#i have to make a zine this week but i need access to the feelings part of me

[blackmoldmp3]

its so fucking annoyinggggggg i want stuff to feel good and exciting again but instead its Nothing. and i have things to do

[ofmdrecaps]

07/03/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Leslie Jones; Ruibo Qian; Dominic Burgess; Samba Schutte; Logie Awards; AdoptOurCrew; Auxillery Wardrobe Zine; Teal Oranges & Garlic Soup Week Spotlight Cont'd; Fan Spotlight; Love Notes; Daily Darby/Today's Taika

New month, new blog! Thanks everyone, as you probably can tell there's a new blog for the recaps! I'm doing this to allow for some more silly shenanigans to happen on my main, but also keep the recaps available and more easily accessible to those who want them! For the first few weeks I'll be reblogging them from main, but then will eventually move to just here so as not to overwhelm anyone following. Thanks so much for reading! I love doing these and I was actually surprised how many people followed! I didn't realize so many people were reading, so tysm that warms my heart and made my day!

== Rhys Darby ==

Rhys will be join Baron Vaughn and Rory Scovel on AfterMidnight with Taylor Tomlinson on July 8th, 3 PM PST in Los Angelos, CA! Are you in the area? You can request tickets on their website!

Source: 1iota's Instagram

Next up-- Peacock has posted an exclusive clip of the upcoming The Hungry Games: Alaska's Big Bear Challenge-- starring the voice of our very own Rhys Darby!

== Taika Waititi ==

Awesome new promo for Time Bandits! I'm gonna keep reminding you because I'm actually super psyched for this. July 24th on Apple TV!

Source: Matt_Grace_Photography

== Leslie Jones ==

Leslie out with the LA Sparks! <3 Also, did you know Leslie will be voicing a character in the New Hulu series Hit Monkey? I didn't know! New seasons starts July 15th!

Source: LA Sparks IG / JoshuaGordon

== Ruibo Qian ==

Our Pirate Queen is going to be taking on the role of Ms. Sherlock Holmes in Ms.Holmes & Ms.Watson in APT 2B at the Old Globe Theatre in San Deigo CA! You can buy tickets for July 27th, opening day -- or any of the showings here!

Source: OldGlobeTheatre Instagram

== Dominic Burgess ==

Dominic is gracing us once again with cat pics. I love it <3

Source: Dominic Burgess' Twitter

== Samba Schutte ==

More pictures with Samba at Dancing with Fire LA with the cast / crew of Advanced Chemistry!

Source: alecmoore219's Instagram

== Logie Award Nominations ==

REMINDER! Our beloved Mads, aka Eddie Redcliffe in Deadloch, aka The Baddest MF in Tasmania, has been nominated for a 2024 Logie for Best Lead Actress! So was Kate Box, her costar, and Deadloch was nominated for Best Scripted Comedy Program!

-- and guess what? It's done by vote! If you feel so inclined, please take a moment to go and vote for our dear Archie/Deadloch (or Dulcie whomever you'd like)! https://vote.tvweeklogies.com.au/ Note: You do need to use your email to submit, just FYI!

== Adopt Our Crew ==

Looks like something exciting will be coming soon from @adoptourcrew! I think I might have an idea what it may be related to...

Source: Adopt Our Crew Twitter

== Auxiliary Wardrobe Zine ==

There's a new non-profit charity zine starting up-- in honor of our beloved Captain Stede and OFMD!

"From his flamboyant coats to his sword-slashed shirts, we want to celebrate EVERY way that Stede and fashion come together! Whether this be a canon look you're fond of, his job as a luxury fashion designer in an AU, or Stede in a style of clothing you personally love (or lack of clothing… pinups anyone?!) we encourage contributors to make this prompt their own. This zine will be a digital-only PDF and will consist of a SFW edition and a NSFW edition featuring fanart and fanfic. All proceeds for the zine will go to Care for Gaza."

Want to learn more? You can visit their carrd.co below for scheduling and FAQ's!

Info & FAQ: https://auxiliarywardrobezine.carrd.co

Artist & Writer Signups will start July 6, 2024!

Follow them on Instagram and Twitter!

Source: The Auxiliary Wardrobe: A Stede Bonnet Zine

== Teal Oranges & Garlic Soup Week Spotlights ==

Teal Oranges & Garlic Soup Week may be over, but that doesn't mean the spotlights have to end! Tonight we have the fantastic @hameko1019! I absolutely adore her style and use of color! You can check her work out on Hameko1019's Twitter! Thank you again to @garlicsoupweek for the wonderful prompts!

Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4 / Day 5 / Day 6 / Day 7 / Bonus

Source: Hameko1019's Twitter

== Fan Spotlight ==

= Cast Cards =

Tonight's cast card by our fantastic @melvisik is Jordan Feldman who "was listed as 'Heavily Made-Up Man' in The Best Revenge is Dressing Well."

Source: @melvisik's Twitter

== Love Notes ==

Well lovelies, you've made it half way through another week. Only half more to go-- for those of you in the UK, good luck at the elections! For those in the US, tomorrow is July 4th, and while I know there are mixed feelings this year in the US, please remember to take some time to relax and enjoy a day off if you have it.

You're doing so very well friends. There is SO much going on in the world, so much going on in the fandom, so much going on in your lives. But you are still kicking, and I'm so very proud of you for that. If you need to take a break-- do it. Give yourself some grace and get some rest, the world will still be there in a few days. If you've already done that and you're taking some time to yourself-- great job-- you deserve it. Remember that we will still be here, and we will still love you when you get back. Ed and Stede? Still in love when you get back. They're off terrorising some poor patron of their Inn with stories of being gut stabbed, or forcing them to watch a puppet show they came up with.

You're kicking ass at whatever struggles you are dealing with right now-- give yourself time to celebrate the fact you're surviving them. Rest well lovelies, see you soon <3

== Daily Darby / Today's Taika ==

Tonight's theme is these two goof balls singing. Someone help me find Taika singing Queen, cause then we'll have some gif smushes <3 Tonight's gifs courtesy of @celluloidbroomcloset and @eddie-redcliffe!!

