#i think it would be cool if it was a replacement lens

[moss-and-marimos]

present for ur birthday :))

sorry it isn’t really extravagant or anything, but i just remembered it was ur b-day and didn’t wanna miss it

happy b-day, u deserve it ;)

:((((( /pos I will actually just cry thank you so much, I am so very happy I love you and this au so much /p thank you !!!!! Hugging you and the kiddos so hard right now <3333

[kasumingo]

still mad for them for jumping at that one artist for making donnie say he wish he had prosthetics

[beautification-tales]

The Bunny

A caption Tale

Barbara was smiling as took photos in her bunny costume. “Do you think the kids will like these photos Luke?” She asked her friend and photographer. He looked at her through the camera lens and nodded with a grin. “They're going to love them. You're a natural with those rabbit ears!”

Barbara smiled knowing that her first grade students would get a kick from seeing their teacher dressed as a bunny for Easter. Luke continued to snap photos completely bored. He agreed so quickly when Barbara asked for his assistance with taking photos. He honestly thought Barbara was flirting with him when she said. “I bought a new costume and I need you to take pictures.”

But here he was, lying on the floor with a camera pointed at Barbara, who was frolicking around with the same enthusiasm as a kid in a candy store. He couldn’t help but feel like he was in a sitcom episode. He quickly closed his eyes and imagined her in a different kind of bunny costume.

“Alright, let’s try some action shots!” Barbara exclaimed, hopping towards him. Luke snapped away, trying to keep his focus on the task at hand. Luke aimed his camera as he felt his dreams shoot at her. The flash was like a strobe light in a disco,

capturing Barbara’s laughter and the twirl of her fluffy tail.

Barbara began to feel extremely hot. It was as if the flash poured heat upon her as her bunny costume felt like a sauna. “Hey Luke can I lower my zipper a bit? The suit feels a bit warm.” Luke nodded, trying to keep his cool. The costume was a bit too tight, and Barbara felt like she was suffocating. She reached behind her neck and with a quick zip, the costume loosened, allowing a gust of cool air to hit her skin. The relief was instant.

The heat increased as Luke continued to snap photos. “I feel a bit woozy.” Barbara said as she stumbled trying to find balance on her heels. “Wait… when was I wearing heels?” She looked down to find that she had on black stiletto heels on her feet. The room spun and she reached out for something to hold onto.

Her hand grazed a table and she looked up to see her lips had plumped as her cheekbones became more prominent. The heat became unbearable as she lowered the zipper revealing her enlarging breasts. Barbara looked down to see that under her costume was a tight black leotard. It clung to her body like a second skin, highlighting every curve and contour. She gasped as the reality set in. The bow tie sat rested on her neck. The pink bunny suit fell at her feet. A new pair of black bunny ears sat on her head as her hair became long and luscious.

Her eyes widened and she began to panic, her heart racing as the fabric of the leotard grew tighter and tighter. “What’s happening?” She shrieked. Luke looked up from his camera, his jaw dropping at the transformation. He enjoyed seeing his dreams become reality. The room grew brighter, and Barbara could feel the fabric squeezing her tighter with each flash of the camera. She looked down again and noticed her waist was now cinched in and her hips had widened dramatically.

Luke smiled as he grabbed at his crotch. “Now this is a photo shoot!” Luke continued to take photos as Barbara felt her body move into sensual poses. “What did you do to me?” Barbara asked unable to control her body as every flash of light made her feel warmer.

“It’s all in the camera, baby!” Luke said, his voice deep and hypnotic. Barbara looked into the camera and felt a strange compulsion to obey his every command. She could feel the camera lens caressing her, moving with her every move, capturing every inch of her new form.

“Why does this feel so good?” Barbara thought to herself as she struck pose after pose, her body moving in ways she never knew it could. The leotard was stretching and molding to her new form, accentuating every curve and leaving nothing to the imagination. She felt a strange mix of fear and excitement as she looked down at her new body. Her once plain Jane look had been replaced by the image of a bombshell bunny, and she couldn’t help but feel a rush of power from it.

“Mmm let’s take some photos outside Luke baby.” Barbara’s voice had a new seductive lilt to it. Her eyes were glazed over as she followed the instructions of the camera lens, her body moving in a way that was both mesmerizing and unfamiliar to her. Luke nodded eagerly, his mind racing with the possibilities of the new direction this photoshoot was taking.

“Sure thing Babs!”

[carpisuns]

the most hurtful thing about the rise of AI art, to me, is that the importance of lived human experience is up for debate.

you could say a lot about the ethical implications of it all and how it negatively impacts actual artists—how their work is being stolen and fed to bots without their permission, how they are losing ownership of their own artistic expression, how they're are losing their jobs because AI can "replace" them. but people will always find a way to talk their way around it. "if they didn't want people to use their art, they shouldn't be posting it online." "you can't own an artistic style." "the generated art piece is not actually their art. it's not stealing." and the real clincher: "i don't know what to tell you. that's just progress."

i feel like so many people see this issue through the lens of charlie bucket's dad getting fired from the toothpaste factory because a machine could place a cap on the tube more efficiently. but making art is not the same as screwing a cap onto a tube of toothpaste. it's emotional. it's meaningful. it's expressive. the end result is informed by the experiences and choices of the creator. and the viewer's experience is different knowing that a human is behind those choices—that there was real choice involved at all.

you could argue that AI art retains the inherent humanity of art, because it uses samples of real art made by real people—a whole collective pool of representative humanity. but it's not really the same. it's just an echo. an illusion. a mimic of life without the spark that actually makes it alive.

when i look at art, i want to think about the human behind it. i want to feel connected to them. i want to ponder their choices and notice their details and appreciate their skills. i want to look at it and feel something, because the artist felt something when they made it.

sometimes i see a cool piece of art and get excited. but when i realize it's AI, the emotion is gone. "what's the difference?" someone might ask. "if you liked it before, why don't you like it knowing it's AI? the image didn't change. it's still the same." and sure, visually it's the same. but emotionally it's not. i can't make a connection with it anymore. because there was no real intention behind it. i can't search for meaning in it, because there is none. when i look at AI art, even visually impressive art, i feel nothing. there's no wonder. there's no connection. the only possible feeling for me is, "wow, technology has come so far! neat."

it doesn't even have the appeal of "art" created by nature, like the Grand Canyon or the ocean or the night sky. those create a sense of wonder because there was no human involvement at all. the beauty came from the universe itself, and it feels like a gift from nothing and everything at once, and it's that beauty that so often inspires humans to make something in its likeness.

but AI art feels like a weird in-between of the art made with no hands and the art made with human hands. like pseudo-clay molded with empty gloves. it's sort of uncanny valley–ish. something almost human but not quite, so it always feels a little off. with human-made art, mistakes are understandable, expected, even endearing—a reminder that a person made this, and people are not perfect. but that weird offness of AI art just feels wrong. like a glitch in a simulation, reminding you that what you see was never real.

but really, even if AI was always completely indistinguishable from human-made art, the viewing experience would still be fundamentally changed. we make art to connect with each other, to see and be seen, to speak and to listen. but when i look at AI art, i don't know how to listen for a song. all i hear is the whir of cogs in a machine.

some people might point out that we're all just machines too. that AI's 1s and 0s are really no different from the synapses firing in our brains, and we draw inspiration from everything around us the same way AI draws from the samples in its generation bank. it's different to me, though. maybe i just feel this way because i myself am a creator, and i want to feel like i have something special to offer. but i have to believe there is meaning in the choices and expression of humans that there isn't in the choices of a program.

i'm sure this is just doomsday talk and it wouldn't actually happen, but the idea of AI eventually being handed the primary "creative" role over human beings is frankly devastating, even terrifying. i don't want to live in a world where all the art around me was generated automatically from a prompt and spat out onto a conveyer belt. it would be an inexpressible loss to me.

this isn't to say that AI doesn't have a place at all, or that we should abandon our exploration of technological advancement. i just hope that as this issue gets bigger, we remember the real point of art. when we are sad or lonely or angry, all of us turn to art. whether it's visual art or music or film or writing, art tells a story. we take comfort from the stories we tell each other, and it means something that those stories come from other people. art is and will always be a bridge between us and the rest of humankind.

so while our technology continues to develop, i hope we guard that bridge. I hope we protect the creative space of artists who want to tell stories. i hope we keep the demand for emotional expression high. i hope we honor the humanity of human-made art. if AI art is a truly reflection of us, i hope we keep looking toward the figure that cast the reflection, keep seeking the voice that started the echo.

