#i just hope Michael knows he is lovely

[ingravinoveritas]

wtf is that all she has to say about her boyfriend michael fans praised him more than. so is this her saying the show phenomenal or her boyfriend cos honestly this chick don't make sense what ur thoughts on this post

Hi there! And oh, wow. I've had a little time to process this now that I'm home, and I think the biggest thing that comes to mind is how this Insta story feels so...obligatory, and the bare minimum. As you said, it's not clear whether Anna is talking about the production itself or Michael's performance, and there is hardly any energy or enthusiasm to the post, especially not compared to the multiple posts AL made about Photobombing Michael J. Fox at the BAFTAs.

It becomes even more noticeable when you look at it next to the Insta story that Georgia posted:

Georgia and David didn't even attend the show tonight, and yet they hyped Michael up in a way Anna did not. You can feel the warmth and silliness and love in how they're rooting for him and cheering him on--David, in his manic Scottish way, and Georgia in her more sarcastic/dry English way--and how they seem genuinely excited for Michael. Yet I got absolutely none of that from AL's post.

All of the above is augmented by the choice of pictures in the post, with David and Georgia's photo centering Michael, literally and figuratively. He is the focus of the picture and of their attention, and the message there seems to be that Michael is what David and Georgia are most excited about. In contrast, the picture AL used is of a nearly empty dimly lit stage with a hospital bed on it, and I do not think that is by accident.

As I have said previously, my reaction is never to any one post in isolation, but to the continuation of a pattern of posts/comments from Anna over the course of several years. The same thing happened when production photos were released of Michael as Prince Andrew a few months ago, and when he played Chris Tarrant in Quiz in 2021:

AL hated the wig then, and my feeling is that she hates the wig Michael is wearing now, as well as the pyjamas that are his costume for a significant portion of the play and how he looks in them. I think that she does not care at all about the play itself or its significance to Michael, and has no desire to hype him up because his appearance in Nye is not what she considers "attractive." In addition, a fan posted stage door pictures on Twitter, including one with AL, and it seems to very much echo the lack of enthusiasm in her Insta story.

So yes, I think AL's post seems very generic (at best). It makes her come across as disinterested and somehow "removed" from both Michael and the show itself, again in contrast to David and Georgia's picture that conveys the exact opposite.

Those are my thoughts, at any rate, and I could be completely off the mark, but as always I'd be glad to hear from my followers about what you think. Thanks for writing in! x

[chloesimaginationthings]

FNAF movie Mike meets Jeremy Fitzgerald

[herefortheships]

One great thing that can come out of Beetlejuice 3 ending with Lydia and Betelgeuse married, is that they can continue the story as a show if they want to, later on. An animated show, is what I mean, about Betelgeuse, Lydia, and Astrid. I could watch an animated series about their little family getting into all kinds of Neitherworld shenanigans.

[forcebookish]

top's either going for the neck or the clavicle and either one will kill me

[jackmkelly]

i just need someone to care about a character the way michael cared about jack again

[boxwinebaddie]

*jk vc* wE AHYR sO CRIMSAHN BAHCK awHN bABEY!!! ;) <3 xX

[the-spoingus-show]

my current project: jump forever!

this is the first of those scheduled posts i mentioned earlier!!! i figured i would start by talking about my current project - that way i can start posting updates about it without confusing you, Michael. The next post is gonna be about the beginning of this whole Godot thing i've been on, and then i'm thinking about maybe doing a Before Godot post as a bonus once i've talked about all my godot stuff (i love saying this as if anybody cares (besides you, Michael)). setting all that aside, though: this one's gonna need some backstory, so you should buckle in.

around this time last year, me and my little cousin (he's still in high school, but we've always been pretty close) got really competitive about a little game called Jump Forever. it's a side minigame from WarioWare Mega Microgames (the GBA one) where you just jump over a little rope until you fuck up. it's really fucking fun as an addictive little mobile game, and with a quick lil emulator it was one. thus, the addiction began.

truth be told, the phase last year didn't even last that long, but i had a long bus ride a couple of weeks ago and found myself opening the GBA emulator on my phone to pass the time. that led to a little bit of playing at home, which led to beating my cousin's score, which led to getting even more into the game than i was before. as our scores get higher, we've turned to better controllers than a phone touch screen for serious record attempts - i use a ds lite i had lying around (that i reshelled! it was very fun) and he emulates on pc with a controller (i think). this got me thinking about a potential "definitive edition" of the game - probably still on mobile, but with controller support, better touch controls (the game only needs <-, ->, and A!), faster resets, selectable skins, and maybe even unlockable skins? of course, when i finished my work on fnaf (ooh foreshadowing), my sights were immediately set on a Jump Forever remake.

