#i did not need to download this many memes | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

midnight1nk · 3 months ago

Text

Love is a powerful force.

The love between friends, family, partners. And most importantly, the love one has for themselves. In the SMG4 show, this is no different. I’ve touched on this back in my ‘ONCE UPON A Ṕ̷̱E̴̺̽R̵̖̎̕F̵̢̗̈́̀E̴̞̍C̴͈̽T̶͓̘̈́ SMG4’ theory. In IGBP, Boopkins said this:

“Love wins! Love always wins!”

[’It’s Gotta Be Perfect’ // timestamp 28:56]

He wasn’t wrong. The countless enemies the Crew has encountered, all were resolved one way or another through the power of love. No one ever said love didn’t come at a price.

The good guys indeed win, but not without sacrifice. They kept their promise, but not without loss.

However, despite everything, love always remained.

A connection bounded by love is delicate. It can either make itself stronger or it could break.

For our returning character, Marty, his connection with Mario was broken due to a one-sided betrayal. As I also discussed in my ‘WOTFI 2024 Predictions’, Marty would take his revenge on Mario in WOTFI 2024. Ever since his debut, Marty has been overworking and feeling underappreciated. Underestimated. The only ally he had was Mario. That was until Mario, his own creator, abandoned him for a plate of spaghetti. And that is who Marty will go against.

There is one more taking his revenge on the crew: Mr Puzzles. As seen at the end of The Meme Factory Arc, Mr Puzzles swore that he would be back and indeed did in ‘SMG4: Inside Out’. Well, at least that was how it was. With the current episodes coming out, some people were confused about why this wasn’t mentioned again.

The truth, my dear fellows, is that his plan has already started and we didn’t even realize it.

Follow me as I discuss the parallels between previous arcs, a callback to narrative foils, and most importantly: a sequel…

PUZZLEVISION 2: NOW AIRING

⚠️ DISCLAIMER IN INTRO POST ⚠️

“The worst of times are when you have to force your biggest smiles…”

I’ve made many theories on SMG4, a few now posted on Tumblr. However, this was the actual first theory I came up with, not ‘ONCE UPON A Ṕ̷̱E̴̺̽R̵̖̎̕F̵̢̗̈́̀E̴̞̍C̴͈̽T̶͓̘̈́ SMG4’. It all started back after the Puzzlevision arc ended when, out of pure curiosity, I decided to check out the PV website. It was mostly to see if it was still up and, to my surprise, it was. Not only that but it was replaced with a whole new image.

If Gravity Falls taught me anything, it’s that something never truly ended.

Ever since then, every Wednesday and Saturday, I would check back at the website to see if there was any change. It seemed like my efforts were worth it because, on one of those days, the image became a GIF. I unfortunately wasn’t able to capture it to show but I know I’m not the only one who has seen this. All I could offer instead is this…

Back when it was still the PV arc, there was a moment when you could save a PNG of Mr Puzzles, and every time it did, it would show a message.

“Downloading me is pretty rude” (correct me if I’m wrong) — Mario’s Mysteries ”Still pretty rude of you” — Once Upon an SMG4 ”You don’t seem to listen, do you?” — Scooby Mario, Where'd You Go! ”HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA” — Mr. Puzzles' Incredible Game Show Spectacular!

Now, when you save the image this is what comes up:

“Now Airing”

And if you look closer, the file type is also there [gif-to-webp]

The term "Now Airing" is obviously used when a program is currently on the airing schedule of the channel. The people behind SMG4 didn’t need to put this image in, they didn’t need to keep this website on. But they did.

"That's All Folks!" Yeah, right. Nice try.

Looks like this website is about to come back to life, and a new game is afoot.

WOTFI 2024

In my ‘WOTFI 2024 Predictions’, I’ve picked apart the episode ‘We Must Kill Mario’ and how it would relate to this year’s WOTFI.

I’ve intentionally left some details/questions out from the post. The biggest example being Marty’s speech. It stuck out for me when I first heard it, it was way too specific and way too familiar.

“The one person I trusted the most has left me behind for… SPAGHETTI! Now I’ve escaped! …And it's time for… everyone to suffer like I have! At the hands… of the one thing YOU love the MOST.”

Then I realized why: the Meme Factory mini-arc.

Mr Puzzles never had friends growing up, it’s what got him obsessed with television. It was also the core motive to creating the perfect show, that any kid who is just like he was won’t be alone anymore. Of course, he got defeated by the SMG4 crew.

In the mini-arc, Mr Puzzles and Leggy went through the Meme Factory so he could have power again. For the first time, he got to experience what was like to have a friend. While he initially wanted to do this on his own, he had Leggy as part of it. That was until the Crew beat him once again, turning Leggy back into Meggy. This was different, this truly did hurt.

Because what’s worse than having no friends? It’s to be betrayed by someone who you thought was your friend. And the SMG4 crew was to blame for it. Now with the Marty speech, it applies to him:

“The one person I trusted the most has left me behind for… them! Now I’ve returned! …And it's time for… everyone to suffer like I have! At the hands… of the one thing YOU love the MOST.”

If that's so, then what is the 'one thing'?

Well, with spaghetti going from Mario’s one true love to becoming poison, it’s only logical that Mr Puzzles would turn someone from the Crew to go against them. A friend that would destroy their friendships. And he already had the perfect choice:

“And SMG4, who knew you could play an antagonist so well! High marks from me.”

[Puzzlevision]

When Mr Puzzles returned in ‘SMG4: Inside Out’, he latched onto Four’s mind and took over. For what purposes, we don’t know. Yet. But the Crew would have to save Four once again.

But Four isn’t showing any signs of control or possession?

No, but it doesn’t mean Mr Puzzles isn’t working behind the scenes, watching over Four’s every move.

Back in ‘We Must Kill Mario’, when Karen’s kids were flipping over the videos on the SMG4 channel, they stopped and jumped for joy at ‘Mario’s Mysteries’. A Puzzlevision episode.

Later on, when Marty revealed his motive behind his poisonous spaghetti sauce and declared that he was going to come back when he escaped from Karen, it left many questions:

How did he escape from jail?

Who is driving the helicopter?

How did he even get inside the house?

We can assume. But to know in absolute, no.

After Marty escapes, Karen thanks Four and Mario for keeping her kids safe, saying:

“I owe you one.”

Now, I did say that this could mean that Karen could have a big role in WOTFI ‘24 where she will finish the job. But it also could be interpreted in another way.

You saved my kids, but now let me help save your life, SMG4.

If Mr Puzzles is really working behind the curtain, then it would turn out that, as of right now, two arcs are happening simultaneously.

And this wouldn’t be the first time.

WESTERN SPAGHETTI & WOTFI 2023

Let’s rewind to Marty’s debut episode, ‘SMG4: Mario is Fine’ when, just as any other episode, a wacky adventure with Mario. Except for the very end, when the episode ends with an ominous close-up of Marty, clearly implying that there is more than what meets the eye. For the rest of the episodes, it went along like this:

[Marty’s debut]

Marty’s strange and subtle appearances (he was just standing there)

the Western Spaghetti arc

Marty’s even stranger appearances that none of the crew took seriously (like the interrogation scene with Shroomy in 'SMG4: SMG4 Kids')

WOTFI 2023 (the Notebook arc)

It starting to parallel to episodes we currently have:

Mr Puzzles’ Return (’SMG4: Inside Out’)

His sudden appearances like 'Mario Lost His M(o)ustache'

(+ perhaps future subtle hints that something is wrong with Four)

WOTFI 2024

"something is really wrong with Four" moments

Puzzlevision 2

Structure-wise, it is similar. But with Four involuntarily along for the ride, this makes things more complex character and lore-wise. Hmm, curious…

Possession, power, perfection.

Do any of these words ring a bell?

…I think it’s time to revisit an old enemy of the SMG4 crew, one achieved far greater than anyone of us could’ve imagined.

To create the perfect universe.

GENESIS & REVELATIONS: THE INFAMOUS TWO-PARTER

Before I called this "Puzzlevision 2: Now Airing", this was the "Reverse Genesis" theory because I saw how Genesis and Puzzlevision were really similar. Genesis had Revelations right after, so I suspected that Puzzlevision would have a sequel of sorts. Let me explain:

GENESIS

⭐️ Initial Motive

Zero, a virus from a different universe. He traveled from universe to universe, destroying them by killing their corresponding avatars.

Zero had the power to convert Mario into his new Avatar and a new universe. He was close to completing the process until the SMG4 crew intervened.

⭐️ Zero's Defeat

The Crew worked together to save Mario. Three and Four were able to use their guardian powers to transfer meme energy to Mario.

Axol sacrificed himself to save everyone and defeat Zero (but didn’t outright kill Zero).

REVELATIONS

⭐️ True Form

It turns out that Zero is two people: SMG0 and Niles.

