#even if i lose my account access and the original files

[molluskzone]

whatever man its for the best i dont wanna see that either

[thirst2]

It's been said, before, and I think anyone remotely familiar with open-source has experienced or heard it but I'm still always taken aback by how much technological infrastructure was built to be general-purpose and malleable by the common user and how much corporations obfuscated and erased this.

Even in the tagging system for .mp3 files – ID3, an open standard –, I'm finding all kinds of functionality they accounted for that makes a lot of sense for a music file to specify (like lyrics synch.ed to timestamps and being able to specify events in the song like the outro or intro or the refrain or an interlude).

And I was just completely unaware of them because no music player on Windows ever offered them (alright; I mostly used iTunes, at the time, but the point stands).

iTunes saves any ratings you apply to songs in its own database; I never used the system in part because I've never found a need but, primarily, because I didn't want to invest a bunch of time and effort into something I'd lose the second I switched music players.

Oh; but did you know ID3 (v2) has a rating tag? One that iTunes could have used and then I'd take my ratings wherever I take my files with me?

Not only that but rating for a song are marked by an E-mail of the person rating; I expect it was largely to provide a unique identifier of some sort (and very 90s/00s to assume an E-mail is one's primary form of unique ID) but that means that songs can be rated by multiple people.

When your friends give you a copy of their favorite songs on a USB drive, those songs would've had their ratings.

Like a lot of tech. (especially early) architecture, this part fails to account for the presence of bad actors and spam but it also means you could reach out to those who rated the song, before you; their E-mail's right there.

Back when we traded AOL handles and the notion of communicating with those you knew but weren't nearby was exciting and new, we could have reached out to the friend of a friend of a friend at school who'd rated the song before handing it off until it reached us.

Even – now –, accounting for not wanting to attach your E-mail to a file that you'd, then, have to worry about getting into hands which might abuse that personal info. about you, being able for multiple people to tag a song is cool.

If I setup a Raspberry Pi at home and setup the Music Player Daemon on it for Jude and I to both put our songs on to listen to, etc., we could both tag the songs with our ratings and see what the other thought of the music we were sharing.

Like…this is some cool functionality ideas; this is some nice architecture. You just need the players to implement the functionality.

But they didn't; iTunes setup their own rating system (whether to tie people to their music player or not, I have no idea) and I never bothered to use what could be a sort of communal feature.

When I get excited about tech., these are the things that initially drew me to it – the ability to not only make my life, as a spoonie, easier but the ability to make all kinds of stuff we do everyday easier and with more people and to connect us all even more.

From the ability to making things more accessible without having to rely on others as much for it to…I dunno; the possibilities are endless.

Instead, the sheer joy so many of my generation had at creating their personal web pages by playing around with HTML and CSS became harder to construct because these businesses didn't care to make these experiences accessible because they didn't make them money.

I will never not be angry about that.

In any case, I'm at the point where anything further I might say is something I've already said before here on the subject; but I'm going to have these other tags be more accessible in my player. There's some really neat functionality in there that someone might want to utilize if presented in a more user-friendly manner (the original job of the music player implementations, to begin with…).

[apple-with-sugar-cinnamon]

I never talked about this here because I was already accepting it as such, but two months ago my external HDD died due to my own negligence of doing something in there that I shouldn't have done (guys, don't be like me and cancel a move in the process of a zip file that is over 5 GB big, because chances are that the file never copied NOR deleted correctly. Never again).

Luckily, luckily, I still have 95% of the stuff there available in my laptop(s), but the other 5% is completely, completely lost :)

(and most of them happened to be ns/fw video and audio files from this hellsite :))) )

I know there's stuff to be said here about not being attached to things, especially digital files and such, and I should have seen it coming or something along the lines, but, it is still painful because I tried my best to organize my files in the past four years, and moving them at my own pace and rhythm... just for all that gone back to zero.

(And I still haven't bought a replacement because they tend to be expensive and now I don't even know what brand I should use because I refuse to use the "cloud" - I had an AD*ATA of 2 TB, so I am in the unknown it was a thing of this specific brand's HDD going to EVENTUALLY fail as it was almost 3 years old, OOOOOOR it was what I did and that I shouldn't have done)

The thing is, like I said, I was already acepting my loss.

I mean, sure, okay. It's already lost. I cannot recover some of them especially because they were videos and/or audios from here that I never reblogged. I dunno how... well, "ethically correct" is that, especially since they were some kind of back up of stuff I wasn't going to reblog and they were stacking in my drafts, and coincidentally I'm also working through my drafts because sometimes the higher the number, the more it scares me, lol... and I had PRETTY old stuff that I should have posted or deleted at this point). I know there's also stuff regarding the quality of these or if they are already old shame from their original posters' side... regardless, some good stuff I was also backing up because you never know with Tumblr.

And... that also incidentally reminded me of the Tumblr ns/fw ban from 2018. Between ppl no longer on this site, some of these posts HAPPEN to be now lost in that limbo of "well, tough luck - you cannot see this post anymore on your dashboard or the blog because 'explicitly sexual content' SOMEWHERE on this post's chain of reblogs *shrugs*" and I just... wow, this freaking sucks.

I also never understood why Tumblr also had to block access to the explicit-marked blogs' archives, especially on how this is STILL a thing, when you cannot gain access to a blog's archives on its totality anymore unless you are logged in. Or how you cannot search for anything on one of those blogs (although this is also in a general sense, we all know the in-built blog search also suckss under normal circumstances), and... geez, what a nightmare :/

And all of this is returning to me because I was trying to see if some posts from a previous backup from my drafts were somewhat still accessible in some way or form online, and an specific post was from not just a deactivated account, but also from an explicitly-marked blog that was marked as one of those posts you cannot have access anymore unless you were OP or smth along those lines :/

And all I am thinking is that they could have given us better tools since, but, not even that (thank god they have been slightly "flexible" on some things regarding that kind of content, although we all know that nsf/w is still not coming back :/c)

You gain some, you lose others.

But it STILL fucking sucks.

[the-sleepy-archivist]

Software of the Week: Hezel

One of my biggest fears is losing my music library and all of the playlists I've meticulously curated over the years. I love the fact that music streaming services give me access to a huge variety of music from across the world, but I'm very conscious of the fact that I am basically renting access to this music; Apple reserves the the right to delete my libary and everything in it if I ever don’t/can’t pay my Apple Music bill.

Hezel protects against that. Hezel is an iOS only app that backs up your Apple Music library and can restore it if anything ever happens to your music. It can back up your music on-demand OR on a schedule. The automatic backup part makes this so much easier than anything I've tried before.

Details:

Purpose: Backup and restore your Apple Music songs and playlists

OS Supported: iOS 17+, iPadOS 17+ (not tablet-optimized)

Installer Size: 5.4 MB

Country of Origin: Unclear

Languages Supported: English

License: Free, one time purchase for automatic backup

Download Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hezel-for-apple-music/id6472612361

Privacy details and important notes under the cut!

Hezel doesn't spy on you either. The backups are stored locally and synced via your personal iCloud account. The app is free if you just want to back up manually and restore from one of the last 3 backups you took, but unlocking automatic backups and restoring from any of them only costs $5 USD (one time charge, no subscriptions).

One of the cool side benefits is that the app lets you compare your current library to the snapshot in time contained in a backup. If you've deleted any songs, playlists, or even individual songs from a playlist, the app will show you them all. You can also browse your library at that point in time, which provides a neat before and after picture of your music.

NOTE: the developer adds this important disclaimer:

"Only music added from Apple Music or matched by iTunes can be recovered from backup. Hezel can NOT recover songs added via MP3 file on iTunes or the new Apple Music app for Windows"

I'm 99% sure that this means it will not be able to recover songs that are no longer available on Apple Music due to licensing changes either (obviously you wouldn't be able to play them, but I doubt it can even get it to appear in your library but just greyed out like unlicensed songs normally are if you added them before they went unlicensed).

[archivyrep]

The erasure of records, digitization, and 1990s Hollywood films [Part 4]

Continued from part 3

What I have said so far is only scratching the surface. These 1990s movies have standing importance because born-digital files that are entering archives across the world, like some in New Zealand, include "photos, radio broadcasts and documents," requiring appropriate workflows. Margot Note, a prolific writer in this field, described that as a former lone arranger who directed all archival management at an organization she launched a project to digitize a set of records, creating digital surrogates of 2,000 of the collection's best images, adding that such surrogates are superior to past formats like microfilm since they can be delivered through networks "offering enhanced access to simultaneous users around the world." In the same article, she advocated the importance of digital collections, saying they grant "valuable remote access to the information contained within the original records" if they are created within the appropriate archival infrastructure, with metadata and search functionality, indexing.

She adds that digital collections of archival records can not only provide for "multiple points of access and enhanced image details" but it can allow for more in-depth study than analog originals, increase interest in items that have often been ignored, and it can also act as "an advocacy tool for an archives." She also argues that different types of digital surrogates of records can be created, either for web display, storage, or print reproduction. She ends by saying that while "electronic copies suffer no degradation through the duplication process," a copy of a digital photograph is "indistinguishable from its source" meaning that the "original" loses its meaning and that with digitized images, "researchers risk losing information that enables them to understand how the image was accessed and how its physicality changed over time." As such, there should be efforts to limit or eliminate such a loss.

Note: This article is reprinted from my History Hermann blog, with this post published there on May 19, 2019. I published it on my Wading Through the Archival Stacks WordPress blog on Aug. 28, 2020 with some revisions because I thought it was relevant to archives, at least when it comes to films.

