#crt heads gang

[virtualgirlafterdark]

Please state your very normal opinions on CRT monitor heads.

They are great and everyone should have one, I can help!

*Reaches for tools*

They are elective compulsorily modifications :D

[hiemaldesirae]

do you have some fluffy headcanons about husk and vox bonding? 🥺

just for you, heres some fun little dad!husk morsels

husk and rosie were originally friends before rosie nd alastor became friends, and they were walking together in cannibal town on the day that vox fell. when they noticed the newly fallen sinner, husk decided to take him in originally as a means of promotion for his casino (not that he didnt already have techheads, but a full crt television? not many of those were walking around hell)

vox was kind of distrustful of husk at first, but one day, he malfunctioned while on the job and when he woke up, he found himself inside one of the casino's private rooms with a blanket draped over him and a glass of water on the table next to the couch. to vox, who had seen the kind of shit that other overlords do to their workers when they stop being useful, this was something that made him start to trust husk more

though a lot of people thought otherwise, husk never actually contracted vox for his soul. it had been a passing curiosity at first, he had only meant to pick up the naive sinner for fun and would have passed him off to someone else once he stopped being entertaining- but somewhere along the way, husk started to see the kid as something more than a mere form of entertainment

they used to bond at the bar after closing, where husk would teach vox how to play card games and bartend and such. to this very day the only person who can beat vox in card games is husk

husk gifted vox most of his early wardrobe. after husk lost his overlord status and vox rose to his own, he still wore all the clothes that husk gave him

against popular opinion, voxs suit isnt actually supposed to resemble alastor's- he actually referenced it from husk's overlord suit. whenever someone remarks on him looking like alastor (assuming they havent made up yet) he fries them and tells the press that actually, its modelled after a *far* better and more powerful overlord than the radio demon

after they meet again vox gifts husk several electronic devices where they can talk through

he sends husk a bunch of indecipherable memes and stupid quotes that the other vees say

husk has them saved and sometimes bursts out laughing in the middle of nowhere when he thinks about voxs memes

vox used to create a lot of inventions and floor plans for husks casino. not all of them went through the initial planning stages but husk put up all his drafts on the walls (like in the way a parent would put up their kids silly little scribbles up on the fridge)

vox and husk are very competitive when it comes to table games. the hazbin gang once had a game night where they played monopoly and husk and vox ended up yelling so loud at each other vox short circuited half of pentagram citys electricity and husk ended up dive bombing his kid (they had to explain to the others that it was just playfighting before angel and alastor started joining in on the attack)

husk has a secret sweet tooth. this is the reason why vox knows how to bake but not how to cook

back when vox was newly fallen he used to have nightmares. when husk and him got closer, husk used to cradle the other to sleep in his wings

vox used to call husk vati (affectionate nickname for father in german) and husk used to call him kotyonok (<- phonetic spelling of kitten in russian)

they do still do it sometimes but its less now bc everyone around them makes it awkward

also sometimes husk used to take vox flying when he got too "pent up" over work and such

nowadays, vox takes husk through data streams sometimes when al's being too hard on the bartender

also, just for fun because transfem!vox lives in my head:

husk is the first one she tells, assuming they both kept in contact even after he lost overlord status

his first reaction is to take her downtown for a shopping spree (she pays for everything and doesnt let him touch a single cent but she's just glad to go on a trip with him)

[fast-moon]

DS9 Season 3 Thoughts

On to Season 3! Last time, the crew made contact with members of the Dominion who told them to stay off their lawn in the Gamma Quadrant. Will Sisko comply?

Probably not, so here we go.

1-2. The Search: Sisko gets a new ship to play with that's better than those wimpy runabouts. All simulations show them losing if the Dominion attacks them, so Sisko figures they can't fare any worse if he just takes the entire senior staff with him to go face the Dominion on their own turf. They all promptly get captured, while Odo has some slime time with his own people, only to discover that they're the Dominion's founders.

3. The House of Quark: Quark kills a guy, is sentenced to marriage.

4. Equilibrium: Dax gets a song stuck in her head, but unfortunately the Shazam servers in the future take a week to return a result. Also, when did they get the Defiant back? Two episodes ago it was trashed and adrift in the Gamma Quadrant. Did the Dominion really let them go back to get it?

5. Second Skin: Kira gets gaslit like a pilot light, ends up with a Car-dad-ssian.

6. The Abandoned: Odo adopts a baby Jem'Hadar, who quickly becomes a violent, angsty teenage Jem'Hadar with an enzyme addiction who runs off to join a gang. Also, is the series trying to set up an Odo/Kira relationship? Almost every episode this season has given them a "moment", and now she's bringing him flowers. Like, it's cute, but I'm still all for Ace Odo and the ability for a female and male-identifying character to have a platonic friendship (I don't count Sisko/Dax because Sisko has made clear that Dax being Curzon is all that's keeping him from hitting on her).

7. Civil Defense: O'Brien decides he wants to try out that "killing everyone by accidentally tripping a hidden deadly security protocol" bit from "Armageddon Game" for real. Gul Dukat tries to gloat, but ends up getting stuck there with them. We still cool, guys?

8. Meridian: An extremely creepy guy pursues Kira in order to make the moderately creepy guy pursuing Dax come across as less creepy by comparison.

9. Defiant: Holy crap, it's Riker! But not that Riker, the cheap transporter accident knockoff Riker from TNG. He's still got a complex about that and thinks stealing the Defiant and blowing up some Cardassians will make everything better.

10. Fascination: This season's bout of crazypox breaks out around the station, this time making everyone fall madly in love with each other. Odo is once again immune, but they seem to be setting up a love triangle between Odo, Kira, and Bareil, which is a damn shame because love triangle stories tend to be terrible and make me hate every character involved, which is extra sucky because Odo and Kira are my two favorites (just not together).

11-12. Past Tense: Sisko, Bashir, and Dax accidentally get transported to... (checks calendar) ... three weeks ago, and are forced to participate in a homeless riot in order to maintain the timeline. Unfortunately, someone had already messed up the timeline, which resulted in there being bulky CRT monitor computers, giant bricks of flip-phones, and shotguns being the terrorist weapon of choice in 2024 (though, to be fair, if they can just keep that last change and stop the proliferation of military-grade semi-automatic rifles to civilians, that would be great).

13. Life Support: Winn wanted to be Kai for the perks, not the responsibility, and literally works a mortally wounded Bareil to death in order to get a peace treaty she can take credit for. Otherwise a fairly poignant episode about when to stop treatment and just let someone go.

14. Heart of Stone: After the death of the hypotenuse of their love triangle last episode, Odo and Kira confess their feelings for each other. But, of course, since Odo is never allowed to have nice things, Kira turns out to be a Changeling who's just here to troll him. #JusticeForOdo.

15. Destiny: Goddamn I hate "prophecy" stories that end with, "Well, if you redefine the meaning of literally every word in that word salad, it ends up vaguely resembling what happened, therefore there must be something to it." No, it was not as the prophecy foretold. Shit just happens and you just twist your vague predictions to accommodate it and then give yourself a pat on the back and demand people take you seriously. Go away.

16. Prophet Motive: The wormhole entities turn the Grand Nagus into a communist, so Quark threatens to annoy them for eternity unless they turn him back.

17. Visionary: O'Brien starts jumping through time, and they figure out every component of his time-skips to the point they can trigger them at will and see the future. And then will likely never utilize this knowledge again. Though the episode really should have ended on O'Brien going to bed, yet another O'Brien popping up, and him just lamenting, "Oh god, NOW what?"

18. Distant Voices: Deep Space Nine presents Inside Out, starring Bashir as Sadness, Dax as Joy, O'Brien as Fear, Kira as Anger, Odo as Disgust, and Garak as Bing-Bong.

19. Through the Looking Glass: Mirror!O'Brien shows up and kidnaps Sisko and takes him back to the universe where everyone is horny all the time. Really hope this doesn't become a recurring thing, since "multiverse" stories that are merely "it's the same people, but they're different!" are rarely compelling.

20. Improbable Cause: Bashir's boyfriend is in trouble again, and this time it's Odo to the rescue. They track down Garak's old boss who offers to let them join a war against the Dominion, and Garak... accepts?

21. The Die is Cast: The Cardassians and Romulans launch an attack on the Dominion, but it was all a trap thanks to a Changeling replacing the Romulan commander. Makes me wonder how many other characters have or will become replaced by Changelings, or if they're going to even bother trying to come up with a way to detect it, since even Odo can't tell and has been fooled twice now.

22. Explorers: A pleasantly low-stakes episode in which Sisko can somehow build an entire functioning spaceship by hand in only three weeks, the flies it to Cardassia just to prove that he can.

23. Family Business: Quark goes home to teach us that the only thing a Ferengi values more than profit is oppressing women, even if doing so causes a massive loss of profit. Also, glad they finally gave a shout-out to how many runabouts they've trashed and the need to get new ones.

24: Shakaar: Winn continues to fail upwards by becoming the presumptive next president due to having no viable opponents and the Bajoran populace getting all their information from BOX News and not realizing she's a piece of shit. So Kira nominates a popular upstart last minute to run against her and actually make her work for it, and Winn cries "coup" and "rigged election" and good fucking god this episode is too prescient. They may have gotten the state of affairs of 2024 wrong in the episode that was literally about 2024, but then accurately predicted them in pretty much all of their Winn episodes.

25. Facets: Dax asks the people closest to her to host her previous lives so that she can talk to them. Including... random girl who had two lines a couple episodes ago who's now acting like she's part of the inner circle. And Odo, who has historically been immune to psychic shenanigans. But the episode continues to exemplify that Curzon was a piece of shit, and that Dax-centric episodes still manage to have nothing to do with Dax herself, but rather her previous incarnations or Trill customs, leaving Dax with still no solid personality or motives three seasons in.

26: The Adversary: Sisko gets promoted to Captain and decides to celebrate by almost starting a war and blowing up the entire senior staff due to bad intel from a Changeling imposter.

Three seasons down, four to go! Bashir is doing a lot better this season, since his womanizing and bragging have been toned way down and he can actually focus on being a doctor. Dax is still just a cardboard cutout there to remind people of the opinions and actions of her previous incarnations, but still have no identity of her own.

