#i have edited this specific post multiple times already ehe

[maelicgrn]

Some silly art of my ocs

[worms-i-think]

Good post good post good post good post!!

And perfect timing with this one, I’m so glad the Barbie movie has made everyone reminisce on all the animated ones. I’ve watched (almost) every single one, at least once by myself and then again as my sister grew up, so they’re all very close to my heart. <3 Princess and the Pauper was always my favorite, I think because she reminded me of myself and I loved her dress. The movie came out the year I was born but I also distinctly remembering watching at least a one of the series on VHS lol

I offer zero critiques of assigning these movies to them, they’re all perfect! I’d like to think that Rosa would want to have some ‘background info’ before going to the Barbie movie (I know it’s 2030ish but…eh) and the NXX does that thing where they all insist they accompany her. So, on a MUCH less serious note:

Artem pays careful attention because he is a film bro (but also that type of dad who would memorize the lore of his daughters’ fav media for playtime and discussion). Is evaluating the changes made from the source material, if applicable.

Luke has already seen multiple of these but would watch them a million times over for Rosa, also heavily invested. He rates the male love interests on their worthiness for the various Barbie variations. Recreates the questionable fighting with ribbons and fans from the Three Musketeers movie

Marius talks throughout the whole thing because that’s how he operates, yells at/for the characters, looks up the collectibility of limited edition dolls and is on eBay considering his options. Something in my brain is saying ‘Preminger’ but I don’t know how this relates to him.

Vyn is enjoying himself much more than expected, and heartily appreciates the occasional bit of witty dialogue, because trust me, it’s definitely there! I’m hoping the humor would still hold up to the standard I kept it at when I was little, but from the edits I saw on YouTube a while back,,.. at least some of it does (¯ ³¯)♡

(and to @theres-a-bea I must offer you NXX charm school. this post is catering to you specifically heheehe)

MC/Rosa sits the NXX Investigation Team down to binge watch a series of Barbie movies and then asks which was their favorite:

[WC: 0.8K]

Luke: Barbie: Princess Charm School AND/OR Barbie as the Island Princess (to be separated from your place of birth and return years later, changed)

Princess Charm School

Because he laughs out loud every time Portia is on screen. The meme potential of most things in the film delights him

Also, the whole missing princess plot genuinely interests him. MC is telling him there's an assassination cover-up in a Barbie movie? Iiiinteresting.

You know that one scene where Blair and friends have to escape from a locked room using their skills and memory? That's his favorite part.

He likes the friendship and espionage and drama and fantasy political discussion. Also, there's a golden retriever.

The Island Princess

There is something that he relates to in a girl who is lost somewhere for years. Especially when she eventually makes it back to civilization, and finds how different it is -- and realizes how different she is, and how in the end, she still finds the people she lost so long ago.

And those people from years ago recognize her, and they remember her, and they still accept her for who she is even though she is now a different person to the one they lost.

(And she talks to animals, too, but Luke thinks that Peanut counts.)

Artem: Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper (oh to be loved just for who you are)

The message about being accepted for who you are and not the place you are born into hits different for him because so many only see him as that perfect, untouchable lawyer (and bonus points if they recognize him as Bryan Wing's son)

The ballad between Erika and Dominick is so Artem-coded. "In my heart I'd be glad / If you loved me for me" and "Hope will blossom by believing / The heart that lies within"? The lines strike him like an arrow to the chest

In a way, both main couples remind him of the difference in stations between him and MC -- him as a senior attorney and her still yet to take her senior exams

There is a cat. That barks.

He also sees part of himself in Julian because of the quiet leader aspects (and the beatboxing scene in the credits. He almost fell out of his chair when he saw that.)

Vyn: Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus (because horses and sass)

Vyn actually also likes The Princess and the Pauper, but Artem already took that and of course he can never be seen agreeing with Artem, so he slots that into second place and puts another film above it in his ranking

And the movie with that honor is the pegasus one

A member of royalty feeling limited by her parents? The amount of sass and banter in the film between Annika and Aidan? Vyn finds these qualities to be quite charming

He's not sure how he feels about the polar bear with the strangely long eyelashes. He's grateful that it doesn't talk, at the very least.

There are flying horses and sure, maybe the main flying horse is related to the protagonist, but haven't all nobles wished at least once for horses to be able to talk back to them at least once in their childhood?

Marius: Barbie as Rapunzel AND/OR Barbie in the Twelve Dancing Princesses (magic paintbrushes, siblings, and self-expression)

Rapunzel

Part of how much Marius enjoys Rapunzel is because of the wonder that is so prevalent in the film. He does kind of wish he had a magic paintbrush like the one in the movie, but he's also content with enjoying the process of the artwork that he makes.

The fairytale adaptation reminds him of his own childhood when he had spent many hours reading through storybooks.

There is something about being trapped in a small space that disturbs him. It makes him root for Rapunzel.

He's also very satisfied with the way the villain meets her end.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Marius finds the music very charming in this one

But there's also: the haunting presence of a dead mom and how her love for them is made clear in what she left for her daughters, and an alive father who means well but does not necessarily always make the right actions

There is the value of self-expression, of refusing to conform to what an overbearing power insists on -- but there's also teamwork and taking responsibility and acting on what one believes to be right

Marius doesn't know anything about having eleven other siblings, but having one is enough to relate to the sisters' bond (especially between Genevieve and Lacey. Hasn't Giann been a Genevieve to him countless times when he was young?).

On the whole, the NXX Investigation Team has more fun than they may have first expected. That's team bonding for you :D

[girl4music]

My review of the XBOX Series X

So I’ve had nearly a full week with the XBOX Series X and here is my honest opinion on my experience with it and this is my initial review of it. I’m not gonna talk about the technology or go into anything about the console’s hardware too deeply. I will talk about the features and benefits it offers. Going into some things that work and don’t work as well as promised by Microsoft and XBOX. Finally, I will talk about all the bugs and issues that I experienced and found most annoying. Most of which have already been identified and reported. 

First up, be aware that I am coming from an XBOX 360 as my last XBOX console experience so I may say stuff that applies to the XBOX One as well.

1. BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY AND AUTO HDR: Microsoft promised that the XBOX Series X and S would work right out of the box with 1000’s of gaming titles across 4 generations. This promise holds up… However, they do not run anywhere half as well as they also promised they would. They do run better than their native platform, that is true. But it’s not a groundbreaking difference. And AUTO HDR doesn’t really work with most games that never had it to begin with. It makes the colours and textures look really odd and you don’t get that nostalgic feeling of playing an old legacy title because of the “updates”. Which is something I was very much looking forward to. It’s pick your poison I guess. You can either have a legacy game running better and looking greater on a platform that can take the graphical fidelity and framerate boosts, or have a full reunion with your beloved legacy games from your childhood. You can turn AUTO HDR off via the main console settings, but this still doesn’t really give you the latter. Not in my personal opinion anyway. It���s not disappointing as it’s not something I really expected. I just would have liked to have it. Nostalgia >>> Shiny any day.

2. QUICK RESUME AND LOADING TIMES: The XBOX Series X (can’t speak for the S) has significantly improved on speed thanks to the custom lightning fast and functional SSD. So much so that you can now travel between multiple games fully loaded up on the SSD within the time of a few seconds. However, quick resume is not only useful to be able to play between 3 or 4 games (more according to YouTube influencers who have tried and tested this out far more than me) in one sitting. You can also effectively use it to save your game. Or rather… Replace save states IN a game. What quick resume allows you to do is keep your game saved at ANY point, and completely SHUT the console down and UNPLUG it for several days (or longer, again, never tested it that far) and then PLUG it in and switch it ON again, and come back to exactly where you left off in the game. And I do mean EXACTLY WHERE YOU LEFT OFF!

For example; you could be in an all-important boss fight in ‘Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla’ and be so frustrated with not being able to beat this boss after trying many times. You could indeed just pause the game, come out to the dashboard, turn the console off and walk away from it all…. And when you came back to have another go at it, you would not have to restart the boss fight and just carry on with where you left off in chopping down their health. I did this several times because I suck at boss fights… And every time, this worked and it was the strategy that got me through them all. So a little cool off time is more than affordable with the XBOX Series X. And if you hate boss fights, suddenly you won’t hate boss fights as much anymore if you do the same. It makes a world of a difference to your experience. Believe me, quick resume is a literal life-saver.

To add to that, you also benefit from much quicker load times both with booting up the games and in-game fast-travelling or level-entering. Instead of 5 minutes waiting for a game to boot up into the main campaign or wherever,… It will take at most up to 50 seconds for the most power-taxing of games. 'Grand Theft Auto 5' for instance, known for it’s notoriously long boot into story or online mode… Now only takes 10 seconds from the company title advertisements to get into the area of the game you want to play. It is so fast that you do not have the time to read the tips and tricks dialogue that takes up the screen during the initial loading. It’s honestly a quality of life you never even knew you needed or was missing until you had it.

3. BUGS AND ISSUES: Being that I bought the XBOX Series X at Launch (November 10th), I very much expected it to come with a plethora of bugs and issues to discover and be witness to as a consumer and user of newly developed and released hardware and software. And these bugs and issues have already been identified and reported to Microsoft and the respective console and game developers. Bugs where you cannot play games that offer 4K at 120 hertz (4K/120fps) without visual and audial distortions or even without turning the game off altogether. I particularly had trouble with this in trying to play ‘Rise Of The Tomb Raider' 20 Year Celebration edition. Once I downloaded it from the XBOX Store fully, (which took a LONG FUCKING TIME, we’ll get on to that in a bit), I immediately tried to play it and because my display settings were set at 4K/120 because I have a TV that supports that setting, it was having all sorts of problems in booting up. There was all this distortion happening on screen both visually and audially that I thought my ultra high speed HDMI cable that came with the console was broken or faulty. I also remember specifically that it kept turning my Game Mode on and off rapidly and I didn’t know how to stop it avoiding a full reset of the console. This game was the worst for it but it also happened in other games I tried to play too. Including those I had as physical disks.

Speaking of… I did not encounter the “black/blank screen of death” issue other next-gen XBOX consumers and users did where you would enter a game disk and be met with a black or blank screen. BUT I did have trouble with downloading the “updates” for the games I had bought physically. I expected the games I downloaded digitally to take a long time to download fully, but I figured that it would be much quicker for the “updates” for physical games. This was not the case, and for some games, it actually took LONGER. I don’t know why this happens or if it can even be fixed in a firmware update, but it has put me off buying games physically for it, which is certainly not a good thing for store game retailers. And I’m someone who actually cares about that and would want to help them out as much as possible since they are a dying breed. But if it takes longer to download physical games than to download digital games, I’m not sure I can hold up that promise. The time it takes to download is a major frustration for me. I’ll be leaving my console on for long periods of time doing nothing but downloading that I otherwise wouldn’t. And I’ve got to say right now that I am glad I do not have an OLED TV where this would be much more of a problem due to burn-in risks. I would highly suggest anyone who is buying a new TV for their XBOX Series X or S with all the bells and whistles to not buy an OLED for this reason. Leaving an OLED TV on with a display picture that never moves for hours at a time would severely decrease it’s life and usage capacity. I recommend a Samsung QLED TV instead. That’s what I’ve got. I bought their Q95T 55inch 4K TV for gaming alone and it has not disappointed in the slightest. But I won’t go into why it’s the better TV to buy for next-gen gaming since this is not a TV review. You can look that up for yourselves at your leisure.

Another issue the XBOX Series X has is with its sharing image snapshots and video clips feature. The new controller for the console has a dedicated share button and that works really well. I’ve had no problems with it capturing the content that I want to share. But sharing to social media and to XBOX Live itself is the issue. And this happens with video clips more so than image snapshots. For some reason, when I go to share a video clip to Twitter, the load bar moves forward partly but then it immediately stops and gives me a black/blank screen. And sure enough, when I go to check my Twitter on my phone, it has not posted the video clip. And trying to share it to XBOX Live first and then share it to Twitter from my phone via the XBOX app doesn’t work either. The same issue applies here too. Black/blank screen when trying to share it to XBOX Live. Snapshot images also has this issue but every once in awhile it will allow you to share to both XBOX Live and social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch ect…) whereas it will not allow you to share video clips at all. This is an issue Microsoft are aware of and are apparently fixing in a November firmware update at the end of the month. To what degree they fix it though is the real question because this feature is buggy as hell. So much for promoting and hyping up that dedicated share button on the controller, eh Phil Spencer and Co?

Well, that’s it. That’s been my experience with the XBOX Series X so far. Of course the pros of quick resume and loading times cut in half far outweigh the cons of faulty 4K resolution at 120 hertz gameplay and buggy sharing content features. I say do not let that put you off buying this fantastic piece of hardware because those bugs and issues can be fixed easily. The extremely long downloading for digital and physical games might not though and you might want to reconsider buying a next-gen XBOX console if you have an OLED TV. Or if you have the console already but not the TV to get the most advantages out of the console, consider buying a Samsung QLED instead. Thank you.

