#Memphis will be laid to waste

[themissavixen]

and everything was wrong

so we sang sentimental songs

oh how seldom we belong

[lastxprophecy]

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

The Judgment on Egypt

1 The word of יהוה which came to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning the gentiles:

2 For Mitsrayim, concerning the army of Pharaoh Neḵo, sovereign of Mitsrayim, which was by the River Euphrates in Karkemish, and which Neḇuḵaḏretstsar the sovereign of Baḇel had smitten in the fourth year of Yehoyaqim, son of Yoshiyahu, sovereign of Yehuḏah:

3 “Prepare the large and the small shield, and draw near to battle!

4 “Harness the horses, and mount up, you horsemen! Stand with helmets, polish the spears, put on the armour!

5 “Why do I see them afraid, turned back? And their fighters are beaten down. And they have fled in haste, and did not look back, for fear was all around,” declares יהוה.

6 Do not let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape. They shall stumble and fall toward the north, by the River Euphrates.

7 Who is this rising like a flood, whose waters surge about like the rivers?

8 Mitsrayim rises like a flood, and its waters surge about like the rivers. And he says, ‘Let me rise and cover the earth; let me destroy the city and its inhabitants.’

9 Go up, O horses, and rage, O chariots! And let the mighty men go forth – Kush and Put who handle the shield, and Luḏ who handle and bend the bow.

10 For this is the day of the Master יהוה of hosts, a day of vengeance, to revenge Himself on His adversaries. And the sword shall devour, and be satisfied and made drunk with their blood. For the Master יהוה of hosts has a slaughtering in the land of the north by the River Euphrates.

11 Go up to Gil‛aḏ and take balm, O maiden, the daughter of Mitsrayim. In vain you have used many remedies, there is no healing for you.

12 Nations have heard of your shame, and your cry has filled the land. For the mighty has stumbled against the mighty, they have both fallen together.

13 The word which יהוה spoke to Yirmeyahu the prophet, about the coming of Neḇuḵaḏretstsar sovereign of Baḇel, to smite the land of Mitsrayim:

14 “Declare in Mitsrayim, and let it be heard in Mig̅dol. And let it be heard in Noph and in Taḥpanḥes. Say, ‘Stand fast and be prepared, for a sword shall devour all around you.’

15 “Why were your strong ones swept away? They did not stand because יהוה drove them away.

16 “He made many stumble; indeed, they fell over each other, and said, ‘Arise! Let us go back to our own people, and to the land of our birth, away from the oppressing sword.’

17 “There they cried, ‘Pharaoh, sovereign of Mitsrayim, is but a noise. He has let the appointed time pass by!’

18 “As I live,” declares the Sovereign, whose Name is יהוה of hosts, “For as Taḇor is among the mountains, and as Karmel by the sea, he shall come.

19 “O you daughter dwelling in Mitsrayim, prepare yourself to go into exile! For Noph shall become a waste and a ruin, and be burned, without inhabitant.

20 “Mitsrayim is like a very pretty heifer, but destruction comes, it comes from the north.

21 “Her hired ones too, in her midst, are like fattened calves, for they too shall turn, they shall flee away together. They shall not stand, for the day of their calamity has come upon them, the time of their punishment.

22 “Its sound moves along like a serpent, for they move on like an army and come against her with axes, like woodcutters.

23 “They shall cut down her forest,” declares יהוה, “for it is not searched, because they are more numerous than locusts, and without number.

24 “The daughter of Mitsrayim shall be put to shame. She shall be given into the hand of the people of the north.”

25 יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, has said, “See, I am bringing punishment on Amon of No, and on Pharaoh, and on Mitsrayim, and on their mighty ones, and on their sovereigns, and on Pharaoh and on those trusting in him.

26 “And I shall give them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Neḇuḵaḏretstsar sovereign of Baḇel and into the hand of his servants. And afterward it shall be inhabited as in the days of old,” declares יהוה.

