#It's like a rl graphic of how their conversations are going

[rockingtheorange]

Something I really love about this scene is the "hello" on the wall because Miguel talks and the bubble is on him, but there's no reply on Alex's side.

And then Henry appears and the bubble is on him, saying hello to Henry ❤

[justagirlinafandomworld]

It definitely does NOT feel like December should be over! But here we are, wrapping up the year of 2022 with December's reading list. This list is full of gems, I had such fun reading them and I hope you have a chance to enjoy them as well.

I want to give a great big THANK YOU to all the writers on this list! I was a bit of a Grinch this year in RL and your fics pumped my heart full of love, warmth and cheer.

This list is alphabetical by fandom (mostly), then by character. Summaries and warnings are included as provided by the authors.

Read what you like and share what you love!

2022 reading list | fic rec masterlist

Dividers provided by @firefly-graphics

Marvel

Strategic Fit by @indyluckycharlie Corporate AU!Bucky Barnes x Co-Worker!Reader Bucky knows better, he really does, and the last thing he wants is to give you more reason to hate him, but when he overhears an rather interesting conversation of yours, he just can't help himself.Warnings: Smut (minors do not interact). Explicit dirty talk, phone sex, male masturbation (but trying to hide it). May be considered noncon since Bucky's eavesdropping without permission and getting off on it (although someone else might be getting off on it too 👀) References to female masturbation and oral sex. Some light dom/sub vibes. Enemies to lovers, kind of.

A Piece of Me by @negans-lucille-tblr Bucky Barnes x Female Reader Bucky doesn’t want anything for Christmas, but you still manage to make it special.Warnings: Christmas, grumpy Bucky, moody Bucky, getting drunk, gift exchanges, lingerie, smut, fingering, p in v, orgasms, fluff

Marc's Praise Kink by @softlybarnes Marc Spector x Reader Anon: ill say it once and ill say it again, when marc spector gets comfortable enough around you, the praise kink is gonna come out and it's gonna come out hard, and lemme tell you, there's nothing that man loves more than being told he's doing a good job and hearing how good he's making you feel - i'm literally not taking any arguments about thisWarnings: Smut.

Remember me, love by @writingsoftheloser Sam Wilson x Reader When Sam and Bucky found themselves imprisoned, an old friend shows up to help them. And Sam definitely remembers them. Warnings: there’s some angst, fighting, swearing and a bittersweet ending

Destressing by @kittenofdoomage Steve Rogers x Female Reader Prompt: Steve has been such a good boy and deserves a special treat. Warnings: smut, fluff, slightly subby Steve

In The Moment by @kittenofdoomage Steve Rogers x Female Reader Prompt:  fill me up plz. Warnings: smut, rough smut, public smut

Knowledge Man by @maladaptivexxdaydreaming Librarian!Steve Rogers x Female Reader concept: With him, your words are becoming novels. warnings: tiny plot in library with just smut, semi-public sex, oral and fingering (r receiving),nicknames ─ Dove,

Supernatural

In Spite of What My Heart Says by @princessmisery666 Dean Winchester x Female Reader You’ve avoided Dean for a while, but there’s so much that’s been left unsaid. He catches up to you and you’ll happily distract him to put off the inevitable difficult conversation. Warnings: smut, choking, rough sex (sort of!), p in v, unresolved angst, language. 

The Longest Time by @princessmisery666 Dean Winchester x Original Female Character (Wynter) For the longest time, Dean hasn't allowed himself to dream of a future, but Wynter changes things.Warnings: fluff, flangst.

Just Like A Pill by @princessmisery666 Dean Winchester x Female Reader Sequel to “In Spite Of What My Heart Says”. Y/N has no choice but to go to the Winchester’s for help. But after ditching Dean at the Christmas Market and still not having spoken how will it go down? Will they finally say all the things that need to be said?Warnings: Angst, language, mild smut, mention of Dean dying, Demon!Dean mentioned.

The Girlfriend Who Remade Christmas by @deanwinchesterswitch Dean Winchester x Original Female Character (Nicole/Nico/Nic) Dean’s holiday spirit is nowhere to be found. Fed up with his Grinch-like behavior, Nicole is determined to open his heart again to the wonders of the world around them and help him find joy in the Christmas season.Series Warnings: FLUFF, a tiny bit of angst, implied smut, slight canon divergence

Evermore by @deanwinchesterswitch Dean Winchester x Reader Living without Dean is an unbearable endeavor.Warnings: ANGST, character death-no graphic detail

Twofer by @kittenofdoomage Dean Winchester x Female Reader x Original Fictional Character (Lucy) Prompt: 2 for 1.Warnings: oral sex, threesome (F/M/F), reverse cowgirl, mentions of bad break-ups

Samnesia Series by @princessmisery666 Sam Winchester x Original Female Character Brooke is a calming distraction from the chaotic mess of Sam's life. When a hunt keeps them separated for over a month, Sam returns to find she no longer remembers him. The need to find out what happened while he was gone sends Sam on a case that will change the course of his life. What he discovers along the way will change the way he looks at love. Warnings: angst, fluff, smut, slow burn, language, stalking, mentions of cheating, kidnapping, shitty friend, canon level violence mentioned. 

Duck Dean Afternoon (4 Parts) by @mrswhozeewhatsis Dean Winchester x Reader, Sam Winchester x Reader A/N:  It was born from @helvonasche saying “It’s like fucking a duck for taffy,” after which she had to explain why fucking a duck for taffy was such a stupid idea.Warning: This is crack. So many things you never wanted to know about duck dicks are in this. 

Opportunity Knocks by @kittenofdoomage Dean Winchester x Female Reader x Sam Winchester Prompt: Eager to please both. Warnings: double oral penetration, threesome, implied double vaginal penetration

Other Fandoms

Practice Makes Perfect by @kittenofdoomage Geralt x Female Reader Prompt: she’s been practicing and wants to show him what a good girl she can be. Warnings: sex work, brothels, oral sex

Clueless by @supernaturalgirl20 Din Djarin x Female Reader Request: for idiots in love. “You’re so cute. What did you just say? I said you look like a boot.”Warnings: Fluff, mutual pining, Din being clueless, Established sexual relationship, live sick idiots, mild reference to smut.

Happy Reading!

[calliecat93]

Top 5 Things I Disliked About Red vs Blue: Season 2

When I decided to do this series, I knew it was gonna be hard to do lists for Blood Gulch. Not because I can’t think of anything I like or dislike specifically, but as I said before, BGC is mainly comedic driven. The worst I can say is ‘this isn’t funny’ and critique the earlier production standards. Which that’s kinda mean since they were working with what they had and trying to learn to do the show. As such, I have to reach on Dislikes for these and S2 was a tough one in that regard. I managed to come up with five, but GOD I had to stretch haaaard on it.

But still, I did it. Just remember, take this with a grain of salt. So here we go, Top 5 Things I Disliked About RvB S2.

#5. Doc

If you asked me which of the BGC to write out and never bring back… I’d probably have to pick Doc. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate him, but I’ve also never loved him. He comes off more whiny than funny, and most of the time he’s only funny due to the back and forth with O’Malley. Otherwise, usually… he’s just there. Even here in S2, while having a pacifist medic in a cast where several are trigger happy could lead to some funny stuff, Doc was just an annoyance. The situations he got into were funny, like getting knocked into the Warthog when the Blues unknowingly made it go rogue, but he was literally just there for the ride. Something IDT later season really improved aside form 16 and 17, which tbh I think is stretching it.

IDK, I just find Doc whiny and kinda boring. Even if he’s meant to be the annoying, disrespected nice guy, doesn't Donut kinda fit that slot already? Heck, they both even have the recurring ‘disappear for seasons and then suddenly comes back’ joke. The only times that I feel invested in Doc is when he has O’Malley, which is how he re-entered the plot here. I’m gonna save more about that in the S3 posts, but on his own? Doc just… doesn’t really work and I didn’t really miss him in between the Reds dumping him and him reappearing when O’Malley infected him. It’s also a flaw IDT recent seasons have really fixed, though they are trying. Plus I don’t hate Doc and some jokes with him do work (the gag of his naming made me giggle), I'm just… indifferent. But that’s why he’s at the top of the list since the most I can say is I find him whiny and not as funny,

#4. The Cyborg Subplot

So due to losing Lopez and because he’s Sarge, Sarge decides to turn one of the Reds into a cyborg to do all the stuff that Lopez did. He settles on Simmons. Now in and of itself, the subplot is fine. It leads to a good few jokes, like Grif trying to ruin Simmons’ parts after the surgery or a few gags like Simmons shooting his own foot and of course, faxass. While IDT the season would have been hurt without it, it has plenty of funny bits. Sow hat’s the problem. Well… like I said, cutting it wouldn’t have hurt anything. It kinda is just there to give the Reds something to do during the O’Malley and Tex stuff since otherwise, they’d just be standing around and taking… well, more than normal. Otherwise, it’s only significance plot-wise is Tucker tuning into their frequency, which is important in the finale when he picks up Vic and Sarge’s conversation.

So yeah, the subplot isn’t all that important. But it is still funny, so I don't mind it being there. But nowadays… how much so we see this come up? I mean Grif got mutilated by a tank and got another guy’s body/organs haphazardly stitched on. Simmons, while he possibly gave up those parts to Grif willingly, was otherwise forcibly converted into a cyborg. This… hasn’t really come up again. I mean the only time I think Simmons mentioned it in-show was as a brief joke in S11. Nine seasons later. I don’t think Grif’s side of it has come up at all ever again. Though… considering you can only get so many jokes out of this setup since everyone is always in armor, I do understand why. Though I feel with Simmons’ side at least, they could play with it some more, both comedically and maybe even storywise. But that may be my need for Simmons content talking…

So yeah, the subplot was okay. It’s at Number Four since I don’t hate it and it was funny. I just feel like nothing would be lost without it, especially since it pretty much never comes up again. Maybe one day though, who knows? At least the fanfic writers keep it alive XD

#3. The Caboose Forgetting Church Thing

Okay this is brief, but it does annoy me. During the whole trip into Caboose’s mind, Caboose’s memory of Church gets shot. As such, Caboose forgets who Church is. Makes sense, O’Malley killed the personification of Church in Caboose’s mind, so his mind would forget it. It also explains why Caboose got, well… for lack of a better way to put it, intellectually challenged later on due to having three AI’s in his brain and all the chaos that broke out. But Caboose forgetting Church lasts like… one episode? Maybe two? Anyways, Burnie explained on the commentary that it was just too hard to write out so they did one joke with it, and then just dropped it. Probably for the best... but then we have to figure out how this works in-continuity... damn it.

