#This is How I Roll

[vveissesfleisch]

alien romulus: an absolutely insane film to see when you’re 8 months pregnant

[mrsaito58]

I see a lot of current painting that more or less draws on impressionism and I always love to see that. I admire it and am interested in working in that area myself, the looseness and attention to colour etc. But lately I've been remembering that it was seeing Vlaminck and Munter , a few years ago, that first made me feel like painting was something I might be able to learn to do. I've been feeling the pull of expressionism and fauvism again, and making plans to let some of my work follow that path. (Even though I am well aware that impressionism is a surer way to Win Friends And Influence People.)

[tinkertoysdamn]

Waiting for a Star to Fall (tentative title) WiP

More WiP nonsense because I need to jump-start my inspo.

Will be Thorquill, Starmora and eventual Thorquillmora because I CAN!

In cultures all across the universe, there have been superstitions about falling stars.  Though most of them are mere meteors and thus have no magic, there are a precious few that hold real power.  To possess such a thing could change the tide of fortune and overturn dynasties.  The hope of a single wish could be enough to drive men mad.    

It was with this in mind that Heimdall watched as a mysterious object crashed into one of the vast forests of Vanaheim.  As trusted watchman of the gods, it was his duty to report such an anomaly.  “My liege,” he spoke through his telepathic link to Odin, “I believe we have a problem.”

Less than an hour later, Odin the All-Father called his two sons into the throneroom, burdened with a heavy purpose.  “I entrust to you, my sons, a most important task,” he informed them.  “A star has fallen within the Nine Realms and it must be retrieved at once.”

“A true fallen star?”  Loki, the youngest son, knew the ways of magic and was highly skeptical.

“Your mother confirmed it,” Odin said.  

Frigga, Queen of Asgard and one of the most powerful magic users in the realm, held out a compass made of gold.  “I’ve enchanted this compass to follow the cosmic energy the star has left in its wake.”  She waved her free hand above it, curling in her fingers in a slight gesture.  A faint blue line appeared on the compass face.

“Where has the star fallen?” Thor asked.

“Vanaheim,” Odin informed them.

The home of the Vanir, it was friendly to Asgard, though seldom visited by any of its people.  Reports of it were limited mostly to the stories Thor’s friend Hogun had told them.   

“If it has landed in Vanaheim it shouldn’t affect us.”  A scholar of magic, Loki knew the folklore surrounding fallen stars.  Any wishes granted should stay in the world on which the wish was made.  

However, Loki did not know everything despite how he pretended otherwise.

“Yggdrasil connects Asgards to the other Realms,” Odin said.  “Any magic set loose on Vanaheim soil could have a ripple effect on all Nine Realms.  The star must be secured and locked in our Vault.”

“Why not use it ourselves?” Loki suggested.

With a single eye, Odin could convey oceans of disappointment.  “Because it is not our way.”

(INSERT ALL THE IN BETWEEN CONNECTIVE NARRATIVE TISSUE HERE)

“Can you loosen this up?” Peter complained, wiggling in distress.  “I can’t feel my hands.”

Thor spun the chair around and knelt down.  That was when he noticed two things at once: first that underneath the expected sweat, Peter had a rather unusual smell, one reminiscent of stardust.  Second, Peter’s hands were already untied.  

With sudden violence, Peter jerked his head backwards, smashing into Thor’s forehead.  

Startled, Thor fell right onto his rump.

Peter sprang to his feet, sprinting toward the open door of the spaceship.  With practiced ease, he activated his mask and kicked himself into the air with his rocket boots.  By the time Thor made it to the door, the man had disappeared.  

Baffled, Sif’s lips thinned as she shouted, “You let him get away.”

“It shouldn’t matter much,” Loki said, holding out his mother’s gift.  “I still have the compass, the word of a mortal doesn’t mean much.”

“Don’t be so sure, Loki,” Thor said.  He smacked a fist against the metal door frame, denting it.  “That man smelled like stardust.”

“What?”  Uncertainty, then realization crossed Loki’s face.  “Oh no.”  

“That’s right.”  Thor pointed in the direction of their fleeing quarry.  “That man was the star.” 

