#anyway this is so very much a deleted scene
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Korvo:
Terrance who’s nervous system is this again?
#lamo drew this in my digital art class <3#cw body horror#?? I dunno it’s the nervous system#anyway LAMO YOULL NEVER BELIEVE WHOS BIG INTO DRAWING NERVOUS SYSTEMS RN#yeah it’s me#anyway this is so very much a deleted scene#like come on they for sure have stolen someone’s nervous system#anyway I can really hear this in korvos voice!!#korvo opposites#solar opposites#solar opposites fanart#artists on tumblr#art#finished piece#illustration#my art#digital art#2024 art#tervo#guys if I keep this up I will make a nervous system oc#they are such a married couple <3#adobe photoshop#it’s actually so much more better to draw on then illustrator SORRY#mindlessly doodling
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i love how fanghua are so danmei coded. fang duobing as the protective nianxia ml whose life was so monumentally changed and shaped by a shifu he met only once when he was younger but whose small act of kindness moved him so deeply that he spent most of his life trying to get stronger, working hard to finally be able to catch up to and be worthy of that glorious shifu that he so admired.
except he finally meets that shifu again years later as an adult and he's finally caught up to him but now their positions are reversed - li lianhua is now the sickly one, and fallen from grace; fdb is now the (physically) stronger one, the young hero, and he becomes friends with and falls for llh who he now no. longer wants to be the disciple of. instead, he now wants to protect and care for li lianhua like one protects and cares for a lover.
#mysterious lotus casebook#fanghua#fang duobing#li lianhua#莲花楼#llh obviously reciprocates; the most obvious evidence is in the deleted scenes in the scripts; so many lines abt how much fxb means to llh#anyway ik i simplified what llh and fdb are to each other in my prev posts but that post was just to explain to western fans who said they#didnt pick up on fanghua romantic hints/coding. but ofc their rs def has layers and complexities#but to me most of all llh (llh not lxy) & fxb are Equals. the show goes to such great pains to establish them as equals#it doesn't have to be romantic no one has to ship them we all have our own preferences#but at the very least theyre literally canonically best friends#in the show they very explicitly are & acknowledge each other as equals. best friends. zhiji. *equals*!!#anyway i love how they reject and transcend social hierarchies to form their own unique relationship on their own terms#their real rs is something that cant be easily defined but the two of them have chosen the word zhiji for it
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someone needs to take lions away from Disney.
#not only are they once again making yet another movie with the horrific cgi lions#but they're also making the Lion King lore even MORE fucked up#i mean they've been fucking it up more and more with every successive movie and tv show. animated and not.#but now it's like. actually Scar was the royal one & Mufasa was adopted#but Scar's parents liked Mufasa better so he became king instead? i guess??? somehow???????????#like what is even the point of this lmao#like if i had to GUESS they are MAYBE doing it to either#a.) make it so that Simba & Nala weren't cousins IF Scar *had* fathered Nala#(although if he did that makes it even more fucked up that he tried to wed her later on - tho that was deleted but still)#or b.) they're finally caving to the fact that none of us are buying ''he adopted Kovu & Kovu looked just like him out of coincidence''#to then not make Kovu & Kiara cousins#at which point if you knew none of us were going to buy it then why even try to pull that maneuver all those years ago ANYWAY#and actually the much bigger issue to BEGIN with is that in the VERY FIRST movie it was established that NONE of the lionesses liked Scar#NONE of them followed him NONE of them would wed or have cubs with him#THAT WAS THE ENTIRE REASON HE WANTED TO GO AFTER NALA FOR FUCKSAKE#AND ALSO THE REASON WHY WE HAD THE WHOLE SCENE WITH THE LIONESSES REBELLING#(shout out to that Lindsay Ellis video from years ago where she tried to clown on the CGI version for having a '''''girlboss'''' moment of#the lionesses fighting the hyenas when that was in the original animated movie. i like most of her vids but god that was stupid of her)#so it didn't make any fucking sense for Zira and her 3 Scar spawn to exist to BEGIN with and even as a fucking child of age 8 or whatever#i was PISSED at how that broke TLK canon#and made absolutely zero fucking sense because of the first movie#[astarion voice] GODS!#anyway. someone take lions away from Disney. i don't think they should be allowed to use them anymore. they've lost the privilege.
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Still unwell about Rilke and PH
I love the dark hours of my being.
My mind deepens into them.
There I can find, as in old letters,
the days of my life, already lived,
and held like a legend, and understood.
Then the knowing comes: I can open
to another life that's wide and timeless.
So I am sometimes like a tree
rustling over a gravesite
and making real the dream
of the one its living roots
embrace:
a dream once lost
among sorrows and songs.
#There's in Rilke and especially in this particular book a lot about the world‚ created in the beholding and loving it‚#and one existing to love the world. There's so much about the world being created by that loving and knowing the world of one individual#person that loves and knows it. A kind of feedback loop of existing and being by love and knowledge that is all a participation#on the act of creation. The person coming to exist to love and know the world‚ and creating the world by loving and beholding it#This is also present on Juan Ramón Jiménez‚ among others‚ but 5 yo me was obsessed with those poems. ANYWAY#This topic made me think of Lacie a lot but in this particular poem that topic + the 'I'm sorry' scene + the figure of Lacie beyond Lacie‚#a Lacie that's legend and real‚ a Lacie always sitting under a tree‚ life ending and life expanding so to speak‚...#That kind of knowing it all in a glimpse that is knowing in an instant and eternal (which again reminds me of Kierkegaard‚#fitting I'd say with Rilke). I'm explaining myself terribly but I don't want to talk too much haha But yeah it all seemed very fitting#There was another poem about spiralling so to speak around god that I also thought was very Lacie but very PH in general#('I live my life in widening circles / that reach out across the world. / I may not complete this last one / but I give myself to it /#I circle around God‚ around the primordial tower. / I've been circling for thousands of years / and I still don't know: am I a falcon‚ /#a storm or a great song?'). The spiralling around god in what is still some sort of emanence or reflection of it while being also#different iterations of the self which all reflect it also reminded me a lot of Cantor's transfinite numbers#Which again is quite fitting and coherent with the other authors and PH imo‚ but I may be biased. Anyway yes. This reminded me of Lacie#I didn't plan on drawing anything at first and now I have to flinch to read the poem#I hope I'll recognise enough of what I've written when I eventually come back to this#I talk too much#I should probably delete this later#mine*
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The civvie son of a prominent yakuza boss and the thuggish son of a dead, notorious yakuza boss get together. What's the worst that could happen? Ichiban doesn't think much, but Sawashiro anticipates the worse.
Meanwhile, Daigo can't be bothered to enjoy the cabaret's assault on his senses, and the liquor isn't helping. Even if Masato dragged him out to the place tonight, he at least had some decency to try and make it bearable for him. Tries to, anyway.