And then towards the end of the season they just awkwardly brought in a couple of women simply to be love interests to our crew members who are still lacking a heterosexual partner. At least, I'm assuming what's-her-face who had two lines and hit on Bashir at the beginning of one episode and then was suddenly chummy enough with the senior staff to participate in Dax's memory roulette ritual a few episodes later is supposed to be a love interest for Bashir. Go away, random lady, he already has Garak.

The choice of crew of the Defiant also reminds me of a really, really old Star Trek joke I read as a kid about the "Kirk Maneuver", which is "Kirk knows this is the most dangerous planet in the universe so takes his entire senior staff with him when he beams down". Like, shouldn't there be a separate operations crew for the Defiant so that you don't suddenly lose your entire station leadership if something were to go wrong? But, nope, The Main Characters Do Everything.

[sailorsenshishitposter]

MGR office au part 4 - a day in the life on Monsoon

Making of a cyborg from Ghost in the Shell plays quietly in the background.

Wind blows, rain falls, and a certain someone was still grieving the loss of his beloved Nintendo Switch. Monsoon was restìng in what one could call a bed (He had demanded that Armstrong provide him with one of those glass, clynder vats that one sees in sci-fi movies. He filled it with lcl. If memes were the DNA of the soul then this fluid was the primordial soup of life) when he remembered there was a second option. Being part of Desperado meant he was no stranger to all sorts of crimes and this would be no exception.

He turned on his elaborate gaming setup and selected his NORDVPN50%#GAMERSRISEUP account and selected one of those shady countries. Now it was time to pirate some switch games. He knew that Valves steam deck was capable of runing a decent switch emulator so he went onto their website and ordered one. While he waited for it to be delivered, he went on nyaa to find some more degenerate weeb music to listen to.

Soon chocolate disco was playing and he went to look for switch roms. While browsing he noticed their retro section. "Such a massive amount of consoles to chose from. As a consumer, what is the point when one can simply pirate?" He was looking at shmups when he noticed the rythmn section. "They may not have project diva but perhaps I shall find something."

He saw Samba de Amigo and Guitaroo Man but was looking for more of a challenge. Then he saw it. Donkey Konga. He instantly hit the download button and loaded up dolphin. The Nintendo logo flashed and soon the screen was displaying "DONKEY KONGA" along with a cute musical number. He started on the DK rap only to notice that his timing was off and he was scoring poorly. He soon found out that HDTV's interfere and give input lag so he went on EBay and ordered a CRT with a Nintendo GameCube that included Donkey Konga and a pair of bongos.

Eventually his package arrived and he set everything up in the office. "The hell is that?" questioned Sundowner. "If you must know, it is Donkey Konga. I need something to play in my spare time since SOMEONE broke my switch. Now go sit in the corner and watch the master of gaming at work!" He selected hard mode and then chose the Kirby theme song. He detached his hands and began to clap to the beat while he dislocated his feet and used them to tap the bongos.

Sundowner gave a whistle. Two hours later and the rest of the gang was watching in amazement. Suddenly Armstrong arrived. "Care to tell me what's happening?" Sam spoke up first. "We're watching Monsoon play this weird monkey game and taking bets on it. I've already lost $200 to Mistral." He put his head down in shame while his French coworker flipped through the stack of bills like it was a card deck. "I see..." Armstrong readjusted his glasses and waited for the song to end.

"That looks like a fun game son. Mind if I try? I used to play college football you know." It took immense will power for everyone else not to shout back "WE KNOW!" Refusing his bosses orders seemed like a bad idea so Monsoon relented and gave Armstrong the basics. "Seems simple enough". The Senator chose easy mode and selected on the road again. The game started and everything seemed fine until he went to smack the left drum and it shattered into a million pieces.

Monsoon's eyeballs would be bursting out of his skull if he still had them. "Heh. Guess I don't know my own strength." Armstrong chuckled. He then said he had an important business meeting he needed to go to so he promptly left. Sundowner approached him. "So... do you still want the monkey game?" At this point he was exhausted. "Do as you please, I have no use for it." Sundowner smiled and attempted to play with only half of a controller (much to Mistrals amusement).

Monsoon returned to his room and wrote down some edgy poetry. "Dear diary, if life is so fair then why do roses have thorns?" Suddenly he got a notification. His steam deck had arrived. He was no longer mopey and went to retrieve said item. After returning, he booted up his pc and connected to the wired. He noticed that steam was having another sale and couldn't resist. He bought over 30 games including project diva. He pressed his palms together in a praying position. "Thank you Gabe sama."

Suddenly he got a discord notification. A member was shit talking his taste in anime. That wouldn't do. He quickly responded "What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I'll have you know I graduated top of my position in the Desperado organization, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on Africa, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in the art of Lorentz Force and I'm the top killer in the entirety of the Cambodian mafia and World Marshal Inc. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over discord? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the Denver, Colarado and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, scrub. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You're fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with sais. Not only am I extensively trained in hand to hand combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the buildings and helicopters in Denver and I will use it's electromagnetism to it's full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will stab you repeatedly with dystopia and ask you if it hurts. You're fucking dead, kiddo. You're dreams are going to dissapear and I've just added you to my cringe compilation."

He then promptly blocked the user. "This is what you get for insulting Evangelion!" And with that he began to play komm susser tod and began to watch the rain pour down outside his window.

[shadowmaat]

Enough already

I see we've reached the point in the Eye Ay Discourse where we're now vilifying Neil Gaiman and trying to drive him off the internet/make him commit suicide. What a great look that is, gang. /facepalm

Oh, but it isn't ACTUALLY about whether or not he supports the Eye Ay, of course. No, it's about that cultish obsession with sex and "wrong" depictions of it. That means that attacking him is the only MORALLY PURE answer.

Great gods above and below, some of you people are an honest menace to society. Head empty, only hate.

Neil isn't perfect and has expressed some troubling views in the past, but A) "Past" isn't necessarily "Present" and B) that still doesn't mean you should tell him to kill himself you absolute fucking monsters.

Some of you REALLY need to get it through your terroristic little minds that pedophilia (CSEM) does not include works of fiction. The dictionary definition doesn't include fiction. The legal definition (at least in the US where most of you fearmongers live) doesn't include fiction. Writing and drawing stuff that makes you personally uncomfortable is NOT ILLEGAL and sure as fuck shouldn't be used as some kind of moral judgement on the creator's personality. Some of y'all just need to spew hatred and lies to make yourselves feel better.

And SPEAKING of legal definitions, it might behoove a few people to actually READ and COMPREHEND the judge's ruling on the Eye Ay case. Because if you read through it you'll see that the Eye Ay was clearly and blatantly in the wrong. There's no question of it and some of the excuses/reasonings they tried to use in their defense were frankly ridiculous and hold no basis in the legal reality of the world. And given that one "reason" they gave is that copying books to digital is an example of Fair Use, we should be damn glad the judge shot that nonsense down. That's a whole damn can of graboids that shouldn't be loosed upon the world.

If you can't accept that an organization can perform a vital and necessary service and still be wrong about some things, that's on you and your rabid idolization of a black-and-white universe. The Eye Ay fucked up and fucked up big. And it's a genuine shame because they do indeed accomplish a lot of good and vital things, but this wasn't one of them.

TECHNICALLY even the one-to-one loaning ratio was illegal (and clearly so according to law) but I think everyone was willing to look the other way until they decided to strip that away and allow unlimited downloads regardless of number of copies "owned." That made it a serious enough issue that Big Pub, who are a festering nest of diseased vipers and pestilence, felt a need to step in. Which is how we wound up where we are, with a good nonprofit having to pay for their mistake and the internet rallying to crucify an author who was previously considered one of our own. The fact that John Green's name is being used as a rallying cry to incite the internet mob is nothing but horrifying. Some of you have no shame and no moral backbone.

You're allowed to think the Eye Ay should be able to continue loaning endless copies of books. Just stop pretending that it's legally permissible.

You're allowed to think that people who write sexually explicit stories involving children, unwilling participants, animals, etc. are wrong to do so. Just stop pretending that fiction is illegal.

I'd also advise you to reconsider the idea that people who write about "sick" things must enjoy/perform "sick" things themselves. Maybe even pay attention to how those kind of "arguments" are also being used to describe LGBT+ and CRT content by nationalist/religious extremists. Are those really the kind of people (and beliefs) you want others to associate you with? Are they the kind of people you want to be? Clearly, if you want to drive someone to their death, you are.

Shameful. Stay the hell away from me.

[cryptid-s-wips]

For the “why are you at the soup store!!” ask game: beer cheese soup, french onion soup, and corn chowder!

Hi Gemini! Thank you for the ask!

Beer Cheese Soup: A scene from your WIP that made you laugh

It's not necessarily the Funniest scene

French Onion Soup: Who is your favorite author(s)?

Ooh. I actually don't have any specific favorite authors. Some of the authors that come up a few times on my bookshelf however are Alan Bradley, Lauren Oliver, and Andy Weir.

Corn Chowder: Were any characters created/erased from the WIP?

In my three WIPs, I've definitely had to kill and create a few characters. I had to get rid of a couple from WTRL because the cast was too big. I actually added a couple of characters to H2H (Rowan and Remiel, although Rowan was a replacement for another character).

Beer Cheese Soup: A scene from your WIP that made you laugh

It's not necessarily the Funniest scene, but it's a scene that made me laugh to come up with and think about. Essentially, the gang from H2H goes to hell (for undisclosed but important reasons) and they make a pit stop at Seraph's apartment, where, surprise surprise, everyone starts making fun of them.

An excerpt from the scene under the cut:

   “This is it,” They sigh, stepping aside to pull the gate open and put out a hand gesturing for us to get ourselves inside. 

    “Don’t mind if I do.” I smile, playfully knocking into Seraph as I walk in, followed by Thalia, Rowan, and Remiel. Seraph locks the gate behind them and makes their way to the front of the group, leading us up a stairwell, lit by flicker fluorescents and covered in the ugliest beige carpet straight out of the 80s. They stop at the end of the hallway, unlock the door and turn back.

    “I hope you know that we can’t dawdle in here for long,” they said, “this is purely to make you all shut up about my apartment.”

    “Oh come on,” Thalia says, nudging them with her shoulder, “open it up already.”