But there is another aspect to archival records. Librarian Carrie Wade argued back in December 2018 that information is political with information loss affected by federal funding decisions of research repositories ruining the work of professionals. Similarly, in the case of archivists, they should not be completely neutral not only because who "we elect impacts our ability to do our jobs well and the access that people have to information," as she argues, but they literally cannot be neutral as they are human beings with viewpoints, emotions, and thoughts of their own. Building upon this, there are clear archival silences or "gaps in the archival record," with these silences "created and enforced within archives" as a result of practices that are "central to the work of archivists." Digital records, whether born-digital, like social media posts, or digitized paper records, can help bridge this gap. After all, paper or analog records can be digitized in ways that allow access to them through online channels while originals are restricted.

All of this is relevant to the 1990s films I referenced in the first half of this post, as it requires having effective records management programs. The policies regarding records not only in Hackers and The Net, or even My Fellow Americans and Attack of the Clones were clearly outdated and should be taken as a warning to have correct policies. This also requires taking into account challenges with capturing resources that are born-digital and making it available, effectively curating this information for the user. Furthermore, this is important as a major trend in libraries is collection of data to prove their value even though this has its downsides especially when it comes to ethical concerns with data mining and big data, even though this can be useful. At the same time, how the material is defined for easy access is a challenge "to every content owner," as is choosing the right metadata, with "important detail work" in this process. The same is the case for finding more "accessible ways for people to find and scan content" and ways to share these "images with your target audience." [4]

© 2022 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[4] Also, see articles about how libraries lead with digital skills and cryptic finding aid.

[tobyblogger]

My entry, please post it for me as I really can't log into my account on the wiki for some reason, story entry is based around that unreleased beta of FNaPF 1, I hope it is good:

“I will spare you a pointless introduction and jump straight into it.

It all started in 2021 when it was just beginning. On the Five Nights at Freddy’s Amino community, Joseph and his friend, Saturn3034, were publicly planning to make a fangame based on the series. This game eventually became Five Nights at Prototype Fredbear’s (often abbreviated as FNaPF).

You see, there’s a reason why the first game wasn’t made until January 27, 2022. Joseph and Saturn were essentially stuck in development hell. It was a complete nightmare, and I can confirm that because I was on Amino at the time.

Many people were there. The only progress Joseph made was an official preview posted on January 20, 2021—the same day the series was planned. Now, I want you to think about something real quick: why do you think an official demo for the first game was never released? I know many of you might point to the “click-roam” version of the classic game, but that’s not what we’re talking about.

In the preview, it stated: “Five Nights at Prototype Fredbear’s 1 Demo.” Interesting, isn’t it? What made it even more interesting was the presence of the number “1,” as if the series had been planned from the very beginning. As it turns out, that was the case. Older members of the JTS server, who were there before the original server got deleted due to drama involving an old friend of Joseph, revealed that both Joseph and Saturn were very ambitious about the series.

Now, this may sound promising, as it showed they had a strong desire to succeed with the series. But notice how the game kept getting delayed—this happened with every release. It happened with Five Nights at Prototype Fredbear’s 1 and 2, and it’s likely going to happen again with the recently announced third game (which is still being worked on as I’m writing this). Many believe the two were simply overwhelmed by the series and their real-life responsibilities.

This is understandable, right? However, some people started to form rather depressing conclusions. They speculated that Joseph kept hyping up the series while failing to release it. This caused many people, including some of his friends—you know who you are—to lose interest in the game.

This might explain why Joseph stopped working on the series, and many people noticed strange things happening behind the scenes. One notable rumor involves the existence of a supposed lost episode from one of his projects, specifically Joseph’s World. This episode, known as “Joseph’s Schoolday,” interestingly uses some audio from the game. Now, I know this may seem off-topic, but it could be a clue.

With that said, there were plenty of rumors. One anonymous user claimed that Joseph and Saturn were having strange dreams and visions of Prototype Fredbear taunting them, begging them to finish the series. Others claimed that an urban legend had formed around the game, suggesting that Prototype Fredbear could break into players’ homes and kill their pets, most often cats.

Regardless of these rumors, here’s the real reason you’ll never see the demo online again, and why Joseph never made it playable. A user on the internet found a link to Google Drive and accessed the MFA file for the demo. They leaked it onto the internet, and eventually, someone with access to Clickteam got hold of the code.

The game was then submitted to Game Jolt, where it became playable for everyone. This made it one of the most underrated, yet disturbing, events in Game Jolt’s history.

I was able to play the game before it was ultimately deleted. Here’s my story: the game started immediately with the title screen, without the warning screen present in the final version. It displayed the title of the game with a PNG image resembling Prototype Fredbear in the background, completely pitch black with static in the foreground. There were no options besides “New Game,” so I pressed it to start.

It played the museum theme from Final Nights 4 on a loop in the background. I ignored it and clicked “New Game.” It took me to a loading screen that read, “Loading… Night One.” The next thing I knew, I was in the office. Unlike the final version, which had a door and vent, this one only had doors on either side, but no buttons to close them. There were also no buttons to turn on the lights unless they were mapped to the keyboard. From what I remember, the preview didn’t show how the office functioned, likely because Joseph hadn’t finished coding the game.

I clicked the button on my right, which took me to the camera. The only available camera was the stage, showing a single animatronic—Prototype Fredbear. From the looks of it, this was the same PNG used in the main menu.

The game didn’t display a timer, battery level, or night counter, so I had to guess if Prototype Fredbear would come to my office. It wasn’t long before I heard faint moans that sounded like they were recorded by a person, similar to the ambient noises in the final game.

I watched as Prototype Fredbear appeared at the door. I say “watched” because there was nothing I could do—just like many game betas, this one wasn’t as fun or complete as the final version.

As the screen faded to black, I saw a close-up of Prototype Fredbear staring directly at me. His pupils were small, his jaw was open, and his teeth had been edited to look sharp. The audio was even worse—it was so loud that it broke my computer’s speakers. I’m not exaggerating; as I write this, I’ve tested my speakers with music, and they’re no longer working.

After this, the game crashed, giving me an error screen before my computer blue-screened. Now, you might be wondering how I’m writing this if my computer is fried. I’m using a different device. There’s nothing more to explain.

I don’t have much else to say, except for those still curious about playing this beta, I urge you to respect Joseph’s wishes and refrain from playing it. Just be careful with what you decide to play in general.”

Happy Halloween folks!

I will be hosting a creepypasta writing contest, here are the rules.

1. Content has to be related to JTS media, this means Five Nights at Prototype Fredbears, Joseph’s World, etc.

2. Regarding Lost Episodes and Theories - Do NOT make coma theories and/or stories about the characters committing suicide or harming themselves. (For example: the cast in Joseph’s World is based on real people, these types of stories can make us uncomfortable.)

2.1. Refrain from including rape, that is a serious subject. Trust me, it won’t make your story scary, it will make you seem like a creep.

3. All stories must be posted to Spiral Nightmares.

3.1. if you can't post on the wiki, add your story via google doc or pastebin in your reblog so I can add it for you.

4. Spin-offs and retellings are allowed. If you wish to make a fan-made sequel or something about Sammy the Cat, for example, you can.

5. You may not copy existing lost media and stories (e.g. Joseph’s Schoolday and the Five Nights at Prototype Fredbears creepypasta by TobyBlogger.)

6. All content will be under the license - NC-By-SA.

Deadline - December 1st, 2024.

For further questions and suggestions, ask me in comments

If you are entering the contest, reblog this.

[respectable-username]

🔐 Why You (Probably) Don't Need A VPN

A rant by a software engineer sick of VPN ads from her favourite YouTubers

TL;DR:

Here are some legitimate reasons the average internet user might want to use a VPN:

To connect to their company's internal network

To bypass the Great Firewall of China (or other types of website blocks at country or organisation level)

To watch Netflix etc as if you were in another country

Here are absolutely rubbish reasons to use a VPN:

Privacy

And today, I'll tell you why.

Hang on, won't a VPN stop hackers from stealing my passwords?

I mean, it does encrypt the web traffic coming from your device.

You know what else encrypts web traffic coming from your device? Your browser.

Yes, in the year 2021, pretty much all websites on the internet are accessed over HTTPS. The "S" stands for "secure", as in "your request will be securely encrypted". If your browser is using HTTPS, nobody can capture the data you're sending over the internet. More detail in the "I like too much detail" section at the bottom of this post.

It's very easy to check if you are using HTTPS by looking at your URL bar. In most browsers, it will have a lock on it if secure:

(From top left to bottom right: Chrome on iOS, Safari on iOS, Chrome on Windows, Edge on Windows, Firefox on Windows, and Safari on Mac. Screenshots reflect the UI at the time this post was written. Oh gosh this has taken over 4 hours to write.)

But isn't moar encryption better? What if somebody breaks HTTPS?

For starters, nobody's breaking your HTTPS, and there isn't any benefit from double encrypting. This is because of the maths behind encryption/decryption!

Encryption works kinda like a lock and key, except the lock is maths and the key is a special number only known to the person allowed to unlock the information.

The important thing is, without the key, all the locked data looks like complete and utter garbage. Completely unusable. Barely distinguishable from random noise. There's absolutely no way to tell what the original data was.

The other important thing is that the key is nearly unguessable. As in, with current technology, will generally take more than the lifetime of the universe to guess by chance. And when technology gets faster, we just make the numbers bigger again until they're once again secure.

For any major website you use, they will use a strong encryption algorithm (ie lock) with big numbers so your keys will be strong enough to withstand an attack. This means your data is safe as long as that lock icon is in your URL bar.

A VPN will not make the existing garble any more garbled. The extra $10/month or whatever you're paying for does not buy you any extra protection.

If you want to know more about how encryption and HTTPS in particular work, see the "I like too much detail" section at the end of this post.