[tanadrin]

the guest on dan mcclellan's podcast this week, david burnett, argues pretty interestingly that, if you understand the way the promise to abraham that his descendants will be "like the stars" correctly (crucially, the original text says just "like the stars," and "numbered like the stars" is an editorial amendment introduced by many translations), then the actual dynamic paul has in mind when discussing the resurrection in 1 corinthians 15 is that god will one day overthrow all the other beings in heaven, including the literal stars and planets, and the followers of jesus will replace them: that is, the "heavenly bodies" promised to those resurrected are literal heavenly bodies, and the reason that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom god is (among others) that, well, you would need a literally heavenly body in order to supplant the stars in the sky.

this is all based on athe way the original greek phrasing was employed in the period and in the centuries immediately prior, and connections to the development of the role of other gods and divine beings throughout the development of the bible (and part of a longer discussion about how "monotheism" is not really the right lens to view any of the spiritual practices of the eastern mediterranean at this point), but all i can think is man. that sounds cool as hell. you mean at the end of time me and the gang are gonna get together and help god overthrow the stars? i'm into it.

[wifegideonnav]

should i read homestuck. like i feel it would be interesting so i could see what yall are talking about in regards to tlt but is homestuck actually good

"is homestuck good" - the greatest thread in the history of forums, locked by a moderator after 8129 pages of heated debate,

no but seriously, it highkey depends on 1. your definition of good and 2. your tolerance for stupid bullshit. as someone who read tlt and then hs, i'd say that being a fan of the chaotic aspect of tlt is a good predictor of being able to hang in with homestuck.

readmore because this. um. got long. the tl;dr is: i like homestuck a lot and i am glad i read it. i can't tell you if you should read it bc idk your tastes, but there is a lot to like and enjoy about it.

the official pitch for homestuck is something like "4 kids play a game and then a bunch of other shit happens." here's my pitch based on what the core of the story is to me:

several groups of characters across time, space, and reality are brought together in order to succeed at creating a new universe after their own are destroyed. this takes the form of a game, which is called sburb (by the humans) and sgrub (by the trolls). the characters must contend with an eternal battle against good and evil in which they are the deciding factor, and level up while following personalized quests. at its heart, homestuck is about relationships of every sort and how they shape us, growing up and the associated grief and loss, coming into ones identity and choosing who to be, predestination and fate, and stories themselves. it gets very meta at times, and the characters are semi to fully aware that they're characters, and attempt to subvert or escape that. it's got hordes of fleshed out, compelling characters, one of which will almost certainly glom onto you for the rest of your life, real emotion, extremely funny jokes, smart and exciting plotting, and some very cool moments. it more or less invented an entire new genre/medium, and plays with medium in a very cool way.

it is also clunky, hard to get into, and way too convoluted. you will never fully understand what's happening. there are tons of characters whose stories you will follow whom you simply do not care about. there are too many characters. it was written by an edgelord in 2009 so there's some unsavory humor and character writing. it's so fucking long. the ending kinda sucks because the fandom was so toxic that hussie simply wanted it over with. the fandom still kinda sucks tbh. so many people have wrong opinions about it. it requires a very specific lens to approach and understand it. i still dont understand what happened with that fucking puppet someone explain it to me.

overall, i'd say that if you think you want to read it, give it a shot. i have a complicated relationship with it but at the end of the day, i genuinely love the story and the characters and i know they will be with me forever. it certainly enhanced my understanding of tlt, and getting to read more of tamsyn's writing was such a bonus (even though her taste in pairings is. not the same as my own). and like honestly. it's just fun. even when you're going "wait what the fuck just happened" you're having fun. it's really goddamn funny too. it WILL change the way you speak and also think about romance forever.

the best way to read it is to have an experienced reader guide you, but if you or other people don't know anyone like that, here are my basic tips:

i think most people know this already, but download the unofficial homestuck collection. just do it. it's like 4 gigs and it's infinitely better than trying to read on the broken website, and it's even ad free. it can also be modded - for instance ik there's a slur replacer mod (lmao) if you don't want to read those

act 1 sucks to read. you're like what the fuck is this, THIS is homestuck?? the beginning is radically different from how it ends up, so just hang in there. for me, it really picked up somewhere in act 3. just focus on the silly fun the characters are having and you'll be good

things you should actually try to follow in the early acts: the concept of a sylladex existing (the various fetch modi are only there for jokes and eventually just kinda stop being a thing), where all the copies of the game are, what each kid's relationship with their guardian is like, the mechanics of the game and the lore behind it, including classpects and quests

things you do not have to waste brain space on: anything about how the totems work, what the various machines are, what the levels are, basically any of the jokes that would be funny to hussie's original intended audience of software engineers and rpg gamers. oh and the intermission with the midnight crew and the felt, just know that those are guys that exist and you'll be good.

and the biggest tip i have is just. go with it. suspend your disbelief. a lot of the worldbuilding doesn't really make sense, but it would be a worse story if it did. when the time shit and ectobiology come into play, literally just go ok got it and keep going, don't think too hard.

so yeah i don't even know if any of this is useful but i hope it helps you decide. and if you or anyone else have follow up questions send em!

[justkidneying]

Why you can't actually transplant eyes (yet)

This one didn't win the poll, but someone specifically asked for this topic, so I'll write about it anyways. Also, as someone who is working towards being a trauma surgeon, this is a topic I'm really passionate about.

So, I think a lot of people have a misconception about whether or not it is possible to transplant eyes. We transplant a lot of other stuff, so why not eyes? Well, you can transplant pieces of the eye, like the cornea, the clear part at the front of your eye (which is avascular). You can also replace the lens with an artificial one (the lens is also avascular). This is how you can fix cataracts, just taking out the old shitty lens and putting in a clear new one. That procedure can be done in a clinic in like thirty minutes (which is fuckin crazy if you ask me).

But what we're talking about here is taking out the entire eyeball and replacing it with a donor eye. It sounds cool as hell, so why is it so hard? First off, the eye is a part of the central nervous system (the first two cranial nerves, are in fact part of the CNS, not the PNS). So the optic nerve (CN II) is what carries special sensory information to the dorsal brain (occipital lobe). To control eye movement, you have CN III, IV, and VI (oculomotor, trochlear, and abducens nerves). The oculomotor nerve controls eye movement, pupil constriction, and the upper eyelid. The trochlear nerve controls movement of the eye downwards, outwards, or to the nose. The abducens nerve moves the eye outwards. Several other nerves are involved in keeping the gaze level with movement, visual tracking, and parasympathetic/sympathetic functions (rest and digest vs. fight or flight). The point is, eye nerves are complicated as hell.

