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mostlysignssomeportents · 5 months ago

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Quinque gazump linkdump

On OCTOBER 23 at 7PM, I'll be in DECATUR, presenting my novel THE BEZZLE at EAGLE EYE BOOKS.

It's Saturday and any fule kno that this is the day for a linkdump, in which the links that couldn't be squeezed into the week's newsletter editions get their own showcase. Here's the previous 23 linkdumps:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/linkdump/

Start your weekend with some child's play! Ada & Zangemann is a picture book by Matthias Kirschner and Sandra Brandstätter of Free Software Foundation Europe, telling the story of a greedy inventor who ensnares a town with his proprietary, remote-brickable gadgets, and Ada, his nemesis, a young girl who reverse engineers them and lets their users seize the means of computation:

https://fsfe.org/activities/ada-zangemann/index.en.html

Ada & Zangemann is open access – you can share it, adapt it, and sell it as you see fit – and has been translated into several languages. Now, there's a cartoon version, an animated adaptation that is likewise open access, with digital assets for your remixing pleasure:

https://fsfe.org/activities/ada-zangemann//movie

Figuring out how to talk to kids about important subjects is a clarifying exercise. Back in the glory days of SNL, Eddie Murphy lampooned Fred "Mr" Rogers style of talking to kids, and it was indeed very funny:

https://snl.fandom.com/wiki/Mr._Robinson

But Mr Rogers' rhetorical style wasn't as simple as "talk slowly and use small words" – the "Fredish" dialect that Mr Rogers created was thoughtful, empathic, inclusive, and very effective:

https://memex.craphound.com/2019/07/09/the-nine-rules-of-freddish-the-positive-inclusive-empathic-language-of-mr-rogers/

Lots of writers have used the sing-songy fairytale style of children's stories to make serious political points (see, e.g. Animal Farm). My own attempt at this was my 2011 short story "The Brave Little Toaster," for MIT Tech Review's annual sf series. If the title sounds familiar, that's because I nicked it from Tom Disch's tale of the same name, as part of my series of stolen title stories:

https://locusmag.com/2012/05/cory-doctorow-a-prose-by-any-other-name/

My Toaster story is a tale of IoT gone wild, in which the nightmare of a world of "smart" devices that exert control over their owners is shown to be a nightmare. A work colleague sent me this adaptation of the story as part of an English textbook, with lots of worksheet-style exercises. I'd never seen this before, and it's very fun:

http://ourenglishclass.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2024/09/bravetoaster.pdf

If you like my "Brave Little Toaster," you'll likely enjoy my novella "Unauthorized Bread," which appears in my 2019 collection Radicalized and is currently being adapted as a middle-grades graphic novel by Blue Delliquanti for Firstsecond:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

Childlike parables have their place, but just because something fits in a "just so" story, that doesn't make it true. Cryptocurrency weirdos desperately need to learn this lesson. The foundation of cryptocurrency is a fairytale about the origin of money, a mythological marketplace in which freely trading individuals who struggled to find a "confluence of needs." If you wanted to trade one third of your cow for two and a half of my chickens, how could we complete the transaction?

In the "money story" fairy tale, we spontaneously decided that we would use gold, for a bunch of nonsensical reasons that don't bear even cursory scrutiny. And so coin money sprang into existence, and we all merrily traded our gold with one another until a wicked government came and stole our gold with (cue scary voice) taaaaaaxes.

There is zero evidence for this. It's literally a fairy tale. There is a rich history of where money came from, and the answer, in short is, governments created it through taxes, and money doesn't exist without taxation:

https://locusmag.com/2022/09/cory-doctorow-moneylike/

The money story is a lie, and it's a consequential one. The belief that money arises spontaneously out of the needs of freely trading people who voluntarily accept an arbitrary token as a store of value, unit of account, and unit of exchange (coupled with a childish, reactionary aversion to taxation) inspired cryptocurrency, and with it, the scams that allowed unscrupulous huxters to steal billions from everyday people who trusted Matt Damon, Spike Lee and Larry David when they told them that cryptocurrency was a sure path to financial security:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/15/your-new-first-name/#that-dagger-tho

It turns out that private money, far from being a tool of liberation, is rather just a dismal tool for ripping off the unsuspecting, and that goes double for crypto, where complexity can be weaponized by swindlers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/03/13/the-byzantine-premium/

We don't hear nearly as much about crypto these days – many of the pump-and-dump set have moved on to pitching AI stock – but there's still billions tied up in the scam, and new shitcoins are still being minted at speed. The FBI actually created a sting operation to expose the dirtiness of the crypto "ecosystem":

https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/10/24267098/fbi-coin-crypto-token-nexgenai-sec-doj-fraud-investigation

They found that the exchanges, "market makers" and other seemingly rock-ribbed institutions where suckers are enticed to buy, sell, track and price cryptos are classic Big Store cons:

http://www.amyreading.com/the-9-stages-of-the-big-con.html

When you, the unsuspecting retail investor, enter one of these mirror-palaces, you are the only audience member in a play that everyone else is in on. Those vigorous trades that see the shitcoin you're being hustled with skyrocketing in value? They're "wash trades," where insiders buy and sell the same asset to one another, without real money ever changing hands, just to create the appearance of a rapidly appreciating asset that you had best get in on before you are priced out of the market.

This scam is as old as con games themselves and, as with other scams- S&Ls, Enron, subprime – the con artists have parlayed their winnings into social respectability and are now flushing them into the political system, to punish lawmakers who threaten their ability to rip off you and your neighbors. A massive, terrifying investigative story in The New Yorker shows how crypto billionaires stole the Democratic nomination from Katie Porter, one of the most effective anti-scam lawmakers in recent history:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/10/14/silicon-valley-the-new-lobbying-monster

Big Tech – like every corrupt cartel in history – is desperate to conjure a kleptocracy into existence, whose officials they can corrupt in order to keep the machine going until they've maximized their gains and achieved escape velocity from consequences.

No surprise, then, that tech companies have adopted the same spin tactics that sowed doubt about the tobacco-cancer link, in order to keep the US from updating its anemic privacy laws. The last time Congress gave us a new consumer privacy law was 1988, when they banned video store clerks from disclosing our VHS rental history to newspapers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act

By preventing confining privacy law to the VCR era, Big Tech has been able to plunder our data with impunity – aided by cops and spies who love the fact that there's a source of cheap, off-the-books, warrantless surveillance data that would be illegal for them to collect.

Writing for Tech Policy Press, the Norcal ACLU's Jake Snow connects the tobacco industry fight over "pre-emption" to the modern fight over privacy laws:

https://www.techpolicy.press/big-tech-is-trying-to-burn-privacy-to-the-ground-and-theyre-using-big-tobaccos-strategy-to-do-it/

In the 1990s, Big Tobacco went to war against state anti-smoking laws, arguing that the federal government had the right – nay, the duty – to create a "harmonized" national system of smoking laws that would preempt state laws. Strangely, politicians who love "states' rights" when it comes to banning abortion, tax-base erosion and "right to work" anti-union laws suddenly discovered federal religion when their campaign donors from the Cancer-Industrial Complex decided that states shouldn't use those rights to limit smoking.

This is exactly the tack that Big Tech has taken on privacy, arguing that any update to federal privacy law should abolish muscular state-level laws, like Illinois's best-in-class biometric privacy rules, or California's CPPA.

Like Big Tobacco, Big Tech has "funded front groups, hired an armada of lobbyists, donated millions to campaigns, and opened a firehose of lobbying money," with the goal of replacing "real privacy laws with fake industry alternatives as ineffective as non-smoking sections."

Whether it's understanding the origin of money or the Big Tobacco playbook, knowing history can protect you from all kinds of predatory behavior. But history isn't merely a sword and shield, it's also just a delight. Internet pioneer Ethan Zuckerman is road-tripping around America, and in August, he got to Columbus, IN, home to some of the country's most beautiful and important architectural treasures:

https://ethanzuckerman.com/2024/08/29/road-trip-the-company-town-and-the-corn-fields/

The buildings – clustered in within a few, walkable blocks – are the legacy of the diesel engine manufacturing titan Cummins, whose postwar president J Irwin Miller used the company's wartime profits to commission a string of gorgeous structures from starchitects like the Saarinens, IM Pei, Kevin Roche, Richard Meier, Harry Weese, César Pelli, Gunnar Birkerts, and Skidmore. I had no idea about any of this, and now I want to visit Columbus!

I'm planning a book tour right now (for my next novel, Picks and Shovels, which is out in February) and there's a little wiggle-room in the midwestern part of the tour. There's a possibility that I'll end up in the vicinity, and if that happens, I'm definitely gonna find time for a little detour!

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

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luigiblood · 8 months ago

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An interesting view of Retro NSO Patents

So a bunch of patents from Nintendo recently got published and got my attention: They are related to the retro Nintendo Switch Online service and how it works and it brings a bit of an interesting view of it, with features that are DEFINITELY not inside the apps as of now.

As I went through them, I decided to also go back a little bit to earlier ones.

Just in case, for every reader:

At no point this describes the future of NSO! Let that be clear!!

Unlike most people who reports on patents, I actually will LINK the original patents.

US11003312B2 - NSO User Interface

You can find this patent here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US11003312B2/en

This seems to be among the earliest ones, it's from 2018, right before the launch of NES NSO that happened in September 2018.

This is an exact description of how the NSO UI works, where each image (or box arts, as they are usually used) are scaled roughly equivalent to each row so it always fits perfectly.

They had planned initially for details to be basically on the box art, thankfully they changed that completely for a full window in the final version.

They also had Special versions / Extra versions also nailed down already at that time, which are just games with preloaded save states, which the patent does explain. And the whole NEW thing where a new game is packaged like a gift and you just open them as you select them, that's already in the final app as well.

But here's something cursed:

This is a full vertical version of the user interface, which we've never seen so far.

US20240165505A1 - GB/GBA Multiplayer

This patent can be found here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20240165505A1/en

This existed since late 2022 in Japan, but got a US version the next year, then published this year.

This patent explains how multiplayer works for GB and GBA NSO, as in emulating multiplayer between different linked systems, whether through LAN or online.

It gets complicated to read, but it's really about different ways to handle emulation of multiplayer, from one way where each player run their own emulator on their systems, to what I believe to be actually used: Running up to 4 emulators on each player's systems at the same time and keeping them synchronized through each player's input, but only display one of them corresponding to each player.

I believe this last way is used because all data sent through link cable is expected to be instant, you cannot delay this data, because this is asking for constant lag, but emulating all consoles on each player's system does solve this problem.

There also some quick algorithms in there about how to handle connections, disconnections and so on, but at this point it's not too interesting to explain because it works just like the apps.

US20240181342A1 - NSO User Interface (Save System)

This patent can be found here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20240181342A1/en

It's dated just like the previous one, actually.

It might sound like the first one, but this one is more than meets the eye. Some articles talked about this as like, new Switch OS UI which is just bullshit (hi GameRant), or as GameCube NSO (wtf are you smoking to think of that straight up), but this one is actually about saves!

This image is actually having the main game on the left side, and everything to its right are all save states! You can see 2 saves for the first game, and 5 saves for the second game, it even has two rows for a single game which never happens on NSO apps. Of course, each save are just essentially having a screenshot of when the save state was taken at that moment.

This can very well be an alternative way of things, as I think this looks quite a bit cumbersome in how much space it uses.

But what's interesting is the Auto Save feature, which is not a feature of retro NSO currently. It is explained that the auto save can be enabled or not, and can happen anytime, including within a repeated time interval. This would be very nice in case of crashes.

And then, the elephant in the room: Yes, this looks like you could do more than 4 saves, with a peek of the suspension menu with a way to scroll through saves, the first option being to create a new save, without necessarily having to choose a numbered save state ID.

US20240173627A1 - Mission Play Mode

This patent can be found here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20240173627A1/en

Now, this one is really sad because this shows an actual mission mode for retro NSO apps with objectives and rewards!

This has a new mode included called Mission Play, and you are provided with a mission that you can enter.

In this case it's about hitting enemies, keeping a count for a mission, but also even keeping a count of every single player in a region, and then the world!

This is really cool! I really think they should be doing this, but it seems Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition might do it instead.

That said, this being planned for retro NSO systems is definitely not entirely news for me, because I had noticed a long time ago that the SNES NSO emulator definitely kept track of specific game information as you play, it wasn't necessarily sent anywhere, but they were thinking about it, for several SNES games.

Funnily enough, these are real examples of detections for Super Mario Advance 2 specifically. This is pretty much how the memory and code looks like for the game.

I want to insist though: These are patents, these are for ideas, so this patent might have been publicly published because of Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, but through experience, most of the time, as much as they describe stuff for illustrative purposes, it is usually describe a real example that was in development at one point or another.

Again, though: At no point this describes the future of NSO! Let that be clear!

But it gives us a view of what Nintendo and NERD had in mind for development. And, at least, I actually give links unlike a few who loves to tease bullshit through those.

#nintendo switch online #patents

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sazorak · 2 months ago

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Every Game I Played in 2024, Ranked

Another year, another ordered list of video games. I've decided to abandon the major distinctions on release year because who cares.

Continuing honorable mention: I played a fuckton of Dwarf Fortress this year, as in previous years. Dwarf Fortress: still rules.

2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023

14. Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster - 1991 / 2021 - Steam - ★★★

Look: I get it, FFIV is an Important game as far as RPGs go. It has a lot of cute moments and characters and that classic Final Fantasy charm. But as someone whose Final Fantasy gameplay experiences start with 5 and end at 12: Boy, this game lacks a lot of gameplay depth huh.

It still has all the typical-yet-interesting Final Fantasy boss weakness gimmicks, but there's an odd lack of the "building" aspect of RPGs. Characters gain levels and stats, and you can gear them up... but there's no actual decision making. Any unique aspects of equipment ("hey this one resists XYZ element!") do not matter when the base stat growths will fundamentally always matter more. It doesn't even take advantage of its large "playable" cast as you can't actually choose who is in your party at any given time. It is a very linear, hand-holdy experience that honestly feels incomplete when looked at with 2024-eyes.

I did enjoy my time by-and-large with FFIV, but particular towards the end I was forcing myself to finish it mostly out of a sense of sunk cost. I don’t think it has aged especially well.