with all that said, welcome to the game as it currently stands! at the moment, i've got wario, the rope swingers, and the score all just about set up, with one exception; the characters have collision, the rope swings (at varying speeds, even!), and wario's speed and physics feel very accurate - but i'm still working on the ai (if you can call it that) of the rope guys as they walk back and forth. i want it to work exactly the same way as it does in the original but i always overthink random mechanics like this. hopefully the next update i give will be about how i cracked it! even if the implementation ends up jank, though, it wouldn't be the first: the rope guys check if wario is too close to them to make it over the rope with an Area2D that just checks for wario when the rope hits the ground. it works! i could just like check wario's position in the code (and it'd probably be way more efficient), but this way just... works.

i still have a buncha crap i still gotta implement before the game's even really playable - the walking ai, the title screen, the little "Ready?" animation, etc. - but that's only the beginning of my work. firstly, i'm probably gonna enlist chloe (oooh foreshadowing) to help me out by drawing some new assets (if she's free, it is finals season), and then changing the game's native resolution from 240x160 (the GBA screen) to something not fucking insane. i've got "reworking all the sprites into easy to read spritesheets" on my to-do list, and after that, making the new assets (and then maybe the skins?) will be as easy as drag & drop. once it's got the new assets and all the polish that needs to come with a shiny new resolution, i'm gonna transition into the next phase - researching how to release a game!!!

[hi, not to ruin my own amazing transition but: it's 5am and i'm running back to edit this because i completely forgot to mention that i have currently implemented a 2 frame input delay on all inputs, because that's how the emulator appears to behave when i go frame by frame. every single day i rethink this decision more and more. surely there's no way that's how it's supposed to be, right? but i feel so weird changing it now!!! i definitely fucking have to though. next time i work on it. ok anyways]

now. i've posted games to itch.io before. but even then, i kind of fucked it up (i could never get the resolution of my web games to work right???) - so it's no surprise i've always been completely daunted by the idea of "releasing a game". when you post it on real stores, that's when it becomes... real. i'm excited about the new challenges it'll pose, though! now, a mobile release means a couple of things - bite sized fun, simple progression, and fun customization. i've already got the first part nailed down, and i figured i could nail the other 2 at once with a currency system based on how many points you get (or maybe even an xp system? that goes up 1 for each jump? maybe even both???) and skins (purchasable with said currency) that let you customize the player, rope swingers, background, and maybe even the rope itself.

pictured above is my stupid ass skins mockup (i literally just made this). the rope is rainbow, the background has a snow effect and a bunch of snow on the trees/ground (isn't it great?), wario is a lil version of the rope guys, and the rope guys have santa hats. i'm not sure how many different ropes you could really make with how i'm planning the rope to move, so i'll probably end up prototyping the graphics with chloe to figure out how to lay out the sprite sheets, and if they should actually have a seperate hand-grabbing-the-rope sprite for skin purposes. it'll definitely make things really confusing, but if i go for a mobile release i don't want to run ads, and so a currency you can buy with real money (and maybe one or two goofy supporter skins that cost real money, like a solid gold guy or something, as a form of donation) is a good way to make a lil bit of money from people who like the game.

all of this is fun to think about, but it's important to remember that the next thing i have to do is that walking ai. i've gotta Make The Fucking Game before i can do all this crazy other bullshit. i'm sure the ui design for all this is gonna be soooo fun, but i need a game to attach it to first :p

this went on reeeally long but i figure if this is a dev diary or w/e it's gonna end up running long no matter what, and the more info, the more i have to look back on fondly and say "oh shit, i know exactly when this was!", which is kind of the end goal of the project. of course, these incredibly long posts about shit that only matters to me are also incredible content for you, Michael, so i'm sure you're just eating this shit up. enjoy, you weird little man.

[splenderai]

In the spirit of bringing back Asks but also me just wanting to know but not knowing where to start: PLEASE tell me all about High Card. And about the two you guys in lots of your fanart. Yes I'm taking notes, and yes there will be follow-up questions in this impromptu High Card course.

one of the great things about michael for all who don't know him is that he's fully aware of how much a) i can yap for paragraphs upon paragraphs on end about anything in particular, and b) of a deranged lunatic i can become when it comes to my hyperfixations, at which point the yapping turns into a three-year dissertation, and yet, he still takes the dive and asks me about it with genuine interest. this is one of the many reasons why he is an awesome friend.