Really this is only on here because it forces me to try to figure out how this is possible in a show sense. Which yeah I probably don’t need to, but I am a continuity loser who tries to piece together these things. If I had to guess, maybe the memory of Church fixed itself somehow or Caboose was able to recall after being around Church for a little while. But I honestly really don’t know, and trying to think it through hurts my brain. It also did little to nothing either story-wise or comedy-wise, at least we got a few jokes out of the cyborg subplot. IDK, I feel like they gave up on it too soon. But then again this is the saga where they’ll break/ignore continuity for the sake of a joke and that’s just how these seasons worked. Hence why I put it smack-dab in the middle.

#2. Some Holdover S1 Issues

You can tell that there was a mass improvement in terms of production for Season Two. Pacing felt stronger, more was going on, characterizations began to settle in, and they even began to form more of a plot. They clearly had a much better idea of what they were doing now that they got through Season One and I think things like Matt becoming more involved in writing and production as well as Gus moving back to work on the show really helped as well. That being said, not everything got resolved. Most did, but there are still a few holdouts.

Audio mixing is a LOT better, especially when it comes to effects. The filter is still a little distracting, though better compared to S1. Not all the characterizations really set in. Grif and Donut are about 75% there and Simmons and Tucker are probably the least set in stone. The traits are there, like Simmons clinginess to Sarge and Tucker actually showing some competence when forced to, but nothing set in stone. Donut’s also on the right path with his hobbies and tendency to babble into TMI territory, but the voice is still off and his personality isn’t quite there yet. There’s some other, but I’ll touch on it in the Likes list. Some jokes could also still drag, like the whole switch joke where some of Church and Tucker’s back and forth went on a little too long.

We’re clearly making progress, but the mark hasn’t quite been hit. It’s still an improvement over S1 though, the pacing especially. This is nitpicky, but still it’s there. But hey it’s progress, and that is never a bad thing. So yeah, RvB is still evolving here, but the progress bar is loading steadily and trust me, by S3 I think we’ll be settled in… well, for the most part.

#1. Some Outdated Humor

The BGC was made from 2003 to 2007. Obviously, there’s gonna be some stuff that is outdated. Take the graphics themselves for example. Halo has evolved, so the game can look a little outdated, especially when you compare the original footage to the remastered footage. Let's put it this way, VIC is uncanny in the remaster… and is utterly horrifying in the original version. Thank God that the DVD is the remaster and I was spared of looking at that monstrosity. Visuals aren’t the only thing though, some pop culture references can also come off as outdated, like Creed joke in the RL vs Internet PSA. So can some of the humor that shows how stupid we were back only two decades ago.

There are… some jokes that are uncomfortable to listen to. For example, there’s the Grif shaming himself joked by saying he’s a girl and likes ribbons in his hair. It’s not the worst joke and clearly, it isn’t made to offend… but nowadays I think it could look offensive to certain individuals. It didn’t necessarily offend me, but it did kinda make me feel uncomfortable when I first watched it, but it could be me thinking it over too hard. There’s also the casual usage of the R word. Last season it came up a bit, but I noticed it came up more frequently here. Not excessively, but there were quite a few instances where it was treated as a casual curse word. Obviously back in 2004 we didn’t realize this was an offensive term, and I think they’ve even said that they regret the casual usage of it during the early years. You certainly would probably not hear that word used unless maybe to emphasize how terrible a character is, but even then I think they’d be more careful.

Now obviously RvB uses a lot of adult and offensive humor, especially in this era. I guess you can kinda call it the web version of South Park, only RvB has never really resorted to shock humor. It puts it above many, /many/ animated adult comedies in that regard. Still, when you run for this long, you’re gonna have some outdated elements. It’s not necessarily their fault, it just shows that times has changed. Still, it does make some stuff hard to look back on without cringing, and I imagine that the Founders would agree. So yeah… there’s just some stuff that wasn't fun to look back over and S2 isn’t the only offender, but this was where it stood out to me and took me out of the moment. As such, it is Number One.

(Top 5 Likes)

[pawnshopsouls]

//Wow I’m feeling really down in the mouth today/tonight. Like really down in the mouth. So um, I’m going to put down some thoughts that have been really bothering me so that maybe I can lift some of this melancholy and get some decent sleep.

//Ok, so um, first are some things which are a bit more personal.

//So on the advice of a friend, I’m going to give you guys a heads up on what’s going on with me and why I haven’t completed any of of the commissions still in my commissions folder, done anything much outside of pencil doodles, and been generally inactive except for MAYBE some rp stuff on @pawnshopsouls​ if I’m having a good day.

//Basically, pain, finances,  stress, and what’s been feeling like crippling depression.

//I have each one of my commissions in my commissions folder but have been unable to focus on them due to:

being in quarantine bc of bedbugs the last couple months (which is like, 90% isolation with the other 10% being trips to the store or parks with the kids bc we can’t interact with friends in our church ward without a house-hold inspection to make sure we don’t spread bedbugs),

having to share 1 graphics tablet with 2 sisters (bc the other two broke) thus limiting my access to my usual digital art mediums,

dealing with a resurgence of my RSI,

trying to convince myself that no, what I do and have done on this blog ISN’T a waste of time, that my work IS worth paying for, that I’m NOT cheating people just because it takes me longer to finish pieces due to said circumstances above, and that I am worth something even though I’m not as fast or as skilled as many others around me,

and dealing with the loss of our internet due to how expensive it was getting and are now using our phone data to make hotspots which means gappy wifi & digital isolation on top of rl isolation.

//With this in mind, I’m pretty sure I’m actually in a load of emotional distress that I’ve been suppressing or disregarding in favor of attempted productivity. I think right now it’s to the point where I often don’t recognize or take heed of this distress until it’s extreme enough that I can’t physically function because it’s so paralyzingly powerful. ( I often try to nap it off, which usually works but only for a few hours).

//This is also probably why I’ve been so hyper focused on Salem and Bonely - specifically drawing those two since doing so is comfort for me. I also feel guilt at feeling not-so-good even though I’m not in as bad a situation as many others.

//Suffice it to say, I’m in a lot of pain (physical due to my aggravated RSI + mental/emotional due to everything else) and am still trying to figure a way to fix it that doesn’t include more personal isolation.

//Now to the less personal issues - I’m not sure what to do with/how to handle the toon bros and how to interact with other toon characters. Despite asks and prompts being key to developing character relations, I’ve never been good at sending random asks that weren’t part of an ask/rp prompt (god bless those things). Anything I come up with end up like small-talk and honestly, anything small-talk related is a STEEP shortcoming of mine. I can’t small-talk and I struggle with talking to others unless I have something I think is significant or somehow relevant to a post, rp or previous conversation.

//Because of this, I’m not sure now how to approach other toon ocs rn - especially with the Cuphead hype dying down & toon ocs becoming their own things, thus removing the common relevant factor between our characters:  Cuphead’s Inkwell Isle. The biggest reason this is a problem for me is that unlike Canon!bros who can end up anywhere any time thanks to Bonly’s Jumper’s Gyro, the Toon!bros don’t have that luxury and their setting isn’t static.

//So I guess it’s a matter of, “Do I keep them in Inkwell? Or do I move them back to Limbo Town in Soulstice? or will it matter since those settings won’t mesh anyways with the ocs I want to reach out to?” Idk guys, i’m really struggling here. Though the option of making Sal’s cemetery (bc he’s still a grave digger guys. It’s the base for his whole character design here) and Bonely’s loan office locations nebulous/unstated is very tempting since it would mean the office could legit be anywhere and available to anyone.

//I’m still debating on what I should do so if any of you have any thoughts on that, I’d appreciate them.

//anyway, thanks for reading this far and sorry if I got you down with this.

[hqtbells-blog]

the happiest of birthdays to you.

I’m not good with graphics, so you get these two crazy kids in love. Happy birthday, Sam! @theflashgrant

It’s been like..what, four years since I’ve known you? That’s insane. My memory is shit, as you well know (flashback to many IM’s going “Wait when did we decide on that?” “BECCA WE LITERALLY JUST DISCUSSED THIS”) but I will always remember with absolute clarity our first few conversations in that RP and how sweet and encouraging you were for me to apply here. It was fate, I like to think. :) And even funnier than we actually RPed together as Keegan/Naya very, very briefly in another group way before we even knew each others name.

Btw, we gotta talk about Naya. Yikes, homegirl.

But the point is I really have known you for a long ass time in RP years. They’re like dog years. 1 RL year = 1,000 RP years. And we haven’t been without our ups and downs. We’ve gone months without talking to each other, we’ve said really hurtful things, and we’ve decided so many times to just take a break and cut clean (to the point where I could make a drinking game out of it). But I’m so glad we finally got past all the bullshit and realized one very clear thing about each other - we’re gonna be here, regardless. I know it’s more of a RP Treegan thing when I say “something always brings me back to you”, but I think it’s the truth too. We really do just always end up gravitating back towards each other and I’m so happy we’re finally at a healthy and positive place with each other. Maybe we don’t talk every single second of the day but I hope you know I am always here for you, no matter what, and I’m always going to be on your team.

Ship or no ship, RP or no RP. I’m by your side and I’m so thankful to know you. We’ve done over one hundred paras with our different characters and we’ve seen them go from messy life messes (yikes @ 2013) to relatively got their shit together angels. I’ve seen you go through a lot of RP achievements and milestones and honestly, no one is more deserving of the dedicated, passionate ship partners you’ve had. You were my first real friend here, my first RP partner that I trusted with myself, and you’re always going to have a special place in my heart.

