#also about 80% of the entries was ancients

[lionsongfr]

Favorites of the Thundercrack Carnivale Submissions!

Little Storm Engineer by: an0nim00se

Ride the Storm by: Naleli (all really cute entries, but I love the cloud mane)

Prideful Ambition by: Yoruko

POWER.OVERWHELMING by: Onalew

Snek-tronic by: StarrySunrise

Zweifachstecker by: Uniformshark

Lichtenberg Apparition by: Radiations

All Wired Up by: 0palite

delicate machinery by: Sucrose

Stormtouched by: Thanatomorphose

UNIT 5M411 by: rndzvs

Corporate espionage by: Thunderwyvern (also dig Chain lightning, but the mustache won me over)

Mechanical Ascent by: DDDFirefox

Mech Pilot by: Kaenith

[aster-blogging-dracula]

You are SO right. Adding this to my mental list of "things critics always seem to ignore even tho it's quite obvious"

Ok so today's entry is definitely gonna be important for the analysis on how the topic of sexuality (which is one among MANY topics that this novel covers) is explored throughout the story and throughout the concept of vampirism in it.

I wanted to note these things down for myself cause this is a topic that really boils my blood when seeing academic analysis of it but I want to read the full text carefully through Dracula Daily and make a proper personal opinion of it before reading anything else (academia.edu PLEASE stop emailing me things I will crush my head on the wall). (For now, my overall opinion on this topic is that academics focus way too much on making a metaphor out of everything when a lot of things in this story make more sense when analyzed as parallelism, or as a literal part of the plot with no further meaning...)

Anyways. This is the first time in the story when a scene of (almost) vampire feeding is narrated, and the scene that makes Johnathan go "this is it, nowhere is safe". So this kind of settles a first impression on what being preyed upon by a vampire feels like (at the same time it could also serve as reference for when vampire feeding feels WAY differently from today, and therefore can be interpreted differently). We have:

The feeling of seduction of some sorts. Is Johnathan's initial fear out of an unconscious feeling that they're vampires? Because of their sudden appearance in the otherwise empty room? Because he loathes being disloyal to Mina? Could be a mix, we will never know. But it's interesting to ask oneself these things.

I'm not going to expand on why the description of how the girl approaches Johnathan's neck is erotic, just go read it. I listened to the Re:Dracula entry today and aw lawd that's... The academics win on this one that does sound like a sexual thing good god.

It also sounds quite monstrous tho. The licking of the teeth, the red tongue, is similar to how the wolves were described on may 5th (and later, Dracula's gesture towards the other girls is compared to the one he used with the wolves, This is actually the first direct association between wolves and vampires as a similar being I think)

Dracula's "I too can love" speech and him undressing Johnathan is a whole topic for a different post which I do Not Have The Energy To Make (and that someone out there will probably do better than me today)

Lastly, we have Johnathan's dread at the end. That's a lot of dread wow, even worse than Dracula. Now, of course, a big part of this is due to them being VAMPIRES. WHO WILL KILL HIM. Because this is a vampire story. But it also leads us to other questions. Could this dread also be a dread of the desire he felt? Because of loyalty to Mina or because of the dominant stance the vampiresses took (which was Inappropriate in victoriam standards)?. These are the questions academics usually explore. There's also the less "This symbolizes That" approach which takes the fact that vampires=dreadful because of plot reasons, and draws the conclusion that making such a dreadful creature have a sexual attitude, said attitude is demonized. Additionally, in the Dracula Daily fandom, there are also people noticing how his dread is akin to the feelings of an SA victim. (Which leads us to the question of How Did Bram Know That?)

In any case. One thing is clear. They're vampires. They want his blood. Poor boy has been sleep deprived, questioning his sanity, and being manipulated by his employer for more than a week now. His employer who has just saved him from getting eaten. That's a shock. That's a big fucking shock alright.

[cerastes]

ngl Shadows of the Erdtree feels like the first FromSoft experience I’ve had where the optional superboss stuff feels *less* difficult and unfun than the main story bosses in general - I have to wonder what the development of the DLC looked like from a top-down design perspective or something

The only real native-to-DLC bosses I have issues with are Death Knights (incredibly boring movesets), Commander Gaius (That Forward Charge's Active Frames Are Kinda Bullshit) and The Final Boss' Phase 2, I think everything else was fun, Midra, Metyr, Romina, Rellana, Putrescence, Avatar, Dancing Lion, Messmer, Bayle, I loved all of them. At most, I think Metyr has some dumb attacks as well, Bayle has some camera issues when up close, and Dancing Lion's Lightning Form has some pretty fucked up combinations in which it calls lightning on top of you but you can't see it because the camera is looking at it from below, rendering the lightning markers invisible, but that's about it

The bad parts were mainly tied to fighting Another Death Rite Bird, Another Ancient Dragon, stuff like that, things that were already jank in the base game. Closest to True Jank in the DLC is when you have to fight a Ghostflame Drake on extremely uneven terrain, and not really a boss, but Wicker Men/Furnace Giants are so, so, so incredibly dull to fight. Otherwise, I think bosswise the DLC goes hard.

"I have to wonder what the development of the DLC looked like from a top-down design perspective or something" -> This is a really interesting line of thought, I have to say. I personally think that they focused first and foremost on having a big area that didn't feel empty: Both the base game and the DLC, for all their virtues and flaws, undeniably have the single best open world I've seen in my life. It never feels empty. My main complaint with open world games is that, sure, you have a big world, now, do you have jack all to do in these huge swathes of digital land that you used to make sales? Usually, No, but Elden Ring definitely manages to nail this spectacularly, so I think that was their priority, at the unfortunate cost of other things. I think it also has to do with FromSoft feeling like they need to keep upping up the ante compared to previous entries and overblowing things with sensational looking fights instead of thoroughly mechanically sound fights: Malenia, for example, I think suffers from this, because she's an amazing fight right up until she uses Waterfowl, which is by no means undodgeable, but it being a lingering, persistent implication of damage+healing throughout the fight past a certain point serves to annoy more than to enrich the fight; Waterfowl is cool as hell the first time you see it, and just a bummer every time afterwards. It's a really beautiful, showy move that'll have journos and youtubers making content for it, but it gets in the way of gameplay ultimately. Now, multiply this by 50 and you have Phase 2 of the Final Boss: EVERYTHING is this big extravagant light show, no simple attacks, everything has to be a rave. To a certain degree, this happens with other bosses, too -- 80% of the bosses announce their Phase 2 with a HUGE explosion, it gets boring and old fast -- but Final Boss Phase 2 is just needlessly extra in ways that make me think they wanted to make it look good first and make it play fun a distant second.

So, yeah, I think their priority was the open world, and they nailed it, but it was such a huge undertaking that everything else kinda suffered, in particular user experience imo, in conjunction with Making The Game Escalate More almost by necessity at this point.

Mind you, please don't get me wrong, I loved the DLC, it's just that I'm talking about the flaws more, but it's important to keep in mind this is coming from someone that Enjoyed It.

[thetoxicgamer]

Prepare for Assassin’s Creed Mirage with up to 80% off the full series

What better way to get ready for Assassin's Creed Mirage than by taking a journey through the series' history? Fortunately, the game's creator, Ubisoft, comes through with a massive Assassin's Creed sale that offers up to 80% off all the titles ahead of the release of Assassin's Creed Mirage, along with titles like Far Cry and The Division. You have a ton of options with some of the best open-world games available, ranging from the original game to Assassin's Creed Valhalla. If you’re excited for the promise of the Assassin’s Creed Mirage length coming in a lot shorter than recent entries, with a return to the classic format of the series that was more pure action than the vast open-world RPG games of more recent years, then you might want to revisit those early titles such as Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad’s outing in the debut of the series, or the beloved Ezio trilogy beginning with Assassin’s Creed 2. Those of you who are deeply invested in the lore might decide that you want to catch up on Mirage protagonist Basim’s initial appearance. The upcoming lead plays a fairly significant role in the recent Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, so that’s the one to check out if you want to make sure you’re fully caught up on his history, although you’ll still be able to play Mirage without making that big commitment if you prefer. There are even bundles for each era of the series, and an ‘Animus pack’ containing basically all the major entries. While it clocks in at $143.75 / £120, you do get a whopping 17 games for that price, so you’ll probably be busy for the next year or more if you’ve never tried the series before. Perhaps don’t attempt to play them all at once. Finally, there’s even the option to pick up the ‘Discovery Tour’ versions of Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla at a discount. These are included in the base games if you buy those, but if you don’t actually have a penchant for the violence of the actual Assassin’s Creed games they allow you to explore the beautiful worlds of ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Viking Age in an educational mode aimed at teaching you about the real-world history of the regions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G97lx7orMN8 Assassin’s Creed sale Here are all the deals in the Assassin’s Creed sale, which runs until September 5, 2023: - Assassin’s Creed Animus Pack – $143.75 / £120 (75% off) - Assassin’s Creed – $5 / £2.15 (75% off) - Assassin’s Creed Ezio Auditore Pack (AC 2, AC Brotherhood, AC Revelations) – $11.60 / £9.86 (71% off) - Assassin’s Creed 3 Remastered – $10 / £8.50 (75% off) - Assassin’s Creed American History Pack (AC 3, AC Liberation Remastered, AC 4: Black Flag, AC Freedom Cry, AC Rogue) – $28 / £24.50 (65% off) - Assassin’s Creed Rogue Deluxe Edition – $9 / £7.80 (70% off) - Assassin’s Creed Unity – $7.50 / £6.50 (75% off) - Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Gold Edition – $15 / £14.75 (75% 0ff) - Assassin’s Creed Modern Revolutions (AC Unity + DLC, AC Syndicate Gold Edition) – $18 / £17 (80% off) - Assassin’s Creed Origins Deluxe Edition – $14 / £11.80 (80% off) - Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Gold Edition – $20 / £16.80 (80% off) - Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Ragnarök Edition – $30 / £25.20 (70% off) - Assassin’s Creed Mythology Pack (AC Origins, AC Odyssey, AC Valhalla) – $32 / £26.60 (80% off) - Assassin’s Creed Discovery Tour Bundle (Ancient Egypt, Ancient Egypt, Viking Age) – $19.25 / £16.45 (65% off) You can find all these deals, and more for other Ubisoft games including Far Cry, The Division, Anno, and Ghost Recon right here in the Ubisoft Gamescom sale. We’ve also got more of the best action-adventure games on PC if you’re looking for other alternatives, or you can save yourself even more money without skimping on the fun and grab the best free PC games you can play in 2023. Read the full article

