#added an edit bc it occurs to me that no one knows based on the title lol | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

tonyglowheart · 5 years ago

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@imaginaryelle replied to your post:*me sipping tea* (x)

I would really enjoy seeing more of your thoughts on this, if you ever want to share them.

:’) a lot of my thoughts are salty rants and I’m TGCF on main right now so uhhh not at the moment but if you wanna hmu on like a chat thing of some sort I probably will eventually rant about my dislike of The MXTX Antis and the Problematic Culture people and the purity culture wank :’)

actually you know what, since I’m a parody of myself and I’m like always mood of "and another thing,” I’m just going to. go for it ig

so my biggest thing, is with the MXTX antis/MDZS wank/MXTX wank. is like....god it FRUSTRATES me so fckn much lmfao in so many ways and on so many levels. like listen. I’m not saying there isn’t stuff to critique in MDZS. But there’s people who are first off: critiquing the writing quality, when I’m like “there’s like a 90% chance you’re reading the EN translation, and probably from ExR, and honestly I know it’s not fandom etiquette to critique fan content bc we’re all doing this for free out of passion, BUT I do, in fact, have some major issues with ExR’s translation quality, and also I lowkey feel like they have a strong traditional yaoi bias and sometimes it leaks through in how they handle certain things.” Big mood of this twitter thread about how when you’re reading in TL you can’t be criticizing the writing bc you’re already reading it filtered and like. you gotta consider things like the TL’s own personal biases or takes, etc. Which I feel like some people don’t in their critique, or at least they don’t take the time to acknowledge it and instead start spinning off into more and more impassioned reactions to perceived slights or faults.

The other thing is like. I admit when I first read MDZS - which I did while simultaneously watching bc I was kind of using CQL as a vehicle to get into MDZS, I had the HARDEST time trying to read ExR’s translation when I was going into it cold many many many moods ago rip - I was also squicked out by the explicit scenes shown. It did remind me a lot of traditional yaoi tropes, and I wasn’t into it. HOWEVER I was also a psych major, and I want to point out that the T/N’s do read to me as having a strong yaoi bias, and also before ExR redid their site they had large “SERVING YAOI AND BL” banners on EVERY page lol. And I think that also primes people to see things a certain way. (I just. am :/ about ExR also bc like... their whole vibe as a “yaoi scanlator” and also I. can’t be sure the TL wasn’t 17 when they were tl’ing it lmfao,, and they did the whole rant - which fine they apologized for, but I think sort of reflects on a general attitude still w/ the team - about how some other TL had bad quality or something, but their existing TL has a lot of clunky English phrasing and actually a lot of editing issues, too, I was creating myself a back-up copy from their site and like google docs was already catching a bunch of typos and tense issues and such :’) and that’s beyond clunky EN translation phrasing. I just am like. they have a patreon lol, so I can’t say ExR is doing it wholly not-for-profit/dollars, and also like... it’s not like they’re licensed? I get that within scanlation circles, there’s an etiquette of “first come first serve,” but with translation, I think fans are only served with more translations? but I also care about the original work lol, I mean I get the vanity of “I want MINE to be the AUTHORITATIVE tl” bc I feel that mood too, but also I’m like. fam you didn’t bid for a license lmao.)

But yeah like. My petty gripes with ExR aside lmfao, I think when you look at WangXian, the whole “it’s yaoi tropes” gets really strawman. Like from a Watsonian perspective, I mean like... both WWX and LWJ really ARE useless virgins, lol, WWX’s first kiss was stolen by LWJ and his whole idea of sex comes from porn; LWJ is GusuLan and like. yeah. Who is teaching them about lube? certainly not porn. (but this also gets into the whole. like people saying explicit material is “problematic” because it doesn’t show “realistic” sex and I’m like. fam it’s smut, not a sex manual.) And like... they’re both kinky and WWX has a pregnancy kink, and like... good for them I guess?

From a more Doylist perspective..... I think for me, I’m like. well why not? gay media doesn’t have to be uwu to be “Valid,” and like, the people who start attacking mxtx personally because of the way she chose to write WangXian, or saying she’s homophobic because of WangXian or she doesn’t have the range... I already Know they didn’t read TGCF or SV lol. (and yeah SV is more “problematic” but I also think it’s VERY genre aware and both satirizes and also plays with and subverts some of the typical genre “problematic” things. not everything, but like. again the whole idea that non-mainstream media needs to be held to a higher standard to not be cancelled? I don’t hold by that). [But more on the Doylist thing: it’s dumb to me that people react like it’s a moral failing of non-straight works if they don’t fit EXACTLY their personal idea of what a thing should be. And this comes up EVERY time there’s some new thing. hell it’s not even just lgbt-related stuff; Hamilton, Crazy Rich Asians, etc all had nitpicking. Which again, isn’t invalid! but also like. :/ because we DON’T have enough representation right now to pick, and my take is always: the solution is to get to the point where we can pick and choose and can afford to have bad media just like the straights/whites do :’)]

The thing about WWX and LWJ is neither of them, as they’re written in canon, fit within “traditional yaoi” seme/uke stereotypes. The kiss I see people rail against as “dubcon” and also their sex scenes but I’m like. yeah I think it’s fine to say it’s not your cup of tea but to say that that makes them traditional yaoi rapey tropes I’m like. Fam that’s not it lol. LWJ is shown as being SO incredibly responsive and attentive to WWX’s wishes and desires. I mean that’s examples of his passion exploding out, but we consistently see LWJ being respectful of WWX’s wishes and autonomy even when it like. fucks him/them over :’) like when WWX was so hell-bent on hurtling down the mo’dao route :’)

plus also WWX literally fantasizes about them retiring as farmers and he’s the one out working the fields and LWJ is staying at home weaving lol, like c’mon, ya wanna talk gender roles, let’s talk about this.

the other thing is the whole mxtx anti stuff about “she’s homophobic” and “she’s a filthy fujo” and I think there’s issues that people aren’t considering, which I don’t know as much about but I feel like it informs my consideration of mxtx - such as like... not everyone’s internet is as wide open as, like, the West. I don’t know so much about Chinese censorship other than it exists, but I’m like. I think this would affect people’s access to resources which would inform them about how things work/where people are with LGBT thought? It reminds me of when young tumblr kids trash talk older queer people for using terms they see as “problematic” now, and I’m like “you really gotta pause a moment of (1) have some empathy (2) consider the person’s individual personal and cultural context.” MDZS wasn’t made for a Western audience in mind lol, it’s not going to reflect Western values! And China has a different history with its LGBT progression and it’s m/m media, which I don’t know enough about to comment specifically, but I think it’s incredibly disingenuous to judge it based on Western standards. A lot of people probably don’t realize they are! in that it doesn’t even occur to them, which is why they feel so free with their judgment! But also I’m like. lowkey THAT’s a problem for me bc of like. cultural imperialism lmfao. and also reflective of EN-language imperialism, when people are judging EN tl’s they’re seeing on face value without realizing or considering that they’re...reading... a translation... and that translations are NOT in fact direct one-for-one and that there’s a LOT of considerations that go into both translating and reading a translation of a work.

I think the points antis pull up against MXTX is like... stuff she’s said before in interviews - and I don’t know from when, but I imagine years ago at this point - where she was asked about shipping the other characters in MDZS, and she said something I think about how to her, she wants to write in a way that “preserves realism” or maybe she believes in (I only read a TL of it, so I hold the exact phrasing with a grain of salt), and for her, not everyone is gay so she doesn’t write all of her named characters gay. and I’m like. whatever that’s her prerogative as the author. And I think there’s also something that I don’t know if it’s an official “rules”/”guidelines” she wrote bc again I’ve only seen secondhand/thirdhand sources, but it’s something mxtx-antis also quote, where she said to not break up the main couples and also don’t “reverse” them. but again when we’re getting into the shou/gong dynamics, that’s where I don’t feel comfortable commenting because I don’t know enough about the sociopolitical implications of these terms and how they interact within that fandom/community subset. But I do think people need to be taking the stuff they read - ESPECIALLY if they’re only reading it in EN - with a grain of salt. or like a big ol pinch of it.

edit: I know more about this now lmao and I know exactly which question people use piecemeal of vilify her. Here’s a recent-ish translation someone did. Read it through - the WHOLE thing, and think about the wider context.

But also in general I just don’t think anyone is valid when we start getting into ad hominems lol. Especially when I feel like they’re not really taking a moment to consider what wider contexts and influences might be at play and instead are playing Tumblr telephone with outrage and virtue signalling

sidebar: I also fucking HATE CQL purists lmfao. I don’t feel like I’ve seen or encountered anyone saying CQL fans are less valid than novel fans except in the sense of CQL fans getting defensive about their dislike of the novel - which, whatever, people have opinions - or decision not to read the novel and saying anyone saying they HAVE to read the novel is gatekeeping - which I hold to less but mostly bc I think it’s a fundamental misunderstanding of fan language, some of us say you HAVE to read it not in a neckbeard way but in a I’m so desperately passionate and I want more people to know about this way, kind of like how the “I hate you” in fan language GENERALLY means “I love it so much and I can’t stand it”? - but I HAVE seen people say the novel “ruined” wangxian, or CQL people who seem to be like... purity-wanking, like idk if you were around but god after Infinity War and the number. of fckn ironstranges. posting in the tags. about “love how healthy our ship is” and I’m like. this is still anti culture/purity wank but the other side of the coin 8). I encounter sometimes this lowkey attitude of CQL (or other adaptations) “redeeming” MDZS from the author, and I’m like. y’all are wack lmfao. There’s people wiht MDZS or even TGCF main, and they hate mxtx? and they say shit like “mdzs was only good on accident”? and I’m like. can you just leave lmfao. if you hate her then why are you here. (bc they’ve mental gymnastics this into a virtue ethics thing about “o the work is good and therefore morally fine but the parts I don’t like are because mxtx is morally bad and unworthy and tainted it, and CQL with its Purity has Redeemed it” but I’m like. this is because of censorship lmao. The team did a FANTASTIC job working the character dynamics and story, but like it also is directly because of censorship.)

like I... have more thoughts than this lmfao bc ofc I do, but anyway, here’s... some of them lol

#imaginaryelle #replies #living la vida salty #*

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comicteaparty · 4 years ago

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June 10th-June 16th, 2020 Reader Favorites Archive

The archive for the Reader Favorites chat that occurred from June 10th, 2020 to June 16th, 2020. The chat focused on the following question:

How does poor web design affect if and/or how you read a particular webcomic?

carcarchu

it's a huge factor. if a comic is amazing in every way but the website or app makes it difficult for me to read i'm simply NOT going to read it. there are a lot of great series that i've put on the back burner just because the website is so annoying to navigate

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

i've honestly never run into a website so bad it stopped me from reading a comic i was interested in

carcarchu

FYI the worst comic app i've ever experienced is Aqua Kiss which I downloaded to read a single series. it's the most barebones app imaginable with no search bar. if you want to read something you actually have to manually load each calendar week to find it and some stuff are buried dozens of pages back. and to make matters worse it doesn't have a "history" or "bookmarks" feature either

Deo101 [Millennium]

The worst things with sites that I see often are 1: huge headers, and 2: laggy sites (not really site design, but its adjacent I think) Another is if the pages are too big on the screen, so you can't, for instance, see some panels all at once. Those kinds of things can really ruin a reading experience for me

carcarchu

One example of a website that is hostile to the reading experience is ZMYK which for some reason hosts vertical scroll comics but cuts them up into little pieces as if they were comic format so you can't actually scroll through the entire chapter as it was intended to

That kind of thing grinds my gears so much how can something you have to pay for be that incredibly bad

Deo101 [Millennium]

I've also seen some sites that have graphic design issues, where elements are illegible due to their color, and some have very busy and distracting backgrounds. Those kinds of things won't necessarily ruin it, but they're distracting

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

forward comic's website was doing this weird thing where the further I read the longer pages took to load. Near the end it seemed they were taking 10 full seconds. Still read the whole thing though. Reading manga on shady sites with terrible internet connection as a kid has desensitized me

Oh one comic I was interested in but didn't read because of the site: I was kidnapped by lesbian pirates from outer space. It doesn't have a website. To read it you have to pirate (hehe) copies of the archive.

It's a pretty sad story- the author was young and tricked into giving up the rights to her series

She ended up taking the site down to prevent the company from getting any more money off of it

https://rosalarian.tumblr.com/post/65353128180/its-with-extreme-sadness-that-i-announce-that-my

Here's her post about it

I think it can be a good warning message to us

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

For me, the biggest thing that deters me from reading a comic is if the website isn't well optimized for mobile (as someone who reads a lot on the go). This includes the images loading bigger than the page, or navigation being hidden on mobile, or glitchy scrolling, or any number of ungodly things. Also, too many ads. That'll turn me away in a heartbeat.