That said: the Pixel Remaster aspect of it is a fine port. I do wish these pixel remasters included the stuff from the Advanced versions though. The Advanced version of IV even bothered to let you pick your party at the end!

13. Warhammer 40K: Mechanicus - 2018 - Steam - ★★★

I'm not sure whether Mechanicus is too long or just fundamentally missing some additional mechanic that makes it last into the double-digit-hours.

It's an enjoyable enough tactical game, with some really neat mechanics built around a dynamic action economy, but once you upgrade your Tech Priests and solve that action economy, everything goes off the rails. The difficulty curve is quite lop-sided; the first few missions were quite intense, but while the game keeps introducing more advanced Necron units to combat you, it's just not enough to keep up with what you're capable of. By the end it's trivial to twerk on even the final boss in a single turn.

Soundtrack is excellent, and I'm still quite interested in Mechanicus 2 so hey.

11. Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 - 2024 - Steam - ★★★★

The sequel to 2011's most surprisingly decent third-person shooter, Space Marine 2 is... largely ok! Ironically it's a bit buggy at times, and it's definitely better suited towards multiplayer than singleplayer as far as the campaign goes. Said campaign is... well, it's a Warhammer 40K campaign. You run around and shoot at bozos while yelling FOR THE EMPEROR a bunch. Last time had Titus fighting orks and general Chaos dipshits, now he's fighting Tyranids and *specialized* Chaos dipshits. Could use more enemy variety, perhaps with more... tactical relevance to the units? As-is you have a few must-kill annoying units but otherwise the combat can be pretty brainless.

It's not groundbreaking, but the Warhammer setting polish present here is pretty good. Servo skulls and cherubs galore. It's still funny that they *insist* on every one of these games starring an Ultramarine, when seldom do they bother playing into any of the stuff that makes Ultramarines interesting. If you're just running around shooting games and going GRRR, that could be literally anybody. Yeah, Ultramarines are the default these days, but you could just make a new Chapter with some interesting gimmick, or bring in one of the more thematically or mechanically unique chapters then. Honestly: Should have been Dark Angels.

12. Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection - 2024 - Steam - ★★★★

it's mahvel baby

Good collection, I enjoy dicking around in here with friends. Doesn't bring anything particularly stunning to the table beyond the included products, and I'm not exactly planning on grinding so I can get Wazzler'd into oblivion. Them going out of their way to fix certain glitches but then patching the game to add a toggle to enable the Juggernaut glitch is very funny, I approve.

Pricing is a lil whack for what it is, but hey that's modern video games. Where's a new Capcom Versus game?

10. Crusader Kings III 2024 DLC - 2024 - Steam - ★★★★

CK3's DLC for the year was "Legends of the Dead", "Roads to Power", and "Wandering Nobles."

Legends of the Dead added plague and legend mechanics. The plague stuff is good, though it's either devastating or easily defeatable with little in-between at the moment. There is some anachronistic aspects I wish they'd change (isolating one's self away from the plague is a modern idea that would be alien to the time), but I understand that it's hard to handle people trying to metagame the realism of isolation otherwise. The legend mechanics are straight up mediocre; the act of formally promulgating your legend and paying folks to share your legend is just odd, and said legend benefits mostly you in life rather than your descendants after your passing. It's also oddly different from the existing reputation mechanics while thematically overlapping a little to much. I get that information is itself basically a disease that spreads in similar ways mechanically (mgs2-memes.jpg) but I don't think they did a good job with it here.

Roads to Power revamped the Byzantine Empire to make it more historical and appropriately unusual, and also added mechanics for dethroned nobles to wander the world seeking fortune in various non-land-owning ways. This DLC absolutely whips, just so many cool mechanics to interact with. Is it still in need of polish and balancing? Yeah, Byzantium is perhaps too powerful if it doesn't get crusaded early, and landless nobility are often weirdly strong if played properly, but overall: cool. I've done multiple campaigns as a wandering noble, including one where I was a mercenary hired by a Byzantine duke to help them in their wars, got some land off of it, managed to take over their holdings, survived the fall of Byzantium to a crusade, lost it all in subsequent Byzantine civil war after the Empire was reformed, and then the family returned to mercenary work in Italy... which I managed to levy into getting a descendant to become King of Spain. Coooooooooool stuff.

Wandering Nobles is... weird? It specifically just adds some more events (always good) tied to travel, and added some new lifestyles tied into that. It's weird having lifestyles outside of the skill pentagram but hey, if Stellaris can get do it so can CK3.

My main hope for CK3 at this point is that they'll get a Custodian team like Stellaris that enables them to continue to polish and better integrate old content, since they seem to be doing a great job on Stellaris (which I've taken a break from this year.)

9. Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader - 2023 - Steam - ★★★★

Yep, another Warhammer game. Been one of those years.

Rogue Trader could have been even higher up this list. There's a lot about this game that I really love. It's kind of the best example of the Warhammer setting in a video game, managing to capture the totality of how really shitty the setting. It gets across just how shitty life in the Imperium is, the casual cruelty of life. It gives you the option to try to be a Nice Guy, but also explicitly points out that this is not really looked upon well and can outright lead to your death depending on how things play out. The plot is kind of whatever, but it has some great set pieces and fun characters.

Gameplay-wise, it's a bit uneven in terms of difficulty- kind of easy in the back half even at the higher difficulties (like I said in the Mechanicus review: it turns out, knowing how to game an action economy helps a lot!) Some characters just are stupid busted throughout if you use them correctly (cough Cassia cough), and the way the RPG mechanics work you're almost never facing a non-100% skill check.

Owlcat isn't the biggest studio, and the game in general lacks a certain degree of polish that must to stem from their team-size and budget. The non-cutscenes where you essentially read a summary of what the cutscenes would have shown are... odd, if ultimately tolerable. But frankly, I'm still tempted to lower this in the overall ranking because the amount of weird gamebreaking bugs I encountered even playing it an entire year after initial release is absolutely infuriating. There's certain mechanics that have a tendency to just shit the bed, causing quests to just not trigger which can combine with points of no-return to lock you out of content. That kind of thing drives me absolutely nuts.

Also, because I want to complain about it and hey why not: the load times are maddening. Traveling between planets requires something around 5 different loads, more if you trigger one of the RNG events that require your intervention, and they're just too damn long. It adds unnecessary tedium to what is already a long game. And hey, guess what is the mechanic that tends to shit the bed? That's right: quest starts that trigger only when you travel between systems! Great!!!

It's only the core quality of the game as a 40K experience that keeps it where it is in-spite of all that. Congratulations?

8. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - 2024 - Steam - ★★★★

Man, I am in two minds on this game. MachineGames is a fantastic studio and I really enjoy the tone of their writing. This is probably the best Indiana Jones has been in... 30 years? But something about this as a game just isn't fully clicking. The big selling point is that you are getting the experience of being Indiana Jones, which... sure?

The gameplay is serviceable; the first-person brawling is okay, if pretty bland. Since a lot of the game revolves around that: okay, not great. The exploration stuff is cool, and the puzzles are... well, they're video game puzzles. This is no Return of the Obra Dinn. But the experience of doing the puzzles is fun!

Honestly, the best part of the game may just be as a looking-around-and-looking-at-stuff simulator. You put loving crafted artifacts and news paper articles and books around and I'm going to stop and look at them and go "huh, neat!" Spent a not insubstantial part of the second-part of the prologue just looking at random museum pieces while ominous spooky man chanted in Latin a room away.

I guess to the answer the question of "Does this feel like Indiana Jones?" my answer would be "Perhaps too much." It does a great job of capturing the feel of the movies, the setting, and the feel of Indiana Jones action, but it doesn't bring much of anything new to the table. The game is best when its more evocative of the brilliance of MachineGames' Wolfensteins, with its amazing side characters, goofy cutscene shenanigans, and amazing setting-specific set pieces. I wish it'd lean harder into that instead of the films.

Unrelated to that point: It's very funny that Indiana Jones ancillary media has consumed most of the "interesting" historical artifact / archeology tropes, such that this one had to juice the story with five different gimmicks layered on top of each other. Not going to spoil any of it, but we're starting to approach the territory of "Indiana Jones and the Biggest Foot" which frankly I'm here for.

Anyways: Raiders > Last Crusade > Temple > This > Dial > Skull

7. Dragon's Dogma 2 - 2024 - Steam - ★★★★

Dragon's Dogma 2 is... more Dragon's Dogma? Honestly, this is my first time playing Dragon's Dogma myself rather than just watching others play it, and I enjoyed it a fair bit, but it is weird how little seems actually changed from the original?

It's a new world and a new engine, and certainly there's been changes to things like mechanics and quests and NPCs and adding new bosses etc... but so much of the game is the exact same, even retaining the old jank I've heard people complain about for a decade now. It's incredibly fun and even funny at times, but I think it could have used some more time in the oven, some more polish, maybe just more resources for the team to add to the experience. Also: could really do with a couple more enemy types. Things can get pretty repetitive after a point.

The decision to do essentially the same plot again when the "twist" of the original game was so well received is odd. The new elements they layered ontop of it to differentiate from the original only to make the core plot less interesting. The more I think about it, I think I'd prefer they have done something more unique in the vein of OG Dragon's Dogma rather than just completely carrying all the architectual details of the setting over to this release.

A shame that Dragon's Dogma 2 seems like it will never receive its own Dark Arisen.

6. Castlevania Dominus Collection - 2024 - Steam - ★★★★★

This collection bundles my favorite Castlevania games into a single package. Enuf said.

You should play Order of Ecclesia, it's a great game.

5. Satisfactory - 2024 - Steam - ★★★★★

I am very aware of my gaming habits: I'm a gorger. If I REALLY enjoy a thing, I shove it into my mouth until either it's gone, or I get sick of it and throw-up. This is why I avoid early access releases as a rule; I know I'll fill myself up on the appetizer and have no room for the meal. From afar, it was obvious that Satisfactory was something I was going to enjoy, and so I waited for the full release...

And hey yeah Satisfactory is an excellent addition to the "technology-tree time-hole" genre. Organizing infrastructure and automating a 3D factory layout that is constrained by geography and resource availability is awesome. There's some open-world exploration and mild combat aspects that are fine mostly as a way to add more technology-tree gating, but the focus really is on constantly tweaking or redesigning factory spaces to better use space and resources to produce widgets to advance progression or build *other* widgets that let you make other bigger things etc etc.

There was multiple times when hanging with friends on Discord where I made the offhand comment of "I should probably eat something..." several times over the course of an 8 hour period, as friends got increasingly exasperated at me time-holing myself ever deeper in factory optimization instead of making a sandwich or something. That's the kind of game Satisfactory is.

4. Balatro - 2024 - Steam - ★★★★★

Balatro is far better than it has any right to be. Why the hell is a run-based deck-building poker game so good? How does it manage to hold up after over 80 hours?

There's something Tetris-esque about how you engage with Balatro. It's a puzzle game that is zen-like it how it engrosses you. Failure is inevitable, you're just seeing how deep you can go with your luck and deck-building skill.

To voice a mild criticism: the nature of the RNG and the gameplay (cards) makes it hard to "outplay" certain bad rolls on Jokers, particularly early on. Truly good runs are very luck-dependent, and you often have to commit very early to a game plan (e.g., all-in on Flushes) before you know that you're going open the Jokers that make that game plan work. Nature of the beast, but it does lead to me leaning on the secret quick restart (hold R on keyboard) a bit too much as a result.

3. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree - 2024 - Steam - ★★★★★

Elden Ring was nearly my Game of the Year in 2022, and Shadow of the Erdtree is a fantastic addition to it. There's amazing new bosses, weapons, and areas. As a Lore Enjoyer, I appreciate the additions made to the overall narrative and setting of Elden Ring, and the music is pretty excellent, a criticism I had with the base game.

That said, it does suffers from similar flaws as well: exploration is kind of weak, with big empty areas dotted with little nuggets of content. There's some bosses that are real stinkers, with tons of health and tedious attack patterns. Frankly, they ramped up this aspect here; it feels like they took the wrong lessons from Malenia. Also, good lord do I hate the Furnace Golems, what an obnoxious enemy.

But the good bosses are some of the best From has ever done, and the little mini-dungeons are far more interesting than anything in the base game. Playing through the DLC was a real treat.

The fact that there's an Elden Ring multiplayer run-based spinoff coming next year is absolutely mental. While that's not necessarily what I'm usually looking for in FromSoft titles, I'm all-in at this point.

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2. Caves of Qud - 2024 - Steam - ★★★★★

If you encounter a dreamcrungle in the depths of the Moon Stair, beware their crungling gaze. If you you are crungled, you’ll be subsumed into a dreamscape where you’ll awaken as some other entity, perhaps a bear, maybe even a robot. If you gain sufficient experience in your newfound form, you’ll awake pleasantly enlightened, the dreamcrungle sated. However, if your original body dies as you dream, your temporary oneiric will come to a final tragic end, your mind dissipating into nothingness. A tragic end, but that is itself all too common in salt-blasted land of Qud.

Caves of Qud is the ultimate roguelike, perhaps the ultimate RPG. It is alternatively weird, goofy, and funny. You will die in so many inexplicable ways. But the knowledge you gain from those deaths will make you ready for future adventures, with different characters and paths. My current adventurer is a mutant tinkerer with four arms, each wielding an axe. He’s specialized in the art of multi-weapon fighting, allowing him to use his many arms to slice foes to pieces in a blink of an eye. But I could also be a potent psychic that dominates people, a birdman gunslinger, a birdman swordman, a cyborg knight, and so many more things besides. I could use a spray-a-brain to give life to a chair, then transplant my mind into that chair as my original body dies, continuing my adventure as the chair.

There are thousands of ways to build your character and progress through the world. The dynamic worldgen and mechanics interact in ludicrous ways. Almost everything on Qud is sapient and a member of an overarching faction. Who you befriend— or kill— can have wide-ranging and sometimes absurd repercussions. For awhile there I was persona non-grata with turtles, which made traveling through desert canyons an interesting challenge. But I can always rest easy knowing I’m beloved by dogs, welcome in their holy places.

For all the “wacky” aspects of the generated world, the setting and non-generated writing of Caves of Qud itself is quite excellent. The nature of Qud, a place both seemingly post-apocalyptic and futuristic, is one I leave you to discover. Live and drink, friends.

