#i suppose some of these are TECHNICALLY spoilers but they're so out of context

[furiroad]

Furiosa spoilers under the cut 🚗

It's actually staggering how much that movie did not need to exist. Gonna bullet point some thoughts

My sarcastic lol @ the lightning fast sisters cameo at the end where they're all played by completely different people. the quick flash of Cheedo's eyes bc they managed to get Courtney Eaton back for three seconds didn't appease me

I guess it technically passes the bechdel test bc right at the start Furiosa says "be still" to Valkyrie but iirc that's the only pass moment. I know not passing the bechdel test doesn't mean the movie is automatically bad I just think it's interesting considering it's following Fury Road

"she talks to her mother" I don't think they ever said her mum's name out loud

You know how mad max fury road could have a silent version w no dialogue + isolated soundtrack and it worked because you could tell what's going on anyway? This movie has the opposite problem. Way too much talking. They over-explain everything

The best bit was the prolonged torture scene at the end where Hemsworth explains Furiosa's entire character arc and the message of the movie out loud to her and also us

Even his teddy had an arm missing, replaced with a barbie arm. Thanks. We get it

Her arm made robot noises

Actually threw MY arms up in disgust when she went back for that boy she supposedly had a romance with despite the film never bothering to actually show/explain that. I'm calling it a romance because the actors did. I guess it was supposed to be a Capable/Nux parallel but it didn't work for me and not just because I'm a dyke and a hater OK, if you're gonna do a ROMANCE, DO A ROMANCE. don't leave me sitting there wondering why Furiosa is risking it all for some guy she's had ONE conversation with, especially after he offers to get her away from the Citadel and back to where she came from, WHICH IS HER ENTIRE MOTIVE EVER SINCE SHE WAS TAKEN

I DON'T GET IT

Them trying to emulate Max and Furiosa's instinctive, perfect we have to trust each other moment by having Jack and Furiosa... look at each other Meaningfully fifty times while they were supposed to be driving cars? Don't make me laugh! You will never be them!!

Max being there for a second wasn't cute! I rolled my eyes

Same at "remember me?" MAKE UP YOUR OWN STUFF

So many things happened because they needed to happen (plot demanded it) and didn't make any sense in context. My favourite was when Furiosa rode her motorcycle up a dune to get away after cutting off her arm and the biker gang couldn't follow her up there for some reason

So much Christian imagery... threw me off tbh

Considering it's Furiosa's movie it sure isn't about her + she doesn't speak at all for almost the first half

This movie was way too long

I called it about the peach seed

I called it that she cut her own arm off

George Miller read some of my blog but not all of it

You know how The People Eater rubbed his nipple that one time and it was delightfully weird and gross and got a good reaction? Well in this movie he's constantly rubbing it, the whole time. Really lessens the impact of the nipple rub

As you can see this movie has made me insane

Like this is not really about the nipple rub but do you get what I'm saying here

Furiosa spends most of the movie hiding her hair (because as we all know, having long hair immediately identifies you as a woman) and then when her head covering gets knocked off and her hair is revealed (omg she's a girl) she leaves it like that and becomes an Imperator. On what planet

The history man frames the entire movie for some reason. Do they show Miss Giddy? Take a wild guess

One of the coolest parts of fury road was that a gang of bikers ended up being hardcore wasteland grannies w guns and loose morals in response to people fucking around for far too long without finding out. Did this movie have anything like that for me? Take a wild guess for a second time

The car fight scenes weren't even that great. Couldn't remember hearing any good music under them (brother in arms truly lightning in a bottle) and they went on for too long which feels wild to say about suped up car battles in the australian wasteland: 2 but oh well. This is how I feel. Fury Road was so good at carefully measuring out high octane action and then downtime and careful, quiet character introspection and this movie had no idea what it was doing either way

Honestly I don't hate it but I feel like it was a waste of time and it doesn't need to exist at all. A real nothing experience. Am I going to see this movie ten times in cinemas? No I am not even going to see it twice in cinemas

I don't know what I was expecting.

oh my god also they played clips of Fury Road over the credits as if to say "remember how fucking good this is in comparison to the dumb shit you just watched"

[worrywrite]

I finished reading Harrow the Ninth. And I'm a little shell shocked. But I do have things to say.

I don't think people really get it. That or I got it all wrong. But I don't think people that bag on these books know what's really wrong with them (and there are things wrong with them, they have weaknesses).

To be clear. I read them happily. As happily as you can read them at least. I like them. They're good books. Their strengths and power do outweigh their flaws. I think I might have even loved them a little.

But I don't think people get what's going on when they read them and don't like them. They're latching on to flaws that they don't understand and can't articulate. They miss the finesse hidden beneath the layer of memes, gore, and trope. And when I say finesse, I mean it.

I'm not huge on 2nd person narrative, it catches in the brain a little and doesn't go down smooth like 1st or 3rd. But it is done so well in Harrow.

And there's more but I'm putting it in spoilers.

Okay, actual spoilers:

I don't think that I could call the narration in HtN 2nd person. I think that's a misleading way to represent the way the book unfolds. If you read the whole book and then tell someone it's in 2nd person present tense, you're wrong. It's 1st person past tense. The difference is that the supposed 2nd person narrator is actually part of the unfolding events and they're literally telling the story as it happened from their perspective, but their perspective is that is a person trapped in the passenger seat for most of it.

And I think it's a disservice to describe it as 2nd person and hard to read because that misses the point entirely and sets an expectation that just isn't true.

Okay, so what are the actual flaws of the books.

Well, first, focal point agency. The main characters, the protagonists, don't do much in the way of guiding the narrative. It is very much a story that happens to them. They are outmatched and outgunned the entire way down and only make it through on technicality or pity. It kind of sucks the wind out of the sails of "we do bones, motherfucker" when "doing bones" does nothing and the only solution to that problem is to follow through on someone else's plans and make the sacrifices that someone far more powerful than you wants you to. Characters generally thrive in positions of narrative agency, even when they make a plan and it sucks they've still done what they were trying to do and their character has led the way for things to follow. It lends to a much stronger story when the main character (from a non-metanarrative standpoint) acts like one.

Secondly, the shear cerebral drudge of the language. You can get a headache from this prose if you don't slow down to a snails pace. I often found myself, especially in HtN, stopping to digest a phrase or passage and look up words to double check if my context was correct--and in the meantime my eyes were moving ahead while my mind slogged behind. The prose is accurate but still convoluted to a degree many people probably don't have the patience for anymore. This may be more of a problem with people than with the book, but it doesn't quite matter unless the book gets read.

But just... The delight I felt reading "You never could have guessed that he had seen me." I was giddy. I kid you not. Seeing that flip of narrative context caused some radical joy. Even if some things had been spoiled for me, seeing it play out was a treat. This is the finesse. You can see that Muir had a plan for (I would even call it a twist...) a unique story idea and they carried that plan out with a dedication that must have been very tiring. Because it is very carefully laid out and teased and foreshadowed and then revealed. And then it's revealed again. And again.