SMG0 wanted things to go back to the way they were when the memes were getting corrupted > Niles and the creation of the meme cycle > Niles getting obsessed with the idea of a perfect universe.

He returns in Revelations to carry out his plan, carrying a grudge for the other Meme Guardians.

We see Zero’s true appearance, the one without Axol's physical features.

⭐️ Controlling the Most Vulnerable

Nine latched onto Melony, who was grieving over Axol’s death.

He used Melony to learn her god powers so he could use her to get to the God Box and reunite with SMG0.

⭐️ The Drawing

Melony drew a picture of her and Axol a week after WOTFI ended.

In her mindscape, Niles impersonating Axol ridiculed Melony for not being strong enough and for hanging on to Axol, ripping her drawing.

Melony fought back, claiming how their friendship gave her strength and it would be the same thing that she'd use to end Niles.

⭐️ Round Two: The End

Another fight against Zero in his true form, back to where it all started: the God Box.

Zero finally gets defeated, being killed in the explosion, allowing SMG0 and Niles to move on.

⭐️ A Sacrifice

Terrance was sacrificed to save everyone before the God Box gets blown up.

PUZZLEVISION

⭐️ Initial Motive

As I already mentioned, Mr Puzzles didn't have friends growing up and got obsessed with TV.

He wanted to be on TV and tried to achieve 5 stars with his streaming service, Puzzlevision.

He managed to get them and create the perfect show where the audience gets to be involved. At least, for a moment.

⭐️ Mr Puzzles' Defeat

While he managed to get 4.5 stars with 5 episodes, the Crew beat him with 5.5 stars within an hour special.

Mr Puzzles received a final but non-fatal blow from SMG4.

Technically, Luigi sacrificed himself by taking the hit from Mr Puzzles instead of the Crew. But no one really died.

NOW AIRING

[We're entering the predictions part of this theory, let's go:]

⭐️ True Form

Due to the Meme Factory arc, he is motivated more than ever to crush the SMG4 crew.

PREDICTION: he might show this true self(?), one where we see his body mingled in wires and metal

⭐️ Controlling the Most Vulnerable

Mr Puzzles has three choices regarding who to control:

Meggy — Tortured in ‘Western Spaghetti’, was friends with him when she was “Leggy”

Four — Possessed in ‘It’s Gotta Be Perfect’, terrified that another IGBP incident would happen, a perfect narrative foil to Mr Puzzles and the most likely choice.

Three — Notebook stolen for WOTFI 2024, has the most to lose (his café, friends, domestic life, etc), and able to emotionally manipulate.

⭐️ The Drawing

Just like Melony, Three drew him and Four in his notebook after WOTFI. The only difference is that her page is more open and seen whereas his notebook is personal and secretive.

This drawing will come into play whether Controlled!4 or Mr Puzzles find it and ridicule him for being soft, ripping it even.

Three would use it as proof to Four that Three really cared about him, that as much as he denies it and play it off like they aren't, they're friends. What he said when they were in the pit wasn't out of desperation to save himself. He meant it.

⭐️ Round Two: The End

Final Battle with Mr Puzzles, perhaps this time being his final goodbye.

⭐️ A Sacrifice

As mentioned in my ‘ONCE UPON A Ṕ̷̱E̴̺̽R̵̖̎̕F̵̢̗̈́̀E̴̞̍C̴͈̽T̶͓̘̈́ SMG4' theory, someone may be sacrificed. A character doesn’t necessarily have to die, it could just be a fake death, which leaves us with several options:

Three — to show that he does care.

Four — feel guilty for being a “villain” again, so he would have to take Mr Puzzles down himself. Turning Mr Puzzles own weapon against him.

Pedro — Yes, Pedro of all characters. From his first appearance, it's likely that he's not going to come back. But then again, narrative foils. Pedro was created to be a funny man for Mr Puzzles (Pedro was able to still remain funny by the end) meanwhile Marty was created to take over the pizza shop for Mario (constantly being underappreciated and underestimated). If he doesn’t sacrifice himself to save Mario in WOTFI '24, then it would be here.

Another meme like in Revelations (please not the children please not the children please not the children)

ROLLING DOWNWARDS

With all of these arc parallels and Four's mind being invaded by Mr Puzzles, there would have to be hints about something being wrong with Four. Well, there kind of was. There are a few ways that I could think of that Mr Puzzles could use Four:

Man on the Inside

In 'Mario Lost His M(o)ustache', Mr Puzzles overhears Three’s idea to rig the votes, stopping the idea from even happening. Of course, it could be that they were right next to him, and/or they were loud. That was what I initially thought. But it could also be that Four at this point is still under his control. Four could be acting as his eyes and ears when he isn't near, unintentionally becoming a spy for Mr Puzzles.

(Those familiar with Sonic X and the Cosmo Arc, yeah, it's like that.)

Mr Puzzles could listen to every conversation, every detail. And he would know if the Crew is plotting something to get rid of him for good.

2. "Tear Themselves Apart"

Another thing I left out of my WOTFI '24 Predictions was that Mr Puzzles could speak for SMG4, interfering with Four's thoughts to make him say what Mr Puzzles wants him to say. A script of sorts.

Being in Four's mind gives him a huge advantage: Mr Puzzles has access to all of Four's memories. For one, Mr Puzzles could find out about the cosmology lore and all of the Crew's adventures.

Second: Mr Puzzles could interfere with his memories and change them. He could make Four forget about stuff.

Third: Mr Puzzles could go through and pick out what makes each member of the crew tick, making Four do all the talking for him. For example, he could bring up Desti for Meggy, Terrance/the Youtube Arc for Three, etc. Mr Puzzles wouldn't have to even lift up a finger when they can tear themselves apart.

If I wrote it: I would have Controlled!4 namedropping someone from their traumatic past or bringing out their insecurities in a passive-aggressive manner. Basically, like the examples I gave. And every one of them would start to leave the crew, hanging out less and less at the castle. SMG3 would be the last one Controlled!4 would break. I imagine them getting into a heated argument that becomes way too personal, something along the lines of:

Four?: “Dude, you fell off. You’ve gotten soft. Domestic even. And where did that get you? Oh, that’s right… Terrance.” Three, offended: "Don't you dare bring him into this!" Four?: "Hmph. Oh, yeah? What about Eggdog? Face it, SMG3, you'll always end up alone." Three: "Did what I told you at the pit meant nothing to you?" Four?: "Like I would ever believe you! You just didn't want to die. Even if you aren't a villain anymore, you are still a selfish piece of shit. Still comparing yourself to me, ha. I don't get why you would even try, you'll always be second best."

Then, Mr Puzzles, talking through Four, would slip up. Mr Puzzles would be more interested in finding all the Crew's weaknesses so any detail that wasn't part of it was skipped over. It wasn't like it was important, is what he thought. But for Three, it was everything he needed to know,

This isn’t the real Four.

Three, smirking: "Oh, so this was your big plan? I would've come up with something better than that. I guess we meet again, Mr Puzzles."

3. What if: the demonic goop is still in Four...

“Oh, SMG4! It never left.”

It would be a sort of Venom situation that, even if you tried to get rid of the parasite, some of it still remains. [insert spider-man 2 black suit theme]

During the Meme Factory arc and in several episodes, his strange behavior from IGBP came back. At times, scenes looked incredibly identical.

[........Announcement?????? // I Put Mario In Danger For Views]

Could it be bad writing? Likely. But the fact that IGBP was referenced once again for this arc, everything has to be put into consideration.

If it is confirmed that the demonic goop is still inside Four, Mr Puzzles will use it to his advantage. After all, it did work the first time in IGBP, so why not again? Not only that but it also gives him a bonus advantage, he could be working on his plan in two places at once and none of the crew would notice, thinking that they already got rid of it. It has a lot of potential to bring back the keyboard, the goop, the pit, the USB with the perfect video, and even Peach.

And if we are acting like it's a Venom situation, then maybe we could have the goop have a voice on its own. Could you imagine a "We are Venom" moment, that would be sick! (sorry, I'm just a spider-man fan.)

HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT

What else could happen in Puzzlevision 2?

It may be a bit too early to call since we still have to go through WOTFI. However, knowing me, that doesn't stop me from trying. For that, we have to dive into some semiology.

That’s right, we’re going in the deep end here.

Let’s head back to a familiar arc:

It's Gotta Be Perfect

While I was going over the movie for these past theories, I remembered something that piqued my curiosity.

The goop itself.

As someone who is into mythology, I spotted some familiar symbols and I've decided to give you an insight into what they are and explain why they were one of the top-tier design choices of the show.

Let's start with this one:

The Eye of God

You probably have seen this before. This is as its name states, the eye of God.

It's also known as the All-Seeing Eye because, according to Christianity, no matter what you do to hide your sins, God would see it. He sees all.

The symbol consists of an eye in the middle of a triangle. The triangle represents the Trinity (Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit). Because of this, this symbol is used for protection.