[hyperions-light]

2024 Writing Roundup

Yeeeehaw it's writing roundup time! Thank you for the tag @uchidachi! <3

words posted: 41,838, plus miscellaneous amount of words on Tumblr

additional words written: uhhhh apprx 22,700, give or take. Probably give, bc I'm not counting any of the meta on here

fandoms: All published is for One Piece, almost everything unpublished is Dragon Age + there's some original something for Elden Ring (probably not going to clean that up tbh)

highest kudos: The Road(trip) to Hell is Paved With Questionable Decision Making at 103... which, yeah, it's the most accessible of them lol

highest hit one-shot: catalyst at 513-- pretty good, considering I only posted it at the end of October. Maybe cheating because it needs a sequel? But I haven't written it, so for now it remains an OS

new things I tried: I did two zines and three events (BB, Corazon Week and Fight)! They were fun, but I'll probably mostly focus on making my own stuff this next year. And I expect to mostly be hanging around the DA fandom, as opposed to OP

fic I spent the most time on: I doooon't know, but I think it was the ascent? High concept, difficult to write and wrangle into something resembling what I wanted. Good exercise, though.

fic I spent the least time on: I think it was resentment-- I do really love this one, actually, but I didn't spend too much time on it because it came together in like a day? Even the editing was quick.

favourite thing I wrote: Probably it deepens like a coastal shelf, which is an AU of someone else's fic lol, so very niche, but I loooove writing about terrible people and family drama. And I got to quote poetry. And make people cry <3

favourite thing(s) I read: I've really loved reading all of your fics that you all keep sending for BW fic comments Saturdays! And I enjoy hearing about everyone's Rooks, too <3 I don't feel it's fair to do 'best of' fics but I thought I'd pull a few that have lower interaction rates for various reasons; the BW fandom is soooo talented, though, my recommendation is to give whatever sounds interesting to you a shot!

pray for rain by mafalda_157 who I believe is @darethshirl on here? Elgar'nan/Solas, Mythal/Elgar'nan, dubcon + politics with especially strong character voices

Five, Seven, Five by theharellan, @queenaeducan Really beautiful and poetic Solas&Cadash!Inquisitor gen fic

The Memory of Her Scent by Vespaer, @vespaer77 Angsty Solavellan between games, gorgeously written

Mien'Harel by bodysnatch3r, @bodysnatch3r canon divergence Felassan/Solas, really stunning prose and well-realized world. Also recommend the Heistverse series, for any Hobbit enthusiasts!

(please don't take this as like... me not endorsing the other fics, I'm really enjoying reading everyone's <3 I just went off the top of my head + pulled stuff I think may have been somewhat overlooked. Also I am not even done with last week's set yet)

In every other fandom I peruse I am an Old Man Yaoi enjoyer, so I also will always recommend A Reflection of Starlight (reread) for Les Mis, and, for those of you interested in OP fic, the works of spaceliquid, ArgelTal (@chaoticargeltal-- they wrote this fic based on a prompt of mine & did an incredible job!), and Harmonica_Smile/Rescue_Remedy (@chromatic-lamina) who all write beautifully <3

writing goals for 2025: Need to finish that original thing I'm working on by... August?? I should check lol. And then I need to publish as much of this DA stuff as I can that's sitting in drafts lol... will the foursome be first?? unclear

new works: idk, Leth's thing I'm writing, probably some Lucanis&Bellara stuff, some Neve/Rook/Lucanis, and the Rook/Teia/Viago/Lucanis WT: speak of me in the language of reverence

tagging: I'm actually not sure if it's going to let me tag anyone else BUT @covertleathers, @thedissonantverses, @taashyvashedan, @chromatic-lamina, @wardensantoineandevka, @biowaredisasterbisexual, @mageofquandrix + anyone else who would like to do this!

[arcanemoody]

It's 6:15pm.

I'm in Chicago.

I'm drinking cherry limeade from my "gay sex and class war" steel water bottle.

Research mode took me and I went down a ProQuest hole -- which neither of my library credentials gives me access to, so I basically got three pages of citations (which is great, I'll take them). My local library uses Swan Libraries for periodicals and newspaper articles, so I was able to download some full text and photos there (including the Woodstein article I posted earlier).

We have a four-day week at the school with Friday off and next Monday off. My family is having a get together on Saturday to sort through Gram's things, and a general Easter get together early Sunday morning. I don't want to go. I spent this past weekend having dinner with my cousin, volunteering, going to a show, driving and spending all of Sunday at the Illinois Railway Museum with my nibling. I've got a zine fest in South Bend the weekend after that. But we just lost my grandmother, my aunt is sick, and I feel like an ass for being selfish. While also debating whether needing rest is selfish at all.

Moderate symptoms the last few days -- the lack of rest probably contributed. (Sad Enough to Break Windows is a feeling). Minor sound sensitivity this afternoon, combined with the math co-teacher's gardenia infuser which forced me to double mask. Lots of random itches and feelings of overheating. No constriction mainly because I'm refusing to tempt fate by wearing a bralette or binder. Minor dysphoria as a result, but at least I'm not trying to scratch my tits off with a plastic spork.

Things I feel positive about: writing and editing, making some badges, watching Severance and eating ramen with Rocket. Found my star stickers. I spent less than $2 today. I'm seeing Eraserhead tomorrow.

[hermannsthumb]

Hello! For the summer prompts, if you feel the inspiration, I'd love to see "sunburn" and "mosquito" combined please! 💜

2. Sunburn + 29. Mosquitos

from summer prompt memes here

i'm at the beach for a little bit, so i am in a beachy mood and wanted to send these guys off to one too!! been so busy with zine stuff that I haven't had time to write a silly fic in a while, so here's a short one :-)

----------------------------------------------------------

“This is fun, isn��t it?” Newt says.

Hermann, swathed under a large sunhat and a loose terrycloth button-down, peers out at the ocean with an expression that Newt might call, generously, vague skepticism, and ungenerously outright distaste. But the crease in his brow smooths out as he turns his attention towards Newt, and he quirks up the corner of his mouth. Not exactly a smile from anyone but Hermann. “Er, yes,” he says. “It’s very—hot. But lovely,” he adds quickly. “Very—hot, and lovely.”

Newt hasn’t been to the beach—for non-work related reasons, which is to say a beach that isn’t crawling in, like, enough xenobiological radiation to kill him under ten minutes without the proper PPE—in what must be almost fifteen years at this point, back since the days when he used to crouch for hours over tide pools and scribble barely-legible notes in a composition book before he had to hustle back off to campus for class. Baby’s first field journal. The Pacific coasts are still very much a gamble for a fun day out, but they’re chilling outside DC for the week while they’re traded between nearby universities and fancy banquet halls to get their hands shaken and backs patted or whatever, and by God (Newt decided) he was going to take Hermann on a good, proper beach date if it killed him. Metaphorically. Hopefully not actually with kaiju blue poisoning, because that would suck.