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah ads are definitely a huge turnoff for me too

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

@carcarchu okay i just digested this comment and wtf

no search bar is laughably bad omg

how did you even find out about it

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah that's ridiculous hahahaha

carcarchu

it's a shame because there are genuinely good comics on there you can't read anywhere else?? and i found it because an artist i adore did a series for it but it got AXED after only 2 chapters and after that was pretty much scrubbed from the internet. i think it's a shame because it really had so much potential and it ended before the story was really able to start

it's a screenshot from the app. you can see that it is categorized reverse chronologically by week

the point of aqua kiss is to emulate monthly/weekly style manga magazines but in app form. however i think the execution of this idea was horrendous

SteffieMusings

Oh no! It must make reading there so challenging. As for me, if the navigation is so hard to understand/pages don't load properly when you click a link or when the website's colours hurt my eyes so much I can't stay there for too long.

Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho

Honestly nowadays most of the CMS's out there share the same basic functionality and adaptability, so it's getting harder to screw up on that. Most sites are OK, if only a bit laggy. If the site takes less than 2 seconds to load and it's not so crowded that I have to look for the comic, I'm generally good.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

How much bad/inaccessible web design I'll tolerate is directly proportional to how much I care about the comic.

I've dropped a couple series in the middle of the archive just because they changed the site design to screw up the tracking of bookmarking sites, so I would've had to figure out an alternate way to keep track of it, and it didn't seem worth the effort

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Oh yeah, I've totally had that happen too where I was deep into an archive, had taken a reading break for a month or two, and came back to find the urls had been updated and my spot was lost it isn't so bad if a comic also has an archive page, but ive stopped reading a few stories that it would have been too hard to track down where I was.

DaeofthePast

I haven’t had to experience weird websites in a while, but I do sometimes go to an unknown website to read the comic/manga I’m looking for. Mostly what I’ve had trouble with is unnumbered chapters, of that it’s unclear where/how to start reading in general.(edited)

Like, I get to the page for that specific comic and then there’s no easy “start reading here” button anywhere

And when I do find the chapters list, I don’t know which end of the list is the beginning bc it’s unnumbered

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Is a "First page" button enough or are you looking for a "new readers start here" button? (<- is redisigning her page)

DaeofthePast

Is there a difference? :0

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

hm, sometimes yes.

Some old running comics have different jump-on points (schlock mercenary for example).

DaeofthePast

Ooh I see

Well when I first go on the site, I just want to start reading so idk

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

So, I always try to read every comic that's featured in the book club all the way through. Like even if I don't particularly like the opening, or if the comic is thousands of pages long, or I don't have time to meaningfully discuss the comic, I do try to at least give the comic a fair shake by reading through the entire archive. There have been four exceptions. One was because of content (it was a gag a day comic, and the content was SO horrible for SO long that I just couldn't stand it anymore. real "punching down" type of humor). Another was because the comic was literally deleted before I could get to it. The remaining two were because the site design/organization were so awful that the comics were unreadable. One of the two comics had a custom built, hand-coded site (I assume), and it just... didn't work properly. Like the "previous" button seemingly took you to a random page, the "next" button and the "latest" button led to the same place, etc. I'm not sure the creator ever bothered to test the site. The other one used some pre-built stuff, so it was ok... but you had to scroll to the top of the page to go to the next page. Not only that, but the author was posting all their comics to the same archive - which means one page would be the comic that was actually meant to be read for the book club and the next few pages were a completely different comic entirely. And this wasn't a gag-a-day either - it was a story based comic, so the three action minimum to get to the next page made things absolute hell to keep track of.(edited)

DaeofthePast

Wow

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Uff, yeah, that sounds horrible.

Nyx+Nyssa's page is currently a barebone mess, but I made at least sure the navigation works. :/

DaeofthePast

Having the comic be deleted while you’re reading it sounds like such a weird experience lmao

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

i mean, it wasn't thanos snap style lol

DaeofthePast

Was the website gone too or?

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

it was in between days

nah the website was still there, it's just that the author had decided to reboot their comic and forgot that they had submitted it to the book club

DaeofthePast

Oh okay I imagined Thanos snap style

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Not really a design but a site thing: I can't do comics without an archive of some sort. On platforms like Tapas or WT, the episode list serves that purpose perfectly fine. I personally need to be able to see how many pages there are, and I need a way to go to specific pages easily. It might sound like a small complaint, but it's a big thing for me! There have been comics that piqued my interest, but once I saw that there was no archive of any form, I left forever. Sure, I might be missing out, but there are also lots of good comics out there that have accessible archives. My life isn't long enough to read them all, so I'm letting myself be very picky.

copperine

I can manage a very basic site just fine. But if a site is hard to navigate, or just makes reading the page/getting to the next page difficult - I'd be likely to give up eventually. Doesn't matter about the quality of the comic, but if it's a chore to just read it, it's going to put me off after a while

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I will note - if you want me to actually discuss your comic in the book club, please do have an archive link, and probably a cast page too. Like the lack of one doesn't stop me from reading entirely, but I can't discuss anything without being able to look back at specific moments. (and one of those archives that just has dates doesn't count - lemme know what the chapter is!)

copperine

For example - when I read webcomics on dA, I was absolutely fine with either the author having a dedicated folder with the pages in order. Another option was to link next and prev pages in the description. But if I had to go find each next page, I just wouldn't.

DaeofthePast

By an archive do you mean kinda like a chapters list?

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

A list of all the pages, ideally

That also list the chapters somehow

copperine

Short version: if I feel like I'm spending half as much time navigating the site as I am actually reading, it's gonna get old real quick

DaeofthePast

And same copperine. As long as it’s organized well, I will probably read it

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Like maybe you click on a chapter link to get to a list of the pages, or maybe it's just a list of the pages with the chapter names as headers

some sort of organization

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah! (I admit my own comic's archive page isn't the prettiest, but it's 100% functional.)

DaeofthePast

I only have a chapter list so far ^^; idk how to go about getting an archive

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Chapter list is totally fine if your chapters tend to be on the shorter side

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I like having chapter lists around, although coding them can be a handful Not sure if to go for an archive with thumbnails or just with page numbers though.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's also workable if you also have like... a dropdown menu for individual pages on the actual pages? So it only takes 2 clicks to go to a specific page (first click to go to the chapter, second click to go to the page)

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

OH yeah, there was also a dA comic in the book club once that didn't have any next/previous buttons. However, it was a short comic - the bare minimum for getting into the book club - so I still read it all the way through. But it was pretty annoying to do so. (it was also pretty obviously a fetish comic, but that's not really relevant to the discussion XD)

DaeofthePast

I want to post by scene so I’ll be dividing chapters like “chapter 3 part 1” to hopefully that will be better

copperine

I'll always take functional over pretty

DaeofthePast

Haha I’m not sure if I want to know the comic for that one

Also what is “punching down” humor?

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Like, the author was a straight man, and nearly every joke was making fun of people who weren't those things.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

it's like making fun of people but

copperine

Yikes

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

you're intentially trying to put them down

that's punching down in my imo rip

DaeofthePast

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

yeah....

DaeofthePast

Well at least I know what to call it when I see it in the future ._.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Like, occasionally I see a shitty joke in a comic and I keep reading because maybe the author improved (we do sometimes get comics with archives that date back decades in here) But this comic was just so consistently awful for so long that I couldn't stand it

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

oof that aint good

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Though that's kinda off topic lol

DaeofthePast

Oh yeah

So bad site design...

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Anyway, I don't really wanna post the examples of the comics I talked about in here cuz I don't wanna call anyone out

Actually, hold on, lemme check something

DaeofthePast

I feel I haven’t had too much experience with bad site designs, but I might have just forgotten(edited)

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

ok yeah

so, the comic where you had to scroll up to the top of each page to click to the next one, and the site was multiple comics alternating pages that made the story rough to follow

copperine

Oof yeah having to scroll up to click next won't stop me but it is a bother

DaeofthePast

I like having the next button both on top and the bottom, even if they update page by page(edited)

It just feels convinient

copperine

Yeah same

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Re: punching up/down, here's an overly simplistic set of examples: billionaires making fun of poor people is punching down. Poor people making fun of billionaires is punching up.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

's good webdesign pattern for everything with continous content - e.g. blogs, web-novels, webcomics.

Ideally you have one on top, between content and comments and under comments

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

the comic that alternated storylines & required scrolling back up to go to the next page was Antibunny: http://vinnied.comicgenesis.com/d/20061002.html if you see that page I linked and click next a few times, there's no obvious distinction between the main story and the spinoff story (no, like, header change between the two, and the art style looks similar), so you can see how it'd be confusing to follow and the scrolling is just icing on the cake (it used to be even worse) the only reason I feel comfortable sharing that is because the author uploaded the comics to new sites, and fixed all those issues in the process: http://antibunny.net/

DaeofthePast

Oh nice. So they realized the problem

copperine

Aren't they in this server? Or am I thinking of another one

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Yeah, the author is in this server

copperine

I thought so

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Hence why he realized, because we told him that there was a problem during the book club

copperine

I'm not gonna take anything said here as a comment on anyway btw

DaeofthePast

It’s cool that submitting their comic to the tea party resulted in some good feedback :3

copperine

You love to see it!

It always makes me happy when webcomic community stuff helps people out, that seems like the ideal outcome

DaeofthePast

Yess

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

i agree on that yeee

DaeofthePast

It’s like having a friend point out a spelling mistake. Embarrassing but you can live with the knowledge that your work is now a little bit better(edited)

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Yeah kinda off-topic, but I love it when the author of the comic for the book club joins the server. Like not only does it mean that the author could join in on others' discussions in the future (pay it forward 'n stuff), but... it's just really sad when I see a comic pop up in the book club and the author seemingly forgot they submitted it.

DaeofthePast

How long does it usually take to get to a comic? :0 that they would forget they submitted it?

copperine

I always hope I can help others out or support them, and I hope they feel the same

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The book club had a very very long wait list in the past. These days, not so long.

DaeofthePast

And I guess if you submit a comic with a website, the people here can be your beta testers

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

what's odd is that five months ago, the wait list was six months but now, the wait list is two months y'all need to submit/resubmit your comics

DaeofthePast

I tried going to submit mine yesterday and the site doesn’t let me v.v says you’re booked for July

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

oh yeah, so it is

DaeofthePast

Maybe later :3

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

i guess Rebel doesn't want the queue to get too long

copperine

I would submit mine but I'm only at 10 pages and I believe you need to have 20 to submit

DaeofthePast

Ooh they have a minimum?

Gotta count my pages now

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I mean it makes sense. Hard to discuss a comic that only has the cover for chapter 1

DaeofthePast

Tru

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

"Let us dissect this cover image for an entire week"

DaeofthePast

It would be a hilarious April fools challenge

copperine

Idk I think it was 20 minimum?

DaeofthePast

shrug

copperine

@snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights) can you shed any light on this

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The sign up form is where you would normally find that information.

copperine

... very good point

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

But the form is currently unavailable, and it's possible that Rebel might change the requirement when it becomes available again

copperine

Thank you for the heads up

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

FYI, https://comicteaparty.com/ is where the form will be available eventually

Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho

They accept resubmissions now?

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

I def like arrows on the top and bottom of pages for sites to be more of a thing, as well as clicking the image for the next page too! Honestly there hasn't been a make or break, mainly preferences, and the most complaints i have are with the mobile formatting. I think most comics have been pretty solid in functionality that i've read, and it's clear that having their own website is becoming mainstream enough for there to be help, tips, and tricks to making it work!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I definitely prefer if I can just click on the comic image to go to the next page especially for mobile.

copperine

Agreed!

Idk about resubmissions tho

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

... Wow. I absolutely HATE clickable images on mobile, because they usually mess with the pinch-zoom.

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

i've had sites that didnt have image click throughs and the arrow..... was like SO TINY XD

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Didn't think anyone would actually like it, so... huh.

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

i kept going back and forth

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

yeah, navigation needs to be bigger on mobile for safe tapping.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Oh, re:resubmissions, I'm pretty sure you can if it's been long enough? I think @snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights) mentioned it recently as an option. But maybe a tangent for #general

boogeymadam

i dont mind the pinch zoom being a little more difficult from time to time cause usually the clickable image is worth it to me

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Same

boogeymadam

am also fond of sites that allow left/right arrows to let you move forward and back on desktop

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Mainly it's just for like Krispy said, reading on mobile and tiny next/previous buttons.

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

ye my dummy thicc fingers prefer the click through image for sure

ohh yes Boogey that too

boogeymadam

it took me hours of googling to find the very simple comicpress option to just turn that on on my site

copperine

Mmm I do like sites that allow pinch zoom though

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I also prefer clicking on the image to go to the next page

mariah (rainy day dreams)

My fingers small, but still dummy T-T

copperine

It makes it easier to get a better look at the page

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

iweudhweiu Mariah XD

copperine

Especially if it's got smaller font

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

nyxandnyssa has a seperate navigation for mobile that's much bigger and skipping scene select to make tapping easier.

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

I've had the hover text def bum me out for some comics, where you click the image and it just displays the text, then you gotta click the tiny next bar def killed me there

copperine

I've never had issues with pinch zoom affecting clickable images but I can imagine it would be annoying

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

but! never breaks me out of a comic for me to stop reading-! i persevere in the face of adversity XD

boogeymadam

i've never encountered a site so bad i couldnt continue reading. maybe stuff where i'd stop reading until i was less frustrated but i'd come back later.