You’re so strong. Like, unbelievably strong. You’ve been through so much shit in your life and yet you’re still going, still finding things to be passionate about, still smiling. You’re funny, even though you don’t always laugh at my jokes but that’s okay, we all have our flaws. ;) You’re head strong which can cause us to clash more than not but that just means you teach me a new perspective. And you’re kind, never failing to reach out and remind me that you’re here. You’re an all around great person.

You’ve given me such an incredible ship. I mean, I have cried real tears over these two and I have been happy because of these two and I’ve been mad because of these two. That’s how you know it’s good. It doesn’t matter if we end up playing them out until this RP closes or we let them retire and move on, I’m so fucking grateful for every thing I’ve gotten to do with them. Even the painful parts. And not only that, you’ve given me some great friendships on all of my characters, so many I can barely count - Gustario. Reinwood. Kian. Butwood <-- Best BROTp name EVER. And literally so many more that just aren’t here, or I’m too lazy to name. I love them all and I’ve had the time of my life with them.

So have the happiest birthday, okay? And know that I will never forget this day, even when I’m 90, because you yelled at me the first year I forgot it and now it’s been imprinted into my mind. I haven’t called you this in forever, but today feels right - Have the best day, Sam Banan. 

[guylty]

Tonight’s the night. I am finally going to watch Pilgrimage on the big screen. Before that happens I want to get my review of Castlevania out of the way. I immediately watched it the night I returned from my holidays, a day after it had been published on Netflix. Since then, I have watched it a second time to record my responses.

Castlevania is my first foray into animation. I’ve never been a particular fan of the genre – probably because I come from an era where animation was mostly for toddlers. Sure, I loved the 1970s Japanese Heidi, and Captain Future was my intro to the world of science fiction at age 8 😂. But I always preferred the make-believe created by actors and RL scenery to the obvious artificiality of animation. Likewise, I am also no a game head. I had a brief obsession with Anno 1602 but probably more for the vague history associations and the relative novelty of computer games like that in the late 1990s. Also, vampire stories have never been my interest. I read Bram Stoker’s Dracula because it was on my college reading list in English Lit, but I never got into the sexual subtext of the genre. So we can safely say that I am not the target group for Castlevania.

And yet, I really enjoyed this short little episodic series, mainly because I was willing to see this kind of show as pure entertainment. I did not expect any message, any artistry, any merit – and was surprised to find all of that in Castlevania. That probably says more about my ignorance of the world of animation and/or computer games than about the quality of the show. Initially I felt that the prologue about Lisa and Dracula was slightly disjointed from the rest of the series, as well as formulaic (the innocence of a woman can make a bad man good), but hell, this is an entertainment show, not a socio-critical drama, so it set the scene well for what becomes the focus of the show: Wreaking havoc on Earth as a revenge for burning his wife at the stake, Dracula (voiced by Graham McTavish with relish and beautifully resonant timbre) sends his demons to Wallachia to destroy the Church.That pursuit is not going to be unviolent, but in terms of the anticipated high level of blood, guts and gore, the animation here works strongly in my favour, because even though there is no shortage of graphic violence, intestines and limbs ripped from bodies, and blood flowing (literally), the animation makes it easier to distance oneself and see the violence abstractly. Reluctantly, an extraordinary hero (see right) from a long line of demon-hunters steps up to the plate, aided by a young wise woman and an unlikely ally – Dracula’s son.

That’s basically the plot, spread over four short episodes in about 100 minutes running time. On the way, the show managed to entertain and fascinate me. It does so with a colourful animation which I found slightly robotic and jerky – not the smooth sort of computer-generated animation that has been developed over the last decade and that is much more life-like than Castlevania. But it gives the show a retro-feel that seems appropriate for a series that is based on a computer game from the late 80s and 90s, and which did not bother me once I had gotten into the flow of the show. What I really liked, however, good old middle-class, university-educated intellectual that I am…, were the backgrounds, the wider landscapes and city scapes that were nicely drawn, softer and which showed some artistry beyond the harshly outlined moving figurines. Particularly the title sequence about 7 minutes into episode 1 is stunning, with roughly sketched shapes turning into flames, fire and hellhounds. (I would have loved to see a whole series made in that style – and monochrome, too. It looked fantastic and had a distinct aesthetic that appealed to me.)

Also, surprisingly, Castlevania does not skimp on humour – which I had not expected as such for a show that had been labelled a gore-fest. But funny quips pop up here and there, from Lisa being apologetic about having eaten garlic prior to bumping into Dracula, to Trevor Belmont – being the master of the whip, eh, quip in the show. He is the reluctant hero, mostly concerned with getting another drink and avoiding any trouble. Not only does he get the cheap laughs for being allowed to swear profusely, he also has an acerbic wit (“floating vampire jesus”) and comments self-ironically (“reflexes like a cat”). It’s easy to identify with his reluctance to get involved, his frustration with being identified with his family. And of course with his fighting prowess, once he engages with the fight. In places, Trevor reminded me of John Porter from Strike Back, unwilling to get involved – but not strong enough to resist the need to serve justice – for instance when Trevor reluctantly saves the Elder Speaker from the priests.

But surely that reminder of John Porter is present all along, thanks to Richard Armitage’s great voice-work for Trevor Belmont. He endows Trevor with a breathy kind of experienced, hardened masculinity. Occasionally I felt that Armitage’s voice was not quite adequate for a character whom I perceived as relatively young, but as the series progressed and we learn more about Trevor’s experience and past, it came more in line with the sound of Armitage’s voice. The voice-acting was very believable, great modulation according to the mood and tone of the various scenes, especially in terms of Trevor slowly warming to the idea of going on the quest to destroy Dracula. As the show moves on, his voice takes on more of an edge, turns from a tired, drunken drawl into a sharp, clear-cut authoritarian voice. It’s that level of detail that has always characterised Armitage’s work – and that makes it so enjoyable to watch/hear. I found myself wishing for more words for Trevor to say. While I thought it was delightful to hear Armitage curse profusely – the first word he utters in the series is a decisively and precisely enunciated “shit” – I really loved it when he finally got his tongue around more dialogue, for instance in Trevor’s conversation with the Bishop (Matt Frewer) in episode 3. A pleasure to listen to that beautifully English enunciation and pronunciation.

The guiltiest pleasure, however, remains hearing Armitage’s voice savour the juiciness of some choice curses – I can’t help but get the impression that Armitage enjoyed throwing some vile language around. The gusto with which Trevor moans about having to access Gresit through a “shitpipe in pursuit of breakfast” after just having narrowly avoided a “fucking shitpot” thrown at him, almost sounds like some a joyfully aggressive letting-go of repressed language. Or maybe he is just acting. He’s pretty good at that…

  While I can’t make any judgments on how faithful the show is to the source-material, and how it stands up in the world of dramatic computer game adaptations, I can certainly say that I really enjoyed watching Castlevania. It is quite a deviation from my usual fare, and as ever, I am indebted to Richard Armitage for widening my horizons again. This short season 1 of Castlevania has me panting for more – I want to know where Trevor is going next, how he will fare with his companions Sypha and Alucard, and what the makers of the show have in store for us in terms of artwork and plot. Whether it is by necessity or by design, but I love that he takes on such a variety of different projects. However familiar we may be with his voice work through voice-overs on ads and documentaries, or his audiobook narration/acting, I had always considered Armitage’s voice work as only “half the package”. But he truly brings this pen-and-pixel character to life, so much so that you can imagine him running on the spot in his recording booth for the chase scenes, or swinging an imaginary whip in his hand. You can say he’s made me fall in love with Trevor – and with Castlevania. Can’t wait for season 2.

Surprise Hit: Castlevania [Review] Tonight's the night. I am finally going to watch Pilgrimage on the big screen. Before that happens I want to get my review of…

[defendinggalahd-blog]

So. I guess I hit 200 today.

“A hero is only as great as the men who stand behind him.”

Wow. 200 followers already. Who would’ve thought? I’ve had this blog maybe a little over a month, and it’s definitely been the most loving and accepting community I’ve ever been apart of. 

You’ll have to forgive the terrible graphic. Edits definitely aren’t my thing. (Also, the fond was called ‘Making a Hero’. I had to.) 

There are so many wonderful people I’ve had the chance to talk to, so this is going to be long as shit and really, really gay. Strap in folks. 

ALSO. I tried to be cool and do this whole thing in smalltext and bigtext but I fucked it up and after spending an hour on fixing the formatting to be readable again I decided to give up and post it as-is. So sorry about this thing being such a disaster. It’s just like me. Edit: Tumblr was dumb and didn’t tag half the people in here probably. Tried to fix that. If you get a double notification, I’m sorry!!

The Big Three™

@captaindrautos (Also infernalian and oldfrxend): It’s like Tumblr knew. You’re the first person to come up when I type the ‘@’ symbol. Anyway. Cera. Sharky. Where do I even begin? You’re the actual best. The first person who really played with Nyx (even though it’s been over a month since I replied to that thread, oops) the one who listened and didn’t judge me too harshly as I built Nyx’s Traitor!AU. The day after we met I almost got hit by a car because I was too excited to talk to you. I’m terrified of cars. 

My Nyx wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. Hell, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. Somehow, you’ve evolved into one of my favourite people over this past month or so, and despite it not being long, it’s hard to think that I ever didn’t have such a wonderful person in my life. My darling. Moon of my life. I owe you lots more than one lousy Domino’s pizza. 

@pxlsatiio (Also reaprise, securiis, regaliities, arraaxis, xghiranze, pkhara, and lxzarus) : Jess. My twin. My sunshine. You have been my best friend during this weird, emotional month of ours. To think we were once both so insecure about our characters interacting (You opened up to me once, but I always felt weird saying it in return. So I’m saying it.) 