I texted a friend that I felt like I was falling down a staircase in slow motion.

[hestzhyen]

!!CW: DESCRIPTIONS OF VIOLENCE/SA (and spoilers, obviously)!!

Highlights from my Paradise playthrough. Shout out to my saint of a partner for letting me spam him with my bullshit.

I use generic names for my partner's benefit (they're a sane person with no interest in BL VNs), so MC-kun is Azuma, Fluffy-kun is Takara, Asshole-kun is Mitsugi, and Reliable-kun is Madara. Let's begin!

Paradise is the 20th VN I've played and I think it's the first one to have this option. Overall I really liked the technical presentation.

I generally avoid checking spoiler tags when going in so at this point all I had was my experience with other BL games and a few hints about this game's brutality. Overall the content itself is in line with things I've seen before, but hoo boy did some of Azuma's inner dialogue hit hard. That poor guy.

As an aside: I always approach a VN blind until I get an ending. After that I choose who to target and get all their bad ends first, then the good before moving on to the next LI. This approach was perfect for Paradise since the bad ends gave you the context needed to fully understand the good endings and greater mystery in the narrative. Mitsugi > Madara > Takara is definitely the best experience.

(This is subtle foreshadowing of me using up the nation's entire copium supply a few days later)

(And this is subtle foreshadowing of my choice for Best Boy)

The translation for this game was pretty good until the last arc. Mitsugi and Madara's routes all felt natural. I'm not the kind of person who wants everything to be literal, so it was nice to see a real effort put towards localizing their routes. I think the only line I raised an eyebrow at was the Scooby Doo reference (which I'm assuming is localizing an extremely Japanese joke/reference). Sadly this didn't hold up in Takara's route. Suddenly it felt like a very unpolished machine TL- stilted phrasing and sudden tense switching pulled me out of some big moments. Inconsistent terms were suddenly an issue too; namely, the literal transliteration "log house" being used instead of the localized "cabin" in a few places. Lastly, the many instances of "we're" instead of "were" in the script. C'mon! I've read fan TLs with more polished writing and editing y'know? Was it due to a deadline crunch? Careless oversight? Don't know, but I do care.

My heart broke for Azuma over and over again. Just, all the time. At this point I knew the game was an utsuge so I just sat back and let my feelings get trampled as intended.

Classic BL problems.

Classic BL "solutions".

Go ahead and laugh at past me. I am so disappointed in him.

I can't tell you why I like having my heart crushed, spit on, set on fire, and launched into the sun. But at least I know what I like.

I have mixed feelings for the story itself but the characters are above par for a BL VN. Faint praise? Maybe. But I get the sense that the happy ends are supposed to make you feel despair too despite the upbeat music and framing. It's not a good thing that MC-kun comes to accept the guys who have fucked him up. It's uncomfortably true to life how he makes excuses for their abuse just because they showed him some kindness, and it leaves me feeling hollow to watch him disappear into the sunset with them. Yes even Mitsugi. He doesn't get a pass just because he sticks to verbal abuse in the same story as a violent sadist and a murderous cannibal.

Case in point about the "good endings still feel bad".

I was down so, so bad. Good job Paradise you successfully got me to pin all my hopes on this little fucker.

I'll spare y'all the long barganing phase I went through but it ran the gamut from "maybe he's possessed" to "split personality" to "unholy experiment gone wrong". By his first bad end the scales had started to fall, though. I hit rock bottom at last in the second bad end.

I generally limit the title of Best Boy to a LI, even if it's closer in spirit to "Guy I Hated the Least". The only VN I've changed that for is Tokyo Onmyouji because none of those men deserved Tengenjibashi. It wasn't even a fucking contest. Here? Well...

Badly stilted TL in a crucial emotionally heavy scene. This is just the worst example I snipped while playing but man, did anyone look at the script for this route after the machine TL spat it out?

I learned nothing.

And here is where all of my negative feelings about Paradise stem from...

I understand that writers need to rein in the story at some point. You don't have infinite budgets for VAs and all. But the janky, sudden skip to the reveals being recited right away followed by the drive off into the sunset soured the whole experience for me. I wasted hours of my life trying to figure it out when the writers just said shit we gotta go here's the Cliff's Notes see you never. I bought in and was rewarded with the most underwhelming delivery I've seen this side of Phantom Thief Jade. The payoff is the second most important part of a mystery story guys! You gotta take the time to pace the Big Reveal and let the player chew a bit before taking the plate away! It's such a shame that they went through so much effort to layer and misdirect only to give up right at the finish line.

Despite that, I still had enough fun that I consider Paradise a worthwhile investment. I hope the fan disk can be brought over too someday.

Never mind- burn it all down. No survivors.

[thothxv]

Computers in Media

Hi! I'm a CS student. I'm going to talk about some things with computers in them. What I think they got wrong, and what I think they got right. This will be shamelessly biased. And we'll be talking about accuracy, but as we'll see, accuracy is not always my priority. I just felt like rambling for a bit.

CSI

Well, you knew it was going to be here, the infamous scene from CSI:NY. And it gets so much wrong in just 15 seconds, and in a single sentence:

"I'll create a GUI interface using Visual Basic, see if I can track an IP address."

This is a bad sentence for multiple reasons. If you are a domain expert, you recognize that this sentence, inasmuch as it means anything, is just an absurd thing to say in 2008. If you're on the middle of a murder investigation, you don't make GUIs for something there are already many standard tools for. In addition, tracking an IP address through technical means in the context described (I read a plot summary for this) would be basically impossible. Getting the IP address would involve pulling log files and then getting the ISP to map that to a customer and location if they can. All of that is a legal process, not a technical one.

But this is also bad for a much worse reason: it's meaningless to a non-technical audience. Most of the people who look at whatever you make aren't pedantic little shits like me. They're people who don't understand the domain. They might have heard the term "IP address" before, but the rest of this is just fancy gobbledygook designed to wow them.

If you don't know what you're talking about, say nothing. "I'll try to track where the posts are coming from" would have been a better phrase to use here. No technical details, but if you know how that would be done, you can fill in the blanks. If you want some more technicals, "I'll try to get the IP address the posts are coming from so we can figure out where they are" is fine. If the audience already knows how IP addresses might be used you can obviously leave off that last part. This all works when computers are on the periphery of your story, of course. If they're central, you might need more detail.

Sneakers

Sneakers is a thriller movie from 1992 with comedy elements. It's about a quirky team of penetration testers (for those who don't know, penetration testers are groups companies pay to try and break their own security) who get hired by the government to go steal a mysterious box from a mathematician. It's a fun movie.

Except for a level of technical accuracy that is just plain weird. Sneakers takes liberties, plenty of them, usually for the purpose of giving the audience more of a show, but everything about its fundamental premise, everything about its macguffin, is just... correct?