    With a sigh, Seraph pulls the door open, giving us a good look at the apartment. It’s small, opening up into a living room with a simple black couch and old-fashioned CRT television set, but with a small remote by the side. The far wall opens up into a kitchen with a small dining area, and a hallway to the kitchen’s right leads to a couple of doors that I presume to be the bed and bath. 

    “Wipe your feet as you walk in.” Seraph sighs again as they hang their coat on a rack on the wall near the door. “or, better yet, take off your shoes.”

    I look up at them, already in the process of taking off my boots. They raise their eyebrows at me and I can swear that underneath it all I can make out the hint of a smile.

    “Impressive,” they say, “I expected worse from you.”

    I scoff. “I was raised in a Chinese household, was I not?”

    By the time I’ve unlaced everything and taken them off, Rowan’s already sitting on the couch, excitedly playing with the TV, flipping through the channels. Thalia accompanies them, sitting cross-legged on the floor and leaning against the couch as she stares at the strange lettering in the splash text of a news report, with one hand resting on her chin in concentration. Seraph looks like they’re about to start pulling out their own hair.

    “Rowan,” they call as they rush over, “I-- what the hell?”

    Rowan turns around, putting one arm over the back of the couch, and grins. “Oh come on. Do you expect me to not be curious about what’s on channel 666?”

    “No, but I expected you to be more polite.” Seraph snatches the remote out of their hand and shuts the television off. Thalia shakes her head as she stands up.

    “You’ve really got to show me some of this stuff you have down here,” she says, “I mean, I never imagined that demon culture would be so…”

    “Normal?” I suggest. 

Thalia smiles at me and I can feel blood rush to my cheeks. “Yeah. Normal.”

Seraph makes their way into the sparsely furnished kitchen and grabs a bottle of black liquid out of the fridge. A red label wraps around it, written in a strange language. They turn to us. “I would offer you some, but I don’t believe humans would be able to handle it.”

Thalia scoffs. “Yeah, right.”

“Be my guest.” Seraph waves their hand in resignation as they turn around and close the fridge door, walking into the hallway and rummaging around in a closet. After a few moments, they emerge with an old-looking camera and some sort of black device, covered in gears, and with a circular hole in the top and another, wider but flatter rectangular hole on the side. At the very top is a large flat square that’s a different color than the rest, glowing slightly red, rather than black. Lights blink across it, and Seraph hits their hand against its side a couple of times. They sigh, grab me by the shoulders, and position me against a wall.

    “I suppose you’re going first,” they say as they pick up the camera and point it at me, “hold still.”

    With a flash of light, they pull the camera down and open it up to pick out the film inside, still all rolled up, and place it in the circular hole in the box. Without a word, they grab my hand and place it on the flat glowing part. Something looks like it scans it, and with a cacophony of whirring and beeping, it finally spits out a small plastic bit about the size of a debit card. I catch it, albeit not too gracefully, and turn it over in my hands. It looks like a government-issued ID, with a picture of my face in the corner--not my real face, of course, but this funky little demon thing I’ve got going on--and a collection of what I assume to be information about me, all written in that demonic language. I show it to Thalia and mouth a few words of astonishment and she stares back at me, eyes wide as well.

    Seraph just turns around as if this is the most normal thing in the world and looks at the rest of the group. “Alright, who’s next?”

The three others just stand there in shock, mouths agape just as wide as mine, until Thalia speaks up.

“Uh, why the hell do you have a fake ID maker in your closet?”

[stephenjaymorrisblog]

Cultural Counter-Revolution USA

Post-Trump Era, Part 2

Stephen Jay Morris

12/12/2021

©Scientific Morality

What a life I have! I just had hernia repair surgery. My doctor told me not to lift more than 20 pounds and to get plenty of rest. You should see my abdominal and groin area. My balls look like they were blown up, like balloons. My scrotum is a dysentery green color. It looks as if a gang of leprechauns took turns kicking my nuts, or a herd of horses stampeded over my private parts.

Doing physical things is part of my daily routine, so in the absence of that, I have time to watch the daily news. Most of the news of late is about rock stars dying of old age. I am starting to get lonely in the land of the living. Then, of course, there’s politics. Yeah, dude—good old American politics. We’ve got a lot idiots on the so-called Left, but when compared to the Right, we win 100 to 1. The Whites are the master race? I don’t think so. Every time I hear about Right wing antics, I shake my head so much that my neck will soon need orthopedic attention. I’d best stop watching the news.

White wing members of our American discourse misunderstand not only the definition of racism, but the concept of it. I won’t revisit this point; I’ve written about it ad nauseam. Racism is more than calling someone a name or telling ethnic jokes. When I call a certain element within the White race stupid, i.e. the poor and working-class Whites, it’s because it’s true! If the poor Whites realized how they are being manipulated by the honky Ruling Class, they would form a unified front with Black and Brown people against capitalism. Obscurantism is the Ruling Class’s technique for keeping poor Whites in line. Just listen to their stupidity running rampant on social media. Racism keeps poor Whites divided from other poor groups. “Those illegal aliens not only want your jobs, but they want to rape your wives, too!” They spread lies about public schools, the latest being about the teaching of CRT. Imagine if public education was abolished. All we’d have is home schooling and religious/private schools. Yeah, that would mean more government socialism for the rich. Yummy!

Now, let’s look at this thing, “Culture Warfare,” in the USA. There’s no such thing! The only culture we have in the USA is capitalist culture. Material values is causing religion in this country to devolve into nothingness. It’s fading away. That scares the rich WASPs to death! How will they control the White working class without organized religion? Maybe they can get them hooked on Meth; just like the CIA “allegedly” got poor Blacks hooked on crack?

Here is the truth: In order to have cultural warfare, you must first have a political revolution. The Red Chinese had a political revolution followed by a cultural one. The Religious Right wants to do this all at the same time. Through their cultural revolution, all will be cleansed of capitalist culture. After the Christian Civil War in America, there will be Christian Cultural Warfare. America will have a moral cleansing. No more video games unless they’re Christian. No more porn, no more summer vacations, no more premarital sex, no more freedom! Christianity will be the only religion and only Conservatives will be allowed to have guns!

The only difference between North Korea and Iran is that North Korea is atheist and Iran believes in God. Otherwise, they are both totalitarians. If the Evangelicals take over in the USA, say goodbye to Freedom.

It’s time to learn about petrol-politics and Christian Theocracy. Time is running out for them both. We do not need fossil fuel anymore, nor do we need Christian values. They have both reached their expiration dates.

[ramon-balaguer]

Good Morning Saints, Sinners and Sinners disguised as Saints; I know who and who’s you are, and Love the Hell out of you. ❤️

I’ve ALWAYS been a gay go-lucky carefree looking through rose colored lenses kinda guy; you know, the Optimist in most pessimistic situations, finding good in bad or opportunity in evil and junk that comes against us. A True Dominican 🇩🇴 version of the Lone Ranger 🐎 happily alone yet striving in diverse company and or usual suspects. 🌈

Stress Free❗️🥰🙏🇺🇸 #REBTD 😇

But not so fast Kimo Sabe, as it turns out, you can experience STRESS even when you don’t seem stressed, feel stressed or show ANY signs of Stress. 😱

Case in point, I’ve been going through a battery of medical and physical tests to determine what’s ails me and as it turns out, PLENTY… from more blockages in my heart and my body overcompensating for lack of useful arteries to the debilitating and excruciating lower back and joint pains to breathing problems aggravated by allergic asthma to kidney stones, severe headaches, great weight loss and increase in urinating, prospect of CANCER, the whole Leftist Liberal Ridiculousness Covid-19 LOCKDOWNS, Fake News, Masks and Vaccine MANDATES, the CRISES (Inflation, illegal aliens, crimes, murders, suicides, abortion, homelessness, military vets, police defunding, BLM and ANTIFA Thugs & Terrorists, SSM, Need for Age & Term Limits for ALL, CRT, Christian Persecution, etc.) Created and or Exacerbated by some IDIOT Crowned Clown In Chief and his Posse, Gang or Squad of Domestic Enemies Wreaking Havoc, Dividing US and Trying to Destroy US and throughout it ALL in a short period of less than 3 months time, I’ve been taking it ALL in stride like a Champ, knowing GOD got me. Plus the Fact that my house has been in order since I was first diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, so that if I go to be with Jesús or He allows me to Live a lil longer, I’m good and so is my family. 🙌🙌🙌

Apparently, my mind, my heart, my soul were one at Peace but my body had a mind of its own and other ideas, and GOD Created it to SURVIVE, so my body unbeknownst to the rest of me has been STRESSED OUT by ALL the NEGATIVITY in the News, MSM, and of course my various docs. And that has given me the latest trouble, Shingles (Culebrilla), a Herpe type virus from Chicken Pox that lays dormant in EVERYONE’S body until it’s hibernation is interrupted by some acute awakening or sudden stress to activate it into action that usually manifests itself in a form of a rash that develops into a wet wound that is Highly Infectious to the person experiencing it and can quickly spread to your entire face, eyes and rest of your body. It is itchy, painful, insightful and very annoying‼️

No, I can’t infect others, well, Not with that, but it can transfer the virus 🦠 to lay dormant in the infected to either manifest itself as Chicken Pox or maybe Shingles⁉️

The Good Doc at MAHC gave me some huge blue pills 💊 UCC Valacyovir- PO 1gr to take 3 x a day as an Anti-Viral junk, some white powder Astringent junk called Domeboro that helps dry up the wound (that’s the white stuff you see on my head in the pics) which in turn helps stop ✋ the spread, and Codeine laced aspirins to help me sleep 😴 trust me, that crap 💩 feels like you’re a Voodoo doll poking you with needles 🪡 in the affected area. Speaking of Voodoo, in DR 🇩🇴 and Haiti 🇭🇹 even the real Doctors 👨‍⚕️👩‍⚕️ send you to the Witch Docs 🧙‍♀️🧙‍♂️to naturally 🍃heal you from this and and the EFFECTIVELY do so in no time at all, in other words, if I were in DR, I wouldn’t have to wait 3 to 5 weeks to get rid of this junk. 🤔

Prior to this, I never heard of it but thank GOD I’m very in tune with my body to quickly identify anything different, and found out several friends had it and all you can do is wait the 3 to 5 weeks to do what it does and go away (with Steroids Treatment for more Severe cases) and then about 6 months later, take an Anti-Shingles Vaccine- which like the Covid-19 vaxx won’t 100% protect you but will help if you get it 🦠 again. 🤣🤣🤣

[bestdjkit]

Jamie Jones' Paradise in the Park Returns to Los Angeles

On Saturday, August 21st, Jamie Jones and the Paradise crew took over Pershing Square for an unforgettable day of house music.