27 “But as for you, do not fear, O My servant Ya‛aqoḇ, and do not be discouraged, O Yisra’ĕl! For look, I am saving you from afar, and your descendants from the land of their captivity. And Ya‛aqoḇ shall return, and shall have rest and be at ease, with no one disturbing.

28 “Do not fear, O Ya‛aqoḇ My servant,” declares יהוה, “for I am with you. Though I make a complete end of all the gentiles to which I have driven you, yet I do not make a complete end of youa. But I shall reprove you in right-ruling, and by no means leave you unpunished.” — Jeremiah 46 | The Scriptures (ISR 1998) The Scriptures 1998 Copyright © 1998 Institute for Scripture Research. All Rights reserved. Cross References: Genesis 10:13; Genesis 37:25; Exodus 12:12; Exodus 15:9-10; Leviticus 26:36-37; Deuteronomy 32:42; Joshua 9:21; Joshua 12:22; Judges 6:5; 1 Samuel 17:5; 2 Kings 18:21; Psalm 18:14; Psalm 46:7; Isaiah 1:20; Isaiah 5:25; Isaiah 10:13; Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 19:1-2; Isaiah 19:4; Isaiah 19:13; Isaiah 21:5; Isaiah 30:16; Jeremiah 1:10; Jeremiah 1:14-15; Jeremiah 27:7; Jeremiah 47:2; Matthew 22:4

[rottingandbleeding]

pics i took while on shrooms heheh

[arimiadev]

2024 Year in Review

If 2023 was a new leaf for me, then 2024 was a year of tying up loose ends. I started off 2024 with multiple unfinished projects that needed wrapping up—more than I like having open at any time.

Canvas Menagerie was entering its 2nd year of development, I was in the midst of finishing Asphodelium—which was supposed to be a Winter Jam 2023 project—and a separate Winter Jam 2022 project, Lost Lune, that only had a partial amount of progress made on it. Suffice to say, I was somewhat in over my head with unfinished games.

I’m the type that is self motivated while working, but I can get overwhelmed when I have several projects in progress (including game dev, marketing, IRL, etc). So, clearly I needed to actually finish some things, even though my games were just hobby projects.

…But, I also had to start some new projects. An idea I’ve had for a while was an otome sequel to Crimson Waves on the Emerald Sea, something I told myself I wouldn’t make unless I could get a writer and artist to help me with it. Well, guess what my Otome Jam 2024 project was…

In February I set up a new side website—Arimia’s Doujin Den! It’s a little blog for me to share the doujin fan games I’ve collected over the years, many of which no longer have any internet presence at all. It takes a lot of passion and dedication to make an indie game but maybe even a touch more for a fan game, and I don’t want that passion to go to waste. I’ve only catalogued a few so far, but I want to do even more in the future.

However, about halfway through 2024 I was laid off from my software development job very suddenly. I was partially expecting for months to be laid off at any point as the company has lay offs every single month, but it was still incredibly sudden. I had hoped to at least make it through to the end of the year, not only half the year!

I also began doing social media work for Studio Everium, an indie otome studio. I’ve only ever worked at Studio Élan for marketing (and this marks my 5th year there!) so it’s been a fun change of pace to help share even more visual novels to the world. Speaking of Élan, I spent a few weekends this year traveling and attending conventions! We had booths at Offkai Expo and Otakon, where we sold our yuri games and met a lot of fans & fellow developers. It was my first time going to a convention outside of Memphis and was so fun to finally meet so many friends (and make new ones).

At the tail end of the year, I finished rereading Umineko in October (on the 5th, of course), which I hadn’t read since….middle school. It was such a refreshing reread, to not only read something made with so much love for the world but also to confirm that it was just as good—even better, with fresh eyes on the queer narrative—than I remembered. Anyway, that’s what led me to get back into reading novels. I wanted to see some of r07’s inspiration for it, so I picked up And Then There Were None and dived into several other of Christie’s tales, which led me to joining an in-person book club (where all of the members could be my parents/grandparents…!) to force myself to get out more.

