#colonial fest

[alma-n]

FowlFest 2023, day5, favourite scene

Heavy tlc spoilers

Artemis,

Help me.

We don't possibly talk enough about this scene. And theres no valid excuse for that!

We all, including Holly, know what he did was for the better; and he did not in fact let her die.

But imagine being stabbed through your heart with a fucking cursed sword, and you ask the one and only person you trust to save you in that situation for help, only to be watched to death before their very eyes.

And Holly had never asked for help. I don't remember her doing it after either. She does shit on her own. The agony, the pain, and oh boy the TRUST, for her to do that.

Its painful.

Yes, Artemis in fact didn't let holly die, but she is to forever have nightmares about that moment. And in her dreams, Artemis does indeed only care enough to glance her way briefly.

[a-walking-fandom-reference]

i’ve been trying to watch all the og universal monster movies that i hadn’t seen this year and i just most of them are very cool and fun and i really like them and then there is the mummy that shit is soooo boring omg

[man-down-in-hatchet-town]

Hey, you!

Yeah, you!

Do you crave more ✨canon queer stories✨ in your fandom experience? Are you begging for more major character representation that you don’t have to headcanon for yourself?

Then have I got the kickstarter for you!

The Tin Can Bros (a comedy trio and makers of live theatre, digital sketches, webseries, you name it! You might know them from all the work they’ve done with Starkid—founding Tin Can Brothers Joey and Brian played Ron and Quirrell in A Very Potter Musical) are launching a brand new season of projects, most of which contain QUEER MAJOR CHARACTERS AND THEMES. These guys have got gays, they’ve got lesbians, they’ve got trans and gnc characters, they’ve got wholesome first love and Hannigram levels of fucked-up toxicity. It’s a whole cornucopia!! They’re planning to produce work in Los Angeles, NYC, London, Edinburgh, and Adelaide, but there will be digital tickets so you can watch where ever you are!

We’ve got:

-Two Rocky Horror-style concerts of the cult-hit, spy-movie parody musical Spies Are Forever. Gay protagonist who will sear himself into your heart! Seriously, his relationship with fellow spy Owen will emotionally destroy you for at least seven years.

-A concert of the developing musical This Could Be on Broadway, which follows a group of high school kids putting on a production of The Matrix: The Musical (not a show in real life) in their theatre department. A bunch of the central kids are canonically some flavor of queer, and there’s a central, very sweet lesbian romance that includes a trans character. She’s played trans actress Esther Fallick, who also worked with TCB as a consultant to make the character and show as authentic as possible. Seriously, if you want to see a trans teen thriving in their own skin, this is the show for you.

-An Edinburgh Fringe Fest production of The Solve It Squad Returns, a Scooby-Doo parody that follows the parodic versions of the Scooby Gang when they reunite as fucked-up adults to finally confront the almost-twenty-years-past traumatic murder of their dog Cluebert. I promise it’s funnier than it sounds. Esther, the Velma-esque super genius, is gender non-conforming and identifies with they/them pronouns. They also have a girlfriend WITH a boyfriend!

-A workshop reading of the QUEER SCI-FI TELEVISION COMEDY PILOT Intelligent Life. Unlike the other projects I’ve mentioned, this one is new to the TCB fans, but will follow a pair of ex-boyfriends forced to survive together in an extra-terrestrial colony. From the sound of it, there will be plenty of queer supporting characters as well. This frankly sounds like it could be tumblr’s dream show, and it’d be great to support its development.

-The Great Debate—a live comedy game show where comedians debate silly things. While this obviously won’t have narrative gay rep like the other projects, it will showcase gay talent (at the very least, Tin Can Brother Corey will participate in every show) and may include debates involving queer topics.

-Gross Prophets, in which three wannabe gurus/cult leaders lead a seminar on the path to enlightenment. This is a completely new stage musical so I honestly don’t know if it will contain any queer characters or themes. But the TCB queer track record is pretty good!

Guys, I’m so genuinely so excited by this season. But all this awesome queer art won’t happen unless we get their kickstarter funded. And they need our help! So let’s get fundraising!!

TLDR; Comedy group Tin Can Bros are attempting to fund a season positively filled with queer stories and characters, and they need help! If you want to support the creation of queer theatre and the development of queer TV, consider checking them out and giving to the kickstarter!

[faust-the-enjoyer]

You're entire blog is a walking chronically online fest, but imagine hating on an entire group of people and being discriminatory just because they have served/had served when the American military (love that people never question other militaries too as if the U.S. is the worst one and only bad one) is a predatory system that preys on people who literally don't have much choice but to enlist. Bad home lives, poverty, medical care, etc. a lot aren't privileged enough to not have to become slaves to the gov and ruin their bodies mentally and physically, and to be pissy towards people like who did what they had to do to just be able to exist and live for themselves or support their families s a massive pos move on your part, just saying.

"You're entire blog is a walking chronically online fest" literally 99% of my blog is GoFundMes besides the fics that i write every now and then so thanks for going mask off from the very beginning.

"(Love that people never question other militaries too as if the U.S. is the worst one and only bad one)" there's a reason why i wrote "American war machine" and then put a slash and wrote "western imperialism", that's because those too are not mutually inclusive, not all western militaries are american. I hate french militaries (read up on New Caledonia) among others too, and it's not just western militaries that commit imperialism/colonialism/war crimes in the global south and other places, but it's MOSTLY them, and people aren't gong around glorifying French militaries in the fandom as far as i know, unlike american militaries. Also, outside of fandoms people have lives, and a lot of people discuss anti-colonialism and criticize militaries from other countries, it's just that the context as mentioned above is about a fandom that has a lot of americans and glorifies the american military.

