#anyways I’m still a digital art disliker (I like seeing it but not making it)

[myokk]

my first attempt at digital art (never again🥲) for mctober💘

Eloise Babbit✨

slytherin

5th year

favorite subjects: arithmancy & ancient runes

least favorite subject: beasts (animals make her nervous🥲)

hobbies: reading & thinking (IT’S A HOBBY OKAY??)

[hwljpg]

So, I just finished watching all 9 episodes of Smiling Friends in one sitting.

I dunno why, but I just have a bit of a natural aversion to immediately diving into like Internety things that blow up really quickly. I still need to watch the pilot episode for The Amazing Digital Circus, I have no clue what the game Content Warning is about, I know I got into watching videos on Lethal Company late and such.

One of those things was Smiling Friends. I had seen it blowing up originally, and so naturally, I just drifted away from it. I had subsequently seen it in like some memes or stuff afterwards, but besides that, not much.

It doesn’t help I’ve not really gotten into Adult Swim cartoons at the moment. I love random, but Adult Swim cartoons can be really cynical in a way that makes me wary of them.

Then, I saw you post some art of it. Then some more. Wow, more! What about this show makes this person I consider a good Tumblr friend like it so much to dedicate so much time to doing at about it? Well, you said in an ask that it wasn’t as cynical as other Adult Swim cartoons, especially when it came to Pim and Charlie. Huh, okay, I think I’ll go watch it!

I procrastinated on it for a few days because I was busy. But, finally, I decided, “You know what, I’m just gonna watch it!” I watched the first episode. Honestly, it is my least favorite episode. (Weirdly, just like how the first episode of the Sam and Max TV show is my least favorite.) I didn’t like The Boss breastfeeding, I didn’t like how Desmond kept the gun pointed to his head, I didn’t like the spinning baby. That all felt too jarring for me.

Of course, maybe I wasn’t properly acclimated with the show yet. Besides, there was good with the bad. I thought Pim and Charlie’s dynamic seemed funny, the ending was great, and I liked Allan and Glep as the other two Smiling Friend workers. So, I pushed through.

I ended up really enjoying my time watching the show. There was a lot more I liked than I disliked. My main thing: You were right, it definitely wasn’t as cynical as I thought it would be. Sure, the world still is cynical and messed up at points, but I felt an authenticity to the reoccurring characters and how they dealt with the situations they ended up in. Plus, for every single episode, I didn’t see the ending coming AND felt super satisfied by the resolutions! My favorite episode is probably the Salty’s one.

So, I guess this is a really long way to tell you: Thanks for getting me into Smiling Friends!

ooouuu i’m glad you enjoyed it!! surprising i’ve gotten some people to start the show because of my fanart.. wuohhh

Completely understand the parts that felt jarring; i could only look past it or at times find the humor in it mostly because of how my friends and i perceived and translated it into our own funky little brains. And i don’t necessarily feel as if adult shows need to step away from that very random/jarring humor/gags but more of Figure Out How To Do It Right and that’s what I feel smiling friends does perfectly. But some people are gonna be left with a bad taste in their mouth anyways and that’s completely fine yk.

What I like is how they mix those very jarring elements in their show + the characters world and contrast it with simply how realistic the characters are. They typically converse as if most of this stuff is normal and it only adds more to the joke when they actually freak out. Like i’ve said before i adore the mixture of extremely realistic dialogue that sounds so similar to real life conversations we’ve very have had before with people in everyday life. (that’s why i especially love the trip to brazil episode)

And obviously the lack of cynicism. I’ve been avoiding most adult animated shows for YEARS because i genuinely just can’t stand the cynicism and it’s constantly negative fanbases it always brews. And i’m very heavy on looking to the fanbase to get an example of how good of a media may be or simply how much it may appeal to me. I remember telling a friend that the difference between the rick & morty fanbase to the smiling friends fanbase was just one fanbase is known for constantly having a negative outlook on life and saying shit like “you need to have a high IQ to understand this show” while the smiling friends fanbase just DESPERATELY wants to make out sloppy style with Charlie. There’s no tasteless misogynistic, queerphobic, or racist jokes. Hell they have two fat characters as the main characters and we have not heard a single fat joke. It’s a breath of fresh air and with its inclusion of having many youtube/twitter/online creators be part of the show (and RUNNING the show) i feel as if we’re hopefully stepping into a new age of adult animated media.

hopefully one with a more positive outlook on adulthood.

aaaa enough of my rambling you literally watched the show!! feels so odd i used to be influenced by fanart and now my fanart is influencing others. i will do everything to use this power for good 😭 just happy to see people start and enjoy things im really fond for.

hope u having a good morning/evening/night tumblr friend 🫶

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

could i get an obey me matchup perchance :o

i’m bi and i use any pronouns. aries sun, virgo moon, taurus rising and entp

appearance: i’m like 5’9 or something idk also can’t tell if my hair is blonde or brown. i have heterochromia and i gotta lotta moles/freckles. i like to wear bright colors and i rarely wear makeup. im 24 but ppl say i look 16. skinny af but i have been told many times that i have a pixar mom dumpy

personality: a lot of people have told me i am very calm but also chaotic. i see humor in everything so i inevitably become the designated “funny friend” in every friend group 😔 i am silly but i’m also smart and responsible i graduated college with a 4.0 gpa and double honors. i have a bachelorettes degree in animation and now i’m getting my masters in creative writing. i wanna be an artist or writer full time someday but for now i teach college fiction writing and that’s pretty fun too. i like to tease ppl and start arguments but only when it’s lighthearted, i avoid real conflict like the plague cuz i’m bad at standing up for myself/setting boundaries. i also hate asking people for things i don’t wanna be a burden. i wouldn’t call myself a perfectionist but i’ll work at something until it’s more than decent bc i hate letting people down. i love to entertain ppl ^_^ i can be flirty with people i don’t like but when it comes to ppl i am actually attracted to i become smooth spongebob it fuckin sucks

likes: iced black coffee, raccoons, cats, birds, blue flavored things, swimming, acting, graphic novels, hyperpop, shitty b movies, punctuality and respect for other people’s time, nature, long car rides, karaoke, fellow creatives and people who treat me niceys

dislikes: spiders, sand, driving, cooking, germs, bad smells, early mornings, dress codes, email etiquette, people telling me what to do “because i said so”

hobbies: writing, digital art, animating, going on walks, making parody songs, ice skating, making and taking online quizzes

other: i have 2 pet birds 4 younger siblings and i’m horrible at sports/dancing i am not in tune with my body at all, also i suck at math. my love language could be whatever they need tbh but i do appreciate quality time a lot

Hi Anon! Thank you for your request! Sorry it took a while; life's crazy at the moment. I hope you like your matchup!

In Obey Me, I match you with...

Mammon is definitely your best match in Obey Me! You're both funny but can be serious when the mood calls for it.

You're both awful at flirting with each other, much to the chagrin of the other brothers. You can flirt amazingly with anyone else, but when it comes down to the people you actually care about, all flirting skills go out the window. The brothers are so tired of it...

Loves watching B movies with you. They're one of his favourite types of movie so you'll hear no complaints from him when you suggest watching one.

Will do all the driving. He's pretty protective of his cars so he prefers to drive anyway. Mammon would love going on long drives with you; he gets to spend time with you without his brothers butting in.

Will also take care of any spiders around the house. But not without demanding a kiss as payment. Feel free to either give him a kiss or a punch.

Loves watching you work on your latest animation project! It's one of the few times Mammon will sit still for more than a few minutes. He just thinks you're really clever for being able to make what you do.

You will definitely be asked to tutor him. You're good at studying and get good marks and Mammon is the exact opposite. He'll try his best when studying with you but it's still a struggle for him. Just be patient and give him rewards when he does well.

Lucifer hopes spending time with you will make some of your responsibility rub off on his younger brother. He also hopes Mammon's irresponsibility doesn't rub off on you...he can really only handle one person in his life acting like that.

[justsomerandomfanfic]

Hello lovely! I was wondering if I could maybe get a Kingsman, Batman, and x-files romantic matchup? I’m 20 and use she/her pronouns. I’m bi so any gender is fine. For personality I’m creative, introverted, and individualistic. Though I’m introverted, around my friends/when I’m comfortable I can be quite talkative and humorous. However, I definitely treasure my alone time the most. Im a very big homebody and can be very hermit introvert sometimes. As for bad traits, I am sometimes the worst pessimist when it comes to myself. I’ll be fine motivating others but then when it comes to me I live by the “be ready for the worst and you wont be disappointed” As for hobbies escaping to new worlds while reading books/comics, watching movies, and playing rpg video games. My favorite genres are fantasy and sci-fi, though I do love a good classic from time to time. Apart from that, I love working out. My interests on the other hand are art focused. I’m currently in art school working with mostly digital mediums, though I sometimes work with traditional. I love my practice and everything including, game, web and interaction design, video art and visual effects, 3D modeling and character design, and digital illustration. Sometimes I whip out graphite and ink.

A list of random likes: coffee, chai tea, dark chocolate, rock/blues/jazz/80s pop/soundtrack music, statement jewelry and accessories, cafe art shows, arcades, comic book stores, purple, thai/Indian/Chinese food, roller blading to classic rock, quality alone time.

A random list of dislikes: people i am unfamiliar (I have trust issues oops) with and have to make small talk with, the biting cold, rain, non fiction, staying too close to reality and not being allowed to daydream/imagine/roam freely in my thoughts, physical touch, overly crowded areas. I think that’s it thank you!

Heyy! Thank you so much for requesting!! I hope you enjoy your matchups!!!

Batman:

Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale);

🦇 You first met Bruce when you were at an Indiana restaurant with a close friend, almost bumping into him as you were both heading to the restroom; you were embarrassed and for Bruce... It was love at first sight (and let's just put it out there that your friend was pretty hyped that you encountered the playboy billionaire)

🦇 You didn't 'run into' Bruce until a couple of weeks later, your friend invited you as their plus one to one of the said Billionaire's parties, you didn't really want to go, but your friend insisted that you'd have a good time ("No hiding, time to have fun!")

🦇 You, dressed up to the nines, hated how crowded the place was, yet it was less intense than Free Comic Book day, but that didn't stop you from staying by your friend's side; wishing you brought a book or something, you couldn't even have a drink of champagne and you doubted the bar served chai tea, which you were craving

🦇 But, against your better instincts, you decided to try and see anyway, going up to the bar and asking for anything non-alcoholic, only to get a shrug from the bartender and a new presence beside you

🦇 Turning, you were instantly greeted by Bruce Wayne himself as he turned to the bartender and asked for water for you, surprising you completely

🦇 With a soft 'thank you' to the man before you as you grabbed your water, Bruce gave you his charming smile, "I'd like to apologize, my staff are usually better at their job." Only for you to rapidly shake your head, "Oh, no it's fine!"

🦇 Bruce only shook his head back before speaking, "Still, I feel terrible. Let me treat you to breakfast tomorrow, here's my card. I'll have Alfred pick you up. Now, you two enjoy the party." And with that, he left

🦇 You, shocked and with your jaw slightly dropped, you turned to your friend with Bruce's card in your hands, your friend was basically jumping for joy as they exclaimed, "I think you just got a date with the Bruce Wayne!"

