#Why choose wordpress

[grey-space-computing]

Why Investing in Custom WordPress Themes Is Beneficial

Establishing a unique and professional online presence is essential for businesses and individuals in the current digital landscape. WordPress stands out for its flexibility and user-friendly interface when building a website. One of the key decisions you need to make when setting up a WordPress site is whether to use a premade theme or invest in a custom WordPress theme. This article explores why custom WordPress themes are worth the investment and how they can benefit your online presence.

Introduction to WordPress Themes

What Are WordPress Themes? WordPress themes are pre-designed templates that determine the look and functionality of your website. They control everything from the layout to the color scheme and typography, making them a critical aspect of your site's design.

Types of WordPress Themes: Free and Premium are two primary types of WordPress themes. Free themes are available at no cost and offer basic design and functionality, while premium themes come with more advanced features and support, typically at a price. However, both free and premium themes are often not tailored to meet the specific needs of your business.

The Drawbacks of Pre-Made Themes

Limited Customization Pre-made themes can be limiting in terms of customization. While they may look great out of the box, making significant changes to suit your brand can be challenging without extensive coding knowledge.

Performance Issues Pre-made themes frequently include unnecessary features and functionalities, resulting in bloated code. This can slow down your site, negatively impacting user experience and SEO rankings.

Security Concerns Pre-made themes are widely used, making them more susceptible to security vulnerabilities. Hackers often target common themes, increasing the risk of your website being compromised.

Benefits of Custom WordPress Themes

Unique Design A custom WordPress theme is designed specifically for your brand, ensuring that your website stands out from the competition. It allows for a unique design that aligns with your brand identity, making a lasting impression on your visitors.

Tailored Functionality A custom theme provides features and functionalities designed specifically for your requirements. This ensures that your website performs exactly how you want it to, providing a seamless user experience.

Improved Performance Custom themes are built with clean, optimized code, which improves your website's performance. Faster loading times lead to better user engagement and higher search engine rankings.

Enhanced Security Since custom themes are unique to your site, they are less likely to be targeted by hackers. Additionally, custom themes can be built with the latest security practices in mind, providing an extra layer of protection for your website.

The Investment in Custom WordPress Themes

Cost Considerations Investing in a custom WordPress theme can be more expensive upfront compared to purchasing a premium theme. Despite higher initial costs, the long-term benefits like improved performance and security make the investment worthwhile.

Finding the Right Developer To get the most out of a custom WordPress theme, it's essential to hire a skilled developer who understands your needs and can deliver a high-quality product. Seek out developers with strong portfolios and positive client reviews.

Real-World Examples of Custom Themes

Case Study 1: E-Commerce Website An online store invested in a custom WordPress theme to provide a unique shopping experience. The custom theme included tailored product pages, seamless checkout processes, and advanced search functionality, resulting in increased sales and customer satisfaction.

Case Study 2: Corporate Website A corporate website needed a professional and modern look to attract potential clients. The custom WordPress theme was designed with the company's branding in mind, featuring a sleek layout and interactive elements that enhanced the user experience.

How to Get Started with Custom WordPress Themes

Define Your Requirements Before contacting a developer, clearly outline your website's requirements. Consider the design elements, functionalities, and user experience you want to achieve.

Budget Planning Determine your budget for the custom theme project. Keep in mind that while custom themes can be more expensive, they offer significant long-term benefits.

Choosing a Developer Research and choose a developer who has experience creating custom WordPress themes. Look at their previous work and ensure they understand your vision and goals.

Collaborating with Your Developer Work closely with your developer throughout the design and development process. Provide feedback and make sure the final product meets your expectations.

Conclusion

Investing in a custom WordPress theme is a smart decision for anyone looking to create a unique and professional online presence. While the initial cost may be higher than using a pre-made theme, the long-term benefits of improved performance, security, and user experience make it worthwhile. By working with a skilled developer, you can create a website that truly represents your brand and meets your specific needs.

FAQs

1. What is the main advantage of a custom WordPress theme over a pre-made one? The main advantage is the ability to have a unique design and tailored functionality that perfectly fits your brand and business needs.

2. Are custom WordPress themes more secure than pre-made themes? Yes, custom themes are generally more secure because they are less likely to be targeted by hackers and can be built with the latest security practices.

3. How much does a custom WordPress theme cost? The price of a custom WordPress theme depends greatly on the complexity of the design and required functionality. It's important to discuss your budget with your developer.

4. Can I update a custom WordPress theme myself? Yes, with proper documentation and guidance from your developer, you can manage and update your custom theme. However, major changes may require the assistance of a developer. 5. How long does it take to develop a custom WordPress theme? The development time can vary based on the complexity of the project. On average, it can take a few weeks to a few months to complete a custom WordPress theme.