based off of these comics i drew earlier this year yeehaw [1] [2]
#rgg#ryu ga gotoku 7#yakuza series#yakuza 7#yakuza like a dragon#masadai#daigo dojima#masato arakawa#ichiban kasuga#jo sawashiro#bouta use a tag i havent used in a hot year#snap scribes#i wont delete this one i promise:]#anyway yeah. decided to write a full fic for those goofy comics i kept making#my story writing is very mid esp when it's something multichaptered but my brain was giggling too much#honestly these are so vaguely related to each other it feels weird to put them all together#eeeeee in review.... pacing really is so weird and disconnected#if anything im just treating these as scenes i really wanted to write and they happen to be vaugely related to each other LMAO#usually i dont share my fics to tumblr anymore but i mean. masadai gang rise up <-- all five of us#please enjoy if yo can#im gona go eat now
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#so i just finished s1ep2 of the bear (i don't really get it so far but ok)#and there's this scene where the main character calls up his sister and tells her about the mental shit that has been happening with him uk#and like even though this feeling is always there but lile i can't help but feel like my life would have been so much better with a sibling?#like one id have good relationships with uk???#and ik ik found family and forming meaningful relationships outside is an option but like in this capitalistic individualist society? is it?#anyways that's not the point it's that there's always stuff no body in the world would get except people who grow up with you innit?#be it school or hometowns or families and it would have been nice to have someone help me not feel this complete overwhelmness all the time#and without me feeling like im exaggerating or thinking that the person would judge me or having to keep telling everything repeatedly#but then i think would that even matter when I am the one who's the problem and like can't work to form that connection with anyone?????#like i for the life of me cannot share anything beyond the surface level or without making a joke out of it#and it seems funny but i trivialise so much of the fucking shit that happens so obviously no one takes it seriously not their fault right?#and like how fair to my friends that i literally almost always been superficial and lowkey untrue with them in exchange for their honesty???#at this point i feel like i don't even know what i truly feel or truly am because whenever i look back at my past self im like wtf#idk most of the times it just feels like being 'stuck' in a glass container and me not 'letting' anyone in if that makes sense?#ik im being very annoying about it but im just so tierd of feeling like this its been a decade & its way too long to constantly feeling dead#and im so fucking stubborn in my sadness that i won't even go get help after years of crying about wanting it & now finally having resources#it's like this mental block which i can't seem to remove and i feel like even if i do get help ill still be untrue so what's the point!???#yeahhhhh anyways i'll delete this later i don't journal so tumblr will have to make do#vi.txt
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The German musical of Cyrano de Bergerac having Cyrano carry Roxane's handkerchief through the entire representation and look at it in some dire moments was a thing of genius
#It did Things™ to me#I don't know German so I can't understand what they're singing but I watched most of it anyways#because besides having such heartbreaking and melancholic details it's also a very creative and funny staging at times?#The way Cyrano moves the tree around and Christian imitates his gestures was so funny#I also liked the way they did the traveler of the moon part. One os my favourite things about it is that it is narrated in a circular way#It both starts and ends with an older Roxane embroidering. I wish I could understand what they say in that first scene#I also wish I could understand the song Cyrano has with Le Bret#I should probably delete this later#I talk too much#Cyrano de Bergerac#Oh I almost forget. I also loved the way they did that scene with Cyrano a writing the letters and Christian carrying them to Roxane#And how it makes so obvious that Cyrano's particular look with the long cape and big hat are used to cover himself#mainly his face
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I cannot read people actually talking ab american psycho bc anyone actually invested into it has a 75% chance of subscribing to like 2 of the three readings of it that are wrong
#i deleted one of them out of my head but the whole ooiuhhohi he doesnt actually kill people paul allen is alive hes hallucinatinggg#the whole thing is a commentary on how the peak of the 'american dream' requires you to fill a mold society expects#kill all individuality. deny age for the sake of youth. ignore horrific actions to maintain the status quo.#batemans whole character IN THE MOVIE is him like very much living in a hell of doing these things not bc its innate#but because he sees these things as what society expects and thus he should aspire and want for them#he doesnt kill paul bc he wants or needs more money or even that he feels threatened. hes comfortable#its entirely hes so so caught up in society and the ideals pushed by that society that he overly acts to achieve them as much as possible#so he kills him bc he recognizes hes doing better than him#the paul allen is alive thing is to hit home a point on this#bc the whole movie everyone treats bateman like hes crazy and cares way too much#and then paul being 'alive' hits that home extra bc he IS caring too much. bc everyone is so numb to whats going on around them#they dont even realize they havent seen paul. they mix up people throughout the movie constantly even tho supposedly theyre close?#its bc everyone looks the same to them . nobody stands out and they all fit this same mold. theyre all the same person#bateman realizes everything hes done 1. doesnt matter bc nobody cares and 2. it never will matter and he could snap and it wouldnt matter#bc nobody would notice or care in their society blind to each other#even then the only person who genuinely ever sees him for the monster he is is the hooker he chases in those few scenes wjth her#anyway#idk why it makes me mad it just does#the gamer speaks uwu#also the directors or somethjng said hes actually for real killing people so.
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Pixar did not have to go as hard as they did with the Kronos Unveiled scene in The Incredibles (2004), yet they did anyway and gave us one of the best scenes in modern cinema. Literally cannot stop thinking about how good this scene is, from the animation to the build up to the soundtrack.
I don’t think I truly understood how dark this scene - and this film - was a child: Syndrome is systematically and strategically luring in superheroes and killing them off in order to test and improve his Omnidroid design… these people were not only supers but they also had family and loved ones too, just like Bob, and one day they would have just disappeared because chances are they weren’t telling people where they were going because it was "top secret" and against the law. They thought they were doing something good, like helping the people in the island, while also getting to relive their glory days, perhaps even paving the way for superheroes to make a proper comeback… only for Syndrome to kill them in cold blood.
Most of these people can actually be seen at Bob and Helen’s wedding in the beginning of the film - they weren’t just random supers, they were their friends, people they worked alongside and cared about. It’s even worse when you realise that Bob probably blames himself because, after all, Buddy/Syndrome was his biggest fan and he dismissed him by not letting him help.
The relief on Bob’s face when he realises Syndrome doesn’t know where Helen is - meaning he also doesn’t know where their children are because he didn’t realise they were married at this point - is so realistic and gut wrenching to see. The relief contrasting with the anguish of knowing how much danger they and their entire family could have been in the entire time without even knowing...it's so well-done, you can literally feel it.
It’s also worth noting that originally the next target wasn’t Mr Incredible but Frozone - that was who Mirage was trailing, hence why his location is “known”. Imagine if she/Syndrome hadn’t realised that Mr Incredible was with him and they’d lured Frozone in instead as planned; he would have gone to the island to fight the Omnidroid 8 in a volcano setting. We saw how being in the burning building dehydrated Frozone and made it impossible to use his ice powers - presumably it would have been the same in the middle of a lava filled volcano, and he’d have been slaughtered just like the other superheroes before him.
This scene shows an entire generation of superheroes - Bob, Helen and Lucius’ generation - wiped out all because Syndrome felt slighted by his hero as a child, because he internalised that slight and let it drive him to revenge. And, if we take into account the deleted alternate opening scene, it’s mentioned that superheroes "aren't supposed to breed” - meaning there’s a likelihood that Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack are among the very few supers of the next generation. I know that it's deleted and so not really canon, but it's definitely a concept to consider, I think.
Then there's the fact Syndrome named the project "Kronos" - Kronos was a God who overthrew his own father in order to take over his rule, and then he ate his own children to prevent them doing the same thing to him. It feels like it reflects Syndrome once looking up to Mr Incredible and even saying "I could be your ward!", meaning Mr Incredible adopting or fostering him - the project name is a metaphor for Syndrome destroying the Supers, especially Mr Incredible, who he viewed as a father figure. The Omnidroids he built killed two birds with one stone: not only was he able to acquire the data to upgrade the robot to its final design, but it also eliminated the real super heroes and so left him as the last remaining "superhero", even though his powers are man-made, not something he was born with.
Not only did he want to become the only remaining superhero by killing the real ones in revenge, he also planned to sell his inventions at some point so everyone can be super - because "when everyone is super, nobody is". It's like a final blow to the memory of the superheroes he had killed.
I've talked too much about this scene but God... I love it so much more as an adult because it's just so chilling to think about. I'm sure other people can put it much more articulately than I just tried to, but I just really wanted to appreciate this scene.
#the incredibles#pixar#disney#mr incredible#elastigirl#bob parr#helen parr#edna mode#syndrome#buddy pine#kronos#kronos unveiled#cinema
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How to make your writing sound less stiff part 2
Part 1
Again, just suggestions that shouldn’t have to compromise your author voice, as I sit here doing my own edits for a WIP.