Whether through the lingering effects of their drift or Hermann just being fluent in Newtonian mannerisms at this point, he picked up on Newt’s ulterior motives for insisting on getting a jeep from the car rental place pretty much immediately. He was at least surprisingly chill about it all: all he did was tell Newt, calmly, that he’ll need to stop off at a department store for the proper attire, and that Newt might want to consider a motel room as well so they don’t have to spend seven hours on the road in one day, both of which were pretty reasonable requests. Newt was just planning on swimming in boxers. Not like anyone but Hermann would be able to tell the difference.

They hit miserable traffic on the world’s most terrifying bridge while the A/C sputtered tragically at them (Newt is so asking for a partial refund, it’s July man, come on), and Hermann stared out the window at the ocean a long drop below without making a peep while Newt tried to awkwardly fill the silence with anything that came to his head. Mostly about how much fun they were going to have. They shelled out ten bucks for parking at the public access beach and even more money to rent a tattered umbrella, and the beach was just enough on the wrong side of practically empty that it set both of them on edge (though Newt could tell Hermann was trying to hide it). People are still a little wary of setting foot within fifteen miles of an ocean.

It's romantic, Newt told Hermann, and he tried to rub sunblock on his shoulders sensually, but accidentally jabbed his thumb in the wrong way and made Hermann full-body recoil away from him. I can handle that, he told Newt tersely, but he gave Newt a small thank-you kiss anyway as he wrestled the bottle away from him. The umbrella doesn’t work—too many metal prongs broken with age or over-use. Newt wonders if they dug it out of the bottom of the pile or something. Not wanting to risk getting impaled by a spoke, they ended up closing it and just hoping the sunblock does the job right.

“You’re hot and lovely,” Newt tries, lamely.

Hermann doesn’t acknowledge Newt’s half-assed flirting beyond a small sigh. Newt can’t blame him. Hermann lifts the brim of his hat, peering at a fly that’s just landed on Newt’s calf, and Newt winces a second later when it bites him. "Fuck," he says, and slaps at it. It buzzes away angrily to Hermann’s ankle, presumably to bite him too, so Newt leans forward to valiantly shoo it again. Hermann looks down at him in mingled annoyance and fondness. “Biting flies,” Newt sighs. “Forgot about these bastards.” Benefits of living in various UN-sanctioned basements for ten-odd years, weird bugs that like to cause you bodily harm are a rare occurrence.

“Newton, ah,” Hermann says, adjusting the brim of the hat against a sudden gust of slightly fishy sea-breeze, “how long did you want to stay out here? On the beach, I mean?”

“As long as you want, dude,” Newt says. It’s date-day, and when they drive back they’ll be consumed by their lectures and suits and making good impressions again, so he wants to enjoy himself for as long as possible. More specifically he wants Hermann to enjoy himself for as long as possible. Then again—he’s hot and a little on the sting-y side of tanned, and he’s pretty sure he just saw a mosquito settling on Hermann’s shoulder. “Why, did you want to leave?”

He sounds pathetically hopeful and immediately feels guilty about it. He hyped this up to Hermann so much, he’s not gonna ruin the guy’s fun. “No, no,” Hermann says. “Of course not. I’m having—er—a wonderful time.” He begins to scratch absently at his shoulder. There’s a small bump rising up from what looks like a gnarly patch of sunburn.

“Cool,” Newt says.

“Bit buggy though, isn’t it?” Hermann says. He scratches at another mosquito bite on his ankle.

“It’s not too bad!” Newt says. “I can deal with it.”

“If you're sure,” Hermann says.

They pack the rented jeep up around sunset when the public beach blessedly closes at last. Newt drops the busted umbrella twice on the dunes on the hike back to the parking lot, and Hermann (who’s clutching on to Newt so he doesn’t lose his footing on the uneven ground) finally loses his sunhat for good when he tries to bend down to help Newt the second time: it’s caught in the wind and blown out to sea. They watch sadly as a wave swallows it. “I’ll buy you another one,” Newt says.

They sit in silence in the jeep for a few minutes when Newt starts it, enjoying the A/C (however weak it is) after a day spent in the thick humidity. Hermann’s bony shoulders and fine cheekbones are lobster-red. He’s scratching absently at his thigh. It’s the first time Newt’s ever seen the guy in shorts, and he can’t even enjoy it through the uncomfortable haze of guilt. “Newton,” Hermann finally sighs. “I very much appreciate your, er, enthusiasm for the day, but—” He touches the back of his red neck, wincing, and cranks the A/C up a notch. “—perhaps next time, we might just see a film, or go for dinner?”

“Oh, my God,” Newt says. He sags in the driver’s seat. “Fucking yes, please. That was awful.” It’s cruel to rip them from the comfort of their underground lab and drop them back into the elements of, like, the great outdoors without some build-up, even if this was in fact all Newt’s doing. Like a zoo putting a penguin in a lion habitat or something. Except Newt was the one to tell them to do it.

“It was terrible,” Hermann agrees.

“Why the hell didn’t you say something?!” Historically Hermann has never, ever had a problem bitching at Newt about even the slightest inconvenience or perceived annoyance.

“You went to all that trouble,” Hermann says, “and I was trying to be—” He grits his teeth. “Nice.”

“Gross, dude,” Newt says. “Don’t ever do that again.”

[windydrawallday]

Where do you find inspiration and motivation to make art? Is there a process to the whole mental prep for creating?

(Love your art so I thought I would ask :D)

You want me to make a TED Talk about art? Because that is what this will be coff

Inspiration comes from everywhere for me! I think it helps to have not only an open mind but also the spirit of an infant: get awestruck by what nature, science, history, culture, etc. offers. Even between my everyday activities, I find myself asking about how it felt for the first human to discover they could cook their food, or experimenting with so many shapes for pasta to get sauce stuck to it! I'm that silly.

Because most if not all things were already thought of if not invented by someone: we have so much heritage. We are blessed to have access to all this information and tools. Don't feel afraid to reference them! To dig critically into the work of someone else you feel it vibes with you and make it yours, too. Is healthy. Is good!

