#i am very much looking forward to some gifsets of this one

[bluespring864]

Grigor Dimitrov defeats Holger Rune 7-6 (5), 6-4 to win the Brisbane International 2024

[killerandhealerqueen]

It's Love Letters Night! Send love and positivity to some of your favorite writers and bloggers!

@hyperbolicgrinch Jaz!!! You truly are my hype woman no matter the fandom and I am so grateful to have met you when Killer and Healer was airing because honestly, you really brighten up my day. Also, I really like your writing, even though we may not be in the same fandoms, and starting the ✨ weekend wip exposure club ✨ with you and Holly was so much fun

@theotherwhybietoldmeso Holly! My beloved! I know we only became friends this year but I am so grateful to have met you! You and Jaz are truly like the MVPs for dealing with me during this time of f1 hyperfixation (which I love, don't get me wrong) and hearing your nice feedback in the tags is always something to look forward to. Also, your fic ideas are so interesting and diverse and I love seeing the different fandoms you write for because of our ✨ weekend wip exposure club ✨

@clawbehavior Claw! My beloved! I know we're no longer in the same fandom, but it's always so fun to read your meta and tags and also see what sort of fanfictions you can come up with just from a simple post, drawing, or gifset. Your mind works a lot like mine creatively so it's so cool to see how your fics/ideas for fics come together and I'm always honored whenever you tag me in your fic ideas or come to me for advice with your fics. Truly so glad we met

@ahhhnorealnamesallowed Billie!!! Thank you for always being my sounding board for whenever I need someone to talk to about my fics because it's so easy to bounce ideas back and forth with you and you're always willing to be my second pair of eyes whenever I'm just fucking done with a fic. Also, thank you for always encouraging my ideas and for thinking that they're not too ambitious (because sometimes I worry that they are). So grateful to have met you when Killer and Healer was airing

@fourth-quartet Took! I know we really don't share fandoms anymore but it's always a delight to see you on my dash talking about things you're passionate about. Also, I really love your writing and will always support you in whatever you decide to write. I'm so glad we became friends when TDJ was airing

@kpopfantasywriter Jiejie! I know I haven't really come to you with fic ideas like I used to, but it's always so much fun to brainstorm fic ideas with you and it's always fun to read your little snippets that you sometimes post to the discord (I'm also very honored to be an OC in your fic, it's a lot of fun). Thank you for always sending me fic ideas/prompts and talking about fics with me, both on here and in the discord. I don't remember when we met but I'm really glad we became friends and have the relationship that we do

@dangermousie Mousie! I know you're not a writer but my god are you one of my favorite bloggers, I love your meta on different dramas and I feel like I'm watching them through you, which is a lot of fun because I get exposed to dramas that I would never actively seek out myself. Your commentary is also so fucking funny and makes me snort because I'd probably be saying the same damn thing too

@seonghwacore Ann! My baby! I know you don't write as much anymore but you are one of my favorite gifmakers and calling you my friend and my baby is like...just everything. Your gifsets for Killer and Healer were (and still are) legendary and your skills have only improved for Ateez and I'm proud to watch you grow. You're doing great, sweetie!

@nineninepetals Nine! I know you're not online as much anymore, but you deserve to be on this list and get this notification because I need you to know that you were and still are one of my biggest Killer and Healer cheerleaders and getting comments in my inbox both on here and on ao3 from you with a full on book report of your reaction to my fics is just...everything. I miss you and hope you are doing well and just know that I'm always thinking of you and I hope you come back to us one day

@marulo Maru! I also know that you're not online as much anymore, but I just wanted to let you know that I love you and miss you and hope you're doing well. You were also one of my biggest cheerleaders for my Killer and Healer fics and were always so supportive. I hope you're doing well and please just know that I miss you and I hope you come back to us one day

@evil-moonlight Jin! Of course you're on this list too! You're always so supportive of my fics and you're also just my biggest cheerleader in general and I really really appreciate you. Your writing is also super good and I hope you write more because damn girl you made feel things

@tytangfei Jina! The one who got me into Killer and Healer! Thank you for doing that, honestly, because that drama truly has changed my life and writing fanfiction for them as been both an honor and a dream. Also, your gifsets for Killer and Healer *chefs kiss*. Truly. They're the reason I got into the drama in the first place. Also, your writing...I hope you write more for them because your writing is so good...

@bestbuds55 Dana! I couldn't forget you too! Your writing is so good. I re-read your Killer and Healer fics all the time but have never dabbled into your Hannibal ones so I need to do that because the premises for them sound so interesting so I know I'm in for a treat

@mishathewtf Mish! Can't forget you either! You truly brighten both my dash and the discord both with your hilarious Killer and Healer memes (truly I think I've spat water while looking at them) as well as your other hyperfixations. Also, it's so fun playing those different games with you over discord because 1) they're interesting and something that I'd never actually play on my own and 2) they're just fun to play with others. Also, I have to thank you for being willing to put on LEGO Lord of the Rings over discord to help me calm my super bad anxiety...it really meant a lot and I know I told you at the time, but...I still think about it sometimes and it warms my heart

@sunriseverse Corset! Of course you're on here too! I love talking with you about fics and listening to you rant about your sunrise verse and honestly the work that you put into that thing is just...mind-boggling. It's so cool, honestly. Also, I love your fics for Couple of Mirrors and I'm so glad you wrote them because they are some of my faves (cuz I love that drama). Also, sending fic/writing questions back and forth to you is just so much fun, I love picking your brain about writing

@okifyouinsist Girl, I couldn't forget you. I know we've only been mutuals for such a short time, but you really have become my cheerleader in the f1 fanfic world and that really means a lot that you get so hyped over my little snippets that I post. I hope that our friendship can strengthen and that we'll be friends for a really long time

@friendlynbhddevil Sammy! I know we only became friends recently, but your love for Killer and Healer is almost as unmatched as mine, like we truly match each others freaks when it comes to those boys. I also love seeing you lose your mind over Beyond Evil cuz I too lost mine damn mind over that show...ugh, I'm just so glad we're friends. You really do brighten up my dash

Also, I know there are so many others who I'd love to put on this list, but then I'd practically be listing all of my mutuals so if your name is not on this list, please just know that I love you, I think about you, and you make my life so much better because you're in it

[airenyah]

QL Wrapped 2023

i was tagged by @nongnaos and @ranchthoughts thank youuu <333

i meant to upload this at the latest by december 31st, but the thing is when i saw the tag i was a little overwhelmed at first bc i didn't know how to fill it out and then once i had it all written out i had a super hard time deciding on what to gif and then it all ended up taking soooo much longer than planned. and now it's already 2024. oops. well, better late then never...

so without further ado:

You watched 12 QLs this year that's about 264 hours!