I'm being very genuine when i ask you to think of the victims of the american army (since me talking about american armies is what's pissing you off the most), do you think they are going to think "Oh, well, it's ok that they bombed my house and killed my loved ones, they needed to enter the military to get financial stability/go to college/etc."? No, they're going to think "They bombed my house and killed my loved ones/Why did they bomb my house and kill my loved ones? What did I/we do to deserve this?", and some will rightfully be hateful towards the militaries. The victims will not think of the reasons as to why the person who invaded them/bombed them/etc did that and understand the reasons and forgive them, this is real life anon, things don't work like that. Also, there are people who go through the very same things (poverty/poor healthcare/etc) and DON'T join militaries.

The American government SHOULD give cheaper houses, it SHOULD give cheaper education without so many loans, it SHOULD give free healthcare, and it SHOULDN'T indoctrinate children from vulnerable backgrounds into getting into the military. And all of these issues are ones that the American people have with THEIR government, so don't be mad at the people hating American militaries because of the atrocities they committed simply because some people got indoctrinated from a young age to enter and to escape poverty etc, because your issue should be with the american government, not the angry victims and survivor and witnesses of american armies/militaries/invasions.

[arecaceae175]

Fic Rec List

AO3 is holding a Feedback Fest for International Fanworks Day! I saw @zarvasace make a fic rec list for it, so here's one of my own! Late to the party but oh well. Here's ten of my favorite bookmarks (no particular order) :D

Immemorial by schrodingers__cat - (LU, complete) Gift fic for me!!! It's one of my favorites of all time. Sky-centric, with all my favorite headcannons thrown in, plus Warriors and Time brotherly bonding hours. I love this fic so much <3

To Hold The Sun, To Catch The Moon series by @obsidiangst, @hyperphonic, and @softpromise - (BOTW, one fic complete, one in progress) Incredible BOTW AU fic. Link is Zonai (native people of Hyrule) and Zelda is Hyrulean, and they fall in love. There's anti-colonialism, anti-patriarchy, anti-racism, political intrigue, and so much more. It's beautifully written and I love it so much

Looking For Group by @tashilover - (LU, complete) INCREDIBLE modern AU. Wild meets the gang, and the gang is wonderful. I love the worldbuilding in this one

All that glitters by Pebble - (Bonus Links, complete) SUPER CUTE MINI AND MAGE FIC!!! I want to consume this fic every day of my life

Old Wounds by @minty-mumbles - (LU, complete) Wild and Legend have a chronic pain flare while traveling with the chain

The Nebula Brigade by @heroesspirit - (Heroes Spirit, in progress) Super incredible space AU for Heroes Spirit. Bugs. Cori Eras bugs <3

Shopping Episode by @zarvasace - (LU, complete) Incredible holiday fic for Shatterproof (disability au). So fluffy and sweet and everyone is perfect

Peppermint Winter by @musashi - (Skyward Sword, complete) Link, Groose, and Zelda experience a snow day on the Surface. Link gets sick and also has a lot of feelings. Those two are not necessarily related lol. My all time favorite skyward sword fic <3

[ask-nyc-boroughs]

Some Hudson Valley holidays that occur in May ft. my idiots. Just wanted to draw some costumes ngl 💀. Anyways I’ll give some explanation to each of the little Polaroids cause ik most of these holidays aren’t well known.

Just a drawing of Emma celebrating Pinkster. I haven’t drawn Emma in years lolllll & I don’t work on her much anymore, but I thought she’d partake in the festivities. In this region, Pinkster is a Pentecost celebration brought over by the Dutch, but became more associated with the traditions brought over by enslaved Africans especially as their enslavers would allow them to travel and see their families and celebrate during this time. European settlers also partook in these festivities as well, but it just became more associated as an African-American holiday within New York & New Jersey.

Elise & Jennie being nice for a moment and taking a photo together lol, they probs went back to bickering after this cause they have issues 💀. Jennie is there cause this is her state capital, Elise was probably just invited cause she’s Jennie’s sister and both were alive during the Dutch colonial area. But anyways this is supposed to be them at Albany’s Tulip Festival. Tulip Fest began about 76 years ago celebrating Albany & Nijmegen’s friendship especially as the citizens of Albany raised significant funds and sent much needed supplies to Nijmegen following the Second World War. Also many Dutch-Americans in this area can trace their ancestry back to Gelderland. The Anyways Tulip Festival is a celebration of that friendship, but also of Albany’s Dutch heritage. The particular costumes Elise & Jennie are wearing is associated with the street sweeping ceremony + these costumes were only introduced to Albany 76 years ago. These are new here. Actually Emma & Will’s costumes are older.

Ok just a little silly doodle of Lynn giving Will a kiss during Pinkster.

[curioussubjects]

Feedback Fest 2024

Since everything I've read for the past 1.5 years has been pilots, all 10 of the fics here are Kara/Lee from Battlestar Galactica. I'm only listing one fic per author, so be sure to check individual author pages if you liked their style.

(go here over on @transformativeworks for more info!)

1. In the Whole World by pennyante (M, ~80K, WIP)

Summary:

The Cylons aren't quite human, and the humans haven't quite forgiven them. Political stability is less certain than ever now that the war is over: Lee Adama finds himself up for re-election, where being defeated will mean a Gemenese theocracy puppeteered by Leoben Conoy. Meanwhile, Kara Thrace has nothing but questions about her death and destiny. The only answers available come in the form of the vision of a temple, and from her hybrid/comatose husband's cryptic ramblings about a sister artifact to the Arrow of Apollo.

There's violence in the air. Civil war looms. Can Lee and Kara save each other, and keep the fledgling colony whole?

Thoughts: The best season 4 fix-it, lives in my head rent free, rewired my brain, etc. Also I've read it, like, 3 times (and I cried).