That ties in with one of the processes that helps me yank the abstract clay from my head to the canvas: making MOOD BOARDS!* I use them mostly to nail the visual style I want for illustrations (almost all my zine pics started with a mood board):

I use a similar method but call them MUSE BOARDS when working with character's archetypes, mannerisms, behaviors, etc I want to portray both accurately and with personal twists:

*Some prefer to call them aesthetic boards because of how the internet bastardized the use of the word for gif sets but ask a graphic or fashion designer, architect, etc; the term for a collage of visual references that are usually static IS mood board.

Tho, lately, during these weeks dealing with the burnout and gnawing art block, another thing became my motivation to keep doing art... and I'll put it under the cut because it can be quite dark for some (CW mention of death/mortality themes):

Probably I'll sound cynical and/or edgy for saying this but it's the truth:

One of these days, I could die (not by my own hand but this world is bigger and powerful than me, I can't control everything in it) and all those ideas and visions I never put on paper, will die with me.

And so, when I'm struggling with a part of the process during a piece and find myself wanting to quit, I say: If I give up now, I'm letting the idea die before I step into the graveyard.

When I'm killing my ideas, I'm killing myself, slowly. And I don't want that.

I go back to the canvas and try, TRY and T R Y. Until the idea comes out.

Probably incomplete. For sure imperfect. Still a work in progress.

But out of my mortal brain.

Flesh of paper, blood of ink. Colors of pixels, layers upon layer of illusory ligh and shadows.

Mine and at the same time, for the world. It's free now to be welcomed by other minds, to be wanted and played by other hearts.

It's immortal, it can inspire people beyond my reach. Even after I'm not here in constant presence.

Isn't that enough motivation?

I got overboard with this but I hope it doesn't sound too overdramatic orz I needed this out of my chest too haha

THANK YOU for your interest! Is always welcomed ✨✨✨✨✨

[darlingpoppet]

any updates on wtdf? i hope u have a wonderful day 💕

Hi anon! Thanks so much for checking in! And thanks for doing it on tumblr, this is a good opportunity to push me out of lurk mode and refill my queue while offering some much needed updates!

Anyways, the short answer is: WTDF chapter 8 is coming along, albeit more slowly than I intended, and it might still be another month or two before it’s finally done.

The longer explanation is this: Chapter 8 is another doozy like chapter 4 was… if you read the notes for chapter 4, or read my other WTDF-related posts here on tumblr, then perhaps you’re familiar with the fact that completing that chapter was also a protracted process that juggled a different fic project with a fixed deadline, a bout of writer’s block, and inspiration wandering to some different one-shots before ultimately getting me back on-track. I’m a bit sorry to say that I seem to be unintentionally experiencing an exact repeat of last year 🥲💦

In April, when I was still on-track to finish the chapter within my self-imposed deadline, a friend asked me to pinch-hit for their zine, and I was happy to put all my own projects on the back burner for a couple of weeks while I helped out a friend in-need. Once that project was finished at the end of April I immediately got back to work on WTDF, but less than two weeks in (right around the time Hades II Early Access dropped, so I was already a little bit distracted lol) I got saddled with a leadership position preparing for an event at my kid’s kindergarten, which took up 100% of my free time as well as the complete use of my hands (because A LOT of crafting was also involved lol.) So for the rest of May, zero writing got done (though I listened to a lot of podcasts and youtube video essays during that time, I’m thinking of making a rec list sometime of the stuff I enjoyed just for fun!)

And now here we are toward the end of June and the chapter still isn’t done. Even now I keep huffing the copium by telling myself I can finish it by the end of the month, but I’m gonna be honest: all of the interruptions & delays have left me struggling to get back in the right headspace for this story & at this point I admit that I seem to have fallen into another writer’s block 🥲 The last couple of weeks have been me making incremental progress while also trying to refill my cups.

I really hoped I could finish it this month because I’m already planning on doing camp nanowrimo in July to FINALLY finish the draft for the dreamers AU that has also been in the works for over a year now. And tbh that’s the story that I’m now daydreaming about as I start to get myself back into the writing zone. So I think I just gotta Trust The Process on this one and strike the iron where it’s hot for now, because at least I can point to my experience last year and give credit to my fics Closest & Flourishing for giving me the needed momentum to finally get WTDF Ch 4 over the finish line (followed by a streak of productivity that lasted me pretty much up until this point!)

So while I’m sorry that this means WTDF Ch 8 is gonna continue to be delayed a bit longer, I also think it’ll be worth it in the end when I have both these projects finished and I’m feeling good about the direction the inspiration is taking them. FWIW a lot of the ideas & themes I’m thinking about for the dreamers AU—such as prolonged periods of transition, coming of age, and the liminal qualities of queerness & gender identity—they are helping ideas coalesce in my approach to WTDF Ch 8, which, as I may have mentioned before, is a treatment of the Skyros arc. It’s actually fitting that I’m working on these projects both at the same time because I think they’re actively making one another better, which means I’m getting even more excited to complete & share them! The dreamers AU seems likely to be split into two parts at this point, so it makes sense to me to sandwich the WTDF update in between those. I can never really make concrete promises about my publishing schedule anymore, but for now at least, that’s the plan.

Anyways sorry for the longwinded & possibly boring explanation/list of excuses. But I appreciate your ask, it means a lot to know that people care 🥹🙏 Thank you everyone for their patience so far!!! I know I’m slow haha but everyone has been nothing but kind & understanding about it <3

You have a wonderful day as well ❤️

[circlejourney]

so idk if it was clear but. I'm doing really bad. Constant brain fog, spontaneously breaking down, hiding from Discord. I've gotten so used to handling burnout like this, by forcing my mind and body to go through the motions of moving and doing, that even now I'm working.

I promise, I am not saying this to make anyone feel bad for giving me things to do, I can't begrudge anyone. I am the one who accepted those responsibilities or social contracts. I didn't think it would come down to this, though it is very much my fault that they did.

I can't work on commissions + do business management and accounting for commissions + prep for and then tutor 2 university classes + write a research paper + run a study not related to the research paper + attend all the meetings I have set up in the next few weeks + run a zine + run the zine's social media + manage physical distribution of the zine + volunteer to do an online panel + make verdicts on a community album with >100 submissions + manage the emotional pressures of several different projects relying on my contributions, all at the same time, while dealing with the worst insomnia, relying on medication to sleep and also idk cooking and cleaning and doing the things needed to stay alive.

