#The Angle Maker

[bluerose5]

Sir! Who gave you the right to look so hot?

[stroblitz]

Takao and Ralf for the 'Insane expression meme'

Takao doesn't know what his shirt says. Honest.

Anyways, I was almost lazy with this. Tried to do the colouring one way, almost did no shading. Glad I pushed myself through this because I love their faces with colour and shading.

[fayevalcntine]

The whole "Claudia is now his sister"/Louis' sibling comparisons are never gonna sit right with me because that's never going to erase the fact that Claudia exists as a vampire partly because of him. Their relationship will never have this clearly defined role of siblings in the same manner Louis had with Grace or Paul, even if he was their older brother and was implicitly given the role of providing for them as the successor and manager of his family's estate. Because Louis was never responsible in part for their creation, the reason why they existed the way that they do in terms of behavior and life itself.

It also makes his betrayal of her all the more heartbreaking in ways that him and Grace drifting apart never will. He was her father, and didn't provide emotional support for her. She had to turn the tables and try to assume the role of being on an equal level because of this failure but this doesn't make him not choosing her any less painful than it did the first time. Even as they shift roles, take or give emotional responsibility one has towards the other, the fact that Claudia exists the way she does because of him and Lestat will always be there.

[jimin-nothing-stronger]

thinking about “The Fall of Rome” by W.H. Auden. no particular reason. just, you know. the sense of impending doom, etc., etc. —

[unproduciblesmackdown]

maybe i already expressed specifically this amidst a thicket of tags but speaking of the Unexpected & Dynamic all throughout bsol's finale of a [hey all the characters are in the same place] beautiful stretch of vivacity, it's great that like. i mean one figures you're not gonna get [villain immediately kills hero] & you're right b/c that would be a surprise & slightly humorously so but too unrewarding in all other ways to be worth it as the end of a whole entire story & arcs here....but then the ways that banana has this like totally Self Imposed arc about wanting to be able to do whatever it takes to help the musician in return / in general, self imposed b/c the musician himself is like no you're good you're perfect my special little guy i will die without, & we're not exactly subject to any other characters' input like um btw banana you & your Failure to be as heroically bold & brave as to do whatever it takes, as the musician does, except when he feels he can't at some points including if he doesn't have banana with him on this journey, but not b/c he asks anything more of him but to be there with him on this journey....

that is to say, i say as i go "wait what was the specific thing i was gonna talk about in this specific post," that like it's a surprise banana might die of his own self imposed doing whatever it takes, but one of the Least surprising surprises perhaps, like ah yes the funny little guy devoted sidekick? what else would such a guy be For, even if the musician doesn't feel that way, see also: me taking 990 words to say it's fun how at the beginning we could think banana is misguided about the musician encouraging him with his heart words not his mouth words to dance, but then we would be proven wrong when the musician is like cough argh augh i Need banana & i will be encouraging him to dance with my heart And mouth words....but so that yeah even as it may be like Nooo & have stakes & suspense it could still be like ah well yeah that'd be what banana is for, alas, & That is the surprising & not "this was a total success for our heroes" downside to this finale. but it isn't, & banana getting miraculously saved himself as he nonmiraculously protects the musician b/c he wanted to do that himself too

just bringing all that back up to say i was thinking again about like "you wouldn't expect a private little moment following banana but you get one" and "and it's so earnest all throughout & with the more wrenching shift amidst the still perfectly [funny little guy] material & it Does make me cry" and then i was like :( and if he Had died i would have to cry about that too like nooo not banana for would-be dispensibility of the funny little devoted sidekick guy after it was like nooo banana :( (also held hostage in the evil marriage normativity larping but again also all the more "successfully" so b/c his guntoting spouse doesn't actually care about the mutual genuine affection you're also Supposed to have with this) & nooo banana :( (singing his beautiful sweet earnest prayer in this relatively brief song bookended with relative levity (relalelalevity) but still earnest b/c it's all earnest b/c where do you think we are) like yeah basically like i weep at that little moment with him Expressing the depth of his feeling about wanting to do this for the musician despite the musician being like huh wha of course i don't ask that it's nbd, if it paired with "& he does Resolve this by dying about it later" like noooooooooo. tambourine miracles (again thinking of a real tambourine with a disclaimer waiving liability for acts of god associated with? channeled through? that tambourine. sure)

wrapping up a post even less sure if i said anything novel or clearly enough what i wanted to say b/c i went on a journey like maybe it's about something else now, but i don't think so, i think it was just me like wah if banana died i'd be all the more like Oof Augh about his little solo packing its punch of perfect earnest real depth of feeling b/c Everyone's presumed to have that, and they do, and it shows, funny little nonprotagonists or no(s)

[tadfools]

Hows the Gortash/Durge art going?