DaeofthePast

That’s something I’ll have to consider for my site then

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I feel like Smackjeeves had a really obnoxious auto pitch & zoom before they updated most recently. I like when I can turn it off on my phone. I'd rather do it myself most of the time and let my phone try to auto it X')

DaeofthePast

I usually read on desktop more often than on mobile so it’s good to hear from other’s experiences

copperine

Idk I've never used a custom site yet

boogeymadam

same dae, except on tapas and webtoons!(edited)

comics with their own website i'll boot up my computer for a single update of

DaeofthePast

Even on webtoons I read on desktop

boogeymadam

omg your power, webtoons feels so choppy on desktop to me

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

im definitely lucky that our site got a mobile friendly version i remember the 'ol pinchy zoomz was tiresome on our site for sure

DaeofthePast

I get headaches from reading on my phone unfortunately :/

Idk what the difference is between reading mobile and on a desktop but my brain doesn’t like it

Like, I can text fine???? But reading a comic for some reason is like “no”

So yeah, comics on desktop for me

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

ohh!! it could be the close proximity!

DaeofthePast

Ooh :0 maybe?

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

i know i get motion sickness depending on how close/ far i am from screens

DaeofthePast

Maybe it’s something like that... :O

boogeymadam

whatever the reason sorry you get headaches and motion sickness from comics :'0

DaeofthePast

Every once in a while I’ll try again to read on mobile I never learn

boogeymadam

the only reason i dont like mobile is sometimes comics text is a combination of too small there and the font is hard on my dyslexia

DaeofthePast

Rip

boogeymadam

so i see if zooming in on my computer helps

DaeofthePast

The lesson here is that it’s good to have both mobile and desktop options

boogeymadam

yep :'D

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

ohhh yea def agree. I know that feeling and i sometimes ... have a Time reading my own work XD (i admit it lol!!)

boogeymadam

sometimes my own comic is hard on my dyslexia for The Effect so i never have hard feelings with other comics

copperine

(brb)

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

ewiudhiwue the things we do AT WHAT COST XD

DaeofthePast

Asdfghjkl

Meanwhile I use the same font for everything

boogeymadam

wait im gonna generalize this more so it can be a party

DaeofthePast

Please post that on pillowfort so I can reblog it

boogeymadam

you can post it for yourself if you want dae!

i'm having a hard time logging on asdfgjh

DaeofthePast

Rip sure

copperine

Ah see I have both

Because hand lettering

It's great for feeling right for a comic but also eternally wondering if it's readable

DaeofthePast

Ooh yeah I guess that would count as both

What’s your comic btw :0

Wait, we’re supposed to be talking about website design right

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yep! If it gets too off topic, you can always continue in another channel that's more fitting.

copperine

Ah sorry! Sure thing

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Mobile is too small for me

DaeofthePast

Yeah

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

(oHHMYYGOSH BOOGEY XD)

boogeymadam

mm archives were mentioned already, and how it can really turn readers away to simply not have one at all? my favorite archive is https://www.vaingloriouscomic.com/comic/archive 's but i've seen some where they attempted an all picture archive and it backfired by just being a page of all empty boxes. this didn't deter me from reading it and it got fixed pretty quick tho~ mine is one of these and its a very chonky slowmoving page cause i uploaded the first 90ish as fullsized pictures. nobody's ever complained so idk if it's ever deterred anyone from reading but i know i gotta fix it someday.(edited)

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I really dont mind any kind of web design in particular though tbh. I prefer desktop sites but it’s fine if the design isnt great

DaeofthePast

Have you guys ever gone to a comic website (for a single comic) and the colors used in the background were so bright that it felt like they were blinding you to the point it was hard to read the actual pages?

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

My archive is down right now becayse it broke and I dont know how to fix it lol

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

i def want a fully view-able archive but we're gonna be hitting 800 pages and i dont know how well that will work XD

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

But I have a navigation bar now

boogeymadam

u could have multiple pages of archive, krispy!

i'm starting a new page for chapter 2

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Or dropdown menus

boogeymadam

but its probably important to have a dropdown if u have more than 1 page, yeah

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I want to switch to picture archives, but I haven't found a good plug in/way to get my word press to do it :( if anyone has recommendations...

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I wish I knew how to make dropdown menus

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

i'll have to bring that up ! we dont do the tech work for our site ( thank gosh seriously) but i love archives that show full pages

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

If I could make dropdown menus I would be unstoppable

copperine

I miss the drop-downs on SJ

boogeymadam

i feel like dropdowns are smth i pretty much only exclusively see on hiveworks comics

i wonder what their secret is,,,

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I’ve inspected the elements on so many hiveworks sites lol

I want to know

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

they use word press I think

for their comic sites

just have to do some digging with the site html and csss

copperine

Right click and inspect maybe...

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Php stands for my Personal hell pit

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

if i could go undercover for yall i would XD

boogeymadam

also!! @mariah (rainy day dreams) i use elementor for mine

its not perfect and breaks like every time i update it but it works asdfg

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

... I'm currently writing a sparkling fresh wp-plugin for my page (comic easel wasn't doing what I wanted), but I am also a software dev who enjoys coding.

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

My template I use functions in mostly php and xml and its gibberish to me but functions so well I dont know how to improve it to have specific things I want

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

my knowledge with site design is basic at best lmao

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

wordpress is a bit special in that it does most things more complicated than strictly necessary.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

but I do like fiddling with stuff

^that too lmao

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

I know Shiza of osarilho is really good at web designing? she's made some beautiful work with her site!

boogeymadam

i want to ask shiza for more help but not before i have some money to pay her :')

she's helped me a lot already

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I can do html and css at the babiest level

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I'll check that out Boogey, thanks! Even if it does break X') And I guess I'll just make a note to start stashing money to hire shiza XD im definitely at the point where my site needs a general face lift, but I don't have the spoons for it.

boogeymadam

imo i've made some really pretty pges with it. it's a drag and drop that's excellent at galleries, but it doesn't like when you don't have even rows for some reason

the wordpress plugin, Elementor, i mean.

copperine

I've been wanting to try comicpress for ages

I just don't know where to start

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I'm gonna move over to #shop_talk for my response

copperine

I had someone who was gonna help me out but we lost contact so it's on the back burner

boogeymadam

OOPS yeah

copperine

But for websites in general I prefer to have one that feels very basic than one that feels too busy or crowded

I'm not a graphic designer at all lol

If I do try an independent site I'm planning to pay a coding friend to help me

DaeofthePast

yeah i have no idea what I'm doing when working on my site, it's kinda basic, but at least it looks nice

copperine

I just use a premade theme on my ComicFury site

It works and that's good enough for me so far

Oh I guess the other thing that would put me off reading a comic is if the site isn't formatted for mobile, and/or particularly if the site doesn't have adaptive formatting

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

same, but editted it hard core so it looks like it's own thing lmao

copperine

I usually read on my phone because my computer is where I work so I like to get off it for hobbies

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

but for me uh i guess mobile i try to read it either on tapas, webtoon or its own site

I find just clicking the page to the next one helps me a lot lol I don't do a lot of zooming

copperine

Mmm

copperine

It's personal preference a lot tbh!

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I like my comuter because its big

copperine

Valid

Mine is not

Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho

did anyone talk about paying me please you don't have to do that

copperine

Idk but you can pay me

Idk what for but

I'll take money

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I absolutely would have to if you made my site awesome X') work is work, and you should be paid for it

Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho

fair enough

Just send me a DM whenever you're up for that and lemme take a look at what you already have

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I would hire someone to do web design for me but I dont have the funds & I dont wnat to make someone do work for me for free

sierrabravo (Hans Vogel is Dead)

I've been meaning to set up my own website for a while now, since the collective i was originally hosting my webcomic with kinda fell apart, but it's so much work and i'm hella intimidated :'''D

copperine

@sierrabravo (Hans Vogel is Dead) there's been some related discussion in #shop_talk and I believe @boogeymadam might be able to advise (I'm sure others can too but I'm going off the convo from earlier)

Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho

@sierrabravo (Hans Vogel is Dead) depending on how much it is I can help you out

RebelVampire

Admin Reminder Remember this channel is for experiences as a reader first and foremost, so #shop_talk and #general are better if you want to discuss your own stuff.

DaeofthePast

thank you for the reminder :3

RebelVampire

I would say poor web design is something I have a complicated relationship regarding webcomics. On the one hand, outside of a site being 100% completely broken, I'm willing to sit through a lot to read. So in terms of affecting whether I read a comic the first time or not, there isn't much to say there. But it does affect how engaged I am with the comic. Cause if I can't easily go back to re-read a page, easily find things like character names, have to deal with extreme lag cause the host is garbage, have to deal with eye bleeding color schemes, etc. you can bet your bottom dollar 1 time is all that comic is going to get in terms of reading it. I can only subject myself to so much, and if I don't feel like reading a comic again because of the site itself, I'm going to quickly forget it in favor of comics whose sites don't make me cry. I do give more leeway to sites created by creators in many respects. But professional bigtime hosts like Tapas or Webtoons literally have no excuse for some of their garbage design choices. And some of their design choices are super duper garbage.

DaeofthePast

that's true yeah, there's a big distinction of the quality expectations between sites by small creators and those of big companies like Webtoons

RebelVampire

At the same time, though, I know from first hand experience that poor design choices are literally influenced by user data for bigger companies. So for every decision I consider stupid- at the same time they probably did the AB tests that showed crappy design A had better results for their conversion rates than user friendly design B.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Which boggles my mind

I wonder if there's some kinda causation-correlation thing going on that the A/B tests could not detect accurately

boogeymadam

Rebel mentioned sites that have eyebleedy color schemes and I'm in the same boat; will read the comic, just will be turning down the screen brightness a looot. Sites that have a huge space of extremely neon background that distracts from the comic make me reluctant to read on the site, and I'll look for a mirror before trying. That white background of the 2 big comic hosting sites can at least be affected and turned dark by nightmode when needed, while nightmode doesn't work on half the bright comic sites I've tried it on. u-u

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #comic tea party #ctp #reader favorites

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stiction · 5 years ago

Text

twitter prompts are happening over here, friends

“@roseymoseyberry: could always go for some soft dads content [...] maybe something with one character comforting another who’s been working too long and hard lately”

set shortly after the s2 orion pax arc bc im soft

---

“Your fuel levels are low.”

Optimus couldn’t look away from the screen. “No lower than yours.”

“That’s not an excuse.” A cube appeared at his elbow. “Drink that.”

He picked it up automatically. Arguing with that tone of voice rarely yielded results. The energon soothed his tank, even if the glaring ‘RECHARGE NECESSARY’ warning on his HUD refused to be dismissed.

“Arm out.”

Optimus kept his dominant hand on the keyboard and held the other hand out to the side. There was a brief pinch before the port cover in his forearm popped open, and then a soft humming tingled in his processor when Ratchet jacked in.

Hello, he thought. My apologies for the mess.

Nonsense, Ratchet said. We’re lucky you’re able to think coherently at all.

Optimus’ attention was drawn back to the tedious task of decoding. Ratchet’s interference was minimal--he picked around the raw edges in Optimus’ processes, editing only what he was sure would help. It did help, even in the moment. As outdated process trees were pruned, Optimus’ focus zeroed in. The odd hydraulic glitch in his foot stabilized. He stopped unwittingly picking up a far-off radio station. For the past week, Optimus hadn’t been able to stop thinking the phrase ‘animal crackers in my soup’, but suddenly the looping sound file ceased.

Thank you, he thought. Genuinely.

That one was selfish, Ratchet replied. Now I don’t have to listen to that while I work.

True enough.

The noise cleared, Optimus took a moment to focus on Ratchet. He was a familiar presence by now. The shape of him was well defined in Optimus’ mind: almost exactly the way he had always been. It changed sometimes in minute ways. This time, when Optimus turned his attention inward, he paused.

Ratchet felt tired.

More tired than normal, which was a great deal more tired than Optimus found permissible.

You should rest, he said, as gently as possible.

Sharp disbelief bled through the hardline.

You’re joking, right?

Optimus frowned, both at the database on screen and Ratchet. Far from it, Ratchet. You need to rest. A thought occurred to him. When was the last time you refuelled?

Predictably, Ratchet’s reply was mostly unintelligible grumbling.

Ratchet, Optimus said. He waited until Ratchet finished fixing an errant line of code. Go recharge. This can wait until morning.

He expected more blustering, which would stop when he turned the advice into a direct order, at which point Ratchet’s field would turn to begrudging compliance laced with guilt.

He didn’t expect to be ignored.

Ratchet? He repeated.

This is important, Ratchet snapped. Optimus felt him more strongly in the forefront of his mind now, digging deep into corrupted files and disjointed processes. You’ve been awake for two full days. I can handle a few more hours if it means getting you closer to full functionality again.

Optimus pulled further back into his mind until Ratchet was almost a physical presence. The jack in his forearm felt like an anchor. He wanted to draw his own out and plug in to Ratchet’s port. It wasn’t fair that--

Not fair? Ratchet snapped. Optimus, this is hardly the time to be focused on fair. Your processor is scrambled, the team is a wreck, and you’re lucky to be in one piece. Now please sit still and let me work.

This close, Optimus could finally clock the weariness Ratchet was trying desperately not to project.