Something something viruses

How's a VPN going to stop viruses? It controls the path your internet traffic takes, not the content that gets sent down that path. I guess it could block some known virus-giving hosts? But if it's known to the VPN provider, it's probably also known to the built-in antivirus on your computer who can block it for you.

(Oh yeah, 3rd party antivirus is another thing that's not worth paying for these days. Microsoft's built-in Windows Defender is as good as the third party options, and something something Macs don't get viruses easily because of how they're architected.)

Honestly though, keep your software up to date, don't click on anything suspicious, don't open files from sources you don't trust, and you'll be right most of the time.

And keep your software up to date. Then update your software. Hey, did I mention keeping your stuff updated? Update! Now! It only takes a few minutes. Please update to the latest version of your software I'm begging you. It's the number 1 way to protect yourself from viruses and other malware. Most major software attacks could have been prevented if people just updated their damn software!

But my ISP is spying on me!

Ok, it is true that there are TWO bits of data that HTTPS can't and won't hide. Those are:

The source of a request (your IP)

What website that request is going to (the website's IP)

These are the bits of information that routers use to know where to send your data, so of course they can't be hidden as the data is moving across the internet. And people can see that information very easily if they want to.

Note: this will show which website you're going to, but not which page you're looking at, and not the content of that page. So it will show that you were on Tumblr, but will not show anyone that you're still reading SuperWhoLock content in 2021.

It's this source/destination information that VPNs hide, which is why they can be used to bypass website blocks and region locks.

By using a VPN, those sniffing traffic on your side of the VPN will just show you connecting to the VPN, not the actual website you want. That means you can read AO3 at work/school without your boss/teachers knowing (unless they look over your shoulder of course).

As for those sniffing on the websites end, including the website itself, they will see the VPN as the source of the connection, not you. So if you're in the US and using a VPN node in the UK, Netflix will see you as being in the UK and show you their British library rather than the American one.

If this is what you're using a VPN for and you think the price is fair, then by all means keep doing it! This is 100% what VPNs are good for.

HOWEVER, and this is a big "however", if it's your ISP you're trying to hide your internet traffic from, then you will want to think twice before using a VPN.

Let me put it this way. Without a VPN, your ISP knows every website you connect to and when. With a VPN, do you know who has that exact same information? The VPN provider. Sure, many claim to not keep logs, but do you really trust the people asking for you to send them all your data for a fee to not just turn around and sell your data on for a profit, or worse?

In effect, you're trading one snooper for another. One snooper is heavily regulated, in many jurisdictions must obey net neutrality, and is already getting a big fee from you regardless of where you browse. The other isn't. Again, it's all a matter of who you trust more.

For me personally, I trust my ISP more than a random VPN provider, if for no other reason than my ISP is an old enough company with enough inertia and incompetence that I don't think they could organise to sell my data even if they wanted to. And with the amount of money I'm paying them per month, they've only got everything to lose if they broke consumer trust by on-selling that data. So yeah, I trust my ISP more with my privacy than the random VPN company.

But my VPN comes with a password manager!

Password managers are great. I 100% recommend you use a password manager. If there's one thing you could do right now to improve your security (other than updating your software, speaking of, have you updated yet?), it's getting and using a password manager.

Password managers also come for free.

I'm currently using LastPass free, but am planning to switch after they did a bad capitalism and only let their free accounts access either laptop or mobile but not both now. I personally am planning to move to Bitwarden on friends' recommendation since it's not only free but open source and available across devices. I also have friends who use passbolt and enjoy it, which is also free and open source, but it's also a bit DIY to set up. Great if you like tinkering though! And there are probably many other options out there if you do a bit of googling.

So, yeah, please use a password manager, but don't pay for it unless you actually have use for the extra features.

No I really need to hide my internet activity from everybody for reasons

In this case, you're probably looking for TOR. TOR is basically untraceable. It's also a terrible user experience for the most part because of this, so I'd only recommend it if you need it, such as if you're trying to escape the Great Firewall. But please don't use it for Bad Crimes. I am not to be held liable for any crime committed using information learned from this post.

Further reading viewing

If you want to know more about why you don't need a VPN, see Tom Scott's amazing video on the subject. It's honestly a great intro for beginners.

I like too much detail

Ahhh, so you're the type of person who doesn't get turned off by long explanations I see. Well, here's a little more info on the stuff I oversimplified in the main post about encryption. Uhh, words get bigger and more jargony in this section.

So first oversimplification: the assumption that all web traffic is either HTTP or HTTPS. This isn't exactly true. There are many other application layer internet standards out there, such as ssh, ftp, websockets, and all the proprietary standards certain companies use for stuff such as streaming and video conferencing. Some of these are secure, using TLS or some other security algorithm under the hood, and some of them aren't.

But most of the web requests you care about are HTTP/HTTPS calls. As for the rest, if they come from a company of a decent size that hasn't been hacked off the face of the planet already, they're probably also secure. In other words, you don't need to worry about it.

Next, we've already said that encryption works as a lock and a key, where the lock is a maths formula and the key is a number. But how do we get that key to lock and unlock the data?

Well, to answer that, we first need to talk about the two different types of encryption: symmetric and asymmetric. Symmetric encryption such as AES uses the same key to both encrypt and decrypt data, whereas asymmetric encryption such as RSA uses a different key to encode and decode.

For the sake of my writing, we're going to call the person encrypting Alice, the person decrypting Bob, and the eavesdropper trying to break our communications Eve from now on. These are standard names in crypto FYI. Also, crypto is short for cryptography not cryptocurrencies. Get your Bitcoin and Etherium outta here!

Sorry if things start getting incoherent. I'm tired. It's after 1am now.

So first, how do we get the key from symmetric crypto? This is probably the easier place to start. Well, you need a number, any number of sufficient size, that both Alice and Bob know. There are many ways you could share this number. They could decide it when they meet in person. They could send it to each other using carrier pigeons. Or they could radio it via morse code. But those aren't convenient, and somebody could intercept the number and use it to read all their messages.

So what we use instead is a super clever algorithm called Diffie-Hellman, which uses maths and, in particular, the fact it's really hard to factor large numbers (probably NP Hard to be specific, but there's no actual proof of that). The Wikipedia page for this is surprisingly easy to read, so I'll just direct you there to read all about it because I've been writing for too long. This algorithm allows Alice and Bob to agree on a secret number, despite Eve being able to read everything they send each other.

Now Alice and Bob have this secret number key, they can talk in private. Alice puts her message and the key into the encryption algorithm and out pops what looks like a load of garbage. She can then send this garbage to Bob without worrying about Eve being able to read it. Bob can then put the garbage and the key into the decryption algorithm to undo the scrambling and get the original message out telling him where the good donuts are. Voila, they're done!

But how does Alice know that she's sending her message to Bob and not Eve? Eve could pretend to be Bob so that Alice does the Diffie-Hellman dance with her instead and sends her the secret location of the good donuts instead.

This is where asymmetric crypto comes in! This is the one with private and public keys, and the one that uses prime numbers.

I'm not 100% across the maths on this one TBH, but it has something to do with group theory. Anyway, just like Diffie-Hellman, it relies on the fact that prime factorisation is hard, and so it does some magic with semi-primes, ie numbers with only 2 prime factors other than 1. Google it if you want to know more. I kinda zoned out of this bit in my security courses. Maths hard

But the effect of that maths is easier to explain: things that are encoded with one of the keys can only be decoded with the other key. This means that one of those keys can be well-known to the public and the other is known only to the person it belongs to.

If Alice wants to send a message to Bob and just Bob, no Eve allowed, she can first look up Bob's public key and encrypt a beginning message with that. Once Bob receives the message, he can decrypt it with his private key and read the contents. Eve can't read the contents though because, even though she has Bob's public key, she doesn't know his private key.

This public key information is what the lock in your browser is all about BTW. It's saying that the website is legit based on the public key they provide.

So why do we need symmetric crypto when we have asymmetric crypto? Seems a lot less hassle to exchange keys with asymmetric crypto.

Well, it's because asymmetric crypto is slooooow. So, in TLS, the security algorithm that puts the "S" in "HTTPS", asymmetric RSA is used to establish the initial connection and figure out what symmetric key to use, and then the rest of the session uses AES symmetric encryption using the agreed secret key.

And there you have it! Crypto in slightly-less-short-but-still-high-enough-level-that-I-hope-you-understand.

Just realised how long this section is. Well, I did call it "too much detail" for a reason.

Now, next question is what exactly is and isn't encrypted using HTTPS.

Well, as I said earlier, it's basically just the source IP:port and the destination IP:port. In fact, this information is actually communicated on the logical layer below the application layer HTTPS is on, known as the transport layer. Again, as I said before, you can't really encrypt this unless you don't want your data to reach the place you want at all.

Also, DNS is unencrypted. A DNS request is a request that turns a domain name, such as tumblr.com, into an IP address, by asking a special server called a Domain Name Server where to find the website you're looking for. A DNS request is made before an HTTP(S) request. Anyone who can read your internet traffic can therefore tell you wanted to go to Tumblr.

But importantly, this only shows the domain name, not the full URL. The rest of the URL, the part after the third slash (the first two slashes being part of http://), is stuff that's interpreted by the server itself and so isn't needed during transport. Therefore, it encrypted and completely unreadable, just like all the content on your page.

I was going to show a Wireshark scan of a web request using HTTP and HTTPS to show you the difference, but this has taken long enough to write as it is, so sorry!