It's 3am...

[44asters]

I was defending the meetings in the anime but now i looked at a comparison image with the manga and yeah i get it now

[crest-of-gautier]

i put her in miitopia bc why not!! based off the p25th anniversary nuis.

[bandanad33]

Look at how much I can change the artstyle of this piccrew before I actually ever finish it boy

[remyfire]

Unfortunately I am continuing to think about Them

[laesas]

Gif Colouring Process | Ramking Set

There are various steps needed to adjust the colours of a gif. Good colouring can match tones of different shots, make colours look more true to life or cohesive, adjust so lighting is kinder to skintones and make scenes generally prettier to look at.

Because gifs allow for fewer colours than videos, it also involves prioritising which colours are needed in a scene and adjusting accordingly.

It can also be used for effects: subtle ones (like in like in gif 4: fading colours to highlight the focal characters in a photograph), or much more dramatic or stylised effects.

This is a tiny tiny glimpse of what gifmakers do when we refer to "colouring". 🖤

[corvidaedream]

obsessed w the fact that im desperately trying to research (for funsies, not work) this one civil case from 1771 where John Adams was the defense for this guy, and the only primary source on it ive ever found is from Adams's notes from the trial

and ive been stuck thinking about this for over two years now bc i want to know more about the guy who was suing for damages but he continues to elude me, but I keep talking about the case w people bc everything about it is so chaotic

and i just realized the other day "oh, Adams's diaries are digitized and searchable, maybe he has more details in there, surely this was Notable"

and the only day of the trial he even mentions it, hes just like. the court sat today. and lists what he had for dinner and details a discussion of chickens he had w his in-laws.

[gayhawkelatehomicide]

Yanno I've got two Inquisitors for whom Vivienne becomes basically an advisor, like they rarely do anything without consulting her, and while they both learned a great deal from her, they learned very different things.

Meraad Adaar, bow rogue and former spymaster of the Valo Kas mercenaries, learns the concept of soft power from her. The idea that fashion, currying favor, and clever wordplay could get you anything had mostly never occurred to her, beyond the basic requirement that she (and her band of mercenaries) have a solid reputation for doing good work with minimal collateral damage. Vivienne is a walking master-class in the use of soft power, and Meraad respects the hell out of that. She learns at Vivienne's elbow for several months before they decide she should venture into society on her own, and, having had the best tutors in Thedas (Josephine also helped), her debut is a triumph. She gains access to a whole world she'd never been able to really even glimpse before because Vivienne was good enough to chaperone her into that new world. They become incredibly good friends.

Dahlia Trevelyan, on the other hand, learns that it's not the cleverest, or the strongest, or the wealthiest, or even the best-connected people who come out on top. It's those willing to do what others will not. Dahlia is a nobody, the mage-blooded daughter of a second son's third son, barely even considered worthy to bear the family name. She makes her way well enough in her home circle, though she and the first enchanter (who practically raised her) have a bit of a falling out after she passes her harrowing amidst suspicions of tampering. Then she gets catapulted into fame and fortune and she likes it. She likes it a lot. She doesn't believe in the Maker, she thinks the circles are stupid, she thinks the Chantry is a scam, but she's willing to lie to people's faces about all that because, as she learns from Vivienne, it doesn't matter what you actually believe. It matters what people think you believe. It matters what people believe you're willing to do.

Meraad takes Vivienne's counsel very seriously, looks up to her, and is incredibly careful to only go against her advice when absolutely necessary.

Dahlia puts herself on the sunburst throne.

[sheisoverhere]

Peeta Mellark is an integral member of the four D12 victors. He is literally the sunset on the reaping! How is this not clear? I’ve never wanted to report people for bad literary analysis more and I’m only half joking. It has forced me to commit a cardinal sin: analyze in anger!

1. Him being chosen by absolute accident is the point. Not only does he represent every single other tribute who simply gets chosen because they live in a messed up country but he represents how even with some odds being in your favor (older siblings, merchant family, being white, being popular, etc.) you are still very likely to be victimized by the oppressive structure of Panem.

2. When Haymitch says, “But she was smarter than me, or luckier” - the luck is all the people around Katniss who created the circumstances for her to lead a successful revolution (her father teaching her to hunt, the arena having woods, Rue healing her with leaves, Thresh not killing her, Haymitch consistently giving her support, her mother teaching her aspects of medicine, on and on and on) and Peeta is the number one, most important part of her luck in the first book. She has someone in the games actively putting her life before his… are you kidding? There is legitimately no better luck than that.

