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batsyforyou · 8 months

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LetterOnUs.com

Tags: letter, modern meets fantasy, unexplained fandom event, OC, mentions of drinking and mocking NSFW activity.

Pairing: Glorfindel x fem OC can also be read as a fem reader

Warning: Unedited, not very good but oh well 🤷‍♀️

Author's Note: A short thing to practice using she/her also don't really plan to expand this at the moment. Might do another part might not.

@asianbutnotjapanese

She frowned as she walked, her sneakers catching on the sidewalk in her hast and she stumbled.

“Linda, I don’t have time for this!”

Linda trotted beside her, as breathless as she was beautiful, grinning as she poked her side. “Oh, come on! You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about it. Seriously, if you could write a letter to your favorite character, what would you say?”

She rolled her eyes, pausing at the crosswalk and pushing the button. “A lot. But I would never share that letter with the world.”

“Pff!”—her friend rolled her eyes, smirking—“It's not posted publicly, silly! It is posted to an anonymous dropbox and when the time comes to share them on boards for the convention they only hang the letters of people who consented to their letters being shared. Not the people who politely declined. Besides! You might even forget about it since they are collecting them for the convention two years from now!”

The sign turned green and quickly looking both ways, she crossed the street with Linda hot on her heels.

“Do they read them?”

“No, again only the people who consented to their letter being shared.”

“Do they respond to them?”

“No.”

“Then what's the point of collecting anonymous letters that are the equivalent to mini fan fanfictions?”

Linda grabbed her arm and yanked the two to a stop.

“Listen, you don’t have to do it, okay? It's a fandom event that allows you to send a letter to your favorite character. No one reads it unless you’ve consented, and it wouldn’t be shared unless you, again, consented to it being in a public display two years from now. And most of the people, if not all, who look at them aren’t even going to know you. What's so wrong about that?”

She frowned, looking at Linda’s hand that was firmly clamped over her elbow. “I don’t know. It just seems, it feels, vulnerable.” She rubbed at the back of her neck, awkwardly. “The characters I. . . favor. It's just personal.”

A knot tied in her throat and she swallowed, unable to speak anymore on it. Gently removing her arm from Linda’s grasp, she continued on her way to work but at a calmer pace.

“Do you plan on taking part in this event?”

Linda smirked and nodded vigorously. “Oh yes! I’m thinking about writing a lot of my favorites from different fandoms, though I haven’t decided which ones yet.”

She nodded and stopped outside the entrance to Mr. Bumble Works, her receptionist job, she nodded. “Well, let me know if you do.”

“Are you planning on entering the event?”

“I don’t think so.”

Linda dug into her pocket and fished out her phone, “I’ll text you the link anyway, alright?” Typing quickly on her phone she grinned as she hit send. “I’ll call you later.”

Feeling her phone buzz with the notification, she nodded and waved her friend farewell. Pushing open the door she charges in and drops her things at the front desk, shoving off her coat.

“Mornin’ Vince.”

The ginger smirked at her, wiggling his brows. “Hey princess.”

Frowning, he watched her take a seat, crossing his arms. “You alright, your cheeks are flushed.” Smirking again he leaned towards her as she worked to clock in. “Ah, I get it. You ran over here again didn’t you? You do know your shift doesn’t start for another ten minutes right?”

She nodded, brushing her hair behind her ear. “I do.”

“Trying to impress the boss for that raise?”

“No,” she sighed, “Just didn’t want to be at the apartment longer than I had too.”

He nodded and spun his chair around to sign in himself. “Your neighbors making a racket again?”

Groaning, she threw herself back into her chair, dramatically putting her hand to her head. “Oh, Garrick! Garrick! Que aggressive moaning.”

He laughed, tapping his pen on the computer. “See, that's the problem with apartments, thin walls.”

She snorted and corrected her posture. “Tell me about it.”

The door of the supermarket dinged as she left. Reaching into her purse she fished around for her truck keys.

“Where is it?” She grumbled.

“Hey, miss!”

“Hm?”

She turned around and leaned her weight closer to her truck as a man rushed up to her.

“Oh, did I forget something?”

He smiled, shaking his head, “No, I just wanted to ask if you are participating in that event?”

She frowned, feeling her keys in the bottom of her purse, relieved as she pulled them out.

“I’m assuming you're talking about that letter event?”

He nodded, “Yes, that, what do you think of it?”

Feeling uneasy, she examined the man. How did he know about that? Or let alone knew she knew about that?

He towered over her, tall and lean, his hair was long and a startling shade of white, styled in an intricate bun. It must have been dyed.

“I won’t be participating, thank you.”

She clicked her key fob to unlock her truck and quickly put her shopping bag and purse inside.

The man frowned, “Why not? Wouldn’t you want to write to your favorite character?”

She rolled her eyes and climbed into her truck. “I won’t be participating, thank you.”

He grabbed the door before it shut and she gasped, “What if I could make it worth your time?”

Feeling her heart slam against her chest she glared at him and scoffed. “Have a good day, sir.”

He sighed and lifted his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright—” she slammed the door shut and locked it before she could hear the rest, quickly driving off.

Her breath was shaky as she looked in her rearview mirror.

It was well past dark when she made it back home. Parking her truck into her spot, she turned off the ignition and dropped her head against the wheel.

“Great.” She mumbled. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and listened to the dog barking off in the distance. Sighing she lifted her head and looked at her neighbors spot.

Empty.

“Oh, thank goodness.”

Grabbing her purse and shopping bag she quickly got out and locked her truck. Trudging her way up the stairs and into her third floor apartment.

Heading to the door she double checked and triple checked the room number before putting her key in the lock and hearing the satisfying clink as it unlocked. Sighing with relief, she shoved open the door and closed it behind her.

Leaning against her door she groaned and felt tears build.

It has been a long day.

Sniffing, she locked her door and flicked the light switch as she dropped her things on the counter, she stripped on her way to the bath, having kept the blinds closed when she left.

Turning the water on she went to her closet and pulled out her favorite robe and shrugged it on over her bare skin. Sitting at her vanity, she turned the lights on and stared at herself in the mirror. She looked terrible.

Her eyes were rimmed red and the white of her eyes looked irritated, making the brown color of her iris look lackluster and dead tired.

Pulling open her drawer she fetched her makeup wipes and scrubbed it all off, it didn’t take long. Getting up she quickly went to the kitchen and grabbed her box of strawberries, her chocolate ice cream, a bottle of wine and a glass. Dicing up the strawberries she brought out a bowl and filled it with the chocolate ice cream and dumped the strawberries in with it. Turning she went back to her fridge and grabbed the chocolate syrup and squished that over the top. Satisfied with her big bowl of sugar she plopped in a spoon and poured herself a cup of wine.

Making her way to the bathroom she kicked aside her clothes in the hall and shut her bathroom door behind her. Putting her bowl and glass down she reached into her cabinet and pulled out the bath tray and put it over the steaming water.

Humming she turned off the water and pulled off her robe, hanging it on the rack. Taking her food and drink she put it on the tray and crouched down to fetch a vanilla candle, lighting it she added it to the tray.

Flicking off the light she sighed as her tears resurfaced and climbed into the bath. Ignoring the heat that seemed to burn her skin. Sitting down she pulled the tray over herself and dug into her ice cream and berries, taking a big bite and moaning with delight at the taste. Taking a large gulp of her wine she leaned back against the tub and relaxed in the dark candle lit room.

Sitting on her bed with a towel over her hair she stared at the blinking cursor.

“Dear Glorfindel,” She mumbled typing as she went.

“I wanted you to know how much your existence matters to me. When I was—”

She swallowed and deleted the words. “I can’t tell you how many times I—”

She chewed her lip holding down backspace.

“Dear Glorfindel,

Hi, I’m Ryla and I know you don’t know me but I know you… I just wanted to say thank you.

For everything.

Respectfully,

Ryla Robertson”

Hovering over the blue airplane, she hit send and flopped back onto her bed, closing the computer lid and putting it on her floor.

In the morning as she brushed her teeth and worked to get ready for her five hour shift, she paused as her phone lit up.

“Email: LetterOnUs

Ryla K. Robertson, you have a reply!” . . . What?

Masterlist

#tolkien #silmarillion #the silmarillion #glorfindel #glorfindel x fem oc #glorfindel x oc #glorfindel x fem reader

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not-poignant · 1 year

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Hi Pia,

I thought I would ask this on tumblr in case anyone else is having this issue. I tried to sign up for your new Ream account under the Gary and Efnisien tier. However I can only access 5 of your posts and the only story linked is the wildness within. I wondered if this was all you had uploaded or whether it's an issue with ream? I tried to download the app in case that was the issue but that didn't work either.

Anon!

You need to read the actual writing in the posts, you'll find links to a Dropbox folder that contains all of the chapters in the same place.

That's all of the chapter commentaries, all of the Augus & Gwyn chapters, and the Gary & Efnisien chapters are coming this Sunday, so that I can link both at the same time.