It is also similar to the Evil Eye symbol, where it's a circle instead of a triangle. This one is to ward off evil spirits/energy. (I actually have one of these myself.)

Secret societies use the symbol for other reasons: for power, wisdom, and control.

Well, yes. It would make sense why it would be in IGBP. Four's audience watches his every move and no matter what secret he has, they will pick up on it. But the symbol is also used in a negative connotation; the keyboard and Mr Puzzles use their power to control Four.

The Eye of God is also known to be the 'Third Eye', which God uses to put judgment on the people. On a human face, our third eye would be in the middle of the forehead.

And where on Four exactly did Mr Puzzles take control of?

That's right, in his mind, near where the third eye would have been.

Now, onto the next one:

The Eye of Horus

In Egyptian mythology, there are two eyes, both from deities, that are considered sacred. One of them is the Eye of Horus from, you guessed it, the sky god Horus. His left eye, to be precise.

Symbol representations include: protection, wisdom, good well-being and health, re-establishment of order from chaos, and the moon.

The eye is used as a form of measurement for pigments and medicines. We'll get to that.

Two myths connect to this symbol:

In a fierce battle between Seth (the god of deserts, storms, disorder, violence, and foreigners) and Horus, Horus got his eyes ripped out. Thoth (the god of writing and secret knowledge) helps him restore them back to where they belong, becoming a symbol of life and restoration.

The eye itself can be divided into 6 pieces, each one representing the six senses (smell, sight, thought, hearing, taste, and touch) and a specific numerical fraction. Think of it as a measuring spoon. But if you put the pieces together, the fractions don't add up to a whole. Some suspect that it was because of the magic Thoth used to restore the eye. Some say it represents the fact that perfection isn't possible.

Perfection isn't possible, that is exactly what was said in IGBP. I went frame and frame to see if this eye was flipped in any way (due to it being a texture pattern). But, nope, it stayed exactly this way. This will come back in some way in PV2, especially if the whole "the goop is still inside him" theory comes true.

PREDICTION: by the end of Puzzlevision 2, something will change about Four’s left eye (heterochromia, blind, etc.)

Still don't think it is relevant? I present to you this frame:

His left eye is within the corruption of the goop.

To the fans who had this as a headcanon, congrats on predicting this somehow!

Now, let's not mistake the Eye of Horus for the other important eye:

The Eye of Ra

While the two eyes are similar, the Eye of Ra, the right eye, is different in terms of appearance and purposes.

Symbol representations include: power, violence, fury, and the sun.

The eye is the embodiment of his daughter, Sekhmet.

Pharaohs would adorn them as amulets as a form of protection against their enemies, usually painted with a dark red. It must be handled with care because its power can easily get out of control.

Similarly to God's Third Eye, the Eye also obtains information from what it sees.

A little fact about this god: Ra places a solar disk on the top of his crown aka his head.

Again, there is a myth linked to this:

Ra was becoming old and weak, making him vulnerable. That made the people of his kingdom disrespect him, they ignored his laws and instructions. They basically made fun of him. Furious, he set his daughter (Sekhmet) to punish anyone who did this. The lion's eye, Sekhmet, went on a rampage, her roars so powerful that they conjured diseases. This killed millions of people. When Ra saw the devastation she caused, he tried to call her back to his side. She ignored him and continued on. Blood-thirsty, literally. Without a choice, he tricked her into getting drunk by using a mix of beer and pomegranate juice. She passed out for a few days and afterward, she calmed down. It wasn't all bad as the priests who worshipped her were able to create new medicines. Without her, there wouldn't be medical advancements, naming her the goddess of medicine.

What does this have to do with the SMG4 show?

Narrative foils are a constant in the show, especially in arcs. Two sides, complete opposites, are more similar than they ever realize.

Three versus Four in IGBP

Meggy versus Wren in Western Spaghetti

Four and Three versus Mario and Marty in WOTFI 2023

and of course, Four's crew versus Mr Puzzles

Then, who would be the Eye of Ra to Four's Eye of Horus?

It's Mr Puzzles.

Mr Puzzles and Four are indeed different but they are also really similar with one thing: they want to keep their audience happy. What makes them different is that Mr Puzzles sets himself is high standard for the sake of being popular while Four does it for the sake of his audience.

Just as Ra places his solar disk, Mr Puzzles got rid of his head and placed a TV, a luminous object, in its place. His obsession became his identity.

From the Meme Factory arc, Mr Puzzles swore revenge on the SMG4 crew after they disrespected him. That he seemed like a laughing stock.

But we haven't seen the Eye of Ra anywhere in the show. Unlike Four, Mr Puzzles doesn't face a humanoid face anymore. How could he have the Eye when his face is just pixelated screen?

Actually, he does and we saw it ourselves.

I present to you this from the Puzzlevision arc:

In the most human we have seen of him, we can see his right eye. Not only that, it's almond-shaped, the same shape as the Eye.

That is why one of my predictions was that we might see his 'true self'.

Am I reading too much into this? Yes. But if they were able to put the name "SMG4" into the castle door frame design, I would think twice about these design choices. This fits just perfectly right.

THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN PV2:

Signs of Controlled!4

If the whole “he still had the demonic goop inside of him” is true, then Four’s pink scars might return.

Even better, I want to see Four already having scars from the incident, hidden under his glove and sleeve.

If not scars, then they could show his change through his wardrobe. I mean look at them:

All Four needed was some suspenders, a hat, add in a puzzle piece pattern, and they're basically twinning. Give my guy a new outfit, please!!! Hell, give him a mask even!

Meggy talks to Mr Puzzles

She confronts him for the last time, telling him that she understands where Mr Puzzles is coming from but it should give him an excuse to do what he did. Mr Puzzles will have to see that, regardless if the show's going to give him a redemption arc or not.

Three’s Part of the Crew

Three tells the Crew that they are his friends. Probably it slipped out or he did it on purpose. Either way, he meant it.

Three would confirm to Four that they’re friends. As much as it was Three denies it or acts very tsundre about it, he meant what he said in the pit back in IGBP.

BONUS: Three promises Controlled?4 that he would take them home. (She-Ra moment OMG!)

Mr Puzzles’ True Form Prediction

With the power he has left, he’s going all out, revealing his body mingled with wires and pieces of metal.

Cosmology Lore Returns

Before the battle, the Crew would have to gear up. Three might return to the Meme Factory to get as many memes as possibly could, using the Meme PokéBalls. He urges Eggdog to stay home.

At the battle and Four is saved from possession, Three and Four use their meme guardian powers to defeat Mr Puzzles. Add in the WOTFI 2020 tracks and the crowd goes wild!

(For those who were in the Owl House fandom, it would be a 'GROM' moment!)

Reprise of the Song ‘Creative Control’

Originally, it was about how Mr Puzzles was willing to do anything to get 5 stars and his perfect show.

Reprise could be about the SMG4 crew fighting back against his control, accepting imperfection.

(sort of how real-life TV show executives put limits on the creative team on what is allowed in the final product.)

SMG4’s Left Eye Prediction

Using the meme powers and/or defeating Mr Puzzles affected Four’s eye.

Pink - a reference to his scars and pigments, matching his ‘S’ logo (also because he looks good in pink).

Blindness — due to his scars

Mario’s ‘Best Friend Award’ For SMG4

Mario wasn’t able to give his award on MAR10 day or after IGBP.

He has the chance to give it to Four here.

THINGS THAT DEFINITELY ARE NOT GOING TO HAPPEN, BUT COPIUM

SMG4’s Locket

We never got to see who was inside Four’s locket. Who was the person waiting for him back home?

They could bring it back and finally reveal what was inside Four’s locket.

X and FM Return (+ Redesigned Models)

To be fair, it’s their choice not to be back, but I would love the Meme Machine(TM) together again.

The Boarded-Up Room & Upper Floors

Finally reveal whatever the hell is that closed-off room in the SMG4 castle.

"...And... This...Well...I'm not sure what's behind this door."

"...uh we don't talk about that room."

[SMG4: The New Castle]

Hey, Four, now is a good time to show it off. C'mon, I wanna see!

.・-: ✧ :--: ✧ :-・.

And that is my "Puzzlevision 2: Now Airing" theory and predictions. Undoubtedly, a sequel to Puzzlevision is going to happen. But as to what it is about? We would just have to wait and see if the power of love would be perceived once again. An arc starting from a betrayal.

"…And it's time for… everyone to suffer like I have! At the hands… of the one thing YOU love the MOST.”