[screentones-webcomicresources]

There are many web hosting companies to choose from if you're taking the plunge into making your own website with a comic content management system (CMS) like ComicControl or Grawlix, a Wordpress comic theme like Toocheke or ComicPress, or a HTML template to cut/paste code like Rarebit. While these solutions are generally free, finding a home for them is... generally not. It can be hard to choose what's best for your webcomic AND your budget!

We took a look at a few of the top hosting services used by webcomics creators using webcomic CMSes, and we put out a poll to ask your feedback about your hosts!

This post may be updated as time goes on as new services enter the hosting arena, or other important updates come to light.

Questions:

💻 I can get a free account with Wix/Squarespace/Carrd, could I just use those for my comic? - Web hosts like this may have gallery functions that could be adapted to display a series of pages, but they are very basic and not intended for webcomics.

📚 Wait, I host on Webtoon, Tapas, Comic Fury, or some other comic website, why are they not here? - Those are comic platforms! We'll get into those in a future post!

🕵️‍♀️Why does it say "shared hosting"? Who am I sharing with? - "Shared hosting" refers to sharing the server space with other customers. They will not have access to your files or anything, so it is perfectly fine to use for most comic CMSes. You may experience slowing if there is too much activity on a server, so if you're planning to host large files or more than 10 comics, you may want to upgrade to a more robust plan in the future.

Web Host List

Neocities

Basic plan pricing: Free or $5/month. Free plan has more restrictions (1 GB space, no custom domain, and slower bandwidth, among other things)

Notes: Neocities does not have database support for paid or free accounts, and most comic CMS solutions require this (ComicCtrl, Grawlix, Wordpress). You will need to work with HTML/CSS files directly to make a website and post each page.

Hostinger

Basic plan pricing: $11.99/month or $7.99/month with four year commitment (monthly, 1, 2, and 4 year plans available).

Notes: Free domain for the 1st year. Free SSL Certifications. Weekly backups.

KnownHost

Basic plan pricing: $8.95/month or $7.99/month with four year commitment (monthly, 1, 2, and 4 year plans available).

Notes: Free DDOS protection. Free SSL Certifications.

InMotion Hosting

Basic plan pricing: $12.99/month or $9.99/month with three year commitment (monthly, 1, and 3 year plans available).

Notes:  Free SSL Certifications, free domain names for 1 and 3 year plans. 24/7 live customer service and 90-day money-back guarantee. Inmotion also advertises eco-friendly policies: We are the first-ever Green Data Center in Los Angeles. We cut cooling costs by nearly 70 percent and reduce our carbon output by more than 2,000 tons per year.

Reviews:

👍“I can't remember it ever going down.”

👍“InMotion has a pretty extensive library full of various guides on setting up and managing websites, servers, domains, etc. Customer service is also fairly quick on responding to inquiries.” 👎“I wish it was a bit faster with loading pages.”

Ionos Hosting

Basic plan pricing: $8/month or $6/month with three year commitment (monthly, 1, 2 and 3 year plans available).

Notes: Free domain for the first year, free SSL Certification, Daily backup and recovery is included. Site Scan and Repair is free for the first 30 days and then is $6/month.

Reviews:

👍“Very fast and simple” 👎“Customer service is mediocre and I can't upload large files”

Bluehost

Basic plan pricing: $15.99/month or $4.95/month with three year commitment (monthly, 1, 3 year plans available).

Notes: Free domain and SSL certificates (for first year only). 24/7 Customer Service. Built to handle higher traffic websites. Although they specialize in Wordpress websites and provide updates automatically, that's almost a bad thing for webcomic plugins because they will often break your site. Their cloud hosting services are currently in early access with not much additional information available.

Reviews:

👎"The fees keep going up. Like I could drop $100 to cover a whole year, but now I'm paying nearly $100 for just three months. It's really upsetting."

👎"I have previously used Bluehost’s Wordpress hosting service and have had negative experiences with the service, so please consider with a grain of salt. I can confirm at least that their 24/7 customer service was great, although needed FAR too often."

Dreamhost

Basic plan pricing: $7.99/month or $5.99/month with three year commitment (monthly, 1, 3 year plans available).

Notes: Free SSL Certificates, 24/7 support with all plans, 97-day moneyback guarantee. Not recommended for ComicCtrl CMS

Reviews:

👍“They've automatically patched 2 security holes I created/allowed by mistake.” 👍“Prices are very reasonable” 👎 “back end kind of annoying to use” 👎 “wordpress has some issues” 👎 “it's not as customizable as some might want“

GoDaddy

Basic plan pricing: $11.99/month or $9.99/month with three year commitment (monthly, 1, 2, and 3 year plans available).

