#i don't know how you people who storytelling do this kind of editing on a regular basis

[arcanewonder]

<< [ ♥ ] >>

[bookshelfdreams]

ofmd wasn't "profitable" enough but I didn't even get the feeling hbo wanted to make money off of it. They didn't promote it when s1 dropped, and the promo for s2 was erratic at best. They don't sell merch. Or physical copies. There's no bts documentaries other than what actors (shoutout to Samba ilu) make themselves in their spare time.

It took more than a full year for me to be able to watch s1 legally! I still can't access s2 legally anywhere! It's not that ofmd is unprofitable, it's that hbo refuses to profit off of it, because - well, because profiting off of it would mean investing work and money into it.

And like. Of course, when you compare it to the juggernauts hbo holds rights to, like GoT, ofmd is small fishes. But.

How on earth do these clowns think cult classics happen?

A Game of Thrones was first published in 1996 and didn't make it on the NYT beststeller list until 2011. The first edition of the first Harry Potter book was 500 pieces. And yeah, TV shows are different, but if you look at today's media landscape, would things like Star Trek, or Buffy, or Doctor Who stand the slightest chance? These things take time, is my point. A piece of media doesn't become a massively profitable, beloved classic over night. It takes time and effort to build that kind of franchise.

And the thing is! Nobody who makes these decisions even likes stories. I'm convinced that whoever is in charge at hbo, at amazon prime, even at disney, thinks storytelling is dumb and for idiots. They think it's enough to just slap the name of something people love on whatever garbage they spit out, for it to be profitable. They think it's the brand that sells: Look this has "Lord of the Rings" on it! Look, this one has "Game of Thrones", you like Game of Thrones don't you? Watch my show, boy.

But this isn't how this works. It's not the name that sells (unless, I suppose, you're the MCU, and even there one gets the impression the trick is finally stopping to work), especially not when the product is bad. People aren't idiots.

But it's not about making something good. It's not about making a meaningful piece of art, or telling an engaging story. ofmd served its purpose; it drew in all the subscribers it ever would, so there's no point in letting it go on. Even in the s2 that we did get, this is evident: the penny pinching is palpable, it's clear that the studio didn't want to spend any more money than absolutely necessary on it, and then cut the budget by 40%.

It's not about art. It never has been.

And it's not even about profit, because to be profitable eventually, stories have to be allowed to thrive first. You tell a good story first, and success happens later, often much, much later.

And ofmd was incredibly, astonishingly successful. It was the most in-demand series for weeks after the s1 finale. But even that wasn't enough, it's never enough, ofmd could have made record-setting profits and it still would have been cancelled, because -

Well, I don't know. Because we live in a bad time for art. Because Orwell was right, and stories have become commodities, like shoelaces. Because. Well. It's not about telling a story, is it?

What's the point of a story? What's the point of making something for the joy of making it? What's the point of a piece of art, existing, if it cannot be transferred into numbers for the stockholders?

idk how to end this. I hope David Jenkins finishes the story he wanted to tell, even if just for himself. I hope, against all odds, that weird, fun, heartfelt, beautiful little stories like ofmd continue to happen.

But goddammit.

[lordsammichsilas]

I've been working on some comic stuff and decided to take a moment to write another piece about my favorite tin can soldier.

I've noticed a lot has been made about how Danse's vocabulary and how he speaks. A lot of fan wikis online attribute it to his being a synth. Piper even mentions it after the initial conversation with Maxson at the beginning of Blind Betrayal. MacCready will mention Danse is about as emotional as a bag of hammers, assuming it's due to Danse's synth nature.

The thing is, his being a synth isn't the reason he's like that. It's the Brotherhood.

Think about the other synths in Fallout 4. Nick, Sturges, and Magnolia for example. They speak like regular people. It's because they live among regular people of the Commonwealth. The only synths who speak in a robotic fashion are gen 1 and 2 synths. Gen 3 synths are indistinguishable from humans and get socialized as such.

Danse was in the Brotherhood where he had been a paladin for at least a decade. The most recent years of that are in Maxson's Brotherhood. Arthur Maxson and most of those loyal to him do not like outsiders and do not want the Brotherhood fraternizing with outsiders. Fiction and entertainment are contraband on the Prydwen, something that alienates soldiers from the people of the Commonwealth even more. It's the reason Danse calls movies a “moving picture show” and comics “illustrated manuscripts”. The Brotherhood is what alienates him from humanity, not his being a synth. If you only know existence as a soldier and you don't take interest in human things with other humans, you end up speaking like that. (Think about a lot of right wing weirdoes online talking about the objects of their moral panics and how they sound.)

Edit: another point I want to add here is that not only is he isolated from the rest of the populace due to being in the Brotherhood, but there’s a chance he’s isolated from the lower rank soldiers in the Brotherhood itself. In a structure with a strict hierarchy, I wouldn’t be surprised if high ranking officers fraternizing with knights and initiates is discouraged. You get the feeling that he’s never confided in anyone since Cutler died when speaking to him as the Sole Survivor.

Danse held a fairly high rank in the organization. One could expect him to be pretty literate and have a decent vocabulary. (There's also the common critique that the military is a cult in its own right and just mindlessly following orders turns you into a soulless robot to a certain extent). Danse is intelligent, but not particularly charismatic. He will openly admit he's not good at talking to people on a personal level because he has no experience with it. Also being a field commander of soldiers and being responsible for their lives requires you to keep a level head and not show emotions.

What I find interesting are the reactions all of the companions have to his being a synth. Even though he was kind of a dick to everyone during companion swap scenes, all of the non-humans (except Strong) are not only against executing him but seem all but willing to throw hands on his behalf. He was horribly rude to Nick and Hancock in particular, however Nick goes out of his way to empathize with Danse and Hancock basically tells Maxson to go do it himself.

With the human companions, MacCready and Cait support executing him. Piper is sympathetic, but still leans on a stereotype to make a comment about how he talks. Preston and even Deacon are against killing Danse, but their commentary after that scene are more about the nature of the Brotherhood itself rather than Danse's wellbeing.

This just goes to another reason I find the writing for FO 4 incredibly frustrating because the storytelling here is excellent. There's a lot of nuances and you actually learn things about the other companions and the world they live in from doing an entirely different companion's story. The solidarity the nonhuman characters show for a synth that was part of an organization that wants to eradicate them and he himself was pretty rude to them while the human characters' reactions are far more mixed is something we need to talk about more.

I'm not normally a huge supporter of redemption arcs mostly because I think they've become a bit overused and not every character necessarily deserves one. I think Danse does because he is someone who means well and fell in with the wrong group in the process. This could have been the start of a really satisfying character arc, but instead all development just stops after your last affinity conversation with him.

[utilitycaster]

The thing I've realized, in the broader Actual Play space, is that a lot of creators are trying to turn Actual Play shows into TV shows.

You mentioned Kollok in your tags, and the creator of that has mentioned creating Kollok in a way to try to appeal to the Netflix audience.

And I'm all for experimentation, but tbh if I wanted to watch a TV show, I would go watch a TV show. That's not what I'm looking for in an Actual Play and over editing and gimmicks actively turn me off from it.

Folks creating Actual Play seem to put a lot of weight on it, but I don't know if it's that important from an audience perspective.