1. Crutch words
Specifically when you have your narrator taking an action instead of just… writing that action. Examples:
Character wonders/imagines/thinks/realizes
Character sees/smells/feels
Now not all of these need to be cut. There’s a difference between:
Elias stops. He realizes they’re going in the wrong direction.
And
Elias takes far too long to realize that it’s not horribly dark wherever they are
Crutch words are words that don’t add anything to the sentence and the sentence can carry on with the exact same meaning even if you delete it. Thus:
Elias stops. They’re going in the wrong direction.
I need a word in the second example, whether it’s realizes, understands, or notices, unless I rework the entire sentence. The “realization” is implied by the hard cut to the next sentence in the first example.
2. Creating your own “author voice”
Unless the tone of the scene demands otherwise, my writing style is very conversational. I have a lot of sentence fragments to reflect my characters’ scatterbrained thoughts. I let them be sarcastic and sassy within the narration. I leave in instances of “just” (another crutch word) when I think it helps the sentence. Example:
…but it’s just another cave to Elias.
Deleting the “just” wouldn’t hit as hard or read as dismissive and resigned.
I may be writing in 3rd person limited, but I still let the personalities of my characters flavor everything from the syntax to metaphor choices. It’s up to you how you want to write your “voice”.
I’ll let dialogue cut off narration, like:
Not that he wouldn’t. However, “You can’t expect me to believe that.”
Sure it’s ~grammatically incorrect~ but you get more leeway in fiction. This isn’t an essay written in MLA or APA format. It’s okay to break a few rules, they’re more like guidelines anyway.
3. Metaphor, allegory, and simile
There is a time and a place to abandon this and shoot straight because oftentimes you might not realize you’re using these at all. It’s the difference between:
Blinding sunlight reflects off the window sill
And
Sunlight bounces like high-beams off the window sill
It’s up to you and what best fits the scene.
Sometimes there’s more power in not being poetic, just bluntly explicit. Situations like describing a character’s battle wounds (whatever kind of battle they might be from, whether it be war or abuse) don’t need flowery prose and if your manuscript is metaphor-heavy, suddenly dropping them in a serious situation will help with the mood and tonal shift, even if your readers can’t quite pick up on why immediately.
Whatever the case is, pick a metaphor that fits the narrator. If my narrator is comparing a shade of red to something, pick a comparison that makes sense.
Red like the clouds at sunset might make sense for a character that would appreciate sunsets. It’s romantic but not sensual, it’s warm and comforting.
Red like lipstick stains on a wine glass hints at a very different image and tone.
Metaphor can also either water down the impact of something, or make it so much worse so pay attention to what you want your reader to feel when they read it. Are you trying to shield them from the horror or dig it in deep?
4. Paragraph formatting
Nothing sticks out on a page quite like a line of narrative all by itself. Abusing this tactic will lessen its effect so save single sentence paragraphs for lines you want to hammer your audiences with. Lines like romantic revelations, or shocking twists, or characters giving up, giving in. Or just a badass line that deserves a whole paragraph to itself.
I do it all the time just like this.
Your writing style might not feature a bunch of chunky paragraphs to emphasize smaller lines of text (or if you’re writing a fic on A03, the size of the screen makes many paragraphs one line), but if yours does, slapping a zinger between two beefy paragraphs helps with immersion.
5. Polysyndeton and Asyndeton
Not gibberish! These, like single-sentence paragraphs, mix up the usual flow of the narrative that are lists of concepts with or without conjunctions.
Asyndeton: We came. We saw. We conquered. It was cold, grey, lifeless.
Polysyndeton: And the birds are out and the sun is shining and it might rain later but right now I am going to enjoy the blue sky and the puffy white clouds like cotton balls. They stand and they clap and they sing.
Both are for emphasis. Asyndeton tends to be "colder" and more blunt, because the sentence is blunt. Polysyntedon tends to be more exciting, overwhelming.
We came and we saw and we conquered.
The original is rather grim. This version is almost uplifting, like it's celebrating as opposed to taunting, depending on how you look at it.
—
All of these are highly situational, but if you’re stuck, maybe try some out and see what happens.
*italicized quotes are from ENNS, the rest I made up on the spot save for the Veni Vidi Vici.
#writing#writing advice#writing resources#writing a book#writing tips#writing tools#writeblr#for beginners#sentence structure#book formatting#literary devices
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"The Professor's Workshop"
An excerpt from my graphic novel script drafts, posted here without beta bc it motivates me to write. In this chapter, the protagonists David and Kuruk are being given a tour of Armadillo Island by its mayor.
"Just wait til you meet them!" RJ exclaims excitedly. "They're the mind of a generation - maybe two!" He now adds an additional spring to his step, and David has to jog to keep up with him, despite them both being very short men. Kuruk follows behind, looking deeply skeptical.
RJ leads them down a winding forested path to a more remote part of the village, continuing to talk about the island the whole time while occasionally asking friendly questions of his guests.
They arrive at a secluded building tucked away in the bright green foliage of the island. The building is made in the same unique colorful architectural style as the rest of the island, but it has an odd overall shape - as though it has seen many small additions and renovations over the years. Paint chips in a couple places, but otherwise it looks well-cared-for. Shiny metal vents and chimneys emerge from the roof and sides, gently emitting white smoke. A stone pathway leads from the sign to the door, nearly hidden in untamed tall grass.
Out front, a high-quality colorful carved wooden sign reads:
Doctor Professor Xosha Zapata, PhD
Chemist & Architect Extraordinaire
"The sign was a gift from me," RJ chirps, stopping for a moment to admire it.
"No kidding," David deadpans politely, obviously hiding a smile.
(Behind him, the side of Kuruk's mouth twitches upwards a little for just a moment.)
RJ is marches up the overgrown stone and knocks confidently on the door, which turns out to not be fully closed; it creaks open from his knocking.
RJ stands just outside of the doorway and shouts inside cheerfully, causing Kuruk to wince at the volume. "OH, PROFESSOR!!! Are you in, Professor? I've met the most lovely chaps and I'd love to introduce them to our island's premiere scientific mind!"
There is a distant muffled sound from within.
"... PROFESSOR?" RJ shouts again, looking slightly concerned, "ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"
An indistinct wobbly speech bubble comes from inside, ending in question marks.
RJ looks both worried and like a man on a mission. "WE'RE COMING IN TO CHECK ON YOU - ALRIGHT, PROFESSOR?" He shouts loud enough this time that David and Kuruk both wince.
RJ hustles in and our heroes follow hesitantly behind.
The small entryway opens into a large room with high ceiling. It appears to be a lab or a workshop of some kind. Skylight windows light the room with soft sunlight, and dust motes float in the air in the brightest of the rays of light.
In terms of the contents of the room, the place looks like if a cartoon professor somehow had even more ADHD than usual:
There are dozens of beakers and vials on a number of desks and tables. A few of the beakers sit on lit bunsen burners, bubbling with colorful substances and sending white smoke up into the vents above them. At least one beaker has bubbled over and created an unidentifiable burnt mass at its base.
There are multiple architectural drafting tables with designs and blueprints on them in various states of completion.
There are several chalkboards full of notes in messy handwriting.
Books, papers, notebooks cover nearly every flat surface and several of the non-flat ones. Many torn notebook pages have been taped to the walls. [I guess this fantasy world has an equivalent to scotch tape now. ... I'm fine with that.]
The only decorations are a cluster of very nice painting on a small section of the wall. (Readers looking very closely will notice they all have the same artist's signature - Epa, who runs the inn.)
There is nothing to suggest nefarious scientific activity. Real "absentminded professor" energy.
In the far corner of the room, a set of scaffolding and a ladder block off a small space.