Notes: Free 24/7 Customer service with all plans, Free SSL Certificates for 1 year, free domain and site migration.

Reviews:

👍Reasonable intro prices for their Economy hosting, which has 25GB of storage 👍Migrated email hosting service from cPanel to Microsoft Office, which has greater support but may not be useful for most webcomic creators. 👎 Many site issues and then being upsold during customer service attempts. 👎 Server quality found lacking in reviews 👎 Marketing scandals in the past with a reputation for making ads in poor taste. Have been attempting to clean up that image in recent years. 👎 “GoDaddy is the McDonald's of web hosting. Maybe the Wal-Mart of hosting would be better. If your website was an object you would need a shelf to put it on. You go to Wal-Mart and buy a shelf. It's not great. It's not fancy. It can only hold that one thing. And if we're being honest - if the shelf broke and your website died it wouldn't be the end of the world.The issue comes when you don't realize GoDaddy is the Wal-Mart of hosting. You go and try to do things you could do with a quality shelf. Like, move it. Or add more things to it.” MyWorkAccountThisIs on Reddit*

Things to consider for any host:

💸 Introductory/promotional pricing - Many hosting companies offer free or inexpensive deals to get you in the door, and then raise the cost for these features after the first year or when you renew. The prices in this post are the base prices that you can expect to pay after the promotional prices end, but may get outdated, so you are encouraged to do your own research as well.

💻 Wordpress hosting - Many of the companies below will have a separate offering for Wordpress-optimized hosting that will keep you updated with the latest Wordpress releases. This is usually not necessary for webcomic creators, and can be the source of many site-breaking headaches when comic plugins have not caught up to the latest Wordpress releases.

Any basic hosting plan on this list will be fine with Wordpress, but expect to stop or revert Wordpress versions if you go with this as your CMS.

🤝 You don't have to go it alone - While free hosts may be more limited, paid hosting on a web server will generally allow you to create different subdomains, or attach additional purchased domains to any folders you make. If you have other comic-making friends you know and trust, you can share your server space and split the cost!

Want to share your experience?

Feel free to contribute your hosting pros, cons, and quirks on our survey! We will be updating our list periodically with your feedback!

[smellslikebot]

"how do I keep my art from being scraped for AI from now on?"

if you post images online, there's no 100% guaranteed way to prevent this, and you can probably assume that there's no need to remove/edit existing content. you might contest this as a matter of data privacy and workers' rights, but you might also be looking for smaller, more immediate actions to take.

...so I made this list! I can't vouch for the effectiveness of all of these, but I wanted to compile as many options as possible so you can decide what's best for you.

Discouraging data scraping and "opting out"

robots.txt - This is a file placed in a website's home directory to "ask" web crawlers not to access certain parts of a site. If you have your own website, you can edit this yourself, or you can check which crawlers a site disallows by adding /robots.txt at the end of the URL. This article has instructions for blocking some bots that scrape data for AI.

HTML metadata - DeviantArt (i know) has proposed the "noai" and "noimageai" meta tags for opting images out of machine learning datasets, while Mojeek proposed "noml". To use all three, you'd put the following in your webpages' headers:

<meta name="robots" content="noai, noimageai, noml">

Have I Been Trained? - A tool by Spawning to search for images in the LAION-5B and LAION-400M datasets and opt your images and web domain out of future model training. Spawning claims that Stability AI and Hugging Face have agreed to respect these opt-outs. Try searching for usernames!

Kudurru - A tool by Spawning (currently a Wordpress plugin) in closed beta that purportedly blocks/redirects AI scrapers from your website. I don't know much about how this one works.

ai.txt - Similar to robots.txt. A new type of permissions file for AI training proposed by Spawning.

ArtShield Watermarker - Web-based tool to add Stable Diffusion's "invisible watermark" to images, which may cause an image to be recognized as AI-generated and excluded from data scraping and/or model training. Source available on GitHub. Doesn't seem to have updated/posted on social media since last year.

Image processing... things

these are popular now, but there seems to be some confusion regarding the goal of these tools; these aren't meant to "kill" AI art, and they won't affect existing models. they won't magically guarantee full protection, so you probably shouldn't loudly announce that you're using them to try to bait AI users into responding

Glaze - UChicago's tool to add "adversarial noise" to art to disrupt style mimicry. Devs recommend glazing pictures last. Runs on Windows and Mac (Nvidia GPU required)

WebGlaze - Free browser-based Glaze service for those who can't run Glaze locally. Request an invite by following their instructions.

