#daniel just also happened to be a passion project

[devourcr]

imagine daniel's surprise when he finds out his name is on the night island properties.

[cuntylouis]

I'm getting tired of hearing the sentiment that Louis doesn't care about Armand's trauma or have any sympathy for him. In the museum scene his expressions and body language were almost exactly similar to the scenes where Claudia and Lestat talk about their respective assaults. And in all these scenes he's mostly quiet. So does it mean Louis doesn't care about Claudia's or Lestat's traumas either? Of course not. It's just how he outwardly reacts in situations like this. He tends to shut down and doesn't know how to express his empathy and distress. Dreamstat represents Louis' hidden thoughts, but at the museum he's actually next to Louis listening quietly for the most of the scene. It's only at the end when Armand compares Marius, Magnus and Lestat to each other that dreamstat reacts angrily. And it's not mocking what happened to Armand, it's a manifestation of Louis' discomfort, him fearing that he's being manipulated and being uncomfortable that Lestat is brought up and that his relationship with Lestat is compared to Armand and Lestat's disturbing relationships with their own makers.

What Louis says to Armand in San Francisco is incredibly cruel. He's on drugs and extremely upset and intentionally trying come up with the most hurtful words he can think of, they both are. He very obviously deeply regrets it later. When he wakes up after the sun scene and remembers what he did and what kind of things he said before it he's ashamed and distressed. He's crying (though partially because of pain) and immediately tries to apologize to Armand and reach out for him. He's not angry when Armand leaves him in pain, probably thinking that he deserves it. When Armand later says "after what you put me through here i deserve this" Louis agrees. That's not someone who doesn't care or have empathy.

As often with Louis, i think the things he says to Armand are as much about Louis himself as they're about Armand. He sees himself in Daniel, and his entire speech to Claudia in 2.01 is directed also at himself, and he's projecting his own self-hatred and insecurities onto Armand. Louis fears that he is boring and dull. His husband repeatedly cheated on him and laughed in his face when Louis asked isn't he enough. During his depression years Lestat complained about Louis just reading and not leaving the house and how he was drawing Lestat into his gloom. He felt his sister-daughter was more interested in the theater and the coven than spending time with him. The coven mocked him and his passions and didn't find him that interesting after he stopped being a novelty. He was told that he didn't have much artistic talent. In the 70s his life seems to be repetitive and meaningless.

Louis subconsciously detests the qualities he recognizes in Armand that he recognizes and detests in himself - including being a victim. The interview was interrupted when Daniel criticized Louis for going back to Lestat and for his passivity and suicidal ideation. When he's fighting with Armand that all is on his mind. What he says about Armand's "daddy vampire grooming him into a little bitch" actually brings to my mind such scenes as how he derisively said in the second interview that he had become an unhappy housewife living with Lestat, and how dreamstat called him a "little whore". The shame of having experienced abuse and all the feelings of emasculation and degradation that came with it have never left him. Even in the second interview Louis firmly says to Daniel that he doesn't consider himself abused and that he isn't a victim. I don't think Louis consciously thinks that being abused makes someone a bad or weak person, but on some subconsious level he probably feels like that - at least if it's about himself. Again, in this same episode we see Louis acting like he deserves how Armand treats him after their fight and his suicide attempt

[jennysparksandtheauthority]

I wish I could believe any Pricefield's criticisms in good faith, but this is the same fandom that harassed and abused Dontnod when Life is Strange 2 came out and it wasn't about Max and Chloe. The game got review bombed in the early days, and along with harassing the staff, the VAs and characters both received terrible racist comments. We also saw similar instances with True Colors. Harassment, review bombing, and racism.

Both Dontnod and Square/Deck Nine wanted to make this series into an anthology.

It was the Pricefield shippers who continually demanded the return of Max and Chloe.

Seeing how horrifically this fandom has treated so many people who worked on these games, many of whom are just as big of fans and passionate about it as they are, is it any wonder the latest entry is now a souless cash grab meant to bring in money banking on nostalgia while disrespecting the fans and hating on one half of a big ship?

And ever since the first two episodes of Double Exposure has come out, when the fandom isn't talking about Pricefield, I've seen nothing but transphobic comments about Gwen (constantly misgendering her and calling her a pedo because she's trans), racist comments towards Moses and Safi (accusing Moses of being the murderer just because he's black or being hoping Safi is going to die in both timelines because she's Arabic), bisexual erasure towards Max (which Michael confirmed was always supposed to happen, Square didn't influence her sexuality like so many of the fandom and the "former D9 employee" keep insisting), and attacking the VAs who are actually excited for this project and want to play the game on their youtube channels.

I used to love Pricefield when I was younger. I grew out of it as I got older because I saw all the flaws with the ship and figured out it wasn't for me. Any chance of enjoying the ship ever again was ruined by this fandom.

The Life is Strange fandom, and the Pricefield fandom especially, are incredibly entitled and bigoted. One of the worst fandoms I've ever had the displeasure to be a part of. And I'm not surprised at all that things ended up this way.

Big fandoms are always bound to be toxic at some point. The more people in a fandom, the higher the chances of having assholes among us. Unfortunately, it happens. And you’re right about all the fucked up shit that happened through the years, the LIS2 situation was especially heartbreaking.

But you’re also leaning into confirmation bias.

I’ve seen people on Twitter and TikTok and Instagram and here making fan cams of Gwen, saying she’s the best new character, arguing that she would have been a better love interest for Max than whatshisname and Amanda (and I echo that sentiment, Gwen rocks and I’ll fight the transphobes with my bare hands if I have to).

I’ve seen people hold dearly Sean and Daniel’s story, making the ‘squad’ sweatshirt sell out repeatedly in that website that has LIS stuff.

I’ve seen people saying they want to protect Moses at all costs, even calling for everyone to be respectful to the VA and to leave him out of the madness, just like with Hannah Tell.

If we’re having dinner in a restaurant with 100 well behaved people and there’s one or two or even ten assholes screaming and throwing things to other people, they’re going to ruin the experience for everyone else. They’re going to be loud and annoying and you could leave saying you’re never coming back to that restaurant. That’s fair. But the fault falls specifically on that group, not the other hundred people that were minding their own business and enjoying their dinners.

Nowadays, it’s impossible to enjoy any fandom if you don’t find the four/five weirdos that enjoy the thing as much as you and you create a nice little bubble of the stuff you like and the people you want to interact with. It’s sad, but it’s true.

This doesn’t mean people shouldn’t be held accountable and that we shouldn’t try to take out our own trash — I’ve been calling out an awful person on Twitter that’s been harassing and insulting the devs for the last few days. I reported them, I tried to reason, I did all the work until there was nothing left to do but to block them.

Sometimes you can make a difference. Other times, you can’t.

Now, are you suggesting that the whole pricefield fandom deserved this? That we all should be punished? That we’re all implicitly responsible for the misogyny, the homophobia and the greed of the capitalistic machine? Wow.

The simple truth is SE and D9 wanted to pander to casual gamers and gamebros cause they thought that would give them more money. The truth is that D9’s toxic work environment (reason enough to boycott everything they put out well before the pricefield fiasco) influenced this game to the point of being lead by people who didn’t understand the first game and that hated the themes at its core.

You think the pricefield fandom is bigoted and entitled? Oh boy, have a look at all the articles about D9’s internal affairs: N*ZI symbolism, misogyny, sexual harassment, homophobia…

You think the majority of the LIS fandom is toxic? Then take a look at what the casual cismale straight gamers are saying now. They’re the new LIS:DE fandom. I’m not going to reproduce the comments and the absolute vile things I’ve seen them say post-DE gameplay reveal and the break up confirmation, but I’ll show you a glimpse of the reactions:

So, in the bitter conclusion, you might be right: just like Chloe, we might deserve all of this because after all we’re loud, we’re queer, and we deserve to be punished.

Just like Nathan said to Chloe in the bathroom, the devs were asking this to the pricefield fandom… “Nobody would ever even miss your "punk ass" would they?”

Well, fuck around and find out.

[5starluvr]

Night active

Paring:Bang Chan x Reader

Genre:Angst,fluff at the end?