The game is afoot and with that, my dear fellows, we shall see in the next upcoming episode. But, in the meantime, that’s just a theory…

AN SMG4 THEORY

🎶Thanks for dropping by🎶

#smg4 #smg4 theory #smg4 mr puzzles #smg4 puzzlevision #smg3 x smg4 #smg34 #< implied #puzzlevision 2 #once upon a perfect smg4 #wotfi 2024 predictions #THE LOREEEEEEE #please give my boy a cool new outfit PLEASEEEE #goop!SMG4

30 notes · View notes

thegeminisage · 3 months ago

Text

STAR TREK UPDATE TIME! last night we watched voy's "vis a vis" and ds9's "in the pale moonlight."

vis a vis (voy):

i really liked when tom paris didn't fuck b'elanna, but my goodwill is wearign thin. in a way he and b'elanna make a good couple bc theyre always both kind of shitty to everyone when they're struggling emotionally, i guess. sigh

like, aside from tom paris's emotional arc not being...clearly outlined at all in this episode, which made it confusing boring and difficult to care about, this episode ALSO makes b'elanna look bad. she's always yelling at him for """no reason""" and then she falls for a fake apology from a fake tom, and even kisses the fake tom, which is a kiss without consent on her part since she doesn't realize this guy isn't her boyfriend but a total stranger

in fact, most people seem incredibly stupid in this episode not to realize tom is faking it...seven even caught him red-handed trying to download tom's information and nobody put it together, not even tuvok

three points of merit for an otherwise boring dredge of an episode: 1. evil janeway hot 2. i figured out from looking that b'elanna's actress is really for real pregnant in this episode which explains last episode a bit 3. that one scene where the fake tom paris said to the emh that he just wasnt coming in because he felt his skills could never compare to the emh's skills which then prompted the emh to wax poetic about how great he was without realizing this was the most un-tom paris thing anyone had ever done. that was genuinely so funny and IC for the emh i was cracking up the entire time. would that the rest of the episode was that good

in the pale moonlight (ds9):

HOLY SHIT!!!!

SO I LIED

I CHEATED

I BRIBED MEN TO COVER THE CRIMES OF OTHER MEN

AND THE MOST DAMNING THING OF ALL

I THINK I CAN LIVE WITH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LIKE..........................

like i've seen the speech memed so many times i could quote it cold without ever having seen the ep and i more or less knew what was gonna happen but god DAMN the mark of a truly great episode is that none of that mattered...it still blew my fucking mind

obviously garak is incredible in this episode. his willingness to get his hands dirty and do what needs to be done for the greater good, the loss of his old favors and old friends that he takes with total equanimity

but the real star of this show is my best friend benjamin sisko. speech or not i had no idea he was gonna LOOK AT THE CAMERA. i felt like i couldn't blink when he did that shit. he's not supposed to look at me!!! he's making me complicit!!!

HIS DESPAIR AT THE WEEKLY CASUALITY LIST. THE PACING IN HIS QUARTERS AS HE DELIVERS THE PERSONAL LOG. HITTING GARAK (TWICE!). THE MONLOGUE AND THE TOAST AT THE END. GOD!!!!!!!!! he is so FUCKING talented he should have been a movie star. he should have been more famous than. think of the most famous person you know and triple it. he is SO fucking talented it's insane

and i mean in the end. romulus enters the war. damn. just like they wanted. and everyone will think it's because the dominion was gonna betray them and sisko and garak will take the truth to their fucking graves. jesus.

TONIGHT: voy's "the omega particle" (nobody fucking say it) and ds9's "his way," the summary of which looks...sketchy. potentially bad, even. fingers crossed i guess

#personal #star trek blogging #voy lb #ds9 lb

10 notes · View notes

27dragons · 5 months ago

Text

Quiz Meme thing for people over 50 - via @gilajames

1. Name one body part that doesn't hurt: my elbow (who gets that reference? but really mine doesn't hurt. at least not today.)

2. Were you able to answer #1 because you have taken ibuprofen recently? Nope, I haven't been able to take ibuprofen at all for a few years now because I'm prone to ulcers. (I also haven't taken any tylenol/paracetamol, because it straight up doesn't work for me for pain relief. It lowers fevers, but that's it.)

3. Name one activity you are greatly relieved you don't do anymore because fuck that shit: change diapers and otherwise deal with any (literal) shit that isn't my own

4. Have you gotten at least eight hours of sleep in the past five days. (Not each night, just total.) Oh yeah, I average about 6.5 hours a night and on the weekends sometimes it stretches to seven!

5. Name one song that is NOT forty years old, what the fuck. The 1980s were, like, twenty years ago. Fuck you, the 80s were like, five years ago at most lol. That said: The Hamilton soundtrack, and also "Panic" by David Ford. Those are only like 10-15 years old.

6. Do you remember the last time you got carded (not counting 'we have to card everyone' places.) If we're not counting "card everyone" places, then I have never been carded. When I bought booze legally for the first time on my 21st birthday, they did not card me. Apparently I radiate an aura of "yeah she's old enough."

7. Name one musician that you keep hearing their name but have no clue what their music is. My Chemical Romance, I guess (I have a general idea what the music is but I don't know that I've actually heard it. I could be wrong about that I suppose but I definitely didn't know it.) I'm not really a music person, this is a lot of music questions for me.

8. Have the celebrities you loved as a kid started dying of old age? A few but not too many yet.

9. Have the celebrities you loved as a teenager started dying of old age? Same.

10. When did you start listening to the Oldies station? Another music question? I mean, I listened to the oldies station when I was in frickin college because I don't care about music and that was the station my boyfriend at the time liked. I really only listen to music in the car, and after I dumped that guy I switched to listening almost exclusively to tapes, CDs, and music downloaded to an iPod/phone.

11. Have you told a younger co-worker any form of the phrase "wait until you're my age/older/hit your 40s, then you'll..." Not really, though I've done the "wait until you have kids who are [age] thing to younger co-workers, and commiserated with co-workers of similar age about all the shit that hit us after 40.

12. Do you seek out older co-workers so you can quote something at them that they will get? Nope, because I am a work-from-home introvert. :D

13. Would you rather just stay home? At least 85% of the time, YES.

14. Have you reached the point that for birthdays, other gift-getting events, you say "I just don't need more stuff"? No, because I love getting gifts. When I was young, my mom told me she didn't care what was under the Christmas tree for her, she just loved opening presents. Seriously, one year when I was like 14 I got her a 6-pack of socks and wrapped each pair individually and she LOVED it. I thought she was crazy then, but I get it now. Anyway the only people who get me actual gifts these days are the Things and I'm not going to discourage them because they're so fun.

15. Do you often find yourself saying "I remember when" and you describe something so completely foreign to Life Today that you wonder if you made it up? All the FUCKIGN TIME

16. Did you look at this list at the beginning and hope it was a short quiz because you don't have time for those 50 item lists? Lol no because this counts as social interaction for me these days.

My fellow "old" tumblrs, join in the fun! (Or don't, I'm not the boss of you.)

#i am old #lol=reblog #pique queue

10 notes · View notes

kuuderekun · 5 months ago

Text

PureMail OVAs

PureMail is a 2 episode Hentail OVA from 2001 that is an adaptation of a 2000 Bishoujo Game Visual Novel made by Overflow the same studio that made School Days and its “sequels”.

It is also in the same universe, the character named Miki Sawagana is the older sister of Taisuke Sawagana. That’s the familial connection that is made obvious by surname, but I'll get to the matter of Overflow Universe world building later.

First, what do I think of this OVA as a stand alone work of art?

The thing about Erotic Art that wants to be more than just Porn is that I want it to be more than just a Good Story with good fappable Sex scenes, they need to inform each other, to be firmly integrated. There are lots of mainstream movies where it’s part of the Plot that sex happens, but it doesn’t need to happen fully on screen. In Erotic Art it has to be more than just that Sex happens but the specifics of the Sex have to matter, some of the character development has to be tied to how they do or do not enjoy it.

And it’s that test which PureMail fails. I find the story and characters very interesting and I found at least some of the H scenes very Fappable. But those H Scenes also feel like they’re interrupting the story rather than enhancing it. There are times when the conversion happening after the sex directly picks up where they left off before, but because it’s separated by the 5 minutes mindless screwing the viewer loses the train of the conversation.

I’ve watched two versions of PureMail. I watched its English Dub unedited and uncensored on a Hentail website I won’t name here. And I watched an English Subbed version on YouTube that has the explicit parts edited out. And it demonstrates my above criticism that the edited version actually felt like it had better pacing. It removed vestigial organs while in ideal erotic art removing the sex scenes would be removing the heart and soul.

Unfortunately that edited version is no longer on YouTube, I neglected to download it and I don’t remember the name of the Channel, so it looks like it's probably now Lost Media that only I care about.

School Days and some of its “sequels” are known for not being presented how most Visual Novels usually are but being basically interactive Anime. PureMail as far as I can tell wasn’t like that, it was a more normal Visual Novel. I bring that subject up here because it means the actual source material for the Days series can be compared to PureMail’s adaptation at being an Erotic Anime. Now I currently have not seen all the Erotic content that School Days HQ and Shiny Days have to offer, but I’ve seen some that definitely do succeed where the PureMail OVAs failed. Even if it would be hard to argue anything is specifically absolutely necessary; they still convey things about the characters which those so easy to edit out PureMail scenes did not.