"H-hello? RJ, is that you?" says a small speech bubble from behind the scaffolding.
"Aha!" RJ leaps in that direction impressively quickly for a tiny man in his 50s.
Before David and Kuruk catch up to him, they hear RJ's relieved and once again cheerful voice:
"Ah, professor! There you are, thank goodness!!! You had us worried for a moment there!"
"...'Us' ?" says the unknown person in a pinched voice.
David and Kuruk round the corner to see three things:
One: an incomplete 8-foot-tall architectural model of a building,
Two: a fallen ladder, and
Three: a very embarrassed-looking non-binary person whom they recognize as the amateur vigilante they last saw getting shoved into the town square fountain by Armadillo Woman. Ze is wearing overalls, safety goggles pushed up on zyr head, a white shirt with some almost neon-colored stains on it, and a safety harness.
Ze appears unharmed, but they are suspended in the air by a cord attached to the back of the harness, and they look exceedingly uncomfortable. Zyr feet are dangling high off the ground, and ze is slowly and involuntarily rotating in place.
"Oh." Ze says weakly at the sound of additional footsteps. "There's... more people to witness this. ...My lucky day." They look as though they'd rather melt away into the earth. As they speak, they continue to spin, and they miss their initial chance to look at David and Kuruk, not seeing their faces until spinning slowly back around.
RJ, however, continues with his introductions, gesturing grandly and earnestly. "Mister David, Mister Kuruk - please meet the esteemed Doctor-Professor Xosha Zapata! Professor, these are my new friends Kuruk and David! They're here for the festival!"
Behind RJ, Kuruk squints at being called RJ's "new friend." David just looks amused.
"Y-You can just call me Xosha actually I'm not really--"
Xosha stops as ze finally catches sight of David and Kuruk - zyr face somehow falls even further. "Ah. We've, uh, met, actually," they say with a pained smile.
RJ is delighted. "Really?!? Fantastic! You must tell me all about it! How you met, what everyone was wearing! Every detail!"
"Um, actually, do you think maybe somebody could get me down first, please?" Xosha says in a small voice.
RJ looks surprised to find Xosha still in the air; he presses his hand to his forehead. "Oh! Oh my! Of course of course - my apologies! - I just get so carried away! Gentlemen, would you assist me?"
David and Kuruk nod. Kuruk looks like he's questioning how his life has come to this.
"Tell us what to do, Professor!" RJ says with his hands on his hips.
What follows is a ridiculous comical sequence in which Xosha explains how this happened and the men help zyr get down.
Ze was standing on a tall ladder and working on the architectural model. The safety harness they're wearing supports their torso and pelvis, and it connects to a rope from a clever pulley system on the ceiling. The early light of dawn indicates that this was probably a few hours ago.
They lean too far to reach for something and lose their balance, kicking the ladder out from under them while simultaneously knocking the pulley controls out of their reach.
Their legs kick in the air as they tried to release themselves from the harness, but in their struggles they manage only to somehow tangle the straps of their overalls and cause a lot of discomfort.
The final flashback panel is a distant wide shot of the whole workshop with the lonely defeated figure of Xosha hanging comically from the harness in the background.
Per Xosha's direction, RJ and David find the pulley controls and begin to lower zyr down in stops and starts. The pulley system is not cooperating with them, and Xosha yelps in a mix of alarm and discomfort with each small drop. It looks very painful, and David winces in sympathy. RJ looks similarly apologetic.
After the first small drop, Kuruk moves quickly to stand under Xosha.
"I will catch you," he says, looking entirely unsure of himself, but ready nonetheless.
"Thank-- you," Xosha squeaks, "It's-- YAAHH--!!!"
They let out a final yelp as they drop the last few feet. Kuruk catches them from behind [either under the arms or by the harness] and slows their fall so they land safely on their feet. Kuruk continues to support them for a few seconds until they seem steady.
As soon as Kuruk lets go, however, Xosha whimpers and lowers zyrself to the ground in a comically pained ball. Evidently, hanging from a pelvis harness hurts one's crotch and hips like a motherfucker, and Xosha is too exhausted to pretend otherwise. They are still clearly embarrassed, but they seem to have accepted their humiliating fate.
RJ hurries over to help them take the harness off, crouching on the ground next to them and patting their shoulder consolingly. He asks them what happened, and he asks if they need help taking the harness off. Xosha accepts his help and explains, accompanied by 3-5 cartoony flashback panels:
In the flashback, ze is standing on a tall ladder and working on the architectural model. The safety harness they're wearing supports their torso and pelvis, and it connects to a rope from a clever pulley system on the ceiling that can be manually adjusted by the user. The early light of dawn indicates that this was probably a few hours ago.
Xosha leans too far to reach for something and loses their balance, kicking the ladder out from under them while simultaneously knocking the pulley controls out of their reach.
They are caught by the harness and the expression of pain on their face is ridiculous and exaggerated for humor.
Their legs kick in the air as they tried to release themselves from the harness, but in their struggles they manage only to somehow tangle the straps of their overalls and cause more discomfort.
The final flashback panel is a distant wide shot of the whole workshop - with the lonely defeated figure of Xosha gently swaying in the background.
In the present, Xosha buries their head in their hands and lets out a loud long groan; they lament how stupid their mistake was, and RJ reassures them that even geniuses make mistakes! Xosha insists that ze is not a genius. RJ declares that they are too modest. It is clear that this is not the first time they have had this conversation.
David takes in the absurdity of it all and he smiles at Kuruk across the room. Kuruk doesn't smile back, but he does meet David's gaze and there is a hint of a twinkle in his eye amongst his general bewilderment.
Finally, Xosha manages to get the harness off and sit in a chair, letting out a long sigh.
On the final page of the chapter, a large panel shows Xosha in a detailed, fully-rendered (shaded, inked, colored, etc.) shot with warm natural lighting. Ze looks up from their chair with an attempt at a smile that lands a little closer to a wince. The shot is framed to make them appear endearing in their awkwardness. They are both cute and anxious.
"So, uhh, I'm guessing you have some questions about yesterday?" ze says.
Below that panel, a banner with large font reads:
Tune in next time for Part 3, Chapter 7:
"The Professor."
[End.]
If you liked this and want to read the published scripts with concept art on AO3, you can do that! I get a comment on those like once every 3 months and every time it gives me serotonin for like 3 weeks tbh. If you don't mind an unusual reading format, then you can find sexy men tied up and rescued, gay sky pirates, budding friendships, autistic/ADHD friendship, so many Trans people, sexy fat characters, empowering disability representation, a group of actors who would fit right in with The Ember Island Players, a haunted mop, a magical trauma recovery library, a lesbian biker gang that robs imperialistic museums - AND SO MUCH MORE
Note to self: I think maybe I'll change Xosha's pronouns to they/them and zey/zem, instead of they/them and ze/zyr. Seems to fit better.
#original#the blacksmith#original character#original characters#I might delete this later#but I will eventually publish a more polished version of this scene with concept art on AO3#graphic novel#short story#my graphic novel consists of about 13 parts/arcs that come together into one story#scripts and concept art for parts 1 and 2 are up on ao3. pt 1 is lots of hurt and some really juicy comfort. pt 2 is GAY SKY PIRATE TIME.#this is an excerpt from part 3. which is called The Amazing Armadillo woman and which i am frankly very impatient to finally finish!#This excerpt is from a chapter in which the guys get a tour of the town from the mayor. - RJ is the mayor. ('But please! Call me RJ!')#RJ is the real deal tho. He is based on Gomez Addams. RJ stands for Raul Johnston - after my two favorite Gomez actors#who are Raul Julia and John Astin - from the 90s movies and the 1964 tv show#fun fact! John Astin is the father of Sean Astin aka Sam Gamgee!#anyway all of RJ's his enthusiasm is 1000% genuine - he is just Like That.#and yes of course he loves his wife and children SO MUCH#also the concept art all has full image descriptions for visually impaired readers.#the finished novel will either have full image descriptions or - even better - an audiobook!#NOTE TO JACK: do not edit this post; this is not the most updated version of the script.
