, and precious stones. I love him dearly.

Trick or Treat!

This paper mache Halloween owl figurine is one of my favorites because it's totally Stolas lightening up a little and having fun, maybe at a Halloween party or maybe it's his birthday too??

[lavenoon]

Sometimes you try to prank-scare the new hire and eat dirt instead, but you made them laugh so all is well <3

[clowningaroundmars]

my personal atsv hobie brown hc is that this boy can build a watch that enables the wearer to travel to any dimension they want to, made entirely out of cobbled up parts he "finds"

but anytime anyone brings up AI or algorithms or social media he pretends to be 100 years old

hobie: what's a bloody "snapchat"? fuckin 'ell those effects are nightmarish, mate

miles, exasperated: hobie, you BUILD TECH that astrophysicists in my dimension can't even replicate. how are filters on a phone trippin you up?

hobie: dunno, everyone's got their strengths n weaknesses, i 'spose... 🙄😒

[timot-ei]

You ever have those times in life? I do x3 am ok just makin my silly gifs

[icarus-suraki]

I hate it when I'm driving through a neighborhood of what look like very reasonably-sized houses only to turn a corner and realize that the houses are actually huge because they're like 87% ass

[dykealloy]

"below 5'3-you're petite" fuck right off with that demure shit im giving short stacked brick shithouse

[authoratmidnight]

Twitter/X has made likes private, and it basically functions the way tumblr's liking system does (almost).

If you go to someone's profile you cannot see what they have liked. And if you click on a post you cannot see who liked it, unless it's your post (side note, this is glitched on mobile and does not work). So if you click like on a post the only ones who know about it are you and the person who made the post.

Which is like, the only good thing Musk Rat has done so far.

And I've seen people lamenting likes being private and. man. tell me you've never had to deal with people who would scour your likes to ensure you weren't liking the "wrong" kinds of characters/ships/kinks/etc... without telling me b/c like. There's people who would do/did that. And no one needs to deal with that kind of shit.

This is in fact, a good change.

You the creator can still see who liked your shit, that hasn't gone away. You just can't invade the 'likes' section on someone's blog now, that's all.

[pechaberriesandsoju]

Me: maybe i should remake my twitter -

Twitter: Hey, you can't opt out of ai using your stuff, and even if you block people, you can still see each other's posts, which basically ruins the whole point of blocking; enjoy!!!

Me:......GOOD THING I DIDN'T DO IT EARLIER THEN

[justyncase]

ugh blair/dan is the worst relationship to happen to this show

[duckprintspress]

I feel like I need to start talking more about how one of the big things that Duck Prints Press does is open the door to people who could never even get a foot in with traditional publishing or even most medium/"small" presses (we're a small press, but we're really more of a micro-press, I see places calling themselves small presses that are fucktons bigger than we are).

I've got some anecdotal evidence that people avoid the publications of Presses like this one because they think our writing and editing standards are lower - that we're the people who failed to make it in bigger presses because we weren't good enough - and that, consciously and unconsciously, gatekeeping biases on who is and isn't qualified to write lead people to support small presses less than they might support a more established organization.

So...y'all realize that there are a lot of reasons people wouldn't pursue working with trad pub, right? and I don't even mean ethical doubts, and I don't even mean "trad pub doesn't want to publish certain kinds of stories," though those are definitely factors - we're able to give more space to play with themes and genres because we don't focus solely on "is this marketable" as a sales rubric.

But that's not what I consider the biggest difference.

Hi, I'm Claire, and I own Duck Prints Press, and I have a massive history of clinical depression, including being suicidal in the past. I'm a great writer, and I'm not just tooting my own horn, I've got almost 150,000 kudos on AO3 that suggest that just maybe, I know wtf I'm doing stringing words into sentences. I don't need a big press to tell me I'm competent, I already know that. What I do need is to not end up suicidal again. If I face the gauntlet of rejections that's supposedly "required" as part of gatekeeping trad pub, it will do severe damage to my mental health, and probably destroy my ability to write as depression-induced self-deception eats through what I know to be true.

THAT'S what's different about a micropress like ours. Yes, our founding vision was to work with fans, but the vast majority of the people who work with us have mental illnesses, physical disabilities, neurodivergence issues, and/or other "meatsuits are terrible actually" issues that strict publishing environments can't or, really, won't accommodate. We say "fuck that noise" and go out of our way to accommodate people, granting extensions and ensuring everyone can work on their own schedule. We're able to be very flexible, which means we bring in a lot of people whose incredible skills are overlooked, ignored, looked down on, kept out of, more mainstream publishing options.

If someone has trouble with deadlines? We still work with them.

If someone has an illness that flares irregularly and unpredictably? We still work with them.

If someone needs frequent reminders? We still work with them.

If someone works slowly because they can only do a little at a time? We still work with them.

If someone needs extra time, additional support, special software...we have thus far been able to accommodate literally everyone who has come to us.