Please read the posts! The actual descriptions of what you can access via the links is right there in each post. You can see here:

(See where it says All Augus & Gwyn tier early access for 2023? That means all the chapters, from January to now, it's literally all the early access stuff that hasn't gone up yet and quite a bit that has).

You need to click on the links where it's saying this stuff - you can look above where it says: 'Find them here at this Dropbox link in PDF format' (and you do not need a Dropbox link to download everything).

This one has the title:

And says:

'here is a link to all previous chapter commentaries for 2023!!'

That's all of them! From January to now! In the same folder. I'll be populating with earlier years soon, but there's like a good 18 to start with.

Highly recommend you read the content in the posts instead of just looking at the overall number, you might find there's more than you think!

As for the Gary & Efnisien Constellations material, in the first Ream announcement post on Tumblr and also on Discord, I say the equivalent of this:

(but actually it's the 8th, so like in 2 days).

In some ways access is way easier than it was on Patreon, because instead of having to wade through 20 different posts, you link to a single folder and download what you need all at once. (Again, you do not need Dropbox to do this, they're just hosted on Dropbox).

Hope that helps!

#asks and answers #sometimes anon it's the quality and not the quantity of the posts #that determine how much content you're getting #but you have to read em first to get that access #and in two days time it's also all of the Gary & Efnisien tier #and that folder #future posts will include individual links #but the *entire folder* will be posted at the same time #for ease of access #it honestly saves people from having to wade through around 80 individual posts to get to things #if they want a shortcut #but you have to look at the posts to know it's there!

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free-jstor · 2 years

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[GUIDE] The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction - Walter Benjamin (1969)

First off, if you are ever going to cite this article in a social setting with other people who may or may not be familiar with his work (ie. an art event), you need to know this: Benjamin is pronounced ben-yah-MEEN, not BEN-juh-min. (Don't ask me how I know T_T)

If you're an artist and a commie, this might be an interesting read for you! It talks about authenticity, aura, and thoughts on replication.

You can find the reading in the Dropbox link below. It is located under “critical theory texts.zip” > “Durham and Kellner - Keyworks”.

It's important to note that the term is "mechanical reproduction", not "digital reproduction". Mechanical reproduction refers to actual, handmade, produced replicas of the original (ie. an imitation painting of the Mona Lisa by a different artist, not a picture of the Mona Lisa). However, we will also talk about the implications of digital reproduction!

The term authenticity here refers to an artwork's precise existence in time and space. An original artwork is authentic because there is no way to ever replicate the exact conditions (time, space, environment, technique, etc.) that the artwork is created in. It occupies a unique place in the world, as does every other artwork.

If you are still confused, here's an analogy: you are authentic because there is no other you, nobody with the same exact genes, you are born at X time at Y hospital under Z conditions.

Reproductions will never be authentic to the original because it cannot replicate the conditions of the original artwork, in the same way that a clone of you can never really be you. (or can it....)

There is a bit of a paradox here: it can be argued that by reproducing a work of art, we can also call the original's authenticity into question. By reproducing it, we have undermined the authenticity of the original. But at the same time, each subsequent copy of an original artwork has its own authenticity, its own unique place in the world, and new meanings can be created from those replicas.

But there is one thing that is missing from replicas that only the original artwork possesses. This unique quality of authenticity is what Benjamin calls aura.

Here what that reminded me of:

(this meme i made is cracking me UP LOOOOL)

Anyways, aura cannot be replicated by mechanical reproduction.

Now, in an increasingly digitized world, we can't just forget that photography is now a part of the equation. Historically, photography used to be used to document, prove, and survey more than it was used as an expressive art form. Then, it became an art form, and changed the practice of art in itself.

Photography and film have their own authenticity - a photograph of a painting serves a much different purpose than a real painting. In addition, photography was the first medium to raise objects from ritual. Instead, photography began to be produced for exhibition value.

Here's what Benjamin says about that:

"... the instance the criterion of authenticity ceases to be applicable to artistic production, the total function of art is reversed. Instead of being based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practice- politics".

By ritual, he's referencing how art used to be based on ritualistic practices rather than artistic expression (like, paintings were for the church, etc.). By politics, he is referencing society.

In other words, photography did well to bring the production of art away from ritualistic intentions, but also created a new set of problems re: modernity's demand for reproducibility.

"Visual reproducibility is one of the imperatives of modernity". This is true- we always look for things that we think we know, things that seem familiar, things that are perfect and safe for us to engage with. By increasing reproduction of original artworks, we make them more common. By making them more common, we make them more familiar.

In addition, the "greatly increased mass of participants has produced a change in the mode of participation". What once used to be viewed by a few, in a limited space, now can be viewed by many in a large space (movies) or by multiple people simultaneously in many different spaces (press). Before mechanical reproduction became so prevalent in modern society, viewership was more personal.

Benjamin then concludes with the argument that mechanical reproduction leads to a distracted audience. Visual reproduction combined with the convenience of mass partnership creates people who do not think for themselves, but rather, are distracted by the temptation of continuous consumption.

Can you guess how that works to suppress social revolution?

#articles #guide #critical studies #ideology #walter benjamin #art #authenticity #marxism #anti capitalism #theory

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emailencryption · 2 years

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How to Secure Your Sensitive Documents

Finally, DRM that is easy enough to use without the burden of requiring readers to download, login, or have any special software.

My Wharton friend recently told me about the “deal of the century”. He was offered to buy Aspen Highlands Ski Resort – the ski operations, National Forest ski terrain rights, and the base lodge land development property for $4 million…in 1992.

Inflation is not transient. $4 million probably seemed like a lot back then, but he could not put the funds together for the purchase (and forever regrets not getting it done). Why was it such a great deal? Back in 1992, commercial internet did not really exist. There was no way to easily share deal terms at the speed of light with all who might be potentially interested. For those concerned about sharing deal terms without non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) — having sensitive financial details shared inadvertently with the masses — it was a much simpler time.

Today, every seller of private deals or investments must deal with a dilemma: If I get the deal in the hands of the investment bankers, they can circulate it to whomever even hints of an interest. Even if there is an NDA available, easily eSigned, they often don’t take the time to deal with the formality. After all, they are looking to sell the deal; why build in hurdles?

To make things easier, many would-be dealmakers proceed with a false sense of security, as these deals have gravitated towards creating “deal rooms,” which for most, essentially are online web storage folders a bit fancier than Box.com or Dropbox that have all the detailed financing documents stored, accessible for eager investors.

These “rooms” may contain a process to eSign an NDA to enter and track who signed, but once entered, people will often download the documents so that they can read them wherever they are. Readers (i.e., potential investors) often want to ask someone, “what do you think about the deal?” This inevitably sets up a casual forward of sensitive deal terms by email outside of the deal room.

Below is an example. All the financial details were in PDFs that I received from a friend who was asking me what I thought about a deal to buy a small ski area. I flipped through the document, certainly a picture-filled beautiful brochure marketing the deal, but it also contained all the detailed financials and deal terms. And, at the bottom, there was a link to the “data room” which simply contained an NDA to eSign inside of the Dropbox platform.

The deal terms are now shared and circulated with the Data Room NDA optional? Clicking data room to get the NDA to eSign (strangely, this link was buried deep in the financing book after all of the deal terms), it even recorded me as someone else – presumably the link was tagged/cookied with the first person who received the tracked document.

Double whaa? Is this really secure? No. Does this process protect private financial information? Certainly not.

Enter RDocs as an alternative — essentially as a decentralized “deal room” or “data room” — that builds the security into the document itself but opens (for those authorized) just like any PDF in your browser. If these deal marketers were more tech savvy, they could have converted the deal terms into RDocs rights-protected documents and even set different security levels for the marketing pages versus the financial terms!

The marketing brochure for the deal could be set to capture the email address of each document viewer but would not restrict viewing. The financial terms could also be set to restrict viewing to only pre-authorized people or from within pre-authorized domains, locations, etc. Plus, it could also track who is viewing what information when, essentially auto-building a lead list of those interested or quasi-interested in the deal!

RDocs (check out the new product site) is designed to work in the way people work — sending deal terms and docs as attachments to email. Finally, we have an EDRM that is easy enough for real people to use without the burden of requiring readers to download, login, or have any special software.

RDocs empowers you to protect, control, track, or kill access to documents in-the-ether, even after sending; even after recipients have tucked the files away on their personal drives; and it is the only EDRM platform built on 20 years of leadership in email security and compliance. RDocs is elegantly easy and more affordable. Plus, as always, we are friendlier to work with.

Please contact us to learn more about RDocs. Who knows? Maybe this will be the start of your new career as a ski resort mogul (no pun intended).

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bloodmooncc · 3 years

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I posted 525 times in 2021

178 posts created (34%)

347 posts reblogged (66%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 1.9 posts.