2. We're Not Friends by ninety6tears (M, ~25K)

Summary:

When two soldiers in the middle of a war can't seem to like each other, baptism by fire is apparently the natural solution. (AU in which Kara never knew Zak and first meets Lee after the fall of the colonies.)

Thoughts: I love a different first meeting AU, and this one takes pilots on a fun rivals to lovers spin that works surprisingly well. They're still very unwell about each other, though, make no mistake.

3. Artemis Rising by clairza (M, ~11K)

Summary:

The next morning Lee makes a few phone calls, and when everything has been organized and his credit card has been used for the first time in three months, and he’s had the pleasure of telling his mother that no, he has plans this week, he tracks Kara down in the quad. 

She's lying on her stomach poking sticks upright in the grass. He sits down beside her, and he can see the tension in her shoulders.

“So,” he says casually, and he’s very proud of the way his voice doesn’t shake at all. “I hear the Aegean Peninsula is nice this time of year.”

“It probably is.”

“I’ve booked a unit.”

“Where are you going with this, Lee?” Thoughts: I have a huge soft spot for fluffy academy pilots and this fic absolutely delivers. Happy baby pilots go to the beach five stars no notes.

4. An Arranged Meeting by lark_ral (E, ~11K)

Summary: Even outside of wartime, you might be surprised by the pressures our service men and women are under. The most effective among them either have, or need a release valve. Thoughts: Lee and Kara are scene partners for years, then the Cylons come. Somehow less messy than the show, but still delicious.

5. Rota by leda13 (E, ~2K)

Summary: The days are arbitrary, in space. Bereft of the guide of a planet's rotation around the sun, they live in slices of time, stealing as many as they can. Thoughts: Emotional support curtain fic of pilots sneaking around.

6. Sufficient to the Day by rachelindeed (T, ~1.5K)

Summary: At the sound of Lee’s voice, she feels her stomach twist and drop. Reluctantly, she opens her eyes and sees him come to a stop an arm’s length away, settling one elbow onto the corner of the bleacher behind her. His jacket is unbuttoned, his hair mussed, jaw ghosted with stubble, and the frakking sun is rising behind him. The look on his face is casual and fond, but he breathes as if he’s been running. Thoughts: Mandatory UB morning after fix-it...sort of. I really like this one because all I wanted was for Lee to get to Kara first. Or for him to call her bluff. This fic is both. It's not a showdown on main street like I enjoy joking about, but it's quiet and it's them (so it's better!).

7. Contrecoup by Fahye (T, ~2.2K)

Summary:

Contrecoup (n): A concussion or shock produced by a blow or other injury, in a part or region opposite to that at which the blow is received, often causing rupture or disorganisation of the parts affected. (One story told right-way-up, the other told upside-down, but both in the same narrative.)

We begin at a single point in time. The present goes forwards. The past goes backwards.

The story is AU-within-canon and set after episode 1x11, "Colonial Day."

Thoughts: I can't say too much because I don't want to spoil the fic. So: a bit angsty, a lot sweet, with a side of Kara's amazing problem-solving skills.

8. Lee's Emo Coffeehouse by haycorn (M, ~2.9K)

Summary: Lee has a bar, and sometimes Kara makes his life more interesting. Thoughts: I love cute modern AUs in general, and I love them even more when there's pining involved. There's not nearly enough of this type of fic for pilots, either! Many thanks to the author for their service. Would read 100K of this 'verse.

9. Breathing Room by callmeonetrack (M, ~12K)

Summary: Kara and Lee adjust to their new, very separate lives on the Pegasus. Badly.

Thoughts: My favorite Pegasus fic! Being on the Pegasus sucks, but then Lee and Kara find each other and things get better. Chef's kiss, peak pilots.

10. And I Feel Fine by hazellazer (M, ~2.4K)

Summary:

“That was… that… why?”

Her hands stay firmly on his face, thumb brushing over his cheek. “I was just thinking—”

Cutting her off, he smirks. “You think?”

She swats at his arm, hard enough that it might actually bruise. “I thought you were dead, Lee.” Her gaze is harsh on his, voice rasping, before something softens. “And I should’ve done this the second I knew you weren’t.” Thoughts: Season 1, but Lee and Kara are together. It's nice, refreshing, and plain good.

[colossal-niamh]

Just a big list of some stuff I think is neat

I haven't been super active on here in a minute so I'm just gonna lighting round a bunch of stuff I've been watching/reading X-Men '97- Fucking incredible. This is probably my favorite piece of non comic superhero media since Spectacular Spider-Man. The animation, the melodrama, the narrative showcasing the struggles of building a better tomorrow and existing in a world where your existence is perceived as a threat. Can't wait for season 2 The Crow (1994)- Wanted to get to this before the remake comes out. This is very much a situation where I procrastinated on watching something I knew I'd like and when I finally got around to it I went "Yeah I was right I liked it a lot!" The Crow is equal parts mournful as it is hopeful for a better tomorrow, a balancing act between the grief of loss and celebration of life. A damn shame we lost Brandon Lee so young because he was enthralling the entire film, an irreplaceable talent. The Venture Bros- I was making my way through the series on my own for a good while now. Showing it to some irl friends gave me the excuse to rewatch it all before I see the final season because I LOVE Venture Bros. it has firmly cemented itself as one of my favorite shows ever. I can't even get into it here or this will just become a Venture Bros gush fest. X-Terminators (2022)- Literally just read this today, what a delightful little book. it's a bit weird dropping in here as the book's smack dab in the middle of the nearly finished Krakoa era of the X-Men books. Luckily this needs little to no context as it's 4 of most fun women in the X-Men cast cracking jokes and kicking Dazzler's shitty ex in the dick. Also said ex is a literal blood sucking vampire Shin Ultraman- The last of Hideaki Anno's Shin trilogy I needed to see. Ultraman is admittedly the one I'm least familiar with out of the tokusatsu big 3, but this film made me far more interested in it than I was before. a great action flick about keeping the flame of hope lit even in dire situations. I liked all of the Shin movies but here's how I'd rank them; 1. Shin Godzilla 2. Shin Ultraman 3. Shin Kamen Rider Steven Universe- Soooo, I was one of those kids that listened to shitty criticism of SU back when it was airing and it ruined my perception of the show for years. It took until recently to realize the critics I listened to were not only bad at media analysis (and just a bad person in general) but also outright lying about the contents of the show. to rectify this mistake I've been rewatching SU and man, I was so wrong about this show. It's exceptional stylistically and narratively, and teaches some genuinely well thought out life lessons to it's target age demographic. It's not garbage, it's great! RRR- Admittedly I watched this further back than anything else on this list but that doesn't matter because YOU NEED TO SEE RRR! This movie is 3 hours of distilling the power of friendship and anti-colonial sentiment into the most Dudes Rock movie ever put to film. by the end I was screaming my head off like a crazy person for 20 minutes straight. what are you even doing here reading this? GO WATCH RRR!