Mist - Another adversarial noise tool, by Psyker Group. Runs on Windows and Linux (Nvidia GPU required) or on web with a Google Colab Notebook.

Nightshade - UChicago's tool to distort AI's recognition of features and "poison" datasets, with the goal of making it inconvenient to use images scraped without consent. The guide recommends that you do not disclose whether your art is nightshaded. Nightshade chooses a tag that's relevant to your image. You should use this word in the image's caption/alt text when you post the image online. This means the alt text will accurately describe what's in the image-- there is no reason to ever write false/mismatched alt text!!! Runs on Windows and Mac (Nvidia GPU required)

Sanative AI - Web-based "anti-AI watermark"-- maybe comparable to Glaze and Mist. I can't find much about this one except that they won a "Responsible AI Challenge" hosted by Mozilla last year.

Just Add A Regular Watermark - It doesn't take a lot of processing power to add a watermark, so why not? Try adding complexities like warping, changes in color/opacity, and blurring to make it more annoying for an AI (or human) to remove. You could even try testing your watermark against an AI watermark remover. (the privacy policy claims that they don't keep or otherwise use your images, but use your own judgment)

given that energy consumption was the focus of some AI art criticism, I'm not sure if the benefits of these GPU-intensive tools outweigh the cost, and I'd like to know more about that. in any case, I thought that people writing alt text/image descriptions more often would've been a neat side effect of Nightshade being used, so I hope to see more of that in the future, at least!

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

any particular reason youre not using GDocs? I didnt use to, but since getting my shit stolen ive chosen the lesser evils of CLOUD

I just generally try to use google as little as possible. (Which reminds me, I need to find a new email provider). I generally avoid cloud services just for grumpy old person reasons; they're fiddly and keep changing the rules and I'm not a fan of the sorts of "conveniences" such things tend to offer.

I'm not sure how the cloud makes it harder to have your work stolen. I don't think there's any particular danger to storing stories on the cloud unless you're particularly overzealous about protecting your work from the potential of future AI scraping (google absolutely are capable of using cloud-stored documents for this if they choose to do so, they already scan your emails for keywords to know what to sell you, any 'privacy' they offer applies to outsiders getting your data, not them using or selling it themselves), but just technically speaking it's far easier to get your work stolen if you store your drafts on the internet. I mean, that's where people are stealing it from. If they're stealing your devices to steal your work, the cloud doesn't help because pretty much everyone has their devices set to auto-login for things they use every day (like accessing your drafts). I just can't see a situation in which using the cloud makes your data safer than storing it at home.

I don't use gdocs because I don't like google, have a personal dislike of cloud services (just for Old Man Yells At Cloud stupid reasons), and it just... doesn't offer me anything I'd need. I can't see any advantage to using gdocs, I already have libreoffice. Why would I put myself in a situation where I need internet access to write? It doesn't offer me anything useful that my own computer doesn't already have.

I work between two computers (my desktop and my laptop, depending on if I'm writing in bed or not) and transfer files between them on a flash drive, so I have three reasonably up-to-date copies of my draft at all times. I also queue updates onto my site frequently so if there's a housefire or something almost all my work is uploaded to both Wordpress and Patreon, waiting to be released to the public, and easily retrievable. So losing my work isn't a concern.

[canvasmirror]

Albert Edelfelt (Finnish, 1854 - 1905) • Self-Portrait in 17th Century Costume • 1889

Why did the 19th century artist Albert Edelfelt choose to paint his self-portrait wearing 17th century attire? Having read a bit about him, I've concluded that it was a type of artistic rebellion against having to paint women in order to make a proper living. He both loved and hated his female subjects and much preferred the valiant, heroic qualities of brave men; qualities he felt he lacked.

Here is a portrait of model Virginie, with whom Edelfelt was rumored to have had an affair.