[rubs hands together with a wicked smile] thank you for asking about high card !!! sneak under the cut to learn more about the silly show that revolves around playing cards that give you superpowers and the even sillier people who control said cards:

the story is heavily inspired kingsman, and it centers around the existence of 52 playing cards that each hold a unique power. the higher the card's value, the stronger the power that's given to the user, who is called a player in the series. these cards, referred to as "x playing cards," are considered a myth, tied to an old folk tale about the four kingdoms of trapla island that banded together to defeat invaders, the sorcerer who helped turn the tide of the war by bestowing incredible powers to 52 of the land's strongest soldiers, and the crowning of the first king of a unified fourland. the cards most certainly exist, and there's a fight between opposing factions to retrieve them.

our protagonist, finn oldman, gets caught up in this battle while he's out trying to make money at a casino.

he's seventeen (eighteen by the end of s2), an orphan who lost his parents and older brother in a tragic car accident, and is now living on his own after growing up for almost a decade at the sun fields orphanage. he cherishes the place, often going back to visit the kids and lindsey, the kind man who runs the establishment. the orphanage is at risk of being shut down due to money issues, and finn has made it his priority to get enough cash to save his childhood home. he's a pickpocket with incredibly good eyesight, but that alone won't make enough dough, so he goes to the big city to try his luck at a casino. there, he ends up finding himself in the middle of a deadly shoot-out where these guys in suits are using some crazy-ass powers, and they seem to be focused on one thing: a playing card with a pattern on the back that looks extremely familiar. he has one just like that, the only thing he brought with him to the orphanage after the crash and his most prized possession. finn ends up stealing that card during the scuffle and then a car to make a getaway, but he gets followed and ultimately finds himself in a standoff, the barrel of a gun focused on him. he takes one last gamble, and, just like he'd seen the young man in the red suit do, plays his 2 of Spades card. it materializes into a revolver that always shoots in a straight line, and finn uses his great eyesight to disarm his assailant. he thinks he's just about gotten away scott free when the man in red, who was absolutely just dead on the ground after getting obliterated by the assailant finn had just decommissioned, stands up, covered in more red from his own blood, and demands finn give both of those playing cards to him.

and that's how finn meets chris redgrave.

through chris, finn meets the rest of high card, a secret organization working for the crown whose mission it is to retrieve all 52 x-playing cards and return them to the king so that they don't fall into the wrong hands. by day, the members of high card work at the old maid branch of pinochle, a luxury cars dealership. chris, noticing finn's skills, suggests that the young sharpshooter join their ranks. at first, he's reluctant, but when finn hears about the very nice paycheck he could earn, he's all on board. and so, finn begins his tenure as a car salesman slash secret operative under chris' mentorship.

high card is made up of the following individuals:

- leo constantine pinochle: fourteen, holder of the 7 of diamonds, "never no dollars"

his card allows him to transform any sum of money on hand into any object of equal monetary value. he can make a whole slew of weapons with a briefcase of bills, but he can just about only make a snickers bar if he's got two bucks.

imagine the heir to a luxury car dealership business who is stupidly wealthy and goes to a prestigious all-boys school. you probably imagine a short little brat dressed like some kind of snooty british elite schoolboy, looks down on everyone around him, and makes it known that he has both immense power and money. you're right. he also happens to be the leader of high card, and his father (theodore constantine pinochle, can you believe how pretentious their names are) is the president of both high card and the pinochle empire. he's arrogant and prickly, but he's good at what he does (except in the eyes of his father, who barely recognizes him as a son and views him more as an underling who constantly disappoints him... ouch.) he's basically the boss at the old maid branch. i think this series does not have child labor laws. leonard, please do normal fourteen year old things like playing video games and hanging out with your school friends. (he doesn't have any...)

wendy sato: twenty-one, holder of the ace of spades, "love and peace"

her card summons a sheathed blade that holds a very powerful energy once it's unsheathed (will not spoil too much)

oh, wendy. my wife. failgirl supreme. the kind to trip up the stairs and forget her glasses on the top of her head. she's also scary good at swordfighting and physical combat in general. her beloved father owned a dojo where she trained since childhood prior to joining high card. finn and chris are scared of her because it doesn't take much for her to scold them or raise her voice. she's not mean by any means; she just doesn't put up with their monkeying around. she struggles with self-esteem issues because she isn't able to control her card once the sword has been unsheathed, so she feels like a burden to the team when she can't use her full power (or does, and then puts them all directly in danger). at the old maid branch, she is in charge of accounting and the like.