[pillowprincessherbertwest]

the complete goodies haul from Exhumed Fest's Jeffrey Combs Retrospective at the Colonial Theater! including @mushabon's amazing Re-animator poster!!

[warrior-cats-rewritten]

Best and Worst POV? My fav is Squilf and my least fav is rootspring

Good choices! I love Squirrelstar/Squirrelflight/Squirrelpaw myself. I thought her view was interesting and refreshing. Rootspring is only saved to me by his friendship with Shadowsight, and at least by Book 2, he is trying really hard to be kind to Bristlefrost. Sure, he comes off as weird about it so far, but it comes off to me like "autistic teenage boy is trying to penguin pebble and it is not going well"

As for my favorite POV? It has to go to... Ivypool.

Yup. Despite my love for Hollyleaf, quite a few parts of her story were very uncomfortable to a kid like me who was struggling with the catholic school system. Hollypaw and I were both told to stop asking questions, given rules that presented blatent double standards and both told by our parents that we were the Good Quiet Sibling who could keep our brothers in check.

But my favorite was Ivypool. Mean? Yeah. At first though? I wasn't angry. Ivypaw was a jealous kid, that was fine, and I have enough nuance to know that warrior ≠ full grown ass adult that shouldn't let anything effect them ever (which... Is stupid anyways, you still have feelings the split second you turn 18).

Her POV was tense, filled with paranoia, and...Actually a pretty accurate example of grooming and radicalization. I love the relationships she had with others and how much of a Cuddly Porcupine she is. She wants companionship but keeps pricking the people who get close to her.

As for least favorite?

Alderheart. Full stop. Whiny, stubborn, and a perfect example of Not Helping Yourself. If he wants to get better at hunting, he needs to practice the basics, but we never see this happen and the timeline is too close and too seen for him to have actually put a plan in place to be better than his Awful Bitch Sister.

The way he hates Sparkpelt for breathing (to the point his "anxiety" magically disappears when there's an opportunity to look beyter than her), the way he scorns any and all kittypets as an "acceptable" form of bigotry to the point he BLAMES THE DAYLIGHT WARRIORS FOR SKYCLAN'S COLLAPSE and yet the fandom and writers (especially the writers) coo over him like he's a precious, nervous baby.

Actually... Gray Wing and Clear Sky too. Thank you both for ruining what was a cool sounding arc and tricking the fans so badly that everyone calls DOTC "actually really good" like it isn't a misogynistic (which I guess doesn't matter now because misogyny is seen as "bigotry light" and no one cares) slaughter fest rife with colonialism, abuse apologia, and other bullshit.

Favorite other little POV was that snippet from Darkstripe during Sunset's prologue. It was our first big glimpse at the Dark Forest, and the ending line from it gave me chills, I could practically see Tigerstar's face fade away into the camp view as it came to a close and Chapter 1 began, his eyes fading but lingering slightly longer as the shot transitioned to Brambleclaw standing in the ruined camp.

It was cinema to me, okay? And Darkstripe being his pathetic, sniveling self really tied it together. Odd he seemed to be there for so long and not know what was going on. Or... Maybe he only just spawned? But why? In WCR it takes long because his trial takes AGES due to an... Incident... With a certain Bloodclan deputy, along with other cats who are going to be damned before him taking a while to wrap up, ah the legal system. But in canon, he seems new there.

Maybe he really is that naive.

[psychewritesbs]

Culling Game arc re-read.

Chapter 160: Colony: Alam al-Mithal + Yes please handle Kashimo + Gege reminding us Sukuna is up to no good (and we weren't listening) + cranky Megumi + failed expectations meet existentialism

Inspired by @blog-of-hubris' idea, I'm doing a re-read of the Culling Game arc. I think I'm both looking for clues, foreshadowing, a deeper understanding, but mostly I'm curious about how my expectations held up against what actually took place.

Warning for spoilers up to chapter 200+ under the cut.

Alam al-Mithal

So I, of course, start with the obvious: majinai, the cursed realm that exists between dream and reality.

I guess that when the term was first introduced, I didn't think of Alam al-Mithal, which is the "realm" of images and imagination that exists outside of space-time as we know it.

I hadn't thought of it before, but it's interesting that Gege is introducing the audience to the Culling Game colonies by means of majinai.

(Source)

Given everything we see inside the colonies is one hell of an Existential Fest, I'm wondering about the relationship between majinai, the purpose of the barriers in the colonies, and the whole cursed energy and forcing Tengen to evolve plot line... something like that.

