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tomeandflickcorner · 4 years ago

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Episode Review- The Real Ghostbusters: The Scaring of the Green

Figured it was fitting to drop this review on St. Patrick’s Day, as that’s when the episode takes place.

A full moon is shining over what I think is supposed to be a small lake in Ireland. Out of nowhere, a large dog-like creature emerges from the depths of the lake. This creature is the Bog Hound, and I am in love with the creature’s design. Shaggy dark green fur (which sometimes glows), four blood red eyes and large saber-toothed tiger like teeth. I don’t know what creative team keeps coming up with the designs for the ghosts and entities in this show, but give them all awards for this! Anyway, the Bog Hound lets out a long howl at the moon before jumping into the Atlantic Ocean and swimming away.

We then cut to New York City, where woman in a fancy dress is pulling up to a hotel in the back of a limo. She’s there for a banquet that’s being held at the hotel. But just as she arrives at the hotel, she and the doorman overhear a commotion inside, followed by the windows on an upper floor shattering. It turns out the Ghostbusters are dealing with a particular troublesome ghost which had invaded the banquet hall. This ghost continues to dodge the blasts from the Proton Packs, so there’s quite a lot of damage being done to the banquet hall, and the people attending the banquet are hiding beneath the tables. At one point, Mayor Lenny (who I didn’t recognize at first due to the fact that he got a redesign in this episode) pokes his head out to yell at the Ghostbusters for the collateral damages. It seems this banquet is a special St. Patrick’s Day Eve dinner, and that Mayor Lenny had invited every important Irishman in the city. Like most politicians, Mayor Lenny doesn’t want to risk angering potential voters and ruining his chances at getting reelected. However, Mayor Lenny has to once again duck and cover when the ghost is located inside an ice bucket. After some more antics from the ghost, Winston manages to sneak up on the ghost and trap it beneath a glass bowl. This gives the other Ghostbusters the chance they needed to ready a Ghost Trap and successfully trap the prankish ghost inside. With the job done, Ray gathers up the other loaded Ghost Traps, revealing they had previously captured three other ghosts. He proudly announces that prankish ghost was the last of them. But at that moment, the woman who had arrived in the limo enters the banquet hall and screams in alarm at the sight of all the damages. Peter, mistaking the woman’s scream for the wail of another ghost, impulsively turns and fires his Proton Pack in her direction.

Fortunately, the woman isn’t badly hurt, other than getting her dress vaporized and most likely receiving the fright of her life. But it turns out this woman was Mayor Lenny’s wife. So the Ghostbusters are in big trouble because of the mishap and end up in a prison cell. Which gives Lieutenant Frump, that Ghostbuster-hating cop from The Headless Motorcyclist, a chance to stop by and mock them. Lieutenant Frump’s mocking is interrupted by the appearance of a second cop, Deputy Police Chief O’Malley. After instructing Lieutenant Frump to clear off, Chief O’Malley presents the Ghostbusters with an offer. He’ll help the Ghostbusters out by getting the charges against them dropped and even pay for Mrs. Lenny’s dress if they help him with something in return. He explains that, a long time ago, the O’Malley clan stole a pot of gold from a Leprechaun. As punishment, the Leprechaun placed a curse upon the family. Whenever there was a full moon on St. Patrick’s Day, a Bog Hound would appear and carry away the head of the O’Malley clan. Well, it turns out that there’s a full moon out on this St. Patrick’s Day. And since Chief O’Malley is the current head of the clan, it’s his life that’s at stake. For some reason, though, the Ghostbusters seem skeptical of Chief O’Malley’s story, even after Chief O’Malley shows them a glowing piece of the Bog Hound’s fur, which his great grandfather had obtained after escaping the Bog Hound by the skin of his teeth. Egon states the hair doesn’t prove anything. Peter, however, is interested in getting out of jail, so he’s willing to agree to the bargain.

As Chief O’Malley tells his story, the Bog Hound arrives in New York. (Boy, the Bog Hound is a strong swimmer to have crossed the entire ocean so fast.) Upon arriving in the city, the Bog Hound ends up scaring off two old men sitting on a park bench. As the two old men run off, the Bog Hound lets out a loud howl, which ends up being so loud, a number of windows crack, and the Ghostbusters manage to hear it from their cell. Chief O’Malley cringes upon hearing the sound as well, and he tells the Ghostbusters that they can defeat the Bog Hound if they find a four-leaf clover. Although, Egon all but rolls his eyes at this, stating that the way to defeat the Bog Hound is with science.

When the Ghostbusters return to the Firehouse, Egon announces he’s not going to join his teammates in locating a four-leaf clover. Instead, he’s going after the Bog Hound himself, to prove that science is the way to defeat the Bog Hound, not superstitions. Egon eventually tracks the Bog Hound down to the Bronx Zoo, but when he tries to fire his Proton Pack at the creature, nothing happens. Because someone neglected to recharge them or something. So Egon has to run for his life from the Bog Hound. He eventually manages to take cover by climbing up a tree, but once he’s up there, he discovers that he’s not the only one who had that idea. A group of lions, a few tigers and some leopards who escaped their enclosures because of the Bog Hound damaging some of the cages at the zoo, are also seeking refuge in the tree. One of the lions begins moving menacingly towards Egon. Which I found a bit weird. Yes, I know lions in the zoo are still wild animals and will therefore behave like wild animals. But the notion that one of the lions would try going after Egon right here seems a bit far-fetched to me, given how scared the lions must be of the Bog Hound. Particularly since there are also tigers and leopards up in the tree as well. Just saying, if the lion would still go after a human while trying to evade the Bog Hound, wouldn’t the lion also be turning on the other big cats as well? Still, I guess they had to come up with some way for Egon to get out of that tree. Because Egon ends up falling when the tree branch he crawled out on to get away from the approaching lion broke. However, he also briefly loses his glasses when the lion takes a swipe at him (which probably should have injured him a lot more.) When Egon finds his glasses again, it’s only to discover the Bog Hound is right in front of him. Luckily, Egon is able to trick the Bog Hound by initiating a game of fetch. Because regardless of how big the Bog Hound is, a dog is still a dog. (Which is something that’s driven home even more when we later see the Bog Hound chasing down random cars.) Egon is able to get away when the Bog Hound is distracted by the stick Egon threw. And I generally feel bad for the poor Bog Hound when he returns with the stick in his mouth, clearly hoping Egon will throw it again, only to discover that Egon had scarpered.

Elsewhere, the other Ghostbusters are trying to locate a four-leaf clover. Winston tries his luck at multiple florist shops but to no avail. (And by pure happenstance, he just barely misses the Bog Hound, who had ripped up a fire hydrant outside one of the florist shops in order to get a drink moments before Winston left the shop.) Ray tries to locate one the old fashioned way, by rooting around for one in the park, but his efforts are disrupted when an Irish cop approaches him and, upon hearing Ray’s reasons for crawling through the grass, thinks Ray is simply making fun of his thick Irish accent and responds by tossing Ray into a trash bin. Peter, on the other hand, managed to successfully locate a four-leaf clover at the Botanical Gardens. He returns to the Firehouse triumphantly, but mere seconds after he arrives to show off the four-leaf clover, Slimer pops up out of nowhere and eats it, which leaves Peter completely dumbfounded. Yeah, that was incredibly random. I know Slimer is known to have a large appetite, but that clover didn’t even resemble food. So what was that about?

Since they lost the only four-leaf clover they’d been able to locate, Egon announces that they should quit messing around with superstitions and use the tried and true (and scientific) method of vanquishing the Bog Hound. So they head down to where the St. Patrick’s Day Parade is starting and make their way through the crowd in order to join up with the group of Irish cops marching in front of the Police Benevolent Society float. They hope that doing so would enable them to offer some protection to Chief O’Malley, who is marching in the parade with the other Irish cops. Before long, the Bog Hound appears on the scene. As the crowd of civilians runs away, the Bog Hound charges at them, and ends up chasing Peter up a pole. Winsotn and Ray attempt to fire at the Bog Hound, but he dodges their attacks. Though he does disrupt one of the parade floats, which happens to crash into the pole Peter was clinging to, resulting in him falling right into the car Mayor and Mrs. Lenny had been riding in. And when Ray and Winston, who are still guarding Chief O’Malley, attempt to fire their Proton Packs at the Bog Hound again, they just happen to do so in front of same parade float, which happens to fall over at that exact moment. They’re okay, but the falling float ripped off their Proton Packs, thereby disarming them. Which means they can only run when the Bog Hound comes after them.

Meanwhile, Peter, while being helped out of the Mayor’s parade car by Egon, sees that Mrs. Lenny has a four-leaf clover attached to her corsage. He quickly takes it and hurries after the Bog Hound, who has managed to corner Chief O’Malley, Ray and Winston in an alley. Peter confronts the Bog Hound and brandishes the four-leaf clover at him, only to realize too late that the four-leaf clover isn’t real and is just a plastic decoration. (Don’t ask me why he didn’t notice that sooner.) Peter is forced to turn and run away, but when the Bog Hound pursues Peter, Egon is ready for him. And as the Bog Hound leaps out of the alley after Peter, Egon activates the Ghost Trap he’d placed in front of the alley, catching the Bog Hound in mid-leap.

As a gesture of gratitude towards the Ghostbusters for stopping the Bog Hound, the people who organized the parade hold a ceremony for them, proclaiming them all as honorary Irishmen. They are then presented awards by the honorary grand marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, who turns out to be Mrs. Lenny. And she takes her chance to get revenge on Peter for burning off her dress at the earlier banquet and then falling on her at the parade by repeatedly sticking him with the pin and pretending it was an accident.

Overall, I did enjoy this episode. And the Bog Hound was certainly the highlight. From what I’ve heard, they even revealed in a DVD commentary that they researched Celtic Mythology while creating the Bog Hound, and drew inspiration from both the Black Dog and CúSith. Which was a nice bit of background information. However, I was bothered by Egon’s attitude in this episode. I know the man is all about science and rationality. But it’s still strange how he’d scoff at the notion that the Bog Hound could be defeated by a four-leaf clover and outright dismiss it as superstitious nonsense. Especially since he’s previously seen things like vampires and werewolves, and saw proof that Ebenezer Scrooge, the Headless Horseman and The Phantom (of Opera fame) were real. And just last episode, he talked about magic as if it was a legitimate thing. Why is this the thing that’s too far-fetched for him? For crying out loud, Ray even mentions in the episode that there’s a chapter in Tobin’s Spirit Guide that’s called ‘Botanical Specific Avoidance in Spectral Manifestations.’ So the notion that certain plants can ward off an entity isn’t that unusual. The weirdest part is that the episode even seems to back Egon up in the end, as they defeat the Bog Hound without using a four-leaf clover. I personally think it would have been cleverer to have Egon come to accept the four-leaf clover solution. It could have presented a subtle message about how you can’t always rely solely on science and logic, and that sometimes you have to take a leap of faith. Which seems like a good lesson to learn, particularly in a show that revolves around catching ghosts. Of course, I suppose it could also be argued that using a four-leaf clover would only have saved Chief O’Malley, and the Bog Hound could return one day to go after one of his descendants. In that case, trapping the Bog Hound with their equipment was the only way to ensure that future O’Malleys would be safe as well.