[insomnihan]

han’s Entire Thoughts and Feelings on TWICE’s “More & More”

ITS BEEN 84 YEARS-

I HAVENT DONE AN AFTERTHOUGHTS POST IN FOR-F UCKING EVER BUT I AM HERE NOW ANYWAY LETS TALK ABOUT QUEENS TWICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(btw this might be shorter bc im tired i moved houses recently so im sorry if its not as enthusiastic as the others)

there are no read mores here so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

ALRIGHT SO-

THE SONG okay........................... initial feelings ill be one hundred percent real with yall im lowkey not feeling it pls do not kill me im begging- like something about the chorus is just not????? clicking for me???????? its MOSTLY sana saying more and more so many times that just wont vibe with me lets be real tho i might like it when im done typing this s hit THO everything else around is pretty catchy!!!!!!!!!! something about that instrumental is hitting different like the introduction with nayeon and mina was very pleasant and was a nice start to the song and that instrumental part in the chorus part is genuinely nice OH BINCH THE DANCE BREAK SECTION LISTEN IT KINDA SENT ME TO ANOTHER PLANE OF EXISTENCE that s hit................... hurted-

the little rap section dahyun and chaeyoung do after the dance break.................. hmm........... i dunno actually it was certainly unexpected perhaps the song couldve been done without it.............? or mayhaps placed somewhere else.............?

OFC THIS DOES NOT MEAN IM LEANING MORE DISLIKING THE SONG I REALLY DO LIKE IT BUT SOME PARTS ARE MORE EH TO ME IM SORRY-

HOWEVER THE DANCE HELLO- TWICE DANCES DO BE HITTING REALLY DIFFERENT THO that beginning part when their all together and in the water was *chefs kiss* like that ending section of it with jihyo in the front iS A YES FROM ME- that part with momo before she says ‘so one more time’............. Thoughts™ are being thought as much as i dont enjoy the ‘more more more more more and more’ part as much as the rest of the song that dance is still fitting for it!!!!! its nothing like fancy tho i will not be dancing along with them its very much on brand for them to have a fun choreo that everyone else will like to dance to

DANCE BREAK.......................... HOW ARE YOU TODAY- ill be honest and admit that i watched the dance break teaser thing LISTEN THEY DIDNT HAVE TO SNAP THEY REALLY DIDNT BUT BI CTH THEY SERVED AND NOW IM FULL all their arms waving and swinging around and when they were behind momo being all symmetrical and s hit!!!!!! momo.................... i swear tO F CKING GOD-

WE LOVE A COLORFUL MUSIC VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE VISUALS WERE JUST SO PRETTY™!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALL OF THE NATURE AND FLOWERS AND THE ANIMALS AND THE SHINY™ THINGS HOW THERES A WHOLE PLETHORA OF COLORS IN NEARLY EVERY SECOND ON THIS VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HONESTLY VERY VERY VERY PLEASANT TO MY EYES VERY SPARKLY NO COMPLAINTS FROM ME

(although a little trippy at times bc of all of the editing with making multiples of them and extra lights and ✨ Sparkles™✨)

SOME SCENES THAT I LIKED AND WANNA MENTION:

THE BEGINNING ALL OF IT

THE FIRST ROOM THEY ALL DANCED IN FOR THE CHORUS

THE SPARKLY SPIDER WEBS

H O R S E S P O T L I G H T

WHEN THEY ALL DANCED IN FRONT OF THAT COLORFUL ARCH OR WHATEVER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WATER OUTSIDE

WHEREVER THE HELL THEY WERE FOR THE DANCE BREAK

T H E M

WHERE THE F UCK DID THESE FOREST GODDESSES COME FROM-

WE F KUCING GET IT YOURE ALL SUPER GORGEOUS AND PRETTY AND HOLY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YALL KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT BOB HAIRCUTS ON GIRLS- NAYEON LOOKS SO GOOD WHAT IN THE GOOD GOD- SPECIFICALLY THAT HEADBAND AND CROP TOP DURING THE SECOND CHORUS F KCING KICK ME

JEONGYEON PLS BE QUIET WITH THIS BLONDE HAIR OR ELSE I WILL D WORD IM NOT JOKING AROUND that look with her hair in a bun with that dress thats long in the front with those black boots............... oh f cuk-

MOMO ARE YOU F CKING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW this shade of blonde is Excellent on her™ and its all wavy and s hit that purple outfit at the beginning and that crop top THE WHITE ONE I CANT-

perhaps........................... i really like orange hair 🥴🥴🥴.................. sana said F CUK YOUR BREATH IM TAKING IT i dont even know why im even A LITTLE shocked like i SAW THE TEASERS i knew i was gonna get f ucked the hell UP i just pls leave me alone-

MY F CUKING BIAS JIHYO WHAT IN THE GODDAMN- THIS LONG PINK HAIR AND THE WAVINESS IM JUST.................. [REST] the green outfit at the beginning already nearly ended me and that one part where its up in a pony tail...................... [REST 2.0]

MINA 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 SO BEAUTIFUL WITH YOUR BLONDE HAIR she looks like a goddess THE MOST in that white dress honestly that multicolored dress my knees aRE WEAK the pigtails that look sheS SO CUTE OH NO-

right off the start dahyuns dark blue hair and that blue dress............................ 😳😳😳 holy god- she used to be my bias but my god does she still breaks my kneecaps and twists my neck 180 that purple dress and she has braids mY GOODNESS

chaeyoung grabbing me by the neck with braids in one scene and theN BUNS IN THE NEXT how she looking IN GENERAL while she was behind those spiderwebs give me a minute- BUT THEN the white outfit during the dance break...................... BRO DO NOT-

tzuyu with red hair.................. I Am Looking 👁����👁 LI👏TER👏ALLY👏 THAT FIRST SCENE WHEN SHE SINGS WITH THE GREEN DRESS AND BOOTS MESS👏ME👏UP👏 the crop top the crop top listen the cROP TOP- 

LIKE to keep it really real with yall I DONT HATE IT I DO NOT but i dont love it as much as like what is love or fancy i love it enough that i wont like SKIP IT IF IT CAME UP ON MY PLAYLIST its a really nice song for the summer and its fun to watch and trust me i still be bouncing to it while listening to it ITS DEFINITELY ONE OF THOSE SONGS YOULL JUST END UP LOVING IF YOU LISTENED TO IT ENOUGH TIMES

IN CONCLUSION: ILL LIKE IT MORE & MORE EVENTUALLY

[mkeanarchytect]

I'm gonna make you do math and answer all the multiples of 4

You jerk, that’s so many.

4:Do you find it easy to trust others?

Yes. Too much so, actually, it’s gotten me in trouble many times.

8:Are you close with your dad?

12:Do you like hickeys?

Wouldn’t know. Have never gotten one and previous partners weren’t into them and I’m not a dick.

16:Do you always answer your texts? 

I try to. I feel bad if I get left on read so I try not to do that to other people.

20:What was your last thought before you went to bed last night?

Regret that I stayed up too late yet again. When I have places to be I’m normally in bed before 12:30, lately I’ve been pushing 2:00.

24:Is there someone you wish you could fix things with?

Not really? I’ve got at least one former friend that that’d be an option with, but I did everything in my power to rectify things already and I try not to fixate on shit like that once the ball is out of my court.

28:Is anyone ignoring you right now?

All of my coworkers I think? I haven’t really talked to them since the furlough started, not that I’ve reached out to them or anything either.

32:Are you mad at anyone? 

The government, obviously.

36:Do you have any summer plans yet? 

Well, my girl lives in Chiraq so probably a few trips down there. If they don’t cancel it, I really wanna do the Renn Faire again this summer. Not too much beyond that.

40:Have you ever regretted kissing someone?

Yes.

44:If you had to get a piercing (not ears), what would you get?

Septum, cause I’m a thot.

48:Did you ever lose a best friend?

Death? No. Otherwise, yeah, see answer 24.

52:Do you still talk with the person you LAST kissed?

Yeah, we’re obviously not as close as we were, but we’re still buds.

56:Do you own anything from other countries?

Literally everything is from other countries these days, so yeah. specifically a fuckload of gundams.

60:Have you ever played Spin the Bottle?

No.

64:What’s preventing your current boyfriend/girlfriend from going back to their ex?

I’d like to think that I’m reason enough to stay? This question is fucked.

68:Are you happy with where you live?

Eh. My rent is dirt cheap, which is nice, but the location isn’t the best and I’m ready to not have roommates anymore, as nice as mine are.

72:What do you most like about making out?

Being that close to another human being and the vulnerability that comes with it. It’s hard to keep secrets when you’re making a very long tube with assholes at either end.

76:Who was the last person you talked to last night before you went to bed?

My girlfriend

80:Would you get involved with someone if they had a child already?

I’d rather not, but it’s not completely a deal breaker?

84:Last time you slow danced with someone?

Probably the last wedding I was at, so like a year ago-ish?

88:What were you doing last night at 12 AM?

...you know ;)

92:Do you prefer to date various people or do you pretty much fall into monogamous relationships quickly?

The second one.

96:Have you ever kissed 2 people in one day?

Yes.

100:Anybody on Tumblr that you’d go on a date with?

I dated someone on tumblr for over a year, so this seems silly.

104:Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you babe?

Yes, absolutely.

108:Have you kissed more than 5 people since the start of 2012?

I had to count it out real quick, but yeah.

112:Does someone like you currently?

I sure hope she does or this all is a lot more confusing.

116:Are you happier single or in a relationship?

In a relationship, being single has it’s perks but I’m not really wired for it, I don’t think.

There. I did math and answered like a bazillion of these. I hope you’re happy. (Edit because for some reason Tumblr fucked the formatting on this giant post and didn't tell me)

[a-brighter-yellow]

11/11/11

Answer 11 questions, come up with 11 more, tag 11 people.

Thanks for tagging me, @kingsofeverything! Here are my answers to your batch:

How many active WIPs do you have? I can only handle one at a time, my life is stressful enough. It’s all about continuing the Hello My Name Is Harry universe now, though a Shiall sequel or smutty one-shot of some kind is always knocking around in my brain.

Where do you write? I dream of a nice writing desk, but I’m a New Yorker and I live in a closet, so I just write on my bed, in pretty much every different position.

How do you feel when you finish the first draft, before editing? That I can’t wait to share it with my fic clique and get their suggestions and flails.

What’s your least favorite of all the fics you’ve written? Ohhh MEAN question! I’m going to be no fun and skip it because I don’t like being in that headspace and because I genuinely don’t know how to answer, because they all mean a lot to me, quality aside.

Is there anything you’ve wanted to write but haven’t? Why? I’m still chewing on a What’s Your Number AU, but the scope of it kiiiind of terrifies me.

Do you enjoy writing original characters in your fics? Eh, there are some randoms, but I feel like it’s minimal? I more enjoy trying to fit people from the 1D universe into my stories.

Do you prefer specific towns/places as your settings? Do you have a favorite? I do, when it makes sense! But I try not to go crazy on research that’s just adding work for me but doesn’t add anything to the story. My favorite setting so far are the real hotel and farm venue I wrote about in my Shiall wedding date fic.

Do you research or do you prefer to just make things up? A little bit of both – I like research when it doubles as inspo, which is what it was for the Shiall fic.

What is your favorite (type of) fic to read when you’re having a bad day? Fluffy one-shots, smutty one-shots, classics that I haven’t reread for a while.

Do you prefer to write from one POV or multiple POVs? If one, do you have a preference as to whose POV you write from? I don’t have a preference either way, it’s whatever suits the story. As for whose POV I like writing best, I find that I have a tendency to switch back and forth between Harry and Louis every other time I write Larry. And I LOVEEEE to be in Niall’s head.

Self promo one of your fics. Link it and talk it up! My Big Bang fic Call It True is extremely close to my heart. I worked through a lot of stuff through this Harry and I’m really proud of how he especially turned out.

I’m sure some of you have already done these, but have another 11 if you like: @crinkle-eyed-boo @disgruntledkittenface @uhohmorshedios @queenofquiet17 @runaway-train-works @flicker-album @bottomlinsons @dinosaursmate @lululawrence @homosociallyyours and @phd-mama

Your questions are:

1. Can you listen to or watch anything while you write? What?

2. Is it important you to describe what your main characters are wearing in every scene? Do you try to pick canon outfits?