🦇 The next morning, at nine sharp, a nice polished car pulled up along your apartment, and off you went to your date with Bruce; which surprisingly enough... Was at a cafe

🦇 Bruce, standing when noticing you, was a complete gentleman, pulling out your chair, and offering a smile; the breakfast though a bit nerve-racking, was actually a lot of fun, and the both of you wanted to go out together again... You even got your chai tea

--

Kingsman:

Roxanne "Roxy" Morton;

🐩 You met Roxy when being recruited for Kingsman, alongside her and Eggsy; though it took some time, you and she bonded quite well

🐩 You started off as friends at first, motivating each other up during training and reading together during free time; drinking tea in the peace and quiet

🐩 You were also usually teamed up together for missions, which worked out perfectly each and every time, Eggsy was always jealous of how smoothly your missions went

🐩 When you weren't working, besides reading and drinking tea, you and Roxy would watch movies together such as fantasy movies and even some sci-fi; on occasion the both of you would watch a classic movie, dating back to the 40s or 50s

🐩 Having the best tech in the UK, you often used your work tablet for your art, digitally drawing and sketching things you enjoyed like coffee, your favorite fictional characters, and even Roxy, (but you won't ever tell her that)

🐩 In your free time, you had also found out that Roxy didn't know how to roller skate, so you decided to teach her; using the Kingsman Mansion ballroom as a practice rink, you helped Roxy skate, fall the right way, and even a few tricks; by the end of the week, she's a natural and the two of you skate to your favorite pop and 80s music

🐩 You also love your alone time, and Roxy respects that, she also loves her alone time; so you always make sure to make time for your own personal alone time

🐩 Roxy would also plan the cutest dates for the two of you, and every time she "picked you up" from your dorm bedroom in the Mansion, she always had a small bouquet of purple Verbenas ready for you

🐩 Roxy would also go to comic book stores with you, even though she didn't really care for comics that much, she knew they made you happy and that's all she could ever ask for; though if you go to a regular book store, be sure to be prepared for all the books she is going to purchase

🐩 On anniversaries, the two of you go to a Chinese restaurant, but most of the time you just get Chinese takeout and enjoy each other's company while watching movies together, falling deep into the fantasy or sci-fi world that played on the screen before you

--

X-Files:

Fox Mulder;

👽 You met Mulder when you were hired as a secretary for the extraterrestrial believer, and he quickly asked if you believed, you were too shocked by the abrupt question to answer properly

👽 Though you and Mulder had that awkward and rocky interaction, Mulder was quite nice when asking you to do anything for him, always saying please and thank you, while even sometimes letting you go home early some days

👽 As time went on, you noticed how awkward (and adorable) Mulder was acting, sometimes fumbling over his words or even walking into a closed door once after talking to you

👽 You grew closer to the man, to the point you knew exactly how he liked his coffee and you even got to the point where you could call him Fox, but only when no one was around

👽 Fox even surprised you one time, after having a rough day at work, he showed up at your desk with some chai tea, which made your heart warm and stomach flutter happily; it even started to become a habit for him to get you coffee or tea in the afternoon

👽 At this point, Fox knew you enjoyed fantasy and sci-fi movies, and he'd occasionally invite you to his place for an alien movie night; which also turned into a weekly event the two of you would do together, even Scully would join sometimes

👽 When you had nothing to do, no errands to run, or papers to file, you'd sketch in your notebook, sometimes unintentionally (intentionally), sketching Fox... And some aliens; that had become a habit for you at this point

👽 One time, when Scully had been out sick, Skinner had asked you to be a temporary agent/partner with Fox on a small X-File, nothing too big, he thought it was a hoax... But Fox knew there was something... Fishy going on ("Something fishy is going on." He's say)

👽 Turns out there was something fishy going on, someone or... Something had been mutating the local fish in Springfield Oregon; making the fish have three eyes, now you had never seen anything like that before, and it was an X-File mission success to put it simply in the end

👽 And, after a long work day, you and Fox would spend the time together watching movies or even just discussing the great unknown of space and aliens in general; you always loved those times, seeing how excited and interested Fox was about the subject, and Fox felt the same as you would sketch aliens beside him as he spoke

--

(Thank you again so much for requesting this matchup! It was fun to create <3 :) I hope you enjoy it!!!!)

[lordhelpme0-0]

Ikemen Vampire OC: Queen Mother Ỷ Lan

Traditional art will be made, but the digital art will be later as that will take some time…anyway! ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Date of Birth: October 6, ????

Zodiac Sign(s): Aries, Rabbit [fire]

Height: 153.2 cm

Occupation: Lý Dynasty Queen mother, regent, imperial concubine, Empress mother

Vampiric Type: Demi-vampire

Ethnicity: Vietnamese

Names/ Title: Queen Mother Ỷ Lan (leaning on orchid), Empress Mother Linh Nhân, Dịu (soothing/tender) Lý (hourly) [outside name]

Family relations: unknown

Personality: Ý Lan is a demure and gentle woman. Not to mention intellectual and quick witted. She is seemingly motherly to the boys whenever visiting. Quick to pick up any languages and culture. Mostly stays indoor and lives with Olga as housemates. Very respected in the Asian pureblood society, despite being a demi-vampire. She doesn’t really go outside, beside to take strolls in gardens. Ever since she traveled over to Europe with Olga, she will feel reminiscent of her homeland. Considering being common or at birth, she will most likely make some Vietnamese cuisine for the boys to try. Definitely will be amused by Dazai eccentric tendency. Despite her gentle nature, she will not hesitate to verbally put someone in place. It has happen…more than once….not gonna name anybody…theo-

Likes:

The botanical beauty and gardens

She has a thing for animals, basically a Disney princess by this point

Reading with ché (Vietnamese dessert) on the side

Has been intrigue by the changes on technology advancement - may or may not had Issac explain in his purest form

Has been called mother more than once - she enjoys it

Definitely will be with Olga over tea

Has a pet animal, the Saola - it’s a very endangered species in Vietnam..also known as the Asian unicorn [please don’t do any MLP references!!!]

Has to keep Saola away from Mon Cherie, King, and Vic much to her amusement - cause there’s a bloody Asian unicorn there-

Will want to learn everything, and has gone off at Theo and William in full Vietnamese - they still scared after having a bamboo stick whack them in the booty

Likes peace and chaos

Mostly will converse with Comte time to time on the society itself

Has done home remedies on the boys - string ring!—

Will be that one Asian mom using her feet when her hands are full

Basically the second mom whenever she comes visit

Dislikes:

Frivolous spending and entertainment - looking at you Arthur and Comte

Dazai tendencies to always uses windows

Theo horrible language

Lack of propriety and respect

Horrible bed schedule and bad habits (I’m listing my life by now…)

Having to use the shoes or bamboo

Messy rooms - Leonardo

Trivia!!!:

Ỷ Lan has an Asian unicorn as a pet…no it’s not an actual Asian unicorn Jean

She may have dragged Jean and Issac by the ear to dinner - while smiling calmly throughout

The thing in her hand you see her holding up is a gold seal or something - it was part of her statue..I couldn’t get a close look cause not a lot of references

The outfit she wore is royal Vietnamese outfit in the 1000-1200 ad

She has a headdress, that sometimes let the boys use to put on to play around with - Dazai

Doesn’t wear the royal garment when in Comte, Vlad, or the unknown place that both her and Olga live in - she opts for simple tunic with a sash around. Having a white skirt underneath and a robe with cut sleeves over her

Has sewn some garments for the boys to try, which mean flowing robes and sleeves everywhere

Sebastian is thankful to have her around, which she is amused at

Lines:

“Xin Chào, you must be Chí [____]. I’m Ý Lan, but call me Dịu instead.” The Asian lady in fine robes, gold headdress, with glittering chestnut eyes beam. I smiled as I bowed, “it’s an honor your majesty, I’m [____].”

She chuckle at my pouting face, “don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it, here.” Moving her lithe hands, she quickly showed exactly how to season the Phố broth. “It takes practice, even I.” I glanced at her glittering eyes, smiling with determination.

“Since it’s close to the time of your departure. Is there anything I can do for you?” Her eyes sadden, I bit my lip. “Yes, I need…”

Romantic: ???

Storyline plot: <yes>

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[Loading complete: Post?]

[Yes] [No]

[Yes]

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Tagging: @pieground @a-chaotic-dumbass @spoopy-fish-writes @weird-profiterole @yanderepuck

Edit: I believe you all haven’t seen the second oc I made oof-!

Have some more Ikevamp Oc!!!!!

[risingroseart]

I posted 37 times in 2022

24 posts created (65%)

13 posts reblogged (35%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@risingroseart

@southfarthing

@abyssanyon

@rainbowchibbit

@risingroseakira

I tagged 29 of my posts in 2022

Only 22% of my posts had no tags

#my art - 14 posts

#doodle - 12 posts

#digital art - 11 posts

#fanart - 10 posts

#risingroseart - 9 posts

#mcyt - 9 posts

#sketch - 8 posts

#critical role - 7 posts

#cr fanart - 6 posts

#critical role fanart - 6 posts

Longest Tag: 108 characters

#i know its a common choice bc tangos colors are warm so colder colorscheme is obv a good opposite to use but

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

You know when you have these jokes and shitposts that only you and one other person on the planet really understand?

Well I thought I would share this anyway! even though only @galaxy-minecart has the full context to this jfhgkfhg

So here's the first one. Some more Wither-Watcher Deity!Grian stuff (you can find a proper drawing of him here, since I gave up drawing him properly after my 5th redraw on this fucking meme shitpost) but he's been thrown into empires smp.

More context under the cut

[do not repost, edit, use or claim as your own] [Reblogs help the artist]

So its basically from a deity grian crossover with empires (i made this before he canonically visited the server LOL) coupled with the imo absolutely hysterical concept of Joel just refusing to believe in deities and demons and the like. I mean when Xornoth showed up, mans deadass went ''i do not see. i am looking away. Xornoth? never heard of them.'', so its probably the same with gods.

Anyway so deity!grian shows up on the server and bumps into joel and makes him his 'listener' (which does NOT mean the same thing as it does in canon watcher lore in the absolute slightest. listeners in my lore are basically followers of the watchers, and as far as i know canon listeners are against the watchers so kgkfhghg v different) but joel the small king refuses to believe (or at least admit to believe) that grian is a god so he acts like they're just ''allies''. nevermind the dread of feeling the very gaze of the universe itself befalling Joel whenever he does something Grian dislikes, no supernatural powers to be seen here, no gods in this town,,,

235 notes - Posted January 12, 2022

#4

[Please don’t repost, use, edit, NFT, claim as your own or otherwise steal.]

Hello!! I’m alive and well. 

I haven’t had much to post as most of my art has been unfinished and/or private worldbuilding stuff or figuring out people’s designs. However I have fallen into a deep critical role hyperfixation on campaign 3, Ashton’s design and Campaign 1 Percival (etc etc) de Rolo and his whitestone arc, so I’ve been doing a few doodles of some designs here and there - specifically for c3 since I’m still new to c1. This is the first proper colored one however, so yay! It’s Ashton in pretty much the same outfit Taliesin wore during Ashton’s introduction bc I haven’t been able to get that visual out of my head :] I love their laugh, whenever I hear it is when I can best visualize them in my head, it’s so distinctly their sound. Might be my now pfp, maybe! love them a lot. Also hi critters! I’m new in this corner of the internet! any fellow newbies out there? :> 

[Reblogs help the artist! Comments and tags are very much appreciated as well!]

249 notes - Posted April 17, 2022

#3

hi im rusty and not supposed to draw bc it has been a month and my hand has continuously hurt the whole time (which is also why there hasnt been any posts in a bit) but I had to do at least ONE doodle during the restream. I hope to make a "there's strength, but there's pain; There's pain, but there's strength." painting once im able but that might be a while

276 notes - Posted September 23, 2022

#2

[Please don’t repost, trace, use, edit, steal, NFT, claim as your own, or any of that stuff.]

hi fcg’s eyes are a struggle and im still working on his design but uhhh decided to draw my beloved he/they player character duo. also yes im aware ashton’s outfit looks different in their character art but i felt like playing around with it some more :v he’s so much fun to draw.

Reblogs help the artist! Tags and comments also keep me motivated

546 notes - Posted April 21, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Team Rancher has my whole entire heart

Hi, hello, I'm alive and I'm Totally Normal about these two.

Wanted to post this before I get so swept up in Empires Season 2 that I forget to put this here- I saw the scene where Tango was raging and Jimmy did his best to calm him down and stop him from doing something stupid and he said that quote and this. came to me in a vision, i immediately grabbed my tablet lol. Team Rancher brainrot is real, i love that these two got put together as soulmates. cant wait for next season when theyll probably burn down desert duo's incredibly flammable base [Reblogs and Comments help the artist and are very much appreciated!]

! Do not repost, edit, steal, NFT, claim as your own, and so on and so fourth !

1,228 notes - Posted June 25, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[trutimeline]

idislikecispeople, The Most Infamous Dyscourse Blogger: Part 1.0, Rumors

idislikecispeople, also known as many names throughout her time on Tumblr (such as Adele, Kat, Mami, Samantha and Sayaka), was a former Tumblr blogger who became infamous for coining the term "tucute", among many other controversial things she has posted on her blogs. This was supposed to be one, very long masterpost about her, but Tumblr's post editor is a bitch and won't let me do that.

In this post, I'll be debunking or confirming rumors commonly spread about idislikecispeople. The rest of my posts about her will each be dedicated to a specific controversial belief she held or situations she got into. For simplicity's sake, I'll be referring to idislikecispeople as Kat for the rest of this post and future ones.

Rumors

Kat Coined the Terms "Truscum" and "Tucute"

Verdict: Partially True

Kat coined the term tucute, but she did not coin the terms truscum or transmedicalist.

Here's a screenshot of Kat's original definition of a tucute:

Transcript:

What is Tucute?

What does tucute mean?

Tucute is basically just the opposite of truscum, it’s a term and community for trans, nonbinary, and/or non-cis individuals created to separate anti-truscum from truscum and to serve as a safe place from truscum and from cis people, where they believe that being trans requires dysphoria, we do not,where they think that being trans is a medical condition, we do not,and where they deny numerous gender identities on the basis that it “discredits the trans community” we do not.

