#but that feature doesn't work with the new post editor

[esoteriums]

another cry as carol's brows twisted together feeling him pick up to a steady pace only to slow and then slam back into her again. fuck! the feeling was driving her madder by the second as thighs parted just slightly when his hand crept to the front of her thigh and his calloused thumb found her aching clit. the friction sucked what air was left out of her lungs and her top half collapsed down against the mattress. chest coming to rest on the comforter as her hips were kept high by his arm, she was on complete display for him as well as held in a position poised properly for exactly how he wanted to use her. a yield that she would give no one until this very moment.

cheek turned against the aged cotton, her gaze was aimed blankly towards the wall as her body jarred with his thrusts--palms curled fistfuls of the covers--and she bounced hungrily back against him unafraid to take what she wanted in return. squirming against his hand, slick and heated as she dampened his palm while she panted as he stroked her, a heavy whine parted her lips when shane said her name. she licked them when he told her to give him what he wanted.

her knees slid wider apart, "fuck me," poured from her mouth as a heat began to pool in her belly and bleed down the insides of her thighs. the muscles in her gut tightened and she grew wetter around him. hotter. the muscles around him tremble and her thrusts backwards come with an abandon she's barely ever experienced gone from fear of punishment in her past for the simple act of enjoying herself to this starvation for him utterly fucking her into the mattress now.

"shane! harder, please!" she wanted him rough. she wanted this stretched out til the fucking sun came up. til she couldn't walk. until she was aching and begging for him to stop because she couldn't take anymore. her entire frame quivered as he felt the crest of an orgasm building up inside of her. first from underneath his thumb to the walls gripping him with a needful hold that screamed for more, more, more!! on their own.

"i need to.. i need to come so bad," that small bead of flesh in his fingers is rock hard, glistening pleading for his touch to stay right where it is. when it happens the first time, it's with a scream that she buries her face into the mattress to muffle. her thighs shaking and her body squirming against his hand, his cock driving him in so deep that the tip of him is cradled against her bobbing cervix as the rest of her walls grip and release, grip and release his length. "shane! oh my god, fuck!"

peletier​:

Breath uneven, her body still reeling from the bursts of pleasure that overrode her sense–Carol groaned. Want. Need. They had her on her knees, two fists gripping the comforter as she felt his weight shift nearer to the bed. Her gaze towards the wall shifted and she turned enough that she could glance back at him as he teased her. “Yes,” she muttered barely able to speak when the friction dragged against her. fuck. that feeling!

Blue rolled white, lips parted as he slipped just the tip of himself inside of her. The stretch of him entering sending a wave of pleasure that splashed like fire down the insides of her thighs and rattled it’s way to her brain. Carol tried to say his name. Nothing came out. Only a groan drug from the pit of her stomach when she felt each inch of him sink in.

Thank God one arm looped around her to hold her in place. She was, in no way, able to keep herself up as he pulled out and pushed back in. Deeper. Thicker. Her body shook when he bottomed out the second time.

His breath was hot against the back of her neck. that growl enough to make a small cry of ecstasy escape. “I don’t know..just. Don’t stop.” Her neck craned, forehead pressing against the pillow as she let the curve of her back dip just enough that she bared more of herself to his movements inviting him to take what he wanted.

“shane,” she whined getting enough of control over herself to press back against him and roll her hips. Fingers stretched out, palms going white as they pressed onto the bed when she felt him moving against her walls. They tightened around him as she squirmed with his touch indulging herself in showing what she wanted. something she’s not done. And breaking it free like this? Enjoying herself? Oh, God, was she.

The world faded. Just the two of them left. And that pleasure lacing through every vein, every nerve. “more…”

Shane had no intentions of stopping, but her request made him that more eager to fulfill her every wish, her every command. He loved the feel of her tight, wet, hot walls as they tightened around his length. He whimpered as he slowly pulled half-way from her depths to push back in again. His hips gave several quick pushes and pulls as he didn’t quite free himself from her to take her with short, shallow thrusts of his hips.

His body shuddered as the sensations of being inside her had him somewhere out in space. His head thrown back, back arched as his toes curled. He gasped, breaths labored as he grabbed her shoulder with his free hand. He could feel her collarbone and shoulder beneath his grasp. He felt that with the wrong move that he could shatter her, but at the same time, he knew she could take him and whatever he had to give her.

“Hold on, sweetheart. I’m just gettin’ started,” he managed to pant. His hips rolled quick, fast, and deep. He felt the tip of his cock as he pressed into her cervix. It gave him a thrill as he felt another shudder run up his spine. He slowed his thrusts only to quicken then once again. He wanted it all and all of it at the same time.

“Carol,” he breathed out with a growl as the front of his him made a slapping sound as he met her ass with each thrust. The arm that wound about her waist shifted and his hand dipped between her legs and found the nub he so desperately sought. “C'mon, sweetheart. Gimme what I want, yeah?”

[felassan]

Game Informer:

"Bespoke Armor, Transmog, And Other Aspects Of Gear In Dragon Age: The Veilguard by Wesley LeBlanc on Jul 04, 2024 at 04:00 PM Dragon Age features a ton of different customization options. Just within the character creator, there are hundreds of options to customize things like hair, body type, what your playable character Rook's face looks like, and so much more. There are also a ton of armor options, too.  Companions have an armor slot, a ring slot, an accessory slot, and a weapon slot, while Rook has access to even more – a helmet, two weapon slots, a belt, an amulet slot, and two ring slots. A belt having its own slot might sound odd as it's not an armor piece people typically think of when kitting out an RPG warrior. However, the belt is an important facet of Rook's kit. The better Rook's belt, the better the potency of their healing potions, which are replenished by destroying green pots scattered about the world. That's not all, though, as higher-quality belts can proc [editor's note: proc is a term used as a shorter way of saying "programmed random occurrence"] additional effects like momentary invulnerability."

"When creating your character, you can immediately view aspirational armors, which won't play into Rook's class until the "mid-to-late game," according to game director Corinne Busche. You can also toggle Rook's starting gear and casual wear in the creator, giving you a pretty good look at how Rook will look in more laidback cutscenes, in combat, and how they might appear later in your Veilguard journey. Busche tells me a lot of the gear in Veilguard is bespoke to your Rook or their followers, which is to say, an armor piece for a Warrior-class Rook probably won't be in a chest for a Mage-class Rook. On a similar note, armor designed for companion Bellara Lutara can't be used for another companion like Lace Harding. In just my few hours viewing Busche play the game as part of my visit to BioWare's Edmonton office for our current Game Informer cover story, I see a lot of armor to collect from things like chests scattered about Arlathan Forest, for example, and elsewhere. Some of it looks awesome, and some of it doesn't quite line up with my personal taste. That's how it goes in the genre of RPGs. However, Busche tells me there is transmogrification, or transmog for short, in the game, and calls it "robust." This means you can take an armor's stats and apply it to a different piece of armor. In other words, if you have a really cool piece of armor you like and find a new piece with better stats but don't want to give up the look of your current armor, you don't have to. Transmog allows you to take that new armor's stats and apply them to your current armor, giving you all the benefits while keeping the visual style you prefer.  Transmog isnt just for Rook, though; you can transmog armor and other things for your companions as well. I don't get to see how Veilguard's transmog system works in-game, but just knowing it exists allows me to rest easy knowing my Rook will look as fashionable as possible while saving Thedas. For more about the game, including exclusive details, interviews, video features, and more, click the Dragon Age: The Veilguard hub button below."

[source]

Felassan's cliff notes section of post:

There is a ton of armor options

Companions have an armor slot, a ring slot, an accessory slot and a weapon slot

Rook has access to more: helmet, 2 weapon slots, belt slot, amulet slot and 2 ring slots

The belt is an important part of Rook's kit. The better the belt, the better the potency of their healing potions. Also, higher quality belts can proc (programme random occurrence) additional effects such as momentary invulnerability

Healing potions are replenished by destroying green pots found in the world

In CC, you can view aspirational armors which won't play into Rook's class til mid to late game, and toggle Rook's starting gear and casual wear. This allows you to see in CC what Rook would look like in different situations throughout the game

A lot of gear is bespoke to Rook or their followers, "which is to say, an armor piece for a Warrior-class Rook probably won't be in a chest for a Mage-class Rook".

Armor designed for one companion can't be used by another

There is lots of armor to collect from things like chests scattered around Arlathan Forest, for example, and elsewhere

The game's transmog system is robust and allows you to take an armor's stats and apply it to a different one. You can take a new armor's stats and apply them to Rook's current one

Armor and other things can be transmogged for companions too

[source]

[shinakazami1]

TSPUD: closer look at IOS / Free Trial / Paywall Ending

Me and @decomposten looked through the video of the new ending and here is the summary of our thoughts on it :^]

Table of Content: 1) The two doors room 2) The video 3) The Paywall (room next to it) 4) Ending thoughts

DISCLAIMER: This post talks mostly about stuff SHOWN, not said. If people would be into my analysis of the Narrator's lines, let me know :D (it's a long post - that's why Read more is used >:D )

1) The two doors room

Here, there are two different elements that I want to present.