Maybe I should've started my re-read with Tengen's exposition dump on the culling game but I wasn't feeling it.

Anyone want to speculate about this or provide more context?

Anyways... Alam al-Mithal is an Islamic concept that I find fascinating and beyond comprehension at the moment. But exploring this little rabbit hole made me realize that we are basically witnessing Gege writing about universal truths.

While majinai is a Japanese concept, the fact that something similar exists in Islamic philosophy is the stuff of braingasms and exactly the whole point of Jung's theory of the Collective Unconscious.

All of this to say: I'm still wondering if Gege is going to do more with majinai. Like, does it have a bigger role to play or did he just name drop because he thought it was a cool concept to use? I'm hoping for the latter 💀.

By the way... these spreads?

Beautiful work. Just beautiful.

Yes please! Handle Kashimo!

Still my favorite battle in the CG.

Gege reminding us Sukuna is up to no good (and we weren't listening)

🤡.

In retrospect... who was being self-centered after all?

Cranky Megumi

Anyways, I've always loved how mean Megumi can be and how that's one of his love languages. I also like to think he was never going to come out and straight out say it, but I get the sense Megumi needed and wanted Yuji at his side inside the colony.

Thing is... as the deadline for Tsumiki's participation in the Culling Game approaches, you can see Megumi growing increasingly anxious.

Which is a lot to say for a character like him who wears a poker face at all times.

Failed expectations meet existentialism

Here we go!

Given the Shibuya incident, I remember totally expecting a blood bath out of the Culling Game. Most ESPECIALLY given the ominous aura created by the characters.

Little did we know we were in for an existential treat, and I have to say I like what became of the CG arc better than my expectations for it.

[satoshi-mochida]

Ark of Charon launches in Early Access on July 9

From Gematsu

Colony simulation and tower defense game Ark of Charon will launch in Early Access for PC via Steam on July 9, publisher and developer SUNSOFT, publisher Clouded Leopard Entertainment, and co-developer angoo announced. It will support English, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese language options. A demo will launch on May 30.

Get the latest details below, via Clouded Leopard Entertainment.

About

The sacred World Tree has withered, and with it, humanity. Now that a new sapling has sprouted, you must become its caretaker and guide it so that life that once was may return. Ark of Charon is a new type of game that combines colony simulation and tower defense, where players embark on a journey to guide a giant, beast-like sapling of a World Tree to its nursery. Players take on the role of the tree’s caretaker, controlling familiars (golems) and turning the tree into a fortified mobile fortress as they progress on their journey.

Game System

First, gather resources on the ground. Collect not only materials for construction but also food to satisfy your golems’ hunger, as well as “lost technology” left behind by the past inhabitants of this world. You can build various structures on the back of the sapling. Depending on your strategy, you can construct walls to protect its core, weapons to defeat monsters, and rooms for golems to work in. However, if you cannot effectively manage your time, resources, the stamina of your golems, and the weight and strength of buildings, the journey to the nursery bed will be a challenging one. Once you’re prepared, embark on your journey. The World Tree sapling will take the form of a large beast and begin moving. During the journey, monsters attracted to the World Tree’s vitality will attack relentlessly. These monsters will destroy buildings and target the World Tree’s core. Use your golems and weapons to fend off the monsters’ attacks.

Demo Available During Steam Next Fest: June 2024 Edition

To coincide with the Next Fest event on Steam, which runs from Monday, June 10, 2024, to Monday, June 17, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. PT, a demo version of Ark of Charon will be available starting Thursday, May 30, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. PT. The demo offers a comprehensive look at the beginning of the journey with almost no restrictions on in-game content.

Early Access Version Launches July 9

The Early Access version of Ark of Charon will be available on Steam starting Tuesday, July 9, 2024. Get early access to the game at a discounted price before the full release. The Early Access version includes upgraded technology and powerful enemies beyond what is featured in the demo, providing a nearly complete gameplay experience. During the Early Access period, we will actively gather feedback from players via the Steam community and other channels to enhance Ark of Charon. Expect regular updates as we work towards the full release. When the full version is released, Early Access players will be upgraded to the full version for free.

Watch the first trailer below. View a set of screenshots at the gallery.

First Look Trailer

[uwmspeccoll]

It's Fine Press Friday!

The recent donation from the estate of Dennis Bayuzick includes several publications by the British Whittington Press, a few of which are illustrated using the pochoir stencil technique, including the book New Castle, a brief encounter by longtime Whittington illustrator and compositor Miriam Macgregor. The book, printed in 1998 in hand-set 14 pt. Walbaum type on Zerkall mould-made paper in an edition of 100 copies signed by the author/artist, is Macgregor's memoir of her visit to the Historic District of New Castle, Delaware, where she had gone to visit Oak Knoll Books, one of America's premier bookstores specializing in fine press publications and books on books. We think the occasion was for the 1997 Oak Knoll Fest.

New Castle's Historic District, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1967, contains about 500 historic buildings from the colonial and early Republic periods, one of the highest concentrations of well-preserved buildings from this period. At the time, Oak Knoll was located in a later-period building that used to be the town's butcher shop, just a block and a half north of the Historic District's town square, "The Green." Macgregor writes:

This small town on the western bank of the Delaware River was an enchanting, if misleading, introduction to America, and the following images are the result of one day's drawing, some photographs and, of course, memory.

Once a busy little port town but long since diminished, Macgregor notes that:

A 1932 guidebook described it as 'a diminutive town of forgotten asperations, the beckoning path of Europe spread before its sleepy eyes.' Thus, away from the limelight, many of the older buildings escaped modernisation and in due course, the inhabitants came to realise that they had a living museum to hand -- a microcosm of American colonial architecture.

View more posts that include the work of Miriam Macgregor.

View other posts relating to the Whittington Press.