3. What’s your favorite comment you’ve ever received?

4. Are you a re-reader?

5. What’s your favorite AO3 hack?

6. Is there a character in your fandom you’ve never really written and want to?

7. Tell me about a fic writer who has a distinctive style that you admire.

8. Do you write chronologically?

9. Are you an outliner or do you like to wing it?

10. What do you do when you need to get away from your laptop and out of your head?

11. What’s your favorite fic promo post you (or a collaborator) has ever made? 

[akysi]

Always wanted to do one of these, and now I have. :D 8 years of improvement, wow! I’m also really bad at picking things so I don’t know if I picked the ones that best represent my progress, but eh. I did some edits, but the original base for this can still be found here. Extended thoughts about each year below, it’s a lot! Here’s to bigger and better things in 2019 (please ;_;)

2010: I started drawing digitally in 2006, though regrettably I didn’t save any of the art I did back then. 2010 was when I joined DeviantART, and thus when I started uploading art online. I had frequented DA well before that though (from about 2007 I think), and influence from the artists I followed are pretty evident. A few notable ones were ShaloneSK, Fourth-Star (now SeaSaltShrimp), and thazumi, all primarily dragon artists. Though none of my traditional art is showcased here, this was still a time when I did it often, usually via doodles in class when I was bored. The digital art you see here was made with my first tablet, a Wacom Graphire 3, and Photoshop Elements 3 that came with it. I had little knowledge of file quality, layering, colouring, and other mainstays in using Photoshop properly. Humble beginnings are these! My art education at this point was limited at best, but art was always something I did in my spare time. And like all of the art years leading up to 2010, I drew almost entirely dragons. Aside from practicing foxes for a story I had at the time, I wasn’t interested in drawing much else. I didn’t draw people at all until college, but we’ll get to that. 2011: Christmas 2010 / New Year’s 2011 marked the time I got Photoshop CS5, a version of PS I still use today. For a while I was obsessed with the idea of PS’s Pen Tool, as I saw it could give me much cleaner line art than what I could achieve on my own. I was finally able to test that when getting CS5, and while it worked well for the time, I soon learned the tenets of line weight and tapering, something I would have to practice myself. Up to this point all of my lines were either shaky or fabricated via the Pen Tool, and it shows. This was also a year of trying to mimic Fourth-Star’s dynamic perspective...without any knowledge of how it actually worked. Not a lot of improvement happened here outside of that. 2012: This was the year I bought my Bamboo Create tablet, something I still use with my laptop nowadays. I remember trying it out at my friend’s house before I bought my own, and really loving how I was able to do the line tapering without the pen tool. It still took a lot more practice, but looking back now it was easy to see I was on the way to making line art one of my art’s strongest qualities; something that stays true today. I find it ironic that line art used to be one of the weakest aspects of my digital art, but I suppose that speaks to how far I’ve come. I did more fanart this year, oddly enough. I’d always done it before but I guess I felt shy about sharing it. Notable fandoms were Danny Phantom and Sonic. I didn’t grow up with either, but ended up liking them both a lot, and would doodle them as much as my dragons. 2013: I graduated high school and started my first year of art college, specifically Art Fundamentals at Sheridan College. At this point, everyone I knew pointed to that school (and only that school) for anything related to what I wanted to do; if it wasn’t fine art, go to Sheridan. So I went into college with a bit of tunnel vision at first, but I knew from the start that I would be gunning for animation. Not to animate specifically, but to do character design / concept art for animation. I would learn later on what having this tunnel vision would mean for me, but we’ll get to that later too. This is about the point where more expansion of design and subject matter occurs, albeit slowly. The art featured here doesn’t include my schoolwork, but the much needed increase of anatomy, structure drawing and other college level art courses started me on a path to better things. I still had a long way to go though, and Fundies could only do so much. Unlike most people I actually got decent practice from it given my limited art background, but I still can’t say it was at peak efficiency. This was the first year I actually started drawing people, and it certainly didn’t come without its growing pains.

2014: Surprising no one, I didn’t get into Sheridan after my first year, though that didn’t stop me from being disappointed at the time. I took what was effectively the second year of Fundies, called Visual and Creative Arts (VCA). This was the year that sparked my interest in graphic / logo design, an interesting turn of events all things considered, and that would stick with me a lot more than I expected. This year also featured a few smatterings of character designs, or more specifically design sheets with multiple views, costumes, etc. Character design was a required segment of the animation portfolio, so this is likely what spurred my practice in it, aside from my pre-existing interest. That does not mean I knew how to rotate a character though, yikes! At this point I’d gotten pretty good at clean line art in Photoshop with my current tablet, as well as the merits of high quality imagery. There was a lot of purple in this year and 2015, though that’s nothing really new for me.

2015: This was easily the busiest (and most path altering) year. Second semester of VCA happened during this time, but also what would be new beginnings for me. If I didn’t get into Sheridan animation, I had a choice to make for a plan B: Either stay at Sheridan for VCA Year 3 and try again for animation, or try to get into animation at another school. My buddy Amelia then dropped Seneca’s name in one of my elective classes, and I had no idea how much of a fateful conversation that would be. She mentioned it was considered a second to or even better than Sheridan, and that at least provided a clearer answer for me. A lot of trepidation followed: I didn’t get into Sheridan animation for the third time, and thus applied to Seneca (and a few other places). I was pretty scared of being a first year again at a new school with new people, and while my art definitely reflected the time I spent at Sheridan, I had no confidence in it being good enough for a portfolio given my track record. But low and behold, I got in! I was on my way to a three year rollercoaster of all-nighters, amazing ride-or-die classmates, and relentless, rigorous training. The art from this year does reflect this, both in quantity and quality of uploads, though in more of a “transition period” kind of way. This was the year I really started to draw human characters, most notably with the creation of my first comic project: Starglass Zodiac. This was the first time I had a story idea with a primarily human cast, much less a comic idea, though the designs for them didn’t start appearing in my uploads until the following year. As you might expect I didn’t have a lot of confidence in drawing people. Ironically, my first year of animation taught me all the skills I initially needed for the portfolios!

2016: When I mentioned a path altering year for 2015, I was referring specifically to the path in my art education. 2016 was a path altering year for everything else, and a polarizing one at that. 2016 was a year that was kind to no one, and while the details of what happened to me are not really relevant to this post, there’s no denying what effect it had behind the scenes. This was the year that I fully realized I’d developed symptoms of depression, and with my increasing anxiety to match, this didn’t (and still doesn’t) go so well. I don’t think that’s really reflected in my art, however. Regardless of my mental state, the outside view of my art still features the colourful characters that they always had. By this point I was in my finishing first year / starting second year, and this was easily the best time for me. My time to shine, if you will, at least when it came to character design class. We had an overarching story project that was perfect for SGZ, so I used that time to develop the characters. The double-edged sword of troubled times is my escapism is cranked to 11, so this was probably the year that spurred the most story ideas out of me. This year (and part of the next) started both Id Pariah and Feather Knights. I got my iPad Pro for Christmas this year too, and that proved to be a game changer in the amount of art I could make. I was already used to the Cintiqs at my school, and I was lucky to finally have a screen tablet of my own. 2017: The end of my second year and the beginning of my third and final year of animation. Classes split, streams chosen and a world of missed opportunities began. I didn’t do a lot of art at the beginning of the year, aside from the beginning of my Feather Knights stuff. On top of that, my college had a 5-week long teacher’s strike that literally no one wanted to be a part of, effectively derailing all hope for a good semester. Attempting to do a short film project with this happening was a recipe for disaster. During this strike was the start of my first month long challenge though: Huevember. It was an uncertain time, and most of us were not compelled to get much school work done. Completing Huevember did feel like an accomplishment though, as I was actually able to keep up with it even when school started again. I’d say this art year focused a lot on colour for this reason. What art I was able to complete outside of my schoolwork saw a lot of expansion in that area. In all honesty 2016-2018 tends to blend together for me, for better or worse. 2018: My graduating year. The strike did its damage to my final semester too, but ultimately I survived. Despite completing 5 years of college, my path became the most unclear. Third year taught me a lot of things about myself and how I approach art, but most were not positive revelations. The expectations set out for me are ones that I cannot achieve. However, I have more time than ever to do art, making this year the most art I’ve made to date. I also participated in Inktober, which reminded me how far I’ve come as an artist, despite not doing traditional art for what felt like a century. My illustrative work for Inktober ended up being some of my best art this year, and the prompts made me get creative in more ways than one. The dark cloud hanging over my head has not disappeared since 2016 however, and the toll that has taken shows more everyday. As far as my art was concerned I did more of what I loved, mostly in the form of character sheets and designs. It’s all I can do, for now. 2019, I have one thing to say: Don’t you DARE.

[gammija]

The Hollow review/summary/rant/explanation of why i hate the ending I wasn’t sure whether I should post this, but I did enjoy reading others experiences watching this show, so here’s mine under the cut. Edited from a convo with a friend.

(Obviously, spoilers!)

Me: Okay so to properly express my disappointment i gotta take you through the major beats

The show starts with three teens waking up in an almost empty room, finding out they all have amnesia. They quickly solve a puzzle to escape the room, and just as quickly Adam and Mira realize they have superpowers (superstrength/agility and some weird 'speak to animals/know all languages' hybrid, respectively. also she can breathe underwater and swim really fast. its kind of vague)

Kai is already clearly a comic relief, discount Ron (from HP, the movies, no idea about the books) so me and sister correctly predict he'll get jealous of adam and miras relationship (even if there is none), gets pissy and jealous that he has no powers, but then finds out he has powers anyway he does, hes a fire bender. cant say im not bitter about that cause id put my money on invulnerability but eh its alright he has red hair after all hes still fun

Friend: Of course he is

I just feel bad is all aldjs

Me: adam gets a throwaway line of 'maybe were dead' and kai never lets it go

this food might be poisoned but im starving and hey were dead anyway! right, adam

Friend: I love him??

Me: i loved him as soon as he spoke his first dumb words also he puns but basically hes the only interesting char; adam and mira are just cookie cutter 'male lead 1' and 'female lead 1' i mean, he’s cookie cutter ‘jealous 3rd wheel’ but that has more going on than the first two still servicable though

anyway so the jokes are sometimes fun, and superpowers are always my jam. but the REAL reason to keep watching is just, whats going on? ARE they dead? or in some kind of weird gvnmt experiment? some weird magical vampire guide (dont ask) hints they wanted this themselves ooh, intrigue. and the world is very very quirky they start in a gravity falls-y woods and then get teleported to a desert with minotaurs and witches, then get invited for tea by the Grim Reaper and the rest of the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse

tbh Grim is the best part of the show but thats neither here nor there

anyway they have a magic map that updates once theyve been somewhere, and it shows them that the hot dry desert and the swampy wood bunker are like right next to each other

so you start thinking, how are they gonna explain that? this is too weird to be handwaved away. theyve gotta be going somewhere

they visit some other exotic locals, like what appears to be the set of Alien (complete with alien) and an abandoned old fair and a floating island with japanese inspired evildoers on it

the weird magic guide keeps showing up and being vague, dropping hints that there are other kids there etc

at some point Mira says "This is no time for games!" Weirdy: "Thats where youd be wrong~" me and sister: Aha! videogame! that connects all the dots, and also makes the tropes clear: small world with all kinds of different areas, quests, fights, superpowers, an updating map, fast travel Adam, a few eps later: guis i think we might be in a videogame me and sister: [high five]

Anyway in the meantime also the second predictable Kai (discount Ron) plot happens: they meet three other kids (boy boy girl) and they act shady but the girl takes an immediate and obvious interest in Kai so obviously theyre gonna manipulate him and have him betray his friends but in the end he'll see through their facade and kick their ass that more or less happens. The other teens also confirm that this is a game, and theyre trying to win. winning is done by bringing the MacGuffin to a tree fights over macguffin ensue situations are dire but our characters persevere

(also Mira kisses Adam and he acts very weird about it, almost as if hes gay and the only reason they didnt make it canon is censors) (no lingering gaze, just him going 'hehe yeah no thanks, its not you, its me', but in a very... he doesnt seem to be saying it with shall we say burning desire in his soul. hes literally just like 'eh youre a good friend.' Cool move, cartoon that made the two main boys have arguments over nothing cause of course the two main guys have constant dick measuring matches)

this all is not the offensive part btw it was all fun and games, its just a flash cartoon i wasnt expecting Shakespeare

anyway so theyre in a videogame, and apparently thats the answer to all the weirdness. A bit of a cop-out, cause thats a very easy answer, but eh, it works. it wasnt immediately obvious.

also something i hadnt mentioned yet: thisd be ideal for making (self-insert) OCs. Unique powers for each person, there are clearly more characters than shown, the world is your playground

and maybe the video game thing could be interesting on its own in the last few eps the game seems to be glitching out a lot they say its breaking apart so they really gotta hurry now maybe they were beta testers for a vr game gone wrong maybe this is part of it but its like a huge experience that you tell all your friends about anyway there are ways it could be cool, could be expanded to a season 2 despite having solved the mystery

but. last episode. our heroes get the MacGuffin, go to a final stage, and fight the Boss Battle (its a dragon). they enter the Castle....

...and the screen zooms out, into a sudden live action stage, where we see the cartoon (literally what you were just watching) on screen. there are 6 chairs, 3 with our heroes, 3 with the other teens, presumably. theres a host and hes dressed exactly like the weird guy (and that was already kind of a clashy outfit in the cartoon). it was all just a game show. but. the worst part is the live action

you. dont. go. from. animated. to. live. action.

other way around? fine, can work. But now? WHY itd still be dumb and dissapointing but if itd been animated too itd at least have been.... nice to look at but the acting.. oh god they didnt even say anything and it was all wrong clearly theyd just picked the first random teens that vaguely looked like the chars and put them in there cause they had no lines so who needs acting?!

the enemy teams girl had, in the cartoon, pink hair. Purple with pink highlights instead of stylizing that into something more realistic or painting the actual hair, they gave some 30-year old woman a wig and called it a day

keep in mind i binged this show in one go

purposely stayed up late to watch the last ep with my sis even tho we shouldve gone to bed and were disobeying our dad cause we Had to Know

and theres more i said they had no lines but i was lying. Kai did have a line. well, his voice actor did they dubbed him also the line was about him having to pee which is already not the most hilarious in animated version but a live action kid whose supposed to be this character you spent 3 hours with but looks nothing like him saying that in a voice that doesnt belong to his throat, as he stands bashfully in front of a live audience, the only words spoken by your main characters in the last moments...