" The worst thing is that I am so fed up with these so-called Parisian subjects, these little women (petites femmes), that I can no longer bear to see without thinking of all the wretched painting, superficial and cute, that one has to do with them. The models look all the same to me; I can achieve neither veracity or character when I paint them; their poses, always the same, annoy me, and that false prettyish elegance drives me insane. " – Albert Edelfelt

Sources:

The Russias wordpress blog

InsideArt: Artists Painting Themselves Painting Revisited

[lgbtqreads]

New Releases: June 18, 2024

A Shore Thing by Joanna Lowell Former painter and unreformed rake Kit Griffith is forging a new life in Cornwall, choosing freedom over an identity that didn’t fit. He knew that leaving his Sisterhood of women artists might mean forfeiting artistic community forever. He didn’t realize he would lose his ability to paint altogether. Luckily, he has other talents. Why not devote himself to selling…

[smallgodseries]

[image description: Two beautiful JC Leyendecker angels – with full haloes, wings, and finery – kneel in adoration. Their focus? A small pile of pale cheeses, swaddled in pleasing red wax. Text reads, “172, SMALL GOD – BABY CHEESES”]

• • • • •

They don’t have names, just yet; they’re still too young and small and defenseless for that, nestled in soft wax shells like proto rinds, snuggled down in mangers lined with cheesecloth and the sweet smells of milk and hay.  They don’t have any sharp edges.  Those will come later, if they’re allowed to age and mature for that long.

They never are.  That’s not why they’re here.

They’re a delicious snack, sweet and creamy and savory, all at the same time, filled with precious fats and delicate sugars.  Each of them lives only as long as a lunch hour, but they nurture the body and the soul, and they consider their short lives well-spent.  They feed us.  we make them, and they feed us, and isn’t that worship, of a kind?  Isn’t that a form of communion?

There are those, even among the pantheon, who say the small cheeses don’t belong.  Who say that if you have no unique identity, no divine origin, and no continuity, you can’t be a god.  And then there are those, like Firm Ent, the small god of cheesemakers, who say that all cheese is divine, regardless of whether or not it chooses to assemble itself a church; all cheese is proof that the

heavens love the earth, for why else would a process meant to bring on souring and decay end with something so flawlessly delicious?

Cheese is a sign of divinity’s love for the mortal, and the small cheeses are a reminder that this love extends even to the smallest and youngest of the humans.

Yes, there are those who are denied this sweet communion, but there are those who are denied every communion.  The bald find little comfort in the hands of Tesla; the hungry yearn for Sandy but are all too often denied his affections.  A thing need not be universal to be divine.

A thing need only be.

And the small cheeses most definitely, and deliciously, are.

• • • • •

Please join Lee Moyer (Icon) and Seanan McGuire (Story) each week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for a guide to the many tiny divinities:

WordPress: https://leemoyer.wordpress.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/smallgodseries/

Homepage: http://smallgodseries.com

Mastodon: @SmallGods@mastodon.world

[lapsed-bookworm]

Call For Submissions: July / August 2024

The Gender Exploration Carnival is one of several blogging carnivals – an event where a host blog puts out a theme for the month, participants create content and share the links with the host, and the host posts a round-up at the end of the month. For more information, you can check out the FAQ page.

I'm self-hosting the Gender Exploration Carnival with the theme of "Flags" for July and August of 2024. The following prompts are merely suggestions, and you are not required to answer one question (or all of them) in order to participate as long as your submission is connected to the theme.

Suggested prompts:

Do you have any thoughts on creating flags for identities? (This could include thoughts on how useful a flag is for the group or personal feedback on color choice, adding symbols and items, and design choices in a given flag.)

Does your experience with a particular gender, genders, or lack of gender have a flag associated with it? (If so: Do you feel any sense of connection to the flag, or do you avoid it? Do you have multiple to choose from? If not: Does a lack of flag ever come up in your interactions with others such as during a Pride event?)

Have you ever contributed to designing a flag for your own identity (or someone else's)? Did you approach the flag as a strictly online image, or did you consider a possible physical flag as well?

If you could redesign a flag, which one would you choose and why?

–

The deadline for submissions is 11 pm EDT [UTC-4] on 31 August 2024. I will post the round-up around 2 pm on 1 September and will accept late submissions until then. You can submit an anonymous entry for this month by emailing genderexplorationcarnival@pm.me (the post will be self-hosted on WordPress), or you can leave a link to your submission in a reblog of this post. If you have an idea for a theme and would like to host, please leave a comment on Volunteer As Host.

[that-dumb-moth]

Tumblr's on fire again. Why? Because of, you guessed it: Matt's greed and ego. Matt has caught bad press recently due to his banning of Predstrogen, a trans woman who expressed outrage at Tumblr staff for doing essentially nothing to combat the harassment she faced on the platform. This controversy resulted in Matt departing the platform until May. Now, was this a good move? Yes. Was this the only good move Matt took? Yes, because Matt has not only never unbanned Prestrogen or anybody else banned in this ego-flex, but he has also implemented an AI learning algorithm that scrapes Tumblr and Wordpress for art with the only way to prevent artists from getting their shit taken being an opt-out button that, you guessed it, isn't enabled by default. Matt has turned Tumblr into a more egocentric version of Musk's Twitter. Also, I would like to state that I don't think Matt is transphobic. I think he's egotistical and incapable of taking criticism. It's why he was so adamant about defending himself and why he chooses to flaunt every flake of positive press he receives.