What are the prerequisites to be a part of the tucute community?

You have to be trans, nonbinary, and/or non-cis in general

You have to accept all pronouns and gender identities

You haveto believe that dysphoria is not necessary to be trans

You have to dislike truscum

You cannot side with truscum or believe in their ideology

You cannot misgender anyone no matter how mad they make you

You cannot be an ableist whatsoever

Did you invent the tucute community? Why?

I indeed did coin the tucute term and community and anyone who says otherwise are creeps who are trying to steal it from me and redefine it for their own nefarious doings. I started this community so anti-truscum could separate themselves from truscum and cis people who are a part of the truscum community, it serves as a safe space from both truscum and cis people.

I’m cis, can I be tucute if I believe in your movement and want to help?

No, you can’t be tucute if you’re cis, you can only be a tucute ally, and you need to be sure to never speak for or over a trans person.

I see a lot of tucuties being just as harmful as truscum, what will you do about it?

There isn’t much I can do to them other than ask them to stop aligning with the tucute community, and of course, that doesn’t mean they will. Also be noted that truscum and cis people will pretend to be tucute just to tarnish the name of the tucute community, so tread lightly, you might be talking to a wolf in sheep���s clothing.

Spread the word, use the tag #tucute and join the army today!

[A digital drawing of Sayaka Miki from Puella Magi Madoka Magica in her magical girl form, with a banner underneath her reading "Tucute 4 U!"]

(source) (source)

Kat Was a Cisgender Woman Who Lied About Being a Transgender Woman

Verdict: False

This rumor primarily comes from a post on Kat's oldest known Tumblr blog, chromaghost, where she claims that she wasn't MTF and only tagged a selfie as such because she thought that transgender people were "cool".

Transcript:

Anonymous asked: are you a mtf? i seen it tagged on one of your photos.

No lol. I wanted to post it to the tag because transgender people are cool :3

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However, Kat addressed this post and made it clear she very much was a transgender woman multiple times on her later blogs. This claim can also be confirmed with nude photos Kat posted online, which I don't feel comfortable spreading, so you'll just have to trust me on that one. I also don't feel comfortable directly encouraging you to go and dig up those nudes, as most of her nude photos were either taken when she was a minor, spread without her consent and/or were uploaded because people pressured her into posting nudes to "prove" she was a transgender woman.

Transcript:

Anonymous asked: you bound with ace bandage in one of your selfies. i don't know what to think about you anymore. according to some people you're a 27 year old cis woman scamming us, but you say you're a 22 year old trans woman. i want to trust you but i don't know if i can. i'm sorry.

Rest assured I’m not 27 years old lol. What you’re referring to is a less than graceful ~art piece~ we did (”Playing a Boy” or something) on deviantART when we were 16/17 (?) and really ill-informed. I ask you to not take that as how I stand currently – as I have learned so much more since, and I have a penis and I was designated male at birth because of it (feel free to purchase a passcode to our nsfw blog to see for yourself). At the time we were developing breast tissue but still had to appear as a ‘boy.’ Don’t bind with Ace bandages, kids, it can damage your rib cage, something we didn’t know at the time.

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Transcript:

[A picture of two prescriptions, estradiol and spironolactone, both prescribed to Adele Sheffield.]

grandtran still gonna think I photoshopped it or what

(source)

Transcript:

Anonymous asked: In other words, you aren't gonna cough up the pics because you know you can't fake that shit because you're actually cis. Cool. BTW why do you keep changing your story about the blog, and if the blog was run by you when you were in denial about being trans because of self hate, why were the pics tagged mtf and you were constantly saying trans people were cool?

Yeah I’m not gonna do something for y’all and get nothing in return except more doubt from you, you see how one sided that kind of request is? Also its technically considered sexual harassment, just because its on the internet, you’re a coward (whats your username btw?), and you think I’m cis and you want me to prove time and time again to you that I’m dmab doesn’t justify sexually soliciting someone when they’re not comfortable in being solicited – for free no less.

At first I genuinely had no memory of that blog, it was only active for all of 2 months and for some reason I moved onto a new email and new tumblr, and I haven’t the foggiest why. As for the whole “me claiming to not be ~mtf~” I don’t have any memories from that time, I can only assume it was a lot of dysphoria fueled self-hatred and wanting to be seen/pass as a cis girl lesbian.

If you’re really gonna solicit nudes from a trans woman (a second time) as they do sex work to try and stay on their feet without offering anything in return just so your transmisogynistic ass can get off to trying to tell me my dick is fake isn’t classy at all. I perish the thought of what you’re parents would think of this behavior from you. But yeah, feel free to send some money to my paypal so I can get the gender markers on my records changed because that’s gonna cost a lot apparently, and I’ll definitely send you the dick pics you want. :)

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Transcript:

[A picture of a a hospital bracelet on Kat's wrist. The patient's name is Adele Sheffield and her sex is labeled as "M".]

(source)

Kat Lied About Having Diabetes To Get Money From Tumblr Users

Verdict: False

This doesn't need much commentary from me, just view the screenshots below.

Transcript:

To the people who keep harping on me buying a $15 video game for my mental health 7 MONTHS ago “with my donation money,” well, here you go, some proof, links and screenshots provided

So for everyone spreading misinformation about me spending $15 on a video game for my mental health, here’s a full list of reasons why there is no way, shape, or form I spent my paypal money on it:

Yes, I spent $15 of my own money after selling one of my possessions, not denying it:

[A screenshot of a Tumblr post by Kat where she shows off a copy of Fall Out: New Vegas, marked with a price of $14.99. The date of the post is marked as July 21, 2014 at 06:28.39 PM.]

Be sure to look at the date, July 21st, 2014 6:28 PM. Now lets look at my first donation post asking for help:

[A screenshot of a Tumblr post by Kat where she asks for donations to be able to afford insulin because she has no insurance. The date of the post is marked as July 20, 2014 at 08:14.00 PM.]

Hmm, one day before the purchase of said game, July 20th 2014 at 8:14 PM. Now, I’ve never heard of a video game store — much less a non-chain video game store accepting payment for video games in the form of virtual Amazon gift cards, have you? Oh, but you’re gonna say, “well you bought the game with your paypal donations anyway!” Well, here’s exhibit C:

[Another screenshot of a separate post made by Kat where she is also asking for donations to be able to afford insulin. The date of the post is marked as July 23, 2014 at 12:27.46 PM.]

Again, looking at the date of this posting which is the original donations post, you can see it was posted on July 23rd, 2014 at 12:27 PM, a full 2 days after I had bought the game. Now, if there’s no way for me to use Amazon gift cards for a real life video game store, then how can I go back in time a minimum of 2 full days to give past me $15 to buy said game, hm? This isn’t even accounting for the fact that I didn’t even have my own bank account associated with it until over a week later, and it surely doesn’t account for the fact that it takes up to 5 days to transfer from paypal to your bank account. All the dates are linked to the original unedited posts so you can see for yourself, and for added measure my first deposit was on August 14th, 2014:

[A screenshot of a deposit made by Kat. The date is marked as 08/14/14.]

Oh but yeah, anti-sjs, truscum, and the like took damniwishidthoughtofabettername’s postthey used to gaslight us with misinformation and you all bought it. Tell me how I could misuse donations that I could not use outside of Amazon and money I didn’t even start receiving until a full two days later, let alone the fact that there’s no way I could have transferred said money and used it two days prior as of the date of the paypal donations post.

I hope some of y’all could reblog this and get the word out, I’m sick and tired of people buying into that misinformation that person did solely to gaslight me as a means to try and disrupt my donations drive.

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Transcript:

[A selfie of Kat holding up a vial of Novolin to the camera.]

Hey anon, I don’t feel comfy giving you my receipts (because doxxing is a thing) but here you go, a selfie with my most recent insulin purchase. 👽

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Transcript:

Anonymous asked: Getting desperate for money again I see. How is your fake diabetes lately. I bet your blood sugar is like 800 this time and you're still able to be alive somehow.

You got me, I’m ~totally faking~

[A selfie of Kat. In the background several items used by diabetics are seen such as insulin syringes, glucose tablets, a blood sugar tester and test strips.]

[A picture that gives us a closer look at the background of the previous selfie.]

[A selfie of Kat holding up two vials, one of Lantus and the other of Humalog.]

Gee, must be one dedicated faker, right? To have hundreds of dollars of insulin equipment and insulin itself. Hmmm… Insulin syringes, glucose tablets, a blood sugar tester and test strips.. oh and insulin, hmmmm….

Oh and because you didn’t learn from last time you don’t die instantly when your blood sugar goes over 600 lol, something anyone who studies endocrinology can tell you, and I would know, being a diabetic, having to be hospitalized numerous times for ketoacidosis where the blood sugar has been too high for too long. Things you clearly do not know and you’re just jumping on the disableist bandwagon. I have an idea of who you are anyway, just doing this for future reference.

(source)

[acrispyapple]

why do you watermark official pics that aren't yours? i'm honestly shocked cybird hasn't had you banned for dcma laws + spoiling paid stories and epilogues, but you do you. you made it so i never have to pay money for any of the cybird games + mlqc. also i read why you aren't posting the sprites which is cool and all but you shouldn't be posting game elements either way. that's super shitty of you to do because spoiler THE ARTWORK ISN'T YOURSSSSSSS. the pic of victor on your twitter isnt yours 2

heya! i’ve already answered an ask like this recently and ignored the follow up ones because i don’t really wanna keep repeating myself. but since you’re very persistent and it’s still the same thing, here i go! putting under a cut because it’s long and has images – with stuff written on them! dun dun dunnnn (¯▿¯)

to start things, i’m the wrong person to accuse of being irresponsible with my posts because i’m very mindful of posting etiquette. have you not seen all my campaigns about not stealing from artists, from blogs, etc. i ask for permission for everything, even for random text i want to translate from someone’s post. even for cosplay i’ve seen other people freely post, i always go to the source and ask. i hope my answer clarifies things for you because i don’t really wanna have to repeat it again! (*^^*)♡

re: watermarks (complaint mostly about mlqc because i don’t really do it for cybird)

re: cybird

i’m not exactly a hidden secret blog, so i’m pretty sure cybird is well aware of me. plus, they’ve left comments on my blog in the past. sooo, there’s nothing shocking about it at all! maybe what’s shocking is you somehow expected cybird to not have noticed my blog all these years. do you actually know what the digital millennium copyright act covers? (dmca not dcma btw) as long as i know how to read and understand rules and i’m always within its boundaries, there’s nothing being violated. always post obstructed cgs / never full, snippets of 10 for screenies, never in consecutive order, etc. you should read the rules tbh, you seem unfamiliar with it. ☆

re: you never having to pay money for any cybird game

again, snippets = not full stories. everyone can post snippets. paid or not. that’s so weird that you feel you don’t need to pay for ~any cybird game~ anymore because of my blog. i haven’t been consistently posting paid content for so long. even ikesen epilogues. because i don’t have the time. and i’ve skipped posting a couple of events on my blog too. i don’t post ikerev / midcin consistently either. i’ve posted from two ikevam events in the past months with epilogue snippets. i guess you only played those? that’s hardly everything. nice attempt at creating an issue about me making cybird lose money tho! for someone who thinks i do dodgy things, you sure do like reading from my blog– if what you’re saying is true. but you seem to not know my blog content either. (⌒_⌒;)

i have another answer for this from an ask from 9 months ago:

re: not paying for mlqc

they allow posting everything from their game, i even verified with their team! but even i don’t have the time or post slot to post everything from it. i mostly post about victor soooo, i guess that’s everything you need to know about mlqc then? yay for you only needing victor! ♡

re: game elements

what?

anyway, moving forward to my twitter header:

it’s from this post i made, where i screenied scenes (and edited them a bit to look brighter and prettier) from the pv of the new chapters in the ch version.

now, i just put my username there as a marker and it was already covered in the first part of this ask. (how it helps me keep track of my posts, helps me when people are able to identify it’s from my blog and alert me of it being posted elsewhere, etc.) but i wanted to show it even clearer so you can finally let go of whatever it is you’re burning with. ( ˙▿˙ )

it just says acrispyapple on this screenie i took (that’s right, it’s just a screenshot lmao), it’s a random word or name. i made it small and inconspicuous so it wouldn’t distract from the image. the weibo watermark is bigger and clearer but i don’t use it– i can, but i don’t. when people see it, they know it’s official art and that’s it. there’s no “made by acrispyapple™©®”

(thanks for visiting my twitter btw! it doesn’t really have a lot of followers haha)

sooo, there’s weibo and its automatic watermarks (location can be changed).