I made several mistakes to reach this point. I now have to respect that this is unprecedented even for me. It is my fault because my way of coping with feeling like I'm bad at things (i.e. all the time) is to give myself more things to do. And because I'm incapable of saying no or telling people I'm overwhelmed.

But rn even seeing unread messages sends me into an anxiety attack, and the thought of sacrificing even one evening to relaxation feels the same as throwing it away. Pretty much the only non-work/obligation-based thing I am capable of convincing myself to making the time for rn is time with my partner.

I get it, if I don't rest, I'm never gonna be in the best state to work. But I can't afford to rest. I've gotten in too deep with too many things and I'm scared for them to grind to a halt, or even fall apart, without my help. I know life will go on without me. but who can trust me anymore if I can't fulfill the responsibilities I signed up for?

if you wanna respond please respond here I am not checking my main discord this is the only place I'm looking at for non-work things that non-IRL friends have access to

[m-r-levine]

On Interruptions of Flow

Blocks used to be just part of the normal cycles of work and rest and refilling the well, the rhythms of moving between projects. (I won’t deny the good feelings and brain juices from feedback on the work, but it was never the driving force. I treasure comments like a dragon treasures their hoarde, but the urge to write and the pleasure of storytelling are not primarily or even secondarily grounded in the reception of the work.)

In the last few years, that changed. I don’t know if this was a true cause or if it was just one little part of a whole system of events that led to my creative process breaking down, but.

In 2019, I dropped all my other projects to meet an absurd deadline for a zine piece, and then for various reasons, a month later I took that story to pieces to see if an actual novel length concept might be hidden in there**.

Meanwhile, some fairly major things were going on in my personal life, and the tremors were getting markedly worse.

Suddenly I didn’t have blocks of time or steadiness of hand to paint either, except for pushing through for a couple of excruciating outstanding commissions, and struggling to wrap up the second volume of the graphic novel. Yet even with a few of those deadlines dealt with I could no longer make words go on any other project. I tried everything in the toolbox to get the brain going again, especially after a side effect of quarantine gave back my former 3+ hours daily commute time.

Finishing the renovations on the old house ate almost everything I had to give, and my partner’s mental health struggles took the rest. I cannot begin to explain to you just how few spoons I have had between the boring job (which became much more intense with the effects of the pandemic) and Life™️.

Previously, writing and sketching helped me unwind and ground after a shift, or even during breaks. In the last few years though…

Words came slowly for La Mala Suerte, but opening any other story filled my brain with static noises. I could not string basic sentences together. I could not outline plot, I had no fragments of dialogue or vignettes fall into my head like before. When I ran out of backlog to post… Suddenly I had nothing.

Short stretches being dry like that are familiar enough, but days and weeks turned into months and years of desperately wanting to tell the stories and in the few moments of quiet I could steal away? Nothing. It’s an eerie feeling, having the vivid and even visceral scenes that are already written and outlined still looping in my head, screaming to get out, but the moment I try to write connective tissue? Right back to tv snow.

Unlike painting, my writing is accessible everywhere I go, even when it hurts to hold a pen - being able to get ‘lost’ in stories helped me through some incredibly hard times in the past, and losing that ability was devastating. The disappointment and yes, the shame of being adrift and wordless has been wretched. I have longed for the elation I used to find on the other side of a hard passage, the joy of solving the puzzle and freeing the spirit from the proverbial stone.

I still don’t entirely understand what happened in my brain that autumn of 2019… I just know that something changed, and we’re still not… entirely back from it. I am suspecting that Long Covid is now part of it - that was summer of ‘21 though, and I was already firmly lodged in The Block by then.

Maybe it was just one a longer but still normal drought and needing recovery time from intensely brain-heavy Life Events™️ until that extra layer was added? I truly don’t know. I don’t know if it matters either, except in that I am deeply afraid I will lose it again.

Anyway, that’s the ramble for the afternoon on the writing side. Hopefully the Boring Job leaves me some braincells to work on asks and stuff later.

* caveat: Except for the fact some truly wretched negative/judgy feedback can entirely poison the affected work for me and make it impossible to get forward motion(Obsidian Slipper is one such victim, I may talk about it more later.)

** hola Teca. 😒

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

Have a bunch of really cool texts to read tomorrow. Some pertinent to work, others pertinent to my hobbies, but all of them delightfully anarchist in nature. I do truly love how many of us there are across the fields and subcultures I spend my time in. It makes me feel good about where I choose to put my energy.

Anyway, I want to do some reading this weekend, maybe formulate some theories around my Trauma Focused DBT modality I've been trying to formulate. Done right, I think it could be an entirely functional model of therapeutic care that could be taught at many levels of social learning, making it a great therapeutic mutual aid model. It's also, with more research final being done into autism from the perspective of self and community driven need these days giving me direction into the specifics, a good option for other autistic people like me. Especially if, as a functional and skills driven model I can make it accessible to my comrades with low processing, intellectual disability, etc. I know it's doable. I can build it ground up with them in mind.

So my brain's been churning obvi, between this, the food forestry stuff, the new art program for the zine (I've settled on Fire Alpaca for now because the name and logo delight my brain), the clients at work, my chats about the future with my lady (it's our 10th anniversary this year and I've been feeling nostalgic), the lot of it. Some weeks feel like months, some days feel like years. Anyway, the point is, I've had a LOT of interesting thoughts on my mind and not necessarily as much free time as I'd like to explore them. My weekend will be a great opportunity to do that. I'm definitely going to have to call my moms and do some medical notetaking tomorrow, so that means I'll want to do some reading either tonight or in the morning. Then when I wrap up with moms and medical stuff maybe I'll start doing some stuff for work on conceptualizations of stress versus trauma and why the way we as western society treat PTSD actually entrenches it rather than manages the root causes. Not to get preachy about it lmao.

[januaryone2am]

Survey of Graphic Design Styles (Poster Specific)

Writing out all the different styles to understand the breadth of my knowledge of the graphic design scenes thus far. 

Psychedelic: Often characterized by fried color palletes, nearly illegible type and subjects that seem like they were the ideas of incredibly high people. What i love about psychedelic posters is that they seem like they are aiming to be the most of something. 