[khorneschosen]

Its an discussion about abstract ideas. You know like the scientific method, laws of logic, standards of proof, and the law of identity.

I can see why, having abandoned abstract ideas, like truth, justice, morality, happiness, joy and brotherhood you'd worship men you believe produce the products of the values you damn.

Only, how horrible would it be for those better men to agree with you.

How horrible would it be for them to sink to your level.

They do, as do you. You may state otherwise but elsewhere you will contradict yourself. Turns out being logically consistent was also dropped.

The part you dropped apparently. The part where you took liberal only to mean they particular group of people who call themselves liberal rather than the ideology. It's funny how you call yourself a liberal but don't know the first fucking thing about it.

Consensus. What a wonderful fucking phrase So long as all men agree it is true does it matter if their actual proof work is something objectively awful incorrect and fabricated. It is true because many men say it. What a wonderful fallacy a wonderful fallacy that science was meant to deliver us from. And you in worshiping it deliver us right back to that ancient standard consensus.

Doesn't even matter if not a singular one of them actually know or have tested what they are agreeing to.

You place too much value in the peer review and nothing in the repeatability.

Also I got the lower ape thing from how you talk about man. Apes are quite willing to be in harmonious union with each other most of the time. Mankind however left to its devices left to deal with each other as apes do apparently is the source of a great deal of evil. In your own opinion as I said lower in your standards than apes.

And I have to ask what is your actual protection from them dropping the standards The idea that the rest will condemn them why no because if they condemn them they are outside at the consensus and therefore wrong. Therefore they are pseudoscience. One does not need to form a consensus by the basis of its evidence One can ideologically create that consensus and then fudge the numbers to support it.

You point to standards that were destroyed for the sake of the consensus and then think that those standards will remain in place. For example in the '80s there was a big push or environmental scientist to drop academic standards in order to ensure that possible problems could be headed off before they became problems alarmism was more important than proof.

And again if what I am saying is wrong then with each of my examples they should not have ever existed. They should have been crushed in the crib before they were born we would not even hearing about them and yet they persisted.

As has been the case for a very long time. Such a scientific journals claiming they had proved the metaphysical positions of people like Marx. Only for the person who wrote the entry to reveal it was a entire fraud. And this was not a recent phenomenon but a very old one.

Darling I'm more accurate than you even know at present.

[indiator]

7 Mysterious Caves in India You Must Explore

India is a country that is renowned for its impressive architecture, temples, monuments, and scenic landscapes, but it also has a plethora of mysterious caves. These caves showcase intricate carvings, stalagmites, and stalactites, and exemplify different architectural styles from different eras. Additionally, there are several caves that provide insight into history. By visiting these caves, one can enjoy their trip while learning about India's rich heritage. The following are 7 mysterious caves in India that you must explore.

Elephanta Caves, Maharashtra:

The Elephanta Caves are located on Elephanta Island in Mumbai Harbor and can be reached by ferry from Mumbai. The caves consist of two groups - five Hindu caves and two Buddhist caves. The Hindu caves feature rock-cut sculptures depicting Shiva, which is an important part of Hinduism. The caves date back to the 5th and 8th centuries and were once painted, but now only traces remain. The identity of the builders is still debated. The caves attract visitors from all over. Indiator specializes in exclusive Elephanta caves tours considering your budget and needs which is worth booking.

Borra Caves, Andhra Pradesh:

The Borra cavesare located in the Vishakapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh. These caves are among the largest in India, with a beautiful spectrum of various shapes and sizes. The caves have a depth of 80 meters, making them one of the deepest. This cave also has a Shiva lingam and is surrounded by scenic views due to its location in the Araku Valley of the Ananthagiri hills.

Ajanta Caves, Maharashtra:

The Ajanta Caves are a group of 30 rock-cut Buddhist caves in Maharashtra that date back to the 2nd century BCE. These caves are considered to have some of the best examples of Indian art and paintings, inspired by Buddhist religious art. The caves contain sculptures and paintings depicting Jataka Tales, which are popular among visitors. It is a major tourist attraction in Maharashtra, particularly for history and culture enthusiasts. It is believed that Buddhist monks would take shelter here during the rainy season since they were not allowed to travel during that time. Book an Ajanta caves tour now and set out to explore the historical beauty of Maharashtra.

Amarnath Cave, Jammu and Kashmir:

Amarnath Cave, located in Jammu and Kashmir, is a holy place for Hindus and a popular tourist destination in India. It is situated at an altitude of 3,888 meters and holds great significance in Hinduism due to an ice stalagmite that resembles a Shiva linga. Despite extreme weather conditions, many pilgrims visit the cave to witness the changing shape of the ice linga during different phases of the moon.

Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves, Odisha:

Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves, located near Bhubaneswar in Orissa, are a combination of natural and man-made structures. They hold significant religious and archaeological importance and were originally built for Jain monks. The caves contain intricate sculptures and formations and are known for their Hathigumpha and Ganeshagumpha caves. There are a total of 18 caves in Udayagiri and 15 in Khandagiri, open from sunrise to sunset with an entry fee of Rs 5 for Indian citizens and Rs 100 for foreigners. With the Odisha tour package, you can set out to explore these ancient caves.

Vaishno Devi, Jammu and Kashmir:

Vaishno Devi is a popular cave temple in India, revered by millions of Hindus. It is located in Katra, Jammu Kashmir, and is considered the holiest temple of Durga Mata. The temple is inside a beautiful cave, surrounded by scenic hills and landscapes, making your Vaishno Devi trip an enjoyable experience. The journey also provides an opportunity to witness India's cultural and historical beliefs.

Badami Caves, Karnataka:

The Badami Caves are a UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of four caves showcasing Indian rock-cut architecture and Hindu temple designs. They are protected and feature original wall paintings and carvings, as well as a blend of Nagara and Dravidian styles. Each cave has a mandap, pillars, verandah, and sanctorum. Visitors can take photos of the ancient sculptures and enjoy the natural cave, which was once a Buddhist temple.

India has many natural caves that are temples for Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists. These caves are known for their impressive sculptures and carvings from prehistoric times. When you visit these states, make sure to visit these ancient caves.

[marketingcow509]

Blog 3: Ai Art, is it good or bad?

I woke up this morning to AI Art trending on Tumblr. I had heard about this concept before, but I never understood the full details of it until I dug a little bit deeper, and it’s definitely a concern for real artists. Since the beginning of humanity, there has been culture, and one part of culture that is extremely crucial, is art. Art history teaches us how ancient people saw the world around them, and how their spiritual beliefs affected those artistic processes. While religious texts like the Bible served as a way for ancient people to better understand the natural events around them (hurricanes, volcanoes, etc.), art was a way to express that visually. Without art history, we have a harder time fully understanding our past selves (meaning humanity as a whole), and how we got here today. Ancient cave paintings in France might teach us about an animal hunt, while ancient Chinese art might teach us about calligraphy and how the landscape once looked. In a way, ancient art serves as guide/legend of how we once lived. 

I definitely went off on an art history tangent, but it’s all relevant. Today, millions of people create art as a career, whether that’s working as a Disney animator, or taking submissions for art of original characters, art is everywhere. Now more than ever, it’s easy to sell your art thanks to social media and digital marketing. For example, according to Shirvani (2022) of influencer.com, some artists who make tons of money selling art on Instagram include users by the names of Damienhirst, Shantell_martin, Alexameadeart, and many more! If you are passionate enough about art, the money will follow. 