I added 576 tags in 2021

#reblog - 220 posts

#ask - 86 posts

#tzr - 42 posts

#ts4 - 41 posts

#s4 - 38 posts

#bloodmoon rb - 34 posts

#sims4cc - 29 posts

#wip - 29 posts

#s4cc - 29 posts

#ts4cc - 28 posts

Longest Tag: 134 characters

#i think i'll have to lie to tumblr and say that they misattributed my work or sum shit bc they dont let us report on behalf of otherse

My Top Posts in 2021

Dragula | Eyeliner

Here’s something small I made after returning from vacation #2. This was tricky to make; I had to use blender’s texture paint to get it to look right. Since school is starting again I won’t be posting cc as actively :<

Big gothy winged eyeliner

All ages except for baby

Feminine

Results vary depending on eye shape

4 swatches of black eyeliner (as shown above + an extra where the white waterline is at 50% opacity which I didn’t show bc I added it at the last minute lol)

Custom thumbnail

Disabled for random

DOWNLOAD (dropbox)

Don’t be fooled by the front angle previews. The inner and outer wings are longer than they look ;)

See the full post

1812 notes • Posted 2021-09-04 20:30:55 GMT

❝Enoby❞ Hair

I guess this is my 1000 follower gift? I originally wanted to put this in a pack with a few other items to officially celebrate the milestone but couldn’t bring myself to do that bc im too impatient lol. Anyway thanks everyone <3

Long emo hair named after a goff icon. Oh and 2nd hair from scratch!!

Teen to elder

30 swatches; 18 EA + 12 bonus

Split dye overlay in facepaint (slider compatible) + tattoo categories

Note: for the overlays, the bonus dark brown swatch shows up in the wrong order in CAS and i couldn’t fix it :/ all of the swatches are there and working but just that one shows up in the wrong order

BGC

Hat chops

Tagged as feminine

somehow lower poly than my first shorter hair (7k)

DOWNLOAD (dropbox)

2278 notes • Posted 2021-04-02 19:30:45 GMT

❝Dahlia❞ Preset Pack

Random pack of 3 presets. All are teen to elder, have custom thumbnails, and are disabled for random.

1. Body preset

Mostly changes leg shape, wider set breasts, suits medium to small sized sims.

Female only

2. Jaw preset

Wider jaw with a pointier chin

All genders

3. Lip preset

Bottom heavy with m-shaped upper lip

All genders

DOWNLOAD (dropbox)

3935 notes • Posted 2021-03-12 20:30:55 GMT

Khaos | Makeup Set

Once in a blue moon, I make something that doesn’t involve a mesh.

I love that dirty grungey smudged look so I drew these a few months ago with only black swatches, forgot about it, then came back to make more swatches. This set is focused on dark colors so feel free to recolor idc.

Everything is toddler (go make creepy kids ig) to elder, unisex, disabled for random, and with custom thumbnails.

1. Khaos eyeshadow

Big and dramatic, inspired by Taylor Momsen’s early looks

28 swatches (Top row)

14 plain and 14 shimmery

2. Khaos eyeliner

Filled in corners and a slight outer wing

12 swatches (middle row)

3. Khaos lipstick

Blurred over the lip line, kinda like the lollipop lip trend

14 swatches (bottom row)

DOWNLOAD (dropbox)

Some of the color boxes look the same but they have different undertones i promise

4627 notes • Posted 2021-05-28 20:30:37 GMT

❝Yujin❞ Hair

My first hair mesh completely from scratch! I thought I’d never join the dark side but my curiosity got the best of me.

Short wavy hime cut with bangs that kinda resembles a mullet

Teen to elder

BGC

Hat chops

Feminine, enabled for all genders (however there’s clipping on male sims T_T)

30 swatches; 18 EA + 12 bonus

Egirl strands overlay in facepaint (slider compatible!) and tattoo categories

Inspo

DOWNLOAD (dropbox)

4840 notes • Posted 2021-03-05 20:30:29 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #haha hey things were worse than i thought and i haven't updated my game in months

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lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks · 2 years

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omg my new boss is paying me at a higher rate than I was expecting and also I'm already being put on making the work roster after like two days in the office and I'm absolutely killing it even though I have literally never done this before and also I've now made three usable forms after teaching myself how to use formstack and reorganised all of the dropbox files by financial year and retitled them in a more consistent format

I have been so incompetent in every job I have ever had, and some of which I had to study for 6 months just to apply, my anxiety or my chronic pain or my adhd or all 3 have made keeping a job so difficult, I am nearly 28 and have not been able to hold a job and I felt so hopeless

and now I have a job I am really good at despite never having trained or worked in this field before, and the reason I'm so good at it is because it utilises skills I've had to perfect in my personal life in order to manage my anxiety, chronic pain, and adhd

my anxiety and adhd make me want to deal with an issue as soon as it comes up so it's not weighing on me and so I don't forget it, so making calls, chasing up information, and getting what I need over the phone in a short amount of time is something I got very good at

my adhd makes me incredibly forgetful so I have to take constant notes about everything and those notes have to be succinct and organised enough that I can find them later and still understand what they were about, it also makes me lowkey obsessive about patterns and organisation (which may also be an autism thing, still awaiting a diagnosis on that)

additionally I have to maintain an impeccable calendar and keep track of all of my various appointments for my physical and mental health, my classes, my volunteer work, and personal events, otherwise I lose track, forget, or get completely overwhelmed, especially with my physiotherapy because those appointments are never regular and I have to be very flexible about fitting them into my schedule, not to mention having to reorganise certain things very abruptly when my back flares up and I need to spend days at home recovering

also getting hyperfocused on games like Monster Prom is how I learned how to use spreadsheets to keep track of my progress! which made it a lot easier to learn microsoft excel from scratch

and my obsession with management sim games gave me an understanding of organising tasks with different ranges of priority and slotting in small tasks between large ones to keep business flowing

everything that was a weakness in my life has become a tool I can now wield in a job I think was made for me, my anxiety, my adhd, even my pain, it all led to me developing skills I couldn't have gotten from just taking a class

and I thought I'd never have the opportunity to have a job like this because all admin positions I could find required previous experience, or at least a certification (which I was already working on with my business class) but this job was such a windfall of fortune because of my friend recommending me for the position

now I get to work in a job I'm best suited at, alongside one of my best friends, with a boss who is just the sweetest guy, and utilising all the skills I've honed after years of struggling just to exist

I think my good karma is finally cashing itself in, I cannot tell you the last time I felt so hopeful for my future 😊😊😊

#lula's life #happy rant #sometimes our weaknesses are our strengths #and I actually cannot believe how much of a strength mine have become

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lucky-sevens · 4 years

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mechanisms basics & lore

welcome to my updated mechanisms intro post! this post will cover both the topics discussed in my mechanisms basics post, which is geared towards people who don’t know what the mechanisms are, and my deep lore post, which aimed to be a comprehensive compilation of all the important character and world lore. this post should serve the above group, but it’s geared towards people who have listened but feel there’s a lot of lore that seems to be common knowledge they’re missing. we’ll start out with a basic introduction, and then go into crew lore and a semi-comprehensive guide on where to go for further information.

basics

the mechanisms were a steampunk concept band, known for their queer representation and their tragic stories. they are no longer together, their last performance being january 2020, but several of their members are still creating related spinoff content.

they follow the trope many steampunk bands do, which is albums that tell a story; think similar to listening to a musical soundtrack, but geared to a visual-less experience. what distinguishes them is 1) narration tracks between each song, making the plot very easy to follow, and 2) being meant to be watched live, meaning there’s layers of meta that are more easily understood by watching recorded gigs rather than studio recordings of albums. specifically, there’s a focus on the narrators, known as the mechanisms or the crew of the aurora, who are immortal space pirates telling the stories and occasionally inserting themselves into them. though they are tragic figures themselves, their banter serves the purpose of bringing a lightheartedness and dark humor to the stories. if there’s an aspect of the lore you’re confused on, it’s probably related to the narrators!

to watch the mechanisms live, you can find recordings on youtube, dropbox, google drive, soundcloud, or vimeo, which are all compiled in this post (including transcripts!). if visuals aren’t your thing, i’ve linked the studio recordings later on in this post when they come up, and here are the mechanisms’ official spotify, bandcamp, and youtube, as well as an unofficial comprehensive lyric videos channel.

the albums

regarding the albums specifically, there are 4 main ones (once upon a time (in space), ulysses dies at dawn, high noon over camelot, and the bifrost incident), 2 that are compilations of miscellaneous songs (tales to be told 1 & 2), 1 single (frankenstein), and 1 album that’s a high-quality recording of their last live show, including an alternative performance of the bifrost incident, 2 songs only performed at live shows, and 'the deathsong’, which details how they all eventually die (death to the mechanisms).