When we first started talking, I was terrified. You were like... this big-name roleplayer. Everyone who seemed like they stood out in the FFXV community interacted with you and your muses and I was a lone new blog in this sea of sharks. (No offense, Cera.) But after a few awkward times of me embarrassing myself (and I still do, I seem to be king of Saying the Wrong Thing™), I somehow managed to be part of this wonderful group of people and I don’t want to think about having to go through anything without you by my side, and likewise. I’m glad I can be here for you, too, even if I’m absolutely shit with words. 

Also. Please forgive me if I forgot a blog. I’m an old man, and I’m trying my best.

@hardcormarshal​ (Also kingsglaivefuriaroad): Cait. C A I T. Cait. I love you, girl. Even though we talk a bit less, (Which is entirely my fault, and I will fall to my knees and apologise until my dying day,) you’re the one that’s helped me develop Nyx the most. You’re far more critical to my ideas, asking questions and even debating with me in mutual confusion over what the heck was wrong with the FFXV timeline. I’m still not sure if we ever figured it out.  We started rp’ing together because of Big Daddy Junior and Little Kitten Boy (a thread that I owe on too. Gods, I suck,) and it’s evolved to probably the most loving and healthy relationship my Nyx has. (Which is saying something, because I haven’t forgotten that time Nyx freaked and tried and tried to kill Cor.) I can’t wait for their happy ending in Galahd. If I ever reply. We need to start talking more OOC too, my dude. You’re awesome, and I just don’t appreciate you nearly as much as I’d like to. 

The Babes:

@oracleofthegods​: Liz. My Lady. My beautiful, lovely lady. I adore you. I still don’t know how you put up with me curled up on your thigh for half of Anime Oasis but you did with a smile on your face and I owe you the world. We need Luna and Nyx to interact much, much more. You have my Discord now, so abuse it as much as you’d like ;)

@arachnette​: We haven’t talked with our muses because someone has been ass-deep in P5 hell (I forgive you though, because I am too.) But since you’re my rl Prom, 9S, Akira... and probably several others I can’t think of off the top of my head, I would feel wrong if I didn’t mention how much I love you in this too.

@regalchocobo​: You goddamned sweetheart. You know exactly how much I adore you and I blame you for at least half of the Prompto hell I am in. (And boy, am I in deep.) Between Nyx and Loqi, you sure take care of my boys. I hope I take care of you just as well.

@thekingsshield​ We haven’t talked near as much, but every time we do, it makes my day. Nyx sexting is still a great reason to laugh whenever I’m feeling down, and I can’t wait to play in our new Vigilante!AU~ We definitely need to talk more!!

@lioncuboflucis​ A total sweetheart who helps me keep this blog on track. You sure help keep me inspired to update regularly, and our conversations about Nyx and Noctis are too sweet I can’t help but fall even more in love with what’s already my OTP. Außerdem bist du ein Schatz? Und entzückend? Ich gebe mein Bestes.

@narcolepticprince​ & @versesdelinquent​ You two make my day. Our chat is legitimately nothing but dicking around, but I love it. And I’m pretty sure Nyx needs some fun smutty times with the both of you >:3c

@massadamnata​ (also beeeans and heterochromiairiidum)You were the first person to reblog my promo when I made my blog and actually helped me get this thing rolling. I didn’t forget. We really need to interact more because from the amount I’ve stalked you by now I love your damn muses too much to not.

Here’s that giant list of people I’ve interacted with at one point and love, (meaning yes you need to bug me more ooc and ic bc I love you):

@lightwithinthenightsky @littlestreetrxt @glaivegirl @treddlightly @kidsofthekelvinhero @insomniasprince @iustitaex @hyperionknight​ @violentremnant​ @noctiisms​ @irisiae​ @floweringeclipse​ @croweoftheglaive​ @heartxandxhome​ @son-of-regis​ @sumsatis​ @badassbarmaid​ @waywardregalis​ @rexcrystallis​

Here’s the list of people that I haven’t talked to (Or have and don’t remember because again, I’m old,) and WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING:

@luxarcum​ @trashkingizunia​ @leorugiet​ @sxrtis​ @shieldoftheprince​ @littlexsisterxulric​ @oraclechosen​ @pelnaxkhara​ @meldaciomartyr​ @theplagueofstars​ @croweisms​ @outofmychair​ @pridevowed​ @croawe​ @technochocobro​ @kxngsshield​ @enviousking​ @vigilanc​ @adventurouswind​ @chocobowa​ @lunaeoraculum​ @ebonyforthestrategist​ @clipeumregia​

I’m sure I’ve forgotten several blogs and if I left you out, I am SO sorry. It’s also midnight and I have to be up at 6 am tomorrow. I love each and every one of you who follows me and would love to both play with you more, and get to know you OOC. You can find me here:

Discord: Loqito Taquito#5943 (subject to change, ask me if it doesn’t work

Skype: Damonwho221b

Twitter: @ transprincenoct

[pathosvignettes]

Real Life The Game - A Review

By Kearu - Beast Mastery Hunter, EU Doomhammer

Note: I originally wrote this back in 2010 which should explain some of the dated references. I recently found it in an old backup; posting it here so I don’t lose it again!

So anyway, I've reached level 40 in this "Real Life" (RL) game and think that I've got enough of a feel for it to give a sensible review. Even though it’s a free-to-play game, should you bother taking time out from Azeroth to play it? Let’s find out.

Leveling up

The first thing you need to know is that the leveling curve is very steep. Getting to level 40 took a looooonnggg time. It doesn't seem to matter how much time you spend logged in, or what you do while you are logged in; you only ever seem to ding about once a year.

Having said that, because you don't ding often it's a much bigger event when you do, and fellow players commonly buy you in-game gifts that are presented to you at in-game gatherings called "parties". As you'd expect, these gifts are worthless fluff for the main part so that they don't break the game balance. 

Making the levelling take so long, is an interesting design decision. In WoW equivalent terms, it would mean that the highest level character would be coming up on level 6 by now. I guess the publishers believe that this game will be around a lot longer than WoW - only time will tell I guess. However, when they claim to have over 6.5 billion players on a single-shard server you do tend to have a hard time believing the marketing hype!

Core game-play

The game play itself has three main elements to it:

Gold grinding;

Resource recovery; and

The actual game itself.

In order to play the actual part of the game you have to spend about a third of your play time grinding gold - this sucks, and is way too high a proportion of the game in my opinion. You can choose a profession and learn skills to make it more efficient, and this can lead to "promotion" which increases your rank and allows you to earn more gold per hour. However, the fact that there are so many gold sinks in the game (some of them are even compulsory and are called "taxes") means that you can never get enough gold from the grinding to really enjoy the game properly.

Three little snippets about the grinding/professions part of the game:

Some people, instead of using the higher gold per hour to reduce the amount of time they grind, just keep grinding to amass huge amounts of gold for no real purpose - go figure;

Apparently, the banker profession became so over-powered recently that it destabilised the entire in-game economy - incoming nerf-bats are widely expected;

There are some RL players who participate in LARP (basically, pretending to be people that you would find in WoW) - how weird is that? I mean, why would you login to the RL game and then spend your time doing everyday normal things that you would do in WoW anyway? *shrugs*

The second part of the game is a kind of reverse version of rested XP. The more you play the game the more sluggish and error-prone your character becomes. To reset your character you are forced to rest for around 6-8 hours of game time. Again, this sucks. The only saving grace is that the designers seem to have acknowledged this and have used cut scenes quite effectively so that it doesn't feel that long. However, the fact remains, having to spend about a third of your play time in a comatose state because of poor game design needs fixing - quickly please.

Once you get past the gold-grind and the resource recovery aspects and into the game itself, it's very different from the normal WoW world we're used to. It's very much a sand-box type of game: there are no quests; no NPCs that I could find (although some players seemed to act as stupidly as NPCs do); and progression is defined pretty much according to the goals you set for your avatar. Sims players would probably like this game. The one thing that I found really bizarre was that, some players, having spent all that time in the grind and recovery phases then log out of the game to spend more time in WoW!

User interface

The user interface has it's good points and it's bad points. It's greatest strength is the very impressive use of VR. You play the game in an all over VR body suit - in-game chat refers to this as a "monkey suit" for some strange reason. The simulation of sensory reception from this technology is quite frankly jaw-dropping. I spent a lot more game-time than I had intended just exploring this new interface: feeling the different textures of in-game objects. Actually having foods that taste different was a revelation. And, being able to smell the world around you really added to the feeling of immersion (although some of the smells were less than pleasant - game designer humour I suppose).

Another plus point of the game is that, despite the bandwidth that must be necessary for this type of experience, I've had no lag even running the game on the highest graphic settings. Graphics by the way are fantastic - you could almost believe some of the rendering to be real objects. I've had the occasional disconnect which has been hard to diagnose but it seems to be correlated with excessive alcohol consumption. Not such a big issue - although the time taken to re-connect with the world seems to be quite random.

The VR design approach does have it's drawbacks though, especially considering that the designers have also decided to include collision detection with just about everything in the game. In particular, this really impacts the combat element of the game; collision detection and an ultra-sensitive user interface means that injuries really hurt. On top of this, the designers have chosen to include perma-death. I mean seriously? You really think that a game that only allows you to roll a single character, where it takes you a year to ding every level and includes perma-death is going to sell?

Creating your first (and only) character

Which brings me onto character creation itself. Firstly, there is no character creation screen - zip, nada, niet. There are two sexes and multiple races but you get no choice about any of this and no chance to change any of your physical appearance attributes. You just login and "bam" you've got a totally randomised avatar. This seems to be a "brave” design decision since you only ever get one character and there are no cash shop options to expand your slots.

There is no HUD in the game (the default view is first person and you can't change it without the illegal use of chemical add-ons), no user manual and no tutorials means that the game can be very confusing initially. Fortunately, more experienced players can volunteer to mentor noobs (in fact you can't currently create a character without at least one mentor). They are referred to in-game as "pa-rents". There are stories about players becoming mentors accidentally, which must be a serious bummer given the impact it has on your play time.