The below scene is spoilers for Sneakers:

I love this scene, and I especially love the music, which is just great. As for the technical aspects, I have no idea what a "quadrant" is supposed to be, and the way the team would make the discovery would, in real life, be a lot more boring. But that quick, two-sentence explanation of how all this is happening, that is correct, and I don't think I could have said it better. And as the movie goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that they probably have a specific unsolved mathematical problem in mind that this box solves. At least, I have my suspicions. I don't think it's a coincidence that Leonard Adleman was asked to consult on the film.

But, they don't bother to explain any of that. They clearly did research, despite taking a lot of liberties and implying lie detectors work. But they don't talk about it onscreen, because to the audience, the technical background doesn't matter that much. It's the inverse of that CSI scene.

Funnily enough, the tale of Sneakers' production begins with another movie about hackers. One less interested in reality, but much, much more influential in shaping it.

WarGames

I don't care to rank things, so I won't. But WarGames is the most important movie on this list. Arguably, it's one of the most important movies about computers ever. For better or worse, WarGames shaped public policy, gave the public indelible images of what a hacker looked like and what they could do, and left a permanent imprint on hacker culture. DEFCON (the convention, not the US Armed Forces Defense Readiness Condition) is called DEFCON because of this movie. Wardialing is called wardialing because Matthew Broderick used that technique in this film. This movie had a direct impact on US security policy and on the development US laws around computer hacking. Kevin Mitnick was held in solitary confinement for a year because a prosecutor told a judge that if he got near a phone he could dial up NORAD and launch a nuclear missile, and the court bought it.

WarGames is a story about an AI that has been put in charge of nuclear missile launch control and could be dialed up over the phone. The AI could almost certainly not exist in 1983, and even with the lax security of the era it is extremely unlikely it would be connected to the public telephone network. WarGames doesn't care, because it's much more interested in its narrative and message than being accurate. And rightly so: it's a great movie as a result. But those choices had consequences that the writers probably couldn't have foreseen. it raised awareness and fears about computer security that were honestly kind of justified, but it also lead to the kind of mania and warped public perception of hackers that could lock someone in solitary confinement for nonsense reasons and result in overly harsh laws around computer crime.

But for all WarGames gets technically wrong, it also gets a lot of things right. Once again, the writing time consulted with all the right people, hackers and other computer experts. Approaches like wardialing were real, as were important computer systems exposed over the phone to anyone who bothered to dial in. The techniques used to crack passwords were and are very real, and can be quite effective.

And then there's the message. The idea that human judgement must be in the loop on major decisions, that trusting a machine alone is not acceptable, especially in the context of the madness of nuclear brinkmanship, where the wrong choice could literally end the world (although WarGames also takes a pretty explicitly negative stance on nuclear brinkmanship as a whole...). Sensors can fail, inputs can be wrong, someone has to actually look at the outputs and say "...really?" And this is exemplified by a scene in WarGames, right near the end, where Professor Falken has to convince the military to call off launching the missiles. He argues that what's on the monitors makes no sense, that the only logical reason for it all is a systems malfunction.

I bring this up because WarGames released on June 3, 1983. Three months later, on September 29, 1983, the world was saved by Stanislav Petrov arriving at the same realization when Soviet nuclear early-warning satellites detected incoming missiles that weren't there. If that's not chilling, I don't know what is.

For all its tangled legacy in popular culture, at least this new fear of random kids dialing into computer systems will mean they'll be made more secure.

...it will mean they'll be made more secure, right?

Why are you looking at me like that?

The Cuckoo's Egg

I keep bringing up this book, because it's great. The Cuckoo's Egg is different from everything else I've discussed, because The Cuckoo's Egg, despite reading like a bit like a zany cold war spy thriller, is non-fiction. This really happened. In 1986, an astronomer-turned-sysadmin at UC Berkeley really did discover and track down a computer hacker trying to break into US military computers to find information to sell to the soviets.

This does mean I don't need to talk about whether or not this book is accurate. It is. What stands out about The Cuckoo's Egg, in its depiction of computers, is its ability to be read by a lay audience. Unlike every other good example I've covered, which are movies that took a basically correct technical idea and ran with it while working hard to get the big stuff right and create a veneer of reality, The Cuckoo's Egg has to get into the nitty-gritty of some relatively technical subjects. The emacs movemail exploit, the differences between BSD and System V, password cracking, other technical subjects are key to the story and need to be explained. And it's very good at this. It explains enough to understand the story, but doesn't fall into the trap of overexplaining. It's very good at picking the right details to cover and the right ones to simplify or not discuss. And you can see the difference between it and the paper that the author wrote discussing the incident for a technical audience.

Jurassic Park

"It's a UNIX system! I know this."

In Jurassic Park we see a quintessential example of the Hollywood Computer UI. Everything is flashy 3D and UIs that make little to no sense in reality as something you'd actully use but look cool and scan easily on the big screen. Nobody in their right mind would use a faux-3D file explorer like this one. It's full of slow, clunky transitions, and that awkward slowness is fantastic for cinematic tension but miserable in real life. With a famously special-effects heavy movie like Jurassic Park, you can imagine that time and budget that went into making this fancy 3D visualization.

That's right, zero time and budget. I think this is more common knowledge now, but that 3D file explorer is a real program. It's called fsn, and it would have come packed in with the SGI graphics workstations that were being used to animate them dinosaurs, as a way of showing off the machines' 3D graphics capabilities. Of course, it's a total toy, just a demo really, and nobody would use it on a daily basis. It's real... but unrealistic.

Mind, I don't care. Film is a visual medium, and it's not a crime to use some visuals or visual metaphors that normally don't appear on real computers. Like I said, accuracy is not my primary concern... so long as it's not jarring or immersion breaking. And while it would never happen as depicted, hunting through the filesystem to try and guess the command to do something is something I've definitely done.

Mr. Robot

Didn't watch it much, but I feel like it would get brought up if I didn't mention it. Mr. Robot was well known for getting technical details correct. From what I've seen, it does in fact do this.

The same is true of all of the following:

Silicon Valley

The technical consultants don't want to be yelled at on Reddit. Apparently some people who work in Silicon Valley have had to take breaks from the show because it got too real for them.

Halt and Catch Fire

I remember a story I heard on a podcast about a programmer who wanted to watch this show with his son, and his son asked if there was normally this much sex in computers (the answer was no), and apparently just seemed bored by all the sex and asked if they could watch something else.

This more or less summarizes my opinion of Halt and Catch Fire. It seems to be pretty accurate from what I saw of it, but I stopped watching because I got tired of all the boring, boring, boring sex and related drama.

Okay, back to things I want to talk about.

Castle

Speaking of notorious hacking sequences:

...What could I possibly have to complain about? This is the best thing ever.

This is really a great example of those terrible nonsense UIs I was talking about. And that random pseudo-rubik's-cube visualization? Why? And don't get me started on "cyber nukes."