Projects

Canvas Menagerie

My main goal for 2024 was to finish writing Canvas Menagerie, but my secret internal goal was to finish the entire game—and I did! Just a couple of weeks ago I managed to release it to the world after 3 years of solo development. It’s not exactly what I envisioned it being when I started outlining it (and I definitely chunked and rewrote my outlines several times), but I’m still happy with how it came out.

I’m also happy to finally have a commercial game out that doesn’t have my writings & art from early college (that’s practically high school…!!). It’s something I’ve been somewhat self conscious about for a few years—to be honest, I don’t like my prior commercial works. I can only look at them and cringe somewhat, knowing how old the writing and art is. Now I finally have a commercial project I’m (mostly) proud of.

The final game ended up being 138k words with 15+ CGs and 10+ character sprites. I did all of the work on the project, outside of the backgrounds, music, and GUI design. I’m thankful for all of the people who supported the project to the end!

I was also able to do a lifelong goal—have a physical release for one of my games!

These were handmade by myself. I think they came out pretty cute~

Asphodelium

My other main goal for 2024 was to finish and release Asphodelium. Well, about that….

I did end up finishing it, releasing it in January. That version was right at 40k words long with 1 story line and 2 slightly different endings. But, well… I wanted to do more with it!

I got several extremely positive comments after releasing it and I loved writing Aster & Hazel’s push-and-pull relationship, so I started secretly working on an expansion afterwards. The main story already covers a lot of ideas regarding cults, but I wanted to expand upon it even more. There’s plenty more aspects I want to touch on such as the depersonalization cult members experience and the idea of self identity after leaving a cult. It’s a completely different vibe from the comfyness of Canvas Menagerie, to say the least!

I’m currently aiming to make it a full commercial release sometime in the first half of 2025 by adding a new story path (with at least a couple of new endings), at least 25k more words, and several new CGs. I’ve already written 14k words and drawn 2 new CGs, so it’s progressing smoothly. This will be the main project I’m working on going into 2025.

Crimson Waves on the Emerald Sea: Amaranthine Moon

As mentioned before, I couldn’t go the entire year without starting a new long-term project of course. I began preparing as soon as Asphodelium was out the door to attempt a sequel to my 2021 fantasy mystery visual novel Crimson Waves on the Emerald Sea. I say “attempt” as I went into the planning phase sure that I would only make it if I was able to find solid partners to make the projects with—after all, I had enough projects to work on solo! It’s been years since I directed a project without my writing and art, so I wanted to give it a shot again.

I was lucky to find Runa Winters to helm the writing based off of my terribly shoddy outline & character notes, Iron to edit it into a cohesive narrative, and Dule to bring the colorful cast to life. Together, we were able to get a demo out and also later get featured on the IGN YouTube as part of the Dames 4 Games Fall Showcase!

Witch You Want

Over at Élan, in September we wanted to try something new—a game jam! Several of us had already entered game jams in the past (and I had just finished a game jam—more on that later), so we thought it’d be a good way to rejuvenate ourselves and our creative juices.

I lead a team with Natasha Luna providing her wonderful writing and Dani creating our own magic with their lovely illustrations. The premise is simple—a local witch desperately needs help making enough potions for the festival that weekend. She’s just, like, only slightly incompetent and ditzy. Slightly.

We made the game in under a month alongside 3 other yuri visual novels from the game jam. I did all of the programming, with some outside assistance from Feniks. I think it turned out pretty cute!

Dahlia

Around April I got the itch to join a game jam (we hadn’t decided to do an internal jam at Élan quite yet) and became interested in the Velox series of jams. They’re Ludum Dare-inspired visual novel game jams which is absolutely perfect for me. I got my start making games with Ludum Dare, as a bunch of my first visual novels were Ludum Dare entries. They taught me how to actually make a game from start to finish and set deadlines for myself.