*its actual hell*

oh oh one more thing at the end the six kids stand in a line and kai is next to other girl they glance at each other and as the eyes of this teen and 30 year old in wig cross, her eye glitches for a moment

dun dun duuun

bUT i dont care anymore, The Hollow. You overestimated your own premise. this wont be forgiven. your most interesting part was the mystery, and the answer  to that was "just a normal game show" (which also doesnt make sense on another level smh) soo if you think that im interested in what these two-dimensional (ha) characters will do now about the glitch in the eye of a bitch then i have news for u

i dont

...if they get a second season ill probably check it out though as long as its animated

Friend: Gammi I'm getting the real sinking suspicious feeling that what you saw isn't the real end but bad on purpose because there's more to it

Me: the show didnt seem good enough to be bad on purpose

and yet im still not done, if youll still hear me out

i mean, im an animation fan so ill still watch but if theyd wanted to be bad on purpose they really shouldve done a better job fleshing out the characters thats what people come back for that was a bit of a sidetrack BUT so i said why the live action itself was just terrible in overal quality

but the resolution that 'oh it was all in a game show' doesnt work on multiple levels

first of all, they show a short flashback of "About 5 hours earlier". The kids stand on the stage and are instructed to take their seats in the vr-chairs, and pick their superpower

2 things i dislike about that

1) there goes all the self-insert/oc potential. they werent teens in over their heads, they werent gvnmt experiments, or just some kids who wanted to play a game -they were in it to win it, from the start. thats very specific and not the most appealing to all kinds of characters (goodbye, all the 'im just an average girl whod never step into the spotlight like that' characters).

Also, all the expansion on lore is gone. maybe there were other games simultaneously? eh, maybe, but theyd be all gameshows. Maybe someone ended uo trapped there for way longer? nah its just a gameshow theyre not gonna let anything actually bad happen. Maybe there are other worlds, other areas, other weird creatures? unlikely, they finished the map and familiarity seemed to be a thing for the audience. Now every new idea has to be put not through a 'whats interesting for a player' but a 'whats interesting for a viewer' lens, and whats a selfinsert if not a player in another universe

2) HOW IS THIS A SUCCESSFUL GAME SHOW

who the hell watches a game show for 5 consecutive hours, some of which mustve been just them walking. also, we zoom out of the screen were watching, so implication is that everything up until then has been what the audience has seen. but... we only followed the one team. there were two? why didnt the audience want to see what they were up to? ~reality tv usually thrives on showinf the worst assholes so realistically they wouldve been the focus~

There are also way too many times *both* teams couldve failed, from early on till late in the game. Not a single game i can think of thats played for an audience is set up like that, and especially not a televised one (okay tbf idk if this was televised, i dont remember if i saw cameras, but. it mustve. monetary reasons.)

What r u gonna do if they all 'died' from the monsters in the first ep? Call it a day? boring for the audience. let them restart from scratch? boring for the audience. the existence of an audience messes with everything

AND THEN ANOTHER THING what do you mean, "5 hours ago?" you never get a time stamp to show how long theyve been in there but there are some cuts, when they travel and such. The actual show is a lil over 3 hours runtime. You mean to tell me you sat through 2 hours of the characters just walking?

okay last thing. so. they were clearly second season teasing with the glitching eye thing. i already said this but. theres nowhere to go from here that isnt worse that the first season. your mystery is dead. you clearly know your live action teens cant act so youd have to go back into the game - but why would they do that? how would that be in any way interesting? you explored all there was to explore.

The other, more out there option, is that as you said the 'real world' was a fake-out and theyre still in a game. but. how would- how would you even make that remotely convincing? if youd just left the 'real world' gameshow as animated too this wouldnt have been a problem. but there is absolutely no conceivable reason to justify, in universe, why another meta-level up is 2D animation again unless they were in a game, in a game, in a game. and thats just dumb. yall aint inception

Friend: HONESTLY if they just kept the whole deal animated it'd probably be okay. Not good, but better,

Me: ye me and my sister came to the same conclusion

i couldve lived with that. at least, i couldve just acknowledged the finales existence but chose to ignore it. now however im full phantom planet levels of denial. in fact i dont even know how the show ended anymore, suddenly

Friend: what finale? what show?

Me: also at least now we know why its called The Hollow

it leaves you feeling empty inside

[blueraith]

Some folks still need to learn how to constructively comment

Wish I could say that I’ve been writing Chapter... 12(? Legit, I don’t often remember the chapter numbers outside of the Google doc) since posting Chapter 11 (we’re just gonna assume I know where the fuck I’m at in my own story, okay? Give me this).

But that would be a bald faced lie.

(Mostly because of my sister’s graduation and all the family visiting and the concurrent back injury I was suffering. Really kills the writing mood when you can’t sit up properly to type.)

This is going under a read more, because this incident Vexed Me To The Max(TM) and triggered a Rant of Epic Proportions(TM).

But graduation has been over, and my back has been feeling great. What really kept me a bit down since all that was over and done with is that very morning I’m feeling better, I see that I have two comments on the 100 fic I’ve put on indefinite hiatus. Yeah, it’s not an active story, but I still care about it, and I’ve been thinking about it recently. So, in short. I still care about it a hell of a lot. Hell, I care about everything that I write. I’ve written fanfiction at what’s nearing 10 years now, but nothing has erased the fact that putting yourself out there in the public eye takes a hell of a lot of effort and, sure, a smidgen of courage and confidence.

Well, this lovely commenter told me that my word count was way too high, that I was slowing my story down, and that they skipped to the last chapter (from Chapter 2, they skipped 6 chapters of ongoing character development, an ensemble cast, Ark politics, and canon fix-its) “40k words and [Clarke’s] still not on the ground yet??”

This is me paraphrasing both comments. I deleted them with extreme prejudice from the fic because I wasn’t leaving that kind of useless bullshit on my work after it effectively ruined my mood for, like, four days.

Why was it bullshit? Well, for one thing taking the average word count per chapter, it’s only a little over 5k words per chapter. Look. I balance out my word counts very carefully for each story that I write. This fic has a longer than average word count compared to my more recent stuff (which is around 4k per chapter) because of all the fuckin shit I was pulling off in this particular fic. Reworking canon to better explain why the Arkers were resistent to the radiation on the ground while having the superior blood that the Mountain Men wanted without putting them up in their shitty space station for thousand of years that evolution would have actually required them to have gone through to be remotely realistic.

Jake’s alive in this fic because I don’t like dead characters shaping character development on a pre-canon basis. Personally, I dislike orphan/parental loss storylines before the specific original work has even started. I get that orphans exist in real life. But YA media has a disproportionate amount of dead parents. Eh. I wanted to do something different. So, this means there’s an entire extra character in the story that I have to write and develop.

Diana Allers actually matters in day to day Ark life instead of just showing up and nearly murdering everyone because she’s a selfish bitch for little to no reason other than to make Abby’s already pretty damn full storyline even more packed than it already was. (Seriously, why didn’t they develop Allers more? She’s lazily implemented in canon, and I hate it. Lord only knows I enjoyed Abby and Raven’s plotlines far more in several places of Season 1 rather than Bellamy’s Manpain Adventures Lite Before He Turns Into A Complete And Utter Psychopath Later On In The Series).

Jaha is far more competent and slimey than he is in the show, rather than being a foolish man who is barely toddering along in the plot towards something useful.

Abby and Jake are at odds because Jake technically betrays Clarke and allows her to get arrested in the beginning of the story. They adopt Raven in the interim and they’re all awkwardly trying to free Clarke while pretending that Jake and Abby aren’t having marital problems. Well, Jake and Abby are pretending, Raven is as blunt as she usually is and just calls shit like she sees it.

Ensemble cast. There’s literally a tag on this story that tells you all that “This Story Is Literally About Everyone.”

So.

Yeah.

Clarke’s not on the fucking ground yet. But you wouldn’t know that, would you? Having skipped past 6 chapters.

Is 5k really that long? I wouldn’t know, personally when I read a longfic, I go into it knowing that the chapters might be long as fuck because I know that I’m reading a fic that could literally take me through several days and I read pretty damn fast. Not that 40k words is really all that much when you’re rewriting a TV show using all the characters who already exist in canon and then getting into their thoughts and motivations because that is literally what books do, this isn’t a screenplay, I wouldn’t be caught dead writing one because I despise them. Sorry, but you’re getting the full range of thoughts and emotions of everyone involved. I know, that’s just awful, getting hours and hours of content for free, but god forbid the plot doesn’t run on your timetable.

But that’s really the crux of this rant, isn’t it? NEVER complain about word counts, people. Too short? Who the fuck cares? The author could be just beginning their writing careers, so to speak. Word counts of any significance takes practice, first of all. So, not only could they might or might not have the required experience to write longer chapters, they may not even want to. And that’s fine. Because they do this FOR FREE.

Same thing with longer chapters. Are you really going to come at me, nearly a year after I’ve written and posted this work, complaining about word count, as though there’s even a remote chance that I’m going to go back and edit down all of that time and effort I put into that work to satisfy your fragile reading stamina?

Pfffffffffft.

I mean, this is funny to me in some regard because I’m over here wondering just what would be a good length for this person. Part of the reason my chapters tend to be at least 4k words long is because that’s generally where I can get a comfortable amount of character interaction, introspective thought, and plot moving forward. All three of those things matter to me when writing chapters. I hate reading too short works (and no, I don’t tell these authors this. I read what they give me and just deal with it because they’re entertaining me for free) and it’s little more than characters just trading dialogue with each other. I want to know what they are thinking about as well. I want a bit of narration. I’m reading something from a specific character’s point of view, and I want that chapter to ooze the personality of that character.

These are all the things I keep in mind when I write to my word count goals, personally. Doing it in less than 3k words might be possible, but it would sure as hell be annoying.

But most of all, it just irritated the fuck out of me. Like I’ve said multiple times in this rant. I do this for free. I don’t expect you guys to know this, but in order to get these substantial updates when I can manage to actually feel well enough to write and get them published, it takes me EIGHT TO TWELVE HOURS of sitting in front of a computer screen to have a chapter finished. On a good day. Yes. Most of the chapters I put out are done in one day, in one block, and I’m often up until 5 AM finishing something up. I have severe ADHD. Sometimes it is a chore to get shit put on a page because I can’t sit down and focus my thoughts enough to sound even coherent. Sometimes I have issues keeping up with what the beginning of a long sentence was about and I have to constantly keep up with what the fuck I’m even talking about in any given thought.

So, you have an author with a severe executive function disorder attempting to concentrate hard enough to get her own thoughts in character for each and every character that is featured in any given story while attempting to resist even the most mundane distractions while desperately hoping she’s going to hit a period of hyperfocus long enough to get substantial work down, but if that happens she’ll probably forget to eat because she’s on a writing binge that goes on with actual significant work for a period of several hours.

I love writing, despite the challenges I have to deal with in order just to get it done. I love most of the comments that I receive. I’m coming off a period of extreme depression from some family issues I was dealing with. My skin is rather thin at the moment and that irritated the fuck out of me, but those two comments knocked more wind out of my sails that I really wanted them to, and that bugs me even more.

But I am more experienced in fic writing than probably your average person. This commenter pissed me the fuck off, but I’ve moved past this, it’s hardly shattered my motivation to write forever.

But a careless commenter could easily do that to someone just getting into fanfiction. And it makes me wonder just how often this happens everyday, every hour, when entitled, spoiled people who think their needs are more important than the author doing this FOR FREE decide to voice their terrible opinions on their works. I love my readers, I don’t hold myself beholden to them, but they are extraordinarily important to me. Plot, pacing, and character development are all my own when I write because first and foremost, I write for myself. It’s a hobby that I clearly have to work very hard at to even be remotely successful at, and taking anyone else’s standards into account is never going to happen when I have to live up to my own already very high expectations. But I do keep y’all in mind when I’m devoting my time, energy, and effort in. The chapter lengths I have partly exist to make up for the wait times I inevitably have between each release. I very much know that I am sporadic and inconsistent when updating. So, when I do, I want to have something that isn’t just a whisper in the wind when it finally cycles to the top of the AO3 listing.

I know there are inevitably readers who didn’t like my content, or do think my stuff is too long. That’s fine. But don’t come into my space and give me two comments that were effectively “TL;DR” and expect that not to be a slap in the face. Because it is. I have wonder if the fandom kids today even know the kind of slap backs this sort of thing would have gotten in LiveJournal.

But, never mind that. I’m a big girl, I took some petty revenge in deleting that bullshit from my boards and then setting the fic to moderated mode, but what I would like anyone who decides to read through what is actually a long winded post (all my rants are, admittedly) to learn is that you are not reading professional work. You are not reading work that has been paid for. You are not reading work that has been professionally edited. I’m not saying that you can’t have standards for fic, lord knows I have many, but I don’t go into an author’s work and leave shitty comments. Never. Constructive criticism on fanfiction keeps the author’s time in mind, their skill level over what they’re actually capable of, and whether or not they’re even open to criticism. Some authors don’t even want your advice. They just want to know that you liked it. And if you don’t, just don’t say anything. I’m not quite that fragile personally, when someone is giving me useful criticism that can be used to actually improve my quality of writing, but I will freely admit that clearly I have a sore spot about comments addressing word counts.