(i'm counting only qls that started airing 2023 bc i didn't keep track of every single show that i watched and it's a lot easier to count all the 2023 dramas on mdl lmao)

You primarily only watched QLs from Thailand

i blame my bachelor thesis for this which i was writing on the translation strategies of thai to eng and also the fact that i'm learning thai, so any time i watch a series i'm like "do i watch something from a country other than thailand tonight??" only for a little voice in my head to go "yeah but you COULD be spending your evening practicing thai listening skills" so yeah...

You spent way too much time thinking about these characters: Pat Napat Jindapat

listen. LISTEN. i know ok, i know bad buddy is from 2021 not from 2023. however!!!!! bad buddy was part of our skyy 2 and that included my boy pat and so i'm counting it!!!! i'm always thinking about pat napat jindapat ok bye

no for real tho. i am NOT kidding when i say i have spent hours on end thinking about pat in the year of our lord 2023, two full years after the show dropped:

maybe in 2024 i'll finally sit down and write that meta that's been in my head for two years now

Your favorite show was Moonlight Chicken

it's gotta be the chicken show for me. yeah. it just felt so... idk, real in a way. idk how to explain it. i'm not even obsessing over mlc all that much but any time it pops into my head i go all kinds of 😭😭😭 and 🥰🥰🥰

not to mention the firstmix

the heartliming

and most importantly earth and fourth as an uncle/nephew duo??

i am so🥺🥺🥺

special shoutout also to jimbo the cat (left) who looks almost exactly like coco, my family's cat (right):

Another one of your favorites was Last Twilight

just. the way p'aof shows relationships on screen okay. yeah.

i cry

You are still stuck in this hallway:

yeah i've been thinking about the yank-kiss-yeet scene from hidden agenda and joke breaking down afterwards in that very hallway for 19 weeks straight gay. bye.

The soundtracks you listened to the most were:

(according to my spotify wrapped top 5)

Just Friend? (Bad Buddy)

Our Song (Bad Buddy)

น้ำลาย (My School President Cover)

Secret (Bad Buddy)

yeah. i've given up on the "only 2023 media" thing. if we're talking songs only from series released in 2023 then i've got love love love (our skyy 2) on no. 32 and no more empty nights (our skyy 2) on no. 46 on my spotify wrapped

also if you're wondering what the 5th song (on no.3 in reality) from my top 5 was that's missing above where i only mentioned four songs, well, it's none other than tilly birds' same page? which yeah. is also bad buddy related. surprise surprise 🤭

Your overall bl mood was P'Aof

You created 15 gifsets (of which "only" 1/3 were about making other shows about bad buddy)

you can find them here

You shazammed 295 royalty free background music pieces/songs from thai dramas

fun fact: i haven't mentioned this publically yet but since thai dramas keep using the same music over and over again in various series i've actually started collecting the different songs/pieces and i'm planning on making a side blog about it. i just want to go through some more dramas first before i publish anything. so this is something you can look forward to in 2024 dkjfkfdj

currently shazamming my way through bad buddy (you may have seen my blorbo breakdown about pran in the ep4 sleepover scene the other week that was triggered by me shazamming all of ep4). next on the list: theory of love and the eclipse. it takes ages tho, so don't expect it any time soon

Your favorite acting pair was JoongDunk

(is anyone even surprised by this lol)

no but for real whatever these two have going on, i'm intrigued:

i just. i love their energy ok. they're fun. and they're clearly having fun

i couldn't decide on what to gif so here's a little compilation bc fuck it, this is my post and i get to do whatever the fuck i want

(actually there's more that i could have put in there but i didn't wanna waste any more time with posting this tag game and also i was trying to keep the compilation somewhat short lmao)

they are such silly little idiot boys ("little" says the 155cm tall short person about the 180+cm giants 🤭) and i adore them &lt;3

their energy is essentially this meme and i'm so here for it:

and they just communicate so well when they're performing and you never feel like either of them is "alone" on stage (doing his own thing in his own little bubble), it's SUCH a joy to watch!!!! once again plugging two of my all time fave performances that i've been rewatching over and over again for the last 3 months:

also dunk is just SO little brother-shaped to me idek!! looking at his face just makes me go into big sister mode. it doesn't help that he's only like a month or so older than my actual little brother. AND he reminds me a lot of one of my fave kids from my youth group that i used to go to for years. dunk natachai has klein-andi energy and you all don't know what that means but i know what that means as does my mom and she agrees. so.

tagging:

i feel so ashamed for not making it in time before 2023 ended so i'm not gonna tag anyone but if you see this and you really wanna do it bc you haven't done it yet then please do so and tag me because i say so!!

and mutuals, send me yours bc i'm not sure i saw everyone else's!!!! (@celestial-sapphicss @moonkhao @visualtaehyun @telomeke @waitmyturtles @dribs-and-drabbles did you guys do this already and if yes, send me yours? i must have missed it 🥺🥺🥺)

[ruanbaijie]

Thank you so much for The Spirealm post each time😍 Look forward everyday for new update hehe😁 Can I ask a few things that I don't quite get it? The drama didn't explain about the ring, kaleidoscope and there's light in you. Can you share a little bit if there's explanation about this in the book?