View other examples of pochoir illustration.

View other books from the collection of Dennis Bayuzick.

View more Fine Press Friday Posts.

[jyndor]

you get me, cassian andor gets us both, we are all vibing with each other it’s beautiful

honestly truly <3333 it's such a great example of diego's insane talent lol like you see the absolute vitriol and disgust cassian feels towards cops, he's like 'bitch what are you looking at?' at first, it's giving jyn 'brawl first think second' erso energy lol. not to make it about ~~~them~~ but i truly have imagined her giving those exact first few looks a number of times. except in her case, i see her doing what cassian can't really afford to do in this scene, which is popping the fuck off and starting a bar fight lol.

because he knows it won't end well if he gets into it with these pigs, he makes himself sort of settles to a quieter loathing, and then a shift to fear for himself and also probably for this woman showing attraction (feigned or not) to him in front of them INSTEAD of them first. (also interesting that we see her later being brought in to identify him).

and what we see is that because cassian is an immigrant from an indigenous diaspora it really doesn't matter how he reacts to the cops who represent settler-colonialism/imperialism despite not being agents literally of the empire (acknowledging that the depiction of kenari is... problematic to say the least lmao - diego is a white latino man and while that makes him subject to lots of xenophobia and racialization in the states, the show is trying to represent kenari as indigenous latines which... sigh justice for fest - fest works so well as a colonized planet full of rebels smdh ANYWAY). in the same way that he gets targeted on space miami for literally just walking around, it doesn't matter what he DOES - his existence is a middle finger to the empire and before it to the republic's colonialism (i think supposedly the separatists are the ones who fucked up kenari but given that pre andor!cassian was a separatist on fest i'm just gonna disregard this like so much else i don't like about new canon lmao. but even so, it's not like the separatists didn't do their own colonial bullshit too).

we're all fodder for capitalist white supremacist colonial patriarchy, but there's people who generally get the brunt of the brutality. we see this in the narkina arc, and also in wobani because it's not a coincidence that jyn (a coreworld-coded white woman) is roommates with a non-human. while I do think that there was probably more intentionality with casting the narkina folks than the wobani folks because we see like two minutes of wobani, not to mention that there's a lot less empathy shown to the prisoners in wobani in rogue one. lol draven literally telling jyn he'll put her ass right back in prison if she doesn't help, the other prisoner who speaks on the transport is literally comic relief, and obviously the prison break is for ONE woman, the rest can stay ig because abolition is not what the alliance is about.

it's actually something I was just thinking about recently because of this video essay by fd signifier on youtube, it's called fuck the police and it is excellent. in it, he talks about the history of prison abolitionism and how the movement really started within prisons. these guys had nothing but time because their freedoms were stolen from them and started educating themselves on leftism. it's like they had their lived experience which radicalized them like nothing else can - as fd says, they saw first hand the brutality of the system like most of us who have the time and resources to even search for youtube long form video essays ever will. so much of the base of leftist radical movements begin with people in prisons. they are the minds behind abolition. i wouldn't have become an abolitionist without hearing from them about their experiences, no matter how much empathy I may have. how could i? i didn't become anti-capitalist until I worked myself into a broken mess in retail, no matter how much i cared about workers.

we see throughout the show that cassian has a moral code, he has a set of principles and beliefs that he largely tries to suppress in order to stay safe and relatively comfortable. andor!cassian isn't my favorite interpretation of his character but anyone who takes him at face value when he says he doesn't give a fuck about revolution is missing the point imo, same way they miss it with jyn erso. cassian gets this idea in his head as a teen that actively, violently resisting will result in him being denied freedom (first as a child on kenari, then after clem is murdered and he goes after the troopers). what he learns on narkina is that it actually has very little to do with him actively resisting, although of course that will probably result in him being harmed. it has to do with who he is, what he looks like and how he sounds. and most of all, that he is not safe from oppression and fascism no matter what he does to keep his head down (which is clearly not in his nature to do lol). it's why jyn saying "it's not a problem if you don't look up" is such obvious bullshit (even though she is saying it to hurt saw and not because she actually believes it).

it's important that while cassian is personally innocent of the crime he was convicted of, that undoubtedly many other prisoners were also innocent, we have no idea if any of the others actually did commit crimes. prison abolitionism as a movement is built on the work done by people in prison - and some of them absolutely committed crimes in their lives (and many were in gangs, like George Jackson), and many others were political prisoners. but it's not about what they did - like with the point the narkina arc makes, it's about what they experience inside prison.

and speaking of abolition because i can't HELP myself, I've gotta bring up the show's treatment of its Black characters.

like ??? the writers know what point they're making throughout the show. and that point is about how it doesn't matter that cassian ultimately doesn't go off on the cops in the brothel, that he tried to remain quiet and keep his head down on niamos and everywhere else he went, he was target number one of the morlana cops because the sex worker is (is she named? LOL i feel bad just calling her that but i don't remember) a pretty white (and an additional factor in SW: human) woman who shows more attention to this guy who is an immigrant and has what she even fetishizes as "dark" features.

the prisoners we are most familiar with - the ones we empathize with most because they work closest with cassian - are almost all white and their actors mostly from the global north (honestly the uk which... LOL okayyy). meanwhile the shots of the revolution show us how much of the prison population is NOT white. cassian is working with a Black prisoner to fuck up the pipes but we don't really see him interacting with that guy ever lol. the older man whose death pushes kino loy over the edge is a white man.

it's just... W H Y. i get it, melshi is from rogue one, but even the fact that he ended up sort of more important in rogue one than sefla (a Black man who outranks melshi lol) just because gilroy liked duncan pow a lot, and then sefla just kind of dies unceremoniously, like many of the Black characters in andor. gorn dies very similarly, but at least his character has a fair amount of screen time and is treated pretty well otherwise (although i'm tired of the diversifying the empire thing. lol it's the empire, they're all white men with the occasional rare white woman who girlbossed her way in).