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heyy! You dont have to do this if it makes you uncomfortable it is a little darker…
can i request overlords finding out that reader selfharms? Like they knew she was unstable but they didnt think that much
thank you!!!
BEING COMFORTED BY HAZBIN!₊˚⊹♡
characters: alastor, vox, velvette, valentino, lucifer, adam
warnings: sad reader, slightly ooc adam (that man is so hard to write omg)
a/n: ik i said i'm comfortable w darker asks, i just don't really feel ok w writing about such heavy/negative topics (especially sh), but don't worry anon, should've added that mb. anyways, i give you hazbin characters comforting reader in return 🫶🫶
ALASTOR:
ᯓ he’s not exactly a ���sit down and talk about feelings’ type of person
ᯓ but he can tell when something’s wrong
ᯓ and he wants nothing more but to make you feel like you’re on top of the world
ᯓ he sees your pouty face when you get home
ᯓ “hey, darling, come look,” he says
ᯓ he’d been at work when you’d left
ᯓ so he’s had some time to figure out what to do for you without making it seem like he’s prying
ᯓ he’ll ask you about what’s bothering you once you’ve relaxed
ᯓ he plops down on the couch, dragging you with him
ᯓ your favorite movie is paused on the tv, waiting to be played
ᯓ “i found an extended version. with bloopers and deleted scenes and everything,” he murmurs
ᯓ the entire movie, his hand is rubbing up and down your back
ᯓ his fingers sometimes creep up your neck, playing gently with your hair
ᯓ the entire thing is extremely soothing
ᯓ you know he knows something’s wrong
ᯓ and you also know he’s going to do everything in his power to fix it
ᯓ and you’re so grateful he just loves you
VOX:
ᯓ he doesn’t need you to say anything, ever
ᯓ he just knows what you need
ᯓ when he comes home and finds you in bed early, he knows you’ve had a difficult day
ᯓ he doesn’t know what happened, but he won’t ask until you’re feeling better
ᯓ he changes out of his work clothes and just gets into bed with you
ᯓ when you don’t say anything either, he pulls you into a cuddle, one hand pressing your head to his chest and the other cupping your hip
ᯓ “hi, vox.”
ᯓ he peppers your face in kisses
ᯓ “feeling off?” he asks
ᯓ you nod
ᯓ his fingers go to stroke your jaw
ᯓ “you can talk to me, you know. i want to make it better,” he tells you
ᯓ so you tell him everything
ᯓ whatever the issue was, the next day, he’s found some way to solve it
ᯓ just for you
ᯓ anything for you
VELVETTE:
ᯓ the minute you come home from work, exhaustion and misery rolling off of you in waves, she demands to know what’s wrong
ᯓ “is someone bothering you? is it your boss again? because i can get him fired.”
ᯓ you tell her everything
ᯓ she promises to help you with whatever it is that’s causing you trouble
ᯓ she’d tip the earth off it’s axis if you asked
ᯓ “come here, i want a kiss,” she tells you
ᯓ you very happily oblige
ᯓ she spends the entire night just spoiling (and worshiping) you
ᯓ the sheets of your bed are tangled between both your legs
ᯓ you’ve never felt more loved
ᯓ she murmurs about how your aniversary is coming up
ᯓ and tells you to get your nails done and dress pretty
ᯓ you don’t really know how you got here
ᯓ but you’re not upset
ᯓ you smile up at the ceiling, delightedly dazed
ᯓ you don’t even remember why you were upset
VALENTINO:
ᯓ he feels what you feel
ᯓ and at this point he can never leave you alone
ᯓ he NEEDS to be with you 24/7
ᯓ so naturally it’s like he’s dying when you come home looking upset
ᯓ “hey, no kiss hello?” he whines
ᯓ that manages to get you to laugh
ᯓ he smiles at your smiling
ᯓ you go over to kiss him and he catches your wrist before you walk off
ᯓ “no, c’mere,” he insists
ᯓ he tugs you into his lap and winds his arms around your waist
ᯓ he sets his chin on your shoulder
ᯓ “why’re you upset?”
ᯓ “oh, it’s nothing, val.”
ᯓ “bullshit.”
ᯓ you spill
ᯓ he rubs circles into your hip bone
ᯓ “i’d be upset, too,” he admits
ᯓ he kisses all up your neck
ᯓ “but we don’t have to think about that at all now. can we just spend some time together? i promise, though, if you’re still having problems i’ll gladly fuck up as many lives as you need.”
ᯓ you laugh, making him laugh
ᯓ you spend the rest of the night just sitting there talking to him
LUCIFER:
ᯓ the two of you are watching your current show, as you do every night, and he notices you’re zoning out
ᯓ he pauses it and looks down at you
ᯓ he dots a couple kisses over your brow
ᯓ “everything okay?”
ᯓ “rough day…”
ᯓ “why didn’t you tell me?”
ᯓ his expression is one of concern now, yet still absolutely laden with affection
ᯓ “i’m sorry, i’m not trying to keeping things from you or anything. i just don’t want to bother you.”
ᯓ “i want you to bother me. say everything that comes into your brain, i want to hear it.”
ᯓ he pulls you closer, palm smoothing over the back of your neck as he sets your head against his chest
ᯓ you tell him about your day, and how you were getting so frustrated
ᯓ frustrated everything was going wrong today, frustrated that the entire week was going wrong
ᯓ he listens intently, stroking your hair the entire time
ᯓ he gives soft “mhms” and “of courses” at your words
ᯓ he peppers warm kisses all over your face
ᯓ he does his best to give you a solution
ᯓ even if what he suggested doesn’t work, he’s sending you flowers to your house for the next week
ADAM:
ᯓ he’s a little confused, but he’s got the spirit
ᯓ he’s a little nervous to ask what’s wrong
ᯓ he’s afraid he won’t know what to do to make you feel better
ᯓ “hey, uh, everything okay?”
ᯓ you shrug
ᯓ “wanna talk about it?”
ᯓ you tell him everything
ᯓ he nods the entire time, his eyes never leaving your face
ᯓ he’s trying to memorize everything you’re saying
ᯓ he doesn’t really have any great solutions
ᯓ and he kind of hates himself for it
ᯓ he wants to help you, even if he doesn't make it obvious
ᯓ “hey, how about we go out tonight? take your mind off things.”
ᯓ you spend the night at dinner then wandering through a night market
ᯓ you both talk nonstop
ᯓ he gets you a bunch of trinkets
ᯓ just things that remind him of you
ᯓ and a bracelet, too
ᯓ he spends a bit of time fiddling with the clasp, eventually hooking it together and letting it sit on your wrist
ᯓ you don’t take the bracelet off
ᯓ ever
ᯓ at home, he’s worried you’re still upset
ᯓ but you’re not
ᯓ you fall asleep curled up against him, your worries now nonexistent
#hazbin hotel x reader#hazbin hotel imagine#lucifer morningstar x reader#lucifer morningstar imagine#lucifer morningstar headcanon#hazbin hotel headcanon#alastor imagine#alastor headcanon#alastor x reader#hazbin hotel adam headcanon#hazbin hotel adam imagine#hazbin hotel adam x reader#hazbin hotel#hazbin hotel vox#vox x reader#vox x you#velvette hazbin hotel#velvette x reader#velvette hazbin hotel headcanon#valentino hazbin hotel#valentino x reader#valentino hazbin hotel headcanon#cursed cat alastor#alastor headcanons
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My GIF Making process: Screen capturing using MPV player, Organizing files, 3 Sharpening settings, Basic Coloring PSD + Actions set
This is a very long post so heads up.