Already watch the last ep. The ending kind of confusing����‍💫

hello! thank you to you too ^^ (I really am spamming the gifsets at this point, I have so many more waiting in my drafts 😅) here are my thoughts on those points!

the ring: yeah I think the drama left it open to interpretation, but in the novel rnz gives lqs a ruby earstud - I read the novel a while back, so I can't for the life of me remember if there's some practical purpose behind that earstud (e.g. whether he can feel his feelings through it) or if rnz also kept the other earstud (I might be confusing this with another danmei I love). so I think the ring in the drama might just symbolise that part in the novel

kaleidoscopes: in the drama I think they explained this in passing - gao dawei (lqs's friend who supposedly created this game) put in so many kaleidoscopes in their on purpose to "remind" lqs that this game is actually about him, since it's mentioned that lqs really loved kaleidoscopes when he was a child. I also noticed that the door area (yknow that dark blue "room" with the church-like painted glass before they enter each door) looks kinda like a kaleidoscope with the doors all facing one another (resembling the cross-section of a kaleidoscope) and the painted glass (resembling the colours of a kaleidoscope) vs. in the book, iirc it's mentioned the doors are a long corridor instead of facing one another. tbh, I think they just included all these kaleidoscopes in just as a nod to the original novel name (kaleidoscope of death)

light in you: this is an actual novel quote! in the novel there's a line that rnz says: “身上光越明亮，受到门的影响越小，你是我见过的，光最明亮的那一个，所以，你非常适合门。” ("the brighter the light on someone shines, the less affected they are by the doors. among all the people I've seen, you are the who has the brightest light. so, you are extremely suitable for the doors.") also! another quote I really love that's also from the novel is the one where rnz goes "I will protect you for a lifetime, whether it's for your lifetime, or for mine."

ending: man...... I don't even know where to begin with this. *spoiler alert for the novel ending below!* the novel ends with the revelation that rnz was the "door god" of the 12th and final door - what really happened was lqs had gone through doors 1-11 all by himself and founded and headed the obsidian group all by himself, there was no such person as rnz in real life. but in door 12, rnz the door god saw him, fell in love with him, and wanted to spend more time with lqs, so in the novel, door 12 was lqs redoing all of doors 1-11, except with rnz in the story now (i.e. the novel is entirely about door 12 pretending to be doors 1-11). the show's ending is kinda similar to that in the sense that rnz was part of the "game" (it's not a game in the novel, the "origin story" of the doors is very different) all along, but that's where the similarities end. the show kinda took that happy ending in the novel and twisted it into this bittersweet painful angsty ending where rnz is the code that "purifies" the distorted game. but the twist that I have even more trouble (i.e. pain) getting over is how it's kinda implied that the whole thing was in lqs's mind in the first place, like how when he re-emerged from that final door it turns out he's been in the same car accident from episode 1 and no one has any recollection of the game and his friend gao dawei didn't even invent the game. I say implied because it's never really specified if the games really happened or not, but I'm a pessimist (even though it is kinda strange that lqs would have managed to "dream" the personalities and appearances of so many different people he would later meet in real life after coming out from the final door). did the game really happen and everyone just conveniently forgot about everything and history somehow got rewritten after rnz purified the game? or was it all lqs dreaming it all up in his head after he got into a car accident and in the split second he almost died? they do seem to imply it's the latter, which is *painful* because it means rnz never existed in the first place, and even if they ended episode 78 with them meeting again after 50 years, that rnz wouldn't be the same rnz that lqs had supposedly dreamed up; he would just be a copy that lqs had programmed to be that way based on that one wild dream he had after an accident _(:3 」∠)_

ANYWAY angsty depressing thoughts aside, I hope this helps clear up some things about the show!

[destinationtoast]

first thoughts on Ted Lasso premiere

Phoebe remains the absolute best.

DRESSED LIKE AN UMLAUT

Ted being all sad and rumpled and rumpled and sad 😭 he needs comforting but also antidepressants and some serious rejiggering of his parenting life lbr 😭 looking forward to the fic

love everything with Nate and Rupert and the whole West Ham sterile environment...it's so deliciously fucked up. And the panicking + spitting under the table?? FUCK. oh, Nate. i look forward to the fucked up fic

I'm not sad to have some Roy x Keeley angst... hoping with @wildwren that it goes angstier before or gets better! (WREN I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR FIC 👀👀👀👀) but also I love them and want there to be a very satisfying arc of them working their shit out and getting back together and fucking Jamie

I really don't think I followed the sewer metaphor right.. it sounded like a suggestion to form a human centipede?? 😹 i don't look forward to that fic, but god bless if that's your kink.

also was not expecting crotch shots as they descended into the sewer... looking forward to the gifsets

much good himbo-ness!

Disco, lol

what's Beard reading now, and why is he leaving it on Roy to carry all of Nate's old job?

yes thank you for sharing your bosoms with Keeley, Rebecca! please do more; Keeley is sad and deserves boobs looking forward to the fic

oh fuck, it didn't occur to me that Keeley's office would be joyless thanks to her VCs appointing the CFO, ... didn't she hire some of the people, though?? why aren't those ones at least fun and awesome?? I'm going to be bummed if she fails at running her own company or hates it... but that doesn't feel like a move the show would pull, i hope? she should have success and JOY. may need to write the fic

Sam shirtless yes thank you

Jamie's hair lol no thank you

he's okay to drive but forever changed, haf... of course Beard knows toad venom. there was no doubt in my mind.

press conference duel YES. I love Nate taking Ted down and Ted lifting Nate up. even if Ted's too distracted and depressed to have his full joke mojo, that was great.

what must Nate be thinking after he angrily closes his laptop. look forward to he fic and meta

get it, Sharon! (that's not anyone we're supposed to recognize in her bed, right?)