As the title of PureMail implies it involves some characters communicating via Email, so it’s perhaps one of the earliest Hentail to feature the Internet as a plot point.

One thing that I feel vindicates my vocal interpretation that Otome raped Makoto in episode 9 of the School Days Anime is that that Women Raping men is a theme in these prior overflow Overflow works. The MC of Large PonPon was abused by at least 2 older women. And in PureMail at least in the OVA version Kei is Blackmailed and Raped by Yumi Matou, and it’s framed as traumatizing not comedic or harmless.

So yeah there is good material here, if that edited version were the official version I’d probably give it a higher rating. But I also imagine like many VNs adapted with so little runtime the storytelling was also hurt by being condensed and trying to make everything fit one timeline.

Now let’s return to world building. The Overflow Universe Family Tree is a bit of a Meme to those of us who know it exists. But in a way PureMail’s connections to all that shows how perhaps not well thought out it actually is. Again I like most English speakers have no first hand information about these games, I’m mostly trying to draw conclusions from the overflow Fandom Wiki (I wish I didn't have to use Fandom but no one’s cloned this content on an alternative Wiki network.)

These PureMail OVAs are technically the only onscreen Anime appearance of Tomaru Sawagoe. In the games his onscreen appearances are in the Radish Trilogy, only they have character designs for him, and even the first of them came out after these OVAs. Going off the OVAs Kei’s father isn’t mentioned by name and there isn’t even any hint at that father not being who he gets the surname Ogata from. The OVAs felt they needed to actually animate a flashback and in it the character design of Kei’s father is a generic White Trash Wife Beater type who seems to be “Lower Class”. Tomaru in the Radish games has a more distinct and flamboyant style and is very wealthy owning the titular restaurant chain and a hospital.

Basically Kei’s father being identified with the villain of the Radish series seems like a Retcon.

Online discussion of all these Overflow games focus on how they relate to School Days because only it ever became truly infamous in the general Anime community, especially in the Anglosphere. So Tomaru Sawagoe is defined first and foremost as Makoto Itou’s father and all the games set before School Days are talked about as if they are prequels to School Days even though they were all made before School Days.

Snow Radish Vacation was made as a prequel, but to Large PonPon, Overflow’s first game. The Inou and Sawagoe surnames originated there and then become the focus of Snow Radish Vacation; no surnames you recognize from the core cast of School Days are in either of those games.

Large PonPon, PureMail and School Days all seem like they are set in the then present of when they were made (9199, 2000 and 2005) like the average Visual Novel. It’s only the Radish Vacation games that have to be Period Pieces for the Timeline to make sense. But I have no way of knowing how good they are at feeling like Period Pieces.

Summer Radish Vacation was a sequel to Snow Radish Vacation, but Summer Radish Vacation 2 is in some ways more of a spin off then a sequel. School Days I think was originally made without how it connects to the other games being all that set in stone originally. In fact I’ve learned there was originally a family tree chart published by Overflow which made Sekai and Setsuna children of Tomaru rather than of Shun.

Summer Days' relationship to School Days is more of a completely alternate timeline rather than a Sequel or a Prequel. But thanks to Shun’s role it’s actually more of a direct sequel to Summer Radish Vacation then Summer Radish Vacation 2 is.

Point is, the core world building starts with Large PonPon then goes through the Radish Games to end with the Days series. PureMail and other Overflow games mentioned on the genealogy are largely afterthoughts. The genealogy makes Ayumu the father of multiple PureMail characters and I really doubt the game was originally written with that in mind.

#PureMail #Tomaru Sawagoe #Overflow #Overflow Universe #Radishverse #School Days #Shiny Days #Summer Days #Visual Novels #Bishoujo Games #Pure Mail #Male Rape #Rape tw

7 notes · View notes

clonerightsagenda · 10 months ago

Note

Pick a favorite character for the ask thing

(Ask meme here)

Did you know in my years of doing this ask meme, no one has asked about my beloved Hera? Possibly bc I talk about her so much already. Jokes on everyone, we are doing it again

First impression

I have told this story many times, but I was white knuckling it through the whole podcast terrified that she would get her memories deleted. To be entirely fair that was a rejected season 3 concept.

Impression now

I love her! Favorite AI character of all time. Chronic pain solidarity.

Favorite moment

I have many favorite moments, but what's coming to mind now based on some of my other responses to this prompt is that Hera delivers the only "I love you" aimed at people who are physically present. Minkowski says it in a message to her husband, Eiffel says it in a recording to his daughter, but iirc Hera is the only one to say it live, and it's platonic and to the group, which I Just Think Is Neat. (Iconically aro podcast w359 strikes again.) Also the whole quote is "I love you guys, but you need to get it through your heads that what goes for you doesn't go for me" which really gets back to one of the show's points that love isn't enough. You can genuinely care for someone and want the best for them and still fuck up, still hurt them, still not fully understand what they're going through. But you still have to communicate and you still have to try.

Idea for a story

Currently working on a PGW fic where the crew swings by the Hermes on their way back to Earth to rescue that station's AI and Hera has to work through her feelings about facing someone who was in the same situation as she was but did not come out on top. Rn she is being unfair about it.

Hera’s equally on edge. “The collar program is still running, she might not have that much processing power. But be ready in case she tries something. She’d better not try anything.” “It’s not her fault, is it?” he asks, surprised by the viciousness in her tone. “I beat a collar program.” “Didn’t Dr. Maxwell help you a lot, though?” Hera doesn’t like talking about Dr. Maxwell. “I don’t care,” she says instead. “She shouldn’t have let Dr. Pryce make her hurt them. Just because she couldn’t stop Dr. Pryce from taking her crew away from her doesn’t mean she gets to take mine away from me.”

Unpopular opinion

You mean besides my post that got me vagueblogged about? Here's another one: I don't think Hera would want or enjoy a human/humanoid body. The one time she's limited to a single source of visual input, her response is "it's weird; I don't like it". She's proud of being able to see colors our skull-gelatin can't comprehend, even if she's sorry she can't share them with anyone. She enjoys being a AI mother program when she's on a functioning system like the Sol. Yes she envisions herself as present with the crew in parts of Memoria, and there's an implication she's given herself a humansona, but my interpretation of that was that she wants to be treated as one of them, and unfortunately most of the crew's approach to treating her as a person is trying to treat her like a human. She's not wrong to think they'd relate to her better if she looked like them. (Is that not the same principle the Listeners used?) Maxwell was able to meet with her on her level, but as much as the other crewmembers care about her, they don't understand Hera in the same way. Downloading her into an android body feels like an accommodation for their benefit rather than trying to find a way for her to thrive on her own terms. Smarthouse Hera forever.

(For the record when her VA was asked if Hera would like being human her response was 'she'd try it for a day to see what it's like but she wouldn't want to stay that way'. Seems reasonable to me.)

Favorite relationship

As most followers know I am very fond of her (non-romantic!!) friendship with Eiffel. They've got a lot in common! They fuck up with each other but then do better! They were both sent up there knowing they were disposable and then decide to care about each other on purpose. However most followers also know that in my last few relistens I've been thinking a lot about her overlaps with Lovelace - how they are both surveillance tools that entities use to try to hurt other people, and they both overcome that. Hera is extending non-human solidarity but she wants to be recognized as a non-human person and Lovelace would really prefer to be viewed as human, thanks. There's tension there.

Favorite headcanon

I've posted before that I think she retains some of Pryce and Eiffel's memories which has funny, sad, and interesting implications. Among these I think she kept override codes Pryce can use on AIs so she can fight that kind of thing off in the future, and something that will come up in that Hermes fic is her deciding whether she's willing to use those on someone else. Stay tuned.

#wow that got long!#ask meme #perpetual perpetual ladies night #wolf 359

14 notes · View notes

alantea87 · 9 months ago

Text

So, I’ve clocked my first 24 hours with the Nokia 2660 Flip. Truly a flip-you to my iPhone and its addicting qualities. Nothing groundbreaking to use a dumb-phone, but I wanted to challenge myself again to rejoin reality and reconnect with my friends and family properly… by stripping back my use of technology to its bare essentials.

Why…

After many months of wanting to pull away from social media, WhatsApp and iOS, I was apprehensive yet elated at the very idea. What about the memes? Thirst posts? Corgis? I’d miss them all. But much needed clarity came crashing in: my iPhone had become my adult pacifier (or dummy for us Brits). Using your smartphone during times of boredom, times of stress, or times of wanting connection has become a habit of many. And, I was no exception. Especially the doom-scrolling for hours on end after work. Luckily, after some realisation… my emotions were at the mercy of this bloody thing. Not to mention the continued horrors of witnessing violence or harassment on Instagram reels - content like this seemingly slipping through censorship safeguards. I had enough and wanted to go back simpler times, even at the dismay of others. I finally bought my second dumb-phone in two years, but this time it was far more usable (bigger buttons, predictive texts, foldable display). I wanted to really try much harder in having an iPhone-less life, even if it created a touch more inconvenience.