it's not that you can't have andy serkis doing the damn thing, or introduce melshi to cassian in prison because now they're brothers in arms and ugh my heart <3 because I know that narkina also represents nazi concentration camps as well as us prisons, and none of these things are one-to-one perfect representations because it's fiction.

i hope the next season does better by its Black characters since this show is making points that have been made by Black people for ages.

um anyway that got away from me lmao

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 8.23

Holidays

Asian Corpsetwt Day [Every 23rd]

Battle of Kursk Day (Russia)

Black Ribbon Day (Baltic states)

The Blitz Begins (WW2; 1940; UK)

Daffodil Day [also 4th Friday]

European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism (EU)

Find Your Inner Nerd Day

Flag Day (Ukraine)

Goldfinch Day

Grand Mahal de Touba (Senegal)

Hashtag Day

Health Unit Coordinator Day

Hebron Massacre Anniversary (Israel)

Hug Your Sweetheart Day

International Blind Dog Day

International Day For the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition (UN)

International Redhead Day

Internaut Day

Liberation from Fascist Occupation Day (Romania)

National Cheap Flight Day

National Doctors’ Day (Iran)

National Holiday (Socialist Republic of Romania)

National Levi Day

National Physicians Day (Iran)

National Plumber's Day

National Poetry Day (New Zealand)

National Sneak Off to the Beach Day

One-Way Street Day

Permanent Press Day

Pilot 823 Day

Purple Poppy Day (UK)

Ride the Wind Day

Sacco-Vanzetti Memorial Day

Schueberfouer Shepherd’s Fair begins (Luxembourg)

Singin’ in the Rain Day

Slavery Remembrance Day

Tansy Day

Tuberose Day (French Republic)

Umhlanga Day (Eswatini, f.k.a. Swaziland)

Valentino Day

Victory Over Germany in the Battle of Kursk Day (Russia)

William Wallace Day (Scotland)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Buttered Corn Day

Cuban Sandwich Day

National Spongecake Day

Peruvian Coffee Day (Peru)

Swedish Meatball Day

World Vada Pad Day (Maharashtra, India)

Independence & Related Days

Aerlig (Declared, 2001) [unrecognized]

Hong Kong (UK Takes from China; 1839-Non-Aggression Pact; 1939)

Kharkiv City Day (Ukraine)

Mexico (Treaty of Aquala Signed; 1821)

Open Rebellion Day (UK declared US Colonies; 1775)

4th Friday in August

Brother’s Day [1st Friday after Full Moon]

Comfort Food Friday [Every Friday]

Daffodil Day (Australia, Southern Hemisphere) [4th Friday]

Five For Friday [Every Friday]

Flashback Friday [Every Friday]

Forgive Your Foe Friday [Friday of Be Kind to Humankind Week]

Friday Finds [Every Friday]

Fry Day (Pastafarian; Fritism) [Every Friday]

International Pozole Day [4th Friday]

TGIF (Thank God It's Friday) [Every Friday]

Weekly Holidays beginning August 23 (3rd Full Week of August)

Health Unit Coordinators Week (thru 8.29)

Festivals Beginning August 23, 2024

Askov Rutabaga Festival and Fair (Askov, Minnesota) [thru 8.25]

Big Feastival (Kingham, United Kingdom) [thru 8.25]

Bosque Chile & Music Fest (Albuquerque, New Mexico) [thru 8.24]

Butler Italian Festival (Butler, Pennsylvania) [thru 8.25]

Chorus Inside International (Rovinj, Croatia) [thru 8.28]

Colorado State Fair (Pueblo, Colorado) [thru 9.2]

DeKalb Corn Fest (DeKalb, Illinois) [thru 8.25]

Espoo Ciné International Film Festival (Espoo, Finland) [thru 9.1]

Fallon Cantaloupe Festival & Country Fair (Fallon, Nevada) [8.25]

Fête Rouge Food & Wine Fête (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)

German-American Festival (Oregon, Ohio) [thru 8.25]

Hill City Wine, Brew and BBQ(Hill City, South Dakota) [thru 8.24]

Humungous Fungus Fest (Crystal Falls, Michigan) [thru 8.24]

Indianapolis GreekFest - Indianapolis, Indiana

Mammoth Rocks & Music & Food Festival (Mammoth Lakes, California) [thru 8.24]

Northwest Art and Air Festival (Albany, Oregon) [thru 8.25]

Nebraska State Fair (Grand Island, Nebraska) [thru 9.2]

Old Fashioned Corn Roast Festival (Loveland, Colorado) 9thru 8.24]

Oregon State Fair (Salem, Oregon) [thru 9.2]

Potato Days Festival (Barnesville, Minnesota) [thru 8.24]

Roots Festival (Paola, Kansas) [thru 8.24]

Shrewsbury Folk Festival (Shrewsbury, United Kingdom.) [thru 8.26]

Soybean Festival (Mexico, Missouri) [thru 8.24]

Sylvester Swine Festival (Sylvester, Georgia) [thru 8.24]

Washington State Garlic Fest (Chehalis, Washington) (thru 8.25]

Whiskies of the World (Boston, Massachusetts)

World Food & Music Festival (Des Moines, Iowa) [thru 8.25]

Feast Days

Allan Kaprow (Artology)

Appollinaris Sidnonius, Bishop of Clermont (Christian; Saint)

Appreciate What You’ve Got Day (Pastafarian)

Ascelina (Christian; Saint)

Asterius, Claudius, Domnina, Neon, and Theonilla (Christian; Martyrs)

Chǔshǔ begins (China) [Thru 9.7]