Ted asking sad questions and Beard not answering except to point out that they already passed his apartment 😭 Beard what is up with you rn??? looking forward to the fic

Very curious about what Trent is up to. 👀👀 looking forward to the fic

as I expected might be the case, I was vibrating with New Canon Energy the whole time and it was a bit distracting... I definitely need to watch it again soon now that I know the basics of what happens. but I liked a lot of things in this episode, and i am not angry about anything, all of which is a delight and a relief since last time I joined a fandom during a hiatus it was Sherlock, and my feelings about the following episode were Complicated

[lesbianrobin]

howdy em, any advice for focusing on studies instead of my hobbies? I love my fandom blurbs so much but sometimes it’s to my downfall xp

babes i appreciate your high opinion of me but i am SO not the bitch to ask. i'm literally terrible at time management and focusing on boring shit FKVJDJD but here's some stuff that sorta works for me. sorta.

incorporate your interests into your schoolwork whenever possible. obviously this is gonna be a task of varying difficulty depending on the assignment and what you're studying, but if you Can write your paper about stranger things or create a fun visual project in photoshop to display your data or whatever, you're gonna be more motivated to work.

sorta on that note you know that thing where you read a fanfic and it's like so incredibly obvious that the author works in a specific field or has expertise with a specific thing? you could be that author. if you can't incorporate your interests into your work, try incorporating your work into your interests! idk about you but i definitely have more fun and feel more motivated when i'm researching for a fic than i do when i'm just doing a random assigned reading. as you study, you might keep a list in the back of your mind of ways that this could potentially benefit a future fic or whatever to keep you engaged.

i personally once made a stranger things gifset to explain the history of color in film to procrastinate studying for my film history final and guess what! i was actually just studying for my film history final! in a weird ass nerd way!!

be flexible with your studies. i typically write at least 50% of any given assignment on my phone, because i'll get ideas at random moments or seize small pieces of downtime throughout the day to get work done. it can be helpful to designate certain times and spaces for schoolwork, but in my own personal experience, sometimes that can make the whole thing feel much more intimidating, and i won't get any more work done than i would have while typing on my phone in bed. i also find that restricting schoolwork to a specific time/place makes me view it as more of an obligation, when the truth is that i love what i study! i love to learn! so, i try to treat my studies as a hobby whenever possible. my fic and paper writing processes are nearly identical, and i think that helps in easing some of the pressure and dread that might accompany the thought of Writing A Paper.

this one is boring but just. reward yourself when you do focus on your studies! when i used to pull late nights in undergrad to get my work done on time, i would often take a trip to sonic when i was around halfway through with my work, for both a brain reset and a little reward. the first time i did it, i just didn't have any food for dinner in my apartment, but it quickly became a ritual that made me look forward to getting work done.

study in public when possible. this one sounds so stupid but literally the power of knowing that anybody around you in the starbucks or library or whatever could see you on tumblr/ao3/etc is NOT to be underestimated! i am a very insecure and self conscious person and i use this to my advantage. would you rather that cool-looking girl at the table next to you see you thoughtfully annotating marx or scrolling aimlessly through ao3? think about it.

ok that's like most of it i guess! but in all honestly i am still figuring it out myself. i think the key is just to keep on trying. it takes time to figure out what works for you and what doesn't, and there are gonna be times when you screw up and make a poor choice that backfires. instead of thinking about how much you suck, or writing it off entirely, look at these instances as opportunities to learn and consider how you might set yourself up to make better choices in the future.

anyway i'll get off my high horse and shut up now LMAO thank you for like thinking i am smart enough to come to with such a question. good luck!

[notebookmusical]

Hi Cossette! I've been spending the last few days gathering some 2024 media releases that I hope to check out this year and I'm looking forward to (to name a few!):

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

The Mars House by Natasha Pulley

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

and ooh! I'm also very intrigued about Allison Saft's upcoming adult debut!! I hope it will be good 🙏

I also prefer standalones! While there are times where I'd love to revisit my favourite worlduilding + characters, I tend to find the storytelling & character development more properly fleshed out within a standalone (comparing to books within a long series).

That's totally valid! It certainly took me some time to get into Alix E Harrow's writing - not that's it's poorly written (it's very artfully written), but it's pretty dense and the story pacing is on the slow side. Also as much as I enjoy taking notes / annotating beautifully written prose, I feel you effort required to analyse the writing 😅

Speaking of The Starless Sea, the aesthetic / vibes of the book reminds me of Taylor Swift's Midnights - very atmospheric and with a strong focus on storytelling. I've been meaning to make something showcasing parallels between songs from Midnights & sections of The Starless Sea since late 2022 (this was pushed back for various reasons), so I was very happy to post the edit today :D

If you could assign your favourite books as music albums (based on thematic / aesthetic similarities), how would you pair them up?

P.S. Yes!! I love the album & vinyl artwork for Kali Uchis' new album and I hope you have the chance to listen to Orquideas later this year! (and I hope you all the best with the 365 albums challenge 💖)

hi jennifer!!! i have an arc of a tempest of tea, but i don't know if i'll get around to it before publication date 😭 i'm really intrigued by the premise, but struggled a bit with the fantasy in we hunt the flame (i struggle a lot with fantasy/have to be in a very specific mood for it)! i haven't read any of katherine arden's stuff, but have seen a lot of it on the internet over the years; maybe i'll check it out!

i feel like a common question i see on bookstagram is "what's your favorite series" and i always struggle to answer this because i am just not a series girlie! i think the few favorite series that i love (that aren't duologies) are probably either the raven cycle, or series of romance books that are set in the same universe but follow different characters so they essentially operate as standalones! i wish i was a series girlie, but i just ... am not one. i actually just put alix harrow's ten thousand doors of january on hold on libby — it might work better for me as an audiobook! sometimes i do better with fantasy via audiobook than physically reading it, for some reason.

i saw your starless sea/midnights gifset and am obsessed. i know i've told you this before but i loveeeee your gifsets so much, especially the ones where you find parallels between things!

oh this is so hard! i feel like it's easier to assign specific songs for me, rather than entire albums to books, but here goes:

beach read: honorable mention to emails i can't send by sabrina carpenter (title track) for january's relationship with her father, but unsure of what album would fit january/gus best!

normal people: i think either sam fender's seventeen going under, or noah kahan's stick season? i think both albums have a similar theme of being homesick and also home sick, which i feel like plays a big role in the plot of normal people!

honey girl: i feel like paint my bedroom black by holly humberstone? like the themes of growing up / moving away / being lonely / figuring out your life?

the starless sea: maybeeeee evermore but this does not feel like a good fit to me still!

les miserables: ... going to cheat here and say the les mis cast recording

i'm still stuck on portrait of a thief, and book lovers though! what about you? what book/album pairings do you have in mind?