In late August, over 5,000 house music aficionados gathered to share a magical day of house music in Pershing Square for Jamie Jones' Paradise in the Park. Based in the epicenter of Downtown Los Angeles, the sprawling urban background served as the perfect backdrop for Paradise in the Park.

Since Jones first launched the party at Ibiza’s infamous Club DC-10 back in 2012, the Paradise brand has grown into a worldwide phenomenon. Given his longstanding history with Los Angeles, he debuted the event in the City of Angels in 2017 with a sold-out show at the renowned MacArthur Park. In 2019 it moved to Grant Park for another sold out performance until its reemergence two weeks ago at Pershing Square.

Paradise in the Park 2021.

David Arellanes

Still very much in the age of COVID-19, 2021 has proven to be a year of very few festivals—especially West Coast-based ones. But this year’s Paradise in the Park didn’t disappoint.

Its state-of-the-art stage and cityscape background served as the perfect backdrop for Los Angeles house heads. The event continued Jones’ partnership with Future Primitive, best known for its unique underground electronic music events. The brand is especially renowned for picking picturesque atmospheres that perfectly embody the cinematic nature of LA.

The front of the stage was decked out with stacks of old CRT monitors, the classic boxy screens that were used before the popularization of hi-def flat screens. Half of the monitors displayed simple visuals, mostly static and sample video interface effects. Behind the DJ decks was a giant signature neon Paradise sign and a massive mirrored disco ball hanging from a pyramid trellis. 

While the initial lineup included the likes of Art Department and Yulia Nikio, Sohmi, Serge, and Amémé excitedly took the stage to entertain house music fans. Attendees showed up in droves dressed to the nines, wearing some of summer's hottest fashions. In the evening, British house DJ Hot Since 82 threw down a vibrant and dynamic 90-minute set before handing the reins over to Jones. 

Paradise in the Park 2021.

Patrick Struys

Jones threw down an eclectic and upbeat mix of tech house and house. His sets are consistently easy to dance to, which helps make him one of the best DJs on the planet, and his Paradise 2021 set was no exception to the rule. Performing a lengthy set, the highlight of the night was when he dropped a remix of Kid Cudi's “Day N Night.”

After the end of the event, Jones and the Paradise gang unexpectedly transitioned the party to Hollywood's Sound Nightclub to continue the party. Jamie Jones shows no signs of slowing down with performances at this week's elrow in Croatia followed by Parklife Festival this weekend in Manchester, England. 

from Best DJ Kit https://edm.com/events/paradise-in-the-park-returns-to-los-angeles

[thomcoldman-blog]

Don’t Call It A Throwback

The “new old” is a phenomenon hardly unique to games, but a large corner of the medium can be identified as an intentional recreation of interactive entertainment's past. In film you have the 2011 silent film The Artist, in traditional art you naturally still see paintings in the style and approach of painters from centuries ago, and popular music is nothing if not big on recycling past sounds – just look at the turn-of-the-decade revival of 80s synth sounds in the UK. But it's in games where the past isn't so much referenced for new inspiration as it is recreated wholesale; brought out of the loft, dusted off and presented anew for a new generation of players.

Just look at the number of older games re-released in some form over the last 12 months. Off of the top of my head, I can think of Final Fantasy XII, the original PlayStation 1 Crash Bandicoot trilogy, Okami, Street Fighter 2, Pokemon Gold & Silver, PaRappa the Rapper, Yakuza (as Yakuza Kiwami), Mega Man 7 through 10, Full Throttle and the swathe of games released under the Arcade Archives and SEGA Forever banners. These releases include remasters (preserving the game with technical  enchancements), remakes (building the game anew from the ground-up, often with new features) and more-or-less straight dumps of the original code running on emulation software. Whatever the format, publishers and developers are now fully committed to the notion that bringing old games to new platforms – and new players – is a winning strategy.

This is nothing new, of course, as anyone who remembers Super Mario All-Stars or the glut of Final Fantasy collections on PS1 can attest to. But classic titles working their way into the catalogues of new consoles does create an interesting juxtaposition in 2017 – as technology improves and games  get more sophisticated, and new design trends emerge, what purpose does making old games readily available serve? Many new titles supplant or enhance their gameplay – of the above franchises mentioned, Pokemon, Final Fantasy and Street Fighter never slowed down, and games like Parappa and Full Throttle evolved into modern day titles like Rock Band and Telltale Game #353 Episode 1. So is it really the classic game feel that people are seeking? Or is the pull of an oldie simply born out of rose-tinted mythologising?

A handful of titles released in the last year make the argument that, actually, it's both. In 2017 SEGA released Sonic Mania; Terrible Toybox released Thimbleweed Park; and Playtonic released Yooka-Laylee. Each of these titles exists solely to recreate a particular style of game from history in the style you remember it, positing that, yeah, these games did play well, and still do. They occupy a fascinating space between ruthlessly chasing the cutting-edge, evoking classic gaming to explore more contemporary design like so many independent releases do, and bringing old titles to new platforms. In rebuilding a piece of the past that was left behind, each title ends up standing out as more interesting than they otherwise may have been in their heyday, or if they simply conformed to the modern-day standards of their genre playmates.

Let's start with Sonic Mania, a game that feels like it should have existed years ago in two ways. Firstly, it's a clear continuation of the original Sonic The Hedgehog platformers from the Mega Drive – a mission statement of the developers being to create the Sonic that the Sega Saturn never got to have. This results in a game that looks dazzling, and yet in line what with came before – this is Sonic The Hedgehog 2 with far more detail (and an extremely welcome 16:9 upgrade). This is a defining trait of the “new breed” of retro, in that it keeps what worked about the original games visually, and buffs it to a shine without it becoming unrecognisable. Sonic has always enjoyed rich sprite work and detailed backgrounds, and Mania feels as good on the eyes as players in the 90s maybe remember those original titles looking. You can imagine it being around circa 1996, blowing minds with new visual tricks like silhouettes, polygonal special stages and Sonic, Eggman and the gang's gorgeous animations – just looking a bit fuzzier on a CRT, of course.

Sonic Mania feels remarkably overdue in more recent terms, too – it has a slavish adherence to how Sonic span, rolled, bounced and launched in the Mega Drive/Mega CD quadrilogy, making the hedgehog feel better in the hands than he's felt in years. Dodgy physics and a wrong-headed speed emphasis in modern Sonic titles should have provoked a re-examination of the classic title's feel a good while ago. It's a cliché in Sonic conversations that the new is in the shadow of the old, but the idea that design progression does not necessarily mean a genre has objectively improved is a good one to keep in mind, despite it being otherwise scarcely considered. Mania doubles-down in proving the original Sonic feel needed a second outing; the physics and level design philosophy resurrected, developers Christian Whitehead, Headcannon and PagodaWest polish their levels with modern considerations including a dearth of cheap tricks, more inventive level gimmicks than those seen in the originals and an aural accompaniment that bridges poppy jazz, fidgety hip-hop and slowed-down mood music. It feels “old”, but almost only ever in ways that make the whole endeavour fun and surprising.

Thimbleweed Park mostly follows that same philosophy, and is largely as successful with it. Thimbleweed is an adventure game ripped straight out of the late 80s and mid-90s, complete with roughly a third of the screen lost to an ever-present inventory and list of possible actions. Akin to Maniac Mansion, you have a handful of characters to use at any time, and progression requires solving puzzles that tend to require an item being used in a particular way on a particular object or character. Like Mania, Thimbleweed takes that structure – one that used to too often be riddled with obtuse puzzles married to logic from the thirteenth dimension – and refines it, with puzzles following more earthbound ways of thinking and a handy hint system riffing on the old hint lines that no doubt rang up some hefty phone bills in the point'n'click heyday.

As someone who was born the year before Day Of The Tentacle released, I've had to experience classic point'n'click through reissues, which has occasionally been a frustrating experience. Thimbleweed felt like a more comfortable ride, a game I saw through to the finish with the right ratio of time being stumped and time making progress. The game has a lovely, corny sense of humour that always feels to follow Lucasarts' (and Double Fine's) games about, and the game's look is gorgeous sprite work – again, like Sonic, this is an old aesthetic as they truly imagined it. The game isn't necessarily a better time than, say, Day Of The Tentacle – it's not as funny or as clever at its heights, and the ending is maybe a little too self-indulgent – but its flaws never felt like they came from its inspirations. This type of adventure game, a remotely hands-off experience with plenty of opportunities for experimentation and getting stuck, felt relevant again.

Having not played Yooka-Laylee, I can't comment too much on its success, but based on commentary it sounds rather similar to something I have played – 2008's Mega Man 9, one of the earliest original titles to turn back the clock on gaming's progress. That game was brutal – its 8-bit style offered minimal improvements over what was capable on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and so did its gameplay, full of rock-solid boss encounters, pixel-perfect jumps and overwhelming enemy opposition. It felt like an old Mega Man game, but as someone who only played their first Mega Man game in 2007, it felt /exactly/ like a Mega Man game – my time with Mega Man 3 (that is, dying a lot) was more or less the same time as I had with MM9. It felt squarely for classic fans – a novelty, though undoubtedly a well-made one. As far as the commentary I've seen surrounding Yooka-Laylee, it sure sounds similar, stringent design authenticity taking the place of considered design. I don't want to write off a game I haven't played, but as exciting as the new breed of “original throwback” is, this is an important pitfall to signpost.