Like I said, visualizations are fine, but this is just silly. Even someone who knows nothing about computers would know this is silly. Maybe that's the point but it just... really pulls you right out of the scene. This would have worked way better if they were more vague about the specifics of the "hacking" and focused on the conversation and personal stuff.

In conclusion: Masterpiece. 10/10, no notes.

Tron

In 1982, the academy award for best visual effects went to... E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The Saturn Award went to E.T. as well, and only the BAFTA Award for Best Visual Special Effects even nominated Tron.

This is because the Academy believed that using computers for visual effects was cheating.

We've talked about real things, realistic things, and stories that don't care about being real but want to feel real. Tron is none of those things. Is it realistic? No! Of course not! It's nonsense! But who cares? Tron basically wants to be a digital Alice in Wonderland. It's just using computers to paint a cool world inspired by videogames. I wouldn't say there's much deeper meaning.

But it just looks cool.

[kimium]

For the writing ask: 1, 6, and 9!💜💜

(From this ask HERE)

Thanks for the ask, friend!! I'll admit I don't technically have a current WIP. What I do have is a fic that I started earlier this year but never finished. None the less, I am excited to answer!

This is an SDR2 fic that follows up on my recent Serial Killer AU Komahina (Working Relationship). It is supposed to be a prequel that explains how Nagito and Hajime met. I never quite wrote the tone of what I wanted, so I shoved it off the side.

Will I ever finish this? I don't know. Part of me wants to but the other part worries that I missed the boat and the interest in this fic has long passed.

What is the dumbest possible version of the next sentence you need to write?

I'll give some context to this scene. I wanted to write Nagito killing someone off before meeting Hajime. I always envisioned the two of them meeting after Nagito has finished a hit and is literally caught red handed with evidence.

In this scene Nagito is intruding a painter who is working out in public. This man is not impressed.

What I have written:

“What are you doing here?”

“This is a public place,” Nagito replied. “Anyone can be here.”

“Yeah? And I’m telling you to get lost, kid.”

The dumbest possible version of the next sentence I need to write? Uh... probably... "Sorry, no can do. I'm here to murder your ass." Or... something like that? Anything that is Nagito just blatantly telling the guy he's going to murder him?

6. Is there a problem you are trying to solve?

My problem: Get Hajime and Nagito to meet with Nagito Clearly caught red handed, holding a dead body he Obviously was the cause of.

The next problem would be for both of them to realize they're both serial killers AND trust the other (Hajime) is telling the truth and not lying.

9. What do each of the relevant characters currently want?

Nagito: To kill this rude (rich) man and steal his money. Then, to display his kill because he's Dramatic like that.

Hajime: Some peace, quiet, and a moment to himself on his nice relaxing walk. Spoilers: He's going to get None of Those Things.

[fishpondfish]

finally finished kaos and mannn this show is weird. things make sense in the context of the show but it's such a strange take on the myths. i wanna rant so gonna put it under the cut. spoilers btw if you care

anyways they made the minotaur ariadne's full brother and made that a major plot point (truth be told i either didn't remember or completely forgot that technically they're half-siblings in the myths. that's trippy as hell). and then theseus was just some guy who was barely involved. that was funny

also i liked the depiction of dionysus as a 20 something who doesn't know what's going on. i haven't seen/read every greek myths adaptation in existence obviously but i feel like Usually he's portrayed relatively as an equal to the rest of the olympic gods even though he's quite different from the rest. i liked that they emphasized that

gonna be really honest i've never heard of caeneus before this show but i guess they picked him Because he's fairly niche so they could change his story even more drastically. that's fine by me. also yay a trans man protagonist. in a british show no less!

i still don't know how i feel about orpheus and eurydice in this ... so here eurydice has fallen out of love with orpheus and she feels like he's dependent on her and she wants to leave him and Then she dies. and she feels relieved in a way and doesn't want to go back to life. and also hooks up with caeneus on like the second day in the underworld. and orpheus is an off-brand ed sheeran who buries eurydice without a coin so he can bring her back For Himself. which is obviously very selfish. and tbh made me think about how in the original myth it wasn't like orpheus and eurydice ever discussed that in case eurydice died she Wanted to be brought back right. so orpheus going to retrieve her is a selfish act. but then Usually eurydice does want to go back and the tragedy is that orpheus looks at her and she can't go back. whereas here eurydice Doesn't want to go back and she Doesn't want to be with orpheus yet she ends up successfully reviving. and there's a scene where they're already back in the living world and eurydice is like "orpheus i need to talk to you orpheus look at me". and that's supposed to be a fun nod to the original myth. but all i thought about was how. if there's nothing preventing orpheus from looking at eurydice in this scenario then are they Really orpheus and eurydice. like is this a retelling from a different angle or are they just completely different characters at that point.

and the absolute weirdest thing is that they made prometheus and charon a couple. i have nothing against it but it's the most random thing imaginable. once again it made sense within the context of the story they were telling but in the myths prometheus and charon have literally zero connections iirc. just so random

[jedigloomy]

The chaotic series of events in my Sims game (I had to share it!)

Look, I know I post primarily BG3 content, but I needed to share this. This series of events was just... a lot. Anyway, allow me to provide some vital context.

The story will be underneath the line to ensure this post isn't monstrously long. There are no spoilers or anything—just a whole lot of chaos. Enjoy!

First, let me introduce you to my Sim and her girlfriend.

On the left is Penny Pizzazz; many of you will know who she is. For those who don't and don't feel like reading the wiki, she's a base game Sim who's supposed to be a famous internet star. On the right is my Sim, Sunni Soto. Before you judge me for using my name as hers, Sunni isn't technically my name. I just really like it, so I made my name and now my Sims, Sunni.

Anyway, Sunni is in the social media industry, and Penny was her workplace rival for some time before I had them mend things. I thought it would be cute for them to go from rivals to lovers. They got along really well, and thus, an adorable but short-lived relationship started. Sunni and Penny moved in together shortly after going official (Penny asked, and I thought, "Eh, why not? It's the Sims.")

Now to introduce you to the other couple in this story. Arun and Jesminder Bheeda. They live across the hallway from Sunni and Penny. Unfortunately, Jesminder hates Penny and Sunni's guts—for a good reason, they're loud, and she has a baby (his name is Pat). She'll often come over and angrily bang on the door, asking Sunni and Penny to keep it down when they're loud. I usually ignore her, and she'll be on her merry way. However, due to my ignoring her, she has grown to despise both my Sims.

Well, after a while of Penny and Sunni living their lives, a nefarious plan hatched in my fucked up brain. I was getting kind of bored of the drama-free gameplay, and I am known as an "evil Simmer," so I, uh... had Penny cheat on Sunni with Arun... Jesminder's husband... she may have also gotten pregnant, too...

I have MCCC risky woohoo turned on, and, yeah...

Anyway, Sunni and Jesminder are still unaware of the affair when this story hits the fan in a rather explosive way (you'll get that pun in a moment). Around 3 a.m., Jesminder came over to complain about the noise—Penny thought it was a great time to work out on the treadmill—and I decided to be an a-hole to Jesminder.