[nebulousmistress]

The frantic bullshit session with 5 hours before deadline, with a single song or album on repeat in your headphones like it's a Rocky montage, on a library computer, hopped up on Something that might be too much coffee or it might have been acquired from a dude, lasting just long enough to pound out the essay and send it in before crashing on a library chair in a blind corner and waking up in a surreal landscape of books and darkness and desolation because the librarian didn't find you before locking up at closing...

AI slop doesn't give you that. Yet I use lessons learned from such papers every day. So does everyone who's written such papers.

Whenever I think about students using AI, I think about an essay I did in high school. Now see, we were reading The Grapes of Wrath, and I just couldn't do it. I got 25 pages in and my brain refused to read any more. I hated it. And its not like I hate the classics, I loved English class and I loved reading. I had even enjoyed Of Mice and Men, which I had read for fun. For some reason though, I absolutely could NOT read The Grapes of Wrath.

And it turned out I also couldn't watch the movie. I fell asleep in class both days we were watching it.

This, of course, meant I had to cheat on my essay.

And I got an A.

The essay was to compare the book and the movie and discuss the changes and how that affected the story.

Well it turned out Sparknotes had an entire section devoted to comparing and contrasting the book and the movie. Using that, and flipping to pages mentioned in Sparknotes to read sections of the book, I was able to bullshit an A paper.

But see the thing is, that this kind of 'cheating' still takes skills, you still learn things.

I had to know how to find the information I needed, I needed to be able to comprehend what sparknotes was saying and the analysis they did, I needed to know how to USE the information I read there to write an essay, I needed to know how to make sure none of it was marked as plagerized. I had to form an opinion on the sparknotes analysis so I could express my own opinions in the essay.

Was it cheating? Yeah, I didn't read the book or watch the movie. I used Sparknotes. It was a lot less work than if I had read the book and watched the movie and done it all myself.

The thing is though, I still had to use my fucking brain. Being able to bullshit an essay like that is a skill in and of itself that is useful. I exercised important skills, and even if it wasnt the intended way I still learned.

ChatGTP and other AI do not give that experience to people, people have to do nothing and gain nothing from it.

Using AI is absolutely different from other ways students have cheated in the past, and I stand by my opinion that its making students dumber, more helpless, and less capable.

However you feel about higher education, I think its undeniable that students using chatgtp is to their detriment. And by extension a detriment to anyone they work with or anyone who has to rely on them for something.

[kittinkanin]

I don't think I've posted any 7d2d screenshots here. Have a car.

[greykolla-art]

Ooooh careful, Alastor! Your line between manipulation and genuine care is getting blurryyyyyyyyyy ��!

I missed drawing them man! Miss Sweet and mister Scary in situations together is my favourite! ❤️ (but did it have to span 9 coloured pages I almost died?!)

(No I won’t do a part 2 😘!)

[setaflow]

The dichotomy of Brennan helping with ability score rolls for newer players:

Titan Takedown: Preps high-level base stats for the cast, with everyone having a 20 in their two most relevant ability scores and no one really having a genuine dump stat (no one's character has below a 14/+2 modifier in any ability), which allows the players to play to their class strengths and not have to worry about fucking up as much in a shorter, tighter campaign.

Fantasy High: Ally Beardsley rolls a 4 for Kristen's Dex and has to live with with the consequences of that for 6+ years

[bl00dalchemist]

Obito, your bi is showing.

[ciearcab]

gouache falin

[mrsaito58]

New Me For No Reason!®

[very-small-giant]

you have been bad friends to riz gukgak

[lunarrolls]

shoutout to ep 3 daisuke. he told wealwell he’d kill him if they were alone and then he failed every single check ever, fell over when a torpedo hit, almost got into a fight with bert for literally no reason, confirmed that he had been lost in the sky with only wild seagulls for sustenance for six months at some point, and continued to miss his ex-wife. the perfect man

[demi-pixellated]

Wielder of Courage

[frownyalfred]

thinking about a Damian who was raised his entire life hearing how much he looks like his Father, how he's the blood son, how he's better than any other child Bruce Wayne has taken in, starting to buy into it like a kid does, only to hit puberty and turn out looking like 80% Talia.

[poirott]

Just Columbo being Columbo ✦ ✦ Columbo Seasons 1 & 2