[sophsun1]

In today’s edition of the QAF Hive Mind: this gifset being dropped at the same time as this fic? I love this fandom so much.

Hey!

It's literally a scientific fact now that we are all telepathically linked.

I've lost count the amount of times I have dropped a gifset to then be told by one of you that you've been thinking of a similar concept in some capacity the very same day 😂

I'm behind on my regular visit to AO3, so I shall look forward to reading this fic alongside the update to you're just like a tattoo *squeals*

You're both amazing fic writers so I shall be leaving some fangirling comments once I am all caught up.

We are a small but powerful place lmao

[hithelleth]

The Diplomat S1

Thanks TPTB's this show is already renewed for S2, with that cliffhanger ending...whew!

See, I CAN binge a whole 8-episode show in a week if I put my minds to it! (Then again, I used to be able to binge whole 22-24 episodes in a week, ah the sweet days of my youth... :P)

Anyway, this was on my radar for a while and I heard mixed things about it but as usually pretty gifsets did it for me, and I am so glad I watched this.

It's suspenseful, dynamic, surprising, on-point where real-life/world issues are concerned but not too on the nose about it, and hella funny for a 'serious' show but in a fitting way.

I love love love love love - I can't tell you how much - I love the Wylers! Both individually (okay maybe Kate a bit more individually, but Rufus Sewell is very easy on the eyes ;)) and as a couple.

I think this show is great at portraying a marriage with problems that is not painted black and white, with good and bad things of both characters mixed in but both obviously still caring about each other. Not to mention their banter (as other characters') is stupendous!

The rest of the ensemble of characters/actors is also great, I love Dennison and the poor perpetually harangued Stuart and so on and so forth.

I do have some side ships, including Kate/Dennison - even better, an OT3 with Hal, because, as Cecilia put it, two is better than one.

Looking forward to S2!

I glimpsed a bit of an interview so I think I don't have to be that worried about the aforementioned cliffhanger ending, hopefully.

[causmonaut]

first post in a loong while. haven't been using tumblr much now that the live feature is gone, feeling a bit out of tune with things going on across social media platforms i used to frequent anyway. feeling very deeply touched by this calligramme shared by someone on twitter (refusing to call it by its new name)

these last few years i've felt more and more inspired to be more gentle with myself and others around me, without sparing my own boundaries. adopting this has led to a lot of beautiful buds blossoming in my life, i feel a little more in tune with love. not necessarily romantic, i don't care for that very much right now, but i was inspired by a passing crush of mine to appreciate the fact that i am capable of that a lot more than i used to. (i'll talk more about them some other time, surely) it has also ended up in some painful pruning, having to say goodbye to a few long-time figures in my life that i cannot keep around. they're free to reenter my life only when they have done enough work on themselves, otherwise, i wish them well. and will continue to save some love for them forever. remember them on their birthdays, whatever other romantic things i can say about letting people go, etc. it's bittersweet but in the end i want my life to feel less like i am just tolerating having the weight of everyone else's issues on my shoulders. i'm not perfect as i am right now, i never will be, i don't expect to ever be, because no one is. but i do want to take a better approach to my issues. be more positive.

therapy would be awesome. i'm looking forward to having the chance to work on that. "he cannot know he is made of sharp edges and pointed teeth. he is too cherished to know how to use them." here are a few songs i've really been digging lately. the itch to make music never leaves me but i don't have the time or skills!!!!! i'll make do with humming along instead.

this last one is a little bit of a curveball but all of these songs i found while trying to put a playlist together based on one of my favorite characters of all time. Bill from A Murder at the End of the World.. attaching a gif. i love his face :P

love this guy, seriously. loved him in the iron claw too. feeling like i'm doing some serious rural white girl cosplay listening to these songs, but it's all in the name of being obsessed with a guy i can't decide if i'd want to be with or just straight up be ? gender envy ? i feel 17 again, when i let myself fixate on shows and movies. used to have allll the time in the world to just look up gifsets or read post-canon fanfictions (because i never liked that self-insert stuff).

anyway this is all for now :) thank you if you read this ! hope you are doing well.

[whumptober]

Hi there, I’ve sent in a similar ask before on anon and never received an answer, I’m hoping it got eaten by tumblr, but in the future can you try to avoid making prompts that are heavily tied to disabilities (examples from this year include seizures, crutches, allergic reaction, and panic attack among others)?

The nature of this event means that a lot of the time these topics end up not being handled with the care and respect they deserve, as completionists will often spend a day or two per prompt and don’t factor the time in to properly research the topic in order to be able to handle it respectfully.

I would also advise against promoting prompt fills that are ableist or romanticize/trivialize disabilities in the future as well, an example from this year being the gifsets for the prompt seizures. I am asking you this as someone who has epilepsy and has historically seen a lot of offensive and sometimes potentially dangerously misinformed prompt fills come from Whumptober both this year and in years past where seizures has been a prompt, and from input I’ve gotten when discussing this and conversations I’ve seen and been a part of, while I am not as familiar with ableist tropes that apply to some of the other prompts, I know that other disabilities are similarly poorly handled when they’re given as a prompt by this and similar events.

I don’t think that the mods or most of the community are being intentionally ableist, but there’s a lot of unintentional ableism in the prompt fills and the prompts being chosen. I understand that this event is a lot of work to run and is intended to be fun, but by allowing even unintentional ableism to be as rampant as it is in this event, there are a lot of people who are either being alienated from the event or finding it a lot less fun.

Hi there, thank you very much for this ask and for bringing this issue to our attention. Unfortunately it seems as though Tumblr ate your last ask. Firstly, we would like to sincerely apologise for any harm which is has been caused by these prompts. In creating this prompt list we tried to avoid using ones which could cause offence - and avoid a repeat of the "blindness" issue. But what we're learning is that we didn't go far enough in our efforts. And we apologise for that.

We did make an effort to fix the issue with the prompt "seizures" by changing the tag in order to avoid that tag being filled with fills when it could be used by people to have real life discussions. While that worked to an extent, it is clear that the message didn't reach everyone. We made an announcement post, but it seems like it wasn't seen as much as it could have been. We can't blame people for that - we have a tagging system we use and have encouraged people to use, so of course we couldn't expect every participant to see that we had announced an exception. This was a learning experience for us.