I had Penny say a few... unsavoury words to the poor woman. They actually got into a physical altercation (they initiated it, not me), and after the fight, I had Penny insult her once more before returning to the apartment. Well, Jesminder got so unbelievably pissed, she... uh... died from a cardiac explosion... here's a pic I sent to my bestie of her mid-death.

Yeah... Penny slept with her husband, got knocked up, then proceeded to taunt her to death, literally. However, I didn't want her to die. Hell, I wanted her and Sunni to make amends and maybe even become friends after they had found out. So, I did what any moderately sane person would do... scolded the grim reaper...

And you know what? It actually worked! I was able to convince Grim to revive her. I thought, "Fuck, yeah! They'll become fast friends in no time!"

I thought this would be a good stepping stone in fixing their friendship (they were friends when Sunni first moved in). But, and I shit you not, the minute her feet touched the ground. She fucking had another cardiac explosion.

So, I berated the grim reaper again, hoping Sunni could convince him to spare her. But, uh, I guess he got sick of her treating him like a child because he told her no. :(

Jesminder Bheeda was officially dead, and to make matters even worse, when I went to write her a nice epitaph, the fucking game couldn't let me forget about my failure. This was what the game generated for the epitaph.

So, yeah, that was the insanity of my Sims game. R.I.P Jesminder. I will avenge you, I swear! Penny and Arun will pay (even though it was technically me controlling Penny in the first place!).

[blazehedgehog]

How do you feel about the new “Open Zone” direction the sonic series is taking?

The more I think about it, the more I don't like it.

There's potential in it. But the way Sonic Frontiers controls, and the way they present it, it's not very good.

The way Sonic snaps to floors and the camera jitters around feels like a bad fan game. It feels like Sonic was dropped in to an environment he wasn't made for and the developer didn't have enough technical knowledge to fix it. It reminds me of playing an old BlitzSonic game in 2007 or whatever.

And I can say with some amount of certainty that's because some of these assets were placed haphazardly, and others were probably bought and paid for from photoscan asset packs or whatever. Things absolutely have collision in ways they aren't supposed to have collision, and instead of tweaking them so they work in the context of Sonic Frontiers, Sega shrugged, used them as-is, and decided "eh, good enough."

That's why there are so many places in the open zones where if you're boosting and you collide with a small rock on the ground, it can launch you 200ft into the sky like a ramp. There are ways to fix that (or at least improve it), but they didn't.

Cluttering the sky with so many grind rails, springs, floating platforms, rings, and whatever also actively harms the experience. Since my third Sonic Frontiers stream, I've spent some time cleaning up the remainders of Chaos Island and I've poked around a little on the fourth island, Rhea.

Which, Minor Fourth Island Spoilers: Rhea Island is just Kronos Island again, but a different section of it that they wouldn't let you go to originally. But the real major change for Rhea Island is that it's... almost completely empty. At least at the start, there are no enemies, no rings, no kocos, no puzzles, nothing. There are six giant towers you have to climb, but otherwise these areas appear entirely in their natural beauty, unspoiled by Sega's attempts to flood them with "gameplay."

And all of a sudden the world has come to life around me in a way it hasn't before. Instead of looking around and figuring out how to use (or avoid) a chain of springs, bumpers, launchers and rails to get around the world, I am actually looking at the world itself for what feels like the first time. Instead of being the backdrop of a Sonic level, it has become a place. I look at ruins and I wonder, "what were you for?" I see fragments of houses, ancient roads, and lost temples. And it's interesting! This is what the game has been missing for me!

It just needed a chance to stop and breathe.

They were so afraid of looking boring that every island feels almost identical because they're all covered in the same six objects. None of the locations are allowed to be themselves.

This is one instance where I think less would have definitely felt like more.

[iridescentmidnights]

See that's actually one of the reboots biggest issues.

The fact that it's supposed to be for a new audience but at the same time it occasionally relies heavily on fans having prior knowledge of the previous series.

Like in the beginning of the series most merchandising heavily implies ben got the omnitrix the exact same way in the reboot that he did in classic but then eventually when they finally give us a glimpse of how reboot ben get his watch there are some big differences like(minor spoiler)the first alien he actually uses.

And MOA have stated that all the stories that happened in the reboot did technically take place in some form during classic which leads me to believe that the reboot was originally intended to be like a classic series continuation but CNs influence changed alot.

All in all while the show does get Better its still really messy ,there are alot of plot points and shit that were supposed to be explained but wasn't because of Cartoon Network

This seems to be a huge flaw with CN reboots in general, they're expecting new audiences to already know what the source material is and already understand everything so the can borrow what ever they feel like. It makes for a lot of inconsistencies and really weak writing in the beginning. Because they don't start off as true reboots they like in identity trying to keep old fans and gain new ones. Then it takes forever to find their own ground because they refuse to start fresh.

I can easily see this as the creative team wanting it to be the next summer when Ben and Gwen are 11 except where's Gwen's magic? wait sorry I'm watching, working, and responding in real time.

HEX KNOWS BEN?????? And Gwen doesn't have magic?????????? LITERALLY a speak of the devil moment wtf why introduce an old villain like we should know him it's a REBOOT they have to introduce him! Sure kids will understand Ben knows him, but how is it fun or fair to feel like you're missing out on episodes? How is it good writing if you need to google Hex and find the original show and be confused that everything is different only to go back to the new show and rinse and repeat??? Just be a reboooooooooot (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞

This is why TMNT reboots always work, they start over. You never need anything other then the current version of the series even in crossovers because they give you enough brand new context each time. If they actually had an origin episode and started fresh people would be a lot more open to all the changes like no magic for Gwen (even though she should absolutely HAVE MAGIC).

Sorry for the rant. I am still enjoying it but ep9 hit me like a freight train and I'm on the tracks.

[smolfailure]

FUCK IT, DREAM SMP HOMESTUCK AU

but it's only half shitposts and there are actual Thoughts in there.

You don't need to have read the comic to understand because I tried not to spoil anything major, but it'd help if you knew basic stuff about classpects, SBURB and the hemospectrum.

disclaimer: i'm not a good pixel artist and this is my first actual sprites ever so please be kind to my weird pixels

The Kids:

Tommy

Fundy

Techno

Tubbo

tommy, tubbo and fundy one of the kids because they're the kids in dream smp canon (with fundy being son of wilbur)

techno's there because i want to make a dave strider reference (haha get it because techno's name is also da-- *gets shot) and also because they are both coolguys except instead of using irony, techno has adhd

The Trolls:

Wilbur Soohte (fuschia)

?????? Ehrret (violet)

J????? Shlatt (purple)

Nihacu Niikki (indigo)

Skeppy Diamon (cerulean)

Quacki Tthiey (teal)

Philza Myncra (jade)

Dreame Wastkn (lime disguising as olive)

George Notfou (gold)

Sapphe Nahfpe (bronze)

Badboy Haelow (burgundy)

don't come at me saying only females are allowed to be jades and fuschias; gender is fake and this is an au

more of the AU and the talksprites are under the cut:

Tommy

Lunar sway: Derse. Types in: Red

chaotic. the first person to be introduced.

when he gets introduced instead of the “Zoosmell Pooplord” bit, Tommy is initially going to be the name inputted but then backspaced it and decided that Tommyinnit was better and he was fuming until he’s named Tommy.