[elissaalva]

september 4th

Since 2012, I have allowed myself to be muted for the sake of peace and what i perceived to support the safety of the future for my son and I. Its where the sparkle began to die. I know it. I can remember the moment and it still haunts me. I knew no one was going to save us or support us. I went into quiet mode or mute. Once known to be bold and outspoken, I shut the fuck up. I shut the fuck up in fear that my words would be used against me. My actions and choices would be used against me in family law court and as I was seeking employment within the field of Criminal Justice. I told myself I was not going to give anyone any reason to use against me in court or during the hiring process. I deleted videos of me participating in travel during the tours with Wekfest, I only accepted shifts serving during lunch hours even though the customers were more rude and far from generous (ugh, the many stories to share life as a restaurant server is insane), I asked Marvin to delete videos of my birthday parties and any adventures that would look irresponsible in the slightest, I deactivated my first blog I built on wordpress, I remember even avoiding speeding or going into a carpool lane during heavy bay area traffic, because I wanted to be seen as responsible, reliable, honest, and law abiding. I slowed down with accepting modeling opportunities, I stopped sharing, I started hiding. After 12 years, its safe to say that majority of that did matter. However, how rigid and focused I became is misaligned with my core essence. Even when i hit my bench marks of what success meant to me, i didn’t appreciate it because i would tell myself “what took you so long to get here? This is overdue and nothing to celebrate. Keep going.” I have been so un happy and bitter. I killed the fun, curious, and playful parts of me. In these years, I lived in fear and shame. I let the decisions of others make me feel and believe I was a bad person for not being chosen in some way(s). Now that I look back, why would they? My energy probably came off weird or confusing. I was trying to be what they wanted me to be all while keeping my walls up to keep us all safe. Present day, the idea of forcing myself to fit in places I am not seen or recognized is just crazy to me. Ugh! I wish i could just hug and squeeze my younger versions of myself. 2024 in numerology is the year of karma…and I have been seeing it getting served up on gold platters to those who did wrong to me in some way. I will save this for another post though. The topic of Karma is a big one to unpack. 2024 is also the year of the Dragon in the Chinese Zodiac. Its my year. It occurs every 12 years and I see each return to be highly transformative. At 11-12 years old I learned I was on my own in this world I was gonna need to be my own parent, 23-24 years old I decided to play by the rules to the extreme to obtain what my son and I needed to thrive, and now at 35 (soon to be 36) I am choosing to embrace and approach these next 12 years unapologetically. Being around this long I carry with my quiet a bit of varying experiences and knowing. I learned the rules and now I am ready to play the game. side note: I am competitive as fuck, so this game and experience of life is about to get a lot more interesting and fun!

[thatswhatsushesaid]

tagged (kinda) by @mingguangsword!

i lost my first draft of this post 😭 let's try again.

1. why did you choose your url? because i am weak for puns, and because i am actually su she. weepy yet defensive lestat de lioncourt at the end of s2 voice, i am him, he is me.

2. any sideblogs? if you have them name them and why you have them. a whole whack of them:

@dailyayao which is just daily screenshots and scans of jin guangyao from all versions of the mdzs canon

@yaozongzhupressoffice my neglected satire blog where i answer asks and reblog stuff in-character as yao-zongzhu. occasionally will make references to his entirely heterosexual feelings for his very good friend ouyang-zongzhu in the tags.

@itwasabeautifulwebbing my minthara baenre from baldur's gate 3 simping blog lol. it's also turning into a catch-all for various video game nonsense, tho i'm definitely not as active there as i am here.

@fakerashid same deal as above, just for armand from amc's interview with the vampire.

3. how long have you been on tumblr? i first joined back in 2011 with a different username back in the migration of the dragon age fandom from livejournal to tumblr, and have been kicking around in some form or another ever since.

4. do you have a queue tag? sure do! 'moling queue' because, as i said, i'm weak for puns.

5. why did you start your blog in the first place? originally this blog had a different username, and i started it with the intention of cross-posting very serious horror fiction thinkpieces from a wordpress site. obviously i stopped doing that and have been enjoying myself a lot more here since i stopped taking myself so seriously lmao.

6. why did you choose your icon/pfp? i don't understand the question, that's literally me, su-zongzhu. (please god recognize this is a joke)

7. why did you choose your header? i just think jgy and sms look very powerful and dapper together in that scene. 😌

8. what’s your post with the most notes? some unfortunate ides of march shitpost that broke containment within an hour, i have it muted and hope to never think about it again.