Hey anon,

Huge same - I've been thinking about this for a while, especially in regards to choices I didn't like (notably on D20, though the Candela split screen in chapter 3, while relatively minor, felt like part of the same trend and I'm really interested in seeing whether they keep it). I actually did mean to write more about this not in the tags of a reblog, so thanks for this ask because it gives me that motivation to do it!

Earlier this year I was at an event and someone who to be totally honest I found kind of annoying was talking about Dimension 20, and I decided to keep quiet and listen to what other people had to say, and another person (whom I respect and specifically know to be like, left-leaning and inclusive and not gatekeeper dudebro type, which is relevant to the next statement) who is solidly in Gen X and has been playing D&D since at least 2e mentioned that he doesn't like Actual Play at all because he is from the era where D&D was frequently played in third person and is somewhat of a purist in that sense. Ie, this guy would say "Gawain pulls out his sword and smites the dragon, with a 24 to hit", rather than "I'm going to pull out my sword and smite the dragon." He described his idea of D&D as being very much collaborative storytelling in the sense of a bunch of third person narrators who happen to be the storytellers for one specific character, not a first-person acted scene.

I happen to like both forms of narration and am not a purist either way, and indeed use both third person and first person myself as a player (as do many actual players; you see this on CR and D20 all the time). But I think this does show just how broad this spectrum is. You have people all the way on the "I am narrating an improvised story, I am the storyteller puppeting my character and I am not trying to be immersed" side and then you have shows that are trying to push this into full immersion...but so long as you have dice rolls, you'll never achieve it.

I prefer something in between: I do love watching people act, but I really like the gears and wires! I love mechanics! I think people who say "I love actual play D&D but I don't really care for combat, only RP" don't actually like actual play D&D! This is a specific format and I do not want people to hide the fact that they are using the rules of a game and are at a table, because they are and we know it.

This came up when I and others talked about the Legend of Vox Machina adaptation: they're probably going to have to find a way to convey the same tragedy and gravity of Scanlan's ninth level counterspell that doesn't require viewers to know the mechanics, because if you watch that scene as actual play the meaning of Sam saying "Nine" is immediately apparent. It hits hard with that one single word, but that won't be the case in an animated adaptation where no one is rolling a D20. Mechanics are in intrinsic part of actual play. You can enjoy actual play without that knowledge, but a solid grounding in those mechanics will only enhance that enjoyment (well, unless you're one of those rules-lawyery weirdos who gets bitter about any GM rule of cool/homebrew that they couldn't predict from the rulebooks but those people will never be happy).

The more general context of "being in a game", not just mechanics, is also in my opinion valuable. Brennan, on a Worlds Beyond Number fireside chat, referred to certain NPCs like Caramelinda as "furious that they are in a D&D game" and it's a funny and true statement. I feel like trying to push actual play into the realm of scripted shows is that: it feels like you're trying to hide the origins, and I think the quality of the show will ultimately suffer when you do that. It feels almost ashamed of what it is, and I don't think you can make something that transforms a medium/genre/thing in between the two without having a profound love and respect for the original, even if you also find it flawed. (This is also, tbh, how I feel about a lot of attempts to divorce D&D from the fact that it is ultimately a game influenced heavily by sword-and-sorcery fantasy, or about attempts to turn high or heroic fantasy into something that neatly affirms all of one's 2024 real world political beliefs, but that's another post).

I also think that the out-of-character element of actual play is a big draw. I have been open about having complicated feelings about the parasocial and projection aspects; but those feelings are "hey, this is still a show that is a source of livelihood, you are not hanging out in someone's living room and getting weird about the fact that the CR cast no longer responds to every tweet is dumb" and "you have not been betrayed by the creators because you didn't get the plot you wanted," and "the fact that two actors sit next to each other is not, in fact, a solid basis for shipping." I am equally opposed to the idea of "the actors do not exist, only the characters do," put forward in that attempt to make actual play Netflix-ready. It's fun to watch the CR cast rib Travis for turning bright red for, as people said, pretend kissing his real wife. It's fun to watch the Intrepid Heroes heckle Brennan when he plays a villain. It's fun to hear Aabria and Erika scream at WBN plot developments and for the McElroys or the NADDPod crew to wheeze with laughter and all of these shows but CR are to a degree edited, and all leave that element in, which I think says something really important about what actual play is understood to be!

It does not escape me that the seasons/shows using heavier camera edits have often, in my opinion, sacrificed story quality for a visual style I don't even care for. I do watch prestige television, and one of the more striking cinematographic choices I've seen lately are the extremely long single take shots used on both Succession's final season (Connor's Wedding, 4x03) and The Bear's first season (Review, 1x07). Prestige TV is not doing the glitchy Neverafter stuff. Hell, I liked Sagas of Sundry: Dread and never finished Madness before it went offline and haven't made an effort to seek it out specifically because the black box theater feel of Dread felt fun and new but not too removed from actual play vibes, whereas the higher production values of Madness, ironically, made it feel too artificial and stilted to keep my interest.

Actual play is its own beast, and in trying to appeal to a new audience you're probably going to lose a lot of the one you have. A big part of why I haven't been motivated to check out Kollok is that everything I hear about it, even positive reviews, makes it sound like it's missing the things I like from actual play and doesn't achieve the level of scripted shows. Honestly I think the REAL answer here is that if you want to find a space between a Netflix drama and an Actual Play show, ditch the rules and make stuff like Midst, which is as discussed inspired by ttrpg/actual play spaces, but is broadly plotted out in advance. I think that approach can combine the best of both worlds, whereas I feel as though attempting to be a Netflix show will usually spend so much time trying to hide the fact that there's a table there that it will detract from the actual story.

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

W5: Oral histories are bad

For an edition focusing on being more aware of different cultures, W5 sure does spend a lot of time hating on oral histories; NOTE: LONG post and critical of W5, don't read if you like it.

"A history of the Garou is both impossible and reductive. The stories of the past that werewolves tell are oral histories, part legend and part reality, revised, reinterpreted, and redone, according to the needs of the generation doing the telling. They contain multiple narratives that are all considered to be true. The finer details, locations, and players in these grand dramas may shift with the times, and with the storytellers spinning the tale for those listening to them. " - W5 core, p.22 "The Garou Nation, as it was known, existed for a brief period of relative success, but even there, its actual duration is unknown and varies by who’s reciting the history. Was it decades? Centuries? Millennia? Because the historical events involved in it date to various times across myriad locations, to say with any certainty is impossible, and even spirits speak of it in terms unsuited to the physical world. " -W5 core, p.37 "Much of the Garou’s history is oral, more within the realm of legend and even self-mythology than a true history. Given the animistic perspective of Garou, when one says, “the mighty Silver Fang rode upon Falcon’s back,” that might literally mean a werewolf rode an enormous falcon in a legendary time, or it may mean that a falcon-spirit carried the werewolf, or even that Falcon himself transported the werewolf through the Umbra.

So it goes with the Litany, a code of Garou custom that’s equally as impressionistic and open to interpretation as the animistic lens through which werewolves see the world." -W5 core,p.46 "The Litany is an imperfect set of rules by which to wage a guerilla war of resistance during an ongoing Apocalypse. Those rules mean different things at different times to different werewolves, and the oral tradition of the Garou is rife with the Litany being used to justify self-dealing or even atrocity. " -W5 core, p.47 "Above and beyond the tribes and the septs, there used to be something called the Garou Nation. It was understood that all Garou were united in their war against the forces of the Wyrm.