In game support

On related note to in-game help it can be very difficult to get support with the game. Nobody seems to know who the game publisher is, although there are numerous in-game theories. The best approach appears to be crouching on the floor, closing your avatar's eyes and sub-vocalising the help request. In my experience, this has been less than satisfactory. However, since I never received a response from a GM, I can't say whether they received my request and have acted on it or simply ignored it. Some players claim to have encountered GMs (referred to variously as "angels" or "prophets") although there is wide-spread cynicism among the player population, given that these encounters seem to be so rare.

Factions

There are hundreds of factions in RL, nominally based around capital cities of geographic regions - pretty much like normal WoW. However, language generally tends to be faction-specific rather than race specific. You are automatically allocated to a faction based on the random geographical area in which your avatar was created. You can pay to change faction (but not race) although, unless you also train to learn the language related to your new faction, participating in the game will be much harder.

One interesting aspect of the game is that faction leaders are actually players themselves. Periodically, there will be an "election" where all the players belonging to a faction will be asked to choose who they want to be faction leader. Once all the player choices have been registered and counted, the candidate with the most gold becomes faction leader.

Resource management

There is no magic in the game, but there is something called "technology" which is pretty much the same thing and mana is replaced with "electricity". This mana is not an attribute of your character and is available at various nodes in the game world and can also be carried in portable containers. Mana doesn't regenerate when idle unfortunately, which means that when your portable mana supply is low you have to find a node to replenish it which can be a bit of a pain.

A quick aside. According to the game lore, this "electricity" is supposed to be a controlled form of a shaman's lightning bolt. Really? Since when has a shaman ever had "control" of their lightning bolt?  LB *crit* LB *crit* CL *crit* *crit* *crit* <shammy dies> <muffled voice from the floor> "Noob tank, can't you hold aggro?". But hey, this is a fantasy game so I'll roll with the lore on this one - not everything has to be believable, right?

Eating and drinking

On a related note, in the game you can eat and drink while standing up! Yay! Strangely, though, players still tend to follow the WoW custom and sit down to eat and drink - go figure.

Eating and drinking doesn't seem to regenerate resources as it does in normal WoW - although this is hard to tell without a HUD - but if you go without eating and drinking for too long your avatar starts to complain and becomes weaker. Conversely, a certain amount of time after eating or drinking, your avatar again complains about having to void the food and drink it consumed and you have to stop to allow this process to happen (the process by the way is quite gross and I won't discuss it here). This is really annoying, especially if you are in the middle of one of the games thousands of achievements.

The strange thing is consuming food and drink takes time, doesn't seem to affect your resource levels and then has to be voided again - what's the point of this game mechanic?

Character afflictions

Diseases and poisons are much longer lasting in RL than they are in WoW but fortunately there are players who have specialised in treating these ailments. The only problem is that there appears to be a game-wide, major, mortal-strike debuff, because recovering from them seems to take forever. In another "brave" game decision, the designers seem to have decided that diseases will affect male characters far more harshly than female characters - one particularly virulent disease is called “man-flu”. I can't believe that this blatant sexism can be tolerated in today's society.

Diseases also seem to affect higher-level characters more harshly, although I can't comment from personal experience. According to in-game chat, there is no end game as such and no level cap. Assuming you survive accidental perma-death to reach the higher levels, you will gradually become more and more susceptible to disease until you perma-death anyway!

If true, this just seems preposterous. It's not as if the game designers will allow you to roll another character after death so I don't understand the commercial reasoning of the publisher. Why would you want to make endgame characters progressively weaker until you force them to cancel their subscription?

Social

A final note about the social side of the game. Clans or guilds are supported albeit informally - for example there are no guild channels. In fact there doesn't appear to be an option to leave any public channels which means that you are constantly bombarded with spam and it can be difficult to make out the meaningful content in the channel. Private channels can be created using "technology" although this does require you to know a personal code for the avatars you want to invite into the channel. Frustratingly these are not assigned at avatar creation and can be changed at any time in-game - so it does rely on the player actively maintaining their social contacts network.

In summary

In summary, there are some good points to this game, and some genuinely ground-breaking and innovative design choices. In the main, though, these design choices have introduced negative game play aspects that really should have been uncovered in open beta. I can only assume that the publisher decided that they were too expensive to change and released the game anyway. It wasn't ready for release and shouldn't have been released and there is no sign of any major patches on the horizon. 3/10 save your money for now.

My only problem now is that I can't work out how to log off and the risk of perma-death is getting higher all the time... HELP ME!

[the-dragongirl]

Pod-Together Icebreaker, Day 1

It’s that time of year again, folks, when authors and podficcers get together to collaborate on new and innovative projects that are written to be heard, rather than just read. I am participating in four pod-togethers this year. @knight-tracer and I will be creating a sequel to last year’s Obi-Wan/Anakin/Padme screen-play style story, and @lacefedora and @punsbulletsandpointythings and I will be creating another Star Wars story told through vignettes from vary varying points of view. However, I also have two projects with creators I haven’t worked with before: ladybrookeoflorien, and savvygambols. To that end, I’ll be posting the answers to the icebreaker prompts @pod-together is providing this week. So, without further ado, here are the answers for day 1:

1. If you could be any fannish character for a day, who would it be and why?

I am on major Star Wars kick these days, so I would have to say Leia Organa (though, probably EU version rather than current canon). Leia has been my fictional role model since I was three years old. I admired her competence and leadership, as well as her ability to give no fucks and get shit done. Fortunately, I get to live my dream at least a few times a month, when I appear as Princess Leia at events with the Rebel Legion.

2. Name as many books, movies, TV shows, animes, comics, celebrities, etc. that you can think of that you have felt or feel fannish about.

Okay, this list is rather huge, so I am going to sort it by category.

ANIME/MANGA (note that I am not really active in any of these fandoms anymore, and haven’t been since I was a teenager, ):

Cardcaptor Sakura; Fushigi Yuugi; Magicknight Rayearth; Naruto (in my my misguided youth); Sailor Moon; Saiyuki

BOOKS:

Jane Austen: all her books except Northanger Abbey (Pride and Prejudice is my favorite book ever); Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes; Monica Furlong: Wise Child and it’s sequel and prequel; Mercedes Lackey: Valdemar Series (we all go through that stage, right?), SERRated Edge Series, Bedlam’s Bard Series; Gregory Maguire: Wicked; Anne McCaffrey: the Pern book, the Rowan books, the Pegasus books; Seanan McGuire: October Daye series, Incryptids Series, Indexing; Lois McMaster Bujold: The Vorkosigan saga; Garth Nix: The Old Kingdom books; Tamora Pierce: Circle of Magic books, Song of the Lioness Books; J.K. Rowling: I love the Harry Potter books so much, though I am not particularly inclined to interact with most of that fandom; William Shakespeare: all his plays pretty much (The Winter’s Tale is my favorite); J.R.R.Tolkien: everything he ever wrote; Timothy Zahn: all of his Star Wars EU novels.

CELEBRITIES:

No. Just no. RPF of any kind squicks me out.

COMICS:

Check Please; Girl Genius; Marvel 616 (though I have mostly fallen out of the Marvel fandom these days)

MOVIES:

Anne of Green Gables (the Canadian miniseries); Assorted superhero movies (again, I have mostly fallen out of this fandom); The Chronicles of Narnia films (though not the books, oddly); Labyrinth; Ladyhawke; Pacific Rim; The Peter Jackson movie versions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings; STAR WARS

MUSICALS:

Pretty much all older musicals, especially Paint Your Wagon, and Wicked. I love Hamilton, but I don’t interact with that fandom at all.

TV SHOWS:

Avatar (Last Airbender only. I haven’t seen legend of Korra); BBC Musketeers; Doctor Who (before Moffat); Due South; The Grenada Sherlock Holmes; Highlander; Firefly; Once Upon a Time; Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Sense8, The Sentinel; Star Trek (especially Voyager)

3. List 5 things you enjoy in stories (e.g. a kind of trope, story line, kink, etc.). List 5 things that you do not enjoy in stories.

Not exactly five things, but here are the likes and dislikes copied from my standard Dear Creator letter:

Things I like: I love seeing greater inclusion of female, non-binary, and trans characters. I am a total sucker for healthy familial love and found families. I enjoy kidfic. I enjoy happy, consensual polyamory. Physical hurt comfort (that does not violate one of my squicks) is my favorite guilty pleasure. Beyond that, I enjoy world-building and fleshing out of minor characters.

Squicks: I will not consume fanworks which contain: incest, abuse (especially of children), rpf, on-screen sexual assault (references to past sexual assault are sometimes acceptable, provided it is non-graphic and is not trivialized or used as an h/c plot device), or extreme unmitigated power differences in relationships (such as large differences in mental/emotional maturity, or unnegotiated relationships between a person in guardian or supervisory position and their charge/ supervisee).

Dislikes: I really don’t like fanworks which erase or demonize existing female characters, or make non-villain characters in general super villainous (or, conversely, make villains poor misunderstood darlings without a great deal of explanation).  I also generally dislike infidelity (note that i do not count consensual polyamory as infidelity.) While I don’t mind smut being part of a fic, I tend to get bored with PWP. I rarely enjoy modern AUs, coffee shop AUs, high school AUs, or anything in that genre. I usually don’t enjoy A/B/O either, unless it is subverted and used to question social views of gender and sexuality.

4. If you could have any super power, what would it be and why?

Looking at my icebreaker answers from a couple of years ago, I like the answer I gave then, so I will just repeat it: I think I would like telekinesis. It would be fun and useful, without introducing complex ethical quandaries.

5. If you were stuck on a deserted island, what 3 fanworks would you want with you?

Am I allowed to list series? Because if so, my list would be Sansukh by determamfidd, the Deeper Season series by lightgetsin, and Re-entry by deadcatwithaflamethrower. Embers by Vathara is a very close fourth.

What are 3 fun/interesting/not-commonly-known/etc. things about yourself (fannish or otherwise)?

Thing the first: I have two paid professional audiobook credits to my name. I don’t list titles, since they are published under my RL identity, but it still gives you an idea of how seriously I take narration.

