#I have no idea what happened to the color grading in the process of making the gif

[floatingfacedownintheocean]

That's what a wish is - a celestial body. For once, you lead and the Universe follows. Made two versions of this because I wanted to play around in After Effects! Mini-Sifs in the orbit and close-up on the fam below the cut!

[chaotic-minds-think-alike]

Guess what time it is…….

CENTIPEDE TIME !!! she’s finally real,,,,,,,, based off Scolopendra hardwickei or the Indian tiger centipede

Before I go about the process I just want to say you guys have been soooo incredible and I love reading your reblogs and I love the idea knowing I’ve inspired a lot of people,,, the project, although it was a lot of work and I’m feeling not so great as of posting this, still motivates me to want to make another.

(Art process below)

This was entirely freehanded! I have a lot of experience working in 3D art settings that this part came easy to me but I started with a flat base shaped in the pose I’d like the creature in. I used one whole piece cut from a shipping box and filled in the gaps with tape; you don’t need a single piece for the base but for structural integrity it helps a lot. As you can see here I also cut the legs separate and glued them on using hot glue. The vertical cross sections are to give an early support for the structure of the creature, think about the frames of aircraft or boats. During this part I used a pen to mark the width and height of the previous section to get a gradual flow of shapes.

This next part I wish I got more documentation on but after the vertical cross sections I used soda boxes for the thinner and flexible cardboard to add contour lines along the length of the creature, gluing them on the cross sections. I did about 2 strips of this on either side to fill in the space and then I continued to use soda boxes to fold and shape the top of the creature, gluing onto the strips rather than the cross sections (this part was a mistake but I quickly adapted, no issues happened but it did make it slightly less secure). I also gave the legs vertical cross sections as well to shape them for the masking tape.

The worst part, taping everything. I used tape to further shape it how I wanted but that meant going over parts several times. I used 2 different widths of tape for this for efficiency but it doesn’t matter. The legs were very loosely taped and if squeezed then they’d lose their shape; I didn’t bother filling them in because I don’t have materials for that and I let the paper mache help support them instead. Tape was also used to fill any holes and gaps left by the cardboard skeleton.

The next phase is paper mache of which I haven’t done since 5th grade… I was not confident in this step. I used mod podge and a brush to smooth down the paper. Because I lacked materials I used fast food napkins instead of newspaper which worked totally fine, it just tended to tear a bit easier. Some areas required me to get hands on and I don’t really like the texture during this stage so that was fun (lie). I didn’t do too many layers, one for the body and 3 for the back and legs but some projects might demand more. I used half of a 16oz bottle of mod podge btw so please get more than you think you need.

Finally, texture hell!!! I did a base coat of white spray paint and painted everything else with acrylic. Start with your lighter colors first before doing darker ones! I originally mixed some yellow and orange for the body and realized it was too bright and so covered it with orange instead. It also wasn’t until later I realized I could’ve been smarter with my paint so I skipped over the segments that were going to be fully black, saving the orange for the rest of the body. I wanted my centipede to stand out and not look 2D color-wise so I also used the red for the head and tail to give gradients and edges to the orange segments and legs, later going back with burgundy to further darken them but not too much. For the black segments I also used a very watered down layer of sky blue to give a fake shine and show the intended structure of the segments. Do not be afraid to use your hands! I used mine to smudge my detail paints like the black fade on the legs and the back shading. To top it all off I sprayed a clear coat and punched two holes in the underside to hang it up, using thumbtacks angled upwards.

[tangibletechnomancy]

How To Use AI To Fake A Scandal For Fun, Profit, and Clout

Or, I Just Saw People I Know To Be Reasonable Fall For A Fake "Ripoff" And Now I'm Going To Gently Demonstrate What Really Happened

So, we all know what people say about AI. It's just an automatic collage machine, it's stealing your data (as if the rest of the mainstream internet isn't - seriously, we should be using that knee-jerk disgust response to demand better internet privacy laws rather than try to beef up copyright so that compliance has to come at the beginning rather than the end of the process and you can be sued on suspicion of referencing, but I digress...), it can't create anything novel, some people go so far as to claim it's not even synthesizing anything, but just acting as a search engine and returning something run through a filter and "proving" it by "searching" for their own art and "finding" it.

And those are blatant lies.

The thing is, the reason AI is such a breakthrough - and the reason we memed with it so hard when DALL-E Mini and DALL-E 2 first dropped - is because it CAN create novel output. Because it CAN visualize the absurd ideas that no one has ever posted to the internet before. In fact, it would be a bigger breakthrough in computer science if we DID come up with an automatic collage machine - something that knows where to cut out a part of one image and paste it onto another, then smooth out the lighting and colors to make them fairly consistent, to make it look like what we would recognize as an image we're asking for? That would make the denoising algorithm on steroids that a diffusion model is look like child's play.

But, unlike the posts that claim that they're just acting as a collage maker at best and a search engine at worst, I'm not going to ask you to take my word for it (and stick a pin in this point, we'll come back to it later). I'm going to ask you to go to Simple Stable (or Craiyon, or the Karlo demo, if Google Colab feels too complicated for you - or if you like, do all of the above) and throw in a shitpost prompt or two. Ask for a velociraptor carousel pony ridden by a bunny. Ask for Godzilla fighting a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man. Ask for an oil painting of a capybara wearing an ornate princess gown. Shitpost with it like we did before these myths took hold.

Now take your favorite result(s) and reverse image search them. Did you get anything remotely similar to your generated image? Probably not!

So then, how did someone end up getting a near perfect recreation of their work? Was that just some kind of wacky, one-in-a-million coincidence?

Well - oh no, look at that, I asked it for a simplistic character drawing and it happened to me too, it just returned a drawing of mine that I never even uploaded, and it's the worst drawing I've done since the fifth grade even just to embarrass me! Oh no, what happened, did they change things right under my nose, has digital surveillance gotten even WORSE?? Look, see, here's the original on the left, compare it to the output on the right - scary!! They're training on the contents of your computer in real time now, aaaagh!!

Except, of course, for the fact that the entire paragraph above was a lie and I did this on purpose in a way no one could possibly recreate from a text prompt, even with a perfect description.

How?

See, some models have this nifty little function called img2img. It can be used for anything from guiding the composition of your final image with a roughly drawn layout, to turning a building into a dragon...to post-processing of a hand-drawn image, to blatantly fucking lying about how AI works.

I took 5 minutes out of my day to crudely draw a character. I uploaded the image to this post. I saved the post as a draft. I stuck the image URL in the init_image field in Simple Stable, cranked the init strength up to 0.8, cleared all text prompts, and ran it. It did exactly what I told it to and tried to lightly refine the image I gave it.

If you see someone claiming that an AI stole their image with this kind of "proof", and the image they're comparing is not ITSELF a parody of an extremely well-known piece such as the Mona Lisa, or just so extremely generic that the level of similarity could be a coincidence (you/your favorite artist do/es not own the rule of thirds or basic fantasy creatures, just to name one family of example I've seen), this is what happened.

So from here you must realize that it is deeply insidious that posts that make these claims usually imply or even outright state that you should NOT try to recreate this but instead just take their word for it, stressing ~DON'T FEED THE MACHINE~. It's always some claim about "ohhh, the more you use them, the more they learn, I made a SACRIFICE so you don't have to" - but txt2img functions can't use your interaction to learn jack shit. There's no new information in a text prompt for them TO learn. Most img2img models can't learn from your input either, for that matter! I still recommend being careful about corporate img2img toys - we know that Facebook, for instance, is happy to try and beef up facial recognition for the WORST possible reasons - but if you're worried about your privacy and data harvesting, any given txt2img model is one of the least worrying things on the internet today.

So do be careful with your privacy online, and PLEASE use your very understandable knee-jerk horror response to how much extremely personal content can be found in training databases as a call to DEMAND better privacy laws ("do not track" should not be just for show ffs) and compliance with security protocols in fields that deal with very private information (COMMON CRAWL DOESN'T GO FAR OUT OF ITS WAY, IT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GET ANY MEDICAL IMAGES THE PATIENTS DIDN'T SHARE THEMSELVES HOLY SHIT, SOME HOSPITAL WORKERS AND/OR MEDICAL COMMUNICATIONS DEVELOPERS BETTER BE GETTING FIRED AND/OR SUED) - but don't just believe a convenient and easy-to-disprove lie because it aligns with that feeling.

[fairy-writes]

Hey there :) I hope you’re having a fantastic day :) please could I request action prompt 13 for gojo satoru 💙💙

ANGER AND ANGUISH

Reblogs and Comments are greatly appreciated!!

__________________________________________________________________________

Fandom(s): Jujutsu Kaisen

Pairing(s): Gojo Satoru x Gender Neutral!Reader

Prompt: Sharing a kiss after a massive battle (Action Prompt #13)

Notes: Idk if this cursed spirit idea even makes any sense, but we’re rolling with it anyway.

Also, TW for minor descriptions of gore

This is for my 1K followers event! It’s going on between June 8th and June 22nd!

__________________________________________________________________________

The acrid scent of blood and smoke is thick on your tongue, making you gag and dry heave, hunching over as you spit onto the ground. 

Was it over? 

Please let it be over. 

There’s a ringing in your ears and a hand at your back. 

Someone’s saying something. Shouting something. But you can’t hear them. 

You turn, dazed and confused. Who is talking?

Itadori Yuuji. 