Some dispute whether this was ever really true. Were the Garou of old really united in a global nation in the mythical prehistory of Garou legend at a time when humans had barely managed to get from one continent to another" -Shattered Nation, p.37

"The Garou are creatures of the present, their traditions built on oral storytelling. This means that factual accuracy is often not considered particularly important as long as the broad outlines fit what the crowd at the moot wants to hear. The stories of Garou from the '80s and '90s are already ancient history, having happened before most Garou today were even born.

Garou legends are notoriously difficult to date accurately. When was the War of Rage or the Impergium? In the Middle Ages? In the Stone Age? Who knows, and the spirits are no help either. Their sense of time is so different that it’s impossible to translate into human reckoning."

-Shattered Nation, p.40

I apologize for the paste spam, but I wanted to show you that this is not a one-time thing. This is constant. This is not that the books are saying that the garou specifically are bad at keeping histories straight, it is saying that with oral storytelling, it is impossible to tell when things happened. Which doesn't pass the smell test even if we focus solely on Europe. People have, for generations, kept information up through oral histories. Minor things might change, but the core details are there.

Think about it, how many of your family histories are written down? Most likely they are told orally a put into memory. And the time these events happened is usually a big part of it. Those of you with immigrant backgrounds will know why your family left, what kind of journey it was and when they arrived. It gets even less acceptable once we get to Indigenous people. Australian Blaks are very strict about accuracy and so there is no drift in stories over the centuries. Most Native American nations told their histories orally, maybe using metaphor but still recalling exact details over the centuries. W5 says that garou don't know when the Garou Nation existed. Given the former silver fang king is alive, it is clear it was within living memory. Yet the book still paints the garou as ignorant of their own history, the origins of their laws and so on. What is worse, is that this is often contrasted with written history being accurate. Essentially implying that the correct history is only found in books. A VERY Western European take if I ever heard one. Let's remember that, according to W5, any tribe can be found anywhere. So those garou found in mostly oral cultures just failed to record their own history? Writing like this, in a work with heavy animistic inspirations from Native American cultures and other animistic cultures, is insulting because it suggests only the western method is accurate.

[shouldiusemyname]

Step By Step Through the Closet Door

First of all, I want to apologize for not breaking this with images and gifs. There's no excuse 🫣

Now, I've read all the excellent commentary coming out of ep 11. I believe it's all valid and there are points to be made all around. I don't have the knowledge or experience to comment on pacing, editing, and certain directorial choices. But I do want to say something in favor of the story the show is telling.

This is a different story than we're used to, and it's told in a different way. It takes some getting used to, but where I'm from this type of storytelling is used a lot. This is showing things the way they are to the point of annoyance. I think that what causes all the confusion and frustration is the fact that the show lets each character exist separately from one another. There is no cohesiveness because life has no cohesiveness. The characters act and react according to their own separate sets of rules as opposed to each other. I know that some will see it as bad storytelling, and it's no excuse, but imo it has its benefits when trying to tell a story about people.

MY CASE FOR JENG and Pat

Jeng has been consistent throughout. Everything he does is because his entire being is linked to the company. He never makes mistakes. He always puts the business first. His entire philosophy of "life and work should be combined" is his reality. He has no freedom. He's had to hide who he is as a person, not only his sexuality because he always needs to represent.

As for the money, it's not the first time he did it. We're told in the beginning that he's been keeping the department alive with his own money. The only thing in his dad's company that is actually his is that department, and fighting to keep it is fighting to keep his sense of self. That department became his identity, so he will do anything to keep it alive. This is about Jeng v. his father. This is about Jeng becoming his own person.

So how does Pat fit into all of this? Well, Jeng being 100% business 100% of the time, he sees Pat's talent and he finds it super attractive. Sure, he finds Pat cute and attractive when they first meet, but his interest in him grows when he sees his talent and potential.

In his mind, Pat is a driving force through this. He finds Pat and he feels that he finally has an ally. However, this has nothing to do with who Pat is. This is the idea of Pat, not Pat himself. He does with Pat what he does with work - he makes him part of his identity and links him to the department. So Pat is no longer a separate human being, but another aspect of Jeng. Pat becomes the part of Jeng's personality that fights to keep the department alive. Which makes him the logical choice to be his successor as the head of department. Losing one of them (department or Pat) means losing his identity as a man separate from his father and the company.

As for Pat, he has his own shit to deal with. He needs to work in a toxic work environment and face gossip that is typically reserved for women, who are usually the target of this kind of gossip precisely because of their sexuality. Pat needs to end things with Jeng because he can't deal with it. Love is not magic. Love can't fix society. Outside pressure can and does break relationships when the people in that relationship are unable to stand together.

Pat and Jeng cannot stand together at this point in their story because they exist in two separate worlds. Their realities and the way they experience life are so different and separate from what the other is experience, to say the least.

THE QUEER REALITY OF IT ALL

That intervention/interrogation scene was way too personal. Even if you've never been interrogated about your sexuality, or had to defend it, just sitting in a room where people talk about your sexuality as if you're not there is not a fun experience, to say the least.

Having to justify yourself all the time to everyone because of who you like. Having to sit in a room where YOU are being scrutinized for your entire being just because of your sexuality is something that queer people experience all the time. Straight people will have lengthy discussions about others' sexuality in a way that I haven’t experienced in queer spaces. They will expect us to live up to tropes and stereotypes, and if we don't, they will be disappointed because it's not what they were promised (I'm sorry, but this is hitting very close to home). This is the reality of being different in a way that most society can't understand. If there is something to say in favor of this show is that these moments are represented so accurately that it's sometimes painful to watch.

STEPPING OUT OF THE CLOSET

This is a story about closets more than anything. Not only in the queer sense, but anyone who needs to hide who they are for "the greater good" knows what it's like. When you need to hide parts of yourself, for any reason, it's easy to lose touch with who you really are.

Being outed for the benefit of others OR How straight people talk about other sexualities.

We can all agree that Pat is not in the closet. But throughout the show, he goes through the experience of being outed three times - first when he has no choice but to out himself because of toxic male co-worker. The second time, his relationship with Jeng is outed for political gain. Then, a much more public outing of his relationship with Put. So, we're starting with a one-on-one outing, through people in the more extended environment, and finally nationwide exposure. By the end of ep 11, he has no control over who is allowed into his private affairs, and none of these outings were even about him. These were all cases of him being outed for the benefit of others. (re: straights discussing queer sexuality as though there are no queer people in the room).

Your closet is serving life

Jeng lives in the closet. Not only his sexuality is closeted, but his entire personality. He's had to maintain this public persona for so long that he has no idea who he is. His every move is dictated by his need to maintain his image for the sake of the company. He can't afford to protect Pat because he is on the job 24/7. Having Pat in his life forces him to deal with new situations. It's the first time he finds himself in a dilemma where he has to choose between the company and the person he loves, and he chooses the company because the closet is locked from the outside. The only thing that's truly his is the digital marketing department. Saving the department is saving himself. For him, it means protecting himself as well as protecting Pat. So, this is life and death for him. Even when he's called for the "intervention" with management, then with his father, and questioned about his sexuality, the only thing he can do is protect the department. Pat and the department are one because they are both his identity.

To each their own closet

Chot must keep his relationship in the closet and is at the mercy of his partner. He has no choice but to hope that one day he will be allowed to be out in his relationship. Which we were all happy to see happen!