Also, as a weird side note: I’ve been playing exclusively on controller and it works exceptionally well? That seems like it shouldn’t be the case given its general aesthetic, but here we are.

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1. Robot Alchemic Drive - 2002 - PlayStation 2 - ★★★★★

OK, look: I realize how fucking bonkers it is that Robot Alchemic Drive, a game from 2002 you have either never heard of or never thought about for longer than five seconds is my 2024 game of the year. Here’s the thing: RAD fucking rules.

RAD is best described as super robot QWOP. You control a giant super robot using an unusual set of controls where each joystick is mapped to the mecha’s arms, and the motion of the stick controls how the punches are thrown. The shoulder buttons give you manual control of each of the robot’s feet, stepping forward and backwards. Additional buttons and inputs enable special attacks like missiles, rocket punches, diving super kicks, etc. It’s a really bizarre system that makes up for half of the game’s difficulty.

The other half is because you’re not piloting the super robot. You instead control an additional character in the world who is operating it from afar, like Tetsujin 28 or Giant Robo. This puts the player character in the middle of the danger, forcing you to position yourself so you can actually see what you’re fighting while also keeping yourself as best you can out of danger. Sometimes the building you’re standing on gets knocked down under you. Sometimes you accidentally blast an alien robot so that it falls on top of you. You can sit on your robot’s (a “Meganoid”) shoulder, giving you the best possibly vantage of the robot you’re trying to control, but that also puts you at risk of getting punched off it and sent flying for three blocks.

So you’re awkwardly controlling a giant robot to fight other giant robots while you can barely see and the city is getting blown up around you, often by your own arsenal as you attempt to defend it. This is a problem, as you need to try to minimize damage to the city to ensure you get money to upgrade your Meganoid. Being careless also puts Nanao’s current place of work at risk, and nobody wants that.

Oh Nanao. A not-insubstantial amount of the game revolves around your childhood friend, Nanao, who is in the depths of poverty and working like 5 jobs. Her grandma, home, and workplaces keep getting destroyed, which doesn't help. Nanao, while nice, is the dumbest child alive who must be protected at all costs. A non-substantial part of the game is built around trying to protect Nanao’s workplaces, “accidentally” destroying businesses that threaten her livelihood, etc. On the flip side, if you are for some ungodly reason anti-Nanao (???), if you destroy Nanao’s workplaces consistently throughout the entire game Nanao will take her own life. This is an insane mechanic, but given the easy emotional attachment to Nanao: it certainly raises the stakes!

RAD’s writing is deliberately cheesy as hell, and it’s paired with a dub that is absolutely spectacular in how corny it is. They hired a company that exclusively made corporate instructional videos, zero audio direction was given, and boy does it show. It is one of the funniest games I’ve ever played, the writing and the voice acting together are just so unbelievably stupid. God I love it.

It is crazy that people don’t know or talk about RAD. The developer, Sandlot, exclusively makes Earth Defense Force titles now, with RAD all but forgotten. Part of the reason, I have to imagine, is that it didn’t run great on actual PS2 hardware— but emulated it runs like an absolute dream.

Is it a perfect game? Absolutely not. But it is by far the game that made me smile the most this year. An absolutely unique gaming experience unlike any other. Someone should port this to modern technology, put out PC or something, get it in front of more people because holy shit.

#nonfiction #think piece #game of the year #video games #robot alchemic drive #nanao #caves of qud #warhammer 40000 #balatro #elden ring #casltevania #dragon's dogma 2 #satisfactory

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xmoonlitxdreamx · 8 months ago

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OW2 Junkrat & Roadhog Relationship (part 5)

Part 1: [click]

Part 2: [click]

Part 3: [click]

Part 4: [click]

5th post in this series of looking at Junkrat and Roadhog's relationship in OW2 stuff... For this one I'm looking at Roadhog's OW2 profile! Like with my Junkrat one, I got kind of distracted with my goal because I also wanted to compare the current profile to his old OW1 profile, so the goals of this post are:

to point out any changes made to Roadhog's OW2 profile compared to his OW1 profile, and the implications of those changes

to summarize how Junkrat and Roadhog’s relationship is characterized in Roadhog's current OW2 profile (including any information carried over from his OW1 profile)

Again, apologies for the somewhat unfocused organization of this and the previous post lol;; like last time, I also put links to both the OW1 and the OW2 profile under the cut. Feel free to read if you're interested!

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OW1 profile: archived here, sourced from 9/17/2022 (soon before OW2 was released; though I also checked the 2016 profile and it was exactly the same)

OW2 profile: version referenced on 7/4/2024 is available here

OW1: “Roadhog is a ruthless killer with a well-earned reputation for cruelty and wanton destruction.”

OW2: “Roadhog is a powerful enforcer with a well-earned reputation for random and wanton destruction. […] Roadhog is a ruthless masked killer with a reputation for destruction.”

The “cruelty” angle has been dropped from these opening sentences, possibly suggesting he’s not intended as cruel in OW2.

OW2 profile refers to him as a “powerful enforcer,” making his status as a killer more like an occupation rather than something he does for no reason. (may just be my misreading of the word “enforcer,” though… I see on google that there’s an informal reading of this word that I don’t really use so I’m unfamiliar with it)

I also see on his OW1 profile that “enforcer (former)” is listed under “occupation” (missed this on my first readthrough)… could again suggest the occupation reading of “enforcer” in the OW2 profile.

Roadhog currently being considered an enforcer in OW2 is a little strange to me personally, since enforcer kind of has this implied meaning of “enforcer of law” which goes directly against his status as a criminal.

OW2 profile introduces the idea that he has a reputation for “random […] destruction” (instead of cruelty); the keyword “random” may be intended to give him an affinity for Junkrat’s style of destruction.

Idk why the fact his mask is specified in the OW2 version. Maybe to imply that under the mask he’s not as ruthless as he seems, maybe for no reason at all lol

OW2: “Roaming the irradiated, wreckage-littered Australian outback, his only known associate (and many wonder why) is the manic young Junker criminal known as Junkrat.” (No parallel in OW1 profile)

Refers to Junkrat as Roadhog’s associate, suggesting that that’s how onlookers perceive their relationship.

Many people think it’s bizarre that Roadhog associates with Junkrat (possibly indicating that people are not aware that Junkrat hired Roadhog as his bodyguard)

This is a stretch but this could suggest that Junkrat deliberately keeps the fact that Roadhog is his bodyguard a secret; there could be a bunch of different motivations for why Junkrat would do this, but none are given here.

Junkrat and Roadhog’s age difference is somewhat addressed here (in that they specify that Junkrat is young), meaning their difference in age may impact how they interact with each other.

Junkrat is the only person that Roadhog seems to hang out with.

OW2: “Mako Rutledge was one of the many inhabitants of the Australian Outback whose land was seized and used for the construction of an omnium.” (no parallel in OW1 profile)

Suggests that the construction of an omnium was against the wishes of those living in the Australian Outback, meaning Roadhog and others were oppressed (?) by authorities even before the Omnic Crisis. (tbh I’m not too clear on OW lore, I still don’t totally know what the Omnic Crisis is).

Establishes Roadhog’s backstory as someone oppressed by external forces that have more political power than him.

OW1: “After the Omnic Crisis, government officials gifted the Australian omnium and the surrounding area to the omnics that had nearly destroyed their country, hoping to establish a long-term peace accord.”

OW2: “But in the wake of the Omnic Crisis, the government made a controversial move, gifting the land to the omnics who had nearly destroyed their country, in hopes of establishing a long-term peace accord.”

The OW2 description is more sympathetic to people living on the land (like Roadhog), acknowledging that the government’s choice here was controversial (rather than the description in OW1 that made the decision seem passive or neutral).

Reinforces Roadhog’s backstory as someone oppressed by external forces with more political power than him.

OW1: “This arrangement permanently displaced Mako Rutledge and a large number of the Outback's residents[…]”

OW2: “This agreement permanently displaced Mako and a large number of the area's residents[…]”

Very minor changes here:

OW1 “arrangement” to OW2 “agreement”: new version gives slightly more agency to the government in the decision, implicating the government instead of treating it as passive.

OW1: “Furious over the loss of their homes, Mako and others turned to violent rebellion.”

OW2: “Furious over the loss of their homes, Mako and the residents turned to violent rebellion.”

Refers to the people affected by the government decision as “residents” instead of “others”; humanizes the people affected by the government decision.

Reinforces Roadhog’s backstory as someone oppressed by external forces with more political power than him.

OW1: “They formed the Australian Liberation Front and struck against the omnium and its robot population to take back the lands that had been stolen.”

OW2: “They formed the Australian Liberation Front and struck against the omnium and its robot population to take back the lands that had been stolen from them.”

Addition of “from them” to the end of the sentence; again humanizes the people involved.

emphasizes the gravity of the decision made by the government and the consequences of that decision.

OW1: “Events continued to escalate until the rebels sabotaged the omnium's fusion core, resulting in an explosion that destroyed the facility, irradiated the region, and littered the Outback with twisted metal and wreckage for kilometers around.”

OW2: “Events continued to escalate until the ALF sabotaged the omnium's fusion core, which resulted in an explosion that destroyed the omnium, irradiated the surrounding area, and littered the Outback with twisted metal and wreckage for miles around.”

OW2 humanizes the people involved slightly, referring to them as “the ALF” (official name) instead of “the rebels” (negative connotation).

Omnium now referred to as “omnium” instead of “facility”; may slightly suggest more sympathy for the ALF’s goals (they didn’t want to destroy just any facility, they specifically wanted to destroy the omnium and what it stands for).

There’s other minor changes but I don’t think they change the implications much.

Idk why they changed it from kilometers to miles here. OW’s primary demographic is USAmericans so. Ig that’s why. Still random though.

The rest of these notes are specific to the OW2 profile. (The OW1 profile ends before the OW2 profile.) I’ll only be looking at elements relating to Junkrat and Roadhog’s relationship from here on out rather than analyzing Roadhog’s character or story specifically.

“[Roadhog lived in Junkertown] for his gas and everyone else could rot. That held true until a chance encounter with Junkrat forged a lasting partnership, based in part on a 50% cut of a legendary lost treasure.”

Junkrat and Roadhog’s relationship is considered a “lasting partnership,” meaning they have stuck together for presumably a decent amount of time and possibly in the future as well

Notably, the partnership is only described as “in part” based on treasure—this could indicate that from Roadhog’s perspective, Junkrat’s treasure is not his sole motivator for him partnering with Junkrat.

Establishes Roadhog’s worldview on people as “everyone in the world can rot. Except Junkrat, because he owes me treasure.”

If taken as a softer interpretation, this could mean that Junkrat is the one who compelled (?) Roadhog out of total apathy; and likewise is the only person in the world that matters to Roadhog.

I think this softer interpretation could somewhat make sense here considering Roadhog’s ending lines in Wasted Land, and with this profile leaning somewhat to Roadhog’s perspective.

Unlike on Junkrat’s profile, Roadhog is not explicitly suggested to be Junkrat’s bodyguard here (partnership = somewhat vague way of describing their agreement). Could suggest that while Junkrat believes he hired Roadhog as his bodyguard, Roadhog doesn’t hold that title for himself.

Even though this part of his profile is an OW2-specific blurb, I feel like none of this is really indicated anywhere else in OW2-specific content LOL (especially OW2 voice lines and A Friendly Rivalry).

Junkrat and Roadhog are referred to collectively in the events described in the “Wanted Criminal” section, emphasizing their status as partners in crime and having similar goals.

“Though the job was a bust, it gave them the kick they needed to launch an international crime spree.”

This is about the events in the comic Going Legit.

Suggests that the international crime spree was something they both chose to do (rather than just being Junkrat’s idea with Roadhog following out of obligation or sth idk).

Interesting that this blurb suggests that the events in Going Legit were kind of what motivated Junkrat and Roadhog to go on their crime spree. I guess they never really gave us an explicit motivation for their crime spree outside of that, but I always interpreted that comic as like a short aside in their crime spree (to try, as the title says, “going legit”) before going back to doing their crime thing afterword.

“Now, the duo has nothing left but money, useless disguises, and soon-to-detonate explosives.”

Kinda suggests that Junkrat and Roadhog’s current status in the plot is that they’ve got a lot of money and are still out causing trouble together.

Junkrat and Roadhog often use disguises for their schemes.

This line is really just a summary of the end of The Plan so idk if it’s really intended to mean anything bigger than that lmao;;

Summary

Roadhog's characterization in the opening lines differs slightly in his new OW2 profile, where he is no longer described as cruel and slightly less emphasis is put on his status as a killer. The addition of the word "random" may suggest an affinity for people like Junkrat. The new profile has some word choice changes and additional information added to make his backstory more sympathetic; more blame is placed on the Australian government as increasing tensions between omnics and Australian residents, while Roadhog/others living near the omnium are framed as victims of the omnium/omnic situation.

Roadhog’s OW2 profile also contains new sections describing his partnership with Junkrat as well as the events in Going Legit and The Plan. Junkrat and Roadhog are said to be together so often that onlookers know Junkrat as "Roadhog's associate." Onlookers may not be aware that Roadhog is Junkrat's bodyguard, and often wonder why Junkrat is the only person Roadhog hangs out with. Their age difference is slightly implied in the profile, but it is unclear how their respective ages affect their relationship. It is somewhat suggested that Junkrat's treasure is not the sole reason for why Roadhog partners with Junkat. It may be the case that Roadhog considers Junkrat someone special compared to everyone else in the world, but in what way Junkrat is special outside of his treasure is not fully specified. It is not clear if Roadhog sees himself as Junkrat's bodyguard or as something else.

The events in Going Legit are indicated to be the launching pad for their crime spree--it is also implied that the crime spree is something they both chose to do together willingly. Their current status in the plot is from the end of The Plan, where the two of them are described as currently having a lot of money, disguises, and explosives.

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Honestly some parts of this profile were more positive about their relationship dynamic than I expected…. The slight difference in tone for Roadhog’s backstory was also really surprising to me, too. No idea why some of the stuff in this profile is like not reflected at all in actual game content or the short story from this year. This kinda just reinforces to me that Blizzard has no particular direction that they’re trying to go for for Roadhog’s characterization or his relationship w Junkrat in OW2;;

Anyway!!!!! I’ll prob make one more post after this looking at other random details in skins/events/etc. Thanks again for reading!