First - the windows. Or - more important, the light coming from them. This is the ONLY part, in the entire series, that the lighting change comes from the windows.

At any other time in the games, the light change came from lamps, screens or untold spots (just like in the corridor as there are no external windows in there).

Based on the New New Content next to Infinite Hole, we assume these lights are scenery lights.

It's a neat detail to me - it is possible to have either LED options that change colours or a colour filter for the scene to work. But...if that's the case, one detail is wrong. And it's the whites of this scene.

While it's not as visible on the door, the papers and the reflections (noticed by deco) really show that this light does not work how it's supposed to. That could mean that instead of the typical lighting options, the Narrator might have overlayed red separately on the different objects and forgot to do it on some, making the light source possibly still red. It's a small detail but, to me, it only showed more how this Parable is just a playground for the Narrator.

Which, the vault in the floor only shows even more.

First - we've already seen a similar vault in one of the trailers. Though the construction is new - the closest resembling one I could find is in New New Content. it's possible Narrator added this in instead of having all the floors like that from the start. He either might be able to expand the Parable, or as we've seen in past, has some scrapped storage spots here and there he can reinvent later.

Now - onto the longest section of this post.

2) The video

That one single video is packed with a lot of content but, I will try to keep it coherent, mostly showing them and focusing on one part of the video the most.

Before we start, though - a quick shoutout to this blue drapery. They seem similar to the one in the Madness ending.

The Stage seems new, the only thing that resembles its shape is the Bucket Quiz stage.

The video brought two different interpretations from us. To decomposten, this video is so well done, it looks like someone else made it (no credits anywhere, too high of a production).

To me, however, this is the mix of his past video/presentation works that he's done in the past, showing his progress as a creator.

The last video we had made by him was Figley ending. It was the start of his editing journey, where he used Windows Media Editor. Everything else feels like it's been there. The same Stanley renders as usual. The usage of stock images (though that does feel more like Crowsx3 trademark), old movies with silly tone (some trailers), falling money, and much more. and of some weird sophisticated ref to an important and well-known painting (Wanderer above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich, 1818).

I feel he's been just working on editing skills and I couldn't be more proud of him :]

Besides that - there are many writings and images worthy of discussion.

First - the content. As someone who made the Fernator AU Apple story, you won't be surprised how happy I was with the food mentions. This man knows about humans but probably doesn't exactly know what's edible. Or he's playing with us. Flavoured styrofoam takes the cake.

The Second - new features. A few are familiar ones (dog mode, theme of forgiveness, eternal contentment as the Bucket) but there are also some other ones. Yellows are typical RPG material (we know the Narrator is a fan), some foods and other game-related stuff. The guarantee resembles writing in the Mind Control facility but - that's a minor detail.

Both of these show how he understand the outside world but likes to play with it and us, as he calls us, the player, a friend. He's on the joke.

But then - the more choices. It's interesting that it only seems to have some chronological continuum. 2011 mod -> 2013 (red blue-door) -> TSPUD: New content -> Skip Button flower ending. But then, it gets to number 3 ending -> New content again -> Bucket Apartment -> Bucket in Expo -> Bucket Quiz -> and THEN returns to Skip -> Jump Circle (Expo) -> entrance to the Memory Zone -> Apple ROOM -> Final Skip.

I was trying my best to find some logic in this part of the video, in how he showed all of these. Here are my thoughts: 1) The Narrator gives a sneak peek to his past traumatic event, showing those who know that he is now above it. That's why this part has the most slides. 2) The Jump Circle, if you look at the video, is scratched out. Decomposten thinks it's due to no spoilers. And I feel that's plausible. After all - he rebranded that part of the game to himself. 3) The Memory Zone entrance is right between the Jump Circle and the same flowered Skip Button. It does serve, in a way, a tunnel between them. To him, both are a memory - he played this already. In his memory, there is a silly phenomenon - of the past that will never come, and the future, that had already been there. And - to me, this shows through the fact the Apple Room is next. Because it shows exactly that - a fake memory. He lived through all this and yet, once you play the game, he will experience it again, like before. Final conclusion: The 'More choice' segment is to show how scrambled his memory really is. He remembers things happening but as each story sits by itself, he tries to stitch it all together. He first made the game. Updated it's looks and then, out of nowhere, someone broke in. The flowers were his mind toughing up, trying to make something beautiful for Stanley. That's why the next two are in the Show category (Stanley making a presentation, and devs showing New Content). And to the Narrator, that's the Bucket. He shows his change and love for his story (Bucket apartment) and to Stanley (Bucket entrance) - who, as the story went, was there to press buttons (Quiz, Skip Button). The narrator wanted to open up to Stanley more. Through reusing ideas (Jump Circle), through safe spots (Memory Zone), mutual memories (Apple), and through freedom.

So, yeah. To me, this video shows his growth, not only as a person but as a creator. Glad he cracked that Premiere B]

But now, let's follow the arrows to the last element of this post:

3) The Paywall

This one is more self-indulgent cus the fact this fucking plant is here only makes me believe Fernator is real and in this essay, I-

Ok ok but, I will try to wrap this part quick. If you reached this part, you're a true soldier. Here have a cookie. 🍪

Anyway, here are a few interesting elements to me about this: - You resetting in the same room after he's done talking is the same like the 2013 Serious Room. Seems he used the mechanisms again. Good for him. - The picture on a wall shows room 430 - the 5-click achievement one that he was most joyful about. - Very lit room (4 lights for such a small space). - The walls: the og Serious room had blue walls. Thanks to help from @/Boz in the Crowsx3 Discord server, we found that the same stripped wall colouring is in the cargo room. But - if you remember the basics of colour theory, yellow is complementary to purple BUT some shades to get into blues. - the. The fucking flower. The hh. The. The... (pls look at my Fernator theory post explaining the significance of nature in the game)

CONCLUSION: This room is the opposite to a serious room - it's a kinder rendition of it. Maybe not the kindest but still, it seems more welcoming.

4) Ending thoughts

While this is more of scratch surface observation, I hope you can enjoy this silly ramble of mine :^] I'm glad to see that after 13 years, this game finally ended up where it was supposed to be - in a mobile form. The Narrator seems to have grown quite a bit and I'm proud of him <3

If you got here - thank you for spending your time on this :] And thank you decomposten for doing this with me.

[calware]

animated tumblr icon masterpost

(EDIT (7/10): it is no longer possible to have an animated icon if you did not have one previously. staff has admitted that this "feature" was added accidentally and that it's already been patched. i'll be removing any now-irrelevant segments from the intro and the FAQ. check the notes if you want to see earlier versions of this post)

two days ago, tumblr added the ability to have an animated icon by using an animated webp without giving out any official information on it (from what i can tell). i'm making this post to reduce the amount of questions i get about this. i'll be updating it with any new information i come across. if you have any questions after reading this post, feel free to ask

before i start, as of now, the web version of tumblr plays animated icons automatically which means icons with flashing lights/colors are a danger to people with photosensitivity. do not abuse this feature! remember to keep your icon safe for others by avoiding using any animated images with flashing lights/colors

also, please note that i do not use the tumblr app and i don't know how it works or how it differs from the web version. i use the desktop website as well as the website on my phone's browser (safari)

with that out of the way, here are some frequently asked questions:

7) if a blog has an animated icon, the animation only plays if i click on the icon. otherwise it's stuck on the first frame. why is this?

it's probably because of the platform you're using tumblr on. i use the web version and this doesn't happen to me, it just automatically plays on its own continuously. from what i can tell, this bug(?) only occurs on the tumblr app (depending on which device you use)

8) i use the app and i can't see anyone's animated icons, it's stuck on the first frame no matter what i do. how do i fix this?

check to see if you need to update the app

9) all the animated icons on the page suddenly froze up, what do i do?

try scrolling a little bit, that should unfreeze them. i don't know why this happens or why doing that fixes it 🫥

10) i had an animated icon and now it won't move. why did this happen and how do i fix this?

unfortunately i don't know why this happens, sorry. i could be wrong but from what i've seen i don't think you can fix it ☹️

11) i currently have an animated icon, if i upload a different animated webp image will it still work?

from what i've seen, no. if you want to keep your animated icon as it is, i'd suggest not changing it

12) i have an animated icon, if i edit my blog appearance (without changing the icon) will it mess up my icon?

if you edit your blog appearance via the desktop theme editor (https://www.tumblr.com/customize/yoururl), it should be fine

[aroaceleovaldez]

the show chb logo was also ripped from fandom, like in the past decade all the official chb shirt had the logo without the circle and then the fandom started doing and the show went for it, sorry your tags reminded me of that

[Link to post/tags in question]

Yeah, I know Delphi Strawberry Service has done more circular-based CHB shirt designs for ages, and I've seen the more circular-based designs floating around for awhile. I think Magicbysab's circular-based CHB shirt designs also predate the show design? Those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. I understand on a level that if they did base it off fandom designs, particularly if they're basing anything on widespread fanon or fandom-based concepts, it can be difficult to pin down credit or may even seen unnecessary. But if they're going to be doing that I feel like at least they could hire like, a fandom consultant of sorts? Instead of just ripping off from the fandom, hire someone from the community who produces that already so at least there's some recognition and acknowledgement of where it originated.