Thing the second: Between the Saber Guild and the Rebel Legion (and, hopefully soon, the 501st), I am generally dressed up as a Star Wars character an average of once a week.

Thing the third: Yesterday, I bought almost thirty yards of fabric for $30, and that is pretty much the most exciting thing to happen in my life in months.

[octopuscato]

why are you letting your fourteen year old read something as graphic as game of thrones tho

Tell you what, she also reads Stephen King’s IT. I don’t really believe in policing what she reads anymore. She’s 14, not eight. 

What is the problem with her reading ASoIaF? The gore it describes? The Lord of the Rings movies are 12+ in my country; lots of movies/TV shows have violence to that degree, so I don’t see why she shouldn’t read it. (She’s not allowed to watch the show yet, btw., which is 16+ here, simply because I find the gore too much there. The same goes for Vikings. Books, which rely on your own imagination, and film, which spells it all out for you to see, are different there, imho.)Or do you mean the sex scenes?

1. She mostly skips them because they make her uncomfortable, and no, she’s not only telling me this to appease her mother. I know her well enough for that. She’s done that for the last three years, ever since she read a book that had a sex scene (Ayla and the Clan of the Cave Bear).2. Even if she devoured them, I’d have no real problem. Again, she’s 14, not eight. She knows the mechanics of sex and pregnancy - they’ve had sex ed twice now at school, plus she had a little sister when she was three so she asked how babies are made. Guess who told her the biological facts back then? Right, that was me. Me, who burnt through all of my mother’s schmaltzy romance novellas around 13/14, and yes, they had sex scenes (though I was less interested in them and more in the romance aspect). 3. If the problem is that there’s girls as young as 13 (Daenerys) and 11 (Sansa) wedding and getting betrothed and having sex: While she read the first book, at 13, she came to me, asking: “In the Middle Ages, did girls that young really get married like in the book?” We then had a conversation about the daughters of noble families, what was considered a suitable age to marry back then etc. etc. Her response was: “Okay. I’m glad it’s not like that anymore - but I like reading about it.” She also mentioned she liked the chemistry of Sansa (11) and the Hound (in his 20s) - but only because it was fiction. 

In other words: she knows the difference betwen reality and fiction, and is aware of the fact that you can like something in fiction and at the same time not condone it in real life. That’s a skill you need in life. You have to be able to differentiate between fantasy and reality, between thought and act.If you don’t, you run into a lot of trouble, and you’ve got problems interacting with people who do know the difference. Look at antis - they’re constantly engaged in this ridiculous battle against, well, nothing at all, against figments of people’s imagination. They sound utterly miserable and desperate. I don’t want my daughter to be this miserable, so I’m very glad she’s developed critical thinking skills, and in fact, interacting with materials that aren’t entirely unproblematic (as in, contain things that aren’t okay in RL) is a vital part of that. (This doesn’t go only for online interactions, but also for RL.)

Summing up: My daughter isn’t a small child, she’s a young teenager, and I’ll respect the fact that she’s mature enough to read books she can legally get at every library. If she has a problem, if any of what she reads makes her uncomfortable or raises questions, she knows that she can come to me. As she has done several times when she read something and needed to talk about it, or watched something on TV or saw something online. We talk about it, we figure out what bothers her and if it’s a good idea to keep reading/watching it. And that’s it.   

I find the idea that you should shelter your children from everything that’s somewhat problematic until they’re adults extremely strange, unrealistic, and outright harmful. It doesn’t really fit their natural development and ends up with weirdly immature young adults who have a hard time adapting to the real world, and a lot of strange misconceptions and prejudices. Exposing kids to too much at too young an age is extremely harmful, but so is keeping them from everything. You’ve got to find the right pace for your children, and communicate with them, which is what I’m doing. 

Btw. I am really glad she is not on tumblr yet, because she really doesn’t need cyberbullying as vicious as this in her life. If I had to choose I’d rather she read some smut story than interact with some people here, honestly. The cyberbullying going on here is more harmful by far. (I’m not saying you’re a cybyerbully, I’m speaking generally.)

[acti-veg]

Do u argue for veganism in rl, and if so, how does your strategy differ from when u do it online? Do u memorize everything? Just key facts? With less time to recall info or formulate the best response, esp. when discussion moves to deeper subjects such sentience, or the merits of one ethical philosophy vs another, or one research study vs another, etc., I find it difficult, esp. w/ the limited patience people tend to have whenever the topic of animal rights comes up. Any tips for fellow vegans?

I do indeed, I think everyone’s methods are different but I’ve always found a Socratic approach works best, where you focus on questioning and helping them reach their own conclusions. Ask them if they eat animals, are they aware of how animals are slaughter or what environmental consequences there are etc, and if they support that industry, if they do, why? That sort of thing. Anything they don’t know you should have some facts online to help, and some reading materials like leaflets or just printouts. Having iPads or laptops available to physically show them can have a really big impact too so long as you warn them about graphic content and the like. It helps to have a device with some pages bookmarked with studies and statistics you can bring up.

I find that most people I talk to have very similar values as vegans they just don’t tend to put it into practice in their daily lives unfortunately. If you can find common ground, for example, it’s not okay to hurt animals unnecessarily (most people believe that) or it’s not okay to kill dogs then you can build on that. An example of this sort of method goes something like:

“Okay so we’re agreed that we shouldn’t harm animals unnecessarily, that’s great. Do you think it is necessary for most people to eat meat, as in we can’t go without it?”“Well no, obviously people can live without it, many people do.”“That’s right. So isn’t harming an animal for meat unnecessary? Given that we agree that most people don’t need to eat animals to live?”“Well I wouldn’t say it harms animals, so long as they do it quickly.”“Okay I can understand that, no one really wanted an animal to suffer. But if a cow or pig is shot in the skull or has their throat slit quickly, which are standard slaughter techniques, does that mean they haven’t been harmed? Wouldn’t that be called harmful if we did it to say, a pet dog?”“Well I guess so yeah I’d say that’s harmful.”“I’d say so too. So if hurting animals unnecessarily is wrong, and when we slaughter animals for food it is both unnecessary and harmful, doesn’t they mean that slaughtering animals for food is wrong?”

This is oversimplified dialogue of course, but you get the idea. Once the conversation has gone on like this for a while you can then focus on the positives, how healthy veganism can be, how good for the environment, how easy it is. Tell them about some local restaurants, websites, offer them recipes. It is much more effective to try and show someone their behaviour does not align with their values than to try to actually change their values. It’s not common for someone to say “I’m going vegan” there and then, and of course some people will dismiss it, but others will take some materials from you, watch a documentary you recommend or something like that, and that’s hugely positive. Activism is all about planting seeds and having respectful dialogue like this can really help do that.

[thecxmmissioner]

Follow Forever time! I actually hit the 100 follower mark about a week ago, but I was very backlogged on checking out new followers due to having a very busy week prior to that, and I didn’t want to unfairly leave anyone out who should have been there. Please enjoy the following love letters to a few of the people who have made my first month here the most special. ❤︎

Endlessly “Inspiring” ( that’s a pun ) —

@tragicxscarlet – So once upon a time tragicxscarlet was like “do you ship it?” and I was like “I guess?” and then cut to me a week later sobbing over a notepad file titled “An Itemized List of All My ScaReeve Feels.” ( No, I won’t share it. ) Every post from you is a pleasure and you have a unique style of writing that is conversational and forceful and urgent in a way that suits Scarlet so very well. Normally this might earn the dreaded label of “intimidating,” except somehow I feel like writing with you also elevates the quality of my writing in a wonderfully symbiotic way. I know RL claims your time a lot ( and should definitely be the top priority ) so I’m going to pretend I don’t check my notifications half as often as I do in hopes of getting more of this very new fix. Reeve is so very confused right now, and I am looking forward to getting to know Scarlet and all the ways in which we have yet to break each other. ❤︎

@directorlazard – The length of time that it takes me to reply to you really doesn’t do justice to how happy I am to be able to write with you ( which will probably go for most of the people on this list tbh, so everyone else should just pretend I have said this to them as well ). It’s not just your muse that feels “in character” but your whole blog does; I am certain that you are, in fact, Lazard behind the screen, and I can’t tell you how much I admire the role you play not just IC but OOC as well. Writing with you has been a pleasure so far and I am really excited to see how the Wutai War will shape a relationship between these two fledgling directors. No one else has prompted me to put half as much thought into my backstory and headcanons as you have, that’s for sure!

@dcntgiveup – Older Marlene. I could scream forever about this very muse concept tbh but I have already done that a few times before. So I will just say I love that someone else is equally as interested in what was going on with Reeve, Marlene, and Elmyra while the rest of AVALANCHE was off doing their thing, which I guess I have also said before, so instead I will just say this: You’re rly cool and I like your muse a lot. ❤︎

@argent-noir – Tumblr ( or some mod I’ve forgotten I’ve installed ) says you are getting 9% of my love, which apparently puts you in the lead, but that sounds pretty low to me. Tseng is enigmatic and frightening and he makes us a little nervous, so pardon us if we seem to stalk from afar at times. Reeve just wants to get to know him better but isn’t sure if that’s allowed.

@hydraulics-are-sexy – I haven’t yet laughed harder while playing Reeve than I did while writing the two threads with you. I love the idea of Reeve having a friend who he’s comfortable with even while holding this lofty position and I feel like that’s what we’ve established here right off the bat even if it’s never been formally discussed. Normally he’s very polite and political but with Shalua I find him discussing more personal topics and with more sincerity. It’s nice. :] I guess accidental dick pics will do that.

@exsiliumductoris – There are some muses who are so intimidating ( and rightfully so ) that it’s all you can do to remind yourself that the mun has been nothing but friendly and approachable and Veld is definitely one of the two who immediately come to mind as I write this. You play your muse with such an authentic presence though that it’s like “Oh shit, Veld.” Despite all our joking about it, I can definitely say that if Reeve was kissing Scarlet in the same verse that Veld was ever involved with her, he’d be scared out of his mind and possibly seeking some kind of witness protection program. ( But we’re still keeping her. )

@a-chaotic-affair – Lucrecia really deserved so much better and I hope you continue trying to bring her that, because you have so much passion for her and things to say that can only be said by you. And thank you again for the graphic help! Be kind to yourself. ❤︎ I look forward to seeing where we can go but take your time.