I’ll try to be as thorough and true as much as possible to the way I make my gifs (I already use Photoshop Actions which I’ve long since set up but now for this tutorial I’m reviewing them to show you the exact steps I’ve learned to create my gifs 😃) and present them to you in a semi-coherent way. Also, please bear with me since English is my second language.
First things first. Below are the things and tools we need to do this:
Downloaded 4K or 1080p quality videos (let’s all assume we know where to get these—especially for high definition movies and tv series—so this post doesn’t get removed, okay? 😛)
Adobe Photoshop CC or the CS versions can work as well, but full disclosure I haven’t created gifs using the CS versions since 2020. I’m currently using Adobe Photoshop 2024.
mpv player. Use mpv player to get those frames/screenshots or any other video player that has a screen grabber feature. I’ve used adapter for the longest time but I’ve switched to mpv because the press to screenshot feature while the video is playing has been a game changer not to mention ultimate time saver for me. For adapter you need to play it in another video player (like VLC player), to get the start and end timestamps of the scene you want to gif which takes me ages before I can even open Photoshop.
Anyway! Please stop reading this post for a moment and head over to this amazing tutorial by kylos. She perfectly tells you how to install and use mpv player, both for Mac and Windows users.
One thing I have to share though, I had a tough time when I updated my MacOS to Sonoma since MPV is suddenly either duplicating frames or when I delete the duplicates the player seems to be skipping frames :/ I searched and found a solution here, though it didn’t work for me lol. My workaround for this in the meantime is decreasing the speed down to 0.70 then start screenshotting—it’s not the same pre Sonoma update but it works so I’ll have to accept it rather than have jumpy looking gifs.
Now, after this part of kylos’ tutorial:
you can continue reading the following sections of my gif tutorial below.
I want to share this little tip (sorry, this will only cater to Mac users) that I hope will be helpful for organizing the screenshots that MPV saved to the folder you have selected. Because believe me you don’t want to go through 1k+ of screenshots to select just 42-50 frames for your gif.
The Control + Command + N shortcut
This shortcut allows you to create a new folder from files you have pre-selected. As you can see below I have already created a couple of folders, and inside each folder I have selected screenshots that I want to include in one single gif. It's up to you how you want to divide yours, assuming you intend to create and post a Tumblr gifset rather than just one gif.
Another tip is making use of tags. Most of, if not all the time, I make supercorp gifs so I tag blue for Kara and red (or green) for Lena—just being ridiculously on brand and all that.
Before we finally open Photoshop, there's one more thing I want to say—I know, please bear with me for the third? fourth? time 😅
It's helpful to organize everything into their respective folders so you know the total number of items/frames you have. This way, you can add or delete excess or unnecessary shots before uploading them in Photoshop.
For example below there are 80 screenshots of Kara inside this folder and for a 1:1 (540 x 540 px) Tumblr gif, Photoshop can just work around with 42-50 max number of frames with color adjustments applied before it exceeds the 10 MB file size limit of Tumblr.
Sometimes I skip this step because it can be exhausting (haha) and include everything so I can decide visually which frames to keep later on. You'll understand what I mean later on. But it's important to keep the Tumblr 10 MB file size limit in mind. Fewer frames, or just the right amount of frames, is better.
So, with the screenshot organization out of the way, let's finally head over to Photoshop.
Giffing in Photoshop, yay!
Let’s begin by navigating to File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack…
The Load Layers window will appear. Click the Browse button next.
Find your chosen screenshots folder, press Command + A to select all files from that folder then click Open. Then click OK.
After importing and stacking your files, Photoshop should display the following view:
By the way, I'll be providing the clip I've used in this tutorial so if want to use them to follow along be my guest :)
If you haven't already opened your Timeline panel, navigate to Windows > Timeline.
Now, let's focus on the Timeline panel for the next couple of steps.
Click Create Video Timeline, then you’ll have this:
Now click the menu icon on the top right corner then go to Convert Frames > Make Frames from Clips
Still working on the Timeline panel, click the bottom left icon this time—the icon with the three tiny boxes—to Convert to Frame Animation
Select Make Frames From Layers from the top right corner menu button.
So now you have this:
Go and click the top right menu icon again to Select All Frames
Then click the small dropdown icon to set another value for Frame Delay. Select Other…
The best for me and for most is 0.05 but you can always play around and see what you think works for you.
Click the top right menu icon again to Reverse Frames.
I think Photoshop has long since fixed this issue but usually the first animation frame is empty so I just delete it but now going through all these steps there seems to be none of that but anyways, the delete icon is the last one among the line of feature buttons at the bottom part of the Timeline panel.
Yay, now we can have our first proper GIF preview of a thirsty Lena 😜
Press spacebar to watch your gif play for the very first time! After an hour and half of selecting and cutting off screenshots! 😛 Play it some more. No really, I’m serious. I do this so even as early (lol) as this part in the gif making process, I can see which frames I can/should delete to be within the 10 MB file size limit. You can also do it at the end of course 🙂
Now, let’s go to the next important steps of this tutorial post which I’ve numbered below.
Crop and resize to meet Tumblr's required dimensions. The width value should be either 540px, 268px, or 177px.
Convert the gif to a Smart Object for sharpening.
Apply lighting and basic color adjustments before the heavy coloring. I will be sharing the base adjustments layers I use for my gifs 😃.
1. Crop and Resize
Click on the Crop tool (shortcut: the C key)
I like my GIFs big so I always set this to 1:1 ratio if the scene allows it. Press the Enter key after selecting the area of the frame that you want to keep.
Side note: If you find that after cropping, you want to adjust the image to the left or another direction, simply unselect the Delete Cropped Pixels option. This way, you will still have the whole frame area available to crop again as needed and as you prefer.
Now we need to resize our gif and the shortcut for that is Command + Opt + I. Type in 540 as the width measurement, then the height will automatically change to follow the ratio you’ve set while cropping.
540 x 540 px for 1:1
540 x 405 px for 4:3
540 x 304 px for 16:9
For the Resample value I prefer Bilinear—but you can always select the other options to see what you like best.
Click OK. Then Command + 0 and Command + - to properly view the those 540 pixels.
Now we get to the exciting part :) the sharpen settings!
2. Sharpen
First we need to have all these layers “compressed” intro a single smart object from which we can apply filters to.
Select this little button on the the bottom left corner of the Timeline panel.
Select > All Layers
Then go to Filter > Convert for Smart Filters
Just click OK when a pop-up shows up.
Now you should have this view on the Layers panel:
Now I have 3 sharpen settings to share but I’ll have download links to the Action packs at the end of this long ass tutorial so if you want to skip ahead, feel free to do so.
Sharpen v1
Go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen…
Below are my settings. I don’t adjust anything under Shadows/Highlights.
Amount: 500
Radius: 0.4
Click OK then do another Smart Sharpen but this time with the below adjustments.
Amount: 12
Radius: 10.0
As you can see Lena’s beautiful eyes are “popping out” now with these filters applied. Click OK.
Now we need to Convert to Frame Animation. Follow the steps below.
Click on the menu icon at the top right corner of the Timeline panel, then click Convert Frames > Flatten Frames into Clips
Then Convert Frames > Convert to Frame Animation
One more click to Make Frames From Layers
Delete the first frame then Select All then Set Frame Delay to 0.05
and there you have it! Play your GIF and make sure it’s just around 42-50 frames. This is the time to select and delete.
To preview and save your GIF go to File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy)…
Below are my Export settings. Make sure to have the file size around 9.2 MB to 9.4 MB max and not exactly 10 MB.
This time I got away with 55 frames but this is because I haven’t applied lighting and color adjustments yet and not to mention the smart sharpen settings aren't to heavy so let’s take that into consideration.