Jaab and Jen had to hide their feelings and flirt in secret because of Jen's relationship. After that ended and they had the chance to be out, Jaab chose to run because he can't deal with actually getting what he wants (I have things to say about that as well, but it will have to be a separate post).

Beam has closeted his feelings for Ae. He chose to hide and had to watch from inside the closet, how someone else is living the life he wants for himself.

And finally Ying, who had to hide her fujoshi side.

These stories can't come together and form a complete story, because they exist separately from one another. Even Jeng and Pat exist separately from one another, each in his own story without the ability to connect, because they exist in separate worlds.

If you got this far, I seriously thank you for sticking this out. I hope this makes sense, and again this is only how I read what this show is giving us...

[thecomfywriter]

✨ head up seven up // tov editing tag ✨

—

i don’t even know how many people have tagged me in a heads up seven up, but thank you to everyone who did (most recently was @wyked-ao3, i know that much). since i’m editing tov right now, i’ll just use a paragraph from there. it’s technically 8 lines, but… shut up. 😌

without further ado, let’s get into it :)

—

His memories flowed within me like a chasm to a world unknown, filling my sight with flashing images of a time unforgotten. I witnessed in vivacity Hilbert’s youth beginning at the years of his childhood in the polished streets of the Elvon Ring, where he chased his friends and paralyzed them in gem and stone until he had the chance to catch up. Another memory featured a man of grey hair and bushy, knit brows reprimanding a teenage Hilbert, who stood in a deep squat and reattempted the magic he was apparently learning. The old Limious rebuked him once again, the demand for perfection weighing heavy. Once again, seasons shifted with the bright of spring’s colours as Hilbert’s memories revealed a beautiful woman-- with batting eyelashes and an amatory smile-- who leaned into his chest when he draped his arm around her and told her his lung and soul belonged to her. Pieces of Hilbert I was not entitled to discover revealed themselves to me as a guilty pleasure, one I knew better than to indulge in. Yet, the glory of his prime tempted me from leaving. Privacy, as much as it was a right, was not something I was willing to donate to my new mentor.

- Throne of Vengeance, Volume 1

--

I know I wrote the book, but I'm going to talk about it like I didn't for a second.

Passages like this are the reason why Alan's morality fascinates me. Even in the beginning of the book, this man was doing stuff like this. Things that are super hypocritical and ethically wrong, but he does it anyways. And the way he justifies these actions are just so interesting because it really shows the loopholes this man will go through to justify what he's doing, even if it's wrong.

idk. i love alan as a character. everyone who didn't vote for him in the character polls, i'm convinced yall just don't know enough about him. because personally, i find him more interesting than caramel sometimes, and that says a lot.

ill leave this as an open tag!

the tcw tag crew* :

*if you want to be added to the TCW tag list, interact with this post here.

@lunaeuphternal @the-golden-comet @renasdoodles

@drchenquill @zackprincebooks @wyked-ao3 @satohqbanana

@toragay-writing @the-letterbox-archives @kind-lion

@mysticstarlightduck @agirlandherquill @storyteller-kara

@dahliaontherun @writingismydrugs @authorcoledipalo

[nectar-cellar]

Get to Know Me - Sims Edition

i am so late to this but thank you to everyone who tagged and mentioned me!! i loved reading your answers, i love being nosy.

let me get this first q out of the way:

Who's your favourite sim that you've made?

it's a tie between my 2 little meow meows pictured above 🥺

amir because he's the oc i'm most attached to and have most fully developed

vlad because i just love the way his sim turned out and he's such a fun character to think about

if they ever met, vlad would be like "greetings." and amir would be like "bro what the fucckkk" 😭

speaking of vampires i also love the idea of au-vampire-amir being this ashamed, existential crisis having vegetarian vampire who struggles with controlling and hiding his bloodlust.

i never get bored coming up with ideas for those 2.

rest of my answers below the cut :3

What's your favourite Sims death?

it's been YEARS since i intentionally made any of sims die. i barely do gameplay these days and i am attached to the sims i make. but when i used to play sims chaotically, i preferred to "accidentally" murder sims by fire instead of deleting the pool ladder. i would furnish their houses with the cheapest stoves and fireplaces, and sit back and watching the inevitable unfold... it was the final destination fan in me.

Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

i can't live without alpha hair and i love a well done piece of alpha clothing.

Favourite Mod?

CmarNYC morphing penis 😐

for a sfw mod, pose player was truly a game changer, can't play without it.

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack?

i never bought any of them 💅 the first one i p*rated was late night because umm a fancy city, bars and clubs, celebs and vampires, 2000s hoe clothes... what more could you want!

Do you pronounce live mode or aLIVE or LiVing?

a-live!

Have you made a simself?

no ❤

Which is your favorite EA hair color?

if we're talking about TS4, i think the ginger hair colour is okay and the grey too. for TS3, i don't use any of the default hair colour presets.

Favorite EA hair?

i've tried so hard and i just cannot enjoy any of them compared to the alpha cc hair available. in my opinion this is the least offensive one, the "teddy" from the store:

Favorite life stage?

young adult

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

i'm in it for cas and the storytelling medium

Are you a CC creator?

hehe...

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

i consider all the people i frequently engage with to be my simblr friends!! 💗

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

i've considered recording, editing and uploading speed CAS videos but it seems like a lot of effort 😭

How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?

i've always preferred creating masculine male sims/characters, that hasn't changed throughout the years. i've learned how to take better pictures, how to style my sims better, how to create the kinds of clothes i want to style them in, and i've learned my preferred slider settings and facial features/proportions. i make the same "genre" of male sims over and over and over again, so my style hasn't really changed, but my skills have improved and i've solidified my aesthetic which i am proud of :D

Who's your favourite CC creator?

i really can't pick a favourite because there is just so much sheer talent and a thriving cc community even today, but if i had to pick one, i would say rustynail. i used the shit out of their cc back in the day. everything my sims wore was straight off the runway darling... rusty brought glamour and high fashion to the sims! an inspiration.

How long have you had a simblr?

since even before 2013 😭 tumblr was my main social media for many years LMFAOOOOO and i made a simblr after following many ts3 blogs, being wowed by their screenshots, and i wanted to join in on the fun and wanted to download all the cool cc people were making... that was the start of my ts3 obsession !

How do you edit your pictures?

i use a gshade preset i made, then i mostly just crop and add text in gimp. i don't have the patience to edit my pics.

What expansion/ stuff pack is your favourite?

late night duh and seasons is a close second because it just makes the game so much more immersive and beautiful. pets is also a top one because it adds so much to the game, it's such a well thought out pack in my opinion, and what life simulator can be complete without pets?

[claireclaymore]

Everlark on movies

or why I just can't hate the movies - Part 1

This post will be polemic, and I am sure everyone will disagree, but I came here to defend romance aspect on the movies.

But first, some important points:

-I do agree the books were totally better while the movies failed in insert romance organically in the storytelling.

-And yes, everlark community is right in be pissed of with the director. He really didn't get the purpose of Peeta and Katniss relationship and that's shows.

-The producers forced the Team Gale and Team Peeta thing to increase the engagement. More Gale and Katniss were their crimes.

That said, what I strongly disagree are following accusations:

-"The movies are Everthorne propaganda and made that ship more popular than the canon one."

-"Peeta and Katniss didn't have chemistry on the movies."

-"On the movies, Katniss was actually in love with Gale, Peeta was rebound."