Back to Ai Art now! First, let’s discuss what exactly Ai Art is. Ai Art is basically the creation of art through artificial intelligence that is based off data and algorithms. Magazine.artland.com describes Ai Art as, “art generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence. Ai is a field of computer science that focuses on building machines that mimic human intelligence or even simulate the human brain through a set of algorithms.”

 I decided to look up an Ai art generator to try to better understand the appeal of it. In the search box, I typed in ‘Opossum at the beach’ into the generator, and this is what was created:

 I searched up creators on social media who sell art commissions, and the cheapest one that I found was for $10. Based off this, I understand why people are attracted to Ai art; it’s quick, possibly free, and you could search up whatever you like. Art commissions take time and money, and who wants to deal with that? But on the other end, artists are loosing revenue and attraction. One example of an artist loosing opportunities to Ai art occurred this year (2022) at an art contest in Colorado. According to Kevin Roose of the NY Times, “But one entrant, Jason M. Allen of Pueblo West, Cool., didn’t make his entry with a brush or a lump of clay. He created it with Midjourney, an artificial intelligence program that turns lines of text into hyper-realistic graphics. Mr. Allen’s work, “The Théâtre D’opéra Spatial,” took home the blue ribbon in the fair’s contest for emerging digital artist—making it one of the first A.I.-generated pieces to win such a price, and setting off a fierce backlash from artists who accused him of, essentially cheating.” According to Roose (2022), Allen believes he won the contest fair and square. I admit, Allen’s submission is pretty cool, but I also feel terribly for the traditional artists who studied/practiced for years, mastering their craft, staining their clothes with expensive acrylics, and developing hand cramps, all to lose to a person who typed in concepts into a search generator. According to Esther Ajao (2022) of techtarget.com, Allen’s work took over 80 hours to complete. Here is Allen’s piece that won the contest: 

To make matters even worse, Ai art has been accused of stealing art from artists. Stealing art is essentially plagiarism, and people on the internet don’t take too kindly to it. According to Sheena Goodyear (2022) of abc.ca, “These AIs are often trained on databases, or collections, of millions of images scraped from the internet, including ones that are copyrighted or watermarked. But the artists who created them never consented for their work to be used—and they don’t get a cut of the profit.” Goodyear’s (2022) article details the stories of two internet artists who have had their art stolen by Ai. For example, one artist named Greg Rutkowski, who creates art based off Dungeons and Dragons and the card game Magic the Gathering, has noticed Ai art that copied his style. According to Rutkowski, “I was terrified that it was being made so quickly, and with really better results over time”. Here is a piece of Rutkowski’s actual art:

Let’s now talk about Lensa. Lensa is an app that has recently become popular thanks to its partnership with Stable Diffusion (Goodyear, 2022), an Ai text to image platform with some questionable practices. For Lensa to work, you send it selfies of yourself in different positions, and the end result will be a digital image of yourself (Goodyear, 2022). Lensa, honestly sounds pretty cool, until you research the bottom iceberg layers of it. Below is an example of what Lensa could do:

 According to a San Fransisco based artist, Karla Ortiz, “people using apps like Lensa need to understand that the avatars they’re getting are the product of real labour by millions of uncompensated artists…I think they need to understand that those images look really good because artists’ work was stolen to make it good, (Goodyear, 2022).” Ortiz’s own work has been stolen by Ai platforms, and this only got worse once Stable Diffusion got more popular, (Goodyear, 2022). Ortiz explained that none of the companies involved ever contacted her about using her art, but even if they did, it wouldn’t matter because once the Ai system learns something, it can’t just unlearn/forget it (Goodyear, 2022). While Ortiz herself isn’t loosing money because of Ai platforms, she knows artists who are having commissions canceled daily due to customers turning to Ai art (Goodyear, 2022). Here is one of Ortiz’s actual art pieces:

How are internet artists able to survive with the rise of Ai art? How could these artists market themselves so that they don’t fall victim to art theft through Ai? I don’t have an answer for this, the only thing I could say is that hopefully new regulations arise from this in the future if enough people care about it. This, however, is a difficult task because while one half believes Ai art to be unethical, the other half believes it to be perfectly okay. According to Madhan Kumar (2022) of Madhansart.com, “AI art is not bad. It is a form of art that allows for exploring new ideas and techniques with less time and effort than traditional methods. Also, because a machine generates it, many options can be explored, which would be difficult or impossible with traditional methods”. Kumar (2022) explains that Ai art isn’t a replacement to traditional art, but an exciting extension of it that saves time and is full of opportunities. 

The whole concept of Ai art is tricky to me, because yes, Ai art looks cool, but I can’t ethically enjoy it knowing that it might have been created using stolen art. At the same time, Ai art generators were programmed by people, and programming takes time too. Is it okay to simply disregard the work of people who spent hours programming and developing these Ai platforms? Well, possibly, but only because some Ai generators rip off real artists. 

To end this, I’ll quickly explain how this is related to digital marketing. How are artists able to safely market their art online if it’s just going to be stolen and used for a cheaper/free price? Ai art is disrupting the art world in unprecedented ways, and it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon. Unfortunately, the best solution in my opinion would be to keep your art in your private space and don’t post it. Keep your art in the pages of your sketch pad or Photoshop files, and keep it off the internet space away from Ai technology. This solution, however, totally sucks. Internet artists shouldn’t have to hide their creations, and Ai generators should’t steal from artists. The companies behind Ai artists should instead allow artists the choice of whether or not they consent to their work being used by this new technology. Make it so artists could sign up themselves and submit their art willingly to further the understanding of Ai research. Not to sound like a grade school teacher, but stealing is wrong and consent is absolutely necessary in any situation, even art. 

I hope that this was a somewhat enjoyable read! Like always, everything that’s underlined is a direct link to somewhere fun! 

Thank you!

My Citations!

Ajao, E. (2022, October 6). The creative thief: Ai tools creating generated art: TechTarget. Enterprise AI. Retrieved December 9, 2022, from https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterpriseai/feature/The-creative-thief-AI-tools-creating-generated-art

Goodyear, S. (2022, December 8). Why those AI-generated portraits all over social media have artists on Edge | CBC radio. CBCnews. Retrieved December 9, 2022, from https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/artificial-intelligence-ai-art-ethics-greg-rutkowski-1.6679466 

Hencz, A. (2022, June 27). Ai Art and how machines have expanded human creativity. Artland Magazine. Retrieved December 9, 2022, from https://magazine.artland.com/ai-art/ 

Kumar, M. (2022, December 4). Is ai art bad - reasons ai-generated art is an artist tool. MadhansArt.Com. Retrieved December 9, 2022, from https://madhansart.com/is-ai-art-bad/ 

Roose, K. (2022, September 2). An a.i.-generated picture won an art prize. artists aren't happy. The New York Times. Retrieved December 9, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/technology/ai-artificial-intelligence-artists.html 

Shirvani, M. (2022, April 13). Meet the world's top selling artists on Instagram. Ainfluencer. Retrieved December 9, 2022, from https://blog.ainfluencer.com/top-selling-artists-on-instagram/ 

[i-amarobot]

If you think recognising people with face blindness when they change their hair is hard just wait until they age 30 years

[burningexeter]

Here's a few details that I can share on Mistress Of The Web, since I haven't fully worked out the story but these give a good idea on what I'm going for:

• More so than the previous entries in the Riordan-Verse which is really saying something, the book will have an incredibly dark and intense edge to it that shows the immense danger that the two leads, Annabeth and Arachne, are in especially since the former is all on her own this time. A pitch perfect example is that when Annabeth first discovers Arachne in her encased cement tomb, she accidentally trips and ends up coming nose to nose with the latter. Screaming in horror, she gets up as it completely cracks and as soon as she does, it entirely breaks away and releases a furious Arachne who instantly knows and recognizes Annabeth and replies through gritted teeth, "You!".

• Another pitch perfect example is [SPOILER ALERT] the ending of the book. The two of them manage to singlehandedly defeat the 80 meter tall and 262 foot colossal bronze statue monster Talos but as he's drying and dying at the same time, Annabeth ironically ends up tearing up her achilles and Arachne, having formed an unlikely but strong mother-daughter bond and relationship, goes back to save her but once she reaches her, it's too late as Talos falls over and a horrified Annabeth and Arachne, looking up together, are completely crushed and kill by his remains. It's here that they find themselves in the afterlife where they encounter Death himself and both of them end up making a deal with him, he will give them a second chance at life but if either of them ever set one foot on the islands of Greece than their souls will be his forever. They accept but as a permanent reminder of their deal, both Annabeth and Arachne have cross shaped scars burned into their backs.