Warnings:none

Spider Kids

This chapter didn’t come out to my liking at all (i rewrote this 5 times and decided to scrap everything and completely redoing it just a few hours before

Rain lashed against the windowpanes, mirroring the storm brewing inside Y/n. Another text. Another "running late, sorry babe." This time, the excuse wasn't even creative. Just another night sacrificed at the altar of the recording studio, another date with Chan turning into a solo act for Y/n.

She stormed out of her apartment, the crumpled reservation for their fancy dinner clutched in her hand. The address was meaningless now, another casualty of Chan's workaholic tendencies. The neon glow of "JYP" mocked her from across the street. It was a familiar sight, a beacon that usually promised exciting new music, but tonight, it felt like a prison holding her love captive.

Pushing open the heavy metal door, Y/n was met not by the expected cacophony, but by an unsettling silence. The air hung thick with the scent of stale coffee and burnt popcorn, remnants of late nights spent chasing sonic perfection. Yet, the mixing console was untouched, the keyboards lay silent, and the screens displayed static ghosts of unfinished projects. A knot of worry tightened in Y/n's stomach.

"Chan?" she called out, her voice echoing eerily in the empty studio.

She navigated the maze of cables and instruments, checking the sound booth, the vocal recording room, even the dingy kitchenette - all deserted. A growing sense of unease gnawed at her. This wasn't like Chan. He might be late, he might be stressed, but he wouldn't simply disappear from his own studio, not without a message.

Desperation clawed at her. She tried calling him, but his phone went straight to voicemail. Panic bloomed in her chest. Had work finally pushed him over the edge? Had something bad happened?

The crumpled reservation slipped from her hand, forgotten on the worn floor. The fancy dinner, the carefully planned evening – all insignificant compared to the gnawing worry that had taken hold.

Y/n knew this wasn't just about a missed date anymore. This was about Chan, and the terrifying possibility that under the relentless pursuit of his passion, he might be lost.

The studio walls seemed to close in on Y/n. Each unanswered call, each ignored text, resonated like a hammer blow. Panic transformed into a cold dread that gnawed at her insides. She tried calling the studio again, just in case, but it went straight to voicemail once more. Tears welled up in her eyes, blurring the glow of the computer screen.

Desperate for any sliver of information, she frantically searched the news. Traffic accidents, building fires, even a report of a rogue squirrel causing a power outage – nothing. Then, a headline jumped out – "Spider-Man Thwarts Bank Robbery, Two Villains Apprehended!" Relief washed over her, so sudden it almost made her dizzy. Chan was alive, that much was clear. But the elation was short-lived.

Spider-Man.

The realization hit her like a punch to the gut. Her usually reliable, grounded boyfriend was also the city's hero. The missed dates, the late nights, the cryptic excuses – it all made a horrifying kind of sense. But where was he now? Was he injured? Had he gotten caught? The image of Chan, hurt and alone, flashed in her mind, and a fresh wave of terror threatened to consume her.

Y/n knew waiting at the studio was pointless. Grabbing her jacket, she raced out into the rain-soaked night. Chan's apartment was the only other place he could be. The journey felt like an eternity, every car horn, every siren, a potential omen of disaster.

Reaching his building, she sprinted up the stairs, two at a time, ignoring the burning in her lungs. Her trembling hand fumbled with the keys, finally unlocking the door. The apartment was dark and silent.

Calling his name, she flicked on the light switch. Empty. The air hung heavy with a familiar cologne, a ghost of his presence, but no sign of Chan himself. Disappointment clawed at her, a cold companion to the gnawing worry. She checked every room with growing desperation. The kitchen was spotless, his usual mess of takeout containers and forgotten mugs absent. The living room held no sign of struggle, just the usual clutter of his life – books, instruments, a half-finished model airplane. Finally, she reached his bedroom, the last bastion of hope and dread.

Pushing open the door, Y/n's heart hammered against her ribs. The room was bathed in the soft glow of the bedside lamp, revealing an unmade bed, clothes strewn across the floor – a familiar, comforting mess. But the sight that made her blood run cold wasn't the scattered laundry.

A figure perched on the windowsill, back to her, clad in a sleek, crimson and blue suit. The unmistakable mask with its large, white eyes sent a jolt of terror and… something else, a flicker of recognition, through her.

"Chan?" she whispered, her voice barely a breath.

The figure remained motionless, but a soft sigh escaped it. It turned slowly, revealing the familiar face beneath the mask, etched with exhaustion and concern.

"Y/n? What are you doing here?" His voice, distorted by the mask's modulator, was a low rumble.

Y/n stared, speechless. The pieces clicked into place – the missed dates, the frantic exits, the news reports – it all pointed to this. Her boyfriend, the reliable, music-loving Chan, was also the city's hero, Spider-Man. A bewildered laugh escaped her lips, laced with a touch of hysteria.

"You... you're Spider-Man?"

Chan winced at the laugh, a sound devoid of joy, and carefully climbed off the windowsill. "Look, Y/n, I—"

He started to explain, but Y/n cut him off, her voice surprisingly steady. "Hold that thought. Right now, I just need to know you're okay. Why weren't you answering my calls? Where were you?"

Relief flooded his features, momentarily pushing aside the guilt. He reached out, but stopped before his hand could touch hers. "I was... busy with something. I couldn't risk taking my phone out."

His explanation was thin, and Y/n's gaze narrowed. "Busy with stopping another bank robbery as Spider-Man, you mean?"

Chan flinched again. The secret was out, hanging heavy in the air. He sighed, deflating. "Y/n, I... I didn't want to lie to you. Being Spider-Man is a huge responsibility, and it takes up a lot of time. But I never meant to hurt you."

He took a tentative step closer, but she remained rooted to the spot. "Did it never occur to you that maybe I could understand? Maybe I wouldn't want you to give up saving people, but I also wouldn't want to be kept in the dark."

Hurt flickered in his eyes, quickly replaced by a pleading look. "Y/n, please. Give me a chance to explain everything."

He gestured towards the bed.

Chan sat there, the mask tucked under his arm, his face etched with worry. He sat beside her, a comfortable distance maintained.

"You said you wanted to explain," Y/n said, her voice quiet.

He took a deep breath. "It started a few years ago," he began, his voice low and sincere. He recounted the fateful night he was bitten by the spider, the awakening of his powers, and the dawning realization of the responsibility thrust upon him. He spoke of the fear, the exhilaration, the constant battle to balance his life with that of a masked hero.

As he spoke, Y/n listened intently. The anger began to recede, replaced by a grudging respect. She saw the burden he carried, the sacrifices he made to keep the city safe. But his words also revealed a crucial flaw.

"You never gave me a chance to understand," she said once he finished. "You treated me like I wouldn't handle it, like I was too fragile to know the truth."

Chan looked down, shame flickering across his face. "I was scared. Scared of losing you, of you judging me. I thought keeping you in the dark was protecting you."

"But it wasn't," Y/n said softly. "It pushed me away. It made me feel like our relationship wasn't important enough to confide in."

Silence stretched between them again, heavy but not without hope. Finally, Chan spoke. "Y/n, I love you. More than anything. This whole… Spider-Man thing, it doesn't diminish that. I just want a chance to show you."

She met his gaze, the hurt still lingering in her eyes but softened by a flicker of understanding. "I need to know if there can be a balance," she admitted. "A life where you can be a hero and still have me by your side."

Chan reached out, his fingers brushing against hers. "There has to be a way," he said, his voice filled with determination. "I won't give up on being Spider-Man, but I also won't give up on you."

Y/n squeezed his hand gently. "Let's talk it through," she said, a glimmer of hope returning to her voice. "Together."

If you’re user is red i can’t tag you | tags list: open

Taglist: @juskz @blackhairandbangs @sxnset-angel @emossssss @hanjsquokka @feelikecinderella @starlostastronaut @kpopsstuffs @lixxpix @jinnie-ret @bangchans-angel @puppyminnnie @michelle4eve @kpopsstuffs @skzswife @saiko-skz @quailbagutte @briqnne @ilychee08

[dalekofchaos]

Context

My pitch that has Max and Chloe saving Rachel

My pitch for Rachel's story

Kate and Victoria after The Storm. Here it would be about recovery, healing and reconnecting. We would find out Kate made it out in time before the storm. I think Kate and her family would move to Seattle and we’d have a chance for Kate and Victoria to reconnect. It would be about reconnecting, forgiveness and working through their shared trauma. Bonus points. Chasemarsh happens!