Neck-deep…

Sometimes I feel that tech companies invent inconveniences in order to sell more solutions directly to you. And as someone who used to work at Apple’s Regent Street store years back (when the first iPhone was launched, mind you), Apple has turned into a capitalist nightmare. I miss their earlier days of really creating a tech solution to improve your life. Now it’s all about that coin and I forget I am neck-deep in their eco system and feel like I’m drowning in their “YOU’RE MY ELITE EMPLOYEE” energy, so I feel I have to keep on buying more. Yes, the integration of all of their devices work incredibly well. But sometimes I feel that innovation doesn’t always address your ability to connect (naturally) with other people. In fact, my self and a lot of my friends (at my age), now feel that modern technology hinders deep, meaningful connections e.g. good old face-to-face conversations in the real world. I think as a millennial (and listen up gen z), I forget that conversation in person is incredibly nuanced: one has to balance tone, emotion, inflection and practice patience. It involves drama and full expression - hands, legs and otherwise! Real connection. No avatars, no emojis, no hiding. Worst case scenario, make a phone call and use your voice. Having said that, I will have to practice what I preach now that it’s much harder to write big messages via SMS on an alphanumeric keypad, lol. I’m more likely to text “can I call you in a bit instead?”.

Current tech hoes…

I have in fact have not fully compromised my relationship with tech. I am using an iPad for emails and internet. Plus, I have resorted to using my Apple Watch as a “mp3 player” paired with my AirPods Pro 2s. I forgot that if you have an Apple Music sub, you can download songs/albums/playlists directly to your Apple Watch via Wi-Fi etc. Perfect for the gym and the commute. Because I am sure as hell that I won’t be touching those dodgy Temu-like music players on Amazon. Frankly, they look like they would crumble in your hand and would be carcinogenic. Remember guys, tech companies have turned once a useful tool (the smartphone) into a slot-machine in your hand. Your emotions are being played with and sometimes I did enjoy aspects of that (memes, targeted videos/content etc) but I say: no bloomin more. For now. Lol. Famous last words. I’m going to try and do two weeks minimum with my Nokia 2660 and see how I survive.

Challenges to expect…

Unlike the Nokia 2680 Flip (only sold in North America, I think) as a fancier operating system that allows WhatsApp and a stripped down version of Google Maps. GPS navigation on that version of the 2660 apparently works alright, but you wouldn’t be able to use it in car for driving (I don’t drive anyway). But my main concern about using a feature phone is that lack of mapping. And I chronically get lost in London, despite being born and raised in Hackney/Islington. So I do plan to use my iPhone (loaded up with a data eSIM) to use it like it was a good old TomTom. Sorry gen z, these were old standalone GPS screen/devices you retrofitted in your car. But only if I plan on going somewhere totally new. Otherwise, I will try and relearn the bus network (within reason, lol) and tube map relative to my needs. I kinda miss those days of printing out directions and/or relying on your actual brain to problem solve and to get your bearings. Other things I may or may not miss out on: QR code scanning/presenting, tube/weather updates, voice notes.

Final words…

Scaling back to a dumb-phone has actually already reduced my levels of anxiety, sense of disconnect or being part of comparison culture. The very act of adding in your contacts manually one-by-one like the 90s/2000s into a cellphone was quite therapeutic despite its novelty. I think you can import a vCard, but couldn’t be arsed. *Carrie Bradshaw voice* But then I thought to myself (as I typed each contact into my Nokia keypad): damn boy… do I only really have three (actual) friends?

Two books I am currently reading and recommend.

#Nokia #nokia2660flip #dumbphone #digitalminimalism #social media #sherry turtle #cal Newport #tech

10 notes · View notes

bergeronprocess · 2 months ago

Text

This prompt is from The Learning Network at the NYT. This is clearly designed for use by teachers in classrooms, but hey, we’re all students in the school of life, so here’s the PDF of 500 prompts: https://static01.nyt.com/images/blogs/learning/pdf/2014/500PromptsNarrativeAndPersonalWriting.pdf

9/23/24

How productive and organized are you?

I find that I am actually getting much more organized lately, especially at work. There’s always so much going on and so many different projects happening simultaneously, so I am always taking notes, making checklists, curating calendars, creating filing systems and so on. Last year, I successfully moved everything on my work computer from internal server-based storage into cloud-based storage. That took quite some doing, but it was well worth it, especially when I briefly needed to work from home as my mom recovered from knee replacement surgery at my house. I also created systems for labeling and filing away different kinds of documents, making them much easier for me to refer back to later.

Recently, we’ve been starting to incorporate Microsoft Loop into the rotation of things we’re using to keep our projects together - and I’m enjoying it so much that I even sought out and watched videos to learn more about the service. I really enjoy the work I do, but I guess if I were to think about a big-time career change (not just doing what I do now but elsewhere), I’d consider looking into project management or something like that.

Which is very funny considering that, in my school days, I was often forced into the role of “the one kid who ends up doing everything in the group project because everyone else slacks off” and I resented that. I didn’t want my own grades to suffer, so I did the work, but I wasn’t happy about it. Things have changed, haven’t they? Now I enjoy being the one with all the filing systems, checking in on projects, taking notes.

I’ve even started to use a pen-and-paper planner after years of just putting things in the calendar on my phone. I do still do that also, but in addition to that, I have a Hobonichi Techo Weeks planner. My coworker put me on to it. She had a spare blue leather cover for a Weeks planner and gave it to me near the end of last year, inspiring me to head over to Kinokuniya and purchase a 2024 planner to go in it. I enjoy using it and also write about good things that happen every day on one side of the weekly layout. I do wish they had included a 366th day in the daily check-off page, though. Like, how do you manage to forget 2024 is a leap year? It’s literally on the calendar. You are a planner company. Plan for it!

Another organization project I am working on, though just bit-by-bit, is organizing my photos and backing them up to a portable hard drive. I’m going through each year’s photos, as downloaded from Google Takeout, and removing any ones that are blurry or whatnot. I’m also putting memes into a different folder. That process is slower going, but it’s in progress.

I think all this organization is good for my brain, too. I’m prone to anxiety, the fear that I am forgetting about something, and if I don’t write things down then I’m afraid they will just fade away and disappear from my brain like deleting data from a video game memory card. The processes - writing things down, making lists, keeping calendars, taking notes - are all therapeutic in their own way and contribute to my productivity at work and in my personal life.

#daily writing practice

2 notes · View notes

sanguinarysanguinity · 1 year ago

Text

"Fic Writer" Meme

(I'm not just a fic writer, and have adjusted the questions accordingly.)

Tagged by @oldshrewsburyian, thank you!

AO3 Name: sanguinity

Fandoms: Currently, the Hornblower novels and The Flight of the Heron. Previously, Strange Empire, Elementary, and a wide array of niche Holmes fandoms. And in the even more distant past, I mostly did lots of rare-fandom exchanges (Yuletide, Festivids, Kaleidoscope -- oh, how I miss Kaleidoscope!), so that between one thing and another, the long tail of my fandoms list is very long. (There was a long time that I wondered how it was even possible that people managed to have enough works in a single fandom to qualify for a remix exchange, since I had almost exclusively one-offs! But that all has changed now…)

Number of Works: 172. Most of those are fic; a couple dozen are vids; a handful are podfic. I need to go through and sort out my video and podfic hosting again; providers have decayed, morphed, and gone offline since I posted these, and I need to find new hosts for some of them.

Work I spent the most time on: Hornblower's Lost Honour, at approximately three years. (That will be GREATLY eclipsed by Langstroth on Bees if I ever finish it! Which I still intend to do someday!) Longest I spent on a vid was a year, for Something Good (Will Come From That), my multi-Holmes magnum opus.

Works I spent the least time on: Oh, good God, there are so many I whipped out in a day. A Peaceful and Beautiful Spot (FotH), Brandy and Soda (The Seven Per-Cent Solution), and Score: Q to 12 (Elementary) were all single-day works that came out very well. The Sherlock 60s, by dint of being 60 word stories, also all took something like an hour apiece. Also, the whole ceci ne pas une vid collection was made at the pace of a vidlet a day, which usually involved downloading and watching the movie, too.

Longest fic: Hornblower's Lost Honour

Shortest fic: the individual entries in Sixty for Sixty, each being a sixty word story based on one of the sixty canon Sherlock Holmes stories.

Most hits: The Sincerity of Dust (BBC Sherlock)

Most kudos: See previous. It's one of my oldest works, written at the height of a mega-fandom, and it's been wildly popular from the beginning.