• Of course, the main and most important aspect of the whole story is the aforementioned relationship between Annabeth and Arachne. At first, they're enemies with the latter kidnapping the former and holding her hostage against her will, using her for her own personal gain and selfish reasons and even psychically abuses her, sadistically taunting her with her arachnophobia and when she sent her spiders to terrorize her as a kid for three nights in a row. But it's over the course of the story that the two of them begin to develop a bond of sorts with Arachne not only becoming more and more impressed with Annabeth's skills but also starts seeing herself when she was a kid and teenager in Ancient Greece to where she shockingly realizes she is EXACTLY like who she was once long ago before she became a weaver and met Annabeth's mother Athena while Annabeth herself begins to see Arachne more and more as a tragic figure with more and more of her past, unbeknownst to many outside of what they do know about her story, discovered by Annabeth. Through the most unlikeliest and unexpected of odds, the two of them end up becoming a sort-of mother and daughter to each other with Arachne being the one who gives Annabeth a warm and caring motherly love she never had growing up and Annabeth being the one that gives back Arachne's humanity that for the longest time she never knew she still had deep within her.

• The story itself will be absolutely ruthless to both Annabeth and Arachne, putting them up against impossible odds that they have to work together to overcome so they can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. But when they do finally see the aforementioned light, it ends up leading to what may very well be the most talked about moment in the whole Riordan-Verse. After they agree to Death's deal, both of them are separately sent back to Earth right then and there before both can even blink with Annabeth finding herself back at home on the front porch. Mrs. Chase, relieved to see her step-daughter once she enters, immediately demands to know where she was, only for a tearful Annabeth to instantly hug her with her step-mother comforting her back and telling her "It's okay, sweetie. It's okay". Later, when Annabeth opens the door to her bedroom for the night, she's shocked to find Arachne there, standing on all her legs and waiting for her all this time. The two have a genuine heart to heart with each other with Arachne, in tears, apologizing to Annabeth for everything that she's put her through with Annabeth, even to her surprise, forgives her. Annabeth tells Arachne to stay which the latter accepts, the two lie down together in the former's bed which has never felt more comforting as it is now than ever before and in the last lines of the book, it's directly implied..... that Annabeth and Arachne both kiss and have sex. "The only thing that felt more warm than her body was her lips on mine when ours touched each other and her right hand down the front of my shorts".

• Lastly, something less insane, the book will heavily imply a retroactive shared universe with other media. Through objects that Death has collected over the centuries, objects from certain events are seen. The Mummy (1999), The Good, The Bad, The Weird (2008) and Overlord (2018) will become part of the Riordan-Verse.

[POTENTIAL IDEA]

Mistress Of The Web

What is it —

A new installment in the Riordan-Verse that is a Percy Jackson spin-off focusing on Annabeth Chase as she's first kidnapped by then forced to team up with a resurrected Arachne who becomes a full blown anti-hero.

[st-louis]

when i say i used to listen to a lot of music i really used to listen to a lot of music. in 2019, before i had my kid and before the pandemic really hit, i listened to 1464 albums before the end of december. these days i just don't have the attention span for it. it makes me pretty sad but what can you do?

either way, here are a few of my favorites from this year, in no particular order (really i’m pulling randomly from spotify). i’ve also included bandcamp links if you wanna support the artist more concretely instead of just streaming on spotify.

i’m putting them under a cut because there’s still a lot, haha.

spectral wound, a diabolic thirst. spotify / bandcamp. really good black metal from montreal. when i say an album rips, this one rips. it is released on profound lore which is not the best label (owner has shitty views / treats the artists not so great).

noctule, wretched abyss. spotify / bandcamp. serena cherry from svalbard’s solo black metal project. i love this. i listened to it for 1512 minutes this year loved it, according to spotify. it’s a concept album about skyrim but it’s beautiful and triumphant and everything i want in black metal. my wife. <3

mare cognitum, solar paroxysm. spotify / bandcamp. jacob buczarski’s one man black metal band. truly a triumph, this album. he’s been around a while but this felt the most complete musically and thematically to me. gorgeous.

ildaruni, beyond unseen gateways. spotify / bandcamp. an armenian pagan black metal band with songs based in the lore and history of the area. absolutely epic. melodic and folky but again, it rips. just very fun listening.

underdark, our bodies burned bright on re-entry. spotify / bandcamp. post-metal from england. gorgeous and emotive and vicious and heavy. lead singer is a transwoman (like she’d be awesome no matter what but lgbt bands/singers in metal are really rare so it’s like a bonus for me to find them u know).

dödsrit, mortal coil. spotify / bandcamp. this is like crusty meloblack. he’s not reinventing the wheel here but it provides what i want from any dödsrit album: heaviness, beauty, moments of lightness, fantastic lyrics. 

eternal valley, kingdom of misery. spotify / bandcamp. might actually be my favorite of the year. just absolutely perfect. beautiful dsbm. thick with misery and self loathing and haunted by beauty. another one-man band.

ethereal shroud, trisagion. spotify / bandcamp. a late entry to my favorites. i have had the song “astral mariner” on repeat for the last three days. one man melodic blackened doom. huge symphonic undertones. gorgeous. fucking love it.

ancient mastery, chapter one: across the mountains of the drämmarskol. spotify / bandcamp. black metal but with like “the final countdown” style 80s synths. maybe it shouldn’t work so well but it does. this is a FUN album and it rips.

lamp of murmuur, submission and slavery. bandcamp. if you ever wanna dip your toes into raw black metal this is a fantastic place to start.

alda, a distant fire. spotify / bandcamp. no one does cascadian folk black quite like alda. 

vvilderness, as above, so below. spotify / bandcamp. truly cannot do this album justice. it’s so gorgeous. soaringly lush atmoblack with hungarian folk touches. can’t pick one song because the whole thing needs to be listened to together.

glassing, twin dream. spotify / bandcamp. towering screamo-influenced postblack. nothing quite out there like it.

windfaerer, breaths of elder dawns. spotify / bandcamp. lush folk black with violin tremolos. just gorgeous. the opener especially is breathtaking.

osi and the jupiter, stave. spotify / bandcamp. this is like... appalaichian norwegian folk? their best album yet.

ushangvagush, mntu. spotify / bandcamp. very raw furious first nations black metal.

wolves in the throne room, primordial arcana. spotify / bandcamp. a lot of people didn’t like this one but it hit all of my buttons. 

ungfell, es grauet. spotify / bandcamp. a very weird little black metal concept album about a medieval town dealing with treachery and murder and social structures? complete with sound effects of wagons and barn animals. would highly recommend this interview to read in conjunction with listening.

koldostvo, Ни царя, ни бога / ni tsarya, ni boga. spotify / bandcamp. i know nothing about this band, its members, or where they come from but listening to this album in the dark is transcendent. atmo/folk/black.

panopticon, ...and again into the light. spotify / bandcamp. it’s panopticon, it’s going to be good and you know it. and it WAS. if there’s a theme for bands this year it seems to be finally realizing the fullness of what they’ve been trying to do for several albums. in this case it’s a seamless meld between the bluegrassy folk and raw black metal of austin lunn’s heart. 

nemorous, nemorous. spotify / bandcamp. wodensthrone without the rightwing shithead. emotive folky black metal.

गौतम बुद्ध, पुनर्जन्म भाग १. bandcamp. raw indian black metal. it rips.

spectral lore, Ετερόφωτος. spotify / bandcamp. a little bloated and messy but still some of the most imaginative and unique black metal out there.

mystras, empire vanquished and dismantled. spotify / bandcamp. do you want fantastic anarchist/antimperialist black metal about how shitty the crusaders were, because have i got the album for you. it’s ayloss from spectral lore again, back and churning out byzantine inspired folk black. with a ferocious heart.

[ykoriana-imperatrix]

SDC Month - June 2022 - Friday #2

Again, cut for heavy fanon content.

House Haxika

This fanon House is far less developed than House Argentum, barely so, in fact, though I wouldn't necessarily consider that a problem. (My main goal for this project, after all, was to share some information about fanon Houses, not write extremely long and detailed entries on all of them.) House Haxika is essentially a House of supporting characters, not being particularly high- nor low-ranked, and with none of their members from recent generations having overly significant connections. Even discounting the lack of fanon development out-of-universe, I feel like their situation would actually be realistic — with 80 total Houses of the Great, not every single one of them would have incredibly notable, recent achievements in terms of political feats, important allies, favourable matches and the like at any given time. It's more than likely than the Haxikas would just happen to be going through a low-protagonism period in-universe.

Relevant information: their cypher is a peach (potentially denoting an ancient connection to the Green God, as with other Houses with plant-themed cyphers; along those lines and due to the name similarities, a past connection to House Irika is also probable). Members of the House have a naming scheme mostly inspired by out-of-universe plant genus names (such as Esdra or Hydrilla). Their Ruling Lord at the time of canon would be 43-year-old Haxika Eudicot.