There are other examples of this kind of throwback, of course – 2014's Shovel Knight is a keenly-made mash-up of elements of Castlevania, Ducktales and Zelda 2, and like Sonic and Thimbleweed it beautifully maintains a era-appropriate look whilst working with more colours and on-screen objects than that hardware could manage. Its level design is tight, challenging whilst constantly incorporating new ideas to keep the whole thing fresh. It's a bizarre concept, a game on the surface unnecessarily slavish to the old school ending up feeling refreshing in the finer details and overall experience, but Shovel Knight, Sonic Mania and Thimbleweed Park all manage to pull this off with aplomb, and they set an exciting precedent for die-hard fans and embattled veterans to spruce up long forgotten gameplay styles. To answer the original question, is there an appetite for the way old games play? Sure – but a side of 2010s artistry sure helps it go down well.

[attract-mode-collective]

It’s Still (Pixelated) Hot Dog Legs Season

Fall should officially be in full swing by now, yet here in NYC (and many other parts of the US), it still feels like summer. Which I’m not thrilled about, though at the very least, I don’t feel so bad for sharing the above (by Robert Penney) so late into September.

On that note, time for a way overdue game culture round up! It’s been a while, and a LOT been going on. And not to be a downer, but the chaotic weather has been in the news, obviously.

Here’s a pic from Gamer Geek Nation on Facebook, who shared the aftermath of the Hurricane Harvey, along with: “… This is a time when we collectors need to remind ourselves that ultimately, this is just stuff, and our lives are more important. And make sure your collection is insured properly.”

Elsewhere in the world, the Tokyo Game Show just wrapped up, and not to repeat the obvious, but yes… the biggest, most exciting news was the Sonic X Hooters collab…

Though the one between Hello Kitty and Game Center CX is far, far better (photo courtesy of Kotaku)…

You also have this comically large Rockman doll, which apparently was available on Amazon but is now out of stock…

Though I mostly wished I had been there to pick up some primo looking attire, like this Mega Drive track jacket that miki800 gave the heads up on before show time (there was also a Dreamcast hoodie that I personally don’t think looks as nice, hence why I’m skipping it)…

I also really like this Pac-Man shirt…

This Galaga shirt as well…

Also taking place in Japan was an exhibition held by the JARGA (Japan Retro Game Association); miki800 was there and captured some interesting bits of hardware, with the highlight being (IMHO) this Mega Drive clone that resembles a perfect mix of the model 1 MD and the original Wondermega…

There’s no preview of the music yet, though may as well share the recently unveiled cover to the third (and final) installment of 8 BIT MUSIC POWER…

Meanwhile, according to Original Sound Version, Mitch Murder has released yet another soundtrack to another game that never existed. In this it didn’t come out for the Mega CD and doesn’t involve mecha…

Remember that Jet Set Radio figure I showed a while ago? Well, it's finally available for pre-order! Alas, it's not cheap, at least over at Big Bad Toy Store...

BTW, videogamesdensetsu shares with us what Beat looks like, sans-cel shading…

Sticking with VCD for a tad bit; here’s what Pulseman looked originally looked like, and he sure was cute!

Whereas NiGHTS looked goofier… as well as more menacing….

Am confident most people will not give a rat’s ass about seeing hand drawn Virtua Racing track designs, but as a massive fan of the series, oh man, oh man, oh man...

Two never before seen Saturn prototypes that must be: “[taken] with a grain of salt!”

Apparently Looney Tunes X The Matrix was actually a thing? Somehow this does not surprise me…

The work of Hideaki Kodama was recently highlighted, which was also recently auctioned; I wonder how much this painting of various PC Engine hardware went for?

Yet another Kickstarter mention? Yup. And this one is Jed Henry's third crowdfunding campaign: this particular variant of the Ukiyo-e Heroes concentrates on boss battles, with perhaps my fave piece being his depiction from The Breath of the Wild...

Am particularly fond of this image from the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary art book that grease-howard spotted, of old Chun Li chumming it up with her younger self...

Any and all BoJack Horseman fans out there may want to pick up this piece by Jude Buffum...

legendofnes reminds of that time Batman visited New Donk City…

It's just a bunch of cyber kids, all just hanging around, by sanigo...

Speaking of the gang, here we have the kids from Persona 5, by @aranciart…

Apparently, if Jedah (from Darkstalkers) ran a juice stand, it wouldn’t be the best, according to dreaminerryday…

The individual who runs SPLENDID LAND describes SLN-003 Gacha Man as a: "vendor robot who dispenses toys. even he doesn’t know what’s inside the capsules, so he always gets excited to find out"...

Meanwhile, here’s official artwork of Mario and Peach, courtesy of the thevideogameartarchive’s catalogue of the Mario Golf N64 manual; am pretty sure I’ve seen images of Mario looking distressed, though never to this degree…

The above is something Super Mario Broth would normally deliver, and speaking of, may as well share some recent faves on that end! Like these photos from a promotional campaign with a Japanese sports drink when promoting Mario Sports Superstars…

Instructions found on the arcade cabinet for Vs. Super Mario Bros (which I remember so distinctly, and fondly)…

From some Japanese video guide for the same game (am assuming the home Famicom version this time)…

A greeting card (am assuming a Valentine’s)...

Mario without his hat, as he appears in a Game Boy controller test cart that Nintendo service reps used to calibrate buttons on a the handheld…

And he we have a shortcut in SMB3 that I had no idea existed, and it’s a safe bet that most don’t either: “In Super Mario Bros. 3, the rock between the path to the first fortress in World 4 and the Spade Panel can be destroyed with a Hammer item, allowing the player to bypass the fortress. There is no obvious indication that this rock is destructible, as it is surrounded by decorative rocks. In fact, many guides for Super Mario Bros. 3 do not mention this shortcut.”

As for Super Mario Broth’s counterpart, Sonic the Hedgeblog has seen plenty of action as well… largely pinpointing all the obscure references found in Sonic Mania, So head over for that if that sounds like fun to you! Otherwise, there’s also the Mario Bros having a Sonic Panic…

A reminder of how Sonic looked at one point as he was being prepped for the Dreamcast; it would appear that at a certain point, in Sonic Adventure, he was going to look a lot more realistic…

And this issue with EGM featuring a sneak preview of Sonic 2 is the very first video game magazine that I ever picked up!

Meanwhile, oldgamemags recently posted a page from an issue of GamePro, circa 2000, on a peripheral that allowed the Game Boy to play mp3s. Am sharing it cuz I really want a GB-looking mp3 player…

So someone on Twitter (who has since protected his account, so I’ll have to refer to nintendolife they snagged the pic before it was locked down) cracked open a electrocardiogram measurement instrument and found... a GBA? It’s theorized: “perhaps earlier revisions of the unit had different screens, and once the supply chain dried up MiE was forced to source the next best thing?”

vice-s-assistant sez: "OK Guys, I’m ready to hack."

According to bunney: "i was working at a convention arcade this weekend and some guy cosplaying ryu was playing street fighter with a blunt in his mouth"...

Can anyone tell what's being played here? At the very least, it's a nice shot (via rekall)...

Much like Arcade Crusade, I have no idea what’s going on, and I agree that whatever it is, it looks intense...

If you’ve ever wanted an artist’s rendering of the Raspberry Pi, then look no further than the work of retronator…

rasec-wizzlbang states: “those square cross sections of the human skin layers you always see in biology books but as like, a minecraft block”…

Courtesy of Arcade Crusade once again comes a very tender moment…

Is it just me or does this promo image for Food Fight sure does look like a Norman Rockwell painting? As seen on thedoteaters...

Here we have a flyer for a really old SNK arcade game (we’re talking really old; almost a decade before the Neo Geo was a thing) that looks like it was made with today’s sensibilities, doesn’t it?

Also via obscurevideogames is a moment of pathos from Hacchake Ayayo-san 4 - Sexy Olympics - Ayayo’s Live Affection. It’s… pretty obscure alright…

Yup, that's Hieronymus Bosch-styled Tetris all right (via freeindiega.me)...

crashcarnival presents: "true facts of the Ice Age"...

Hey, it’s the Ninja Turtles playing Pong (via rewind01)…

Behold, Fighters Megamix version 2017 (via lonelyfrontier)…

Yup, that is definitely a Chu Chu Rocket skirt  (via radicalhelmet)...

For those who have ever wondered what their Sonic character’s political leanings are, in relation to the rest of the crew (and can’t be bothered to sift through DeviantArt; via erratticusfinch)…

Face to face (via futureisfailed)…

It’s been out for a while, though it’s not too late to pick up this Xenogears tribute zine, right?

Just a friendly reminder of how bat-sh*t insane Sin & Punishment is (via n64thstreet)...

Zimmerit.moe has everything you need to know about a game by Square involving mecha that you’ve probably never heard of. And no, am not talking about Thexder; it’s even more obscure than that (am talking about Cruise Chaser Blassty BTW/FYI)...

Meanwhile, Michael “Kayin” O’Reilly discusses the “Barrel Distortion” look that emulators use to recreate the look of playing something on a CRT display and why it’s total crap…

And… that’s  it! You’ve made it to the end! Enjoy a cool, refreshing drink with Pac-Man (on the behalf of arcade-crusade)...

Don’t forget: Attract Mode is now on Medium! There you can subscribe to keep up to date, as well as enjoy some “best of” content you might have missed the first time around, plus be spared of the technical issues that’s starting to overtake Tumblr.

[some-triangles]

thegeekgene replied to your post “Today’s new concept is: Fic Prompts Send and I will write what I…”

Write about Persona 4.

The following is based solely on the Persona 4 wikipedia article.

The gang decided that the best way to investigate the truth of their experiences was through the medium of art.   So Rise bought a parking garage. 

The first thing you see when you duck through the rush matting at the fifth avenue entrance next to the Walton’s is yourself.  A vestibule, brightly lit, covered in mirrors, sloping inward gently, almost imperceptibly, so that you do not notice your head’s gradual attenuation (it resolves itself as you move closer anyway) - but when, later, you try to call your own image to mind, then you see it.  You can’t see anything else.

The concrete beyond floodlit, the floor stained with motor oil, tilting down and away.  A massive corkscrew thrust into the earth, smelling faintly of exhaust.  And, on parallel plinths curving away beyond the edge of seeing, there are television sets.  They are old TVs, the kind that are better for art, CRT monstrosities with wood paneling.  None powered, all identical.  Except, as you walk, it becomes clear that these TVs had been accessorized.  Carefully and exactingly.