I could probably write more, but it's 1:30am and I'm sleepy. I hope you found some of this interesting and think twice before purchasing a VPN subscription. Again, there are legit good uses for a VPN, but they're not the ones primarily being advertised in VPN ads. It's the fact that VPN ads rely so heavily on false advertising that really grinds my gears and made me want to do this rant. It's especially bad when it comes from somebody I'd think of as technologically competent (naming no names here, but if you've worked in tech and still promote VPNs as a way to keep data safe... no). Feel free to ask questions if you want and hopefully I'll get around to answering any that I feel I know enough to answer.

Nighty night Tumblr. Please update your software. And use a (free) password manager. And enable two factor authentication on all your accounts. But mostly just update your software.

[secretfnaffan]

An Unsolvable Case (Glamrock Freddy x fm!Reader) Part Four

Summary: You’re a detective of the city, who was tasked to investigate the brand new Pizzaplex where children went missing and employees were fired due to mysterious reasons. What happens when you get yourself locked inside the place with the animatronics who try to hunt you down?

Word count: 1335

Warnings: none (for now)

A/N: Hey guys! I know, I know there is no scenes with Glamrock Freddy and Reader where they bond BUT there will be! Thank you all for the likes and comments! I appreciate the love and I hope you will enjoy this till the end! (I cannot reply to the comments with this account, somehow only my other account appears when I reply even if I am signed in with this one.)

Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

Going inside was easy but Chica was roaming the area sluggishly. How the hell did she get here from the basement so fast? It was like there were more of her or was summoned there somehow. Could these things spawn into places? You were sure that these versions were not the original ones. You’ve seen them perform and interact with people way before your investigation.

They were different, friendly, full of smiles and jokes. Now, except Freddy, none of them acted like themselves. The two of you sneaked around the place and waited for Chica to leave the area.

“Where should we go now?” Gregory asked.

“I upgraded my pass through the day as I wanted to get into every place.” you shrugged. “There was something I wanted to see in Daycare… there’s a security office there.”

“What do you want to do with a security office?” Gregory asked as he followed you to Daycare.

“I need information from the computers. I could access the main database or some corporational files.” you replied.

“You said you’re looking for someone…”

“Yeah, there are missing kids just like you. I’m investigating the case.” you nodded as you opened the door to the Daycare. Looking around from the balcony, you saw a ball pit, slides and other things. Everything was so colorful and bright. Anyone could lose track of time here without the natural lights.

Gregory was already sliding down the slide on the side so you had no other choice but to follow him. Well… let’s just say it was not made for your size and you had to wiggle yourself through the tunnel by the end. By the time you made your way through the ball pit, you saw Gregory being held up by the Daycare attendant animatronic. The guy looked non-threatening, still working as his programming told him to.

His head turned in your direction when he spotted you emerging from the ball pit.

“Ah, good, good, your mom just arrived to take you home! Let’s go!” Sunrise announced and pulled Gregory in your way. The strange look Gregory was making at that made you doubt his actual age. Playing the role would probably get this animatronic out of your hair. You quickly smiled and reached out for Gregory.

“There you are, sweety!” you spoke, then you turned to the animatronic. “You must be Sunrise, right?”

“You know my name?” he asked, his voice sounding shocked that someone would know his name or remember him. His height was level with your shoulders but he was crouching slightly.

“It’s everywhere on the pamphlets and by the entrance.” you replied. “But um… could you point out a security office for me? The night guard said we should stay in one until the authorities arrive as the building cannot be opened until six a.m.”

“Oh, yes, yes, come this way!” Sunrise grabbed your hand and pulled you towards the office. It was surprisingly easy. Asking nicely seemed to work fascinatingly, you wished that it would work on more humans as well. The world would be a better place.

Sunrise led you over to the security desk then before he left, he turned to you. “Please remember to keep the lights ON.”

“Of course, thank you for your help, Sunrise.” you smiled at him kindly. For a few seconds, he just stared at you before he finally left. Snooping around, you found a little Freddy-head that could be opened. Gregory took a flashlight from the holder on the wall while you looked around the desk more.

You had a little time and the other animatronics didn’t seem to be after you here, none of them appeared here yet. Turning on the computer, you put a pendrive in it and started snooping. You knew you probably had only a few minutes until Vanessa would be notified in the main security room. Skipping through the files, you found messaging between security guards during the day shifts. They were talking about someone hacking into the system, several dozen children’s guest profiles were deleted from the system like they never visited the facility. It was so obvious because the security guards during the day shifts remembered seeing a lot of those kids who were deleted from the database.

You made screenshots about these messages, before opening a few other folders, in which you found reports about mechanical problems involving the animatronics and S.T.A.F.F. bots. Saving them to your pendrive quickly, you unplugged it in order to stop anyone getting into it through the Pizzaplex’s system. You got what you needed.

“You never told me your name.” Gregory suddenly spoke up from beside you.

“I’m detective (Last Name), but you may call me (Name).” you mumbled as you looked for more information.

“We should get out of here though…” he looked around. You nodded before you pulled your pendrive out of the computer and turned it off. You pressed the nose of the Freddy-head which then opened up, revealing a security badge.

Grabbing it, suddenly the lights went out.

“Why did you do that?! I warned you! I WARNED YOUUUUU!” sounded from somewhere further away Sunrise’s voice. Looking around the desk, you found a button that had a lightbulb sign above it. Pressing it, nothing happened.

“Gregory, what did you guys do? The lights in the Daycare are out. You need to find the emergency backup generators and turn them on quickly. If you turned them on, you have to push the button below the security desk after that. It will make sure to keep the lights on until you get out. The generators are in the play structures.” Freddy’s worried voice could be heard from Gregory’s watch.

“Gregory, you are the only one fitting into the play structures. Can you do this? I’ll distract Moondrop as long as you do that.” you said, trying to be reassuring, however, you were terrified. You had no idea if Moondrop would be dangerous or would be just simply grumpy. Grabbing your own flashlight you hid in the back of your pants, you made your way outside the desk. The light drew Moondrop towards you while Gregory made his way into the tunnels.

“Naughty boy, naughty boy… where are you?” he called for Gregory who was deep into the play structure already. You pointed your flashlight in Moondrop’s eyes but it only worked for a little while. He was quick to reach you by the security desk. He grabbed your shoulders as he was hovering in the air but as you shut your eyes tightly, waiting for pain or something to happen, nothing did. Moondrop was completely silent, only staring at you when you opened your eyes.

“One of us…” he hissed quietly, eying you. One of them? What was he talking about? You were a human, with flesh and bones, not vires and metal.

“What?” you mumbled still in shock.

“You’re not like… him…” Moondrop said as he lowered onto the ground. You heard Gregory suddenly call for your name, your ears perked up, listening for his voice.

“I turned them on!” Gregory yelled, drawing Moondrop’s attention, who jumped into the air and went towards Gregory’s voice. You jumped behind the desk and pushed the button under the counter. The lights turned back on.

Gregory quickly approached you at the exit by the security desk and you pushed the button that opened the door. There was no Sundrop yet, but as you quickly looked out, you spotted Freddy waiting for the two of you. The others were not yet there which was lucky so you pulled Gregory out and helped him climb into Freddy’s stomach hatch.

“We should find you a recharge station, you don’t look too good, Freddy.” you said as you took in the animatronic bear. He looked… worn? Why did he though? Grabbing his hand, you pulled him in the direction of a recharge station you saw on the way. “Let’s get out of here.”

To be continued…

[citrineghost]

Struggling to stay organized because you have ADHD?

Well, I have a fantastic solution for you! There’s this bitchin site called Trello and I’m gonna tell you all about it

This is not sponsored, I just really like organization and Trello is awesome. And, as always, no readmore because this is targeted at ADHD people and y’all ain’t gonna click it

[ID: a picture of a website with many columns/lists. Behind the lists, there is a customized background. To the right is a sidebar showing that you can search Unsplash for backgrounds right from the site. Each column/list has a bunch of ‘cards’ on it. The cards each have a title and color coded label(s) /end ID)

Here’s a picture of my to-do board

There are some things blacked out, mostly just my avatar, name, and some original creative stuff I don’t feel like broadcasting.

So, Trello is broken up into different levels of organization. Let’s start with the most important level: boards.

Boards

A board is what’s pictured above. Think of it like a corkboard where you pin your notes. You can make as many of these as you want. You can title them, invite people to them, automate certain parts of them, and more.

On your board, you can make

Lists

Lists are those columns you can see on my board. You can title each list, click and drag them around to reorder them, set them to automatically label the things on them, and so on.

My lists on my to do board are titled with a time period for when I aim to do something. The time periods are large and vague, which makes them great for my ADHD. I can move things between them as I need, which is also great for my ever shifting brain thoughts. 

But! What makes it great is that whatever I put in the left list, titled Next, I know is what I need to be focusing on at the moment. It makes it easier to ignore what’s to the right of it and let’s me relax knowing I won’t just forget everything I’m not prioritizing.

Lists are used for holding

Cards

(ID: A picture of a small window that opens after clicking on a card. It contains the title, the labels (with their names now visible), and a functioning checklist. There is also a place to type a description, a place to add comments, and a list of buttons on the side for managing the card and its place on the board /end ID)

Each card can be as simple as containing just a title (making it a simple entry on your list), or as complicated as housing photos, descriptions, checklists, labels, and comments. You just click the card and it opens the window shown above.

My card is for a tabletop I’m working on, nicknamed TAP. I have it labeled with all of the things pertaining to what it involves (world building, writing, in progress, spreadsheeting, and art/creative). These color coded labels make it easy to see what kind of cards I’m looking at when looking at the overall board and lists.

As I do things on the checklist, I can mark them off. You can even set it to hide completed items on the checklist.

When I’m done with an item on my to do list, I click and drag the card to the Done list (which is offscreen on the far right). If you don’t want a visible Done list, you can also just archive a card and it will disappear from the board.