Five more minutes, Optimus said. And then both of us are going to recharge.

When Ratchet was silent, he added, Arcee is on guard duty. The base is safe.

I know, Ratchet said. ...Five more minutes.

The time passed slowly now that Optimus was waiting. Even the database couldn’t hold his attention. The glyphs blurred together and became incomprehensible.

“Alright,” Ratchet said aloud. He was still plugged in. Optimus saved the little progress he had made and powered down the monitor. “You need your rest.”

Optimus caught his hand as he reached for the medical jack. “We both need rest,” he murmured. Internally, he nudged at Ratchet’s mind. Come to berth.

Ratchet avoided his optics.

You’re exhausted, Optimus pushed. It does none of us any good to have you so worn down. He turned to face Ratchet, and followed his gaze.

Arcee was just barely visible around the scattered supplies that filled the corners of the base. She was turned away, working quietly.

Optimus dropped his optics once again and took Ratchet’s face between his hands. The hardline fritzed, a blip of charge rattling Optimus’ port.

Come to berth, he said again, dipping his helm to press his mouth to Ratchet’s.

Alright.

#transformers #opratch #listen i still do live and breathe this pairing #incredibly married old robot dads? yeah im here for it

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myinnerscarlett · 5 years ago

Text

The World and all its Charms

Charm is a lost art. Charm is what we expect when we come to a city called the Hostess City of Savannah. Take my word for it, as my husband and I officially became super-hosts...independent of any agency. For whatever it’s worth, we have been through our share of less than charming agencies that boast they are doing great. They let less than desirable people into our property and, when we pointed out their transgressions, acted like it was our fault. Not our fault people abuse property and safety of inhabitants. That’s not what I’d call a Lucky charm. Put that in your next ad campaign. And we also don’t put up with neighboring agencies who wreak havoc in the townhomes surrounding us - no matter which agency they employ - eye opening to some who found out through us just how bad it’s getting. Because we are about true hospitality for both guests and neighbors. Some people never learn. I’m grateful for those who do. The city putting its foot down is a step in the right direction. That’s the Hostess City I’m talking about. I’m preaching to the choir for those who also live in highly touristic Airbnb towns. It’s all about balance & talk about an act... On that note, the opposite of a mark of hospitality, a book reviewer should never have to be described by a reviewed writer as one who “incorrectly states some facts and omits others.” Letter to the Editor, April/May 2019. As curious or foreign as that approach is to me (because I’d call it rude), it’s always interesting to see how folks change their tune when confronted with their own failings. Much like the vacation rental agencies in Savannah, and doubtless/countless other places... One minute it’s all about I stand by my opinions or (as last year’s reviewed writer put it) “way w-aaay off” appraisal, now it’s - to put it in the proverbial nutshell - who cares. That letter to the editor appeared in June 2018. If you write about it, you care about it. Period. I see a trend. It’s either a marketing ploy on the part of the editor to make sure The Bulletin stays a battleground, for the sake of interest, or just a game, as Mensans are fond of games. If it was a publication for sale, controversy might help up it. However, The Mensa Bulletin is a “free” magazine that comes with membership. To put it into perspective, it’s the only freebie we mensans get, the readership is getting much older and its book reviewer is unpaid. I skim the issues infrequently and no longer use the resource as a means to get my work to a greater audience. Works I have had reviewed come out as good as my husband and I have as super-hosts. As for readability, there are far more important news outlets and infinitely more important news circulating. I agree with the WSJ article that described Mensa as more of a party club than intellectual meeting of minds (should be both) and anyone who says differently, fine, who cares, right? “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” Quote from Hamlet by William Shakespeare (Denmark, anyone?) I’ll get back to that later. Let’s take the high road. Let the others wallow in the mud. Super-hosts, remember? Speaking of which, so much mud...so little time. In March of 2003, Vanity Fair published a piece called “The Talented Mr. Epstein.” It looked at his lavish lifestyle and questioned the origin of his vast fortune upon which it was based. Questionable is the operative word here. What it failed to do - and failing others is the topic - is report on the team of Jeffrey Epstein and gal pal procurer “I’m innocent to a witch” Ghislaine Maxwell. Crucible references are so apropos here. The Farmers’ accusations are among so many women’s accusations made public lately. They recounted theirs on the record long ago, but that part didn’t make the cut. Another example of bad editing. In their own words: “We decided to share our story about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell with a writer for Vanity Fair in 2002 because telling other people what happened to us, as we had already done, did not lead to either of them being held accountable.” Accountability for one’s actions. Another mainstay of so-called professional agencies. They hoped the story would put people on alert so as to avoid other girls falling prey to their abuse. The article that ran essentially, in their own words, “erased our voices.” Among the tools of intimidation, it’s alleged, were Epstein’s coterie of intimidating lawyers; a five figure donation to a New York Time’s reporter’s favorite non-profit; a bullet delivering a message; and - get this - a deployment of charm? What was that, surely not the alleged severed cat’s head left on the front lawn of the editor-in-chief? The world and all its charms. Charm should not be equated with buying people off. After all, we don’t live in Denmark’s autonomous region of Greenland. But it is called The Kingdom of Denmark and the King of Denmark figures into Hamlet. And our very own “King of Israel, Chosen One and Second Coming of God” tRump wanted to buy it (or if that didn’t work out, maybe trade it for Puerto Rico). Why some are asking Congress to invoke the 25th amendment, I’ll never know. Ah, sarcasm, but then what else are fools for? There’s The Crucible again. The New York Daily News has had a field day - and rightly so - with the depiction of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper turned The Last Whopper, with tRump front and center, but surrounded by cronies: VP Pence, HUD Sec Ben Carson, Education Sec Betsy DeVos, First “Lady” Melanie (done on purpose) daughter Ivanka and his boy Elroy, I mean son-in-law Jared Kushner. Meet the Jetsons, right. These people are not just other worldly...they are lost in space. As for Bernie’s thoughts on Israel taking tRump’s cues on not allowing members of Congress to visit there...even if - in the one case - Netanyahu flipped (bc of Tlaib’s grandmother)...not so fast. Banning members of Congress should come at a price - to the tune of billions in military aid. Playing fair sometimes means playing hardball. That occurs even when one is as hospitable as a super-host. Or good old Bernie Sanders. That’s an expression, not a judgment. No age discrimination, please. Some of us are not just super-hosts, we are super-agers, like Bernie and the list of candidates in the presidential line-up. For quality people everywhere, no matter what your demographic, I got one question for you... Can you spell “Misogynist,” “Xenophobe,” and “Narcissist,” because I know I can. How about let’s define charm and actually not just use it but insist on others behaving in the same way. At the end of the day, don’t ever let the narcissists or their distractions get in the way.

That’s the story of...that’s the glory of love.

The narcissists are running our country now. You need to understand what this means. Read and share this book today!

#trump #narcissist #bernie sanders #jeffrey epstein #mensa #mike pence #ben carson #ivanka #netanyahu #savannah #airbnb

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aschenink · 7 years ago

Text

Project Updates | May ‘18

↢ April ‘18 update

I’m going to start posting these monthly! Unfortunately the past month has been pretty rough for my writing, as the writer’s block I was staving off hit hard. Personally though, this month is really exciting in that I’m coming up on finals to round out my fourth year of college and--I’m moving!! So while I may not get as much writing done this month, I’m hoping to make up for it this summer when I have a nicer place to work.

Projects are listed in order of priority. Warning for a very long post under the cut.

EOSOPHOBIA

novel | goal: 110K-130K | current: 20K | about

I haven’t mentioned this much, but Eos is intended to be four separate stories that are woven together to create a dynamic, deep novel. This translates to me writing a short novel (Jackal’s PoV), two novellas (Magenta’s PoV; Oswald’s PoV) and a novelette (Onyx’s PoV) while trying very, very hard to keep them intertwined in surprising ways--the end effect is that each of them is the antagonist of another’s story. It’s super fucking cool, but also a total headache.

Not much drafting has occurred since the last update, but there have been some significant changes to the plot.

Now trying to save as many of my characters’ lives as I can (proving difficult) and am making their lives that much worse in return.

At least three major character deaths (out of a 10 major character cast) are confirmed to die. Two minor characters confirmed to die as well.

Onyx has a much improved character arc that features something resembling a personality and not just a steep decline into psychosis.

Amaryllis’s arc is much more shocking, sudden, and emotional.

Onyx/Amaryllis (Amarynx) is confirmed to be the second romantic relationship, joining Iris/Magenta. Amarynx is now a much healthier relationship thanks to changes in Onyx’s arc.

Jackal now has a much deeper character motivation but is causing unreliable narration difficulties. Jackal is arguably even more of an asshole now, but with much better intentions.

Viktor is changing his physique and thus his faceclaim is no longer Jason Momoa. Due to a strong likeness to a preexisting character, Viktor is now paler, has lost a slight bit of musculature, has darker hair, and is also somehow more of an asshole (?? I blame Jackal for this development)

Started writing a modern casino AU bc I like to procrastinate, but didn’t get very far. Made a moodboard for it, though.

CONSIDERING: changing Jackal’s PoV to Viktor’s PoV due to problems with unreliable narration; changing Oswald’s PoV to Peni’s PoV due to not knowing how to write Death’s PoV; may be dropping focus on four horsemen subplots; may be increasing the age of both Jackal and Viktor.

NEXT FOCUS: developing outlines for all four PoV’s; resuming drafting.

GONE ARE THE GODS: A COLLECTION

story collection | goal: 80-90K | current: 10K | about Infra.Red

My collection of Greco-Roman mythology retellings with a dystopic/cyberpunk twist. I’ve been really loving this collection, even though it is experimental for me. I’m currently planning to self publish this collection when it’s ready, but that’s subject to change.

Currently in collection, in order:

Viral (short story) | Medusa retelling of a technological apocalypse

When Love Crumbled (poem) | Orpheus retelling

Where the Gods Don’t Venture (flash fiction) | Nymph-based

Infra.Red (novella) | Hades + Persephone retelling in an urban dystopia

Updates:

Collection is organized by chronological order--Viral is the opening story as it tells the story of society’s dissolution into dystopia, and Infra.Red is the feature story at the end in which the dystopia is dissolved.

When Love Crumbled is added to the collection, which is a piece related to the flash fiction piece Where The Gods Don’t Venture

I’ve really enjoyed working on Viral, as even though it’s a cyberpunk piece it allows me to weasel in some biological metaphors and that makes me really ridiculously fucking happy (I’m a biology major, so)

NEXT FOCUS: plot/outline Infra.red; edit When Love Crumbled; continue developing stories to add to collection

ASSORTED WORKS

I literally can’t sit down and focus on just one thing, so lately I’ve been bouncing around with a lot of short stories etc... I just need to prove to myself that I can actually finish a story and still enjoy it, and I’d like to publish a few short works while I’m at it!

Currently working on:

The Rotted Rose | short story | fantasy/romance | currently drafting

Female Robbery | prose poem | contemporary fiction | currently editing

Invisible Stitching | flash fiction | fantasy/magical realism | currently drafting

A Shotgun Named Love | short story | fantasy/literary | currently drafting

Pendulum Heart | short story | fantasy/clockpunk(?) | currently drafting

Clementine | flash fiction | scifi/lunarpunk | currently drafting

Updates:

Organized WIP flash fiction and short stories

Plotted, developed 6 short WIPs

Female Robbery finished drafting, currently taking a break before editing it. Not sure what I’m gonna do with it when it’s done, since I don’t really like it.

Spent a lot of time hovering over the SFWA qualifying markets page and daydreaming about publishing. Not productive but it was fun, 10/10 would recommend.

ALIGHT IN ASHES / THE MORTAL CONSTELLATION TRILOGY

novel | goal: 80-100K | current: outlining | about

Still working on redoing the characters and possibly adding more PoV characters, though not to the extent of Eosophobia’s bullshit. No update.

EVEN GOD IS ENTERTAINED BY MY SINS

novel | goal: 60-70K | current: 30K | about?

Starting to edit sections of the first draft whenever the mood strikes me. No update.

#project update #aschenink #may 18 project update #eosophobia #gonegods

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sylleboi · 5 years ago

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𝕬 𝖕𝖗𝖎𝖒𝖎𝖙𝖎𝖛𝖊 𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖑𝖉

Definition/Understanding → Research → Comparison/Reflection → Narrative & Character

A question that has kept occurring in my head whenever “primitive” has been mentioned is, what exactly is it? What is a primitive world? What makes it primitive- and what does it look like?

When I think of a ‘primitive world’, I immediately start thinking of the early stages of civilisation; primitive civilisation.

Source: ScienceDirect.com - International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, reference work

In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition), 2001, written by Alexander F. Robertson, he describes “Primitive” as following;

“‘Primitive’ is a term from the evolutionary vocabulary of the nineteenth century that in popular understanding still identifies the interests of the modern discipline of anthropology. Anthropologists have sought to come to respectful terms with their ‘Primitive’ subject matter by redefining it in terms of a distinctive social structure, culture, spatial distribution, and type of livelihood. But despite efforts to set aside disparaging contrasts between primitive society and modern civilisation, evolutionary assumptions about human progress remain embedded in both scientific and humanistic approaches to society.”