Part 1: [click]

Part 2: [click]

Part 3: [click]

Part 4: [click]

#overwatch #ovw #ow2 #overwatch 2 #junkrat #jamison fawkes #roadhog #mako rutledge #info #blab

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theghostpinesmusic · 10 months ago

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Surprise "new" album! This is the link to the YouTube playlist, but it's also up on Bandcamp for free/pay-what-you-like. If you want to know more about how it came together, keep reading!

So it's been almost three years now since June of 2021, when I released the four-album cycle of "Wilderness Amen," "Ride," "Maps," and "Fire and Rain," along with a demos collection titled "The Amen Demos" and an early proto-experiment with my looper titled "What Comes Around." It was a lot for one year, but I'd been working on all of those songs since at least 2017, it was just that COVID-19 and all of the disruptions it introduced (weirdly) gave me the time to finally get them all together in one place and finish them to my satisfaction.

I'd always planned to use some of my "off-time" during sabbatical to start working on a follow-up album. In 2022, I even bought a new stratocaster, expecting to use it to experiment with writing songs on an electric guitar for the first time. But, as usual, things didn't work out like I'd planned: life is full of both good and bad surprises, and I guess the most surprising thing of all is how often I have to relearn that particular lesson.

On the good side, I've spent a lot more time this year than I'd expected focusing on nonfiction writing, both related to my sabbatical and also, sometimes, just for fun. On the bad side, my main amp blew out almost two years ago, and I've been struggling since to find someone in the southern Oregon desert who can diagnose and fix it for less money than it would cost to buy a new one. In the meantime, I've been hesitant to start recording a new album with my $100 practice amp I bought twenty years ago, for obvious reasons.

I hadn't planned, then, on making this "new" album at all. About nine months ago, I had the thought to record a "single" featuring two of my favorite cover songs: The Grateful Dead's "Ship of Fools" and Goose's "A Western Sun." I wanted to record the main performance without amps, just me and an acoustic guitar, and then maybe overdub in a second, electric guitar once my amp was fixed. So I mic'd the studio for acoustic and vocals only, got the levels to where I wanted, and then realized I needed to practice both songs a bunch more for them to be satisfying takes/tributes.

With a few hours still left to play around in the studio on that first day, and having already played each of the two cover songs ten or so times, I decided to play through a bunch of my original songs, using the "alternate" arrangments of them I'd been developing over the previous two years or so of Instagram livestream sets. I recorded fifteen songs that way, with the sound in the room dialed in for acoustic guitar better (in my opinion) than I'd ever gotten it before.

It wasn't until months later that I listened back to what I'd recorded that I realized it could be a sort of alternate-universe version of one of the albums I'd released in 2021, and thus maybe worth a release itself. I eventually edited the fifteen songs down to the ten you have here and messed with a few EQ and gain levels, but otherwise these performances are exactly as they were recorded that first day of what was supposed to longer sessions for the "Ship of Fools"/"A Western Sun" single…which will still get finished one of these days, amp repair willing.

I put out my first-ever album in 2006, and it was titled "Not California," after one of the songs on it. Immediately after, in early 2007, I bought my first-ever electric guitar and amplifier (ironically, the one that's currently kaput), and immediately had the idea of redoing the mostly-acoustic "Not California" album as this loud, crashy, electric-guitar thing. I would call it just "California," as a way of emphasizing both its relationship to the original album and also its different, almost opposite tone.

I worked on the idea for a few months (it's where "Acteon's Groove" and "Cassie's Song" came from, among other things), but in the end I was, frankly, not good enough yet at guitar to make it sound like I wanted it to. But you probably get where I'm going with this. Basically, when I realized that this current, all-acoustic alternate-universe set of songs was maybe worth releasing, I thought it might be fun to resurrect the "California" album title. Also, this album starts off with a version of my song "California," so there's that, too.

It's definitely quieter than that original "California" album would have been, but it's a realization of that idea of writing some songs, releasing them, and then going back and playing with them until they turn into something else…and then releasing that, too, because hey, why not? Technically, each track on this album is already available elsewhere in its "original" studio configuration, so in that sense nothing here is truly "new": however, each song is re-arranged here in a way that I've come to really like. These re-arrangments are the result of years of playing these songs live, on livestreams, and in the studio, and in that time finding new facets of my original ideas that I thought were worth exploring. The album's cover, a photo I took of the Trinity Alps from Echo Lake, is meant to visually represent this process of rediscovery, reflection, and recreation: the longer I play these songs, the more reflections I find.

I hope you enjoy listening!

#the ghost pines #acoustic #new music #music #videos #albums

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that-girl-lyra · 1 year ago

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My Fitness Favourites (2024 Master Post)

This is sort of like my own master post and or an update upon my previous one on Reddit, but please remember that like all things, not everything will work for everyone. I am not a doctor or certified PT (yet!). I'm just a girl who wanted to lose weight and found a passion for all things gym and fitness related :) With that being said, I hope that you guys find the tools that I used helpful to you, and I can not wait to see your progress <3

Apps

Here are some of the apps that I used and still use to this day to help track my fitness progress. I’ve gone through a bunch of different fitness apps and these are by far my favorites.

FitNotes

This app is super straightforward. I use it each time I go to the gym or do a home workout to track the number of sets, reps, and weights. There are no ads and it's completely free. You can also add in your own workouts and machines if you can't find what you’re doing in their list. 10 out of 10, highly recommend!

FitBod

I no longer use this app HOWEVER, if you’re just starting out I think this app would be a good place to get started. It lays out a workout plan for you based on what your goals are, and it even shows you HOW to do each workout if you’re unsure of the movements and form. I found it super helpful when I started out and I hope you do too! I will say, the free version does give you a lot, however it does have a paid plan to which I am unfamiliar.

Tabata Timer

Personally, nowadays I only use this app occasionally but if you’re not a fan of counting reps, this may be a better alternative. You can create workouts and customized times for sets, breaks, rests, etc. I like to use this for my kettlebells and mace work at home, but you can use it however you wish! Bonus points because it's also 100% free. We love free shit here lol.

MyNetDiary

Similar to MyFitnessPal, this is an app that tracks your calorie input and output. I prefer it’s interface over MyFitnessPal personally, and this is the app I used to lose 40+lbs in 2022. Along with a food scale, this is a very useful tool, and I still use it when I go into a cut. The free plan is great and it doesn't force you into a paid one. You have the option to upgrade, but its not necessary unless you really really really wanna see all of your macros besides calories, sodium, protein and carbs.

Alarmy

Sleep is probably one of the most important things for your overall mental and physical health. I used to suck at waking up early but I really really wanted to become an early bird and track my sleep. I found Alarmy and I haven’t looked back. In the free version, you can be awoken with annoying sounds and tasks to turn off your alarm, as well as track your sleep and sleep quality.

Websites

TDEE Calculator

As I said in my previous master post, a good place to start is to find out what your TDEE is (total daily energy expenditure). Basically, how many calories you burn just by being alive. You can go from there to find out how many calories you should eat depending on if you're trying to lose/gain weight, as well as protein intake on top of your desired fitness level. A very handy tool. Just plug in your current height, weight, age, and fitness level and you’ll be good to go!

Equipment / Tools

Xiaomi MiFit Band

Ima be honest, I really hated the samsung fitness watches. I went through 2 of them due to battery issues and I never even physically damaged them. I got the Xiaomi MiFit band because I was sick of paying so much money on fitness watches and this thing has the durability of a Nintendo 64 I swear. I only charge the sucker like, maybe once a week, and it gives a pretty accurate read of how many calories I burn during walking, workouts, etc. Also, the thing was like $40 or something. Ive had it over a year and the only thing I’ve had to replace was the strap (a pack of two was like $6). The strap was also my fault for breaking it lol.

Renpho Scale

Sort of a tool/app combo. The scale is around $20 on amazon and it tracks your weight (duh) as well as body composition to a fairly accurate degree. The gym I currently go to has a body composition machine and I’ve done a DexaScan in the past and the information between all of them is a close match. The app is free as well and I love it.

Adjustable Dumbbells

I love the gym, I do, but my heart will always belong to dumbbells. There is so much you can do with them from arms, legs, core, back,etc. They’re a great piece of kit and I will never stop using them. A set of adjustable dumbbells will put you back a few bucks sure, but imo, it's a worthy investment in the long run. Plus if you’re like me and you have limited space in your home, they’re a great choice.

Supplements

I wanna reiterate the fact that I am NOT a doctor lol but I'm sure everyone has seen a metric ton of influencers and PT’s recommending this or that supplement. Truly, I don’t take many and the only one I can recommend personally is Creatine. Just remember to drink water with it and you’re golden. Some people get a mildly upset stomach on it but again, that all depends on the person. I’ve personally never gotten an upset stomach with it and I take/have taken 2 types of Creatine (Monohydrate and Alkaline).

You’ll hear about a “loading phase” but you don’t have to do that if you don't want to. It's not necessary.

The only other thing I take is magnesium but that's just to help me not have hypnic jerks when I go to sleep. Literally no other reason lol.

General Advice/Tips

If you’re just starting out with your own fitness journey and begin to tell people that you’re working out, eating right, etc, you may experience some negativity from others. Once you say anything like “Im working out/losing weight!” everyone and their mother becomes a health expert. I’ve gotten people telling me to not lift weights because “Its bad for your bones!”, or “Your heart will explode eventually!”.

These are people who are just jealous and they envy your dedication to yourself. Ignore them. Misery often demands company.

You may also find lovely little messages in your dm’s from that one girl in high school who was a bully and is now shilling MLM products. Please for the love of all that is good and green on this earth, do not interact! They will send you really crappy copy and paste messages saying that they can help you on your journey with “insert snake oil product here”.

There is no magic pill, drink, juice, cleanse, detox, whatever the hell that will do the work for you. Pyramid Schemes that are the most common for this are ItWorks, JuicePlus, Herbalife, and BeachBody. Idk if Plexus is still around but still. If you’re ever unsure about anything, I would pay a visit to r/antiMLM for more info.

Diets, diets, diets are all the rage (as they are always). Guru’s telling their followers to eat only animal based because “its how our ancestors ate!” or “do x to lower your cortisol levels”, and “STAY AWAY FROM BREAD AND SEED OILS!”. Block, ignore, and unfollow.

I don’t know about you, but I absolutely fucking love bread and cheese and will turn any Olive Garden within a 20 mile radius of me into my bitch with unlimited breadsticks and pasta.

Yes, we all know certain food is healthier than others, but at the end of the day as long as you are watching what you eat, and getting your workouts in, it doesn't matter. If you want a burger then eat the burger.

In Conclusion

I could go on and on forever about anything and everything fitness related. Book recommendations, creators to follow/unfollow, routines…I love it all, I truly do. And one day I hope to become a certified PT myself, but until that day comes, I simply am not. I'm just a girl who got fit, and want to see others achieve their goals as well. I know how hard and awful the process can be, but I guarantee you that every step you take up that mountain is worth every second of the view at the top.

Movement is improvement, and as long as you keep moving, you’ll keep improving.

If you’re here reading this, then you’ve already taken step 1 and I couldn't be more proud of you. Its a hard thing to look in the mirror and say to yourself “I need to change ''. Self confrontation is often very difficult and disheartening. But where many have chosen to give up, you chose to step up. And I am so fucking thrilled that you did <3

If anyone has anything else they’d like to share in the comments about tools and what not that you’ve used, please feel free to post them! This is a safe space for all of us.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you find what I’ve written to be useful in your fitness journey. Keep up the good work.

Lyra

#blog #that girl #becoming that girl #fitness #fitblr #gymmotivation #gym aesthetic #girl boss gaslight gatekeep #it girl

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blondevibrations · 1 year ago

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Strings & Stories: Concert Review of Liang Lawrence and Adam Melchor’s Acoustic Sets at Omeara (18 February 2024)

There is truly no better way to spend a Sunday evening than to immerse yourself in two of the most dazzling acoustic sets that I have witnessed in a long time. On 18th February 2024, Adam Melchor took a short interval from his support slot on tour with the jazzy pop artist (and Grammy award-winning!) Laufey to host his own headline show at Omeara - an iconic venue for Londoners to discover budding talents. And, Adam was accompanied by a Blonde Vibrations’ favourite, singer-songwriter, Liang Lawrence.

Liang Lawrence graced the Omeara stage first in her support slot, and is a perfect match to perform alongside Adam, having previously supported him on his EU tour last year. She shares Adam’s warm musical tone and personal anecdotal on-stage presence, it’s impossible to leave Liang’s set without feeling like you met her in a pub beer garden and found a new best friend. To an audience who may not have discovered her discography yet, Liang described her songwriting process as a bunch of letters that she “didn’t have the guts to send”, a nod to her debut EP ‘letters to myself’, released in August 2023. Liang’s raw and intimate EP details the experiences that all young girls have experienced as they grow up and her storytelling is something you can picture in a typical coming-of-age movie - it’s hard to not associate the therapeutic release of these letters in musical form with the 2018 Netflix teen movie, ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’.

Liang expressed her experience of performing her personal songs as placing her heart on a platter and asking the audience to all “look at it”. A song that stuck with me, having finally been given the pleasure of seeing Liang live was ‘stuck’ (excuse the pun); a song dedicated to her best friend. As someone who absolutely believes in platonic soulmates and has planned to spend the rest of my life with my best friend - see also: Blonde Vibrations - I could cry thinking about this song; the chorus being:

And when I feel like there’s no place on this planet

But I don’t understand the stars

There’s no place that I could’ve crash landed

And I like to be stuck where you are

Liang accurately summarises the feeling of finding the perfect friend who feels like home to you, giving you comfort no matter what external stresses there may be. Throughout Liang’s set, she demonstrated her intricate storytelling, with a sneak peek of an unreleased song inspired by a run-in with an ex in front of a supermarket. A scenario that, let’s be honest, could happen to us at any point and be the subject matter for every friend date for the next foreseeable six months. The song extends this interaction to a metaphor of a funeral in the aisles of a supermarket for the previous relationship, a dramatic analogy that you would expect on Lizzy McAlpine’s 2022 album ‘five seconds flat’. Speaking of similar artists, Liang performed an acoustic version of The Japanese House’s ‘Touching Yourself’ from the album ‘In the End It Always Does’ (2023) - the perfect fit for both the crowd and Liang’s voice. The support slot concludes with Liang’s top song on Spotify, ‘(not) a love song’, partnered with the story of Liang meeting someone on a night out and deciding that they will then spend the rest of their life together, once again who hasn’t done this? Liang and the audience, captivated by her charming anecdotes, giggle at the sweet couples who produce relationship montages to a song that is ultimately based on a delusional potential future. The song’s hook of “oh, to be in it / oh to be in it with you” will be swirling around in your head for days after listening to this tune, and you won’t be mad about it.