In terms of reblogging, we have a team of volunteers who generally run the archive, but for the prompt day including seizures I was in charge of reblogging. I wasn't sure about reblogging gifs, but I realised that I had reblogged some by accident. That was my bad, and apologies for that. One thing we would like to say though is that we can't ask our volunteers to look through every post that they reblog. With how many creations which are made everyday too, we just don't have the resources or capacity to check every piece of work. But we also don't want to get rid of archiving altogether. So in this step at least, there's very little we can do.

We'd like to improve. We're aware of the stretch of Whumptober and the number of participants. We can't tell everyone they must do their research- there's just no way to enforce that. However we can encourage people to be mindful and thoughtful in regards to what they're writing if they're publicising it, and this is something we'll try to do moving forwards. We can't control what people make, but we can encourage thoughtfulness and mindfulness.

I saw in a mention after reading this ask that someone had pulled us up for being more considerate of AI art and the artists participating in Whumptober than we were of this issue. It made me really uncomfortable reading that because I realised it was right. So thank you for pulling us up on this.

We obviously can't stop the unintentional ableism or tell people they cannot participate if they don't have time to research. But we can limit it by being responsible ourselves and working on what we can control.

I hope you can see that we're going to work on this. We'll be more mindful of prompts, we'll encourage our participants to be thoughtful and mindful and we'll try to avoid using tags like seizures in the future. We're also actively discussing what else we can do.

Whumptober is for everyone, and the last thing we want to do is exclude people with our own lack of understanding.

- mod claire

[recurring-polynya]

Happy New Year! Apologies if you’ve talked about this already but what are your thoughts about the anime trailer? And what is your wishlist for the anime?

I probably gushed about it on Twitter and reblogged a bunch of gifsets, but I am not sure I have talked about it coherently on here.

I thought the trailer was awesome and a very good first trailer! With the cool remix of Number One, and the way it opens with Ichigo calmly strolling up to a bunch of hollering Hollows, his big-ass sword slung over one shoulder, I felt like it just perfectly hit that chord of "Hey, remember the way the first time you watched Bleach? Yeah, it's kind of dated now, but remember the way it blew you away? Well, hold on to your butts." If I hadn't already come back to the fandom, it would have grabbed me by the shirt and headbutted me. The animation is gorgeous and it showed my two faves in their most badass moments, back-to-back in the same dramatic color palette. I expect there to be a second trailer, maybe in the spring, that might show a little more of what the story is gonna be about, but as far as getting people who may have forgotten how much they love Bleach to sit up and pay attention, I think it was great.

I am honestly a simple woman, I just really love Bleach, and I am very forgiving of its flaws. I do not think that the TYBW arc was a masterpiece by any means, but I do hope that they stick as close to the manga as possible, with some fleshing out of the fights and maybe some addition character moments. (Give us more of Senjumaru, you cowards!!) The original anime had a bad habit of changing random things for no reason, often ruining the pacing of an arc, or just being weird, and I hope they just don't. Anyway, here are some things I am hoping for:

Bleach has always set the bar for OPs and I am looking forward to an absolute bop. Stretch wish: Let the OP feature one of those classic flash-thrus of every captain posing with their lieutenants, we never got a single scene of Rukia and Ukitake doing Captain Shit together, the least they can do is throw us a dramatic power pose.

The OST in the classic anime kept the old bangers while adding in a new motif as new settings and villains were introduced, and I hope that gets retained. Please, please, please let me hear Precipice of Defeat in the year 2022. If they play Reminiscence while Byakuya tells As Nodt “It is not I who will defeat you”, I will probably burst into tears. 

Shinigami's Cup, please please please. I would also like roughly 4 filler episodes. Not, like, Bount filler, but the High Quality filler like the Lamp Society episode or the Maid Cop movie. What I really, really want is a third New Year's episode in the same A-side lieutenant wacky hijinks/B-side sweet Renruki story format to round out the trio.

To be honest, the one part I am extremely worried about them messing up is the part where Rukia confronts her fears while fighting As Nodt. I actually rather like the way the manga never shows what her greatest fear is, but subtlety hints that it's Renji-related (he isn't shown among her lesser fears, the fact that the title of issue 566. What is your fear? is placed on the same page as Rukia warning Renji to play it safe and hide between battles). It would aslo be fine if the anime wants to make this more explicit, but I will flip a table if they ruin this for me.

At one point, I was convinced they would never include the dick-rope scene + sensual sweating, but... maybe??? After this summer’s one-shot was catered so specifically to my interests, I feel like there’s actually a possibiity!

The Kenpachi - Unohana fight better fuck.

I am also really looking forward to the part with Yachiru's shikai and I hope it is more than 3 seconds long 

There are so many fights in the TYBW and so many of them are boring, I hope they deal with this somehow, I really do not want this to be another Fake Karakura Town arc. At least in this case, they aren't stalling for the manga to catch up, so I don't anticipate them repeating so much between consecutive episodes, at least.

We deserve to see Byakuya's caboose in the Royal Realm. I am not even into this man, I just think this shot should be full length, to, you know, emphasize how Serious this arc is.

[jdeanmorgan]

Another month has passed, which means it’s time for another appreciation list! The creations on this list are just those i’ve come across on my dash and really really liked, and want to give them all a shoutout. Most of these are ones i’ve reblogged in the month of february (or ones still in my queue).