When reading this, I was intrigued by the idea of how we as a society choose to interpret and understand the word; [primitive]. The way that it’s a modern way of understanding something ancient, as if we are looking back at something through a veil, based on the fact that we are so far and ahead from our ancestors, in an evolutionary sense, that we define them by what tools they used. (ex. stone age)

Further, Alexander F. Robertson also describes “Primitive Society” as such;

“In popular usage, ‘primitive society’ distinguishes ourselves from other people who have made little progress toward what we understand as civilization. There are very few such people left today: they live in scattered communities in deserts or rainforests, and they interest us mainly because we think of them as the living relics of our own distant ancestors. The comparison is usually unflattering. Until the beginning of the nineteenth century ‘primitive’ simply meant ‘first’ or ‘earliest,’ but as the word was applied to the original inhabitants of territories colonised by European and American states, it acquired the connotations of inferior, backward, rude.”

As for when I reflected upon his first quote, this sort of applies to this second quote. I find it incredibly interesting to think about the way in which not only us as the more modern society, but also how the societies prior to ours have interpreted this. The idea of something being the “first” and the “earliest” appearance of mankind; How that later was used against the people, using their way of living as an insult of them being “lesser”.

Early civilisations research:

Identify the variety of early civilisations → Choose two → Time, where, what defined their way of living – remember to add visuals!

With a clearer understanding of what exactly a ’primitive world’ is based upon, I can’t help but want to look into the word “civilisation”. What ancient civilisations exist and what traces of their existence have their left behind?

One of the obvious ones that immediately comes to mind are the Egyptians. They were an ancient civilisation, located in Egypt by the banks of the Nile. Their time of rule being 3150 BC – 30 BC (according to the conventional Egyptian chronology). They are said to have had a political understanding of their society, referred to as “Upper” and “Lower Egypt” under the first pharaoh. Though this was only possible because there were already settlers around the Nile banks and valley around 3500 BC. Their civilisation was rich, well known for their prodigious culture and their architecture, especially the pyramids and Sphinx.

They had a wide variety of things that defined their culture and way of living; this can be seen in the way that they made mummies which preserved ancient pharaohs and other important figures of the time to this very day. Hieroglyphs not only tells stories of their age and time, but also shows how their language was developed and used.

Tutankhamun’s Mask:

Narmer Palette:

Another ancient civilisation that came to my mind was the Maya Indians. I have researched them in the past for a written school project, so I already know a good amount about their culture.

The ancient Maya civilisation planted their roots in Central America at around 2600 BC – 900 AD. Once they had established themselves in present-day Yucatan, Mexico, they proceeded to prosper and become a sophisticated folk. By 700 BC, they Mayans had developed their own system of writing which they then used to create calendars of the solar system, all carved into stone.

According to the Mayans, the world was created on August 11, 3114 BC (the date of which their calendar begins), and the supposed end date was December 21, 2012.

This ancient civilisation was incredibly rich compared to many other civilisations of the time. They built pyramids, much like the Egyptians, but some of their buildings were even much larger than the pyramids.

It is still a complete mystery what happened to the Maya Indians. Their population suddenly began to rapidly decline. Why did the Mayans, a highly sophisticated and developed civilisation made up of more than 19 million people, suddenly collapse and disappear during the eighth or ninth century? What happened to them?. Despite this, there are still descendants of the Mayans that live in the central parts of America to this day.

From the last brief, we looked at a lot of narrative based things such as mythologies and folklores. One of the things I stumbled upon was the origin of the myth and folklore about the creature; wendigo. I didn’t further look into this, but this reminded me of it.

The folklore originates from the Native Americans, more specifically the tribe that goes by the name of “Algonquin”. The Algonquin people are natives from Canada and this folk lived and still to this day, live around parts of western Quebec and Ontario, centering themselves around the Ottawa River. Like the Mayans, there are still people identified as having Algonquin ancestry. (from 2016, 40,880 people).

- The Algonquin people have been known by various Europeans since 1603, first encountered by Samuel de Champlain.

Moose Hunt, artwork by Lewis Parker

Algonquin Canoe, artwork by Lewis Parker

Algonquin traditional territory

The Algonquin hunted, traded and lived in large areas of territories in the Eastern Woodlands Subarctic regions, being independent of one another. Like some of their relatives, the Algonquin used to live in disassembled birch bark dwellings, known better as wigwams.

They lives in communities where clans were represented by totems based on different animals such as crane, wolf, bear, loon etc. The clans had incorporated leadership provided by elders which were highly respected within each clan. Intermarriage within a clan was not permitted, even if the people were from different communities all-together.

Their language was known as Omàmiwininìmowin, which is part of the Algonquian language family. The root of this word is Omàmiwininì, which is often used by the community to describe Algonquin people overall.

Within the Algonquin language family are a wide variety of different languages such as Atikamekw, Blackfoot, Cree, Wolastoqiyik, Mi’kmaq, Innu, Naskapi, Ojibwe and Oji-Cree. Within all of these mentioned, the Algonquian language group was the language mostly spoken in Canada, with around 175,825 speakers. The majority of these speakers reside in;

Manitoba (21.7%)

the rest live in;

Quebec (21.2%)

Ontario (17.2%)

Alberta (16.7%)

Saskatchewan (16.0%)

Despite the language being quiet widespread amongst the clans/tribes, it is considered endangered today. Only 1,575 people identify the language as their mother tongue. Algonquin communities work hard to promote and preserve their language and culture through various different programs, such as language courses.

The Algonquin language is often linked to different names of places in Canada, with the reason being that many early French explorer mapped and thereby named features with Algonquin words. Ex. Quebec comes from the Algonquin word kébec, which actually means “place where the river narrows”.

𝖂𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖌𝖔

The original tale of the wendigo talks about a lost hunter that, during a cold winter, reached intense hunger which drove him to cannibalism to survive. After he had been feasting upon another humans’ flesh, he transformed, his body changing and becoming a humanlike-beast of the wilderness on the hunt for more human flesh to feast upon.

As mentioned earlier, this story originates from the Algonquin people. The details vary rapidly depending on who you ask, as most folklore and tales do. Some people that claim they have encountered this creature say it’s related to Bigfoot, but on the other end of the spectrum, some compare it too werewolves.

An animatronic depiction of a wendigo in a cage on display in “Wendigo Woods” in Busch Gardens Williamsburg, a theme park located in New France.

The mythological create that is the Wendigo is said to be a creature thriving in cold environments, supporting the fact that most of the many sightings of them have been reported in Canada and also the colder states to the North such as Minnesota. Around the turn of the 20th century, tribes people form the Algonquian tribe claimed that the disappearances of people is down the wendigos’ attacking them.

The wendigo is said to be around 15 feet tall (4.57 m.), the body often described as being skeletal or emaciated. A theory on this says that the creature is never satisfied with its cannibalistic urges and kills, obsessively hunting for new human victims and stuck being forever hungry.

Picture of Basil H. Johnston.

A Native author and ethnographer named Basil H. Johnston has described the Wendigo in his book The Manitous as:

“The Wendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tightly over its bones. With its bones pushing out over its skin, its complexion the ash gray of death, and its eyes pushed back deep into the sockets, the Wendigo looked like a gaunt skeleton recently disinterred from the grave. What lips it had were tattered and bloody… Unclean and suffering from suppurations of the flesh, the Wendigo gave off a strange and eerie odor of decay and decomposition, of death and corruption.”

The front cover of Basil H. Johnstons’ book The Manitous, published 1995.

According to Nathan Carlson, an ethno-historian, it has also been said that the deadly cannibalistic creature has large, razor sharp claws and massive eyes, much like and owl. But some people prefer to describe it (the wendigo) as a skeleton-like with skin in the colour of ash. But no matter which version of the wendigo’s appearance seems the most accurate and possible, it is most obviously not a creature you’d want to run into anywhere in the wild.

Another thing that I found quite interesting about the Native Americans in general was the way that their belief reached a spiritual level (spirit animals, animal totems etc.). I did some digging when looking into Animal Totems and sacred Spirit Animals in Native American belief;

According to this website (Legends Of America, Exploring history, destinations, people, & legends of this great country since 2003.), there is a huge list of different animals involved with the Native belief. A totem (a spirit being) is considered a sacred object or a symbol for a clan, tribe, family or even just an individual. Some tribes and their traditions proves that each person is somehow connected with nine different animals, also known as spirit guides or power animals, that will accompany the person through their life. Each animal represents something different, meaning that they move in and out of ones life, depending on what path or direction you take in life and the journey.

The same tribes also believe that totem animals is one that i always with you in your life, physically and spiritually. In other words, the totem animal that you are given acts as the main guardian of all your spirits. With this animal, a connection is shared and created, either through an interest in the said animal, the characteristics, dreams or other interactions (ie. with the animal in the physical world).

Because the list is quite long, the entirety of it can be found here.

Restored Piasa Bird carving, located along the Mississippi River, near llinois River.

Sources:

thecanadianencyclopedia.ca “The Canadian Encyclopedia, Algonquin”

allthatsinteresting.com “The Native American Legend Of The Wendigo — The Frostbitten Monster Of Your Nightmares By; All That's Interesting”

legendsofamerica.com “Exploring history, destinations, people, & legends of this great country since 2003.”

From studying these different early periods of civilisation, I have decided to choose just two of them to inspire my diorama; Mayans (the fact and idea that this blossoming civilisation suddenly disappeared without a trace as to tell why) and Native Americans (most specifically the Algonquin tribe and their folklore).

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kittae · 7 years ago

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if you're writing a chaptered fic or an extra long piece of writing, how would you typically plan them out if you do? i feel like i don't write as freely if its planned out bc i don't follow the plan i write but sometimes i feel like at least the fics i do end up writing should have a basic plan, y'know? if you have any other tips for writing in general i would also love to hear them/your opinions on planning etc, thanks in advance!

ahh haha i’m afraid i’m not the best person to ask! i’ve only recently started to properly plan out my fics! the chaptered fics that are going and published on my blog now are ones i didn’t think about beforehand, resulting in me getting stuck not even halfway :)))

but!!

i feel like i may be doing a better job now i’m thoroughly planning and outlining! so i’ll share my process with you, in the hopes it’ll help you out a bit!

(more under the cut)

1) ROUGH IDEA LIST

make a bullet list of random thoughts and ideas about the story you want to write! it doesn’t matter if it’s chronologically structured or not! just go wild and jot down everything that comes up in your head! you can always just erase it when you don’t like it anymore afterwards :) it doesn’t have to make sense at this point, it’s okay if it’s just a soup of incoherent rambling of thoughts and ideas! like this:

and so on! (not showing too much because SPOILERS!!!)

2) DETAILS

pick the ideas you like the most and the ones you can connect easily and take them apart! Here’s where i add more details to the ideas to make them more layered and substantial! I do this by adding keywords, phrases, background,... In this fase i like to play around with sentence structure and vocabulary that can inspire me further, or maybe can be used as they are while i’m writing!

3) CHARACTER OUTLINING

if necessary! when you have many different characters that need to (or don’t need to) develop throughout the story, it can get really messy to make up their personalities as you go and stick with them. Having a manual and a thread to go back to is super helpful in case you don’t remember the distinct characteristics and habits of that character. i like to do it like this:

(i used a site generating personality types and typical characteristics to inspire me but i can’t remember what it was called...you’ll find multiple if you just search it up tho!)

4) CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

this is in continuation of the previous step, where you give each character some sort of timeline of events that will occur in the story and how that will affect them as a person, how they will grow from that experience, how they will react (based on their personality traits),... this will shape the character and give more flavour to your story to keep it interesting, and that way it’ll also feel a lot more real to the readers! no one stays the same their whole life, so it’s hard to relate to a never changing perfect character that never experiences any hardships or never makes mistakes :)

5) PLOT OUTLINING

Hoo boy. This is where i struggle the most lol. tbh i don’t have a set way to make this go smoothly, i just get plot bunnies and jot them down and try to make sense of the situation? lol i’m bad at plots but i’m working on it! It helps a lot if you already know where you want the story to go towards the end, that way you can slowly make your way to that point of revelation, but just don’t make the path too smooth! everyone loves a bit of drama ;)

6) PLOT DEVELOPMENT

see previous step lmao

7) WRITE AWAY!!!

from this point on it’s just going with your gut and writing instincts!! just write write write, edit edit edit until you’re satisfied! Make sure you have a good idea of how the story is going to go beforehand so you don’t go too fast! Foreshadowing is also an amazing thing i haven’t mastered yet (like at all) but it does wonders for your fic dynamic, i suggest reading fics like those from @tayegi @illegirl1 and @onlylovekpop to see what i mean! it’s great but i don’t know how the fuck to do some good foreshadowing yet lol. i’m too impatient.

but most of all: 8) HAVE FUN!!!!

i hope this helped a little bit! I still have loads to learn too, but these tips came from my own experience haha. Happy writings!!