Total Word Count: 726,055

Favorite Work of my Own: I feel like you're King Solomon asking me to cut my babies in half! Usually my favorite is whichever one I've reread or rewatched recently. They nearly all mean something special to me, or I wouldn't have put in the work to finish them.

Fic You Want To Rewrite/Expand On: Ugh, all the early stuff needs to be rewritten. I use too many italics, the sentence structures are awkward. I've improved SO MUCH as a writer that I almost flinch to look at them now. But I REFUSE to go back and rewrite them, I am NOT going to get entrapped in that time suck of despair and self-reproach.

As for expansion, there are a number of stories I want to write further installments to: Until Death or England Do Us Part, the Kraken series, the Any Service series, the Psychic Wolves series…

Share a Bit of a WIP or story idea you are planning on:

While visiting Ewen Cameron in the dungeons under Fort Augustus, Keith Windham forgots his pen-knife. Ewen's guards discover it the next morning when he is searched before his departure for Fort William, and via its inscription, it is traced back to Keith. Keith is court-martialed for aiding a prisoner, found guilty, and cashiered. His sword is broken, and his spirit with it.

Several years go by before he learns that the court martial had been rigged against him from the start, and that Major Guthrie had been instrumental in arranging that. With a burning desire to recover his honour, Keith boards a ship for the Highlands, the site of Guthrie's current posting, to demand satisfaction. Upon landing in Inverness, however, he makes a near-fatal miscalculation: he is robbed, stabbed, and left for dead.

When he wakes, he is in an unfamiliar room, with a very worried Ewen Cameron of Ardroy sitting vigil at his bedside…

Tagging @gniew777, @cedarboots, @verecunda, @tgarnsl, @chiropteracupola, @sailorpants, and anyone else who wishes to play!

#my writing #query memage #tag games

15 notes · View notes

omahasnakes · 9 months ago

Text

2022: Hi motherfuckers, did you miss me?

(A return to my dumb project of listening to the Billboard year-end top 100 chart and trying to make sense of it as a middle-aged person.)

I’ve been home since 2020. I’ve been twerking and making smoothies. It’s called healing?

There was a period of a couple of months in 2023 where I would wake up in the morning to one of my maddening-to-others alarm clock songs, probably “Rosanna” by Toto, and then I would immediately listen to the first half of Lizzo’s 2022 album Special, just to get myself out of bed. ANYWAYYYYY. “About Damn Time” is the only song from Special that charted in the top 100 in 2022, which surprised me, but it’s clearly song of the year for me by that metric. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXXxciRUMzE

If it was anyone’s year, and we are all starting to learn not to say “this year is going to be MY YEAR”, there were seven songs by Bad Bunny, all from the album Un Verano Sin Ti and six by Doja Cat (four from Planet Her).

“Big Energy” by Latto: runner-up song of the year. This is another defiant tough-girl anthem to listen to while you drag yourself out of bed to continue trying to live your shattered life in early 2023. Of course we can also talk about the prominent sampling of sample-darling “Genius of Love” by Tom Tom Club- I ended up getting more and more into Tom Tom Club based on this, and I played “Genius of Love” for my classes one day when we were on Zoom, and it got a rare comment from a student! The kids are alright.

“Running up that Hill” by Kate Bush: I was an undergrad in the days of Windows share files, and I downloaded most of Kate Bush’s discography that way. Because of that, my Kate Bush fandom always felt very much in a vacuum. So I’m excited that this struck such a cultural nerve when it appeared in Stranger Things! Everybody get on the weird Kate Bush train with me! Next we’re going to listen to a song that pretty straightforwardly explains the plot of Wuthering Heights!

“Unholy” by Sam Smith and Kim Petras. We don’t have guilty pleasures anymore, just pleasures. Sam Smith performs a cool different arrangement of this at the end of their Tiny Desk concert that I also really enjoyed. I can’t defend this or my bad taste, so I can only present it without further comment.

“good 4 u” by Olivia Rodrigo stuck around on the chart from last year, one of a few breakup songs. Well, it’s 2022 and I have no use for breakup songs, so I’ll just file these away for never!

“Bad Habit” by Steve Lacy: a Smart Music Person corroborated that this song and the album Gemini Rights are Good. You can take issue with me and my bad taste, but a broken clock is right twice a day, and you can’t argue with a Smart Music Person.

It is right and correct that “All I Want for Christmas is You” should chart year after year, but you all need to cool it with this stuff that just plays as a mix after that song ends: “Jingle Bell Rock”, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”, “A Holly Jolly Christmas”: we gotta get this outta here by next year!! When I come back for 2023, I expect that you’ll have that taken care of.

I try not to go down too many rabbit holes on these charts, because there are 100 songs and I have to move on to the next chart before I’m driven mad, but my research senpai Rachel pointed out that this chart includes 14 songs that carried over from the previous year, which I am starting to notice as well. My theory is that streaming encourages this more than terrestrial radio, which was always pushing new songs on us. Streaming is perfectly happy to have us listen to the same song over and over, sobbing quietly in the car.

Country music barometer: 26% Our society is truly lost.

“Buy Dirt” by Jordan Davis and Luke Bryan: the single most reactionary song on the chart. You: But it’s just a nice song about traditional values. Me: [seagull inhaling meme]

AA by Walker Hayes: I guess we didn’t all get the memo that sex work is work and pole dancing is art.

Rachel is also great for dumb questions like “Is Morgan Wallen one of the bad ones?” because she’s got the references and receipts and she knows how to Find Things. Also, yeah. He had one song on the chart this year that I thought was fine, “Sand in my Boots” but now he’s a non-starter.

“One Mississippi” by Kane Brown is another one for the country category of “this is fine.” It’s not the genre I object to anymore, it’s the reactionary politics and stagnant style, which now that I put the conjunction between the two phrases, they make perfect sense together.

Lest you think I’m being too hard on country music, this chart also features a song called “PUFFIN ON ZOOTIEZ” (caps lock theirs) and a shocking #9 finish for “Super Gremlin” by Kodak Black, a cool-sounding song that features some real classic homophobia I didn’t expect from 2022 and a prominent r-slur.

On the other hand, 10% of the songs were in Spanish! (Both of these statistics are from my own very rough counts, don’t roast me.)

Programming note: now that my algorithm is truly and permanently fucked, I’m planning to listen to the 1996 chart as a palate cleaner before diving in to the cursed 2023 chart.

#billboard #top100 #2022

2 notes · View notes

banbuvssummerhome · 9 months ago

Text

Lostboy.EXE

On the internet, there exists multiple levels depending on the depravity and exclusivity of certain cites, services and content. The surface web, the dark web, and the deep web. The surface web is the level you’re on right now, with things like Google, Yahoo, Facebook, etc.

The deep web is stuff that’s below the surface, stuff that’s hidden from the public eye like government cites.

And the dark web is what it says on the tin. From counterfeit items, luxury drugs to the most depraved content one can find from child sexual abuse to cannibalism to hitmen. Or luxury pickles. It’s a mixed bag.

Today we have a game that’s been rumored to originate from such a place, Lostboy.EXE. Look, it’s cliche, but we gotta start off with the classics.

I’m sure I don’t need to introduce 4chan, it’s the edgy and lawless image board that birthed Anonymous as well as several iconic memes, the posterchild of online degeneracy. But on August 22nd, 2012, someone would unintentionally drop what I can only describe as a bomb onto the message board. An anonymous user would upload a Mediafire link to a game they’d made for the /v/ and /x/ boards, intriguing the other anons. It was some innocent fun, all things considered.

The game consisted of a single empty maze with several images of babies and religious imagery pertaining to demonic entities, you know, the usual for horror indie games. It doesn’t take a lot to unsettle someone. Just imply crimes against children and you got a free ticket to WTF-land. But otherwise it was a pretty boring game, so people in the board complained as per usual.

Imagine this: you’re the average 4chan user who just downloaded a shit game full of creepy ass imagery yet no gameplay. Just full of weird images of infants and satanic shit, you feel that you’ve seen either an edgy kid’s attempt at a game or something you shouldn’t have seen. Maybe if you played for longer you would’ve seen something truly fucked ala Sad Satan. You go to the message board where you found the link and try to figure out what the fuck you just walked into.

And then you see your full name, address, and phone number posted in that very thread.

You see, what many users didn’t realize at first glance was that there were not one, but two links to the game, one of which being a fake malware version of the game that gave the second uploader remote access to the computers of whoever was unlucky enough to fall for the dupe. This way the anon who made the dupe was able to get their personal information and leak it into the /v/ and /x/ threads on the game. People got paranoid after this was found out–who knew what the hacker did with their computers, they could’ve taken pictures through their webcams or worse, filled their computers with illegal child sexual abuse material. Because 4chan is fucked like that. It wasn’t like the site was unfamiliar with csam being leaked onto their site, but some people weren’t as degenerate and didn’t want to be arrested for what was essentially a 2/10 indie horror. Admins would later delete the threads and put up a warning for users to not download any content found on 4chan.