Get out of here with that shit.

In short. If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.

[sweetseda]

8 Canning Tips and Tricks for Modern-Day Home Canning | Garden Betty

At some point in your homemaking journey — whether you’re a cook, gardener, or full-blown homesteader — you’ve probably learned how to preserve food. And for many people, boiling water bath canning is the gateway to all other food preserving.

Though it requires more gear in the kitchen than, say, mason jar fermenting or oven dehydrating, there’s something about canning a batch of tomatoes, jams, or pickles that’s deeply satisfying.

Maybe it speaks to our off-grid fantasies of being a self-sufficient mountain mama (or mountain man). Maybe it’s because the distinctive pop of the lids brings a sense of accomplishment and joy, or the fact that we end up giving some of those jars away as gifts that brings even greater joy.

I learned how to preserve food just a couple months into tending an edible garden (before I learned how much I actually needed to grow to feed my family). That first summer, I canned 24 jars of tomatoes and 40 jars of jams and jellies. (These feijoa-white peach preserves were one of my first batches in the kitchen, and the first canning recipe I ever posted on my blog. Wild, eh?)

Almost a decade later, I’ve learned some useful tips and tricks for modern-day home canning, and even picked up a few time-saving habits as an ambassador for Ball Canning, America’s favorite mason jars.

Learn from these little nuggets of information I’ve gleaned from their test kitchen, as well as from my own experiences (hundreds of jars later!).

1. You don’t need to warm your lids ahead of time.

I first heard this from the Ball Canning test kitchen a few years ago, and I was floored.

I’ve come across countless canning recipes that tell you to preheat the lids in simmering water before using (to soften the sealing compound for better adhesion), and even Ball’s previous product packaging and older editions of their canning book have recommended preheating lids.

However — straight from the source — this is no longer necessary for Ball or Kerr brand lids.

After comprehensive testing by our Quality Assurance Team, it was determined that it is completely safe to skip pre-warming lids in the canning process. While it is still safe to simmer your lids before use, you should never boil them. Our recommendation (for over 40 years) has always been to simmer (180°F) – but not boil (212°F) – the lids.

So, as far as lid prep goes, all that’s needed is a soapy wash in warm water. Done!

2. You don’t need to sterilize canning jars that will process for 10 minutes or more.

Again, mind blown when I learned this.

Many recipes call for jars to be sterilized before canning, a slightly annoying step that involves either submerging the jars in boiling water for 10 minutes (at altitudes of less than 1,000 feet) or remembering to sanitize them in the dishwasher right before you start.

But, good news! According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, the go-to authority for all things canning, you do not need to sterilize jars if your processing time is 10 minutes or longer (at or below 1,000 feet elevation).

When the process time for canning a food is 10 minutes or more (at 0-1,000 feet elevation), the jars will be sterilized DURING processing in the canner. Therefore, when process times are 10 minutes or more at this altitude, pre-sterilization of jars is not needed. It doesn’t hurt your product to do it anyway, but it does require additional time and energy and is unnecessary.

Many canning recipes, with the exception of certain jams and jellies, already require at least 10 minutes in a boiling water bath, so there’s no need to sterilize these jars ahead of time.

For jellies that call for 5 minutes of processing time, there’s usually no harm in increasing that time to 10 minutes so you can skip the sterilization.

Note that the 10-minute rule applies to those living at or near sea level, so you will need to adjust that time accordingly if you live above 1,000 feet, per HFP.

If you are processing above 1,000 feet elevation, then you need to consider the altitude adjustments needed to sterilize jars so you use the equivalent to 10 minutes of boiling at 0-1,000 feet elevation.

Note that sterilizing is not the same as cleaning — you should always wash your jars thoroughly in soapy water before using. This was a fact that Ball emphasized when I toured their factory in Indiana, as the jars are made in an industrial environment that produces dust and other manufacturing residue.

3. Frozen fruits make excellent jams and preserves.

In the summer, there’s often a lot of pressure that comes with preserving large amounts of fresh, ripe fruits from your garden, especially if you think preserving always means canning “in season” and right now.

But here’s a secret: You can make delicious jams and preserves with frozen fruit, and no one will be the wiser!

Realizing this simple fact has since saved me from stressing over abundant harvests that I couldn’t keep up with in the kitchen. If I knew there was no way I’d be able to preserve my bounty of fruits within the week (including tomatoes, if their intended final use will be for tomato sauce), I spread them out across a baking sheet and put them in the freezer for a couple hours. (Doing this first keeps the fruits from clumping together in a bag.)

Once they’re solid, I collect them into freezer bags and come back to them when life is a little less chaotic and the weather turns cooler.

Another tip: You can make jam with store-bought frozen fruit as well! So if you’re craving homemade blueberry jam in the middle of winter, this is a great way to go.

4. Chopsticks make great bubbling tools.

Bubbling refers to releasing trapped air bubbles in a jar before sealing it with a lid and band. It’s an important step in boiling water bath canning, as not removing air bubbles can lead to seal failures.

You can bubble your jars with any narrow utensil, and in my canning recipes, I often recommend using a chopstick because it’s the perfect profile and material for the job: long, thin, and usually wood or plastic.

However, I’ve had readers in the past ask for alternatives because they didn’t have chopsticks, and in a pinch, I suggested a butter knife could work if they were very careful using it.

Knives and other metal utensils aren’t ideal because they could potentially etch the glass or cause hairline cracks, thus increasing the chances of jar breakage during processing.

I love the official “bubble freer” that Ball makes specifically for this task, plus it doubles as a handy tool for measuring headspace. (You can see it in action in this recipe.)

But, if you don’t want to buy another kitchen utensil, look in your junk drawer. Are there any disposable chopsticks lingering in there from your last Chinese takeout?

These wooden chopsticks are typically too flimsy for everyday meals and tend to gather dust in the back of my drawer, but they make great bubbling tools. Rather than throwing them out the next time you end up with a few pairs, set them aside for canning purposes.

5. An electric water bath canner can save space in the kitchen and save your glass cooktop, too.

Canning sessions at home used to mean taking over the kitchen for a whole afternoon, so no one else could be in there at the same time as me.

The kitchen counter would be crowded with jars and flavorings, dirty measuring cups and bowls would clutter the sink, and a behemoth of a canning pot would take up the entire stove, even though it only used one burner.

I never liked how the boiling water bath would steam up the kitchen on the hottest of days, and sometimes for multiple days if I had a lot of canning to do.

Then I discovered this electric water bath canner (while shooting a recipe demo in the Ball test kitchen) and it has changed my entire canning process for the better!

Now, I can move the cumbersome part of canning (the boiling water bath) to the dining table or even outside on the patio, as long as I can reach an outlet. It’s freed up space in my kitchen so my husband can get in there and fix a snack without feeling like he’s in my way, and it lets me relax a little, as I don’t have to rush to clear the stove in time for dinner-making.

Let me tell you that canning outdoors is so much more enjoyable on those beautiful summer days when you can take in some fresh air and sunshine and not feel stuck inside, hovering over your stove.

My electric water bath canner also functions as a massive pot for making soup stock (again, so helpful if you can move what’s sometimes an all-day endeavor away from the kitchen) and keeping party-sized beverages, such as mulled cider, nice and hot.

There’s a spigot on the side for dispensing liquid, which also means you don’t need to lift a heavy pot full of water to empty it.

An electric water bath canner is a great solution if you have a smooth (glass or ceramic) cooktop where you’re worried about scratching the surface, or the manufacturer advises against placing a canning pot on it.

As an alternative — especially if you like the idea of canning outside (or at least out of the kitchen) — you can get an induction burner and induction-compatible canning pot to use as a portable canning station.

The upside to going the induction route is how quickly you can get the water up to temperature for a boiling water bath (usually in half the time!). And, the technology itself won’t heat up your entire kitchen while you’re canning.

6. No canning pot? No problem! Use a stockpot with a cooling rack.

I originally started canning with one of those ubiquitous enamel canning pots, and while it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great. The interior rack it came with was flimsy, the enamel was prone to denting, chipping, and rusting, and because of all these issues, the pot wasn’t really suitable for heavy-duty, general kitchen tasks.

I later found that using a large stainless steel stockpot with a round cooling rack that fits on the bottom was a much better option. I could use the stockpot for actual cooking (seafood boils, bone broth, and the like) and reuse the cooling rack for its intended purpose (as well as for steaming or holding hot items as a trivet).

This was before I got an electric water bath canner (see my previous tip), and while I primarily use that canner now, the stockpot still has a place in my kitchen because it’s so durable.

7. Don’t store your processed jars with the bands on.

The bands (canning rings) are meant to hold the lids in place during processing (and again when you open the jar). Once the jars have cooled and the lids are sealed, you should unscrew the bands, rinse, dry, and store them. (I corral all of mine in a basket near my other canning supplies.)

Doing so will not only keep the bands from corroding onto the lids and making them hard to get off (it happens, especially if you don’t get to the jars for a while), it’ll extend their useful life because they won’t rust as quickly.

You can reuse those same bands for the next round of canning without needing to buy more. Unlike the lids, which are one-time use only (as far as canning goes), the bands can be used over and over again until they rust or become damaged.

(If you find yourself canning frequently, you might want to consider replacement canning rings, which are made of thick stainless steel that should resist rusting and warping.)

Another reason I recommend removing the bands is to ensure you have a good seal on the jar. If there were problems during processing, you’ll know because gases from bacteria and spoilage will break the seal on the lid. If a band is holding that lid in place, you might not find out for weeks or months (when you’re looking for the jar).

As long as the boiling water bath created a good vacuum seal on the lids, unscrewing the bands after processing will not cause your jars to unseal.

8. Properly canned foods can actually last longer than a year on the shelf.

The general rule with home-canned goods is that a proper vacuum seal, along with storage in a dry, dark, and cool place (between 50°F and 70°F), will ensure a shelf life of at least one year.

The National Center for Home Food Preservation recommends that “for best quality, can no more food than you will use within a year.”

This ambiguous statement can be a little confusing, as many people take it to mean their home-canned goods will suddenly “expire” on day 366.

On the contrary, HFP’s recommendation is based on the quality of the food in terms of texture, color, and flavor, and not how well your jars are sealed.

If your jars have been stored under ideal conditions and the lids are still on tight, they can theoretically keep indefinitely. Those pickles may no longer be as crisp as the day they were canned, and certain nuances of the food (such as a subtle sweetness or spice) may be lost, but they’re indeed edible.

With good canning practices, there’s no reason the jam you made two or three years ago isn’t still safe to eat (and is probably still delicious). As with any food, inspect your canned goods before using and trust your instincts if the smell or appearance seems off.

The problem that some people do run into, however, is that the seals on the lids may fail for one reason or another after a year. This is why you should remove the bands (canning rings) from processed jars before putting them away, as you’ll be able to tell if any of the lids end up popping off in storage.

Canning Sources

This content was originally published here.

[floralmotif]

12.18 and editing (examples)

Ok, so I was going to do 12.10 because it had the most requests, but it wasn’t available on the CW site anymore, so I’m doing 12.18. It actually turned out really interesting. Thanks to everyone who put in your suggestions. hopefully I’ll be able to look at the others soon. 12.18 was requested by @a-little-nerdy-dude-with-wings.

As you can probably imagine, watching for all the editing takes a while and would take forever to write out all the scenes entirely(at least until there’s a transcript out), but I did it for the first 2 major scenes of the episode. Later, when I have more time, I’ll post what I think the editing in the full ep means, but have some examples of what I’ve been looking at, and looking for until then. Feel free to use the information however you wish.

Quick info on editing for tv shows:

Dramas have multiple types of cameras oftentimes, but only one is used during each setup, so they’re called “single camera shows”. A multi-camera show is like a lot of sitcoms, where things are filmed in order and more or less live like a play.

Shows like SPN are not filmed in order in the slightest and have lots of footage with different angles. They’ll often run the whole scene from each setup several times so there’s footage from different angles.

Split into roughly 7 days, each episode for most dramas generally undergoes the following editing passes. Some at the same time:

3 Days- Editor’s cut. This is the initial cut from the primary editor. They have to have a knowledge of the current arcs and where the arcs are going. They really have to know the show extremely well and be familiar with the character and story arcs. They have to understand how the show is edited because it can have a multitude of directors.

2 Days- Director’s cut. Directors may only direct for one episode and they tend to try and leave something of themselves in the work for their own needs so they can continue their careers. This is a difference between film and tv in that the director can try and keep scenes that specifically make them look good. The footage doesn’t always stay though, depending on whether it gels with the producer’s vision.

2 Days- Producer’s cut. This is where the showrunner comes in and makes sure that whatever is presented works with the entire arc, their vision, what’s planned for the future, etc. This is the last pair of story eyes essentially. This is where any arc long interference would be corrected, theoretically. This is where minor tweaking would occur to sell the showrunner’s vision.