Gives me big Blood/Hope vibes. Blood because a lot of the conflict of the dream smp connected to someone breaking his trust or harming the things he cares about, Hope because a lot of the plot of the dream smp stems from Tommy starting shit based on his ideals and what he thinks is right.

the first to instigate fighting against the trolls

bbh contacts him once and tommy keeps cursing until he disconnects from frustration rip

wields Gunkind and his only strife weapon at the beginning is the Vlog gun. He has Gunkind as his strife specibus mainly because he looked up at schlatt and he imitates him.

Fundy

Lunar sway: Prospit. Types in: Orange

it was his idea to play SBURB but only through Dream.

he talks to dream the most among the other trolls fwt stans getcha juice this is the rosemary of the session

dream’s the one giving him exposition about the game so that’s how he knows how to play SBURB.

wilbur trolls fundy once and instantly adopts him.

“You’re my son.” “How does that even work??” “I was one of the people who created your universe. It’s basically the same thing.”

Fundy relents anyway.

Techno

Lunar sway: Derse. Types in: Pink

dave strider but dead-inside voice + rose lalonde english major vibes

he slices the text box when you try to name him "Dave " like in

techno gives me time player vibes (contantly on the move. his skyblock series, his “stays in the pit” monologue,) but also rage vibes (anarchy,  the “theseus” monologue, political alignment is Chaos) alas i am not sure what class

uses Tridentkind and claims "it came from god"

 it was dream, he accidentally transportalized one of wilbur’s weapon while he testing the transportalizer.

Tubbo

Lunar sway: Prospit. Types in: Green

the jade harley of this session. the only thing keeping them from going apeshit. where would they be without him.

but also jade harley in a sense that he seems nice and wholesome but also don’t fuck with them they can mess you up

Heart/Life vibes??? someone good at classpecting help

i put them in prospit bc of the "tubbo third eye" instead of tubbo having a sixth sense or smth, they see the future from the clouds of skaia when they sleep

wields Stress-relieverKind at some point

bonus: everyone’s actual hair colors

Ideas about the Trolls

no i haven’t done their sprites yet bc it would take so much time and i’m not even sure if people wanna see more of this au skjdkdsakdfkl,, but i have Design Ideas.

events of the dsmp revolution are just a FLARP session drawing parallels to how the homestuck trolls had a FLARP session that spoiler alert: destroyed friendships. dtrio, eret, will are involved. eret betrays will's faction and wilbur's still Bitter over that.

on the context of alternia (highbloods and lowbloods) lmanburg and dreamsmp have their roles SWAPPED.  the emancipation theme thing is completely gone since highbloods are in more power than the lowbloods (the dream team) . 

wilbur made a faction called l’manburg because he wants a place where he and his fellow highbloods could make drugs vibe.they take a piece of land that was owned by the dream team. in normal circumstances, they shouldve stood down because lowbloods aren't supposed to start shit with highbloods (especially a group of highbloods that has the alternian heir among them)  but dream turned it into an activism thing about lowblood rights. the story plays as close as possible without tommy or tubbo in it (which is pretty hard ik but this is the best can do).

like in the dreamsmp revolution, dream kinda let wilbur do what he wants but this time he has more reason to because he’s in a lower caste. dream really only fought back when wilbur announced that he’d be building lmanburg on their land and calling it theirs.

eret betrays wilbur by supporting the lowbloods and wilbur and co. technically won but only because he finally called the drones in, as a reference to how lmanburg absolutely got crushed by the dream team in the smp but technically won. l’manburg keeps the piece of land and the dream team scatter away to find a new home.

wilbur soot's a fuschia because a) he's in a position that has a lot of power, b) yknow how he wrote a song about squids and his thing with sally… yeah.

eret's a violet because nobility!! dream looks down on him because he's ambivalent on fighting for lowblood rights when he's in a power to do so "you just sit there, and you look pretty that's it"

also like eridan he has a minor aesthetic mutation (herobrine eyes) that won't classify him as a mutant.

jschlatt is purple because it makes sense thematically because of the gamzee parallels (a. substance abuse b. if you know what happens in act 6, you know this already but spoiler alert, he ruins the main protagonists' lives) also he's a funnyman he deserves the clown caste

 quackity's a teal because he’s a law student. moving on--

 ok but for real it also makes sense thematically because he's the one who wrote the thing that tricked schlatt into agreeing also he gets manipulated by schlatt which also draws parallels to certain events in the comic

skeppy and bbh are BEST FRIENDS despite being highblood and lowblood respectively. initially, skeppy just wanted to bother bbh but they grew to be good friends in time. y’know like how they actually becane friends :D

philza minecraft is a jade because dad friend. also works thematically, because spoiler alert he gets to murder a seadweller for going batshit crazy. 

he also god tiers early. he dies fighting his quick undead denizen (haha baby zombie) but the consorts of his land carry him to his quest bed because he’s treated them all so well.

dream was initially going to be another caste but then i realized that means i have to make his hoodie something other than green which is unacceptable so its a good thing the fact that he's a lime works out

dream was the one who thought of playing sgrub in the first place- initially only planned to have gogy, sap, and bbh in the session but then realized that they four won't be enough so he invited more into his session

he’s also the first to go godtier ez clap blind speedrun not sure what classpect tho

the only reason why dream avoided being culled at birth for being a limeblood is because his rng is That Good. he quickly picked up the fact that he’s not supposed to exist and masqueraded as an oliveblood and kept mostly to himself to avoid suspicion.

george is still colorblind but he has lazer eyes along with it instead. dream lives with him in the same hive since being a mutant means dream doesn’t get a lusus of his own (dnf fans getcha juice “and they were roommates”) 

despite living in the same hive, he never really figures out that dream is a limeblood. possibly because a) he’s colorblind and when he sees dream bleeding he just sees yellow b) he’s just that fucking oblivious and it’s so valid of him.

sapnap’s a bronzeblood mainly because i know he’s the instigator of the pet war with tommy also because i associate him with the color orang in my mind so bronze it is

that’s the end of this long-ass post!! if you have other ideas PLEASE i want to hear them. i don’t know the other streamers i mentioned in here very well so if you have ideas that would be fitting to them like with classpect or lunar sway that would be GREAT. 

the only thing i’m confident about in here are the kids’ lunar sways. i’m not an expert in classpects and homestuck lore so there’s that too!! i just wanted to make this post because adhd means that the idea wouldn’t shut up until i finished it. This initially started as a single shitpost edit of tommyinnit talksprite but then the hiveswap 2 trailer came out and that means i have to combine my two hyperfixations.

also i have ideas about potential quadrants but idk how much of that is breaking some streamers’ boundaries about shipping (even the non romantic quads such as kismesistude, morallegiance and auspisticism) so i decided not to include it.

edit: apparently people want more so i made a discord server as a place to brainstorm!! please pm me to join!