The blood flow to parts of the eye is also very complicated, and is very difficult to properly reattach for full perfusion (esp the retina).

Now, onto the good parts. So the eye is what is called "immune privileged." This means it has protections against the immune function of the body (to avoid autoimmune attacks). The eye has no lymphatics, few immune cells, and immune suppressing chemicals. This makes it a great place for implants, as it is unlikely that the body will attack the foreign tissue (stem cell implants are becoming more common).

The first whole eye transplant was done about a year ago (November 2023), and so far the eye is still there with adequate blood flow. However, the guy can't actually see out of it. The surgery took 21 hours and involved a huge team of some of the best surgeons in the world. It was not an easy thing to do. They also implanted some stem cells with the optic tract in hopes to regenerate it, but that still hasn't restored vision in the eye. So, while this case is a major win in the area of eye transplants, there is still a ways to go.

So why do we even need to do so many eye transplants? Well, all kinds of things can lead to the loss of the eye, whether it be disease or trauma. Surgeons try very hard to keep the eyes in a patient, but that isn't always possible. Sometimes the tissue is too destroyed for repair or the damage causes permanent pain. Enucleation is the removal of the eye. Usually, as much of the optic nerve is left as possible, as well as the musculature. Possible options after healing include fake eyes (like glass ones), which can be crazy realistic and can be moved with the eye muscles.

I hope this was an interesting read, and thanks for reading my ramblings. I didn't feel like the typical post format would work for this one, and I like to imagine it like a bonus since it didn't win the poll, lol.

[musical-chan]

Oops, I missed WIP Wednesday

But OH WELL! This is the start of my fic "Link and the Deity" which covers early moments after chapter 1 of Father Of Time!. I'll be releasing the first chapter on my birthday! May 17th!

***

The new house was a little creepy. 

Link thought about going back to the forest to sleep. At least he had a bed there. But it was so exciting to have a house! To have someone tell him that they were his father and that they weren't going to leave. And he didn't really want to leave this place they had claimed, not yet. Not on the first day! 

Out one of the windows, Link could see the deity gathering logs and branches from the ground around the house. Oh, a fire was a good idea, wasn't it? The nights were still cool and the house was probably really drafty. The boy eyed the old fireplace and took a look inside. Petrified remains of the last fire sat sadly in the firebox but when he glanced up the chimney, it was clear.  That was some good luck! They could safely have a fire tonight. 

For a moment, he spun around looking at the large room in the fading light. It was big and open and the far corner had an old, stone stove he had seen in other Hylian houses. They'd have to repair the bricks around it but the stone seemed in good condition. Link left dusty footprints on the floor as he inspected the counters and looked into the lower chamber where the fire would go; just an abandoned mouse nest amongst old logs. Anything wooden had been chewed on and would probably need to be replaced anyway.

As he wandered away from that corner, running a hand along the grimy walls, Link wondered about the people who lived there before, thinking about the things they had left behind and the absence of the items they didn't. Sure, there were old, ruined pieces of furniture here and there but not as much as there should be. Maybe they had moved out on their own instead of going off to die in the war. He would never really know, would he? 

Suddenly Link's stomach grumbled. Oh man! How long had it been since he ate anything? He rummaged in his bag, pushing past the hookshot and the lens, old masks from Castle Town, the transformation masks from Termina, deku seeds and sticks, until he found his carefully hoarded supply of food. It was still late spring so there weren't many berries around yet but he usually had a cache of nuts for emergencies.  A little digging found those and some dried meat that Talon had given him recently. Nice! And a few bottles of milk from Lon Lon. This was great! Lots of food. 

When the deity came back inside, he found the boy on the dusty floor, sorting out his supplies into piles as he idly chewed on the meat. The god kept his eyes trained on his new child for a moment, unnoticed, then began making a fire in the large fireplace. Link looked up at the noises and shoved everything back into his bag with reckless abandon. By the time the fire was going, he had come over and was holding out a bottle of milk and a piece of dried meat. 

"I bet you're hungry."  The god stared and Link pushed the items at him gently. "You were a mask for a long time, right? You probably need to eat. Here." 

The deity, crouched from his efforts with the fire, sat heavily. Many of his movements were slightly awkward, too weighty, as if he didn't realise the strength or effort involved in doing them. Link didn't remember the deity having those problems when he was wearing the mask but maybe having his real body back changed things.  Always before it had been Link's body borrowing the deity's power and experience. He had been in charge, at least most of the time, and for those moments they had shared thoughts.  Now that the deity was alone and had his real body back, surely the muscle memory would return.  Link gently put the food into the god's hands then looked up into the white eyes. 

"Eat, okay?" 

"You…need food. Children need food."

[kharmii]

Who are your favorite black clover characters and ships (platonic, romantic)? talk about them!

The Captain Yami x Captain Charlotte one is cute but aggravating. One wonders if it will ever work, or they will just keep acting goofy and oblivious to each other.

For maybe a split second, I entertained Zora x Neige as maybe a parallel to Dabi x Geten, but then I was like....there's no way! -But then I thought...how about Gauche x Neige? This was the one one I put thought into, like Neige sees Gauge as the replacement Big Brother for the one who died. It starts out toxic because Gauche is always rotten to him out of worry for his sister, but their relationship improves in time.

The others are relieved when Gauche gets weird about someone else besides his own sister. He ends up being a huge help to the church because on top of lavishing gifts on Neige and his sister, he also gives money to the church they save up to help the child orphans stay on their feet and build a life outside of adject poverty when they grow up. Neige and Marie also share their presents with the other children, especially since the latter gets a lot of cool toys.

After I thought of that, poor Neige has another encounter with Gauche in E.143, and it's unpleasant. Poor guy gets clubbed in the head, and then has to suffer getting chewed out because he tried to keep Marie from being kidnapped but failed.

The only other ships I'm into are the Zora ships. There's someone shipping a hetero fire/ice....well kind of rare pair that's Zora x Fragil Tormenta (Spanish for fragile storm). That's kind of interesting but with very little content. I also like Zora x Nebra Silva. Someone did a fan fic where they had, like, quadruplets and another baby. It was cute, but that pairing is hilarious. What would her family think?

Even funnier there's Zora x Kirsch Vermillion. Kirsch is one of those Narcissist tropes in the most literal sense, and he's obsessed by his own beauty. Every in the world has to pass through a beautiful lens.

No, seriously, this guy...... I've got to find a good clip of him on YouTube.

IDK how Kirsch and Zora would work, but it's a reasonably popular ship in Black Clover. The two don't get off to a good start because Zora roasts him extra bad in the Royal Knights Exam.

Side Note: I'm confused as to how Zora's ash magic translates to being able to create a cave-in. Is it more like.....gunpowder magic?

Maybe in order for Kirsch to see anything beautiful in Zora, he'd need to catch him in a moment of vulnerability. He's not a bad looking guy, but it's a good analogy they gave Zora a monster's mouth because he doesn't hold back. Maybe Zora gets badly injured and is too grateful to roast him as usual. Kirsch uses Cherry Blossom Healing Magic; Beautiful Blossom’s Caress of Life on him, and he's dreamily blurting out compliments and validating him, like, "Yeah, for sure, you are stunningly gorgeous. I want to stay conscious so I can keep looking at your beautiful face. Don't let me pass out... *rapidly blinks* You're like a perfect 10 with all those cherry blossoms circling around."