He’s screaming at you, but you can’t understand what he’s trying to say. You can see the flash of a fire alarm going off in the background. You squint, and he seems to realize what’s happening. So instead of saying anything more, he hauls you to your feet, slings your arm over his shoulder, and takes a step forward. You stumble after him. 

Only to freeze when he seemingly hears something. You watch as the blood drains from his face, and you can smell it. 

The scent of something rotting. Something long dead but somehow alive at the same time. 

You know that smell.

So you turn and see the cursed spirit perched on the teacher’s desk, chattering its teeth as it watches the two of you hobble away. It cocks its head to the side like some curious dog. It was almost human-like. If humans stood seven feet tall, hunched on all fours like some deformed hunchback, that is.

That’s right…

You remember now. Why you were even here. 

It was supposed to be easy. That was the whole reason Yuuji had come along—for extra training. It was supposedly a simple grade-two cursed spirit infestation at an elementary school. Kids had gone missing, only for their contorted and mangled bodies to be found days after their disappearance, bellies ripped open to show feasted upon innards. 

You accepted the job almost immediately. 

Except the moment you encountered the beast, you knew there was no way it was a grade-two spirit. It was grade one, at the very least, maybe even a special grade. 

Where was Satoru?

You had texted him just before the fight started, just a simple “I’m worried ‘toru.” He hadn’t responded. But you knew he had seen it.

So where was he? 

That led you to where you are now, being dragged along by Yuuji in an attempt to get away before the cursed spirit could come to eviscerate you both like it had done to victims in the past. 

All the while, you couldn’t look away. Couldn’t look away from the emaciated body. Couldn’t look away from the too many too-sharp teeth. And most of all… couldn’t look away from the blank, milky-white eyes. They were solid orbs of fallen snow, not another color found in the murky depths. 

“Don’t look at it!” Your hearing was coming back. It was still muffled, like someone was talking through cotton, but you could hear it again. 

The tap tap tapping of the claws.

The unnatural clicking.

The chattering of those teeth. 

No mouth should ever be that wide; no smile should ever have that many teeth.

You manage to tear your eyes away from the being, but in the process, you trip over a half-smashed desk and go crashing to the ground. Yuuji tries to keep you both on your feet and tries to keep going. But your cursed energy is depleted, and Yuuji—as superhuman as he was—can only keep going for so long. 

The corner of a desk cracks into the side of your skull, and your vision goes white. There’s something wet and sticky dripping down your face, and when you go to wipe it off, your fingers come away red. 

Yuuji is struggling to his knees, hands trembling and breath coming out in little panicky gasps. 

He’s scared.

And there’s nothing you can do about it.

Except…

Maybe…

You turn on your knees and use the edge of an unfallen desk to pull yourself upright, finding your weapon amongst the rubble and holding it at the ready.

Maybe if the spirit kills you here… maybe then Yuuji could get away…

So there you stand, knees shaking and teeth gritting together as the cursed spirit gets closer and closer. 

“Suck it up, damn it!” You curse yourself. You’re supposed to be a powerful sorcerer. Someone that others can look up to. The one training the next generation. This should have been easy. 

When had it gone so wrong? 

You close your eyes and feel a certain kind of peace. 

You were going to die. 

But that was okay. At least Yuuji would be safe.

Until…

“Playtime’s over, you little goblin!” Comes a familiar voice. Your eyes shoot open, and you see him. 

Satoru.

His sapphire pools are ablaze with an emotion you can’t quite put a finger to. He very near hovers in the air and has a hand extended. He meets your eyes with a sort of boyish charm, and then,

“Did you miss me?” He quips with a grin, and you let out a disbelieving laugh.

You weren’t going to die here. 

The next time you open your eyes, you’re in the hospital.

The stink of the antiseptic and medicine makes you hunch up in bed and retch. It reminded you all too much of the smoke and blood and the smell of rotting flesh. 

You’re dry-heaving into a garbage bin next to your hospital bed when the door slides open and shut. Glancing up, your eyes meet azure eyes still lit with the emotion from before. Abruptly… you realize it’s anger. Mixed with a myriad of other emotions, but that’s the first one you put a name to. The longer you stare at him, the more you realize what Satoru is feeling. 

He’s angry and worried and oh so sad. 

Angry at you. 

Worried about you.

“You were going to die.” His voice is thin and small and so uncharacteristic for someone like him. 

“But I didn’t.” You whisper and watch as he clenches his fists so hard his knuckles turn white.

“You had given up.” His tone is sharp and biting, a stark contrast to the scared man who had been standing before you mere moments before. 

You go to swing your legs over the side of your hospital bed, and despite Satoru’s anger, he’s at your side in an instant. His hands are large and calloused at your wrist and back as he guides you into a more comfortable sitting position. 

But he doesn’t take a seat at your side. Not like he used to when you were teenagers, and you’d get injured doing something reckless. 

He’d sit at your side, showing you some dumb video or photo on his phone while Suguru stood back, watching in amusement. 

Oh, how you missed those simpler times. 

You look into the eyes of the man you loved so much and find him watching you with those deep blue eyes you adored.

“You were going to die.” He reiterates, standing before you with his hands in his pockets. You had known him long enough to know it was an attempt to hide his worry. He had done it since before you had even met.

“I can’t lose you. Not like I—” Satoru doesn’t have to finish the sentence for you to understand what he was going to say. 

“Not like I lost Suguru.”

You reach out with a trembling hand and fist it in the fabric of his jacket, pulling him closer so you can lean your forehead against his stomach. You feel a hesitant hand in your hair, gently ruffling the tresses as you bite your lip. 

“I’m sorry.” You croak, and he finally moves. He takes a seat at your side, pulling you close to his side. You rest your head against him and have to ask.

“How’s Yuuji?” You whisper, and he huffs out a laugh,

“He’s fine. A little shaken, maybe. But worry about yourself once in a while, would ya?” He says, and his voice cracks.

And that sound alone breaks your heart.

Scooting yourself onto your knees, you turn to face Satoru and cup his face with soft hands. He lets you readily, looking at you with eyes so filled with anguish that you can barely stand it. So you close your eyes and press your lips to his.

His kiss tastes like unfallen tears. 

[gamequoteshowdown]

Thank you everyone for making this happen! Now, without further ado, the match-ups for Round 1!!!

Round 1

"I've been waiting for this!" - Akihiko Sanada, Persona 3 / "You're just a corpse who doesn't know he's dead" - Valter, Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones

"Are you going to be our goddess of victory… or our angel of death? Doesn't sound too bad to bet my life on that." - Keiji Shinogi, Your Turn To Die: Death Game by Majority / "Don't fuck with a witch!" - Bayonetta, Bayonetta

"Teammates!? Friends!? To hell with that! Why am I inferior to you!? I was extremely particular about my life, my grades, my public image! So someone would want me around! I am an ace detective! A celebrity! But you… You're just some criminal trash living in an attic!? So how!? How does someone like you have things I don't!? How can such a worthless piece of trash be more special than me!?" - Goro Akechi, Persona 5 / "I was just gunna ask you to sell a gun to this child." - Starlo, Undertale Yellow

"I want you to live." - Charlotte Wiltshire, Hello Charlotte Series / "Your hair… sunset colored. I like it." - Queequeg, Limbus Company

"The hope to end pointless conflict… The hope to tell your daughter how much you care… It is our mission as apothecaries to ensure that everyone lives long enough for their hopes to become reality. Even if it costs us our own lives." - Castti Florenz, Octopath Traveler II / "Game is clear when 2 zombies hold hands!!" - "How to Play" Narrator, Loving Deads: The House of the Dead EX

"Thanks to you, I am saddled with unnecessary… feelings" - Miles Edgeworth, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney / "I am so fucking normal right now" - Harry du Bois, Disco Elysium

“SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL IS GOING TO HAPPEN” - Harry du Bois (in the form as a potential mural painting), Disco Elysium / "You pull out your cellphone and access your old Tumblr. You have ten, but you specifically access the Garfield one." - Narrator, Monster Prom

"… Nice meeting you again, you FUCKING WHALE!" - Ishmael, Limbus Company / "My guess is no one's ever loved you before" - Woody, Kingdom Hearts 3

"Take care, [player]. I was lucky to have known you. Though the parting hurts... the rest is in your hands!" - Grovyle, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky / "Far out, man." - Netzach, Limbus Company

"I'll be back once I eliminate that devil called poverty from the world!" - Partitio Yellowil, Octopath Traveler II / "Elder gods from the whole cosmos have awoken to taste your cookies." - Narrator, Cookie Clicker

"Hello! This is the part where I kill you!" - Wheatley, Portal 2 / "Now we come to the question : Do I kill you? Do I tear you apart to my heart's delight? The choices of the beautiful are unbearable. How's a girl to choose?" - Alice Angel, Bendy and the Ink Machine

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" - Ferdinand von Aegir, Fire Emblem: Three Houses / "Her metabolic processes are of interest only to historians." - Miles Edgeworth, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations

"It ain't a matter of guys or chicks... I'm just scared shitless of being rejected" - Kanji Tatsumi, Persona 4 / "...also Stanley is addicted to drugs and hookers" - Narrator, The Stanley Parable

“You’ve met with a terrible fate, haven’t you?” - Happy Mask Salesman, Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask / "I have no idea what to do with my life, but that's okay! Because I'm still working hard! Even if it's on nothing at all!" - Papyrus, Undertale

"Despite everything, its still you." - Narrator/Chara/Frisk???, Undertale / "In this world, it's kill or be killed." - Flowey, Undertale