vijay kumar singh: twenty-six, holder of the 3 of clubs, "green green"

his card allows him to manipulate plants, so he is usually seen fighting with vines

vijay. husband. criminally low amount of screentime for this oddball king. he's a gentle soul who is almost like an older brother / cousin to everyone else, especially leo (he tutored leo when the latter was younger, and they get along really well) he is a scholar, currently a phd student and part-time lecturer at the university of cribbage. he loves plants !!! he has a selection of potted plants, all with names, that he keeps at the old maid branch with whom he talks to regularly. the others, aside from leo, think he's a total space case (the autism is strong in this one, trust). he's very logical, speaks really intelligently, and will absolutely go on a tangent about plants and other stuff given the opportunity. so yeah, he might be a bit hard to talk to, but he's really kind and often cooks for the team or brings in sweets. he takes care of like IT and systems management at the branch.

- finn !!! his card is called "neo new nambu," and it's the 2 of spades

- chris redgrave: twenty, holder of the 5 of hearts, "calories high"

his card basically grants him immortality, using up his calories to heal any and every wound (but when he's out of calories, the healing power is essentially gone). a self-proclaimed "immortal ladies man," he is this frivolous playboy who doesn't miss an opportunity to flirt with beautiful women. carefree, witty, and incredibly well-versed in martial arts / hand-to-hand combat. he has an absurd sweet tooth and constantly carries bars of fudge around both for snacking and to keep a nice source of calories on hand. he's in charge of sales at the old maid branch. you think you know chris and what he's all about, but it's really a collection of masks. the true chris ? you'll just have to watch to learn more hehe.

also technically part of high card is bernard symons, an older gentleman who does not go out on missions and mainly stays at the old maid branch to do admin stuff. he's so, so kind, and finn affectionately calls him "grandpa." soft-spoken and is always taking care of the high card members in little ways.

then we have the bad guys. ohoho. the klondike family is a mafia-like organization that wants the cards for their own purposes. they're a funny, vicious bunch led by ban klondike, foxy grandpa in chief.

the assailant that finn deals with that i mentioned before is one of the klondike members ! they're a fun bunch of villains for sure.

that's really the best introduction i can give !!! the series is so much fun. it's not going to win any awards or absolutely floor you with the writing and plot, but if you go in not expecting a masterpiece or anything, it's such a great experience. the characters have outstanding designs (done by the very talented ebimo, who designed the charisma house characters as well !!!), and they are all really fascinating in my opinion. the art style is gorgeous, and the soundtrack is INSANELY GOOD. it's predominantly jazzy, so if that's your thing, you will absolutely love it. the english-speaking side of the fandom is fairly small, but it's full of a ton of really amazing people !!! the one thing that i think might deter you (if i remember what you'd said before) though is that there's no english dub. it has 24 episodes so far (no official news of a season three, but there is a surprise episode 25 being produced right now !!!), so it's not a super long commitment !!! so if you're interested, i would say definitely give it a shot !!! ep1 is outstanding and reeled me right in, so it starts off really good, promise.

and i think that's a good place to stop the yapping. thank you for asking about high card and taking an interest. 🥺✨️🫶

[marathedemonoverlord]

Lesson 17 Hard Mode Spoilers(???)

Just finished Lesson 17 Hard Mode ( Don't @ me. I'm taking anything I can get to stay invested ) and like.... Did Michael just love bomb the Angels? (ಥ ͜ʖಥ)

Maybe my ass just hates gifts cause I'm so difficult but like... Weird doting vibes- Anyways weirdly I feel bad for Raphael being caught in the middle of it all - He's so awkward I see myself in him (ಥ ͜ʖಥ)(ಥ ͜ʖಥ)

[radgeorgie]

i love being drunk :)

[howtosingit]

Paul’s boutonnière revealing that he has an official role in the wedding and he’s not just a guest 👀

[ingravinoveritas]

So for those who haven't seen, AL posted a new Insta story earlier today featuring video of Michael. I subsequently saw this post in the tags and felt like I needed to write something about it:

What obviously stood out and angered me about this was the "chunky Welsh salt-and-pepper boyfriend" in the caption. This seems to be the latest in a line of recent instances of people commenting on Michael's weight/fat-shaming him. The difference in this case, however, is that the post above is directly tied to AL's Insta story. Here is a screenshot of the story, for those who haven't seen it (the full video is linked above):

And what stood out to me here is AL's caption of "Can't take him anywhere," followed by the "You're welcome" (suggesting that we are all supposed to fall over ourselves to thank her for posting video of Michael). Given that the video shows him playing with Lyra in a toy store, this would have been a perfect opportunity for Anna to write a caption about Michael being a great dad, or how much he adores his daughter.