[jambeast]

Yeah I think people really underestimate the appeal of, like... Make-your-stats-and-pick-your-class-and-feats-and-skills-and-talents-and-race-and-subrace to make an blood-elf darkrager barbarian/shadowfencer with a background in Herbalism so you can go into a basement to fight rats and earn XP and find magic items and collect treasure to buy cool magic swords to help you fight demons and skeletons and dragons and oozes and orcs and aliens in dungeons and castles and caves and wizard’s towers and Other Planets, and do Sidequests for extra XP and Explore Ancient Ruins and rise from level 1 baby peasants with tragic backstories killing rats in basements to level 80 legendary superheroes to vanquish the Ancient Evil that Has Awakened and is threatening The Kingdom and then travel the multiverse and Kill God at the end to decide the fate of the universe. (And then hopefully play another campaign set in the aftermath of what the first group did!)

Like, have any of these people played Videogames before? Final Fantasy? Dragon Age? Fable? Skyrim? Dragon Quest or whatever?Like there’s a reason why it’s popular.  And while I (and many fans of D&Dlikes) will talk a lot about how much we love roleplaying and character backstories and just talking in-character in relationships and all that, there is a reason why so many people play the aformentioned RPGs over Dating Sims and Visual-Novels. There’s something to be said about having that Formula to hang all the rest of the game on. People (like myself) Fucking Love That Shit. God I love fantasy RPGs. Inject that shit into my veins. Other stuff is also cool, but damn. FANTASY baby! Woo!

...However, all that being said, if you like D&D for the reasons originally listed; the specificity of the rules and all that, I’d still recommend you still probably stop playing D&D just because Pathfinder 2e is like D&D but better. It’s like D&D but with better spells and better dice and better rules and better structure etc etc etc. It’s exactly the same sort of *genre* of game you’re looking for (just I think better at it.)

Like I wish there were a less derogatory way of calling D&D 5e Entry Level. Entry Level is not an inherently bad thing!  But, like, once you’ve already Entered, after a few years, then there’s other stuff that I’d recommend to satisfy the tastes you will have acquired. I wish people were able to communicate this without being snobby about it.

wotc sucks and is a huge problem and doesn't and won't get any of my money but i really wish people were like. better at understanding why d&d is fun to some people.

like. i keep seeing these posts that are like "hey try (some fate core game) it's super easy to learn!" the difficulty and specificity of the rules is literally part of the appeal to me. i want a million rules. i want structure. i want spell lists i want many dice i want complexity its literally fun.

i know there are other complex games too but it just bothers me to see this specific line over and over again

[maxwell-grant]

On the topic of "What is Pulp Fiction" I remember during our conversations I posited that Pulp Fiction is "Fiction that is not prestigious" IE It's fiction that if you played a part in it, it's not something you'd have bragged about when it was made. That in turn means that Pulp Fiction could cover everything from Shakespeare to Merchandise Driven 80s media.

That’s part of it. but something that’s been on my mind recently is that the idea of “prestige”, in itself, is not just something that can very well vary depending on who you ask, but also a fickle matter depending on time or circumstance. 

Like John Carpenter. John Carpenter is a very famous example of a filmmaker who did a lot of great films that were very much dismissed or outright panned in their time who turned out to have an incredibly far-reaching influence years later.  I could joke about John Carpenter being a director who specialized in pulp fiction, except I wouldn’t even be joking. That’s basically what he was, even adapting material from actual pulp stories. 

It’s kinda insane to think about just how much of Carpenter’s style has been aped, and how revered some of his films have become, and think that he didn’t have that kind of cultural cache in his own time. He was definitely popular, but popular doesn’t always translates to critically acclaimed or influential. People have spent a lot of time discussing the socio-political aspects of They Live, a movie where a pro-wrestler fights aliens. Halloween might as well have birthed the slasher genre and was selected for the National Film Registry. Kurt Russell became a figurehead of 80s Action Men almost entirely because of his roles in Carpenter films. People talk about The Thing with the same reverential breath reserved for horror titans like Alien or Psycho and argue it as the number one horror film ever, period. He even jokes that cult appeal doesn’t pay the bills. 

Likewise, the Scholastic late-90s lineup consisted of a lot of books that we could even argue consisted of pulp fiction, a sort of weird for-kids-but-not-really kind of pulp that a lot of pre-teens to teenagers consumed and was scoffed at by adults until years down the line, where more people are rediscovering the fun and creativity of Goosebumps, and just how incredibly hard-hitting and mature and well-written Animorphs was, despite the goofy covers.

What’s happening to pulp fiction right now, and might have actually been happening for a while, is that it’s turned to a level of niche, underground obscurity that’s usually only found and appreciated by fans who go looking for it. Sci-fi fans who don’t have much patience to discuss Star Wars or Star Trek go poking around Asimov and Vogt. Fans of fantasy who want something other than GoT or Tolkien knock-offs start finding REH, and if Conan isn’t to their taste, Moorcock’s Elric is right around the corner with all the Blue Oyster Cult songs to accompany reading.

Horror fans who were sick of slashers and jumpscares rediscovered Lovecraft and made it an internet sensation, before everyone got sick of diet Cthulhus and uncomfortable with Lovecraft’s racism so they thought “you know what, we don’t need this guy, let’s just take this cosmic horror thing for a spin ourselves” and that’s how we get stuff like Bloodborne and so many entries in The SCP Foundation all trying to top each other in brain-breaking eldritch monsters. Superhero fans who’ve exhausted themselves on MCU blockbusters and characters from The Big Two start digging into the history of their characters and stumble upon the pulp heroes, darker and more mysterious and more out-of-reach, from a time that’s slipped through our fingers, in pages that no longer exist outside of records and hearsay, and they want to know more. 

It’s not that pulp fiction itself has changed, it hasn’t become more “respectable”, but our culture has changed, and will continue to change, and as a rule, things that are not in the limelight, things that are not “mainstream” will always have a cool appeal to them that the “mainstream” stuff does not. Superhero parodies are in vogue right now partially because superhero films have become the undisputed top dogs of the blockbuster landscape, and therefore, everything else has to exist either in reference to it, or trying to contrast it. 

Pulp fiction nowadays occupies a spot in the cultural conscious that’s a lot closer to things like indie games or arthouse films, than the blockbuster juggernauts and mass-appeal entertainment that they were, in all honesty, originally designed to be like. We constantly see media that’s inspired by pulps, in one way or another, achieve great popularity and acclaim, the likes of which seemed eons away from their inspirations.

People who’ve read pulps, people who obsessively know facts about them, nowadays get to talk about them to others as if they are purveyors of hidden knowledge, readers and scholars of ancient texts that have secretly influenced everything the common plebs enjoy and are ignorant about. Obnoxious? Maybe, if not incredibly so, I ramble these things on Tumblr for a reason. But hardly something that would be possible if pulps nowadays really were still not something you’d brag about experiencing. 

Definitely not what you’d expect from something once literally used as toilet paper.

[dreadfutures]

Bloodied and Broken series

Bloodied and Broken is my Dragon Age series following Inquisitor Ixchel and her battle to find hope for herself, and hope for Thedas. She became Herald at 16 in her first life. The main entry is Dead Pasts, Dread Futures, which begins with Ixchel’s suicide in her twenties. She gets better. There will be a happy ending.

But because Dead Pasts, Dread Futures deals with a lot of heavy topics, and is also densely packed with politics, logistics, and slow character development, I want to outline other parts of the series that might appeal to other readers!

See below the cut for more details about the individual fics. There are also some tumblr-only drabbles also linked below the cut. :)

(How is Ixchel pronounced?)

The Complete Reading Order:

Lead Her Through the Darkness - Gift Oneshot! BECandCall wrote this fic about how Ixchel named herself.

Ruined Empires and Dust - 4 Oneshots (tw for chapter 2, very depressed).

The Vallaslin - Oneshot.

The Hope of Fen’Harel - Oneshot (just sad).

Dead Pasts, Dread Futures - Main entry. Actively updates. 150+ chapters. Starts with Ixchel’s suicide and deals a lot with depression and politics.

Our Careless Heads with Roses Bound - Fluffy-ish Oneshots

The Solavellan Reading List:

Ruined Empires and Dust - 3 Chapters. Pretty angsty but still, Solavellan.

The Vallaslin - Ixchel prepares to take the vallaslin.

The Hope of Fen’Harel - Oneshot. Ixchel’s Trespasser Ending.

Our Careless Heads with Roses Bound - Fluffy oneshots, mostly Solavellan

Dread Wolf and the Champion * - Excerpts from Dead Pasts Dread Futures. JUST Solas/Ixchel interactions. Includes the smut. Also includes some of the angst

Pure Angst, Low Wordcount:

Ruined Empires and Dust

The Vallaslin

The Hope of Fen’Harel

Bloodied and Broken Bits:

Solas POV of DPDF

Drabbles and Prompts:

Ixchel’s fake DA Wiki Companion Page

From Green To Gold

Solas’s POV of Trespasser

Ixchel’s Favorite Beverage

Will Ixchel have children?

How did Ixchel meet Charter?

A mysterious hair washing

Ixchel describes her lover.