3. Even if we take Katniss out of it, Peeta is so impactful as a victor because most of his scenes would not be cut/doctored. What’s there to edit out? Instead, the viewers get a full view of him loving a girl so selflessly, using trickery and strategy instead of violence, keeping himself alive through art, joking on literal death’s door, and sharing so much of himself with the audience it becomes harder for them not to see him as a real human boy. How rare do you think that is for the games? Haymitch and LGB are caricatures of themselves in the games, playing roles that flatten them down. Even Katniss becomes one dimensional on screen without Peeta (and Rue, of course). It is also heavily implied that he does not kill anyone during the games (in a straightforward way) and even if you count Cato or the girl from 8 or even foxface, it’s never him hunting them or seeking out a kill - again how rare do you think that is to see on screen for Games viewers?

4. I didn’t think this needed to be said but: Katniss dies without Peeta in the first games. a) she goes for the bow and dies in the bloodbath; b) she is hunted and killed by Careers; c) she is killed by game makers because there’s no love story angle to keep them from just burning her entirely; d) she dies from tracker jacker stings or Cato because Peeta doesn’t defend her or tell her to run… I could go on…

5. But even if she does win and wins alone - the victory means as much (I would argue less than) any other rebellious victor winning, certainly less than Haymitch’s win. The biggest rebellion for their games is that two of them win! This is legit the only thing that distinguishes them from any other sympathetic, kind child who would have won the games. Like if Haymitch or Finnick or Wiress winning isn’t jarring enough for the Games to end… why do you think Katniss killing Peeta and winning solo would be? It would not.

6. And finally, I cannot stress this enough: There is no peaceful end to the rebellion or the trilogy without Peeta. “Peeta’s a whiz with fires” (HG) for a reason! Collins, over and over, shows us how fire can get out of control and destroy even those who are innocent and who you love (Gale, Beete, Peeta’s family, Haymitch’s family). If everyone really burns, there’s no one to clean the ashes. The reason not everyone burns is because of people like Peeta who can coax the flames in a way that is nurturing and consistent. I mean…. “Peeta fashioned some kind of incubator” is such an obvious detail. Those goslings don’t hatch without Peeta, life does not go on in peace and joy without Peeta.

It is no coincidence that when Maysilee says Lenore Dove got the “jump on us all” (in being a rebel), she is referring to LD using orange paint to make protest art!

We must stop pushing Peeta Mellark out of the narrative! He is literally the sunset on the reaping!

[dancuny]

Ilford Advocate Camera

It's been a year since I first laid eyes on the Ilford Advocate camera, and I've been eager to share my experience with it. The journey began in England, where my wife and I stumbled upon a charming camera and photo reseller, Juliano of Cameras London, on Portabello Road. Little did I know that this encounter would lead to the acquisition of a unique piece of photographic history.

 My wife and I went to Portabello Rd in London on Friday to look at the antiques there and for me to look for photo items, which there were few of, but I was told that Juliano would be there the next day and he was the person to see. While there wasn't much time to return the next day, I took the bus early and arrived while Juliano set up. My intention wasn't to purchase an Advocate, but as we talked and I mentioned I had one before, he said he had a couple and was willing to part with one. He didn't have it with him, so we arranged to have it shipped to my home in the US.

When the camera arrived and a couple of other items I was buying from him, it was in excellent working condition. I was delighted, as the camera isn't typical but more of an oddity. While I collect "colored" cameras, the white color of this camera makes it stand out in the crowd of mainly back cameras. I was happy to have the Ilford Advocate back in the collection, in excellent working condition, and the full-fitted leather case, too.

The Company:

Ilford is known less for its cameras than for its film, photo paper, and now inkjet printing paper, at least within the photo community. The company has had a long history with many name changes. Still, it's always been a significant name in the photo industry before companies like Leica, Rollei, or even Kodak.

 The original company name was Britannia Works, which was started by Alfred Harman in 1879 by making Gelatine Dry Plates in his basement on Cranbrook Rd, in Ilford, Essex. Harman initially started printing services in 1863, and in 1878, he patented "producing enlarged photographs with artistic finish." By 1880, Harman moved to Roden St. and started trading as Brittania Works Company. By 1883, the company was expanding with the popularity of photography, and Harman opened a new factory to produce plates.

By 1890, Harman produced a popular book, "The Manual of Photography," and the book, "The Ilford Manual of Photography," was created under that name until 1958, when it was in its 5th edition. In 1891, Kodak started producing plates in Harlow, Middlesex, as a competitor to Britannia Works. In 1897 and again in 1903, Eastman Kodak attempted to purchase Britannia Works Company, but both times were unsuccessful. In 1898, Alfred Harman retired at age 50 but did consulting work for many years. In 1900, the company changed its name to Ilford, Ltd. The town council was happy and objected, but with persistence, the name was changed.