You can also set due dates on cards, which will notify you when they’re almost due or when the due date arrives.

Customization

One of my favorite things about Trello is that you can customize the appearance of your boards! My ADHD brain can’t stand looking at the same thing constantly, so it’s great that I can change things up. Each board can have its own design too, so you can match the vibes of the board with the appearance.

You can pick from a bunch of solid colors for your board or you can use the connection Trello has with Unsplash to search and select free stock images provided by photographers.

Other Parts of Organization

Not only do you have boards, lists, and cards, you can also make Workspaces, which are basically categories to sort your boards into. If you use Trello for projects, and have a board for each project, you can sort your boards into a Projects workspace.

There is also a function called Butler, which you can use to automate boards. For example, you can set it to automatically create a card called “Pay Rent” at the start of each month.

On the right, in the same sidebar where you can see the background options, there’s also an activity feed, tracking every time a card is moved, commented on, added, archived, and so on.

Team Work

Not only is Trello great for keeping private boards, you can also invite people to them! That makes it incredible for household management, group projects, or even friend groups who feel like storing plans and personalized memes. You can literally use it for whatever you want and in whatever way you want!

ADHD Applications

So, now let’s get down into the specifics of how this is great for people with ADHD.

You can make as many boards, lists, and cards as you want.

This is a big one for me, because I really struggle with websites that limit how much you can do with one account and force you to make multiples and then juggle multiple logins and so on. Start a new project? Make a new board. Follow your heart. Be free. If you end up giving up on it, just delete it, or store it for later. You can Star the boards you actively use and just use the Star list to access the boards you need, so if you star all your active ones and then ignore the unstarred, failed projects, you can leave them to rot or abandon them until the mood strikes again.

You can organize in a way that works for you.

So many organization applications are made to work one way and that can be really difficult to navigate as someone with ADHD. So many people with ADHD have such specific needs in regards to how they organize that it can be really hard to find something that works. Half the time we end up just scrambling around from application to application, cursing them as we go because one has one thing we like, but it doesn’t have the thing this other one has that we like and nothing ever seems to just work.

Trello makes it possible to personalize how you organize and even change how you organize halfway through. I keep my to do list organized in 4 priority levels with the addition of a Pin list and a Done list. You could also:

Keep a list that works as a calendar, with a card for each entry, organized in order of date

Keep a list of reminders where automated weekly/monthly/yearly responsibilities pop up

Jot down reminders as you think of them

Keep lists of school assignments in the order they’re due

Use descriptions and photo uploads on cards to collect information or resources needed for said assignments

Keep lists of information that’s easy to forget or lose track of on paper like address history, work history, references, contact information, and so on (like I’ve done on my ‘Pin’ list)

Use boards for projects, to keep track of things like resources, due dates, meeting times, sending files between classmates or project partners, and so on

Use boards for planning events like weddings, parties, conferences, school dances, or whatever else you’re into

Collect resources, references, or recreational to-dos (like links to fanfiction you want to read)

Literally anything

You can separate everything onto different boards, making everything visible from the titles of cards, or combine it all into one, with lots of information available on a click

The sky’s the limit

You can automate repeat tasks.

ADHD comes with a lot of forgetfulness when it comes to regular tasks, such as weekly appointments, medication reminders, and a yearly charge for your Nintendo membership. You can put that stuff into your calendar, but that can also be tricky because then you have information spread across multiple platforms.

Just as easily, you can set Butler to make new cards with reminders on them.

There’s probably more but I have ADHD and I forgot

Just think of the possibilities!!

I used to get debilitatingly stressed out because I would have 10 things floating around in my head because I was simultaneously trying not to forget them and also stressing about them and I would make what I call “spaghetti lists” where I would list all the things I’m thinking of, just as a way to calm down and know that I won’t forget them, so that my brain could quiet down.

Since starting this board, I haven’t had to do that once because all of the things I’m afraid of forgetting are already listed, even if they’re on the list titled ‘ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ‘ because idk if they’re ever actually gonna happen.

It can be incredibly stressful to see all of your to do items in one place, but since starting this, I have been less stressed overall, because I now know I can find them all in that one place. Learning to manage and cope with the stress of knowing I have a lot to do is easier than forgetting things and then realizing I’m late on something or things just never happening because I never remember them when I’m in a place where I can work on them.

And when you have everything in one place to reference when you have some executive energy, you can suddenly just start doing things. I have them labeled by type so I can go, “I’m in the mood to draw,” and then check all the dark blue labels for creative projects. It makes everything so much easier.

Anyway, I hope this is helpful to some of you, it’s genuinely been life changing for me

[morimyth]

So. Putting this mf on blast outside of tags bc Red Flags Galore.

In our interview to schedule a dental extraction, he openly admitted to losing my panoptic xray, the most important xray, when all six files were sent to him at once. He also kept trying to push me to get More xrays, even after the DA next to me said "we can send them again". He continued with the "oh well I'll put this down anyway just in case-" and I had to cut him off with the "No You Will Not", bc we sent those, and you should keep and use the ones we sent, stop poaching me for more imaging money.

He then Proved he went digging into my personal files without a release, by confirming on camera my Anxiety and Depression diagnoses. I deflected and asked why that was relevant, and I straight up gave him the "are you fkn insane" look, bc I know damn well my dental office doesn't have access to my MH, any MH records that exist in the ether are more than 10y old and inaccurate at best, and this guy would have had to Dig Deep to find it. Yikes.

He also was blissfully unaware of the existence of my dental facility, asked me Where I Was, and when I told him the name of the facility he's like "whats that?" So I went full sarcasm and told him it was a circus. He did not like this.

Following the video call, I received a text from an automatic service Declaring I had an appointment set for 9am, 48h from my previous consultation appt. In call, he asked me "why not just come up in person?" I openly said that any scheduling needs to be with some time to account for travel expenses, which he fully ignored.

Trying to interact with this abysmal autotext service, I found out there was No option for negotiation, just a Y/N that either confirmed the appt or canceled it entirely. The help options led to dead sites and phone lines that don't work. The text service was a pay per text nightmare.

This part is conjecture, but this man wanted to Confirm all of my vulnerabilities, before triggering them (purposefully), getting me into a vulnerable position In Office ASAP, doesn't have a working contact number, and start to finish, played complete incompetence like I wasn't going to see that shit and fucking run.

So I called my dentists office the next day, and had them schedule me for the specialist I was originally referred to by my DMD, and thankfully the office was amicable and put that in motion for me. I did not have to do any extra work, and my office was actually really understanding about it when I voiced my concerns.

Flash forward to today, where he CALLED ME FROM A BLOCKED NUMBER to ask if I still wanted to come in. I didn't confirm my name, but I did specify that I'd gone with another specialist for my treatment. I did not let him sadboi me into anything, bc he started in with "oh I lost more of this, and I'm not sure how this works uwu can I still get an appt?" Bitch no you can't still have an appointment, and if you spoke to my dentists office in any real capacity, instead of calling me directly on my private number, you would have figured that out.

I looked this mf up, and Dr. Levi Miller is actually a failed private practitioner from Washington state with a slew of one star reviews online. Coupling that with the straight up Predatory Stalker vibes, if he contacts me again, I may just get a restraining order, bc FUCKING YIKES.

UR Medicine made a Huge Mistake hiring this one.

If I can't talk to a human, I'm not going.

[gamesbynuxill]

Bad news and good? news?

I know it’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted here and I’m sorry about that. I don’t even know if anyone is still following this blog or cares about it/Nocti. Hopefully some of you still do so you can spread this message around.

I was not careful and had my Discord account compromised, as well as my Twitter, and now I’m finding out possibly my Itch.io page?

I think my Itch.io page is no longer in my hands. I may be wrong, but the email I thought the account it was associated with does not work so I can only assume the worst has happened. That being said, the page does not seem to have been touched so it is probably still safe to download the current version of Nocti. 

If the date uploaded information for the game files is not from 2020, DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE FILE! That is the last time I updated the file!!

I also am not sure I’ll be able to get onto my gamesbynuxill twitter either, because I do not remember what email it was attached to and I no longer have my original twitter that was connected to it.

So like, what’s the good news?

the good news is that I’m still developing Nocti, and I still plan to finish it. I will probably also be using this account more often since I can't use the twitter right now. I don’t know if I’ll upload the game to itch.io if I don’t get access to my account back, but it will eventually make it’s way SOMEWHERE. 

I have sent an email to itch support, but who knows when they'll see it and if I'll get my account back. It's a real shame to lose the very small following I built up on that website, but I've given up on growing my brand or anything like that a long time ago.

Please spread the word about this to twitter and itch if possible, and I will NEVER dm someone asking them to download my game over discord. If you get a message from Nuxill#7870 (or #7078 I forget which number combo it was), that is my comporomised account.

I'm sorry for the length of this message, and I'm sorry I don't have any art to share today. I felt like I needed to post something about it at least. Thank you for following the development of Nocti!

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers (February 22nd, 2021)

Hello! Here’s another collection of anon ask answers all put together in one big post.

This might be strange considering how upbeat yall are about the fandoms for your games in general, but is there any particular trope or ship you WOULDN'T want us writing/drawing/etc. in relation to your stuff? (IE, any canon you don't want us 'overwriting' or something like that?)

Of course we would want the fan content people make to not be racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted, harmful, etc. But in terms of generally doing non-canon pairings or adding in headcanons or stuff, we really don’t mind that. People are welcome to have fun and explore their own ideas.

for the 1.2 Android update was it meant to download as a  separate app? I really want to keep my previous save files but they don't show up (also thank u for the updates I'm really excited to get back into the game!!)