@kunselxknows – SON. The way to this man’s heart is through his cat, okay? Is Kunsel a free agent after Meteorfall? Because we might poach him and put him in intelligence gathering or something. He already has a recommendation from Cait Sith.

@jjillekkot – Is anyone sweeter than Nina? Thoughtful with her headcanons and always goes out of her way to include other muses in things. It’s little touches like that that really create a sense of community, and I appreciate that so much. ❤︎

@eteriskromling – The amount of atmosphere and backstory you create for your muse is truly impressive. I’m also still interested in that other idea you expressed a while back. ;] We could have a full boardroom, just saying.

@ablackwing – I may have snuck you in at the last minute here precisely because Sephiroth just poked fun at Reeve’s hair turning gray but tbh that is A++ and worth the inclusion and even if we’ve literally swapped two posts back and forth it definitely made my night the evening that I wrote this, so kudos to you.

@evil-robot-cat – I know you’re not an RP blog so including you here is probably an unconventional move, but how can I not give a shoutout to someone who draws so much Reeve art? Your comics are hilarious and adorable, and every time you like one of my posts I feel like I have a cheerleader rooting for me, so thanks for the support. xD

The Cat’s Meow —

@ofbraver | @adventson | @heroicardour | @silverxskies | @kaosureign | @dirge-of-valentinex4 | @strifx | @sxphiroth | @beatrushbeauty | @tsengofshinra | @parvuslegum | @gun-arm | @aliquame | @gaiawing | @ciitreae | @cetraheir | @rude-at-your-service | @tsengofshinra | @parvuslegum | @coccineusx | @boundwithindarkness | @legendaryturk | @shuriken-onna | @infusedblues | @scienceisapower | @badassbarmaid | @fantasybuster | @redpupxiii | @thegenesisrhapsodos | @akamure | @grxvidus | @angelusfair

And lastly...to the pornbot that was #100, because of course it was. OTL ( I’m not tagging it. )

[officialrpnrides]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Official Statement

Roleplay And Rides

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialRPNRides/

https://officialrpnrides.tumblr.com/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rprides/

City of Calo / RP N Rides Discord Server

Regarding Accusation of Terrorism by Chris Azrikam by Chaillet Sim Leadership

Accusation made by Mᴀʀᴄ Tʜᴏᴍᴘsᴏɴ (brydenn) and Yυяι Fαиg Tнσмρѕσи (rusty.pippen)

CHAILLET AND MEMORIES SIM FEBRUARY 5, 2019 -- After repeatedly stating that he did not wish to be involved in sim drama involved between Yuri and the rest of the sim Marc Thompson placed Yuri Thompson back in the position of deputy prime minister otherwise “second in command of the sim” When this was brought to the attention of Chris Azrikam, Azrikam resident who had been working on the sim as the Minister of Public Safety, He politely resigned and proceeded to attempt to pick up his items and leave the sim without creating a disturbance. Yuri thompson approached and began trying to get involved in the situation which was a simple discussion between the sim owner and the owner of R& Rides. As many of you know RP & Rides has been a staple of the roleplay and graphics world since 2007 and we have a impeccable reputation of going above and beyond to be polite to our customers and to refrain from personal issues in our business. Unfortunately this cannot always be the case as games and real life often mix. We have submitted the transcripts of the day to an independent review board of 5 people who all agree that Chris Azrikam did not swear, curse, use any foul or detrimental language, nor did he act unprofessionally at any point in this encounter. He was confined to one parcel and was attempting to use area search to find his items during which time he was banned by Yuri Thompson. The Thompsons later claimed that Chris Azrikam intentionally wiped one of their sims and damaged some of their property. There is no evidence to back up this claim. Chris Azrikam attempted to explain how to get a rollback and even contacted their sim owners Victoria Chung to explain the situation and see if they would do a rollback of the sim which would restore the sim to its original state. In accordance with our company policy to always attempt to keep the customer happy.

The next day Chris Azrikam attempted to contact management to have only the inventory he wished to pick up returned from the remaining operational sim. This request was denied and the staff of rp n rides, was all banned from the region. It also came to our attention today on the 9th of October that some people who had been referred their through friends of ours were harassed and that claims that Chris Azrikam was a disgruntled employee, a terrorist, and out to get Yuri were thrown about. None of these are true as indicated by the fact that Chris Azrikam, against the advice of RP N Rides staff wished to continue to try and assist Chaillet in recovering their lost items, even ran the Chaillet aileron and gridnet for them on our sims so they could stay in operation.

These are the findings of the external independent review board we use to make sure we give customers on all games consistent, professional service.

Chris Azrikam was, still is willing to try, and has made every effort to handle the situation with the Chaillet sim staff in a professional matter to resolve the issue.

At no time did any member of our staff say anything derogatory about any member of the Chaillet staff, the sim, or attempt to defame or cause problems for them in any way. And if the situation were resolved, per our policy we would be willing to continue to assist them.

The wiping of the sim was an accident and was not intentional, there is no hard feelings from Chris Azrikam or that we have seen in any correspondence between the two that would lead us to believe that there was any intention of griefing or to harm chaillet.

Yuri Thompson attempted to cause Chris Azrikam to have a seizure using the RP N Rides discord server. This was recorded by RP N Rides staff for several of our games and was quickly acted upon. The prime minister of Chaillet, Marcus later admitted to knowing this occurred but said it was because Chris Azrikam was a “terrorist”

From the time Chris Azrikam left the sim he has not, nor anyone on his behalf, returned to the sim or attempted to cause any issues with the sim, in fact we still were referring people to the new connections center until this evening when it was reported through one of our contacts that someone who went there was treated rudely and that the building had been removed and blamed on Chris Azrikam.

RP N Rides forbids Chris Azrikam from attempting to make any further contact with any of the staff of Chaillet but condones all his actions that he has taken and will continue to support him as the leader of this graphics and roleplay group.

Should Chaillet wish to contact us further we will be glad to discuss helping them but we will not be reaching out anymore to help them due to putting a person's real life and health in jeopardy.

RP N Rides would like to state that we did file several requests with linden labs to have the items returned which unfortunately resulted in all our items being returned and the sim rollback not being able to go through following the actions that put Chris Azrikams real life health in jeapordy.

RP N Rides does not condone acts of violence, threats, intimidation, slander, or personal vendettas and we are confident at this time due to the evidence presented to our staff that our company and our owner has acted within the bounds of our terms of service.

Included in the last page are a few excerpts from witness statements and discord chat logs that were considered in making our decision. Please note these are excerpts and while they were the key factors there were other comments surrounding them. Not all comments are from people who are staff of, related to, or have any affiliation with Roleplay and Rides.

Discord:

TheMysticPilgrimLast Tuesday at 6:13 PM

No.  Until we talk you are banned.  I’ll bulk return then I get home

You earned that for turning my station white

Chris AzrikamLast Tuesday at 6:15 PM

I was putting it back to default

because those textures were mine

TheMysticPilgrimLast Tuesday at 6:17 PM

Don’t worry about it.  The not just banned you

Bot.

[2019/02/07 15:51] Mᴀʀᴄ Tʜᴏᴍᴘsᴏɴ (brydenn): (Saved Thu Feb 07 13:01:14 2019)You've got your shit... now go fuck yourself, you worthless self-loathing stereotype.  Because if you we have to completely rebuild. I should never have trusted someone like you.   At least Pete and Andrew are seeing what you are really like.   I hope you choke on it, and end up completely and totally alone.

A non biased third party in local chat on sl:

[20:57] Thirsty4Moores: Are you related to yuri thompson?

[20:57] Mᴀʀᴄ Tʜᴏᴍᴘsᴏɴ (brydenn): yes he's my son

[20:57] Thirsty4Moores: you know he tried to make someone have a seizure in rl?

[20:57] Thirsty4Moores: he likes to troll people

[20:58] Mᴀʀᴄ Tʜᴏᴍᴘsᴏɴ (brydenn): I'm aware... but that particular individual is a terrorist.  I don't approve of it, but I understand why he did it.

[20:58] Thirsty4Moores: a terrorist?

[20:58] Mᴀʀᴄ Tʜᴏᴍᴘsᴏɴ (brydenn): He's the one who griefed our sim.

[20:58] Mᴀʀᴄ Tʜᴏᴍᴘsᴏɴ (brydenn): There's a pending complaint with LL

[20:59] Mᴀʀᴄ Tʜᴏᴍᴘsᴏɴ (brydenn): Like I said, I don't approve of Yuri doing that, but honestly he was as heartbroken as I was, so I understand it.

RP N RIdes has looked at many hours of conversation, many witness statements were taken, and we are 100% confident that our owner did not intentionally cause any harm to this sim and we do not as a company wish him any harm. We do hope the sims of chaillet and memories rebuild and we wish them the best in the future. This matter is now closed.

About Roleplay And Rides

RP N Rides started out as a roleplay group on Emergency 4 and Farming simulator 13 making mods and having fun playing video games as a group of friends and content creators. Since then our staff has branched into many different games. From simulators, to virtual reality, to second life, to grand theft auto, to arma, to wreckfest, and many other games. We take pride in making the best custom graphics in the business and making some of the best mods and rps in the gaming world. With our committment to excellence RP & Rides will stand above all others and continue to serve the gaming world across all modifiable pc games!

Press release number #145-65-1

You can use the contact us form on our facebook for more information.

[pumpituppainting-blog]

Interview: Rachel Lee

A conversation with Rachel Lee

By Cindy Becerra

March 2017

Rachel Lee is a Miami-based artist and prospective graduate of the New World School of the Arts. Her work is based on 90’s alternative music, video games, and her suburban neighborhood. She combines these sources to create artificial realities through a default state of escapism fueled by isolation. Rachel has participated in several group exhibitions including the NWSA 2017 BFA Unbound Exhibition at the Cisneros Fontanals Foundation and the Miami Biennale: Unfolding Series I.