After a brief break between acts, Adam Melchor began his headline slot and instantly the audience was in awe at his talent, both vocally and on the acoustic guitar. Adam’s passion for music and live performances shines throughout the set, and he takes a moment to thank the audience for attending the show and emphasising the importance of supporting live music and venues. The audience peacefully sang along to both new and older songs, especially during the deeply personal, ‘The Archer’, a song about Adam losing a friend too soon, and the gap left from this, with the haunting lyrical hook of ‘I need more time’. There were quite a few tears at this point of the set.

Adam’s powerful lyricism shines through strongly during this acoustic set, with the guitar really letting his vocals and words shine in the intimate venue. His potent lyricism is something we would expect from the likes of boygenius (both as independent artists and collectively). For example, in ‘itsjustmyheart’, Adam tells the story of an ex’s car being damaged by a fallen tree shortly after breaking his heart, with the chorus reading:

When the tree fell on your car

And made your windshield fall apart

You called me and I always wondered why

‘Cause I don’t have the auto parts

And you have your insurance card

After singing, Adam chuckles saying how funny it is to hear crowds sing his “silly songs” back to him. When you purchase tickets to an acoustic set by such an emotive artist like Adam, you don’t expect to laugh as much as you do - but it’s a pleasant surprise. Before performing ‘Angel Numbers’, the American singer says how ironic it is to perform the song with the reference to Tower Bridge, which is ‘right over there’; then admits that he’s actually not sure where Tower Bridge is in relation to Omeara.

This headline slot was truly one of a kind, with two surprise guests. Liang returned back to the stage to perform ‘Touch and Go’; a perfect blend between their two voices, we need a studio version of this ASAP. Then for the final song, after the record-short encore break, Adam played his bestselling song ‘Real Estate’ with Searows, a fellow American singer-songwriter, also performing at Omeara the next day. We were blessed with two unreleased songs, ‘Is There Still A Light On?’ (hitting streaming services on 22/02) and ‘Not Good For You’ (release date TBC) with Billie Eilish’s ‘What Was I Made For’, a song that took the world by storm with the Barbie hype last year.

Both Liang Lawrence and Adam Melchor’s sets left the Omeara audience in awe with just their voices and guitars; a testament to their magnetic stage presence and undeniable talent. Individually, they produce intricate narratives within their song, jam-packed with emotive language and deep-cut metaphors and it makes for an incredibly captivating live music experience. It’s safe to say that they are going to be long-term favourites over on the Blonde Vibrations podcast.

Written by Lilyemma, Blonde Vibrations co-host.

#podcast #journalism #spotify #blonde vibrations #music #music journalism #concert #concert review #liang lawrence #adam melchor

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korolife · 2 years ago

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Blog No.001🍊 23年4月11日

Drawing Process: Making of “Mini Show of Life” (commissioned illust.)

Hello! This will be my first in-depth journal/blog entry in a very long while after being quiet for 5? years since dA’s fall from grace. But, I hope you can find something of use, or at least get some entertainment out of it. Do take care though; once the talking starts...it’s not going to stop. Please feel free to skip through parts you deem only worthy of your time (or just the pictures really), I won’t take any offense! I will be mostly using these to gush out roughly 5 years-worth of recepientless chattiness directed to anyone willing to sit through walls of text anyhoo.

However long the stay; thanks for stopping by! (´• ω •`) /

CONTENTS:

0 - Making (overview)

1 - The Concept

2 - Inspiration

3 - Breakdown

4 - Never Finished

⓪　―　メイキング　―

Start of project (concept pitch): 2022年 February 7

Start of Labor (revisions and onward): 2022年 November 10

Date of completion: 2023年 March 27

Total time passed from start (labor) to finish:

4 months +17 days? ( ~3,280 hours / ~137 days )

Very Rough Estimated Labor Duration (*excluding breaks/sleep AND reference hunting + test runs) :

= ~1,128 hours / ~47 days / ~7 weeks / ~1.67 months in total.

※Very rough estimate indeed, my math may have failed me in a few places-

Although it seems like a lot of time has passed (*also in comparison to the previous one that was arguably much more laborious), it’s worth taking note that the duration of the entire process got hit by two major holidays in a row (Christmas + New Year), then immediately followed by my birthday haha so it had more days of rest than it did labor through all that time.

①　―　THE CONCEPT　―

Around 2023年 early February, I was contacted by MissPacthesis (otherwise just known as Pacthesis) on twitter to draw a movie poster/book cover-type of illustration featuring the two main characters of their original webcomic, “Violet Goes To The Beach”. Since there was no specific request for the composition, I made four concept sketches with different themes and moods for their consideration. This was the first one:

The basic idea was to create an artificial dollhouse-like environment that showcased the characters’ daily lives, as depicted in the comic.

I’ve always been fond of miniatures but, for some reason, never really thought about making them as the subject for my drawings? So I thought the whole physical dynamic between Harley and Violet was the perfect opportunity to explore that.

The three other concepts have already been finished by the time it was this one’s turn (despite being the first one to be conceived).

MissPacthesis was super generous and patient with me when it came down to the deadlines. And so, I wanted to take my time with it and really make sure to end it with a bang for the now-final boss of the bunch!

Following through the requested changes/details after the rough concept sketch was delivered + as well as my own additions, this was how the first set of revisions turned out.

Some of said requests are:

the moooooon

stars hanging on the strings as props

set curtains+lights (to establish a ‘show’ setting)

putting Violet against a less cluttered environment someway

One of the bigger issues was the size difference between the two characters; Violet inevitably can’t be clearly seen with how small she is in comparison to Harley, much less stand out in the composition in the original version. In the other three previously completed commissions, she always remained small and near the environment, while Harley’s ginormous size in comparison unintentionally hogs the spotlight (unless he’s bringing Violet near him).

I was really, really fond of Violet’s outfit design on this one, so I asked if I could make Violet be bigger than Harley for once; even through just an illusion of perspective. I got MissPacthesis’ OK and was feeling pretty OK myself, but immediately screaming and not as OK after realizing I had to draw the female anatomy in close-up view Aiyaaaah

②　―　INSPIRATION　―

Each and every external inspiration used as reference is difficult to pin down in retrospect, but I can tell you that throughout the duration of this drawing, it wouldn't stop coming after me anywhere I happened to look.

The introduction of the fairy tale themes was inspired by its references in the comic, which leads to me connecting it with old fairy tale book covers that are known for being super intricate, magical, and no longer made how they used to be now. Then again, those things were probably super expensive too...

If we’re talking about the overall shape, then it's definitely the magical doorway in the movie “Barbie as Rapunzel”. I didn't remember it at all until I came across a pirat- I mean, a s l i m e t u t o r i a l on Youtube, that made me realize that it must've made an impact on kid-me; it was just this concept embedded in my subconsciousーraring to get blurted out at a moment’s notice. Just look at the way the flowers circle around the scenery as a border. Heck, even the same type of flowers in thereーpink ‘n blue morning glories. I was near finishing cleaning up my lineart when YT hooked me up and it hit, “oh sht, I copied the homework and I didn’t even know??”

Technique-wise, I’ve been keeping an eye on Art Nouveau styles that I discovered through the anime called “GOSICK”, which then introduced me to the works of Mucha, who is arguably THE poster man of Art Nouveau. I got acquainted with them in my very early teens, which is nice for familiarity. But due to even poorer understanding of fundamentals at the time, all I ever took from it was really:

'...very thin line on the inside, THICK BOI LINE OUTSIDE'.

A bit of a silly and insulting understatement to the nuances of the technique, but this simplified understanding did help fixing my shaky, shaky lineart through the years to now, hereーhelping me not go completely nuts over advanced class Art Nouveau complexities I won’t even pretend to understand.

And from there, inspiration for colors burst out from newly-released movie posters smack dab in the duration of the commission; like

“Disenchanted”’s,

and even “Everything Everywhere All At Once”'s.

And then mid-lineart fixing, I got hit with “RWBY” Volume 9's start with the V9 Opening (”Inside” by Cassie Williams and Martin Gonzales), setting the tone with all the colors and all the madness.

It was my weekend hype man.

Although what I was working on was quite far from these in overall concepts/tone/themes (which, lowkey recommendations, btw-), they still served as a nice color setter inspiration + something that just made me keep remembering to continue working on my own colorful composition through the distracting days.

Aaand finally:

it’s most likely my unrequited love for miniatures that started and shaped this composition from the beginning + stayed after the ungodly amounts of revisions at the top!

The fact that the entire premise of Violet Goes to the Beach is pretty much enabling this obsession of mine? makes me feel like it was destined to beeeee (if you believe in that kinda thing anyway). I’ve pined for the concept even before knowing what they were actually called or how to spell and pronounce the damn word.

And I’m starting to think it’s the reason why I’m super drawn to the tiniest of details, be it in my illustrations or other fields with unnecessary hyper-everything.

As a lonesome nut in a cramped household, my hobby has always been staring at everyday objects and filling the rest with my imaginationーmaybe tiny plants growing on it? Or turning them into furniture for any and all small-enough creatures; anythingーI'll imagine a whole dang ecosystem growing or interacting with anything I can find, and then put myself in there to imagine what would it be like to just...vibe on top of gigantic everyday objects with all the space I could ever need and more.

This was essentially my standard as well for finalizing the composition of miscellaneous flowers in the piece:

"Do whatever you feel like, as long as a mini-you would wanna move in it; swim in it; jump on it? or be a e s t h e t i c c enough to be considered ‘instagramable’ or... or something. ﾍﾙﾌﾟﾐ- ”

The moment something felt off through a closer look, or disagreed somehow with its neighboring details, it got erased and rethought of until the vibes are decidedly pleasant enough for an imaginary miniature village of mini-me’s to live in there.

I think they’d all be screaming regardless.

③　―　BREAKDOWN　―

no, not of the mental variety-

I’m not exactly sure which place this piece goes on the ranking of detailing levels I’ve ever worked on, but it’s definitely one of the most detailed, by far. Took 4 months for goodness’ sake lol

Similarly to what I did to the previous big piece also featuring Harley and Violet (*I’ll write about that next + link it here later!), I deconstructed the parts into multiple parts to make it easier to digest as I went.

I kept previous versions of the color tests/sketches as a reference map of sorts while finalizing certain details, so I don’t keep going “wait, how did I want this to look like again” all over again.

I also made frequent “test runs” for certain techniques I want to/plan to apply in certain areas before finalizing them. Not that I’d really be in big trouble if I didn’t, since I can ctrl+z just fine... but it might just be a traditional illustrator-doing-digital’s habit at this point haha

In a nutshell quickly drawn with a mouse, this is how the layering went down in my poor, overworked, one-too-many overlayered drawing software:

While I absolutely do not recommend layering as extremely as I tend to do, I will say this:

Layers (can) help!

When it comes to hiding each different sections to focus on something behind or above it, having separated everything into non-intersecting layers make it easier to navigate through a big piece.

If you have a similar approach to linearting similarly to how I do mine as well, layering will help when it gets down to cleaning/refining the details, since no lines belonging to different parts/objects intersect with one another in a single layer.

Tedious and fatigue-inducing as heck, but I personally find parts of the process oddly therapeutic.

❹　―　NEVER FINISHED　―

You might’ve noticed that throughout my nonsensical ramblings with occasional pictures, said pictures contained preview of the unfinished drawing enclosed within a square frame when the actual finished product is in some curly...burly...shaped...thing.

That’s because the outer shape has changed multiple times:

When I looked at the first revised shape with the rough color test (square frame), I thought the entire scene looked kind of cluttered? I also wanted to especially put more focus on Violet, so I repositioned things and decided to go the lineart-heavy Art Nouveau route to make the details really stand out from one another and not blend together in a single blur of colors.

And so, on top of everything else, I decided to cut the entire illustration into sections visibly seen and presented to the audience, outside of the actual layered sections of the illustration we broke down from earlier.

I was satisfied with the shapes overall, except for the very top part. It looked very flat and almost... incomplete? So, I experimented around giving the shape a fashionable tippy top hat.

I liked A, but I disliked how the teardrop-shaped gem at the middle was jutting out compared to the rest of the surface.

B retained the flat top, but this time with an added section cut at the upper-middle part, as an attempt to also draw more focus on the moon.

C is the start of the brainrot for a “fish tail” shape.

D tried to just go with a smoothened semi-circle shape for the top, but was the start of the “now THAT’s a moon!” formation that I definitely preferred than what was originally planned.

E wanted to mix the new moon shape + fish tail shape together. I really liked it, but there was something that felt unnerving when looking at it from a distance together with everything else.

F tried bringing back the flat surface together w/ the new moon shape.

and finally, G saved the day (and my sanity). I went back to A and said “dang it, I still want that gem somehow though”, and figured all it really needed was a bit of trim to slot right in the corners and no longer be jutting out. The addition of the yellow and pink on each of its sides were in honor of the fish tail shape. It looks a lot less like one now, but I hoped the teardrop shape at the middle sliding in between two side-twisted oblongs might resemble a fish? haha

the plan vs the done

And, there you have it. By this point in time I’ve yet to upload the finished illustration here on Tumblr (*I’m still not done migrating my older stuff from dA to my main tumblr blogs orz) but I’ll update with a higher quality of the final version here as soon as everything’s caught up!

Thank you very much for stopping by, and I hope you have a wonderful day ahead! ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ I’ll see you in the next one?