Claudius, Asterius and Others (Christian; Martyrs)

Day of Hephaestos (Pagan)

Day of Nemesea (Old Roman Goddess Nemesis, defender of the relics & memory of the dead from insults)

Dick Bruna (Artology)

Dollond (Positivist; Saint)

Dunadd in Argyll (Celtic Book of Days)

Éogan of Ardstraw (Christian; Saint)

Ernie Bushmiller (Artology)

Eugene Lanceray (Artology)

Eugenius of Ireland (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Nemesis (Goddess of Fate; Ancient Greece)

Gaura Parba (Women’s Festival to Goddess Gauri; Nepal)

Great Feast of the Netjeru (All Gods/Goddesses; Ancient Egypt)

Hammer Fraggle (Muppetism)

Hannah Frank (Artology)

Janmashtami (Lord Krishna Nativity; Hindu)

Justinian the Hermit (Christian; Saint)

Keith Tyson (Artology)

Kirvis (Harvest Festival; Lithuania)

Lupus (a.k.a. Luppus) of Novae (Christian; Saint)

Nemeseia (Ancient Greece)

Nuclear Accident Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Philip Benitius (Christian; Saint)

Quiriacus and companions, of Ostia (Christian; Saint)

Rose of Lima (Christian; Saint)

Second Festival of Vertumnalia (Ripening Fruit; Ancient Rome; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Theonas, Archbishop of Alexandria (Christian; Saint)

Tydfil (Christian; Saint)

Vertumnalia (Old Roman God of the Change of Seasons)

Vulcanalia (Ancient Roman festival to Vulcan)

William Ernest Henley (Writerism)

Willy Russell (Writerism)

Zacchaeus of Jerusalem (Christian; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]

Premieres

A-Hunting We Won’t Go (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1943)

Alice Adams (Film; 1935)

Angel Has Fallen (Film; 2019)

Animal Crackers (Film; 1930)

Barton Fink (Film; 1991)

Better Off Dead (Film; 1985)

The Big Sleep (Film; 1946)

Birdland (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1935)

Canadian Capers, featuring Farmer Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1931)

Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White, recorded Perez Prado (Song; 1954)

Club Life in the Stone Age (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1940)

DC Super Hero Girls: Hero of the Year (WB Animated Film; 2016)

The Death of Superman (WB Animated Film; 2018)

Drinking Buddies (Film; 2013)

Freeway (Film; 1996)

The Girl at the Ironing Board (WB MM Cartoon; 1934)

Going! Going! Gosh! (WB MM Cartoon; 1952)

Grace, by Jeff Buckley (Album; 1994)

Henry IV, Part 2, by William Shakespeare (Play; 1600)

Knighty Knight Bugs (WB LT Cartoon; 1958)

Lover, by Taylor Swift (Album; 2019)

Pass the Biscuits Mirandy! (Swing Symphony Cartoon; 1943)

Scotty Finds a Home (Rainbow Parade Cartoon; 1935)

She Loves You, by The Beatles (UK Song; 1963)

She’s the One (Film; 1996)

Sir Army Suit, by Klaatu (Album; 1978)

The Sun Also Rises (Film; 1957)

Superior Duck (WB Cartoon; 1996)

Superman: Man of Tomorrow (WB Animated Film; 2020)

Teen Wolf (Film; 1985)

That ’70s Show (TV Series; 1998)

Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz (WB Animated Film; 2011)

Woody’s Magic Touch (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1971)

The World’s End (Film; 2013)

Today’s Name Days

Isolde, Philipp, Rosa, Zachäus (Austria)

Rozalija, Ruža, Ružica (Croatia)

Sandra (Czech Republic)

Zakæus (Denmark)

Signe, Singe (Estonia)

Signe, Varma (Finland)

Rose (France)

Isolde, Rosa, Zachäus (Germany)

Bence (Hungary)

Fabrizio, Maria, Regina (Italy)

Benjamins, Ralfs, Spriditis, Vitālijs (Latvia)

Girmantas, Pilypas, Tautgailė (Lithuania)

Signe, Signy (Norway)

Apolinary, Benicjusz, Filip, Laurenty, Sulirad, Walerian, Waleriana, Zacheusz (Poland)

Filip (Slovakia)

Rosa (Spain)

Signe, Signhild (Sweden)

Eugene, Eugenia, Geena, Gena, Gene, Genie, Gina, Jina, River, Zacchaeus, Zaccheus (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 236 of 2024; 130 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of Week 34 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Coll (Hazel) [Day 21 of 28]

Chinese: Month 7 (Ren-Shen), Day 20 (Ji-Wei)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 19 Av 5784

Islamic: 17 Safar 1446

J Cal: 26 Purple; Fryday [26 of 30]

Julian: 10 August 2024

Moon: 80%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 11 Gutenberg (9th Month) [Dollond]

Runic Half Month: Rad (Motion) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 65 of 94)

Week: 3rd Full Week of August

Zodiac: Virgo (Day 2 of 32)

Calendar Changes

Rad (Motion) [Half-Month 17 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 9.6)

[dirtreally]

Singaporean film bitches will go to film festivals and then see the SEAsian shit that wins awards and shit and then decide to make a film thats taken mostly in long shots and is slow and meditative or something while forgetting that nothing happens in singapore and that literally every other country in SEA has a more complicated relationship with imperialism and colonialism so bitches from manila or whatever can literally just remind you that they still sell kids over there and make it Real for you and itll be realer than 90% of the shit that gets submitted to film fests but then when a guy in singapore makes that same film they can only do it about like. Feeling vaguely alienated or feeling postmodern mileu but In An Apartment and because they committed to the long shot shit while not having anything actually worth Doing Long Shots About it just comes off as incredibly condescending and detached