“Heart. Lungs. Liver. Nerves. Heart. Lungs. Liver. Nerves…” - Voices of the Paranoid, Slay the Princess / "In the quiet glade, across old bark. In the ancient glade, it's always dark." - Gabbro, Outer Wilds

"You take away all their sins, and people aren't people anymore!" - Rokurou Rangetsu, Tales of Berseria / "Do you even get how it feels to have nightmares about doing tango with raw chickens? Eh?" - Heathcliff, Limbus Company

"Life is worth living, even if it hurts you, even if you hurt in it." - Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid / "I often think about the god who blessed us with this cryptic puzzle... and wonder if we'll ever get the chance to kill him." - 2B, Nier: Automata

“Oh? Is that how it is? Yeah, okay, I like you too. Neat! Still going to kill you, but now we can both enjoy a mutual romantic subtext to the murder.” - The Razor, Slay the Princess / "Now it’s Reyn Time!" - Reyn, Xenoblade Chronicles

"You lost the coin toss. We both did." - Catherine Chun, SOMA / "I like to drink blood. . . and smoke the weed!" - Dracula, Space Funeral

"Pick a god and pray!" - Frederick, Fire Emblem: Awakening / "Can you believe it? Dragons! In your own homeland! What are you going to do?" - Florentia Candidius, Elder Scrolls Online

""Did you get the Broom Closet Ending?! The Broom Closet Ending was my favourite!" ...I hope your friends find this concerning." - Narrator, The Stanley Parable / "It’s dangerous to go alone, take this!" - Old Man, Legend of Zelda

“Close your eyes for a sec, will you Chigasaki?” “You mean physically? Or to the criminal acts I’m pretty sure you’re about to commit?” “Both.” - Chikage Utsuki & Itaru Chigasaki, A3! Act! Addict! Actors! / "You are all about to perish, do as you please. I'm sorry." - Meta Knight, Kirby Super Star

"Boy" - Kratos, God of War / "Take care of yourself, kid, cause someone really cares about you." - Sans, Undertale

"Almost Christmas means it wasn't Christmas!" - Phoenix Wright, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney / "Dios mío!” (Draw a cross.) “A LIBERAL!" - Harry du Bois, Disco Elysium

"That's it. I'm not paying one cent of my taxes!" - Ema Skye, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney / ""Trust your partner"... And I do. I can't forgive you, but I trust you." - Neku Sakuraba, The World Ends With You/Subarashiki Kono Sekai

"Hey, you. You’re finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there." - Ralof, Skyrim / *clap ... clap ... clap ... * "Oh good, my slow clap processor made it into this thing, so at least we have that" - GLaDOS, Portal 2

"hallOO. chikkEN. OKs?" - BOb, Slime Rancher / "Pretty good plan. You could say it was the greatest—" - Charles Calvin, The Henry Stickmin Collection

"Blood comes in four types: A, B, O, and AB. However! No blood test can determine whether a murder was committed… in cold blood!" - Phoenix Wright, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney / "You ain't my partner anymore, man. You're my friend! So trus' that, yo!" - Beat (Daisukenojo "Beat" Bito), The World Ends With You/Subarashiki Kono Sekai

"I always come back." - William Afton, FNaF Pizzeria Simulator / "So -- as you can see, I'm a *pretty okay* detective -- and an absolutely GIANT COMMUNIST." - Harry du Bois, Disco Elysium

"Ears have a nice mouth feel, very chewy!" - Briar, League of Legends / "This is like taking candy from a baby, which is fine by me." - Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog (2005)

"It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming... On days like this, kids like you... Should be burning in hell." - Sans, Undertale / "In the dark times, should the stars also go out?" - Steban, the Student Communist, Disco Elysium

“We are a path in the woods. We have no beginning, and we have no end, but something cold and unnatural sits watching us from just beyond our edge.” - The Wild, Slay the Princess / "Strong Pokémon. Weak Pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled Trainers should try to win with the Pokémon they love best." - Karen (Elite Four), Pokemon HeartGold / SoulSilver

[brickcentral]

🤩 ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: zekezachzoom Hello everyone! It's time to direct the spotlight toward our community members, and today we will get to know better zekezachzoom!

"My name is Sunny but you might know me better as zekezachzoom on social media. I am a freelance graphic designer and have been a toy photographer for 10 years.

I came up with this profile name after my sons’. Zeke is my second son and Zach my first. I imagined them running away after calling their names, hence Zoom. I live in Singapore where we have two seasons, Rain and Shine. It’s a tiny island and getting around is pretty fast and easy. I have a few favourite spots around the island for toy photography. I will be more than happy to explore these places with any of my overseas friends if they pop by this part of the world! Though sometimes I wish we have mountains, rivers and maybe desert for more outdoor choices. On the plus side, being a small island makes organizing an outing with fellow toy photographers very easy, even if it is a last minute thing.

I started toy photography after posting an image of Spiderman squatting on the window ledge overlooking the neighborhood on Instagram…and then discovering the community. Everyone was and still is very encouraging and I think this helped in me trying to better myself with each photograph. Though Instagram is not what is used to be, but that is a discussion for another day.


Talking about process, if there is a brief for the photo (commissioned work, photo contest), I will usually follow up with some research work on the topic. At the same time, I will park the topic for the photo at the back on my mind and let it simmer unconsciously.

However, for personal work, I usually do not actively chase for ideas, forcing them out. I find that most ideas come to me randomly. This usually happens in a variety of ways, like watching videos on any subject, going about my daily life, observing and listening to things around me. I think being curious about everything and anything certainly helps in generating ideas.

Once I have a photo idea, I then let it sit and simmer further in my mind’s eye. This can help take the concept to more interesting directions in terms of story, setup, composition, lighting, etc. More ideas can be built upon this initial concept base on even more things you see and observe. It also allows time to think about how to setup the shot.

I will always sketch my ideas on my notebook, which is always by my side. At present time, I have more ideas than time to shoot!

When it comes to the shoot itself, I usually start with the mobile phone, quickly checking the angles and then locking my camera to a tripod. I always use a tripod to gather multiple shots of the same angle with different lighting, atmospheric effect so that I can then composite them in post if need be. Then I will shoot couple of shots for final composition without the lighting and atmospheric effect. I enjoy the post production work, especially the color grading part. Sometimes, the word PHOTOSHOP give rise to arguments within the photographic community. To me, it’s just a tool to bring the picture to its maximum potential.

I think people I know in the community know me for my punny, silly and light-hearted stuff. So much so that friends recommend me toys they think that might fit this style. However, recently I find myself going all over the place in terms of themes. I just enjoy the process of experimenting different approaches, be it the storytelling or the technical bits of photography. When I am shooting indoor, I usually set up for low key images. It gives me a chance to experiment with indoor lighting. If there is one thing I would tell my younger self when I started, it’s to pay attention to lighting. It can elevate a nice photo to a great photo. Also, I like to build simple sets with everyday object that end up looking like something else when viewed through the camera. I do this mostly because I am lazy and don’t have the patience to build dioramas. I am usually with a group of friends when I shoot outdoors, because we have a monthly gathering among us. During these outings, I am constantly looking out for areas with awesome lighting. I try to reserve my action shots (ie scenes with flying debris) outdoors, mostly because there is no need to clean up after the mess! Also, outdoor light is beautiful…but fast changing lighting condition is another story all together.

When I first started, it was all about the Star Wars figures. I had stopped collecting figures since the 1980s , but it was the Star Wars Black Series that got me collecting again with all its glorious articulation. Once I discovered the community, I realized that there were other characters to be bought! I sometimes wonder if that is a good thing, from my wallet’s point of view.

I find myself gravitating towards nostalgia when it comes to the figures I buy. So, my collection and images usually reflect that, with movie/TV characters from the 80s. Stuff like Aliens, Indiana Jones, Predator and Back to the Future, etc. However, whether they are LEGO minifigures, statues, 6 inch figures, I will shoot any figures as long as they serve the stories. Each type of figures has its own pros and cons and challenges. But I would not have it any other way.

This is my basic equipment list: • Nikon Zfc with kit lens (16mm to 50mm) • Lensbaby Sweet 35 lens • Helios 44-2 58mm lens • Extension tubes for close ups • 2 speed lights • Couple of LED cube lights • Manfrotto tripod

Why toy photography? I love pop culture and telling quirky weird stories with characters I love. I can never produce awesome looking illustration of these images I have in mind and photography seems like the next best thing. Hence toy photography! When I first started, I was always coming up with ideas in the middle of the night and sketching them down and made it my mission to spread this hobby. I recall vividly telling a friend how much I enjoy this hobby and was going to just keep throwing out toy photos into the internet and see what comes back. And a lot has indeed happen since then: • I started a local Facebook group to organize more toy photography outings and share photos. • Managed to get featured on national newspaper and television, because they came across my work online. • Made friends on social media and participated in podcast by some of these friends. • Conducted workshops. • Shot for some toy companies. • Collaboration with toy designers and model/diorama makers. • Nikon Ambassador.

I have enjoyed the journey so far and look forward to improving myself. Something I always remind myself: your best photo is the one you have not taken yet."

Thank you for accepting our invitation and let the community knows you better!

If you want some insights on the exclusive picture and for a better view of the others, head to our blog at https://brickentral.net/.

- @theaphol, Community Outreach Manager

[thewrongmoon]

Color Grading in Stranger Things

Soooo I wanted to make this post because I'm someone going into the field and I've been seeing some debate on the topic. Mostly around "production errors." I think the term "production error" is kind of misused in a lot of cases? For me things boil down to one of four things: 1. actual production errors, 2. intentional details, 3. coincidences, or 4. things that just happen and/or are normal in the production process.