I entered Velox Formido, which was by far the strictest game jam I’ve ever entered. You have 36 hours to make a visual novel. Still, somehow I was able to make a story with 2 character sprites and multiple endings in the time frame. I think it came out rather nice, as the art direction came out exactly as I imagined.

Starlit Regrets

After entering Velox Formido, I found I really liked the format and was eager to enter the next in the series. In August they held Velox Fabula 2, a 10 day long version of the jam. This gave me a lot more room to work with my idea—maybe a bit too much!

Starlit Regrets is a melancholic story focused on reminiscing and letting the player guide the narrative, both the past and present. It has quite a few different scenes in it depending on choices and 5 endings over 15k words long (I don’t know how I was able to churn out that much in such a short time)! Most of my long visual novels are very linear, so it’s fun to try branching narratives for my shorter games.

Articles

Continuing from last year, I interviewed other visual novel developers! I was lucky to have Katelyn from GB Patch Games, Gabby from Two and a Half Studios, and Tony & Abby from Black Tabby Games all sit down with me in 2024 to talk about their visual novels and how they approach the medium.

Interviewing other developers is still a bit nerve-wracking for me, but it always turns out to be a fun and informative experience.

After getting home from Offkai Expo, I wrote up an overview of our (wonderful) experiences as well as some takeaways from it. We had a great time selling there, but it’s not something that can easily be replicated…!

And continuing from last year’s article looking over Mahoyo’s very questionable marketing campaign, I took a look at both Mahoyo and Tsukihime remake‘s approach to visual direction. So no badmouthing Aniplex this time, but instead praising Type-Moon’s art direction.

My last blog post for the year was also partially a postmortem for Canvas Menagerie. I’ve been on a lot of projects in varying states of being finished, so it was a big relief to finally finish my 3 year long project. I hope it’ll help other developers push themselves across the finish line…!

Art

This year I did a lot of art assets! 4 of the images here are in-game assets and 4 are promotional artworks for the games.

I also participated in Umitober this year, an Inktober-inspired month-long art event where you draw Umineko arts based on different themes each day. Most of my submissions were sketches as I wanted to just try a bunch of different poses and focus on quantity over quality—the best way to get better is to draw a lot, so I used it as pose practice.

Goals

2024 Goals:

Fully write Act 3 of Canvas Menagerie: This was the lite version of this goal. I actually wanted to fully finish the visual novel but didn’t want to overshoot, as I was still working a full time job. Suffice to say I cleared this goal with flying colors.

Release the full version & an artbook for Asphodelium: I actually forgot I was going to release an artbook with the original release… Well, I hope I’ll release one with the extended cut next year. I made an artbook for Canvas Menagerie which was a lot of fun, so I want to do it again.

Go to an out-of-town convention: I’ve never been to an anime convention outside of Memphis…until now! I was able to travel to Offkai Expo and Otakon this year which was so amazing.

Share more VNs I like: I was able to do this as well! I’ve started sharing my favorites from Spooktober after the event as well as cataloguing some of the doujin games I own on Neocities. It’s fun to be able to share some of the visual novel gems I’ve played.

2025 Goals:

Release the extended version for Asphodelium: In January I released the “full” version of Asphodelium, but as mentioned I want to extend it even more. This edition isn’t too far from being done, so I hope to release it in the first half of 2025.

Release Crimson Waves on the Emerald Sea: Amaranthine Moon: CWES: AM has had a lot of progress on the writing front, so I need to get back to scripting it…! We were originally thinking of releasing it Q1 2025 but want to give it more time in the oven. It’s only been in development for half a year as of now, so a later 2025 release would be great.

Fill an entire sketchbook: I have a sketchbook from 2 years ago I started for doing pose practice and this year I want to finally fully use the sketchbook with practices. Not full arts—just practicing everything.