So this post will cover this fist accusation.

The changes for the love triangule

First movie did insert hits about Gale have a crush on Katniss (the book made this too, but it was implied). In movies Gale is a decent friend (he was there with Prim wait for her, alike on canon), so he is shippable and this create a interesting conflict on the audience, cause her looks like a good match, right?

But then there is Peeta. This guy that happened to be genuinely kind, and was willing to let Katniss win. And in script was implied he did knows it was an act whole time. So in the end of story feels like the audience is strongly divided between two good men, adding the political mess, we do have an exciting cliffhanger.

Then second movies happens and all doubts go away! Again edition cut iconic lines from Peeta, but Josh killed it in all his scenes. Peeta's essential kindness was well portrayed, in my opinion, and made audience really care for him.

It was criminal that they didn't delve deeper into the everlark bed scenes and add new everthorne scenes (that no one asked for), but rewatching it I didn't see much emotions on those kisses (and thanks Liam for having the expressiveness of a door).

In the other hand, the everlark scenes during the games were EVERYTHING! All the drama that was missing in the first film came in full force in the second! The force field scene is so much more theatrical!

And they made the beach kiss sweeter (and personally I love how heartwarming the scene was). I do remember applauding in theater (so... no chemistry my ass)

In short, my reading of the film is that Peeta is not just a cute and passionate friend who Katniss is afraid of hurting by rejecting him. She's falling in love with him. The desperation, the devotion, all of this is perfectly translated in Jennefer's performance. I seriously don't get how someone can see their interactions on arena and think he is the third wheel (and thank you director for don't include Gale's sad face to ruin the moment here).

Feral and in love (overdramatic? overreacted? Yes, but it follows the intensity of Katniss in canon). Will historians say that she is acting like this because of a friend?

Then the two last movies. They finally allowed show Gale being a asshole (I liked that change with calling Peeta a coward, they cut Gale's bullshit in Catching Fire, they had to put in some place). We still have to endure some Gale and Katniss scenes, but again, their ton are pale (basic soundtrack, no creative angles).

But what continues selling the ship is the adversity, the longing. Wherever Peeta appears Katniss just sees him! Gale stay on background or the camera forget him, he is just a desperate man looking at an amazing couple.

You are excellent door Liam!

And all angst, the forbidden love thing make people root even more for Everlark! So no! The movies didnt' sell Everthone or this attempt backfired (or if you disagree, at least see Jennefer isn't on board).

In conclusion, yes the movies made little for the ship, but this little was enough to introduce people to this amazing franchise. The details, the performing, soundtrack, edition all came together to the tip of the iceberg of everlark.

[laylawatermelon]

I watched Challengers for the first time and I'm confused.

I know it had sex and stuff and i see people raving about it (kind of mild to me it wasn't intimate but intense/used as a storytelling device).

They're also calling it horny but I loved the way they portrayed the desire to win, love and hate.

(I spoil I'm having a rant didn't mind me)

To me the beautiful shots were the highlight for me.

I also found it interesting how they used their bodies in the sex scenes to convey the story.

Zendaya was really good in her scenes and the most stunning shots i think are toward the end of the movie with the Windy car romp, and the final match point.

Mr. Luca ate that last bit up.

I was a bit surprised to be so engaged in a story that could be seen as boring but it was so well done that it was engaging.

If you looked at let's say the dialogue alone and if it didn't have both the directing and score (editing as well) it could've become a flat story as a spprt was the center for it.

We know sports movies have to cater to an audience who knows what's happening and an audience who doesn't and they do a great job with the metaphors for the don't know to know and the do know to recognize.(well i assume I'm a don't know 🤷🏾‍♀️)

But I was truly fascinated in the story they told just by using the sex scenes and it was beautifully done. A few lines are heard to hear at times but other than that 10/10 movie experience.

[pyrrhiccomedy]

Hi! I wonder if you could rec some books that are helpful for writing - I love everything you write and your language style. I'm kind of a writer myself and recently I got stuck in this phase where I just couldn't improve my writing... or don't know how to. I tried to read more, but most of them faded away in my brain after a day or two. I'm also curious, in terms of writing techniques, how do you usually write

[2]? Do you always go back and re-edit it? How do you deal with the writer’s block? Do you take notes while reading to learn from them, such as dialogues or stuff? I hope this is ok to ask - and good luck with any ongoing projects you have right now!

I'm not sure what you mean by books that are 'helpful for writing' - if you mean books about writing, I don't think I've read one since I was like, 14. If you mean books that will inspire you to write...I think inspiration is so personal. I think you should read widely, and read at or above your reading level as much as possible. Chuck Palahnuik, Kurt Vonnegut, and Shirley Jackson are probably the writers who influenced my prose style the most.

The best way to improve as a writer is to find a good editor. I mean somebody who will read your work open-mindedly and with love, but who will also take a big red pen and cross out 70% of it and explain to you, kindly but firmly, why what you wrote is garbage. I have been lucky enough to have a few editors in my life (starting with my dad, when I was like, 12) whose opinions on prose and storytelling I respected, and who were cheerfully merciless in applying them to me. I will always be grateful that they gave me enough credit as an aspiring artist who hoped to improve that they were willing to blowtorch my darlings before my eyes. It's a bracing but invaluable experience.

My process is always the same, no matter what I'm writing. I slam through a first draft as fast as possible. The first draft is shit. That's the point of the first draft. I usually don't even know what my story is about until I finish the first draft, I'm just trying to hunt down good character moments, good scenes, good lines, and a framework for a story that I can rake out of the muck later. Nobody sees the first draft but me.

Then I walk away from it and I don't look at it for a while. If it's a short story, that might be for just a day; if it's something longer, I might walk away for a week or more. Then I come back and re-read it, in a relaxed but critical mood. It's not longer "my writing" at this point: it's just a piece of writing, and I'm going to read it to find out if it's any good.

It isn't. That's fine. I take my big red pen, and I start planning out how I'd fix it, the same way I'd approach editing a stranger's work.

The second draft might bear only a passing resemblance to the first draft, but now I have a plan, and I know where I'm actually going with the material. The second draft takes much longer to write. It's a more thoughtful process. I re-read the first draft often, to keep in touch with what it was about this story in its raw form that made me want to tell it.

Then I submit the second draft to one of those priceless, merciless editors in my life. My wife is my go-to these days. She takes a turn pulling the piece apart and figuring out how she would fix it.

When I'm done re-tooling it based on that feedback, I'm usually happy with what I've got.

I don't know if I believe in writer's block. I think you either want to write or you don't. You can psyche yourself out of doing anything; writing isn't special. You can make anything stressful or unfun or a referendum on your worthiness as a person if you're anxious enough about it.

I think that if you're not getting better at something, you're either not practicing enough, not challenging yourself, not seeking honest feedback, or not applying the feedback you've received.

Writers are frequently annoying people, who think their ~craft~ has special rules that don't apply to any other human endeavor. It's just a skill, like any other skill. Take the same discipline and humility to writing as you would to learning a language, or learning to run a mile, or learning how to build a cabinet. You'll get better.

[lilithsaga]

15 Questions for 15 Friends

Tagged by @emery-matsushita-vt (Thank youuuuu~!)

Are you named after anyone?

Yes, I am named after the first and most well-known succubus, Lilith. It is a common name among succubi, as I also have a great grandmother with the same name.

When was the last time you cried?