2 Days- Network and S&P cut. This is like.. Censor stuff/legal stuff/timing stuff.. Let’s say there’s a song in there that can’t be used so they ask for a different one… stuff like that.

SPN has never really liked fancy cuts. Most cuts in the show are just straight cuts. The fanciest they usually go are J and L cuts. (audio from the previous shot carries over to the next, audio from the next shot starts in the previous). They’ll use other cuts in special circumstances like smash cuts (tense to calm, or calm to tense) or crossfades(montages use these a lot), but J, L, intercut(back and forth between scenes) and straight cuts are generally how the show goes. In general, if SPN can achieve whatever it wants to achieve without cutting, it won’t. Shot density plays into that a lot. But if it wants to achieve something that can’t be shown with only one shot, it will cut wherever is necessary to get what it wants. Usually in the form of reaction shots.

More, and the examples below.

SPN cuts conversations with emphasis on what’s important(this is generally how shot/reverse shot is supposed to work). So if what the speaker is saying is important, the camera will be on them. If the reaction is important, the camera will shift to the person reacting. This can even go back and forth mid sentence.

Camera bias is important for filmed works. It basically means “the camera thinks for you” It’s going to either omit or focus on whatever is important depending on the situation.

With that in mind, here’s my breakdown of the first 2 major talking scenes in 12.18. I didn’t look write everything because that would take forever but here’s what stood out to me about the editing in the ep.

-Cuts are slow in the beginning. Lingering on Jared’s face after his friend says “enjoy the view” indicates Jared doesn’t. Then he leaves. The cuts only start to speed up and crosscut when Jared is found by Bill. Heart rate is often a good indicator of when cuts will speed up.

Jared is a Cas mirror. Hi misdirection. What’s up?

Dean’s attempt to reach Cas gets a oner. There are no cuts from when the camera starts on him, up to Sam addressing him the first time. That means, this sequence is important. Also, keep in mind that this is where the ep starts. The first scene of an ep sets up the trajectory of the rest of the ep. In this case, Dean’s worry for Cas. Also, the camera is on Sam when he addresses Dean. We get a few secs of his reaction to Dean’s plight.

Something interesting is the camera focuses on Sam when Dean says “there’s nothing in the system about some weird guy in a guy in a trenchcoat gettin’ arrested.” It sinks in for Sam how much Dean has already looked. It wasn’t on screen, but Sam’s reaction tells us how extensive it is.

There’s the Colt, it’ll be fired this ep. Also, the back and forth of the editing with Sam telling Dean Cas will be fine. I’ll highlight where the camera shifts back to the speaker. Keep in mind, that whatever’s on screen is the important bit. In this case, the bold doesn’t necessarily mean important, it means that  the camera is on the speaker unless stated otherwise. Generally, if it’s not on the speaker, it’s on a reaction so assume unbolded instances are coverage of the other character. I’ll include specific inserts or where the camera is during a pause. Generally, the previous shot’s coverage will carry into the next dialogue. So like when Sam says “on Demons” and the coverage shifts to Dean, Dean is the next speaker.

SAM: Alright. So let’s find him.

DEAN: I’ve been trying, Sam. The GPS on his phone is turned off and there’s nothing in the system about some weird guy in a guy in a trenchcoat gettin’ arrested.

DEAN (cont.): Or turning up dead… (Gotta show who’s reaching for it)

insert on Colt

SAM: Dean, it’s Cas. I mean, this isn’t the first time he’s dropped off the map. You know and, what ever’s happening. He’ll be fine.

insert of Dean and the colt

SAM (cont): He always is.

Dean: Yeah...

Insert of Sam sitting in the awkard

DEAN (cont.) ‘bout you? Got anything eh… reading rainbow?

SAM: I stayed up all night going through every book we have on demons and it turns out, we have a lot of books on demons. (poor Sam)

DEAN: Even on Dagon?

SAM: (The camera shifts to a bts shot of Dean with the colt but the focus is on Sam) Mentions here and there, but nothing we can use. I guess the uh, princes of hell are pretty good at staying off the radar.

DEAN: Well yeah, isn’t that kind of their thing?

*ding* + Sam’s reaction, then insert of Sam’s laptop.

SAM: Hmm, just got an email from Mick. It’s a Case.

DEAN: Good.

SAM: A guy named Jared Hayes disappeared in tomahawk Wisconsin a week ago. Not witnesses, no body, but Mick says this place has a history.

DEAN: Meaning?

SAM: Well, it means a lot of people go missing in To-(insert of laptop)-mahawk. 1 a year, every year from 1898 to 1997. And then… nothing until now.

Dean fiddling with the colt

DEAN: 20 years

SAM: Yeah, so maybe they’re starting up again. Maybe it’s a cycle of some sort?

DEAN: Meh.. one way to find out.

DEAN: *gun shot (insert of Ketch’s monitor) noise*

That’s an L cut. SPN does like L cuts..... and J cuts.. most of Ketch’s scene has Baby’s “nyoooom” over it.

^ That last set of shots above uses an interesting edit. It starts on Dean when he says “meh”.. Which I think is short for “maybe”, then it shifts back to the ots of Dean setup with the focus on Sam, then a quick back to Dean’s medium close holding the colt, before the start of his sound and ending on Ketch’s monitor. It’s a cool transition to Ketch moving the raid forward.

The impala is basically the “establishing vehicle” in the series. She’s used for establishing shots all the time, even if we never see the boy’s specific destination. Here she establishes that they’ve entered the town. That’s all we needed too. The next shot is in the sheriff’s office.

Remember when I said the show doesn’t cut if it doesn’t need to? The sheriff’s office is a good example of this happening. SPN likes using pans to establish and then settle on shots. It allows for what is needed to be established without having to cut. This master shot allows for a few things: Us to see the boys reaction to the sheriff, us to see Dean’s disinterest in what he’s saying, us to see his prolonged attention to a figure in a coat walking past the office, us to see what the sheriff is doing, us to see the “eye” motif. SPN sure likes its eye motifs. It also likes using blur to denote eye trace. It can use its 3d space effectively without cutting this way. When the shot first pans to the boys, the background is a little blurry then clears as the sheriff is talking. This lets us see their reactions, it also lets us clearly see the figure walk past the office and Dean’s reaction. When the sequence ends, the boys are blurred out and the sheriff clears up completely. Interesting.

The camera shifts back to a shot, reverse shot once the above has been established. It follows the same pattern as the previous scene like it. Focusing on what’s important. This scene has some good use of close ups and camera bias. What gets seen in the shot and in what way affects how important it is and what it relates to:

(Medium 2 shot) DEAN: So.. somebody snagged him?

(Mid Close) SHERIFF: Oh.. maybe.

(Close) SAM: Maybe?

(Mid Wide) SHERIFF: Look, Maybe Jared did get got, or (I’m not sure what he says here. It sounds like “or it can have relieve”) but.. You ask me, he just bailed.

(Close) DEAN: And why would he do that?

(Medium wide) SHERIFF: Jared’s had it rough. Mom left years ago (mid 2 of the boys) and his dad well… let’s just say (Close on Sheriff) Jared fell down the stairs a lot. If you know what I mean.

(mid 2 of boys) SAM: Wait a second. If you knew he was being abused, why didn't you-?

(Close) SHERIFF: We tried.

Insert of SAM CU

(Close) SHERIFF: Tryin’ to take a child from his parent’s, even if they’re the worst people in the world; it’s not easy. 

(Close) DEAN: Did you talk to his old man?

(Back to the “master” shot. Sheriff in focus)SHERIFF: Can’t. Not really… the guy stroked out a couple years ago and breathes through a tube. huh..

(Full shot) SHERIFF (cont.): And guess who gets to take care of him? (mid 2 of boys) Can you imagine having to spoon feed the guy that wailed on you for all those years?

(Full shot) SHERIFF (cont.): Everybody’s got a breaking point…

(Close) SHERIFF (cont.): If Jared did blow town, I wouldn’t blame him.

(mid 2 shot on boys) DEAN: You said Jared was with friends the night he went missing.

SAM: Yeah, did any of them say anything?

(Back to master, focus on Sheriff): SHERIFF: Nothing worth repeating… aint ‘e precious?

(Full on Sheriff) DEAN: Uh huh..

(Back to master. Focus on the boys) DEAN: Any idea where we can find these friends?

SHERIFF: Oh yeah.. Sure..

Full shot insert of the sheriff with the ferret.

Insert of Dean’s reaction

Scene.

Heh, the sheriff is distracted from his job too. I mean, in more ways than one, but we just see one here. The use of the “eye motif” on him is interesting. The show likes to use eyes and eye like markers in association with blindness and bias.

Anyway, I’ll post my full thoughts later, but this is basically what I’m doing with each scene. Hopefully what I have here is at least interesting. Maybe it’ll help other people assess the show. This is just two scenes in a fairly complicated ep, so have fun if you choose to assess it again this way.

[felassan]

Andromeda tweet tidbits #7827

As you might expect, enemies use abilities, not just guns/weapons. How powerful those abilities are varies from enemy to enemy [x]

The Nomad has a handbrake.. DRIFTING CONFIRMED [x]

There is no bonus for carrying under your max capacity in terms of guns, as there was in ME3. The devs didn’t want to discourage players from taking at least a small sidearm for a secondary weapon, for the sake of variety. Meanwhile, certain skills can increase your carry weight capacity, making it viable to carry multiple heavier guns without a penalty [x, x, x] 

Squadmates and different player profiles have some exclusive skills [x]. Previously they had named an ability that was available to Liam and not to Ryder, and named abilities that were features of specific profiles

I think we have already seen the skill on the in-game menu in one of the gameplay vids, but just in case: in the Engineer profile there’s a “Remnant VI” ability [x]

Peebee has “history” of some form with a character named in her LM (shown in the 17 min vid from IGN) [x - character named in source tweet]

You need to get close to your downed squaddies to revive them [x]

The scanner (which is a part of the omni-tool) needs to be used at certain points in various quests, but you can also optionally use it a lot more if you wish to get more lore about the world or more Research Data for crafting, or both [x, x]

No word yet on size of the Day 1 Patch as they’re still working on it [x]

Lexi is Lexi’s full name, it’s not short for anything [x]. I had wondered if it was a short form of something.. asari-y. yknow? Lexaris.. Lexerys.. eh. curious she has a “human” name. coincidentally convergent?

Assault turrets and combat drones are separate things [x]

That guy, who was already confirmed to not be Reyes, isn’t Gil either [x]

Info is coming on MP (as previously stated) / the Strike Teams system so keep an eye out [x]

There’s support for Logitech keyboards (posted vid already) [x]

On PS4, the standard button mapping for firing your weapon is R2 [x]

The color of crafted weapons is dictated by mods (and by the base colors of the weapon itself) [x]

Saves are per platform, in case anyone was wondering about that [x]

Gamble’s favorite Loyalty Mission is Cora’s or Liam’s [x]

There are no Italian voice-overs, but subtitles are in of course [x]

It’s confirmed that the hostiles in the Johnny Cash trailer are indeed Kett [x]

You’re not framerate-locked on PC [x]

It seems Mac is gonna be at PAX East on Friday 10th March [x] **

** More info on the panel from a previous post I made, for those who don’t know:

PAX East (March 10-12th, BioWare are going to have a panel there and they say it’s going to be big, Cora’s writer will be there [EDIT: UPDATE - the panel and Q&A is from 4-5pm local time on March 10th, and is stated to contain never-before-seen gameplay and new secrets about what lies beyond the Milky Way, but no spoilers])

[samuelpboswell]

Content Curation Inspiration: Types, Examples, & Use Cases for B2B Marketers

If you create and share content, curation is part of your B2B marketing strategy. From seasoning a blog post with key third-party statistics to sharing an interesting article from an industry publication or influencer across your social channels, you’re curating. But content curation has a place beyond adding an insight or two to your content. With large volumes of information available today and short attention spans, curation allows content marketers to create more convenient, valuable content experiences for their target audience, while growing thought leadership, bolstering their content calendar, and increasing production efficiency. What types of curation exist? How are B2B brands doing curation? When does it make sense to do curation? Let’s dive in.

Types of Content Curation and B2B Examples

The Curation Kitchen Staples: Microcontent

Statistics. Quotes. Tips. Social media commentary. Third-party videos. Gifs. Memes. Curated microcontent is what gives your content its flavor—whether its used as seasoning in a long-form blog post or modularly in short-form social content. This is foundational curation, and it plays a role in all other types. And as TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden once said:

“Snackable content can often be managed and repurposed like ingredients to create a main course. On their own, short-form content like quotes, tips, and statistics are useful for social network shares and as added credibility to blog posts, eBooks, and articles.”

See what I did there? Microcontent is simplistic and easy to integrate, helping you provide more depth and insight on a topic, infuse credibility, and highlight industry experts. When microcontent curation makes sense: Always—if the content is relevant to the topic you’re discussing. Microcontent helps you provide proof points to bolster your narrative and build credibility with your audience.