[ghostboyhood]

TELL ME YOUR COMMUNITY THOUGHTS

oh lord okay.. im gonna give my thoughts on the last season ish because i just finished it so its what i mainly remember and its 1 am..

the anniejeff made me SO uncomfortable i dont understand why they kept pushing that when they also pushed the dad-daughter relationship throughout the show.... and the second to last episode being centered around incest was odd, not a huge fan of that..

now okay my MAIN thoughts are about abed, so here i go

i feel like in the last two seasons (maybe 4 too? i dont remember atm) abeds autistic" traits were completely stripped from him. yes they included all his "fourth wall breaking meta tv show lines" but it wasnt right.

and i understand people will eventually change/grown up but also.. you cant "fix" autistic traits so it just felt like they were trying to make his autism seem more "normal" also by making him more emotionless i realized? abed cant express himself well, which he mainly copes with by dissociating. but he just.. in the last seasons it seemed more like he DIDNT have emotions (i believe he says something like this to buzz when talking about his duck comics, along the lines of the emotions he cant feel or wtv) but this isnt right, abed is emotional, hes actually really emotional we just dont see it directly like we do with people like annie or troy..

speaking of emotions im glad they really explained that jeff was scared of change and everyone leaving at the end though, its always been known that he is, but i liked that they really Showed it

annies ending was nice i guess? she was basically just a prop for jeff though in the weird fucking fantasy he wants though??? again idk why theyre pushing that it felt so out of place and weird and ew. jeff was also uncomfortably violent in season 6, like i dont think he would ever choke abed out that made me feel so gross...

alright back to abed because hes the main one i noticed in the last seasons.

in the end where abed was talking to jeff in the bar and said like.. "ik ur comforted by this meta lens but this is reality!!" just felt wrong.. yeah abed was still meta w the whole tv show thing but that was it.. and then him saying that to jeff? its like they tried to make him this big mentor guy to jeff (idk if thats necessarily it but its all i can think of to describe it at the moment) but not in a friend way but an uncomfortable "im grown up now and ur not" way if that makes sense,, which again goes with stripping him of his autistic traits by making it seem like its completely necessary to Grow up in order to move forward in life which isnt.. its true in some ways but not in the way they portrayed it at all.. they make it seem like abed had to grow up completely in order for him to "be okay"..

i related a LOT to abed in the early seasons for Many reasons, i think they handled the abed centered episodes especially about his mental health EXTREMELY Well. (ie, abeds uncontrollable christmas) its one of the first times ive seen experiences like that in media that i can almost directly relate to yk? but after geothermal escapism its all gone, never mentioned again besides in call backs where they try to laugh it off/dismiss it..

oh my god and abeds 'girlfriend' was just sooo out of place she was mentioned like twice and then that was it.. they didnt need to do that it felt really forced

also in like season one abed sits in that fucking room for hoursss without so much as making a peep but then he looses his cool and yells at buzz in season five?? again troy just left which makes a big impact but its still smt i noticed

everyone just felt very bland in the last seasons after troy left at least… half the cast was gone, then replaced

idk im not like, ruined the show pissed at the end, but im also not a fan of s5/6 (besides like.. sum scenes, and like i mentioned earlier maybe s4 as well)

i have to binge tv shows so i dont always immediately retain all the information and i have to rewatch episodes a lot, but thats my thoughts immediately after finishing the show at 12 am, sleep deprived, and in a really bad mental health episode so theyre not well put together n shit and i wish i could remember more to go over but alas

theres my immediate thoughts,, im gonna probably sleep or restart community.. i was planning on starting interview with the vampire now but im thinking of starting black mirror so we'll see...

[campaignskyjacks]

I've been thinking about this since I've been getting back into skyjacks and because I work at a lighthouse but. How exactly do lighthouses work in Speir? Given that in our world, they have to be tall enough/on high enough ground to be seen from the water and all the ships fly, are they looking for lights on the ground for harbors? What about lights that warn for dangerous areas, as there can be weird weather phenomena in the air, would there be any need/ability to have lights to warn away from there, or just ones that usher you into the harbor. Do they even have fresnel lenses? Those weren't invented until the early 19th century and it took a while for them to be widely implemented in our world but Speir has magic so would a lens even be needed to power a light? I'm just a curious lighthouse interpreter so it's perfectly fine if you don't know

The answer is most lighthouses were built pre-fall. They used to serve the normal function.

These days keepers are on the lookout for The Mariner. They use the light to count ships and alert the coast of an attack.

The light situation for skydocks is something I have paid less attention to. For the remaining costal cities they might have found a way to make use of light houses. They were for the most part trying to preserve existing maritime districts. The warehousing and unloading facilities would be too convenient and useful to replace. Especially with limited resources to begin with. Then momentum would have carried most places to just make use of whatever was there because everyone was just building up and planting deeper roots.

I can absolutely guarantee there are fresnel lenses being used! Those are probably what a lot of the guidelites on the ship are taking advantage of. And docks probably have them to guide ships in for night landings. They are just too cool not to use!

[beesmygod]

JJBA PART 5, VENTO AUREO IS THE UNDERBAKED MESS I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT FIXING...PART 1

imagine you are celebrating your big promotion at the pigeon crushing factory (in this world you make a living crushing pigeons into a cube, this isnt important) and decide to treat yourself to a delicious hibachi feast at the local grill. as you sit down, your chef introduces himself to you; to your surprise, the chef is reknown mangaka hirohiko araki!

"wow, amazing!" you think to yourself, "i can't wait to see what delicious treats he has waiting for me, especially after that scrumptious part 4 i had last time". araki smiles knowingly, seeing the recognition of his talent in the gleam of your wide eyes. with a dramatic flourish, begins his work. a wild and frenzied solo performance begins. ingredients are chopped and flung with dazzling accuracy, speed, and showmanship until you are presented with the fruits of his labor: a new dish, just for you.

there's one problem. he forgot to turn on the grill. or maybe he never meant to. his confidence leaves you unsure of what to do when he starts flinging raw onions into your mouth and encouraging you to chew. like the tragic chef from the clickhole video, he has served you a plate of raw chicken and vegetables and is now looking at you with his arms crossed over his chest waiting for you to dig in.

its not all bad. you can eat some of the veggies as long as they don't touch the chicken, but the majority of it is inedible. you didnt even get to see him do the cool onion thing. you push the plate back unfinished and hoping for an explanation for what the fuck just happened but when you look up, you realize araki has already left. his big chef hat and coat are lying on the floor where he shed them on his new journey to start a raw foods store having discovered his passion for organic veggies. next time you crush so many pigeons you get another promotion, you try the new store and its delicious. can't fault him, i guess!

this is the experience of watching jojo part 5.