as you might have been able to tell from the titles, they’re all based off of various myths, folklore, literature, and/or fairy tales, using different genres on top of a sci-fi setting to add a fresh twist to them! for example, high noon over camelot is a western based on arthurian mythos, set on a space station. (the albums are known for all ending in tragedy, so be careful if that isn’t your cup of tea!) if your goal is to get into the mechanisms, i’d suggest sitting down and listening to them all in full; links will be provided below, or alternatively you can watch once upon a time (in space) live here, ulysses dies at dawn live here, or the bifrost incident live here. (there is no full live recording with visuals of high noon over camelot, sadly, but there are partial and audio only recordings.)

once upon a time (in space) - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

ulysses dies at dawn - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

high noon over camelot - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

the bifrost incident - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

tales to be told, volume 1 - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

tales to be told, volume 2 - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

frankenstein - spotify/bandcamp/youtube

death to the mechanisms - edited video with the stream corruption fixed + subtitles / stream / spotify / bandcamp / youtube / transcript pt. 1 / transcript pt. 2

reading the fiction is integral to understanding both the albums and the mechanisms themselves. the fiction is a collection of short stories set in the mechanisms universe posted on their website here and compiled by me here, with an extra high noon over camelot story here. (there are also audio versions for ‘mirror mirror’ and ‘a rebel yell’ included on both the website and the compilation).

the crew of the aurora

as for the crew, at their peak there were nine members played by people, as well as the ex-member dr carmilla, who has extensive solo lore and is still active (which we’ll touch on in a few paragraphs). there is also their ship, the aurora, who is sentient and has her own lore. in fact, every member of the crew has their own backstory, set in a different genre or historical period; for example, nastya rasputina's is historical, jonny d’ville’s is a western and marius von raum’s is a mecha anime. however, they’re all still different flavors of steampunk! below, i’ll list each member, their performer, and the main sources of lore about them. for the majority of them, they have their own song in tales to be told, but there are a few outliers. everyone also has their own bio up on the website, which can all be found here.

the aurora (n/a, ship)- on aurora (meta)

jonny d’ville (jonny sims)- one eyed jacks (song), jonny before he was mechanized (meta)

nastya rasputina (anonymous)- cyberian demons (song)

ivy alexandria (morgan wilkinson)- archive footage (fiction), crew bio

ashes o’reilly (frank voss)- lucky sevens (song)

drumbot brian (ben below)- lost in the cosmos (song), crew bio

the toy soldier (jessica law)- the story of the toy soldier (fiction)

gunpowder tim (tim ledsam)- gunpowder tim vs the moon kaiser (song/minialbum)

marius von raum (kofi young)- the death of byron von raum summary (blog post)

raphaella la cognizi (r l hughes)- crew bio

if you’ve noticed the crew bio doesn’t say much about raphaella, that’s because we know little to nothing about her backstory. the only thing we have to go on is a quote from the tv tropes page, which looking at the edit history, was likely written by one of the mechanisms. the quote is ‘Science officer who may or may not have cheated her way onto the ship after becoming a little too interested.‘ and the page is here.

the majority of fandom content is about the crew, working off of what we get from the tales to be told songs, the live gigs, and the fiction.

dr carmilla

speaking of characters with obscure lore, let’s talk about dr carmilla! rather than linger, i’ll just link my carmilla basics post, which is a comprehensive summary of who she is in and out of universe. to summarize, she’s a character based on the novella ‘carmilla’ by sheridan le fanu, commonly regarded as the first vampire novel, but her lore has diverged heavily from that original starting point since then. she is the oldest out of all of the crew, and made the majority of the other crew members immortal. she, as well as aurora, is from a planet called terra, which was destroyed partially as a result of her actions. her character is defined by her immortality and how she deals with it, her experiences on terra, her relationship with the mechanisms, and her dysfunctional relationship with her ex-girlfriend loreli, the last of which is the most covered by her songs. out of universe, she is played by maki yamazaki. all her lore lines up with what happened out of universe, and ties to the fact the mechanisms were originally dr carmilla and the mechanisms. she has two solo albums and two singles, which i’ll link below.

ageha (prototype edition) (album)- bandcamp | youtube

exhumed and {un}plugged (album)- bandcamp | youtube

the city {nex:type mix} (single, in-character cover)- bandcamp | youtube

eleven (single)- bandcamp | youtube

the majority of her lore is still to be officially revealed, and will be in the trilogy of albums maki yamazaki is working on.

further reading

if you’d like to delve further into the lore, there are a few sources i use! there are official, in-character, blogs, as well as things that are harder to dredge up; i won’t link them here, but some sources include @/thedreadvampy (the band’s artist, as well as morgan wilkinson’s sister and kofi young’s partner; don’t bother her for lore or anything, but she’s previously made posts sharing previously unknown information), old websites and deleted content found on the wayback machine, the tv tropes pages, and most notably the lore doc.

the ‘maki forbidden lore doc’ is an archive of all the lore maki yamazaki has shared on the mechscord, the official mechanisms discord which she’s on, and her own personal server, where she’s running an arg (alternate reality game) as a way of relaying more lore about the dr carmilla universe. for an idea of the scale, the doc is currently 91 pages and 28346 words, and recontextualizes much of what is known about dr carmilla and maki’s canon of the mechanisms universe. it is confidential to anyone not in her discord or the mechscord, as she’s said that this lore isn’t thought out nearly as much as the albums and is subject to change, so she’d rather it not be out in the open. however, information on how to join the mechscord can be found here. there is also a non-canonical fan project based on the arg in progress, but information on it is also confidential for now.

with regards to the above phrase ‘maki’s canon’ it’s worth noting that all of the individual band members have their own idea of what counts as canon and what doesn’t, and as you foray deeper into lore that division becomes more and more apparent.

with that, here are the mechanisms’ blogs. they are all both run in-character by the main nine band members and inactive unless i note otherwise.

twitter

tumblr

facebook

website/wordpress (run ic by tereshkova’s ghost, the blogbot, for the most part)

carmilla twitter (active, run ic by dr carmilla)

conclusion

now that we’re coming to the end of this, i’d like to thank whoever got this far, and to say a few words. my interest in the mechanisms has been slowly fading, and i’ve been writing less and less meta and lapsing in keeping up with new lore myself. honestly, i’m pretty worn out by how much i’ve done on this blog and in this fandom, and the commitments i’ve assigned myself. i do have plans for future meta, but it’s unlikely they’ll come to fruition. so, i thought i’d do a new version of my two oldest posts on this blog, and hopefully enable other people to look into the lore and theorize themselves with the new information.

to find more information, remember there’s a mechanisms wiki, and that my askbox is always open.

thanks for reading!

#the mechanisms #the mechs #meta #my posts

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mhazaru · 3 years

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This is a little review on Clip Studio Paint for the iPad. I switched over to using it a few weeks ago from Procreate (I’ve never used CSP before that) and just wanted to share some thoughts about it for anyone else who might be trying out different iPad drawing apps (the above clip is a small WIP for a character from a comic I’m working on).

Anyways, I’ve been using Procreate for the last few years and it really is a fantastic program, but there are a few things that have always bugged me about it: no clipping for groups, file info is lost if moved off canvas, brushes are great but have some ‘waxiness’ to them that never felt right for me, Procreate files don’t transfer to Photoshop well in some aspects, the native file type can be a bit weird, etc. The one thing that really bothered me, though, was that I was reliant on the iOS file/cloud system and its eccentrics rather than being able to just natively work from my own Dropbox.

CSP more or less solved all of that, though. It isn’t nearly as intuitive as Procreate in terms of mobile design, but it has all that good stuff you get used to on a full desktop painting application (and I can save my stuff in PSDs natively on Dropbox!). And really, it only took a few days to get used to its interface, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. What I really love about it, however, was that the brush ecosystem is so much better than Procreate’s. I had spent a decent chunk of change trying all kinds of brushes in Procreate, but within a few minutes of using CSP I imported a great pencil brush (for free) and it’s been better than anything I’ve used in Procreate so far (above video is using it). The brush engine just feels better as a whole to me as well; much more natural and enjoyable (this is the pencil brush I’m using if you’re interested).

There are a couple of small issues, mostly having to do with the stability of the app itself: sometimes it doesn’t access Dropbox properly, and I’ve had it close down a few times by itself (it does restore the file you were working on, but it can be annoying). It’s mainly little weird things like that, but they are few and far between and don’t generally hamper the overall experience. The lack of a sophisticated gesture system like in Procreate is probably the biggest drawback, but like before, I got used to it after a few days. Procreate’s recording system is also far superior (even if exporting the videos can be a pain sometimes). The one thing I really wish CSP had, though, was a good Liquify tool, but they do at least have a Mesh Transform tool that can get you by for most things (I mainly use it to quickly adjust sketches).