“damn, all the users on weibo are claiming stuff as their own!!!! it’s not just a marker that a certain thing was posted from a certain blog!!! they’re claiming it as theirs even tho it’s clearly very easy to see that it’s one of many free-for-all official images!!!” (≧◡≦)

and i’ve seen people use the cards as banners for fanfics and other stuff, or even memes where they put random stuff on it like this:

but writing a random word on it, just because you know my blog is somehow a great sin? it’s not even acrispyapple.tumblr.com ✿

would it maybe make you feel better if it wasn’t just acrispyapple? i can use random words and it’ll still serve as a marker for me lmao

anyway anon, it pays to actually listen and read before you get mad and accuse. i’m not breaking any rules and i’m very much aware of what’s not allowed and what’s allowed. (^ ^*)♡

edit:

i kinda like it. (^◔ᴥ◔^)

side note: if you have a vendetta against me, you’re free to have one. but please don’t try to make stuff up just to yell at me. you can hate me quietly from afar or just avoid me altogether. or if you want to find a reason to yell at me, at least try to educate yourself about what you’re planning on yelling at me about. it’ll save me time trying to explain stuff! i also don’t like wasting my post slots for the day. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

i would suggest looking at my actual content first, so your lack of knowledge of it doesn’t give you away. also, try asking yourself if you really think cybird’s en team would miss me after all these years and if you’re somehow the only enlightened one who can see all my ~misgivings~? are you aware of mlqc’s rules?

it’s funny because i’m not even close to covering everything for mlqc and there are blogs that cover far more than i do. i answer a lot of asks (i wish asks were paid content, as in i get paid to answer asks), but game content-wise, i’m faaaar from covering everyone. unless you really consider victor the whole game (♡). in which case i’m still missing his ch11 and ch19 screenies and one date. oh and the recent rumors&secrets! if you take a look at my posts, it’s mostly announcements, asks, fanart, general info, avatar posts, etc. i think you blindly went in with salt. ( ˙▿˙ )

i don’t really interact with people unless i have to talk about reposts and fanart-related stuff. i also just talk about games on my blog. so i don’t know what i could’ve done to merit your hatred. maybe you dislike that i ask for basic courtesy or that i enforce rules given to me by artists? i’m always polite tho. hmm, mystery-desu! ✩‧₊˚

[arecomicsevengood]

TOP TEN OLDER MAINSTREAM COMICS I READ THIS YEAR

I kept track of all the comics I read this year, and not all of them were new. I have no idea who this will help or benefit but at least the circumstances of me only listing the completely arbitrary older work I read for the first time this year will deter anyone from arguing with me. However, for the sake of possibly being contentious, let me mention two comics that fall outside the top ten, because they’re bad:

Trencher by Keith Giffen. David King did a comic strip about Keith Giffen’s art style on this book in issue 2 of But Is It... Comic Aht that everybody loved, and made me be like, ok, I’ll check it out. But it’s basically just a retread of Lobo in terms of its tone and approach, but without Simon Bisley. I don’t really know why anyone wouldn’t think Bisley is the better cartoonist. Also, those comics are terrible. Thumbs down.

The Green Lantern by Grant Morrison, Liam Sharp, and Steve Oliff. I bought the first year of these comics for a dollar each off a dude doing a sidewalk sale. Found them sort of incoherent? I haven’t liked a new Grant Morrison comic in ages, with All-Star Superman being really the only outlier since like We3. This is clearly modeled off of European comics like Druillet or something, and would maybe benefit from being printed larger, I really dislike the modeled color too. But also it’s just aggressively fast-paced, with issues ending in ways that feel like cliffhangers but aren’t, and no real characters of interest.

As for the top ten list itself, for those who’ve looked at my Letterboxd page, slots 10-8 are approximately “3 stars,” 7-4 are 3 1/2 stars, slots 3 and 2 are 4 stars, with number one being a 4 1/2 star comic. The comics I’m listing on my “Best Of The Year” list that’ll run at the Comics Journal alongside a bunch of people are all 4 1/2 or 5 star comics. This is INSANELY NERDY and pedantic to note, and I eschew star ratings half the time anyway, because assignations of numeric value to art are absurd except within the specific framework of how strong a recommendation is, and on Letterboxd I feel like I’m speaking to a very small and self-selecting group of people whose tastes I generally know. (And I generally would not recommend joining Letterboxd to people!) But what I mean by all of this is just that there is a whole world of work I value more than this stuff, and I’ll recommend the truly outstanding shit to interested readers in good time.

10. Justice Society Of America by Len Strazewski and Mike Parobeck. Did some quarantine regressing and bought these comics, a few of which were some of the first comics I ever read, but I didn’t read the whole thing regularly as a kid. Parobeck’s a fun cartoonist, this stuff is readable. It’s faintly generic/baseline competent but there’s a cheap and readable quality to this stuff that modern comics lack. Interestingly, the letters column is made up of old people who remember the characters and feel like it’s marketed towards them, and since that wasn’t profitable, when the book was canceled, Parobeck went over to drawing The Batman Adventures, which was actively marketed towards kids. It’s funny that him and Ty Templeton were basically viewed as “normal” mainline DC Comics for a few years there and then became relegated to this specific subset of cartooning language, which everyone likes and thought was good but didn’t fit inside the corporate self-image, which has basically no aesthetic values.

9. The Shadow 18 & 19 by Andy Helfer and Kyle Baker. I’d been grabbing issues of this run of comics for years and am only now finishing it. Kyle Baker’s art is swell but Helfer writes a demanding script, these are slow reads that cause the eye to glaze over a bit.

8. The Jam 3-8 by Bernie Mireault. I made a post where I suggested Mireault’s The Jam might be one of the better Slave Labor comics. Probably not true but what I ended up getting are some colored reprints Tundra did, and some black and white issues published by Dark Horse after that. Mireault’s art style is kinda like Roger Langridge. After these, he did a crossover with Mike Allred’s Madman and then did a series of backups in those comics, it makes sense to group them together, along with Jay Stephens’ Atomic City Tales and Paul Grist’s Jack Staff, or Mike Mignola’s Hellboy, as this stream that runs parallel to Image Comics but is basically better, a little more readable, but still feeling closer to something commercial in intention as opposed to self-expression. Although it also IS self-expression, just the expression of a self that has internalized a lot of tropes and interests in superhero comics. If you have also read a lot of superhero comics, but also a lot of alternative comics, stuff like this basically reads like nothing. It’s comfort food on the same level of mashed potatoes: I love it when it’s well-done but there’s also a passable version that can be made when depressed and uninspired. But drawing like Roger Langridge is definitely not bad!

7. WildC.A.T.S by Alan Moore, Travis Charest, et al. I wrote a post about these comics a few months ago, but let me reiterate the salient points: There’s two collections, the first one is much better than the second, and the first is incredibly dumbed-down in its nineties Image Comics style but also feels like the best version of that possible, when Charest is doing art. Also, these collections are out of print now, a friend of mine pointed out maybe they can’t be reprinted because they involve characters owned by Todd McFarlane but Wildstorm is owned wholly by DC now.

6. Haywire by Michael Fleischer and Vince Giarrano. I made a post about this comic when I first read a few issues right around the time Michael Fleischer died a few years ago, but didn’t read all of it then. This feels way more deliberately structured than most action comics, with its limited cast and lack of ties to any broader universe, but it’s also dumb and sleazy and fast moving, and feels related to what were the popular movies of the day, splitting its influences evenly between erotic thrillers about yuppies and Stallone-starring action movies. The erotic thriller element is mostly just “a villain in bondage gear” which is sort of standard superhero comics bullshit but it’s also a little bit deeper than that. The first three issues, inked by Kyle Baker, look the best.

5. Dick Tracy by John Moore and Kyle Baker. These look even better! A little unclear which John Moore this is? There’s John Francis Moore, who worked with Howard Chaykin and was scripting TV around this time, but there’s another dude who was a cartoonist who did a miniseries for Piranha Press and then moved on to doing work for Disney on Darkwing Duck comics. Anyway, Kyle Baker colors these, they’re energetically cartooned, each issue is like 64 pages, with every page being close to a strip or scene in a movie. I’m impressed by them, and there’s a nice bulk that makes them a nice thing to keep a kid busy. (For the record, my favorite Kyle Baker solo comic is probably You Are Here.)

4. Chronos by John Francis Moore and Paul Guinan. I was moving on from DC comics by the late nineties, but Grant Morrison’s JLA was surely a positive influence on everyone, especially compared to the vibe there in the subsequent two decades. These are well-crafted. There’s a little stretch where it uses the whole “time-traveling protagonist” thing to do a run of issues which stand alone but fall in sequence too and it’s pretty smooth and smart. The art is strong enough to carry it, the sort of cartoony faces with detailed backgrounds it’s widely agreed works perfectly, but that you rarely see in mainstream comics. The coloring is done digitally, but not over-modeled enough to ruin it.

3. Martha Washington by Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons. A few miniseries, all of which sort of get weaker as they go, but all in one book it doesn’t feel like it’s becoming trash as it goes or anything. When Miller dumbed down his storytelling in the nineties it really was because he thought it made for better comics, the tension between his interest in manga and Gibbons’ British-comics classicism feels productive. I do kind of feel like the early computer coloring ruins this a little bit.

2. Xombi by John Rozum and JJ Birch. Got a handful of these on paper, read scans of the rest. This is pretty solid stuff, not really transcendent ever, but feels well-crafted on a month-in, month-out level. I read a handful of other Milestone comics, and a lot of them suffered from being so beholden to deadlines that there are fill-in issues constantly. This is the rare one that had the same creators for the entirety of its run. There was a revival with Frazer Irving art a decade ago but I prefer JJ Birch’s black line art with Noelle Giddings’ watercolors seen here. They’re doing an early Vertigo style “weirdness” but with a fun and goofy sense of humor about itself. I haven’t read Clive Barker but this feels pretty influenced by that as well. (The Deathwish miniseries is of roughly comparable quality. I read scans of the rest of that after I made my little post and, yeah, it does actually feel very personal for a genre work, and the JH Williams art with painted color is great.)

1. Tom Strong by Alan Moore, Chris Sprouse, etc. I got bored reading these as a teen but getting them all for cheap and reading them in a go was a pretty satisfying experience. It’s partly a speed-run through Moore’s coverage of the concept of a comic book multiverse seen in his Supreme run, minus the riffing on Mort Weisinger Superman comics, instead adding in a running theme of rehabilitating antagonists whose goals are different but aren’t necessarily evil. It’s more than just Moore in an optimistic or nostalgic mode, it also feels like he’s explaining his leftist morality to an audience that has internalized conflicts being resolved by violence as the genre standard.

[ask-de-writer]

KURIN’S FOLLY : World of Sea : Part 9 of 15

KURIN’S FOLLY

Part 9

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

23,699 words

© 2020 by Glen Ten-Eyck

writing begun  2006

All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any form, physical, electronic or digital is prohibited without the express consent of the author.

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Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users

Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights.  They may reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information remains intact.  They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

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New to the story?  Read from the beginning.  Part 1 is here

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Now Morgan sneered, “Don’t keep too good a track of things, do you?  The Master dismissed them Wohans ago.  Said anybody that you picked had to be rotten!”

Lissa looked shocked that anyone would lose an apprenticeship simply because they were picked by somebody the Master disliked.  Kurin’s reaction was completely different.  She suddenly smiled.  “They’re free?  Good.  I need them.  Go get them for me and you can go back to the boat shop.”

Suddenly, Morgan realized that he was being dismissed and snarled angrily, “What’s the matter? Aren’t I good enough to make stupid toys and shit?”

Eyeing the latest gluing error pointedly, Kurin replied, “No.  You are not.  Go.  Get me Luin and Roper.”

Sullenly, Morgan said, “I don’t have to do anything that you say.  Master Juris said so.”

A soft voice behind him made him jump.  “Would you care to repeat that to the Captain?”

Morgan shrank and said, “No, Sir.  I didn’t know that you were there, Captain Mord, Sir.  I’ll go get them.”

Leaving Morgan to his errand, Captain Mord asked Kurin, “I have just heard the news.  What are we to do with the boat shop?  We have no other Master for it.”

Kurin thought about that for a few moments.  When she looked up it was with haunted, pain filled eyes.  She took a breath to steady herself against the old and hurtful memories before offering, “When you were forced to relieve Silor, you let him advise you on his replacement.  Perhaps that would be the way to try.”

Captain Mord spread his hands palms down and said wryly, “I already tried that.  Master Juris told me that since we did not trust him, he had no advice for us.”

Lissa just nodded.  She snorted, “Some things haven’t changed.  Juris still won’t give up a grudge.  This time, it’s backfired on him.”  She shook her head and added, “Kurin isn’t even from this ship anymore.  She gave up her home to save that man and this is the thanks he gives her.”