---

and LOOK. i'm not lacking in perspective here. its presumptuous to say "i can do better" or "i could fix this" when it comes to anyone's work, let alone the work of someone singular like hirohiko araki. no one's brain operates the way his does, as evidenced by the paltry and weak attempts by the spin-off artists who struggle to recapture that same magic; they all lack whatever je ne se quoi araki has tapped into that's off limits to every other human on planet earth.

straight up, my approach to storytelling is too conventional to be a good replacement for araki's (who seems to be just completely unhinged both on and off the page) so my suggestions to "fix" part 5 are going to be broad strokes and not finely tuned fanfictions. there are just...things i would have like to see happen. and the list is long enough that i think it necessitates that this essay be done in parts. but everything you need to fix it is right there within the existing text. much like the bad meal, the manga (presumably, i only watched the anime. no! stop booing me!) has all the ingredients, the passion, and the skills to create a satisfying end result, its genuinely just missing the ability to bring it all together in a satisfying way. and it is so, so frustrating to watch unfold from the comfort of your couch.

however, for people not in the jojo know-know (who are just reading this bc it started with a pigeon crushing metaphor and you wanted to see where it was going), i do have to explain the historical lens we have to consider with part 5: it wound up being the first evolutionary step of araki's change in art style and story-telling conventions. the fashion aesthetics are wilder, the stakes are bigger, and the stands (WAY) more esoteric. with hindsight, we can look back and understand that it turned out to be weird because he was experimenting in real time (as artists who work serially have to due to the nature of the job) with what he was interested in and what he wanted to explore. so there's nothing WRONG with part 5 in the cosmic sense. and it wasn't without entertainment. and most of the characters were great!

it just that this whole thing causes me enough mental anguish to think about day in and day out to the point of writing what will turn out to be an embarrassing amount of words about my objectively least favorite part of a body of work i've come to adore. its fine. whatever.

come with me...join me whether you know jojo or not, as i try to stay sane tonight and many other nights. watch with concern and glee i rant incoherently about things that will make me seem like an absolute raving lunatic to anyone who is only barely familiar with the franchise and loosely understands it, as i only did, as a series about people who do pokemon but with ghosts who punch people.

first up, i need to do some comic work, and then we can talk about AHHH

OUT! GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT OF HERE! GET THAT BEAST AWAY

AHHH

[levbolton]

Mokumoku Ren/ Mokmok Len interview in Kono Manga ga Sugoi!

A manga uploaded to Twitter became a big buzz, and this is their first full-length work, "The Summer Hikari died," was selected as No. 1 in the Male Category. A bromance depicting the summer days of two high school boys…. How was the next generation horror work drawn by an up-and-coming newcomer born?

Mokumoku Ren debuted with the short story "Period" included in the appendix booklet of the “Monthly Comic Gene" June 2021 issue. From August 31, 2021, KADOKAWA's "Young Ace UP" site started publishing the manga series "The Summer Hikaru died". This is the first serial work.

1. Please tell us your impression of being selected as the number one winner.

Mokumokuren (hereinafter referred to as Moku): I never thought that I would be chosen as the number one winner, so I was very surprised. When it became popular on TikTok, I had the impression that there were many female readers, so when I heard that it won in the man category I was surprised again.

2. This is Mokumoku Ren-sensei's serial debut. Please tell us the story of how she started serialization.

Moku: Originally, I didn't want to be a manga artist. Ever since I was a little child, Iliked to draw, and I liked to make up stories, but I never turned them into manga.

3. What kind of stories were you fantasizing about?

Moku: When I was young, it was like an original ensemble drama with fairies. I had never completed a single manga properly, but I had some time off due to the corona crisis, so I made the story and characters I had been thinking about for a long time into this manga format. Thanks to the buzz I posted on Twitter, I received offers from several editorial departments.

4. When the number of “likes” and retweets kept increasing, didn’t you get overwhelmed?

Moku: I thought, "Wow!" (laughs). However, when the serialization started and it went on TikTok, the reaction was bigger, so I hurriedly downloaded the app at that time. I saw a junior high school student saying “Omoshiroi”, and I thought “that’s a lie” at first. But if I were a junior high school student now, I'm sure I would read this work.

5. Why did you choose the web media “Young Ace UP”?

Moku: I myself had zero name recognition, so I thought it would be better for the series to be available to read for free, so I chose "Young Ace UP".

6. Did you have any ideas other than 'Summer when the light died' for the serialization?

Moku: I didn't. I said, "Let's just use what I posted on Twitter in the first episode." In the June 2021 issue of the magazine Comic Gene, I drew “Period”, and from April, I started to draw the serialization of “The summer Hikaru died”. I submitted it in January 2021, and published it in March. *

Notice: here is the post where moku announced the original idea that at the time was posted on pixiv, however you can see that the illustrations have been removed, i do not know if this is the same oneshot as the one translated

"Ku" slowly changes shape in the dark forest. Yoshiki, who has to go through a forest road, spots the hiragana "ku" floating in the forest. Eventually, "Ku" will change into something else... The motif is "Kune Kune" from an internet ghost story. It's scary to come over things that change form completely when you look at them from afar and up close. (Mokumoku Ren)

Notice: here is a cool drawing of the yokai Ku

Focus on Yoshinori and Hikaru's bromance-like relationship. Yoshiki and Hikaru, who are the same age and live in a village in the mountains, have "always lived together" since childhood. Because of their relationship, Yoshiki noticesthat Hikaru has been replaced by ‘something’, and she faints. “I thought that a high school student would be good for the main character, and from the beginning I thought it would be a boy. It would be nice if I could create an exquisite feeling because they are two boys. (Mokumoku Ren)

7. So did you have a bit of time to prepare for the serialization?

Moku: I didn't. The dialect used in the film is the Mie dialect, so I wanted to go to Mie Prefecture for coverage, but it was difficult due to the coronavirus pandemic.

8. Why set the story in Mie?

Moku: One of the reasons was that I wanted the characters to use distinctive dialects. I was looking for an exquisite line that was different from the Kansai dialect, and I chose the mountainous areas of the Tokai region. I also love the horror novels "The Higa Sisters" by Itomo Sawamura, and the first one, "Bogi Wanga ga Kuru", is set in Mie Prefecture.

What is the difference between Hikaru and "Hikaru"? Hikaru was replaced by something non-human. At present, there are few opportunities to draw the figure before being replaced. I try to portray “Hikaru” a little more childlike after the switch. In the black-and-white manuscripts, there is not much difference, but in the colour manuscripts, I changed the pupil colour. (Mokumoku Ren)

9. So, The Summer Hikaru Died is a mixture of all your favourite things?

Moku: Well, it's not like I conceived a new concept for this series, but rather that it's a mix of all the things that I've liked over the years.

10. You seem to like horror a lot.

Moku: As soon as I realized I liked it, I liked it already (laughs). I don't know why I like it, but ever since I can remember I've watched a lot of films. I've watched a lot of films ever since I can remember. I've always loved the 'True Horror Stories' series and the 'Ghost Stories Earbags' series, and I often refer to them.

11. Do you like 'J-horror'?

Moku: I like classic films such as Ring (directed by Hideo Nakata) and Ju-On (directed by Takashi Shimizu), and I watched The Room You Mustn't Live In (directed by Yoshihiro Nakamura) over and over again. But I also like foreign films. Recently, I watched Ali Aster's Midsummer and Hereditary, thinking, "Wow, the composition is really good".

12. Do you pay attention to the composition?

Moku: I pay attention to the composition, the colours, and also the direction. I think about how to switch it up here.

13. I was also impressed by the effective use of first-person POV (Point of View) in The Summer Hikaru Died.

Moku: I also like POV horror films. I've seen all of Koji Shiraishi's horror films. Recently, I went to see Welcome to the Occult Forest. (Okaruto no Mori e Yokoso )

14. In episode 3 (included in volume 1), Hikaru's past is revealed: "I fainted for two hours after watching a horror film".

Moku: Well, I didn't expect that, but I think it's just a plain old movie. Something classic that everyone has seen before, but that still makes Hikaru faint (laughs).