 In the 1960s, the company was owned by Ciba, and they merged with the French company Lumiere and Swiss company Tellko and became the Ilford Group. In 1989, the Ilford Group was purchased by the US-based International Paper Company, and together, they merged to become Ilford Anitec. From 1990 to now, the company has gone through a few other acquisitions and receiverships, and the current time is when the parent company is Harman Technology. Through it all, they still produce tremendous film, photo paper, film, and paper chemistry.

 To my knowledge, only one camera manufacturer was under the Ilford umbrella in this long-winded explanation of the Ilford company. That is Kennedy Instruments Ltd., which designed and built the Advocate starting in 1947 and updated it in 1952. The rarely-seen Monobar cameras were produced from 1958 to 1967. All the other cameras with the Ilford name were created by companies like Dacora, AGI, or Kershaw-Soho.

My Camera:

The first thing I noticed about the camera, other than the apparent white color, is the weight of the camera. Or the camera's lack of weight as it's a very light camera. The camera is made from a die-cast aluminum body with an enameled white finish. The camera body is smooth to the touch and lacks any leather or leatherette, which is uncommon for cameras. My camera measures 5 3/8" wide by 3" tall by 2.5" deep and weighs 1lb 1.5oz without the fitted leather case.

 The camera is straightforward and doesn't have a lot of extra knobs or buttons to do different things on a camera which is what makes this one so unique. To open the back to load the film, you only need to pull open the aluminum bar on the right side of the camera, which releases the lock holding the back closed. Once you open the, I noted chrome gear by the advancing cogs and onto the film advance spool. My first thought was, That's unusual. Then when I tried to put in the film, the rewind knob didn't pull up like the majority of 35mm cameras to load the film. As I poked around, I noticed that the rewind knob is actually hinged, and it pulls away from the body, which allows the photographer to put the film into the camera body.

It's always my inclination to put the film cassette into the camera first, then bring the leader to the take-up spool to load. But looking at the instruction manual, they suggest putting the film leader into the take-up spool first, then putting the cassette after. Having the rewind knob on a hinge makes perfect sense to do it that way. Once I put in the film, I always take the slack of the film with the rewind knob, so when I go to advance the film, I know the film is transporting when I see the rewind knob turn ad I advance to the next frame.

 The only other settings needed to take photos are all around the Dallmeyer Anastigmat 35mm f3.5 lens on my camera. There are three different rings around the lens. On the outer or the largest ring, which has "Advocate" printed on the top, is the shutter speed dial, with speeds of 1/200, 1/150, 1/100, 1/50, 1/25, and "B," which are set according to a red dot on the out portion of the ring. The next ring from the shutter speeds is the focus distance, which has the closest focus distance of 3 feet to Infinity. The inner ring has aperture settings, which go from f3.5 to f22. My first inclination was that the inner ring, which is actually on the lens itself, would have the focus ability, but it's the aperture settings. I had to get used to that when shooting.

To take the photos, the shutter release is a pulling action as you pull the shutter release back towards the camera body as opposed to the most common pressing the shutter release down. It's more similar to an Exakta or Topcon Super D. You get used to it when shooting. The feel of the shutter is firm, and you can hear the rotary shutter releasing and firing, so there is no missing if the camera took the photo. There is an auxiliary remote shutter socket on the front of the camera if you choose to put the camera on a tripod and shoot with a more prolonged exposure.

 The viewfinder on the camera is bright and easy to compose images. My camera is the second version made, as the original Advocate cameras didn't have the flash sync capability, which is located at about five O'clock on the lens and is a double-prong sync cable. The original model also has a chrome pressure plate to hold the film flat.

 Here's the fun and one of the more exciting things I like about this camera. Once you've shot all the photos and want to rewind the film, there is no button to disengage the winding sprocket. All you need to do is press down the winding knob down, which presses the gearing system down, and the winding gear is free moving, and the film can easily rewind into the canister. I really enjoyed the simplicity of this system.

My Results:

I took the camera to a local farmers market and used a real "shoot from the hip" method. I tried to be somewhat discrete, which may be difficult with a bright white camera around your neck, but here are some of the results.

Conclusion:

I really enjoyed shooting with this camera. The biggest obstacle I had was remembering which ring did which function. I kept going back to the inner ring, which was closest to the lens and was the focus, but it was an aperture, so I needed to keep this in mind during shooting. If I were to use it more often, it wouldn't be that big of an issue; I also liked that the case was in excellent condition, which is only sometimes the case for older cameras.

 Thank you for taking time from your schedule to look over this post.

 Until next week, please be safe.

[finnieforkys]

Started my oc art dolls project again. I'm still so fucking confused, like, i got the basic doll patterns, now what??? Where do i continue????