(Click here for more Ghostbusters reviews)

#the real ghostbusters #rgb episode review #ghostbusters franchise

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klaroline-fantasies · 5 years ago

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Shewolf

For KCFanficWeek Day 2

Someone has been killing supernatural people in the Quarter; witches, vampires and werewolves alike.

The witches think it’s the vampires or the werewolves that have been doing it.

The vampires think it’s the werewolves and the werewolves think it’s either the vampires or the witches.

Everyone was blaming each other but Klaus knew considering everyone thinks it’s the other person that did it…it meant that none of them were the culprit. He knew whoever was killing the supernatural beings in the French Quarter was an outsider, possibly a hunter.

It had to be a very skilled and powerful hunter to rack up a body count such as the amount he racked.

But he also doubted it to be a hunter because he never heard of a hunter going after witches. He knew humans had a predilection for hunting witches but not real hunters.

Hunters hunted vampires and werewolves, not witches.

But whoever was doing the hunting had to be skilled enough to recognize who were vampires, who were werewolves despite the absence of a full moon and especially who were witches as they weren’t easy to detect.

His thoughts brought him to the chilling thought that they might be dealing with one of the Five. He had thought that when Silas died, so did the Five and their quest to keep the 2000 year old immortal from being resurrected, but it was the only logical explanation for that could have been doing all the killings in the Quarter.

But the fact that he was unable to catch the culprit was what ticked him off. The Five were stronger than your average corn-fed hunters. They were magically created to stand toe-to-toe with vampires, while those who decided to be the world’s savior by being hunters were just regular humans with basic skills for hunting. Neither of them was capable of eluding him.

He then thought it could’ve been someone from their past. Someone that he have forgotten and has come back for revenge or something, but none of the people from his past who could have still been alive could’ve eluded him and if they seek vengeance, they would also desire for Klaus to know who they were so that he would know why they were doing it.

The person killing the supernatural beings didn’t have specific method either. They chopped off their heads, ripped out their heads, but for the witches it was as simple as snapping their neck or stabbing them with regular objects. The person doing it didn’t designate any specific killing method for specific species either. It was entirely random, like whoever they chanced upon they would kill.

The people he killed weren’t connected in any way, shape or form. It was all very random.

He sought to have a chat with Mystic Fall’s friendly neighborhood vampire, Stefan.

He told Klaus he hadn’t seen a hunter from the five since Elena’s brother, the Gilbert boy. Before he hung up, Stefan had also told him that Caroline was still the same before they ended their conversation.

He had heard that Caroline’s mother had passed.

He knew she would take that very hard.

He was also not shocked to find out she had switched her emotions off. He expected it in fact.

The Sherriff was her only blood relative she had left, the only remnants of her human life remaining. Now that she had lost her mother, and she felt alone. He knew had anything happened to her mother that would’ve been the outcome.

He decided he wouldn’t intervene because Caroline would eventually return to her emotions on her own time.

The temptation to see her without her emotions controlling her actions was there, but he had enough going on in New Orleans to bring her into the mess. Maybe when he had established more control then he would’ve invited her someday.

Some days had passed and more bodies had shown up.

He was beginning to get peeved by this unknown assailant who had been assassinating the members of his kingdom. He would stalk the town at night in hopes to catch the person in the act and use them as solidification to his crown by executing the person with the supernatural residents to see. But he never could get there on time. His kills were now more quick and messy, like they knew he was tailing them and they just killed the person and ran.

He was in a late night meeting with the vampires when suddenly two vampires came in dragging another body in. It was random nightwalker, but what was interesting about this specific kill was that the killer carved a message on the vampire’s chest just below the gaping hole where his heart once was.

“Missed me?” - C

He had no idea who it was, he knew many enemies whose first name began with the letter C. The words were carved with a fork or a skewer because it was written in such a way that would show it was a sharp object with two equal pointed ends.

Marcel wanted to round up all the members of the werewolves whose names, nicknames or last names began with a C, as well as the witches and even the vampires. Klaus wasn’t interested because he knew for sure that whoever it was, wasn’t a French Quarter native. This was a stranger. Had it been someone from New Orleans, they would’ve selected their prey, but these were too random to be someone from New Orleans.

He was on his way towards his room in the compound when he got a call from Stefan.

“She’s gone”

He froze in his movements as he knew exactly who Stefan meant when he said ‘she’ “What do you mean she’s gone?”

“She kinda just left like two months ago and we’ve been souring the earth for her and we can’t find her anywhere and I’m desperate. I didn’t want you to worry so I lied.”

Klaus growled into the phone “Never ask boys to do a man’s job.”

“Look, if I wanted to get insulted I could’ve gone to Damon. I’m telling you now because she’s emotionless and somewhere in the world racking up a body count. At this point, the only person who might be able to find her is you. Is there anywhere you can think of that she might go?”

Klaus’s angel boiled and he marched to the library room to prepare for a trip. The unknown person racking up bodies in New Orleans would have to wait until he got back. He would have to make some calls to his contacts around the world and send a picture so they have an idea on who they should be keeping an eye out.

He opened the door to his room but stopped at the doorstep at the sight in front of him.

The room was dimly lit and there was an eerie quietness to it. But what stood out to him was the chair in the centre of the room and the back was turned to him…with someone sitting in it.

That’s also wasn’t what caught his immediate attention, what caught his immediate attention was that the figure sitting in his chair that he couldn’t see was dangling her arm from the arm rest and her hands were bloodied and she held a fork in her grasp. He could see the fresh blood dripping from the fork as if she had just made her kill.

He knew it was a ‘her’ from the dainty fingers that held the weapon.

A sudden realization dawned on him…

Caroline had slipped the Salvatore’s two months ago…

The killings began a little over two months ago…

No…

Caroline couldn’t possibly evade capture for so long…

But she’s emotionless, she’s not held back by her inhibitions and her conscience. She’s the monster she’s been holding back since she turned.

She’s a stranger in New Orleans; she has no ties to anyone except him…

He never expected the culprit to be Caroline, nowhere in his mind had he allowed the idea to fester in his mind. He felt she was incapable of such a thing...

…but she abandoned her emotions, which rendered her capable of killing so much people.

He saw the back of her blonde hair and he knew that not even his sister would be so dramatic. He was completely and absolutely sure who she was now…

It was Caroline.

And the growing smirk on his face and the swell in his chest told them that he couldn’t be more proud.

She not only kept under the radar to the point where he didn’t even know she was in New Orleans, but she made sure the killings were all random so as to not point back to her should she have allowed a pattern to show, she treated each kill as the last with no prejudice, she refrained from giving him hints as to who it could be and when she was ready to show herself, she did it with style.

She could give Jack the Ripper a run for his money as she revealed herself on purpose whereas he kept his identity hidden.

The chair swiveled to face him and there she was, sitting in a very lady like manner with a smirk on her face. She wore a black boots, black jeans, a blank top and a jacket to match. She wore her hair in a manner he had never seen before, but even with her sinister appearance, he could see a flicker of her life glistening in her eyes.

“Well…” she trailed of softly “Did you?”

He knew she was referring to the message she left him on her last victim’s chest.

“Something tells me you already know the answer to that question.”

She blushed and looked down.

“So…” he took a step inside and hung up the phone, he would call Stefan back later “Should I expect more bodies to pop up or was that the last?”

“That’s the last…for now. I achieved my purpose.”

He arched an eyebrow at her. She got up from the chair and slowly approached him.

“You guys were running around like headless chickens, trying to find out who’s been killing people. You blame your own, you blame the werewolves, you blame the witches, you blame the vampires, you doubt each other, you doubt yourselves, and no one figured out that the murderer wasn’t even from around here…but I think you did.” She stopped in front of him, she was so close to him she could feel his body heat against her skin and all she had to do was lean forward slightly to touch his lips with her own “It was so much fun to watch.”

He liked her like that, confident, assertive, calculating…but he could very much tell that she was missing her emotions, that she was different, because while he could see a spark of her light, it was just a spark…he found her slightly lacking without her emotions in a sense despite the fact that he did enjoy that side of her.

“Was it better on your end than mine?” he asked in a whisper, his eyes glancing to her lips briefly before back to her eyes.

“So much better…”

With those words she smashed her lips to his. Her kiss was hungry and wild; he returned it, pulling her closer by wrapping his arm around the small of her back. Her hand that wasn’t as coated with blood wrapped around his neck to keep him close. He heard the fork slowly drop to the floor and he allowed himself a little more time with her lips before he used his other hand to cradle her face.

He slowly pulled away and hummed in delight.

“I would be delighted to return to this after…”

“After what…?” she mumbled while her eyes were still closed.

With a sharp twist he snapped her neck. She fell to the ground unceremoniously and he looked down at her. It was time she returned to her emotions before she started killing more people and make the recovery that much harder.

He pulled back out his phone and called Stefan.

“Find yourself on the next plane to New Orleans, we have a lot of clean up to do.”

#klaroline #klaroline fanfiction #klaroline fanfic #kc fanfiction #kc fanfic #kcfanficweek #dark #mine #mydrabbles #my drabbles #well dark-ish

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mysticsparklewings · 5 years ago

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2019 Art Summary!