15. Has your view of films changed since you started drawing your own manga?

Moku : I started to think about what it would be like if I were to draw it as a manga. Like, "I'd probably split the frames here and turn the page here".

16. Is the cut-splitting of a film similar to that of a comic book?

Moku: I myself draw with a visual sense. When I draw, I think about the situation in which the character is placed. I think about where the light source is, the atmosphere and humidity, and whether it is clearly… visible.

Expressions of guilt crawling down Yoshiki's spine. The unique hand-shaped, a unique balloon expression. I wanted to do something interesting from a manga point of view. The guilt is like a crawl up the spine, so I thought it would be good to make a balloon crawl up from behind. I came up with this kind of expression when I was drawing the story. (Mokumoku Ren)

Supernatural images that exist in nature. The image of Yoshinori's hand inside Hikaru's body was 'processed from fractal images'. Fractal structure (self-similarity) refers to a figure in which a part of the figure is similar to the whole figure. The Sierpinski gasket, which is a series of triangles, is a typical example. The bottomless feeling of being able to see the same shape no matter how much you zoom in is weird. It's not good, is it? I like the fact that they are not artificial, but found in nature, like romanesco in vegetables or the veins of leaves. I also like the Lichtenberg figures drawn on wood with electricity, and other things that are in nature but look supernatural, which fits the image of this work. (Mokumoku Ren)

19. We've heard about the movies, but which manga works have influenced you?

Moku: Ever since I was a child, I spent all my allowance on manga. I collected HUNTER x HUNTER (Togashi Yoshihiro) and Jojo's Strange Adventure (Araki Hirohiko) with my own money. I also like manga with non-human characters, and one work that has influenced me in terms of artwork is Tokyo Ghoul. Whether or not the drawings are similar, I can say that I am influenced by the way Sui Ishida draws the facial expressions of the characters.

18. The Summer of the Dead Light has horror elements, so I am interested in what you find scary.

Moku: I don't find horror films very scary. If anything, I find them more enjoyable. That's why I can't help but say things like, "It's hot! I'm on a rollercoaster ride.” I watch horror films with a rollercoaster sensation. I guess you could say it's like watching a haunted house or an attraction. Personally, I'm scared of things I don't understand. Not the ones that have something to back them up, like 'the ghost of someone who died here', but the ones where you don't really know what it is. If there is proof, it feels like a story made up by humans. It's not about whether you've done something good or something bad, it's about when you're going to be attacked, irrespective of human convenience.

19. Any specific examples?

Moku: In 'The Summer Hikaru Died', it's the 'Ku' monster. I'm afraid of things that just appear. I'm scared of things that don't just appear out of the blue, but things that are clearly abnormal and appear in the distance, or things that blend into everyday life and are always in the background.

Countryside in the mountains where conventions remain.The story takes place in the mountainous countryside of Mie. The model for the story is my grandmother's house. 'The model was my grandmother's house. It was a narrow village on the border between the mountains and the sea, with houses densely packed together. It is surrounded by haunted places, and there are many suicide spots and customsstill remain. The only shop in the small village was my grandmother's house. There was old polished glass, a black telephone still in use, and neighbours would come and go as they pleased. The scenery I used to see when I went back home with my parents was the basis for the setting of this film." (Mokumoku Ren)

20. It's a psychic photographic way of showing.

Moku : I used to watch TV specials on ghosts without fail (laughs). Rather than showing shocking scenes with a bang, I like it best when the scary feeling is just about to arrive, like in ....... That's why in The Summer Hikaru Died, I wanted to emphasise the creepy feeling, so I tried to keep the shocking scenes to a minimum.

21. In traditional horror stories, non-human beings often can't communicate with humans, but “Hikaru” is a little different after the switch.

Moku: I think it's interesting that they go beyond people's imaginations, rather than from the perspective of a transcendental being, like the human ....... There are things that are similar to humans, and there are things that seem similar but are completely different. I originally wanted to depict the feelings of the non-humans who have been replaced by humans, rather than the feelings of the humans themselves.

22. More non-human than human: ......?

Moku: That came first (laughs). I wanted something familiar to be transcendent, or something close by to suddenly seem scary. I put my idea of what I think of as an non-human being into it.

The intention of onomatopoeia flooding the entire screen. The onomatopoeia is printed in a typeface font instead of drawn, which is characteristic of this work. Unlike videos, there is no sound in manga, so I distort the text and make it move to add variety. I use fonts because I want people to read them. With hand-drawn text, it blends in with the picture, and I feel that the eye slides over it and it's hard to get people to read it. I use different fonts for things I want people to see even if they don't want to, and hand-drawn fonts for things that they don't need to be aware of. (Mokumoku Ren)

23. By the way, your pen name comes from the name of a yokai (Mokumoku Ren), right?

Moku: That's right. I've always loved the anime GeGeGe no Kitaro, so I became familiar with yokai. As for the origin of my pen name, I was told by a friend, "Why don't you use a yokai's name?” It's not that I particularly like the yokai "Mokumokuren". I chose it because it has a cute sound. I've seen The Great Yokai War (directed by Takashi Miike) more than 20 times.

24. You are a big fan of yokai, aren't you? How did you decide on the title?

Moku: I couldn't come up with a good idea at all until just before the series started. Our editor had to come up with something, but I kept struggling with it.

25. What were some of the rejected ideas?

Moku: 'Hikaru is dead'. It just doesn't have the word 'summer', but it doesn't feel like a title at all, so it's weak. In the end, we decided on 'Hikari ga shinda natsu' (The summer Hikaru died), and I like it because I feel that the three kanji in it (Hikaru/light, death and summer) alone give an idea of the content, and it's very coherent.

26. I was a little curious, but in the story, Hikaru died in the winter, about half a year ago, not in the summer, right?

Moku: That's right. So, if you understand that it was summer when Yoshiki accepted Hikari's death. If there had been a 'winter' in the title, I think it would have been completely different.

27. Why did you choose summer as the season in the work?

Moku: I wanted to draw short sleeves. Another reason is that I felt summer was the most mismatched season. In this work, I put a lot of emphasis on the 'mismatch' in general. The content is dark, so I thought summer would be the most energetic of the seasons. The visuals are intentionally bright. The cover of the book is also brightly coloured, and the background music for the PV was deliberately bright. We wanted to create a mismatch.

Chaos overflowing from Hikaru. Episode 6 (in volume 1) Last spread. The preliminary picture of this page, uploaded on Twitter, was a collage of photographic materials. 'That's not so much a name as it is a base for a picture. I transformed that base and drew on top of it. I created the work in a fully digital environment, from the name to the preliminary sketch and penning, so there is no clear separation between the different stages of the work, but it is seamless. I thought it would be disgusting if it was more graphic, so I included the face of my dog in this scene. (Mokumoku Ren)

The pet dog, Pug, actually makes a cameo appearance.

28. What do you enjoy most when you are drawing?

Moku: It's fun when I'm drawing the parts that I know will be exciting.

29. In particular?

Moku: I think the last part of the first volume (episode 6) could have had a strong impact. I drew a kind of solution to that in episode 7 (included in volume 2), but I discussed this with the editor in charge, and we had a hard time deciding on it, so I think I did my best. Also, looking at the reactions of readers, there are some who have given it a lot of thought, and it's fun when I can draw a development that betrays their expectations. I know I'm going to betray the readers' expectations (laughs).

Various compositions are used in the work. I use fisheye-like compositions for scenes where I want to be able to see far into the distance, or when I want to draw a lot of background, or when I want to show a bit more space. (Mokumoku Ren).