As long as the creators who work with us keep communicating and keep showing at least a little progress, we will find a way to make things work, because we want to be as inclusive as possible, and because we know that most people with these challenges, no matter how good they are at writing or art or whatever it is they do with us, would face many more hardships to have these opportunities with a larger, more strict organization.

Just, every time I see indications that people think we're "less" because we're not HarperCollins or Penguin or Tor or something, I get so angry, because it shows so little understanding of how gatekeepy and especially how ableist trad pub is, and I wish more of the people who are thinking things like that would recognize that their behavior is, essentially, snobbery.

And to be clear I'm not saying "people with these challenges never get trad pubbed," that's clearly ridiculous and untrue, but I am saying, people with these challenges shouldn't have to be The Most Exceptional just to have a chance, and we deserve to have a place that will accommodate us instead of having to perform health, perform neurotypicalness, etc. just to succeed. We deserve to not have one flare-up potentially ruin our careers, and we deserve the same opportunities and respect as people who choose other directions.

Between trad pub, small press, and self-publishing, no one route is inherently "superior." Backing one over another doesn't guarantee you're only going to get good stories, or good editing. Trad pub publishes utter schlock sometimes, and self-publishing is fantastic sometimes, and some small presses do have lax standards, and some small presses are exceptional, and I feel like maybe people just really don't understand why places like Duck Prints Press try to exist - it's because we're trying to create spaces that meet us where we are, instead of focusing on rigid conformity, marketability, hard rules, etc.

The only way we'll get a diversity of voices in publishing is by supporting a diversity of publishers. The only way we'll be able to make space for everyone is by supporting the places that carve out new spaces to fit those who didn't fit elsewhere.

I wish more people would understand what we do and why we're here, and that folks would at least try our publications before assuming that we're "like big press but worse at writing/arting/editing."

Idk. I'm just tired, and sick, and still working even tho I'm sick, and frustrated with how hard it is to get anywhere, so here, have a rant I probably shouldn't post.

(this post brought to you by me seeing Chuck Tingle - entirely reasonably, to be clear, Chuck Tingle is awesome and I support him entirely! - celebrating the Camp Damascus release to thousands of notes, and Tor posting a poll about some Locked Tomb short story and getting 1300+ votes, and how I have to claw our way out of the background tumblr noise to get 100+ notes even on our biggest releases)

[bloomvalyria]

I left bumble for 2 weeks and I have over 1500 notifications about swipes what the fuck

edit: someone needs to stop me from re-downloading that fucking app

[waitmyturtles]

TRIGGER WARNING! CONTINUED UNPOPULAR OPINIONS OF STEP BY STEP, EPISODE 10

Stop reading if you like it! Stop reading if you liked that episode! Stop it! SHOO! DON’T COME AT ME if you’re upset after reading this!

Okay.

In the words and paraphrases of my dear friend, @bengiyo: 

Dick is not magical.

Dick cannot fix a drama.

(Ben also says: dick is abundant and low in value, lol, which doesn’t quite apply to this review, but I gotta share it out anyway, GOD BLESS YA, BEN, ILYSM.)

I’ve had my eye ever more trained on Step By Step, critically, since watching TharnType. I understand Tee Bundit criticized the BL industry with Lovely Writer, which I have yet to watch. But: regarding TharnType to Step By Step, I had accountability issues with Tee’s filmmaking and direction in TharnType anyway, besides the problematic content. (TharnType DID NOT DESERVE an hour-and-a-half finale.)

Y’all know I have been on my tip for a second about Tee’s filmmaking and direction for Step By Step -- my biggest issues being pacing and editing. These episodes did not have to be so damn long. They didn’t. I am still barely seeing a connection with the side stories and the main story of Pat and Jeng. Episode 8 was the tip of the iceberg for me. 

Then episode 9 comes, and I feel -- and I know my dear mutual @lurkingshan was more critical of this -- that episode 9 HELPED get Pat in his words. I really appreciated that we spent some time with Pat verbalizing what was going on with him, his confusion at Jeng’s attraction to him. 

But episode 9 ended with QUITE the emotional breakdown on Pat’s end with his parents. And then he’s laying in bed, surrounded by birthday snacks from Jeng. “It makes sense to me” -- Jeng’s attraction makes sense to JENG, but I didn’t get, at the end of episode 9, whether it made sense to PAT.

So we start Step By Step, episode 10, with Chot... scolding Pat. And telling Pat to run to Jeng. Okay.

At that moment in time: Pat may like Jeng. Pat IS upset that Jeng is likely leaving. 

But is this a Pat that’s going to run to Jeng? Is that a mindset that I find convincing AT THAT VERY MOMENT?

CONSIDERING ALL OF THE CONFUSION WE WERE BEARING WITNESS TO IN THE LAST EPISODE, AND.... THE LAST NINE EPISODES???

And then... they boing? In the kitchen?

And then the car?