The fourth one is the category I see most with the color grading "errors" in the show. I think there's an inclination to apply real world logic to film/tv a lot of the time, but you have to remember that that doesn't necessarily extend to things like color grading and lighting. Lighting and color grading are both things that can change slightly between shots in the same scene. And this isn't an error (most of the time.)

Making these subtle changes usually is done with the intention of making the viewer subconsciously feel something. You can get away with quite a bit because viewers will not notice these subtle changes on their first watch; there's just so much new information that your eyes are absorbing that the color or lighting set up being slightly different isn't usually something you'll immediately notice (unless maybe you have some expertise in the topic/work in the field.)

The reason for these changes can vary. Each lighting setup and color palette has a different feeling, emotion, symbolic meaning. I'd say a lot of the time they're based in color science but they can also have a more narrative based meaning (example: director deciding that in the film he makes that the color yellow = danger. They start to associate the color with every precarious scene. Subconsciously the viewer begins to become fearful whenever the color yellow is on screen.)

I think showing actual examples from the show would help kind of demonstrate what I'm talking about so let's get into it!

Exhibit A:

Image one: Around 10 minutes 30 seconds into the episode

Images two and three: Around 13 minutes into the episode

So I noticed that this shot became more blue in time when I was making my movie theatre blush analysis (see that here) But actually, rewatching the scene, the shot of Mike only looks slightly more blue than the previous shot of them. The shot with Will looks very noticeably more blue, though. These shots were obviously filmed on the same day, maybe even at the same time with multiple cameras rolling. They also have the same lighting set up (split lighting.)

So, is this a production error? No. If the intention was to make the shots of Mike and Will have the same color grading, you would literally have to be the most incompetent person alive to mess that up. Copying the same color grade from one shot to another is the easiest thing ever. You will not be hired as a colorist if you don't know how to do this.

Why make these shots slightly different, then? I'm not the guy who did this grading so I can't tell you with 100% certainty, but I have a couple ideas: The one I see the most is tying this to Will's visions in S2. The bottom two images are after Will has another vision. We see this blue color grading when Will is in the upside down and having visions. Blue also has a cold connotation, and we see Will get goosebumps, shiver and tremble in this scene.

Exhibit B:

Okay this one is a lot more subtle. Also this one has to deal more with lighting than color grading though I'm sure both play a part in this.

So in the scene where they bury the body, the light setup is extremely bright and high contrast. If you look at their shadows in particular you can see how dark they are. There's almost no fall of on the shadows in the first picture. I think the whole set of scenes has a yellow filter to imply a hot, arid environment, but it's more noticeable in the first and last image. The first two images also have a lighting set up where the main light is right in front of them, putting Will specifically in a Rembrandt lighting setup. This lighting is meant to kind of represent the sun beating down on you, it's hot. Will and Jonathan are also really sweating, so it's obvious that this is what the intention was with this lighting setup.

When Mike and Will sit down to have their heart to heart, the lighting very subtly changes. The main light is now a back light, though there's also a light above them as indicated by where the shadows lay. But the lighting is also a lot softer. The shadows have more fall of, which leads me to believe they either used a soft light or a reflector. Softer light can be an indication of a more romantic scene. When they're broken out of their moment, the lighting grows less soft and everything starts to get more yellow.

Exhibit C:

So I think this whole thing was confirmed to be recorded in one take, so I'm operating on the idea that they didn't change the lighting in this scene in between shots. But they possibly could have? The fill light on our right looks slightly dimmer than in the shot before.

But I mostly think this is a difference in color grading. Mike's face is darker and has more contrast. Once again, not a mistake but an intentional decision. This is the scene where he's trying to desperately get El to fight Vecna. I think the contrast was accentuated to add more drama to the scene. Mike's cries of "Fight!" grow more desperate, his voice is cracking, he's clearly scared. High contrast lighting is more dramatic, more cinematic, more high stakes.

A discussion on the more technical side of things:

So not every one of these things is explainable by them intentionally wanting to set the mood or having a narrative reason behind the slight changes. Color grading is one of the final parts of the production process, so the footage you have to work with is all you're gonna get. And mistakes do happen in some footage. Some scenes are shot on different days, sometimes a light breaks or is set too dim, etc, etc. The colorist is responsible for helping to match these shots together in a way where the error isn't noticeable and doesn't break the immersion of the viewer. But you have to work with what you have!

Also, I did mention copying the grade from one shot to the next, but please don't think that that is like "oh i just have to grade one shot, copy it to all of the other ones and then I can be done!" because that's not really correct either. You'll still want to tweak the grade slightly for each new shot. Each shot probably has different lighting, a different set of people or objects, and other things you have to consider.

But I hope this was a helpful break down of the process! Honestly if I went back and rewatched more scenes I could probably find more examples of this, I only really have Mike and Will scenes because I've analyzed those the most, lol. Just know that not everything is as linear as in real life, film/tv is an artistic medium so it's gonna break some rules occasionally.

[trickstarbrave]

i actually dont get ppl who say fanfic should be treated the same as published literature. if i wanted something to the standards of published literature, i would go by a book.

casual online writing is a different style altogether. i want a webnovel or a fanfic when i want a webnovel or a fanfic. i want the different pacing, abnormal plot structures, specific tropes, and subversions OF those tropes you can't get elsewhere. i don't really care if the sentences run on or there is a typo here and there bc again, i understand published literature goes through teams of people. they have editors. they have multi-draft processes and polishing. they have outline methods. they have marketing teams. if a fanfic author has a type they are just some guy, give em a break. if a published novel from a publishing company has a type this means it has gone through MULTIPLE people whose job it is to look it over and make sure this doesn't happen who have dropped the ball and wasted money, and if MULTIPLE people are, on the clock, fucking it up that bad how is it worth my time?

its like a casual family owned restaurant vs a 5 star dining experience. sometimes i do in fact want a 5 star experience. i want things to knock my fucking socks off. i want to taste things i cannot get anywhere else from teams of people who have perfectly crafted a hand picked menu, the best ingredients possible, and have made a unique experience through all their skills that i cannot get anywhere else. and most of the time i want annie's handmade burger her daughter had a fun idea for, the taste of which is comforting and nice, and a hand squeezed glass of lemonade that her husband put an extra lemon in bc he knows i like it more sour than usual. it isn't perfect, and sometimes the traffic outside might be loud, or the lights might be a lil too bright and the paint color isn't tacky. the burgers can be a little too overcooked than what you ordered during rush hour or the fries a little more greasy, but it tastes great and is a fun experience that fulfills a different need.

i wouldn't grade the diner on the same standards. and i wouldn't go for a causal, messy experience where the cooks all know my name at a 5 star restaurant. my friend's mixtape isnt the same as a movie soundtrack for a feature film. that animation student's final project is not the newest disney movie. and you know what. sometimes i like the mixtape and animation student's film way more.

[thepurplegeologist]

Hey! Sorry if this is weird but I’ve been trying to figure out what this is for a year or two, do you happen to know?

Ooooo good question. Off the top of my head, I'm not sure from photos alone. It's usually pretty hard to tell what a rock is from photos alone, but here are some of my go to tricks for identifying the rock type. here's my process for figuring out rock type. Step 1. location: where's this bad boy from? what are the surrounding rock types in the area? there are a lot of rocks in this world and context is like the #1 most important thing to know in figuring out what rock type we're dealing with. is the area near a volcano historically? what is the country rock like? has the area undergone significant tectonic activity? is the area known for any particular minerals? Most places you can look up a local geological map of and get an idea of the main local rock groups your narrowing it down from. in the US national park pages are a good resource and so is the us geological society, in the UK there are like public geological maps of most of the country, I'm less familiar with other countries but in general searching for "location" geological maps hasn't stopped me yet. you can also look up what the nearest mine is, what it mines, and what the accessory minerals are if the geological map trick fails you. Step 2: igneous metamorphic or sedimentary? The structure, crystals, and general lack of grains plus the curling shape of the crystals imply that this is igneous or high grade metamorphic. there appears to be some banding thats been squiggled up. hard to tell from photos alone if its stratigraphy thats been metamorphosed or if some crystals formation pockets formed in a funky kind of way. It looks melty to me which implies high heat or high water content in formation. It looks like either a crystal pocket formed in something (could happen at any temperature) or a snall bit of country rock fell into a volcano which could be why it the edges of the central mineral seem to be melting a bit on contact with its surroundings. Step 2: contents there are a number of crystals in here, the off white one making up the central blob, a darker one, some yellowish bits, and I can't tell if there is a second off white one or if its the same one. Identifying what each component crystal is involves going through the checklist of :

what's the mineral hardness? try a scratch test does it leave a streak when you rub it against another rock? what's the color of the streak like? (does the flaky looking mineral middle edge on the top one come off in flakes like a mica or is it a harder mineral that's been squished into flakes? if its flaky its likely biotite based on the coloration) What cleavages do the different crystals have? the pale colored crystal especially? (is it a fleldspar or a quartz? orthclase has 90 degree intersecting cleavage, quartz has no cleavage planes but sort of concoidal fractures to it. it often requires looking under like some kind of magnification with light shining on it to see.) Are we looking and a quartz, a feldspar, something more unusual? whats the shine like on it? is it dull, vitresous, greasy, pearly, waxy, silky? how heavy is it? is it lighter or heavier than you expect? that implies greater density, theres a few rock and mineral types that have higher density to them, and a few with lighter density, that will help narrow it down.