Life Is Strange:After The Storm. The game opens with how Jefferson nearly kills Victoria, but is saved by David. The game is about Victoria's struggle with returning to everyday life after her traumatic experiences with Jefferson and surviving Arcadia Bay's destruction. She goes to therapy and tries to live and manage her family's gallery. One day her life changes forever. Someone she thought dead comes back into her life. Kate Marsh. Kate and her sisters left her family's rigid religious household and moved to Seattle to live free. It's about reconnecting and recovering from their shared trauma, finding peace with what happened between them, becoming friends and finding love with each other.

Warren's story. It opens on the ending where Max sacrificed Chloe. Warren is in the chemistry class and the gunshot goes off. Everyone is freaked out and when Nathan is arrested and Chloe Price's body is hauled out. Max is still in the bathroom. Warren goes to comfort her and tells him he is here for her. Then the funeral happens. But we hear everyone's reactions to Chloe and Rachel's deaths.

It would be about Warren helping Max through the worst period in her life and helping Max live again. Warren would be Max’s angel to a same degree as to what Rachel was to Chloe. Warren would be there for Max in her mourning and grieving period and helped her move on from Chloe’s death. It could end with Warren and Max going Ape

Throughout the game Warren is there to help Max through the darkest period through her life and help Max through her grieving. We'd also get to learn about Warren as a character, why he loves science, sci-fi and has obscure interests(My pitch is Warren is the male Matilda, was neglected as a child, so he chose books and science as his passion and sci-fi and it made him feel whole.) and show why Warren loves Max.

Warren basically becomes to Max as what Rachel was for Chloe. As Kate put it "even angels need angels Max" It could end with Warren bringing Max out of her depression and helping Max live again.

Epilogue shows that ultimately showing Max living her life and moving on. Show that Max still misses Chloe, but show her living her life. And just show Max living her best life with Warren, Kate, Brooke, Dana, Daniel, Stella and Alyssa. Even show montage of a friendship with Victoria. Show Max having a tea date with Kate. Show Max Goin Ape with Warren. Max doing photoshoots with Victoria and shopping dates with Victoria, Courtney and Taylor. Max doing group projects and games with Warren, Kate, Brooke, Stella, Alyssa, and Daniel. Max being Dana’s official photographer. And show Max and her friends graduating Blackwell and living their lives in Arcadia Bay. We just needed to see that despite losing Chloe, Max is okay and that while she will hold onto the memories of Chloe, she can live. The final scene is Max and Warren visiting the Lighthouse. The Blue Butterfly appears and it touches Max and as the Butterfly flies away, Max says "Goodbye Chloe as Warren holds onto Max and shares a kiss at the Lighthouse.”

for a more in depth look, see my Post-Arcadia Bay headcanons post.

For Nathan's story, I'd like an actual look into the Prescott family, show the Prescott mansion, show Nathan and Kristine's sibling dynamic and how Nathan slowly got under his father's thumb and hey even show nicer moments with Sean since Nathan was awarded "son of the year" so much that Nathan keeps it in his dorm and how what started as a good childhood, evolved into a toxic abusive family dynamic. Then we come to Samantha.

For story purposes we choose the Nathan and Samantha ending as canon, you get to be in a relationship and Nathan loosens up and we get to see a more bright and positive Nathan and it's the story of how this all burns down and how Nathan becomes who he became in LIS 1.

There are two ways we can play this.

Sean Prescott just buys off the Myers family and Samantha gets a scholorship to a wealthy college. With Kristine and Samantha leaving him, Nathan becomes vulnerable and malleable for Sean and Jefferson's abuse and manipulation.

Samantha is the first person to be killed

Sean would most likely see Sam as a distraction in the way of Nathan and the “Prescott family destiny” so he enlists the help of his old friend Mark Jefferson.  Either Sam leaves Arcadia Bay or she becomes one of Jefferson’s first victims in Arcadia Bay. Yes, I know she is not listed as missing. But Samantha could’ve been one of the sad cases of Jefferson not caring enough to memorialize Sam in the red binders. He could’ve viewed her as a disappointment. The worst part? Nathan would be so messed up mentally and emotionally, Jefferson would’ve seized upon the opportunity to gaslight Nathan into believing he killed Sam. Also, I’ve always had this feeling that Jefferson has been doing his thing longer than the events of the game. Been going on for years. In Seattle, LA, all around the country. It’s just now with his old friend funding the Dark Room, Jefferson has the perfect set up. The tragic thing is that no one cared enough to look for her. Sam did not have someone like Chloe who cared enough to put up missing person posters. Sean would do his best to gaslight his son into making him believe that Sam left him all alone which would be perfect for Sean. Her mother would care, but knowing Sean Prescott, he will probably bribe her to keep quiet. That’s the sad thing, we don’t know how many dark room victims who went missing and those victims might be people Jefferson did not deem worthy of being a part of his collection and Samantha could very well be unfortunate enough to be a victim to die and not be remembered. Not knowing what happened to the only person who treated him with real kindness or knowing that his father is right, leads Nathan on a downward spiral, which eventually shows a scene of Sean introducing Nathan to his dear old friend Mark Jefferson. “He will help guide you to greatness and your family destiny.” Guiding Nathan to the Dark Room and the character Nathan would become in Life Is Strange.

A post on what a more in depth look on what a Nathan centric game could look like

[monstersinthecosmos]

I know you probably don’t want to dwell on the show and the negative but I absolutely hate what has happened on here and how hateful people are in the VC fandom it’s just very demoralizing and makes me want to retreat from anything besides the books completely. The discourse was spicy before the show but everything is just even more divisive now and it has sucked the fun out of it. Not really an ask more of a vent sorry

Hi there!

You’re correct that I don’t particularly find it fun to dwell on the negative stuff – as you said yourself, SOMETIMES THE DISCOURSE SUCKS THE FUN OUT OF IT. But I do understand how you feel and I want to say a couple things and I hope this helps you find a groove.

First of all, I did my best not to acknowledge it too much because I didn’t want to validate the folks who were being cunts to me lol, but please know that this fandom (at least on Tumblr) has ALWAYS been kinda fucking violent towards me LOL. I started VC tumbling back in 2016 and it’s ALWAYS been a fucking trash fire. It is hard out there for Marius stans lmfao.

Like, when I was first posting on Tumblr and acclimating to the Tumblr culture it was so much of like, me feeling brave enough to share meta only for someone to be RB’ing me to tell me I’m wrong, or me talking about how much I liked something about Marius only for someone to vague me, or it was me hosting the huge fandom Discord back in 2017 only for people to then come on tumblr and complain about how the Discord was way too Marius Friendly as if like, a drama-free space where we can discuss the books makes it a harbor for predators.

Of course I also had the gaggle of fucking morons who were constantly stalking me, catfishing their way into my servers to try to take screenshots and write call outs and cancel me, who would not stop preaching about how “all these big blogs” are “actually such terrible people” because “look at the things they ship” even when I’d never been unkind to them, even occasionally donated to their GFMs. These are folks who think they’re morally in the right for protecting the virtue of Armand’s poor teenage asshole and executed this justice by stalking and harassing an ACTUAL PERSON LOL. Like, listen. I’m sorry to burst ur bubble, but Armand doesn’t exist. He’s letters on a paper. I’m actually a real person and you’re up my fucking ass because I don’t’ even fucking know why, you’re jealous of my fucking Tumblr engagement or something? Which one of us is actually the creep here lol?? Is this a race to the bottom to be the valedictorian of clown school on the website for homeschooled clowns?

I’ve also had the pleasure of being on the receiving end of acephobic discourse, being told I don’t do enough to protect every individual in fandom from their own bullies as if it's my job to do that, being called ableist for how I wrote Daniel in my fics even though I was projecting and discussing my own personal experiences – I’ve also had a project collaborator have a tantrum and try to steal my work until I had to threaten with legal action, I’ve been put on block lists, I’ve had many people consume my fics in secret without actually leaving comments because I’m too toxic for them to communicate with in public.

BLAH BLAH BLAH.

This was all before AMC showed up LMFAO. It was not easy for me! It’s still not always easy!