Instead, however, the caption/video is all about Anna, and once again plays up the disingenuous "long-suffering partner of a bumbling man" schtick, which is what many of her Insta stories about Michael have been recently. So when you look at the Tumblr post above, you start to get a feeling for the vibe that her posts/stories are putting out. That if it's okay for AL to make comments about his appearance (as we know she has done for the last several years), then others feel no compunction about doing it, too.

There are plenty of ways to interpret all this, but to me, and especially looking at everything cumulatively, none of this speaks highly to the state of their relationship. The "can't take him anywhere" is another example of AL using an Insta story to insult Michael, to convey that--despite the fact that he is literally very sweetly playing with their daughter--she is embarrassed to be seen with him. When you look at the Tumblr post next to AL's Insta story, you can tell what people are picking up on, which means that these posts and stories are not bringing out the best in her, him, or their relationship.

Again, this is all my own opinion and thoughts, but I think it bears repeating that if someone made a Tumblr post like the one above about Anna, or commented on her weight gain/loss, people would be losing their minds. I'm tired of comments like those and hers getting a free pass because Michael is a man. I'm tired of her making him out to be a ridiculous buffoon who she "has to put up with." And I'm really tired of her thinking his fans don't or won't care as long as she provides new content. Because even though this might just be me, I'd rather have no new content of Michael at all than content where his own girlfriend is repeatedly putting him down...

[chloesimaginationthings]

I love Michael Afton's story in FNAF..

[ziracona]

I know I say this every time I read my own work, but Speak for the Dead really is the best chapter in ILM.

“Well, you know for the first time in a long time this actually feels like fall?”

Jane Romero was smiling at him, sitting propped up against a tree in what had sort of become her usual ‘therapy’ corner in the past almost two weeks. And she was right, it did feel like fall. The air wasn’t as sharply cold as normal, and honestly ‘sharply’ cold was a nice break in and of itself when it happened—usually the weather here was somehow just cold—cold with no adjectives attached. But today it was nicer. It was the kind of waiting fall cold that came when it wasn’t biting outside yet, and it was almost pleasant. A promise of a change in the seasons. Tapp wondered why.

The trees hadn’t started to change color with it, or fall in piles, and as far as he’d gathered there weren’t seasons in here. Everything looked the same. Tall, thick woods, undergrowth and moss and rocks and fallen logs, a slight breeze on and off. Dark sky overhead, full moon, at this point long since throwing off everyone’s idea of what day and night were supposed to mean. All the usual. Except, somehow, the kind of cold in the weather. Who knew, maybe nothing had changed. Maybe they had just started to feel better.

LIKE. Those opening lines mean nothing but environmental flavor when you read them. But they’re a lead in for the thesis of the entire chapter.

“Well, you know for the first time in a long time this actually feels like fall?” - A promise of a change in the seasons. - Who knew, maybe nothing had changed. Maybe they had just started to feel better.

Like that’s it. Speak for the Dead is about a lot of things, but at its heart it’s about healing. It’s about forgiveness and healing, that exists between the living and the dead. It’s about how you can only speak for them, by speaking for them. Not how you want to punish yourself or live for them, but by how you know they would forgive you, or would ask you to live. Very little other than exchanges of information happen, but so much happens at the same time. All of it significant. It’s hope. It’s about how Tapp (and Meg) have spent every day here fighting in their own way to cope with the agony and failure of their lives, and the loss of people they couldn’t save, and have only dug their wounds deeper. About love. About nothing stoping the lambs from screaming except accepting that they want to let you go.

[dax-vs-general-hospital]

I seriously don't understand Michael.

He's trying to be all noble and heroic in wanting to take Sonny down--claiming this is about protecting his family.

But like--hey asshole, what about Sonny's family?

How is this fair to Dante and Kristina? Both of whom who can voice their issues with their dad, but still respect and love him. Or how about Sasha, who Sonny was there for when Brando died? You gonna take away another important thing away from Sasha who has been through enough? What about anyone who genuinely sees Sonny as a friend???

This isn't about "protecting the family or Port Charles," this is about Michael and Michael only.

[leatherbookmark]

all this time i've been covering my ears going LALALALALA pretending that ~virtual idols~ don't exist and this is what you do to me? and hongjoong and yunho? please never fucking do that again it's an insult to them and real life actual human idols in general