#tips #writing tips #ask #answered #Anonymous

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language-obsession · 8 years ago

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In Canto how widespread is this "lazy sounds"/懶音 phenomenon & what's your opinion on it e.g. Letting it just happen or trying to "correct" it? I've heard things like "nobody ever says 我 as ngo or 五 as ng anymore" but idk

AHAAAAAA this is a REALLY REALLY good ask !!!!!! I’ve gotten into some heated discussions with Cantonese speakers about “懶音” but as a (baby) descriptive linguist I just sit back and enjoy the show tbh. Humans have been complaining about the deterioration of human language since the beginning of human history, this is nothing new or special LOL. The change is actually very exciting, because it is a fairly recent shift, with a huge wave of pronunciation differences happening sometime after World War 2. Of course, sound shifts, like any other language shift, happen in layers over time, so the majority of speakers who have merged certain sounds together are still within the younger generation. Also, maybe you’d find it interesting to note that an earlier change occurred sometime in the 1800′s to early 1900′s, where sibilants got depalatalized in words like 張, 昌, 傷, in contrast to its non-palatal counterparts 將, 搶, 相; a distinction that still exists in many Northern Mandarin varieties (the classic zh/z, sh/s, ch/c), but in modern HK Cantonese we would pronounce the sets 張/將, 昌/搶, 傷/相 as zoeng1, coeng1 and soeng1 respectively, with no clear distinction within each set. (although some non-HK varieties have maintained the distinctions - older GZ generations still keep some distinctions I believe, but the younger GZ generation would speak similarly to people in HK)

My speech actually has most of the sound changes, because when I was younger I tried to imitate a HK accent in an attempt to make myself sound more native, so the way my brain interpreted “more HK sounding” was to adapt as many of these sound changes as possible LOL (oddly enough, before I even knew “懶音” was a thing). For example, I do find myself:

deleting ng initials a lot while also adding them where they weren’t originally (愛 oi > ngoi, 眼 ngaan > aan, 銀 ngan > an)

I have the gwo > go, kwo > ko shift (過 gwo > go, 國 gwok > gok)

sometimes i mix up final k/t (like in 特別 dak bit > dat?k? bit or 突然 dat jin > dak jin - funnily enough, i struggled for a second when i typed out 突然 just now in jyutping lollllll)

and i also have the classic n > l merger (你 nei > lei，奶 naai > laai，男 naam > laam)

The one change that I don’t find myself doing too much is the final ng > n merger, although I’ve heard this particularly in stereotypical 港女 speech (靚 leng > len, 橙色 caang sik > caan sik/sek, 正 zeng > zen).

One “argument” against sound change in Cantonese that I’ve heard time and time again is that we are going against what the Qieyun or Guangyun rime dictionaries have written down, since we’re losing sound distinctions. and for some highly prescriptivist Cantonese linguists, this is extremely disastrous, because once the change has occurred and a large population of people have adapted to the change, it’s very very difficult to change back the way millions of people speak. But of course, I see absolutely no problem with that, because Sinitic varieties have been changing for THOUSANDS of years. The Qieyun and Guangyun were written in 600 AD AND 1000 AD RESPECTIVELY, why are we prescribing how people should be speaking based off of thousand year old records? That being said, the Qieyun/Guangyun dictionaries are EXTREMELY EXTREMELY important in learning about Chinese phonology and to Sinitic linguistics in general, but I think it’s problematic to assume that somehow we are magically going to maintain all sound distinctions with no losses. That’s why I roll my eyes when I see Youtube videos about 粵語正讀 like “pls spare me from ur overly prescriptivist ways i do nut need u to tell me how to do the spek”

On a relevant note, if Old Chinese had never lost its derivational affixes, the Chinese varieties MIGHT (key word: MIGHT) not even have developed tones, although ofc it would be 100% impossible for a language to remain completely frozen in time for thousands of years, especially if people were actively using it on a daily basis. As well, ever since the rime dictionaries were written down, we have been merging a lot of initial consonants, and we actually lost the entire voiced consonant set in some Sinitic varieties (we have no b, d, g initial consonants in Cantonese OR Mandarin, contrary to popular belief - shocking, I know - although there’s still b, d, and g in Taiwanese Hokkien and Shanghainese for example). Some people act as if the “懶音” of today are some kind of new event started by the Youth of Today™ but it’s been happening since the time of Confucius and even way before that. Humans generally use language creatively and efficiently: we may shorten things, simplify articulation, introduce new sounds, mix things up, etc etc., and that’s all a natural part of language development, which is why old Cantonese linguists who can’t get over these so called “懶音” drain the life out of me LOL ;;;

I assume you’re a Canto speaker as well, so next time someone tells you to stop speaking with lazy sounds, you can rant about natural language change hahahahhaa

This is more of an afterthought actually, but some non-HK varieties of Cantonese have already undergone initial ng- dropping and certain vowel changes, even faster than some of the changes in HK and GZ Cantonese !!! On the other hand, some other Guangdong varieties have maintained a lot of sounds (even sounds that we don’t pronounce in HK/GZ Cantonese anymore). Like in 中山 and 珠海 Cantonese, they still pronounce words like 魚，驗，研，語 with an ng- initial (which is actually closer to the reconstructed Middle Chinese pronunciations), even though we’ve reduced it to a y- initial in HK/GZ Cantonese, although no one would even try to argue that /ŋ-/ > /j-/ is a detrimental sound change to Cantonese.

tl;dr - im hella salty about extreme cantonese prescriptivists and i’m excited to be part of a modern sound change !!! speak however you want bc it literally doesn’t matter !!! language is cool and dont be afraid to embrace change !!!

Edit: I have been informed that TW Hokkien does not have a d-initial I AM A GOOF, I should’ve double checked that oop. Thanks @bessely for pointing that out though!! (Also YES I WAS GONNA MENTION THE HAKKA STUFF TOO but I don’t know enough about it to talk about it confidently hehe)

#this is a super good question #thank you so much #cantonese #historical linguistics #sociolinguistics #i guess this is kinda socioling?#idk what to classify this as #linguistics #chinese #hk #hk cantonese #asks #anonymous

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michaelfallcon · 5 years ago

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Meet Taika: The New Adaptogenic Canned Coffee From Kal Freese

Kal Freese is a two-time Finland National Barista Champion (2013, 2015) and part of the founding team at Sudden Coffee in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sudden Coffee helped launch a new category of specialty instant coffee—a wholesale rethink of the product that is still making waves around the specialty coffee world. Freese left Sudden in 2017 and is now the co-founder of Taika, a company that is today debuting a new line of ready-to-drink adaptogenic infused coffee beverages.

Taika, which means “magic” in Finnish, is launching with three plant-based coffee beverage offerings: a sugar-free, keto-friendly macadamia latte that Freese says “tastes like melted coffee ice cream,” an oat milk latte, and an unsweetened black coffee. All contain the same adaptogen blend of Cordyceps, Lion’s Mane, Reishi, Ashwagandha, and L-theanine designed to balance out the effects of caffeine and to, according to Taika’s website, keep the drinker “calm, focused, and clear.”

James Hoffmann—the London-based coffee vlogger, author, product spokesman, and World Barista Champion—is one of Taika’s early investors. He tells Sprudge he’s excited to work with Taika for several reasons.

“Firstly, and most importantly, they’re focused on the destination, where coffee takes you, how it makes you feel. Secondly, they really understand what great tasting coffee is and how hard it is to do well. This means that the moment they told me about the products, I wanted them in my fridge at home and at my office too. Most of the time I drink coffee because I either enjoy the taste or because I want focus and productivity, so that Taika does both without compromise or making me choose makes it incredibly compelling.”

Not bad as far as introductions go, but we just had to learn more. I spoke with Kal Freese digitally and asked him a range of questions about Taika, adaptogens, price points, and what he sees as the future of coffee.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Hey Kal—thanks for speaking with Sprudge. How long has your new project Taika been in the works?

Kal Freese: I started working on Taika with my co-founder Michael Sharon in early 2019. Unlike most other CPG companies, we started by selling the coffee to our friends and their offices in private beta from the very first batch. This allowed us to get immediate feedback, iterate really rapidly, and sell over 50,000 cans before even launching publicly.

What’s in a can of Taika?

Both Michael and I love coffee (surprise). Alas, over the past few years caffeine started giving us nasty side effects many people are familiar with: anxiety, jitters, and heart palpitations. Decaf wasn’t the answer: most of the time we wanted some caffeine, but not too much.

This is when we learned about L-theanine and other adaptogens—natural plant extracts and functional mushrooms—that support the body’s ability to deal with stress. We started researching and experimenting with these compounds. Adaptogens turned out to be a game-changer in balancing the caffeine and reducing the side effects.

However, keeping a bunch of random capsules with you and remembering to take them every time you have coffee sucks. So we set out to create a coffee that’s absolutely delicious and perfectly calibrated with the highest quality adaptogens so there are no compromises.

We only use FDA GRAS certified natural plant extracts and functional mushrooms that have legit scientific evidence validating their effectiveness and safety. They also have a long history of demonstrated use in many cultures. For example, L-theanine is naturally found in green tea and has very robust evidence proving its effectiveness in working synergistically with caffeine.

We were also frustrated with so many other delicious drinks being so full sugar. We wanted to make Taika authentically good for you by not adding any sugar. Instead, we use a combo of monk fruit and allulose, a naturally-occurring rare sugar that’s found in figs and wheat. It’s almost as sweet as sugar but has 10% of the calories and no impact on blood sugar.

Most canned coffees are actually too high in caffeine: around 200mg per can. For most people, this much caffeine is counterproductive as it creates too much stimulation. Based on scientific research and our tests, the ideal amount seems to be around 100mg per can. During our R&D process, we ended up developing a method which we’ve now patented for adjusting the naturally occurring caffeine in coffee. We use this to dial the caffeine for every batch we make.

How important was it that this coffee product tastes like *good coffee*?

Taste is the most important thing. Our focus has always been on taste, health, and wellness—in that order. Right now, most beverages are either delicious or healthy but rarely both. We wanted to create something that’s both uncompromisingly delicious and authentically healthy.

Our coffee is roasted by 49th Parallel in Vancouver, BC. They’re one of my absolute favorite roasters in the world and I’ve been working with them since 2015. Their direct trade sourcing practices are among the best and their roasting is consistently on point. If you’ve ever been in a cupping with me, you might have heard me complain about underdeveloped roasts. That never happens with 49th.

What category does this product belong in? Are there any other companies doing something similar?

Roughly speaking, Taika straddles two categories: premium ready-to-drink coffee and functional beverages. That being said—taking a step back, we see this massive trend emerging at the intersection of taste, health, and wellness. Functional foods, plant-based meats, keto cereals, and similar products are seeing rapidly growing demand from consumers who want easier ways of living proactive, healthy, and joyful lifestyles. We call this stealth health.

Stealth health means creating products that are uncompromisingly delicious, authentically good for you, and tap into existing behaviors like your daily coffee ritual. We believe that there’s a huge global demand for these stealth health products, so we’re starting by reimagining a beverage that’s a global commodity and gets consumed more than 2 billion times a day: coffee.

Tell us about the price point—when Sudden launched it was $6 per cup and the big question was how to scale and bring that price down. Is this a consideration with Taika?

After working in coffee for more than a decade, I started to see this big discrepancy between the specialty coffee industry and the mainstream consumers. We in the specialty world are obsessed with the origin: what makes our coffee special. However, for the vast majority of people, coffee is a functional beverage that can also taste nice. Over indexing on the origin alienates us from consumers who care more about functionality, ritual, and convenience. Billions of people in the world are physiologically dependent on coffee’s functionality but I’ve seen virtually no brands trying to improve this.

Instead of the origin, Taika is focused on the destination: how the coffee makes you feel. This doesn’t mean we don’t care about the origin. We work with 49th Parallel to source amazing single-origin coffee and do everything in our power to make sure the sourcing practices are top-notch; we just don’t put all that in front of the can.

There are plenty of origin-focused premium cold brews at the $5 price point. Taika is not an answer to the lack of good coffee, but rather to an abundance of it. We believe that for anyone looking to get more out of their coffee, we deliver significant value that justifies that price point.

The $6 price point lands us squarely in the mid-range of functional and CBD beverages, with Vybes ($8) and Dirty Lemon ($10) picking up the upper end of that range.

There’s a lot of magical language on the can itself. Is there a balance between magic and science when it comes to adaptogenic coffee products?

One of our customers in NYC made a point that it felt almost magical to get a case of delicious yet healthy macadamia latte delivered to her within two hours in the middle of a pandemic, especially when a typical Amazon or grocery delivery now takes several days or a week.

This is the perfect example of the “wow” experience I love to create for my customers. I closed my cafe in Helsinki and started Sudden Coffee to make great coffee more accessible on a bigger scale. With Taika, we’re building the version 3.0 of what I call “scalable hospitality:” leveraging technology to accentuate the product experience and enable our customers to connect with the brand in a fun and accessible way.

In the beginning, I put my personal number on the cans so people could text us feedback and order more. It worked so well that we decided to put the number front and center. We’ve had some hilarious philosophical discussions with people trying to figure out whether they’re talking to a bot or a human. It’s fun and weird—a pretty good substitute for not being able to go to your local coffee shop right now.

You’re debuting Taika during an unprecedented historical moment—has the launch strategy changed?

In early March, more than 80% of our revenue was coming from office customers. That disappeared overnight with the shelter-in-place order and we completely pivoted our beta to a DTC approach.