Sharpen v1 preview:
Sharpen v2
Go back to this part of the tutorial and apply the v2 settings.
Smart Sharpen 1:
Amount: 500
Radius: 0.3
Smart Sharpen 2:
Amount: 20
Radius: 0.5
We’re adding a new type of Filter which is Reduce Noise (Filter > Noise > Reduce Noise...) with the below settings.
Then one last Smart Sharpen:
Amount: 500
Radius: 0.3
Your Layers panel should look like this:
Then do the Convert to Frames Animation section again and see below preview.
Sharpen v2 preview:
Sharpen v3:
Smart Sharpen 1:
Amount: 500
Radius: 0.4
Smart Sharpen 2:
Amount: 12
Radius: 10.0
Reduce Noise:
Strength: 5
Preserve Details: 50%
Reduce Color Noise: 0%
Sharpen Details: 50%
Sharpen v3 preview:
And here they are next to each other with coloring applied:
v1
v2
v3
Congratulations, you've made it to the end of the post 😂
As promised, here is the download link to all the files I used in this tutorial which include:
supercorp 2.05 Crossfire clip
3 PSD files with sharpen settings and basic coloring PSD
Actions set
As always, if you're feeling generous here's my Ko-fi link :) Thank you guys and I hope this tutorial will help you and make you love gif making.
P.S. In the next post I'll be sharing more references I found helpful especially with coloring. I just have to search and gather them all.
-Jill
#tutorial#gif tutorial#photoshop tutorial#gif making#sharpening#sharpening tutorial#photoshop#photoshop resources#psd#psd coloring#gif coloring#supercorp#supercorpedit#lena luthor#supergirl#my tutorial#this has been a long time coming#guys. i'm BEGGING you. use the actions set - it was a pain doing all this manually again ngl LMAO#i've been so used to just playing the actions#so this has been a wild refresher course for me too 😆
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If KOSA passes
Or if any other form of censorship (there are many in the works!) ever succeeds at stepping in to impede our ability to communicate online:
We have to make plans.
Now, I dunno who'll even see this post. The few followers I have are TRON fans (who despite the fantasy we live in, tend to have realistically dismal views IRL about Disney and the various corporate uses of software).
And this fandom, on average, is pretty tech-savvy. It's where I've encountered the most people under 20 years old who actually know how to use a desktop or laptop computer.
So, if there's any hope for what I'm thinking about, this is prolly a good place to start with it.
(As with all my posts, I encourage reblogging and containment-breaching.)
(Gifs are clips from TRON 1982, mainly the "deleted love scene," from the DVD extras.)
Anyway.
Current society has moved online communication much too far onto major social media sites for my comfort. Whoever you communicate with over the internet, chances are you do it through a service owned by a big company: Tumblr, Twitter, Discord, Telegram, Facebook, whatever. Even TikTok (shudder).
These sites, despite their many flaws, can provide experiences that are valuable and hard to get otherwise. And once all your friends are on one site, you can't just leave and stay in touch with them all, not unless they all go the same place. It's easy to see why it's hard to abandon any social media platform.
But a backup plan is important. Because, as we've seen over and over, social media sites can't be relied on. They change their policies suddenly, without good reason-- and are inconsistent, even discriminatory, about enforcing those policies.
If they're funded by ads, the advertisers are their main customers, and your posts are the product. Their goal is that the posts most valuable to the advertisers get seen by people the advertisers consider desirable customers.
Helping you communicate-- making your posts get seen by the people you want to communicate with-- is optional to them.
Not to mention that the whole business model of an ad-funded website is generally unsustainable. Many of these sites are operating at a loss, relying on shareholders in a fragile bubble, doomed to fail soon just from lack of real profit.
And the more restrictions --like KOSA-- that the law puts on freedom of online speech, the likelier they are to go down or just become unusable. Every rule a site is required to follow is another strain on its resources, and most of them are already failing badly at even enforcing their own self-imposed rules.
If we want any control over our continued ability to stay in touch with our online friends-- we need to have a backup plan. Maybe it'll be simple at first, a bare-bones system we cobble together-- but it's gotta be something that will work. For a while at least.
There are lots of really good posts about ways to build your own website, using a service like Neocities. I VERY MUCH recommend learning this skill-- learning to make websites of the very simplest, most stable, glitch-resistant type, made of html pages-- which you can upload to a host while you store backups on your home computer. If you value the writing and art that you put online, this is probably the safest you can keep it.
But that's for making your own creative work public.
As for communicating with others-- for example, receiving and answering other people's comments on your work-- that gets more complex. I personally haven't found it worthwhile to troubleshoot the problems that come with having a system that allows visitors to comment publicly on my website.
But what we do still have-- and likely will for a long time-- is email.
Those of us who came of age before social media's current hold... well, we might take this for granted. Email was the first form of online contact we ever encountered… and thus it can seem to us like the most ordinary, the most boring.
But in the current world, it is a rare and precious thing to find a method of communicating that doesn't require everyone in the chat to be signed on with the same corporation.
Email is, as of now, still perfectly legal-- as much as social media companies have been trying to herd the populace away from it. I'm sure there are other ways to share thoughts online that are not bound by laws. But I am not going to go into that here.
Email service is provided by law-abiding companies, which will comply with subpoenas if law enforcement thinks you are emailing about doing illegal things. So, email is not a surefire way to be safe, if laws become dystopian enough to threaten your freedom to talk about your own life and identity.
But it's safer than posting on a public social media page.
For now.
Email is beautifully decentralized. You can get an email address many different ways-- some reliant on a company like Gmail, others hosted on your own domain. And different people, with all different types of email addresses, hosted in all different ways-- can all communicate together by the same method.
Of course any of these people, individually, can lose their email address for some reason or other, and have to get a new one. But as long as they still know the email addresses of their contacts, they can reconnect and recover from that loss. The structure of a group linked by email is reliant not on a single company-- but on the group itself, the friends you can actually count on.
This is why I am trying to promote the idea of forming email lists, as a backup plan to give people a way to stay in touch as mainstream social media sites prove to be unsustainable.
I'm envisioning a simple system of sending emails to several addresses at once, and making each reply visible to everyone in the chat by using "reply all" (or, if desired, editing the To field to reply to only some).
If enough people get used to using email in this way, it could fill most of the needs met by any other group chat or forum …without depending on a centralized social media company that's taking dystopian measures to try and make the business profitable.
So here are some thoughts about how I personally imagine it could work.
(Feel free to comment and bring up any thoughts I haven't addressed, or suggestions to customize how specific groups could set it up. This is meant as more of a starting point for brainstorming than a catch-all solution.)
As I see it, here are the basics of what you and your friends would each need to start out:
An email address. Any kind, hosted anywhere. You should use a dedicated email account just for this group, one that you do NOT use for other communication. Being in this group will result in things you don't want happening to your main email address-- like getting a TON of email, one for every post and reply. Or someone could get your email address that you really don't want any contact with. Use a burner email account (one that you can easily replace) and change it if needed.
The knowledge of how to "REPLY ALL" in your email. This will be necessary in order to add a comment that everyone in the group can see.
The knowledge of how to EDIT THE "TO" FIELD in your email, and remove addresses from the list of all recipients. This will be necessary if you want to CHANGE WHICH PEOPLE in the group can see your comment.
The knowledge of how to FILTER WORDS in your email. This will be necessary if a topic comes up that you don't want to see any mentions of.
The knowledge of how to BLOCK PEOPLE in your email. This will be very important. If someone joins this email group who you do not want to interact with, it will be up to you to BLOCK them so that you do NOT see their messages. (If they are bad enough to evade the block with multiple burner accounts, that's what you have a burner account for. Change it, and share the new one only with those you trust not to give it to them.)