It's that time again when we all look back on the year we've had and reflect, and then look forward to what's to come in the New Year. This only my second year doing a yearly Art Summary piece (I didn't miss February like I did last year!) but I'm grateful for the tradition now. Looking back, 2019 had a lot going on for me and my art; I started out not that different from how I've been handling my art and myself online for the past couple of years, but as the year went on, I feel like I've done a lot of growing, finding myself, and even though I didn't start off in a terrible place, I think I'm in a much better one now. This really was a year of tremendous personal growth for me, both in art and just in life, and I can only hope that continues through the New Year and beyond. (As sappy as that is to say, I really mean it.) That said, let's look back on 2019 in a little more detail, shall we? January: Birthday Wishes I actually didn't have a ton of options to choose from for this month, as I think I was a little burnt out from the last couple of months in 2018 and giving myself some breathing room. Still, this Shopkin colored to match my actual birthday cake actually remains one of my favorite mixed media pieces I've done. I don't know why, there's just something I really enjoy about how it turned out, for as simple as it is. And for the record, I think I will be doing another custom Shopkin drawing for my birthday again this year, but I haven't decided anything beyond that yet. February: Floating Away (+ Time Lapse!) So as I mentioned earlier, on last year's Art Summary I discovered I didn't have any submissions dated in February and I hadn't yet gotten in the habit of documenting completion dates for my artwork, and so I didn't have an artwork to put there that I could definitively say was done in February. This year, however, February was actually one of my busiest months and I had a pretty wide variety to choose from. I ended up going with my little hot air balloon, as while it's a bit different from my normal work, I still think it's really cute and it also represents one of my attempts to start making videos of my artwork...Which I've been too lazy to do since the few attempts I did during this month... But who knows? I have a better camera and slightly larger workspace at my disposal, so perhaps I'll try again and be a little less lazy about that in 2020. March: Once a Killjoy, Always a Killjoy Oh boy, if past-me had only known what was to come later this year! March saw a lot of pieces from me practicing with watercolor and new supplies, but I think my favorite to come out of the month was my annual artwork to honor March 22nd, the anniversary of when My Chemical Romance, my favorite band, broke up. Only this time instead of doing pure fanart, I made myself into a Killjoy for the occasion. (The design of which needs to be revamped a little because my hair is purple now, but that just means I already have one option for the anniversary this coming year!) And once again, this is a mixed media piece that I look back on very fondly. The concept is fun and the end result looks pretty cool. April: Doodle Moon I leaned pretty heavily into honing my watercolor craft in April, and among those efforts, this one is definitely my favorite. (Even if it doesn't fit on this template very nicely ) This one was a bit of an experiment in branching my traditional and digital art together in a different way, and I still really love how it turned out. Although unfortunately, I've yet to return to this technique, simply because I feel weird a lot of the time about "half finishing" a traditional piece and then making a lot of modifications to it digitally. It feels like cheating or being fake in a way to me. But I think I get that hangover from the concept of editing photos online and then passing them off as real & unedited...in which case it's a personal problem that I just need to deal with on my own. May: Butterfly Babe I didn't have a ton of artwork in May, but what I did have were usually bigger/more involved pieces, and this one is no different. I think 2019 is the year when I really came into owning my love for mixed media (which comes in large part from "I'm not good at x thing with y supply, but I can do x effect with z supply really well!") and this piece is a really great example of that. Once again, still one of my favorites and the scan really doesn't do it just with all the sparkle/metallic accents I incorporated. And I think I want to do more involved almost crafty projects like this more often, but that usually comes down to having the right inspiration to make it happen. June: Bug Girl Funnily enough, June 2019 is now my busiest month of all-time (in the almost 9 years I've been here on dA), and yet I only had one "real" piece of art for the Summary. This was the month when I really got heavy into making my own Swatch Charts/Swatching Resources, and while some did carry over into July, the bulk of it was posted in June. I have to say, I don't think a ton of other people are using the charts, but I've certainly been getting good use out of them! And if I'm being honest I mostly wanted them for my own personal use anyway. But for the artwork that you see here, this is another mixed media piece, this time commemorating one of my favorite books I've read this year, How to Make Friends with the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow. The artwork itself had some annoying problems in development, but the result is really beautiful to me, and so I think it was worth it in the end. July: Homemade Mini Sketchbooks! This month is more of a craft project than artwork, but I couldn't help myself as these little sketchbooks I made myself are probably one of my most favorite projects I did in 2019, and these first two spawned many more afterward. It's funny to me because I've always wanted a way to combine my loves of books and art beyond just illustrating my writing (which isn't always something I feel like doing) and this, while maybe not a perfect solution, is definitely a unique way to do that. Plus, while making each book does take a little while, it is usually a pretty fun process now that I've gotten the better hang of it. These first two books aren't perfect, but they kicked off something I think I'll be sporadically doing for a good while to come. August: Mon Cher It feels like a lot happening this month, despite not having quite as much art as other months this past year. The month started off with the end of our family vacation, and I posted a journal when I got back where you can see that part of the reason this month felt so busy is that this is probably when I had the most new art supplies available to me to test out/play with during the year, including some items that I got at the tail end of July. Out of the options I had though, this artwork seemed like the best choice to represent this month, as just like in April I leaned pretty heavily into using and practicing with watercolors and painting in general (as I dipped my toes into seriously painting with Acrylics this month too) and this is one of my more ambitious watercolor pieces. As I said when I first posted it, it has its mistakes and growing pains, but I still think it's really lovely. September: Fly By the Moon I was actually surprised, looking back, at how busy September was. My second acrylic painting (this one more in-depth than the first), an array of cute kitty drawings which have sort of become a series now, some personal pieces, and two contest entries. (One of which actually won!) I went with the acrylic painting since I'm still very proud of how it turned out, given that I don't use acrylics terribly often and hardly ever I go for realism (even semi-realism like this painting) either. Plus, this one is a nice memory of the two real luna moths that visited us, and I had to admit that it is just really nice to have a full painting on a canvas to hang up too. I haven't done much more with acrylic painting yet, but I definitely want to. My main issue is that for me it's hard deciding on a good subject for the way I like to paint that I don't feel like would look equally as good if not better with a different medium. But hopefully, I'll find more excuses to break out the acrylics in 2020. October: Ink Dance Oh boy, what a month this was! Inktober, new mini-magnets, trying gouache for the first time, and on the very last day the news of the decade (at least for me) that My Chemical Romance is back! I followed my same principle as the art summary last year where it just doesn't feel fair to pick a favorite Inktober or use the wrap-up picture, so that left me with my gouache pieces or this one that looks more like a normal person's Inktober artwork, and out of my options, this is the one I like best. The gouache paintings aren't bad, I just need more practice and this one has more charm to me. And it's also funny to me that I was so concerned about ending up hating this one for the stippling and yet it turned out to be one of my favorites from this year. November: I will be with You The artwork for this month was pretty much a no-contest. I made this piece as a love letter to My Chemical Romance after the news of their Return, and likewise, I poured my heart and soul into it. It just might be one of my most favorite artworks to date; perhaps even worthy of being a "portfolio piece" on my website. Even more so after the fact now that I've seen the Return concert (albeit over a Livestream and not in person because California is like 2-3,000 miles away from me ). I was pretty busy throughout the month trying to keep up with a prompt challenge from Art Philosophy, but even so, I pushed myself to get this piece done and I'm so glad I did. December: Daises on Strawberry Hill Ah, and here we are at the very last. It's funny, the first half of this month seemed to drag by pretty slowly, but then after the second week things picked up pretty quickly (what with the Return concert and all) and I have to agree with my mom that Christmas went by so fast we almost missed that it happened at all. I don't have as much to show for this month, but that's in large part because I've been taking time off for my mental health and to spend time with and enjoy my family. I'm pretty happy with everything I produced this month, but my Looking for Alaska inspired art is definitely my favorite of the bunch. It's very graphic-design-ish and despite at the time having been done rather quickly and not super precisely, looking at it now it reads very cleanly. It's a little outside my normal art realm, but if anything I think that makes it stronger on its own. I'm still chipping away at my longer review of the Hulu series I originally made it to talk about (like I said when I posted it, I have a lot of thoughts I want to talk about and not rush through), so I am indeed still planning on finishing and posting those...I just don't know when that'll be, considering I've already got a bit of a content schedule for myself going into the New Year, but eventually! Eventually, it'll be done! Overall, I'm honestly very happy with what I've managed to accomplish this year. Just like last year, I did a lot of experimenting with new supplies and new mediums--this time some I thought I'd never touch--and I hit even more milestones, including my first Daily Deviation in November. I feel like I've grown significantly more as an artist and a person this year though than I did last year. And in many ways, I feel like this year has renewed my confidence in my own skills and work. I'm not much of a "New Years' Resolution" type person, as I think the concept as tied to that particular phrase has been...I'll be generous and say overinflated and mistreated...but some of my Art Goals for 2020 are: Post more consistently/regularly (which I worked on a lot in 2019 too) Be more active & engaged on social media (I've already started working on this a little, but for some reason, this is honestly kind of hard for me as I always debate what's worth sharing online and what isn't ) Promote me and my work/art outlets more (Also something I find hard to do) Keep experimenting (Not really a goal so much as my artistic state of existence but whatever ) This past year has been one heck of a wild ready, but I'm more than ready to see what 2020 has in store for me. Cheers for the New Year ahead! ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings Art Summary Template: 2019 Summary of Art Template (Blank) ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

#artsummary

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celtfather · 6 years ago

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St Patrick's Day Playlist 2019, 3 Hours #400

St Patrick's Day starts early with three hours of Celtic music from the award-winning Irish & Celtic Music Podcast. http://bestcelticmusic.net/

The Gothard Sisters, Banna De Dha, Beyond the Pale, The Duplets, Lochlainn, Clan Celtica, Irish Whispa, Keith Hinchliffe, Kyle Carey, Ceol Gan Achar, Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer, Bedlam Bards, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Rose Rock, Ella Roberts, Bangers and Mash, Screaming Orphans, Ceann, Ed Miller, Kennedy's Kitchen, Dark Patrick, Paddy's Pig, We Banjo 3, Talisk, Lothlorien, Madd Paddy, Marc Gunn, Kinfolk, Gaelic Storm, Fergus, Albannach, Calasaig, Derek Byrne and Paddygrass, The Hallions, The Fighting Jamesons, Hexperos, Dervish, SeaStar, The McCabes, Old Blind Dogs, The Kreelers, Conor Caldwell, Runa, Seamus Kennedy, Brobdingnagian Bards, Johnson's Motorcar, The Canny Brothers Band, The Poxy Boggards, Celtic Soul, Ockham's Razor

I hope you enjoyed this week's show. If you did, please share the show with ONE friend.

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast is dedicated to growing our community and helping the incredible artists who so generously share their music. If you find music you love, buy their albums, shirts, and songbooks, follow them on Spotify, see their shows, and drop them an email to let them know you heard them on the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast.

Remember also to Subscribe to the Celtic Music Magazine. Every week, I'll send you a few cool bits of Celtic music news. It's a quick and easy way to plug yourself into more great Celtic culture. Plus, you'll get 34 Celtic MP3s for Free, just for signing up today. Thank you again for being a Celt of Kindness.

VOTE IN THE CELTIC TOP 20

With the new year comes a new votes in the Celtic Top 20. This is our way of finding the best songs and artists each year. Just list the show number, and the name of as many bands in the episode as you like. Your vote helps me create next year's Best Celtic music of 2019 episode.