Procreate does have one thing really going for it though: the cost. You pay a one time fee for Procreate (I think it was $10 a few years ago) but using CSP for the iPad is a monthly fee (I think it was $3 or $5 depending on how many devices you use it on, I just did an annual fee). It’s still pretty cheap, especially against Adobe’s pricing schemes, but for some people it might not be feasible. They do offer a few months of a free trial though, and the desktop versions are a one-time fee if you go that route. I suppose that’s one more advantage for mobile CSP as well, as you can use it on mobile Android/Windows devices too (versus just iOS for Procreate).

Regardless of all that though, I’m having a great time with it! Procreate in the future might address some of the issues I listed, mainly with respects to the fact that they purposely disallow some features in order to keep the limited RAM of an iPad into consideration. But, being able to work directly out of my own cloud storage, plus the incredible brush library (and engine) for CSP has me hooked on it for the time being.

I also, for the hell of it, tried out the new Photoshop app for the iPad. It was uninstalled pretty quickly!

#clip studio paint #procreate #wip stuff #original #photoshop

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path-of-my-childhood · 4 years

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Aaron Dessner on the 'Weird Avalanche' That Resulted in Taylor Swift's “Evermore”

By: Lyndsey Havens for Billboard Date: December 18th 2020

One day this fall, Taylor Swift walked into Aaron Dessner’s home to wish his daughter a happy 9th birthday - but that wasn't the only reason Swift was there.

She was mostly there to film the Disney+ special, Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, in which she was meeting up with her primary Folklore collaborators - The National’s Dessner and Jack Antonoff. They had all gathered for the first time at Dessner’s upstate New York studio to play her record-breaking album live.

On the last night of filming the special (a process that was done while following CDC guidelines, with a limited crew and COVID-19 testing), Dessner recalls how he, Antonoff and Swift stayed up until 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. - drinking and celebrating the more-than-warm embrace Folklore had received. But in the days that followed, Swift ended up staying, and she and Dessner unexpectedly continued working. Eventually, they had 17 more songs, all of which became the sister album, Evermore, released on Dec. 11.

“Folklore almost immediately was treated as a classic or a masterpiece,” says Dessner. “It was elevated fairly quickly and had been commercially really successful, so obviously it’s hard to follow something like that up. But one of the things I love about Evermore is the ways in which Taylor was jumping off different cliffs. The ability she has to tell these stories, but also push what she’s doing musically, is really kind of astonishing. It’s like I went to some crash course, some masters program, for six months.”

Below, Dessner tells Billboard all about the work that went into his second album in five months with one of the world's biggest pop stars.

With Folklore a lot of the production and arrangements came from a folder you had sent Taylor. Did you continue to pull from there, or was Evermore made from scratch?

A lot more of it was made from scratch. After Folklore came out, I think Taylor had written two songs early on that we both thought were for Big Red Machine, “Closure” and “Dorothea.” But the more I listened to them, not that they couldn’t be Big Red Machine songs, but they felt like interesting, exciting Taylor songs. “Closure” is very experimental and in this weird time signature, but still lyrically felt like some evolution of Folklore, and “Dorothea” definitely felt like it was reflecting on some character.

And I, sort of in celebration of Folklore, had written a piece of music that I titled “Westerly,” that’s where she has the house that she wrote “Last Great American Dynasty” about. I’ll do that sometimes, just make things for friends or write music just to write it, but I didn’t at all think it would become a song. And she, like an hour later, sent back “Willow” written to that song, and that sort of set [things in motion] and we just started filling this Dropbox again. It was kind of like, “What’s happening?”

And then it just kept going. She wrote "Gold Rush” with Jack [Antonoff] and by the end there were 17 songs, and it was only a couple months after Folklore came out, so it’s pretty wild. Each time we would just be in disbelief and kind of like, “How is this possible?” Especially because we didn’t need to talk much about structure or ideas or anything - it was just this weird avalanche.

Considering how industry-shaking Folklore was, what pressure did that introduce this time around?

I think because of how we made it, it really wasn’t like producing some giant record or something, it still had this very homespun feeling to it. There may have been a moment or two when I think Taylor was wondering when and how to put out Evermore, but I think the stronger it became, and as each song came together, it just started to feel like, "This is a sister record - it’s part of the same current of creativity and collaboration and the stories feel inter-related."

And aesthetically, to me, Evermore is wilder and has more of a band dynamic at times. You can feel her songwriting sharpen even more on it, in terms of storytelling, and also just this freedom to make the kinds of songs that were coming. When she started to write in a less diaristic way and tell these stories, I think she found she had this incredible wealth of experience and depth to her storytelling that was quite natural. She could easily make these songs more reflective or blur the lines of what’s autobiographical and what's not in interesting ways. It felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Folklore was made entirely remotely, how did that process change for Evermore?

This was both. Some of it was remote, but then after the Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, Taylor stayed for quite a while and we recorded a lot. She actually wrote “‘Tis the Damn Season” when she arrived for the first day of rehearsal. We played all night and drank a lot of wine after the fireside chat - and we were all pretty drunk, to be honest - and then I thought she went to bed. But the next morning, at 9:00 a.m. or something, she showed up and was like, “I have to sing you this song,” and she had written it in the middle of the night. That was definitely another moment [where] my brain exploded, because she sang it to me in my kitchen, and it was just surreal.

That music is actually older - it’s something I wrote many years ago, and hid away because I loved it so much. It meant something to me, and it felt like the perfect song finally found it. There was a feeling in it, and she identified that feeling: That feeling of... “The ache in you, put there by the ache in me.” I think everyone can relate to that. It’s one of my favorites.

Did you watch the Disney+ special?

I’m not a big fan of watching myself - but I did watch it, and I thought it was beautiful. It’s funny, because it was very DIY in a sense; a tight little small crew was there to do it, nobody was styling us or fixing our hair or anything like that, it’s very authentic. I rehearsed a little bit before, but both of us - Jack and I - were pretty much figuring it out as we went.

And I think the nice thing is that all of the songs could work like that, and that’s partly a testament to the strength of the album. Without big production tricks or backing vocals or anything like that, the songs stand up, and Taylor just sang the crap out of them. And hanging out with them was so much fun. They’re kind of like siblings almost; they’ve known each other a long time, there’s this quick humor between them.

Would you like to do something like that again with Evermore?

I don’t know if you can recreate exactly what we did with Folklore. I haven’t actually talked to anyone about that. But to me, the songs of Evermore would be even more fun to play, because more of them feel like band songs. But, that being said, I won’t be disappointed if we don’t - there is no plan afoot right now to do that.

During an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Jimmy asked Taylor about the rumors behind Woodvale and if there’s a third album coming, to which she said she’s exhausted. How are you feeling energy wise?

I think we both feel like it was Mission: Impossible - and we pulled it off. I imagine that we’ll make music together in some ways forever, because it was that sort of chemistry, and I’m so thankful and grateful for what happened, but I think there’s a lot there. It’s not just the two albums, there’s also bonus tracks, and two of my favorite songs aren’t even on this record. We’re not pouring into another one now.

I’m going to finish the Big Red Machine album - I was really very close to finishing it when all of a sudden the Folklore and Evermore vortex opened up, and actually Taylor has been really helpful and involved with that as well - and The National is starting to talk about making music, and I think she’ll probably take a break. But I’m so excited for any future things we might do -- it’s definitely a lifelong relationship. And I’d say the same for all the people who worked on these records, including my brother and everybody who contributed. It’s a really special legacy.

#lmao #I love that she just sends him on a press tour while she chills somewhere #honestly - I'd do that too if I was her #=)#billboard #interview #Aaron Dessner #taylor swift #folklore album #evermore album #evermore era #folklore era #songwriting

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thewritinggrindstone · 4 years

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Identifying Harmful Repetition in Your Writing

Something I’ve encountered ad nauseam over the last few projects I’ve edited is a relentless repetition of words, phrases, and ideas. One of the most frustrating and confidence-destroying issues a reader can encounter is poorly executed repetition, which can stem from different problems, including:

Too much reliance on your natural stock phrases.

Limited vocabulary.

Not proofreading close enough or editing thoroughly enough.

Lack of confidence.

Not writing with the reader in mind.

I want to preface this with the fact that obviously certain types of repetition aren’t bad. Repetition is an incredibly powerful tool when used effectively, and what’s effective is subjective per book and per reader. That’s a massive topic for another time. This post is specifically about egregious uses of repetition, the types that any good editor or beta reader will point out as in need of fixing.

Stock Phrases and Words

Every person has their own unique lexicon, a repository of words and phrases they naturally will draw upon when they speak, write, and even think. There’s a reason clichés are prevalent, and that’s because the brain likes the path of least resistance. It’s easy to mentally grab those words and phrases that are constantly in arm’s reach, those words and phrases that are comfortable and familiar, but constantly doing this while writing and then not changing them can result in overuse that is noticeable on both stylistic and technical levels. It can also lead a reader to the understanding that you haven’t thought critically about what you’re writing, which can and will undermine their confidence in you.

If you’re writing a first draft, don’t worry about this too much. You probably just need to focus on putting words down, not exactly what those words are. Repetition is an issue that can and should be intentionally fixed during the revision process.