Relics from an Alternate Future - Rudnick / Eric Hu. Both have similar styles. Not even necessarily internet coded but certainly involve visions of the future. Typography that feels anywhere from ancient to hypermodern. Illustrations that feel futuristic. Whether through the photo treatment or through the style of imagery. Eric Hu’s for example being 3D claymation feels like it has not been done before. I think that’s one of the best things that they did. They made / make things that attempt to embody the current moment. Things that have not been made before. Little to none of my stuff thus far has done that. I need to work toward that. That will be my tomorrow. How do i modernize / update myself. 

Art Noveau - Decorative illustrated frames, highly detailed illustrations. 

Letterpress Posters - Beautiful Angle makes these, Art Chantry also references them sometimes. Often Type heavy.

Russian constructivist - Large blocky typefaces, all the type at different 45 degree angles. 

Paul Rand minimalism - simple beautiful elements (photo collage etc), large amount of blank space enhances the power of the poster. 

David Carson maximalism - A purposeful rupturing of the visual hierarchy. Alien choices of font. Alien choices of layouts. Super singular. 

90’s Gig posters / PUNK ZINE - printed on bad lofi printers / papers. mostly handdrawn. and collage. out of sheer necessity. would be cool to figure out what feels that level of easily accessible these days. There could be a meme language that is similar to this. unconcerned with beauty, more concerned with ideas.

Swiss Design - incredibly simple / refined. mostly about how beautiful super simple fonts like helvetica can be.

Art Deco Posters - same old kind of decorative. I think a lot of these older kinds of posters can be referenced with new objects in order to be renewed. like how i did the mouse in a refined way. 

I think a lot of stuff is referencing the craziness of the nineties. what if our layouts were fucked up. what if our stuff was weirder than what you’ve seen before. I’d love to become someone that did it about the ideas. Tbh would be cool to start everyday spending like almost a half an hour scheming on what i want to learn that day. 

I feel like what i learned this week was that i am a photographer. i should prioritize making the dopest images possible yet again. image treatment on all fronts. everybody is still lacking that imo. i should gather images all this week or somethin. f yea.

[michelleisdead05]

CTS B | Compulstory Question 1

Together, we developed a few ways to demonstrate how CTS-B might help us with our critical thinking. We discussed the significance of self-awareness, self-confidence, and communication skills. Every argument made has merit in that they are abilities that can make us better people and more skilled designers.

Since I think it could represent how I learnt and how I wanted to be as a nineteen-year-old student, I would personally like to draft my own manifesto. It may alter in the future, but for now, it works more as a reminder for me as I carry on my creative career. When we design, there is always insecurity (I think this is a problem that many other designers have too). There were moments when I was having a lot of struggle with ideas of failure or inadequacy. I thus jotted down a few points that I will always remember when working or when I'm feeling anxious about where I am going.

Personally, my favorite manifesto is "Perfect takes time" because I always want everything to be perfect at the beginning, or I will never finish my works because I know I cannot demonstrate it as perfect as what I have in mind.

For me, one of the most important things about CTS B is that I can utilize the sessions and activities as a time for self-reflection, which allows me to assess my life's path and myself, something I don't often do on a daily basis. I find the topic of Week 10: Statement of Artistic Vision to be the most intriguing, as it allows me to critically evaluate my hobbies, career path, and what is required. I need to take some time to reflect and make decisions about the future, so I have to sit down and question myself honestly about what I want to accomplish and how I'm going to do it.

Learning various creative skills, including weaving, knotting, and embossing, in Materiality and Techniques enabled me to establish a stronger bond with Asian cultures. I grew up with baskets and fishing nets, and Non La, the national symbol of Vietnam, is made by weaving. And as a nineteen-year-old Vietnamese girl, I am proud of our traditional costumes. Since Ao Dai is already well-known, I decided to write about Nhat Binh for my zine. Since this is the most magnificent traditional costume of Vietnam, I would want to show everyone a work of art from my homeland. I also believe that it is simpler to convey information that is relevant to me. It's fascinating how taking this course helps me learn more about my own ancestry during the researching phase.

440 words

Michelle, et al. "CTS-B Manifesto." 22 Oct. 2024. Accessed 11 Nov. 2024.

Michelle. "Michelle's Manifesto." 9 Nov. 2024. Accessed 13 Nov. 2024.

Vietnamese Ancient Costume: The Beauty and History of Nhat Binh [출처] Vietnamese Ancient Costume: The Beauty and History of Nhat Binh|작성자 한아세안센터, 6 Sept. 2021. https://blog.naver.com/akcsns/223157567870

Nguyen, Binh. "Eateat Saigon Street Food" 10th May. 2020. Accessed 13 Nov. 2024. https://www.behance.net/gallery/96855071/Eateat-SaiGon-Street-Food?tracking_source=search_projects_recommended%7Casian+food+comic

[plloydarts246]

Reading & Reflection 9

Type on Screen

This chapter discusses the challenges of preserving the integrity of type in on-screen design. It explains the limitations of rendering type on screens, such as the reduction in resolution and the jagged appearance of curved and diagonal edges. ​It also talks about techniques for displaying on-screen fonts, such as antialiasing and hinting. Which I never understood fully and I think is interesting to know about. ​Also it provides guidelines for selecting typefaces for on-screen use. For example, using sans serif typefaces for clarity and simplicity. ​ The use of grids is still very important when it comes to web design and creating web pages. I pulled the quote below because every designer knows the struggle of choosing a font. A good choice (would could take a long time) can make or break a design.

"As (web) designers gain access to a greater percentage of the world’s font libraries, the need to understand typography from historical, technological, and communicative perspectives is critical."

We finished up working on our Zine projects this week and I was dreading the process as usual. That being said, I like how it turned out, especially referring to the postcard aspect of the design. I feel like it was sort of different from the others that I saw. It was very challenging as far as placement goes for several panels because you have to account for "THE FOLD." I test printed and folded so many times to get it correct and I still managed to mess it up in the end.

Anyhow, our next 2 projects are a little daunting in my opinion. I have only just begun sketches and things. But I have a vision for what the poster could become, hopefully my skill will match that. I have completed a good amount of research into the national park that I am working with. The Sequoia national park is one that is dominated by the large redwoods. I am faced with the challenge of giving the viewer some notion of scale and grandeur and trees without just obviously using a tree trunk. I added some sketches that I liked here.