THIS WEEK IN CELTIC MUSIC

0:05 "The Three Coins" by The Gothard Sisters from Story Girl

3:34 "Comb Your Hair & Curl It / The White Petticoat / The Black Rogue" by Banna De Dha from Band of Two

8:29 "Catalpa Rescue" by Beyond the Pale from Wantin' Something More

12:02 "Garry Porch's" by The Duplets from Leverage

15:07 "Green Window" by Lochlainn from Fisher Street

19:07 "Triantan" by Clan Celtica from Tribal Thunder

22:34 CELTIC FEEDBACK

23:08 "Rising of the Moon" by Irish Whispa from Irish Whispa

25:54 "A Wee Dram or Henry the Horse's Hornpipe" from Keith Hinchliffe from A Wee Dram

27:48 "Cairistiona" by Kyle Carey from North Star

30:40 "Hedigans Fancy Hawson" by Ceol Gan Achar from Ceol Gan Achar

34:59 "Grandpa Joe" by Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer from Twelve Months & A Day

39:48 PATRONS OF THE PODCAST

41:11 "Whiskey in the Jar" by Bedlam Bards from Furious Fancies

44:22 "Jenny's Story" by The Merry Wives of Windsor from Tales from Windsor's Tavern

46:35 "Down by the Sally Garden" by Rose Rock from Aire Loom

49:22 "North Wind" by Ella Roberts from North Wind

53:18 "Paddy's Day NYC" by Bangers and Mash from Whisper Valley and Other Stories

56:49 "Dr. Gilberts Sel" by Screaming Orphans from Taproom

59:49 CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS

1:00:26 "Almost Irish" by Ceann from Almost Irish

1:05:38 "London Town" by Ed Miller from Follow the Music

1:09:48 "Christy Barry's Jig/The Rolling Waves/The Old Favorite/The West Clare Reel" by Kennedy's Kitchen from The Birds Upon the Tree

1:14:27 "Eamonn An Chnoic" by Dark Patrick from Fainne Gael an Lae

1:17:21 "Henry My Son" by Paddy's Pig from Maple & Wire

1:20:47 "Two Sisters" by We Banjo 3 from String Theory

1:25:29 "Rations" by Talisk from Beyond

1:32:33 CELTIC FEEDBACK

1:33:00 "Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore" by Lothlorien from Single

1:37:27 "The Leprechaun" by Madd Paddy from Arrived

1:39:52 "Henry Martin" by Marc Gunn from Not Every Day Is St Patrick's Day

1:42:19 "Paddy's Stout" by Kinfolk from This Land

1:44:53 "Kiss Me I'm Irish" by Gaelic Storm from Bring Yer Wellies

1:49:37 "P Stands for Paddy" by Fergus from Green St.

1:52:49 CELTIC PODCAST NEWS

1:53:51 "Auld Nick's A Piper" by Albannach from Eye of the Storm

1:56:21 "Lazy Bairn / Instrumental: Doug McPhee's Welcome" by Calasaig from Merchant's City

2:00:03 "My Only" by Derek Byrne and Paddygrass from Half and Half

2:02:52 "Devil's Kiss" by The Hallions from EP

2:06:53 "A Song for Letting Go" by The Fightling Jamesons from Every Day Above Ground

2:11:26 "Giant's Causeway" by Hexperos from Lost in The Great Sea

2:15:45 "Red Haired Mary" by Dervish from Midsummer's Night

2:18:47 CELTIC FEEDBACK

2:19:21 "Galway Bay" by SeaStar from Never Go Back

2:23:21 "An American in Paris" by The McCabes from Songs for Breakfast

2:27:34 "Died and Gone" by Old Blind Dogs from Room With A View

2:33:28 "Johnny Don't Go" by The Kreelers from Saints & Sinners

2:36:42 "An Art Revealed" by Conor Caldwell from To Belfast...

2:39:10 "Big Fellah" by Black 47 from Rise Up

2:44:49 "The Ruthless Wife" by Runa from Current Affairs

2:50:39 CELTIC FEEDBACK

2:51:25 "Wild Rover" by Seamus Kennedy from By Popular Demand

2:56:34 "Old Dun Cow" by Brobdingnagian Bards from Brobdingnagian Fairy Tales

3:00:26 "Redcrow/Tamlins/Gravelwalk" by Johnsons Motorcar from Funky Disco Hardcore

3:05:05 "Spancil Hill" by The Canny Brothers Band from One Drop of Whiskey

3:08:12 "The Drinker's Praise" by The Poxy Boggards from Bawdy Parts

3:10:10 "Tempest in a Teacup" by Celtic Soul from Way

3:20:00 "Lanigan's Ball" by Ockham's Razor from Ten Thousand Miles to Bedlam

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast was produced by Marc Gunn, The Celtfather. To subscribe, go to Apple Podcasts or to our website where you can become a Patron of the Podcast for as little as $1 per episode. Promote Celtic culture through music at http://celticmusicpodcast.com/.

CELTIC PODCAST NEWS

* Helping you celebrate Celtic culture through music. My name is Marc Gunn. I am a Celtic musician and podcaster. This show is dedicated to the indie Celtic musicians. I want to ask you to support these artists. Share the show with your friends. And find more episodes at celticmusicpodcast.com. You can also support this podcast on Patreon.

Get our free app. Go to the iTunes or Amazon store to download the app for free. You'll be able to listen to every episode of the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast, not just the latest 300. That's all that Apple Podcasts will allow. The app will give you access to every show.

You can join my band Kilted Kings at The Hangout in Gulf Shores, Alabama on Sunday, March 17th for St. Patrick's Day. Go to KiltedKings.com for details.

Subscribe to my Pub Songs Podcast. I'm sharing 11 St Patrick's Day facts in a couple weeks. But you can listen right now and hear some great Celtic Heroes & Musical Legends from the past show.

If you don't have an Irish & Celtic Music Podcast t-shirt, what are you waiting for? Get one in our store.

Have you seen our new bumper sticker? It was beautifully designed by Miranda Nelson Designs. You can buy it in our store. But from now until March 21, you will get a free bumper sticker to go along with your per episode pledge of the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast. Just sign up as a patron.

TRAVEL WITH CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS

Every year, I take a small group of Celtic music fans on the relaxing adventure of a lifetime. We don't see everything. Instead, we stay in one area. We get to know the region through it's culture, history, and legends. You can join us with an auditory and visual adventure through podcasts and videos.

2019 is the Celtic Invasion of Dingle. 2020 is the Origins of Celtic Invasions. You can find out more about these two exciting trips. Join the invasion at http://celticinvasion.com/

THANK YOU PATRONS OF THE PODCAST!

Big corporations want to force feed you Music. Even though Celtic music is a niche market, There are big labels who want to tell you what music is good. With this podcast, you decide. Not a corporation. Not a billionaire. You!

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast is listener-supported. I make this show free and let you, the listener, support the podcast through your kind patronage on Patreon. You can make a per episode pledge and cap how much you want to spend each month supporting this podcast.

Your generosity funds the creation, promotion and production of the show. Best of all, you get episodes before regular listeners, discounts on merch, and when we hit a milestone, you get extra special episodes.

I want to thank our Celtic Legends: Shawn Cali, Bryan Brake, Annie Lorkowski, Kevin Long, Hank Woodward, Rian P Kegerreis, robert michael kane, Theresa Sullivan, Hunter Melville, Scott Benson, Carol Baril, Lynda MacNeil, Nancie Barnett, Tiffany Knight, Marianne Ludwig. These amazing people pledge at least $25 per month to support the podcast.

You can become a generous Patron of the Podcast at http://patreon.com/celticpodcast

I WANT YOUR FEEDBACK

What are you doing today while listening to the podcast? You can send a written comment along with a picture of what you're doing while listening. Email a voicemail message to [email protected]

Bill Hayes emailed: "Hi Mark, I just became a patron and I just wanted to drop you a line and say thank you for alll the great music you play. I wanted you to know how much this podcast means to me, I’ve always wanted to explore my Celtic heritage and I always loved the music of my ancestors. Thanks for sharing all the independent artists that make this music!"

Brian McReynolds emailed: "I have been listening to your podcast since late 2005. I love the variety of music and love listening to the podcasts. For Christmas I got some Bluetooth headphones and have been listening to the podcast while watching college football bowl games. It has been rather fun watching the action on the field with such great music on instead of listening to the commentary."

John Helminski emailed: "Hi Marc, Thanks for your great podcast. Is there one specific show dedicated to Celtic harp music?"

Catherine Koehler emailed a reply to my reply: "How providential that you responded tonight...the very night that i was writing YOU, lol. I was at the best pub in Louisiana this weekend, Enoch's Irish Pub and Grill of Monroe, LA, and made sure the podcast was well represented. I'm sending along a few pics of the podcast sticker that was ceremoniosly placed by Enoch's wonderful daughter Molly . In her words " we're placing it down low so everyone can see it!" Fyi...it is in front of everyone who stands in line for the rest room!! No billboard ever had a better placement!"

Check out this episode!

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booksandtea · 6 years ago

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Micro Brew | Favourites Micro Brew is hosted by Allie @ Hexen Librarian and its a fun way to promote something you love. On the 1st of each month she’ll give us 2 lots of prompts/questions for the 2 post that month.

Best thing is you can take part when you’re ready! So your answers can go live on the designated days or later on when it suits you best.

To take part all you have to do is tag Allie so she can see your responses, visit Melanie (part of the prompt creation) on twitter, include the header and an explanation, and complete the themed prompt.

February 18: Talk about your favorite underrated or lesser known book. A book you never see anyone talk about or you think has fallen to the wind. One that you just keep recommending and no one ever follows through reading.

Please note: this post contains summaries from Goodreads and affiliate links to purchase the books; you’ll not be charged any extra when purchasing through these.

So the last prompt turned out to also answer this one becase everyone seemed to comment that they weren’t aware of the Wicked Lovely series. I know a few have even set out with the intention to read it too so I am feeling the pressure today to provide some more books y’all can seek out!

I decided rather than just picking out some recent reads I think are underrated that I would also vidit my Goodreads Read Shelf and organise it to show the books with the lowesta,ount of ratings first. I have so many with less than 100 so here is a small handful of them that I rated highly and think y’all need to pick up ASAP.

[related post: How To Organise Your Goodreads Shelves]

UPCOMING RELEASES

Aries 181 | The Migration

me: I wont just list my recent reads also me: heres 2 of my recent reads

But its true okay, and maybe that does have something to do with the fact that neither of these books are released yet but I don’t care! I’m including them so you can be ready to buy them on release date ok?!

Aries 181 currently has 7 ratings and is releasing 26th March this year. No pre-order links available yet but when there are thats when my full review will exist. For now all you need to know is that if you like (queer) women who kick butt with science and are ready for your next Harley/Joker couple to read about then this is the story for you!

The Migration currently has 13 ratings and is releasing 5th March, you can pre-order here. This is perfect for those of you who like your horror a little more science based and definitely for fans of The Girl with all the Gifts! Usually I don’t find Adult books to be speedy reads but I really did devour this one. Again, full review to be posted soon~

BACKLIST BOOKS

Stake Sauce | Silver and Bone | The Dark World | Bubblegum | Fragments

Now time for a few I found thanks to sorting through my Goodreads shleves. I notice a slight theme here, the first three are all vampire books. Read more great vampire books kids!

Stake Sauce has 84 ratings and is a LGBT vampire story that deals amazingly with grief. Big fan!

Silver and Bone has 38 ratings and is a great urban fantasy + mystery read. Follow vampire detective Jennifer Jones as she uncovers who is framing her for murder and why.

The Dark World has 35 ratings and is the perfect dark fantasy / horror for you to pick up if you’re in need for a longer series to whisk you away with vampires, werewolves, dragons, and much more.

Now for a little change of pace. Bubblegum (33 ratings) is a fast paced + action packed dystopian. Follow Tiana who gives 0 fucks and is gonna murder the bad guys to help save her oddly formed family.

Lastly is Fragments (25 ratings) which I haven’t reviewed yet but now Audra’s printing issue has been solved I really should. This is a beautiful collection of sketches by artist Audra Auclair, I really love it and I’m pretty excited to flick back through and see what pages I tabbed as my faves last time.