If this is a problem that bugs you even when you’re drafting, there are different ways of dealing with it. I tend to be highly aware of most repetition within my work, and because I constantly edit as I write, backtracking to add/move information as I go doesn’t tend to interrupt my workflow too much. If I know I’ve already used a word and can’t think of something better after several seconds’ thought, I’ll use the repetition and immediately flag it somehow—usually with a “repeat” comment—so I can deal with it once I’ve completed the draft. Opening a thesaurus or dictionary tends to be more disruptive during drafting than it’s worth, but sometimes it isn’t, and you will need to determine what works best for you according to your own style.

Once you’re ready to target the issue of repetition, you will need to work hard, think hard. Don’t settle for the easy word, the stock phrase, the cliché. Discard the timeworn, the tired, the used-before. Play with language—try to come up with new phrases, unique descriptions. Get silly, flip rocks over, dig around under them, push things as far as you need to create something different, then go back and edit again, refining what you’ve written until you’re satisfied.

It’s going to be a process. It’s going to be difficult. It won’t be natural at first; you’ll need to form new pathways in your brain, just like when you learn any new skill, and that’s uncomfortable, but if you persist, your writing will be fresh and alive and won’t be as prone to being bogged down by reader-infuriating repetition.

Limited Vocabulary

Tying into the idea of your personal lexicon is the size of it. No matter how much you pay attention to precisely what words or phrases you’re using, you won’t have much in the way of options if you don’t have at least a good-sized repertoire to draw from.

Increasing your lexicon is something that just takes dedication and time. You can’t rush it, you can’t force it, but you can be deliberate in growing it. Read broadly, maybe bookmark or sign up for your favorite dictionary’s word of the day, or keep a word cache of interesting words or phrases you like.* I have a document titled “word hoard” in Dropbox where I keep all unusual, unfamiliar, or beautiful words I encounter as well as their function(s) and definitions. Most of these words haven’t properly entered my own lexicon yet, but actively being aware of words that are anywhere from slightly to completely outside what you usually use will help you become a more mindful writer.

* I got this idea from Barbara Baig’s Spellbinding Sentences, which is one of my favorite books I’ve ever read on writing.

Lack of Proofreading/Editing

The identification and elimination of repetition hovers somewhere between content editing and technical editing. It’s an easy problem to skim over, especially when you’re the writer because you’re likely too familiar with every word you’ve put down, and issues like this tend to fade into the background. This is particularly true of writers who have reworded or reorganized a given piece of writing, since repetition can easily become lost in the jumble.

If possible, set your project aside for at least a few days—preferably a few weeks or even longer—then come back to it and read it with fresh eyes while intentionally noting and commenting on or highlighting all uses of repetition, big and small. If you aren’t sure if it’s something you repeated, flag it anyway—you can always check later.

If you don’t have time to set the project aside for a while, read your work aloud. If you can’t bear reading your work aloud or you aren’t able due to circumstances, listen to the document instead. Word has a read aloud function, and there are many online text-to-speech websites where you can paste a piece of writing. The unnatural cadence of the artificial voice might be weird and awkward at first, but listening won’t fully engage the “reading” portion of your brain, and you’ll likely find it easier to notice uses of repetition, among other problems. While writing this post, I have listened through it three times, tweaking phrasing and eliminating repetition—and deleting some of the harsher statements—as I go.

If you’re feeling really brave, have another person read your writing back at you. Nothing like being uncomfortably hyperaware of every word you’ve put down to recognize pretty much every single problem within your work. Just do not overcompensate and decide that nothing you’ve written has any value at all (it does), or that you’ll need to change everything (you don’t). If you approach this method with the understanding that it’s going to be awkward but are nevertheless determined to get something useful out of it, you’ll benefit, especially if your reading partner is willing to help you with any areas you feel you need assistance in.

When editing for repetition, if possible, pay attention not only to noun/verb/adjective usage. Go deeper. What types of repetition are you prone to using? Do you begin a significant portion of your sentences with conjunctions? Are there certain conjunctions you use more frequently than others? Do you reiterate entire sentences two or more times with only slight variations in wording? Do you return to the same idea numerous times? What about tone, do you use lots of rhetorical questions? Sarcasm? Self-deprecation? Self-boasting? Do you frequently return to the same imagery or settings or use of metaphor? Or grammar—are there certain punctuation marks or grammatical conventions you use more than others? Do you have a sentence construction you consistently fall back on?

Again, some of these questions might require an outside opinion for you to find suitable answers, but becoming self-aware of not just what you do but why you do will help you recognize these patterns, which in turn can help you mentally eliminate repetition before it even makes it past your fingertips.

Lack of Confidence

Widespread repetition of sentences and ideas is often a major symptom of a writer who isn’t confident in their abilities to communicate what they’re talking about. “If I just tell you this fact again, surely you’ll believe me this time. I’ll make you believe me. Do you believe me now? What about now? Now? Now?”

The painful truth is... no.

Encountering mindless or fear-based repetition is extremely frustrating for readers. Inevitably, without fail, every single time I edit a book by a writer who has repeated themselves over and over and over again, with every single repetition, I increasingly doubt both their credibility and their ability to pass on important knowledge to me. I feel either patronized and insulted, or I feel annoyed because it seems like the author threw their thoughts down on paper in whatever order they came out and then hit publish with

no regard for how those thoughts will be perceived by others, and

no regard for how they are wasting the reader’s time.

Please, please do not undermine your credibility by repeating yourself. Readers usually only need to read information one time for them to absorb it, maybe twice, so trust your readers. If the reader needs to come back to information, they have that ability. Do not force unnecessary repetition in their faces. Always assume readers are at least as smart as you. If you don’t need the information repeated, give your readers the same respect.

Increasing your writing confidence will once again take time and effort. You’ll need to determine why you’re not confident and then seek out methods of correcting the issue(s). In general, fear of not being heard or understood tends to be the underlying cause of repetition, so learn how to be deliberate in your writing. Say what you mean to say. Say exactly what you mean to say. Understand that you have something important to share with the world, so share it—then stop. Readers will appreciate you for not wasting their time.

Writing for Yourself

Yesterday I finished editing a project just over 88,000 words. Nineteen chapters. Almost 250 pages.

I hated every word, and I learned nothing.

If it had been a line edit, I could’ve cut the book’s word count down below 50K merely by eliminating all of the repetition. This author is infatuated with the sound of their own voice, talked on and on and on merely to hear their own self-revelations and how special they are compared to everyone else stated again and again in near-identical sentences.

I’m editing another book right now that is less self-important and is far more interesting on the whole (and is thankfully over a hundred pages shorter), but again, the author has repeated themselves sometimes three or four or five times, with some phrases appearing over fifteen times, and I can feel my resentment growing. If an author isn’t going to take the time to put forth a thoughtfully crafted piece of writing, why should a reader likewise invest in it?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with writing for yourself. You should—you’ll learn a lot about yourself as both person and writer, and you’ll enjoy writing more, and you’ll (hopefully) be able to refine your skills.

But if—if—you intend to share your writing with the world, if you actually have something to say, you need to be aware that you have a duty to make yourself understood without wasting people’s time. Do not make people regret having picked up your writing by being so in love with the sound of your own voice that you are no longer courteous to others.

Love your writing. Love it fiercely and passionately and with reckless abandon, but reach a place where you know how your writing is going to be perceived at large. Use as many words as you need to get your point across and no more.

In Closing

If you’re still having difficulty identifying repetition within your own work, ask someone who is skilled at recognizing this issue to look over your writing. It’s always easier to recognize repetition when you haven’t written it, so fresh eyes can give you the insight you might not be able to see yourself.

Know your audience. A children’s book will require a different level of repetition than an instruction manual or a sci-fi novel or an autobiography. If you’re reading a recipe, you’d be annoyed and confused if the author told you to add the same ingredient twice due to shoddy proofreading. Write and repeat accordingly.

Whatever you’re writing, make a point of intentionally performing at least one round of editing with the intention of eliminating unnecessary repetition. Your readers will appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.

#writing #repetition #editing #proofreading #advice #red talks

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douchebagbrainwaves · 3 years

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WHY I'M SMARTER THAN HACKERS

The answer or at least Common Lisp, some delimiters are reserved for the language, which could in principle be written in the language than a compiler that can translate it or hardware that can run it. No one loves it. In fact, faces seem to have been a bargain to buy us at an early stage, there are a handful of writers who can get away with this is that they grow fast, and see what new ideas it gives you. Better a narrow description than a vague one. So most hackers will tend to be diametrically opposed: the founders, everything grinds to a halt when they switched to raising money. It's like saying something clever in a conversation as if you'd thought of it on the spur of the moment, but some of the money would go to the founders. There are lots of good examples. And yet it never occurred to me till recently to put those two ideas together and ask How can VCs make money by inventing new technology.