Get back to kanji studies: I feel like this is a goal for a lot of people, hah. Given how often I try to navigate JP websites and play JP games, I need to get back to learning JP!

Document more doujin games: One of the hobbies I started in 2024 was archiving doujin games I have, as many don’t have any documentation online anymore. This is still a side project of mine, but I want to continue blogging about doujin games (namely fangames) and sharing these gems.

2024 certainly had a lot of ups and downs and changes and curveballs. Looking back on it, it was a better year for me than I thought it would be (and remember it being). I was able to finally travel on my own, meet so many friends, try new things, and find new joys.

I’m very nervous going into 2025 as my first year being a fulltime freelancer. I’ve got some cushions set in place, but it’s still a bit nerve-wracking. Now that I’m no longer in my early 20s, things are changing—but in a way, I’ve been finding myself through it. I want to be in visual novels for many more years to come. I love making visual novels, playing visual novels, talking about visual novels. I want to spend time with my friends, flying out to see them and going to conventions where I’m able to meet even more amazing people.

I hope this year will be kind to us all. Cultivate the space you want to live in and help the people you care about.

— Arimia

[vampetery]

trying to go to furnace fest.. hopefully to see underoath and norma jean :33 pls pray 200 dollars into my existence :p

[pussyvulture]

you’re doing the waltz with your murderer!

[thewanderinguterus]

I hope they play that really insane part in Memphis Will Be Laid to Waste by Norma Jean at my funeral

[trans-axolotl]

"We see the clouds darken from the confines of the dorms, but those of us inside aren't made aware of the extent of the storm's damage until well into the next day. As the storm clouds break, so do the national headlines, hours of helicopter footage, and news coverage from reporters outside of a strip mall—all of which now stand reverent in the aura of  disaster. We also learned that many of the correctional officers have lost their homes. To us on the inside, however, these meditations of the crisis are mere abstractions. While those on the outside grapple with their downtown now laid to waste, our time within the insular world of the prison continues in its perpetual suspension. Inside, I have no means of detecting the cyclones as a reality, as I am too preoccupied with creating a routine amid the many routines already in motion...

To make sense of myself while in prison, I must learn to accept the present condition of myself as an individual, while also resisting the isolation's persistent state of danger. To do this is to ask oneself at every moment, "What space am I in to determine my life, and where?" while knowing the extent of these carceral limits. Where is home in a place that no one wants to be in, where none of us, molded by such constraints and disruptions, can rarely permit ourselves an open way of relating to each other? It begins in our breath, and continues in our restructured narratives as we learn who follows us through, and who we in turn follow outside...

On our drive here, the day before my date of surrender, we took a route through Memphis to stop at the Lorraine Motel, the site of a severing in historical possibility from which we are still reconstructing meaning. A museum complex and a row of new shops and hotels could not divert the gravity of that balcony. As we walked up, an adolescent group was being instructed on their obligations by an older man—a moment of intergenerational transmission. Our lives and what we call our fates and our destinies live on and are discovered and rediscovered through those that join them and come after.

Several hours later, we are with my parents, entering the lobby where we will embrace for the last time, for now.

If there is a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing, from which we can not simply return, then there remains a time to refrain from this refrain. To find our way back to the embrace, through which we may be where they cannot."

-PERFECT STORM: A time to refrain from embracing.

by Richard Hunsinger

[thisworldisablackhole]

Peeling Flesh The G Code

🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

FFO: BRUTAL DEATH METAL, CHOPPED N SCREWED RAP / LISTEN

The Mona Lisa. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Einstein's theory of relativity. The creation of life itself. What do these things have in common, you ask? Well, for starters, they all pale in comparison to The G Code. To let this beautiful monstrosity gather dust in the MOMA or a science textbook would be a waste of potential though. No, this bad boy belongs aboard a NASA funded time capsule spacecraft to hopefully one day be intercepted by aliens. It would be the perfect work of art to represent our species and intimidate any potential interstellar adversaries.