[lucem-stellarum]

Still VERY spoiler-y about 10/23/23 EA

Tbh I was willing to give Porter the benefit of the doubt, but I'm on Vincent's side because of how he's treating Treasure. They way Sam and Vincent reacted when they heard he was bringing them to the Summit? And this is immediately after he admitted (I suppose technically he just didn't deny the accusation) that he's shamelessly power hungry. They're worried about this stranger that they've never even met, when Porter's the one putting them in danger. An uninformed, unempowered human at THE most important political gathering of the oldest and most powerful vampire clans? That's fundamentally different than Vincent's fashion choices. I get the feeling they're less of a "plus one" and more like "bait". Going fishing isn't usually good for the worm.

Vincent shouldn't have had to disclose his trauma to get that "oh" realization from Porter, even if it was genuine. A big part of Porter's issue with Vincent is that he's "entitled", which just flat out isn't true. Vincent didn't ask to be turned, he didn't ask to be turned by old blood and get the power and prestige that comes with the Solaire name. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but from the sounds of it Vincent's the one who came off worse in this fight. He's got the victim complex going for him.

I don't want to give the implication that I think Vincent's some innocent little angel, though. Porter's comment about Vincent never needing to be invoked to do terrible, awful things? 100% truth. The video hasn't been out long enough for me to say people are sleeping on that tidbit, but there's a lot to unpack from that little throwaway line. Vincent didn't argue about Porter saying he doesn't see nuance in people, and Vincent did fall into the best possible situation as a new vampire (a caring maker, money, power, a title) that not everyone gets to have as part of their start to the afterlife. He was spoiled, jealous, and he probably didn't look further than his nose to appreciate the people supporting him during his depressive episode. Vincent is also petty; I mentioned his fashion choice for his first summit? It wasn't cute, he was being a brat and he's so lucky William had a sense of good humor about it and it went well in the end.

I can see why a lot of people would resonate with Vincent not wanting to connect with people while he's actively suicidal for the few years after he was being turned. It's hard to compare that, mentally, with other people (like Sam) TELLING us Vincent was an insufferable ass for years vs actually having experienced those other ~20 years of his attitude ourselves.

I'm not sure how much of Porter's claim that he knows William better than Vincent is actual truth, or more to do with getting under Vincent's skin. Porter might not have been "kicked out", but he is the one who left. The optics aren't on your side, sir.

From a meta standpoint, I wonder how much of that bias towards Vincent is because the video is framed as being in Lovely's perspective? That's gotta be factor, as well as the fact that we as listeners have known Vincent so much longer. Vincent was literally the first video posted, Porter literally just showed up. He hasn't had time to develop that dedicated fanbase.

Like I said earlier, I don't trust him yet. I think he's moving way too fast with Treasure, that he's luring them into something they don't have the context to understand the full consequences and danger they're in. He has ulterior motives, why else would he specifically delay the paperwork into getting them informed status? If William has the power to pressure the department about Quinn, he could fast-track a bit of paperwork if he wanted to. So, either Porter has suspicious motives or he's not on Williams good side to call in a favor from him, even if he wasn't completely banished. There's a lot that's suspicious about him, whereas Vincent has had the time to gain our trust (even if he is a petty little bitch) (affectionate)

More EA stuff because I'm starting to notice a trend

Am I the only one low-key siding with Porter a bit? Don't get me wrong, I know Vincent's turning wasn't his choice and he didn't have to be grateful for it by any means, but had Porter known the context, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have been so cruel. That "I.. didn't know," sounded genuine, like if he had, then he wouldn't have tried to beat the shit out of him for his insult. Was it stupid of him to make assumptions? Yeah. Was it even more stupid to get violent over rumor? Oh, hell yeah. Can Vincent really blame him for making those assumptions when he had nothing proving him otherwise (besides Sam saying a vague, "don't meddle in things you don't understand")? I mean, not really.

Neither party is right in my eyes -- let me make that clear. I'm just seeing an overwhelming amount of people on Vincent's side saying Porter was the one in the wrong. The way I see it, they were both in the wrong and kinda still are.

Anyway, what the fuck was up with Porter's sabbatical? Bro really said, "yo William didn't kick me out lmao but I'm not elaborating." Like sir. Please do. Please elaborate.

[bearpillowmonster]

Persona 5 Royal Content Review (SPOILERS)

This play through will be on New Game+ for reasons you’ll see in my vanilla review.

OG Review: 1 , 2 , 3

If you read that review, you would know I chose Makoto as my romantic route and for this one, I wanted to try something else. I liked Kawakami but I thought it would be weird since he’s a student and the fact I already maxed her persona so I chose Yoshizawa. I mean she is the new girl in Royal so it only makes sense. I named my Joker “Chad Omega” funny isn’t it, I almost did “Omegalul” but “Omegalul-Kun” sounds awful.

I originally thought that the confidants you maxed would stay that way in New Game+ so that you could try and collect the rest but they don’t, they go back to square one. Same with battle items, you get your equippable weapons and armor but not stat boosters or healing items.

I breezed through everything because I had such a high level persona and since my social stats were done then I used that time to train my HP so I basically only died when I decided to restart the battle. But then Okumura came and I dreaded it. Did it multiple times and was actually failing. I got to the one. The run. I beat all his robots. Then I beat the big one. Then I beat robot Haru. For those who have played it know that that’s it, thats the boss, all that’s left is a cutscene...well? THE EFFING TIMER WENT OFF DURING THE CUTSCENE AND IT TRIED TO TELL ME I LOST. I uninstalled the game, put the disc back in its case and put the case in a box, packed away, hidden from sight just like when I finished it originally and figured out that I didn’t play it right.

I ended up getting Maruki to level 8, I technically only needed to get him to 9 but I wanted to make sure so I was going to max him. I got Chihaya, Hifumi and Yusuke close to max and what do I have to show for it? Nothing because of the stupid Okumura boss.

I played both play-throughs on normal difficulty because, as I mentioned, it was a breeze the second time and making it easy mode would’ve felt too cheap, it actually wouldn’t have made anything faster. So how is it that I beat Okumura the first time with the Principality persona? A persona that’s half the level of the one I was using for the second, yet I still had trouble? I never even had a problem with the palace, it’s always been the boss.

So, yeah screw this game, it screws me every time I play it, that shiz went up on eBay, I don't think I've been that dramatic about rage quitting before but I don't even regret it. So, I decided to look up the story details and watch the actual “Royal” content so the rest of this review will be based on that. Let’s end this stupid game! This arc! Spoilers by the way, you should already know my opinion on the game anyway.