Heck, in some instances if you ask around in the fandom it's not hard to pinpoint who specifically popularized certain concepts! I could talk for ages about Cherryandsisters being a driving force behind photokinesis!Will, or Saberghatz with plague!Will (tbh between the two they spearheaded a ton of early Will/Solangelo fanon), and I swear Drksanctuary alone is behind like 50% of Alabaster fanon, etc etc etc. People in the fandom know these things! Heck, we know ReadRiordan company knows how to do that kind of thing! They commissioned Viria for the official art, and the UK Riordan newsletter reaches out to fans all the time to feature their work (with credit, they're one of the better ones)! Though in Rick's book tours he did showcase Viria's art (at least with credit) without asking before she got commissioned, and during the Tower of Nero book tours they actually straight up stole a solangelo edit from Pervysloth with completely zero credit (link is to my canon url readriordan parody blog).

I think it doesn't help as well that Rick and his editor allegedly use the fandom wiki in place of a series bible. The PJO wiki is notorious for putting inaccurate information or fanon onto pages at random and having no sources. (What I wouldn't give for the PJO wiki to have frequent book/page sources a la Warrior Cats wiki...) There are what, now almost 18 books in the main series alone? Of an extremely renowned best-selling series that's 20 years old and now being adapted for TV? And they STILL don't have a series bible? That's like, step 1 of writing a series. This kind of reliance of the fandom for resources and concepts definitely isn't new for them.

It just feels so bizarre as to what it says about how the ReadRiordan company views the fandom and the creatives within it. I understand that trying to figure out how to give credit to the concept of "CHB shirt design, but circular!" is difficult, if you even can find out who did that first or popularized it. But if you're going to rip things from fandom, at least find somebody to try and credit? Show that you put in even the tiniest amount of effort? And if you get it wrong and people know, they'll correct you and that's that! But ReadRiordan just keeps trying to actively obscure these kinds of things, even with their own media, not ripped from the fandom, which makes it feel all the worse when it gets pointed out. And a lot of the time the whole reason those concepts get popular is because they're filtered through big names in the fandom! The fandom is a community! We know these people! We can point to them and explain exactly what they popularized! Remember how Velinxi popularized long haired Piper with the heart-shaped flyaways? Goodness only knows how many fandom designs are heavily influenced by Viria and Minuiko and Burdge (and Indigonite and Fuocogo and Ikimaru and Thecottonproject and Joker-ace and Sixofclovers and Vikingmera and Saber and Cherry and and and-). If you are in the community this stuff is easy to find. But Rick and the ReadRiordan company clearly being ~5 years behind with fanon pretty obviously tells me that they're not in the community at all, and aren't bothering trying.

[funkin-news]

funkin blog update!!: THANK YOU ERIC

lots of good stuff in this one :) i highly recommend reading the original blog post itself, there's so much juice that tumblr won't let me put all the juice in one post

but for the sake of tradition, summary ⬇️

so. been a while yeah

they've been working on a lot of stuff that's secret/under NDA/for a different update so they couldn't share any of that on the blog

while they've had instances of people having little things they could and wanted to talk about, they couldn't just put out a post that's like one paragraph and leave it at that lol

so, eric is now going to show us some stuff! yay!!

remember this?

well, eric's been working on rebuilding the chart editor from the ground up!

he's also been pulled aside occasionally to work on other stuff (redo input system, get cutscenes working, redo scoring, work on thing that was blacked out because NDA but when i clicked it i got this video, fix issues with gamepad)

ok now put this song on while you continue reading ⬇️

and now... the chart editor is COOLER!

now featuring:

chart isn't divided into sections to scroll through anymore, just one long scroll

opponent is always on the left and player is always on the right, no weird flips

waveforms under the character icons! you can see those!

icons can be clicked to change the character

measure ticks on the left (that thing that looks like a ruler!)

note preview on the further left

video-player-like controls at the bottom for the song

oh, and it's now powered by HaxeUI instead of Flixel UI, which allows for these toolbox windows:

and neat tools like this, which lets you set offsets for each of the tracks:

this new chart editor's toolbar has all kinds of neat stuff, like these!

for the third pic: "The Window menu. No the screenshot isn't cutting anything off you're imagining things." 🤨

there's more but at this point you might just wanna go read the original post

FNFC files - new standard for making charts! contains the chart data, including the audio files!

LOTS of new keyboard shortcuts for the editor too!

also a live input mode, where you can place notes at wherever the playhead currently is by pressing WASD/⬆️⬇️⬅️➡️

what that means is you can tap out some notes as the song plays and then proofread them after!

this is the part where i'd put another video because there's another one, but tumblr only lets me put one, so... go read the original post i guess

SONG EVENTS FEATURE! you see that ninth strumline on the right? anything put there doesn't show up as notes for either player, but instead runs a chunk of code at the given time

right now the only built-in events are camera control and getting a character or stage prop to play an animation, but modders are probably gonna have a field day

another video! i already forgot i can't add more than 1. damn you tumblr.

also, it, like, never crashes!

except for when it does!

[mariacallous]

A week after its algorithms advised people to eat rocks and put glue on pizza, Google admitted Thursday that it needed to make adjustments to its bold new generative AI search feature. The episode highlights the risks of Google’s aggressive drive to commercialize generative AI—and also the treacherous and fundamental limitations of that technology.

Google’s AI Overviews feature draws on Gemini, a large language model like the one behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT, to generate written answers to some search queries by summarizing information found online. The current AI boom is built around LLMs’ impressive fluency with text, but the software can also use that facility to put a convincing gloss on untruths or errors. Using the technology to summarize online information promises can make search results easier to digest, but it is hazardous when online sources are contractionary or when people may use the information to make important decisions.

“You can get a quick snappy prototype now fairly quickly with an LLM, but to actually make it so that it doesn't tell you to eat rocks takes a lot of work,” says Richard Socher, who made key contributions to AI for language as a researcher and, in late 2021, launched an AI-centric search engine called You.com.

Socher says wrangling LLMs takes considerable effort because the underlying technology has no real understanding of the world and because the web is riddled with untrustworthy information. “In some cases it is better to actually not just give you an answer, or to show you multiple different viewpoints,” he says.

Google’s head of search Liz Reid said in the company’s blog post late Thursday that it did extensive testing ahead of launching AI Overviews. But she added that errors like the rock eating and glue pizza examples—in which Google’s algorithms pulled information from a satirical article and jocular Reddit comment, respectively—had prompted additional changes. They include better detection of “nonsensical queries,” Google says, and making the system rely less heavily on user-generated content.

You.com routinely avoids the kinds of errors displayed by Google’s AI Overviews, Socher says, because his company developed about a dozen tricks to keep LLMs from misbehaving when used for search.

“We are more accurate because we put a lot of resources into being more accurate,” Socher says. Among other things, You.com uses a custom-built web index designed to help LLMs steer clear of incorrect information. It also selects from multiple different LLMs to answer specific queries, and it uses a citation mechanism that can explain when sources are contradictory. Still, getting AI search right is tricky. WIRED found on Friday that You.com failed to correctly answer a query that has been known to trip up other AI systems, stating that “based on the information available, there are no African nations whose names start with the letter ‘K.’” In previous tests, it had aced the query.

Google’s generative AI upgrade to its most widely used and lucrative product is part of a tech-industry-wide reboot inspired by OpenAI’s release of the chatbot ChatGPT in November 2022. A couple of months after ChatGPT debuted, Microsoft, a key partner of OpenAI, used its technology to upgrade its also-ran search engine Bing. The upgraded Bing was beset by AI-generated errors and odd behavior, but the company’s CEO, Satya Nadella, said that the move was designed to challenge Google, saying “I want people to know we made them dance.”

Some experts feel that Google rushed its AI upgrade. “I’m surprised they launched it as it is for as many queries���medical, financial queries—I thought they’d be more careful,” says Barry Schwartz, news editor at Search Engine Land, a publication that tracks the search industry. The company should have better anticipated that some people would intentionally try to trip up AI Overviews, he adds. “Google has to be smart about that,” Schwartz says, especially when they're showing the results as default on their most valuable product.

Lily Ray, a search engine optimization consultant, was for a year a beta tester of the prototype that preceded AI Overviews, which Google called Search Generative Experience. She says she was unsurprised to see the errors that appeared last week given how the previous version tended to go awry. “I think it’s virtually impossible for it to always get everything right,” Ray says. “That’s the nature of AI.”