Yesterday. I've always been a crybaby. But at least it was a good cry yesterday... from someone unexpected complimenting my writing ability. 🥹

Do you have kids?

Hell no! I can't even take care of myself, let alone a kid. I'm not putting children through that.

What sports do/have you played?

Fencing... at least in University. Who doesn't want to stab people with swords? And the fencing community itself is actually really supportive and friendly. I actually met my current partner through fencing. (If you love someone, stab them with an epee) 🤺

Do you use sarcasm?

On occasion, but I don't think I use it often enough. When I was younger, I had a hard time understanding sarcasm and still struggle with it today every once in a while. It's just hard to tell sometimes whether a person is joking or being genuine/passive aggressive. When I use sarcasm, I try to go over the top with inflection to try and make it obvious I'm joking. Just want to make it easier for others.

What is the first thing you notice about people?

How they make me feel. I get this is supposed to be a physical description thing, but I usually won't pay attention to someone unless they have something that gets a reaction out of me. If they wear a shirt I like, I notice. If they successfully throw a ball of paper in the trash while yelling "Michael Jordan," I notice. If they like one of my comments online, I notice. All of those things make me feel joy and help me notice the person who did the thing. 😊

What's your eye color?

Purple 🟣

Scary movies, or happy endings?

Happy endings. Yeah, it's cliche, but I feel bad for people who don't reach a satisfying conclusion. And scary movies can be fun, but I watch them more for the story than the jump scares and grotesque aesthetics. It's great if a movie makes me uncomfortable with it's writing, but being uncomfy isn't something I like feeling.

Any talents?

None that I feel confident enough in to be deemed "Ultimate" or "Super High School Level" but I am able to write words on a page... so that's a thing, right?

Where were you born?

The American Underworld. To compare it to somewhere in the Overworld, I guess you could say I live in the Midwestern United States.

What are your hobbies?

Writing, video editing, gaming, listening to video essays, watching vtubers, reading fanfiction, daydreaming about random nonsensical things.

Do you have any pets?

Nope, never grew up with any and never felt comfortable taking care of one for the longest time. But my partner has a cat that I would protecc with my last dying breath.

How tall are you?

I am 5' 6" which is about average female height I think?

Favorite subject in school?

Creative writing. No surprise huh? English was okay, but other students made it disruptive and teachers focused more on sentence diagrams than actual storytelling.

Dream job?

I would love to do vtubing full-time, but don't think it will ever be realistic. I wish I had more time to write and create fictional worlds. But if I can't find the words, I also wouldn't mind video editing and slicing segments in a timeline to create a story that way.

.

..

...

Uhhh... oh shit! Now I have to tag 15 friends? Hmmmm... well Emery already tagged Tor and Axo... among others I know... *realizes I don't have a big friend group at all* uhhhhhh okay okay. I call upon the power of friends and mutuals!!

@yuzu-adagio @drakamut @azure-shades-of-blue @marvellovelacevt @draconick @slash-gallagher @vchuuberyl @overlord-jarvis @aurumatom @itsdracool @maidgamerclaire @saliferousanimations @moonfeatherblue @sisallacertavt @hatenayuri

Sorry if you've already been tagged or are not interested in doing these kinds of things! Totally allowed to ignore this! But I just think y'all are cool and deserve to let others know more about you if you wanna.

Thank you for reading!!

[mdhwrites]

Have you seen the new HSR short, Rondo Across Countless Kapas? Got any thoughts? 👀

From an animation and sapphic perspective? HOLY FUCK! Absolutely gorgeous and I think what it's doing with Acheron is really interesting, even if it's essentially purely through visual storytelling. You could have the sound off and get everything interesting about the short.

Turn the sound on and you get the part I have a problem with: I'm kind of done with the Memokeeper. Not Black Swan, just the memokeeper element of her. I'll get into it soon but for those who haven't seen it, enjoy one of the best dances I've ever seen.

So what is my issue with the dialogue? Well, it's that Penacony has this problem of people getting into kind of grand speeches on a subject, even potentially mundane ones. Aventurine is always going on about power dynamics and hinting at his plan (this leads to the fucking god awful self quoting of like two paragraphs from himself at the end of 2.0), Sparkle is constantly using these big speeches to belittle people or mock them and Black Swan...

Black Swan is talking about memories. I'm not even against these monologues or the like but Black Swan has been in a LOT of marketing materials at this point and they ALL use her memokeeper element and very little of her fortunetelling element, usually only using the latter to emphasize the former in some way. It's just gotten very repetitive to me. Worse yet is that owning Black Swan AMPLIFIED this problem because it's more kind of mysterious, kind of not talk of dreams and the universe and memories and past that a lot of the rest of the big dialogue from her is. I want her to stop being so dramatic and be more personable, at least for a little while.

This isn't even me calling Black Swan a bad character. There is genuinely more to her with how playful she can be or how she is the best manipulator on Penacony so far because she can figuratively be two faced, something Sparkle needs literal shapeshifting powers for and Aventurine can't do to save his life, which the same goes for Himeko. She also sells the best though that she's genuinely a good person who just is willing to get her hands dirty but it is up to interpretation (honestly kind of frustratingly so. I don't like that I can't actually say a ton about each Penacony character so far due to their attempts at duplicity meaning fuck you on concrete characterization besides your flavor of manipulator. No, backstory does not count as characterization either.)

Edit: This could definitely also just be a me thing at this point. I rewatched it and not a lot of it is spent on talking about the past or memories. Black Swan is still playing up the mysteries of Penacony, something that I'm also getting a bit tired of, but she doesn't actually have many lines on memories themselves. It's just somehow kind of stuck in my brain for some reason this element of her being over represented and so it's what my brain ended up focusing on.

Let's end this on a positive though. Star Rail is normally not good at mysteries but the fact that Acheron genuinely seems disconnected from her Emanator state, when she draws the blade, is deeply interesting to me. It even fits within my theory, that we'll find out the truth on soon, that Acheron is an Emanator of Nihility. Speaking of, hi VERY explicitly to Ix within the violence montage. There is no way of getting around the fact that one of those sketches was of them front and center.

And from a dramatic standpoint, I love the presentation. The fact that bringing them up while clearly trying to get extra information out of Acheron, to have her mind have to go there so Black Swan could more easily grab the memories she might lie about, only for her to get fucked up like she does is INCREDIBLE. The fact that Acheron is so sincere in her confusion afterwards only adds to the horror of it all.

I... Am mixed on her knowing who they were. I frankly would love it if because the statement is the Annihilation Gang, not the Everflame Manor, that when she goes "Oh, right, those guys..." She's actually talking about the dumbasses from this destruction cult, since Duke Inferno isn't the only part of it, that got Aha's help to try to kill Ix. It'd be a way for them to have their cake and eat it too that I think fits better than the girl with eternal memory issues to suddenly actually remember killing them all.

Overall, I do like the animated short. If I were to just think of it in a vacuum, I even like Black Swan's dramatic narration. It's a good flourish to the action, explains what's going on well enough and her calm narration provides great contrast from when EVERYTHING gets fucked. My hangups are entirely a weird thing that's just kind of getting to me about Penacony and I'm not entirely sure if I expect it to get better or worse come 2.1.

I just know that thanks to my tax return (I did not spend all of it on Star Rail, don't worry) and knowing the top up refresh was happening, I did spend a good amount and am guaranteed to get Acheron, even if it takes 160 pulls like it took for Black Swan..., and I am looking forward to playing with her.