We were originally planning on launching in April and decided to push that back by a month. I know this is a really hard time for a lot of people, including a huge part of my beloved coffee community. It feels weird to be launching a new product now because there’s so much uncertainty and so many people are suffering on many different levels.

On the other hand, we’ve been running this private beta for over a year and the feedback from our friends and beta testers about the benefits of calming, immunity-boosting WFH coffee has been unequivocally positive. We feel like providing this product and a fun, lighthearted approach to the space at this time is a way for us to help people cope. To address concerns around social distancing, we also launched two-hour contactless deliveries in SF, LA, and NYC.

In addition, for every case sold we’re donating a case to our heroes, the frontline medical workers. So far we’ve handed out over 1,200 cans. If you know someone in the frontlines in SF or NYC who could use coffee, shoot us an email at [email protected].

Where will this be available?

Taika is currently available for contactless local delivery within two hours in SF, LA, and NYC and select retail stores, including Erewhon in LA and Bi-Rite, Rainbow Grocery, and Good Eggs in the Bay Area.

What’s the next step?

Growing our team, expanding our retail presence in SF, LA, and NYC and starting working on some new, exciting stealth health products beyond coffee.

Thank you.

Follow Taika on Instagram and visit their official website.

Zachary Carlsen is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Zachary Carlsen on Sprudge.

Meet Taika: The New Adaptogenic Canned Coffee From Kal Freese published first on https://medium.com/@LinLinCoffee

0 notes

shebreathesslowly · 5 years ago

Text

Meet Taika: The New Adaptogenic Canned Coffee From Kal Freese

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Hey Kal—thanks for speaking with Sprudge. How long has your new project Taika been in the works?

What’s in a can of Taika?

How important was it that this coffee product tastes like *good coffee*?

What category does this product belong in? Are there any other companies doing something similar?

Tell us about the price point—when Sudden launched it was $6 per cup and the big question was how to scale and bring that price down. Is this a consideration with Taika?

The $6 price point lands us squarely in the mid-range of functional and CBD beverages, with Vybes ($8) and Dirty Lemon ($10) picking up the upper end of that range.

There’s a lot of magical language on the can itself. Is there a balance between magic and science when it comes to adaptogenic coffee products?

You’re debuting Taika during an unprecedented historical moment—has the launch strategy changed?

In early March, more than 80% of our revenue was coming from office customers. That disappeared overnight with the shelter-in-place order and we completely pivoted our beta to a DTC approach.

Where will this be available?

What’s the next step?

Growing our team, expanding our retail presence in SF, LA, and NYC and starting working on some new, exciting stealth health products beyond coffee.

Thank you.

Follow Taika on Instagram and visit their official website.

Zachary Carlsen is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Zachary Carlsen on Sprudge.

from Sprudge https://ift.tt/2T1hBd7

#Sprudge

0 notes

comicteaparty · 6 years ago

Text

June 7th, 2018 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on June 7th, 2018, from 5PM - 7PM PDT. The chat focused on The Pale by Jay Fabares & Sanders Fabares.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

COMIC TEA PARTY START!

Good day everyone~! This week’s Comic Tea Party is now officially beginning~! Today we are discussing The Pale by Jay Fabares & Sanders Fabares~! (https://tapas.io/series/The-Pale) For those new or in need of a reminder, discussions about the comic are freeform, so please feel free to bring up whatever you wish. However, every 30 minutes I will be dropping in a discussion question to help those who would like a prompt. These questions are totally OPTIONAL to answer, and you can pay them no mind if you wish. If you miss out on any though, they’ll be pinned for the duration of the chat once they’re posted~! Remember, constructive criticism is allowed, but the primary focus here is to have fun and appreciate the amazing comics that the community makes~! As a bonus, each chat a top comment will be picked and featured in the archives and on an ad for CTP! All that being said, let’s get started and have a great discussion!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

snuffysam

I won’t be able to be around much this week, but I’ll just say that I loved the speed dating scene. Really set up Fink’s personality, skill, and face blindness well.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah the speed dating scene was pretty interesting. i really like in general how the face blindness is portrayed with the comical same faces. like something about that makes face blindness both understandable but subtly horrifying

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I'll echo that. I liked when the different art style on the faces was revealed to be character related.

Also, Fink was all "this is not how I expected her to react... smokebomb!" vanishes

And he's had bad luck ever since.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Hi there!

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

tbh i did not expect his speed date partner to react that way either XD

hey super

Agent Jay (The Pale)

Hello!

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Hey there Jay!

Great to see ya~(edited)

Agent Jay (The Pale)

haha likewise

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Gotta expect the unexpected.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yes

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Hi artist/author/writer (one or all of the preceding...)!

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

glad you could make it jay~!

Agent Jay (The Pale)

I'm the artist and Co writer

totally! glad to see y'all like the speed dating part

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Very clever way to set up characters, don't think I've seen it before.

Agent Jay (The Pale)

when I read my husbands first draft of that scene-- I was all smiles

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

That's nice~

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I also kind of liked the knife throwing scene. I knew pretty much what was going to happen when I saw Fink out front, but it was still entertaining and set the tone of their interactions going forwards.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

You two make for a good team, I enjoy how realistic (for the most part) and lifelike the comic is.(edited)

Agent Jay (The Pale)

yeah, the knife scene was fun. The ending went through a lot of changes.

and thanks Super!

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

You're welcome.

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Aiming for a different balloon? I noticed some of those slogans... speaking as someone over 40...

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i really liked how the knife scene kind of characterized the town. only in a small town would it not be considered a safety hazard to just throw knives at the wall

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Impressive background detail, actually. I caught myself trying to read the chalkboard in the sherriff's office right off the start.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

lol

And yeah the backgrounds have lots and I do mean lots of details(edited)

dylandrawsdraws

the comic is awesome - I still love the wolf with the hand as a great intro and tone setter

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Anything to help make it pop.

Agent Jay (The Pale)

haha, I'm 36. the ending was hard bc we didnt know who was going to say the last line for the longest time it was Fink.... but then suddenly we had the idea for Joseph Yazzie (Logan's friend) say something. and it worked out well we think.

little title drop-- sorta there--

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Right, yeah, well played there. Other ideas paled in comparison.

dylandrawsdraws

Am i allowed to ask questions?

Agent Jay (The Pale)

ah coyote scene you mean!

dylandrawsdraws

(yeah coyote!)

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Right, the wolf and the hand bit. Effectively creepy.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

#PraiseCoyote

dylandrawsdraws

I think @MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑 will always think it's a wolf

#teamwolf

Agent Jay (The Pale)

... so funny.

And um, I guess you can ask Q's

dylandrawsdraws

Can you tell us about your process

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Call the wolf Virginia. To go with Dawn Knotts.

dylandrawsdraws

script and thumbnails, etc - the collaboration between you and this mysterious writer you work with

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

(That was a clever name, by the way. I didn't catch on.)

Agent Jay (The Pale)

really? SHAME

Agent Jay (The Pale)

1. We start with a general outline of what we want to see happen 2. eventually that goes down to what is really needed and my husband Sanders writes a 1st draft 3. I then read the draft and make changes-- rewrite scenes, take away, change dialog 4. we argue 5. and repeat till we are happy with it! 6. I start rough layouts/lettering/edit some more 7. (see step 4) 8. eventually everything falls into place and then we have a final edit pass 9. BOOM done.(edited)

dylandrawsdraws

oh very cool

sounds like a mini pixar

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

That's nice.

Cool seeing what goes on behind the scenes

Agent Jay (The Pale)

and @MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑 Dawn Knotts was the only character that didnt go a name changes.

even Fink was Franklin INKS

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Oh? Were they all puns originally?

Ahhh.

Agent Jay (The Pale)

sorta... Logan originally was Sam Addams

then it went to Scott Logan (xmen joke)(edited)

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Yeah, it's an interesting name juxtaposition there. F. Ink. Whereas some people might call FBI types using slang.

Agent Jay (The Pale)

now it's Terrence Logan. I took the Terrence from a discarded character-- I loved the name too much to waste it.(edited)

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

ah yes always a good use of discarded characters. when in doubt steal their stuff O_O

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yea

Agent Jay (The Pale)

haha-- right?!

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I gather that the story takes place in... New Mexico? Texas? Nevada? That area...

Agent Jay (The Pale)

It's a made up town south of the Navajo Reservation, so it is Arizona (I hope I'm not derailing your chat)(edited)

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Gotcha. My US geography is poor. (Well, my geography in general is poor.)

Agent Jay (The Pale)

between Flagstaff and north of Winslow...

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

The bit of Navajo on the radio was clever.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

how much research did you put into the location out of curiosity?

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Eh, we just chat about whatever anyway. Rebel will have a random question again in about 5 minutes.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i mean generalized location since its a made up town

Agent Jay (The Pale)

We spent a lot of time considering where the location would be in real terms

The inspiration of the town is a mix of our experiences of small towns in Arizona and on the Navajo Rez. But also-- bc we like small towns

I based the town layout off of Holbrook Arizona more or less.

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Holy cats. That's impressive.

Agent Jay (The Pale)

haha

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I think the small town atmosphere is well captured. The deputy who hangs around the game instead of being on radio and all.

Agent Jay (The Pale)

Dewey! haha yes... I love him.

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Actually they've got a pretty large police force.

Relatively speaking.

Agent Jay (The Pale)

there's 4 with badges and luca at the station, Logan, Dewey, Russ and Dawn

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

tbf to dewey it seemed like the whole town was at the game so like...who is actually gonna call

QUESTION 2. Not long after the mysterious body is found in the story, Agent Fink enters the scene and gets involved “off the books.” However, his motivations remain elusive. Why do you think Agent Fink is so intent on everything staying off the record? Is it personal or is this a professional risk? What do you think is the significance of the rock found with the body, and why does Agent Fink seemingly have more rocks? Do you think this mystery has something to do with Isaac? If so, how does Isaac factor in to both the mystery and Fink’s motivations? Lastly, what do you make of the dreams Fink has been having?

Agent Jay (The Pale)

haha, I guess this is when I don't talk... heh

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I'd lay dollars to donuts that it relates somehow to those dreams. And presumably to the dreams that the woman in the tapestry place had been having too.

(It being his involvement.)

The rocks, of course, is all a red herring. Fink just likes collecting rocks along with bird watching.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

he should pick better rocks to collect then

invest in geodes

and he can expand his horizons. go get some petrified wood since hes in az

snuffysam

He just showed up to get his hands on that rock

wishjacked

AHHH, good evening, guys!! I've been looking forward to this chat for a while, I'm glad I could make it (albeit late)

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Or just scare a bunch of normal wood...

Fink has plans to become a rock musician.

snuffysam

I don’t think that’s how they get petrified wood math

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

No?

dylandrawsdraws

can I ask about character design and how you do the settings and prep work

for settings?

snuffysam

It’s his DREAM to become a rock musician

That’s what the dreams mean!

wishjacked

Catching up: I love so very many of the scenes, but the one that really hooked me was the coyote scene-- such a classic, beautifully executed mystery setup. And I loooved all that wildlife

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

as someone who lives in az, no i confirm. thats how we get our petrified wood.

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

That was Fink's drummer showing up at the end of Part 3.

Agent Jay (The Pale)

sure Dylan! which character do you wanna know about?

(and HI CHLOE)(edited)

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

More seriously, birds are definitely going to factor in too, methinks.

wishjacked

Still catching up: One thing I think really works with the comic is the balance between quiet, slow images and faster moving dialogue: I love when the comic slows down to linger on images. One part that I kinda liked for that reason was with Yazzie visiting Nathaniel's house and looking at the rug on the wall, the lingering look at the rug really slowed the scene in the best way. Also when Fink is wandering through empty Rocket Ridge. Such a good way to build tension, improve pacing, and draw attention to the art. So good

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Hey there Wish

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Related, I liked the bit in the plane where the pilot was all "I have binoculars somewhere" and Fink's like "I'm good". There's lots of little fun things in the comic too.

wishjacked

(and HI JAY!!! :D)

Agent Jay (The Pale)

y'all might get a kick outta this-- some early sketches of Fink and Logan

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

OMG those look nice

wishjacked

(And hi to SuperJustin, too!!)

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Neat! Hm, Fink was shorter.

Agent Jay (The Pale)

haha the thing was very cartoony and different in tone at first.

the THING=-- THE COMIC...

der

wishjacked

Ahhhh, that art is so good hahaha. Look at these good guys! XD

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Personally I think the final/current style fits the comic a lot more than something cartoony IMO

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

wishjacked: Agreed. One of those things that I didn't really notice, but to have it pointed out, yeah. And like the woman just turning at the bottom of the page during that rug scene. Vaguely ominous but you don't know why. Probably attribute some of that to pacing.

Agent Jay (The Pale)

funny bc they changed-- but also remained the same?

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

And yeah wishjacked made a good point about the slow and fast moments.

omg that hairstyle

Agent Jay (The Pale)

oh totally Super... we changed the look really bc the tones are much darker. The story helped determine the style

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Seems liek younger/older comparisons

Agent Jay (The Pale)

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yus

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

You could include the early drawing of Fink as a picture on his desk. Or maybe as his ID badge.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

The art style can give you lots of insight on a comic's tone so you want to make sure it's just right

Agent Jay (The Pale)

We work hard on the pacing. glad that shows!