YOUR FAVE FROM 2018

By Blood | Moon Child

In 2018 Tracy Banghart released Grace & Fury which I know many of you loved but honestly my love for Tracy’s work started back in 2013 with her self published duology By Blood (101 ratings) and Moon Child (66 ratings)! These can be read in any order and are YA Fantasy books.

I had a great time with both of these and found them to be very fun exploration of some fantasy elements! I don’t doubt her writing has improved over the years but these will always remain a soft spot in my heart. Click their bolded titles for my full reviews + purchase links.

As with all of these post I plan to not tag anyone specifically as I’d love for as many of you to take part as possible. These posts are perfect for days when you’re having trouble with inspiration and a great way to find out more about other bloggers .

Whats your favourite Underrated/Lesser Known book?

If you enjoyed this post consider supporting Northern Plunder Ko-fi | Twitter | Book Club | Blogs & Tea | RedBubble

Micro Brew | Favourites (5) Micro Brew | Favourites Micro Brew is hosted by Allie @ Hexen Librarian and its a fun way to promote something you love.

#Author: Helen Marshall #Author: Melissa Marr #Author: Tiana Warner #Author: Tracy Banghart #Book Tag #Genre: Fantasy #Genre: Horror #Genre: Science Fiction #Hexenlibrarian #Micro Brew #Prompts and Themes #Series: By Blood #Series: Wicked Lovely #Tag

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gamebrocorey-blog · 7 years ago

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Nintendo Direct 3.8.18 Review!

The other day, Nintendo graced us with a new Nintendo Direct, featuring a look at some new games coming out this spring and summer. Nintendo announced this Direct two days prior to it's airing, stating that it would mainly focus on new 3DS and Switch titles, as well as a focus on Mario Tennis ACES . With this news, I think many of us thought that there wasn't going to be anything REAL BIG during the Direct, just a few remakes and release dates. But BOY OH BOY was no one ready for the surprise announcement of Smash at then end?! Not to mention Splatoon 2 getting a pretty neat new expansion, the Direct really brought that surprise factor that Nintendo is known for. Surprises aside, I feel like this wasn't the best Direct of all time, mainly because not that much was new content. Not to mention, I'm just DONE with 3DS and really don't understand why Nintendo continues to support it. I guess Nintendo still see's a business there considering the amount of systems still in flotation. Not to mention the 3DS is a cheaper console that is better suited for children, which is one of Nintendo's biggest markets. I just want the true dream of the Switch to be a thing. Nintendo's handheld and console dev teams, working together to make wonderful projects! Nintendo is still working their butts off to make some amazing projects and I for one give them my highest praises. For now, let's get into the full breakdown of the March 8th, 2018 Direct!

The presentation started off with a small showcase of the new titles coming to the 3DS. Something interesting to point out is that the 3DS titles weren't just only for the spring/summer time. All of the 3DS titles shown arel the new titles coming out the rest of this year and into 2019. The titles didn't really impress me either. As much as I'd like to see a new WarioWare or Dillon game on the Switch, the versions being produced on the 3DS seem like low-budget games. I think it's cool Nintendo is remastering the Mario and Luigi series on the 3DS, but again, I'd much prefer one on the Switch. And COME ON WITH THAT REMASTER OF LUIGI'S MANSION! I've never played any of the Luigi's Mansion games so this one hurt me. But it does make sense, Nintendo already has all the assets of Luigi's Mansion from Dark Moon, so this shouldn’t cost that much to make either. And even though all these titles are pretty low cost form Nintendo, they do still retain the Nintendo quality and charm... for someone out there. I'm sure the Switch will eventually get these titles in all the glory they deserve, but for now I'll stay salty about the 3DS.

Nintendo did have a good plethora of new titles coming to the Switch as well as a few updates on earlier announced titles. I mainly wanna talk about the new announcements here. I do like hearing about more updates for Kirby, but I wanna focus on all the NEW stuff announced. Okami HD is coming to the Switch this summer. One word, YES! When Okami HD was released last year, I was so baffled at the fact that it wasn't on the Switch. The title is so old at this point that it surprised me that Capcom didn't put in the work straight from the get-go. Okami was on the Wii for crying-out-loud! Well, it's here now, and I'll finally be able to play as the dog goddess herself, fleas and all. Octopath Traveler revealed two new characters playable in the story, as well as the release date! This was great news to me, considering Octopath Traveler was absent from the Direct Mini in January. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is the only new Wii U title announced, and I’m actually excited for this. Captain Toad came at a time where I wasn’t really interested in my Wii U anymore, not to mention there will be some new Super Mario Odyssey content in the game. A lot of cool games coming to Switch that they revealed include Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Little Nightmares, and Undertale! I’m glad the Switch is actually getting some more recent titles added to it’s gamelog, such as Crash and South Park. And I know for a fact Undertale will do absolutely incredible on the system! Mario Tennis ACES shown of their interesting, complex style of tennis gameplay, and I’m kind of into it! They also revealed the majority of the playable characters and I think it’s hilarious to see Chain Chomp playing Tennis! Crossing my fingers we will get Pauline added in the future. I also wanna say how happy I am to see not only a new amiibo, but an amiibo for Dark Souls! Praise the sun boys, I love Solaire and the Dark Souls series! Before we get into the big news, I just wanna briefly talk about Travis Strikes Back: No More Heroes. I am a big No More Heroes fan, and I was excited to see a new gameplay trailer and a release coming later this year. I do have one problem with the game, I didn’t want this type of game. The over-head style beat-em ups are a fine genre, but I LOVED the old style of No More Heroes. I’m sure the game will be fun, maybe it’s just me being a cranky old grandpa not wanting change. I’m still gonna enjoy the hell out of this game. The zany characters and story, Suda 51, and bashing dudes with a beam katana sold me already! I also do think it’s cool that the game has local co-op and seems to have multiple different styles of gameplay. No More Heroes games always have a certain style, like the next game I wanna talk about, Splatoon 2!

Splatoon 2 got a lot of love in this direct with a content update as well as a new expansion. The content update basically showcased all the new content coming FOR FREE in the upcoming months. This content includes new weapons, new maps, Callie returning to the campaign mode, and a new “Rank X” level for you pro-splatters. The other content drop is the Octo Expansion, coming later this summer and will cost you $20. This expansion will feature a brand new single player mode that let’s you play as an Octoling and explore the vivid world of Splatoon 2. This content will also include some special Octoling gear for multiplayer, as well as allowing players the option to play as an Octoling in multiplayer. The Octoling has no benefits to the Inklings, it’s simply a cosmetic change. I honestly didn’t see this content coming, but it seems pretty cool and might get me back into Splatoon 2! I actually really enjoyed the campaign mode, and would love to see more of the lore that Splatoon 2 offers. The beautiful levels and new characters reasons to go back!(deja vu right?) Whelp, that’s it guys and gals! It’s been a good Nintendo Direct! We got a few new games, some release dates, and some cool new content for Splatoon 2! Alright, see you guys at E3!

...

Oh! And we have ONE more thing to show you guys! *snap*

...

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH BROS FOR SWITCH! OOOOOOOOH MYYYYYYY GOOOOOOOOOOOD! Who would have saw this coming, in this random March Direct?!? Nintendo, you sneaky dogs you! Needless to say, I was screaming and crying when I saw this announcement. I am happy that this is a thing, and that Smash 5 is a new game, not a port of Smash 4. I’ve talked about what I want to see from this game in another blog, so I’ll keep my thoughts short. Inklings look cool, but we know almost nothing about how they will play. A mysterious character roster is shown, from what I assume is all returning characters. Mario is there, and so is BREATH OF THE WILD LINK?!?! I hope this is a totally new character, but some speculate this might just be his design now. What a bombshell moment to end on, Nintendo just sold this Direct to me. I was honestly falling asleep throughout most of the presentation, but the Splatoon bits and the Smash reveal awoke me. Not to mention my hype for the next Smash has now awoken too! Time for me to go watch the one-minute long reveal trailer a million times to speculate everything I can from it... spoiler alert, there’s not much.

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cutiecrates · 4 years ago

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Cutie Reviews: Kawaii Box Nov 19

Firstly, I wanted to show this new prize I got from Tokyo Catch. I won it back in March or April during their free daily play promotion (which will be resuming in June), and I got it earlier this week! It’s so sweet looking, I just love it~

I also have 2 more prizes coming, and I’m hoping to get more if anything strikes my fancy this upcoming month. I’d also like to do a post dedicated to Tokyo Catch in the future, just to discuss the process, my opinions, etc, for anyone curious.

Word of the month: Mahou - Magic

Event of the Month: November 3rd is Bunka no Hi (Culture Day).

“Embark on a Fantastical journey to a magical kawaii world!“

Mystery Kawaii Item - Pill Case

Our first item happens to be the random warehouse extra they like to supply us with every now and then, and for this month I’ve received a cute pill/tiny item storage container. I got a pink version of this a long time back (as well as various others), but these come in handy so I don’t exactly mind getting another one.

These cutesy pill case consists of 2 small pockets and 1 larger on the bottom, and attached to it is a silver ball chain so that you can carry it around with you in something or connected to something.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I admit, it might have been nicer to get something else, but these come in handy. It’s a lot easier to bring these around than a bunch of boxes or bottles, and they look so much cuter!

I like to use these to hold things to reduce pain, like Ibuprofen or some stomach tabs, and then for the third pocket I usually put in a prescription I might be taking at the time. But you could also use it for other small items if you wanted, like erasers, hair pieces or earrings, maybe even a little lotion or product? Maybe.

Magical Bunny Pastel Gift Bag

Next up is a sweet little item you can use as a gift to someone else or keep for yourself. There is a few variations of the bag and in each box we get 1, featuring a lovely pastel color scheme with adorable bunnies.

The bag itself feels like smooth card-stock and has metallic silver woven straps.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

In general I tend to be against getting items like this, ones with the intention of giving to another person. I don’t know why. But I really like this, and the booklet suggests using it to store some items, which I think is a cute idea and I’ll probably end up doing it.

The bag is very sturdy, I love rubbing my finger against its surface, it feels so nice. While I was writing this, I just got a great idea as to what to put into the bag x3 I have a bunch of pretty gem-like perfumes/body sprays I’ve been wanting to display but wasn’t able to at the time, and because one of my cats has been yanking them off of the shelf lately I think I’ll store them in it~

Glittery Animals & Jewelry Puffy Stickers

To go with a magical themed box, we have some magical looking stickers! They’re ultra-sparkly and adorable, consisting of things like gem hearts, bunnies and fantasy animals, sweets, and cute phrases. Each sticker has gold lining and is very shiny. This exact sheet is called Unicorn Melty Flavor.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Now, I’ll be honest. As cute as these stickers are they are fairly “flat“ with a slight hint of the 3D puffiness that stickers like these usually have. They are also hard, not squishy or “puffy feeling“ in my opinion. But I think they are very cute and I still really like them. My picture doesn’t do them any justice.