And so yeah like, by nature of the fandom EXPLODING we are going to see more drama. More people is more drama. The nature of the discourse often hedges into real life issues that people are very opinionated and passionate about and there are conflicting needs inside the same space about how to hold conversations. Even just the other day I RB’d a joke about Anne Rice and OP got upset with me because they didn’t want actual fans interacting with it. Whoops! I didn’t know! I just thought it was funny. ;.;  

Even in good faith and with the best of intentions we’re going to step on each other’s toes, and we’re gonna find people we don’t vibe with. And that’s normal and it’s fine.

What ISN’T normal is this inability to disengage that I think we see often in online space, and I don’t want to get into a whole side essay about all the reasons why I think that happens. But sometimes you gotta be the bigger person and take it on the chin.

Like, yeah, it sucks. It sucks the fun out of the room when you share a space with such bitter people who can’t be kind to each other. But like. THAT’S A THEM PROBLEM, YOU KNOW? And I think we gotta remember that sometimes people like that do it for the attention or the spike of dopamine when they can pick a fight and honestly like, you don’t need to waste YOUR OWN time on it, but you’re also doing that person a kindness if you don’t enable the bad behavior.

And it sucks that Tumblr’s mute tools are awful!!!!! It would make navigating so much easier to be able to curate the dash a little better and keep the bad actors out of your space. I sometimes just fuck off and don’t even come online for days if I know I’m not in a good headspace and won’t have the strength to just fucking ignore it, because sometimes drama catches my eye and I get nosy and go down the rabbit hole, too – having ADHD makes it really hard to avoid sometimes LOL – but like I try to be reasonable and love myself enough to avoid it when I can help it. I’m not willing to make my own problems everyone else’s problem, and I hope that some of these shit starters in fandom will get there, themselves.

So yeah it blows when the vibes are fucking atrocious, and it REALLY blows when it’s a fandom this small where you can’t avoid it. Even when it’s a vocal minority it really just kills the fucking mood.

BUT WHAT I WILL SAY.

Whenever I say shit like “write what you want to read��� and we’re talking about fanfic, or even meta or even silly headcanon posts or jokes, that also means draw what you want to see, it also means make what you want to hold, apply it to any creation you can think of. Put the thing you want to see into the world. And it counts for fandom, too.

I don’t want to be part of a fandom that’s constantly infighting and attacking people, so I don’t fight and attack people. I don’t want to be called a predator for being a Marius fan and so I don’t engage in posts that say as much, not even to argue, because I don’t want my followers (who might also be Marius fans!) to have to see that on their dash. I want us to protect our peace and create a space we want to be in.

Like I have a policy that any time someone says I’m a freak or any time I see truly godawful word salad discourse, I go out of my way to post something kinky and offputting about Marius LMFAOOOO  because I want to be surrounded by reasonable fun people who share my sensibility for fiction. AND SOMETIMES IT’S CRICKETS, AND SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO WORK HARD TO FIND YOUR PEOPLE. But at the end of the day I know I’m being my most sincere self and I’m trying to have a good time and just post fun things that I enjoy. And like, the book fandom is small as fuck and we’re all famished, but I think if more of us did that, we’d build a much more productive and tolerant space.

And for all the shit I’ve mentioned, all the drama and attacks and all the times people have harassed me or tried to make me feel small, you know what? I just got back from @apoptoses & @cup-of-lixx 's wedding and they met in VCblr! We spent all week with our VCblr friends! We all went to New Orleans together last Halloween !

When I used to work on ships it was like a fandom friend world tour! I had so many coffees in port with my vampire friends!

I’ve learned so much about writing from all the time I’ve spent here and the community of writer friends who supported me! There’s folks I met on VCblr that I talk to LITERALLY every day! They are such huge parts of my life and genuine life-long friends!!!!!!

Sometimes it seems like the ROI is garbage but like, so much of finding the joy is also learning to protect yourself from the negativity.

It IS out there. It DOES suck. And it’s lonely when you haven’t found your people yet. But fandom doesn’t have to be the 500 angry assholes arguing with each other about a fucking TV show, it can be your 3 besties in a private group chat having a great time.

Like I just drove @hekateinhell to the airport (met THROUGH TUMBLR!) and on the way back I was listening to an episode of Last Day and they were discussing the concept that “community is a life raft” and it hit me so hard man!!!!!!!!!!!

Find your people! Block the shit starters! Mute discourse buzzwords that you know are going to upset you!

Keep! Posting! What! You! Want! To! See!!

Fandom is self-generating, we can do this!

My inbox is always open and BELIEVE ME I have been motherfucking persona non grata in this place before and I know how rancid the vibe can be so please come talk any time it's grinding you down, I got you!!!!!!!!!!!!

[el-moscorrofio-y-el-mercachifle]

I wonder if weekends exist in YSBLF 🤣 or do Ecomoda employees work from Monday to Saturday? If yes, so they only have Sundays off? I don't think anyone ever heard of a weekend there

I wish there was a ep so we could see what they did outside the company on their free day.

What do you think each character should do? Share with us.

Hiii!

I think the work schedule changes! Armando mentions at different points the regular schedule but it's always different. He says at one point that they work everyday including holidays! However there’s a scene (right after the failed double date with Aura Maria) that implies that the date happened on a Friday and they didn't work on the Weekend! So who knows! My bedt guess I'd that Ecomoda's working hours and schedules are as just as loose as the show's timeline😂

Mmm, about what they do on ther weekends, here's my wild guess!

Mario is the easiest: he sees women, goes out to have fun, and sleeps around. I'm guessing he also reads, as we know he's a very well read man!

Daniel works, has work meetings, coctels, reads, listens tk music, and watches some movies

Nicolás is most of his time with tbe Pinzóns, but I'm guessing he spends some times with his mom!

Armando depending on the point in the novela he's either having a great time or a horrible time lmao it's likely his only tome to spend with his dog, tho

Marcela probably likes to spend in at home. We saw that she isn't much of a social girl, and probably only goes out occasionally with a friend to eat or something. Armando definitely wished she were more up to social plans. She gives me plant mom vibes lmao

Betty spends the weekend with her family! Absolutely. Family bonding time. In a wild weekend they go to the movies and out to eat lmao. This almost always includes Nicolás, of course! She also helps her mom out with some home chores

Inesita spends it at home, quiet lonely. She probably hates weekends, and tries to distract herself as much as possible

Hugo goes out to party with his bf or spends it at home on a romantic evening with him. He probably also looks for ways to inspire himself, because more than work, designing is his passion. Museums, quick trips, magazines, etc.

We actually have canon knowledge of what Aura M does. Mainly disappear and go out with dudes and have fun at parties. No one knows about her until about late sunday or early Monday at the latest.

It's harder to guessnabout what others do as we don't really see much about their interests but I' guessing most have common lives, using weekends to catch up with home projects and errands and groceries and all that!

Thanks for the question!🥰

[destinyc1020]

What a truly weird comment from that Robert Daniels guy (and he is someone who hasn't even seen the show to decide for himself). To say that Tom's only 'life experience(s)' have happened in show business. That is a really callous, to act like he hasn't lived like a human in love and loss and disappointments and achievements outside of his work, like we ALL do. To dismiss him as just some one dimensional product of the industry with no life is just gross to me? And the same critic replied with laughing emojis to someone who said it was generous to even call him an actor. Just a huge, huge yikes. I am really getting just a nasty, nasty vibe from some of these critics. Even IF Tom was someone who acted as poorly as someone on a soap opera (which he certainly doesn't, he has turned in some truly fantastic performances in his career and thats just a fact), no one deserves to be spoken about like that from people who are supposedly professionals. People seem to take a really disrespectful kind of joy in insulting him, I know that people can be absolutely vicious to anyone in the public eye, but this just seems truly WAY too much.

The positive reviews from actual publications outweigh the negative. Someone did a review roundup where the count was 17 that had 4-5 stars, 5 with 3 stars, and 3 with 1-2 stars. The narrative I'm seeing on twitter just does not reflect the reality of the reception - it was received WELL. Anyways, sorry for the rant Destiny, but I expect this kind of behavior from trolls, but from professionals living their Twitter mean girl fantasy it gives me a big ick. I'm just glad the audience reception and the majority of critics have appreciated him and Fran's performance and Jamie's production, and I'd just like to see more clickbait about THAT instead of this strange negativity that's cropped up.