Ixchel and Solas face the Sha-Brytol

The Hero of Ferelden is worried about Ixchel

Solas learns how Ixchel died (Young!Timeline)

Main Entry: Dead Pasts, Dread Futures. Updates regularly, 130+ chapters, won’t be over anytime soon. Ixchel is in her mid-twenties when she ends her life, tired of being the Hope of Thedas and the Hope of Fen’Harel. As the world ends, she gets resurrected and sent back in time. She is very angry, and very depressed about it. Ixchel struggles. She finds hope. Slowly, she will get better. Also very heavy on Thedas politics, morality, empathy, and...logistics. Very, very long longfic.

(Solas POV drabbles of moments from Dead Pasts, Dread Futures)

Lead Her Through the Darkness. Oneshot. BECandCall aka DuchessofSwoll wrote this gift during the Dragon Age Fanfiction discord server’s OC swap month. This is the story of how Ixchel found her name.

Dread Wolf and the Champion: Literally just excerpts of any time Solas and Ixchel interact in Dead Pasts, Dread Futures. If you’re not looking for the Thedas politics, or 80% of the angst, or the plot, maybe this is for you! I made this for my own reference to be quite honest but it does include the smut!

Two-Handed: 10 Chapters. Postponed! Ixchel, a 16-year-old orphan who was recently adopted into the Dalish Lavellan Clan, volunteers to go to the Conclave due to her ability to somewhat pass as a human, and her lack of vallaslin, and her proclivity for sneaking. She becomes the very much out-of-her-depth Herald of Andraste...Inquisitor...and the Hope of Fen’Harel. Currently this fic is basically abandoned as I’m focused on the story of Ixchel’s second life, but I have tons of ideas for it, as you can see by the many oneshots.

Ruined Empires and Dust: 3 Chapters. Ch 1: Ixchel confronts Solas in the Fade after she realizes, after the Temple of Mythal, that Solas is in fact an ancient elf...and specifically that he is Fen’Harel. Ch 2: Ixchel confronts Solas in the Fade after Trespassser, desperate to understand why he left her, why he refuses her help, and why he insists on making her fight him. Ch 3: Ixchel realizes why she never sees Solas on the battlefield. Ch 4: Ixchel is resurrected, and Solas meddles.

The Vallaslin: Oneshot. Ixchel is finally offered the vallaslin of Dirthamen after proving to Keeper Hawen how dedicated she is to preserving Elven history. Solas cannot in good conscience let her take them. Not without a warning. (Follow-up post here.)

The Hope of Fen’Harel: Oneshot. Ixchel’s Trespasser eluvian scene with Solas.

Our Careless Heads with Roses Bound: I was trying to do Fluffuary. This is where I put the prompt fills.

[religioused]

When the Spirit is in Charge

by Gary Simpson

Acts 10:44-48 (CEV)

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit took control of everyone who was listening. Some Jewish followers of the Lord had come with Peter, and they were surprised that the Holy Spirit had been given to Gentiles.

46 Now they were hearing Gentiles speaking unknown languages and praising God. Peter said, "These Gentiles have been given the Holy Spirit, just as we have! I am certain that no one would dare stop us from baptizing them." Peter ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and they asked him to stay on for a few days.

Reflection:

“While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit took control of everyone.” “The Holy Spirit took control.” Keep this line in mind. We will come back to the theme.

There is a lot going on today. This is Mother’s Day. We are combining Mother’s Day and Father’s Day into one day. We are celebrating family. This is also the second week of Asian History Month.

This is a day when we recognize and appreciate the many people who had parenting roles in our lives, including, but not limited to:

• Biological, foster, and adoptive parents.

• Parents of choice.

• Aunts, uncles, grandparents.

• Teachers.

• Neighbors, employers and supervisors.

As I prepare to light this candle, I encourage you to think of people who provided loving parenting and quasi-parenting roles in your life.

The second candle is for all members of our families.

The third candle is for the Asian people in our community and our lives.

We light these candles as a way of thanking God for the people who built into our lives, for families of origin and families of choice, and for Asians who pioneered Canada and who continue to pioneer Canada.

May is Asian History Month. During May, Canadians are encouraged to learn more about the achievements and contributions of Asian Canadians. A few groups we might not think of as Asian, include:

• Some Arabs, such Lebanese, and some Jewish people, and some Russians.

• Persians, Afghanis, Turks.

• Indians and Pakistanis.

There are so many Asian different countries of ancestry and so many different cultures, languages, and religions that we could spend years learning about our neighbors, friends, classmates, and colleagues.

Currently, I think we might be seeing more hate targeting Asian communities than we have seen at any other time since World War 2. The importance of learning about the history and contributions of Asians is very high. Some people are calling the Coronavirus the Chinese virus. Let’s compare hate crimes before and after the Coronavirus pandemic. A comparison of Vancouver hate crimes between January and September of 2019 and 2020 showed an 878% increase in hate crimes targeting Asians.(1) This is added to the ongoing problem of hate targeting many people of broadly Asian descent. About 18% of all Canadian hate crimes in 2017 targeted Jewish people. In 2017 17% of Canadian hate crimes targeted Muslims.(2) A total of 35% of all hate crimes were religious hate crimes. Because some Muslims and some Jewish people have Asian heritage, this means that some of the religious discrimination is targeting Asian people.

In contemporary society, it almost feels like there is no such thing as a freak accident – somebody always has to be at fault, so we seek to blame and to litigate. So some people are referring to the Coronavirus as the China virus. That might be a factor in the massive increase in hate directed toward Asians.

Because of the pandemic, we are afraid – afraid for our jobs and businesses, our freedom and convenience, our way of life. We are also afraid of getting sick. We may mask our fears with angry outbursts and hate. Some of the anger and fear targets Asian people. Fearing members of other groups, xenophobia, is nothing new. Some xenophobia was probably working behind the scenes in ancient Palestine.

Perhaps, Jewish people had reason to feel a little threatened by non-Jewish people. There is a history of conflict ranging over more than 4,400 years. An USA Today article indicates that Jerusalem was captured and recaptured at least 20 times. Conflict over Jerusalem seems to have started no later than 2,500 years before Christ and ended in 1967.(3) Over 575 years before Christ, Solomon's Temple was destroyed. Another Temple was built about 515 years before Christ.(4) Jewish protests against Antiochus IV resulted in a backlash against Jewish people. He marched on Jerusalem, ordered the killing of 80 thousand people and sold about the same number into slavery. He also desecrated the Temple.(5) By about 63 AD, the area of ancient Israel came under Roman rule.(6) Jewish people, once again, found themselves under the control of a foreign imperial power. Roman rule was not always ideal. Pontius Pilate was so brutal that in 37 CE, he was ordered to give an account to the emperor.(7) The roots of xenophobia were probably fed, watered, and nourished by oppression coming from Gentiles.

Earlier in Acts Chapter 10, Peter has a vision that shows Peter that God is a universalist God, an inclusive God for all people. Then we read part of Peter’s sermon and we see the Holy Spirit poured out upon the Gentile Believers. “I am truly convinced . . . that there is no favoritism with God, but that He is ready to receive any man in any nation who reverences Him and who does what is right.”(8) “The Holy Spirit took control.” As Peter is making the point that righteous people of all nations are accepted by God, the Spirit fills the Gentile followers of Jesus. This sermon could be the first sermon preached about Jesus.(9) There are a number of important elements in Peter’s sermon. I think two important parts of the sermon are the universal, worldwide nature of the Gospel, and the anointing of God being poured out upon Gentiles.

The dream helped Peter understand that the Kingdom of God is inclusive and universalist and that God breaks down the barriers of fear, prejudice, discrimination, and hate between groups of people. “The Holy Spirit took control.” The Spirit comes down on Jesus' Gentile followers. This manifestation of God was not expected by Jesus' Jewish followers and it was evidence that God accepted Gentile Believers completely. Seeing an unexpected move of God in the lives of others has the power transform our lives and to help us love people we used to fear or believe are either deficient or defective.

God’s love is impressive. From a Trinitarian perspective, God’s love is shown in the incarnation. “In Jesus, God entered the world and took on” human life. God loved and cared enough accept the “limitations of humanity.”(10) This is a love that let the world slander Christ, brand Christ a heretic, pursue Christ, and judge, crucify, and bury Christ.(11)

Vernon McGee’s Bible commentaries are interesting. He relates interesting illustrations. He tells a story about a small-town storekeeper. A family arrived and wanted to know what kind of a town it was. The wise storekeeper asked, “What kind of town did you come from?” The reply was that they came from an incredible town. People in their former town cared about each other. The storekeeper replied, “This is just the same kind of town.” The family decided that they just might make the town their new home. A little later, another visiting family arrived. They also wanted to know what kind of town it was. The storekeeper asked what their old town was like. The family indicated that the town was mean. The people did not care about anyone. The storekeeper replied, “This is just the same kind of town.” The second family decided to drive on.