Comparison between the finished manuscript and the name for episode 8. In general, characters are drawn with a 'cross on a circle' style in the story, but it can be seen that the facial expression of the character (Yoshiki) has already been decided in detail. The facial expressions are definitely decided at the story writing stage. Without facial expressions, I don't know how the characters are feeling when they say their lines. For this story, I think it's very important to know what kind of face they’re making and what they’re saying. Timing, pauses and, in a film, the acting part. I feel that I want to convey the message through acting rather than dialogue. (Mokumoku Ren)

30. What about future developments?

Moku: The story will start moving in the next three volumes. If the first three volumes were the daily life chapter, I feel like I'm entering a new chapter in the story. I'm sorry to have been chosen as the No. 1 winner when we're still in the early stages of the story, but I hope you'll look forward to the rest of the story.

► PROFILE: Born in Tokyo. “The Summer Hikaru Died" is the first commercial serialisation of this promising new author. Less than a year after its serialisation, it won 11th place at the Global Special Award [Traditional Chinese] in the Web manga category of the Next Manga Award 2022. Information is also updated on the Twitter account. Twitter account. @mokmok_len

Well, they removed the onedrive email i created to share this so this was exhausting to edit into Tumblr, I’d appreciate it a lot if you reblogged this post

Other Mokumoku Ren interviews translated:

CREA (7th Nov 2022) | Da Vinci (5th Nov 2022) | Kono Manga ga Sugoi 2023 | Real sound 31st December | Real sound 5th July

[transmalewife]

does anyone have any leftist reading on the subject of tourism to recommend? Specifically about how travel for fun, education, sport, friendship or whatever might work in a communist or anarchist or socialist society. Because like yeah, open borders or no borders whatever, cool. But that usually only gets discussed in the context of permanent immigration

Idk I guess I just find it hard to imagine how it could be organized since where I live the most obvious ways capitalism has made things worse over my lifetime have all happened because of and through the lens of tourism. Rents literally doubling over the last five years, while the standard of living falls because apartments are bought, split into tiny pieces and renovated to accomodate a couple days of living at most. The specific kind of gentrification that is NOT being pushed out by richer people moving in permanently, who might cause more expensive shops and services to replace the affordable ones, but do still need the basic necessities everyone does to live. Instead, all hairdressers, repair shops, clothing stores (especially thrift shops), pharmacies, post offices etc etc close and are replaced by luxury boutiques, clubs and stores whre you can only buy snacks, alcohol and microwave meals. Restaurants and bars hiking up prices because most of their clients come from places with stronger currencies etc etc.

At the same time though I believe travel is a crucial part of a fulfilling life for most if not all people. I believe people have the right to see and appreciate the culture and history of other places and also like... maybe go somewhere warmer and lay on the beach sometimes, even if they prefer to live and work somewhere colder. Or go skiing even if they chose to live somewhere warm and without mountains. Or even just like... vacation in a big city if they live in the countryside and vice versa. Or pop over to another continent to visit an online friend maybe. Although obviously intercontinental travel would have to be hugely limited until and unless we find ways to do it that don't destroy our planet.

At the same time some precautions do have to be taken to protect historical and especially sacred sites. Like, I don't think endless crowds should be allowed to trample through historical buildings and also open borders obviously doesn't mean white tourists get to go camping on Uluru. But on some level I do believe everyone who wants to should get to see Venice at least once in their life. But that's probably not feasible so like... who gets to decide? On what merit? Are historians, artists, journalists privileged? Or should it be a lottery?

Also I think there's a significant amount of tourism that would simply die out if going to that place wasn't a status symbol. Like you cannot convince me that if you spend 2 weeks by the pool in an enclosed luxury resort it makes a difference that it's on Hawaii rather than like... in florida. And then theres places like the Hamptons. What the fuck is the point of the Hamptons, other than bragging rights?

Obviously I know none of this is even remotely the main pressing issue to solve about a potential communist society, but then again, that's why I'm asking for reading materials, because it so rarely gets discussed. I mean I bet Marx wrote about it, which, great, point me to the relevant fragments please and I'll have a look but also this is an issue where a modern perspective would be really important. I don't think Marx, for all his wisdom, really has a solution to "what are the ethics of taking an 8 hour flight to visit a tumblr mutual".

Or maybe this whole thing is me being cynical and this is another place where things would sort of just regulate themselves. Anyway. Send me reading recs and let's very unscientifically try to check if it could work. Do try to be honest, like I've been several times as a kid and I would still go again in a heartbeat.

btw the goal of the poll is to get some kind of percentage that can be compared with the world population and how many tourists venice can support per year, though I obviously know tumblr skews mainly american and european

[dipperdesperado]

Solarpunk Gives Me Hope

For the past couple of years, I’ve been really interested in the solarpunk genre. Up until now, it’s been a flirtatious relationship, but I’m ready to settle down. Sustainability and Environmentalism have been a big part of my adult life; I always knew that I wanted to have a positive impact on the world at large, and what better way to do that than to put time into preserving that very world? However, as I got deeper into the sustainability space, I saw a lot of reductive, holier-than-thou behavior and apathy toward meaningful action. Like, recycling is great (if it actually gets recycled, thanks America), but is that it? Is that all we can do? Environmentalism as a movement also has a history steeped in white supremacy, a trend that is bubbling up again.

As you can tell, I got really frustrated with the landscape of the environmental movement. I never heard anyone acknowledge the issues that exist on both sides of the aisle; there didn’t seem to be a lot of care for the people that are most vulnerable to climate change in those conversations. It led me to move away from the sustainability space, wholesale. I didn’t really understand why until I discovered solarpunk. Hearing about this subgenre-meets-movement lit the fire in my heart. Solarpunk represents what I think is the most exciting way to think about not only saving our planet but saving ourselves.

What is Solarpunk?

People have their own definitions for solarpunk, which is as liberating as it is frustrating. One of the best ones that I found came from Solarpunk Rising. Their definition is for solarpunk is “a creative movement that encourages optimistic visions of the future while responding to the climate crisis as well as social inequality”. I’d like to crib off of that one to explain how I think of solarpunk: “a creative movement that combines Art, Sustainability, and Social Liberation with an optimistic lens. It helps us imagine the world we want to see so we can create it.”

I don’t think it’s super useful to gatekeep what is and isn’t solarpunk beyond this definition. It is important, however, to highlight the liberatory, social aspects of solarpunk. While it’s fine and dandy to see solarpunk as a cool aesthetic, the real power comes from the real-life, tangible impacts that the movement can have.

Some things that I’d consider to be solarpunk actions in real life:

Proposing legislation to your local government to prioritize walkability in new developments

Writing articles about DIY ways to lessen your reliance on big corporations

Seed bombing an empty plot of land with native species

Airdropping anti-fascist memes to people in public

Solarpunk to me is any activity that centers a genuine excitement for how the world can be with an action-oriented approach.

Connected ideologies

Solarpunk has a lot of compatible ideologies, some of which you may have picked up on already. Just to list some important ones:

DIY: Being able to lessen your own consumption by fixing and repairing/repurposing what you have is super solarpunk

Optimism: It’s hard to imagine a better world if you don’t believe the world can get better. Solarpunk positions being an optimist as the most punk thing you can do in a world that feels made to keep you down.