So without further ado, here is the (admittedly long) list of some really amazing creations!

avengers/spider-man 2 parallel gifset by @mackies

buddie (9-1-1) gifset by @madsbuckley​  

crows gifset by @archiejames

crows gifset by @graceryders

crows gifset by @riietveld

conjuring gifset by @mulderscully

florence pugh gifset by @rainbowkarolina

malina gifset by @yennefer-nazyalensky

another malina gifset by @yennefer-nazyalensky

malina gifest by @genyazafin

malina gifset by @evanbuckleys

malina gifset by @stevenbucky

malina gifset by @miriammaisel

kanej gifset by @katherineebishop

robert pattinson gifset by @jakegyllenhals

scream gifset by @alexcabotgf

scream gifset by @theetribrid

spike gifset (btvs) by @chloedecks

spiderman gifset by @niccolofares

sab valentine set by @archiejames

ted lasso gifset by @matthew-lillard

ted lasso gifset by @rory-amy

another ted lasso gifset by @rory-amy

ted lasso gifset by @rachelschu

another ted lasso gifset by @rachelschu

ted lasso gifset by @midgemaisel

ted lasso gifset by @dixonscarol

ted lasso gifset by @brooksdavis

ted lasso gifset by @dominiquediperro

yellowjackets gifset by @maddiebuckley

I hope this will give all these wonderful sets the attention and reblogs they deserve! I am very much looking forward to see what march has in store!

[yuutta]

Tutorial: Comic Book Gifs

I got a request for a tutorial on how I create gifs stylized like comic books, so I will be walking through how I made this gif (from this gifset):

Tutorial under the cut:

I’m going to break this tutorial into 3 sections: organizing the panels, creating the comic book “look”, and adding the sound effects.

1. Creating the Panel Layout

1. Start by deciding how you want your “layout” to look. These really don’t have to be too fancy: usually I’ll just do rows of 1 or 2 panels, but if you need help getting a rough idea of what a layout might look like here are all my comic book edits. Again, nothing too fancy (unless that’s what you want). 

It’s probably best to plan which gifs are going in which panels in advance but I kind of make it up as a go.

2. Create a new psd and start in video timeline mode. Then using the rectangle tool, draw the rectangles based on your desired layout:

3. Create the gifs you will use for each panel. (Note: It’s important that the # of frames in your gifs are all the same.)  Make sure the gif is in video timeline mode & is converted to a smart object. No need to sharpen yet - we will do that later. These are the four gifs I will be using (one per panel):

The framerate is a little fast right now but that’s ok - I will fix this at the very end.

4. Now, you want to drag your gifs onto the psd.Use a clipping mask (ctrl + alt + G) to attach the gifs to the “panel boxes”. To resize your gifs within the panel you can just use ctrl + t.

So this is where we should now be at:

4. Final step is to add borders. So click on the rectangles, and then click on add layer style -> stroke to add a border. Personally I like the borders a little thicker to make it look more “comic book-y”. So I use a 5px stroke with position set to center:

And this is what our gifs should look like now:

So now we’re done with the setup, and we can move onto styling.

2. Styling the Gifs

1. Start by just applying your usual sharpening settings (I used a surface blur & smart sharpen).

2. After that, add a poster edges filter to the gifs. You can do this by clicking on filter -> filter gallery -> artistic -> poster edges:

These are the settings I used for this gif, but I do tweak them a little depending on the set (I’d recommend playing around with it a little until you find the setting you think works nicest for whatever scene you are giffing):

3. Click on the little arrow next to it and adjust the opacity. I usually like to set it to 50%:

4. Now, to add the halftones click on filter -> pixelate -> color halftone. These are the settings I recommend using: 

5. Click on the little arrow next to the halftones filter and adjust the blending options. I recommend setting opacity to no higher than 50%. You can use overlay, soft light, or darken - again, I usually play around with various setting until I find whatever I think looks nicest. These were my settings for this particular gifset:

So now our psd looks like this:

6. Final step is to add some coloring - I went for a bright & greenish coloring, so this is what I ended up with:

And now the gifs are complete. All that’s left is adding sound effects.

2.1 Save and Reopen (Optional)

A thing I like to do before adding sound effects is to save my gif and then work with the gif as a fresh psd. My photoshop starts to get really slow once I add all these filters. Adding the sound effects requires analyzing every single frame and this is a pain when photoshop is being slow. I find saving my gif and working with that instead makes photoshop much more tolerable so I do recommend these quick steps:

1. Save your gif. this is what it looks like currently:

2. Open your gif in photoshop:

3. Switch to timeline mode & convert to smart object:

4. Save as a new psd, which we will now be working on.

Ok, now onto the sfx!

3. Adding Sound Effects

For the sound effects there are actually two parts here: getting the sound effects and then animating them:

3.1 Getting/Making Sound Effects

First step for adding sound effects is to get the actual png images you will use. I actually got all my sound effects off the a:tla comics. This process is pretty straightforward:

1. Open the online comic book (I recommend comiconlinefree(.)net), find the sound effects you want and take a screenshot (I use snipping tool for this). For this particular gif, I am using the ‘shing’ sound effect from the bottom panel:

2. Open the screenshots in photoshop, and use the pen tool click on each letter, then right click 'layer via copy’. You should now have a separate layer for each letter.

3. Highlight all of the individual letters, right click, and convert them into a smart object. Then add stroke (I used 3px):

You can also use layer style -> color overlay if you want to change the color.

And I repeated the process for the swish sound effect:

Now that we have our sfx, it’s time to add them to the gifs!

3.2 Animating the Sound Effects

Ok, this step is definitely the most tedious. I recommend doing this one panel at a time. So let’s start with the first one.

1. Using the timeline feature, go frame by frame until you’ve decided where you want your sound effect to start. This is the frame I’ve decided I want the sound effect to start on:

2. Now drag the sound effect onto the psd and use transform (ctrl + t) to resize accordingly:

3. Add a layer mask (layer -> layer mask -> reveal all). Using the rectangular maquee tool, draw a rectangle around the panel the sound effect will be in:

Then right click -> select inverse. Now, with your layer mask selected, click on the paint bucket tool. Set the color to black and click on the psd. Unlink the layer mask from the layer by clicking on the link symbol in between them. Your layer mask should now look like this:

This will prevent your sound effects from flowing outside the panel.

4. On the videotime, click on the arrow to the left of where it says ‘Layer 30′. Then click the little clock to the left of ‘Transform’. It should now look like this:

5. Move a couple frames ahead. Click on the diamond by the transform button:

Now, use transform (ctrl + t), to resize/rotate/move your sound effect to where you want it to be in this frame:

6. Move a couple frames forward and repeat:

Continue doing this until your sound effect animation is over.