Also, am thinking about you and sending you lots of love and condolences, I hope that fandom can be a positive distraction for you in a tough time. Thank you for your discussions on this blog, and I hope you take care of yourself first and foremost

Also, am thinking about you and sending you lots of love and condolences, I hope that fandom can be a positive distraction for you in a tough time. Thank you for your discussions on this blog, and I hope you take care of yourself first and foremost

First of all, thank you so much for this.🙏🏾 I really appreciate it 🥰❤️

Re: Robert Daniels....

I assume you must be referring to this comment he made on Twitter?

Yea girl, I felt like his critique of Tom was just kinda cruel?? 🥴 Like, it's one thing to critique someone's acting, but when you start making all kinds of ASSUMPTIONS about someone and what kind of life they've had, etc, I'm sorry, but that's hitting below the belt imo. 🤨

And I usually don't resort to going in on people's looks and outward appearance when I'm trying to do a rebuttal to smthg I didn't like that someone said, but whew chiiiiilllle..... 👀

Talk about a face only a mother could love lol

Anyway....

I really do hope that Tom just doesn't even pay any mind to the critics and just continues on to enjoy doing this play as simply a passion project for himself and himself only.

Idk what people's obsession is with hating on him on Twitter (I guess he's become Twitter's new "Whipping Boy".... it happens to MANY actors 🙄), but whenever I see ppl en masse hating on someone for seemingly NO GOOD reason, my spidey senses start tingling and I figure that this person must not be as "bad" as people claim, cuz if he were, you wouldn't need such a mass mud slinging and hate campaign against this person. Everyone would be able to see with their own eyes how awful this person is. Jmho 🤷🏾‍♀️

You don't need to convince people so hard when there's actually smthg to really hate about a person imo.

Tom's acting is fine. Don't worry, the stans came after that Robert guy lol 😆 😂

If he's a real, valid, professional critic, then he was kinda unprofessional imo.

But, then again, that's not uncommon for critics. Critics can sometimes go for the jugular if they don't like you, or don't like your work.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time a critic has been harsh about an actor. 😔

Thankfully, Tom has a HUGE fanbase (just look on IG!), so we don't have to worry about the people who don't like him or his work.

[desertfangs]

How do you feel what the show is doing to the characters? Especially to Daniel?

Listen, I don't love it. But before I go on, let me just say this is my only my opinion and I'm not trying to steal your joy if you do! The show just doesn't work for me. If you want to know why, read on. Otherwise, feel free to scroll on past and don't let me yuck your yum. The first thing I heard about the show was actually that they were making Daniel an old man and it was going to be second interview and I was immediately wary. I mean, a second interview might neat but why does it have to be a mortal Daniel conducting it? Changing Daniel's story that much meant that Devil's Minion--the real, true-to-book Devil's Minion--could never happen. Armand's whole character arc in that section is learning to love and accept that he deserves loves and making the decision to turn and not lose Daniel. Daniel's whole arc is wanting immortality, falling desperately in love with an immortal, and finally accepting that he cannot have it and is willing to die at peace in said immortal's arms. None of that happens if Daniel is old now, end of story. No matter what the show does with flashbacks, whether or not it gives them time together than TV!Daniel has forgotten--forcibly or otherwise--that story is irrevocably changed.

But the trailer looked great!! I was willing to give it a chance. I'm also a huge fan of Lestat and Louis/Lestat was my first and formative ship in this fandom so I was willing to hear it out and see what story it was trying to tell. I figured yeah, it sucks that they've changed my favorite guy but maybe the rest of it will be good! I watched every single episode. But sadly, it just didn't work for me.

None of the characters feel like their book counterparts to me. Of course, your mileage may vary on that score, but to me, they don't have anything in common: their personalities, their motivations, their goals (such as we are given them, which I feel is quite lacking)... none of it lines up to me with the characters I've known and loved for so long. Louis is telling the story and I don't feel like I understand him in the show very well. Lestat is loathsome and hateful and doesn't even have a care for Claudia. Why is Armand pretending to be human? What game are they playing?

For Daniel in particular, Young Daniel seems lackluster and bored, trolling gay bars to score drugs and disinterested in his interview project, when in the book, Daniel the Reporter Boy is passionate about it, curious about people and their stories, respectful and gently prodding. TV!Daniel is angry and aggressive, rude and pushy. (The flashback bar scene in particular really felt like it lacked a complete understanding of what makes these characters tick, and then we got the Rashid reveal and it's like.. OK sure, but why should I care? Who is this guy?)

I don't recognize these characters or how they relate to each other. Add to that the way the timeline was totally changed and the fact that the lore feels very Generic TV Vampire rather than Ricean, and it's just not my bag.

I'm happy for all of the people who love it! I just cannot join you.

Thank you for the ask, anon, I have no idea if this is the answer you were hoping for and I'm sorry if not.

[mizkit]

new blog post: an epiphany

new blog post on https://mizkit.com/an-epiphany-2/

an epiphany

I had an epiphany recently. Not one that’s likely to lead to a sudden burst of writing because I am So Fucking Far Behind On Everything that the idea of resurrecting a project that has like an absolute total of 10,000 words written on it is just not happening, but.

So I’ve been re-reading the Continuing Time books by Daniel Keys Moran, which are easily some of my favorite books ever. Desert island stuff, that. But I ran out of the ones I had on my ereader so I switched to Kim Stanley Robinson’s Science in the Capital trilogy, which are also desert island books for me.

As plenty of you know, I’ve long, long, long since nurtured a desire to write a climate change series, one that’s more accessible than KSR’s books but tackles the same kind of big picture ideas. One of the things that’s always stopped me is the intimidating amount of research, although at the same time I’ve paid a lot of attention to climate research for 30+ years now, so my grounding is pretty solid.

But a fascinating thing happened, picking up KSR immediately after DKM, which was my brain fully went, “Yeah, no, you want to be writing a DKM-style near future SF thing, not at all a KSR one.”

And I KNEW that, because much of the point of writing it for me is that while I love KSR, I do think he’s an opaque writer and not the kind of read that draws people effortlessly into a story: you are there for The Ideas, and if you’re dedicated to them, it’s really, really great stuff. But it’s not an easy read. Cerebral, perhaps, would be a good word for it. Not precisely detatched, because there’s a lot of passion (and some of the modern era’s best nature writing, IMHO) in it, but…difficult.

Dan’s stuff is often complicated as hell, and often has a lot of characters with page time (one of my favorite sections in THE LAST DANCER is from a medical robot’s point of view), and it has a shit ton of Big Ideas, but it’s incredibly readable in the draw-you-in-drag-you-along sense. It connects, if you will, on a more emotional level; the Big Ideas, the world development, etc, whatever you want to call it, are strongly in support of the characters, rather than the characters very much being in support of the ideas, which is where I think KSR rests.

I have all the parts for the climate change series I want to do. I have for a long time. And I’ve known for some time that to some degree I’ve been getting in my own way about it because I’m living in this space of intimidation about tackling Big Ideas with the weight KSR does. Like, I’ve had long conversations with other writers about that very thing.

But switching directly between those two writers really opened up a space in my head that more or less said, “Yeah, no, you could do this just fine, it’s just that you’re a writer more like DKM than KSR and that’s fine, so you just have to do it in the space you already work in,” which is, I like to think, compulsively readability. :)

So I don’t know what I’m going to do with this information. Nothing right now, because I have fifty other things to do by, like, yesterday, but I feel like that juxtaposition of writing styles right next to each other really unlocked my ability to give myself permission to write the things.