To be honest, I thought I was going insane the first time I laid eyes on this album cover. There have been many bands over the years who have co-opted the stylings of chopped 'n' screwed southern rap artists for purely aesthetic reasons in an effort to be quirky and ironic, so with a solo cup full of skepticism and morbid curiosity, I hit play. I can't even begin to describe my delight when I discovered that Peeling Flesh actually go far above and beyond justifying their visual aesthetic. It only took a minute and a half for the album to hit me with the opening verse of E-A-Ski's "Blast If I Have To" played over a salvo of brutal slam riffs. I was elated. I’ll admit, this intro might be one of the more awkward examples of the slam-rap synergy in motion, but it is quickly followed up by a certified club banger. "Shoot 2 Kill" brings down the house with a barrage of evil riffs, double kicks and gutturals before a classic 90s Memphis rap sample begins to loop over a feast of palm mutes and pinch harmonics. It’s stupid fun, but it’s executed so well. Just when you think it’s coming to an end, the breakdown kicks back into gear at a slower pace, with the same vocal sample pitched down a couple octaves. I didn’t know whether to bust it down and shake my ass, or crowd kill the drywall in my apartment, but I was sold. And the party is only getting started.

One of the sly ways in which Peeling Flesh manage to get a leg up on actual rap mixtapes is by savouring some of their downright tastiest moments for the interludes. “Skin Blunt (Interlude, Pt. 2)" might be the crowning point of the entire album just for the way those bone chilling xylophone (?) notes start to drip down over a disorienting flurry of chopped up vocal samples and metallic riffing. You'll feel like the Kool-Aid Man just busted through your wall and drop kicked you into the Twilight Zone. The G Code just has such a great sense of humour. There are tons of little moments during this album that will make you chuckle, like the Gundam sample in the title track, or those hilarious Ninja Turtle skits that were dredged up from the depths of youtube. But even without all the superfluous garnishes, there is still a mighty competent slam record underneath, with fantastic riffs and disgusting vocals that will surely satisfy your lust for obscenity. The drums are top notch as well, with tons of double kick and sharp snare hits to massage your perfectly smooth brain. All the samples simply inject a bit of good natured fun into the experience, and elevate the album into more of a cultural spectacle.

Peeling Flesh have taken the crown of hip-hop-metal integration by dangling the entire nu-metal scene by it's ankles and shaking the lunch money out of their sorry little pockets. The DJ record scratches on "Perc 3000" and "Full of Lead" is just their way of rubbing dirt in the wound. The G Code is definitely a "love it or hate it" type of album, but regardless, you have to at least respect Peeling Flesh for committing to the bit and paying homage to their geographical region in an authentic way instead of just using the aesthetic for irony's sake. Hell, they even put out an entire slowed down "Crunk Edition" of the album for the real sippers out there. Tulsa might be more than a stones throw away from Houston, but it's still the South.

[thorninyourpaw]

more men meowing in metalcore please

[waste-of-a-song]

The guitar tone on this albums fucks so hard. I love the sound of a cranked 5150 in general, but good lird does it bite here

[arsenic-green]

tagged by @kestreleve to post 10 songs I have on repeat currently

1. Walls - Emery

2. Bloodsucker Part II -As Cities Burn

3. Whimper - Microwave

4. Julia (Holy to the Lord on the Bells of Horses) - Mewithoutyou

5. Goodbye My Love - Lovehatehero

6. Take Me Home - Blis

7. Ripple Water Shine - Pianos Become the Teeth

8.Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste -Norma Jean

9. Postcard - Balance and Composure

10. China White - He Is Legend

Took forever to do this but tagging @waterloggeddaughter @nouvodepart @mirmidones or anyone else who wants to do this :)

[cave-allegory]

Norma Jean - Memphis Will Be Laid to Waste [Official Video]