Below I added the design I made for the Friends of Congaree Swamp. I was tasked with remaking an old design, they only had a single photo of the bandanna, and they wanted it digitized. At first I tried to just pen tool it and add text with a font I chose. They wanted it all done by hand to match the original drawing style. So I used a stylus in illustrator and redrew all the lines and words by hand. I got ahead of myself and created this soundtrack and everything for the video below. I will also try to do the same thing for my current national park. But next time, I will have to make up my mind sooner.

[chromatic-lamina]

Of course I’m one of those who would benefit, and also not all fan events do this, but I feel that zines and events that are promo-ing said zines and events could maybe dip into the reserves of drabbles or other written work from creators on the characters/themes they’re featuring, in addition to the art work they use.

Pre-existing art is often featured. Why not pre-existing writing? Smaller pieces or excerpts at least? (To be fair, some events have done this/do this).

Like, I think that writers get it; many events are only interested in art or artists: Art is instantly accessible and will always get more traction, but I like reading fiction in events and zines too, and interest checks show that most people are interested in its inclusion.

Pertaining to zines (as opposed to character week events, etc).—aside from limited space for writers, and roles already being allocated to mods and guest writers within that limited space—I think this maybe adds to why interest checks receive a much lower participation rate from potential writers.

Writers know that chances of inclusion are very slim. And zines and many events just don’t seem to be interested in the written word if their lead-up promos are anything to go by.

In terms of physical products, I know there are many factors contributing to lower writer inclusion, such as space in the zine, printing and postage costs, etc., and I know that many artists are actively working in the field whereas many writers are not—so maybe if a zine is artist-driven it’s easier to assess work, etc., if it is purely visual. And yeah, the written word will always be less popular on social media.

But I feel that zines/events could make more of an effort to acknowledge the existence of written pieces, and to also help promote them, or, alternatively, maybe just put up the sign: Writers need not apply/contribute, if inclusion is not wanted or has already been decided.

I know it takes a lot to organise an event, and I’m mostly talking about the hype period before production or the start of a zine or event. I do appreciate all the work that a ton of people do for free to bring these products and events to fandom’s table, and know that you absolutely cannot please all of the people all of the time. Digital zines and anthologies are the way to go for writers, btw, if better odds of inclusion are sought.

[destiny-islanders]

I'm about to participate in my first zine which is making me nervous/excited. Do you have any advice about composition and colors? I definitely want to make sure the image doesn't appear too dark in print form and my contrast in my shading is visible.

Yooo congratulations!!! :D :D :D That’s so exciting! 

And ahh sure I can offer some advice! :>

I wish I could break this up in smaller chunks but this hellsite’s bullet point system is GARBAGE so sorry in advance for the giant blocks of text

Pay attention to bleed guidelines! Let’s say you’re in a zine and one of the mods shares the dimensions of the book with you. For example, “2550 px x 3300 px at 300dpi, plus a 4mm bleed.” You probably know this, but the bleed of a page is sort of like the “danger zone” lmao. The bleed may end up being cropped in order to fit your piece into the book. You basically don’t want to put anything important in the bleed area. You should still absolutely fill the areas-- most zines expect pieces that utilize the entire page-- but don’t stick anything important there, like text in a comic, or half of someone’s face, or details that you really want to see. (Some zines provide contributors with templates that not only let you immediately access a document of the correct dimensions for the zine, but also include the bleed! Never take these mods for granted, they’re very awesome to do that hahaha) ;;

Color’s a bit trickier since, if you’re working digitally, every monitor can show you something different and it can be hard to tell if something looks right. :/ But don’t worry!

Printed media is done in CMYK color! Digital media is typically done in RBG color! You’ll notice that CMYK is... much duller than RGB haha. Certain programs like Photoshop will let you switch between RGB and CMYK on the fly as you’re working, which is pretty useful. While you’re coloring, most art programs will let you know if you’re using a color in RGB that won’t be supported in CMYK, so try to adjust if you find yourself dabbling too much in unsupported palettes. Most zines offer physical and digital versions and will ask you to submit RGB and CMYK versions of your piece. Once you finish your work in one color mode, save it, then switch to the other color mode and make adjustments as necessary. 

Be wary of working with too much dark color. That’s not to say you should steer clear of dark pieces-- you just need to be mindful of how dark your piece gets. Because in CMYK, colors tend to darken and smooth out, so if you submit something too dark, your piece might not look as awesome as it does on your screen :( I’m not one of those artists who’d tell you to never color with black, but I would suggest avoiding trying to blend with black and, say, dark blue or dark purple in print. I feel like that would run a huge risk of being too dark in print. If you have the means to access a color printer, you can try printing your zine piece to see if it turns out okay! :D I understand this can be a costly and wasteful use of a printer if it’s just for testing purposes-- I only have a black and white printer at home myself-- but if you’re really worried and you have a color printer... *shrugs*

Communicate. Most zines will use a Discord server to stay in touch with everyone. If you don’t have a Discord and don’t want to make one, make sure you are constantly checking your e-mail or social media DMs for updates and requests from your mod team. It can be very hard as a mod if you spend weeks and weeks trying to get a hold of a contributor that’s suddenly gone ghost ;___;

Don’t be afraid to ask the mods questions! Your mods are there to help you. They know the ins and outs of the zine-- what the dimensions are, how the zine will be formatted, submission folders, etc. (They should also be able to help advise you if you should make any color adjustments to your piece, to tie into my last point!) If you need an extension for a check-in, don’t hesitate to do so, but DO try to ask in advance instead of on check-in day. As someone who’s experienced a string of emergencies this year that caused me to request last-minute extensions on deadlines, I know that this isn’t always possible. But let’s say you’re swamped with school or you have a very important work event near a deadline that’s taking up much of your free time and energy. Let the mods know you’re swamped. If they’re good mods (which I’m sure they are), they will be understanding and happy to work with you by offering an extension that will help suit your needs. Of course, there are hard deadlines in every project with expectations from manufacturers and promised release dates, so if you find yourself overwhelmed or unable to submit your piece for the zine by a certain point, you may not be able to submit a piece. But life happens. Be kind to yourself <3

Don’t be shy to interact with other contributors too! :> (Hypocritical of me since I’m very shy and don’t talk very much in the zine servers I’m in except for Sora Zine but I was a mod for that zine so I had to be more present lmao) But here is a group of awesome creators who share a passion with you! :> Share memes, talk about your faves, share WIPs, ask for advice! :D You might leave a zine with some new friends :3