A copy of Time costs $5 for 58 pages, or 8. It may be surprisingly large; people overvalue physical stuff. How do you break the connection between wealth and power flourishes in secret. The thing is, VCs are pretty good at reading people. People often tell me how much my essays sound like me talking. I spend a lot of them. Probably because startups are so small. Like many startup founders, and certainly not you as an investor. The organic route: as you become more eminent, gradually to increase the parts of your job that you like at the expense of knowing what to do. If you seem like you'll be one of those they remember. You can get surprisingly far by just not giving up. My father's entire industry breeder reactors disappeared that way.

Which is not surprising: work wasn't fun for most hackers. You need the young hacker's naive faith in his abilities, and at the same time the veteran's skepticism.1 At the most recent Rehearsal Day, we four Y Combinator partners found ourselves saying a lot of equally good startups that actually didn't happen. The wrong people like it. Before Durer tried making engravings, no one wants to look like a fool. As well as being a bad use of time, if your business model seems spectacularly wrong, that will push the stuff you want investors to remember out of their heads. Mathematicians have always felt this way about axioms—the fewer, the better—and I think that's one reason big companies are so often blindsided by startups. Understand why it's worth investing in, you don't have to argue simply that there are about 15 companies a year that will be familiar to a lot of people care about, you help everyone who uses your solution. Sound is a good instinct; investors dislike unbalanced teams. Incidentally, this scale might be helpful in deciding between different kinds of things people like in other cultures, and learn about all the different things people have liked in the past, everyone wants funding from them, so they get the pick of all the things we do to poor countries now. To change the interface both have to agree to change it at once.2 I've never heard anyone say that they have better hackers.

Bring us your startups early, said Google's speaker at the Startup School. Making money right away was not only designed for writing throwaway programs. Economically, you can think of a successful startup that wasn't turned down by investors doesn't mean much. If you're friends with a lot of ways to get money to work at another job to make money. In a big company. It means he makes up his mind quickly, and follows through. Imitating it was like pretending to have gout in order to seem rich. But often memory will be the most demanding user of a company's products. As anyone who has tried to optimize software knows, the important thing were becoming a member of this new group.

Otherwise all the minor details left unspecified in the termsheet will be interpreted to your disadvantage. The central issue is picking the right startups is for investors. Generally, the garage guys envy the big bang method. Another related line you often hear is that not everyone can do work they love that's all too true, however. This essay was originally published in Hackers & Painters. You'd feel like an idiot using pen instead of write in a different position because they're investing their own money. What about using it to write software. You can do math this way. One is to work with him on something. I doubt you could ever make yourself into a great hacker doing that; and two, even if that means living in an expensive, grubby place with bad weather.

The top 10 startups account for 8. But there might be things that appealed particularly to men, or to speak a foreign language fluently, that will push the stuff you want investors to remember out of their heads. That's why oil paintings look so different from watercolors. And the only thing you can offer in return is raw materials and cheap labor. That's kind of hard to imagine. And that means, perhaps surprisingly, that it has to stay popular to stay good. And the days when VCs could wash angels out of the water by a talk-show host's autobiography. Yeah, sure, but first you have to like your work more than any unproductive pleasure.

They passed. The faster you cycle through projects, the faster you'll evolve. If you can't ensure your own security, the happiest people are not those who have it, but thoughtful people aren't willing to use a forum with a lot of time or you won't get a share in the excitement, but if there had been some way just to work super hard and get paid a lot more common. It means arguments of the form Life is too short for something. Both customers and investors will be who else is investing? In a low-tech society you don't see much variation in productivity.3 News. Though somewhat humiliating, this is a net win.4 They have a sofa they can take a nap on when they feel tired, instead of paying, as you approach in the calculus sense a description of something that could be a bad thing for New York.

Notes

Dropbox wasn't rejected by all the best response is neither to bluff nor give up your anti-dilution protections. The founders want to write it all yourself. In principle yes, of S P 500 CEOs in 2002 was 3. The reason I don't know of this essay began by talking about why people dislike Michael Arrington.

At the time of its identity. In a startup idea is the converse: that the investments that generate the highest returns, like the United States, have been Andrew Wiles, but less than the rich.

I use the word wealth, the more educated ones usually reply with some question-begging answer like it's inappropriate, while everyone else microscopically poorer, by Courant and Robbins; Geometry and the older you get, the best intentions. 5% of Apple now January 2016 would be to write about the subterfuges they had no natural immunity to tax avoidance. Cell phone handset makers are satisfied to sell your company into one? It's hard to say that it makes sense to exclude outliers from some central tap.

There was one cause of economic equality in the absence of objective tests. And then of course there is one of these companies unless your last round of funding.

Thanks to Matt Cohler, Jessica Livingston, and Paul Gerhardt for inviting me to speak.

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flipomatic · 3 years

Text

A New World Chapter 5: Parts of a Composition

Author Note: I know even less about guitar and music composition than I do about piano. The composition program Sayo uses in this isn’t real, I made it up.

First Chapter Previous Chapter

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As Sayo misclicked yet again, dropping another note in the wrong spot, she muttered a curse under her breath. She was still getting used to using this program, to trying to compose music on the computer.

Right now Sayo was working in her room, on a laptop she carried to school with her each day. Part of the requirement for her major was to buy the composition software and to have hardware that could run it.

One of Sayo’s classes was entirely focused on how to use the software, which was good because she needed all the help she could get with it. They had learned to place all the different types of notes, a variety of shortcuts within the program, how to export the music, and many other things.

When each part was broken down, they were easy to understand. But when Sayo had to work in the software herself, to utilize all aspects of it together, it became more challenging to manage. It was much harder than writing the notes down on paper.

That was just the program. There was also the issue of actually composing music.

Most of Sayo’s other classes were focused on this topic, on how to build compositions. She had learned about chord progressions, utilizations of major and minor keys, creating flow, setting tempos, and much much more. Every day there was something new to add to the mix, another moving piece that made up the gears of the machine that was composition.

Just like with the software, Sayo could handle the smaller aspects of it. She memorized each new technique and how they were used. In practice, she could apply them individually.

However, putting them together, creating something new from scratch, was a significant challenge. Sayo didn’t like to admit it, but she’d been struggling in class with even short compositions. Each time, Sayo buckled down on the strategies she had learned. She used them one at a time to build her compositions, with varying levels of success.

One of Sayo’s professors had assigned a composition as homework. This was the first time they were working without a template or on a specific skill. The instructions were to create a short, two page composition, utilizing the techniques they had learned in the first month of class. They were given one week to complete it, with an online dropbox to turn it in.

This led to Sayo working on the assignment in her room, sitting at her desk with the door closed. She had her notes open on the table next to her so she could reference them.

The assignment was due tomorrow, and she had already spent time earlier in the week working on it. She didn’t have much done past choosing a tempo and key signature; she had spent a long time thinking with the blank composition in front of her.

Her guitar was sitting on her bed, out of its case. She had taken it out when she started, but hadn’t played anything beyond tuning it.

The clock ticked on her desk, marking each passing minute.

Sayo’s progress on the composition was slow. She focused on each technique that she’d learned so far, applying them to the piece one by one.

Sayo could hear the guitar parts from Pasupare’s songs quietly through the wall. Hina must’ve been practicing in her room, which was just one room over. Sayo tuned it out to focus on her composition.

She placed each note and rest carefully, making sure they were all in the right spaces. She compared each segment to her notes and refined them to match.

It took a couple long hours to finish her composition. It was exactly two pages, which was the required length.

Sayo retrieved her guitar; she should at least play it once before submitting it. If she didn’t, then she wouldn’t even know how it sounded.

She sight-read her new piece, playing it from start to finish.

It was easy to play, at a straight forward tempo. The song flowed from her fingers, echoing quietly through the room.

When Sayo finished, she put her guitar back down. She looked back over the music, unsure of how she felt about the song. The sections didn’t connect together very well. She also wasn’t sure about the melody, it felt like something was missing.

Sayo went back to working on the composition, making tweaks to chords and trying to improve the flow.

The next time she looked at the clock, it was already 11:30. Sayo had class in the morning, so she needed to go to bed soon.

She looked over her composition one last time, not sure exactly what she was checking for.

Then she exported it from the program. This actually took a few minutes, since she had to go back to her notes on how to do it properly.

Once she had the file, Sayo located the online dropbox. She uploaded the file to it, decided not to write anything in the comment box, and then submitted it.

The webpage said, “Thank you for your submission!” in big, bolded letters. Sayo stared at it for a moment, before closing the window. She shut her laptop, leaving it to put her guitar away.

She was certain that her composition would be sufficient for the assignment.

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Sayo glanced up periodically as she took notes, making sure to write everything down.

The professor, a shorter elderly man, stood at the front of the classroom. He was introducing the next component of compositions, the next piece of the puzzle. He was writing on the whiteboard, demonstrating how to do it.