9. how many mutuals do you have? no idea. lots? lots and lots?

10. how many followers do you have? 1271 as of this morning.

11. how many people do you follow? apparently 400 on the nose

12. have you ever made a shitpost? absolutely not, i don't have a sense of humour or believe in laughter.

13. how often do you use tumblr each day? every time my attention wanders pretty much lmfao (despondent)

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? never!!!! 😬

15. how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts? i ignore them.

16. do you like tag games? yes!

17. do you like ask games? "i love them, but i don't like chain asks" <- same hat

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous? "probably ray" <- oh no oh dear 😬 i think if i qualify as tumblr famous (doubt.jpeg) then probably a bunch of my mutuals are, too.

19. do you have a crush on a mutual? i am boring and married so no.

20. what is the last song you listened to? this performance of the famous "flowing water" composition for the guqin.

21. what are you currently watching? nirvana in fire, and it's consumed my soul. mei changsu 👀...... /clenches my fist

22. sweet/ savoury/ spicy? "savory"! <- correct!!!

23. what is your current relationship status? "literally on my way to break up with someone T_T i'll be single in a few hours!!!" <- omg fennel!!??? um, as i said above, i'm married! no plans to divorce mr. sushesaid, he surprised me with flowers and takeout from my favourite indian restaurant yesterday because i was having a rough day.

24. what is your current obsession? jin guangyao. it's still jin guangyao. it's probably going to be jin guangyao this time next year too.

25. what are nine albums/ songs you've been listening to lately?

it's not an album, but basically all of the ensemble and solo performances by zi de guqin studio on youtube.

return to cookie mountain, tv on the radio

the wellermen's album of shanties and other arranged covers

the hades 2 videogame soundtrack

the baldur's gate 3 videogame soundtrack

the chain, fleetwood mac

all of the lyrical ballads from the kentucky route zero videogame soundtrack (are u noticing a pattern, because i am)

the haven videogame soundtrack

the assassin's creed valhalla videogame soundtrack

tagging: @ratheralark @holy--milk @carnivorous-horses-lover @sunriseverse @watertightvines @frodo-of-the-nine-fingers @confusion-and-more @occasionalinanity @varethinsilico @thepurplewombat @peacocksdance and anyone else who puts eyes on this thing and feels moved to complete it.

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[anielskaaniela]

How to Sew a Jacket: Free PDF Pattern and Step-by-Step Video Tutorial

In this post you learn how to sew a jacket with free PDF pattern. Do you love the look of a jacket but don’t want to spend a fortune on buying one? Why not make your own? In this tutorial, I’ll teach you how to sew a jacket from scratch, using a free PDF pattern that you can download and print at home. You’ll learn how to choose the best fabric, how to cut and sew the jacket pieces, and how to…

[whimsicaldragonette]

Blog Tour: Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places by Claire Kann

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Publication Date: May 21, 2024

Welcome to the Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places Blog Tour with Berkley Publishing Group. (This Blog Tour post is also posted on my Wordpress book blog Whimsical Dragonette.)

Synopsis:

Lucky Hart has an affinity for the supernatural, but almost no one takes parapsychology seriously. She’s estranged from her family, has lost her friends, and has been rejected from graduate school—twice. But her big break finally arrives when she gets insider info about a troubled production company. Every actor on their new show mysteriously quits after spending three nights inside Hennessee House, an old Victorian with a notorious reputation.

This May, Claire Kann, the author of The Romantic Agenda returns to the page with LOOKING FOR LOVE IN ALL THE HAUNTED PLACES (Berkley Trade Paperback Original; May 21, 2024), a heartwarming, fun, and thrilling supernatural romance for fans of scary stories and love stories alike. Kann’s debut was loved for its asexual representation and diversity wrapped in a delightful love story. Her newest features the same things her fans know her for but adds an unforgettable paranormal aspect.

In the book, Lucky Hart falls in love unexpectedly on the set of a paranormal investigation show. But she’s soon forced to choose feelings or career when the mansion she’s examining doesn’t want to share her attention.

LOOKING FOR LOVE IN ALL THE HAUNTED PLACES is a sweet take on a haunted house story, giving readers a charming single-dad, workplace romance setup and highlighting the experiences of an Ace, Black heroine. If you can’t get enough Halloween all year round, or like your romance with some mystery on the side, this is the perfect novel for you.

My Rating: ★★★

*My Review and Favorite Quotes below the cut.