Sparkly Mermaid Hair Clip & Metallic Mermaid Tail Pen

Just in time for summer (unintentionally :P) is this adorable mermaid hair. There are 6 versions of these, each with its own unique colors and design. I really like this one~

If you don’t want to put it in your hair it would also be a really cute decoration for other items. But does anyone else think its a bit strange that its called sparkly when it really isn’t? Other than the little gem on the hair piece.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

The clip is very secure and “heavy duty“, I didn’t notice it have any problems holding the hair I clipped it to and it seems to be really nicely made. I didn’t notice any sort of defects or problems with it. I really like it!

- - - - -

In going with mermaids, we also have this mermaid tail pen! It features a lovely gradient of rainbow colors and has a metallic finish and a lovely textured tube reminiscent of scales. I love rubbing it~

It’s a basic black ink fine tip pen.

♥ ♥ ♥

The pen writes smoothly, no scratchiness or irritation. However, I strongly dislike the fact that we have to set the pen cap aside. I know its not a big issue but as someone with cats and a constantly running fan/chaos surrounding them, its not easy to keep an eye on them very long. Not only that, but I really like putting my caps on the pen; there’s something fulfilling about it.

As soon as I saw it, I thought about the makeup brush I got from a NMNL box some months back and I was pretty excited. This will be a really cute summer pen!

Meito Pukupukutai Yumekawa Wafer Snack

Our snack item this month is an adorably new Pukupukutai wafer in the flavor of "Berry”. If you’re unfamiliar with my blog or this brand, these wafer are in the shape of fish to resemble the popular Japanese snack Taiyaki, a fish-shaped cookie or biscuit filled with various ingredients, such as red bean paste or chocolate.

I heard about these prior to getting this box, and because I’m an avid fan of these (and trying new flavors~) I was berry excited! As you can see by the packaging, the fish is magically split so that one side is colored sky blue, the other is light purple, with the airy chocolate inside colored a pretty lavender shade~

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

It’s very delicious, with a berry taste that wasn’t overwhelmingly sweet or tart. I can’t exactly pinpoint what berries were used for the flavoring though, it didn’t taste like strawberry or blueberry though; maybe raspberry?

I’d recommend picking one up if you ever get the chance!

Unicorn Heroine Pocket Mirror & Magical Wish Note Bottle

TreeIn Art is back and this time we’re getting a cute mirror themed around a pretty girl and her magical unicorn companion. Pocket mirrors can come in big handy, that comes without saying right?

I also found out that on Blippo.com, they have matching notebooks featuring the designs.

♥ ♥

As much as I love the gorgeous art work and would like to use this... probably won’t, because to my shock, I unwrapped it (prior to the picture for the first time) to find a large crack against the back of it.

And no, it didn’t crack from me looking at it >3< it was that way, my finger rubbed on it which led to the discovery. I don’t know if it was a result of it being tossed around, if I did it or shipping, this hasn’t happened before and I didn’t know about it until now... so I’m pretty sure its too late to do anything about it.

It’s still usable, but I’d hate to break it even more or cut myself.

- - - - - - -

Luckily our next item came perfectly unharmed; an adorable “wish bottle” that includes two little slips of pastel paper you can write your deepest fantasy, wishes, a secret, or even future goals on, then cork up and wait for them to come true~

Besides this, the bottle is filled with tiny gems (that make the most lovely little jingle when shaken) and held by a cute candy and bow themed sticker with silver detail.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I’m not sure I’ll ever open this, because it’s just too precious! It’s not really an essential item or anything- but I love cute magical decor things like this, and I definitely will be putting this in a safe spot for display.

For such a small item its also very detailed, which I appreciate.

Fluffy Pastel Octopus Plushie & Magical Anime Girl Wand

Every magical girl needs a cute companion right? So Kawaii Box thought what would be cuter than a fluffy pastel octopus?! Besides its soft body and coloring, it also has a heavy duty silver duo chain piece so that you can choose your preferred method of carrying it around.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

It’s very soft! I love it! There’s nothing wrong with the plush, but while it might not be very visible in the picture, it has very obvious “seam/stitching lines“ covering it, which I’m not a huge fan of.

Also... is it just me, or does it kinda look like a jellyfish? I kept thinking that while I look at it and according to the tag, its actually called that. So... I think I’ll call it Bubbles, the jellypus. Or maybe Octofish?

- - - - - - Along with a partner, every magical girl needs her wand :D its a MUST. At least if you don’t have another transformation tool or weapon of choice. This is available in 3 very Sailor Moon-esque designs:

A light blue and purple crescent moon with a star and winged ornament, accenting in silver.

A pink crowned heart with gold accenting and ribbon ornament.

Red, white, and blue with gold accent, a star or sun ornament, and winged circular design with a gem

There is also a button you can press, which makes the gem light up in various colors and play a magical sound.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I think any magical girl fan would love to own one of these, and even if you’re not, hasn’t it been at one time a dream to be able to magically transform~?

It’s made from plastic but its very durable and holds up very well, it doesn’t seem like it would fall apart easily.

I think all 3 of them are pretty, I especially wish I got the pink crowned heart (because I love all of these things!) but I might be tempted to purchase the other two. I’d love to make these into a display piece~

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - 4.5 out of 5. I loved it all, it’s very cute, colorful, fun, and lovely. However, I feel like there is a slight limitation on practicality. By that I mean, a few items are essentially trinkets/decorative.

Theme - 4 out of 5. As much as I loved it, I wish they played up the magical girl element more. I feel like they were more focused on things like unicorns and mermaids.

Total Rank: 8 out of 10 Cuties. I really liked it, but its rare to find a perfect box. With a few changes I would have loved it even more, but I think it would be worth it if you like magical girls/unicorns/mermaids.

♥Cutie Scale ♥

1. Wish Bottle - It has a wonderful magical feel, I love to observe it~

2. Wafer - It was delicious!

3. Magical Girl Wand - It’s so much fun to play with, the cats are a bit frightened by the sound though, it’s a little loud.

4. Mermaid Hair Clip - Very pretty and fun to wear.

5. Stickers - They’re very pretty, I kind of want to use them but then I kind of don’t to avoid ruining it.

6. Bunny Bag - It’s so sweet looking, I’m really happy to have it~

7. Mermaid Pen - I love its texture a lot, but the cap is a turn off.

8. Pill Case - I have a bunch of these already, but I like the idea of swapping them whenever the mood strikes.

9. Pocket Mirror - loved the design, hate the large crack <_<

10. Plush - I don’t know, its adorable but I don’t feel an overwhelmingly close attachment to it yet.

#cutie reviews #kawaiibox

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huge6s-blog · 7 years ago

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RANDOM FACTS ABOUT THE MUN.

Repost, not reblog! Tag 6 muns you would like to get to know better when done!

Name: Kaitlyn! Please, for the love of god, never use it.

Nickname: Katy, Kat, variations; (Katydid, Katybug, Kitkat, etc.) But if you wanna call me something else, that’s fine too!

Age: 22! Simultaneously too old and a wee bab, lmao

Faceclaim: Not something I do! I could never pick just one, besides maybe my own face! (I’d thought about using Shuu Iwamine or Rize Kamishiro before, if that says anything haha)

Pronouns: Your highness/My liege She/Her! But “they/them” is good too.

Height: ~5’6”-5’7”; I can’t remember the last time I checked.

Birthday: Poppin’, obviously March 30th.

Aesthetic: Purple and black?? EGNautilus scientists tittering excitedly over adorable or exciting sea creatures. Omnipresent Mountain Dew cans, fast food and colorful kneesocks. 2AM adventures on clear nights in summer that last until dawn starts sending it’s first beams into the sky. Spacey FPS games and cutesy RPG and Pokemon games interspersed throughout. Weathered frames and tired eyes. ROBOTS… I have no idea, man. A lot of things!

Last song you listened to: “The Thief and the Moon” by Shawn James!

Favourite muse(s) you’ve written: kfkjdf. Sixes definitely counts,, Uhh. My first was a canon-divergent Eridan, who I’d played before Act 6 was even close to being a thing! And he was a lot of fun. Accidentally made a “do not that” meme that still sometimes plagues me to this day ldkfdk A dream-bubble/dead Karkat who’d been murdered in his timeline’s Gamzee’s rampage and only had one eye, he was a biiiig favorite. I loved having enough energy for that all; typing that much shittalk??? Was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done in roleplay, holy shit. Entire fucking PAGES of just these absolutely USELESS rants because that nubby little shit had so much passion for it. Fuck. I loved Karkat. A bloodswapped, cobalt-blooded Karkat who was also post-game for a pre-established timeline where trolls and humans co-existed on the same planet(s). He was a Thief of Blood and a massive asshole; at his worst, he was manipulative, isolative, vengeful, restless… But also, he was a really big dork??? He LOOOOOVED spy movies and probably popped boners regularly for Black Widow and James Bond or the Kingsmen. Fucking nerd. He fancied himself a spy; his best friend was a badass hacker, and they’d (F)LARP together as a stereotypical “you hack, I’ll infiltrate” team. Before Earth, he never cared about Christmas, but one year his richass neighbourhood started putting up flashy decorations and he got jealous, so he stole a shitton of them to make his own house look the best. He’s so… So stupid. I love him so much. And of course, jumping off the Homestuck bandwagon; I have Lv/Hadz! My dorky, sadsack pun machine. A (sort of, mostly) secret post-genocide Sans; the Bad Run™ had been reset after completion, but something went wrong, so he remembers it. Still, he’s been running for like, two years now! So he’s had a lot of time to go and bury all that as deeply as monsterly possible lmaooo. He’s distrusting, paranoid, and isolative himself; but he’s probably the most all-around good guy on this list. He just wants to get on with his life and never have to fight anyone ever again, lmfao. I… I also have a few OCs, but you’ll have to pry those out of my cold, dead hands. … Carefully. With lots of reassurance. (I’m very shy…)

What inspired you to take on your current muse (that you are posting this on): I like… Undertale. And I like Underfell enough that once the idea was presented to me, my mind kinda ran away with it, haha. It started with Hopper, my weird UF Sans! But it feels like every time I approach the AU I have slightly different ideas for it, pfft. I guess with Sixes, I wanted to step away from the skeletons for awhile! I was really excited about messing with Mettaton for it, because I… Really liked listening to the radio for awhile, haha. I thought it’d be kind of cool if instead of being really excited to be seen flaunting himself across a television set, he wasn’t so happy with how he turned out physically, and made his influence a little less directly visible. It fit in well with the seemingly common theme of conflict in Underfell, and things just really exploded from there! It’s hard to summarize in just a few short words. That said, Sixes probably wouldn’t have a blog at all if it wasn’t for tumblr user wibler’s- Sixes’ Sans!- mun coaxing me into giving it a shot! She has a lot of faith in my creative abilities. I dunno what I’d do without her support through the past few years, heheh. She’s neat.