The Curation Classics: Roundups, Listicles, and Resource Hubs

Collecting key bits of information and insights and organizing them into an easy to digest format is the quintessential content curation tactic. The premise is simple: You’re gathering interesting tidbits from multiple sources on a specific topic and placing them in one central location. The underlying theme for this curation tactic (and any content tactic for that matter) is relevance and value. It needs to be topically relevant to your audience and it can’t be a lazy compilation; it needs to serve a purpose. News roundups are perhaps the most popular of the curation classics. We’ve all seen them and likely have a few we go back to on a regular basis, so I won’t spend too much time here. (Shameless plug to check out our weekly digital marketing news roundup.) But here’s an example of a roundup style piece from EHS and sustainability consulting firm *Antea Group that brings video content together to have a little fun and spark a connection with the audience. The post showcases six workplace safety videos—all sourced and easily embedded from YouTube—with movie-critic-like commentary that make connections to the daily life and work of their target audience. When it comes to resource hubs, HubSpot is an “ultimate list” destination on a variety of subjects, most notably digital marketing statistics. Here’s a recent example featuring Instagram statistics. For listicles, one of our recent BIGLIST editions featuring 50 of the top marketing blogs featuring martech brands is a solid example. Time was spent on researching and vetting, and the list provides a short and sweet description of each blog, as well as our favorite recent article to give readers a cue on what’s worth checking out first. Finally, events can be great opportunities for curation. *Introhive, an enterprise relationship management (ERM) platform, regularly curates social and team member insights to compile post-event infographics with top takeaways. When classic curation makes sense: Classic curation is largely an awareness and engagement play. If you’re looking to provide your audience with a helpful resource that hits quick on the points, and showcase your brand as a thoughtful expert in the space, this type of curation can make it easy for your audience to find insight and inspiration—and minimize the amount of time they need to spend on the hunt.

The Next Level of Curation: Thought Leadership Mashups

Curation isn’t limited to assembling a robust, scannable list of information or resources, or seasoning original content with stats, quotes, or videos. Curation can fuel thought leadership. Great examples of this kind of curation are trends-focused pieces. Taking a cue from the classic curation formats, this kind of content aims to identify one or more trend or pattern using curated bits of information, all tied together with your knowledge and expertise. This could be small-scale or large-scale—meaning a single concept could provide the supporting content or tie-in, or it could be your take on a collection of related trends, facts, or insights. This piece from *SAP’s Digitalist Magazine is a great example. But this kind of curation doesn’t just lend itself to discussing trends. Many of our own blog posts use a mashup curation method to educate and engage marketers, and define our perspectives and approach to marketing. This can be seen in a recent post from Nick Nelson on how to write clear, concise content. Using our words intentionally is a core belief, and Nick was able to illustrate that with his deep knowledge and some relevant insights from third parties. Also, when we say “curation,” we don’t just mean collecting insights from third-party sources. You can curate your own content—it’s just most often called repurposing. Salesforce has a great example here. This recent post touches on a key trend in the marketplace (lack of consumer trust), leverages microcontent from Salesforce’s own research (the Trends in Consumer Trust research report), and then original content builds a narrative for a specific audience (retailers). In addition, curating and repurposing influencer content is an especially big opportunity. More than likely, the insights that influencers share with you have implications and applications across other related topics. When curation mashups make sense: If you want to build thought leadership on a subject, mashups should be in your content lineup. Mashups allow you to elevate an idea, perspective, challenge, or opportunity, while using existing content as a jumping off-point or as part of the foundation of your take. Read: A Tasty, Strategic Addition to the Content Marketing Table: ‘Repurposed Content Cobbler’

Content Curation for the Win

Regardless of your editorial plan, you’re already doing some form of content curation. However, you can make curation a more deliberate and effective part of your overall B2B content marketing strategy. Whether you create an ultimate list featuring statistics from multiple sources, provide high-level takeaways from an event or report, give your own content new life to build thought leadership, content curation can provide value and convenience for your audience and writing team. Looking for content curation best practices, tools, and more examples? Check out our post on Content Curation 101. *Disclosure: Antea Group, SAP, and Introhive are TopRank Marketing clients.

The post Content Curation Inspiration: Types, Examples, & Use Cases for B2B Marketers appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

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[latestnews2018-blog]

That Canadian Convenience Store Robbery Is The Year's Most Suspenseful Movie

New Post has been published on https://latestnews2018.com/that-canadian-convenience-store-robbery-is-the-years-most-suspenseful-movie/

That Canadian Convenience Store Robbery Is The Year's Most Suspenseful Movie

July marks the year’s midway point, at which time critics take stock of the best movies to grace our screens to date. Countless lists are popping up across the internet, but none contain the actual best movie of 2018, a thrilling and ambitious silent film that evokes shades of ’70s-era gangster pictures with a touch of “Mission: Impossible.” 

I’m referring, of course, to the footage of a man and woman attempting to evade arrest at a convenience store in Alberta, Canada. The video, which went viral late last week after a CTV station published it online, accomplishes in less than three minutes what many movies fail to in more than 90. Its characters ― 29-year-old Brittany Burke and 28-year-old Richard Pariseau, who had reportedly used a stolen credit card to buy a can of soda and thought they could flee law enforcement ― are emblems of ingenuity, a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde. We can envisage their entire personalities simply by watching their relentless, and ultimately futile, quest to find a secret escape route. 

What makes this film superlative-worthy is not just Brittany and Richard’s chutzpah ― plenty of people would go to great lengths to avoid the Five-O, even in Canada, where cops probably ask if suspects want poutine, eh? No, what makes this film superlative-worthy is how spectacularly well-edited it is. The tension is Hitchcockian.

The scene opens in media res; our antiheroes have already been caught. They stand near the entrance with a policeman and the store owner’s husband, who to the untrained eye looks like a plainclothes civilian taking the law’s side. (I will hereby refer to him as “civilian.”) But Brittany and Richard won’t be thwarted so soon. They attempt to burst through the door ― the obvious first route ― but end up tumbling to the ground in a heap with the cop, tearing the oversized white T-shirt that Richie Rich is wearing from his back. Meanwhile, the store clerk stands idly behind the register. Just another day on the job. 

CTV News

We don’t need to see the skirmish play out in full to know that this shit is going to be an adrenaline doozy.

The video cuts to Richard, now shirtless.

In a classic action-movie cut, he dashes out of the frame and into a new shot, entering a storage room at the back of the shop. He searches for an exit. 

CTV News

The next shot cuts back to the aisles, with Brittany’s lingering tussle positioned on the far left of the screen ― a visual Easter egg, as our eyes drift directly to the center, where all is quiet on the Western Front until Richard bursts back into the showroom.

CTV News

The overhead camera sits stationary as Richard’s long legs carry him to the end of an aisle. He at first feels protected by the bags of candy he limply threatens to throw at the policeman, who has turned his attention from Brittany to Richard’s naked torso. At this point, Brittany, who appears to be constrained by the civilian ― go home, sir! ― bobs out of the frame.

Near the wall of cold drinks, things are getting serious. The cop marches toward Richard, who drops his confectionery weapon upon seeing a taser pointed in his direction. We still can’t hear what’s happening, but we don’t need to: Richard quickly descends to the (presumably dirty) floor. The tension is mounting. Don’t tase him, bro.

CTV News

Here, the cop reaches down toward him, and Richard springs up, startling the officer. But wait. The scene cuts from a wide shot surveying the store to a close-up that shows Brittany striding toward her accomplice. In the far background, the civilian opens the door, ostensibly expecting backup to arrive. Brittany observes the man as the cop waves her away, Richard hunched on his knees before rising, getting tased and flopping back down like a wooden board. 

The most suspenseful movies keep us wondering about the action unfolding on the periphery, so the scene rapidly cuts away from Richie and the officer altogether. After addressing the civilian near the doorway, Brittany turns around and walks deeper into the store. A wide shot reveals that she is heading for the storage room that Richard scampered through earlier. Great minds. Or something.

The action cuts to the center of the store, where the civilian is still using a cellphone and Richard is still wrestling with the cop. What is Brittany doing? We know she has a strategy, but our inability to witness it firsthand creates stress. Cue Bernard Herrmann’s “Psycho” strings. Richard breaks free of the officer’s prying grip, dashing again through the aisles toward the cash register. He makes it all the way to the front door before being pinned down by the civilian and the officer. This criminal can’t catch a break. They struggle as the cashier looks on, still unfazed. 

And now here we go. Time for the goods. 

Twenty-one seconds have passed since we saw Brittany disappear from the showroom, enough time for her to have pulled off God knows what. In the next cut, she emerges from the depths of a darkened bathroom in the storage closet, skipping the steps that failed Richard earlier. Aha! She climbs up toward the ceiling, where a camera happens to be perched. Is she hiding? Even better: She is crawling into the ceiling. 

CTV News

Once she clambers in and vanishes from sight, the video cuts back to the front door, where the cop is again straddling Richard until he sinks to the floor. He pins him to the ground like they are on a wrestling mat or in a slow-burning gay porn outtake. As this is happening, we know that Brittany is somewhere in the roofing. Where she thinks she’s going is anyone’s guess. Does she hope it will lead her outdoors? To another store? No matter what, you have to admire the gumption.

Hitchcock once said that a bomb suddenly going off underneath a table is a surprise, whereas tangible suspense is created in the audience’s awareness that the bomb is already sitting under the table. That’s what Brittany’s disappearance is. With the cop distracted by Richard’s refusal to go down quietly, we know that she could be close to finding a way out of their situation. We need to know where Brittany is! 

The scene cuts from Richard and the cop to a static shot of what seems like an empty store. You can imagine tumbleweed rolling across the floor, like it might a dirt road before a standoff in a Western. 

And then, the big kahuna. The grand finale we’ve all been waiting for. Brittany makes her triumphant return, crashing through the ceiling and tumbling to the floor. She’s only wearing one shoe. Multiple cops have arrived.

CTV News

By this point, it’s time to give up. Even Brittany knows it. She traipses to the end of the aisle, raising her arms in surrender and diving onto the floor. Two policemen parade Brittany outdoors while four continue to restrain Richard.

Miraculous. Thelma Schoonmaker would be proud of the tension conveyed in the smart cuts this video uses. At every turn, we glean a bit more insight into this duo’s resourcefulness, however misguided it may be. There’s nary a second of dead weight. The video uses common film grammar to give us the tools to plug in details excised from the final product. Blockbuster editors, especially those of the superhero variety, could learn a thing or two from its economy. 

According to CTV, Richard faces 11 charges, including resisting arrest and using a stolen credit card, and Brittany faces three charges, including obstructing an officer and mischief. 

Mischief makes for all the best movies.

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[laurenkavanaghmediastudies]

Evaluation Question 3 - What have you learnt from audience feedback?

After creating our media products, we posted them online through YouTube and social media as well as our media blog, this is because we wanted to get a high exposure rate so that we would have lots of feedback. After receiving comments on the video and feedback from our teacher we created a focus group so that we could ask specific questions to our target audience.

Of course, the obvious questions to ask were want they liked and didn’t like. There were several elements of the music video that the target audience liked such as the outfits, the explained that they were colourful, bright and on trend which fit with our genre, this was refreshing to hear as we have achieved the outcome we wanted. They also explained that the loved the dancing in the video as it is conventional to have in a pop genre, the movements moved in time with the music and made it look aesthetically pleasing. The different locations kept the target audiences interested as one described each scene to be creative, this was something that we were worried about in the planning as sometimes using to many locations can look messy and jumbled up however this was not the case for our video and the target audience enjoyed it. The target audience also explained that our music video was fun to watch as we had chosen a different style and genre to the others; one which was slightly harder. Because of this they were more intrigued as it was something new and said we executed it well. It was important for us that we included lip syncing as it is pop song, the audience we pleased with the outcome and said it look convincing. Throughout the planning of the music video we decided to subvert the convention of an illustrative or amplification music video and chose our own themes, as said in the focus group are target audience enjoyed the narrative and the themes we used.

However, some areas that the target audience didn’t like and through we could improve on was editing and production. One member of the target audience noticed that during our music video the screen goes black for a quick second making the editing look a little less professional, this is something that we hadn’t picked up on when editing and will improve on it next time. Some shots were also described to be shaky and not smooth, this is during the camera movement shots when it is slightly harder to get the movement correct with the given equipment, the target audience explained this is something that we could easily improve on if we were to do it again.

After carefully researching the codes and conventions of a pop genre we wanted to see if the target audience believed it to be represented as a pop song through the visuals. Straight away all members answered yes, they explained that the mood and atmosphere created through the vibrant colours made the audience feel energetic and happy. They explained that the dancing is a key characteristic of a pop genre and it fits well with our song. In another question, they also explained that the urban environments; being set in the city and in front of the graffiti wall make it look aesthetically pleasing and brightly coloured which fits in with the genre and will appeal to the target audience.

It’s very important that the artist in the music video is represented correctly so that they appeal to the target audience, throughout planning and production we wanted to achieve this, to find out if we did we asked our target audience. The target audience said that the artist was represented in a positive and influential way. She appears to be a part of the target audiences and therefore already appeals them. They also explained that she appears confident and self-assured which sells herself well. The clothing she is wearing and the locations she’s appears in allow girls of the target audience to relate to her.

We wanted to know what the audience thought about the conventions we had conformed to or subverted. They explained it follows the typical conventions well which makes it a convincing pop genre music video. It also doesn’t play on any clichés but tells the story well. All members of the focus group agreed that the friendship theme worked well rather than conforming to as relationship theme. They also explained that they liked the fact that we subverted the male gaze theory by representing the artist as a strong independent woman without the presence of a man and isn’t sexualised at any point.