Even if blatant errors like suggesting people eat rocks become less common, AI search can fail in other ways. Ray has documented more subtle problems with AI Overviews, including summaries that sometimes draw on poor sources such as sites that are from another region or even defunct websites—something she says could provide less useful information to users who are hunting for product recommendations, for instance. Those who work on optimizing content for Google’s Search algorithm are still trying to understand what’s going on. “Within our industry right now, the level of confusion is on the charts,” she says.

Even if industry experts and consumers get more familiar with how the new Google search behaves, don’t expect it to stop making mistakes. Daniel Griffin, a search consultant and researcher who is developing tools to make it easy to compare different AI-powered search services, says that Google faced similar problems when it launched Featured Snippets, which answered queries with text quoted from websites, in 2014.

Griffin says he expects Google to iron out some of the most glaring problems with AI Overviews, but that it’s important to remember no one has solved the problem of LLMs failing to grasp what is true, or their tendency to fabricate information. “It’s not just a problem with AI,” he says. “It’s the web, it’s the world. There’s not really a truth, necessarily.”

[saffronapplemanga]

Recent Read Manga Recommendation Round Up (plus anime!) - Part 3

Manga/anime I’ve been enjoying recently! Links to part 1 and part 2.

Twitter link to this post here.

~Links to my other manga posts~ My personal favs/ones I super enjoyed will have a ✨ on them :)

PLEASE LOOK UP ANY TRIGGER WARNINGS!

CRIME, ACTION, DRAMA

✨GANGSTA. by Kohske

(8 volumes + chapters released past vol.8, hiatus)

Available in English

Please check out my dedicated post I linked for this series. I worked super hard on it!

If you take one recommendation from this list, let it be GANGSTA. I’m begging… This series is going in my all-time favs. I have a whole “Why You Should Check GANGSTA. Out” section in my dedicated post, so definitely take a look at that! But in short: Do you enjoy great character writing? A diverse, adult cast featuring different races and disability rep (deaf MC)? A gritty setting? A FOUND FAMILY OF DORKS?

I'm obsessed and I'm making it my mission to take as many of you down with me as possible...

TIME TRAVEL, SUPERNATURAL

Link Click directed by Li Haoling

(24 Episodes - Season 2 Coming Soon)

Link Click is a donghua from Studio LAN and streamed on Bilibili — the Chinese streaming service that I do some subs for, if you're unfamiliar with them — as well as Funimation. I enjoyed the art, animation, and atmosphere. The premise is that two guys working at a print shop time travel through photos to help their clients. And who doesn't love a trio of kids with a big-hearted jokester, the quiet, mature one, and a feisty girl who reins them in? I think this is my first donghua and I enjoyed it!

Plus, the opening and ending themes are pretty slick ->

Season 1 Opening Theme - Adding it to the playlist.

MECH, POLITICAL, SCHOOL

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury by Yatate Hajime

(12 Episodes + Prologue - Season 2 currently airing)

Let me tell you about me and Gundam.

I used to work at a translation company in Tokyo where I translated some Gundam figure commercials/interviews (which are currently privated on Youtube, unfortunately) amongst other things. I'm telling you guys, every time I walked into the office and saw an email from Bandai/TAMASHII NATIONS with a new Gundam translation request in my inbox, I would cry a lot little inside. I had never watched anything Gundam and didn't know what the heck was going on in the stuff I had to translate. There was this one interview with a figure designer where I was like, "Oh, you have to be a Gundam fan to understand what the heck he's talking about..." I remember me, another translator, and our editor staring at our screens exasperated. We managed, though. Big shoutout to the Gundam Wiki — not that I understood anything from it LOL.

If you told me back then that I would enjoy a Gundam thing, I would've laughed — but here I am, enjoying a Gundam thing. I'm not into mechs, even though I think robots/robot-adjacent stuff + space are cool. Still, I could never get into mechs for some reason. So if you're like me, try The Witch from Mercury. Our MCs are these two girls who end up engaged to each other in a rather hilarious way imo, with a colorful cast of supporting characters. The political themes I hear Gundam is known for really hooked me, and I LOVE how the kids handle a situation they end up in. I won't say more so as not to spoil it, but I think this is a great entry point for Gundam newbies!

Season 1 Opening Theme - Am I turning into a Gundam fan? Wild. Who would've thought the day would come? What if I start getting into Gunpla? A slippery slope, really.

SLICE OF LIFE, SCHOOL

✨Skip and Loafer by Takamatsu Misaki

(10 volumes, ongoing) + Season 1 Anime

Available in English

I remember seeing volume one of this series at the bookstore I frequented in Ikebukuro Station when it had just come out. Sooooo many times, I almost picked it up over the years. But I always passed because I was swamped with work, school, and current reads.

Now, I have a little more time on my hands, and the new anime adaptation has so much love put into it! A great coming-of-age story following young Mitsumi as she moves to the big city for school. This series is so wholesome, it's cavity-inducing.

This opening is the most delightful thing~

SLICE OF LIFE

Hotel Metsäpeuraan e Youkoso by Fukuta Seira

(5 volumes, ongoing)

JP only

In the mountains of Finland is a hotel run by two men. One day they see a young man outside in a snowstorm, and bring him inside. The men can tell that teenager Jun seems to have a heavy past and offer him a job and place to stay at the hotel.

Super cute, wholesome, and has great found family vibes!

SLICE OF LIFE, FOOD

Samenai Machi no Kisaten by Hasha

(2 volumes, complete)

JP only

A chill read with a touch of melancholy. At the end of each chapter is a recipe! The art is very cute and pleasing.

DYSTOPIAN, SCI-FI

✨Fool Night by Yasuda Kasumi

(8 volumes, ongoing)

JP only

In the future, the sky is blacked out, not allowing any sun through. To survive, technology has been developed to turn people into plants. The real horror is late stage capitalism though. I'm in love with the art and atmosphere of this series. I can't wait to read more!

ROMANCE

Gakusou by Tsurimaki Nodoka

(oneshot)

JP only

This is a super short one-chapter oneshot. Cute little read with lovely art! By the same author as 聖血の海獣/Seiketsu no Kemono, a 3-volume manga I've been meaning to read.

LGBTQ, DRAMA, COMEDY

To Strip The Flesh by Tooda Oto

(oneshot/anthology)

Available in English

An anthology that has some funny stories, and some that made me feel too seen...

DYSTOPIAN, SCI-FI, CRIME, ACTION, POLITICAL

✨PSYCHO-PASS by Urobuchi Gen

Check anilist for all content because the seasons, movies, manga, light novels, and watch order are a little all over the place.

The Psycho-Pass: Inspector Shinya Kogami manga is available in English from publisher Dark Horse.

Set in the future, Japan has implemented a surveillance state that measures people's psyche and flags anyone with the potential to do crime, even if they have not done anything or will never have done anything.

I watched season one back when it first came out in 2012. Since then, I would see ads for new content at the train stations in Japan and thought I’d catch up. There’s a new movie, PSYCHO-PASS PROVIDENCE, releasing May 12, 2023.

I've been having a lot of dumb, edgy fun with this series and its on-the-nose political themes. It's kinda camp-y? I do wish it spent more time on character moments, though.

I love me a trio (which seems to be a theme in this round-up lol) and this series has a good trio! Akane is such a great character, and Shinya and MY BOY GINOZA NOBUCHIKA!!! have been thoroughly entertaining me.

I love him. I wanna bully him and stuff him into a locker...

[ladygreywritesstuff]

WIP Round-Up

Ty @aislingdmdt for the tag!

Tagging anyone who'd like to play!

rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it!

Game of Thrones/ASOIAF WIPs

Falsehoods -- a re-telling of True or False from Roose's PoV (Roose Bolton x OC of House Frey

Aftercare -- sequel to Therapy (Roose Bolton x Fat Walda Frey)

Untitied trilogy of three intersecting stories:

Sprung from Good Seed -- Barristan Selmy x Perriane Frey fic that begins during the Greyjoy Rebellion and extends to the end of ASOIAF

Above the Rest -- Jason Mallister x OC, overlapping timeline with Sprung from Good Seed

Family, Duty, Honor -- Brynden "Blackfish" Tully x OC of House Frey, overlapping timeline with Sprung from Good Seed

What Storms May Blow -- Barristan Selmy X OC of House Frey, I started this in 2017 and it is probably 80% done. I'd really like to finish it!

Stardew Valley

She Walks by Moonlight -- werewolf AU, Marlon, Gil, Farmer story narrated by Gunther

Kink -- one-shot follow-up to Dig Deep featuring Marlon/Riley.

Stardrop -- Marlon/Riley one-shot for Lilyy on GFS. Marlon gets Riley a Stardrop for her birthday.