In my copious free time. :grimace:

[sa7abnews]

Medical breakthroughs discovered on International Space Station

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/16/medical-breakthroughs-discovered-on-international-space-station/

Medical breakthroughs discovered on International Space Station

Research at the International Space Station (ISS) is helping doctors on Earth find new treatment options for patients.”There is a lot of excitement about this and many other kinds of research,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. “It’s too bad that it’s taken this long. You know, I did this protein crystal growth experiment back in January of 1986, but we didn’t have a permanent laboratory in space, and just now, we are beginning to see the payoffs of this drug research.”Over the years, pharmaceutical company Merck has launched several protein crystallization research projects to the International Space Station. Scientists have said observing the proteins in zero gravity could benefit cancer treatments on Earth.NASA ADMINISTRATOR DESCRIBES FUTURE PROJECTS, PARTNERSHIPS IN SPACE”The drug that was developed down here on Earth that has been so phenomenally successful, Keytruda, we have taken that to space in zero G,” Nelson said. “They have been able to form those crystals in such a larger and more uniform pattern.”The microgravity exposure has made the drug more effective and easier to administer to patients.”It has given them the ability to concentrate the actual infusion into a shot in the body instead of a long, long process of intravenous feeding, through a fluid,” Nelson said. “It can be done so much quicker, so much more direct and more effective in the administration of that drug.”An environment drastically different from ours on Earth has helped scientists learn more about humans.”The effects of microgravity and radiation on the body, they mimic aging. So, we are understanding a lot of what happens to the body in space, what happens to the body as you age,” said NASA Technology Transfer Program Executive Daniel Lockney.As we age, we may encounter new diseases. Space is also helping scientists find new treatments through stem cell research.”Growing stem cells has been very challenging in the lab,” said Mayo Clinic Laboratory Medicine and Pathology Specialist Dr. Abba Zubair. “We have not been able to expand the cells enough to say one donor can give to several other patients. So, we start thinking out of the box and thought, ‘Maybe we need to go out of the world because gravity is everywhere.’”This past January, Northrop Grumman and SpaceX helped deliver Zubair’s research to the International Space Station.”There’s some evidence [from] before that shows absence of gravity can stimulate cells to grow differently, but the other reason is just my childhood dream. I always wanted to be an astronaut. I always [wanted] to go to space,” Zubair said, “so I have a clinical problem and I have a passion for space. … [I] said, ‘Well, why don’t we see whether the space environment can solve some of our challenges on Earth.'”NEW RESEARCH INVESTIGATES HOW SHORT-TERM SPACE TRAVEL AFFECTS ‘SPACE TOURISTS’The Mayo Clinic reported that cells grown on the ISS showed no DNA damage or chromosomal abnormalities. Zubair and his team said they could be used as possible treatments, but more studies are needed.”We thought maybe we can grow the cells in space if they can grow faster. We can treat more patients with that,” Zubair said.He added that he hoped to learn more about treating stroke patients as well.”Stroke is something I personally care about because this is what killed my mother relatively prematurely,” Zubair said. “I’ve been looking for ways to, in my own discipline and field, to contribute towards addressing stroke.”Various stem cells have also behaved differently. Mesenchymal stem cells, or adult cells that have shown to have healing potential, do not grow significantly faster than they do on Earth. However, their ability to control immune cells was enhanced. Hematopoietic stem cells, which could develop into various types of blood cells, do grow much faster in space.”When the stem cells are a part of a tissue from the body, let’s say breast tissue that is infused with cancer,” Nelson said, “we can form a 3D … tissue, and as a result of that, they can then in space use different drugs on that [3D tissue] and determine what is the most effective.”Nelson said scientists have hoped to use the same testing method for Parkinson’s, brain cancer and other diseases.”We can do this continuously in this research workplace called the International Space Station, and that’s where we’re having some dramatic breakthroughs,” Nelson said.Research is still in the early stages. Zubair estimated it could take several years before treatments from space-grown stem cells are used on patients. He said an expanding footprint in orbit could expedite the process.”There are patients knocking on our door that are waiting, and they really want this going. I think with more funding and more access, maybe the timeline would be shorter,” Zubair said.He also hoped that he, too, could be part of the expanding presence in space.”I am waiting to do my experiment myself. So, please take me to [the] moon or ISS,” Zubair said. 

[jcmarchi]

Empowering the next generation of scientists in Africa

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/empowering-the-next-generation-of-scientists-in-africa/

Empowering the next generation of scientists in Africa

No one is born a world-class scientist. Instead, their skills are built over many years of education, networking, mentorship, and work in laboratories or in the field.

That’s the fundamental insight behind the not-for-profit organization Future African Scientist, which is seeking to unleash the scientific potential of the continent by providing African students and early-career scientists with the support they need to do world-renowned research that addresses problems in their local communities and beyond.

Future African Scientist, or FAS, partners with leading scientists and institutions around the world, including MIT, to offer educational courses, training, networking events, and other programming around scientific research and entrepreneurship. More importantly, graduates of FAS programs join a network of scientists that helps them match with jobs, internships, and further learning opportunities.

“Our programs aim to democratize access to science education and create a new wave of scientists that are going to study African problems and not just publish papers, but also translate that research into beneficial products as well as policies,” says FAS co-founder Martin Lubowa.

At the core of FAS is a belief in the power of connections to further scientific understanding. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that FAS began with a connection between two people from very different walks of life during an MIT program.

From roommates to co-founders

In 2020, Daniel Zhang ’22 participated in Biology Professor Bruce Walker’s course HST. 434 (Evolution of an Epidemic) as part of a MISTI Global Classroom during MIT’s Independent Activities Period (IAP). The course immerses students in a South African community to teach them about the AIDS epidemic from the perspective of doctors, researchers, policymakers, and local infected women.

That IAP happened to be the first year the class paired MIT students with students from the African Leadership Academy, which seeks to build leadership skills in African youth. Zhang’s roommate was Martin Lubowa.

“Martin and I bonded instantly despite coming from completely different cultures and backgrounds,” Zhang recalls. “We shared passions for education, mentorship, and sports.”

Despite waking up early each day for class, Zhang and Lubowa talked late into the nights. Many of their conversations centered around the differences in STEM opportunities between students in the U.S. and African countries. They also discussed the importance of STEM in economic development and eventually identified a lack of mentorship programs as a key problem. They decided to found Future African Scientist to close those gaps.

With support and encouragement from Walker, the pair kept in touch after the class and focused their mission to equipping university and high school students in Africa with early-stage mentorship and critical thinking skills that would enable them to conduct independent research projects.

In January 2022, they organized their first virtual bootcamp for students across Africa. The bootcamp featured virtual courses, lectures by leading African scientists, mentorship opportunities, and a capstone project that challenged students to apply their learnings.

“We didn’t want to just give them research skills, but also entrepreneurship skills and interpersonal skills to position them as scientific entrepreneurs,” Lubowa says.

After receiving positive feedback and learning more about the skills students needed, the founders broadened the structure of FAS.

Today, a similar bootcamp on foundational research skills serves as the first stage of FAS’s four-part Africa Science Research Academy. The second stage is a data-driven research project that exposes participants to working in a lab. The third stage teaches skills including entrepreneurship, leadership, financial literacy, and grant management. The final stage, the Africa Science Opportunity Network, is available to FAS graduates for life and is designed to connect participants with internships, jobs opportunities, and other research projects.

“What makes us different from most of the research training programs in Africa is that we are open to anyone who is curious,” Lubowa says. “Most of the programs on the continent target MDs who already practicing, or PhDs, which is a bit unfair for people who are curious, but they don’t have the right platform to channel that curiosity into meaningful experiences.”

To date, more than 100 students and young professionals have gone through FAS programming. The students hail from more than 30 universities and 15 countries. FAS has also partnered with 10 medical student associations that have helped it expand its network to more than 100,000 students across the continent. FAS is also in conversations with organizations like the African Microscope Initiative, which has offered to recruit FAS graduates for more specialized training in bioimaging, as well as African state governments to create upskilling programs that could serve as alternatives to MD and PhD programs.

“We see Africa transitioning from just being a beneficiary of the global scientific community to becoming a contributor,” Lubowa says. “That means we can help the U.S. and other Western countries solve their problems. The issue at the moment is getting people the skills they need and changing their mindset so they understand they can do great things, and that in the long run, they can not just generate knowledge, but also create enterprises that address some of these challenges within Africa and beyond.”

Meeting the needs of the continent

In 2022, a pair of students from the Association of Mbarara University Pharmaceutical Sciences in Uganda learned about the foundations of entrepreneurship through FAS’ programming. They are in the process of commercializing their research into mosquito repellants made from locally-sourced materials. That same year, an undergraduate Cameroonian alumna of FAS placed third in a national science competition despite going up against PhDs. His research was in early detection of pancreatic cancer.