Captain Mord gave Lissa a careful look, studying her thoroughly.  Suddenly he smiled broadly and held out a hand to her.  He addressed her directly, saying, “Welcome back, Lissa.  I heard this news, too.  It was harder to believe than the news about Juris.  I am glad that it’s true.”  He paused, the familiar impish smile twitching the corners of his mouth and added, “This does create one small problem, though.”

Kurin looked concerned and offered, “Why?  I will give Lissa work until the others find useful tasks for her.”

The Captain began to giggle as he replied, “Oh, it’s not Lissa that’s the problem.  It’s Bradon.  What am I going to do for a punishment detail for him now? He’s always getting into some scrape or other.”

“Humm,” said Kurin in mock seriousness, “I do see the problem.”  She began to giggle as well.

Lissa joined in with, “I’d no idea that I was so important to the proper functioning of the ship!” Cheerful laughter rang out in A4 for the first time in many Gatherings.

Captain Mord settled down and went back to his topic.  “I was hoping that you might have a suggestion as to how to handle the problem of the boat shop.”

Kurin pursed her lips and nodded. “A contest.  We need the little catamarans anyway.  Give each of the journeymen two apprentices chosen by lot.  Each team will build one.  I’ll chose the best made one and that journeyman becomes the shop supervisor.  At the fall Gathering, the Guild can handle the problem.”

Captain Mord nodded agreement. “I had come to a similar idea but it is a Craft matter, not an issue of Command.  The Craft Council will meet shortly to discuss Mast - Juris.  I would appreciate it if you were there.”

As he left, Luin came nearly flying into the room.  She was a ten Gatherings old bundle of brown haired energy.  “Kurin!  I hoped that I’d get to see you!  Morgan said something about toys.  Are you going to make us some?”

Some things, a mother never forgets how to do.  Lissa expertly corralled the child.  Looking down at Luin, she said, “We are going to help Kurin to make toys.  She is going to be very busy and we will be her apprentices.  There will be another child named Roper coming to help as well.”

Luin looked up at Lissa and undiplomatically said, “I hear that you aren’t on dry land anymore.  How well afloat are you?”

In answer, Lissa opened the room’s port and hung out High Cloud’s perch.  In moments the big bird ducked his way into the room.  Lissa confidently reached over and chucked him under the beak.  He tolerated it with clear pleasure. Now Lissa spoke, “I’m well enough afloat to know what to trust. My daughter.  Her Hawk.  This ship.  And you.  Know why I trust you?”

“No,” Luin said in a small voice, crowding back from what she had been taught all her life were two dangerous creatures, Lissa and the Wide Wing both.  “I saw the bandage on Master Juris’ hand,” she stated.  “He said that bird should be killed because it’s dangerous.”

Judiciously, Lissa said, “He’s wrong and right, both.  The bird is dangerous but so is my daughter.  Neither one should be harmed on that account.  They behave themselves.  He got hurt because he attacked High Cloud, here.  Kurin’s friend defended himself.  It was Kurin who put the knife cut on his wrist, defending her friend. Why do I trust you?  You are Kurin’s friend, too.  It’s a good starting place.”

Just then Roper showed up.  He was thirteen and more dignified than Kurin remembered.  Still, his eyes lit up at the sight of High Cloud.  The dignity fell away and the friend that Kurin remembered emerged, saying, “I heard about you guys!  Knife and beak!  Master Juris got something he’s had coming for a long time.”

Sourly he said to Kurin, “He made our lives as bad as he could after you left.  He even dumped our apprenticeships out the scupper.”  In a far more animated voice, he asked, “What do you need us for?”

“To start, we need to make a shop to work in,” Kurin replied seriously.  “Then, we need begin making toys and instruments.”

“Instruments?” all three said, looking blankly at Kurin.

“You know, lunants and water clocks for navigation, rules, straight edges, dividers, scribers, technical abacci, that sort of thing,” said Kurin with assurance.

“Oh,” said Luin, a little taken aback at the thought of doing such delicate work, “I thought that you meant tabors, Barant type horns, flutes, those things with the strings that we heard about from the Arrakans.  Stuff like that. Music.”  The others were nodding their support as well.

Kurin beamed at the notion and said, “You mean Arrakan harps and lyres or Winternight tabolins. Musical instruments are an excellent idea.  We’ll need to set you up a work space of your own for it after we get things together here. As soon as we can, I’ll start you all on the necessary math.” Seeing the looks of dismay on their faces, she laughed good-naturedly and said, “Don’t worry.  The musical harmonics you’ll need are easy.”  

Kurin turned back to the bench that lay on the floor in pieces.  Gesturing at the work in progress, she explained, “We need to finish laminating this bench top and get the frame put together.  Then we can get going on the tool racks. Lissa, I have a plan drawn for a screen printing device.  It’s in the top drawer of my tool chest.  You used to make and fix things so I think that it will be right on your course.”

Roper and Luin were busily spreading glue and Lissa was drawing up a list of what she needed for the screen printing press when Juris stopped at the door.  Ignoring the rest, he homed in angrily on Kurin.  “Well, now are you happy, you little white haired Ord?  I had to surrender my Master’s Certificate.  They’ve taken the boat shop from me!”

Lissa came to Kurin’s defense saying mildly, “I haven’t had time to learn all of the details but I have heard more than enough already.  You scuttled yourself and are standing in the wreck, chopper in hand, blaming Kurin for the hole in your hull.”

TO BE CONTINUED

<==PREVIOUS ~ NEXT==>

[pyrokinesis]

So I lost the patience and watched Kizuna

! Major spoilers ahead !

Listen, I know I said I will wait until the Blu-Ray comes out, but I was impatient little bitch and I found a working Sample 3 link with English dub, so I said, fuck it! My brother joined me 20 minutes in, lol. Anyways, onto the movie.

I don't really know what to say, Digimon Last Evolution Kizuna was exactly what I expected from the movie of such name, a movie that promotes end of relationship between Digimons and their human partners.

I kinda didn't have my hope up, mostly because I rewatched Adventure & Adventure 02 last week and finally watched Tri, and the whole point of Digimon has always been, no matter what happens, Digimons and their humans will always stick and stay together, I think the quote goes "humans and Digimons forever" (?). I kinda was hyped up though, partly because of art style (it was much better than Tri, less dark and more symmetrical when it comes to faces and bodies, Tri was annoying at times with weird asymmetrical faces; also Yamato!!!! Yamato is so hot and pretty in Kizuna, wtf Toei leave this poor lesbian alone), partly because of Adventure 02 kids (my brother is so annoyed with me, but I'm a huge 02 fan, Wormmon is my baby and I can rewatch 02ep25 anytime, Stigmon's first appearance is fucking iconic).

Adventure 02 kids got much more screentime than I expected, especially Iori/Cody because he is sometimes really put aside. I love how they were staying in touch with Original Six/Eight through Yamato, and how Hikari and Takeru stayed part of their team (Tri lacked this so much, it was so weird to have Hikari and TK not knowing what happened to their friends when they were supposedly a new team/best friends). Also my baby Ken's hair (*le cries*), I miss his long hair. Both my brother and I expected Paildramon to appear near the end, but there were no DNA/Jogress evolutions besides Omegamon/Omnimon.

Yamato was so fucking hot it's unbelievable, he's become top Digi-destined to me, 2D character or not. He was so smart, so persistent, so consistent, so selfless, so cute, itty-bitty blind (those cute glasses that appeared on his face for a mili-moment during him being in uni classroom panel, all of my uwus gone), still has one of the best relationships with Gabumon (he plays harmonica for Gabumon, even after all these years, he keeps Gabumon by his side, and they both tried to find that bad-guy-turned-FBI-agent-guy sneakily, so so cute). Overall, Yamato is a emotionally much more main character than Taich is, probably because emotionally, Taichi was the main character of Tri.

Now onto our second main, Taichi. Honestly, technicall, both Yamato and Taichi are Kizuna's main guys, but emotionally, Yamato left much bigger impact. Taichi was the main character in the beginning, but as the story progressed, I could feel Yamato much better. Still, Taichi isn't left aside (like all other Original Eight kidz/people). He is a struggling university student who has no idea what to do with his life (my brother sorta compared him to me, LMAO). This is very consistent with Tri's Taichi, who is full of self dubts, abstract ideas of future, and melancholy when he thinks about his future self. Toei nicely showed it when they let us know Tai earns for his future by working part-time as a waiter (?) in an automat casino. He is kinda really down all the time when he starts realising he has to make huge choices about the future, even though he has no bloody idea or genuine thought what to do (also his porn stash, LMAO what was that Taichi, who even uses porn magazine after the age of 14).

Thinking back about it now, it's kinda underwhelming with how it actually, emotionally, focuses on the whole "Digimons have to leave their partners" philosophy. Like, it barely shows interactions between humans and Digimons (which Tri did at least, with I think all characters, so I would expect at least some focus on Yamato and Taichi). There were some interactions between Taichi and Agumon, and Yamato and Gabumon at the end, but it just felt uncomplete and unfullifying. Also whole concept is bullshit (did I mention it? Because if I didn't I will, because this whole thing really is). It all started with Tri, which felt like it was produced by random people who watched Adventure & 02 after fifteen years and decided to make their own spin on it, without actual respects for stories and characters Adventure & Adventure 02 were trying to make us feel and understand (though feelings of OOC-ness Tri had at the times were minimal in Kizuna, thank goodness for that).

Then, Kizuna continued it with the concept of "when Digi-destined grow up, their Digimon partners disappear because they are not on the same mental wavelengths anymore" which is the complete opposite of one of like three main Digimon philosophies, "Digimon and Digi-destined, together and forever"; like while I disliked 02 epilogue, it showed us that after all hardships, Digi-destined and their Digimons get their happy endings, together. Both my brother and I (we watched it together) groaned at the whole concept (along with predictive bullshit plot and plotholes).

While I understand the reason behind this (I read some spoilers on here afterwards, to broaden my post-Kizuna horizons), that humans/Digi-destined grow up, and Digimons kinda don't, it still makes me really dissatisfied. Tri showed us in flashes that, when given time spent with their and other humans, Digimons can grow and become mentally wise adults (cue to the cutest scene when Patamon closes his one eye because he understands the tension between Hikari and Takeru, as in, that they like each other and they might need some time "alone"), so Kizuna kinda fucked up all previous Adventure works by telling us everything is in vain, Digimons leave, their connection to humans they had will become meaningless and humans will have to move on. Bullshit plot(hole), but whatever.

The amount of screentime non-Taichi&Yamato characters can be underwhelming, especially if you don't read spoilers like I did. The movie starts with Takeru and Hikari as important as Yamato and Taichi, but as the movie progresses, they just fade in the background. Kinda happens to everyone else except Koushiro/Izzy, who kinda has a really leading role, considering how much screentime Taichi and Yamato have (I feel like wordcount apps will find Yamato&Taichi as my most used words in this rant review), and he is probably third most important role, until he undramatically disappears because of psycho main lady.

Now towards real ranting. I'll try to keep it short because I have no real emotions behind it and I feel some other rants might articulate it better. Anyways, the plot of the whole movie is so goddamn predictable. It starts so weirdly, with Taichi, Hikari and Takeru fighting Parrotmon (what the fuck was that even, btw???). Like, Parrotmon, again? It feels just very reused, and that feeling that doesn't leave even during the credits. Soundtrack—while nice, nostalgic, and very fitting—is also just reused Adventure 01 soundtrack, and it just brings kudos from my memory lane road nostalgia. Deja Vu is the feeling that sticks to your skin and bones, if you like me, watched Adventure 1-3 just before Kizuna, and understand how so many scenes are just reused wanna-be old seasons references.

From two older adults (I honestly thought there will be two goverment agents, again, and mentally groaned) sticking up into Digi-destineds' business like some omni-knows creature, same as agents from Tri, fucked up (female) main antagonist who pretends to be a good guy (lady?) for the sake of gathering intel and trust, who is a complete nutjob (full-time pyscho in Kizuna lady's case) because of the loss of her Digimon partner, to bullshit powered-up Digimon created from human coding (my brother pointed this one to me, and honestly, half of this movie is both Diaboromon movies rehashed/redone in 2020 shine), Omnimon fighting in some weird Digital World room powered-up creature (first Diaboromon movie straight up scene for scene), even that first scene with Parrotmon and this time completely unexplainable appearance of a Digimon in the real world, and Digi-destined having to fight it, and of course, bullshit new unexplained Digi-evolution with new (human???) mega forms of Agumon and Gabumon. All in all, it just feels very forced and all very already seen.

Now onto the less main, even less supporting characters. 02 teens are amazing, considering they have barely any lines and some little fighting moments. I love them, and I'm happy they got this, considering how they were blatantly forgotten in Tri, and how obviously nobody in the production of Tri even cared to hide that. Wormmon and Stigmon are my babies and I'm happy to see them have some screentime.