― AKI SHOURIKAWA・APR 2023 ―

let’s end it on the note of how I discovered two fibonacci spirals kissing is actually a heart

I actually do not understand how to use the fibonacci, was just taking the piss out by making cool shapes

#drawing process #drawing journal #process #step by step #overview #art breakdown #analysis #violet goes to the beach #vgttb #behind the scenes

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writers-blogck · 2 years ago

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The Pouch Opened ( Dream of the Endless x Reader )

Warning(s): Regular John and Johanna warnings. Song: Mr.Sandman by (Cover) Blind Guardian

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Title: The Pouch Opened Description: An exorcism, a sister, a Dream, oh my! Pairing: Dream of the Endless [ Morpheus ] x Reader Fandom: The Sandman ( Comics and Netflix Series ) Word Count: 5,005 Previous Chapter: A Favor Called Next Chapter: Two Demons and a Dream Story Index

London, 2022

Another Lovely Rainy London Day. You were used to it at this point. You just had to remember that with the rain came rainbows! Plus, the rain gave you puddles to jump in. Sure, it might be a little childish but it made life a bit more livable. It felt natural for you to react that way. Sometimes you couldn't explain why you acted the way you did. It was simply engrained in you. At least John accepted you for who you are. That was a plus. Outsiders liked to give you weird looks when you were just enjoying your life. You didn't care most of the time.

"Do you think there will be fire?"

"Probably."

"How about cursing?"

"Most of 'em do."

"What about puke?"

"I hope not. Jesus, love, did you just watch the Exorcist?"

"... Maybe."

"Well, there better not be any split pea soup involved tonight." John shook his head, a warmth spreading across his chest as he heard you giggle. It was a nice sound.

It was strange for John Constantine. Most of his relationships with the ladies involved a night or two spent together doing some stuff not to be repeated. But, you were an exception. He never thought about you in that way. Sure, he could admit you were attractive but if you were to share a bed, he wouldn't even think about making a move! You were special. You were like Chas, a ride or die. Even if he couldn't remember how you met or how long you had been traveling together, it didn't matter. You were one of his closest mates.

John knew only a few facts about the time the two of you had spent together. He knew that you had traveled with him for two years now overall. He couldn't say why you started to travel with him exactly. He knew you were in danger, a target to the supernatural for some reason. He could sense some power in you; it was dim but there. It turned out to be enough of a spark to allow you to do magic, though you weren't nearly as good as he was. At this point, you just followed where he went and that was the end of it. You wouldn't stay back anymore, instead insisting on helping. That just added to his stress during jobs.

"Hello, Jo!" You waved, a big grin on your face as you shook John from his thoughts. The woman in the distance turned, hands in her deep blue trench coat's pockets. It was amusing how all of you were wearing your own version of a trench coat. Johanna had her navy blue which was snug against her body, you had your gold that was tighter at the top with a loose bottom, and John had his tan which made him look like a walking rectangle. To be fair, it was the best jacket for this type of weather. Plus, it has a bunch of pockets! Always has room for things you might find while you were out.

The woman the two of you approached was Johanna Constantine, the older twin sister of John. You knew she must dye her hair as blonde seemed to run in the family as the dominant trait, figuring that out after she showed you a picture of the woman whom she was named after. Instead of blonde, she had deep brunette hair. She was shorter than her brother by an inch or two but held the same reserve in her eyes. The biggest difference was their smile. John liked to keep his face in a neutral frown (when he wasn't while Johanna often times was smirking as if she knew something you didn't. She likely did.

"Yeah, hello, Jo." John copied, earning a harsh glare from his sister. That nickname was reserved for few and her brother wasn't on that list. But she let it roll off of her like water off a duck's back, her attention shifting back to you.

"I wasn't sure if you would be joining us tonight. Thought 'ol Johnny boy here might have left you at home." There was the revenge for the nickname. John couldn't help but wince at the words 'Johnny Boy' falling from his sister's lips. He had to keep reminding himself that he was here for a reason, he couldn't just leave because he was annoyed with his family. This wasn't just a friendly visit.

Deep down, he did love his sister but the two of them were too alike to get along easily. They both were hard-headed and had confidence to spare. One would find some flaw in the other's plan and lead to some type of argument between them. You had served as a mediator. It had been worse when you weren't traveling with John. It always would end with the two vowing to never see each other again. In reality, it was only a few weeks before they were back on speaking terms.

"He tried but I said that I would follow him if he did, so he just took me anyway."

"I've never seen someone more excited to go to an exorcism."

"What's not to like? You get to be in pretty churches sometimes, you are fighting off evil, and you are helping someone at the end of the day. It just feels natural to me."

"Don't forget the trying not to die part." John's eyes scanned the cathedral where they would be performing the exorcism. He hadn't been in this one, strange with how big it was. Johanna must have it covered most of the time. It truly was strange that she needed help. He would have been more comfortable if you had stayed at the flat.

"Eh, all good things come with a little bit of danger." You chuckled, bumping into John playfully, "Now who's ready to go kick some demon butt?"

"You're gonna be the death of me..." John tossed the cigarette he was smoking to the ground and snubbed it out with the toe of his boot. He had a feeling that this was going to be a long night.

"Come on little brother, at least it won't be boring."

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Exorcisms rarely go the way they are supposed to. John knew that intimately. You could only plan so much when dealing with these forces. It also took some good improvisation. Right off the cuff thinking, quick-witted and smart. He liked to think he was pretty skilled in all of those factors. His sister might like to argue against that. Eh, who cares.

He hadn't expected this exorcism to be any different, not really. It was just hard to plan for the unplannable. His sole focus was keeping the couple safe, that's what he told himself though deep down he knew that wasn't the whole truth. The number one rule in these situations was to keep you safe. It was nice when you stayed back at the flat or hotel, wherever the pair of you were staying. It was rare but nice; he didn't have to worry about you while also dealing with the demon. Today had not been one of those days. You really could be stubborn at times.

The demon was thrust out of the woman, causing the couple to run away in fright as soon as the opportunity presented itself. They had been lucky this time. The demon didn't burst out of the woman, instead coming out as black slime from her mouth, nose, and eyes. She may have felt like she couldn't breathe and was having the worst case of food poisoning, but she hadn't split in half. That was the good part, always look on the bright side of a situation, especially when demons were involved.

The evil creature was huge with the face of a bull and the body of a muscular man. Black blood trickled down from its empty eye sockets. Its tongue lulled out from a hole in its cheek. How disgusting. Anytime you saw a demon, you got the chills. Would you ever get used to their cold aura? There was just something about them that seemed to affect you more than John. Perhaps it was the experience he had that helped him.

"Damn mate, you have a rough day, huh?" John grumbled, hands glowing a bright yellow. His classic sigil hoovered just above his fingertips, blocking an organ piano as it was thrown his way. The demon howled at the failed attack, watching as the instrument exploded on impact, keys showering down around the mage. A cacophony of sound rang out on impact like someone just slammed their hands down on the piano.

"Don't set the bloody church on fire, Johnny-Boy."

"Johanna, I know! I'm not even using any fire yet!"

"Key word, yet. Just saying, you can get a little pyromaniac at times."

"Wot?!"

As he turned to face his twin, a large hooved hand walloped him right in the side, sending him smashing into the wall. The beautiful stained-glass window open shattered and the colored shards rained down on the crumpled-up form of the man. He would surely have some bruised ribs, if not some broken from that. He would be sore tomorrow. Great. John liked to whine whenever he got hurt in any way. That was if you survived this encounter, to begin with.

Switching its attention, the demon gave a huge stomp, causing the floor to break up in Johanna's direction and causing the woman to lose her footing. Pieces of the floor began to fall into the basement level of the church, creating piles of what used to be the wooden floor. Grunting, she pushed herself up on her elbows and rolled out of the way just in time to keep from following the debris down.

You couldn't remember what the plan had initially been, something about exorcising the demon while it stayed within the woman's body? That sounded right. It would help limit the damage it could do both to the people and its surroundings. But when it became clear it was causing harm to the woman, then there was no other option than to get it out first. Yet, this demon wasn't one to be messed with. That's for sure. The twins told you to stay in the back but they looked like they needed help! You were supposed to keep anyone from entering the church. That had been your job. Really, it was just because John wanted you at a distance. Still, your friends were in danger. Screw it! Hopefully, the noise would keep any curious onlookers outside.

"Excuse me!" You ran through the pews, shouting at the non-existent pew-seated onlookers. As you ran, you watched the demon turn to face you. Though he had no eyes, you knew he could see you. A terrifying grin formed on its face, skin ripping where the hole was. Bigger and bigger! It made your stomach turn but you couldn't stop now. No time for throwing up. Your friends needed you! This wasn't the first demon you dealt with. You could do this. You just had to keep reminding yourself that. You could do this. You could- Woah!

"What, a new little pest?" The voice was deep and rumbled across the ground. Goodness, gracious! It leaned down, allowing its face to be level with your entire body as you were running up. You were tiny compared to this thing! You swore you heard John mumble something out but it was indecipherable in the chaos of sounds that was occurring around you. Everything seemed so loud. You just needed to focus on what was in front of you.

A hooved hand hit the ground a few feet ahead of you, sending you flying up in the air as if you were jumping on a trampoline. The demon then caught you as you fell, landing on the hard hoof, it rising back up to its full height. Oh my! You weren't afraid of heights, per-say but you still knew being up this high wasn't your best option. You weren't scared but you also weren't dumb. It would be nice if he put you down. Gently. Slowly.

"You would make a good vessel." The snout came closer and as it exhaled, hot air covered you. Ew! If it sneezed, you were over and done with. Death by a sneeze! You wanted to squirm away but you had to be careful- squirm too much and you would fall right off! A fall from this height would leave you as nothing but a puddle of mush on the ground.

"You need some mouthwash, mate, or maybe a mint? If you give me just a tic, I can check my bag and see if I have anything for you."

"Shut up, wisecrack!"

"Really? John always liked to say I'm really chatty. Plus, I'm always ready for a good argument. How about it? You and me, one-on-one with just our words."

"A duel?"

"Yeah!"

"I shall crush you under my hoof!"

"Word duel! Word Duel!"

"How about I just smash you now?"

"No, thank you!" You gave a sheepish, nervous grin as you fumbled at your side for the one thing that might save you now. Where was it? You knew you put it on before leaving. You never left the flat without it. It had become something of a security blanket.

"What...? What is this?! You- you are protected by...That can't be!" For the first time in this entire encounter, a look of fear crossed the demon's face. That was more like it! Its voice waivered and its hoof shook. That didn't make it any easier to stay on. It was like an extreme version of riding a bull at a bar! You weren't even drunk and still were having quite a bit of trouble! You deserved an award after this.

"You need to calm down, sir!" Hand reaching down and finally finding what you had been searching for, you grabbed a small handful of sand before tossing it right into the empty eye sockets of the demon. "Pocket sand!"

"It's from a pouch...Not your pocket" Johanna sighed to herself as she pushed herself up from the cracked ground.

"ARGH!"

And then you were falling. Sure, sending a demon into an unconscious state when it was holding you meters above the ground might not have been the best idea, you realized that now. You had been thinking in the moment! As it collapsed into a heap of red and brown flesh, you were dropped from its sharp, black hoof. Man, you needed to think these things through a bit more before you acted on your ideas. Soon you would be a human-flavored flapjack on the ground! Aw...If you died, you'd never be able to eat flapjacks again. That was sad.

"Of!" You grunted as you slammed into something hard but still surprisingly did not feel the breaking of bones or the sound of you splattering out on the wood floor. Peeking one eye open, you were greeted by yellow light and came to realize you were on a disk, a floating disk to be exact! Huh! Had you done that? You really were getting better at this magic stuff-

"Warn me next time you are about to go free falling to your death, alright love? I don't have Feather Fall for ya all the time."

Oh. Nope, you hadn't done it, John had. That shouldn't be too surprising. He was standing with one of his arms outstretched, the other wrapped around his lower torso. He was hurt and would surely bruise. Yet the important thing was that he would survive. Slowly he moved his hand down and with it, the disk followed. It would have almost been fun like an amusement park ride in a different situation.

"Hey, I saved you two! Don't get that upset." You hopped off the disk once you were just a few feet from the ground, landing gracefully with a bow. If only you had someone to applaud you. Oh well. You could just pretend.

"By almost dying yourself?"

"You do that all the time!"

"Kids, kids," Johanna spoke up from where she stood next to the sleeping demon, "We can talk about this later. For now, let us banish this thing back to where it belongs before it wakes up. We don't need another fight on our hands, I think we've already done enough damage for the night., yeah?"

"Okay, mum!" You stuck your tongue out playfully.

"Do not call me that."

"Wait, we aren't going to have to pay for the damages, right?"

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥ 　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　

"Wasn't that sweet?" You hummed, skipping to be a step or two in front of the twins. The night lights of London reflected off of the puddles, wavering only when you jumped in them. When you lived a life filled with such dark forces like demons, you knew the importance of enjoying the little things in life. Nothing embarrassed you anymore. There wasn't enough time in your life to let yourself feel that way.

"Sweet? That demon was gonna eat that couple after it forced them to wed. I don't think that would be sweet."

"Ah, that part wasn't so good, I'll admit. But the bride's dress was so pretty and the church was lit up with so many candles. Plus, they love each other without the demon. So, now that the demon is gone, they can have a proper wedding! With proper candles! And a cake!"

"I'm surprised the church didn't catch fire with all of those candles," Johanna muttered to herself.

"You are impossible." John reached into his pocket to grab a cigarette before realizing he was out. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, shaking his head. He could conjure up some but they never were as good. He didn't know why he sucked at making them, he smoked them enough to have the taste memorized. He just could never get them right. Perhaps it was his magic's way of saying that he needed to quit.

"That is going to be quite a repair job." Johanna was more of a drinker herself but her own flask was empty. Each twin had their sins and they only intensified the longer the two were around each other. They would say how it was only natural with the stress they were under on a daily basis.

"I know I said this earlier, but no one answered me. Do we have to pay to fix the church?"

"Nah, we saved them from a nasty bugger of a demon. I just say let the ladies in black deal with it." John shrugged, a lazy grin on his face.

"They're called nuns, John. I know you are smart enough to remember that. I'm sure you've tried to temp some of them."

"Yes, thank you, my sister. Very colorful, it's like I can imagine being right there."

"You know, that woman was a princess. I'm sure she can pay for the damages. She was the one who got possessed after all."

"Johanna, are we victim-blaming right now?" John playfully narrowed his eyes at his sister who just scoffed.