Step 3: Synthesis by looking at the components can you get a sense of any geological index minerals? (for example if it contained a garnet it would tell you a ton about its formation history and other likely rock and crystal components) Does it imply a certain chemical composition that might help you identify the crystals you aren't familiar with?

TL;DR IDK, figuring out rock types without like a full lab setup to look at microscope slides under cross-polorized light is heavily dependent on a rock context and a lot of the things that make it possible to identify aren't well carried over photos, you kind of have to hold it and examine it and scratch it and perhaps even lick it* yourself *the thing licking is for is halite and that's like unlikely to be in this one so I wouldn't reccommend licking this one specifically

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #55

I have been working on something all day today. Because the thing I ordered yesterday arrived today! Behold!!

So you remember that bowl that my klutzy ass shattered yesterday? Well guess what:

The pictures do NOT do it any justice. This thing is SPARKLY!! 🤩

It's not quite finished yet. Again, I am dyspraxic; this is going to take me a while. My hands are clumsy as hell because the idea of my body moving exactly in the way I intend is a distant fantasy for me; being dyspraxic fucking SUCKS. And I'm REALLY SUPER MEGA GLAD that you don't gotta deal with it. Clinical clumsiness is really not a fun time. For ANYONE involved. But whatever! I make it work!!

So the kit comes with this stuff:

You've got paper dishes with black gloves crunched up inside. You're supposed to use gloves because uncured epoxy is supposedly poisonous, but I didn't use the gloves because I can't afford to lose any more points in DEX, and when my fingertips are covered, my DEX score (which is already very low) gets set to -50.

Underneath are two containers of "gold dust" (it's really just extremely fine sparkly gold glitter, but still!). Then you've got the tube of food-grade epoxy (it's made of cashews, I guess? but it smells vaguely like shrimp).

I wasn't able to get you too terribly many pictures of the process, because this stuff sets FAST, holy cow! But I can give you a rundown of the steps:

First, you squirt an amount of the epoxy into one of the paper dishes. Then you add "an appropriate amount" (verbatim from the instructions) of the gold dust to the epoxy and stir it around with the wooden sticks provided. Then you use the stick to glorp the epoxy onto the edges of one of the pieces you're joining. Then you press the pieces together, and wait for a short time, and be VERY careful not to touch the epoxy until it stops being tacky, because the stuff has the stickiness and consistency of partially-melted caramel, and it WILL prioritize sticking to your skin over sticking to the ceramic (go on, ask me how I know! haha!). Keep doing that until all the pieces are joined together. Then you use the handy-dandy... chisel... knife... thing...??? to scrape off any excess epoxy. It looks like this:

...Or uh. That's what it looked like towards the end of doing this, anyway. I've been at this for... 6 or 7 hours now? But still, it's VERY sharp (again, ask me how I know!), and very good at scraping excess epoxy off of ceramic.

Though I didn't get many pictures of mixing the epoxy, or of the pieces after the epoxy was applied to the edges, I did snag a few images while taking quick breaks:

Anyway. Ideally, for a non-dyspraxic person, this process is simple enough. But that is not my lot in life, so... 6 or 7 hours, several sliced-open fingers, epoxy spills and glitter spills on my hands (and in my fresh cuts, fun fun... knowing my luck, I'm gonna have gold-colored scabs until those mend, good grief...), too many instances of accidentally touching still-tacky epoxy while trying to put another piece on, and needing to thus reapply the previous piece, and various spills all over my pants and all over the table I was working on later, I'm....!!!! ...still not finished. 😖

It's together, but I gotta go over each crack one more time with the epoxy goop; Not all of the cracks are thoroughly covered, so I'm still seeing spots where water can get in between things and cause problems. It's not because the kit is bad; the kit is very good! But rather, it's because this is my first time doing something like this, and my hands are clumsy even for things that I do well.

I'm maybe a little cranky about it at the moment because throughout this I mostly forgot to eat and drink (although we did get pork soup dumplings and some other stuff, which prompted me to eat, and that was good!); hyperfocus is a thing, and the time zooms by and I have no idea what happened (what even IS time, anyway? why do we have it? why does it gotta be linear? who decided that this was a good idea? seriously, what the fuck).

But I still had a lot of fun with it, even though my fingers are now ouchy from many accidents with the sharp implement and I've probably accidentally inhaled enough gold dust that my snots are probably gonna be gold-colored every time I blow my nose for the next week. You can bet your bottom that I'm gonna be back at it tomorrow. And then after that, it'll need 48 hours for the epoxy to fully cure and set. After that, though, the bowl will be better and more beautiful than before! It will be a wonderful vessel for that pumpkin soup! Just you wait!

Hey, Sephiroth!!! You go around acting like you're some kinda weird abomination and thinking that a normal life is out of reach for you because of it. And I don't agree with that!!! Not even a teeny tiny little bit!!! You are a "monster" in the same way that I am "furniture"! Which is to say, NOT AT ALL. And I know that this probably seems unrelated to the bowl right now, but I promise you it's not! Just listen:

Even if you were a monster, you can still do normal human things if you want to!! You can do them just because you decided it!! Sure some people might look down on you because of how you were born, but that's because they're insecure and judgmental, and you don't have to listen to those ones! There aren't gonna be any "monster police" coming to get you just because you're deciding to grow a garden at your house, or just because you decide to cook yourself a meal, or just because you're sitting on a sofa on a rainy day with a warm, fuzzy blanket, enjoying a hot mug of tea! And even if there were "monster police" who would be foolish enough to try to disturb your peace, you can just summon up some of that "I'd like to see them try" type of attitude you showed us before and send them a-runnin' with their tails between their legs! You are allowed to not give any fucks towards any arbitrary social rule that says you're unlovable or that you're not allowed to enjoy your life because of how you were born, the way you were raised, the horrors you've endured, the mistakes you've made, or whatever challenges you live with as a result of it all! You are not a lost cause! You are not broken beyond repair!

Sephiroth, I was a viciously abused autistic/ADHD child that absolutely no one wanted to have around. I know what it is to feel subhuman! I know what it is to feel out of place! I know what it means to be raised with the idea that, "if I'm not perfect or if I don't do what they want, I'm going to be considered unlovable and everyone is going to hurt me." And I have hurt people in the past who did not deserve it, too.

But you know what? Here I sit in my silly little house with my silly little things, awkwardly putting back together a pretty bowl that my clumsiness destroyed. I am putting it back together despite the difficulties that being AuDHD/dyspraxic presents. I am putting it back together even though my traumatized brain absolutely refuses to give me even a moment's peace, as all my instincts scream at me that the end result is gonna suck because I'm the one doing it, that the bowl is a lost cause, that I should be doing something "more productive" with my time, and that I'm a bad person for the fact that I'm making a mess in the process, and a bad person for the fact that I struggle with things like these to begin with.

But, my limitations and old conditioning that I'm trying to overcome aside, one fact remains: this bowl is going to be BEAUTIFUL when it's done, regardless of how loudly my brain tries to tell me that it's gonna be ugly because it was shattered in the first place, or that it's gonna be ugly simply because it's MY hands trying to fix it.

I've been told my whole life that no one's gonna love me because I don't think or act like most other people. But I'm sitting here with people who absolutely adore me, not despite the fact that I'm weird and abnormal as hell, but BECAUSE I'm weird and abnormal as hell! I'm considered "other" and "monstrous" and "socially unacceptable" by many, just for freaking existing. And here the fuck I am, DOING NORMAL HUMAN THINGS ANYWAY.

Because here's the thing, Sephiroth: only I get to decide whether or not I am allowed to have a normal. Other people are gonna try to tell me that the nature of my existence means that I don't deserve a normal, or that I'll never have a normal, no matter how hard I try. But I don't gotta listen to those people! Because a clumsy, awkward normal is STILL a normal! Just like the bowl, it doesn't have to be perfect to be worthwhile! There is strength in imperfection! There is beauty in imperfection!

All of this can be true for you as well! You are a human being! And even if you weren't a human being, SO FREAKING WHAT? You're still a person! And as a person, you don't gotta listen if broader society tells you that you're not allowed to have a normal for whatever stupid fucking reason. So just be you. Be the you who laughs and cries and reaches for your locket when you're troubled. Be the you who says what you're thinking and feeling. Be the you who does not stifle his emotions. Be the you who asks for help when those emotions threaten to consume you. People who benefit from keeping your self-esteem low and from encouraging you to dehumanize yourself will tell you that things such as those are weaknesses, but they're not; rather, they're the source of any human being's natural strength.

So, like any human, be like a glorious stained glass window. Be like a beautiful bowl that was pieced back together with intentionality and love. Be like any shattered thing that was put back together. And then go on to put other shattered things back together, even if you do it clumsily. Because shattered things that were repaired are some of the most beautiful things in this world you'll ever find.

If you only knew just how much courage it takes me every day to write to you. If only you knew how much resolve it takes to do the work of putting the shattered pieces of my own voice back together, after years of being silenced and being told who I'm supposed to be by people who didn't have my best interests at heart. If only you knew how much strength it takes, after decades of abuse and decades of being taught that my "stupid, weak-ass thoughts and feelings don't fucking matter to anyone", and decades of being taught that nothing I say or do makes any difference anywhere, to put my still-awkward voice in spaces where I know I'm gonna get hurt or ignored.

If you knew, then maybe you'd understand why I write about repairing broken things as though it is the most important thing there is. If you knew, then maybe you'd understand why I hold out my hand to you and call you so fervently to get up off your knees and do this work upon yourself; the darkness doesn't suit you, and there are plenty of people around who would help you. I'm such a one.