A person who heard both stories asked what the storekeeper was doing, because he gave the two families very different responses. The storekeeper responded, “I've learned that any town will be the same kind of town that you left – because you will be the same kind of person.”(12)

When the Spirit of God is in control, we are a different people, a people filled with the Spirit of the risen Christ. Because we are different – Spirit filled, we notice that others are different too. When the Spirit is in control, love is present. The transforming love of the risen Christ is generally seen as a proof that we walk in the footsteps of Christ. John 13:35. “If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.”(13)

I am going to conclude with one more story. This is about how God changes people by the proof of the Spirit of God moving in people's lives who we do not think God moves in.

Grant is a United Methodist pastor. He has over 304 thousand followers on TikTok. He is a dynamic, loving figure on TikTok. He did not start as a progressive pastor. He was a conservative Evangelical. He admits that he was one of the kind of Christians who would leave comments on social media telling progressive Christians that they were going to hell. Something changed.

He relates that while he was still conservative, he was welcomed into the church and became friends with a person who helped change his life. This person, on his first Sunday at the church, came up to him, hugged him and said, “I am the resident lesbian,” and she welcomed him, telling Grant how glad she was that he was at their church. Grant was at the church to be the youth director. He got to know her, her former husband, and the children. The love they shared as a family caught his attention.  

He notes, “The first step to me changing my faith was seeing fruit in people that I previously thought were wrong.” He saw love in people he disagreed with and his theology started to change. He started to see complexity and nuance in the Bible. What I think was the key in his story of change is what he describes as “seeing the Spirit of God” in people he previously disagreed with and that made him realize that “God is love.”(14)

Notes

(1) Sherina Harris. "Reported Anti-Asian Hate Crimes up 878% in Vancouver: Police." 2020 October 30, 13 April 2021.<https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/anti-asian-hate-crimes-2020_ca_5f9c3403c5b61b5109e705a6>.

(2) "Facts and Figures: Discrimination and Hate Crimes Statistics." Government of Canada. 16 October 2020, 13 April 2021. <https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/federal-anti-racism-secretariat/facts-figures.html>.

(3) Oren Dorell. “Jerusalem has History of Many Conquests, Surrenders.” USA Today. 05 December 2017, 02 May 2021.

<https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/12/05/jerusalem-history-israel-capital/923651001/>.

(4) David Horton, ed. The Portable Seminary. 2nd ed. (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany House, 2018), 239.

(5) Horton (2018), 240.

(6) Horton (2018), 241.

(7) Horton (2018), 242.

(8) William Barclay New Testament, Acts 10:34-35.

(9) William Barclay. The New Daily Study Bible: The Acts of the Apostles. Kindle ed. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003), e-book.

(10) William Barclay. The New Daily Study Bible: The Letters of John and Jude. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), e-book.

(11) William Barclay. The New Daily Study Bible: The Letters of John and Jude. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), e-book.

(12) J. Vernon McGee. Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee. Kindle ed. (Pasadena, California: Thru the Bible Radio, 1998), e-book.

(13) Contemporary English Version.

(14) “Story Time: Deconstruction.” @pastor_g TikTok. 04 May 2021, 04 May 2021. <https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeqSR5KB/>

[thestarkerisobvious]

The Thing That Lives Under The Bed -- The Conclusion

art by @starker-sorbet

a snugglefic for @mrstarksbaby

This it the Coda for The Thing That Lives Under The Bed.

Did you wonder what Peter and his friends did once they got their hands on ALL those spellbooks?  Did you wonder what would happen to those spirits trapped in the books, calling for Peter to set them free?  Maybe you were curious what would happen if Peter performed the spell of the Kings of the East and the King of the West, splitting Tony in two?

I will be posting one chapter a day #OnHere, in honor of the place where the story began.

                              -------------------------------------------------------

                                                Adulthood

                                   Angel In The Darkness

In addition to realizing that he is in love with the thing that lives under his bed, Peter Parker and his friends have also discovered an underground library full of spellbooks, spirits calling out to be freed and the promise of any number of superpowers.

You may be wondering what they did next.

This is not the answer to that question.

The drumming had begun, which meant the Disciples would begin the dance of Evorá, or at least, a modified version of it.  Rumor was the whole ceremony was going to be shortened considerably, due to the fact that the High-High Priest had other engagements tonight.  Multiple engagements.  That was a problem, because it meant Angel had no idea how much time he had.  When the Evorá dance began, it should have given him seven minutes, minimum.  He was certain he could cover a lot of ground in seven minutes.  He was determined.

Slipping into the forest that surrounded the ceremony field was easy.  Far too involved in their complicated ritual, walking and chanting and lighting the torches in the interlocking triangles (cleverly paved with expensive mosaic stones, a gift from one of the many wealthy practitioners of the Lavern Post Healing Center) no one was likely to notice if one of the audience members slipped into the darkness.  Especially one skinny, ragged barefoot kid.  Angel might not have enough time, but he had some time.  

He ran.

It was with some sadness that Angel fled from the Post Compound – it wasn’t exactly a bad place.  It had been his home for so long, for longer than he could remember, really.  Once upon a time he had said he never wanted to leave there, and Peter Parker, the founder of the entire kit and kaboodle, the High-High Priest himself, had assured Angel that he never had to leave.  Not like the other practitioners, the pilgrims from Santa Barbara and Palm Beach and Manhattan.  All of them said they wanted to live at their Winter retreat (or their Spring retreat (or their Autumn retreat, depending on why they came, what kind of healing they needed) but Peter Parker had said that Angel was different.  That Angel could stay.

And there were so many people at the Post Compound that Angel cared for.  Loved, really.  Not High Priest Matthew, of course, who scared Angel badly and was constantly trying to control how much he ate, and not Dr. Wickham who shooed him away whenever he entered the room and never let him help.  Certainly not Anton, who never spoke to him and always warded him off with a jealous glare.  

But Mark and John were always good to him, most of the time (Mark and John were really Sarah D. and Monica.  But all the Disciples had two names.)  Laura Foster was also sweet to him, always had a kind word or two for him, even if she was kindly telling him he couldn’t eat.  

Yes, those that would talk to Angel were sweet to Angel.  Not like Anton.  No one was sweet to Anton.  Anton, who never seemed to stop arguing, who only existed to play devil’s advocate.  Angel was everybody’s angel.  And Angel loved them all.

And there were so many places within the compound that he hated to leave behind.  The rows of tiny cabins filled with wealthy clientele cheerfully “roughing it” in efficiency rooms with minifridges.  The underground Chapel of St. Cyprian where jaded New Yorkers found themselves weeping with joy and never knowing why.  The secret libraries where only the first- and second-circles were allowed to go, but he was allowed to pour over the magic books for as long as he wanted.  He loved those ancient books, loved to brag that he could read them all (and had read them all)  Loved to be sent to look up some obscure spell or journal entry when one of the Disciples, and sometimes one of the second-circle magicians, remembered to ask him.  

Angel loved being helpful.

He wasn’t being helpful now.  His absence was going to be noticed at some point, and that was going to disrupt the ceremony.  He didn’t allow himself to look up into the sky to see if the fairy-lights had started.  If they had, that meant the joining had begun, and then… oh High Priest Matthew was going to be so angry when he found out.  Angel shuttered at the thought of it.  The High Priest had a terrible temper (that’s why his OTHER name in the compound was The Hulk.)  Matthew’s servant, Firedrake, was even scarier.  Angel couldn’t stand the idea of facing either one of them.  

But there was nothing to be done about it now, so he ran faster.

The drums were ending behind him – that meant that the reading of the prayers had begun.    That meant he might have another half-hour, if all the prayers were read.  Puck and Oberon would step into the circle first.  But when evil-eyed Anton stepped into the middle of the circle… that’s when they would notice Angel was missing.  Another half-hour.  Even if they read the prayers very quickly.  Some parts of the ceremony couldn’t be skipped over.  Angel knew.  Angel had read all the books.

He was whispering the prayers even now as his swift feet took him out of the woods and straight into a moonlit patch of ferns.  He moaned in relief as he ran…

…only to cry out loud in despair as his feet took him just as quickly past the ferns and into a field of ragweed.

No, no, no !  Angel fled the ragweed to the first clear patch of grass that he could see – ragweed was deadly to anyone trying to avoid detection from the Disciples – but that just took him to a patch of moonlit sand.  He moaned in despair as his bare feet sank into it.  He covered his mouth with both hands in a vain effort to hide the sound.

He had fucked up.

He was trying to bear north.  The ferns should have given way to the ditch which would have given way to Witch Road.  From there, if he could have stayed on the pavement, he might have avoided detection and headed straight north.  He could have been well past the border of the Parker land before they even knew where to start looking for him…

But instead he drifted too far south.  He wasn’t on his way out of the Parker property.  He had stumbled right into the edge of Lovesick Lake.