"John Constantine. I come in search of..."

The three of you were walking out of the church and down the pavement when an unnaturally deep voice rang out. John moved to put himself between you and whatever this thing was while Johanna kept her cool demeanor. It was obvious that John cared for you. He didn't need to panic like that though, you could handle yourself. Had you ever even seen Johanna panic before? With your curiosity at a high, you moved to peek over John's shoulder with wide eyes. Big and filled with wonder, it worried John. With a flip of her hair, Johanna turned with a tiny huff.

"Dream of the Endless. I've heard about you."

"An Endless?!" John looked at his twin, to Dream, and then back to his twin once again, "How do you know about him?"

An Endless? What in the world was an Endless? You knew the world, sure, but you had a feeling this was something else. It felt like the definition was on the tip of your tongue, like an itch in the back of your brain. Yet, you had never studied about whatever it meant to be Endless. Why did it feel like you already knew about them?

"He was in Johanna Constantine's journal. You know, our grandmother of some years back? Great, great...Ah, I can't remember. Anyway, she worked with him. She even did a small sketch. I'd have to say she did a really good job. Looks nearly identical. Didn't think Grandmama had any artistic skill."

"Johanna Constantine..." Dream spoke slowly but his deep eyes never left your form, "Yes, I have worked with a few of the Constantine family members. I heard that the two members that led the family tree now were twins. The two last members, still alive and alone."

"Yeah, our family isn't the best when it comes to living a good long life." Johanna's eyes looked cold, though her demeanor fit that of a woman meeting an old friend. How was she so good at hiding her emotions?

"Frightful ends meet all of those with Constantine blood."

"Alas, does your appearance mean that you require us for work then, Sir Dream? That was the only reason you would ever visit our family in the past."

"I suppose, though it may be easier than I imagined." His eyes looked down at your form, causing John to hide you even further behind him. It was funny that the mortal thought he could hide you from him, if he so choose to take you. Yet, he was not looking at your figure (mainly) but instead at the pouch you had strapped to your belt. His pouch. Open. Nearly as strange a sight as you were. Was he still trapped in that damned glass orb and had finally taken to hallucinating?

Nothing was making sense since he escaped his imprisonment. His kingdom had fallen, (nearly) all his servants had left, you were here on Earth (wingless), all his tools were gone, and he felt as if he had lost a piece of himself. He didn't like all of this unknowing and uncertainty. Nothing was as it should be. He needed to help restore some semblance of order before this entropy became too much.

"Can we get past all of this creepy and cryptic back and forth?" John moved his hand to grab your upper arm, keeping you in place as you went to take a step forward. Curiosity killed the cat after all. He really needed a child's leash for you, the kind with a monkey backpack. He had a feeling you wouldn't mind.

"I require my pouch, one of my three tools. I was made aware by the Ladies Who Are Three As One that a certain John Constantine had it in his possession. It was purchased when it was not to be for sale. Not now, not ever."

"Jonathan...!" Johanna turned, eyes sharp and narrowed in her brother's direction. She knew about your pouch but had no clue it belonged to an Endless.

"What?! Was I not supposed to buy a pouch that radiated magical energy at a garage sale? It was only five quid!" Letting go of your arm, John tossed his hands up in exasperation. You remember that day. You bought a bunny kettle. It had actually been rather creepy, one made for the novel Watership Down, but you thought it had a certain charm. You used it to this day. John didn't like it.

"Perhaps you could have done some more research on it! Figure out its previous owners!"

"How was I supposed to do that?! I couldn't open the bloody thing up and whenever I try to reach in, it went to snap close on me. Like, it tried to bite me! I swear!"

"But she can open it? How long have you been studying? I thought she wasn't skilled in magic."

"Johanna, I swear-"

"Do you mean this pouch?" As the twins fought, you walked around them quietly to stand in front of the dark stranger. Unlatching the pouch from your belt, you offered it up to him with no hesitation. If the pouch was lost and belonged to this man, then you would rightfully return it. Yes, curiosity killed the cat but then satisfaction brought him back. You liked that version of the phrase better.

Long fingers brushed against your own as he took the black velvet bag from your hands. There was a spark, dim but there. It was you, Dream knew it. He didn't know what to say. You clearly didn't recognize him. You didn't remember the pouch you had seen for eons. He ached to reach out and cradle your face in his hands, just to look over you and take in the details of your features. It had been so long since he had seen you. Were you safe? What happened? He didn't like this version of you. The version that didn't remember him.

"Yes...Thank you."

"I apologize, but I did use some of it. I swear only in emergency situations where a demon was a problem! Never just to go to sleep or anything like that!"

"That's alright..." With every contemplative sentence, he trailed off into silence. He kept staring with those eyes that seemed to hold stars in them. Extraordinary. You wanted a closer look. "The sand does not run out. But how did you use it?"

The twins had stopped arguing now, shifting their attention to the two of you. John wanted to step in but his sister was keeping him back. She knew more about the Endless standing in front of them than her brother. She knew they needed to tread lightly. John could care less. If the goth creep tried anything-!

"I just opened it. I don't know why John had such a hard time. He couldn't open it, you know? I accidentally sent him to sleep the first time. I sneezed when I had some sand in my hand. He woke up three hours later. I was panicking the entire time. He was alright in the end, though."

"I had a real nice dream about a redhead-" John started but Johanna slapped him upside the head to get him to shut up.

"Ow!"

"You gave him a good dream...?"

Nodding, your own eyes shifted over the man's form. He was wearing a dark cloak that fluttered in the wind. The fabric inside was shiny and sparkled when the light hit it just right as if it held the universe within its folds. You were tempted to reach out to touch the cloak to see if it was cool like you thought. Eyes moving back up to his body, you saw his thin, pale face framed by a wild mane of black hair. Had you seen this man before? The twins called him Dream, perhaps you had seen him in your dreams? He felt familiar.

"It is a part of my being. It could sense you and knew you could be trusted."

"So, are we done here?" John straightened up, hand fiddling with his silver lighter. "You got your pouch back. We just finished a job. How about we go our separate ways? Yeah?"

Dream had been told you were dead, at least that's what Lucienne believed to have occurred. She explained how you went to go find him, to free him from wherever he was trapped but the librarian hadn't seen you since. She told the King how something bad may have happened to you during that time. He wanted to go searching but knew he would be of no help without his instruments. First, he would get those back. Then, he would make his next plan. Destiny had other ideas.

"What are you doing down here?" Dream asked, attention solely on you. He was ignoring John as well as Johanna. It was intense to have his gaze on you like this, but not unwelcomed. You weren't one to turn down any attention.

"Huh? What am I doing down here? What do you mean? Like, right here? Well, I just finished exorcising a demon. I think we were about to go get something to eat. We didn't have anything before coming here."

But here you were, standing before him in a trenchcoat that seemed too large for your frame and some human clothes. Nothing like what you used to wear. Your skin didn't radiate the small golden hue as it had in the past and your feet were touching the ground like a...a regular human. This couldn't be right. Perhaps you were just trying to blend in while searching for him? That had to be it. You were Hope after all. The alternatives were too dark to face. No...He knew you well enough to know that this wasn't you acting. You never were good at lying.

"They've been searching for you, Lucienne, and a few other residents. Cain and Abel miss you. Gregory...It's been over a century since you've been gone. I apologize if it is due to my own actions that you have left but I have returned. You can come back now."

Looking back and forth between the twins, it was clear the man's attention was on you. He spoke like the two of you were comrades. Sheepishly, you spoke:

"Uh, not to be rude, but have we met before?"

#dream of the endless #dream x reader #dream x you #Dream of the Endless x Y/n #dream of the endless x reader #morpheus #lord morpheus #Lord Morpheus x you #lord morpheus x reader #x reader #x reader insert #xreader #The Sandman #sandman x reader #the sandman x reader #sandman x y/n #thethingwithfeathers #John Constantine #Johanna Constantine

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putschki1969 · 2 years ago

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Wakana Winter Shark Festival Vol.#2 ~ Birthday Eve Cross Talk Event ~ LIVE COMMENTARY

It’s almost time for Vol.#2 of last year’s “Wakana Winter Shark Festival ～ Special Cross Talk Event ～ ”. As always I will be doing a live reaction to the event. Tweet by Wakana |

‖Event details Botanical Land members-ONLY streaming event Title: “Wakana Winter Shark Festival Vol.#2 ~ Birthday Eve Cross Talk Event ~” Date: December 9, 2022 (Friday) Time: 19:00~ (JST) Cast: Wakana, Yuuka Nanri (guest)

‖Ticket details Ticket sales: Bitfan tickets ; Livestream: Bitfan Live Sales period: November 18 18:00 to December 14 23:59 Archive period: ~December 18 ● Event viewing ticket ¥ 2,000 (tax included) ※ For FC members ONLY In order to buy a ticket, please refer to the tutorial provided by Botanical Land! I have also written my own tutorial for her previous FC event so feel free to check that out! Bitfan is a very foreigner-friendly platform so be sure to use this opportunity!

Ohhh, her hair looks darker here than it did in the recent pictures. Makes me happy. I was sad to see her darker go but it seems it was just the lighting that made it look like she had dyed her hair. She definitely cut it though but oh well, she obviously still looks gorgeous.XD Hearing Yuuka and Wakana reflect on last year’s live is getting me so excited for this year’s concert!! Also, they are planning to hold another event like this together. This time to celebrate Yuuka’s birthday in March.

Question Corner: Q1: To which prefecture would you like to travel together? Wakana would like to go to Shimane prefecture because she received some amazing omiyage from there a while back (Yōkan). Q2: Recent items that have a healing effect on you? Obviously it’s plants for Wakana Q3: Do they buy Year-End Jumbo Lottery tickets? Yes, Wakana does indeed buy them and if she won, she would use the money for her plants Q4: Ways to calm down and work on blood pressure? Concentrate and think about the universe Q5: How would they spend a day if they lived together? They imagine it would be fun. Wakana is ready to do all the laundry because she loves it. Wakana doesn’t eat carbs in the evening so they would have trouble figuring out dinner since Yuuka prefers to eat carbs. Wakana is jealous that Yuuka manages to stay so thin even though she eats a lot of carbs. Wakana warns that she loses a lot of hair so that might be annoying for anyone who lives with her. Q6: If they could change voices, which of their respective song would they like to sing? They pretty much just praise each other’s voice here. Yuuka would love to sing Christmas songs if she had Wakana’s voice because she feels like Wakana’s voice fits these types of songs perfectly. Q7: Someone asks Wakana if she has bought a new microwave (since she mentioned last time that it’s super old and barely working anymore): She didn’t. It’s still working somehow. However, she did buy a bunch of other stuff but more on that later. Q8: Anything they would want as birthday present? Wakana wants a cordless vacuum cleaner (as we know, she bought one for herself at the beginning of the new year) Q9: Recommended cooking method: Wakana talks in detail about a gluten free version of an Okinawa Champuru dish. Q10: Something they like about each other? Here they are supposed to describe a positive character trait about the each other. Then they each react to the other’s thoughts and confirm whether that’s an accurate description of their character. Yuuka describes Wakana as very bright and cheerful. Mainly because she has been talking a lot since the get-go. Wakana is afraid this particular trait of hers might come across as annoying but Yuuka really likes it. She admits tough that she did feel a little overwhelmed at first because she couldn’t explain how someone’s switch was just always turned on, no breaks, no downtime, nothing. Q11: Any recommended instruments for playing and tips how to stay motivated? Wakana tries to play a bit of piano but she hasn’t been very diligent with her practicing so she is really not the right person to provide any type of encouragement or support. Wakana recommends just listening to the sound of instruments and choose what you like best when deciding on what to start playing. Q12: How have they progressed in the past year? Wakana has made some improvements on her neck by doing lots of exercising and stretching. Q13: How to spend Christmas as an adult? Eat chicken and cake. Have some red wine. A good meal is more important to her than presents. Q14: What was the most surprising thing that happened this year? Wakana finally realised that the right combination of air-con and humidifier is the best way to stay warm in winter. In the past she refused to use air-con heating due to the dry air. Q15: How to memorise lyrics for a live? Endless repetition and trying to come up with a simple story that makes it easier to memorise everything. Q16: Ever experienced a time leap or deja vu? Not really. She is often reminded of other stuff or experiences nostalgia but nothing else. One weird thing though: Sometimes she will dream of people contacting her and then they actually end up contacting her soon after. Q17: Have they visited Ghibli Park? Any other such places they would like to visit? No, unfortunately Wakana hasn’t been able to visit yet. But she wants to, especially after seeing everyone’s reports. Q18: Any artist/work (anime, drama, show, etc) that influenced your life a lot? They go off on a tangent and talk about idols. Wakana mentions a group called “Travis Japan”. Seems like she used to be quite obsessed with them. They even were on America’s Got Talent. Q19: The thing you worked hardest on this year? Wakana worked hardest on her music. Basically what she always does. But she also tried to drink more water and focus on skincare. Q20: Recommended Christmas book? She shows a few books

Present Time: Wakana introduces items she bought for her birthday (seems like she likes to buy presents for herself XD). She got herself a cordless hair iron (Ya-Man Shine Pro) that can be used in the bath. And a lint remover by Kedamatori.

Cake Time: So cute to hear her sing for herself. The fruit tart looks absolutely delicious!

Game Corner (personality test): God, there was a lot of complicated stuff XD

Live Goods Introduction: I honestly wanna buy everything. The keyholder looks so pretty! And the pink gloves are cuter than I expected. Might have to buy two pairs. I wonder what that big spoiler in the pamphlet is all about? Probably her album release?

#kalafina #wakana #report #fan club exclusive content #botanical land #winter shark festival #winter shark festival vol 2 #sorry I just stopped midway through #they were talking too much #will update as soon as I have time

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a-dragons-journal · 1 year ago

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Actually, sorry for double-reblogging this, but I got curious and did some digging, and found something interesting and relevant! I was curious if the intensity criterion even holds up for phantom limb syndrome in amputees, so I went looking for any articles on measuring the intensity of non-painful phantom limb sensation, and while I didn't find anything with the full text available for free focusing on that specifically (unsurprisingly), I did find one article that reported the results of a decently large-size sample regarding that as part of their process in investigating a related question!