I don't know if it's hard for you to understand. So instead I'll show you that shattered bowls can still hold soup. Just you watch. Please stay safe until I get to show you. Please remember that you are loved; otherwise I wouldn't be trying so hard every day to reach you.

I'm going to write to you again tomorrow, with the same shaky, awkward voice with which I've been writing to you so far. Because it doesn't have to be perfect to be worthwhile; shattered minds, hearts, and voices can still hold goodwill, compassion, and love.

Your friend, Lumine

[the-queerview]

Priscilla, 2023

by Sofia Coppola

Well how couldn't I write about Priscilla.

Where do we start. As a millenial dirtbag I grew up with Coppolas Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette. All films fetishizing young girls. Around the 2010 there weren't many female filmmakers present, and we could say that Sofia Coppolas films were therefore as much creating a certain tumblr aesthetic, that reminds of teengirls/horsegirl fantasies, thou there weren't horses, as well as depicting a certain type of white girl, her characters mostly malenourished, blond, dreamy. What a cis men could connect trough our male gazed history as pedophile lolita-aesthetic (thanks nabokov. fuck you), would be read trough my pre-coming out gaze as something I wanna be and therefor something I realize at the end desire. Coppolas characters are those lost babes, that are bored and sad, intellectually unchallanged, and living in bizarre patriarchical structures ( thinking of the Character in Lost in translation, living isolated in Tokio because of her photographer boyfriend) or Marie Antoinette, who lives in an arranged marriage with a King, she barely knows. All those babes I want to save, I wanna take them out of the social prisons and have fun with them, and thats what those characters are basically doing in Sofias films. They escape trough different ways, and still they are all highly commercialized, superficial product value oriented, fashion films. Here we realize, that I'm bought as much as in the idea of the patriarchical constructed princess peach syndrom ( I'm supermario saving princess peach) as much as Sofia Coppolas films are in any way feminist or questioning this order.

Well so lets roast Priscilla.

I was actually very excited to see the film, especially interested in the costumes and how Coppola would deal with this grooming tale. Just a little background info: Priscilla Presley was 14 years old and Elvis was 24, when the grooming process happened. They married when she was 21 , but Priscilla started living isolated at Presley's Graceland, when she was 17/18. Elvis brought her into contact with amphetamines and sleeping pills and yeah basically groomed that kid.

The film itself is beautifully shot, as viewers we are very much following up the story out of Priscillas perspective. The prison in form of the Graceland ranch, is present here as well. Her feelings of isolation and lonelyness ( Priscilla is not allowed to have friends during her stay with Elvis) is depicted trough many close up of details, like the carpet in the house, scenes of her dog, details of her doing Make up. The control freak Elvis is treating her like a doll, and decides on her looks and dresses, who she talks to, where she even goes to school to. It's BIZARRE. But yeah all those tik tok kids out there imitating the 50s/60s fashion looks right, ITS BAD. those times were bad, and we queers would all be in prison. It's scary my dear readers. Watching time period films to me is always such a strange experience.

Anyways back to the film. So the film is dealing with Priscillas life from the moment she meets and leaves Elvis, and thats basically it. We see her adolesence passing in the prison of Elvis, and the film therefore reminds me of an old, pink stamp. It's not life changing, but beautifully filmed, like an ass log prada commercial, but also its pace is very slow, but not to slow. It's definetly an arthouse film, and I wished she had the freedom in her music choices like in her earlier works, as an example indie music and converse in Marie Antoinette.

I also thought a lot about if Coppola is actually bi/gay anything? Like she has as a certain way of depicting women, very sensual camerashoots, mellow color grading, pastell light situations, also FEET, like details. Personal theory since I witness that a lot in films made by women, this obsession with details. I feel like since we live in a patriarchical society and women were for a long time considered less smart ( educational systems, the performance of women in scientific fields worldwide is : Across the world, roughly 33% of persons employed in science research are female. The highest share is in Central Asia at 48.5% and the lowest in South and West Asia at 23.1%) SO in my theory they are so intellectually underchallanged, that they develop an obsession with details :D

But yeah the film is respectful towards the character of Priscilla, who came herself to the premiere, because the rape scene with Elvis is not depicted. It's still thou not really moving me in any way. Like I end up with the same feeling, while watching the film, I wanna kick Priscillas ass and tell her to leave and have her youth and not be in this prison. But it's not my position and as my experience being a human in this planet, not everybody want to be saved, like you can only help someone in a toxic relationship if the person asks and wants your help. So the film is evoking again those princess peach thoughts within me. I wish for Sofia Coppola to make once a film about a women, who doesn't live in a prison and maybe saves herself. Within this, babes be strong be brave out there and take care.

yours,

the queerview

[iam93percentstardust]

Hello bestie!! Let’s have some fun 🤩

What fic do you want to ramble about? Tell me everything you love about it and all the behind the scenes stuff that we didn’t get to see.

If you could write an AU of one of your fics, what would it be?

What’s a story that you wrote that pushed you out of your comfort zone?

Fun! Reward for finishing grading! No longer having to look at the hopelessness of my students' assignment!!!!!

Ah, this is a mistake because I can (and have) gone on for several pages with behind the scenes stuff. Alas! The fic I want to talk about hasn't been published yet so I will find something else to talk about instead. Let's go with the high school AU hmm? Firstly, the amount of background information that went into this series is extensive. Most of it never even makes it into the fics, but I have the class schedules and clubs for every single student in the AU, teacher schedules for all of the classes, and miniature biographies for all of the main characters tucked away in a folder. All of this is worldbuilding that I worked on for close to three months before finally sitting down to write Invisible in January. The high school AU is one that has been sitting in the back of my mind since I first started thinking about the Alle's version series because it was so obvious to me what I was going to write with the cardigan/august/betty song cycle right from the start. At the same time, though, there was Miss Americana, which felt like a high school AU as well, but I feel like it's a concept I've already seen over and over again in the stevetony fandom, so I wasn't sure I wanted to write it. Then I was thinking about Natasha as a background character in the high school AU, maybe as Tony's sister, while I was watching CATFA, happened to look up while Bucky was talking about taking the girls out dancing and immediately went there's my Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince. And from there, the idea of twelve fics spanning ten relationships and four years just fell into place. The hardest fic to come up with was the one from the Evermore album. Thor and Bruce had just kind of... landed in that spot because everyone else fit an album so perfectly from Peter/Harley/MJ fitting into Debut to Pepper/Rhodey fitting Midnights. I felt kind of bad honestly about Thor and Bruce being slotted into Evermore just because it was the last album, but I didn't know where else to put them! And then it was even worse because I kept listening to the album multiple times, hoping to find a song that would jump out at me like this is the song for Thor and Bruce, but nothing was coming to mind other than gold rush, which I wasn't 100% sold on since I felt like it was also a very stevetony song. I did eventually come up with a plot that made me happy enough with gold rush that I no longer felt like I was just cramming them together, but it was definitely a process.

Alright, so straight up AU, I'm gonna go alllllll the way back to one of the very first fics I ever posted and say Brewed Awakening because I'd love to see a version of this fic where almost everything is the same but Tony is also secretly Iron Man and so there's some bonus identity porn thrown into the mix on top of Steve being secretly Captain America. So far as a different POV, I'd love to go back and do Steve's POV of All Too Well. It's a rough fic, and we only get Tony's perspective of the whole thing, and I think getting to explore what Steve was thinking during both his first relationship with Tony and then during his second when they had both matured would be a lot of fun.

I write a lot of things that push me out of my comfort zone, but this time I'm gonna go with Your Darkened Eyes. At the time, I'd never really written dark characters before. I had Hoist the Colors and Spoils of War, but those were both more dark-ish than they were actually dark characters. But with Your Darkened Eyes, I introduced this much darker version of Steve, who saw nothing wrong with seducing an underage Tony and then seducing his married counterpart as well, along with heavily implying that he had originally shown up with the intention of killing MCU Steve, and it was just a lot of fun for me to experiment with and step out of my comfort zone from my usual fluff and misunderstandings.

[silver-blooded-synthetics]

@theholysoldier asked:

💓 When did they have their first crush? 💕 How easily do they fall in love? 💖 How do they say ‘I love you’ without really saying it? 👀 Would they ever enter/have they ever entered into a friends with benefits relationship? 🌹 What is their idea of a perfect date? 🔑 At what point would they move in with a partner? 💗 What advice would they give a potential partner about making their relationship last if they could with no judgment? ❌ What is the biggest mistake they make in their relationships? 💞 Would they ever enter/have they ever entered into a polyamorous relationship? 😭 When was their first breakup? 💔 What was their worst breakup? 🍷 How far would they go on a first date? 💍 Would they ever get married? 💎 Would they rather propose or be proposed to? 💒 What kind of wedding would they want to have? 👶 Do they want children? {Alma, Arda, Errol}

💓 When did they have their first crush?

Alma: He's never really had one. He's not the type to start crushing on people until after he's already established a bond with them, and by then, usually he goes pretty fast from having a crush to being in a relationship, because once he understands his feelings, he pursues them.

Arda: There was a girl in her first grade class that was very pretty and Arda crushed pretty hard on her until the other girl showed her true colors as a bully and then Arda was heartbroken that someone so pretty could be so mean.