In the near-full moonlight he saw all of it, those peaceful, serene knolls and gentle hills and berms that the Lavern Center patrons loved to stroll upon on pleasant nights in autumn and in Spring.  Not as many in the summer.  (Dr. Cyprian didn’t do his healing work in the summer.)  And there weren’t many visitors on winter nights.  Everyone staying at the Lavern Post Healing Center knew to avoid the woods on winter nights, if they didn’t want to run into the ghost of Evan Post.  Everyone staying at the Lavern Post Healing Center knew that the Post property was haunted.  It was the first thing they told you in the shuttle when they brought you here.  It was on the brochure.)  

There was a man standing a few yards away from him now, a young man Angel’s age (although certainly dressed better than Angel was.)  He stood, unsure, upon a steep knoll, looking helplessly over the lake, clearly lost.  Angel turned automatically to back the way he had come to hide himself.  He didn’t like talking to the guests at the Healing Center when they got confused -- wasn’t supposed to talk to them, anyway.  All Confused-Guests were supposed to be gently directed to Laura Foster or to her servant, who would explain to them, calmly, that they had come to the Center to participate in Dr. Cyprian’s legendary “Memory Therapy,” and direct them to the notes they had written to themselves in case they had forgotten that fact.  80% of the patients that participated in the “Memory Therapy” chose to keep some if not the entirety of their memories, choosing, after much self-examination, to hold onto the painful past in order to also retain the strength and compassion those painful life-lessons those memories were tied to.  But as for that other 20%, well, Laura Foster was best and handling those.

But Angel couldn’t disappear into the brush the way he had come.  He turned back to face the lost guest… only to realize there had been no one there.  Angel dashed up to the knoll in confusion, but the young man was gone.

Instead he saw, stretching out all around him, the beautiful grassy banks known as the Moonlight HIlls.  This was the romantic place where more than a few visitors to the center had enjoyed in the wee hours of the morning, to hook up with other visitors, or to mope over the hookups that never happened.  This was Lovesick Lake, the place where you were SUPPOSED to come and sit on a green hill and look out over the water by moonlight to moon over that special person you couldn’t have.  Although Peter Parker only called it “Virgin Lake.”  Because, he joked, more than a few male individuals had lost a specific type of virginity to other male individuals on its moonlight shores.

There were two male individuals right now, Angel saw, holding each other and kissing in the darkness.  Angel dashed silently back toward the water to avoid them… only to look up and see he had been mistaken again.  There was no one there.  Only shadows in the moonlight.  He groaned.  He was completely alone.

He groaned again when he saw where he was standing.  Of course.  The exact place where Peter Parker had famously made Matty the first Disciple.  He had accidentally ran straight to the very first place they would come look for him the moment they noticed he was missing.  This was Lovesick Lake.   This was the Moonlight Hills.  This was where everyone came to mope when they were heartsick.  Of course this is where he would be.

He turned around and started to hurry away from the lake.  Before him lay the dark road through the forest, the path that would lead directly back to the ceremony fields where Peter Parker and his Disciples were praying.

Angel thought he heard a rustling through the trees.  In a panic he turned and ran pell-mell back to the water.  Dammit, he could WADE half way through the lake, certainly it was shallow enough, and when he got to where the lake began in earnest he would swim across.  He could make it to the other side.

Couldn’t he?

He groaned in frustration.  He didn’t feel like swimming in the middle of the night, of course he didn’t.  He was shaky and hungry and scared .  But if he didn’t keep moving they would catch him and take him back to the ceremony.  He had to escape.

He could swim all the way across the lake, he was sure of it.  Panic and adrenaline would carry him all the way.  He was skinny, but he was strong.  And he was determined.  He took three bold steps forward…

…and pulled up short the moment his bare feet touched the water.

The summer night was still, and yet the water was lapping loudly at the shore.  Was that normal for a still night?  Didn’t the wind need to be up for the water to be lapping that quickly?  In despair Angel searched his memory… god knew he had been sitting on these banks, night after night, mooning over the man he missed so badly… weren’t the waves lapping then?

He didn’t know.  He couldn’t remember.  His thoughts raced as he desperately tried to think, but when he reached out for information, it simply wasn’t there.  He had sat here on lonely nights, he was sure of it.  But suddenly he couldn’t remember where he had sat, or how he had even gotten here, or how he had gotten back.  The only thing that came to mind was the picture of the two men kissing in the darkness, the men he had seen before.  The older man strong and confident, the younger man, almost a boy, moaning and clinging desperately to his lover with bony arms.  He had only seen it for a second, but he had seen it so clearly.  He couldn’t remember who the men were, or why the memory was important.

He only knew that, in the silence of the moonlight now, the lapping of the water sounded far too loud in his ears.  Something must be moving underneath it.  He thought the water would be safe, if they hadn’t noticed he was missing.  But if they did notice, and if Monica had sent Liard after him… wouldn’t jumping into the water be the worst possible thing to do?

The men kissing on the hillside, he spun around to ask them for help, but they disappeared the moment he looked for them.  They weren’t there… they were just dreams, or the ghost of dreams.  Turning around in helpless circles, he realized what a terrible mistake he had made.  

Dammit why, why, why hadn’t he just chosen to hide among the tiny cabins?  They were all empty now, the wealthy clientele who had insisted on staying into the summer (and had paid too much to be denied) had all moved out for the two days needed for the ceremonies.   Angel could have stayed hidden in those dark alleys between the rows, escaping detection until morning.  They wouldn’t have thought to look for him there.  Even Anton might have failed to look for him there.  Instead he had come here, and now…

…and now there was nowhere left to go.

He looked at the troubled lake, then looked to his left.  There the famous dead oak loomed menacingly against the black sky.  He certainly couldn’t go that way – it was lit up by a row of tiki torches that marked the border.  The few guests that were left at the Lavern Center had moved to the South House, partying the night away in their tents and pavilions as they waited for Peter and The Disciples to finish their summer rituals.  They had been allowed to stay because they had promised to stay beyond that row of torches.

Vainly, Angel fought the panic.  

It wasn’t working.  He was trapped.

He had hoped that the distraction of the complicated ceremony – the Meeting of the Four Kings was an extremely complicated spell, written by Dr. Wickham himself – would give Angel the time he needed to slip away.  But what was he thinking?  All four Disciples were here tonight, as well as Peter Parker himself.  They had all come home, and now?  Along with Laura Foster that made six powerful magicians, each with multiple spirit-servants.   Not to mention the lower, second-circle magicians that might have decided tonight was the night to start showing off what they had learned.  

And in a few moments, they would all notice that Angel was missing.

Angel might have been safe from Firedrake in the darkness – but dammit the spirit could easily travel through the lamplight that glowed on Dead Oak Hill.  He could avoid Firedrake as long as he didn’t try to circle around the lake to the south, but he could never go back north.  The ragweed was Sarah D’s favorite plant, and it would whisper his location to her immediately.  Plucky, her servant, could move among plants of every kind, but ragweed was its favorite.  Then there was the little matter of the high weeds that could easily turn into arms to wrap around Angel and pull him down to the ground until he was caught.  (Peter had forbidden anyone from saying it out loud, but everyone knew.  Sarah D had become an expert at tying a man down when he didn’t want to be there.)

Firedrake could move through the lamplight.  Plucky could move through the weeds.  Liard could move through the water.   He could avoid the high weeds and he could avoid the lamplight, but how the hell would he avoid Dr. Wickham’s servant Robin?  

How did you run away from air?

Dammit he had to be safe in the water… didn’t he?  Surely Monica was far too busy using Liard to help her with the complicated ceremony, surely she wouldn’t send her spirit away from her on such an important day.  It had to be the water.   He had no other way to go…

…but when he turned toward the lake again he saw Matthew’s Rock waiting for him and it filled him full of horror and dread.  He could only see the tip in the lapping water but he knew… he knew what was underneath.

Tears were streaming down his face as he fought to catch his breath.  He wasn’t trying to fight the panic anymore.  The panic was winning.  His breath came in desperate gasps and hitches.  His chest ached.  His knees were buckling underneath him.  It was all he could do to keep standing.

And then he heard the trees shaking behind him.

They had sent someone.  Not a spirit, a person.  Angel could hear them leaping from tree to tree.

Angel closed his eyes tight and prayed to St. Cyprian.  He prayed it wasn’t High Priest Matthew.  Or worse, quarrelsome, sharp-eyed Anton.   Maybe it was someone gentle like Monica or Laura-Bee.  He prayed it was Laura.  Laura had a ghostly spirit named Moonlight, and while Moonlight could make you walk through fire if it told you too, Laura could make you feel perfectly content while you did it.

The last tree shuddered and bent as the magician jumped into it, then jumped from it.  It was one of the men.  He hung from a bent branch for just a moment, before somersaulting into the air spectacularly, landing in a perfect superhero pose in the sand.

All five of the original magicians could run as fast as any vehicle.  Each had clocked in at 70 miles per hour.  Sometimes they had races for the amusement of the second circle.  But there was only one of them who insisted on traveling by jumping from tree to tree.

In the pale moonlight, Peter Parker rose to his feet.  He was alone.

Angel burst into tears.