Cindy Becerra: What are you working on right now?

Rachel Lee: For BFA I’m working on three large scale paintings that are landscapes and they are a combination of video game spaces with concert equipment. They are in and out suburban landscapes made up of street lights, grass and trees.

CB: Is it only for your BFA?

RL: BFA gave me the opportunity to focus on it and deal with it as my thesis because it’s something I feel like I’ve been trying to get closer to this whole time that I’ve been practicing art making. It is the end goal for me to figure out how to deal with these things I care about into one mass.

CB: What medium do you use to make your landscapes?

RL: I use oil paint on canvas or found material. Recently I’ve been doing more collage type of work where I’m taking cheap paper and I throw painting on it, sharpie, highlighters, or I’ll take a screwdriver and make some marks that way which is readily available. I use cheap materials that I can replace easily.

CB: So you are being resourceful

RL: It’s like a mix of me just being mindful of my money because I don’t have a lot of it and I can’t really rely on many people to help me financially. Also, the philosophies and art making that I’ve been getting into relate with bands that I listen to. A lot of them were their own record label. They would send out live concert flyers for themselves, make their shirts, send out and manufacture their own albums. I internalized that and try to keep that going with how I make things. A lot of this stuff we use we don’t really need to go to art stores to get it; we just need to know where things are left.

CB: Are you looking to be represented from a gallery?

RL: It would be nice. I don’t know if I’m necessarily ready for that because I’m only 23. I feel like just coming out of art school and being represented already might be a bit much at once. So I would like to know that I’m able to get myself out there and know that I’m resourceful enough to make sure my work is in different places and is seen properly. That I don’t have to rely on someone immediately coming out of an institution that already babies you.

CB: You mentioned that one of your main sources is video games. What other sources do you use to make your work?

RL: I realize that the way I’m putting these images together and the sources I’m taking them from, all of them have to do with things I have been around and things that I have used as either coping mechanisms to deal with being at home all the time or interests that I’ve picked as a kid like you do going into adolescence. I’ve always played video games with my brother, and I’ve always loved them visually. I grew up playing super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 and those are now considered old school or obsolete graphics. They are very square and pixelated. They try very hard to be realistic and 3D as possible, but the technology wasn’t there yet. So I played those games and I still was able to let my imagination go crazy even though they weren’t hyper realistic like how games are now. So I still love those places that existed in those games. I still want to wander around in them and have my own adventures in them.

The concerts that I’ve always wanted to go to- half these people are dead- because they all came out of a scene were people were taking drugs and being foolish. A lot of those bands are not getting back together, some of them have and I have seen some of them. People my age love them and we are all going to their reunion concerts. But I don’t get to have the experience of seeing them in small clubs where everyone is piled and enjoying these bands that are throwing themselves off the stage and mingling with the crowd. So I have memories of something that I did get to experience and things that I wish could have experienced that were happening when I was baby that I was not aware of. Those two are my biggest interests and influences.

I’m completely aloof and day dreaming all the time so those are the things that are in my head a lot. Part of playing video games is not wanting to be in life currently. The only place you have is a game that is an open world and has things to do in it. You want to go to a concert so badly, but you know those bands are not going to play those shows because half of them aren’t around anymore. Or you are a teenager and you don’t have the money to buy yourself concert tickets, you can’t drive a car and take yourself to a gig. And the fact that being homeschooled and not really having friends for a long time until I got on the internet and met some people. So that’s your bubble and that shaped how I think about things and how I cope with loneliness or having a yearning to be part of something that isn’t happening anymore or something that I would of fit into but I can’t just bring myself into it because it is not there anymore- which is that scene of music that I listen to. So I figured the best way to deal with it is to physically manifest it so that I can get it out of my system. Have these places exist visually so that I can look at them and know that this is my space and I can walk through here whenever I feel like it. If anyone feels inclined to feel the same way or they get any of the references that I’m putting in the paintings like speakers, or trees stumps that are specific to a Zelda game from 1999 or 2000. If someone recognizes those and they are like, “I don’t know why I know where this is from, but I get it even though it is out of context” I want people to either relate to it and get it or not know where any of this stuff is from at all but still have the need to explore it.

CB: How do you feel now that you are coming to an end in your college experience? New World provides you with a studio space to work in and soon it will be gone, how will you deal with that?

RL: Not having a studio is already sort of freaking me out because I have to think smartly about how I plan to get out of here and where I decide to work. I need to get a job and I need to make sure that I can pay bills that I will have in the very near future. I need to be able to be an adult but I also know that I need to make time for this regardless of whether I have a big space or not. So I sort of do have a plan of how I’m going to work it out and what scale I’ll be working in in the weird intermediate time before I move into my own place and while I live with my parents. I’ve had the small space struggle before so I sort of know how to deal with it.

CB: How has your work changed throughout the semesters?

RL: When I started painting I was taught technical skills. I’ve always liked renaissance and old style kind of paintings that were technically correct and used thin paint and glazes. Once I got here, that wasn’t enough to facilitate what I needed to do. Everything I know how to do and being able to have different ways of working I got through Aramis because he taught me to not be freaked about not being perfect. I had to come to him several times and be like, “I’m not feeling it for some reason, I’m freaked out that I don’t care anymore, I don’t know why”- that was during Painting I. He figured I had been painting the same way for a long time and I needed to learn to loosen up and just enjoy the act of painting. I have that to carry with me so that helps me a lot. I’m in tune with physically dealing with the paint itself and I don’t really have a fear of messing something up anymore because I know I can just fix it by doing something else. So my paintings don’t have to suffer being hesitant or afraid of things happening.

CB: So you’ve reached a certain level of maturity.

RL: Yeah, I’ve only been painting since I was 15 so that’s 8 years of painting. That’s not a whole lot but it’s good to have that.

CB: We can move on to talk about one painting. Let’s talk about the last one you did. Do you have a title for it?

RL: I have titles for all of these [paintings] now. They are lyrics I pulled from specific songs. I’m calling this one “I Can’t Meet You Here Tomorrow” it’s from an Alice in Chains song. It’s a song about someone telling their friend that they are running away. I picked each song title lyric for the three bands that I want to reference through words to see if anyone recognizes where the lyrics come from. This is an accumulation of references that I have from around where I live. The trees, the water, and the plants are all things that I have nearby. I threw in some amplifiers and a couple of little characters. It’s mostly based in reality but it’s me rearranging where these things exist and not making too big of a difference between what is real and what is not.

CB: So it’s not too abstract.

RL: I don’t think so. Compared to the other two I think it’s the most naturalistic painting.

CB: How does this one differ from the first two?

RL: I approached it differently because at this point I already had the tools and strategies that I had developed through these two. Because these two were already sort of hurlers I needed to get over and they were working out problems that I had not dealt with yet. So this first one specially is so loaded with experiments and trial and error and being worked over so much to get to a point where I am okay with it. And this one is me understanding how I got to this place without having to do all that fumbling and back and forth with what I want to reference and or what I think needs to be referenced or not.

CB: So it’s a direct representation of what you want both in terms of the imagery and the process because you were able to go to it directly and make it directly without having the struggle of the first two.

RL: Yeah. There’s some stuff in there that I could include. Like more video game stuff or may be have an extra piece of stage equipment, because I always want to balance out the space that I want to deal with. It has the things that I feel like my work needs in order to get the point across which is loosely rendered landscape and different forms of paint of application. The figures and the objects that are in the distance that aren’t completely explained but I would assume someone looks at it and they would want to care to figure out who that is or what that is and why is that standing there. Just like the whole trailing off and wondering into somewhere else idea.

CB: Is there anything else you would want to say?

RL: I feel like I’ve covered everything because I’ve rambled a lot. I guess my only thing is that I feel like I need to know wrap up my explanations for these things better because they are sort of loaded and it’s loaded with personal history and I want to be able to communicate that. That is my struggle at the moment. The paintings are coming out fine, where I would like to be. If I knew I was going to paint these when I was sixteen I would have been very excited and hyped up. Explaining it and having the proper wording that’s where I’m still falling short.

CB: You are not.

RL: I long winded.

CB: Long winded?

RL: Yeah, it’s a lot of verbiage. I have this much to say and I need to narrow it down to this much.

CB: Okay, I think we are finished with Rachel’s interview.

RL: Yey

"Don't Follow" Oil on canvas 72" x 48" 2017

[boofrp]

...aaannd i think i apologized for writing too much. welp. (tom from myspace anon)

(cont.) this entire discussion is a relief to read. i actually feel BAD (/clingy/like i have no life) for being more active than other people, for replying to gif chats with descriptions rather than just dialogue, etc. i’ve tried to keep up with the trends and i feel weird for using capital letters (even now), regular-sized font, themes with white backgrounds or just a gif in the sidebar.

but !! reading this makes me want to not g.a.f. and put a disclaimer in my description like “you don’t have to match my reply” or something so i can write as much as i want and have it actually be about WRITING and CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT instead of how everything looks. rp is supposed to be a break from rl and a place to be creative. it’s bad enough rl is shallow. do we really want an escape from the real world to be the same way??

thank you for talking about this because i really am going to write as much as i want without worrying about what other people think. hopefully other people have the same idea, both in my group and in the rpc so something can actually change for once. i’m still going to format my font and whatnot but y’know. i’m done with feeling bad for actually doing what groups are intended for. also, i love that anon’s point about writing descriptions instead of relying on the fc. i’m still using gifs but i’d like to do that too. sorry this was so long.

P.S. i’m not kissing up when i say your graphics are still amazing to this day.

i can already tell from this whole message, tom from myspace, that you are such a beautiful soul. i’m so glad that this conversation has helped you remember the beauty and importance of your writing!! this is such a beautiful message and tbh reading it, i don’t think i could possibly have anything to add.