Here is a TV wearing a wristwatch.  Here is a TV with a necktie.  Here is a TV with an obi sash, here one with a topknot.  Over there, a TV playing an acoustic guitar.  A TV with a grass skirt.  This one has teeth.  This one has been smashed in, its interior sprayed with chrome.  This one has another, smaller TV lodged inside it.  This one has a dress.  This one has a crown.

This is a pile of TVs.  They are thrown together in no particular way.  This pile is labeled, in small, careful writing, “the three graces”.   This other, identical pile is labeled “the three fates”.  A TV that looks as though it has been pummeled to death is labeled “the great god Vishnu in all its aspects.”  A TV suspended from a rope is labeled “the lovers”.  Two TVs fucking is labeled “the heirophant.”

Further down and we have dispensed with plinths.  The TVs are piled in corners, great discarded drifts of plastic and glass.  These TVs have other TVs drawn on them in white chalk.  This set of TVs has been crushed into a large, TV-shaped cube.  To go further, you must walk on the TVs.  The jagged edges pick at your clothing.   There is no sound but the sound of TVs, which is the sound of TVs crunching underfoot.  It is getting dark.  The TVs close in behind you.  No way to go but ahead.  You press through a beaded curtain, except instead of beads it’s TVs.  You arrive at the bottom floor.

Light blares.  You are surrounded by a ring of headlights  Every wall is mirrored.  You have two shadows, then three, then - five, ten, fifteen, as you step forward.  Uncountable shadows.  You try to orient yourself relative to one and another slips out of focus.  On the mirrored wall, the following slogan emblazoned: “YOU ARE NOT QUITE AS SIMPLE AS THAT.”  This is when you try to remember what you look like.  You find your head is escaping, really escaping.  The vast plain of your forehead slopes away eternally.  Your introspection becomes embarrassing, overpowering.  You are immaculate.  You are imperfectible.  You cannot find your impurities because you are nothing but impurities.  Every shadow conceals another shadow.  The only way to escape them is to escape from the light.

You run from the infinite sight of yourself, breath rasping with primal shame, and enter the final room.  Naoto Shirogane is there.  She is dressed as a TV.  She approaches.  You scream.  She screams louder.  She has a question she needs you to answer.

ARE YOU A BOY TV? ARE YOU A GIRL TV?

ARE YOU A BOY TV?

ARE YOU A GIRL TV?

[dunnystuff]

Hi to all -

Kamala visits Guatemala

Well, this did not go well. Instead of a reception by crowds of fawning locals, she was met with signs demanding she 'go home' and 'Trump won', and suggesting she fix her own house, and stay out of the house of Guatemala. No one was buying her talking points about addressing the 'root causes' of immigration, legal or illegal. Well, she did not handle this graciously. The president of that nation noted that while he had cracked down on crime and other problems, Kamala is ignoring those issues in her own back yard. It is safer to walk in Guatemala than in many US cities. That is saying something since just a few years ago, Guatemala had the highest murder rate in South America.

Virginia

Judge James E. Plowman, jr. ordered the school that fired a teacher named Tanner, for expressing his views that allowing transgender men to compete in women's sports was discrimination against actual women, against his faith, and an offense to God, to reinstate the man. The judge said that Tanner had First Amendment rights to speak his views, and that the school acted in a way that was 'unnecessary and vindictive'. The school countered that they did not fire Tanner for his views, but because his expression of those views caused 'disruption'. The judge did not buy that poor excuse.

Kentucky

In Boone County, Judge Richard A. Brueggemann struck down the edicts of Governor Andy Beshears regarding Covid mandates. especially masks. This was a permanent injunction, not subject to appeal or review or reinstatement after making minor changes. All of these actions were declared 'unconstitutional' and void.

Now, these mandates were set to expire Friday, anyway, and the Governor did not plan to extend them. But this ruling is important as precedent for actions all over the nation.

TikTok

Trump revoked the right of TikTok to operate here, since it was an agent of the CCP. Biden just revoked this ban.

New Orleans

A man was filmed wandering down a residential street, trying door handles to see if he could enter. He appeared very drunk, and overweight. He went down one side, and up the other, as pedestrians watched, and moved away. Finally, someone opened their door, and this man lunged at the resident. The resident, however, was prepared, and armed. He shot this intruder, killing him. No charges will be filed, thanks in part to the clear video evidence.

Crypto Currency

This was the stuff used in the Colonial Pipeline hack. Crypto currency is not issued by governments, and governments hate this stuff - since they cannot control it, or steal it from citizens. Things like Bitcoin or Dogecoin are examples. Smaller scale things like coupons, bonus points, and rewards points are also examples of non-traditional currency. We should expect to see a lot more activity in alternative currencies.

Bill Gates

He will not give up on his plan to vaccinate everyone, whether they want it or not. He just gave a 'starter' payment of $100,000 to Hiroyaki Matsuoka of the Jichi Medical University to develop mosquitoes infected with vaccines to be released into populated areas, and 'vaccinate' just about everyone. If successful, a million-dollar grant will follow. Of course, if this can be done with medicines, it can also be done with poisons. Both the Japanese and Germans did exactly that back in WWII. Japanese biowarfare experiments killed at least 250,000 Chinese, and continued to kill people for generations. Germans flooded areas that would breed mosquitoes, and unleashed diseases on the locals. They also poisoned crops, affecting others.

Bill , who is not a doctor, is intent on reducing the world population by 15%, to 'save the planet'. Perhaps he might do well to remember that even though there are a lot more people on the planet today than a few years ago, food supplies and distribution has kept up, and in fact, more people are better fed today than at any time in known history. Most people do not live at subsistence levels today, when for most of recorded history, they did.

Bill is treading on dangerous ground. The unintended consequences could be beyond horrific. Back when I was a child, I lived overseas in a mosquito infested area. Every evening, the jeeps would come by spraying clouds of DDT, to control the mosquitoes. Of course, that effective chemical was banned a few years ago. Never mind that mosquito borne diseases kill ten times as many people than the DDT did. I, for one, do not want to breed 'genetically modified mosquitoes', even for good causes.

Burger King

Did I already say this one? Seems that Burger King wants to celebrate Gay pride month. So, they took some cheap shots at Chick-fil-A over their stance, and Sunday closings. Then, to top it all off, they said that Burger King will donate a sum of money to gay pride groups for every Chick-fil-A sandwich sold. Anyone hungry for a chicken sandwich?

Fargo, North Dakota

This hotbed of racial strife saw one 23-year-old Arther Prince Kollie attack 14-year-old Daisy 'Jupiter' Paulsen. She was stabbed 25 times, beaten and strangled by this man. Then, he stole her backpack and phone. He was later captured, and she later died of her injuries. Wonder how the judge will rule in this case?

In another incident, a young black man was yelling racial slurs at an Asian police officer. When confronted over his behavior, the man said that 'blacks cannot be racist'. Didn't we hear Obama make that same argument?

France

President Macron was doing a meet and greet with the public, when a man slapped him across the face, yelling bad things about Macron's policies. That is a serious insult in French culture, and, police took down this guy, and I think a couple of others with him, very fast. Guess the president is learning that at least some of the public does not agree with him.

New Handbook

Parents are getting concerned about Critical Race Theory in the schools. Many do not want their children indoctrinated with racism. Some have spoken up at school board meetings, and the board members have tried to shut them down. But, now, there is a new handbook for these parents, with instructions on how to fight this battle. It is called "Combatting CRT in your Community". It comes from Parents and Citizens for Renewing America. Bet the leftists are getting worried, and plotting in dark back rooms how to fight back.

Atlanta

During the riots that followed a police shooting of a man found dead drunk at Wendy's, where the Wendy's was burned down, there were also many other injuries. Eight-year-old Secoriea Turner was shot and killed, as she sat in her parents car. Her family is suing the city, the mayor, and others for negligence, for allowing the riots to proceed without intervention. They did not agree that 'armed vigilantes' should be allowed to run rampant in this city. This could be a real landmark case. If the parents win, mayors all over the place will not sleep well - like Portland and Seattle.

FBI Sting

Three years in the making, an FBI sting has sprung. This operation was known variously as 'Ironside', 'Greenlight', or 'Trojan Shield'. It involved undercovers selling encrypted satellite phones to criminals, which the FBI had the keys and codes for. This allowed them to track and monitor the activities of more than 300 criminal gangs, in 18 countries. More than 800 people were arrested, and literally tons of drugs, weapons and cash were seized.

Meanwhile, back at home, the ATF is trying to re-define some guns. For many pistols, you can purchase a 'stock', so that it can be fired like a rifle. This improves accuracy. The ATF, with their devotion to disarming Americans, but not others, wants to classify such weapons as 'short barreled rifles', and apply restrictions to their sale and use. These guys never give up trying to bypass the Second Amendment.

Fauci

He was planning to release his new self-praising book this November. It was to be called "Expect the Unexpected - Ten Lessons on Truth, Service and the Way Forward". The irony of this, in light of all the email revelations and his endless flip-flopping, was just too much for the major retailers. Amazon and Barnes and Noble have dropped this book like a hot potato.

Did you know that the 'excuse' to do all these mandates was based on a PCR test to show the presence of Covid. Sadly, the test was badly flawed, with up to 97% false positives. Add in the 'creative reporting' of deaths, (how anyone could sell a gunshot wound to the head as a Covid death really stretches the imagination), and the distortion of cheap, alternative cures to expensive experimental vaccines should have made more people skeptical. HCQ had been a proven anti-malarial drug for 60 years or so, and effective on Covid, used in a timely fashion, at a dose of 200mg daily for 10 days. But, to discredit this treatment, tests were conducted using 8800 mg, and that was a toxic dose. Add to that, all the new regulations banning this as an over-the-counter drug, and requiring a prescription, then barring doctors from prescribing it, and you have a genuine conspiracy. But I digress. The evidence against both Fauci and 'the cure' is overwhelming, except to the superstitious and gullible.

Seattle

Woke gone wild. The Seattle Department of Finance, in a rant produced by David Holmberg, called all cops 'white supremacists'. Cops took exception to this, as you can well imagine. How long can that city stand, divided against itself?

Next time you hear someone claim ``It's all Trump's fault" - ask them how they know this, and will they offer the proof. Those conversations could be interesting. Of course, the answer will always be 'You is a racist'.