“One of the aspirational goals of Future African Scientists is to cultivate a sustainable scientific ecosystem where beyond academia, there’s also a science industry in Africa,” Lubowa says.

Further down the line, FAS would like to open its own laboratories to broaden access to equipment, and FAS’s team has already spoken with companies that exchange second-hand medical and laboratory equipment to help improve scientific infrastructure at African institutes.

“Our long-term plans include establishing general-purpose, open laboratories where students across Africa can go and learn how to do practical science,” Lubowa says.

With all work, FAS seeks to empower Africans to become a global scientific force for good.

“We have a population of 1.2 billion people in Africa, but we only have 198 scientists per million people. The U.S. has more than 4,000 scientists per million people,” Lubowa says. “Africans also have the highest burden of disease, so there’s really a need for us to rethink how we have been training scientists, and it all goes back to these support systems. I really think we can change the scientific landscape in Africa.”

[danielsiegelalonso]

Daniel Siegel Alonso Shares How to Crowdfund Your Album

Introduction

In the modern era of music, the term crowdfunding stands as the use of a small amount of capital from a large number of people to finance new ventures. As an independent musician, finding adequate funding for your music projects can often be termed as a struggle. As such, one increasingly popular way for musicians to raise funds is through crowdfunding support.

Daniel Siegel Alonso & His Alluring Journey

Daniel Siegel Alonso, a multifaceted musician who has reigned the music industry for years on and on has won the hearts and minds of millions. With the symphonic touch in his music, he has been able to win the hearts of many. Given that he has released 23 reclaimed albums, performed at prestigious venues, along with collaborating wth notable artists. Whether in the studio or on stage, Daniel Siegel’s passion for music is a spellbinding mastery of his skills.

Daniel Siegel Alonso arrives, trailing a thin miasma of weed fumes onto the stage to deliver incredible performances for his audiences of all ages. Throughout history, he has been able to deliver an indelible mark by mastering the art of performance. Such has been evident with the support he has received from his listeners.

Crowdfunding Your Album In Modern Era

It is more than just an ability to create a lasting impact in the realm of music industry, Daniel Siegel Alonso has never ceased to captivate his listeners. He as an artist also understands that a hefty amount of funding is required to uphold such performances. With the growing fandom and the veracity of artists in the music industry, crowdfunding one’s album can be considered a decent option to raise funds.

By understanding your audience, honing your craft, and embracing the essence of your performance, you can unlock a door of innumerable possibilities. In such a vista, artists uncover their immense potential and prepare themselves for crafting a compelling performance. In many ways, funding your album through crowdfunding can be proven as effective as any other source of funding. One must gauge the vitality of certain tips and tricks that goes into preparing the journey of crowdfunding your album.

Tips & Tricks For Achieving Success

Set Clear Goals

If you are in a band or performing as a solo artist potentially releasing your album, you’ll need to note these things:

Looking at the numbers to determine the fan base you’ve acquired.

The size of the venue booked.

List of implicit and inherent costs.

Moreover, doing many tasks as an artist that you can do would help you cut down on costs. Thus, such will assist you in reducing the overall costs and help create a more realistic budget. For instance;

Recording your own vocals at home.

Learning how to mix your own tracks

Carrying out your own marketing agenda.

Carrying out your own promo.

Impeccable Timing is Key

Having an eye out for similar gigs or music events happening in your vicinity could help you in assessing the potential supporters. Other gigs can really affect the way the support you receive for a campaign as potential supporters may be interested in buying your tickets. Thus, by being able to promote your music in such a time frame may be considered successful.

Creating a Campaign Video

The creation of an epic campaign video is one of the best promotional tools to your fandom. Seldom, it’s understandable to leave the final details such as explaining the reasons as to why you need funding out and focus on captivating the audience. Often, these factors are what make a campaign more effective than the rest of things combined.

Conclusion

One of the biggest benefits of crowdfunding is that it allows you to generate more funds from outside of your own pockets. Such a method is extremely assistive for independent musicians who may not have the necessary financial resources as a powerhouse. Overall, crowdfunding requires a lot of time and effort but with the most adaptable approach and attitude, this can help you achieve your music goal.

[florasearle]

David Wilson

Wilson is an art director

Inspired by Sugar Water music video-I’ve seen this!

Studied illustration at Brighton originally

Project for uni was an astronaut mockumentary where he made the costume - Life As An Independent Astronaut

Used one of Metronomy songs for his final piece - this video gave him his first commission after uni. Knew one of bands girlfriends. Now intertwined in each others lives. The animation was drawn individually on paper and cut out on photoshop. Just worked with what he could do.

Blink and Partisan- were cool companies

Doogle Wilson director

YCN- an illustrative version of D&AD. Brief was to create a response under 4 minutes. Zoetrope - sat with a record player and drew 16 drawings around record. Won him best budget music video award

Life is like a rollercoaster-it’s more like a line at a theme park. He just is showing us the rollercoaster parts. Most of it is leaning into and pushing.

It’s all in the preparation for these types of project

Artic Monkeys-wanted visuals for their track Do I Wanna Know? Wanted animation similar to their album cover. First went to directors of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared but they were too busy. He drew the storyboards and had a team of animators to create the animation.

Arcade Fire music video, featured Andrew Garfield

Did commercial works in-between, such as Rowse Honey

Royal Blood music video

Retro Futurist Daddies-played with AI over his break. What the world be like with masculine gay men who are seen as an important part of society. Gay imagery is shown as cinematic and not underground

Still does scrap drawings and uses his illustration degree

Pulls references from music videos he likes

Also showed us the Mastoor video without the visual effects

Deep Clean music video

When starting music videos they pitched endlessly for years to get their ideas accepted (talking of creators of everything everywhere all at once whose ideas all got rejected). Made music video for Sleigh Bells band.

Created advert for Facebook. Based around the idea of small business and the tool to personalise ideas

Artists Way- 12 week course where it recovers artistic burnout. Recommend doing it as a group or with a friend to help motivate.

Important to be real in this profession. Everyone should be communicating their bad days to each other.

Shooting animatics like in Mastoor really helps

Encourage other creatives to advance ideas

Fuck the system

What are the thought processes to taking risks?:

Usually pushing against something - subversive to the brief (makes it exciting to him)

Breaking things is a brand he has made for himself

Bigger risks of the Deep Clean-seeing what was happening to the appropriation of queer culture. Anything overtly sexual within this community is often rejected-leather culture, cabaret culture. This got him riled up and passionate about the project. In his he’s making peace with the world, not taking risks

Narratives aren’t chronologically based, how does he storyboard these ideas, such as in Artic Monkeys music video

Going back to his foundation course and and an excise he was taught. Taking lots of A4 sheets of paper and folding them up 3/4 times so you get a row of 8 set a timer and draw in each of these frames. They had a brief of drag racing and sexy girls but it was a stream of consciousness.

Be your own AI machine.

How does he merge a visual together?

Directors Daniel Wolf will shoot shoot shoot with various cameras and figure it out in the edit

Wilson was taught how to structure his work through being with Doogle Wilson who would meticulously storyboard everything

Every second on set is money and so time is a pressure, storyboards help but it’s also important for some leeway to help actors/dancers etc

Eliminates the unknown before he spends money

Uses anyone around to help visualise camera sequences

Networking is the most powerful tool you can have

Did music video for The Maccabees

Being a creative doesn’t get easier

Don’t imitate other people

This talk was really inspiring as a person whose only skills reside in illustration, often feeling constricted in my abilities to expand beyond what I want to do and feeling limited by what I am able to do. I have always felt to be a person with ideas but without the means of execution. Wilson talked of how his ideas are given to people with the technical knowledge to execute them and this has reassured me in my future career. Though I may not be able to pursue this as a career, due to my lack of technical knowledge, it was inspiring to see how someone could use their visions as a career.

[dalekofchaos]

Life Is Strange:Warren's story

I came up with a game idea or comic idea where we play as Warren or Warren is the protagonist of this comic series during Post-Save the Bay. I don't have a clever title for this hypothetical LIS story, so let's call it LIS:Healing.

Warren's story. It opens on the ending where Max sacrificed Chloe. Warren is in the chemistry class and the gunshot goes off. Everyone is freaked out and when Nathan is arrested and Chloe Price's body is hauled out. Max is still in the bathroom. Warren goes to comfort her and tells him he is here for her. Then the funeral happens. But we hear everyone's reactions to Chloe and Rachel's deaths.