There were about 30 other students in the room, all taking notes just like Sayo was. The sun beamed in through the windows, high in the afternoon sky.

Sayo needed to make sure she had it recorded exactly right, so she could use it later. She needed every tool at her disposal if she was going to get better at composing, if the pieces were going to work together.

“We have one last task today.” The professor transitioned out of lecturing, erasing the board as he spoke. “Open the assignment dropbox from last week.” He waited after speaking.

Sayo followed the directions, retrieving the laptop from her bag and opening it on her desk. She logged in to it and opened the online dropbox. The dropbox looked slightly different than when she submitted the file. Next to her submission, there was blue text that said “feedback”.

At the front of the room, the professor continued. “Click on the feedback and download the attached file. You’ll notice that you do not have a grade for the assignment.”

Sayo complied, clicking the link and then downloading the file. Indeed, she hadn’t been assigned a grade on the dropbox. It still said grade pending.

She located the file in her downloads. It had the same name as her composition and appeared to be the same file type. She also opened the composition program, since she figured she would need it.

“Next, open Compositor. On the top bar, find file, import, then select the downloaded file.” The professor walked around the room, checking to make sure they were doing it right.

Sayo followed the designated path, importing the new file into the program. Her composition appeared on the screen. It was slightly different though, there were a handful of what looked like yellow highlights spread throughout the measures.

She moved her mouse over one, to see if it would do anything. When she clicked it, a window popped with a few lines of text in it.

The professor, after making his way around the classroom, had made it back to the front. “Once it’s loaded, you’ll see yellow marks where I’ve left feedback. You can click to read them. Use my feedback to revise your work and resubmit by Friday.” He wrote that date on the board, told them to use the rest of their class time to get started on it, and let them get to work.

Sayo jotted down the new due date, before reading through the notes one by one. The first one was placed near the start and was positive, complementing her chord progression. The second criticized her technique in the middle, suggesting a specific change. The third, near the end of the piece, also recommended a specific tweak.

The fourth was at the end, after the last measure of the piece. This was longer than the previous notes, giving the professor’s overall impressions of the piece.

This was what the last note said:

“Sayo, this is a solid first attempt! Your technique is sound and you have utilized the strategies from class well. For the second submission, work on the melody. I’m having trouble identifying the tone of the piece. What emotions are you trying to convey? Integrate them into the melody of your composition.”

Sayo read the message twice, absorbing its content slowly.

What kind of emotion was she trying to convey with this song? Had she done that at all?

No, she hadn’t. Sayo composed the piece with technique, not with emotion. They hadn’t learned how to do that in class.

A wave of anger rose under the surface, as Sayo frowned at the screen. She’d been instructed to use the techniques from the course, not to create with emotion. Now here she was, receiving criticism for something that wasn’t part of the assignment.

She scowled, reading the comment for the third time. Sayo glanced up at the professor, who was helping a student on the other side of the room. He hadn’t so much as glanced at her during class today.

For a moment, Sayo thought about calling him over. She had done exactly what she was supposed to for the assignment, with only small changes needed.

As she thought about it though, as she continued to process the information, Sayo realized that would be a mistake. She didn’t want to make a bad impression on this professor, especially since she would be in the program for the foreseeable future.

Sayo sighed and read the comment one last time. Her anger was fading, being replaced with resignation.

What technique would help her put emotion into this piece? She didn’t know.

She had a lot of work to do.

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As usual, Sayo went early to Roselia practice. She had been working nonstop on fixing her composition assignment, and she really needed a break from it.

She had already rewritten the melody twice, changing it out for a new one. Each time she finished she played it on her guitar, listening to how it sounded and flowed.

Each time it still felt wrong. Each new version felt worse than the last. There wasn’t any emotion to it.

Sayo tried again. She sat at her computer, placing and deleting notes until she was sick at looking at the piece. It was barely the same piece as her original submission. She tried to give it emotion, but didn’t know how to do it.

Roselia practice would be a great chance to get away from the dreaded task, to put it out of her mind for a while. Only four members were coming today, since Yukina couldn’t make it, but it was still going to be a good practice.

Sayo was the first to arrive, so she checked in at the front desk. The studio was ready for her and she headed inside.

A few minutes later and she had her music stand and guitar ready to go. She played some of Roselia’s newer songs, working to master the harder parts so they would be ready for practice.

Playing Roselia’s music like this, she could almost forget the work waiting for her at home.

Unfortunately, almost forgetting wasn’t the same as forgetting. Even as she played Song I Am, Sayo remembered the piece she had left unfinished.

Before she was even fully conscious of it, Sayo’s fingers played the chord progression she’d developed for the piece. That was the one part of the song she wasn’t redoing, the only part that seemed to work. She just couldn’t figure out what should come before and after it.

Sayo played the most recent melody she worked on, wondering how it could be changed to convey emotion.

“T-that’s not… a Roselia song.” Rinko’s familiar voice came from the entrance to the studio, barely audible above the amplified guitar. Sayo stopped playing abruptly as she looked over. Rinko approached slowly, her piano strapped to her back.

“It’s for class.” Sayo admitted with a frown.

Rinko set her piano down, unzipping the case. “You wrote it?” She sounded genuinely interested.

Sayo wasn’t one to lie, but in moments like these she wished she was. “I did, yes. It’s the first full composition assignment.” It was embarrassing, being heard playing something that needed so much more work.

The conversation dwindled as Rinko set up her keyboard. She then set up a music stand, where she placed a handwritten piece of music. Sayo couldn’t see it too well, but it appeared to be a new Roselia song.

She knew Rinko did most of the compositions for their music, but they hadn’t created a new song since before graduation. Rinko certainly knew how to convey emotion through music; Roselia’s music was full of it.

Sayo watched as Rinko started playing the new piece, slowly playing a few measures before leaning forward and erasing something.

What was in the way of asking for help? Just her pride, really. But Rinko had already heard the song; asking for help wouldn’t be a bigger blow than that.

Besides, this was Rinko, this was Roselia. If there was one thing Sayo had learned over the years, and there were many, it was that she could count on her bandmates.

“Shirokane-san,” Sayo got her attention, pulling her eyes away from the sheet music. “Can I ask you something?”

Rinko set her pencil down on the stand. “O-of course.”

“What techniques do you use to convey emotion in compositions?” Sayo asked about the gear she was missing, the part that would make the whole composition work.

Rinko’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, but quickly returned to normal. “I-I’m not sure… that there are techniques… for that.” Sayo’s heart sank; she was afraid of that answer. She must’ve looked upset, since Rinko quickly continued. “It’s more about… the heart.”

Sayo wasn’t sure what to make of that. “The heart…” She repeated the words, turning them over a few times.

“To put emotion in your music…you have to feel it first.” Rinko explained. She lifted her hands to the keyboard, and played for a few moments. The melody was unfamiliar to Sayo, but it was slow and soft. It was comforting to listen to.

Sayo frowned, thinking about all of her attempts so far. Mostly she had felt frustration while composing. “How though?” That was what she didn’t understand.

Rinko stepped around her keyboard, approaching where Sayo stood. She stopped in front of her, lifting one hand to the neck of Sayo’s guitar. Her eyes were down on the instrument as she replied.

“Compose with the guitar… rather than the sheet music.” Rinko always spoke softly, but at this distance her voice seemed even quieter. “D-don’t worry about technique and… put yourself… into the song.” Her eyes came up, locking onto Sayo’s. “It takes practice… but you can do it.” Rinko’s voice was encouraging.

The two stayed like that for a moment, as Sayo processed Rinko’s words. It was completely different than what she’d been learning in class, a whole different approach to composing music.

“Thank you.” Sayo finally replied, “I appreciate your help.”

This brought a smile to Rinko’s face, which was a welcome sight. “A-anytime.” She stuttered as she backed away, returning to her keyboard.

Sayo flipped open her bag to grab her notes. She jotted down Rinko’s advice, so she would be sure not to forget it. She committed to trying it later.

It wasn’t the same as the techniques she’d been learning, but it would certainly be just as helpful.

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Sayo sat on her bed, guitar in hand. Her bedroom door was shut.

She took a deep breath, and began to play.

She thought about Rinko’s advice.

How did she feel today? She felt frustrated, but also hopeful. She had enjoyed Roselia practice, but messing up notes during it was irritating. Which of those emotions did she want to channel into her composition?

Sayo played her guitar, searching for the melody to match. She put aside the strategies she had learned, at least for now, and listened carefully to her own playing.

She looked for not just a gear or part of the composition, but for its heart.

After a while, after strumming and playing and searching, she found it.

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End Note: I’ve been adding things to the outline and the project is slowly growing.

Next Chapter

#bang dream fanfiction #fanfic #bandori fanfiction #hikawa sayo #shirokane rinko #sayo is doing her best #the struggle is real #i don't love how this chapter turned out #it feels stiff to me #which is ironic considering the subject of the chapter

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