Rich

[entergamingxp]

my life with Jason Brookes • Eurogamer.net

In the autumn of 1995, I interviewed for a writing position on Edge magazine. I had no experience in publishing; I’d spent a year since leaving university writing manuals and design documents for the developer Big Red Software, but I was desperate to be a journalist. Although I hadn’t read Edge that much, everyone I worked with treated it like a holy text. It felt like a long shot. Then Jason Brookes turned up late for my interview, was friendly but distracted throughout, and at the end set me a writing task before disappearing completely. I assumed I had failed. Over a month later however, he called me and offered me a job. This was my first inkling that Jason had his own way of working.

Three days ago I got a call from Simon Cox who joined Edge just after me and later became deputy editor. Jason had been ill for three years – he died in the early hours of Monday morning. Between long difficult pauses, Simon and I swapped a few stories about our time on the magazine. I put the phone down and cried, and thought about Jason. That’s what I’ve been doing ever since.

Jason Brookes began his journalism career at the cult Super Nintendo magazine SuperPlay, under the tutorage of launch editor, Matt Bielby. He’d originally applied for a job on the Sega magazine, Mega, but editor Neil West soon realised Brookes was a complete Nintendo fanboy and pushed him Bielby’s way. “From the start, we were influenced by Japanese magazines – not just games mags, but women’s mags, car mags and anything else we could get our hands on – as well as Japanese comics and anime,” says Bielby. “What struck me about Jason was just how much he knew about and loved Japanese culture – and gaming in particular, and Nintendo especially amongst that. He knew more about all of it than the rest of us put together.

Photo credit: Hilary Nichols.

“Getting reliable info on Japanese games was a painful, time-consuming business in the pre-internet days, involving late-night phone calls to the other side of the world, local language students doing vaguely comprehensible translations for us from Japanese magazine articles, and all sorts of palaver. Jason was intrinsic to this.”

As there were so few SNES games officially released in the UK each month, the SuperPlay team was forced to scour the obscure grey import market – and this was Jason’s forte. “Even if the average SuperPlay reader was never going to buy Super Wagan Island or Zan II, the fact that it existed and we could tell people about it added to the unique feel of the magazine,” says Beilby. “Jason would find all sorts of obscure stuff that I, for one, couldn’t get my head around at all. It became his territory in a way, and his enthusiasm made us all consider the most oddball releases in a new light.”

In 1993, Future Publishing’s magazine launch specialist Steve Jarrett was looking for writing staff to help with an ambitious project. It was a new type of games magazine, eschewing the pally, hobbyist tone of most publications of the era in favour of a serious, refined, journalistic style, inspired by visual effects mag, Cinefex. That project was Edge. “He made a huge impact on the magazine,” says Jarrett. “He filled in a lot of the gaps in my knowledge – he brought with him his love of Japanese culture, games and game art – and at the time, that was where all the innovation was coming from. He opened Edge up. He was fortunate, too, because I wasn’t so keen on travel at the time so he did all the trips to the US and Japan!”

His first issue as editor was Edge 11, which featured a series of exclusive articles on the forthcoming PlayStation console, which at the time was still known by its codename, PS-X. Jason and Matt had been invited by Sony’s third-party development manager Phil Harrison to view the legendary T-Rex graphics demo being touted to developers, and Jason later secured interviews with staff within Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, as well as at Namco, Konami and Capcom for the big reveal feature. Over the course of ten packed pages, the magazine communicated the importance and potential impact of this vital newcomer to the games industry. As a knowledgeable fan of dance music, Jason also perfectly understood Sony’s determination to align PlayStation with the ascendant 1990s club culture, running several articles on the machine’s groundbreaking marketing and its relationship with hip brands such as Ministry of Sound and Designers Republic. He saw that both the audience and industry were maturing, and that popular culture would have to cede ground to video games. He just got it.

The Edge office in the mid-1990s was a cross between a university halls of residence, a night club and a game development studio – an atmosphere utterly presided over by Jason. He was an unapologetic perfectionist, determined that every page of the magazine exemplified the Edge vision of style and substance. He would spend hours choosing exactly the right photograph or screenshot for even the most minor preview, and my abiding memory of him is hunched over a lightbox, examining 35mm slides from some Japanese arcade trade show or obscure Shibuya-based development studio.

Everything would always come together at the last possible minute. The magazine flatplan – the page layout guide that showed writing and art staff what each issue would contain – was almost always virtually empty until the week before deadline. Then suddenly, Jason would announce that he’d secured an interview with Howard Lincoln or Miyamoto, Peter Molyneux or Bill Gates, or an exclusive look at some amazing new AM2 arcade game, then we’d be off. He’d trust us too. I remember the day Susie Hamilton from Derby-based developer Core Design (then best known for aging Mega Drive title Thunderhawk) brought their latest project into the office for us to see – something called Tomb Raider. Jason wasn’t interested so me and production editor Nick Harper had a play during our lunch hour. I think within five seconds we were over at Jason’s desk, saying “Um, we think you’d better come and have a look at this.” Straightaway he gave it two pages. Deadlines would often involve two or three all-night sessions, the whole team writing and laying out pages as Orbital blasted from the stereo. It was hard work, but it was fun. We’d smuggle beer in, and Edge’s art editor Terry Stokes, an inveterate prankster, would set up elaborate traps for us around the office.

What did I learn during this fraught, tense, hilarious nights? I learned everything about writing quickly, about getting the best from poorly translated interviews, about how every sentence needs to carry a fact or idea that takes the story forward. Jason hated waffle, he hated mediocre, colourless writing. He wanted us to communicate the joy of a Treasure shooter, the technological magic inherent in a lit, textured polygon, the underlying philosophy of an executive soundbite. He thought deeply about games and how they functioned. His favourite was R-Type and to hear him break it down was to hear a Nobel prize-winning scientist explaining DNA strands. As Jason’s brother Matthew recalls, “He loved the passionate attention to detail, the creativity, the huge sprites, the multi-layered parallax, the colours, and even the superlative collision detection. I’m not sure how long he must have spent playing and eventually completing that game.”

Jason didn’t teach us how to make a magazine, he just expected us to know. When I turned up to the Edge office on my first day of work, he told me to take screenshots of Sega Rally. I didn’t know what the hell that meant, I had no idea of the process. I just had to go over to the Sega Saturn, plug the leads in, figure out how to use the Apple Mac connected to our CRT gaming monitor and get on with it. Sometimes, he’d disappear to Japan or LA for a week and you wouldn’t know when he was coming back, you’d have to piece together his intentions from vague emails and editorial meeting notes. That’s just the way it worked, we all knew it. You figured stuff out. And then he’d return and flip through the latest issue of the mag and say “you did a really good job on this article” and my god, you’d glow with pride all day.

His perfectionism at Edge lasted until his very last act at the magazine – his final Editor’s Intro. “I just remember how long it took him to craft it,” says production editor at the time, Jane Bentley. “That sign off was the most agonising 300 words I’ve ever seen someone write and rewrite. I think I came out in hives having to stay up all night for final sub checks before the mag could get biked off to the printers. But Edge was a magic world back then. A real gang of super fans.”

After this, he moved to San Francisco writing for US magazines Xbox Nation and GMR as well Japanese publications LOGiN and Famitsu. More recently, he got back into pure design, helping indie studio 17-Bit Studios create its website.

A few months before he died, we all attended Simon Cox’s wedding in the Cotswolds. I sat next to Jason for most of the reception, and we reminisced about the olden days. At some point quite late on, after a few glasses of champagne, I said to him, “when you gave me the job on Edge, you changed my life. Everything I have done in writing after that is really down to you.” He just smiled at me in that charming and slightly airy way of his. I hope I have lived up to whatever it was you saw in me on that warm autumn afternoon long ago.

This is what I have learned from Jason Brookes: be good at what you do. Take care. Make every sentence you write, every image you capture, every idea you foster mean something. And if you are given the chance to thank someone for helping you, take that chance. In fact, do it now. Email them, text them, put down your phone or close your laptop and go find them. Tell them what they did. Because life can be cruel, and important people are sometimes taken away too soon. Jason, you were brilliant, difficult, talented, chaotic, spiritual and loving. You always ended your editor’s intros with a single phrase – the future is almost here. That’s how you lived – with one foot in next week, or next year, or the next decade even, waiting with a smile on your face for the rest of us to catch up.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2019/12/my-life-with-jason-brookes-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=my-life-with-jason-brookes-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

[astralsecrets]

Log 1322 - Wacky Wavy Arms Awareness

Created Tuesday 11 December 2018 Many fragments and two DILDs today.

Spoiler for Well that was more than it looked at first glance:

Scrap Group 1 Vaguely recalled something about the Flintstones. Think these included kid-unfriendly joke. In a pebble-filled garden at night. Unknown Columbian people were having a party. Got aware. I shrunk myself to about an inch in height. My perspective seemed a bit too wide, so I flattened my head. But now, I could only see up to a distance of about few (regular-sized) meters. A woman walked by. I tried getting her attention, but she didn't see me. Cut. Non-lucid. My family were having a party at home. I remembered what occurred previously, and "daydreamed" about it. An aunt interrupted me. She asked my help to get something for her. Wandering around urban area. An uncle was there. He was giving advice, including things that I did not want to admit to. Playing D&D - Tower of Doom as the Cleric. There were several new stages. Later, I discovered a grab attack. I showed my bro, who didn't believe me at first. It took a few minutes before I pulled it off again. We both agreed this changes game dramatically. Watching a trailer for a traditionally animated. Mother Earth, a fat, amazingly tall woman with red hair and wearing a tunic, has been revived. She was supposedly thin in the prequel. Somehow, she accidentally swallowed a talking duck bath toy. In fact, there were plenty of eating jokes at her expense. Cut to a manor house in Egypt. Queen Victoria, guarded by an anachronistic late-Medieval knight, was meeting with councilors. They spoke of Gaia's revival, and, more pertinently, how she was a threat to the British Empire. In a party within an apartment building. Close and extended family members were there. Something extremely humiliating occurs. I react... extremely. Rather forget about this one. In a public restroom. My nephew was there with some of his friends. Noticed my nephew was a bit tubby. Reckoned its cause he hasn't been eating at his home as of lately. I told him he was going on a diet. In a large bathroom. I spotted Peridot from Steven Universe in the tub. She rambles on about humanity's folly. I shrugged, and told her "Who cares?" False Awakening in an unknown bedroom. A ghost woman was haunting me, her skin glowing a sickly white, eyes sunken and without irides, and long, dark hair disheveled. She repeatedly pried my covers from my face, stared at me, then covered me again. My visuals were at times projected from me in several angles over her. Anyway, I was initially frightened,then got curiosity once I noticed she was harmless. My sister snoops at some notes I'd unwittingly left on my phone, all LD related. She laughs at my embarrassment. I get outraged. Dream 1 - Wacky Wavy Arms Awareness Scene 1 - Jeff Bridges in The Adventures Sonic the Hedgehog The visuals were a bit blurred. Spectator mode. This started as an Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog episode. The title character and his pal Tails had unwittingly instigated a tall, savage echidna girl. As Sonic tried talking his way out, he and Tails were captured by the girl's tribe of amazons. Many manner of beasts composed this tribe, even a T-Rex. Then, some live-action characters in heavy motor vehicles entered the scene, a Mad Max-esque gang. Notably, well known actors from the 90's, including Jeff Bridges, were in this group. Anyway, the gang's leader (Bridges) had previously agreed to marry the Amazon leader (much to his own distaste) if they'd captured Sonic. The Amazons, for their part, were beginning to regret this arrangement. I materialize on a the top bunk of a bunkbed in a darkened bedroom. The above scene was being displayed on a small CRT screen several meters away. I began rambling out my thoughts nonstop. This greatly annoyed a little girl seated on the floor below me, who just wanted to watch the show in peace. Annoyed myself, I slammed my hand down at her and (through powers I just realized I had) struck her with a bolt of lightning. She went unconscious. I assumed we regularly fought each other in such a manner. Afterwards, I flew around for a bit. To keep afloat, I had to both remain seated, and flail my hands around in a wave-like motion. Things darkened. Brief trip to the void. Transition. Scene 2 - Wacky Wavy Arms Flight Similar visuals to above. I was floating in a park by a maple wetlands, cloudy twilight sky above. Cool, gentle winds dispersed fog from nearby ponds. Despite the algae, the surrounding waters looked surprisingly clean. I was flying around in the manner noted above. Soon, I became aware, if only because of how silly this looked. Things destabilized briefly, though I brought everything back by force of will.Sweeping through the area, I spotted a yellow-furred dog yelping under a tree. Zap! I struck it with lightning. This time, the target was completely vaporized. I repeated the same on empty field. A scorch mark was left at the point of impact. After that, I flew over a pond. I shot an icicle towards there, and watched as a portion of water froze. Just recalled I need to breath an element to score points. I shouted 'Yol Toor Shul!', but nothing seemed to happen. Noticed a girl walking by, staring at me as if I were crazy. So, I shouted 'Fuus Ro Da!'. It worked. A sudden blast of wind tossed the girl out a hundred yards. The dream collapsed immediately after.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8297989 https://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/fireflyman/log-1322-wacky-wavy-arms-awareness-85878/

[rep5]

Why Should You Appreciate Graffiti?

Let’s be frank, street art, urban art, guerrilla art, despite all the names used its all graffiti. A creative, diverse, and unrestricted art form that is continuously evolving. As with any art form their are admirers and haters, thanks to its prevalence outside of the local art museum, this is even more so for graffiti. So before you decide to reside in the land of the haters I will tell you why you should appreciate graffiti.

via: cambridge

The History

Take a moment to think about cavemen. Dirty, hairy men and women using a cavernous hole on the side of the mountain as a home as they eat the carcass of whatever animal they found for food next to a fire. As you hear the flicker of a spark from the fire take a glimpse on the wall, welcome to the origin of graffiti. Many tribes created detailed paintings on walls for ceremonial and spiritual reasons but all of them told a story, graffiti in its purest form.

via: wiki

Before we get too detailed lets jump ahead to WWII, the longer and more devastating of the world wars. During this time a little character named Kilroy appeared and swept across the walls of the world as a representation of life during war. Militia from all corners of the war marked their existence by marking this character on tanks, walls, and wherever-else they could. An example of how iconic graffiti can be.

via: geektyrant

Let’s jump a few more decades to 70’s and 80’s where disgruntled and impoverished youth cultivated the art form. Graffiti helped them become relevant in a world that had forgotten them. Starting as a numbers game of how much one can get their name up in many places, the art form expanded as the media began to notice and complexity became part of the mix. This age gave birth to iconic artists such as Fab 5 Freddy, Lee Quinoñes, Lady One, Blek le Rat, and Taki 183 to name a few.

via: artsy

You may not be a history buff but you have to admit it’s interesting. Something so simple has developed into something so complex while remaining free and interesting. In this modern age, how many other things can you say have done the same?

The Freedom

Art is the expression of human creative skill and imagination. Thanks to the education system, art forms can be taught in school, where you’ll learn all the methods, color gradients, and rules of art. This however, has stifled the expression and creativity of art a bit. Graffiti is one of the few forms that is truly free. There are many styles and methods to accomplish a great piece but you don’t need fans, you don’t need permission, all you need is drive to go out and make something. If thats not freedom I don’t know what is. This freedom is important because this is how art becomes meaningful to the viewer.

The Creativity

As mentioned above, there are many styles to create a great piece. There are 13 basic styles, but this is just the basics. There are much more complex styles and some that can’t even be categorized. For example some artists extend their piece beyond the confines of a wall, incorporating the street, wall edges, and even the sky in their piece. Many artists use both words and images to convey their message or to express their mastery of the art. While other artists like to interact with nature and other objects outside of what they themselves create.

via: boredpanda

Every style is steadily expanding and evolving. Each one has it’s own unique method that makes each piece diverse. This means that there is an artist or a style out there for everyone to enjoy.

The Message

The diversity becomes even more prevalent when you consider the meaning each artist intends to convey. Whether a statement on social and political issues, making a dull tattered wall interesting, or a simple look at me tag graffiti holds meaning.

The most hated and argumentatively less complex style of graffiti is tagging. Usually this style has no meaning other than writing a name and most tags are associated with gangs and marking territory. Since most artists start off tagging so it can be seen as a type of training wheels for artists, the place where they develop the techniques and flow to later create amazing works of art.

Other styles are much more elaborate with colors, images, and meaning. One of the most political and wildly famous artist of today’s age is Banksy. Bansky’s art is a great example of how deep graffiti can be. Whether it’s comments on the societal ignorance, government vs privacy, or race relations Banksy always sends a message through his art.

The Journey

Do you like scavenger hunts or hide and seek, lets face it everyone does. Next time you have time and feel like a walk pick a piece, figure out the artist, and go searching for more of his work. If you’re in Los Angles check-out Revok, if you’re in Paris give Invader a try, no matter where you go there are great artists who’s work will take you on a journey both figuratively and literally. You’ll find work in backstreet alleys as well as famous spots. Try being a tourist in the world of graffiti on your next vacation.

The Community

Whether its due to the love of the message, the creativity, or any other number of reasons people love graffiti. Colorful messages and images replace dull walls creating a beautiful city. While, the personal graffiti tours mentioned above has added to tourism to cities like Bogota (Columbia), São Paulo (Brazil), and much more. So graffiti not only adds to the beauty of these cities but this tourism adds to the economy.

The greatest thing about graffiti is anyone can join the community and be a fan of graffiti. There is no age requirement, no rules to know, and no one to tell you no. To be a practitioner you may need skill, which you can develop, but that’s all. You don’t have to love it but you definitely should appreciate the beauty, the creativity, and the message of someone’s piece. Plus, It’s free to see.

Sources: artsy, jordantimes

Has this changed your opinions on graffitti?? Let us know in the comments!!

Advertisements

__ATA.cmd.push(function() { __ATA.initSlot('atatags-26942-5ac611868797c', { collapseEmpty: 'before', sectionId: '26942', width: 300, height: 250 }); });

__ATA.cmd.push(function() { __ATA.initSlot('atatags-114160-5ac611868797f', { collapseEmpty: 'before', sectionId: '114160', width: 300, height: 250 }); });

(function(){var c=function(){var a=document.getElementById("crt-601936888");window.Criteo?(a.parentNode.style.setProperty("display","inline-block","important"),a.style.setProperty("display","block","important"),window.Criteo.DisplayAcceptableAdIfAdblocked({zoneid:388248,containerid:"crt-601936888",collapseContainerIfNotAdblocked:!0,callifnotadblocked:function(){a.style.setProperty("display","none","important");a.style.setProperty("visbility","hidden","important")}})):(a.style.setProperty("display","none","important"),a.style.setProperty("visibility","hidden","important"))};if(window.Criteo)c();else{if(!__ATA.criteo.script){var b=document.createElement("script");b.src="//static.criteo.net/js/ld/publishertag.js";b.onload=function(){for(var a=0;a<__ATA.criteo.cmd.length;a++){var b=__ATA.criteo.cmd[a];"function"===typeof b&&b()}};(document.head||document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0]).appendChild(b);__ATA.criteo.script=b}__ATA.criteo.cmd.push(c)}})();

(function(){var c=function(){var a=document.getElementById("crt-467912433");window.Criteo?(a.parentNode.style.setProperty("display","inline-block","important"),a.style.setProperty("display","block","important"),window.Criteo.DisplayAcceptableAdIfAdblocked({zoneid:837497,containerid:"crt-467912433",collapseContainerIfNotAdblocked:!0,callifnotadblocked:function(){a.style.setProperty("display","none","important");a.style.setProperty("visbility","hidden","important")}})):(a.style.setProperty("display","none","important"),a.style.setProperty("visibility","hidden","important"))};if(window.Criteo)c();else{if(!__ATA.criteo.script){var b=document.createElement("script");b.src="//static.criteo.net/js/ld/publishertag.js";b.onload=function(){for(var a=0;a<__ATA.criteo.cmd.length;a++){var b=__ATA.criteo.cmd[a];"function"===typeof b&&b()}};(document.head||document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0]).appendChild(b);__ATA.criteo.script=b}__ATA.criteo.cmd.push(c)}})();

from WordPress https://representbeta.wordpress.com/2018/04/02/why-should-you-appreciate-graffiti/