Just with tempered expectations.

======+++++======

And final note for those maybe hoping for it: I haven't been inspired by this short to write AcheSwan. I frankly wish I knew why I didn't get inspired by Star Rail more for my writing.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[mrsfezziwig]

Confessions of a K-pop Fanfic Reader (part one)

So you are right there, you've heard the first few chords, vocals, rap and beat of a song and after capturing it with Shazam, you read the name of the song except... you can't.... because it's in Hangul; that's K-pop right? And disbelief with disappointment burrows and worms into your psyche. You only listen to English language music as there's no point in hearing something you don't understand, if you wanted something that had lyrics you didn't understand you'd listen to Gregorian chant songs. Still, you feel the need to find the rest of the track but something inside you lurches because K-pop is innocent, childish, nothing but ridiculous Crayon Pop bright colours and T-ARA's "bo-peep, bo-peep, bo-peep, bo..." or the unexpectedly self aware and satirical Gangnam Style (although you haven't necessarily read the translated lyrics yet).

You can't possibly be considering taking the 'genre' seriously? But, those infectious few English lines are stuck in your damn brain and you can't stand the not knowing anymore, so you sneak away to the toilet or claim to be doing some extra work so your discomfort at the possibility of someone seeing and mocking you for it is minimised as much as you can. Hell, you watch porn more openly than this but you still open the Shazam you made a few days or weeks before, knowing you are one click or finger tap away from being completely ridiculed by your friends or family or both for being even willing to consider taking actual time out of your life for K-pop.... But with a deep breath you plunge in, probably with a Stray Kids, BTS or Ateez song and suddenly you are breathless because although you don't understand everything being said, you are completely blown away at the MV quality, which is better than some Western movies in terms of storytelling and editing. Unbeknownst to you the artworks that this small Asian country creates come ready made with the captions in English, plus a few other languages yet it's probably for the best you don't know that because the simple quality of the video takes your breath away.

Wait up though... these people can't possibly be human! How do they all look so fucking good? And how old are they? They look like fresh-faced mid-teens only they can all sing and dance? Oh, but HOLY SHIT CAN THEY RAP-RAP! [Looking at you Rapracha]. It is just impossible that these humans not only exist but most of them dance hardcore choreo whilst singing live too. Nah, nah, nah... it's all bullshit. AI is so fucking good now that these people aren't real.

That's pretty much how discovering K-pop didn't happen for me, an adult old enough to have student debt until I die, who will never own a home because fuck you baby boomers, and finds children to be more like crotch goblins designed to test every last one of the few nerves in my battered self that aren't fucked up by my Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

My introduction was truly bizarre; I was married for 20 years - before my husband decided my disability meant he had free reign to fuck anyone who wanted him as I couldn't do it anymore - and my now ex-husband's co-worker had a daughter who wrote fanfics. Now, I was horribly, horribly naïve and rather dumb when I agreed to be a reader, editor and kind of coach for this girl. Not once in my entire life had 'fan fiction' come up in my bubble, I went into the whole endeavour genuinely believing that Seokjin, Yoongi, Hoseok, Namjoon, Jimin, Taehyung and Jungkook were Wattpad characters, not real people.

I thought they were like how Reddit has it's 'marriage counselling' and 'divorce' thing that everyone knows is said on that social media platform, or that Facebook has it's passive aggressive posts bitching about something, the baby daddy/mama drama fueled by said posts, the vague sympathy grabbing status updates and fake news, or X's hate trains. Having never heard of BTS (and by having done no googling beforehand) I went into it as if these weren't real people. To say the writing was atrocious from this teen was an understatement, and I was honest about it, figuring you don't ask someone for feedback if you don't want criticism. If all you wanted was read counts, votes and comments, I could have done that multiple times a day to boost you, which it turns out was pretty much exactly what she was really wanting.

Soon though, I was reading other books from the ones recommended at the end of my current read and it staggered me just how fucking good these books were. Some of them desperately deserve to be published in the conventional way with their highly detailed and provoking writing that I still return to time and time again. However, one glaring detail eventually stood out to me as I lay in a hospital bed with IV antibiotics in one arm and opioid IV in the other, having very, very little of importance to ponder, and one thing that stood out all of a sudden, and I couldn't avoid anymore, was how no one described the characters in terms of look and age; it was as if the writer assumed everyone reading knew what they looked like already...

Now my fucking dumbass was still thinking these were 'Wattpad characters', thus there would be a master document on the app with these details, right? Please bear in mind it had been a year or more that I had been living in the misconception fog thinking these weren't real people at that point, so a master list of characters to choose from simply made sense to me.

Yep, I am kind of stupid for assuming, and yep, I trawled the Wattpad help pages for far too many hours looking for this document or link to one, which admittedly gave me something to focus on as the cocktail of pharmaceuticals made me feel nauseous and also rather high. Am I just too trusting and gullible or can anyone else see my flawed logic here?

As it began to niggle more, seeing the references to South Korea (with the incredibly amusing American way of behaving ascribed to the country that was worlds different to the USA), with Seoul, Busan and Daegu all mentioned my singular lonely brain cell bounced around my skull sparking something off in there. That's when it dawned on me this could be a kpop thing and I finally googled the most common name from the stories, Jungkook, and felt like a bucket of ice water was tipped over my head as I realised that these people were real. Yeah, yikes 😬💀

It distressed me that I had been so blasé as to read these pieces without questioning the similarities. I was even considering becoming a co-writer for the first girl until that moment. Some of this can be explained by my condition during 2018 to 2019, with multiple hospital admissions due to infections or injuries from the Ehler-Danlos Syndrome. One of the infections almost killed me because it was missed for too long and had moved into early stage sepsis. There was no way I could focus on my normal book fare of Charles Dickens and thick, detailed history books and, being truly, truly frank, Wattpad saved my fucking sanity over those two daunting and harrowing years, never demanding more than my mind could handle with all the drugs being pushed into my system.

Plus there were hundreds of thousands of stories to pick from that weren't even Fanfic, about real people or other author's characters. Although I was careful as I was passionately determined to avoid anything that I would consider debauched and invasive, the mature content option was firmly turned off, and the first sign of smut had me gone! A few kisses or implied sexual conduct squeezed through but not full smut. Hello repressed religious trauma!. The amount of stories that were not flagged as Mature Content pissed me off then and pisses me off still.

Once the shock of finding out the truth was easing a little, I decided I needed to actually watch some BTS music videos to try and understand the craziness of it all. What I never expected was just how deep the songs were and are, nor how intellectual the entire industry is because who the fuck else is making music videos based around novels like Demian in the West?

I didn't realise in addition that not only Korean would sneak its way into my brain but that the whole idol industry is interwoven with its own language. This answered many questions I had about the common jargon such as comeback, lore, promotions, era, main, lead, sub, bias, bias wrecker/s, OT#, Big4, ult, PC (photo card), fan meets, Naver, Weverse, V-Live (rip to the GOAT), Chan's Room [*sniff* Baby, you aren't in any trouble, okay? Please just come home, we all miss you and love you, please, please come back!], 1/2/3/4th Gen, and more my messed up brain can't recall so late at night and after the various narcotics that I take to function.

And those narcotics are saying no more today!

So I shall see you in part two!