So, that was the way to bring Akechi back if there ever was one, I knew he would return but I never would have guessed it’d be like that. Bryce Papenbrook as Morgana (Chat Noir) is the icing on the cake.

They didn’t really explain it, it’s more of an underlying thing but I think that Sumire didn’t wish for her sister to be back instead because even before her sister was gone, she wanted to be like her. I suppose they only get one big wish. She’s really the only reason I even attempted to start the game again, I saw Sumire but I didn’t think much of it or who she was or anything. It kind of reminds me of Kingdom Hearts, how Sora loses the keyblade to Riku after learning he’s the true owner and he has to gain it back; ‘Kasumi’ (or her personality anyway) is kind of the original owner of the persona so Sumire has to gain it back.

Also what happens when Maruki himself ceases? Say he had a mental shutdown, does reality just jump and everybody goes back to the way things were anyway? The extended stuff actually seems to improve on some of the points and problems that I had with the last, the formula is different and so is the villain, he’s kind of a grey character I suppose but almost like he’s not even bad to begin with? I mean if you could change reality, why would you have to face it? It’s an odd concept. There’s also a good bit of content, it was a lot to look through.

The actual palace, as I was saying, seems pretty big, as you know, all the other palaces had will seeds named after the 7 deadlies, so what's this one? Well they're called "Sorrow" which isn't a sin, just even more ambiguity towards who Maruki is, it even asks you moral questions in order to proceed. "Do you help your friend yourself or go get help for them?" Neither is really wrong, I suppose it depends on the context. And his palace has rorschach paintings on the wall which I have to respect, not to mention RGB puzzles (in concept sounds cool but actually looks annoying). The music is pretty cool too, I actually might even put it up against Shido's palace.

“Here in the garden, let’s play a game, I’ll show you how it’s done.” 

So the third tier personas are a cool idea but it’s hit or miss with the designs. I wish I knew about Sumire unlocking Maria, that’s really cool. The final boss seems like a heck of a lot to get through but the true ending seems a lot more definitive, I like it more than the regular game's ending, it doesn't even change that much but gives different context and a few new scenes and an after credits scene that I don't think was in the base game (maybe you had to 100% I don't know).

[empressxmachina]

Inquiries on WIPs, lore, and what to do with both

Hi!

I hope y'all are well! I didn't expect to make a journal today, but here I am! I do hope I get some answers because I do have some thoughts and questions.

word wall under the cut

First off, I've done a lot of proofreading and re-outlining lately.

How I keep coming up with ideas, I don't know. Why I can never sit down and write prose except for when I'm meant to be doing something else is even more unknown. But at least I'm thinking, I guess. I like what I'm pondering.  I have done some intensive writing, though.

I made a manip that's been done and in the queue for months, and I liked it so much that I've made a whole novella (novel?) idea for it. If I do it right, then I hope to get about twelve (12) parts from it - they're all now planned - of which I've completed seven. I'm closer to eight (8) than not, so that's good, right?

Since the pic is done and so is its relative part in the story, should I just release it/them, or should I wait until it's all done?

I've even made a Wattpad/book cover for it; that's how much I like what I'm doing.

Regarding Welcome Home, Sasha, specifically, it's been plotted for months, too. But I'm having some issues with writing an expository soliloquy, aka the explanation of what the fuck happened to Earth.

The actual information is cut-and-dry, but I don't know how to best frame it. I find Ki to be an analytical person - sensible for a scientist, I suppose - but with a flourish. Putting his brotherly, almost fatherly love of Sasha on top complicates things further since he wouldn't want to break his heart... and the answer will definitely bruise at the very least.

Luckily though, how he'll react and everything after that is as straightforward as an apocalypse can be. Will I ever write it, though?

I technically have three (3) or four (4) continuations to long fics, but I don't know why I'm not releasing them. I want to, yet I don't? Is this my mediocre perfectionism in action? Is this normal?

Syntrophy has changed in my head, like, four times, regarding the relationship between the two MCs. Their separate stories have maintained but not how they connect to each other.

I wish I was kidding. There's so much I've deleted.

I've been adding excerpts to my manips and making visuals to go with stories. Read more about that in the next section.

Secondly, I've been conceptualizing visuals like mad!

Ideas just keep coming, and they don't stop coming.

The queue is probably at peak fullness, which is cool. I was hoping I wouldn't have to widen time between posting stuff because as much as popularity doesn't affect whether I make something, I wouldn't want y'all to just forget about me. You know?

I know some people don't even have a schedule or set up expectations, so I might just say "Fuck it," and leave submission dates to RNG. It hasn't been a problem, but I don't want pressure from time restraints to become a problem. We'll see.

Like the unnamed, new fic way above, some of my ready works are images from tales not-yet-released. I've done that before numerous times, but one in particular literally happens in what would be the literal next part to post, and I'm not done with writing it, yet, at least to where I'd like it to be.

Should I post the pic anyway, despite context being right behind a corner? I kind of want to, but I've already been putting it off so much...

I just really need to get motivated and focus using Pomodoro or something. Maybe I'd knock everything out if I did.

My most recent completion from literally this morning might just be my favorite in all my years of manip-making.

Meanwhile, the one finished right before it might be the worst thing I've ever made, and its excerpt just makes it worse. I enjoyed it thoroughly, though, which makes me question myself as I'm seeing patterns...

I want to draw/paint again. I've done stuff for IRL projects but not size content.

I need inspiration to just sit down and pen for hours or days.

Would y'all mind me doing sketches again? That'd be quicker.

Lastly, the real reason why I chose to make a journal:

I'm really considering putting expanded, not-yet-seen lore for my stories on my blog site (on WordPress), and I feel like I've pondered this before.

As repeatedly mentioned, I have too many ideas but not even drive to collect them all into something worthwhile. But I'd like to get them out there somehow so others can indulge in my babies as much as I do. Some creators have blogs just for certain stories and their characters, settings, etc. that I adore, and I want to feel that in a way, too. However, most people don't have ten (10) or more stories at once that they equally love. Fuck, I need to edit my blog with more pages for more things I've conjured but isn't there, yet.

I feel that by doing so on my site,

People who do want to know how a plot of a tale will go, because I write as quickly as molasses runs yet have an outline for everything, can know.

It'll be organized as I see fit but my own control (unless WordPress does something drastic).

In addition, the data wouldn't be directly attached to the works on other sites like here, either, in case ideas change or people are averse to spoilers and want to stay away.

Reading all this over, couldn't I put the same data/lore in DA journals, Tumblr posts, etc., too, adding tags or titles to mark what's what? Couldn't I also put the works themselves that are here or even the damn music list on my site, too? Should I?

Am I overthinking this? I think I'm overthinking this.

That's it, I think.

Does any of this make sense? Please let me know your thoughts on anything but mostly the blog stuff if you can.

(I've also put this on DA if you'd prefer to respond there.)

Stay safe, and Happy Equinox! I'm glad I'll see flowers blooming again soon.

~J