We had to change the name of the file and unfortunately for some phones that meant it’s treated as a brand new game. I’m sorry your saves didn’t transfer over to the new version. You can try to look up your specific phone and see if there’s a way to access save files for games on your device and then transfer those saves over to the new build manually. It may or may not be possible.

I'm having some trouble figuring out how to get the update from Itichio without losing my save files? Is it the same game or a folder I can put in the properties? Sorry if this question is not worded well or if this isn't the avenue you'd want to take technical questions on

Are you using Android? If so, the above answer may apply to you. If you’re on PC or Mac, the save files will automatically still be included.

Hey. I really loved playing our life. It was a fun experience and I never thought I would like it this much. I do have a question, I am currently replaying the game and I am choosing choices I never chose at first. In step 2 during the road trip arc, I decided to ask Cove about what he liked to see on people. One of his response was anklets and black eyes. My MC have just happens to have black eyes. Do Cove say black eyes cuz my mc have it or it was just a coincidently programmed into the game?

He uses your eye color intentionally! If you changed your eye color he’d change what he said.

Will step 4 have 10 moments like steps 1-3? 

Step 4 is only an epilogue. It plays like the openings/endings of the earlier Steps where it’s a bunch of scenes all in a row, there aren’t any individual Moments.

hi! who was/were the artist(s) for our life? 

&

who is the artist for Our Life: Beginning and Always?

Main Sprite and CG Artist: Addrossi

Main Background Artist: Vui Huynh

Main Interface Artist: Winter Slice

Other artists who helped out can be seen in the credits of the game.

In the new ol, there are two main love interests... Would it be possible to pair them together or is that weird? 

You can’t stay single and pair them together. If we are going to add all the extra content to have a route where the two LIs get together, it’d be a full poly route where them and the MC were all dating. And that’s not a for sure option yet because it’d add a lot of extra complications. But either way, in OL the relationships all gotta be about the MC, haha.

In OL2, there will be extra LIs in form of DLCs? Like Dexter and Baxter. 

Maybe! We’ll see how it goes.

Since Cove will have 2 diff body types in s4, will the storyline and dialogs reflect this? Or all of it will be the same? Btw love the game and sorry for bad english. Hope this doesn't sound rude 😅 

Some descriptions and pieces of dialog will change, but it won’t impact the story really. And you don’t need to apologize! It’s all good.

Will you ever release the transparent sprites of the Our Life characters? 

Probably not, I’m afraid. They’ve got a lot of pieces and it’d just be kind of hard to deal with, aha.

Something I was curious about, what was your inspiration for making a game with so much customization?

Initially, the idea was just about having a romance where you actually grew up with the LI. But it was pretty stressful to try deciding how fast the relationship would progress with it taking place over such a long period of time and with no real storyline carrying it. People might not wanna play a game where the characters don’t get along as kids, but other people might not bother with a game where kids immediately liked each other. So the obvious answer came, just let the player pick themselves how it goes. From there we simply continued to add more flexibly with the MC due to the same thought process of wanting to make sure people were onboard with how their life was going.

What made you decide to change the artstyle for ol 2 so much? I of course respect all your decisions and will buy the shit out of everything related to ol 2, but i love the original style and i m honestly not a fan of the styles shown on patreon, despite me liking the painterly style in general. (I don t mind the style being changed, just that the examples shown so far all feel like there s something wrong with them.) 

We’ve always used different art styles for each of our projects. They all have distinct looks from each other. It’s just nice to do something new. I’m glad you really like how the first game looks, though. And those samples were only general concepts, rather than the exact options being decided between. We wanted to see reactions to different options. The art style we’re going with won’t be exactly like those, though I personally like all of them. I think players are gonna enjoy the style Our Life: Now & Forever when it’s revealed.

Hey! Is it ok to ask what gender ourlife2 protagonist will be and if we'll be given the same opportunity to customize an MC? Totally understand if you're keeping this under wraps for now if u don't wanna say! 

OL2 will have the same type of MC customization as OL1, but even more refined! So their gender will be up to you.

Hi! I happened upon Our Life on Steam by pure chance. It is such a great game, I am super excited about the DLC, and I just want you all to know that you are awesome! :D I have a question, and I'm sorry if it's been asked before. Do you have plans of making more games similar to Our Life, with customizable player character? The customizable player character was probably the one thing I personally have been desperate for in romance VNs. So glad there finally is one and would love to see more.

Thank you! And yep, we do have plans for more games like Our Life, most notably is another game in the franchise- Our Life: Now & Forever. We’ll also likely have other, non-OL, games with customizable MCs, though we may still have some games with set MCs in the future as well.

On the patreon dlc just curious but is it possible to play it without actually sleeping together/getting the nsfw content? I just want to spend more time with Cove 

Yeah, you can still choose not to go that far. Though the event is shorter if you pass on the 18+ stuff.

At the beginning of Step 2, did Cove end up accidentally falling asleep in your bed? Or did he fall asleep on the floor? 

He fell asleep sitting on the floor with his body/head leaning against the side of the bed.

This may seem like a weird question, but what exactly is the difference between "direct" and "relaxed" on the comfort scale?

Direct is blunter and more teasing, relaxed is lighthearted and goes with the flow.

can the MC have tattoos in step 3? 

Not in Step 3, but you can in Step 4.

how would Cove react if he visited somewhere like North Carolina in winter where it can get in the 20s(F) at night sometimes? 

He would be shocked and unprepared for what serious coldness is really like, haha. The poor beach baby would wanna go home.

Hello! I just joined the PATREON!! It’s amazing! I love your games! I have a question, approximately how much after will the nsfw be out? After or before the dlc 3 and step four? Sorry my English isn’t the best!❤️❤️❤️ 

Thanks so much! The NSFW DLC will be out after the Step 3 DLC but before Step 4. And you don’t need to apologize for that ^^.

This might be obvious but, will step 4 have dlcs? Also, where will the nsfw dlc happen? Won't bother me at all if it s in in our or his house but i do think it d be moderately funny 

Step 4 will have the Cove Wedding DLC and the Derek and Baxter romance DLCs each add a lot of new content to Step 4, though they’re also partially set in Step 2 and Step 3 respectively. The NSFW DLC happens in Cove’s room.

I keep wondering what would've happened if Mr. Holden met Lizzie first instead of the MC. I can't see that turning out well somehow lol. 

It wouldn’t have made a difference. He met the MC’s parents first and they told him about their two kids. He wanted the MC specifically to be Cove’s friend because the two were the same age.

Even though we have a way to go I'm really excited for OL 2! I was curious though, is the next main character going to be adopted again? I thought it was really clever to make the first main character adopted so when players are customizing,  they can make them look how ever they like without worrying about pesky genetics. Just wondering! 

The OL2 MC is not adopted. We wanted to go for a new dynamic. Instead their parents are their biological single mother who is partially customizable and an off-screen sperm donor father. So the mom will look generally like the MC and any other traits not from her can be assumed to come from whoever the father was.

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Thank you so much for all the asks ^^

FAQ   If you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

My new computer finally arrived! I didn’t want to get a new computer this soon, as knocking my old laptop off a chair last week wasn’t part of my plan. But my old laptop was pretty old and would probably have needed replacing within a year either way, so that made me feel a little better. Also, I managed to combine a gift card with a good sale to get a new laptop that did not deplete all my savings. The aspirational trip to the UK for which I’ve been saving money... I’m now hoping for spring 2022... is still a possibility.

It’s also amazing that it’s now easy to just buy an enclosure and then your old hard drive becomes an internal hard drive. I don’t know if I’m behind the times, but I didn’t know that until last week, when I Googled the latest methods for getting files off a computer that you knocked off a chair while having a breakdown in the middle of the night. It was ridiculously easy to do this, and now 1) I have all my files from my old computer in a device that can be plugged into my new computer, and 2) I got a 1TB external hard drive for the price of the $20 I spent on the enclosure. I mean obviously I had to pay for that hard drive when I first bought my old computer, but I’d expected to lose all the hardware from my old computer when it broke, so compared to expectations I am up by one entire hard drive.

The first thing I did when I opened my new laptop, before I even turned it on, was of course put my Nish Kumar sticker on it:

Then I took it to a library with good internet that will let me download files at a decent rate, and I spent a few hours getting it all set up. I kept track of what I was doing in a document, figuring it could be helpful to have this list for the next time I need to take a new device and make it into the computer I like to use. I’m going to share the list publicly, because I’ve spent a lot of time finding good software to make a computer easy to use. I’ve found at least a couple of good free alternatives to expensive programs.

So here’s what I have on my computer. Posted in case it helps out anyone else who’s been looking for a good way to do any of the things I do with my laptop and would like to benefit from the time I’ve spent finding these things.

- Set the battery to stop charging at 80%. Drain the battery below 80% and then plug the computer back in. This will do so much to save the battery.

- Set the default folder view as list mode.

- Pin the folders: Music, Videos, and Screenshots to quick access.

- Use Microsoft Edge to download Google Chrome. Basically, make Microsoft Edge dig its own grave.

--- Sign into my Google account on Chrome, so I get all my bookmarks and extensions and history. Make sure all the important extensions are there:

------ Adblock Plus

------ uBlock Origin

------ Allow Right-Click

------ Bookmark Manager

--- Pin Google Chrome to taskbar.

--- Unpin Microsoft Edge from taskbar.

--- Set Google Chrome as default browser.

--- Set Google as the default search engine.

--- Set Google as the home page.

- Download Microsoft Office, sign in to the account with a subscription.

--- Reset the default on Microsoft Word to not automatically put space before or after new paragraphs.

--- Pin Word to taskbar.

- Download MPC-BE, the absolute gold standard of video and audio playing software. Customize the hell out of it, because you can do that with this program. Press “O” and the options menu opens.