Every person in the group will be effectively a "moderator" of the group, able to remove people from it by cutting their email addresses out of the "To" field. Members will all have equal "moderator" privileges, each able to tailor the group to their own needs.
This means the group may naturally split, over time, into other groups, each one removing some people and adding others. Some will overlap, some won't. This is good! This is, in my opinion, what online interaction SHOULD be like! There should be MANY groups like this!
In this way, we can keep online discussion alive, no matter WHAT happens to any of the social media websites.
If the dystopia got bad enough to shut down email, we could even continue with postal mail and photocopies, like they did in the days of print-zine fanfiction.
If it looks like the dystopia is gonna come for postal mail too, we'll use the connection we have to preserve whatever contacts we can with people who live near us.
Not saying it's GONNA get that bad. But these steps of preparation are good no matter exactly what kind of bad stuff happens.
As long as some organized form of communication still exists, we'll have a place where it's at least a little safer to be your true self…
to plan events and meetups…
and maybe even activities a little too risque to make the final cut of a 1982 Disney movie.
They're trying to censor us. We want a Free System. So we're gonna fight back.
For the Users. Not the corporations.
Peace out, programs. <3
#tron#tronblr#tron 1982#userworldproblems#diy punk#censorship#kosa#internet literacy#email#solutions
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Truly the José Ferrer version of Cyrano de Bergerac is the best by far because by the end of the film he has you convinced he's the most attractive man ever, even if he still doesn't believe it, and that is at the core of what the play is about
#Le Bret at first‚ Christian later on but quite soon and Roxane by the end but much earlier with Christian convinced his looks don't matter#and that his nose is not so ugly or grotesque to make him unlovable‚ not even hard to love#but he dies convinced he can't be loved because unlike the princes in fairytale he remains himself#and his ugliness doesn't disappear when being loved#Le Bret is frustrated about this even before he is on stage!!! I love the scene with the seller girl on Act I#I love that they included it in this adaptation#And I love that Le Bret scoffs when Cyrano tells him he can't confess his love due to his looks in this version#Anyway... Cyrano being a bit shitty in this version and helping Rageneau because otherwise the bakery won't be open#is very funny and also adorable to me in the gesture he makes I can't help it#As it is that he just totally forgets about Ragueneau by the end of the act. I adore that Le Bret tries to go help him#but only when he considers Cyrano is in trouble. I love how well Le Bret manages his pride#And I love that at the beginning of act II in this adaptation Cyrano is anxious about Roxane changing her mind and Ragueneau comforts him#I can't with the duality of this man I adore him. I want to hug him like a plushie. I want to put him in a blender and drink him like juice#Cyrano#Cyrano de Bergerac#I talk too much#I should probably delete this later#José Ferrer is also the best at managing the anger/fun/sad emotions in my opinion. Depardieu is too sad. Kline is too funny#Dinklage is no fun at all and the Jacques Webber version is also too sad. There's another version where the actor was no fun at all either#and definitely too old. The Solès version manages this dance of emotivity quite decently as well in my opinion#but I just prefer Ferrer most of the time. He is dignified and fun and frustrated and confident‚#so very angry but also loving and self-conscious and a bit bashful at times#And what a voice. What a voice. Truly the best Cyrano's voice of them all. It is important in the play but until I started watching#different versions I didn't truly process just how important the voice is and Ferrer has that velvety growl that is so perfect for this#Oh Mcavoy. I forgot about him. He had potential but I think he is a tad too sad for my liking and mainly not fun enough#but I think it's a problem of the production more than the actor's delivery. He had it in him. We see glimpses#I'm missing some others but meh it doesn't matter
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Happy Arborgeist Day/ Hurl'ullack!
Checked out the storyboard for another deleted s1 episode "No Tree Left Behind"
You can read it here:
An episode about boiling isles holidays and traditions? interlaced with eda and lilith's sister drama? This one was actually pretty interesting, and got me even a little sad, despite it absolutely being non canon now.
Thoughts on the cut episode below:
Honestly this board really serves to remind me we didn't get to know a ton about the actual culture of the Boiling isles, like we kinda get to know the stuff witches do on the isles, what they eat, and the everyday stuff they get into....but not so much about it's culture. You can kinda chalk that up to belos a little but this boarded episode was basically about keeping tradition and making new memories, even in spite of change, so it more or less feels like the crew either didn't have time for this or had other things to focus on.
So the culture of the island is a lot more in the background in the actual series as it keeps it's focus more on the characters dealing with their personal issues and with the conflict at hand.
Speaking of which, despite belos being the bad guy for his hatred and fear of witches, can't deny....the culture of the isles is quite disturbing at times that i can understand that not all humans are gonna have luz's extreme acceptance. Like king's holiday is primarily the celebration of demon overlords and is very casual about maiming others to present to the deity when talking about it. If the isles was a real place i think most humans would be a bit disturbed.
Anyways, king's part of the episode, while funny at times, is the least interesting of the two, the real emotional core is the A plot with eda and luz.
(I did think the scene with willow and gus was fun tho)
There is one scene where i think another demon calls king insensitive for putting the wrong bloodthirsty battle painting of demon history on display and king being like "Tomatoes, tomatoes, it's all the same and not a big deal", and the guy gets SUPER offended and i don't know how to take this scene.
Eda is such a menace during the holidays my god
Luz trying to tell Eda it's ok if her celebration tree is gone because she and her mama celebrated all holidays even if it wasn't on the correct day, and it was more about family in the end then the tree itself.
Only for it to be revealed this tree meant so much to eda because it reminded her of the days she and her sister got along is actually pretty heartbreaking.
Even Lilith, who, despite threatening luz's life to get her way, still has a moment of sadness for the fallen tree you can really feel from the panels. It's really good.
We get some moments for both the construction coven and the plant coven, though the construction coven acts more like.....an actual construction team.
The plant coven members being old guys had some fun jokes tho, think it's cute one wanted to intern willow at the end.
Also kiki cameo.
I know this is a canned episode, but i'm a bit glad we don't have an episode where some of the jokes are about eda telling luz their holiday traditions involve them all being naked and dancing around a tree, this....would of been taken a weird way.
also witches might be able to remove their SKIN??????!!!!
Also this board just remined me how inconvenient it really is that the coven guards don't have palisman, like eda just.....easily flies away from them and they can't catch up to her. Like this is an incredibly bad security system if your trained guards can't even fly up and chase after criminals, like my god.
One reason for sure you know this is basically non canon is apparently the tree in question, the Arborgeist. Is the tree that eda made her staff from, and there's only 10 of these on the entire isles that i assume supply all the palisman.
Basically, these were the proto palistrom trees.
I can kinda see why this was changed, like even if we take it that belos is cutting them down for his palisman eating, this would just raise the question why he's doing it NOW of all times. But on top of that, these rare trees that apparently only show up once per generation all being cut down at once feels like the kinda thing that would REALLY tick off the isles, especially if all palisman are being supplied by it.
Having the trees just be a normal thing that was depleting due to his consumption makes both him seem less suspicious, and the witches seem less dumb for just being....ok that they're not going to make staffs anymore.
It's implied they don't protest mostly out of fear, but still.
Also belos's, i assume fake, reasoning for chopping down the trees is apparently "We can't have you people celebrating non-coven holidays" and it's just, it's so petty.
granted, it's much more meaningful to actually SEE the tree being cut then having it be stated offscreen like in the show. Like even the resolution to this episode, as in, finding a sapling they plant, is still an offscreen thing in the final series. Where they just talk about replanting trees.
And of course, we gotta have a dance party ending, tho i do think the last scene tying back to the tale eda told about the holiday is very cute.
So it seems a lot of elements of this episode were more split between multiple episodes.
Still, a pretty decent episode, moreso for the main plot but the boards do great at really making you feel for eda and lilith despite it not even being animated.
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