It wouldn’t be until 2023 that the alleged creator of the original safe version of Lostboy.EXE was even discovered, a Twitter user by the name of rob_is_an_idiot, who was interviewed by the French Youtuber known as Feldup. Unfortunately we do not know what the fuck was said in the interview as we are not French and refuse to learn French. But we will link to the interview, of course.

Alongside this, Rob would make a Twitter post about the subject:

“I made lostboy.exe back in 2012 and shared it with 4chan's /v/ board, it was a gamemaker 7 tutorial reskinned. There was never any other version. The "virus lostboy.exe" was just a RAT virus, not the game. They simply renamed their exe to lostboy.exe.”

While the original link still exists, I highly discourage downloading the game unless you’ve got a good antivirus or lawyer. We don’t wanna accidentally distribute “cheese pizza” or viruses here, but if you wanna seek out Lostboy.EXE that’s your prerogative, not ours. But yeah, that’s the story of Lostboy.EXE as it stands–a simple game made for shits and giggles turned into a backdoor for malicious activity and an internet urban legend that until now has been left unsolved. The moral of the story? Don’t download shit from 4chan.

Ever.

Developer Interview: « lostboy.exe » le JEU PERDU de 4chan - Findings HS

#lostboy.exe #lost media #found media #dark web #urban legend #internet urban legend #4chan #solved #twitter #youtube #tw csa mention #tw pedophila mention

4 notes · View notes

itz-darktrax · 1 year ago

Text

Aight so yesterday Apple finally released their new operating systems for their devices. IOS 17, WatchOS 10, and MacOS Sonoma. What I was most excited about was WatchOS 10 since IOS 17 is mid and I don't own a MacBook. Sorry Apple cultists. (Do I still count as an Apple fanboy though?)

Anyways, the Apple watch desperately needed an OS revamp as it was lacking in comparison to rivals like Samsung. And boy did it not disappoint. So the first thing you'll see is that the side button is binded to the all-new control center which is transparent to your current watch which is a nice touch aesthetically. (In fact most UI elements are actually) You'll also notice that swiping down will open up the all-new smart stack which are widgets you can scroll through to get access to critical information (like your boarding pass and calendar) quicky. And this by far is my favorite feature with this iteration of watchOS. Another big thing you'll notice is that when you press the digital crown your app icons are grouped closer together so you can find your apps easily. I had a problem with WatchOS 9 where I couldn't find a specific app due to how zoomed in the app cluster was but with WatchOS 10 you can scroll through the icons much faster to find the one you're looking for. And lastly, first party apps made by Apple have a much better look and functionality like maps, (which now has terrain, walking distance ratio, and offline download capability) activity, and weather (which functions similarly to the iPhone counterpart now. You can view detailed forecasts such as feel like temperatures, distance visible, UV radiation, and more on an hour to hour basis). And last but not least when you are in an app on your Apple watch the app no longer blacks out top portion of your screen therefore it uses all of your screen size.

There are many more features here that I didn't list. You can check out the detailed list of new features of WatchOS 10 here.

If you have an iPhone and want a smart watch then you should really consider getting an Apple watch now. With WatchOS 10 it looks and functions better tan ever before. I would recommend the Apple Watch SE (2nd generation), Series 9, or Ultra (2nd generation since its the same price as the 1st lol) depending on your budget and needs.

Wow, you're still here? Impressed that you've read through my little infodump. Thanks for reading and here's an meme from last week's Apple event as thank you.

#dark talks #Apple #apple watch #watchos #technology #computers and technology

2 notes · View notes

houkagokappa · 2 years ago

Text

I finished Stone Ocean!

First of all I want to talk about how I used to think people were exaggerating when they complained about Netflix Jail ruining the popularity of an anime. I figured that as long as the anime is good people will watch it and talk about it. Well, Jojo proved me wrong.

When part 6 got announced I was sooo excited for it. I saw people talking about it everywhere. When the first batch of episodes was released I saw a few promotional tweets about it, but not much else. The fact that Jojo was released through the Netflix model killed absolutely all hype for it, all discussion, fan works, memes and anticipation for the episodes to come. Some of the most fun I’ve had in the anime community was when part 5 was airing and it felt like we were all watching it together. I kept coming across content of the latest episode and excitement for what would happen in the next one every single week. It’s disheartening how part 6 flew under the radar, despite the initial hype and established fanbase. The only saving grace for me is that I really enjoy binging Jojo and having it on Netflix made it easy for me to download all the episodes on my tablet for a long train ride to a place without wifi for my Christmas break.

Now onto the actual series. I really liked Jolyne as the new protagonist! She’s probably my favourite Jojo so far. Having a female protagonist and a mostly female cast (at least at the start of the series) was a much needed breath of fresh air for the series.

I still have a hard time imagining Jotaro marrying someone and having a child, and seems like it was hard for him too. When part 4 revealed that Joseph cheated on his wife and had an illegitimate son it made me lose all respect for him. I still hate him for it, but seeing how Jotaro also ended up as a fail husband and absent father it’s gotten hilarious how it seems to run in the Joestar family. It’s a horrible character flaw, but at least it’s a huge character flaw and that makes it interesting to see in characters who are otherwise portrayed as the heroes. Of course it also works to downgrade the previous protagonist and letting the new ones shine. That said, the relationship between Jolyne and Jotaro improved a lot during the series and I appreciate the depiction of a father-daughter relationship. They’re pretty rare in anime/ manga/ fiction in general and I wish we’d get more of them!

I knew that DIO would show up again, which I had mixed feelings about. I like him a lot as a villain, but I’m not a huge fan of characters returning from the dead over and over again (looking at you Avdol and F.F.). It cheapens their deaths and the story. Luckily it turned out that all his appearances were flashbacks. I think the part that he played in the story made a lot of sense, he did travel around se recru seducing all those followers so of course some of them would still be around looking for revenge and heaven, apparently. If he would’ve been revived, which seemed plausible at one point, it would’ve been fun to see him again, but it’s probably for the best that it didn’t happen.

Pucci was okay as the villain. I had fun learning about him and his motives, but he got away with too much bullshit. As a whole I feel like part 6 had too many fights and stands that got beaten through some bs method that didn’t make any sense. It was nice seeing a lot of really strong stands, but instead of being defeated “because Araki said so” I wish that they would’ve been outsmarted even if those ways would’ve been ridiculous, or simply beaten to death through brute-force by physically stronger characters. Adding to this, it’s a little annoying when stands suddenly have additional abilities that are a little over-powered and convenient for the situation at hand, but that has always been a part of Jojo so I can’t complain too much. It makes sense for (mentally) stronger characters to get more out of their stands, but I wish there’d be more rules, guidelines or explanations for those powers and abilities.

White Snake had a really cool design that I want to give a special shout-out to. I also liked Made in Heaven. Its powers were cool, probably the strongest in the series so far (except maybe Golden Experience Requiem?) mostly thanks to the global effect. The global effect is something I also enjoyed about Weather Report. I wish we’d gotten more fights with him, I would’ve liked to see all the ways he’d control the weather to win. The frog rain was hilarious, but the slugs and rainbows were a bit much.

I'm a little disappointed by the animation. I can’t remember if it’s always been pretty simple or I simply never noticed how often we’d get a still image with nothing but some mouth movements or a visual effect. I know it’s pretty common in anime, but the fact that I noticed it because those scenes were so frequent or long is a problem. I can’t say that the series was a true joy to watch thanks to it.

I’m also a little disappointed that we only got two openings and one ending, although it’s a very minor complaint. Due to that I got scared when the final episode op started playing without the SFX, but they played me and gave us an incredible callback to Sono Chi no Sadame and all the previous parts! Hearing Roundabout again as the ending made me tear up. I love the generational structure of the series and all the passion behind it and it’s moment like those that remind me of it!

I knew that the universe would be reset, and now that I’ve seen it happen I’m not sure how to feel about it. A little bittersweet? I think I’ll have to wait and see how it affects the following parts. I’m also curious if they’re going to try to one-up Pucci and Made in Heaven. It seems hard, but luckily for Jojo I don’t think it’ll be a necessary goal.

This got super long and I’m sure there’s something I wanted to comment on that I can’t remember anymore. Oh yeah, I’m still a little mushy over how ecstatic Ai Fairouz was for being cast as Jolyne. It was such a huge dream come true for her with Jolyne being the reason she wanted to become a seiyuu and she did an AMAZING job! I was also really happy Mariya Ise got a main role as she’s one of my favourites, even though she’s been taking roles where she dies off too soon :/

All in all more Jojo is always good and I can’t wait for the next part!!!

#my nonsense #ella watches anime #jjba #stone ocean #long post

8 notes · View notes