--- Under “player”, switch to “new process for every file”. That lets you open more than one video file at a time, a feature that the basic Windows video player somehow doesn’t have.

--- Then go to “Keys”.

------ Keep the space bar as “play/pause”.

------ F = Framestep, D = Framestep Back

------ Up Arrow = Jump Forward (small), Down Arrow = Jump Backward (small)

------ Right Arrow = Jump Forward (medium), Left Arrow = Jump Backward (medium)

------ L = Jump Forward (large), K = Jump Backward (large)

------ CTRL + Up Arrow = Volume Increase, CTRL + Down Arrow = Volume Decrease

------ End = Previous File, Page Down = Next File

------ H = Fullscreen

--- Set MPC-BE as default video and audio player.

--- Pin MPC-BE to taskbar.

- Download iTunes. I’m not a fan of Apple but I am a fan of the iPod Classic and this is the only way to use that. Also iTunes is actually a pretty convenient music player. I use MPC-BE for long audio files that I want to really get into (ie. an audiobook or a podcast), and iTunes for just playing songs.

--- Pin iTunes to taskbar.

- Download Adobe Acrobat Reader.

- Download JDownloader 2.

- Download uTorrent.

- Download Immunet and Avast for Virus protection. Unpin the Avast browser from the taskbar but don’t delete it completely. Go into the control panel and remove all traces of McAfee.

- Download Google Earth Pro.

- Download AShampoo for unzipping files.

- Download VideoPad. This is the one program that has good free alternatives, but I’ve paid for it anyway (as opposed to Microsoft Office, which I’ve paid for because I don’t think any of its free alternatives are at all comparable). That’s because I do enough video editing to think it’s worth paying extra for an easy-to-use program with a lot of features, and about a year ago I made a one-time payment for the full version of VideoPad. I very intentionally did the one-time payment rather than the “pay per month” thing, partly because I knew I’d use it for long enough to make that worth it, but also for the principle that I like to own things and do not like the shift within technology towards temporarily leasing things. So I downloaded VideoPad on my new computer, searched in my email to find the key I paid for last year that lets me turn it into the full paid version, entered the key, and got told it’s for and old version and won’t work. So I had to find a copy of that older version and download that, and then my key worked. I hate that software companies can let you pay for their product and then not let you re-download the version you’ve already paid for.

And that is how I have set up my computer to be very useful. Fuck reliance on temporarily leasing data from companies that can change things on you any time they want, up with open source software. If anyone is looking at this post and thinking I’m missing something, let me know. What makes your computer-using experience better?

[caguaydreams]

Not so long ago I said screw it I'll post those ralsusie doodles I've had sitting around in my folders because I love this ship and I want to share these..... yyyeeeaaah I kept forgetting to do that, and two weeks ago my desktop got a virus and aaaaall of my files got encrypted and corrupted, so it's all gone. Forever. I was kinda expecting this to happen so the issue didn't carry that much of a blow, it felt actually kind of liberating to lose my ever-growing pile of WIPs to the void lol. What did sting a bit was remembering about my ralsusie works, and how many of them would never get to see the light of day (mostly because I said I would post them and then postponed it over and over—) , but I recovered a couple of them from discord and well, no reason to not post them now

This is all I have left of my old ralsusie doodles so I'm finally posting them because, welp, better late than never. There's a bit of an anecdote to that but I'm gonna write it separately on a reblog

[jackalgirl]

Archive.org (the Brouhaha, recapped)

There’s been a post going around about archive.org, and a suit against it by four large publishers.  And there’s a lot -- I mean a lot -- of hyperbole going on about it.

I had a very constructive conversation here with @helenisfair (I had in fact bought into some of that hyperbole) and wanted to recap what I learned so far (I have more research to do).  Be warned: it is very long.

Claim #1: the Internet Archive scans copyrighted books and makes them available to everyone, which is illegal and robs publishers of revenue, and if the publishers are robbed of revenue, so are the authors.  Ergo, the Internet Archives is pirating authors’ works.

This claim plays on what it means to “make available,” and is strongly implying that this means unlimited digital copies of a physical book available for anyone to download and possess, always and forever.  It would be like me buying a book, then making 10 photocopies of it, and giving those photocopies to my friends (or worse, selling them).

This is not really true (but in the case of the lawsuit, it is kinda true, see below).

The Internet Archive claims to function like a library.  What this means is that, like a library, it buys or acquires (e.g., by donation) books.  It does scan them and make them available online, and this does include books that are under copyright.  Now here’s the part I don’t know yet: I don’t know if the Archive has a brick-and-mortar location where you can go and check out physical books.  I am operating under the pretense (for the moment until I know for sure) that it does not.  Therefore (again, I presume), it is not possible for the physical copy of a book and its digital copy to be loaned out at the same time.

Once the Archive has this scanned copy, it lends that copy out to readers using something called “Controlled Digital Lending”.  For example: if you have an IA account, you can “check out” the scanned copy into your account’s loan list for one or 14 days.  You can then read this book online, via web-enabled reading.  You can return it at any time, or, once your lending time is up, the file is released from your loan list and is now available for someone else to check out.

It is also possible, if you have the proper Adobe application, to download an encrypted ePub or ereader version of the book.  This allows people manipulate the display more appropriately for their needs.  I think that the function of this Adobe software is the same thing as the web-reader: after the loan time, it removes the file from your device and (presumably) notifies the IA that the book is free to check out again.  (I say “think” and “presumably” because I have not yet researched how the actual mechanics of this software work.)

The function of this is to ensure that extra copies of the book are not generated: one digital copy per physical book in the possession of the Archive (unless the book is no longer under copyright, that is), available to one person at a time.  So, under the “lending libraries should be allowed” presumption: no revenue is being lost, no author is losing money.

Claim #2: The Internet Archive is doing exactly what libraries do with their eBooks!

Well, no.  As I understand it, libraries license the digital copies of books from the publishers.  So they do pay.  What they get for paying is a number of digital copies that they can lend out that way -- entirely separate from any physical copies in their collection.

Claim #3: The Internet Archive made unlimited copies of millions of books under copyright available, and that��s why they’re being sued.

Well, actually the lawsuit only alleges 127 specific titles, to the “millions of books!” statement is an example of that hyperbole I mentioned earlier.  But if you’re a fan of writers being compensated for their work (which I am), it’s not the quantity of books being “stolen” that is an issue.  It’s the fact that unauthorized copies were available which could have, if they had been authorized, generated income for the original authors (or their estates).

And note my earlier statement about the idea of “copy”.  It was not unlimited copies, as in “files I can download to my computer and have forever”.  It was “multiple people potentially accessing the same digital copy of a physical book.”

So what actually did happen?

Well, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many libraries were closed -- or otherwise inaccessible to people with health limitations and/or concerns.  People were trapped at home, with no access to libraries.  So what the Internet Archive did was remove the 1:1 lending limitation for books in their library, calling it the “National Emergency Library” (it’s still not 100% clear to me whether this was all of the books in their holdings, or just some of them).  This meant that for every physical copy of a book, there could theoretically be an unlimited number of digital copies checked out at one time (again, though, no one would get to keep their copy).

Apparently, the Archive had an “opt-out” option, wherein a publisher could notify the Archive that they didn’t want a book included in the “National Emergency Library” offering.  I don’t know if the publishers could say “nothing from us”, or whether they’d have to fill out the “opt-out” form or whatever for each individual title.

Personally, and this is just me here, I do not particularly like “opt-out” options.  If I’m going to take something from you, or collect something from you, or otherwise benefit from you, I think it is fundamentally shady for me to just start doing it and saying “but you can always opt out if you jump through these hoops”.  I think the Archive would have been better served by sending notification to the publishers that they were going to do this thing for the benefit of people during this emergency, and ask them to opt-in, and not "unlocked” the affected books under copyright until they had done so.

Anyway, the publishers (Hachette, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, and Wiley, for the record) filed suit against the Archive for copyright infringement, at which point the Archive stopped the “National Emergency Library”.  As of this writing, the Internet Archive is back to what it was: 1:1 lending of the digital copy of a physical book in its possession (I think).

Claim #3: The Internet Archive did nothing wrong -- all of this is covered under “Fair Use”

That’s what IA is claiming in its response to the lawsuit.  However, this may not be a very strong argument.  The Mass Law Blog provides an analysis of this argument and concludes that the claim fails to meet most of the required prongs, or elements, of Fair Use doctrine (again many thanks to @helenisfair, who provided the link to this article).

Claim #4: By suing the Internet Archive, these publishers are trying to bring an end to the lending of books!

This is a claim made indirectly -- by refutation -- on the IA’s blog: “Copyright Expert on Publishers Lawsuit: 'The idea that lending a book is illegal is just wrong'”. Well, I can imagine a world in which publishers would, indeed, prefer to be paid for every time the contents of a book entered a reader’s brain.  However, it’s my understanding this lawsuit is much more narrow -- it’s about unauthorized copies, which (if correct) would make this claim is a strawman.

Claim #5: This lawsuit will utterly destroy the Archive, and thus remove a lot of material from being available, including its archive of US political shenanigans (particularly from 2016-2020), which if lost, will impact people’s ability to fact-check said shenanigans.

This may very well be true, and it’s a concern. There is a lot of material there that would benefit future historians (or any current people who are interested in fact-checking and primary research), and to lose it would be a tremendous loss (though it would absolutely benefit certain persons’ ability to continue to create “alternate truth”).