The article is focused on trying to discern whether there's a set of measures that can be used to predict the likelihood of phantom limb pain (which is usually the thing these studies focus on, since it's usually considered the most inherently problematic aspect of phantom limbs) in amputation candidates. It compared three groups of over 1,000 people each: those who don't experience phantom limb pain (PLP) at all, low-PLP (less than one instance of PLP per week), and high-PLP (at least one instance of PLP per week). The researchers measured a bunch of factors, including age at amputation, sex, the amount of the limb that was amputated, etc., but since I'm not really interested in the same goal they are, after a quick read of their methodology section to make sure it was a study worth looking at, I zoomed in on their measurement of painless phantom limb sensation (referred to as PLS, in this study, which is how I'll use that acronym in this post from hereonout, for clarity), since that's what I was interested in.

Basically, they had the subjects grade their PLS intensity on a scale from 0-10, and I found that the result was really interesting - while the ranges are fairly large (indicating that there's a lot of variation in PLS intensity even within each of these groups), all three groups had an average PLS intensity under 4/10. Specifically, copied directly from Table 1A of their results:

No PLP: 1.27 ± 2.38 Low PLP: 3.2 ± 3.0 High PLP: 3.9 ± 3.17 (Scale of 0-10) (F(1,2) = 276.942, P < .001)

(They also separated PLS intensity ratings by the limb that was amputated within each group on later tables, but I didn't find that worth specifically quoting in this context; it's on tables 1B-1C if you're interested.)

Granted it's only one study - though a large and well-put-together study, from what I can see, and in my defense I was trying to limit myself to articles with the full text available to the public - but what this indicates to me that's relevant to this discussion is that intensity of phantom limb sensation in amputees seems to vary widely and often isn't as "severe" as you've implied (especially on the previous version of this post) that an alterhuman's phantom limbs would have to be to "count" as phantom limbs. In other words, if I'm correct in understanding you that intensity is your biggest factor in differentiating between "real" phantom limbs and "just" phantom shifts (and please correct me if I'm misunderstanding you there), then this study's findings imply that that metric doesn't even work for amputees, and would exclude a great number of amputees who experience phantom limbs as well.

Reference:

Diers, M., Krumm, B., Fuchs, X., Bekrater-Bodmann, R., Milde, C., Trojan, J., Foell, J., Becker, S., Rümenapf, G., & Flor, H. (2022). The Prevalence and Characteristics of Phantom Limb Pain and Non-Painful Phantom Phenomena in a Nationwide Survey of 3,374 Unilateral Limb Amputees. The journal of pain, 23(3), 411–423. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2021.09.003

(Direct link: https://www.jpain.org/article/S1526-5900(21)00336-9/fulltext)

Why people with PLS find the use of "phantom limbs" by the alterhuman community offensive

NOTE: This is a repost of an ealier post with more of an own-opinion/giving people with PLS a voice-approach rather than a community announcement, after having received critique from it that I agree with. I am completely fine with people having different opinions on this. I might make a video about this in the future, but I'd like to make you all aware of a statement I've received from people with PLS.

The use of the medical term "phantom limbs" is heavily tied to Phantom Limb Syndrome (PLS) which is a medical condition that affects amputees and those born with congenital differences in anatomy. It can be similar but is said to be vastly different from what otherkin and therians experience during phantom shifts. People experiencing PLS and the like have made it known that comparing phantom shifts to the actual loss of a limb or PLS is offensive, so I am of the belief that this should not be done again. I personally recommend using the words phantom shifts, parts or appendages, or specify that appendages such as phantom paws, wings, tails, etc. instead.

I personally take responsibility for having made this comparison in the past, and I'd like to apologize to people who experience PLS or have lost a limb for doing so. It was not my place to make this comparison, as I cannot know what the experiences is actually like.

I urge everyone who may own an Alterhuman platform (whether that be a Discord server or social media platform), and who agree with this statement, to spread the word about this. You are free to use part of this text to explain things.

#rani talks #community talk #phantom limbs #phantom shift #supernumerary phantom limbs

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primetimes-primetime · 2 years ago

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alright. so, i know ive already made a post about this on my main, but im stupid and went to the original tweet and just made myself angry again.

TW// T-CEST UNDER THE CUT

alright, so a couple days ago i rbed a screenshot of a certain story board artist's tweet about being the one to put tcest in the show.

i dont know why or how, but i found my way onto twitter and to the original tweet that this guy made.

for context, sheldon here was a storyboard artist for Rise and the scene they are talking about here is this one from the Lair Games episode-

i partially explain again why this is horrible and disgusting and partially why i dont believe or accept sheldon's... i dont even know what to call it. his response (the top post in the first screenshot)

part one

since i literally just rbed something about this, im just going to copy/paste my rb and add onto it a little.

" no but when i found out that some of the artists who originally worked on Rise were t-cesters and proshippers i was actually so fucking pissed off.

there are part of this community that are actually god damn disgusting, and im not afriad to say that tcest is fucking rancid and if you support it i dont want you near the content that i create.

first of all, it is literally incest. it says so right in the name. which, i really hope i dont have to explain why incest is bas in the ripe year of 2022. I don't care that they arent "blood-related". They were fucking raised as brothers, treated like brothers, and think of each other as brothers. No matter how hard you try to spin it, no matter how hard you argue that they arent technically related, you have to understand that they see and think of each other as brothers, which should be enough to make this incest.

this show was amazing when it came to family dynamics and brotherly love/trust/bonds. i can say with confidence that the brothers in Rise are much more brotherly/closer than any other previous versions. it's obvious to see that they love and care and want to protect one another. to turn platonic and love for one's family into something so gross and vile is taking all of the healthy emotional bonds between these characters and throwing it out the window.

i cant fuckung believe i have to say this every time i come back into the tmnt fandom, but-

THEY ARE MINORS.

sure, with the recent Rise movie we saw an adult leo, but heres the thing- that version of leo is fucking dead. he literally got fucking beamed out of existence.

the fact that every one of these brothers are under the age of 18 and i still see so much nsfw art is absolutely horrid.

finally, it's a kid's show. sure, many of us in the community are teens, later teens, and grown adults, but that does not change that this show was originally created to bring the tmnt franchise into yet another generation of kids. again, i sincerely hope that i dont need to explain why implying incest in kids shows (or really any TVs shows, for that matter) is morally wrong and vile.

literally yesterday me and some of my mutuals had to go through a lot of our content to re-tag a whole bunch of our posts tagged with "tcest dni" because tumblr's tagging system is actual shit. there shouldnt even be a tcest community, outside of it impeding on the rest of us Rise fans.

sorry this is such a long post but im so tired of seeing / hearing about tcest. its gross, disgusting, icky, etc etc. it is 6:30 am and i woke up and saw this and decided to fucking say something, because tcest has actively made my experience coming back into the tmnt community and fandom worse. "

and i still stand by that. seeing so much tcest- and from the artists on the rise crew, no less- is making my journy back into the tmnt fandom so, so much worse. it is actively hurting a lot of people- which brings me to one specific tweet from this thread.

so, to start- i do not, i repeat- DO NOT condone or promote sending death threats to people or telling them to kill themselves.

second- it isnt. harmless. reminder, again, that this is a

CHILDREN'S. SHOW.

you are talking about MINORS IN INCESTUAL RELATIONSHIPS. "harmless fiction" my ass.

part two

ok. so as you can see in the original screenshot, you can see that sheldon is passing this off as a joke. but i honestly cannot believe him when he says this.

why, i hear you asking. well,

look at the time stamp. 2020, nearly three years ago now, when the Lair Games episode had just come out.

why didn't he say it was a joke three years ago, when he first posted the storyboard clip? because he isnt fucking joking. either that or he is just really so fucking dense that he doesn't realize that what he's doing is not funny in any way, shape or form.

which brings me to my next point.

even if it is all just a joke,

why the fuck are you joking about minors participating in fucking incest?

its fucking nasty even if it is a joke. i genuinely shouldnt need to say anymore on why this is fucking horrid.

well. ive taken up enough of your time- i appreciate you reading to the end and i apologize for making this so long. a quick, final word in case you got this far and are a tcester or support tcest-

kindly fuck off, do not interact with me, unfollow me, and block me :] i dont want your nasty ass incest anywhere fucking near me or this blog.

thanks ! :D

#ooc post #primetimes-primetime

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killemwithkawaii · 2 years ago

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Goretober 2022 Day 7: The Side of Caution

[BEGIN TRANSCRIPT]

The second time we met was during one of the few moments of peace I got to enjoy while wandering the void. In that timeline, by some miracle of chance, there was no cult, no demons, no haunted living arrangements, no cannibalistic neighbors, and very few ghosts. My mom had still died when I was little, I was still disfigured, and my dad had his usual vices because of it, but all things considered, it was one of the few timelines where my life in Nockfell was what you might consider ‘normal’.

With the bullies in grade school being the highest level threat I had to deal with, I had managed to stick around in that universe until my early twenties. I was living with Larry, Todd, and Neil, and attending college with them and Ash at Henrys usual insistence, but I hadn’t really been going to class with any goal in mind. I neglected my school work in favor of hanging out with versions of my friends that had above average survival rates and didn’t spend all their free time doing cult sabotage… or being dead. I pretty much slid by with C’s across the board.

One evening, I was back at my dads place for dinner. Henry and Lisa kept giving each other these looks, and finally, Lisa said:

“Sal, we wanted to talk to you about something…”

They both suggested I get a part-time job for the summer- a ‘resume-builder’ that would ‘start me off on my career path’, whatever I chose for that to be.

“You have a bright future in front of you, son. You can do anything you set your mind to, I know you can! You just have to be willing to put in the effort to do it.”

I tried and failed to hold back a snort.

“No, really! Everyone starts somewhere, Sally. It’ll be hard work, but I’ll bet you’ll love it once you get used to it!”

At this point, I’d never had an actual job before. I know, ‘Over 600 years old and he’s never had a job? What a loser!’ In my defense, it’s hard to have a decent work-life balance with school, cult sabotage, friend and family relationship maintenance, and ‘always dying young’ already on your plate. But, like I said, this time was different. I thought about what it would be like, being able to experience the fabled hum-drum daily grind of being a wage-slave in the service industry…. It seemed like torture for most people, but it sounded more like a vacation to me- a predictable and safe routine, normal-person problems, a bunch of normal people to bitch about them with, AND I’d get my own pocket money, too.

“Yeah! That sounds awesome, actually… did you guys have somewhere in mind?”

Robert- you remember Robert- is always a successful, self-made business man, but the kind of businesses he runs is almost random- real estate, tech, marketing, insurance, landscaping… whatever he thinks will be successful, he makes it successful. In that universe, he bought and ran one of the few restaurants in town after its previous owner, Terrence Addison (yes, that Terrence Addison), had announced his plan to retire, sell his various properties, and travel the world. The restaurant was a long-standing staple to the community that literally everyone in town ate at- The Nockfell Diner, a 24-hour greasy spoon that just so happened to be in need of a new dishwasher.

Less than a week after that discussion with Lisa and Henry, I was in uniform, pacing around in the ‘dish pit’. All day, I sprayed the food scraps and grease from the plates, put them neatly in racks, slid the racks into the washing machine, took them out, arranged them back into stacks, and put them away so they could get dirty again. I did this over and over, for hours at a time, until my hands were red and pruny and my clothes and hair were soaked with dirty dishwater. It was a repetitive, mind-numbing, physically taxing (and sometimes nauseating) process, but I found a weird satisfaction in it that I couldn’t really pinpoint at the time. ‘Spray, load, wash, stack….’ It was simple, straightforward, and really obvious about its necessity in the process of the system- plus, I didn’t have to risk being killed or have to murder anyone. It was relaxing. It lulled me into a false sense of security. I wasn’t paying attention when it happened…

I rounded the corner into the kitchen on autopilot, holding a big, heavy stack of dinner plates.

“CORNER-”

I collided with something really solid. The tower of dishes I was holding started to teeter over. A pair of hands steadied the top as I steadied the bottom, keeping the plates from falling and shattering on the floor.

“Whew… Jeez man, watch it!! Didn’t you hear me say ‘corner’?”

I looked up at the man I’d run into, and I knew him. His dark hair and pale skin, those big eyes with the long lashes, a few crooked teeth, the button nose, his pierced lip… he was taller, more muscular, and a guy, but I recognized him instantly.... If it wasn’t obvious to me who he was, it was written right there on his nametag: ‘Mitch’ in big letters, ‘the bitch’ in small letters. I made a note to ask him about the second half later.

“Ah- no, I… wasn’t expecting you… to-”

He gave an exaggerated sigh, his shoulders sagging dramatically.

“Okay, who the fuck’s training the new guy…?”

The cooks on the line shrugged. I hadn’t been trained, necessarily. Mostly, I’d been told where to stand and had otherwise been relying on trial and error and a little common sense to get the job done. ‘You’re a smart guy, you’ll figure it out, Sally…’ (Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?)

“So nobody was gonna bother filling him in on some basic safety shit? Hm? I can’t even buy the guy a drink before me and his ass get into a crash? Tsk, that’s just fuckin’ tacky, guys….“

“Bar’s open ‘til 2, you got plenty of time for another round, Mitch,” a waitress passing by chimed in.

“Oh, not with you here I don’t, baby! I got plans to-night~” he made kissy noises in her direction before turning back to me.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

“Nah, don’t worry about it, dude. How’re you supposed to know if nobody bothered to tell you?”

“Yeah, I guess…”

“‘Corner’ means ‘I’m around the corner, and I comin through! Get the fuck outta my way!’ Okay? Always listen for that- keeps everyone from ending up like roadkill during a rush, ya’know?”

He laughed with that signature lop-sided smile, clapped me on the shoulder, and passed by me with a wink. He shrugged his strawberry-print bag up on his shoulder, and there was a heart-print bandage on his wrist…

“Uh- okay, I’ll keep that in mind,” I nodded, “I mean, it would kind of be a shame… if I ended up roadkill before you bought me that drink, right...?”

"Ha! It sure would be..."

I couldn't believe it. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eye. I’d found her! Er- him. Mitch. It was undeniable- it was them…

just a little different.

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#the staycation 🏡💙#coworker!mitch #tw unreality #tw violence #tw cannibalism #tw unsanitary #tw death #tw injury #tw drug use #edited #meet the fishers

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