Original Six/Eight (excluding Taichi and Yamato) are kinda disappointing, though. I read some spoilers, so I knew Sora wouldn't appear much, but damn, even that was much compared to her actual screentime in Kizuna. She is almost as forgotten as 02 kids were in Tri. I get that she is shown to have moved on faster than other Original Eight kids, but still, they didn't even show her losing Piyomon (which did happen, and it was emotionally, overwhelming, in a fucked up sense when you realised Piyomon wasn't by her side). Jou, Mimi, Takeru, and Hikari were shown at the beginning of movie with so much potential screentime, but in the end they mostly were there for the dramatic cliffhangers (I didn't understand at the beginning what happened to Mimi and Jou, and I thought Hikari was murdered and that the FBI agent straight up shot Takeru), during that mini battle scene sometime in the Neverland, and of course, during the end credits. It was kinda really both overwhelming and underwhelming to see them during the credits when they could've had much more moments during the movie (I sorta had some hope because the movie is almost 2 hours long, and usually movies are like 20, 30 minutes long, but even during those one-episode-length movies there is more of main-supporting characters shown).

As mentioned, the ending is bullshit (my brother ended up crying and I had to put Adventure OST on to calm him down), Agumon and Gabumon dying is literally the most senseless thing ever since both Taichi and Yamato love their partners so much, and even among all the adulting and hassles in their lives, they try to make time for their Digimon partners (during their time in the restuarant, Yamato and Taichi literally talk how they don't have time for even their closest friends, hell Hikari even mentions Taichi should give their mother a visit, but Taichi still finds time for Agumon), so in the end both Taichi and Yamato were among the last people to lose their Digimons and I'm really disappointed in this concept, especially how they didn't show Gabumon and Agumon disappearing, Taichi and Yamato deserved explicit goodbyes.

Uh, I don't think I have anything much to add anymore. I read spoilers and some are pretty much novels from how much people put their thoughts in, this is just my ranting review, tbh. I dived into this hoping to get my heart mended from Tri (say what you want about Tri but it was too bad for six hour and half movies, especially general Adventure constistency-wise), but not with high expectations, having seen the trailer and having some spoilers read. All in all film wasn't too bad, but it wasn't too good, solid 6/10 rating from me, mostly for the animation and nostalgic soundtrack, but the whole plot was shit as fuck and the philoshophy behind it.

(Random, but I noticed straight people/shippers liked the movie better than gay people/shippers, is there any correlations between that)

ALL IN ALL, Digimon: Last Evolution Kizuna wasn't the best nor the worst Digimon movie/work, but it probably isn't something I will rewatch or recommend anytime soon (also wtf were those humanoid mega forms, like W T F).

[byler-n-harringrove]

Let’s Be Alone Together || Chap 1

Hey guys! I decided to that I was going to write the first chapter on this story to see how it goes! I just wanted to fill you guys in on some of the context of this Au.

So this Au is Set in 2019- so robin is openly in the LGBTQ community, and Steve is honestly noticing his feelings for boys (not calling him bi yet), and I have aged up Billy and Robin so they are all the same age.

Thank you guys, and please leave a comment if you want to be tagged in this fanfic or you think I should continue writing it !

Love chey xx

------

“So much for a fresh new start, who the fuck knew he was coming here too?” Steve scoffed for the millionth time, stacks of marked cardboard boxes in hand as he continued to trek between his shiny car and the girls' dorms.

They had been at this for 20 minutes now, the girl's dorms the furthest away from the student car park and even if Robin had not brought many boxes it was still a process for the two teens. Robin’s room was on the second floor, tucked away in the west side of the building in a room that hadn't seen her roommate just yet.

Steve didn't want to think that he would have to continue the process with his stuff.

“Oh, shut up, will you? Can't you just like, put in for a new partner?” Robin grunted with a small amount of aggression. The stairs were getting to her, and all she wanted was to have a shower and get to bed.

Grunting was his only response returned as he all but threw her stuff, only blankets and clothes, onto the floor of the dorm room. A small noise signalled that Rodin did the same, sighing in relief as she leaned against the labelled door. One room down, Steve’s was left.

They soon found themselves trekking down the concrete stairs again, their footsteps reverberating softly against the cream walls of the stairway.

“I can't, put in for that thing I mean unless its dyer straights or somethin’ stupid like that. I guess ill just spend most of my time in the library anyway. I’ve heard they have some of the biggest collections of classic writings on Victorian literature.” Steve may be an airhead most of the time, but he honestly could just geek out around Robin. After all, despite all the odds, Steve was aiming to become an English Teacher.

She rolled her eyes, made a soft, half-hearted comment about him being some ‘egg-head’ and a doofus’ before they fell into the rhythm of small chit chat about their upcoming week of first classes. Robin herself was going into digital art and design, her passion for expressing herself shone through in all aspects, even in her sexuality.

Scooping up Steves boxes, they would only need two trips as he tried not to bring too much with him, they started off to find Steves room. On the opposite side of the dormitories, Steve’s room would be on the 4th floor towards the south side of the building.

Robin complained rather loudly the whole way up while Steve tried to block it out with small humming. Their synchronized steps soon came to his room 221B (yes haha, the references), the door slightly creaked open meaning that his rather annoying roommate would already be inside.

“Welp, am I good to leave your stuff here and go get the rest? I'm in too much of a good mood, sorry dingus” She gave him a sympathetic look as she put her boxes down in front of the door.

Steve simply nodded and handed her the keys, not pushing the conversation. Billy had been quite the arsehole in Hawkins, and in the narrowminded town Billy didn't hold back from the homophobic slurs against the people who owned their sexuality - like Robin and the small few other LGBTQ+ community that lived there. He hasn't let up on Robin at any time through their education.

She darted back off down the hallway, leaving Steve to face the beast.

Pushing the door open with his foot, Steve once again got that feeling of questioning his heterosexuality as Billy stood there in his half-naked glory with a cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth, standing hunched beside their shared window.

Hearing the door open the mullet-wearing teen turned, his signature cocky grin spreading across his lips as Steve felt like he was going to spontaneously combust on the spot. Billy's golden locks and rippling abs shone in the minimal amount of light coming through the window, jeans hanging low as he looked like he belonged in an art museum.

Yeah, okay, Robin may have been on the money about him being bi or whatever the hell they called it.

“Well well, Mr Steve fucking Harrington hey? I never thought I would be seeing that ugly mug again. But, you just had to stalk me to fucking California, didn't ya pretty boy?” That husky voice ridden with nicotine sent a shiver down his spine.

The shorter teen had to all but force his brain not to focus on Billy’s drop-dead looks, not like he hadn't noticed it when they were in Hawkins, as he didn't need the sexualised thoughts he experienced before when they shared showers. As much as he hated Billy, he couldn't deny there was some underlying sexual attraction, which had only added to more of a disliking for sharing a room for so long.

Steve grunted weakly, pushing the box of records in with his feet and dropping his box of clothes on the free side of the bedroom. He had to force his eyes away from Billy’s annoyingly perfect body and towards his boxes.

“I’m not here to fight Hargrove. I’ll be spending most of my time in the library and I’ll be here to probably sleep. I don’t want anything to do with fighting, or with you” Steve peeled open his box, keeping his back faced to Billy.

He heard Billy scoff behind him, and while he continued to unpack his stuff he heard what sounded like Billy all but diving onto his bed.

“Whatever Hargrove, you stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours, right pretty boy?” Billy didn't seem as agitated, as ready to snap as he had been in Hawkins, but Steve wasn't going to take it all on face value and let down his guard.

Steve continued to unpack his stuff and the silence that laid over them heavily and was laced with awkwardness. Placing his vintage records on his small desk tucked in the corner of the bedroom, Steve found the time to steal a small glance over toward Billy’s side of the room.

Decorated in what Steve could only explain as a mix between Rock and Surfer scheike, a mix between what he had only seen of Billy in Hawkin’s sparingly and a side hidden, probably due to the lack of water to surf in. It was interesting, not as harsh, and when his eyes scanned over he was shocked and rather startled to make eye contact with the now cigarette-less blonde.

Another smirk arose on his face.

“Take a photo and it’ll last longer pretty boy” Steve had to stop himself from grinding his teeth too hard.

Rolling his eyes, he pulled away as Billy fished out a vibrating phone from his jean pocket. Silence fell again before Billy was springing up from his bed and rummaging through is designated closet and reemerging with a shirt.

“You don't touch my fucking shit and I won't touch yours, yes? I'm going out, don't fucking wait up or anything, Harrington.” Billy spat, pulling his tight white shirt over his head, before glancing in the mirror to fix his hair.

Steve couldn't help but roll his eyes “Whatever, seems fair.” He answered back with some sarcasm, but he honestly toned it back and down to make sure that Billy wasn't going to be slamming his slimmer body against walls by the collar anytime soon.

The other man scoffed but was soon enough placing another cigarette in his mouth and scampering out of the door “Good to see you too, Buckley” He had commented on his way out, bringing Steve’s attention to his freckled friend stacking boxes in the hallway who shrunk at the attention Billy offered her.

Entering with boxes Robin set out to help Steve unpack, waving off Steve and telling him she would unpack later and just wanted to hang out. Robin was a good friend after all and helped Steve to get his mind off of Billy through a lovely screening of The Breakfast Club as they unpacked and Robin scolded Steve on keeping his room clean.

The night came too fast, and with Robin ordering a large extra cheesy pizza - it was her turn to shout - they stayed cooped up in Steve’s dorm watching shitty 80’s movies until they were falling asleep atop of one another. Only just friends of course, but he was nothing but happy to share a friendly type of intimacy with her.

Though, in the firing of his last conscious neurons, he found the image of a shirtless and sexy Billy scolding him behind his eyelids. It caused his heart to ache, and with the buzzing of The Fly in the background he finally found a restless sleep revolving around his not-so-friendly roommate.

God, what was Steve in for?

[lovemesomesurveys]

[created by: --rainboweyes--]

Why did you last feel like crying? Ever since the pandemic started almost a year ago and we were in quarantine, I’ve put off seeing one of my doctors. Well, I’m going to have to bite the bullet and make an appointment soon and I’m just really nervous about it because it’s been so long and I worry there could be something wrong. I always expect the worst.

How long ago and why did you last feel infuriated? Hm. It’s been awhile.

Do emotions control you or do you control your emotions? Oh, my emotions most definitely control me.

Do you keep your friends secrets/private information to yourself? Yes.

What negative quality do your friends bring up the most? I don’t have any friends, but in the past I’ve had friends tell me I’m too hard on myself.

What quality do you think you have that others don't think you do? I’m weak, not strong. <<< Yeah, people tend to think I’m strong and brave and I’m so not. I’m weak and scared.

Do you often "jump" to conclusions? When it comes to stuff relating to myself, yes. Like, I jump to the worst case scenarios all the time.

Would you let your best friend babysit your younger sibling? My younger sibling is almost 22 years old lol.

Do you find being alone with strangers scary, interesting or indifferent? It’s uncomfortable and makes me anxious.

Do you think you know a lot about the world? I wouldn’t say a lot. There’s so much to learn and much I don’t understand.

What about the world do you wish you never found out? I don’t know.

Do you know first aid? No. Does the sight of blood make you feel sick? Yes. 

Does your first name have an L in it? Nope.

Middle name have a C in it? Nope.

Last name have a R in it? Yes.

Do your initials spell a legitimate word? If so, what? Nope.

The word above, does it have any connection to you at all?

Do you prefer classic rock or alternative? Alternative, but I like both.

Do you like Kings of Leon? Yeah.

How about The Script? Yes.

Does crying make you feel better? It can help a little.

Do you know a girl called Becca? Nope. How about a guy called Gregory? Nope.

Does someone’s background effect whether you'll be friends with them or not? It would have to be something really bad.

How about their religious background? No, I can be friends with people who have different religious beliefs than I do. 

If someone admitted cheating in a past relationship of theirs, would you trust them? That would make things difficult, for sure. I think I’d always have that in my mind and it might cause me to look for or see things that make me think he’s cheating. Like, I might not think anything of a particular thing had they not told me that, but since they did I see it differently, ya know? I’ve never been in that situation so I can’t say for sure, but I think it would affect things.

Do you drink tea and/or coffee every day? Yes, I have to have my coffee.

Did you ever want to be a cook as a kid? No.

How about a fashion designer? No.

Do you wish that magic was real? I mean, it’d be pretty cool. And convenient. But of course there’s a bad side to it cause it could be used for the wrong things.

What food would you love to wipe off the face of the earth? I don’t feel that strongly about foods I don’t like, I simply just don’t eat them.