Have fun! I remember how nervous I was when I worked on my first zine piece, but try to remember to have fun when you work on it! Pick a concept that you’ll enjoy working on that will challenge your creativity but not overwhelm you. Try to work on your piece from check-in to check-in, gradually over time, instead of just cramming everything into the night before a deadline. Your piece will come out better for it, and you’ll save yourself a lot of stress and late nights. :>

Again, congrats on getting into your first zine-- many happy returns, if you’re so inclined to join more <3

[ineffableplanner]

Newsletter #94 - The week of Saturday December 4th 2021 - Saturday December 11th 2021

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! I am still in this fandom to a certain point, but twice-weekly posts (and finding the information save the ones you lovely people send me) is beginning to take its toll on the gazillion other things that are lining up. I am considering ‘abdicating’ the newsletter if I can find someone who is willing to pick it up and run it. If you do, please contact me through ineffableplanner@gmail.com. There’s a gmail to take over, a twitter, a tumblr and even an instagram I never got around to using. As well as a pillowfort account and a trello. I will still be around to assist if needed and I WILL vet applications. If you've ever started shit in this fandom, I'll probably know and the answer will be NO. I have too much respect for the users of this newsletter to just go for the first and best offer.

If no one is interested, I may either retire the newsletter when 2022 hits or at least put it on hiatus. Or possibly change the style of it to reblogging rather than listing.

If you know of an event going on or coming up, feel free to let me know :)

Go forth, have fun! Create much!

If you run a GO tumblr with recs or resources, let me know. Running a zine and want to get the word out? The inbox is always open.

If any discord servers go AWOL or you feel one should be added (remember to clear it with the MODS first) feel free to let me know. As always, the email ineffableplanner@gmail.com is always open for business.

12 Days of Blasphemy - December 25th - January 5th

EVENTS WITH DEADLINES

NEW Aziraphale’s New Year’s Dissolution - signup are open!

Make Yuletide Gay (oursidezine event) Nov 28th - Jan 1st

Chanukah Omens 2021 - November 29th - December 6th

EVENTS WITHOUT DEADLINES

Good Omens Zine Archive (mainly of interest to zine publisher/handlers)

Jukebox Event - (no deadline)

We’re On Our Own Side - weekly prompts (no deadline)

Good Omens Fic Rec Bingo - (no deadline available)

T-RECS Tuesdays (GO fanfic recommendations) (no deadline/ongoing)

#ButterOmens (ongoing multi media event(writing/art/whatever you want))

Encourage good feedback (no deadline/ongoing)

OPEN for sign-ups

None at the moment, feel free to let me know if you know of any or run one and want to give signups a boost.

OPEN for mod/help applications

Let me know if you’re looking and want a boost

INTEREST CHECK

Let me know if you have one you’d like featured

As always, when entering a discord server, follow its rules, check out the dos and don’ts and don’t harass the mods or your server sibs.

The Buggre All This Server (18+) - Book, Radio, Musical Omens

Good Omens Petrolheads Reference Library - specifically for GO vehicle talk/research etc

Ace Omens Discord Server - Click here for information post (link updated feb 13th)

The Bookshop’s Backroom (18+) The Bookshop’s Backroom (18+) is a community server based on Good Omens (Book, TV, Radio).

Do-it-with-style - runs various events. Takes all ages.

Fuck Yeah Good Omens Characters - give the other characters apart from Aziraphale and Crowley some love. Takes all ages, NSFW optional.

Good Omens Fic Writers (you don't have to be one to join! Direct link to server)

Good Omens Party House (18+) - Click here for information post

Good Omens Stitch-A-Long (ever wanted to learn how to stitch?) - Click here for information post

Good Omens Whump (18+) - Click here for direct access

Ineffable Wives Discord Server - Click here for direct access

Soft Omens Snuggle House (18+)- Click here for information post

SERVER INTEREST CHECK Interest check for a TopCrowly server

Book Omens (book) - This is a community for the novel Good Omens, by Sir Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. There are communities for tv!omens, specific GO ships, and mixed book, radio and tv content, but we've been lacking one that's focused on just the book, so here we are!

GoodOmens - A community for the book by Neil Gaiman & Sir Terry Pratchett and its adaptions to radio and TV with an extra large helping of Ineffable Husbands/Wives/Partners.

Good Omens (TV) - Community for the TV version of Good Omens

Ineffable Husbands, Ineffable Wives, Ineffable Partners - A community solely for Aziraphale and Crowley from the Good Omens book/radio adaption/TV series being in some kind of romantic or platonic relationship. =) Please read the "Rules and Info" section before posting/reblogging here!

If you have any suggestions for blogs with recs and/or resources, feel free to let me know.

Aziraphale’s Library (themed recs and more)

Recs by Dannye Chase/@holycatsandrabbits

Recs by Prolix (various pairings done by tags)

**Ineffable Husbands Fanfiction and Fanworks** (FB group, requires membership)

Community Calendar (Trello) can be viewed here (it is updated through the week if I hear of any events to add and will often have some more information on the events/zines etc.).

-----

This newsletter is mirrored on pillowfort and tumblr and announced on twitter.

* This is something tumblr never learned but PF has adopted from the old LJ format - if anyone wants a PF invite, just ask - we get 3 per week anyway to give away and there are pillowforters who will happily share invites.

-----

If you have an event you want to add to the calendar and the weekly Newsletter, don’t hesitate to let me know either in the asks/PM or via ineffableplanner (@) gmail dot com.

Also, feel free to share this post. This blog is NOT for reblogging of events, but for listing and perhaps making it a bit easier for everyone to keep track of these events before they’ve come AND gone ;)

Disclaimer: I am not running any of these zines, events or servers (in the few cases where I am involved in the mod work, I will make note of this). Please use your common sense and if you feel you’ve entered an event/zine/server/community you feel uneasy about, do not hesitate to step away from it. You may let me know if there’s a problem with one, but please know that I am not able to police every single one of them, nor will I play God in other people’s domains. I will let the mods know there is a problem (without mentioning your name and if it’s grave enough, take the link off), but please do not expect miracles and do not use me as your tool to get back at servers/server mods for personal reasons. I abhor being pulled into fandom wars and kerfluffles.