Untitled Sequel to Dig Deep -- Several years after the events of Dig Deep, Linus passes away and Marlon and Riley help guide Gil through his grieving

Untitled Wizard fic -- OC Natasha comes to Pelican Valley to work as the editor of the new paper, the Pelican Times. Same universe as Dig Deep. Natasha explores the more supernatural storylines of SDV as Riley doesn't have a supernatural bone in her body. Rivals to lovers trope featuring Wizard x Natasha

Special Ballot -- Marnie/Willy fic. Willy teaches Marnie how to fish, Lewis gets jealous and raises the taxes on the beach, making it impossible for Elliott and Willy to live and work there. There's only one thing Marnie can do -- run for Mayor in the next election.

One Weekend in Spring -- Leah needs a fake boyfriend to attend Kel's wedding with her. Who better than Elliott?

Good Soup -- Jodi/Gus fic. Jodi and Kent divorce. Jodi takes a job helping Gus in the kitchen. Romance ensues.

Untitled Pam redemption fic -- Pam finishes a rehab program in Zuzu City and decides not to return to Pelican Town feeling she is too much of a burden on Penny. Pam moves to Castle Village and buys a small horse ranch. She rents off various parts of the property in order to make mortgage payments, and finds a companion in the widower who rents the old barn for his woodworking endeavours.

Rings of Power

Respite -- either Elendil/Reader or Elendil/OC, takes place after the fall of Numenor as Elendil is establishing the kingdom of Arnor

[theinkymystery]

Hello to the Author and Editor of Inky Mysteryy!!! I've really liked your work and i consider it as special since it really influenced me(or im just easy to influence) and everything about it UGHHHHHHHHH ITS SSOOOOOOOOOO GREAAAAATTTT anywayss, Inky Mystery made me do lots of fanarts, A WHOLE BUNCH. I mostly posted them in my acc (new to tumblr anyways) and their descriptions too. Here's some of my fanarts:

(sorry for the fold Hehe)

Play the Exit Song (ik its messy XD)

Anyways, the Not-cup character doesn't exist, i just misinterpreted him as an actual one, which i know isnt canon but i did it anyway XD

Double Trouble version 2(version 1 is unfinished tho and is digital, i got lazy to finish it so HAHAHA v1 features only Mayhem and Holly, while this one adds Cuphead nd Not-Cup)

The Slap scene after the Gala (still disappointed to Cup for his actions, great writing btw, it really made me feel the characters, specially Holly my fav)

Letter-less version

The Marvelous Mayhem (she's one of the most mysterious character if ya asked me, i also liked her bcoz of this and i often doodle her)

Lukahd, infamously known as The Lady of Despair (anime style)

Angel-Demon War but only shows Ventis and Lukahd

(srry that its landscape)

And tthis is how i imagine Metatron would look like( i purposely didn't put his halo bcoz it was takenby the Guardian Angels at some point, right?)

Welp, thats my favorites!(sorry for the bad lighting and blurry cam tho) Hope ya like it. You really have great writing skills and im curious about the timeline of when the parts were distributed and hidden by the micco, angels and dishes. Tho, don't answer this one if it needs ta give us spoilers. Also Mayhem's origin, how the Night terror has been now and about what Cuphead felt after he hurt Holly's feelings. (curious for the latter). For the tear tho that a certain cat god fixed, was it like a tear in a paper? Since they live in a 1930s cartoon style right? So it may be comparable to a torn paper with a tape XD. I really like Holly and i was new to the Colly ship when u broke my heart. I was rlly disappointed with Cup's actions, and it was all bcoz of your great writing! I hope they can get the last part and find the Ink Machine on time, I rlly miss their old selves, where they were still happy. I just wanna how u these fanarts of mine, icant rest easily knowing that my favorite author wont see my fanarts(and how much i dedicate to it and love the fanfic novel)

Anyways, that's all i wanna say XD (too many, troublesome me) you have great writing, i love ur work and prolly i wont stop at making fanarts of it XDD

These are BEAUTIFUL arts! Thanks so much for sharing them!

Yup! The tear was sort of like a tear in a piece of paper. :)

[measuringbliss]

Spider-Man Read-Through 077 Vulture, Wings of Vengeance (ASM 240-243, Ann 17)

MASTERPOST

Ah, my favorite moment: going to sleep at 9pm and waking up at 1am. Welp, I guess it's Spidey time!

You know, when I think of the Vulture, two stories come in mind. The first one is the murder mystery in the middle of the Harry Osborn New Goblin saga, and the second one is a more recent one, when the Vulture is at a care home and gets influenced by Nathan.

Which type shall we see today?

Vulture backstory! I don't know if I'm fond of this cover or if I hate it. The blue is gorgeous though. Still, in this post, the Vulture slays 💅 And he's not the only one. Everyone's bisexual here!

Also: the return of Mary Jane! Which is a problem, given that Spidey has just entered a relationship with Black Cat...

Aww this is a really cute way to credit the team! (+ colors by Bob Sharen and Shooter as editor in chief).

When Toomes gets an offer to play gin rammy with fellow old people, he thinks, "Gin rammy? I wish my generation displayed a little more ambition." Like killing people and stealing stuff.

Learning that Gregory Bestman, a guy he doesn't like, is working in NYC, Toomes is pissed off and asks for a flight. So he won't use his suit? That's surprising, but oh well.

Meanwhile, Peter's having a nightmare.

I like how his hair's drawn!

Amy Powell wants to get a hold of him, but he's already left.

The Vulture thinks to himself he would have been just as fast flying to NYC alone, which, yup, absolutely.

After a nostalgic trip near Midtown High, Peter learns that Anna is about to visit May. Yay! Nathan's elated because he finally has cable TV. Ah, technology! And this is how Peter learns that the Vulture is back. Tired of letting all his foes (him, Ock and the Hobgoblin) get away, he very much intends to fix things.

The fight is nice, and it ends with Spidey being shocked and Bestman being an idiot.

Oh I love that panel.

The comments tell me this issue had "Lonesome" Pinky's last appearance, which is sad because he was a real highlight.

In #241 (already!), MJ's back in town with Anna.

Meanwhile, Spidey steals a radio from Keating to track the Vulture, and track him, he does...

What does he find?

OH. He's Toomes's ex! I had a feeling and almost made the joke, but I didn't expect so much closeness. Hell yeah, we love to see it.

In his flashback, Toomes says "The months of slaying have paid off!"

...Okay, he says "slaving", not "slaying", I misread that. But still!

The backstory isn't anything special, Bestman betrayed Toomes, Toomes got his revenge, but now he wants more revenge because Bestman being successful is outrageous.

Interestingly, the issue features a lot of low-ground action; it's on Staten Island, and then there's this:

You don't see Spidey on that level that often.

The Vulture is caught, Keating decides Bestman will be investigated, all's well that ends well.

Later, at the Bugle, Amy speaks to Petey.

Yeah, let's deal with that!

In the letters, everyone's enthuastic about Monica Rambeau (as I am!) and praises the Romita team-up (me too!).

In #242: "The menace of the mad thinker and his awesome android"! I'm never fond of robots in Spider-Man comics...

Today's the day Peter finds out if ESU will still have him! But the final results are posted for everything, except biophysics...

Sloan gets antagonistic again (I'm starting to think I preferred Miles Warren!), but he explains that since Debra's no longer here, he doesn't have a secretary and needs another day to correct the exams. Peter asks if Debra's alright (that's a first!) and Sloan answers that it seems so, but she has a lot of things to think about.

I'm annoyed that we don't get to see Peter's date with Amy (it's still not clear why he would even entertain her...), but I love those dice on Lance's car.

Peter's so gorgeous.

So he's clearly on a date with Lance, because Lance takes him out in his car, he buys him a drink and confides his deepest desires.

Dear readers, I'm kind of digging their relationship and might ship them. I'm happy that Lance's not so antagonistic and actually asks for Peter's help (kind of). If it'd been written earlier, they would have come to fists.

Relatably, Peter doesn't care about these mind games and decides to settle the thing right here and there.

HAHAHAHAHA. Peter's faces are priceless.

Peter leaves and thinks, "I thought Amy was just a sweet lady" hahaha you dumbass. Come on.

In Chelsea, MJ asks Ms. Muggins if Peter's home, and leaves unsuccessful.

In his cell, the Thinker, a F4 foe, has been doing some thinking and has decided to confront Spidey for the lulz with his psychic robot commanding power or whatnot.

That last bubble... Hahaha.

Spidey stops the robot, wonders about who commanded it, meanwhile the Thinker is now certain Spidey can sense incoming danger.

Later, at Peter's appartment...

Peter's top is kind of nice.

Oh.

And then...

Oops.

MJ looks snazzy. Is there something to say about gender here? It's not the first time she has a semi-masculine outfit...

What a stellar issue, it would have been even greater if the villain was more compelling but it's alright.

In the letters...

Awwww!

Dear readers, I'm here for whatever messiness we can see in #243!

I mean, were they? MJ didn't accept the proposal, so...

Amy's pissed off that Lance's here, so she storms off.

Lance is SO funny hahaha

When MJ asks if she missed anything, Peter answers, "not much". Which is true. Not a lot has happened in six years of publication...