End conclusion: I personally think that, if multiple people had access to the same digital scan of a copyrighted book during the National Emergency Library period that yes, the IA did infringe on the copyright, and they absolutely should be held accountable.  I do not feel that the ends (helping out people during the pandemic) justified the means (essentially stealing from publishers and, by extension, the authors).  I feel all of this could have been avoided via an opt-in system.  I am also perturbed and annoyed by the hyperbole being utilized by the Internet Archive itself -- it has the feeling of handwaving, slippery-slope, and catastrophic-thinking arguments, to distract people from the issue at hand: did the Internet Archive make unauthorized copies of books available to its users?

I hope that the Archive can settle with the publishers for any actual copyright infringements that occurred, if they occurred.  I think we’ll have to wait for discovery to find out how many of the 127 titles were checked out by more than one person at a time during the “National Emergency Library”, but even one infringement could be pretty hefty (see the Mass Law Blog article for penalties).  

I personally feel that the Archive is incredibly useful, especially because it gives me the ability to access some very old manuscripts, and also books that -- while still in copyright -- still haven’t been digitized by their publishers.  For example: “The Architect of Sleep”, by Stephen R. Boyett, is an absolutely excellent book about a guy who falls through some kind of multi-words rift and ends up in a Florida in which the dominant, sentient form of life is a bunch of really large, upright-walking, sign-language-using raccoons.  This sounds like an absolutely ridiculous premise, but dear reader, the book is fantastic and well worth the read.  It is also out of print, not available as an eBook, and is contained within the collection of the Internet Archive, so if I have intrigued you but you don’t want to pay for a used copy, you can go check it out online.

Likewise, I’d really like it if the ability to access the Wayback Machine, and also to fact check shenanigans, were as readily available in the future as they are now.  In short, I would hate to lose the Internet Archive, and will continue to support them (provisionally; I sure hope they don’t try to pull another “opt-out” stunt in the future).  If you’d like to do so as well, there’s a donate button on their main website at archive.org.

[monochrome-in-madness]

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My Top 10 Favourite Horrors

Within this top 10 list, some will include the prequels, sequels and any other follow ups as 1 ranking number. Some may be considered thriller, sci-fi, suspence etc, however, I do regard these as horrors myself.

I have take many aspects into account, such as videography, actor quality, SFX makeup quality, soundtrack, directors, CGI etc.

Note : this is my personal opinion. You do not have to agree with it, though if you haven't seen these, I highly reccomend them.

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1. The Conjuring

(1 & 2)

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The Conjuring 1 :

The Perron family moves into a farmhouse where they experience paranormal phenomena. They consult demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren, to help them get rid of the evil entity haunting them.

The Conjuring Trailer :

The Conjuring 2 :

Peggy, a single mother of four children, seeks the help of occult investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren when she and her children witness strange, paranormal events in their house

The Conjuring 2 Trailer :

My Opinion :

The Conjuring was the start of an incredible series of horrors that beat any other horror to the ground. It is absolutely fantastic and I basically worship these films. James Wan is my favourite director and he never ceases to amaze me.

Paranormal horror is my favourite and as someone who actually believes in the paranormal and who has had paranormal experiences, I can confirm that The Conjuring is much more realistic than any other paranormal films, which just makes it extra spooky.

The actors, camera angles, music, sfx makeup and storyline is just - chefs kiss -. I've been waiting for the 3rd one for so long, but they keep extending the release date. (R. I. P)

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2. Annabelle

(all of them)

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Annabelle :

John and Mia Form are attacked by a Satan worshipping couple, who uses their doll as a conduit to make their life miserable. This unleashes a string of paranormal events in the Forms' residence.

Annabelle Trailer :

Annabelle Creation :

Samuel and Elle embed their daughter's spirit into a doll, only to realise it is a demon. Years later, they open their home to a nun and six orphan girls, one of whom finds the doll.

Annabelle Creation Trailer :

Annabelle Comes Home :

Judy and her babysitter are left alone in her house after her parents leave to investigate a case. However, an unexpected guest sets Annabelle free, unleashing demonic activity in the house.

Annabelle Comes Home Trailer :

My Opinion :

Another great film series that was birthed form The Conjuring. Definitely less realistic, with many more jumpscares and spooky characters, which is appreciated in the horror world. Many people find dolls far more creepy than ghosts, myself included, so that's another perfect aspect that adds to the suspense.

I prefer Annabelle 3 over the others, mainly because I found that one to be more scary overall, even though Daniela is an idiot and she makes me so frustrated 😂

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3. Saw

(all of them)

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For the totally unindoctrinated, the Saw movie franchise revolves around the Jigsaw Killer (a.k.a. John Kramer), who tortures victims he believes are complacent or guilty, in order to make them appreciate their time on Earth.

All Saw Trailers :

Obviously I'm not going to list every Saw movie, because there are 7 (Jigsaw aka number 8, does NOT count. It is a disgrace).

My Opinion :

A classic for horror and gore lovers of all kinds. Of course I need to list this as number 3. I simply adore these movies. I even have the DVD set, so I am definitely a long term fan haha.

The obstacles and creativity regarding Saw as a whole needed a lot of thought put into it, plus it has a happy little side note of "make sure you don't cause harm to others in life and don't take anything for granted" which some may have not even noticed while being overwhelmed by the amount of fake blood.

Yes, a lot of characters are annoying, but that just makes us enjoy seeing them tortured even more (shh it's not real). Some of the blood doesn't look very realistic, the sfx can lack attention, BUT... It's still great and I can overlook these few flaws to appreciate the movies to the max.

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4. Blair Witch

(2016)

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A young man and his friends venture into the Black Hills Forest in Maryland to uncover the mystery surrounding his missing sister. Many believe her disappearance 17 years earlier is connected to the legend of the Blair Witch.

At first the group is hopeful, especially when two locals act as guides through the dark and winding woods. As the night wears on, a visit from a menacing presence soon makes them realize that the legend is all too real, and more sinister than they could have ever imagined.

Blair Witch Trailer :

My Opinion :

I love the camerawork. Not because it's perfect, because it's the opposite. It's a documentary style and this makes it feel more realistic, as if you are within the film yourself. I enjoy how they skip to the action at just the right time after a mild buildup.

The visuals are great as well and there were definitely some parts where I was disgusted and claustrophobic, which is good to experience while enjoying these types of films.

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5. Under The Skin

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Disguising itself as a human female, an extraterrestrial drives around Scotland attempting to lure unsuspecting men into her van. Once there, she seduces and sends them into another dimension where they are nothing more than meat.

Under The Skin Trailer :

My Opinion :

I would classify this as horror, but many won't. Either way, this is an amazingly artistic film with beautiful imagery and silent awe. It definitely makes you feel the suspense in a calming manner and it has some really dark moments. Without reading the description, one might be confused as to what is going on, but how art is supposed to be interpretated is by the imagination of individuals.

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6. Veronica

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During a solar eclipse, young Verónica and her friends want to summon the spirit of Verónica's father using an Ouija board. However, during the session she loses consciousness and soon it becomes clear that evil demons have arrived.

Veronica Trailer :

My Opinion :

A Spanish masterpiece, to put it simply. It's hard to find proper horrors like this in English. I really enjoyed this one and I watched it subbed not dubbed, because I feel like voiceovers tend to ruin the art of the original film. The buildup is perfect and unlike many horrors, it barely shows you the face of the "monster". That leaves it to the imagination, which in general makes it far more scary.

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7. Underwater

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Disaster strikes more than six miles below the ocean surface when water crashes through the walls of a drilling station. Led by their captain, the survivors realize that their only hope is to walk across the sea floor to reach the main part of the facility. But they soon find themselves in a fight for their lives when they come under attack from mysterious and deadly creatures that no one has ever seen.

Underwater Trailer :

My Opinion :

This movie was released quite recently and I didn't know what to expect. I was definitely blown away by how good it was. Being trapped underwater gives most people a sense of anxiety. Add being trapped underwater and being hunted by creepy sea monsters and you've got yourself a good horror. Kristen Stewarts general anxious personality definitely suits this film well.

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8. Split

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Kevin, who is suffering from dissociative identity disorder and has 23 alter egos, kidnaps three teenagers. They must figure out his friendly personas before he unleashes his 24th personality.

Split Trailer :

https://youtu.be/84TouqfIsiI

My Opinion :

An incredible film with phenomenal acting on the part of James McAvoy. You can get lost within his character and almost feel as if you are the character itself. Suspense is built up slowly and the climax of the film is released rapidly. People I know who do not enjoy horror, love this film themselves, which is saying something. It's definitely one of the best modern films that draws you in from the start. 

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9. A Quiet Place

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A family struggles for survival in a world where most humans have been killed by blind but noise-sensitive creatures. They are forced to communicate in sign language to keep the creatures at bay.

A Quiet Place Trailer :

https://youtu.be/WR7cc5t7tv8

My Opinion :

As you can tell by now, I love anything alien related. This film has some of the most amazing looking aliens I've seen, I was honestly in awe by how great they looked. Another silent film, but in a different sense to the previous one. Instead of being the hunter, this family is being hunted and this adds more to the fear factor.

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10. Unfriended - Dark Web

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When a teen finds a laptop with a cache of hidden files, he and his friend discover that the previous owner has access to the dark web and is watching over them.

Unfriended - Dark Web Trailer :

https://youtu.be/XenTM_C9fxM

My Opinion :

A modern take on horror. Involving the actual dangers of the dark web and the use of technology and turning it into a horror was a magnificent idea. It definitely had me at the edge of my seat.

Due to another film type that is not often explored (thus being that most of the movie is equal to what it would be like to look at your computer and video chat), it makes it different and therefore more compelling than the usual videography styles.

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Thank you for reading, if you've made it this far! Feel free to share your top 10 in the comment section, I am definitely interested in your opinions and finding new movies to watch myself. Any questions are also welcome.

Until next time, take care and stay spooky!

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