And they’re.... still working together?

And.... where are they in their relationship at this point? Because they’re in a RELATIONSHIP-RELATIONSHIP now?

And they’re.....fantasizing about getting married?

Tee Bundit. You and I are gonna have words. You need a fucking editor. You also need to listen to your team if your team was telling you to be more balanced in your filmmaking.

Dick is not magical. I love me some D. But not to make up for your RUSHED, UNVARNISHED, CHOPPY-ASS FILMMAKING. 

I’m mad. There was so much potential here.

I just said to Ben in a DM: I did not find this to be a celebration of queer sex. I found this to be using queer sex as a method of cheating on bad filmmaking to rush a story. To rush a story that Tee KNEW he had to close a loop on -- Pat and Jeng’s intimacy -- because he KNEW the storyline had unwound for TOO DAMN LONG on Pat’s emotional processing, WITH NO CLEAR END. Dick is not magical. You can’t solve bad filmmaking with queer sex. That’s not where we’re at with BLs anymore.

This episode did Pat’s emotional processing dirty. To JUMP to the confession and the boing. AND: TO BE WORKING TOGETHER WHILE IN THE RELATIONSHIP. THEIR WORKING RELATIONSHIP was part of the reason why Pat couldn’t imagine them together in the first place! And we get NO processing on Pat’s end ABOUT THAT, in the end?

Dick is not magical.

Whew. Thank goodness for my OGMMTVC project. Without it, I wouldn’t be seeing that Tee Bundit repeated issues of bad filmmaking that I’m seeing in the earlier dramas. Tee -- you can’t use queer sex like that. Yes, Man and Ben are beautiful. I knew Man would act THE HELL out of intimacy, convincingly, and he did. I love them together.

But I find Pat totally unbelievable at this point. To gain such comfort in dating a superior in such a short amount of time on screen. Only to have a breakdown when co-workers are looking critically on it. To resigning.

Wow. Learn to pace, Tee. Please, for the sake of what could have been a totally fabulous and deeply interesting storyline.

This episode had so much potential.

I might have more later, but just. 

[lacependragon]

Listen I love the Bees. They're my preferred ship for the both of them. I love the healing and the tenderness and the trust and the giggles matched with the sarcasm and the jokes.

But. But.

I do genuinely believe that sometime around V7, RWBY became a soulless cash grab, and the Justice League movies really, really slam that home for me. And I'm sorry that was when the Bees got all their shit together. The characters could be in a much better story! But they're not, in canon. They're stuck in RWBY.

And RWBY, for me, has sucked since about the midpoint of V7. It feels soulless, out of character, like it's slapping the lowest common denominator in plots, reveals, and characterization, and it's so full of Bathos it's impossible to take seriously without feeling like the actual showrunners are making fun of you for enjoying the show.

I love the characters. I love so much of the lore. But it does, to me, genuinely feel like the last 3 volumes exist just to exist, that everything is solely about money instead of story, and that everything interesting and nuanced about this world has been sanded down and filed off to make nice smooth, non-corners so that everyone in the audience without any reading comprehension still doesn't cut themselves on any sharp edges because none exist.

And that's not even getting into my problem with the way the series handles tone across a single volume and multiple volumes. Which I think has been seriously failing since V5.

There's so much in the modern canon that fascinates me - the tree in Ever After and the concept of Ever After is one of the most interesting things RWBY has done in a while, IMO, but I wish it had been better thought out, better implemented, better foreshadowed. I wish it didn't rely on fairytales we've never heard of and didn't fuck with stuff we already knew without any sort of clarity.

In a lot of series I'd give the showrunners some benefit of doubt, but RWBY has proven multiple times that it doesn't care about clarity of worldbuilding, only coolness factor. So things aren't consistent, and they don't make proper sense, and they're changed whenever the writers think of something better - or that's how it fucking feels.

Not to mention I am still firm that the characters have been acting wrong for a while. Some more extremely than others, but in ways that are convenient to plot and comedy, rather than true to themselves.

If I wasn't so invested. If I didn't love so much. I'd just walk away and let it go. Gods know I've never finished a shit ton of series for that reason.

The problem is I love so much of RWBY and it's hard to just. Be so frustrated with it.

[vampryn]

i refuse to dilute myself to give you a more pleasant piece of me

[nerevarswritingstuff]

WE'RE ALMOST DONE WITH THE EDITS BOYS

I've hit chapter 29 / 31

We're so close.... but I am also starting to feel that editor's burnout, so I'll be taking a short break from edits to get proofreading done with Verdette (cuddlefishie's new username)

BUT MAN I'M SO EXCITED TO FINALLY CONTINUE THE STORY

If I ever mention doing edits again, fucking shoot me because I've clearly lost my mind I never want to do this again

[tuxedosaurus]

Chicago style “deep dish” pizza looks like a weird fantasy version of the default superior New York pizza.

Behold, the P’eezaa pie.