Anyway, Peter quickly explains the situation and she's amused. Still, she only came here to tell Peter she was back and give him his keys back.

Amy didn't take back her basket of food, which has a "Château Armando" wine from 1966. The year is vaguely significant for being when Romita took over Ditko, but aside from that...

Anyway, Spidey ends up going out (the narration says he's the "Spectacular Spider-Man", which is usually kept to its respective magazine, and ditto for "Amazing Spider-Man"...) to ESU to find Connors (haven't seen him in a while!) to get more info about the piece of the robot he retrieved last issue. Connors can only say it comes from a robot (no shit, Sherlock), then Sloan arrives, Spidey says they did meet (in SSM 34! I sure didn't remember before he mentioned it) and discreetly checks out his grade. It's an A. He passed! Good for him.

Thanks to Roger Stern, Spidey's consistently funny again. This is excellent.

You know, I'm happy that Connors hasn't been the Lizard in years, it feels great to know that at least some evolutions have staying power.

In a café, Lance and Amy rekindle. Aww!

Because we need action in Spidey comics (I can do without, but not the audience apparently), some goons attack a church or something.

I couldn't get a confirmation, but it looks like the same church as the first page of ASM #153. Anyway, the right panel is great.

Hahaha.

After a quick visit at the Bugle, Spidey goes to see Felicia (remember most of their story has been in SSM, so it's surprising!).

Oh, MJ's positively hideous here.

I have a feeling I'm developing something for that kind of kiss. Not sure what does it. Look, I'm even gonna have to make another post to review the annual, can you believe it?

Such a great panel, once more.

As Spidey swings, we get all kinds of reminders that time exists, which doesn't sound good because this is very TASM2-like. Spidey's worried about the usual, + Black Cat's medical bills. Maybe she should return to thievery...

Later, at ESU, fellow student Roger Hochberg finds Peter...

It's hilarious how ugly the faces can be suddenly, but also... poor Roger, he looks so sad :( We basically never saw him, but baby did nothing wrong.

Such a good idea, what the hell. I love this page's composition, and the close-up in particular. Extremely solid.

In the letters, everyone loves the Hobgoblin (unsurprising!), and one letter lists every clue... and concludes it must be Jameson. Hahaha, I don't think so! (Watch it being him and me being blindsided.)

In the comments, I learn that the robot question is dropped. I'm fine with that.

For Annual 17, Bill Mantlo and Roger Stern write together! Stern plots, Mantlo scripts! How interesting.

For Kingpin lovers, we see him in a tight G-string, if that's your thing.

So Peter's invited at a Midtown reunion, and who else is there but Harry and Liz, yay! And Liz is pregnant. Ooh, here you go, little Goblin Jr.!

Everyone at the party looks like they're 50 or 60, which isn't exactly encouraging.

You can bet your ass people will stay similar things to me when I'm thirty. "Still translating video games?!"

That barista is not only gorgeous, but also very likely bisexual.

Peter thinks they admire him, but I'm not so sure.

Flash's here too. He and Peter are besties now, yay! They reference a future plot (SSM 85, haven't gotten there yet).

C.J. Vogel arrives, and Peter remembers him as his first gay crush his classmate who would distract his bullies with jokes. He may have inspired Spidey's constant joking...

Later, Peter sees C.J. and Louie Minelli chatting very mysteriously about one Remington Colt... Hmm!

At the Bugle, Ned and Betty helpfully inform Peter that that name is actually a pen name used by dozens of writers of... unchristian stories.

Also, Milton Farr was abducted by the mob. Farr is the publisher of the raunchy stories.

No way I'm summarizing that.

Spidey saves C.J., and when C.J. wakes up, he explains the situation to Peter. He wrote under the Remington Cole pseudonym, but he's now about to write for a children's TV show, and Minelli knew about the previous fact. Minelli threatened C.J. to tell people if he didn't take the package to the warehouse.

C.J. soon leaves Peter's appartment, and thinks that Peter, being "a newshound", might betray him. Consequently, he decides to get Farr's evidence on him by himself.

Spidey finds the file and leaves, but C.J. gets there and is held at gunshot by Louie. Turns out Louie was also a Remington Colt and was tired of hearing praise about his predecessor.

C.J. ends up burning the files, to Spidey's dismay, who wanted to use them to get the Kingpin in prison. As if! He gets faux philosophical about it.

Later, at the reunion, C.J.'s jokes make his classmates uncomfortable. And while Minelli gets arrested for the murder of Farr, Peter calls out C.J. in the backstage.

Lmaooooo Peter, you look frankly ridiculous. Bill Mantlo, that issue was oddly preachy and unsubtle.

The concept was neat but I wasn't very fond of it in the end.

Oh well, they can't all be winners!

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

We might finally know, ahead of D23, who is directing TOY STORY 5. Per a Japanese news article.

None other than... Andrew Stanton, but also... A second director in McKenna Harris...

So, Stanton... That's BIG...

Stanton, who did story and script on the original TOY STORY, is part of what I like to call "Team TOY STORY": Him, John Lasseter (director), current Pixar leader Pete Docter (story), and Lee Unkrich (editor). All members of the Brain Trust, too. And all of them returned for some kind of role on the sequels.

Docter and Stanton are pretty much the last of that core team that are still at Pixar, Unkrich intermittently consults on the post-TOY STORY 4 films, as he's been off doing other projects, namely editing recently-released books on THE SHINING. We all know what happened to John Lasseter. Stanton taking the helm, if he is indeed straight-up directing this movie and not just doing story/script, is a curious development... Because he's been doing a lot of live-action stuff lately, and trying to get films of his own off the ground. One of which, IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE, was filmed in spring 2023 and will be released by Searchlight Pictures. Eventually.

The last animated feature film he directed was FINDING DORY, released in 2016. Since then, his directing work has mainly been in TV: STRANGER THINGS, BETTER CALL SAUL, FOR ALL MANKIND, 3 BODY PROBLEM, etc. He even directed for OBI-WAN KENOBI. Now that he has at least one other non-Pixar movie coming out, maybe he's game to direct a long-time endeavor again?

Fun fact: Stanton originally intended for FINDING DORY to be directed by someone else. Stanton had tried to get a live-action/CG-filled sci-fi epic going after the 2008 release of WALL-E, a film that could potentially launch a trilogy... That unfortunate 2012 film was JOHN CARTER. It's actually supposed to be called JOHN CARTER OF MARS, but Disney execs cut the "Mars" in response to how their mo-cap movie MARS NEEDS MOMS did at the box office. (Planet Mars, for whatever reason, had been considered box office poison... But it didn't affect THE MARTIAN in 2015). Disney then proceeded to saddle it with a terrible marketing campaign, and the $250m behemoth lost so much money at the box office...

So, Stanton re-routed, and decided to assume the director position on FINDING DORY shortly thereafter. So maybe he doesn't mind returning to his characters/worlds when the opportunities aren't always there? Maybe all that TV work and that one small movie gave him his fill for now?

Again, that is, if he's actually the director.

It's an interesting trajectory, though. John Lasseter directed TOY STORY and TOY STORY 2, the latter having co-directors in Lee Unkrich and Ash Brannon (the original director when it was a direct-to-video movie). Unkrich was promoted to director on TOY STORY 3, as John was too busy running 3 studios to do it (though not busy enough to take over CARS 2, apparently). John actually was aiming to direct TOY STORY 4 as well, but then handed the reins to his co-director Josh Cooley. And Cooley left Pixar, he directed this year's TRANSFORMERS ONE for Paramount.

So, if it's Stanton, that makes sense. If not, I'm gonna guess it's a co-director of a previous picture or someone involved with at least one of the films or shorts. Angus MacLane, who directed SMALL FRY, TOY STORY OF TERROR! and LIGHTYEAR, got let go recently. As did Steve Purcell, who directed TOY STORY THAT TIME FORGOT. A new perspective is always fun, but if it's a veteran, I'm curious either way.

McKenna Harris being the other director is very cool, almost like a veteran getting a first-time feature director off the ground with a classic favorite. Harris was a story artist on LUCA, and directed that film's short CIAO ALBERTO, in addition to being an associate exec producer on ELEMENTAL. She also did story work on Disney Animation films RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET and RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON, and even did character design for Cartoon Network's WE BEAR BEARS... Whose creator Daniel Chong looks to be directing a picture at Pixar as well... A good get, if that article is true.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Judd Legum at Popular Information:

In 2020, Bari Weiss quit her job as an editor and writer at the New York Times editorial page in a huff. In her public resignation letter, Weiss argued that she was forced out because the paper had become "illiberal" and her more conservative beliefs made her "the subject of constant bullying by colleagues." 