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for the other sound effects you want to add. This is how I animated the ‘swish’ sounds in the 3rd panel:

8. Now our gif should look like this:

9. Final step: save your gif, reopen and adjust the framerate (if necessary). And this is our final product:

And we’re done! Then you can just repeat for every other gif in the gifset!

I hope this tutorial was helpful - please let me know if anything is unclear/there are any questions. If you use this tutorial to make a comic-style gifset I’d love to see your work so please tag me in it! I track #kahtaras

[digiweek]

Question: do we need to do the sub-prompts? I am considering making some gifs, but I'm not feeling very wordy for the sub-prompts. 😂 Can I just make a gifset and post it in your tag?

Hello! We thank you for your interest in Digiweek even though the 2022 rollout has officially finished.

We did have a free day every August 1st where everyone can submit anything without the prompt limitation. However, as we evaluate this year’s Digiweek, we realized that we need to revisit how things should work on this particular day. That’s why after careful consideration, we will only reblog post-event submissions for Day 7 that adheres to the Graduation and/or Odaiba Memorial Day prompt.

The reason why we have prompts/subprompts on Digiweek is to differentiate the event from the usual day-to-day content that ought to have more freedom. We tried to take as much consideration as possible before we settled for a theme/prompt/subprompts (one of them is to look at your suggestions from the post-event surveys—still open for 2022, by the way!). Yet again, we understand that some prompts might not be working for our participants, and that’s why it’s okay for you to skip when the prompt does not resonate with you (also mentioned on FAQ).

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience. Looking forward to seeing you!

(And let’s cross our fingers for #digiweek2023? ;D)

[crazychlo08]

Okay, so all of you’ve seen me spamming gifsets about Under the Banner of Heaven and if you’re thinking about watching it... 

well, incoming ramble under cut :)

Under the Banner of Heaven is based on a book by Jon Krakauer, which is based off of the real life events of Brenda and Erica Lafferty’s murders in 1984. This mini series is indeed true crime and finding the murderers of the Laffertys, but it also goes deeper into Mormonism and the LDS (Latter Day Saints) Church and the diverging of fundamentalist Mormonism from mainstream Mormonism. I myself am not one for true crime, but I was immediately hooked into this show from the very start. I had anticipated the shows as it stars one of my favorite actors (Andrew Garfield) and of course my all time favorite Seth Numrich. Right off the bat I knew this was going to be a deeply introspective and high quality piece as Andrew Garfield always takes on projects that tell a story that needs to be exposed to the world, he himself saying that he always wants his work to mean something.

As always, Andrew Garfield goes above and beyond with his acting. It is so nuanced and realistic, right down to the little quirks in his movements and the ways his eyes can say so much in one frame. He has so much passion for what he does and it bleeds into his acting and through the screen. The show is set in a predomaintly LDS, white community in Utah and it does such a good job setting up the exposition as it shows Jeb (Andrew Garfield) with his family (literally made my heart melt into goo). Fast forward a little and we start to see some flashbacks, the overall cinematography changing from dark cool tones with warm yellow tones to show the contrast of mood and time. This is where we get to see some amazing actors like Wyatt Russell (I first discovered him in the Falcon and Winter Solider Disney+ series) who is so talented (though you hate his character most of the time) and becomes integral to the plot later. And of course, Seth Numrich, who turns out to have a lot of screen time and a big part of the plot, flashbacks and present time. 

The whole mood throughout is suspenseful and menacing, and you can tell there’s something going on but you just can’t put your finger on it. The performances that are delivered are insanely incredible, I cannot even put it in words how stunning and powerful they are. The way Andrew’s character is affected by this case as an unquestioning, faithful LDS Mormon himself is so nuanced and with precise yet noticeable acting. I also love the way that the suspects of this case are starting to open Jeb’s eyes about his faith, some of their circumstances relating to conflicts he’s facing in his own personal life and getting him to question ideals that he’s been following from the womb. It was also such a pleasure to watch Seth do something new on screen as he’s been working within the theatre industry more then film/tv, and it reminds me how talented and spectacular of an actor he is. He has one or two monologues which has sent shivers down my spine with this authenticity and power.  Every look and word has so much meaning behind it, and his character is so drastically different from flashbacks to present time, it’s amazing to see the difference in Seth’s portrayal, using his body language to present the un picture things his character has gone through due to time. 

In terms of how the religion is handled...Well, hang in there :) 

Growing up in a religious household with a family that practiced the same religion, I never saw religion in the media (film, tv, books, anything I consumed), and even though I am not Mormon, watching actors I respect pray and worship God on TV is something I never knew I needed. Personally, I feel like being religious is looked down upon in society, but in your church you’re expected to be super outwardly religious all the time. Seeing prayer and worship be so normalized on screen in every day life felt like I was being seen and that the high or uncomfortable expectations of the church was not as “weird”, and that it really surprised me since I’m not extremely religious. 

 The series handles the religion with reverence and so much respect, and since I knew little to nothing about Mormonism before this, it seemed to go a good job laying basic groundwork about how it works. Mormons have a complicated history dating to the late eighteenth century as they were prosecuted and hunted, and I had no idea. I researched some more and I found that ex Mormons who watched the show were shocked at how realistic and and true it was to their faith without bringing mis-concepted ideas or stereotypes. I found that even though the show is shedding light onto the bad side of Mormonism, I found that the religion isn’t portrayed just negatively. The joy in the scenes where families are harmonious and happy, sort of normalizing incorporating religion into their lives (which is what small child chlo would have loved to see). I also recognize the misogyny and the diminishing of womens’ identities, and how they are reduced to someone only to support and help their husband. It is crazy to see that some of that happened into the eighties and on even after working, independent, strong women were normalized. It also brings to mind how this is still going on all over the world and how it could be in our own backyards without knowing.

Only three episodes have been released and I’ve already fallen in love with every aspect of this series. If you’re considering watching this show, I highly encourage it is very educational with good representative with stunning performances from every single actor on screen. If you made it all the way to here, I applaud you for reading my rant and I give you a medal for actually listening to me <3

If you watch it, please please please don’t hesitate to come yell at me about it!