[brannewjoint]

Sims Get To Know Me

Thank you @simsdastra @hurricanesims @treason-and-plot for the tag Muahhh 💗💗

What’s your favorite Sims death?

As cliché as it sounds old age is my favorite. I love seeing my Sims live long lives and all the other deaths are just kind of sad lmaooo.

Alpha CC or MaxisMatch?

I'm definitely an Alpha cc girly 🙊

Do you cheat your sims weight?

NO way i'm all about realism in my game so I love seeing their weight fluctuate. no one is cheating my weight soo.. no🤣

Do you move objects? 

Couldn't play the game if I didn't!

Favorite Mod?

For sims 3 literally any NRAAS mod, they're all life savers specifically nraas relativity & master controller. My second favorite would have to be The Birds and Bees mod I don't think I can play my game without it anymore. * I play with so many if I listed all my favorites this post would never end*

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack? 

My first expansion in Sims 4 was Discover University.

Late night was my first expansion pack for the Sims 3

Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing  

I'm sorry I pronounce it like LIV (living) mode😭🤣

Who's your favorite sim that you've made?

 I've created a few sims now and all have become my favorite at some point but if I had to pick it would be Chloe. I think she came out absolutely beautiful, I've yet to play with her🥹💗

Have you made a simself? 

No, not yet but I've been wanting to lately

Which is your favorite EA hair color? 

UH, the Sims 3 has so many choices but literally any of the red or reddish-brown swatches. I love a redhead🫢

Favorite EA hair? 

My favorite hair is the one from the sims 3 store for little boys I think it's so cute

Favorite life stage? 

Young adult duh 😱

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? 

Building is not my thing I love gameplay and storytelling! *decorating builds is my fav tho*

Are you a CC creator? 

Nooo I wish😩

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

I would say I have few, so of whom I message regularly. I would love to get closer to more of my mutual though!🥳

Do you have any sims merch? 

aha no

Do you have a YouTube for sims? 

no no no soon though waiting till I get a new pc

How has your "Sims style" changed throughout your years of playing?

When I first started playing the Sims I would play as god controlling every little action and decision of my Sims, but that got very repetitive and boring. Now I play more wants based and I have the autonomy very high so my sims are free to do and be who they want. It has made playing the game so much more enjoyable. let the randomizer button be your bestie people!!

What's your origin id?

take a wild guess🤔 .. its Brannewjoint🤣

Who’s your favorite CC creator? 

Omg I have too many to count but a few off the top of my head would be @aroundthesims @nectar-cellar @billsims-cc @chamomilesimblr @vmsims23 @rollo-rolls @twinsimming and sooo many more

 How long have you had simblr? 

My simblr is a baby she celebrates her first bday in July!

How do you edit your pictures? 

adobe Lightroom and Photoshop ✨✨

What expansion/ gamepack is your favorite? 

Late Night and Generations from the SIms 3😇

I tag @nectar-cellar @papermint-airplane @happy-lemon @milkteatrait @sushiikinsss Please ignore if you want🤍

[gillianthecat]

Getting to know your BL mutuals - 2022 Edition

Simple, answer the questions. @ some people. Include the tag 'g2ky BL mutuals 2022' on your post so we can find everyone's answers!

Thank you for the tags @negrowhat @callipigio @respectthepetty @lelephantsnail and @firstkanaphans! I loved reading your answers.

What has been the BL that took you by surprise this year?

I only started watching BL in July, so the genre as a whole took me as a surprise. And early on I didn't really know what to expect, so I wasn't really surprised by anything. But recently both Big Dragon and Eternal Yesterday have moved me in unexpected ways. Big Dragon because the story ended up being so different, and much more interesting, than the first episode led me to expect, and Eternal Yesterday because I started it having basically no idea what to expect and it's blown me away with it's storytelling and it's weird concept that somehow is tender and heartbreaking and funny and so very human.

What has been the BL that you felt a bit disappointed with this year?

Probably I would say Color Rush. I know it didn't come out this year, but that's when I saw it. It was one of the earliest BLs I watched, and I went into it with high expectations based on hearing great things about it and it just didn't work for me. I was intrigued by the concept, the execution just felt too sketched out to make it work for me. (Also I really wished that the only time it shifted into color was when the dude whose name and sci-fi identity I forget was actually seeing in color, and that it was in black and white for the rest. That alone would have made the world building feel more solid.) That said, I'm curious to re-watch it (since it's so short) and see if my opinion changes with a lot more BL under my belt.

If we're talking shows this year, probably Senpai This Can't Be Love! which started off intriguing, and then just kind of fizzled out. I didn't even watch the last two episodes. War of Y was more frustrating and infuriating, but I didn't have expectations for it in the first place so I wasn't that disappointed.

What has been your favorite BL this year?

AHH! How do I chose??? The ones I've given 10/10 have been: I Told Sunset About You, Bad Buddy, Old Fashion Cupcake, Utsukushii Kare (My Beautiful Man), Semantic Error, Blueming, and To My Star 2: Our Untold Stories. But even though I was a bit frustrated with the ending, the one that felt most like my show as I watched it week to week was The Eclipse. So maybe I will put that.

What are your favorite BL couples (not just of 2022)?

I made another post listing my top ten BL relationships so I will copy and paste it here. I don't know if my "couple" list would be different, but in making this one I was thinking specifically about the way they love each other, and if it felt like a love I believed.

Qi Zhang & Ye Guang (About Youth)

Pat & Pran (Bad Buddy)

Da-woon & Si-won (Blueming)

Mark & Vee (Love Mechanics)

Hira & Kiyoi (Utsukushii Kare/My Beautiful Man)

Nozue & Togawa (Old Fashion Cupcake)

Jae-young and Sang-woo (Semantic Error)

Seo-joon & Ji-woo (To My Star & TMS2)

Fighter & Tutor (Why R U?)

Akk & Ayan (The Eclipse)

I wrote that in October, so I'd now add See-eiw & Cake (My Only 12%) and Yai and Mangkorn (Big Dragon) to the list. And Mitsuru & Koichi (Eternal Yesterday) will probably end up on there once it finishes.

If you had to suggest a BL for someone what would it be?

Hmm. I'm taking this to mean someone who's never seen BL before. Probably Semantic Error or Old Fashion Cupcake. Both are really well crafted series, and are simple but still nuanced and interesting stories. I'd also put Bad Buddy on the list, in some ways it exists in conversation with other Thai BL, but it was the first I watched (besides ITSAY) and it still made sense to me and in a way that made it a good intro to Thai BL. There are many other shows that are a little odder or more difficult (ITSAY, Utsukushii Kare, Blueming) that I think could be a great introduction for the right person, but I wouldn't give them as a blanket rec.

And it's far, far too early to say as it's only been one episode, but if My School President keeps it up, that would be on the list as a tropey Thai high school BL expertly executed.

What's your non-BL favorite for this year?

I have watched very little that wasn't BL this year. But The Devil Judge, despite being pretty obviously a gay romance story under the censorship, isn't technically a BL so I will say that one. If I'm allowed to go back to fall of 2021, (it ended less than a year ago!) I will put Wheel of Time.

Being late to the party means that a lot of you all have done this already, but as far as I could tell @thequeenofsastiel @petrichoraline @iguessitsjustme @biochemjess @bengiyo @benkaaoi @chawarin-panich @asdfghjklmpff @aliceisathome @clairificusrex @respectthepetty @poetry-protest-pornography @waitmyturtleshaven't yet.