In January 2021, Weiss launched a newsletter, Common Sense, with her partner, Nellie Bowles. Weiss billed Common Sense as the antidote to "cancel culture," which she argued was the practice by progressives of seeking to punish and ostracize anyone who diverged from their ideological orthodoxy. "The fact that cancellation tales have become an everyday feature of American life should do nothing to diminish how shocking they are, and how damaging they are to a free society," Weiss wrote in October 2021. "Everyone… of conscience needs to start saying no to the mob." Whether or not Weiss' core critique is true, it is lucrative. In 2022, Common Sense rebranded itself as The Free Press to reflect its growing ambitions. It now reportedly employs about 30 people and generates millions in revenue annually. The rebranded publication continues to rail against "cancel culture." Bowles recently published an excerpt from her new book in The Free Press in which she describes the "pleasure" she used to get from helping "cancel people" — before she saw the light and embraced intellectual freedom.

Ironically, as Weiss cashes in on her critique of "cancel culture," The Free Press has become a central part of a sophisticated right-wing ecosystem that seeks to tear down anything and anyone who diverges too far from their ideology.  The latest effort began on April 9, 2024, when NPR editor Uri Berliner wrote in The Free Press that his employer had "lost America's trust." Using a formula that is typical for The Free Press, Berliner describes himself as fitting the liberal mold — admitting that he was "raised by a lesbian peace activist mother" and "eagerly voted against Trump twice." But Berliner says that NPR has gone too far. NPR, according to Berliner, has abandoned its "open-minded spirit" and is too focused on catering to the left. 

One of the core pieces of evidence Berliner cited was NPR's coverage of allegations that the "Trump campaign colluded with Russia." Berliner said NPR "hitched our wagon to Trump’s most visible antagonist, Representative Adam Schiff." He complained that Schiff was interviewed 25 times and, during those interviews, "alluded to purported evidence of collusion." But an NPR spokesperson told Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple that between January 2017 and December 2019, NPR conducted 900 interviews with congressional lawmakers, including stalwart conservatives like Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Paul Ryan (R-WI). In other words, Schiff did not dominate the coverage. Overall, Wemple describes Berliner's critique of NPR's Russia coverage as a "lazy… feelings-based critique of the sort that passes for media reporting these days."

Another central component of Berliner's critique is this statistic: "In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans. None." There are a few problems with this. First, Berliner doesn't disclose that there are 662 employees at NPR producing content. It's unclear how or why he selected a subset of just 87 people. Second, in DC, voters have the option of registering as independents. That's how Berliner and other NPR employees who live in DC, like host Steve Inskeep, have registered. Finally, many NPR employees live in places like Virginia, which does not have voter registration by party. 

[...]

That is when the effort to punish NPR and Maher intensified. Chris Rufo, a right-wing operative, has been featured in The Free Press as a contributor and a podcast guest. Rufo began examining Maher's 29,400 tweets and highlighting examples that "exposed" her as liberal. (He later summarized his findings in a piece published by City Journal.) Rufo objects to tweets in which Maher discusses "structural privilege," "non-binary people," and "toxic masculinity." He also highlights that Maher's daily routine included "yoga, iced coffee, back-to-back meetings, and Zoom-based psychotherapy." In another tweet, Maher calls Trump — who rose to political prominence by falsely claiming that the nation's first Black president was illegitimate because he was born in Africa — a "deranged racist psychopath." For Rufo, Maher is but one example of a growing problem: a "rising cohort of affluent, left-wing, female managers."

For Rufo, expressing liberal views at any point in your life is a fireable offense. “If NPR wants to truly be National Public Radio, it can’t pander to the furthest-left elements in the United States,” Rufo told the New York Times. “To do so, NPR should part ways with Katherine Maher.” NPR, however, stuck by Maher. The organization noted that the tweets in question were written while Maher "was not working in journalism… and was exercising her First Amendment right to express herself like any other American citizen." NPR further noted that Maher, as CEO, was not involved in the editorial process. 

[...]

The incoherence of the argument underscores the reality of the political moment. There is a relentless right-wing operation seeking to inflict pain on their ideological adversaries. Some, like Rufo, are the political equivalent of street brawlers, willing to say or do anything to achieve their objective. Others, like Weiss and The Free Press, give the movement a more journalistic and professional sheen. But no one involved is a supporter of free expression or an opponent of cancel culture. Rather, they are the cultural force aggressively pursuing cancellation.

This Popular Information piece goes hard on the right-wing’s BS obsession with “cancel culture.” In reality, right-wing polemicists such as Bari Weiss and Christopher Rufo are the ones who got to where they are by practicing cancel culture on ideas that don’t align with their worldview.

[syrupyy]

comic studio: one year in

so, wow! comic studio is officially one year old as of last week. in that year, i've learned a lot about running websites, and i feel like it'd be fun to write a post going over how i feel about it, as well as showcasing my plans for the future of the site

the original concept

as you probably already know, comic studio is the sequel to cookie comic creator, with the aim of bringing easy sprite comic making to every fandom instead of just cookie run. so, how'd that go?

cookie run is still on top

i guess i can't say i'm surprised that cookie run continues to be the most popular comic maker, especially since i now even have a community of cookie run fans outside of the comic creator - see: my youtube channel - but i will say that i expected one of two things to happen when i released the site: (A.) the site would blow up and everybody would be talking about it (which happened in the cookie run fandom in late 2021), or (B.) the site would flop and literally nobody would use it...

interestingly, i was wrong - for the past 7 or 8 months, comic studio has been floating in this weird in-between, where a bunch of fandoms have small, thriving comic creator communities, but almost none of them as well-known as cookie run comic studio. exceeeeeept...

alphabet lore actually gets more visitors

i'm gonna be real with you, i didn't watch alphabet lore until about a month after the studio for it blew up. i had heard about the series from various random viral tweets, but the studio was almost entirely the doing of some 16 year old british kid named Jackmoo101...

i don't know how or why it happened, but in october of 2022, the alphabet lore comic studio started getting tens of thousands of users, and at this point (as far as i can tell) is the biggest alphabet lore fan community on the internet. believe me, i checked - the amino is dead, the subreddit has like 12 active users - and yet, comic studio sees thousands of alphabet lore comics per week

interestingly, despite getting less views, cookie run comic studio is still far ahead when it comes to the amount of comics posted to the site; this is because a lot of the users of alphabet lore comic studio are under 13, so they're not actually allowed to make an account. in the future, i plan to add a Youtube Kids-style mode where users under 13 can make an account and post comics, just without features like comments and messages that could be used to harm them

what about other fandoms?

while a couple other comic studios have seen moderate success (Friday Night Funkin Comic Studio is #8 and was retweeted by a huge FNF news account when it came out; My Singing Monsters Comic Studio has captured a solid 20% of the fandom for that game; Pizza Tower Comic Studio has been slowly rising up the ranks), i'm sorta starting to notice a pattern: most fandoms that are mostly run by adults don't really see the point of comic studio. all my non-cookie run friends have said at some point "your site is cool but i don't use it because i don't have any ideas", or "meh, the danganronpa studio you made is just OK, i'd rather use photoshop." and why shouldn't they? they're old enough, they know how to work an actual good image editor... the only major benefit comic studio provides to them is easy access to sprites, which doesn't come up on google - if you want PNGs of the south park characters, you'll go to the south park wiki, not the south park comic studio. and again, i totally understand that, i just feel like that's something i should work on

the genshin impact tiktok incident

in june of last year, some random tiktok account made a video about the genshin impact comic studio that got several hundred thousand views, 50k+ likes, and a metric ton of bookmarks. thousands of genshin fans flocked to the site, and for 3 days the genshin fandom on comic studio was lively... until, all of them left at once. why? well, this goes into why i run cookie run comic studio/creator in such a specific and perfectionist manner: people care a lot about how good it feels to use something, and if you don't have both quality and quantity of sprites, they're not gonna stick around

the problem with the genshin comic studio is that there's no good assets to be found - the only official 2d art of the characters emoting are the chibi LINE sticker packs that they occasionally release, and there's only like 4 expressions for like half the characters. other than that, the only other tab is the one with expressionless cutouts of all the models - who can really tell a story with that?

so, it's not a surprise that comic studio failed in the genshin fandom at large. unlike cookie run where i was able to both provide easy access to sprites that previously weren't cut out and also provide a compelling storytelling/guide-making/question-answering/etc. platform, a lot of other fandoms just... don't have anything nearly as useful or interesting to provide. so, what can i do?