Errol: His first crush was on one of his caregivers in the foster home for troubled boys he was in for a few years in the UK. He tried to get her attention by acting out, and it worked, she definitely payed attention to him. But she hated his guts for it because he was the worst problem child there. At the time, he didn't care, as long as he was getting some form of attention, even if it was negative. There was also the problem that he was only a child and she was an adult. He didn't start crushing on people his own age until high school.

💕 How easily do they fall in love?

Alma: It takes Alma some time to fully fall in love. He has a difficult time processing his emotions, so he needs a while to come to terms with them. But once he does realize he is in love, he falls hard.

Arda: She falls in love about a hundred times a day. She's quite the romantic, and because she sees beauty in just about everything, it doesn't take much for her to fall in love. Now, it's not always romantic or something she actively pursues, but her quick love is just as real as any love.

Errol: He has a very difficult time falling in love. Sure, he likes people well enough, but because of his issues with empathy and making genuine connections with others, actually caring enough about them to call it love doesn't happen very often. It's rare for him. But that's why when he does fall in love, it's extremely intense. He becomes almost obsessed, but is a ride or die partner, extremely loyal and protective, and very affectionate.

💖 How do they say ‘I love you’ without really saying it?

Alma: Allowing his partner to touch him and trusting them implicitly. Sharing his thoughts with them. Smiling around them, actual, real, genuine smiles, not just a forced polite one. Asking them their thoughts on things and listening. Really getting to know his partner, what they like and don't like, and putting that information into practice to make sure they are happy. Info dumping.

Arda: Giving little homemade gifts that she made herself. Singing for them and dancing with them. Holding them and playing with their hair or stroking their sides. Telling them how beautiful she thinks they are and all the qualities about them that make them beautiful both inside and out. Taking pictures with them.

Errol: Lots and lots of physical affection. Hugs, kisses, holding hands, stroking hair or skin, etc. Holding them in his arms. Opening up about his issues and actually admitting they are real to his partner. Asking for help from his partner. Buying gifts he thinks will be useful to or liked by his partner. Talking to them about important subjects and actually listening to what they have to say about them. More physical affection.

👀 Would they ever enter/have they ever entered into a friends with benefits relationship?

Alma: No, and he never would. Sex is about love to him, he doesn't do it casually, it's reserved only for romantic partners.

Arda: Possibly, but she'd have to be pretty close friends with them.

Errol: Oh, absolutely, he's had several.

🌹 What is their idea of a perfect date?

Alma: Going somewhere with little to no light pollution and laying down in the grass to look up at the stars while talking to his partner about anything and everything.

Arda: Going out dancing with her partner or going to the beach to walk along the shore and collect seashells with them.

Errol: Staying home and snuggling up together on the couch to watch movies or read a book together, ordering in Thai food, having sex, then taking a bath together.

🔑 At what point would they move in with a partner?

Alma: As soon as they were official and he trusted them well, he'd want to move in together, as long as circumstances allowed for it.

Arda: She'd move in together the moment her partner asked, even if they've only been seeing each other a week.

Errol: He'd also move in right away, but only if it was convenient for him. He's not really tied to one place and lives a nomadic lifestyle, so he might move in without any issues, but he might also just up and move out without warning too. Unless he really falls hard in love, then he'll stick around.

💗 What advice would they give a potential partner about making their relationship last if they could with no judgment?

Alma: To be patient with him. He's still figuring out a lot of things and is a bit naive, especially emotionally immature. He needs someone that won't give up on him and is willing to give him time to figure things out. He may not always agree with something, but if you are calm with him and willing to teach him why you feel or think a certain way, he will eventually be able to understand and come around.

Arda: Don't ever be cruel. Sometimes people make mistakes and hurt others on accident, but that's different. When you are actively malicious towards her or even someone else, she loses faith in you, and the relationship will end. Always try to be considerate.

Errol: Similar to Alma's advice. Be patient with him. He's a very flawed individual and he's trying his hardest to be better, but he doesn't always know how and he struggles. He has relapses. He needs help. He needs someone to be a moral compass for him when he can't tell right from wrong. Don't give up on him.

❌ What is the biggest mistake they make in their relationships?

Alma: He is a very curious person, and sometimes he takes it too far. Be that putting himself or his partner in danger in search of information, or prying too deep into his partner's personal life.

Arda: She's too naive and trusts too much, often ending up with her getting hurt and/or taken advantage of because of it.

Errol: He has had several relationships that he tried to make serious but never actually was capable of loving them. In the end he always ended up hurting them because of it.

💞 Would they ever enter/have they ever entered into a polyamorous relationship?

Alma: No, he couldn't handle it and would feel inadequate as a partner, like he isn't enough by himself. It would end up with his heart broken.

Arda: Yes, she could handle a polyamorous relationship and would be willing to enter one, though has never had one before.

Errol: Possibly, depending on the people involved. He does tend to get jealous and possessive, but as long as it was a healthy relationship where they all loved each other equally, he wouldn't mind sharing his partners with each other. He's been in a few polyamorous relationships before. One of them worked out well with minimal issues. The other had him competing with one of the other partners for attention from the third and was pretty rough in the beginning, but smoothed out once boundaries were discussed and set.

😭 When was their first breakup?

Alma: When he was sixteen, after four dates with a girl his mother set him up with. They were exclusive for a very short time before Alma broke it off because he simply didn't have feelings for her.

Arda: She broke up with her first boyfriend after two months of dating him. She was fifteen at the time and they ended things mutually on positive terms.

Errol: He broke up with his first girlfriend when he was in high school at age fifteen. Or more... she broke up with him after calling him a heartless dick and slapping him in the face...

💔 What was their worst breakup?

Alma: When another girl his mother set him up with had been dating him for a month. Alma continued seeing her just so he wouldn't have to see anyone else (he gets tired of his mother constantly forcing him to date). The girl thought they were in a committed relationship because Alma didn't communicate well with her that he wasn't really into her. She kissed him unexpectedly and he panicked. Things didn't end well.

Arda: She's never really had a bad breakup. Some were sad, but mostly they always separated on good terms and stayed friends.

Errol: There were so many awful ones, but the worst was probably when a girlfriend told him he was a monster. That cut him the most at least. They screamed and fought for hours before he kicked her out and threw her junk out of the window of his eighth story apartment. She slashed his tires a week later.

🍷 How far would they go on a first date?

Alma: Even hand holding is pushing it on the first date.

Arda: A kiss.

Errol: Sex, if the other person was into it.

💍 Would they ever get married?

Alma: Yes, he'd like to fall in love and get married some day.

Arda: Yes, she'd love to get married someday as well.

Errol: He will always say no, but only until he finds someone he truly falls in love with. Then he'll want to get married if they do.

💎 Would they rather propose or be proposed to?

Alma: He'd rather do the official proposing after discussing marriage with his partner beforehand.

Arda: She'd rather be proposed to. She also likes to be surprised.

Errol: He would rather be the one proposing, after discussing marriage first with his partner and knowing it's what they both want first.

💒 What kind of wedding would they want to have?

Alma: He would want to have something small and private with only certain people invited, but he'd want it to have a beautiful and meaningful ceremony, some place with a lovely view.

Arda: She would want a beach wedding at sunset, also small with only special people invited. She wants it all documented on video so she can cherish the memory forever though.

Errol: He wants whatever his partner wants, whether that's something extravagant and big or something small and private. He'd love to wear a dress and have a theme and do lots of dramatic decorations and make it a huge deal, but he'd also be just as happy just getting the papers signed and not having a ceremony at all if that's what his partner wanted.

👶 Do they want children?

Alma: Yes, he'd like one or two kids someday.

Arda: She would love to have children, be it one or many, her own or adopted. She just wants a happy family.

Errol: He doesn't necessarily want to have kids, because he's terrified that he won't be able to love them. But if he did have kids, he would love them to the ends of the world and back, whether he knows that now or not. He isn't against having kids, he just has concerns about being a good father to them.

[penwrythe]

Giga ultra mega late night post

So, I been working on the Spoon Ballerina for five/six days and I'm learning a lot about the process. This model is a style test before the actual style test! Once I master the 2D/3D style, I'll be set for working on RFR pages (by 2025 maybe I don't know lol)

I know I definitely need a pipeline for character and environment asset design and creation prior to producing the pages for RFR. But to streamline this, here's what I'm thinking about:

After style test, create base shaders and rigs for eyes, mouth, and other surface anatomy for my object ocs. This will allow me to easily place and modify these assets without recreating them for each character. Since most object ocs range from similar forms to more complex forms, recycling models is going to be important. Same with human/god characters, too.

Also, for human/god character models, I look into making base models with a variety of body types so I have a ready-made asset to modify for a new character.

Sculpting is going to be important for the more complex character designs and background elements, so I need to learn how to sculpt and also recycle sculpted assets.

Maybe....a process test after the style test? Say for example, for a scene, I need three living swords and five living orbs and three cloaks, along with the characters from the style test (Eightenate, Inga, and Gwenny). Three of the orbs have injuries and two cloaks (rust rot, ichor loss, burns), the other two are uninjured. The swords are helping them, one of them is a leader speaking to Eightenate, clearly more decorated with regalia and etchings as signs of their rank. In the same scene (or panel whatever) shows Inga recovering (maybe escape from the swords) speaking to two other humans about what happened. All these characters will borrow elements from each of their base characters with modifications needed for their role and design in the scene.

How long will it take for me to do modifications to the style test characters to create the new ones in this example? What about background elements?

Because, I think it might be a week or two to create the original base characters and environment elements, then a day or a couple days to modify them into the new characters. Then another for setting up the scene, rendering, and adding final touches such as color grade and affects. Final render then publishing it.