What are your favourite aspects of your current muse: LOUD ANGRY ROBOT LMFAO Shit though, I dunno! I like writing a character who goes through the bipolar disorder motions, the manics and the depressives. I love watching him go hot and cold on characters as he flipflops through his impulses and subsequent regrets. I love that in his timeline, everyone knows him while he himself actually… Hardly knows anyone at all. He’s made himself untrustworthy, and in turn doesn’t trust anyone, either, so he hardly ever opens up beyond… You know. Angry screaming, or shameless flirting and flattery, ignoring personal space bubbles… I love that his Sans being absent kind of smacked him on the nose, because that was someone he was actually making a connection with, but tried to play it off like Sans was just another moment in his life so he kind of treated him like a dick lmao. Deadass knew the poor little dude had anxiety issues and scared him on purpose, made joking death threats, joked about flirting with his shittyass brother… Sixes was such a prick. Fuck. And he realizes that! And after ditching his family just to have a cataclysmic fallout with his other BFF, Alphys, Sans disappearing… It’s something he blames himself for. It kind of sobered him up a little to the way his actions affect people. AND DESPITE EVERYTHING, HE STILL USES HIS CAMERAS (THAT HE STOLE FROM ALPHYS IN A PETTY FIT) SCATTERED ACROSS THE UNDERGROUND AND HIS SHITTY TRAP ROOMS IN HOTLAND TO PUBLICALLY HUMILIATE RANDOM CITIZENS IN A WIPEOUT-ESQUE PODCAST ON THE UNDERNET. At least that assholitude earns him money, though! Fuck. I also reaaallly love how different AUs bring out different aspects of his character, but that’s a rant for another time or place! Hoo. I dunno, man. I could go on about Sixes for like, ever. He’s a really fun muse.

What’s your biggest inspiration when it comes to writing: I’m… I’m not even gonna lie, a lot of it is the positive feedback lmao. I don’t, uh. Do much these days, creatively or recreationally speaking, and I don’t really have a lot of friends IRL… Er, any, actually, if you’re only counting closehand. All my friends live hundreds of miles away, and it sucks. But this is… Simultaneously social and creative. I get to talk to people, and make friends, and toss creativity back and forth with people, and it’s really fulfilling. I love to be a part of other people’s creative processes! I love seeing what other people do with THEIR characters, and when we all??? Interact??? Mother of God, it’s such a treat! Everyone’s so creative and impressive and inspiring… And hearing/seeing us all go back and forth about what we admire in each other… I’m pretty happy with just being a part of writing, and telling other people that I love what they do! But every now and then it comes back around to me in little ways, and it feels really special. It’s hard to imagine anyone liking my stuff past a “they’re pretty cool I guess, yeah” sentiment, despite my glittering impression of a lot of the writers in the community; so when someone DOES say they like my stuff, even just by saying they like a drawing, or like the way I described something, I go OFF THE WALL LMAO. Straight up dissolve and slip through the floorboards a la Gaster style with how lovely it feels. Shucks… And, you know. Watching characters develop in general- whether they be mine or not- is really fulfilling and inspiring. A good cycle.

Favourite types of threads: Anything that feels meaningful! I love it when two characters make any kind of connection, despite the context. That said, typically “angst” and “fluff” style threads are a big favorite, but there has to be, like… you know. Meaning to it. It feels really… I dunno, cardboardy to just throw a muse into a woodchipper for no particular reason just to have them drag themselves to another muse begging for help or to have a chance to explain some kind of deep, edgy feeling or story. Baseless fluff has a lot more wiggle room lmao, but that can get really monotonous really quick if something more significant fails to spark somewhere along the line. Just so long as something’s getting achieved somehow, I guess! If it feels like nothing’s changed between the two at the end of the thread, it feels really unfulfilling and hollow.

Biggest struggle in regards to your current muse: URRRGH. IMPLEMENTING THE RADIO SHOW/PODCAST THING… On one hand, Sixes has kind of collected the idea that the multiverse is a very indifferent place towards the goings-on within his timeline! And, he supposes, that that suits him fine. Hurts his pride a little, but it’s something he’s just going to curl up and lick his wounds for, pfft. But still! I wish I knew how to make it a little more obvious and prominent- The same could go for his growing industry, too! I guess I’ve just been jobless too long to really have a feel for it like I should, oof… Additionally, drawing him is reALLY HARD… He’s in his classic box form most of the time because he’s really insecure about his EX form, and yet I draw his EX form more than anything because the box is frustrating to draw??? And despite it all, I’m still not sure I’m terribly happy with how his EX form looks!!! He’s supposed to be a little closer to a NEO design than initially planned, as Alphys fully intended him to be a KILLING MACHINE from the start without telling him! But he caught on early on, and they kind of bullied each other into compromising a bunch of things until he was just this “hideous” mess that neither of them were terribly happy with… So, you know. The indecision carried over to me too, evidently! Ugh.

Tagged by: nah! Just stole it was all. (from slobbyseconds/coolskeletonsdontcry forever ago, but just got around to now. kfjf)

Tagging: Anyone who wants to! @ me back if you do it, though; I love reading these things!

#q #ooc #repost dont reblog #long post //#ooc about #these r fun. i love talking #munday

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bloodontheclocktower · 6 years ago

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“So, Uh, What Else is New?“ - A General and Completely Fun BOTC News Update

Okay, so it's been a while since we gave you some broad news, so let's do a big catch-up and hit you with some updates from a bunch of different areas that involve no hospitalisations! Yaaaay! (Amy is doing fine, by the way, and is still on the mend. Thank you all for all your messages, good thoughts, and support. It really does make a great difference.)

Blood on the Clocktower continues to shine at conventions and events. Some super awesome Storytellers across the U.S., and one in the U.K., continue to run games of Clocktower for people wanting to play:

January saw Storytellers Ted and Brittany with Clocktower at OrcaCon in Seattle WA and PAX South in San Antonio TX.

In February, it's already been played by Young MENSA North in the U.K. with Ben as Storyteller; had an enormous non-stop long weekend at DeceptaCon in Atlanta GA with Ted, Brittany, and David; and made an appearance at Strategicon in Los Angeles CA with Megan as Storyteller (fun fact - Megan was in that first ever game of Clocktower, way back in 2014).

This weekend it's at Hoop & Stick Con at Columbus OH's Ravenwood Castle, with Ted, David, and Silvana as Storytellers. Ravenswood Bluff goes to Ravenwood Castle. Whoa. And the photos we’re getting from Ted and David are already incredible. (I’ll put a few in at the end of this post.)

March will see BOTC at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle WA with Brittany as Storyteller; at Con Con in Sydney with most of the Sydney crew there (this city's very first social deduction gaming convention); at CT Gamer Con in Uncasville CT with the indomitable and ceaselessly excellent Ted, and with Eden heading over from Sydney to join him; and then Eden will stick around for freakin' PAX East in Boston MA and a tonne of Boston Storytellers. (Just quickly – Boston has been playing A LOT of Clocktower this past year, so PAX East is going to be massive.)

I’ll put a few photos up at the end of the post, and please follow our Instagram @Bloodontheclocktower if you want to see some of the highlights when these events are on.

Shut Up & Sit Down received their review copy! (And seem to be enjoying it too!) Steven, Brittany, and Meg had such a great time at SHUX Show 2018 that we are 100% planning to be there again in October 2019 (it may be the first thing to get me out of Australia this year), so we're thrilled that they get to be having fun with it in the meantime.

We have a rulebook editor! Joshua Yearsley, who worked on the rulebooks for the asymmetric forest-fight instant-hit Root, is working hard with Steven Medway (designer of BOTC) to get these rulebooks up to snuff and as bulletproof as possible in time for the Kickstarter.

Brisbane and Melbourne have their very own grimoires! After spending so much time travelling in the U.S. last year, it's great to finally get pre-release copies to some other Australian cities. If you're in these cities and want to play, you can join the Facebook groups here:

Melbourne BOTC on Facebook

Brisbane BOTC on Facebook

Melbourne already ran two sessions last weekend and Brisbane is going to get started up soon.

The wiki is on its way. When I first drafted this section I was like “Yeah this bit of the wiki is done,” and then realised that we haven't gone into the wiki in much detail before. So: We've got a wiki! Clocktower is a big, crazy, fun game and we want to get a bunch of the tips, tricks, philosophies, and stories down in one place for anyone who wants to get advice on a particular role or aspect, or just dive deeper overall. This is a fun project that Steven and Amy have been working on behind the scenes for a long time and the first big piece of it is now in place.

A sample from the wiki (and yes I chose the Undertaker because the Undertaker is boss).

The 'Characters' section of the Blood on the Clocktower wiki is finished for all roles in the base editions, being Trouble Brewing, Sects & Violets, and Bad Moon Rising. With the character sections finished, you'll be able to look up any role and get some insights on the next level of strategic options when playing as, bluffing as, or fighting against that character.

One thing in particular that I love about it is that for many pieces of advice it gives, there's often a counter-point showing the strategic merits of the exact opposite option. For example, the section on the Investigator goes into the merits of both revealing your info straight away or keeping it secret for a few days. How you do it is really up to you and there’s no wrong answer. It shows the flexibility of the game, and that there's never just one way to play or one way to win. The wiki, in whatever form it's up to, will be out in time for the Kickstarter.

The advanced roles are taking over the world. Storytellers in Boston, Los Angeles, and Derby (U.K.) are starting to get some of the 'advanced' roles that we've been play-testing in Sydney for quite a while now, so that they can have a crack at them too. Some of them may find their way into the Kickstarter as stretch goals, so we're getting them into more and more games now to see how they do. So far, they've proved a massive hit.

Among them are:

The Lycanthrope – a Townsfolk who means well but has the unfortunate habit of turning rather wolflike at night and tearing people apart. But here’s the catch: they’ll only kill a player they choose if they're on the Good Team too. Sorry, friend! (But for real, werewolves aren't inherently bad. For every Fenrir Greyback out there causing havoc, there's a Remus Lupin trying their best.)

The Lleech – a Demon that cannot be executed, but who has infected and poisoned an unsuspecting member of the town. You defeat the Lleech by killing the one they are leeching off. This one was an instant hit when it first came into play in Sydney, and leads to an amusingly high number of players campaigning for their own executions. “Kill me, I'm pretty sure I'm poisoned – if we kill me, we'll win.”

The General – a Townsfolk that gains one of the greatest insights of all: An insight into the Storyteller's mind. Each night, the Storyteller tells the General who The Storyteller thinks is winning. So if you've just executed that Undertaker because of bad info, prepare to get a big thumbs down from that Storyteller, mwahahahaha. But, maybe you've just killed that pesky minion: Prepare for a big thumbs up and a toothy grin from that Storyteller. (Unless, of course, you’re a Drunk General...)

Legion – A demon where most players are the demon – but players are only executed when a Good player votes. The Legion must work together to make it look like a regular game where everything is normal, whilst working to turn the few unsuspecting Good players against each other. We are Legion.

The Poppy Grower – Can I just say how much I love the Poppy Grower? I friggin' love the Poppy Grower. When the Poppy Grower is around, Evil players don't learn who each other are at the start of the game (presumably because they be gettin' hiiiiiigh). They'll find out if the Poppy Grower dies, but until then it's just chaos – beautiful, beautiful chaos.