3D will change EVERYTHING

(early development screenshot)

currently, there's no good one-size-fits-all solution to pose and take pictures of character models. source filmmaker/blender/etc. are way too hard to learn, mikumikudance usually requires you to go through and translate random japanese sites to download models, and vrchat requires you to get together a bunch of friends to act it out

this is where comic studio will come in (once i finish the feature): every studio will now be able to upload 3d models, hopefully in most popular formats, and have them converted to work with comic studio out of the box - creating an entirely new kind of 3D comic that has never been nearly as doable. and because there is no competition in that market, i genuinely believe that this update will someday 10x the size of comic studio - once people find out about it, everyone's gonna want to mess around with the studio for their favorite game or series, at least once - and at that point, all i gotta do is keep as many of those people around as i can

speaking of people sticking around, the other big problem with comic studio is that a lot of people just don't have ideas. especially older users just, don't know what to do with it - i'm even guilty of this, in that a majority of the update comics i used to make for cookie comic creator were ripoffs of various old, forgotten meme comics. so, what's my plan to solve this? well, i hate to say it, but...

yeah, it's AI

(design mockup example)

2024 update: i no longer plan to go through with this idea. the original text is provided below, but know that i have since changed my mind

i plan to add an optional feature where you can type in a prompt for a comic, like "Write a comic with GingerBrave and Cream Unicorn Cookie where they get ice cream together" and the machine will just... do it for you i have experimented with this in the past, and now that ChatGPT has made a lot of accessible LLMs pop up i plan to take advantage of that. with that said: i will never involve ai-generated art, ai voices, etc. because those are inherently harmful and are not worth supporting i won't add the feature until i can ensure that user input is NOT being used to train any models without their consent, and i will make sure all AI-generated comics are tagged properly so that anyone who doesn't want to interact can just block it out i personally see AI as a tool to help humans and little else, at least in its current state - and adding AI prompting to comic studio is an extension of that. it's just a way to quickly get an idea out; either to get a quick laugh out of you or your friends, or to set down a starting line for you to make your own comic out of. i think this will be a good thing if i do it right; if you have any feedback or questions, feel free to send them my way! i try to listen to everyone, even if i don't always take their suggestions

more help needed

the last thing i can do to help improve comic studio right now is to announce that i'm looking for moderators! if you're an active user on the site, have a discord account and want to help keep the streets of Comic Studio safe, apply here!

as of today, i've also finally finished the site translations into Spanish and Korean (!) i've been putting off asking for new translations until the whole site was translated so that i wouldn't have to immediately ask anyone for more later, but now that it's done i'm finally accepting help - if you know any other languages and want to see comic studio translated into them, send me a message - either on discord, or on here, or comic studio if you don't have any of that. together, i hope we can make the site accessible to everybody

closing thoughts

i still can't believe it's been a whole year already... what is my life? thank you to everyone who's supported me and my creation, and i hope to keep serving you well into the future. if you haven't seen already, the anniversary update is out now, which adds a bunch of social features that people have been requesting for a long time - tagging for comics and user-submitted sprites, comic reposting, and the ability to organize your comics into series. i hope you'll check it out!

-syrupyy

[blubberquark]

New Year's Resolutions

Hey everybody. It's a new year. Happy New Year!

Gamedev Blogging

Last year I have fallen behind on posting gamedev stuff. It's mostly because there is no good way to format code listings in the new editor. So this year, I am not even going to try eith gamedev tutorials on tumblr. I might post them elsewhere and just link them. I have already taken a look at Cohost, but It doesn't have the features I need. Wouldn't it be cook if you could post pico-8 carts on cohost? Or source code listings? Or LaTeX? I might as well write the HTML by hand and host it somewhere. But that won't be the focus of this blog in 2024.

Instead I'm going to do more tumblr posting about game design, just less on the code side. It will be more on the screenshot side. First thing will be about my 2023 Game Of The Year. It will probably surprise you. I did not expect it to be this good. You can also expect something about some of my old prototypes. Over the years I have started and abandoned game prototypes after either concluding that the idea won't work and can't be made to work, or after learning what I needed to learn. What did I learn? Wait and find out!

Computer Litaracy

I'll also attempt to write more about general computing and "computer literacy" topics. I have two particular "series" or "categories" in mind already. Almost Good: Technologies that sound great when you hear abut them, but that don't work as well as you might think when you try them out. Harmful Assumptions About Computing: Non-technical people often have surprising ideas about how computers work. As a technically inclined person, you don't even realise how far these unspoken assumptions about computers can reach.

Usability of computers and software seems to have gotten worse rather than better in many aspects, while computers have become entrenched in every workplace, our private lives, and in our interactions with corporations and government services. Computer literacy has also become worse in certain ways, and I think I know some reasons why.

There will also be some posts about forum moderation and community management. It's rather basic and common-sense stuff, but I want to spell it out.

Actual Game Development

I am going to release a puzzle game in 2024. You will be able to buy it for money. You can hold me to it. This is my biggest New Year's Resolution.

I will continue to work on two games of mine. One will be the game I just mentioned. The other is Wyst. I put the project on ice because I was running out of inspiration for a while, but I think I am sufficiently inspired now. I will pick it up again and add two more worlds to the game, and get it into a "complete" state. I'll also have to do a whole lot of playtesting. This may be the last time I touch Unity3d.

I will try out two new engines and write one or two proof-of-concept games in each of them, maybe something really simple like "Flappy Bird", and one game jam "warm-up" thing, with the scope of a Ludum Dare compo game. Maybe that means I'll write Tetris or Pong multiple times. I probably won't put the "Pong in Godot" on itch.io page next to a "Pong in Raylib" and "Pong in Bevy", but I'll just put the code on my GitHub. The goal is to have more options for a game jam, so I can decide to use Godot if it is a better fit for the jam topic.

In the past, I have always reached for PyGame by default, because Python is the language that has flask and Django and sqlalchemy and numpy and pyTorch, and because I mostly want to make games in 2D. I want to get out of my comfort zone. In addition to the general-purpose game engines, I will try to develop something in bitsy, AGS, twine, pico-8 or Ren'Py. I want to force myself to try a different genre this way. Maybe I'll make an archaeologist dating simulator.

All in all, this means I will so significant work on two existing projects, revisit some old failed prototypes to do a postmortem, I'll write at least six new prototypes, and two new jam games, plus some genre/narrative experiments. That's a lot already. So here's an anti-resolution: I won't even try to develop any of my new prototypes into full releases. I will only work on existing projects from 2023 or before if I develop anything into playable demo versions or full games. I won't get sidetracked by the next Ludum Dare game, I promise. After the jam is over, I'll put down the project, at least until 2025.

[remuswriting]

REMUSWRITING PORTFOLIO

My fics that I believe are representations of my best male reader works. All links are the AO3 links since those have been edited since posting.

If you're interested in all my fics, then there's my AO3 and my masterlist.

Iwaizumi Hajime

take your time (i'll be here)

university | fluff | domestic | 1.9k

It’s dead-week, and Y/N wishes Hajime would change his major.

Kageyama Tobio

resentment

twin au | angst | misunderstandings | 7.9k

Kageyama believes Y/N, his twin brother, is the complete opposite of him, which means they have to hate each other.  The only thing is that Y/N didn’t get the memo.

Kozume Kenma

cut the cameras

university | angst | poly relationship | wip

It’s Y/N’s final year of university when his advisor nominates him to submit a short film for the Tokyo Film Festival for a final grade. Cue the lights, the cameras, making more friends than he expected to, and having realizations that flip his entire world upside down.

Miya Atsumu

online friends

pre-relationship | fluff | angst | 2.3k

Create a Twitter thread about Naruto and volleyball, and Miya Atsumu is now your best friend.

Miya Osamu

and how the stars shine

camp counselor | pre-relationship | 3.6k

When Sugawara has to retire from being a camp counselor after getting a teaching position, Y/N meets his new co-counselor Miya Osamu.

Miya Triplet

the narrative

triplet au | angst | hopeful ending | wip

Everyone has a different perception of Miya Y/N. Y/N doesn't know which is the right one.

Oikawa Tooru

interviews

journalist! reader | getting together | 5.8k

Oikawa makes a terrible first impression to L/N, Seijoh's newspaper editor-in-chief, when the volleyball team gets featured in the school magazine.

Sakusa Kiyoomi

where the wind takes me

post-time skip | platonic | fluff | 1.8k

Sakusa sees L/N out buying White Day gifts.

Sugawara Koushi

changes

male oc | angst | friends to rivals | 6.3k

Sato was dangerous on the court. Sugawara wished he wasn't.

hold me tight

male oc | angst | slow burn | wip

Sato Kai is a manager for Karasuno boys’ VBC and no one can get a read on him, even though he can read all of them.

Tsukishima Kei

first words

soulmate au | hanahaki disease | 20.2k

In a world where the first words your soulmate say to you is on your wrist, Y/N manages to get “hello.”

you’re already home

fluff | post-time skip | second person | nonexplicit sex | 1.2k

The words "I love you" don't feel enough to describe how much Tsukishima loves you.

Ukai Keishin

next to you

high school ukai | fluff | 5.1k

Keishin wants to play with Y/N no matter how hard he has to work for it.

an ocean away

sequel to next to you | angst | pining | 7.7k

Y/N knew he had terrible ideas, but he hoped coming back to Japan after 10 years to see Karasuno at nationals and confess to his high school boyfriend that he’s still in love with him wouldn’t be one of them.

Yamaguchi Tadashi

a sight for sore eyes

angst | miscommunication | 6k

Sometimes it's hard to accept unrequited love and move on.