Renewables (a la Solar): Surprise suprise, solarpunks tend to be into solar! One of the biggest harms to our planet is our relationship with energy. While trying to lessen the total amount of energy we use, we must also replace nonrenewable energy forms with those that are replenishable. Our amount of appropriation of resources can’t continue to exceed nature’s ability to replenish those resources.

Sustainability: Tying into the above ideal, across all facets of society, sustainability should be the goal. We should be able to find a sustainable level of interaction with the environment, with our consumption and lifestyles, and our systems of governance.

Liberation: None of this work would be worth it if our sparkly new world was built on oppressive practices. Centering equity as the lens though which we do all of the above work will give us much more in return.

Conclusion

Before I go, I want to mention lunarpunk. Where solarpunk is yin, lunarpunk is yang. They can be seen as two differing halves of a greater whole, focused on different aspects of their utopic goals. Solarpunk stuff will mostly be focused on tech, while lunarpunk is much more likely to include fantastical, occult, or spiritual ideals. I’m not as well versed on that, so I’m not going to go too deep, but I think it’s worth mentioning, as it’ll probably come up in your research.

I hope this was somewhat interesting to you! I really am jazzed about this world of solarpunk and find the ability of fiction to be a tool for creating the future. It can be in negative, dystopic ways, sure, but I feel like the positive outcomes are also ripe for the taking! I hope that you’re interested in exploring more, as I’ll have some links listed below: my inspirations for this post, along with my list of cool solarpunk stuff that I am constantly updating. Hopefully, we can dream of better futures together!

Sources

A Solarpunk Manifesto (English) – ReDes – Regenerative Design. https://www.re-des.org/a-solarpunk-manifesto/. Accessed 23 Nov. 2022.

Andrewism. How Degrowth Can Save The World. 2022. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQrI2GBvn5Q.

How We Can Build A Solarpunk Future (Ft. @Our Changing Climate). 2022. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz51PkJy2c0.

How We Can Make Solarpunk A Reality (Ft. @Our Changing Climate). 2021. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-JvyfZVkIM.

Humanity Is Not A Parasite. 2022. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j42RbUjofm0.

Solarpunk Is Not Enough. 2021. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKaSb2gi1Ew.

We Need A Library Economy. 2022. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOYa3YzVtyk.

What Is Solarpunk? 2020. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHI61GHNGJM.

meningeal. “New to Solarpunk? Start Here!” R/Solarpunk, 13 June 2022, www.reddit.com/r/solarpunk/comments/vb1ky1/new_to_solarpunk_start_here/.

Our Changing Climate. How We Can Build A Solarpunk Future Right Now (Ft. @Andrewism). 2022. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twGcjDnOb_U.

Why This Gives Me Hope for the Future (Ft. @Saint Andrewism). 2021. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3aauiR9M88.

Reina-Rozo, Juan David. “Art, Energy and Technology: The Solarpunk Movement.” International Journal of Engineering, Social Justice, and Peace, vol. 8, no. 1, 1, Mar. 2021, pp. 47–60. ojs.library.queensu.ca, https://doi.org/10.24908/ijesjp.v8i1.14292.

“Solarpunk.” Wikipedia, 29 Nov. 2022. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Solarpunk&oldid=1124508051.

“Solarpunk: A Genre of Activism.” Solarpunk Magazine, 13 Oct. 2021, https://solarpunkmagazine.com/solarpunk-a-genre-of-activism/.

Solarpunk.fun, Team. “Evergreen: Basically, Solarpunk.” SolarPunk, 25 Mar. 2021, https://www.solarpunk.fun/2021/03/25/basically-solarpunk/.

Solarpunk Reading List

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title: you ask the questions: charles leclerc source: stuart codling, gp racing uk format: article (interview) season: 2018, f1

Now listen very carefully: Ferrari’s latest star signing might not be afraid of Sebastian Vettel, but he’s not keen on snakes – and neither is he very sure of what to make of that ‘Allo ‘Allo meme that’s doing the rounds… “Brrrrrr!” says Charles Leclerc, on a chilly late afternoon in a São Paulo that’s enveloped in grey and pendulous cloud. Cruelly denied a coat by our photographer, Charles hastens from the back of the Sauber garage to the welcoming environs of the team unit as soon as his duties are concluded. Glenn, our snapper, replaces a lens cap and shakes his head ruefully. “You can’t treat ’em like kids,” he says. “Otherwise it starts with you letting them wear a coat and ends with you having to take all the blue M&MS out of the bowl…” Perhaps in some cases, but Charles Leclerc is emphatically not cut from junior diva cloth. Though F1 star-wrangler Nicolas Todt has steered his career, Leclerc’s talent and singular determination has provided the momentum. There is not a hint of the silver spoon about his rise to prominence, and that comes across in the respectful politesse with which he unfailingly conducts himself. Now seated and beginning to thaw, Charles holds the question deck between finger and thumb and regards it with genuine surprise. “All these are from fans?” he asks, agog at how an F1 rookie could possibly generate so much interest. Well, there’s a reason for that…

What was it like to see yourself on the front cover of a magazine for the first time? Charles Leclerc: It was very cool. It’s a special moment to see yourself on something like that for the first time. What does the underside of Alonso’s car look like? CL: The underside? What’s the underside? [The penny drops] Ah! Yes, when he went flying over me [at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix]. I tell you, it happened so fast that I could barely see anything. I certainly wasn’t going to analyse it [technically]. It was def­initely black, but that’s the only thing I can say. F1 Racing: Surely, given their relative position in the championship, Sauber don’t have much to learn from Mclaren at the moment anyway… CL: Ah… [He glances in the direction of team PR Mia, who responds in startled fashion to F1R’S cheeky query. Charles giggles, though whether this is at the question or its ef­fect on his colleague is unclear]

In your company car, have you beaten the best commute times from Monaco to Modena set by Gilles Villeneuve and Jody Scheckter? CL: [Laughs again] Errrrr… no! I’m not so quick on the road. F1R: In your position, you need to be responsible. CL: Def­initely. F1R: Were you aware there was a record each of them tried to break? CL: To get to the grand prix? F1R: To get to the Ferrari factory when Enzo rang up. They’d say, “Okay, be there in five minutes…” CL: [Laughs] For sure, I could never get to the factory that quickly. I’m not really racing on the road.

Is there any circuit you would love to see added to the F1 calendar? CL: Laguna Seca. Even though it’s very… yeah, I don’t think F1 could go there in reality.

F1R: The run-off at the Corkscrew isn’t very wide, and there’s a cliff on the other side. CL: Yeah? That would make it more, er, challenging… F1R: According to folklore, the corner is how it is because they were driving the bulldozer along, got to the edge of the drop, and then just turned left. CL: Nice story. But is it true?

What is your biggest fear? CL: Oh, snakes. F1R: Is it the creepy dryness of the scales, or their rasping forked tongues that creep you out? CL: I don’t really know – I’m just not liking these animals.

F1R: Have you ever actually encountered a snake? CL: I did, in Australia. Haven’t you seen the pictures? I have it all round my neck. [He shudders at the memory] You’ll have to ask the Sauber people why they did it…

What was the first car you drove? CL: I really shouldn’t say, because I was quite young!

What is your favourite childhood memory with Jules Bianchi? CL: Probably every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at his track. [Jules Bianchi’s father managed the kart circuit at Brignoles] That and his birthdays in Saint-Tropez. All the races we did together in karting. Fun times. F1R: Did you get to go to his party after he finished in the points in the Monaco Grand Prix? CL: No, I was too young, and in Monaco they’re quite strict with things like that.