Also for some background elements, I might be able to find ready made assets on 3D modeling stores. Just do the modifications needed for the style of the comic and just import them into the scenes needed.

Oof storage space is going to be something ahhh, I'll figure it out, might get a three terabyte drive, might last me a few years, and a cloud backup system for it too

And that means finding ways to fund the comic once I get it off the ground. For paying asset plugin creators, backup services, other artists and designers if I start hiring, and so on. I have no idea for merch... maybe art books, short story anthologies, commissions, or figurines and plushies, maybe an actual sword lol (that's going to be thousands to make lol).

I'm not hiring for right now, I don't have the income to pay artists, but when I do, I'm looking for artists and designers who work in Blender, Krita, and Photoshop. They need to be 18 years or older (WOR is New Adult Fantasy; target audience is 18-25 yrs), have some familiarity with fantasy elements and ancient and medieval cultures I take inspiration from for WOR's storytelling and design, and also object shows since that is WOR's main inspiration is from.

We'll see what comes from the style test first!

[potentialtomato]

Getting somewhere

It finally feels like I may be coming into some serious artist purpose. I think up until now I have really been creating with a loose understanding of why I do, and usually just trying to copy the astethics of what I liked. Illustrative, stylistic and surreal Illustration, with elegant line variation and play with color (usally of natural scenes).

This year how ever I have understood that art is a necessary meditation for me. something to focus on and an excuse to sit in a moment, making it so where ever I go, I have something to do. But Ive always struggled with what my art "means" what it "contributes" how to talk about it is a passionate way that is required to get grants or residencies. It is also difficult because I find it hard to do any self motivated project. Unless someone has directly requested it or I am sure it will improve my standing with someone I don't usually seriously create (besides small drawing in my sketch book).

I've also had in the back of my mind the truth that is how the world is made sence of through art. This has quelled my feelings of guilt when ever I think about how selfish it is to spend so much time creating. But It has never really worked, and i realize now that is because Ive never really been creating with a large concept I am trying to process my feelings/understanding of. So what do I want to unpack? what beauty am I drawn to. what has always calmed me down when the existential parts of the world are literally warped in my brain. The idea of being insignificant, in a good way. That nature keeps moving despite anything I do. Vasts amounts of stories and textures and chemical reactions, weather, layering, growth, decay is all happening all of the time, and is beautiful. I thing thats why i'm always drawn to the idea of entropy, I like referring to my self and and unstoppable energy. The appreciation and attention to all the small parts that put together the bigger picture.

This also clicks with my recent success in creating paper with recycled scraps and natural materials (flowers, tomatoes, cacou beans). At first when my mind was just on sales the paper i was making seemed inadequate and a waste of time. I didn't have the right materials / know how to make a consistent, art material grade piece. It was to bumpy, thin, or had holes in it. Though Ive gotten better some of those problems still stand. buuuuuuuuuut, Ive been dreaming of sewing the pieces together and painting/ drawing something on them like a canvas. this would mean I would succeeded in making my own art materials, and would even provide and extra layer of texture that Im always trying to create in my work. not to mention it feels reassuring to know that just because i'm not working in a professional studio that I am not gate kept from learning and being a part of the natural dyes and fibers art community.

This was a long one, but it feels really nice to finally feel justified in spending all of this time in my life on art and design. And I have to acknowledged how important it was to watch and be exposed to my friends in other mediums (mostly music and film) as they forge ahead with a vision.

[therumpus]

The Mini Interview with Tajja Isen

By Allison Armijo

Tajja Isen and I were in the same eleventh grade English class. Just a few years apart. And in different countries–her, in Canada, me, in the US. But like many with an upbringing not dissimilar to the suburban worlds created by Raymond Carver, we both were aspiring writers who wanted to write like the ‘tiny white people,’ as Isen dubs them, that lived–and sometimes continue to live–in our heads. 

Isen is a voice actor, writer, and the former editor-in-chief of Catapult magazine. Her work approaches this boundary between the physical and the linguistic–our actions and our words–with curiosity, that which makes space for the seemingly contradictory state of living and growing in a world with language and its debt, or the space between our values and actions. 

Isen’s 2022 debut collection, Some of My Best Friends: Essays on Lip Service (Atria, 2024), looks at how the language of social justice activism has evolved over time: change without guarantee of progress, revision without redress (also known as ‘lip service’). Each essay combines research with cultural criticism and personal experience, asking questions about where the boundaries between the personal and political lie, and how the language used to navigate those spaces disproportionately affects people of color. By interrogating her own experiences within various American and Canadian institutions, Isen explores what happens when language becomes transactional, and how lip service diffuses this very necessary tension. 

With the upcoming release of the paperback edition of Some of My Best Friends, I was delighted to chat with Isen over email about what it means to have a changing relationship to language, the importance of surprise (and self-love) in the writing process, and much more. 

***

The Rumpus: The book opens with two epigraphs, one by W.E.B. Du Bois and another by Lana Del Rey, the first of which comes from The Souls of Black Folk, and the second from Instagram. Both approach the tokened: “I’m not racist, some of my best friends are Black,” in a different way. Do you think W.E.B. Du Bois would be a fan of the modes of activism through social media?

Tajja Issen: The book is extremely interested in how the language of social justice has changed over time, for better and worse. With these epigraphs, I wanted to highlight the opposite idea: How little things have changed. When I was reading The Souls of Black Folk, I was both disturbed and amused at how contemporary that particular moment of tokenization felt. [...] But I also don’t want to make sweeping generalizations about social media activism being bad or simplistic, especially now—I’m thinking of the way Palestinians have used it to document the ongoing genocide and asked us to bear witness and amplify the calls for a ceasefire, or the power of social platforms as tools of organizing in protest of those abuses. If somebody sat Du Bois down to explain that capacity to him, I bet he would be a fan.

Rumpus: How do you see language as a structure of resistance to bridge confession and storytelling? Were you resistant to any particular forms of framing or storytelling?

Isen: That’s a great question. Related to my hesitance to get personal in the book, I was resistant to a framing that writers of color often get cornered into, whether by their own impulses or, more commonly, by market pressures: to describe their identities as though racialized pain is the axis on which they spin. This is a story the publishing industry is very comfortable with and one that I wasn’t interested in telling. (Drama ensued!) But, to your question, that’s the whole point of language as a structure of resistance—to disrupt the comfortable, anesthetic modes of narrative and argument.

Rumpus: You mention in “Tiny White People” how when you were younger, you imitated popular white authors that “find ways to talk about race without really talking about it.” How do you see your own relationship to language developing over time?

Isen: When it comes to my approach to writing, I try to stay in a permanent state of surprise. Surprise is the goal and the dream state. With that essay in particular, the version of it I wrote for the book is very different from the version that was originally published in Electric Literature in 2017. By the time I sat down to update that essay for the book, I realized none of the original version was reusable. My thinking had changed too much. My politics had changed too much. “I need to feel seen” is the type of soundbite that’s super accessible and conforms to the mainstream version of racial discourse that is easy to market. It was more important to me to remain faithful to these confrontations with my own mind, however personally jarring or corporately inconvenient (lol), than to rehash what a predominantly white readership is already comfortable hearing.

Rumpus: What forms does revision take in your work? Do you see it as more of an emotional or technical endeavor?

Isen: I love the idea of a writer who can distinguish between the emotional and technical aspects of revision, but I’ve got to admit I’m just not that writer. A piece, a page, a book transforms many times before I stop evaluating it. If I had to boil my revision process down, I’m always subjecting the work to two questions. The other day, I described it to my husband as akin to knocking on a wall to find a stud: First knock—Is it true? Second knock—Is it interesting? I keep knocking, keep asking those two questions, until the quality of sound that echoes back to me meets my standards. 

Rumpus: I love the way you physically map tactics of white femininity: innocent and deviant on the Y axis, tough and wounded along the X axis. You give various examples of the ways white femininity often evades racial consciousness out of a lack of obligation to acknowledge it. How, if at all, do you see aesthetics as an inherently political approach to conflict and compromise in predominantly white spaces?

Isen: I love that you frame aesthetics as “inherently political,” which they are, and which I think is easy for a lot of people to forget. We see the aesthetic-political split play out pretty literally in which artists get asked what questions—who gets asked about representation and identity versus who gets asked about craft choices. I’m far from the first to point this out. It was important to me, in that essay in particular, to stake out that territory and to remind the reader that aesthetics, especially in work by white (female) artists, can be a convenient way to make politics seem invisible. 

Rumpus: In your last essay, “Dead or Canadian,” you mention Lee Edelman’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” I loved what you said about the song “[getting] its rocks off knowing that [you] overheard its pleasure.” This returns to ideas of spectacle and voyeurism in tokenized forms of representation that you explore throughout, but also introduces the idea of self-love in the personal address. Thinking about the relationship between language and the self, do you see self-love as a product of fluency–i.e., recognizing the ins and outs of lip service across fields and disciplines–or a rejection of it? 

Isen: That’s an interesting distinction and not one I’d considered before. I guess, for me, I come into clearer focus for myself when I can name and isolate the forces that shape, constitute, and frustrate me. And that’s also what I hope the book gives to its readers: the aha moment where it names a dynamic or pattern that they’ve registered—this kind of insidious, comic creep of meaningless language—but haven’t necessarily found the words for. Articulating something long-felt but unexpressed is, I think, the best thing that writing can do. I like the notion that it might be a form of love, both for oneself and for others. 

***

Allison Armijo is a creative writing student in Boston, MA.