Can you use a bottle opener? Yes?

Do you own a cheese grater? No.

What time will it be in 38 minutes time? 11:18PM.

What day/date will it be in 11 days time? Thursday, February 4th, 2021, my brother’s birthday.

Have you ever owned a pet fish? I had a fish tank full of fish when I was a kid.

Do you prefer fire or ice? I like cozy fires in the fireplace and bonfires. 

Do you rap along with rap songs? Ha, I can attempt to.

When happy, do you become more talkative? Yeah, I do.

Bowling or sailing? Why? Neither. Not my thing.

What color is your kettle? I don’t have one.

How about your microwave? It’s black.

Do you prefer sitting in the front or back of a car? I like sitting in the front.

How about in a train? I’ve never been on a train.

On the bus? I had to sit in the middle cause that’s where the wheelchair seating was.

Do you care about politics? I do.

Blair or Brown? Who?

When did you last cook something from scratch? I don’t cook from scratch. Or cook at all, really, except for ramen.

What things make you jealous? I feel envy more than jealousy. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt jealous.

Are you offended easily by non politically correct language? No, I wouldn’t say that.

Do you think the censors/fcc go a bit too far or are just right? I never understood how they chose which curse words you can and can’t say on TV or in songs. 

Do you feel hungry, thirsty, sleepy or none of the above? I’m hungry, but I’m waiting a little bit before I make some ramen.

What's your I.Q? I don’t remember the number, but it fell under above average. IQ tests are whatever anyway.

What's your Mum's Mum called? I called her grandma.

How about your Dad's Dad? I call him papa.

Do you prefer crepes, pancakes or waffles? I like each of those, but waffles are my favorite.

Do you have ice-cream in your fridge right now? I think we do.

How about chicken nuggets? No.

Do you eat fish often? I don’t eat fish ever. Or any seafood.

Have you ever taken a martial art? Which one{s}? Nope.

Do you know anyone who is scared of you? Uh, no.

Do you like watermelon? Yeah.

Can you remember the month of your first kiss? It was October, 2015.

Do you make friends easily? Not necessarily friends, but I got along with everyone.

What makes you different from everyone else? Being a paraplegic makes me different than a lot of people.

I give you a piece of paper. What do you draw/write on it? When I doodle, I tend to write random stuff in cursive as well as like hearts, stars, and squiggles all over. 

What pictures or photos are up in your lounge? Is that my bedroom? I have a few giraffe paintings and a couple beach ones.

Do you like purple and white patterned things? Sure.

Do you know anyone called Pipa? I just think of Pippa Pig lol.

I say purple, you think... Grapes.

What do you think is the most interesting thing about you? Nothing at all.

Do you like being complimented or does it make you uncomfortable? I mean, it’s nice, but I’m just so awkward. And in my head I’m like, “ew, no not true” cause I think negatively about myself.

Does the description of your starsign correspond with your personality? Not at all. I’m so opposite of how a Leo is described.

Do you have a photo album? We have a ton of them. And I have a lot of digital photo albums, too.

What artists paintings do you find the most beautiful? There’s numerous beautiful paintings. 

What about the most disturbing? I can’t think of a specific one offhand.

Have you ever gone to a camp or summer school? Yes to both. I’ve been to science camp and Girl Scout camp. I also did summer school once in middle school cause I missed a lot of school due to a long hospital stay, and the other times were mostly voluntary while at community college to get classes out of the way quicker. There was just one time I had to retake a math course. 

What was your favorite cartoon as a child? I was into the cartoons on Nickelodeon, PBS, Disney, Kids WB, and Fox Kids in the 90s.

What was your biggest fear as a child? The dark and bugs. 

Would you rather be able to fly or breathe underwater? Fly.

What about invisibility or mindreading? Invisibility. 

Do you like what you see in the mirror? Not at all. :/ 

Which stereotype do you dislike the most? There’s many, but I came across this and it’s worded well, “The burden of disability is unending; life with a disabled person is a life of constant sorrow, and the able-bodied stand under a continual obligation to help them. People with disabilities and their families -- the "noble sacrificers" -- are the most perfect objects of charity; their function is to inspire benevolence in others, to awaken feelings of kindness and generosity.”

Can you remember all your past teachers names? Not all, but a lot of them.

Do you like talent shows? Which ones? I like The Voice.

Have you ever failed an important exam? In what? Yes, in math.

Do you find people taller than you intimidating? As someone in a wheelchair most people are taller than me except for small children. I do feel awkward around really tall people. 

Do you think you are better than people of a different country/background? Absolutely not.

Who is your favorite bzoinker? I don’t go on Bzoink. 

What websites do you have bookmarked? I have a few on the bookmark toolbar: Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, and Pinterest.

Do you use bows and ribbons to decorate your gifts? I just use the bows that easily stick on.

Do you listen to the same type of music as your parents? What type is that? We like a lot of the same music. What TV show scared you as a kid? Are You Afraid of the Dark? <<< The intro always got me haha. I still liked watching it, though.

Family Guy, The Simpsons or South Park? Why? None of ‘em.

[canadian-riddler]

I’m a bit curious and confused about your post about streaming and artists. How does streaming stop artists from making a living?

It turned out very long so it’s under a readmore.

Artists don’t make any money off streaming.  People increasingly dislike having to pay the actual cost of entertainment - and I’m not just talking about stuff from major corporations, small- and mid-level stuff too - so they subscribe to a service that allows them to have as much content as they want, whenever they want, in the highest possible quality with little to no hiccups ever.  This is really, really expensive, especially if we’re talking Netflix or Youtube in 4K (or even 8K, in some cases).  But there’s a ceiling to how much someone is willing to pay for a streaming service.  People are okay with paying ten dollars a month, but for that content to be delivered at a price that low someone has to take a hit.  It’s not the company and it’s not the consumer.  It’s the artist.  Spotify pays the artist an average of $0.004 per stream.  To make sure your favourite artist gets a single dollar from your streaming them, you have to listen to their songs 229 times.  To give them a dollar.  Even big artists don’t always make that much there.  Your streams have to be in the millions.  One million streams at $0.004 per?  That’s $4000. 

Now, because streaming is so cheap (to the consumer) and available, people don’t buy albums anymore.  Artists, especially smaller ones, make all their money off album sales and merch sold during tours (which includes albums).  But why would you pay $20 for a CD when you can just go home and listen to all the music they’ve ever made for $10?  Who even owns a CD player anymore, right?  And buying digital is silly; paying $20 for a collection of files you can’t hold or touch or display on your shelf?  So people increasingly don’t do that anymore.  Why bother if an artist is pressured to upload their music to YouTube anyway - which pays a FRACTION of what Spotify does - and which you don’t even need a subscription to use?  

So where is an aspiring artist going to get enough money from to support their art?  People don’t want to pay for it.  They’ll pay $10 a month to stream it and that’s about it.  Anything much higher than that and they turn to piracy.  And here’s the kicker: streaming services don’t really post a profit because they have to keep the subscription price so low.  So NOBODY is winning - except the consumer, who is happy they get an unlimited amount of content for almost nothing.  Spotify has LOST 2 billion dollars since they launched.  Netflix, which started posting a profit three years ago, is billions of dollars in debt.  Disney+ was projected to run at a loss for YEARS before they started making money off it.  All this money comes from, as I understand it, venture capitalists: people who throw money at something because they think it MIGHT turn a profit eventually.  There’s an optimum number the streaming service can charge for it: the magic maximum that the highest amount of people will keep their subscription for for the longest amount of time.  And remember, they are serving massive amounts content for between $10 and $20 a month.  Entire runs of TV shows that would cost you close to $200 if you bought the Blu-Rays at Walmart.  Movies that usually go for $30.  You don’t own it, but it’s so convenient that the majority of people don’t mind that.  Now, in the middle of this super low subscription price, the loss the companies are taking in hopes of one day, perhaps, making some money, and what they USED to get from sales is: the artist.  Companies don’t want to take risks, so now they hire big-name actors for animated roles instead of, you know, going to the trouble of hiring an unknown voice actor.  This has always been a thing, of course, but it has been happening increasingly often over the years and it’s bleeding into other industries.  Honestly, what are Penn & Teller and Ice-T doing in Borderlands 3?  They’re ensuring maximum profit via brand recognition, that’s what.  Some people went to see Moana solely because the Rock was in it.  But him being in it meant that an actual voice actor, who went to school for it and trained for it their whole life, doesn’t get a shot because it would hurt the potential profits.  He is worth more but that unknown person?  They didn’t get a chance to work at something that could have helped their career.  They continue to be worth less.

Now, with the almost impending death of the theatre industry and streaming services being propped up by massive amounts of debt (or Disney money), the ways for an artist to make a living off their art is shrinking.  You can see it right now with DJs: only the top 100 DJs make enough to live off, and they mostly make that money doing tours.  To make a living a lot of DJs have to tour AND produce music nonstop AND have a weekly radio show - free, of course (basically a free set every week).  Obviously a lot of DJs are out of work right now, so some of them had online events that they sold tickets for.  And people criticised them for it.  They told them they were selfish and cruel and unempathetic for putting their show behind a $10 ticket because the world is shit so they should provide their art for free to help their fans take their minds off it.  That they should donate the money and that they don’t need it, despite most of their revenue stream being taken away overnight with no knowledge of when it’s coming back.  That their job isn’t a real job anyway so why should anyone pay for them to do it, it’s not like they’re a doctor or a nurse or something important.  Besides.  Someone’s going to record it and put it on YouTube anyway, so they’ll just wait and stream it from there.  With AdBlock on, of course, because fuck the artist for wanting to make a living from their art.  Who cares what the repercussions of that is.

We already saw it happen with the publishing industry.  People won’t pay for books anymore.  Unless you happen to be the next Stephen King, you’re not going to make money off writing.  People just torrent the .epub and complain when a series ends on a cliffhanger, as though the writer seriously didn’t want to write the next book in the series but couldn’t because the publisher said, ‘Well, based on past sales we just don’t think it will do very well.’  Most novelists either have a day job or they have someone else supporting them until they have enough books out there they can support themselves - and sometimes ‘enough’ means ‘thirty Harlequin romances they had to pump out every six months’.  But books aren’t being propped up by venture capitalists.  They’re just going to keep disappearing and the value of writing will continue to decrease.  You can see it in the video game industry as well.  People seriously ask if a 60 hour game is worth $60.  Cuphead was held up as some great victory achieved by indie artists - even though one of the artists MORTGAGED THEIR HOUSE on the outrageous bet their game would be successful.  And people still shrugged and said, ‘Don’t care, pirating it anyway’.  And that game was what, $20 at launch? 

Streaming services, even if they raise their subscription fees (which they can only do so much, lest they stray too far from that magic number), are probably never going to give more money to the artist.  In fact, when corner-cutting time comes, they’ll take more and say, ‘If you don’t like it, go somewhere else’.  Except there is nowhere else.  And they know it.  It’s similar to how Uber Eats and Skip the Dishes operate.  They take up to 30% commission on all the sales made through them and if you don’t like it, it’s not as simple as just not using the service.  You have to.  Maybe you get lucky and you have some wildly cool concept that everybody wants and you can get what you’re worth for it, but 99% of people aren’t going to get that lucky.  And when your luck runs out, there’ll be someone else standing behind you to do what you did and they’re willing to do it for less.

Art made and provided for people out of passion is not a bad thing.  It’s a great thing.  But when so much of it - harking to the arguments of the greatness of fanfiction vs most other media - is held up as being virtuous and ‘better’ and of inherently more worth because it’s free or valued at a fraction of what it’s worth or people don’t have to do anything for it other than consume it?  That IS a bad thing.  Especially when someone is doing it because they know they can never make a living off of it.  It’s plain SHAMEFUL that something like Patreon has to exist.  And even there people want tons of exclusive content for a dollar a month.