We wanted to learn from these feedbacks and see what works well, what doesn’t and what could be improved on as stated previously the target audience said that we could improve on editing and production as well as the execution of the camera shots. They also explained that if we were to do it again we should include more dancing as well as camera movement with the dancing, this is something we would consider doing as it fits with the conventions of our music video and has worked well this time so there’s no reason why it won’t make it look better.

As well as receiving some positive feedback in our focus group we have a had a great response to our video on social media. A variety of people have commented explaining how much they loved the video, this acts as a great motivation tool for us as the whole process of making the music video is long and temperamental although when you receive positive comments from friends and family it feels worth it and pushes you on do to well in your ancillary tasks.  

A comment that all of us in the group were extremely happy with was the one describing the video as professional as the objective is to create a convincing, professional looking music video. We have also had individual messages explaining how much they like the outfits and that they fit well with the video. Several people have also commented on how real the lip-syncing looks; we were very happy with that comment as it was all down to Ceara putting all her effort into it and editing the audio and video files together so they were in time.

We also received a comment on the YouTube video which shows how much the person likes our video, they talk about the cinematography, creativity and colours used in the mise-en-scene as well as the abstract imagery used in the graffiti scene.

The audience feedback left us with little negative comments as on a whole the audience were satisfied with the product. However, some feedback from our teacher and our peers is that we could have spent more time framing and taking the shots to make sure they are perfect and rather than setting a time for everything to be finished by don’t stop before its perfect. This is something that as a group we could work on. We could have designated a day to gathering footage rather than a couple of hours. This would have helped us with achieving more professional looking shots which is another criticism that we received, some shots shake due to the time of year we were filming the weather wasn’t always great. Another criticism we received from our teacher and peers is that sometimes the editing wasn’t as smooth as it could have been, this is to be expected to some degree as we are editing multiple shots together to not only fit the space but also the pace of the song, to counter this we should improve on our editing skills but also our planning, during the production stages we realised that some element of our storyboard wouldn’t actually work and we therefore had to improvise as there wasn’t a lot of time.

Several of my peers had told me that they like the light blue colour scheme that is shown in every panel of my digipak as it represents a pop style and shows continuity, my teacher agreed with this. Ceara told me that the vibrant blue represents the bold personality of the artist and is consistent with the themes in the music video. My teacher explained how much he liked the landscape photo of the artist and Bristol along the back 3 panels, he explained its simple and effective. He also agreed that it looked very good when I added the lyrics to the sky as it made it look more interesting and was very creative.

A negative comment made about the digipak was that the fonts used are very simple and standard as you would see them anywhere. This is partly because on photoshop you are restricted to what fonts you can use, a way to improve on this would be to find a font online that I liked and download it to the computer. Another criticism made is that the name of the album goes covers the artists face and takes the focus away from her, I could improve this by changing the position of the text.

However, overall the comments made on my digipak were mostly positive with 2 criticisms, considering the time spent on the piece of work this is reasonable and if I had time I would go back and improve it slightly although I am very pleased with the outcome.  

When I showed my advert to my peers and teacher in class I gained both positive and negative comments.  Several people commented on how much they liked the image of the artist with the glitter lipstick as it showed continuity with eh theme on the digipak. Others also talked about how much they liked having the reviews and a picture of the digipak on the right-hand side, they said it was a create way to help sell the product as well as looking like a real media product.

  A negative comment made was that they didn’t like that the artist wasn’t looking at the camera, as well as this she could have a happier facial expression to represent the mood and genre. This is a criticism I understand completely as when carrying out my research the conventional thing to do was have an image of the artist looking at the camera so that it caught the reader’s attention. As well as having a positive comment about the reviews I also had a negative one, a class mate thought that there was too much information on the advert that it was pulling it away from what was important. Although I like the reviews on my advert I can undertint where they are coming from, to improve on this I could alter the format and layout of the advert so that it didn’t look over crowed but still contained the information.

Gathering feedback has been extremely beneficial to my media products and me individually, it has allowed me to see how I can develop my skills and incorporate different ideas to get a better outcome. The feedback will have a big impact on any media products I make in the future. I feel as though the group that I worked with played a big role in the outcome of the media products as everyone contributed and played to their strengths as a group we all have similar interests which made decision making easy and lessened the disputes. After gathering this feedback, I have realised that the research was worthwhile as a lot of the elements we included in our video were to appeal to the target audience we would not have known what their interest are and what appeals to them without this research. I now know that the audiences are big fans of dancing and urban environments and if I was to recreate the music video I would take what they said on board and try to include more urban environments and mix that with more dancing. The audience also want to see more camera movement and therefore if I was to make it again I would spend more time becoming familiar with the equipment to produce more well executed camera movement.

Throughout the while process I was developing my skills in film making, my skills will continue to improve with experience and feedback from audiences will allow me to learn from my mistakes. If given more time to complete this task I would have removed the video from YouTube and corrected the editing where the screen goes black to make it look more professional before re-uploading it. The feedback made me realise that at this stage it is near impossible to get everything right the first time, I would have needed a lot more time to complete the task if I wanted to get audience feedback throughout the process so that I can improve as I go rather than once it finished. Next time I will manage my time better, giving me more time to become familiar with the equipment and to film so if anything goes wrong we have more time to change it. Overall I believe audience feedback has helped me understand my media product more and has demonstrated what needs to be done to improve it.

[floralmotif]

Destiel and editing

@obsessionisaperfume here’s the Kuleshov Effect post I talked about. Hopefully it is sufficient. TL;DR: Editing is probably the most powerful tool film has and how it’s used tells the story. Literally. In the case of SPN, there is a lot of instances that can be read as destiel riding in on a giant brick.

Ok, so preamble for those who don’t know what it is: The Kuleshov Effect was named for Soviet filmmaker Lev Kuleshov. It deals with a “mental phenomenon by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation.”

The original test that coined the name was a short series of clips showing an actor in a black and white film with a stoic expression, intercut with various images. It’s about 50 seconds, have a looksie.

The short was built to see what meaning people would give to the man’s expression and as Kuleshov expected, they reacted accordingly based on what shots were intercut. So the stoic face was read as hungry, lustful, sad, whatever by most people even though it was all the same expression.

You can invoke this effect without both pieces ever seeing each other. You can create a vast head space for a character that the actor may never see by intercutting the actor with something like... war stock footage. We can understand what the character is going through without it ever being spoken and without the actor saying or sometimes really doing anything in relation to it.

That isn’t to say that actors aren’t important, of course they are. But a lot of understanding a filmed work look to the editing. The same way books look at word choice, sentence structure, etc. Editing is the last stand of “authorial intent” (as a nebulous term. Not by a single person) between the production and the audience. It’s the syuzhet, the filter of bias that sets the tone and the pace and the narrative and almost no one is truly privy to it until all of production is over.

Now, directors, producers, various others depending on the work often help dictate the editing to an extent. They decide what version of shots to leave in and give an idea of what they’re going for. Some take a much more active role and are part of the editing process to a great extent. Sometimes it’s just the director helping, sometimes it’s like... 8 other people in production. Sometimes a film studio drops all their footage for their several million dollar property off at a trailer house and says “panic number’s on the fridge, I’ll be back in the morning.” and expects the final edit not to suck.

Editors exist for a reason and it’s not just to cut the film to an edible size, set pace and presentation. “When to cut” and “how to think like an editor” are important to the process on their own and they are their own people.

Authorial intent is honestly kind of hilarious. Especially in works with multiple “intenders”

But let’s poke the intent bear anyway, shall we? ‘Bunch of examples under the cut.

Let’s start with 12.10 since it was recent and was pointed out specifically by @bluestar86​ not long ago.

Gah... I don’t have any gifs. I keep trying to make them but they don’t want to work for whatever reason when I post them.

I’ll add them in later if I remember/get them to work.. *sigh*

So in 12.10, we’re shown the scene Cas tells about what he remembers when he and Ishim’s fleet killed Akibel. At one point, Akibel states something like: “ “how can you know humans and not love them?” with the camera cutting to Cas’ reaction.

Another instance happens in 12.09 after Billie is killed and the BMoL meet up with the Winchesters on the bridge. When the Winchesters are getting back into the impala, the BMoL tell the Winchesters they were “unprofessional” with the camera then finding Castiel and then cutting to him entering the car with foliage framing the foreground. It’s a PoV shot.I have a feeling they’ll be after Cas before the season’s end.

One of my favorites is in 8.17 (when it doesn’t make me sad), while Sam is talking to Meg. It’s intercut with Cas and Dean’s Crypt Scene to an interesting parallel. It’s a bit muddy, but it’s there:

Meg: So some chick actually got you off hunting eh? That’s a rare creature. So tell me, how did you meet this unicorn?

-And the scene cuts to Cas in the crypt with Dean. They have the start of their tiff, followed by a J-Cut and we’re back to Meg and Sam talking. Now take a look at this exchange and then think about how it relates to the next scene with Dean and Cas.

Meg: You hit a dog and stopped, why?

Sam: That whole story and that was your takeaway?

It is kind of a weird takeaway... isn’t it? Moving on.

Meg: No, I heard the rest. You fell in love with a Unicorn. It was beautiful, then sad, then sadder. I laughed, I cried, I puked in my mouth a little... and honestly I kinda get it.

Sam: Really?

Meg: ...We’ve got company.

Sound familiar to another situation?

-Cut back to a closeup insert of Cas and his Angel blade. The above discourse serves a few purposes with the lens I’m applying to the cuts here:

1) It parallels a relationship between Sam and a love interest to Cas and Dean. How many times has that happened? Oh yeah. Constantly.

2) We know that Dean has been paralleled to a dog before. Cas hits Dean, then stops... he breaks his connection to Naomi by any means needed. He chooses “them”.

Meg: Go. Save your brother...and.. my unicorn

We know what she’s talking about. She’s saying her feelings for Cas and how important she is to him but using the established metaphor. Cas is likened to a unicorn by Meg- who’s connection to Cas draws us further into the intercut parallel by specifically referring to Cas in metaphorical terms and comparing her situation with Sam’s. That situation being what’s happening in the crypt during their conversation. You could argue that Cas and Dean are each other’s unicorns but for the purposes of this, Dean is the dog Cas hit to make him stop, and Cas is a rarity that changes you. On its own, the scene allows for some drama and the continuation of Sam’s story but we don’t learn anything new on Sam’s end. We also don’t really learn anything new on Meg’s end. We already knew she had something for Cas  It mostly serves to give motivation to Meg’s actions but why tell the whole story at that time? The famous “Too much heart was always Castiel’s problem” cut to the river scene in 8.02. Remember, a physical person edited that. Why put that scene there? What were they trying to accomplish? Some instances from season 11:

Dean and Sam’s intercut difference in takeaway at the end of 11.11

11.18: Amara’s reaction shot when her attempts to reach Dean are cut off by his concern for Cas.

11.21: Amara uses Cas to find Dean, we see her placing her hand over Cas’ heart, then cutting to Dean behind a cage motif.

11.22: Casifer going limp on the cut after Amara inflicts her power on Dean and Lucifer’s “vessel” being out of commission afterwards. You cannot convince me that Amara didn’t access Cas’ function through her power..

Isn’t it interesting that throughout season 11, the closups on hearts and pining have all involved Dean or Cas?

Here’s a favorite from all the way back in 5.04. This episode is full of editing choices that tell us about a potential relationship between endverse Dean and Cas: 2014!Dean kills his own man and 2009!Dean intervenes. From the shot of the remaining men and 2009!Dean, we’re led to believe the convoy is disturbed by 2009!Dean. It’s not until 2014!Dean starts talking about his “pretty messed up situation” does the camera cut to 2009!Dean, who, along with the audience, realizes that 2014!Dean isn’t pointing at him, he’s pointing and talking about Cas, and from Cas’ expression, there’s a reason for it. This scene sets up, almost entirely through editing; an unseen structure of the conflicts in the episode and the endverse. The way the relationships for Dean have progressed in this version of the future.  Also in 5.04, there are several great ones in the meeting scene just before they take the fight to Lucifer:

2009!Dean: We were in uh... Janes.. cabin last night, and apparently we, and.. Risa. Have a connection.

Within this dialogue alone, there are several shots showing character relationships. There’s Risa’s disgusted arm crossing, 2014!Dean’s sort of sad glaring, realization of what is known about him in the room and who is present, but most notably Cas’ inhale of realization and smile at the end of what is said. Cas isn’t being spoken to. He has seemingly no reason to have a reaction shot here that says without words “Of course he did” unless there was some reason to place it there. It’s a very specific reaction. 2014!Dean shoots the rest of that conversation down right quick.

There really are so many instances of this. I can only think of a few. I’m sure many others could think of more. Feel free to add your own. Doesn’t have to be destiel related.

Even if we don’t get many match cuts in this show (for some dumb reason), we aren’t short on very heavily framed instances of the Kuleshov effect giving us little glimpses of whatever swims around in the post production of SPN. The final decisions that tell the story mixed with our own expectations and perspectives. Many hands working to create a world.