It would be about Warren helping Max through the worst period in her life and helping Max live again. Warren would be Max’s angel to a same degree as to what Rachel was to Chloe. Warren would be there for Max in her mourning and grieving period and helped her move on from Chloe’s death.

Throughout the game Warren is there to help Max through the darkest period through her life and help Max through her grieving. We'd also get to learn about Warren as a character, why he loves science, sci-fi and has obscure interests(My pitch is Warren is the male Matilda, was neglected as a child, so he chose books and science as his passion and sci-fi and it made him feel whole.) and show why Warren loves Max.

From Warren's POV, Max is one of the best friends he's ever made. She's kind, funny and brave. Stands up to the bullies, while Warren dealt with quiet bullying. Max's strength and kindness inspired Warren and to Warren, Max is his twin flame and that's why he loves her. Now it's time for Warren to be strong for Max.

Side note. I thought of giving Warren some sort of healing power, but sided against it when I feel like Warren helping Max without powers is more effective.

Warren basically becomes to Max as what Rachel was for Chloe. As Kate put it "even angels need angels Max" It could end with Warren bringing Max out of her depression and helping Max live again.

Epilogue ultimately shows Max living her life and moving on. Show that Max still misses Chloe, but show her living her life. And just show Max living her best life with Warren, Kate, Brooke, Dana, Daniel, Stella and Alyssa. Even show montage of a friendship with Victoria. Show Max having a tea date with Kate. Show Max Goin Ape with Warren. Max doing photoshoots with Victoria and shopping dates with Victoria, Courtney and Taylor. Max doing group projects and games with Warren, Kate, Brooke, Stella, Alyssa, and Daniel. Max being Dana’s official photographer. Max helping Joyce heal through their mutual grieving of Chloe but not letting Chloe's loss take away from the wonderful memories and feeling in their hearts that Chloe is till with them. And show Max and her friends graduating Blackwell and living their lives in Arcadia Bay. We just needed to see that despite losing Chloe, Max is okay and that while she will hold onto the memories of Chloe, she can live. The final scene is Max and Warren visiting the Lighthouse. The Blue Butterfly appears and it touches Max and as the Butterfly flies away, Max says "Goodbye Chloe as Warren holds onto Max and shares a kiss at the Lighthouse.”

I made this mostly because I was upset over Warren's absence in DE, but mostly it's because there is so much potential in Post-Save The Bay ending. They have an ending there with so much potential to talk about overcoming the death of a loved one with the help of other people, like it could've been a parallel to Rachel and Chloe helping each other, but Max turning out better because of the positive influences in her life… but no. They still want to haul away Chloe's dead body.

And it gets worse if the leaks are to be believed. The Max who saved the Bay apparently never got over the death of Chloe. There is so much what they can do. Max has Warren, Kate, Joyce, Dana and the rest of her friends in Arcadia Bay who can help Max find closure and help recover from moving on from Chloe's death.

But no. We can't have Max having a life in Arcadia Bay, she has to start over and apparently isn't allowed to have attachments from Arcadia Bay like Warren and Kate. Oh and apparently Max's animal goes from a Doe to an Owl...fucking Jefferson's animal. I don't care if it's her school's mascot or not, replacing Max's animal with Jefferson's animal is a choice, there is no way the writer's of the game cannot understand why this change feels so jarring and weird.

And yes, I understand things change. Max is 28 in DE and something like all the stuff that happened in Arcadia would traumatize Max. But it feels alienating the fans of the other Arcadia Bay characters that just wanted to see what they're doing with their lives after they survived the storm. Apparently we don't even get that luxury, we replace the characters we already know and love with new characters I feel absolutely nothing for and Arcadia Bay for something new, the difference being is Arcadia Bay felt alive, this snowy wasteland feels style over substance. At best we're just going to get updates about Warren via text or social media. At worst, D9 will demonize Warren to appease the rabid fanbase.

I came up with my own headcanon on what could happen to Warren in the events of DE.

Maybe Max will say "There was this boy I liked, but it didn't work out because I just couldn't get over the loss of my best friend and my own trauma, I didn't want to burden him, so I left. He deserved better than me."

Maybe via text and social media we will see Warren's moved on with his life. He's working on becoming a science professor at university of Oregon, tried things with Brooke but it didn't work out and in his spare time he's a gaming streamer and makes indie fan films. But Warren still cares for Max and always tries to check in with her.

I'd like to see from Kate and Victoria as well. Kate writes books for children and does podcasts to help teenagers and young adults with bullying and any trauma they may be suffering from. Victoria leads her family's gallery, but hasn't touched a camera since she found out what a monster Jefferson really is.

Of course any and all this is asking for too much since none of these characters have been getting love or attention from D9 or SE. Knowing how well that they like to cater to the fandom, they'll do something to demonize Warren and paint him as a creepy stalker the fandom perceives him as. Victoria will regress to the Queen Bee and we won't hear anything from Kate.

Even when the choice is given to us of a game centering around Post-Bay, there is still barely crumbs about Warren, Kate and everyone else from Arcadia Bay and my hypothetical story feels like the closest we'll get to proper Max/Warren content Post-Bay.

[purpleheartskies]

Though I agree that Robby going back to Johnny is a not a good choice for Robby, I don't agree that Daniel is a stable choice for Robby either. Daniel does blame Robby.

"You wanna end up like him. That's up to you." (the second time Daniel disowned Robby)

"I can't believe Robby would do that." (right after the school fight)

"I'm willing to admit when I fail, but maybe he has too much of you in him." (to Johnny after he'd seen Johnny almost kill someone)

"If all you care about is winning, then you didn't learn anything I taught you." (at the s4 avt)

What happened to listening to Robby's side of the story like Daniel had promised he would after Robby had fallen for Louie's prank? What happened to "no bad student, only bad teacher"? Daniel immediately thinks the worst of Robby because he's Johnny's son.

Daniel throws Robby out without hearing Robby out when Daniel is too pissed off or convinced that Robby intentionally did something screwed up. Daniel didn't even give Robby a proper conversation before calling the cops on him. Daniel ambushed Robby because of Johnny's actions earlier at the garage.

Yes, no doubt Daniel has been there for Robby in many ways. Daniel cares about Robby, but to an extent. Daniel doesn't care about Robby's side of the story when it truly matters or about supporting and fighting for Robby all the way.

Daniel didn't care that Robby had been attacked that day in school while he had been protecting Daniel's daughter. Robby had been the real victim that day in school, like Sam had been. Robby doesn't have anyone to fight for him all the way, and Daniel had disowned him, so Robby had run because he was a scared kid, but Robby wasn't planning on running anymore. He went to his mom on his own and was sitting calmly and eating a sandwich. Does that seem like someone who's planning on running again that he deserved to be ambushed like that? Daniel said that Robby's mistakes aren't who he is, so Daniel shouldn't have judged Robby by his mistake of running right after the school fight, especially because Robby came out of hiding on his own. There is also a really good reason for why Robby blames Daniel for sending him to juvie. Daniel could have built a really strong self-defense case for Robby, but Daniel immediately thought the worst of Robby because he's Johnny's son, assuming that Robby had purposely done something so horrible in the moment, and Daniel maintained that belief so he didn't fight for Robby as he should have.

At the end of s4, Daniel and Miyagi-Do had just lost to Cobra Kai, and Robby had a role in helping Cobra Kai win. Robby going to Daniel after the avt would have been a really bad choice for Robby too. Daniel wouldn't have cared about what Robby had to say or about Robby's struggles. Daniel would have cast Robby out without hearing Robby out, as is consistent with Daniel's behavior with Robby.

Daniel needs to find balance in his life, so that he doesn't act so rashly. Daniel also needs to stop putting passion in front of principle when it comes to projecting his issues with Johnny onto Robby and punishing Robby for it. That's not fair to Robby.

Although Daniel has done more for Robby than Johnny ever has, Daniel's support for Robby is still conditional. Daniel's words and actions added to Robby's abandonment and trust issues in damaging ways.

Sadly, Robby has no good, consistent, reliable, and stable adult figure that he can lean on.