[soulkiba]

saw youre studying game design and since ive been thinking about switching majors: would you recommend it? how did you know it was “the right major”? What are things you love/ hate about it? you would help me a great deal! im feeling pretty lost

Hello there! So, first off, I’m not exactly studying Game Designs in the well...”usual” sense I suppose? In the sense of, I’m not going to college or anything but to an private school since Germany doesn’t offer Game Design at local colleges or universities (as much as I know) and I wouldn’t have the qualifications for that any ways since I well, dropped out of school. But I’m still doing an Game Designs education, allthough the one I’m doing is very practise oriented and I also not only learn about Game Design, but also 3D Modelling, Programming and Art/Digital Art (which I essentially am majoring in). So it is a bit different (atleast thats what I assume since I don’t really know the standard) but anyways, heres my thoughts on it and why I decide to “learn” Game Design. Essentially, Drawing and playing video games was basically all I ever did growing up. I always was a nerd and I picked up drawing again around like, 9th grade and was terrible but I still enjoyed it. When I made the decicion to drop out of school in 11th grade, part of it was due to mental health problems but I also knew that I didn’t really want to study. Or rather I didn’t want to study or end up in a Job that I would hate. So the only thing I saw myself happy doing for a living was well, drawing, more or less. And when I found this school, which basically offered an education that combined the two things I loved the most and spend the most time with in my life, I pretty much knew I wanted to pursue this. There certainly are things I dislike about it, yes, but they are mostly about the 3D Modelling and Programming aspects of my education. Other then that, Game Design is really fun. Video Games consist of so many different things and aspects and Game Design is basically the foundation of what makes a Game well, a Game. It is a bit of an try and error process, alot of writing, figuring things out, testing them and for sure and team effort. But it’s an very, very creative thing to do, which doesn’t really get stale and just, seeing an game idea slowly come together is such an rewarding and fun feeling. Of course it doesn’t always work out, you’ll always have to keep in mind that things have to get scrapped and reworked alot but the result will just be better in the end then. In general, it is a bit of an vague thing because there are so many different aspects to it and Game Design, or the Game Designers specifically is the person which designs how the game works, what the rules of the games are, the mechanics and so on. They basically work out the idea of the game and the Artists and Programmers bring it into reality. Still, its a very fun and creative thing to do, it’s never really the same and if you do enjoy video games and have a curiosity for how Games are made in general, then I would say it’s definetely worth considering it.

[vroenis]

The Internet Is Not Remarkable | Which Is Why It’s Remarkable

Oddly I’ve not ever felt the need to unplug. I don’t have a sense of separation between life happening away from the Wire and life happening on the Wire or the Wire not being life. It was never a distinct thing I ever had to decide was or wasn’t life or became life, either. Being born in the early 80′s, I guess means the Wire wasn’t always there as a salient presence, integrated into the fabric of life. Heyo I had a Nokia 3210. That doesn’t mean anything, by the way, it just places me on a timeline. Nostalgia sucks and is literally valueless. Let’s make art you can steal.

Anecdotally it means I saw the internet happen as a Thing. It’s less important than it sounds. Also the internet going from not being a Thing to being in our pockets. OK. But honestly it’s not very important. As in the transition isn’t important. There were a lot of people there when it happened and I think a lot of us if and when we’re honest will tell you now, in retrospect, it’s not a big deal. People older than I am and some my age and younger who have an ignorant and uninformed understanding of life and experience will go on about life being better or significantly more meaningful before or without the Wire but honestly they’re wrong. I’ll come out and say it’s flat better. Sure it makes misinformation easier as much as it makes all the good things better but wow media control and information mass-dissemination before the Wire? Are you kidding me? 

On the topic of unplugging and digitally detoxing and I realise The 1975 just made a video all about it that was overly cute, yes, but still pretty fucken’ great. Let’s link it because honestly, it’s a wonderful snapshot of its time that they’re unquestionably aware will date immensely and that is a big part of the point. The 1975 hardly need any more promo but what can I say, I’ve no problem being part of an adoring fanbase and adore them we do. Let us adore.

That it’s so on-the-nose and that it’s a big part of the point is going to anger and frustrate people so much, moreso that exactly that reaction is a part of being caught-up in the inevitable participation in what the song and indeed, what Matty as an individual and what the band as a commercial and cultural entity are. The too cool thing to do is say you didn’t know anything about it, you didn’t watch it, you don’t care for it, you’re immune to it and continue to be ignorant of it - sure, I used to be cool like you. The thing is I both care less and more about being cool.

I love this song, I love what it’s doing and what it means. I love being a fan of and loving things. I love that other people love things I love. I still love loving things no-one knows about but I always love other people finding and loving my things, even if and when some of them behave badly because as an adult and an individual, I understand that participating in one cultural activity doesn’t mean I’m fully represented as a whole cultural entity.

Coming back to unplugging and that not being necessary for me, it connects to not being overwhelmed by it, which connects again, to the Wire not being separate and distinct from what I see as my experience of life. If the Wire is a mundane aspect of life then it’s unnecessary to disconnect from it. I engage with it as much as I engage with other things, that is to say I’m fascinated by, obsess over, and grow bored with things on it as much as all subjects, objects and activities in life equally. I don’t think this is unique to me at all, I suspect it’s quite common.

As it happens, I got into Instagram in a big way around the same time I got into contemporary board games. Both of these things I’ve almost wholly discarded. Almost, but not quite. I still maintain my Instagram account because I’ve made some valuable and enduring connections on it and as a platform I seem to have nurtured some semblance of an audience for a sprinkling of subjects and visual motifs. As for board games, I’m actually still quite interested in them but there’s so much about them as an industry and culture I actively dislike and have also grown bored of that I’ve consciously disengaged from them.

Facebook as a culture has always been weird to me, I can’t say I’ve ever understood it as a platform. Primarily it seemed to function as a space to connect with people you already know - OK. So then we’re encouraged to engage with one-another on... topics we may or may not already be engaging with either in our physical time together in which case, it’s redundant? Or we post articles we expect others to read which mostly they don’t unless aaaaaah - they’re short, reductive and in simple language and now the exercise is hazardous. The platform then actively co-opts strangers into discussions by facilitating cross-posting intra-sharing articles, which to be frank is about eyes on ads and ad-revenue, here we get to the ultimate objective of Facebook as a platform which I guess is why none of it makes any sense. Engagement at all costs. Of-course Facebook doesn’t care about racist groups and the real violence it precipitates, why on earth would that matter to them? The only thing that matters is capitalist gains. As long as it doesn’t directly cost them and as long as there are no economic consequences for them, they will proceed, and this is pervasive and transparent in the way all actions are facilitated and encouraged on the platform as a utility.

There’s more to discuss about Facebook but you’ve had those discussions before and they’re boring. Facebook is boring. The way people use Facebook is  boring. Many of my peers ported to Instagram because as many of them said “It’s like Facebook but just pictures” and something along the lines of “It’s just pure” and there’s a high degree of truth in that. The sense of purity comes from the feeling of positivity in that thumbs becomes hearts - the likes an image gets. Engagement is fairly low-level. People express their endorsement of an image or do nothing at all. Occasionally there’s discussion, predominantly positive and for the most part I’d agree it’s wholesome. You can find toxicity easily enough and all of it is bad, but there are whole spaces on Instagram where you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a platform free of it altogether.

I guess it’s worth mention when I was peak Instagram, I was producing a super lo-fi but passionate board games podcast I recorded with R and we were also running several public and private board games groups around Melbourne. There was a lot of good about that sense of community and some of those people are still in our lives now. Platforms like Instagram are great for celebrating many of those aspects, I’d still say better than Facebook. Instagram is more approachable and simpler for just showing a thing and liking it - the engagement is direct and the commitment level (sign-up, visual clutter, privacy concerns, settings digest etc.) is minimal.

There are some Instagram Stories (read: Snapchat clones) there listed under This Account that briefly go thru the effective mothballing of my account. To have a different discussion here, I know how much and what kind of work it takes to build and maintain and audience on Instagram and it’s not interesting to me any more. It’s boring. I don’t mean to disrespect the audience I have there, all audiences are made up of people. Their behaviour on the platform is indicative of the cultural space that Instagram is, not their respective characters and that’s fine. That I’m bored is indicative of my feelings towards the platform and the culture it fosters, not how I feel about the people themselves. I still really like most of the people I’ve made connections with on Instagram and ping them DMs about beer, Lego and art once in a while. Instagram is about keeping it light - or lite is perhaps more appropriate - and I’m happy to keep my engagement level likewise.

That makes it extremely strange that I chose tumblr as a cultural space for my long-format writing, then, hey. Sure does. I did write about tumblr as a cultural space and honestly I still feel the same way about it - I absolutely love it here. Even tho I don’t engage in tumblr at all in the way the culture here utilises it, oddly I still feel right at home, fitting that one of the titles of the entry is Hiding In Plain Sight.

I don’t effectively have an audience for my writing here, tho, and that certainly is different. There’s a certain buzz missing from seeing a post light up with hearts, but then I think - a post gets a tally of hearts, of likes, so the people around me - my audience - likes an image and/or the accompanying text I’ve written tho that’s unlikely as the ratio of viewers to readers is likely to be extremely low. So if I think about how meaningful the text is to me versus the image, sometimes it’s split down the middle, but often the writing is far more important or at least there’s massive intent for gravitas to the image. Without the text, the image would be pleasant at best, and I realise that’s what people are engaging with and throwing a heart at, and I’m not interesting in doing that. I’m interesting in writing and expressing because I’m doing that anyway. I’m talking to and for myself regardless which I’m very happy to do, so if I’m going to do that, I’m happy to do it on the assumption of no audience and just express freely without restraint on subjects that interest me the most.

I either will or won’t develop that audience, but it will have to be with people who are dedicated enough to read and that might be a thing just yet, but who knows, there may be coming a time when people realise it’s not the Wire they need to unplug from. I’m not spinning up theories because it’s less complicated than that. I still operate a Facebook account. There’s a lot to hate about Facebook but of itself it’s mostly banal. Sure its UI and UX both are horrors that precipitate actual nightmares (unrelated but recent: none worse that iTunes MY GOD WHY WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY) but from a utility perspective it can be useful in the least. I have connections with a handful of people and communities which are useful to me for the moment so until they’re not, I’ll use the platform - but my weekly usage would be measured in minutes, I’m not sure I’d make cumulative hours in seven days.

When I moved away from Twitter and Instagram, I wanted a more considered approach to everything including images. I did once take long walks in Melbourne and photograph things that I found aesthetically interesting and under the circumstances that isn’t possible. I did stop doing that much earlier than Covid19 tho but that’s due to family circumstances alluded to in other posts. I still think if I ever take up photographing things with the same regularity, those images will end up here, simply because if I want to cut in with text, I can with better control. But also because it’s more meaningful if I don’t, and also as an artefact, a html page is something that invites a more static approach to the scrolling endless feeds of Instagram and Facebook. That design is absolutely intentional to promote short engagement and continued dismissal and that’s not something I want to encourage, with mine or anyone else’s art, thoughts, responses and engagement.

I don’t think I’ve addressed how The Internet Is Remarkable, but it’s pervasive in much of what I do on and with the Wire. I think accessibility is one of the most powerful things we do as humans. I’m sure there are folks who are sick of Margaret Mead’s healed femur anecdote or at least people quoting it. I fucking love that quote. I might not like people not fully comprehending it but I sure love what it truly represents. I think something people may be surprised to hear from me is that I will never say that I don’t like people. I really don’t like the quips and memes about hell being other people or I don’t mind going outside, it’s the other people ad infinitum. It’s easy to look at a large representation of behaviour and say “People are stupid” but it’s much more difficult to sit in a room of people you know and tell them they’re stupid. I might find it increasingly difficult to find other adults with which I can engage, on subjects I and they both can and enjoy engaging on, but I both have the willingness to and the optimism that it will and should happen. A part of that is the exercise - the practice of considered expression, of thinking, language and performance. Some of that for me is writing here, some of it is in the musical instruments I play, some of it is in the oral auditory words I speak.

Fucking around is good fun, we don’t always take life too seriously - sure, but we also don’t just fuck around. If that’s all you end up being able to do, there’s so much you end up not doing, not seeing and experiencing. Imagine the only form of expression you have is to tap a heart. That’s not to diminish the power of tapping that heart - mate, smash that shit - did you see that last picture of the beers we bought? DID YOU SEE MY BEERS? Those are some champion fucken’ beers, follow my Instagram.

Look you might need to unplug occasionally or partially or permanently or whatever. This isn’t a sermon, I’m not talking at you, I’m talking to you or rather I’m talking to myself. I’m telling you about myself because like everything I do and typically will always mention, it’s a provocation but also an invitation to talk about yourself. We share with one another to learn about other experiences and grow perspective on our own - you get all of that. That’s why the Wire is a good thing. Accessibility to broader experiences is a good thing.

This mass documentation we’re doing? Even if no-one reads it, even if only a tiny shred of it is shared... do you realise how immense that tiny shred is? Of a billion billion billion terabytes of unread, unseen, unknown data, the tiniest fraction that gets shared between humans is still huge were it to remain hidden and secret - all the wonderful art, the ugly horror, the juvenile silliness, the unending pain and sorrow, the saccharine sweetness, the lilting playfulness, the nonsensical vagary, the bare minimalism, the overbearing eloquence, everything subjective and argued and agreed and ignored.

The internet is an ordinary book of everything made of electricity and you carry a copy of it in your pocket.

I’ll echo similar sentiments to those in the feature on Jeremy Blake. You can be an arsehole, or you be awesome and kind and we can do amazing things together.