My Review:

I enjoyed this story. It was sweet and wholesome and just a tad spooky, with a plucky protagonist, a super sweet single dad, and an adorable kiddo. Plus some other really great characters I wish we'd gotten to know more about. And Hennessee House of course.

While I for the most part enjoyed reading this, it was far too long and sometimes really dragged. It took me forever to finish reading it. If it had been shorter, I think I would have enjoyed it more. There's not enough substance there to warrant the length imo.

I really liked Georgia and Xander and I wish we'd gotten more of them. They balanced out Lucky and Maverick's intense insta-love thing they had going on.

I liked the asexual representation, although it sometimes got a little preachy and didn't always 100% make sense to me. But I'm willing to chalk that up to "everyone experiences asexuality differently." That's definitely a type of queer rep we don't often get in romance books so kudos to the author for including it as an integral part of Lucky's romantic experience and not just a sidenote.

The supernatural aspect I enjoyed but found to be very confusing at times. There were multiple times while I was reading that I got tripped up and had to stop and go 'wait, what?' because suddenly I had no idea what was going on.

The first time it happened was at the very beginning when Lucky is lying to Xander and team in hopes of getting the job. She tells the reader that she's lying, but not what the truth is or why it's important for her to lie, and I never felt like the lying was necessary. Lucky doesn't always explain herself very clearly, and she sometimes assumes that people will understand things when they (and the reader) definitely don't.

It was a fun story, not too scary, with just enough supernatural elements to be really unique. I think cutting a little of the length and adding in more of Georgia and Xander could have made it even better.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for providing an early copy for review.

Favorite Quotes:

A year ago, if someone told Lucky her experience being a nanny would inevitably lead to making a ten-year-old her partner-in-crime in a sentient house, she absolutely would've believed it.

[asksoldieron]

SO-28: An Animal and a Human Being...

If there's a lot of engagement on this, this post is liable to get real long, beware before you expand.

No art, but I am working on it and I will add it retroactively. I hope.

Welcome to the Engagement Lounge, for Elephant vs. Elephant Man (257|28) an instalment! Short comments can go in the replies, but there's a 475 character limit. Longer ones will need a reblog. Remember to @asksoldieron if you're reblogging someone else's reblog, so I can see it too!

I would expect the rest of these updates to die even more quietly than usual, under the circumstances. This one's going to go up a little earlier and quieter because I'm going to do some physical therapy this afternoon. It's not helping much, but there's not much else I can do.

Nevertheless, I'm finishing out this six, and then I may vanish until after the election. There was another significant WordPress update, which changed how fonts work. I'm going to have to do some more reformatting, and figure out how to deal with the internet being devoid of unpaid help for someone like me.

So, I was a big fan of In Search Of... as a kid, and this is a reference to their episode about the "Elephant Man" AKA Joseph Merrick. They did it up reenactment-style and had actors read the words people wrote about his situation. Merrick himself didn't seem to have much to say. But what stuck with me was the nurse's reaction. Here is a Victorian-era hospital nurse, she has seen some shit. When Mr. Merrick showed up at her hospital, she freaked out. She was terrified. Sickened. He was too much for her. And then she felt like dogshit. She pulled it together and got back to doing her job - it just took her a minute - but she never shook off being ashamed of her initial reaction.

Erik is no stranger to pain and disability. On some level, he knows what Crackles are, but he's never seen the mental aspect. It's too much for him. That can't be a person. The person is somewhere under all that, and he needs help!

Marc does need help - and part of the reason this six took so long is I detoured and wrote 90+ pages of his backstory in instalment form so I'd be sure what his deal is - but he doesn't need help like that. He's different, and he didn't choose it, but he is what he is. I like doubling and mirror-images, so he's also pretty freaked out by what he sees of Erik. He didn't know they were forcing Erik to work for them, and hurting him the whole time.

By the end of it, they're both a little wiser, but neither one of them may quite remember it.

I'd also like to note - ya know that thing cats do, where they moosh their face into your hand and help pull back their own skin until you can see the whites of their eyes? Then they drool on you? Why is that cute? It is extremely cute, I agree, but now that I had to figure out how to describe it as best I could, for when Misha does it, it sounds horrifying. That's hilarious to me.

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[booksofdelight]

Seven Sci-Fi Books That You Must Read Once in Your Life

Check out the Seven Sci-Fi Books That You Must Read Once in Your Life!

We are always looking for great sci-fi books to read. With so many good books already written, it can be hard to choose which books to read. That is why made this list of sci-fi books that you must read once in your life. Keep reading to find out which books made the list! Many of the books that made our list are heralded as classics or come very close to it. These novels have come to define the…