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

That would be a cute little nod IMO

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

We never look our best on IDs/driver's licenses.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

^^^

Amen

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I'm also vaguely waiting for someone to call Fink "Mulder".

wishjacked

and regarding question #2, I always get a feeling from this comic that things aren't quite what they seem in this story, so I'm very hesitant to barf up ideas about Fink's motives. Whatever they are, I think they'll be unexpected. I wonder if he has some inklings of the supernatural (???) elements of the story he's in

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

maybe they will someday. when theyre less busy putting him up in a hotel and more busy investigating things

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

but the hotels are super comfy

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

well given the dreams i think hed have to have an inkling

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Fink being good with dialects probably means he'll know if anyone he runs into is from out of town. Or... out of this world?

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

unless he just thinks hes the weirdest dreamer in all the land

snuffysam

He acts on rock mysteries though. You wouldn't do that if you thought your dreams were just dreams

wishjacked

and yes, Math!! Ohh, going off on another tangent about that scene, it was so well lighted too. The lighting in this comic also really helps the tone. That was a very ominous scene.

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Maybe he thinks everyone has those sorts of dreams. Could be normal for him.

"My face blindness thing is an unusual quirk, but at least I have nightmares like normal people!"

Agent Jay (The Pale)

lol

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

possible but i doubt it O_O

until proven otherwise im assuming that isaac was murdered while investigating something and fink is trying to solve the murder but no one can know cause supernatural stuff and everyone will think hes crazy

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Also I just wanna say the inn rooms look awesome for something out in the wilderness (from what vibe the comic is giving me)

How old is the inn anyways?

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Actually, I wonder when Fink was diagnosed.

dylandrawsdraws

@Agent Jay (The Pale) hmmm which character? fink and logan -

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Crazy theory: Someone is killing people by dropping huge rocks on them, followed by shrinking the rocks down real small.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

dat crack theory(edited)

dylandrawsdraws

and the yazzie?

the native american?

Agent Jay (The Pale)

the inn... around the 1950's(edited)

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Oh wow

Agent Jay (The Pale)

I went through several sketches with Fink. I knew he was tall, slender, and had a dog... much like Tin Tin and that's sorta why he looks cartoony in the beginning I think... but as the story evolved, again, I just kept pushing he design to reflect that. He is supposed to resemble a bird with his hair a bit. Sort of like a crest.

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Ahh, Tintin, that would explain the early hairstyle a bit. Though the bird connection is interesting too.

Agent Jay (The Pale)

when I drew the HAIR.. I knew I had something I think...

from 2013

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Oh christ

That's quite a prototype

Agent Jay (The Pale)

Logan was a typical big guy on campus type deal.

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Clever not starting the story with Fink, in a sense. It makes it more about this particular mystery and the town itself rather than one FBI case among many.

Agent Jay (The Pale)

stoic, middle aged, seen stuff, understanding, father figure type(edited)

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

I see what you're sayin

Agent Jay (The Pale)

thanks Math!

snuffysam

and fink is a young, fresh face

but when they get together

the shipping begins

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Did someone say

ships

dylandrawsdraws

oh these early drawings are great

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

QUESTION 3. Despite Rocket Ridge being a small town, the discovery of a body jumpstarts a lot of strange things. Do you think someone in the town had something to do with the body that was found? If so, who do you suspect (or have we not met them yet)? If not, do you think it has to do with the town supposedly having run-ins with the supernatural? In the most recent page we do see the supernatural, so do you think it has something to do with the body? In the background there is also Sheriff Logan, the man who discovered the body. Do you think Sheriff Logan will help or hinder Fink’s investigation into the situation? At the very least, do you think Logan will discover the real reason Fink is there? Of a last note, how do you think the comic’s events will affect Logan in general?

dylandrawsdraws

can you talk about your inspirations - other media, comics, whatever?

Agent Jay (The Pale)

i watch a lot of crime dramas(edited)

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Any crime dramas in particular?

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Things between Fink and Logan are definitely off to a "rocky" start. I think Logan will work out that this isn't an authorized case though, starting by looking into how Fink flew in in the first place.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

(This is a really interesting question to ask a creator IMO)

Agent Jay (The Pale)

Recent favs The Killing, MindHunter, DARK, Twin Peaks (haha), Longmire

snuffysam

i think fink having to walk into town will have piqued logan's interest, absolutely

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I get why Fink wouldn't want to come clean, suspecting supernatural elements (and wanting to avoid being labelled a Mulder) but Logan doesn't seem like the type who enjoys other people trying to barge in on his territory. I mean, he was stubborn about that coffee machine for how long?

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Ooh nice

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

well and nobody likes the fbi

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Pretty much

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

cause they throw their federal weight around

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

The dog does, apparently.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

the dog is a spirit guide clearly

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

And actually that counsellor seemed to get on well enough with him.

Agent Jay (The Pale)

Emma

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Yes. I'm abysmal with names.

Ask anyone.

Agent Jay (The Pale)

yeah her and Fink got off to a okay... start sorta

yknow.. hotdogs and stuff

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i do think its inevitable logan is gonna find out about fink tho. cause fink is gonna order him and logan is gonna be like "let me talk to your superior" and then fink is gonna be like "oh shit."

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

She musterded up the courage to speak to him.

Agent Jay (The Pale)

omg

slow clap well done

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

It's beautiful

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I wonder what Fink would get out of hearing me speak.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

I wonder that too

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Aside from an excuse to be elsewhere.

snuffysam

i wonder what fink's determined about the officers he's met from their voices

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Maybe he can exposit to the dog.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

hes probably determined that dang is he sure in a small town

although he probably learned that from the knife

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Or his tiny alien friend.

(It's actually Logan in a suit.)

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i hope fink's linguist thing comes up with logan. cause i feel like hes just gonna reveal all these personal things about logan at some point. and logan will be frowny face

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

That would be hilarious @MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

"You thought it was extra terrestrial, but it was I, Dewey!"

Agent Jay (The Pale)

or Russ...

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

So, back to crazy theories, do you think the Tapestry Woman is committing the crimes? Because she's possessed by her tapestry, it exited her dreams and into real life?

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

if i had to pick someone who was magically involved with the body and mystery, itd be dewey. O_O his radio wasnt off cause lazy. it was off cause he was busy committing more murders.

snuffysam

nah i think she's forseeing them

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Ooooh, nice one Rebel.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yeah Rebel, good pick.

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Also a nice take, snuffy. I wonder if she's trying to weave warnings into her work.

snuffysam

yeah that's what i think is going on. and at some point, fink will find out.

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

By spying with his binoculars.

snuffysam

i was thinking by like... someone mentioning it

say someone who lives with her

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

maybe tapestry lady was abducted by aliens and thats why she had nightmares. and she makes tapestries cause she knows one of them is still out there.

snuffysam

or maybe she's just psychic for unrelated reasons

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Perhaps

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

She knows they'll want to buy a tapestry as a souvenir gift before returning to their home planet.

She's saving that dark one for them.

snuffysam

she's preparing to open a tourist trap for aliens?

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

That would be a clever way of capturing the aliens

Or not, if they're armed

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Gotta trap 'em somehow.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yes

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

wait what if by weaving the tapestry she set the creature from her nightmares free. and the reason she keeps it is out of guilt and the belief that one day she has to destroy it to destroy the creature.

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Actually, what if Fink is psychic? Maybe that dream he had in the plane was prophetic.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

maybe. i tend to view his dreams as more symbolic. like im really interested in the fact he has faceblindness and isaac in his dreams had no face

snuffysam

maybe that's not isaac. how would fink know?

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

that is also a good point

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

By the voice, possibly.

snuffysam

fair

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Only we don't know.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

to be fair it might not have been isaac for the fact "isaac" was wearing a shirt that says "This is you"

which lends credit to the dream being prophetic

cause theyre warning him

actually yeah even tho "isaac" is talking the text is written as intelligible. so we cant gurantee he recognized isaac by voice

snuffysam

so yeah i may be right then

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yea

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

So it was Fink himself!

snuffysam

the shirt did say as much

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

QUESTION 4. Besides the bigger mysteries, there is a lot of small town drama going on. At the game, we meet Emma Bloom who Dawn clearly doesn’t care for. What do you think the history is between them? Does it have something to do with Logan, or is it just between them? What significance might Emma have further along? Another noteworthy character when it comes to drama is Nathaniel. Why is Nathaniel trying to obtain a gun? Is it just for protection, due to his angst, or is something else going on? Do you think this will get him in trouble with Joseph who is keen on watching him? In respects to the larger plot, what does Nathaniel’s end of the story have to do with any of the other events going on? Are there any other dramas or characters you thought were intriguing?

snuffysam

i think emma v dawn is definitely something relationship related

not sure as to what though

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I'll ship Emma and Dawn.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

maybe emma was supposed to marry logan but then she noped out of there. and dawn knows and is like "how dare"

snuffysam

that's not entirely implausible, math. one dumped the other at some point, and there's been bad blood ever since

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I feel like it's more of a professional issue than a personal one. Based on their professions.

Snuffy: True 'nuff!

snuffysam

what could the professional issue be, then? because in a small town, dawn's probably had to yell at everybody at least once

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

maybe its nothing relationships wise and the two are just rivals. like dawn always feels like emma is one-upping her

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I figure maybe the counsellor gave bad advice to a kid, who maybe then had a run-in with the law or something.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

but only dawn feels this and emma is like "wait what"

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Or maybe it was just a very bad "take your kid to work" day.

Dawn seems reasonably laid back though.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Lol

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

maybe dawn just doesnt like other women in general usually

snuffysam

like she's just always catty? i guess we haven't seen her around that many other woman.

she seems friendly enough with luca though

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

it could be more...defensive shyness? like make dawn was bullied in school by other girls and thus takes a while to open up

alternatively, emma was the bully

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Maybe Emma was arrested once.

Also, yeah, I have no idea where that gun angle is going. Nowhere good, I presume.

Given the attitude of the guy with the bullets.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

im just curious how this is gonna tie into fink. unless they decide nathaniel will be their tapestry expert for some reason.

or maybe nathaniel is after that alien creature thing we see haunting fink

and thats why he wants a gun

snuffysam

i think he'll reveal the tapestries to fink, but i don't know how or why

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Maybe he has a bird interest too.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

maybe its just a casual thing that gets brought up. like logan and fink will catch nathaniel getting the gun and have him in the car. and hell just offhandedly mention something about the tapestries

snuffysam

maybe he has a bird "interest" and that's what the gun is for

but yeah i think rebel's right

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Perhaps

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

and then theyll get joseph yazzie involved and itll be ultimate cop trio

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Meanwhile the ladies solve everything back at the station.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

on a different note, i cant wait till fink is boiling in the az sun

snuffysam

ooh yeah, he hasn't seen the sun up yet

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

not to mention his suit is dark colored so its gonna absorb more heat.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yea looknig forward to all that sun

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

and then all the cops are gonna snicker at his unpreparedness

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

He never seems to get the breaks to go his way.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

pretty much.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

on another different note, i like that fink just accepted the dog into his life

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I'm a cat person sooooooo.... sure. ^.^

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

lol

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

im also a cat person. but i can appreciate someone getting a pet after being followed, shrugging, and going i guess this my life now

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I get the feeling Fink has to do that a lot.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yea

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

One other thing I want to mention before we wrap, that "favourite panel" contest I saw partway through. I thought that was really clever, I don't think I've seen that anywhere before.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Before time's up, If you see this, Jay, keep it up, this comic is a really great read and I love every bit of it.

snuffysam

yeah the contest was cool

as was the rest of the comic. keep it up, agent!

Agent Jay (The Pale)

ty ty

glad you guys enjoyed it

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

My pleasure

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Ah, you're still here. Yes, very well done.

Agent Jay (The Pale)

i've been working on some touch ups to ch4 ... and reading in here.

very fun

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yea

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

In a final twist at the end... we learn that this was all about "The Pal, E".

snuffysam

maybe the real pale was all of us

Agent Jay (The Pale)

hahaha

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Lul

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Knife throwing can spark many emotions.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yus

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

well i am really pale so it works O_O

COMIC TEA PARTY END!

Unfortunately, the scheduled Comic Tea Party time is now up~! Thank you everyone so much for reading and joining this week’s chat~! We want to give a special thank you to Jay Fabares & Sanders Fabares, as well, for making The Pale and volunteering it for our reading queue. If you liked the comic, please be sure to support Jay Fabares & Sanders Fabares’ efforts however you’re able to. All that being said, if you would like to continue discussing this week’s comic, we highly encourage you to do so~!

For next week, Comic Tea Party will focus on Obelisk by Ashley McCammon. As always, please use the next several days to read as much of the comic as you would like. We hope to see you next Thursday on June 14th from 5PM to 7PM PDT for the chat~! Until then, happy reading~! Comic: http://www.obeliskcomic.com/

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #bookclub #comic bookclub #webcomic bookclub #comic tea party #ctp #start faire #startfaire #the pale #Jay Fabares #sanders fabares

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