Finally, we've been flexing our Kickstarter account and backing some projects. Here are some fun ones:

Black 3.0. The Blackest Black. So, when we started a Kickstarter account to eventually run our campaign through, I said to the team “Okay we've got this Kickstarter account, let's take it for a spin. We can back cool games we find, friends' projects, or anything that'll be good times for the Salisbury Festival of Board Games,” and then last week Steven was like “Hey check this thing out, it's THE BLACKEST BLACK.” It's not a game but I asked “Hey if we back this will you use it?” and then there was some very serious nodding from all around the table. We backed it that night. Prepare for total darkness, motherfuckers.

Parks. Not only is this a fun-looking game with gorgeous art, it's basically the board-game version of the real lives of 'Driving Curiosity', friends of Blood on the Clocktower. They're a couple of great science nerds who spent 2018 driving around North America and going to as many national parks as possible (literally the premise of the game 'Parks') and have a book coming out early in 2020. It'll be the guide to science for the National Parks, as told through the story of two friends having a rad road trip. I think you can still back 'Parks' through the pledge manager, and you can follow the journey of Driving Curiosity, from parks to book, through their Instagram @DrivingCuriosity.

City of the Big Shoulders. When I was living in Ohio last year and trucking Blood on the Clocktower to as many conventions as possible, I ended up making friends with Emily Dearring, who runs Central Ohio Social Deception. Then she surprised the heck out of us by coming out of left field with this project that she’s creative art director on - this heavy Euro-style game about the industrial and commercial history of Chicago, called 'City of the Big Shoulders'. I’m looking forward to getting stuck into this when it arrives and showing it off at the Salisbury Festival of Board Games. Again, the campaign has finished but you can still grab it through the pledge manager.

And before we go, here are just a couple of the coolest photos from the past few months.

An imposing figure at PAX South.

Literally this guy was the Slayer in this game at PAX South, and then after this photo was taken he immediately went on to slay the demon and win the game.

Guess who executed the Saint on the very first day of this game at DeceptaCon. These guys!

A 5am game at DeceptaCon ends in victory for the Good Team.

And of course I can’t resist posting a disproportionate share of these great photos from Ravenwood Castle that Ted and David have been taking:

Every photo from this place is straight fire.

That’s it from us for now. Our next post will delve into a few more details for our plans for the Kickstarter. Hope you’re having a good 2019 and are playing some tops games.

Sincerely,

Evin Donohoe The Pandemonium Institute

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magicalworldweb · 6 years ago

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Welcome to Interview with the Author! This, my friends, is my last scheduled post for awhile. I do have one more for March, and I have a few open invitations out, but my time bragging on my author friends will have to come to a pause after this one. Maybe in a year or several months when I’ve had some time to build more relationships, I’ll add some more. I make sure to do an interview for anybody who has taken the time to read and review a book of mine. It’s a fun way for me to say thank you for taking time out of their already busy life to love on my book.

I have been blessed to meet and get to know other authors who are happy to build up other authors. Shining light on other people never takes away from your own light. In fact, I think it makes your light shine brighter.

Speaking of a bright light in life, let’s get back to celebrating Lisbeth L. McCarty. I met Lisbeth in my hometown at a writer’s group last year. (I’ll brag on them a little further down!) She’s a fun, smart, amazing lady. I’m a better person for knowing her, and I’m very thankful for the kindness she’s shown me. You guys, she invited me and my children to her office, and spent time loving on my kids and even giving the girls impromptu birthday presents! How lovely her heart is!

When I first met Lisbeth, I had been making connections online for some time, and I was happy to move that to local authors and make more connections. She kindly lent me one of her books, Mental States of Murderesses. It’s a spooky read that takes the reader through each of the 50 U.S. states and highlights a murder by a woman.

Later, after hearing about my Booby Trapped, a short book I wrote about life with big breasts, she wrote Pirate’s Treasure: A Sunken Chest as a book about life with small breasts! I was delighted and thrilled that she did so, and I bought the ebook when it came out. This last weekend I received a paper copy in the mail, and had a blast reading it so I could brag on her a little more!

Now that you’ve introduced, let’s read on to find out more about Lisbeth!

Introduce yourself. Name. Nickname.

My name is Lisbeth L. McCarty. Most of my family call me Lizzie or Liz. I asked my Mom why she named me Lisbeth. She said she wanted my name to be different. She was also an artist, and she preferred names that didn’t dip below the line when written in longhand.

If your Wi-Fi name was a reflection of you, what would it be?

If I had a Wi-Fi name, I would probably just use my e-mail address, which is [email protected], if anyone is wondering.

What personality trait has gotten you into the most trouble?

The personality trait that has gotten me into the most trouble in the past was my willingness to try anything once (which often led to stupid decisions). As a teenager, I was far too influenced by my peers. Now, as an adult, I have a bad tendency to correct people when they are wrong about trivial things. I need to be like Elsa and just, “Let it go.”

What genre (of collection) do you write in and why?

I love all genres, and I have tried my hand at all of them. To receive my undergraduate degree in Professional Writing from OU, I had to write two novels. One was a fantasy, and the other was a fictional family saga. I haven’t looked at these books since graduation. I’m kind of scared to do so. What if they are really bad? What if they are really good, but I haven’t improved since?

Who is important to you?

As a believe, God is important to me, as are my family and friends. I love meeting authors especially, and I treasure new friendships. I’m so happy I have become friends with you, Amy.

Where do you call home?

My home is Oklahoma. I have lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Oxford, England. I also travel frequently to New York City because my daughter lives there.

What books are/have you written?

Here are the books I have written (both under my name and under pseudonyms:

Mental States of Murderesses; I Cooked; Therefore, They Ran; Concussed; Mustang Island; Scared Spell That Ends Well; The Bitten Air; Pirate’s Treasure: A Sunken Chest; Allie Ate an Alligator; Unicorn and Friends; Confound the Moon; How the Worst was Dunn.

If you are having a rotten day, what do you do to conquer that?

I refuse to have a rotten day. Life is too short.

If you were invisible for a day, what would you do?

If I could be invisible for a day, I’d try to do good deeds.

Your life is made into a musical. What is the title of at least one of the songs?

My musical song might just be Any Dream Will Do from Joseph and the Amazing, Technicolor Dream Coat. I love so many musicals, though, that I might need several songs!

What are your sleeping habits?

I have horrible sleeping habits. I’m always far too awake when I should be asleep.

What would you name your boat?

If I had a boat, I might name it “Take Me Away.”

What’s your biggest kitchen disaster?

Almost everything I do in the kitchen is a disaster. That’s why I wrote the book I Cooked; Therefore, They Ran. The book is filled with my kitchen disasters. I can make a decent grilled cheese sandwich, though.

Tell me about one of your characters. Would you get along in real life?

I have a character now in a book that I’m writing that was locked in a mental institution for many years (possibly unfairly – you’ll have to read the book). I am enjoying her point of view. I usually have main characters that I like. I once had a horrible, narcissistic main character in a short story, though, and I won third place at OWFI in the short-story category. Maybe, I should use mean characters more often.

If you were arrested with no explanation, what would your friends and family assume you had done?

If I should be arrested, my friends and family would probably assume that I burned down my house accidentally by cooking, Of course, as an attorney, I am compelled to state that there is no crime to accidentally doing this, so I’d be freed.

What are your favorite clothes to wear?

People think it is amusing that my daughter is a fashion designer in NYC, because you will probably never find someone less interested in clothes than I am. I like to be comfortable. I would wear sweats everywhere if that seemed appropriate.

If someone asked to be your apprentice and learn all that you know, what would they end up learning?

I have acted as an apprentice. I helped one friend with her stories, and I tried to show her why this or that editing was necessary. After that, she won first place in several categories with the new products. She was happy, and I just hope she learned what I was trying to teach her. I also have helped the attorneys I work with improve their writings through my editing comments.

What are your future writing plans?

One of my college professors used to always say, “Writers write. Everyone else just talks about it.” I was writing and drawing from the moment I held a pen in my hand. I’m always surprised when I hear adults say, “I’ve decided to become a writer.” I didn’t chose to write – writing chose me,.

What’s one thing you absolutely adore in life?

Besides writing, I adore photography, art, and travel.

What is one of your pet peeves?

I have a list of all my faults running down I-35 of all my faults, and the list runs north and south. Perhaps, I should not list my personal pet peeves.

You’re in the middle of a wizarding duel. What animal do you transfigure into?

If I’m in a wizarding duel, I probably should become a dragon. I’m sure that’s a standard answer, but they do breathe fire, don’t’ they? That could be handy in battle (but more of a danger trap in the kitchen. Read I Cooked; Therefore, They Ran.

Would you survive if you were a character in your own books?

I have been a character in one of my books, written under an alias, and I survived. In fact, I was a best-selling author in the book. Does my ego know no bounds? I was also privileged to be a character in one of my friend’s books. In the book, she had me choosing material at a store. This was random, as well as ironic because my friend did not know that my daughter is a fashion designer. I can barely sew a button on a blouse.

You are putting on a dinner party. What do you serve and who do you invite?

For a dinner party, I would need to call for pizza delivery. Otherwise, if my friends and family thought I was cooking, they’d make up lame excuses to avoid the dinner party,

Would you rather relive the same day for 365 days or lose a year of your life?

I don’t want to lose a year of my life. I’m at the age where I wake up each morning and immediately thank God for giving me another day of life. Would I get to choose the 365 days? In 2007, I lost seven people I loved, including my niece (who was murdered). I don’t want to relive those days.

You are transported to one of your favorite books. Where are you?

After I write a book, I then move on to the next one. If forced to answer, however, I might just go into the western days in my book How the Worst Was Dunn. The story resulted from my participation in the November Nano Month one year, which should explain why the book is so goofy.

Thank you, Amy, for allowing me to be a part of this. At least, being a part of your blog gives me something to write about in the “Brag” section of the Norman Galaxy of Writers newsletter.

Here are some more of Lisbeth’s books. The first one I read was Mustang Island, and it was fun, sweet, heat in the face inducing book! I read Allie Ate An Alligator to my girls, and they loved it. Ours Was the House and I Cooked; Therefore, they ran, were humorous, insightful books about Lisbeth’s life and life in general, I thought.

Whippersnappers like me have a lot to learn from people like Lisbeth, and reading her books has enriched my life!

Speaking of the Heart of the Galaxy book above, and if you are local, do you have a writer’s group? I have enjoyed being part of the Norman Galaxy of Writers this last year. Every writer needs support, and they are a talented, supportive group of writers to hang out with!

Speaking of supportive authors, Lisbeth and I have joked about having a book tour called “Dueling Bongoes”. Well, rather she came up with the brilliant idea and title, and I agreed that it would be a blast!

Thank you, Lisbeth, for gifting me the chance to get to know you better! I’ll see you on Saturday at the meeting!

And thanks to everybody who has made my Interview with the Authors segment a great experience!

Live Bravely, Love Strongly, AEM

Interview with the Author: Lisbeth L. McCarty Welcome to Interview with the Author! This, my friends, is my last scheduled post for awhile. I do have one more for March, and I have a few open invitations out, but my time bragging on my author friends will have to come to a pause after this one.

#author #books #friendship #interview #professional #support

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